Why this kolaveri over GE2013 when we could be celebrating our unity and diversity

There's a dream for everyone.You and me never let it go And I can't do it alone.Just with you my friend.Climbing on a mountain so far and high.Reaching to the flag that I desire.Just cause the hope and trust you taught meI’ll never fall.Standing in the middle of a mist so cold And I’m trying to go back home.You came with a blanket, came with a hug And I’m freezing no more.We can do it Together now.Bringing us closer and closerLike never before.Hope is shining through and I know its true Watching with a vision where’s it heading toBinding us together as we’re marching on No we’ll never fall, no we’ll never fall.

Malaysia's governing coalition wins majority

Malaysia's ruling coalition has retained its 56-year hold on power in hard-fought elections but opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim says the victory is tainted and has refused to concede. The Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition led by Prime Minister Najib Razak got well past the threshold of 112 seats for a simple majority in parliament, standing on 133 as final returns continued to trickle in early on Monday.

Najib, 59, called for a spirit of "reconciliation" after Sunday's elections, which saw record voter turnout and were preceded by a fierce campaign that laid bare deep polarisation in the country. "For the sake of national interest, I ask all parties, especially the opposition, to accept this result with an open heart," Najib said. "Overall, the results show a trend of polarisation which worries the government. If it is not addressed, it can create tension or division in the country." Police have banned all victory parades and street demonstrations after the declaration of the results.

But Anwar, whose three-party Pakatan Rakyat (People's Pact) alliance had hoped to pull off a stunning win against the only government Malaysia has known, was in no mood to concede. "It is an election that we consider fraudulent and the EC (Election Commission) has failed," an exhausted-looking Anwar said after the announced returns dashed early hopes among his supporters that victory was at hand. Among irregularities alleged by the opposition, Anwar has said tens of thousands of "dubious" and possibly foreign voters were flown to key constituencies to sway results. The government denies the charge. Legal avenues Opposition officials said Pakatan Rakyat would explore possible legal avenues over such allegations, but the poll result is likely to stand as court challenges that threaten the government's hold rarely gain traction. The EC said a record 80 percent of the multi-ethnic country's 13 million registered voters - or more than 10 million people - had turned out on Sunday. Voters took to the internet in droves to accuse Najib's government of trying to steal the election, as indelible ink that he touted as a guarantee against voter fraud was found to easily wash off. Social media websites have been abuzz with videos showing foreign nationals receiving citizenship through dubious means and then being transported into voting centres to vote, Al Jazeera's Florence Looi reported from Kuala Lumpur.

Videos, pictures and first-hand accounts of purportedly foreign"voters" being confronted at polling centres by angry citizens also went viral online. Najib had been under pressure from conservatives in his United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), Barisan Nasional's dominant force, to regain seats lost in 2008 polls when Pakatan Rakyat stunned the ruling bloc with its worst setback ever. There have been warnings that he could face a leadership challenge within UMNO if he fell short. Najib appears to have failed to improve, but did not lose significant ground in parliament, and Barisan Nasional gained back one of four states held by the opposition. Malaysia has 13 states. Najib also has been squeezed by rising public pressure for reform, to which he has responded with some limited liberalisation moves. He had called for voters to give him his first mandate - Najib was installed in 2009 when his predecessor was dumped over the 2008 result - so that he could continue his reform agenda. Career at a crossroads The election outcome raises the spectre of an end to the charismatic Anwar's remarkable career, after he earlier pledged to step aside as opposition leader if he failed to win the long-awaited election. Anwar, 65, was deputy prime minister until his overthrow in a 1998 power struggle with then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and jailing for six years on sex charges widely viewed as trumped up, events that deeply polarised Malaysian politics. Anwar later brought his pan-racial appeal to the once-divided opposition, dramatically reversing its fortunes. After leading Pakatan Rakyat to historic gains in 2008 polls in which it denied Barisan Nasional its powerful two-thirds majority for the first time ever, Anwar had aimed to topple the government on Sunday. Pakatan Rakyat campaigned against corruption and pledged to roll back a decades old quota system that favours ethnic Malays in schools, business contracts and civil service jobs. But ethnic Malay-dominated Barisan Nasional retained powerful advantages, including control of traditional media, key institutions and an electoral landscape which critics say is biased in its favour.

Boycott ‘madness’ festivals, accept defeat

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysians must boycott the “pesta kegilaan” (festival of madness) by the opposition over claims of electoral fraud and accept that Barisan Nasional won the 13th general election.

Newly minted Communications and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek said this when asked to comment on Home Minister Zahid Hamidi’s statement that Malaysians unhappy with the electoral system should emigrate.

“I have to see the context of Zahid’s statement, what was reported [before I can comment]… but I agree…that there are ‘madness festivals’ being run by sore losers,” said Ahmad Shabery at a press conference today.

“I feel this must be stopped. Most importantly, the rakyat must stop them, must boycott them and leave them because these festivals are about rejecting the decision made by the rakyat through our electorate system,” he added.

Ahmad Zahid wrote in a column published last Wednesday in Utusan Malaysia that the opposition was deliberately confusing “Chinese youths and politically blind followers” into protesting the election results.

This was in response to the series of mega rallies Pakatan Rakyat organised, claiming that electoral fraud and an incompetent Election Commission had robbed them of their victory.

But Ahmad Shabery today mocked the opposition and their supporters for “behaving like children” and “shrieking here and there” and suggested that their actions contravened the country’s democratic and constitutional system.

“We have to see what laws applies against these sore losers who act outside the limits of our democratic and constitutional system,” said Ahmad Shabery.

“Are they seen as going against our constistution and democratic system?” he asked.

He also dismissed Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s argument that Pakatan was the rightful victor by virtue of winning the popular vote, insisting instead that the opposition pact only won big in urban areas.

“Even if they won the popular votes, it was in the urban areas. But our country’s democratic system takes into account not only the urban votes but the rural.

“They can’t dismiss the voters in Kapit, in Machang and Kinabatangan as unimportant. If the people there have said they want the existing party to continue ruling Malaysia, they must accept this,” he added.

He pointed out that despite claims of electoral fraud and gerrymandering, Pakatan had no qualms about accepting their victories in Selangor and Penang.

“If they didn’t agree with the system, they wouldn’t have accepted the swearing in ceremony of the Selangor Menteri Besar [PKR's Khalid Ibrahim] and Penang Chief Minister [DAP’s Lim Guan Eng]. But they did,” said Ahmad Shabery.

The Great Achievements of Najib Razak

Najib Razak was born into the family of politicians and was given a chance to lead the people quite early in life, when his father passed away. Najib Tun razak was at a ripe age of 22, and he became the youngest member of the Malaysian parliament. He had the leadership blood in him being born in the Razak family and thus he never had trouble in working for the people and leading them towards development. He was appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister, in the year 2004, which was exactly 47 years after his father had been appointed at the same post.

Being educated at St. John’s Institution which is a great institution in Kuala Lumpur and then at the Malvern Boy’s College in Worcestershire, England, he also earned a degree in Industrial Economics from the Nottingham University. Once he returned to Malaysia in the year 1974, he joined the corporate world, when he started working with the Bank Negara (or the Central Bank) and later he moved to work with PETRONAS (the national petroleum corporation) as the in charge of as a Public Affairs. But due to the death of his father, Tun Abd Razak, his life took a turn which even he was not prepared for.

But then Najib Tun Razak had the quality of a fighter and a leader running in his blood, and thus it was not much time before he quickly adapted to the public life when he joined the Parliament. Within some time of his joining the parliament he was able to prove his credibility along with his capability as a politician to the people along with his colleagues. During the very first year of his joining as the MP, he was appointed at the post of Deputy Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and Posts, and then he was given charge of Deputy Minister of Education and Deputy Minister of Finance.

At the age of 29, he became the Menteri Besar of Pahang, after he won the elections for the state assembly elections of Pekan. Pahang, being the biggest state in Peninsular Malaysia was a first great achievement for Najib. Najib Tun Razak  was able to tone down the political crisis that Pahang was going through as he was welcomed to the Pahang Royal Court (as he had inherited the title of the Orang Kaya Indera Shahbandar). The crisis was solved and toned down and then Najib moved towards strengthening the whole education of the state of Pahang.

From working with the youths to promote education and sports amongst the people of Pahang, to promoting a new land scheme with the help of FELDA, the Federal Land Development Authority, he worked towards providing a new way to earn money for the landless and the people in the lower income group. Najib Tun Razak was the prime mover to change the way of games in the country and was an important part of the delegate which brought the SEA games to the country. He has also been part of the Human Rights commission along with the Election Commission of the country. 

Reasons To Vote For BN This Election

It seems more and more likely that a general election will be called soon.. Why should we vote for

Barisan Nasional this time?

• BN will defend the Constitution. In BN, everyone is united behind the Constitution — no questioning the rights of this or that community which are enshrined in the Constitution
• BN will not treat the country like their personal fiefdom. Unlike some opposition parties which think Malaysia belongs to Allah/Anwar/Altantuya, BN firmly believes that the country belongs to the People
• Haven't you realised how much BN politicians sacrifice to serve the people? How on earth could they have the time and energy to develop a coterie of parasites living off the largesse of the rakyat's money through contracts for shoddy and unnecessary projects?
• BN will uplift the economically disadvantaged Bumiputra community. Many have argued that BN's pet policy to achieve this goal, the New EconomicPolicy, is not working, as it is not bearing any fruit; things are not much better for the Bumiputras despite 30 years of the NEP
•  Our brave and courageous leaders in BN are willing to forge a new path and do something no other country dares to do
• BN will continue to develop and improve our education system so it can produce thinking and creative Malaysians.
• BN shares power with all its component parties.
• BN will get tough on crime
• if you re-elect BN with a larger majority, you can be assured that the government will lock them up with its powers under the state of emergency that has been in force for 40 years to ensure they can never harm the country again.
• BN is not arrogant or self-serving. It certainly does not let power go to its head, and its leaders continue to make major sacrifices 
• if we re-elect BN, they will be able to continue serving us — unlike those arrogant egoists in the opposition who make a big fuss out of spending years in jail for criticising our wise and benevolent BN government.
• BN will ensure zero poverty in Malaysia. You might remember that the number one reason BN has been so successful in its stewardship of the country is because of how they have developed our economy
• Last but not least, BN will be fair and honest with all Malaysians. They will not discriminate against any class of Malaysians because of race or religion.

Malaysia's Najib Dissolves Parliament, Paving Way for Elections

KUALA LUMPUR—Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak said he would dissolve Parliament, setting up an election that analysts say will be the closest in Malaysia's history.

The country's 13th general election pits Mr. Najib's United Malays National Organization—the core of the National Front coalition that has ruled Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957—against charismatic opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who says he is making his last bid for the premiership.

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak, here last month, announced Wednesday that he would dissolve Parliament, paving the way for elections within weeks.

In a live television broadcast Wednesday, Mr. Najib said the country's king has accepted his request to dissolve Parliament.

The date of the elections will be set later by the country's Election Commission, but is widely expected to come within a few weeks and will test whether UMNO's traditional political planks of race, religion and economic stewardship can overcome the opposition's pitch for a more open and transparent society in the Muslim-majority Southeast Asian country.

"There is a high degree of uncertainty on the election outcome as large section of youth will be voting for the first time," said Ibrahim Suffian, director at independent pollster Merdeka Center. Voters aged below 30 make up a quarter of the country's 13 million-strong electorate.

Analysts say that though chances of an opposition victory are slim, it may extend its 2008 electoral gains when it wrested 82 of 222 seats in Parliament, leaving the ruling front short of a two-thirds majority for the first time and won five of Malaysia's 13 states. Since the 2008 ballot, the opposition has edged up to 86 seats in Parliament through a series of special elections but lost control of one state.

Ceding more seats to the opposition could limit Mr. Najib's ambitions to liberalize the country's economy and propel it onto a faster growth path. A weaker mandate might spur a leadership challenge to Mr. Najib from within UMNO, analysts say, and hinder his efforts to push through unpopular reforms such as proposals to reduce costly subsidies on food and cooking fuel.

The opposition—consisting of the Islamic fundamentalist Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS, Anwar's moderate People's Justice Party, and the Democratic Action Party that draws most of its support from the ethnic Chinese minority—has steadily gained support in the urban areas. Its pledges to unwind a decades-old race-based affirmative action policy designed to give a leg up to the majority ethnic-Malay population and reduce corruption have a strong appeal among mostly younger voters, analysts say.

In a February survey conducted by Merdeka Center, 46% of respondents said the government must tackle corruption. In the past, ministers have come under graft charges. The top corruption cases include continuing ones involving two former transport ministers, Chan Kong Choy and Ling Liong Sik, who were charged with cheating following cost overruns at a free-trade zone development, and Khir Toyo, the former chief minister of Selangor State. All three deny any wrongdoing.

The 64-year-old Mr. Anwar has said he would retire from politics if his opposition alliance fails to form the next government.

Since Mr. Najib came to power in 2009, he has made efforts to make governance more transparent.

Government contracts are now available online and companies that bid for projects are asked to sign integrity pacts. A Whistleblower Protection Act was passed in 2010 with cash incentives offered to civil servants for reporting corruptions that could lead to prosecution.

Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak dissolves parliament for election

Najib Razak is Malaysia's sixth prime minister

Razak asked the king to dissolve parliament

Ruling coalition has ruled for 59 years

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has dissolved parliament in readiness for a general election

MALAYSIAN Prime Minister Najib Razak dissolved parliament today in preparation for general elections seen as the toughest challenge yet for the ruling coalition after 56 years in power.

"This morning I met the king and asked for his consent to dissolve the parliament,''  Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak said.

"This dissolution will pave the way for the 13th general election.''

Najib: Malaysia committed to defend sovereignty

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is committed to continue defending its sovereignty said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on Friday.

He said the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) had also made several achievements in its bid to combat pirates in the Malacca Straits.

"The MMEA has made several achievements in combating pirates in the Straits of Malacca.

“We are committed to defend the country's sovereignty," he said in his latest tweet.

On Thursday, MMEA Air Operations Branch director, First Admiral (Maritime) told Bernama that MMEA had gained international recognition for its competence in combating sea piracy in the Malacca Straits.

When speaking at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA 2013), he also said combating pirates in the Malacca Straits was the major success that had boosted MMEA's name. - Bernama.

Winning GE13 is Job No. 1, Umno men say after Dr M’s putsch warning

KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 ― Winning Election 2013 takes precedence over party intrigues, several Umno leaders said today as they sought to play down veteran Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s warning to Datuk Seri Najib Razak that the prime minister may lose his post if the ruling coalition cedes more seats in the next polls.

Seasoned Umno lawmakers contacted by The Malaysian Insider appeared upset that the country’s fourth and longest-serving prime minister had chosen to publicly remind Najib about what he stood to lose with the 13th general election just weeks away, but did not deny that party warlords may push for the sixth PM to be ousted should the Barisan Nasional (BN) suffer further setbacks.

“No one should not talk about things like that, [not] even Tun. Such statements will do more harm than good. I disagree with him. We should be focusing on winning now,” said Umno supreme council member Dr Mohd Khir Toyo.

“What Tun raised is, of course, important, but we can wait for the results of the elections first. We can talk about that later,” the former Selangor mentri besar said.

Dr Mahathir was yesterday reported by international news agency AFP as suggesting that Najib may be unseated by unhappy Umno warlords if he fails to improve on BN’s performance during Election 2008, which had also helped unite the disparate opposition parties into a cohesive political force.

Dr Mahathir also told the news wire that he was worried about a possible regime change, suggesting there would be chaos and religious strife if the BN lost Putrajaya.

“Of course, if he (Najib) does not perform, there will be some necessity to switch horses.

“There could be a lot of disappointment and maybe a move to challenge him. That is normal,” the ex-prime minister who was in office for 22 years was quoted saying.

Pulai MP Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, also said Dr Mahathir should not have aired Umno’s dirty laundry with the election just weeks away.

But the son of one of Dr Mahathir’s staunchest supporters, the late Datuk Mohamed Rahmat, suggested the 87-year-old was only seeking to protect his legacy by campaigning for a BN win.

“Tun shouldn’t be talking about something negative at this point… I suppose he wants his legacy to continue by making sure BN wins.

“We can win actually (but) we need continuity to ensure BN can continue with its transformation and rejuvenation of its ministers and mentris besar,” Nur Jazlan told The Malaysian Insider.

Dr Mahathir was credited as the political force behind successor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s premature retirement from office in April 2009 ― despite winning the 12th general elections albeit with the loss of its parliamentary supermajority ― and paving the way for Najib’s rise to the top.

Previously, Dr Mahathir had repeatedly warned the country’s majority Malays that a weak government like Najib’s would give rise to non-Malay dominance, alluding to the liberal policies pushed by Najib and reading them as signs of growing non-Malay encroachment into Malay rights.

But the former prime minister had also called on voters to give Najib a chance, saying restoring BN’s parliamentary supermajority would help the Umno-led federal government consolidate the Malays’ position in the country.

But for some Umno members, Dr Mahathir’s statements could undo Najib’s vigorous push to maintain the party’s Malay powerbase and court the critical young ― seen to be the new kingmakers, according to the results of several surveys conducted in the past few months in the run-up to Election 2013.

“I am not saying he is wrong. I respect him. He is my former boss. But I believe we should be focusing on winning now. I would prefer to stick with positive things for now. Let’s support Najib,” said Padang Besar MP Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid, a former Umno supreme council member and an ex-minister.

Some political analysts have forecasted that BN will retain federal power at the polls that must be called by end-April when the current BN mandate expires, but have said that any win will be slim and unlikely to give it the customary two-thirds majority it enjoyed before Election 2008.

Other pundits, however, believe an opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) win at the polls may be possible, ushering a new regime into power for the first time since Independence in 1957.

Unity among BN members at its peak

BARISAN Nasional is all geared up to defend the Gerik parliamentary seat and Pengkalan Hulu and Temengor state seats in the 13th general election.

With Gerakan returning the Grik seat to Umno, the BN election machinery, particularly from Umno, is up and running and working hard to ensure victory for the BN candidate from Umno.

Gerik Umno division acting chief Datuk Hasbullah Osman is confident BN will retain all the seats as in previous general elections.

Hasbullah said his confidence stemmed from the fact that voters in the Gerik parliamentary constituency had thrown their full support behind BN despite the Gerik seat — traditionally an Umno seat — was given to Gerakan to contest in the 2008 general election.

He said such strong support had allowed Datuk Tan Lian Hoe to win the Gerik seat with a majority of 5,573 votes, the highest among BN members of parliament in Perak.

“For Pengkalan Hulu, incumbent Tan Sri Tajol Rosli Ghazali has left an outstanding track record in the state constituency, besides excellent services provided by BN teams.

“Therefore, even though a new face will be fielded in Pengkalan Hulu this time, I feel strongly that BN will retain the state seat,” said Hasbullah, who had been contesting the Temengor state seat since the 2004 general election.

He said BN was well prepared to counter any national or local issues or accusations brought up by the opposition during campaigning.He stressed that BN had never underestimated the opposition’s strength as it had always provided a stiff fight to BN.“We had the experience of becoming the opposition in Perak for 11 months. We don’t want that.”

He said unity among BN and Umno members was at its peak as grassroots members had learned from the bitter experience after the last polls.

PM: We can’t be too individualistic

UNITED WE STAND: We must have consideration for others, says Najib

PUTRAJAYA: EXTREME individualism will not be healthy for the nation’s wellbeing and development.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday that the country could not afford to have a society that’s too individualistic.

“Being individualistic will lead to one doing whatever one wants without considering others and this can lead to an extreme situation,” he told the crowd of 20,000 who had gathered for the “Jom Ceria Bersama PM” programme at Dataran Putrajaya.

The prime minister said the nation wanted those who could work together towards nation-building and strengthening the people’s unity.“By doing so, I believe the country will achieve more success.”

Najib added that he subscribed to the saying: “A country which plays together stays together.”

He said through various means, including organising sporting events, the people could tear down the walls that kept them apart, adding that unity among the diversified society would then be stronger.

To stay healthy, Najib also called on Malaysians, especially generation Y, to alter their sedentary lifestyle and become physically active.

He made the call as he was worried about seeing more and more Malaysians suffering from lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure.“The long hours spent in front of computer screens and sitting down while engaging with their smartphones and tablets will make them vulnerable to such illnesses as well as obesity.“My doctor tells me that many of us are suffering from hypertension,” he said, before joining thousands for a 5km walk under the programme.

Present were the prime minister’s wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor and Sports and Youth Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek.

Najib urged Malaysians, especially the younger generation, to improve their lifestyle through activities such as the “Jom Ceria” programme and other exercise activities.Rosmah later flagged off the thousands of participants.The event was organised by the 1Malaysia People’s Foundation and Putrajaya Corporation.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak being greeted by the people at the ‘Jom Ceria Bersama PM’ programme at Dataran Putrajaya yesterday

‘Najib’s 1Malaysia is the only way to go’

WITNESS TO HISTORY: Datuk Douglas Lee, who saw the fathers of the nation walk towards independence, reminisces about his brief, but robust involvement with the early MCA, a father who was larger-than-life and the personal moments etched in his memory. Balan Moses writes.

He was sacked twice from MCA by party president, Tun Tan Siew Sin, the Cambridge-educated and English-speaking lawyer, who did not sit well with the politics of the half-Englishman who spoke fluent Chinese.

However, Datuk Douglas Lee Kim Kiu, backed by his father, who was also one of Malaysia’s most illustrious sons, Col Tun Sir Henry Lee Hau Shik, dug in to remain in the nascent MCA, which the elder Lee had co-founded in 1949.

That Hau Shik was joined in the party’s formation by stalwarts like Dr Lim Chong Eu (later Tun and Penang chief minister) and Leong Yew Koh (later Tun and Malacca governor) was testimony to his political status.

“I was a pain in the neck for Siew Sin and his father, Tun Sir Tan Cheng Lock (also a former MCA president), but I did not waver,” the 89-year-old (he turns 90 on Dec 4) says of the epic feuds that he and his father, better known as Tun H.S. Lee, had with the Tans, “who could not speak Chinese while we were both Chinese-educated”.

The Lees, who come from a pedigree of Mandarins weaned on service to the emperor of the day and schooled in the finer graces of court and scholarly behaviour, had an initial edge over the Tans because of their close links with China and the Chinese community here.

But over time, Siew Sin, a Straits Chinese with astute political acumen, drew politically ahead of Hau Shik, who eschewed elected office and preferred the life of a successful businessman (his firm, H.S. Lee and Sons, is going through voluntary liquidation), with a commanding hand in Chinese affairs.

It was not that Hau Shik, who was the only Chinese signatory to the Malayan independence agreement in London, was lesser in social status, having been the scion of a tycoon with a vast business empire, besides having studied with the likes of King George VI at Cambridge University.

To be sure, the eccentric Hau Shik (his children’s Chinese names represent the places they were born in) did not contribute much to his own political life.

He “was aloof, rigid, not well-liked and called a spade, a spade”, which was in direct contrast with Douglas, who is congeniality personified.

It all boiled down to who had the support of the Malayan Chinese community and although the Lees initially held the winning cards, history records that the Tans eventually won in the game of politics.

Nevertheless, the victory was not before Douglas (Kim Kiu means “Cambridge” in Chinese) made his mark on the party as the youngest candidate in the first-ever elections in Malayan history in 1952. He won in the Imbi ward.

Later, he was Salak state assemblyman twice and MCA Youth secretary-general.

Still, that was that for the man who could not find a place for himself in MCA politics (he later joined Gerakan for an uneventful time as an ordinary member) and “bowed out of politics to become a gentleman”.

As for Hau Shik, who had started life by helping his father, Kwai Lim, run a silk trading firm called Kam Lun Tai or “beautiful silk shop”, Alliance leader Tunku Abdul Rahman made him the first transport minister in 1955 and afterwards, the first finance minister in the newly independent Malaya.

Douglas remembers eavesdropping as Tunku, Hau Shik and Tun Abdul Razak, among others, sat around a teak table at 22, Golfview Road (now Jalan Langgak Golf) in Kuala Lumpur, to plan their political strategies for Malaya.

The table is now at the home of his eldest son, Michael.

“Right from the beginning, I joined the right party (MCA). I still support MCA, but not the personalities in it.”

He says this with a forthrightness representative of the mettle that saw him through the difficult days of Malayan politics in the 1950s that mirrored divergent nationalistic and communal sentiments.

Douglas needs only a split second to hark back in time to the heady days when the first seeds of Sino-Malay political cooperation were sown.

The last living candidate from the epochal election that heralded the formation of the Alliance party (and later, Barisan Nasional) and a life-long advocate of multiracial politics, Douglas supports the 1Malaysia concept propounded by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

(MIC came only into the picture in 1955 as the third partner in the Alliance, after having unsuccessfully thrown in its lot earlier with the independence party of Malaya, which was led by charismatic leader, Dato Onn Jaafar.)

“This (the 1Malaysia concept) is the only way to go.

“I was born in Cambridge, England, raised in Zhenlong, China, and came to live in Malaya.

“But I am a Malaysian through and through.

“We are one country, one people,” he says with conviction, almost daring anyone to disagree with him.

I am sitting in Douglas’ office, shared occasionally by Michael, 64, at Wisma Central, one of the last vestiges of the Kuala Lumpur of the 1970s, with its quaint old-world ambience that has withstood the test of time.

Douglas, who used to look like one of the American actors in the 1940s, with his ramrod straight back, wavy salt-and-pepper hair, chiselled good looks and brilliant smile, is speaking to me about his nine decades of life through a haze of cigarette smoke.

Michael, who contributes to the pall hanging over us, is sitting in on the interview, which eventually stretches over two days.

He says he is here “to jog Dad’s memory”.

Douglas darts, instead of walks, to the washroom several times during the three-hour interview.

He is in amazingly good health, with a memory that would put people half his age to shame.

“I am one of those people who have never suffered ill health because I practise moderation in everything,” says the life-long Lion and name held in awe by members of the Malaysian and Kuala Lumpur Kwang Tung Associations.
He has smoked for 75 years and says his only exercise is feeding the koi in his pond at home.

Douglas’ mother, Dawn Kathleen Glen, studied with his father at Cambridge University.

She fell afoul of her mother-in-law, Kam Kwok-Chun, who was a powerhouse of a matriarch who ran her husband’s business empire in China with an iron fist and on two bound feet.

The resultant clash of cultures saw Dawn, who smoked and drove sport cars (“mother was very English”), leaving for home for good.

She took Vivien Leslie, her second son, with her.

Douglas remained with his father in Hong Kong.

Hau Shik eventually remarried, tying the knot with Kwan Choi Lin (“I actually introduced my stepmother to my father”).

She bore him seven children, including former deputy minister from Gerakan, Datuk Alex Lee.

There is a profound sadness that I see in the recesses of Douglas’ eyes when he talks about the mother he never knew (“I do not even remember her”) and the younger brother he only met as an old man for four days on a visit to London.

That trip was 15 years ago.

“I spent all my life trying to find my mother.

“Eventually, I went to see her at her last known address at 42, Clareton Street, London.

“I found that the area had become a park.”

He says this with the characteristic chuckle that signifies his acceptance of the vagaries of life.

Douglas also terribly misses his late wife and former Malaysian Red Crescent secretary-general, Datin Paduka Ruby Ong Chian Kim (nee Lee).

They had met in India, where both families took refuge during World War 2.

Douglas says that their parents did not like each other.

However, he is not one to be fazed by anything.

His zest for life (“I look forward to my beer and nasi goreng with fried egg on top for lunch”) is never unsettled by what life has thrown his way over the years.

I leave Kim Kiu Holdings with a sense of having lived vicariously through Malaysian politics in what was probably its finest hour.

A story, par excellence, told with verve and vim, by a man who saw it unfold.