Tuesday 27 November 2007

Truth and justice are no longer a Malaysian way

Interesting read i received from cyberspace


Michael Backman
The Age
THE Government of Australia will probably change hands this weekend. There will be no arrests, no tear gas and no water cannons. The Government of John Howard will leave office, the Opposition will form a government and everyone will accept the verdict.
For this, every Australian can feel justifiably proud. This playing by the rules is what has made Australia rich and a good place in which to invest. It is a country to which people want to migrate; not leave.

Now consider Malaysia. The weekend before last, up to 40,000 Malaysians took to the streets in Kuala Lumpur to protest peacefully against the judiciary's lack of independence, electoral fraud, corruption and a controlled media.

In response, they were threatened by the Prime Minister, called monkeys by his powerful son-in-law, and blasted with water cannons and tear gas. And yet the vast majority of Malaysians do not want a change of government. All they want is for their government to govern better.

Both Malaysia and Australia have a rule of law that's based on the English system. Both started out as colonies of Britain. So why is Malaysia getting it so wrong now?

Malaysia's Government hates feedback. Dissent is regarded as dangerous, rather than a product of diversity. And like the wicked witch so ugly that she can't stand mirrors, the Government of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi controls the media so that it doesn't have to see its own reflection.

Demonstrations are typically banned. But what every Malaysian should know is that in Britain, Australia and other modern countries, when people wish to demonstrate, the police typically clear the way and make sure no one gets hurt. The streets belong to the people. And the police, like the politicians, are their servants. It is not the other way around.

But increasingly in Malaysia, Malaysians are being denied a voice — especially young people.
Section 15 of Malaysia's Universities and University Colleges Act states that no student shall be a member of or in any manner associate with any society, political party, trade union or any other organisation, body or group of people whatsoever, be it in or outside Malaysia, unless it is approved in advance and in writing by the vice-chancellor.

Nor can any student express or do anything that may be construed as expressing support, sympathy or opposition to any political party or union. Breaking this law can lead to a fine, a jail term or both.

The judiciary as a source of independent viewpoints has been squashed. The previous prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, did many good things for Malaysia, but his firing of the Lord President (chief justice) and two other Supreme Court judges in 1988 was an unmitigated disaster. Since then, what passes for a judiciary in Malaysia has been an utter disgrace and the Government knows it.

Several years ago, Daim Zainuddin, the country's then powerful finance minister, told me that judges in Malaysia were idiots. Of course we want them to be biased, he told me, but not that biased.

Rarely do government ministers need to telephone a judge and demand this or that verdict because the judges are so in tune with the Government's desires that they automatically do the Government's beckoning.

Just how appalling Malaysia's judiciary has become was made clear in recent weeks with the circulation of a video clip showing a senior lawyer assuring someone by telephone that he will lobby the Government to have him made Lord President of the Supreme Court because he had been loyal to the Government. That someone is believed to have been Ahmad Fairuz Abdul Halim, who did in fact become Lord President.

A protest march organised by the Malaysian Bar Council was staged in response to this, and corruption among the judiciary in general. But the mainstream Malaysian media barely covered the march even though up to 2000 Bar Council members were taking part. Reportedly, the Prime Minister's office instructed editors to play down the event.

Instead of a free media, independent judges and open public debate, Malaysians are given stunts — the world's tallest building and most recently, a Malaysian cosmonaut. Essentially, they are given the play things of modernity but not modernity itself.

Many senior Malays are absolutely despairing at the direction of their country today. But with the media tightly controlled they have no way of getting their views out to their fellow countrymen. This means that most Malaysians falsely assume that the Malay elite is unified when it comes to the country's direction.

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, a former finance minister and today still a member of the Government, told me several weeks ago in Kuala Lumpur that he could see no reason why today Malaysia could not have a completely free media, a completely independent judiciary and that corrupt ministers and other officials should be publicly exposed and humiliated.
According to Tengku Razaleigh, all of the institutions designed to make Malaysia's Government accountable and honest have been dismantled or neutered.

It didn't need to be like this. Malaysia is not North Korea or Indonesia. It is something quite different. Its legal system is based on British codes. Coupled with traditional Malay culture, which is one of the world's most hospitable, decent and gentle cultures, Malaysia has the cultural and historical underpinnings to become one of Asia's most civilised, rules-based, successful societies.

Instead, Malaysia's Government is incrementally wasting Malaysia's inheritance.

Thursday 15 November 2007

Where's the democracy?

I wonder how the hell did Zam become our minister of (mis)information. If any of you had watch the Al Jazeera interview with our beloved minister regarding the recent BERSIH rally, you would be shocked by his choice of words. Let alone suffer his constant stammering.

He kept contradicting his words on top of his constant insult of other nations. Lets make a TOP 3 list of his nonsensical chatter which to me is nothing more than 'hot air' coming out of a moron...

1. he said its ok to protest (because we are a democracy), then he said its illegal to have protest because we have erection (election)

2. he said we have 'ERECTION' once every 5 years... i'm not sure about him, but i think i get enough erections!

3. he mentioned burma and myammar as being 2 different countries... err... so i take it he thinks beijing and peking are 2 different states?

perhaps English is not the first language in Malaysia - i guess we could pardon him for being english challenged.... however - as the minister of INFORMATION... the nation's spokesmen.. WTF?????

however, his contradictions are worse than Mclaren's decision iro the England Football team... (come on Russia!).... the dude keeps digging and the hole inevitably gets deeper...

anyhow... i'm just really ashamed of the whole fiasco... my views on BERSIH are as follows:

1. why is the protest / march illegal in the first place? don't you remember that if Malays did not march (peacefully) against the Malayan Union in white scarf... we might still be under British rule? (not sure if that's a bad thing.....

2. why is our legal system so fucked? i dont get it? i read somewhere that a recent World Bank survey on resolution of commercial disputes that ranked Malaysia 63rd among 178 countries, and a report by the US State Department warning American businessmen that cases before the Malaysian courts take inordinate amounts of time to be adjudicated. One case of medical negligence, he said, took 23 years to reach the Court of Appeal.

countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong have very similar legal system as us... similar laws, and whose judges and lawyers are trained as ours, are ranked in these surveys as amongst the best in the world (Hong Kong is placed first and Singapore ranks fourth). The reason is obvious: these countries have undertaken major reforms in their court structure and procedures and have introduced more efficient and transparent commercial courts so as to attract the foreign investor.”

3. why did the local press not cover the protest? why no mention of tear gas and water cannons? How come all write ins from the public to public newspaper were 'anti-protest'.....

4. how did Malaysia get to this state?

5. i'm still not ready to vote - as i dont know who to vote for... all i want is a govt that FOR the RAKYAT... and not just themselves and playing mindless stupid 'war of words' and name callings... such as the stupid asshole who used words like 'sam seng' 'stupid' 'babi' etc in parliament (because he couldnt find words to construct proper sentences).... i'm not sure if the opposition can help me.... but one thing's for sure... the govt isnt...

anyhow... i'm too sick to write anymore.... the RAKYAT needs to realise that the powers that be arent supporting us.... its SICK SICK SICK i tell you.... sigh.... i think Namewee should write another song telling these morons such as Zam to FUCK OFF and go back to grammar school...

guys... the comedy doesnt end there.... there's gonna be another Al Jazeera interview tonight at 10.30 this time with the 3 stoogers... Khairy, Imzat and Nazri... better get your popcorns ready for i hear that its gonna be the COMEDY of YEAR!!!!

anyhow... please take the time to watch the following videos...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1_GQ-K7P_w this is the link to mr Zam's stuttering

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9S0W4iyegs - the prime minister and his nephew tokkok

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9zmRMoDt58 - Malaysian's at the crossroads....

BRING THE POWER BACK TO THE PEOPLE! GET UP STAND UP.... DONT FORGET YOUR RIGHTS!!!!