Malaysian Progressives in Australia are concerned that international students and temporary visa holders throughout Australia would be excluded from affordable COVID-19 testing, at a time where cases have skyrocketed across Australia.
Malaysian Progressives in Australia (MPOZ) welcomes the clarification brought by the announcement of Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) leadership lineup. The ambiguity over the leadership has caused considerable speculation for months now and has made it difficult to pin down PH’s exact policy platform and unified ideology going into GE14. While MPOZ fully supports the objectives of reform and anti-corruption in this announcement, we observe that it contains evidence of significant compromise. We urge that there is much political work to be done if Pakatan intends to safely defeat the rotten Najib administration and its Barisan cronies in the next election.
As progressives, our attitude to parties contesting the election is and always has been about ensuring maximum participation in the democratic process, and a fair economy where the resources of the nation are drawn from the wealthy and invested in the people who need them most. In considering the PH announcement, our overriding concern is the ability of PH to deliver such a platform, and how the involvement of Bersatu has compromised that ability.
MPOZ notes that DPM Ahmad Zahid has just completed a 3-day working visit to Australia. He was accompanied by Deputy Home Minister Datuk Masir Kujat and other senior government officials. It was his first visit to Australia since taking office in 2015.
The stated purpose of the visit is to strengthen “bilateral relations on matters related to security, counter-terrorism, and transnational crimes”. The visit occurred on request of Australia’s Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton.
Given the purpose of the visit and the officials involved, MPOZ believes a response is warranted, for the benefit of Malaysian students overseas especially.
MPOZ acknowledges the traditional owners of the land we meet on -
We pay respect to the Elders both past and present and extend that respect to other Indigenous Australians past, present and emerging.
The land was never ceded, and the struggle for Aboriginal recognition continues today. Always was, always will be Aboriginal Land.
