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PAS : KE ARAH PEMERINTAHAN ISLAM YANG ADIL
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KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 (AFP) - A leading opposition official Friday
urged Malaysia's
cabinet to review a patriotism campaign which he said fuelled "greed
for glory at any
price."
Lim Kit Siang was commenting on a claimed South Pole millennium
parachute jump
which never took place, as the controversy hit the headlines again.
Youth and Sports Minister Hishamuddin Hussien Onn has pledged an
"in-depth"
inquiry into an Antarctic expedition by Malaysian parachutists after
organisers admitted
that a jump at the South Pole did not take place as earlier claimed.
The skydivers returned Tuesday from the Antarctic to a heroes'
welcome. But Siva
Kumar, organising chairman, acknowledged as true a complaint by a
splinter group that
a jump on January 13 at the Pole did not occur, as earlier reported.
He blamed what he called misinformation supplied to Malaysian
organisers based in
Chile by Russian officials involved in the multinational effort.
The Malaysians made just one jump in the Antarctic, 1800 km (1,125
miles) from the
South Pole, on January 1.
On Friday a member of the splinter group, Kamaruddin M. Isa, was
quoted as saying
that organisers knew even before they left Malaysia in December that
they would not be
given permission to jump over the South Pole.
Kamaruddin was quoted by the Star newspaper as saying the Russian
organisers of the
expedition had told the Malaysians in advance that a South Pole jump
would be
impossible due to dangerous weather conditions.
Siva Kumar denied the report. "Nobody ever told us (beforehand) we
would not be able
to jump on the South Pole," he told AFP.
Lim, chairman of the Democratic Action Party, said the fiasco called
into question a
"Malaysia Boleh!" (Malaysia Can!) campaign launched by the culture
ministry last
August to spur a spirit of patriotism.
Lim said the affair had sullied Malaysia's image and "showed that all
is not good and
right with the 'Malaysia Boleh' frenzy, resulting not in a pursuit of
excellence but of
greed for glory at any price."
In a statement he urged the cabinet to consider reining in the
campaign so as not to
promote outlandish and purposeless pursuit of fame "devoid of the
values of honest
endeavour, commitment and excellence."
Youth Minister Hishamuddin, announcing the inquiry into the jump
which was financed
by a government loan, told reporters: "We have had too many proposals
of being the
first, the biggest, the smallest and so on. We will look at such
projects strictly from now
on."
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad used the Malaysia Boleh! slogan
frequently in the
run-up to the November 29 election, when highlighting national
achievements.
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