Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- ‘Mystery’ shrouded deal to save AirAsia?
- Living costs soaring globally, but Najib vows help to Malaysians
- Kepimpinan UMNO peringkat bahagian wajib bersatu - Najib
- British rioters the spawn of a bankrupt ruling elite
- Militant groups fuel the fires
- Heads I Win, Tails You Lose!
- Tiada lagi elaun perpindahan bagi Cikgu !
- Reply to “The Religious Front”
- ‘Sodomy II attacks increased after Sept 16 coup bid’
- Voter Registration
- Unsolicited and free insight on BN's options
- Government working hard to address cost of living problem
- Chinese honour
- Cabinet member, Najib’s aides are ‘non-heterosexual’, says leaked US cable
- Jais alleges bid to convert Muslims at dinner
- Islam does not need crutches - Asri
- Waran tangkap terhadap 12 individu Muslim
- Panic on the streets of London
- Zaid: Raid is against Federal Constitution
- London riots
| ‘Mystery’ shrouded deal to save AirAsia? Posted: 10 Aug 2011 12:58 PM PDT By Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz, FMT The boss of Khazanah Nasional says that the MAS-AirAsia deal is, among other things, "not a bail-out" of MAS. Well, we have questions for him. Firstly, why was this deal worked out in the first place? Why AirAsia? Isn't AirAsia operating at some 40 times its price earning (PE) ratio? Looking at its numbers and the fundamentals, the high PE could mean that AirAsia stocks are overpriced. That may mean some boys are cooking up the numbers to set up the market and make killings. Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said MAS "can learn" from AirAsia on ways to cut costs. Does that mean all those damned exercise carried out by former MAS chief Idris Jala wasn't enough? Why don't we learn from Singapore Airlines or Qatar Airlines? Oh… we want to learn from our home-grown talent will be the likely answer. Commissions, commissions So what can we learn from AirAsia? Let's look at the home-grown talent's (AirAsia) records. As of the first quarter of 2011, AirAsia debts amounted to RM7.7 billion with cash balances amounting to RM1.7 billion. This part doesn't require teaching for MAS. Its executives are renowned masters. Let's see further. In August 2010, AirAsia announced a deferment of its proposed aircraft purchases but sometime in June 2011 it reversed its decision and proceeded to place an order for an additional 200 new aircraft at the Paris Air Show. No big deal, we can order as many as we want. Possibly the commissions earned from the purchases dwarfed the one earned from the Scorpene submarines. As of March 31, 2011 (first quarter report), AirAsia's capital commitments stood at RM19 billion. With the latest announcement, an additional RM54 billion will be added as capital commitments. The proposed capital commitments of about RM74 billion will be spread over a 15-year period ending 2026. In other words, AirAsia has to increase its earnings to an average of RM5 billion per annum to meet its future dues. From 2006 to 2010, AirAsia's revenue grew by ten-fold from RM110 million to roughly RM1.1 billion. This is an average growth of RM 200 million per annum. Now how will it reach RM5 billion? This, we will see in the coming months when AirAsia rationalises all its routes and what not. AirAsia's cash reserves rose six-fold from approximately RM300 million to RM1.7 billion. But its debts skyrocketed from RM1.05 billion in 2006 to RM7.7 billion in 2010, an increase of 700%. Surely this looks like a debt burden that is spiralling out of control. Scheming Fernandes This AirAsia-MAS deal is signed, sealed and delivered at an onerous and ominous time. The world economy, including Asia's, will be heading into another maelstrom and air travel will invariably be hit. So what can be done? One, AirAsia can cancel orders but contract penalties will be onerous. AirAsia wouldn't want to pay penalties, would it? The debt with Malaysia Airports Bhd (MAB) too, it dragged on for what seemed to be forever. That option is no go. But then why would anyone want to forfeit commissions (from the purchase of new planes)? Also, AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes is probably thinking along what economist John Keynes said: "When you are a big borrower, the banks are scared of you." So as a big borrower, Fernandes feels that size does matter after all! He thinks it will shield him from foreclosure as banks will be wary of bearing heavy losses! But also, a sizeable chunk of those loans are being held by Malaysian banks and in the worst-case scenario, the government and the taxpayers will have to pick the tab to avert a financial meltdown cascading down the AirAsia slope. Now let's take a look at MAS, currently the whipping boy but which is instrumental to further the game being played by Khazanah boss Azman Mokhtar and gang. MAS has a paid-up capital of RM3.384 billion and has a fixed asset value of RM8.4 billion. Its net asset is at RM 6.962 billion, where cash constitutes RM 2.086 billion. Compare that to the position of AirAsia, which we have pointed out above. AirAsia has borrowings of up to RM7.7 billion and its cash position is RM1.7 billion. In an earlier article, we pointed out that AirAsia has a record of being a bad debtor. It once owed MAB over RM65 million and whenever actions were taken against them, AirAsia would run to their chief counsel, former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. |
| Living costs soaring globally, but Najib vows help to Malaysians Posted: 10 Aug 2011 12:49 PM PDT
By Shannon Teoh, The Malaysian Insider Datuk Seri Najib Razak has told Malaysians to "face the fact" that rising cost of living is a global trend as the country continues to grapple with surging inflation. Although the prime minister promised to help ease the burden of rising prices on the public, he said "Malaysians must face the fact that world prices are unlikely to return to the levels of five years ago." "We are not the only ones faced with this problem, and we are certainly not the worst affected. We will devise the best strategies to ease the rakyat's burden while managing the country's economic development," he wrote on his blog in the 1 Malaysia website. Promising to continue subsidies which are already among the highest in the world, Najib said that Budget 2012, to be tabled in October, would focus on managing inflation as per the administration's new National Key Results Area on cost of living. "The government will continue to provide subsidies for daily travel, meals and health bills," he wrote. Public concern over price hikes has been heightened further as Putrajaya raised the price of fuel, sugar and electricity in June, a move it said was necessary to avoid the subsidy bill from doubling to RM21 billion. The Najib administration has committed itself to trim 2009's two-decade high budget deficit of 7 per cent but is under pressure to contain inflation which hit a two-year peak in March of 3 per cent before continuing to rise to 3.5 per cent in June.
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| Kepimpinan UMNO peringkat bahagian wajib bersatu - Najib Posted: 10 Aug 2011 06:10 AM PDT ASPAN ALIAS Najib telah mengingatkan pimpinan Bahagian-Bahagian supaya bersatu dan melaksanakan tugas parti secara bersatu bagi menghadapi pilihanraya yang mendebarkan yang akan tiba beberapa bulan sahaja lagi. Najib mengingatkan pemimpin-pemimpin bahagian-bahagian ini semasa majlis berbuka puasa dengan sahabat-sahabat semalam. Apa yang dikatakan oleh Najib itu semuanya benar kerana tanpa perpaduan di kalangan pimpinan bahagian UMNO dan BN akan menghadapi jalan sukar untuk memenangi pilihanraya nanti. Itu adalah asas kekuatan sesuatu parti apabila menghadapi pilihanraya nanti. Perpecahan diperingkat akar umbi pasti akan membawa bencana kepada UMNO.
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| British rioters the spawn of a bankrupt ruling elite Posted: 10 Aug 2011 06:03 AM PDT
THE riots in London and elsewhere in Britain are a backhanded tribute to the long-term intellectual torpor, moral cowardice, incompetence and careerist opportunism of the British political and intellectual class. British youth leads the Western world in almost all aspects of social pathology, from teenage pregnancy to drug taking, from drunkenness to violent criminality. There is no form of bad behaviour that our version of the welfare state has not sought out and subsidised. Theodore Dalrymple, The Australian They have somehow managed not to notice what has long been apparent to anyone who has taken a short walk with his eyes open down any frequented British street: that a considerable proportion of the country's young population (a proportion that is declining) is ugly, aggressive, vicious, badly educated, uncouth and criminally inclined. Unfortunately, while it is totally lacking in self-respect, it is full of self-esteem: that is to say, it believes itself entitled to a high standard of living, and other things, without any effort on its own part. Consider for a moment the following: although youth unemployment in Britain is very high, that is to say about 20 per cent of those aged under 25, the country has had to import young foreign labour for a long time, even for unskilled work in the service sector. The reasons for this seeming paradox are obvious to anyone who knows young Britons as I do. No sensible employer in a service industry would choose a young Briton if he could have a young Pole; the young Pole is not only likely to have a good work ethic and refined manners, he is likely to be able to add up and -- most humiliating of all -- to speak better English than the Briton, at least if by that we mean the standard variety of the language. He may not be more fluent but his English will be more correct and his accent easier to understand. This is not an exaggeration. After compulsory education (or perhaps I should say intermittent attendance at school) up to the age of 16 costing $80,000 a head, about one-quarter of British children cannot read with facility or do simple arithmetic. It makes you proud to be a British taxpayer. I think I can say with a fair degree of certainty, from my experience as a doctor in one of the areas in which a police station has just been burned down, that half of those rioting would reply to the question, "Can you do arithmetic?" by answering, "What is arithmetic?" British youth leads the Western world in almost all aspects of social pathology, from teenage pregnancy to drug taking, from drunkenness to violent criminality. There is no form of bad behaviour that our version of the welfare state has not sought out and subsidised. British children are much likelier to have a television in their bedroom than a father living at home. One-third of them never eat a meal at a table with another member of their household -- family is not the word for the social arrangements of the people in the areas from which the rioters mainly come. They are therefore radically unsocialised and deeply egotistical, viewing relations with other human beings in the same way as Lenin: Who whom, who does what to whom. By the time they grow up, they are destined not only for unemployment but unemployability. For young women in much of Britain, dependence does not mean dependence on the government: that, for them, is independence. Dependence means any kind of reliance on the men who have impregnated them who, of course, regard their own subventions from the state as pocket money, to be supplemented by a little light trafficking. (According to his brother, Mark Duggan, the man whose death at the hands of the probably incompetent police allegedly sparked the riots, "was involved in things", which things being delicately left to the imagination of his interlocutor.) Relatively poor as the rioting sector of society is, it nevertheless possesses all the electronic equipment necessary for the prosecution of the main business of life; that is to say, entertainment by popular culture. And what a culture British popular culture is! Perhaps Amy Winehouse was its finest flower and its truest representative in her militant and ideological vulgarity, her stupid taste, her vile personal conduct and preposterous self-pity. Her sordid life was a long bath in vomitus, literal and metaphorical, for which the exercise of her very minor talent was no excuse or explanation. Yet not a peep of dissent from our intelllectual class was heard after her near canonisation after her death, that class having long had the backbone of a mollusc. Criminality is scarcely repressed any more in Britain. The last lord chief justice but two thought that burglary was a minor offence, not worthy of imprisonment, and the next chief justice agreed with him. By the age of 12, an ordinary slum-dweller has learned he has nothing to fear from the law and the only people to fear are those who are stronger or more ruthless than he. Punishments are derisory; the police are simultaneously bullying but ineffectual and incompetent, increasingly dressed in paraphernalia that makes them look more like the occupiers of Afghanistan than the force imagined by Robert Peel. The people who most fear our police are the innocent. Of course, none of this reduces the personal responsibility of the rioters. But the riots are a manifestation of a society in full decomposition, of a people with neither leaders nor followers but composed only of egotists.
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| Militant groups fuel the fires Posted: 10 Aug 2011 05:57 AM PDT
THE media coverage of the British riots and the political response reveals an inexcusable incomprehension of the internal forces that are destroying Western societies. Central to this strategy is the rapid mobilisation of agents provocateurs such as the Black Bloc cadre, with their dark clothing, hoodies, ski masks, scarfs and helmets, who appear rapidly at such incidents to initiate violence and property destruction. Merv Bendle, The Australian It would be laughable, if it weren't so serious, to hear the cliches about poverty, racism, police victimisation and budget cuts cited as the causes of this violence and criminality, as if this narrative of oppression explains or excuses the wilful self-destruction of these urban communities. The dismissal of the rioters and looters as criminals is also lazy and short-sighted. Such violence is increasingly common in Western societies as their social structure slowly disintegrates. And it particularly reflects the volatile situation that exists among the urban underclass in large cities that have suffered de-industrialisation in the past 50 years and now house various marginalised and alienated communities of unemployed people of various ethnicities, many of whom survive on welfare and come from families that have not been in the mainstream workforce for generations. This situation has occurred also because of a failure of governance in Western societies, illustrated above all by the impotence of the police and the legal system, as most of those apprehended will escape with minor if any penalties. However, these riots and their rapid escalation are not spontaneous but reflect the co-ordinated efforts of self-styled revolutionary groups determined to incite and escalate outbreaks into urban insurrections. Central to this strategy is the rapid mobilisation of agents provocateurs such as the Black Bloc cadre, with their dark clothing, hoodies, ski masks, scarfs and helmets, who appear rapidly at such incidents to initiate violence and property destruction. The police and media are only now noticing their highly co-ordinated activities in Britain, despite their high profile in demonstrations against globalisation. At this stage, these groups don't aspire to lead a revolution, but the riots serve two functions. First, they confirm their radical theoretical analysis of Western society, which makes the urban underclass central to their revolutionary strategy. Second, the riots are seen as playing a vital role in the radicalisation and empowerment of this underclass, which learns how to organise and that it has little to fear from the police or the state. Western society is doomed, rotting from within, according to such groups and the post-Marxist revolutionary theory that is pervasive on the radical Left, especially within the anarchist, anti-globalisation and radical environmental movements. According to this perspective, the squalor and alienation of the urban underclass constitutes a "pre-revolutionary condition" that can be exploited by an organised revolutionary elite to mobilise a mass uprising. A representative manifesto of this militant tendency, The Coming Insurrection, attributed mysteriously to "The Invisible Committee", was published in French in 2007 and in English in 2009. The Invisible Committee sees itself as a successor to ultra-left terrorist groups of the 1970s and 80s, including the Baader-Meinhof Gang, the Weathermen and the Red Brigades. The Coming Insurrection sees Western civilisation in apocalyptic terms. The West is "clinically dead [and] kept alive [only] by all sorts of life-support machines that spread a peculiar plague into the planet's atmosphere". Consequently, "what we're facing is not the crisis of a society but the extinction of a civilisation . . . its clinical death". What is required is "to decide for the death of civilisation, then to work out how it will happen". All that is needed is the "decision that will rid us of the corpse", and that decision is to join the coming insurrection and launch direct action against the system. The book identifies components of a rapidly emerging revolutionary situation in Western societies: the global financial crisis and high-profile crimes and scandals associated with the rich and powerful; climate change and escalating environmental destruction; the alienation of youth, the failure of the educational system and widespread unemployment; political corruption, incompetence and inertia; urban degradation, irreversible demographic changes, anti-migration sentiment and ethnic conflict; the accelerating collapse of the welfare state; and spreading social chaos in many countries. It sees these factors as components of a systemic crisis that will overwhelm liberal democracies. Central to this insurrection will be an alienated generation that "has known nothing but economic, financial, social and ecological crisis". "Everyone agrees," it begins, "it's about to explode." Suitably led, this force will exploit "the truly revolutionary potentiality of the present" to implement "a new idea of communism", conceived as "the matrix of a meticulous, audacious assault on domination", led by alienated youth, marginalised groups such as European Muslims and the radicalised underclass. In the face of this revolt, "the future has no future". The front line will be the metropolis, "one of the most vulnerable human arrangements that has ever existed" and susceptible to a "brutal shutting down of borders . . . a sudden interruption of supply lines [and] organised blockades of the axes of communication", so that "the whole facade crumbles [as it] can no longer mask the scenes of carnage haunting it from morning to night". The Coming Insurrection and others like it showcase the tradition of radical extremism shaped by prominent post-Marxist theorists such as Michel Foucault and Antonio Negri, who was imprisoned on serious terrorism charges but still was allowed to publish a series of radical diatribes against the West -- Empire (2000), Multitude (2004) and Commonwealth (2009) -- all extremely influential in radical circles and academe. According to these books, the US is at the top of a global capitalist "Empire", assisted by NATO, the G8, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organisation and similar agents of oppression and exploitation. Beneath them is the economic oligarchy of multinational corporations and subservient nation-states such as Britain or Australia. All of these are targets of direct action, sabotage, terrorism and so on, along the lines detailed in The Coming Insurrection. The objective is to achieve "true democracy" as exemplified by the UN and international non-governmental agencies such as Greenpeace, parliamentary democracy being a sham that perpetuates capitalism. The British riots provide fertile ground for the promotion of this ideology and we are making a great mistake if we ignore the role played by these highly motivated militant groups. Merv Bendle is senior lecturer in history and communications at James Cook University.
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| Posted: 09 Aug 2011 11:35 PM PDT By Masterwordsmith The poor performance of MAS in the last two quarters was a matter of concern to many. Then came the explosive announcement that Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia will swap shares in a deal which will see Tan Sri Tony Fernandes become the single biggest shareholder. The deal was apparently stealthily sealed after negotiations that stretched for about a year. Many are alarmed over this development which poses serious concerns that Air Asia can dominate MAS thereby reducing competition between the two to the detriment of end-users. In the long run, this could lead to a virtual monopoly of the domestic airline industry. In such a scenario, we will be exposed to the risks and concerns associated with such a monopoly bearing in mind that other cronies and political power brokers could be lurking in the shadows. When Singapore joined Malaysia in 1963, it shared Malaysia's common currency. Later on, Singapore was expelled, became independent in 1965 and lost its monetary union. In 1967 Singapore established a Board of Commissioners of Currency and released its own notes called the orchid. The orchid is now known as the dollar (SGD). Today, the exchange rate is RM2.5: SIN$1. So why merge MAS and Air Asia when we should be talking about the poor performance of MAS? South of the border, a premium airline is raking in money while in our own homeground, the opposite is happening!! Why can't MAS stay afloat despite the many injections over the years? (Read Is Mas Still EMAS?)
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| Tiada lagi elaun perpindahan bagi Cikgu ! Posted: 09 Aug 2011 09:02 PM PDT Oleh Che'gu Bard Banyak pendedahan pembaziran wang negara telah didedahkan. Dari ketirisan dalam perbagai sektor dan perbagai peringkat hinggalah kepada pembaziran Keluarga Perdana Menteri Malaysia itu sendiri. Namun rakyat dibawah terus diarah berjimat. Terbaru che'GuBard mendapat email dari teman-teman yang pernah sama sepengajian yang masih berkhidmat sebagai pendidik. Mereka mengeluh kerana meremenerima perbagai tekanan. Sudahlah perbagai peruntukan untuk sekolah dipotong. Ketika dikhabarkan RM111 juta diperuntukan untuk program PERMATA milik Imelda Rosmah tetapi sekolah bantuan penuh kerajaan yang sepatutnya menjadi tempat utama pendidikan rakyat telah dipotong perbagai peruntukan dan diarahkan berjimat. klik untuk membaca lanjut http://chegubard.blogspot.com/2011/08/tiada-lagi-elaun-perpindahan-bagi-cikgu.html |
| Reply to “The Religious Front” Posted: 09 Aug 2011 08:59 PM PDT By AsamLaksa Firstly I agree with batsman that religion and politics mix. I have no trouble with that even as I am a strong supporter of separation of religion and the state. In fact I don't think any Malaysian will deny that religion and politics mix. What I disagree with is the over simplistic view of the author. UMNO has no qualms mixing politics with religion and so was PAS at one time with the Islamic State agenda. The author has not really explained the shift in PAS politics towards the Erdogan-like faction. Is the author intentionally not telling the whole story with his constant anti-secularist stand? PAS wants to widen its appeal in Malaysia. It wants to move out of the rural Malay heartland strongholds. As a party with aspirations to run the federal government it has to raise capable leaders who have the political savvy, knowledge and skills. A hardline Islamic stance will deter many, including many Muslims. Thus a younger generation of better educated leaders with a wider world view. The effect of this is greater acceptance by non-Muslims and educated Malays. The downside is that PAS erodes its position as the traditional conservative defender of Islam. You can't please them all. The balance of religious influence in Malaysia is heavily slanted against all other religions besides Islam. The Christians would be very naïve indeed to not know that religion and politics do mix as they can see examples of this throughout the world such as in the Philippines and Indonesia. The question is that what are they going to do about it? Following the similar model of UMNO style Islamic politics will make things worse because it would give UMNO a real face to their made up fears of a threat towards the Islamic position in Malaysia. So the Christians have to tread carefully. There has been more recent action by Christians who urge their believers to vote against BN and the spinmeisters in UMNO have portrayed this as an attempt to unseat Islam as the top faith in Malaysia. So I doubt that the non-Islamic faiths are leaving their struggle on the shoulders of the secularists but rather that more overt politicking by them will make matters worse by inciting further UMNO sponsored hate and breaking down inter-faith cohesion even among themselves. There is no need for other faith based political parties. So where does the (much disliked by the author) so called secularists come in? They don't appear at all! You see just recognising that politics and religion do mix or insisting that politics and religion don't mix does not solve the problem. This is where the author falls flat because he does not appear to have the slightest idea of what to do next. Sure the non-Muslims can be sensitive to PAS' problems but PAS has to take action to remedy any wrongs be it making JAIS a more professional outfit and be consistent in speech and actions. I would urge JAIS to seriously investigate, obtain irrefutable evidence and charge lawbreakers in court for consistency and not just play politics and public opinion. In realpolitik terms, fair enough non-Muslims must be sensitive to Muslims and everyone else. It does not help that Muslims appear insensitive to non-Muslims. And the non-Muslims are basically fed up with it and I think PAS knows this too. I doubt that other religions reject politics in Malaysia. I suspect they are repressed and this JAIS raid is the usual attempt to show who is boss by their lack of consultation and consensus. This can only happen when there are laws and state instruments that allow such actions. As long as we have this status quo, the Muslims will always feel superior and will never come to the table with other faiths as equals. In truth many Malaysian Muslims do not want to be equals; thus this never ending conflict. Now the secularist has no problem with considering all religions as equal but the religionist cannot. In a truly secular state, there will be no automatic state support for JAIS. JAIS would only be supported for positive religious activities in line with the doctrine of freedom of religion which means no more raids which are negative conduct. But that is very far off from the current religiously polarised Malaysia of Islam vs the rest and a bloody nightmare for many Muslims. It is interesting to note that mixing of politics and religion are more likely to take place in more backward areas as can be seen in the Bible belt in the USA. Just like in the USA, this problem will not go away and you cannot please everyone. The best bet for PAS and PR for that matter is to balance the harms and benefits towards the direction of their coalition and the sentiments of their supporters. UMNO may monopolise the support from hardline Muslims and it is the job of the others to reduce the numbers of the hardliners. I would like to see batsman taking more action by telling the misguided Muslims to perhaps be more sensitive to non-Muslims rather than defending an unprincipled status quo. |
| ‘Sodomy II attacks increased after Sept 16 coup bid’ Posted: 09 Aug 2011 08:59 PM PDT
The US expects another dirty round of judicial exploitation by the ruling coalition to kill off Anwar Ibrahim. (Free Malaysia Today) - Washington believed the intense attack on Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim while facing his Sodomy II trial escalated out of fear over his Sept 16 attempt to wrest federal power through mass defections. A leak diplomatic cable by whistleblower site WikiLeaks – published in Malaysia Today today – also showed that the US expected another dirty round of judicial exploitation by the ruling coalition to kill off the PKR leader's political career as Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak would want his nemesis wiped out. "Senior Malaysian authorities were very aggressive in handling the present case during the initial period of June-September 2008, but, coinciding with the passing of Anwar's deadline to bring down the government through parliamentary cross-overs, have since taken a more measured 'rule-of-law' approach in public. "The authorities have not taken all the legal and extra-legal measures available to them, for example, to challenge Anwar's bail provisions or resolve an earlier impasse regarding the court venue," political counsellor with the Malaysian US Embassy, Mark D Clark, was quoted as saying. Anwar is currently in the docks for the second time in 10 years for allegedly sodomising his aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan in 2008 just months after the opposition scored significant gains in the March 8 polls the same year. He claimed openly that the charges were trumped up and were engineered by Najib, who was deputy prime minister at the time, and wife Rosmah Mansor – an allegation they denied. Anwar's defence lawyers have asked the court to grant them rights to interview the two but both said they will not do it unless subpoenaed. Clark said in the cable that the court would likely favour Najib and Rosmah and not force them to face Anwar's lawyers. 'Conviction is the desired outcome' The leaked cable further stated that it concurred with the view that conviction would see Anwar, now in his mid-60s, "killed off" while Najib would make it pass as a "normal law enforcement matter". It also said that indications of political interference and manipulation in the present case (Sodomy II) are compelling.
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| Posted: 09 Aug 2011 08:57 PM PDT Come register as a voter this weekend and next weekend at Rumah Anak Bangsa Malaysia (RABM) from 2-4pm. Details below: Date: 13-14 August (Saturday & Sunday)Time: 1-4 pm Venue: If you're already a registered voter, you can drive all your friends and family who are not yet a voter to RABM this weekend! |
| Unsolicited and free insight on BN's options Posted: 09 Aug 2011 08:54 PM PDT By J. Di' Lovrenciear These past three years since, BN has been fast sliding down the road of political survival. Hence today it is very evident that BN has gone on the defensive with the 'opposition' coalition party trenching into an offensive advantage. Why? The problem is the leaders and power brokers within the BN army have been operating from an out-dated mindset for far too long. They failed to grasp the revolution taking place within societies with Malaysia being no exception in this globalizing and networked society. Civil society, through the liberating technologies of the new-age millennium, has increasingly harnessed the power of democratic governance. Our leaders have failed to take cognizance of the fact that society is "being changed from arborial beings, rooted in time and space, to rhizomic nomads who daily wonder at will without necessarily moving (their) bodies at all" (Mark Poster, 1990). When governments and leaders fail to recognize and accept the fast changing landscape of socio-political fundamentals, the civil societies pour into the streets. Their action cannot be curtailed by the age-old tested and proven means of threats, arrests, punishment and absolute controls. The more you take as prisoners and kill, the more will rise like a tidal wave. Time remains the defining factor. Our leaders and their ill informed advisors need to know that what we are witnessing around the world today is the advantages of "cybernations evolving … people sharing an interest, exchanging information and possibly arranging to meet with one another … on a global basis (providing) the distant village dweller the opportunity to make contact with any person, anywhere in the world" (Rolf Jensen, 1999). And throughout the history of humanity, we have ample attestation to prove that when people come together systems fall apart, and resurrect a new framework to help propel that society onward. BN had the disadvantage of a comfort zone for far too long. Whether it will be able to restructure itself to face the already changing Malaysian society is the million-ringgit question. Given BN's political warfare tactics, it appears that transformation is quiet unlikely within its own yard. For as long as it continues to keep reinforcing itself with the justifications, admonishments and smear tactics of race, religion and sex, it is bound to sink even further. BN leaders (past and current) continue to live in a self-denial mode. They keep clamoring that the 'opposition' with its "pack of lies" is hurting BN and misleading people. This clearly tells us that BN is blinded to the truth about the networked society. In today's environment even a doctor knows that he or she cannot anymore just tell the patient to follow instructions. The doctor is matched and challenged by the patient's access to knowledge and practice and insists in a participatory role on the route to recovery. BN leaders must accept the fact that there is an awakening within civil society. That society is no more caught within the limitations of the Penny Press of a by-gone era where psy-war could move societies according to the whims and fancies of power brokers. Even media moguls today are rudely being awakened to this changed information landscape in the world. It appears that there are only two options left for BN as the country suspiciously creeps to its impending 13th general election. One, is for BN to accept the fact that it does not anymore have the privilege of time and resources to do a through spring cleaning of its entire framework of entrenched political mindset and untenable political SOPs. And in doing so, prepare the ground work to return to power as a shining star of hope in the 14th general election. But most people know this would be a hard-to-swallow pill of salvation for BN because it may never rise again as the in-coming winning political party may go on a killing spree in its attempt to bring back all stashed-away wealth for the benefit of civil society's growth and empowerment. Then the other alternative is for BN to seek a sincere act of contrition. This will demand that BN goes into overdrive mode to purge its party of all misdeeds and bring to book in a transparent and without fear or favor manner all those who have thrived on crimes of misappropriation and corruption. That will call for intense and courageous shake up strictly starting from the very top and going right down to the grass root levels. It would necessarily demand reviewing and enforcing all Royal Commission recommendations of the past; addressing the judiciary; the police and related enforcement bodies; and review and repeal of laws that hint a protection of power brokers but vilify the ordinary civil society. Now to do so, BN need not engage exorbitant external consultants. The middle path to accountable, transparent and justified governance is clearly plotted in the road map of Vision 2020. Hence for as long as BN hollers all kinds of accusations and throws cry-baby tantrums at the opposition party leaders and accuses and admonishes citizens while counting on the large sector of rural electorates, BN is destined to make a dangerous fall down the ravine of political obsolescence. So stop blaming your opposition enemies. Stop slamming labels of 'ungrateful public' on citizens' foreheads. Stop raising alarm bells of laws that will come crushing on the 'enemies' of BN. Stop devising and remote-managing race and religious fueled political war strategies. As the late John Denvor sang, indeed "The times have changed". Either BN changes with the times or sinks like a stone. If it changes and embraces the aspirations of civil society it has every reason to celebrate. If BN takes the old and expired political route of acting tough, branding its opponents as enemies and not embrasing them as collaborators, then BN leaders must only blame themselves for their half-a-century dinasour political party's demise. The very fact that citizens are expressing their concerns over BN's governance is already a hopeful signal that they are still giving that last straw to the leaders and power brokers of BN to transform before God and man. But when all else fails, civil society will join the world of peaceful protestors. That is the dictum of true democracy and rising civil liberties on this planet earth. J. Di' Lovrenciear |
| Government working hard to address cost of living problem Posted: 09 Aug 2011 08:47 PM PDT
A lesson learned from the UK riots (Bernama) -- The government will work hard to ensure that the problem faced by the people with regard to the cost of living could be tackled in the wake of the challenging global condition, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. The Prime Minister said it was the responsibility of the government to do whatever was best in tackling the rising costs and find ways of reducing its effects on the people.
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| Posted: 09 Aug 2011 07:59 PM PDT
It is very difficult, I know, for some of you to comprehend that the triads had honour and code of ethics. But then I am talking about the triads of the 1960s, 50 years or so ago. Times have changed, though. Even the politicians of the 1960s had honour. Today, the politicians are worse than criminals. The politicians, today, would not meet the high standards of honour that the triads of the 1960s had. NO HOLDS BARRED
I learned about 'Chinese honour' from the streets of Kuala Lumpur. This was back in the 1960s, before May 13. The streets I am talking about are Petaling Street, Sultan Street, etc. Basically, this is what the tourists would call Kuala Lumpur's 'Chinatown'. I was no older than those kids who rioted all over London and in Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Leicester, Birmingham, Croydon, etc., over the last few days. In fact, I was exactly that age, in my teens. That was me back in my 'younger' days. My 'street name' then was 'Chap Chong Kia'. I 'found' my first girlfriend in Petaling Street. She and her sister sold sugarcane in front of the Rex cinema. The problem is she spoke not a word of English or Bahasa and my Chinese was a rojak-mix of Hokkien, Cantonese and Hainanese and confined to street lingo like ta sei, pinto ley, niamah, fai ti chow, and so on. Invariably, our 'dates' in the Malaysia Snack Bar, across the road from the Rex cinema, had to be held in the presence of an interpreter. There was no way my 'girlfriend' and I could communicate without the assistance of this interpreter -- and until today I still don't know whether the exchanges of communication between us were a true translation of what transpired or whether my interpreter 'sabotaged' me and translated the opposite of what we said. Anyway, 'Uncle Lee' can tell you how I won the 'competition' to win her heart. Well, let's face it, I was better looking than Uncle Lee so certainly he would have had to lose out to me. Nevertheless, the relationship did not last because of the absence of intellectual discourse between us. Yes, you probably would have suspected by now that I was 'jalan' with the Long Fu Thong, the triad that controlled that part of Kuala Lumpur. I was far from a 'Tiger General' and certainly not one of the 'soldiers' -- so I was spared the task of having to engage in any gang wars. But the streets of Kuala Lumpur were a scary place back in the days prior to May 13. Many a time I had to run for cover as parangs 'flew' and blood spattered the streets. I always believed that those who fight and run away live to fight another day. So I ran like the devil was on my tail. And that is why I am still around to tell my tale. I admit that I lost many friends. But that is the price we have to pay for our association with the triads. Those who live by the sword die by the sword. Some died in a hail of bullets. Some got 'chopped' to death, the 'traditional' punishment for being on the 'wrong side' of the street ('salah jalan', as we would say then). But all this was accepted as an 'occupational hazard' and we just shrugged off these loses and moved on. Eventually, we all grew up and grew out of all this. We were kids and this was what kids did back in the 1960s prior to May 13. But we learned a very important lesson. And that lesson was there is honour amongst thieves. In fact, there was more honour amongst triad members then, than you would find amongst 'honourable' people like politicians and leaders today. We respected 'authority'. We had a very strict code of ethics that you broke only on pain of death. Punishment was swift and brutal and you would always pay for your crime of breaching the code of ethics and of having no honour. It is very difficult, I know, for some of you to comprehend that the triads had honour and code of ethics. But then I am talking about the triads of the 1960s, 50 years or so ago. Times have changed, though. Even the politicians of the 1960s had honour. Today, the politicians are worse than criminals. The politicians, today, would not meet the high standards of honour that the triads of the 1960s had. We were not criminals, as such. We did not rob, steal, sell drugs, or beat up defenceless people. We were the enforcers. We kept the peace. We kept the streets that we 'controlled' safe from crime so that honest and decent people could live their lives and conduct their business unhindered. The residents and shopkeepers did not shun or defile us. They welcomed our presence because they knew we did what the police could never do -- we ensured their safety. (In fact, the people feared the police but did not fear the triads). Whenever any new business opened up the owner would seek us out to request 'protection'. They were at liberty to decide whether they needed protection or not. There was no compulsion but once they offered to join the protection 'scheme' their premises were 'off-limits'. No one would dare 'violate' these premises. To do so would mean death. It was a good system back in the 1960s. It was how things worked then. Everyone was happy and the police did not have to worry about crime on the streets. All the police could do was to arrest the perpetrators. The triads, however, made sure that crime is eliminated through the elimination of the criminals. As I always said: you eradicate the plague by killing the rats. This was more or less how matters were resolved on the streets of Kuala Lumpur 50 years or so ago. Yes, enforcement of the law was swift and brutal. You disturb the peace and you die. You can't run riot and burn shops and houses and beat up innocent and defenceless people -- like what is now happening all over the UK. In fact, you still can't do that in the Chinatown areas of the cities in the UK. It can happen in white, black or 'brown' parts of the cities in the UK, but not in the Chinatown areas. Try and the punishment would be swift and brutal. Do I sound nostalgic? I suppose I am. The Malaysian Chinese of today are not the Chinese I knew back in the 1960s. The Chinese of today have no honour. They do not understand things such as code of ethics. They have no scruples. There is no longer any camaraderie. What has happened to the Malaysian Chinese? Last weekend, I went to the funeral of a local Chinese leader from Liverpool (see photos below). That suddenly brought back fond memories of the Kuala Lumpur of 50 years ago. It appears like the Chinese in the UK -- those from London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, etc. -- still retain the honour and code of ethics that we once knew back in Kuala Lumpur in the 1960s. Yes, that's right. I think you know what I am talking about and whom I am talking about. The camaraderie and brotherhood amongst the Chinese here is very strong indeed. Brothers look after brothers. Brothers do not sell out brothers. Malaysian Chinese should make a trip here and learn a thing or two from the UK Chinese. Those in their 60s and 70s would probably recognise this as Kuala Lumpur back in the days when they were still teenagers. My respect for the Malaysian Chinese honour and code of ethics of the 1960s knew no bounds. It is very difficult to feel the same way about the Malaysian Chinese of today. They will sell their own mother for the right price. Look at DAP. DAP leaders are badmouthing and sabotaging fellow DAP leaders. In the 1960s, these types of Chinese would 'disappear' without a trace. They would be executed and their bodies dumped into one of the many mining pools surrounding Kuala Lumpur. Maybe it is time to bring back the old Chinese honour and code of ethics. Maybe it is time that the triad laws are, again, enforced and those treacherous DAP leaders with no honour and code of ethics be made to suffer a swift and brutal punishment. Maybe only then will the DAP Chinese leaders understand what honour and code of ethics mean.
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| Cabinet member, Najib’s aides are ‘non-heterosexual’, says leaked US cable Posted: 09 Aug 2011 05:32 PM PDT
(The Malaysian Insider) - A recent Cabinet member and some of Datuk Seri Najib Razak's senior aides would have found themselves under investigation for homosexual "behaviour" if the government were on a morals campaign, according to a leaked United States diplomatic cable. The cable to Washington from the US embassy here cited the "non-heterosexual behaviour" of an unnamed Cabinet member and Najib aides in its primer for State Department officials to understand the alleged political act of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's Sodomy II prosecution. "Anwar's prosecution is not part of a morals campaign. The GOM does not aggressively target non-heterosexual behaviour; if it did so, a recent cabinet minister, senior staff associated with PM Najib and other prominent citizens linked to the government also would find themselves under investigation," US Ambassador James R Keith said in the diplomatic note to Washington that was leaked by whistleblower site Wikileaks through the Malaysia Today website. The cable did not name the Cabinet minister or Najib's aides. But Ambassador Keith pointed out that the facts of the case against Anwar made it clear that the prosecution was foremost a political act against the Opposition Leader. "The Malaysian government does not aggressively prosecute cases of sodomy; we find record of some 55 cases since 1991, or an average of 3 per year. The vast majority of such cases involve adults assaulting minors," Keith wrote. Keith also reiterated a long held view of the US government that Anwar's original Sodomy prosecution 1999 had been grossly manipulated by former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. He also pointed out that "keeping in mind Najib and Anwar remain bitter enemies, it is striking that Najib met personally with the complainant Saiful prior to the police report." The US ambassador also noted the involvement of senior politicians in the case as well as the leakage of information. "From the very early stages, the senior-most officials in the government, including then PM Abdullah, current PM Najib, cabinet ministers, the AGO and national police chief (the latter two having played important roles in Anwar's 1998-1999 flawed trials) and officials of the ruling Umno party have been intimately involved in decisions regarding the case, according to Embassy contacts and publicly available sources. "Senior government leaders provided law enforcement information on the case to leaders of Anwar's coalition partner, the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS), in an unsuccessful attempt to split PAS from the opposition. A recent internet report claims that the government has provided some government-directed press editors with a 'sneak preview' of evidence against Anwar." The cable appears to have been written in 2009 just before Anwar's trial started. Anwar is currently facing sodomy charges for the second time in his life. He was charged with sodomy and corruption in 1998 after he was sacked from the Cabinet, and was later convicted and jailed for both offences. He was freed in September 2004 and later resurrected his political career by winning back his Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat in a by-election in 2008, which had been held in the interim by his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. He later led the loose pact of PKR, the DAP and PAS to a historic sweep of five states and 82 parliamentary seats in Election 2008.
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| Jais alleges bid to convert Muslims at dinner Posted: 09 Aug 2011 05:11 PM PDT
(The Malaysian Insider) - Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) is investigating the organisers of a thanksgiving dinner held on church premises last week for attempting to convert Muslims. Lim Heng Seng, lawyer for 10 of the 12 Muslims present at the "1Malaysia Muhibbah Fundraising Dinner" at Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC), said the department confirmed this in a letter sent today. "Jais informed that they are investigating a case involving the offence of persuading, influencing or inciting a Muslim to change his faith under section 4 of the Non-Islamic Religions Enactment 1988," he said in a statement today, clarifying his client's absence from turning up at the Jais office. Section 4 of the enactment makes it an offence for a person to "persuade, influence or incite" a Muslim to be inclined to any non-Islamic religion, become a follower or member of a non-Islamic religion or forsake or disfavour Islam. Those found guilty of the offence face a jail term not more than one year or a fine of RM10,000 or both. Jais had been responding to a letter from Lim enquiring into the legal provision under which his clients were being asked to report to the state religious authority for "pre-counselling sessions". Jais enforcement officers raided the fundraising dinner last Wednesday night without a warrant after receiving an unspecified complaint, bringing with them a team of policemen.
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| Islam does not need crutches - Asri Posted: 09 Aug 2011 05:02 PM PDT
(Harakah Daily) - Muslim scholar Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin said Islam was built upon reason and sound argument, and as such did not need to prove its truth through enforcement agencies. In further remarks following the Selangor Islamic Religious Department's presence at a church dinner function over complaints that there were attempts at propagating Christianity to Muslim guests there, Asri told news portal Malaysiakini that the truth of Islam can be shown using sound arguments and not through preventive enforcement actions to stop Muslims from being influenced by non-Muslims.
On the other hand, Muslims should naturally be able to exert their influence on adherents of other religions, he said.
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| Waran tangkap terhadap 12 individu Muslim Posted: 09 Aug 2011 04:53 PM PDT
Jais telah menyerahkan surat serta menelefon individu-individu terlibat dan mereka sepatutnya memberi keterangan semalam namun gagal berbuat demikian. (Free Malaysia Today) - Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor (Jais) akan mengeluarkan waran tangkap ke atas 12 individu Muslim kerana gagal hadir memberi keterangan bagi membantu siasatan berhubung pemeriksaan terhadap Gereja Methodist Damansara Utama (DUMC), Seksyen 13 di sini. Penolong Pengarah Bahagian Siasatan dan Penguatkuasaan Jais, Sharom Maarof, berkata pihaknya akan mengeluarkan waran tangkap terhadap mereka dalam tempoh terdekat ini. Jais telah menyerahkan surat serta menelefon individu-individu terlibat dan mereka sepatutnya memberi keterangan semalam namun gagal berbuat demikian. Tindakan itu katanya diambil selepas mereka enggan memberikan kerjasama walaupun pihaknya sudah menyerahkan surat termasuk menelefon untuk hadir. "Jais akan memohon waran tangkap dalam tempoh 24 jam daripada Mahkamah Syariah selepas surat dikeluarkan hari ini (semalam). Sepatutnya mereka hadir membantu siasatan, tetapi seorang pun tiada," katanya. Pada 3 Ogos lalu, Jais menyerbu gereja DUMC selepas mendapat maklumat ramai orang Islam menghadiri majlis di gereja berkenaan.
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| Panic on the streets of London Posted: 09 Aug 2011 04:48 PM PDT
PENNY RED I'm huddled in the front room with some shell-shocked friends, watching my city burn. The BBC is interchanging footage of blazing cars and running street battles in Hackney, of police horses lining up in Lewisham, of roiling infernos that were once shops and houses in Croydon and in Peckham. Last night, Enfield, Walthamstow, Brixton and Wood Green were looted; there have been hundreds of arrests and dozens of serious injuries, and it will be a miracle if nobody dies tonight. This is the third consecutive night of rioting in London, and the disorder has now spread to Leeds, Liverpool, Bristol and Birmingham. Politicians and police officers who only hours ago were making stony-faced statements about criminality are now simply begging the young people of Britain's inner cities to go home. Britain is a tinderbox, and on Friday, somebody lit a match. How the hell did this happen? And what are we going to do now? In the scramble to comprehend the riots, every single commentator has opened with a ritual condemnation of the violence, as if it were in any doubt that arson, muggings and lootings are ugly occurrences. That much should be obvious to anyone who is watching Croydon burn down on the BBC right now. David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, called the disorder 'mindless, mindless'. Nick Clegg denounced it as 'needless, opportunistic theft and violence'. Speaking from his Tuscan holiday villa, Prime Minister David Cameron – who has finally decided to return home to take charge - declared simply that the social unrest searing through the poorest boroughs in the country was "utterly unacceptable." The violence on the streets is being dismissed as 'pure criminality,' as the work of a 'violent minority', as 'opportunism.' This is madly insufficient. It is no way to talk about viral civil unrest. Angry young people with nothing to do and little to lose are turning on their own communities, and they cannot be stopped, and they know it. Tonight, in one of the greatest cities in the world, society is ripping itself apart. Months of conjecture will follow these riots. Already, the internet is teeming with racist vitriol and wild speculation. The truth is that very few people know why this is happening. They don't know, because they were not watching these communities. Nobody has been watching Tottenham since the television cameras drifted away after the Broadwater Farm riots of 1985. Most of the people who will be writing, speaking and pontificating about the disorder this weekend have absolutely no idea what it is like to grow up in a community where there are no jobs, no space to live or move, and the police are on the streets stopping-and-searching you as you come home from school. The people who do will be waking up this week in the sure and certain knowledge that after decades of being ignored and marginalised and harassed by the police, after months of seeing any conceivable hope of a better future confiscated, they are finally on the news. In one NBC report, a young man in Tottenham was asked if rioting really achieved anything: "Yes," said the young man. "You wouldn't be talking to me now if we didn't riot, would you?" "Two months ago we marched to Scotland Yard, more than 2,000 of us, all blacks, and it was peaceful and calm and you know what? Not a word in the press. Last night a bit of rioting and looting and look around you." Eavesdropping from among the onlookers, I looked around. A dozen TV crews and newspaper reporters interviewing the young men everywhere ''' There are communities all over the country that nobody paid attention to unless there had recently been a riot or a murdered child. Well, they're paying attention now.
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| Zaid: Raid is against Federal Constitution Posted: 09 Aug 2011 04:43 PM PDT
The Kita president defends the right of Muslims to religious freedom which he says is enshrined under Article 11. (Free Malaysia Today) - Kita president Zaid Ibrahim said the controversial church raid by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) would not have taken place had Article 11 of the Federal Constitution been upheld. More than 30 police and JAIS officers stormed a thanksgiving dinner at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) premises last Wednesday. The authorities claimed they had received a complaint that Christians were attempting to convert the 12 Muslims present at the dinner that night. Until today, no evidence or details of the complaint had been made public. Zaid however pointed out that the true essence of Article 11 forbade proselytising to Muslims but acknowledged a Muslim's right to religious freedom. "Kita believes that this freedom belongs to everyone – Muslims and non-Muslims – and is a fundamental right of every human being," he said in a statement today. "We believe it is cruel for anyone to be forced to accept a religious belief or faith that he or she in all good conscience has renounced or refuses to believe in." The lawyer-turned-politician warned of similar raids in other parts of the country and of more Muslims being punished for exercising their freedom to believe. "There will be more confusion and an escalating war of attrition among religious communities," he predicted. "State laws will continue empowering officers to make arrests and raid premises so that they can make sure Muslims are not in the company of evangelical Christians." Zaid rapped JAIS of being too duty-bound in preventing Muslims from exercising their right to convert instead of understanding what "lies inside the heart of Muslims". "JAIS is simply happy to punish and imprison someone like Kamariah Ali (a follower of Ayah Pin) and regard her as a deviant Muslim," he said. "It does not matter what her true beliefs are, just as it does not matter if she is happy with the faith." Silence from the Pakatan camp The former PKR supreme council member also said that the Pakatan Rakyat component parties would not support the true meaning of Article 11 for different reasons. PAS, he said, would not step up because of its belief that freedom of choice would give a "lesser" Muslim the opportunity to deviate from the faith. He added that PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim would not risk his chances of becoming prime minister while DAP would be concerned about losing votes and Penang. "That explains why the great defenders of freedom in Pakatan had to issue a gag order. Don't address sensitive issues, is what they seem to be saying… get to Putrajaya first," he said.
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| Posted: 09 Aug 2011 04:14 PM PDT
ART HARUN I have been rather sarcastically asked on Twitter such questions as, "you support freedom of assembly, you want Malaysians to riot like the Londoners?". Another twitterati asked me, "Art, you support the riots in London?". Frankly, I am amused to my bone by such questions. I am amused because the attempts at justifying the banning of public rallies in Malaysia by referring to the riotous behaviour of some others displays a certain degree of shallowness, if not lack of intelligence. We all have freedom as human beings. There is no restriction on what we eat, for example. But eating without limitations, both in term of quantity and quality of the food, could harm our health. Do the majority of us eat until we harm ourselves? Granted, there are people who eat without a thought to their calorie intake; fat contents and the attendant harmful effects of the food. The point is there are also people who exercise their freedom to eat in a responsible manner. So, may I ask, shall the State pass laws to restrict our freedom to eat just because some people eat until they die? Think about it. Some people are simply yobs and thugs. These people did not rally or attend a demonstration as an exercise of their freedom to assemble. They are not pursuing any valid or legitimate cause. They are just there to create trouble. Some are just there to loot. Some to look for a victim to rape. That's the difference. If anybody fails to see the difference, then I dare say he or she is blinkered and is all too eager to justify the unjustifiable by drawing a misconceived comparison. The Tottenham riot apparently started from several peaceful rallies. Those rallies took place because the people wanted to show their anger against the police who had allegedly shot a guy by the name of Mark Duggan in a mini-cab. The police said he was a gangster and he shot at the police when he was stopped. So the police shot him dead. The people got angry with the police and they started a peaceful rally. We can surely learn a thing or two from this story. Firstly, in modern democracies, police killings are frowned upon by the society. In the US for example, there is an automatic inquiry into every case of discharge of arm or killing by the police. This is different from the inquest. The function of the inquest is to determine how the deceased died. It makes findings of facts but not of guilt or the lack of it. The inquiry however requires the officer to justify his or her shooting or killing. Compare that to Malaysia. Our police kills even those who drive without license! Those who panic upon seeing a road block and tried to evade it are also shot at sometimes. Once in a while, we would have news of the police shooting dead not one, but four or five people who are suspected rapists, robbers or gang members. In other cases our police would storm into houses and shoot even a pregnant lady. Those who drive off despite being asked to stop would be shot at without hesitation and any regard for the safety of the passengers in the vehicle. Normal and healthy people die in police custody. There was one who died frothing in his mouth. I wouldn't say that our police acts with impunity. But the fact is as members of the public, we do not have a clue whether all these shootings and killings could firstly, be avoided and secondly, are necessary. We do not even know whether there were several other options available to the police to apprehend all these suspected bad people and whether the police has availed themselves of all those options before opening fire and kill that person. In the UK, obviously the public take these matters seriously. One guy is shot and it caused a riot! How about here? Well, before the age if the internet, we wouldn't even know about the killings. The newspaper and TV3 or RTM would set out the news with pictures of parangs and old pistols allegedly recovered from the deceased. Thanks to the internet, nowadays we become more and more aware. The Aminul Rasyid killing is a case in point. He was only 14. His only offences were probably driving without a license; he did not stop after being ordered to do so and driving fast and recklessly while fleeing the police. He was killed! In the UK, the whole government could have gone down if that had happened there. Over here, we just made noise. The police officer would be charged for some offences. Then we forget.
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'Rethink Islamic education'
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