How should we judge a government?

In Malaysia, if you don't watch television or read newspapers, you are uninformed; but if you do, you are misinformed!

"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing." - Malcolm X

Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience - Mark Twain

Why we should be against censorship in a court of law: Publicity is the very soul of justice … it keeps the judge himself, while trying, under trial. - Jeremy Bentham

"Our government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no
responsibility at the other. " - Ronald Reagan

Government fed by the people

Government fed by the people

Career options

Career options
I suggest government... because nobody has ever been caught.

Corruption so prevalent it affects English language?

Corruption so prevalent it affects English language?
Corruption is so prevalent it affects English language?

When there's too much dirt...

When there's too much dirt...
We need better tools... to cover up mega corruptions.

Prevent bullying now!

Prevent bullying now!
If you're not going to speak up, how is the world supposed to know you exist? “Orang boleh pandai setinggi langit, tapi selama ia tidak menulis, ia akan hilang di dalam masyarakat dan dari sejarah.” - Ananta Prameodya Toer (Your intellect may soar to the sky but if you do not write, you will be lost from society and to history.)

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Tarnished Silver State

What an irony... in the year of the Sultan's Silver Jubilee celebration, when soon after the power grab by BN in February, Tuanku did not turn up for the local celebration in Batu Gajah.

The tourism ministry's posters on both sides of the flyover across the North-South Expressway next to Bukit Gantang service area which featured then PM Pak Lah, DPM Najib and Azlina, saw Najib's pictures splashed with red paint and they were quickly taken off. Of course, BN lost the by-election where Nizar won to become MP as well as state assemblyman which made him Menteri Besar earlier before he was ousted.

Since then, we have read about countless police reports made, legal actions taken against each other, court rulings and legal opinions offered by all and sundry favouring either sides.

It would be an understatement to say that most Perakians are unhappy over the power grab as there was no shortage of letters and articles by concerned and fair-minded people born in Perak, including a former Court of Appeal judge. As expected, the powers that be chose 'rule by law' making full use of the partial Police to ensure the State Assembly sitting was presided by BN's own Speaker, after the shameful physical dragging of the rightful Speaker, YB Sivakumar out of the august house. How low can they get? We must remember this black day for the next general elections, expected in 2013. Below are excerpts of a letter, and some reports from Malaysia Insider. Malaysiakini's report has some nice pictures to show how disgraceful the event turned out.

It takes so little nowadays to be arrested
Farida J Ibrahim May 6, 09 6:17pm
I refer to the Malaysiakini report Bersih's Wong remanded for a day.It takes so little nowadays to be arrested. It takes so little to have handcuffs slapped on your wrists, to be denied legal counsel and to be furtively led into a car and whisked away in the midst of concerned members of the public, like in a cat-and-mouse or hide-and-seek game.

So it was with Wong Chin Huat, whose sole purpose in speaking up and urging participation was so that the people's rights could be restored, the people's voice could be heard and the road back to democracy could be paved. And to think that wearing a chosen colour is now a crime in Malaysia.

The police have long lost their impartiality. They have forgotten to uphold their sacred oath of office to uphold justice, peace and the law. Somewhere along the way the police force lost its way and now serves only its political masters. ...

One black day for police in Perak
The Malaysian Insider) IPOH, May 7 — Barbed wires and road blocks: this wasn't something the people of Ipoh were familiar with as they went about their business this morning. The police had blocked all access to the State Secretariat and this resulted in a traffic jam around the area.

At around 9am, protesters began to come out from the "closed" restaurant. They were wearing black T-shirts and held posters of the King. All were calling loudly for the state assembly to be dissolved.

Minutes later, DSP Glen Anthony noticed them and shouted, "Arrest them! Don't be soft on them, arrest them now!"
The protesters ran towards the restaurants but the police were able to nab a number of them.

Several assemblymen started to arrive and those without the secretariat-issued pass were denied entry. When PKR Wanita chief Zuraida Kamarrudin was forced out of the car, she started scolding the police.
"Why do you have to shout? Why do you have to act so uncivilised?" she said.
The police officer asked her to shut up but she wouldn’t stop talking. The officer then ordered her arrest.

At 9.50am, Ipoh Timur MP Lim Kit Siang and Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran were stopped by the police and asked to drive away. Both MPs and Kulasegaran's political secretary P. Sugumaran got out of the car and began arguing with the officers.

"I received an official invitation from the Speaker... I have a right to be here. This is my constituency," Kulasegaran argued.
A shouting match began between Sugumaran and the police. It finally ended when Sugumaran was arrested. Both Lim and Kulasegaran then decided to leave.

While Lim was driven off, he told reporters: " This is a war zone. This is a national and international disgrace. Even when we received official invitations from the Speaker, we are denied entry. It is most shameful and outrageous."

The police began to scout the area for protesters and made more arrests. They included Kubang Kerian MP Salahuddin Ayub.

"What we want is justice and we are willing to risk anything for it. We don’t mind losing as long as there is democracy,"
Salahuddin told reporters before he was arrested.

Was it worth it?

(The Malaysian Insider) MAY 7 — Hee Yit Fong got the position and attention she craved for today. Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir received the guard-of-honour treatment he desired so much. And Barisan Nasional completed the sordid power grab in the state of Perak, earning the right to titles, perks and position but not what matters most to any government — legitimacy.

The three defectors (two who need some cover from serious corruption charges and one who was unhappy at being treated like a doormat by her comrades in the DAP) can enjoy their new-found status as kingmakers in the assembly.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the BN can at last calm the nerves of members and supporters who were beginning to believe that the coalition had lost its ability to win at any cost.

But at what cost? Was the prize so valuable that it was worthwhile trampling on the image and standing of the country’s important institutions, the Federal Constitution and the sense of right and wrong?

Surely not. Even the most myopic BN supporter has to agree that achieving power through the backdoor has come at a great cost to the judiciary, monarchy and the police, not to mention the new leaders in Putrajaya who have been trying to erase the
negativity surrounding Umno with the 1 Malaysia concept.

So was it worth it? Was taking power through the backdoor worth it? Only Malaysians can provide the answer to that question. They should do so at the ballot box at every opportunity between now and the next general election.

And Roger Tan still believe there is fairness in our local politics!




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