On Air: Razali Ismail in centre, with the host and I.
Yesterday when I was walking in the lobby of Parliament house, I saw the RTM producer, Azli, and I jokingly said to him that RTM has not invited me to attend their programme Selamat Pagi Malaysia.
I then asked him to invite me to Selamat Malam Malaysia instead.
He then asked whether I was free today so that he could invite me to go on air. He asked me to attend the programme on comments after live telecast of Dewan Rakyat sitting today. I told him that if my oral question doesn’t come up as the first ten questions, I will be happy to oblige.
Today I arrived at Parliament at 9.40am. I entered the small studio in the media room in Parliament house. My counterpart was Umno MP for Muar YB Razali Ismail.
I jokingly complaint to the producer that I wanted the MP for Kinabatangan and MP for Seri Gading as the other guests so that I could taruh them nicely on TV. Razali Ismail is a lawyer and has a good command of English but he champions the Malay race and Islam, and make people like us a bit confuse with his real stand on certain contentious issues.
It is interesting to watch live telecast of Parliament sitting in the studio. I then realised RTM filmed MPs who were listening to the speech of minister and MPs without their knowledge.
The live telecast session ended at 10.30am. It was quite a lively session on question one when Rais Yatim trying to use question one to blast United States for interferring in Anwar Ibrahim’s case. From TV screen, I can see that there was quite a roar in the Dewan Rakyat when he was giving his answer.
Razali and I then gave commentaries on the 30 minutes telecast session after that. I then gave my views on foreign interference into Malaysia’s domestic affairs. I said our government has criticised Thai government over the persecution of Muslims at south of Thailand, we have criticised Burmese government over Rohingya Muslim issue, as well as over the killing of Benazir Bhuto in Pakistan etc. This shows that Malaysian government has been “interfering”into the domestic affairs of other countries too.
I also gave an example that on principle we should not meddle into the affairs of our neighbours, however if our neighbour trying to kill his wife and children or torture them, it is our duty to intervene as human being.
Razali Ismail has to agreed with my statement to a certain point, but then he argued that all these instances involved human lives while in the Anwar Ibrahim’s case no lives were lost. I reminded him that Anwar Ibrahim was almost beaten to death in 1998 when he was detained in lock-up. That’s why when Anwar was charged on sodomy for second time, it is natural for foreigners to voice their concern on his case, so that history would not repeat.
We then discussed about issues related to Selangor state government, life as an exco and MP at the same time etc. It was quite a good exchange between Razali and me.
After the programme, Razali said that this kind of programme is good forum for me as I am able to pass message to the fence seater and able to convey to them what the Selangor state government has done for the people.
I have to admit this to certain extent, but to allow Pakatan Rakyat MP to appear on TV also will make RTM and BN look good, as people will see that they have repented and are now more open to dissidents and different views now.
So, it is win win for both sides. Please give us more chance to appear in RTM in future lah 
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“I have to admit this to certain extent, but to allow Pakatan Rakyat MP to appear on TV also will make RTM and BN look good, as people will see that they have repented and are now more open to dissidents and different views now.”
Teresa, don’t for one second think that the BN has repented.
No matter how stupid they are, they know that their backs are against the wall now! And they’ll do whatever they can and more to gain favour with the PR MPs.
I’m sure that you have read about AAB’s promises after the tsunami of 8th March that there will be reforms, but did you see any?
In fact, they are more set in the old ways!
I’m sure you know who or what you are dealing with when dealing with the BN.
Didn’t we regret fifty-one years of BN rule?
Or do you want more?
no lives were lost? LOL. How about the injuries of the supporters of anwar? They almost lost their lives…
America just worry that someone may misuse their power(BN) which might have violated human rights laws
BN government act like more communist than a democratist/democrat. They still control the media and we would not allow to talk anything bad about the government.
Compare to other countries such as Taiwan and America, they can talk anything bad about their politician and can make fun of them. If we say anything bad of government, we might end up in ISA.
just finished watching Lim Guan Eng and Tsu Koon slugging it out over NTV7. It is heartening to see this happen. Under Mahathirism, such TV programmes are more difficult to procure than hard core porn on RTM.
Jokes aside, while I admire YAB Lim’s enthusiasm and commitment, he did not answer the ex-chief’s question about 1.8mil or 40 mil and that cost him some points in the debate. Personally I felt that Tsu Koon is a capable person but playing in the wrong team. Gerakan to Pakatan? I am all for it.
I coined the term, “ostrich foreign policy”. It is a convenient tool if a bunch of banana republics close to each other condone atrocities in the neighbours’ back yard.
Come on minister Razali, we can’t wait until people die then we take action. If this is your stand, what about the monks killed in Myanmar and Thailand?
As early as the 1950’s and 1960’s , the good old USA have the Marshall Plan and Peace Corp. Those are noble initiatives.
The current government tell us ready for globalisation, want our sportsman and women to do well in international tournaments and yet refuse to put up a stand if something is wrong and needs responsible people to stand up and take action.
When a country is affluent, civilized and developed, it breads compassion and spare capacity to help. Rich people who donate and assist are lauded. Malaysia should aim to be one such nation, even to the extend of speaking out against cruelty and injust in the world, not limiting to Palestine and Israel which are much further than Thailand and Myanmar