Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Electoral Reforms, Good Governance and Statesmanship
- WHY DID THE POLICE SQUEEZE THE BERSIH CROWD TOWARDS THE PATRIOTS?
- What Should We Do Now?
- Wahai Hishammuddin
- Old Malaysia Is Gone! Long Live New Malaysia!
| Electoral Reforms, Good Governance and Statesmanship Posted: 09 Jul 2011 10:13 PM PDT
By batsman Sometimes it is the small things that matter. When talking about big things like electoral reforms, good governance and statesmanship, the critical things are in the small details. Too often people do not grasp the details and therefore find it hard to express themselves well. They know something is wrong, but they are unable to pinpoint the problem. Lets us discuss statesmanship. When our Prime Minister accuses an electoral reform grouping of threatening national security because it has given up hope of achieving free and fair elections through institutional channels and feel compelled to make their case through a public demonstration, the Prime Minister himself gives a fiery racially tinged speech to hysterical silat exponents on the eve of this public demonstration. In terms of statesmanship, it is similar to a Hutu call to arms. It is very similar to lighting the fires of Hutu – Tutsi hatred in Rwanda that bypassed the police and army. Not only are ordinary Tutsis endangered by such incredibly retarded brinkmanship, the moderate Hutus are also threatened in the hundreds of thousands by the fires of racial genocide. As if control over the entire police force is not enough. As if control over the entire army, navy and air force is not enough. The Prime Minister seems to be trying to ensure his personal position by preparing hysterical silat exponents in reserve. Such a non-statesman then accuses an electoral reform group of being a threat to national security for planning a peaceful rally. As a consequence the police force locks down the capital city causing grid locked traffic jams, and eventually tear gassing and water cannoning peaceful demonstrators calling for democratic electoral reforms. Such is the quality of statesmanship of our Prime Minister. Instead of being more like King Mohammad VI of Morocco, the PM seems to be trying to be more like Gaddafi of Libya. Instead of being more like Mandela, our PM seems to be trying to be more like Netanyahu. Such is his quality of statesmanship. It all seems to be in the fine details of character and decision making. Judge for yourself how much alike the treatment of Bersih 2.0's peaceful struggle is to the treatment of Palestinians struggling for their rights - Put Palestinians on a Diet (Residents of KL are punished by a blockade of KL in order to blame Bersih 2.0 for threatening national security) and Discourse on Palestinian resistance(Israel's use of violence is a constant just as Malaysia's tear gassing of peaceful demonstrators is a constant). Of course the level and acuity of struggle is not the same but in principle, the suppression meted out to people struggling for their rights is very similar. Somewhere in the articles in the Guardian and Al Jazeera linked above, there is mention that it is not possible for an oppressed people to initiate violence. This is an important detail which many people cannot express accurately. Bersih 2.0 is not the oppressor. How can it be the oppressor when the Prime Minister controls the police force with their tear gas, water cannons, batons, steel tipped boots and if needs be, rifles and guns? The Prime Minister also has control over the army which does not need tear gas and water cannons, but have high powered guns and real cannons in plenty. As if these are not enough, according to Bersih 2.0's complaints, the Prime Minister also controls the judiciary, the civil service and the mass media which are all biased in a party political manner. On top of all these the Prime Minister also finds a willing and hysterical audience amongst silat exponents ready to back up the police and the military as the 3rd defence force in reserve. Against all this raw brute power is tiny peaceful Bersih 2.0 headed by a frail woman from civil society and the PM accuses Bersih 2.0 of being a threat against national security. This is not only bad statesmanship but bad governance. If this is the quality of governance that comes from a bad statesman who whether competently or incompetently, consciously or subconsciously courts racial genocide, Malaysia it seems is heading for failed stateship. Electoral reforms are a necessity for a truly united Malaysia as opposed to a Malaysia ruled by narrow racist Malay nationalism for the last half a century. All the institutions of the state have been compromised by racism and narrow Malay nationalism. Without free and fair elections, a free and fair media, a neutral civil service, police and judiciary which have no interest in which political party wins the elections, Malaysia cannot be a truly united country. Suppression of electoral reforms is bad for the country, yet people who seek to suppress electoral reforms give themselves the appellation "Patriots". This is really turning things on their egotistical heads. This is a classic example of bad governance made to look good by a compromised media controlled by the Prime Minister and his cronies. Malaysia seems to be a country ruled by dirty tricks and too much dirty tricks such that dirty tricks have now run riot and no one is able to control them any more – from dirty elections to dirty frogs to dirty sodomy charges to dirty videos to dirty TV stations, to dirty press to dirty judges and dirty policemen to dirty MACC officers to dirty EC officers, not least dirty politicians. Such small details need to be expressed and expressed well. It is really sad to read reports of survivors of the Bersih 2.0 rally saying things like "we tried our best and gave it our best, but eventually it is the masses of people in the rural areas mind controlled by the media which is controlled by the cronies of the Prime Minister who will decide the future of the country". Somewhere in this statement is the important realization that the struggle for electoral reforms is linked to a wider struggle for good governance and eventually to the struggle for a Malaysian leader who is a good statesman. This realization should bring hope, not sadness – so I am not going to be sad. Somewhere in Bersih 2.0's struggle for electoral reforms is the seed of a truly united, truly peaceful and dynamic Malaysia, not the Malaysia controlled by narrow racist Malay nationalism with people purposefully manipulated and divided by racial and religious hatreds. Malaysia will not be a Rwanda. |
| WHY DID THE POLICE SQUEEZE THE BERSIH CROWD TOWARDS THE PATRIOTS? Posted: 09 Jul 2011 09:35 PM PDT
Why did the police push the Bersih crowd from Pudu into Bukit Bintang, knowing very well that their adversaries were up in arms there. Shouldn't the police and FRU start their purported peacekeeping advance from the other end of Jalan Pudu and move the Bersih crowd away from Bukit Bintang if the avowed red shirts were in Bukit Bintang with no agenda whatsoever save to counter the Bersih march? By K. Jeyaraj I was there at the Maybank- Jalan Pudu junction midday on 9th July together with thousands of fellow Malaysians. The true spirit of Malaysian nationalism, irrespective of creed, race, religion or wealth, was immensely seen and felt, ironically marching against a government which shields itself by slogans including the multibillion dollar 1 Malaysia propaganda. There was no violence whatsoever, no provocation whatsoever by the civilian marchers. The police and FRU fired water cannons and tear gas unilaterally and indiscriminately. We all ran helter-skelter. My eyes and face burned. The anxiety caused difficulty in breathing. An elder Malay lady and my Chinese friend offered me a towel and water. Recovering, the crowd gathered again peacefully but was pushed into Jalan Pudu in front of Pudu Raya by none other than the police and FRU. The crowd became sandwiched between the advancing FRU from Menara Maybank and their fellow marchers from the direction of Bukit Bintang. Indiscriminate firing of tear gas continued. Where else could the crowd go but jump down into the Puduraya basement floor, many risking a 5-8 feet fall. Sheer survival instincts made me and many others run into the compounds of the Tung Shin Hospital as there was nowhere else to go. The FRU and police from the Maybank junction had now advanced to the end of the Puduraya building. Behind the crowd there was another band of police and FRU blocking the crowd's retreat. I imagined the police were at the Bukit Bintang junction to prevent any advance to the stadium. As would a river find diverse outlets when blocked, the crowd seeped into little alleys and in between roads. I too scaled an opening in the fencing of Tung Shin hospital to escape the advancing police and FRU. The painful memory of tear gas was fresh and prompted my run. Then we found ourselves at Jalan Alor moving towards Bukit Bintang. A huge battalion of police and FRU could be seen near Federal Hotel. Having no alternative, the crowd moved the other way, which would reach My friend and I wanted to leave and walked in the direction of the Pudu LRT station, knowing we could neither go to the Puduraya station nor the Hang Tuah station. We were stopped by police who asked us go home. What clever advice when we were entrapped?! By then we could see the band of red t-shirts of the so-called Patriots in Bukit Bintang. I became startled. Why did the police push the Bersih crowd from Pudu into Bukit Bintang, knowing very well that their adversaries were up in arms there. Shouldn't the police and FRU start their purported peacekeeping advance from the other end In a puzzle, I was not taking any chances. My friend and I sneaked through the police and walked to the Pudu LRT and back home. |
| Posted: 09 Jul 2011 09:31 PM PDT
By Tekak Mendalam When the ruling junta collectively decided to let loose those brain-deficient For Rough Use personnel on the Rakyat, it meant that they are forcibly turning this previously democratic country into a police state. Make no mistake about that. As per pre-Mandela South Africa, we are closely falling headlong into lawlessness where witnesses are somehow coaxed into thinking that they can fly off tall buildings and outspoken activists go missing, where roadblocks are put up for no apparent reasons except to intimidate and people detained without trial at the stroke of the pen. Welcome to Bolehland where the King can be totally ignored and defied, not that they are doing themselves any favor by siding with the same bunch of klansmen who are overtly undermining their self-respect and dignity. But then again, what can one expect from the same group of ceremonial leaders who bred a Lord President who conveniently forgets the Rule of Law? "What HRH promised you and what we previously agreed upon are two different thing", so said the leader of the "my-wife-looks-like-shit" clan. "We promised you a stadium…in (drum roll please) Tim-buk-three"…on (more drum rolls) the 39th day of this month (not the 9th). Why isn't the AG screaming lèse majesté now? For those optimists who thought that this stadium thing was going to happen, sorry to burst your sanguine bubble. Mr. Crooked Shaft has already finished polishing his tool and having it wiped clean with a single Kleenex, his cousin is in no position to deter him from waving it around a bit, especially with his own personal lioness looking on. "Merdeka Stadium"? Kakakakaka. Never gonna happen. Once Mr. Crooked Shaft uttered the words "Illegal Organization", it was never going to happen, as the ruling junta cannot be seen to be collaborating with an illegal organization, as it will legitimize it. How can an organization So, ultimately it has to be a street rally after all and out comes the water cannons, tear gas, guns, batons and shields. What's the use of maintaining a fat police force in a corrupt police state if you do not use it once in a while as a tour de force? Throw in a bit of red shirts to stir up the concoction a bit and we could have a curfew or two, not that it will matter as our country is legally still in a state of emergency (from the communist threat that evaporated four decades ago). Fortunately this did not eventuate as the 200+ red shirts correctly determined that their chances of even a pyrrhic victory against 100,000+ yellow shirts are rather "slim", so to speak. Henceforth, with a white Estima following suit, these "patriots" were forced to merely distributing their extra "no-show" T-shirts to anybody who wants them, including migrant workers (regardless of whether these people are illegals or not). Pity it does not possess good water retention properties, as I really need a good piece of rag Even the faithfuls were forced out of their place of worship (does a Muslim need to seek official permission from the authorities to enter a mosque?). As of last count, over 1,400 people, or less than 2% of the total attendees, have been detained with one unreported death. What? No local media reports on the man who died after being hit on the head by a tear gas canister? Neither is there any local media report on the five tear gas canisters lobbed into Tung Shin Hospital? But then again, my eyes could have been simply playing tricks with me due to the sting from the gas fog swirling all around the atmosphere within my vicinity. Additionally, as of late yesterday, none of the 1,400 people could seek bail (or be allowed legal counsel) as they could be charged under the EO, which means that the junta can legally claim that they utilized over RM10 million a day to feed these poor misled souls in their forthcoming budget – RM14,000 to feed them two meals (each) and RM9,986,000 total delivery cost per day. There weren't 100,000+ people attending the rally yesterday? So the propaganda begins in earnest now with the junta getting a few of their pet rodents to testify that the total attendance were hardly 6,000 strong. Hypothetically speaking, if the junta mobilized 1,000 For Rough Use personnel, then the ratio would be 1:6 except that anyone there or anyone viewing the news on television would visibly see that the ratio of 1 For Rough Use personnel against 6 Rakyats is clearly misleading. So, either there were less For Rough Use personnel or there were more marchers, or that the people can't count, are cockeyed or unaware that a lot of the marchers were wearing invisible cloaks. (We already have phantom voters, what's wrong with having phantom marchers as well?) What is this rally all about anyway? For those sleeping beauties that haven't been kissed awake, it is all about Free and Fair elections, and what is so wrong about it that the entire police force were mobilized? Nothing, except to the party that profits from it being otherwise, and that is why you don't see or hear any of the coalition parties squeak, perhaps merely the 14th coalition member PIC with the Carlsberg bottle caps on his epaulettes (on direct instruction from his masters) with the rest as quiet as church mice fearing their ultimate demise in the next general election. And how are we going to ensure that? |
| Posted: 09 Jul 2011 11:52 AM PDT By Spiderman There is a concept in equity which says that only those with clean hands should come to the table. Or something like that. Anyway, I gather Hishammuddin Hussein being a lawyer is familiar with this concept. So he should refrain from commenting on the noble effort by Malaysians who gathered yesterday to march for a better electoral system. Until he and other cabinet ministers agree to declare their assets publicly, I don't think any Malaysians should bother listening to them. You may think I am being too harsh or even digressing from the issue at hand but I think this is really a crucial question. Let me put it this way. Would you listen to or take advice from a criminal, thief, robber, conman, crook, corrupt individual, person with ill-gotten gains or someone who is integrity-challenged? Nine out of 10 individuals would not, I believe. So why should we, taxpayers and law-abiding citizens of Malaysia, take heed of what individuals who don't want to disclose their assets say? Hishammuddin lives in the lap of luxury. Can he justify his fleet of luxury cars, private education for his children and overseas properties? Just like other cabinet ministers he won't. So who is he to pass judgement on honest blue collar workers and professionals who breached the so-called security blanket around the city. (I mean if some harmless men and women can make their way to Merdeka Stadium despite heavy police presence, God forbid we are ever invaded by a foreign power.) He says that Bersih's agenda has been assumed by Pakatan Rakyat. His evidence: there were shouts of Reformasi!. He says that the Election Commission need not entertain any more claims by Bersih. Hey, I thought the EC is independent so why is the home minister telling it what to do? He and the government can delude themselves all they. But this was a turnout of middle Malaysia, one-time supporters of Umno. These are people who make an honest living and believe that they deserve better. What they don't need is condescending views from individuals who don't have the moral standing or a spine. Everyone would like their leaders to be men and women of integrity. Can Hishammuddin or any other cabinet minister stand up to any scrutiny? Their actions in not wanting to declare their assets publicly suggests they can't. |
| Old Malaysia Is Gone! Long Live New Malaysia! Posted: 09 Jul 2011 12:34 AM PDT By batsman Saturday 9th July 2011 signals a landmark in Malaysian history. The old Malaysia of corruption, cronyism, abuse of power and arrogance of UMNO is on the way out! 9th July 2011 ushers in a new dawn! As a consequence of the tsunami of 2008, AAB was kicked out as President of UMNO. He was seen as too weak and too compromising. He was seen as allowing the situation to get out of hand by UMNO warlords. On 9th July 2011, the hysterical response of strongman and UMNO warlord NTR in suppressing democratic rights of the rakyat in a brutish crackdown on a Bersih 2.0 peaceful demonstration for electoral reform has drawn not only revulsion of the people of Malaysia but international condemnation. It now seems that neither the diffidence and weakness of AAB nor the brutality and strong-arm tactics of NTR offers any solution to the problems of Malaysia. The birth of a new Malaysia and true Malaysian nationalism cannot be stopped anymore. The narrow racist Malay nationalism of UMNO is being cast into the dustbin of history. Malaysians cannot be divided anymore into quarreling races and religions. Malaysia is being reborn as a true nation with a united people of all races and all religions. Although it is still not the end of problems and corrupt crooks will still try their best to kill off new Malaysia, there is a new awareness of true Malaysian nationalism. Long Live New Malaysia! |
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