Carolyn Khor's blog

A time to remember Altantuya: Human Rights Day by Carolyn Khor Malaysia is still rated fairly free despite fall in Human Development Index ranking Ironically, the existence of a Human Rights Day conveys an apparent lack of human rights in the world, even with laws which are supposedly meant to protect the innocent. In 1950, the United Nations General Assembly declared 10 Dec as Human Rights Day. It is twenty years since 1993 a mandate of High Commissioner was created for the promotion and protection of all human rights during the World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna the same year. Women’s Rights are now acknowledged as a fundamental human right. Discrimination and acts of violence against women are at the forefront of the human rights discourse. Human Rights in Malaysia According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in a survey done under Human Development Index (HDI), Malaysia has backslidden in her ranking from 61 st place in 2011 to 64 th pl...

All this useless fighting over who will be PM should stop immediately. Since PH won in 2018, Anwar's camp just kept on disrupting the government and asking the PM to step down. Why did PH lose the government? Because Anwar kept pressuring Tun M to step down. So, Tun resigned, but did Anwar become PM? No. All the manipulation, provocations and secret phoncalls to lobby for support, without any thought for the welfare of the people at all. Anwar supporters must be so proud of themselves for the situation we are in today. When TSMY steps down, will Anwar be the next PM? I'm afraid it's no, again. Why? Because he doesn't have the numbers. And his numbers depended on UMNO's support which he doesn't have now. PH consists of only 33 Malay MPs as opposed to 58 non-Malays. If you think this number is going to make him the PM, then it is wishful thinking. Now we hear claims of Anwar courting AA and Zu's support to make him the PM. The question is why is Anwar so despe...

https://www.malaysianow.com/opinion/2021/06/15/high-time-for-an-anti-bullying-act/ T Nhaveen’s unfortunate passing four years ago due to bullying must not be in vain and we should all take this opportunity to stand up against bullying, whether in school, workplace, or in cyberspace. It affects people of all ages but especially the young, vulnerable and different.   According to the Education Minister, Datuk Mohd. Radzi bin Md. Jidin , the number of cases lodged against bullying from January 2020 – September 2020 amounted to 0.04% of the total number of about 4.8 million students in both primary and secondary schools, as compared to 0.12% the previous year. The years 2016 – 2018 recorded 0.07%, 0.06% and 0.09% respectively.   Malaysia has not enacted any legislation yet to curb bullying and it is high-time the policymakers look seriously into drafting the Anti-Bullying Act to prevent bullying and unnecessary juvenile deaths in the future. Currently, the Penal Code (Ac...

Of late, PH+ politicians have carelessly thrown around words like 'betrayer' and 'traitor'. What I cannot understand is that these words are only used on certain leaders who do not support Anwar as the 9th PM. On the other hand, potential leaders who have been identified as friendly MPs and are being courted to join Anwar are shielded from such lables. These two scenarios are in fact two sides of the same coin.  Why can Anwar openly meet and entice MPs from other parties to join PH+ while PH leaders who have being identified to be sacked or suspended cannot meet up with other leaders? Where is the logic behind this double standard? Even DAP and Amanah have not been spared from being labled as such. Is supporting Tun M for six months an act of betrayal? If having dignity is such a priority, then Anwar should have had better sense than to work with Tun M during GE14.  DAP and Amanah are between a rock and a hard place. Of course, nobody wants to be on a losing team, and e...

There is no point at all fighting over whether Tun M or Anwar will become the PM candidate. 1. By default, the Opposition Leader will become the next PM if the ruling government loses support - so why did it become an issue in the first place? 2. Even if these two men were working together, the numbers still do not make a winning combination. 3. What makes DAP and Amanah want to support Tun M for six months? What is in it for them?  4. Why do Anwar supporters only support Anwar despite not having the numbers? 5. PKR should just discard DAP and PH, just like how it culled its own party members.  Consider this: 1. The people are sick and tired of elderly politicians fighting over the PM post.  2. The country needs a fresh and young face, preferably a young candidate as the next PM.  Anwar and PKR could team up with Muhyiddin and UMNO; and Tun could team up with DAP, Amanah, GPS, Warisan, Azmin, and PAS.  Who knows? It might work. 

Just as the Covid-19 crisis is about to let up, the political horse-trading and psywar by Pakatan Harapan and Tun Dr Mahathir intensifies. As if still not satisfied with the Agong’s confidence in the current government, Pakatan Harapan and Mahathir’s operatives are still hard at work to convince, especially the MPs to crossover so that Perikatan National may fall. The question then is: Fall to whom - Mahathir or Anwar? According to the Registrar of Societies, Mahathir is no longer in PPBM. Challenging the matter in court is a separate issue. As of the present moment, Mahathir is merely an independent MP who is an ally of Pakatan Harapan. And unless he agrees again, to support Anwar as the potential Prime Minister, there is no way these two men can work together. Neither is Perikatan Nasional strong; but it is definitely more stable than having two men at each other’s throats all the time. As economists indicate, there is a looming recession in the months to come due to Covid-19. We sim...

The reality of politics is that when it suits the politicians, crossing the political divide can be as easy and technical as signing a Statutory Declaration. The winning team will then hail the crossover as a hero while the losers will throw all sorts of names at him. Of course, most non-Malays will immediately associate Azmin and the 11 MPs as traitors to Pakatan Harapan.  A particular president of a party had on numerous occasions hinted of crossovers from other parties, yet this person who is so quick to label others as traitors, still sees it fit to coerce others to betray their own party. What sort of logic is it then, that he is willing to accept traitors, while vilifying others for doing the same thing? Then, the staunch supporters will just shrug and say, “That’s politics.” Then again, the best quote of the day comes from Baru Bian: “That is a good katak. So don’t use that katak very loosely. An intelligent katak will jump, a stupid katak will stay. We need to be wise and p...

As my maiden post since I last written, I have chosen to write about racial discrimination in our country. I echo what many have said before, so let my ranting be yet another. Here goes nothing.  We can keep on pointing our fingers at other people and keep blaming others for the mess we are in. However, as non-Malays, many of us have forgotten that we are the minority in the country. Being right or feeling that we are right does nothing to change the situation. We can keep on and on, demanding for equality and what-nots, but the reality is that it doesn't matter what you and I want. What matters is what others, the majority want. As a minority, Chinese Malaysians have grown accustomed to the double-standard treatment that has been around ever since the NEP was implemented. I won't necessarily say that it is a bad thing, as through decades of discrimination, non-Malays have only become more resilient, self-reliant and self-sufficient. That is indeed the price to pay to live in a...

Press Statement dated 6 June 2016 There is an apparent inertia when it comes to gender equality in Malaysia’s political landscape. No doubt Anwar Ibrahim is the iconic figure most supported as the PM candidate, with the President of Keadilan, Wan Azizah willing to be the interim PM while the process of #BebasAnwar gets sorted out. Still, there is still a void which nobody, especially Muslim women dare to even think about. The gracious, gentle and reluctant politician, as we all come to know fondly as Kak Wan, has been consistently supportive of Keadilan’s ‘Reformasi’ cause, central to the #BebasAnwar movement. Many of the key supporters are loyal to this cause and although it is the main driver behind Keadilan as a party, there should be, a plan B or plan C. Kak Wan's role as the interim PM must be strengthened further to propel our women's agenda into the next millennia. At the very least, Mahathir has offered to be the next reluctant PM, but this is still subject to the...

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