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Posted: 10 Sep 2012 08:51 AM PDT

His press statement called on the Home Minister to "apologize for the police's harsh and heavy-handed treatment".

He described the handcuffing of Sing Yee as "nothing but an abuse of power and an act of humiliation", and criticized the police as "insensitive, irresponsible and not making any sense" (compared to the kid-glove treatment of BN leaders when they are charged for corruption). See Malaysiakini, 'Guan Eng: Handcuffing girl is double standards'.

He further described Sing Yee as a "young, powerless and defenceless kid" who has been victimized by the "bullying and cowardly tactics of Hishamuddin [Hussein] that question his fitness as Home Minister".

This is one of those rare occasions when I partially agree with Kim, at least insofar as the characterization of Sing Yee as a young, powerless and defenceless kid is concerned.

It is her very powerlessness that would make her more susceptible to manipulation by Kim's coterie to score electoral points. For her sake, it should not be allowed that she be turned into a political football like Teoh Beng Hock.

Dearest Lim Guan Eng ,

How could we be accused of being double standard where even our MCA former Deputy President and Minister was being handcuffed ?

As a Organizer for an event the organizer should be responsible for whatever incident or things that is happening . Pakatan Rakyat in the first place should never used young girls to bait them into your political trap to fight the Government. As the Secretary General of DAP you should apologize for whatever that is happening in this whole issue. Moreover this young girl is wearing your DAP Rocket Red T Shirt during the incident.

Pakatan Rakyat should stop using young and innocent youth for any of your political agenda. Please do not manipulate and deceive them as your political pawn for you to capture Putrajaya. Please guide to do a healthy political culture and not bringing them out for a street violent rally that practicing dirty political culture. Please do think for their parents and also for their future.

Malaysian youth should now open your eyes to know that Pakatan Rakyat are basically using you all for all their personal political benefit. They can never replace any of you to go to over to hospital , jail or even being handcuffed by our police if anything goes wrong .

Lim Guan Eng as a respectable political leader in Malaysia should have certain integrity for blaming game. If you are really sincere about the safety and well being of Ong Sing Yee then you will never used her in your rally in the first place. You should be responsible for whatever event that you all organizer as an organizer. Moreover you had deceive most Malaysian that it will be a peaceful rally that turn out to be ugly and violent. As a leader you must not only be good in blaming others for whatever that happen but also do take certain responsibility for bad incident that is happening in your own rally.

Dearest Ong Sing Yee and all Malaysian ,

This whole incident only proven to us one thing that not even a single Pakatan Rakyat leader will be responsible for your own action. What they will only be doing will be always blaming Barisan Nasional and the government. That is the only thing they can do for you. They will never take the responsibility to apologize to you and your parents for whatever that is happening. You claim in your press conference that they are the one influence you to step on our Prime Minister picture and you ignorantly follow them without knowing that it is wrong. Will they be responsible and apologize for influencing you ? No. They will and they will never do so. They lie to you that it is a peaceful assembly and you thought that by attending it everything will be fine.

Now is a great lesson to all of us where if anything happen to any of us or you the only thing Pakatan Rakyat leaders is capable of doing will only be blaming Barisan Nasional and the government. That is the only thing they can do.

Read more at: http://1sya.com/?p=1894

Merdeka and the rise of citizens

Posted: 09 Sep 2012 09:52 AM PDT

There were the federal government-organised Merdeka celebrations at Bukit Jalil and the countdown at Kuala Lumpur City Centre, and the Pakatan Rakyat state government celebrations. There was also Janji Demokrasi, organised by civil society, at Dataran Merdeka. Individuals, including a teenager, have even been arrested, handcuffed and expelled from school over their behaviour at the non-government Merdeka celebrations.

The Nut Graph speaks to political scientist Wong Chin Huat on the different celebrations of Merdeka and tries to pin down why this year's celebration is more contested than in other years.

TNG: Why the tussle over Merdeka this year? Has it been this way before? What's different this time round?

This is not the first time the official celebration of Merdeka and/or Malaysia Day has been contested. In 2008, some bloggers posted the national flag upside down to drive home the message of "nation in distress". In 2009, after the Perak coup, Teoh Beng Hock's death and the cow-head protest, some citizens called for a black Merdeka celebration. In 2010, on the eve of Malaysia Day, instead of having a loud countdown, concerned citizens organised "47 minutes of silence", a celebration to usher in Malaysia's 48th year as a country and reflect on what Malaysia was meant to be – a promise of fraternity through freedom.

These were, however, mostly small-scale gatherings and expressions. What makes this year's state-citizen contestation more pronounced than before is the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition's desperate move to push its electoral campaign into the Merdeka celebration by using "Janji Ditepati" – a self-praise slogan. Many Malaysians can no longer stomach such self-serving behaviour especially after their "baptism of fire" in the Bersih 2.0 and 3.0 rallies. This is something the BN government cannot or refuses to acknowledge.

In the past, most people seem to have been happy to enjoy their public holiday or watch the Merdeka parade on television. This year, people have taken to the streets for their own Merdeka celebrations, ignoring or even mocking the government-organised celebrations. Why do you think this was the case?

The fact that Merdeka and Malaysia Day are no longer just official rituals speaks volumes of the rise of citizens. They want to reclaim the country. They are not satisfied to be pushed around by politicians, bureaucrats and the police after paying taxes. They are putting their feet down and telling the state: "Hey, look. Who's the boss here?"

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak reportedly described the roughly 100,000-strong crowd at the government-organised Bukit Jalil celebration as the "majority … who are nation-loving citizens". Are those who snubbed the government celebrations then nation-hating citizens?

Thomas Paine (Wiki commons)

It appears that "Najib the Moderate" has not read Thomas Paine, who said: "The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government." Or Mark Twain, who said: "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."

The test of democracy is about living with people you don't like. State officials who cannot see themselves as serving the entire country should return the portion of their salaries that come from those who oppose or are critical of them. That would simply be the honest thing to do.

UN Rapporteur: Is Malaysia a civilized nation?

Posted: 08 Sep 2012 02:36 PM PDT

Maina, a Kenyan with degrees from Nairobi and Harvard, used the words "civilized" and "civilization" often during his 30 minute address. He applauded the economic progress of Malaysia, emphasizing his sense of awe after a visit to the Petronas Twin Towers.

If the measure of progress in civilization is the magnificence of our finest building, then we are doing very well. But is that an adequate measure of civilization?

Characteristics of a civilized nation

Maina spoke passionately about human rights and democracy. He spoke for the United Nations, as one familiar with international law. I walked away with 7 key thoughts.

1. Presumption of right to association, not restrictions upon association. Maina says the measure of a civilization is not it's ability to tolerate democracy, but it's ability to thrive upon democracy, to cherish and to protect democracy. For Maina, a nation can claim to be civilized only if it's rulers, it's citizens and it's laws presume ("automatically grant") the right to association, not restrictions upon association.

2. Freedom of association is a benefit, not a threat. Maina says a civilized society doesn't view freedom of association as a threat; rather it views freedom of association as a benefit and works hard to to facilitate association and assembly. Maina defines "assembly" as "an intentional and temporary gathering," including the right to march.

3. The state is responsible for dealing with commotion-creators. An unavoidable feature of life in society is the presence and emergence of persons who will create commotions or disruptions: the state must restrain them through effective policing. Maina says a civilized government considers itself duty-bound to deal with persons who create commotions during protests. Allowing people to vent safely helps insure security and helps discourage them from seeking uncivilized forms of dialogue.

4. The state facilitates expressions of conflicting rights. Maina takes seriously the rights of everyone, e.g. shopkeepers and drivers. He says a shopkeeper's right to commerce is just as much a right as his customer's right to vent; good rulers will strive to keep a balance between the rights of those with different interests: by facilitating conflicting rights, not by curbing or stifling those who support contrary views.

5. Accepting the inevitability of counter-demonstrations. Maina says it is the duty of rulers and the police to recognize that counter-demonstrations are likely, and that it is the duty of the state to define and enforce measures to avoid confrontation – which they can do by keeping potential trouble makers away: allowing them another time or space to vent, thereby minimizing violations of law and order.

6. Limiting the responsibility of organizers. Maina shares a belief which is deeply held amongst those who believe government's listen best when people protest visibly – just as our forefathers did in the 40's and 50's to evict the British. Maina says making the organizers of assemblies and marches responsible for the actions of individuals "is wrong and uncivilized," since policing is the state's responsibility. He holds up South Africa as a country which does this very well.

7. Foreign funding is a non-issue. On the subject of funding by foreigners, Maina asks: if a government can obtain foreign funds to develop the country, if private corporations can obtain foreign funds to invest in Malaysia, why should anyone who obtains foreign funds to exercise democratic rights be viewed unfavourably?

The erudite Maina left us with an implied question: if we review our government's approach to freedom of association and assembly, will we conclude we are civilized?

Datuk Baljit Singh Sidhu: moronic, flawed law

Maina was followed by Datuk Baljit Singh Sidhu who reviewed key aspects of the act which I have previously called ROFA (Restrictions on Freedom of Assembly). Baljit, a senior Malaysian lawyer, compares the need for freedom of association and assembly with the relief valve on a pressure cooker. He says assembly is like the relief valve – it allows a controlled release of pressure, thus reducing internal tension, while at the same time revealing the nature and extent of the tension.

It was evident that the meeting was a relief valve for Baljit to display and release his internal tensions over the law. For Baljit, the only label that fits the law is "moronic."

Baljit's key points are that the law proves those who rule us think "human rights" means "problem," and that those who made the law fail to understand that Human Rights is a journey, not a destination. He pointed out several flaws in ROFA, including:

READ MORE HERE

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

Rabu, 12 September 2012

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

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