ASSK’s Monday trial – Malaysia/ASEAN should pressure Myanmar junta as ASEAN Charter should not be human rights “whitewash”
Posted by Kit in Burma, Human Rights on Friday, 15 May 2009, 11:57 am
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should lead Malaysia and ASEAN to pressure the Myanmar military junta to release Burmese democracy icon and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to prove to the world that the ASEAN Charter is no “whitewash” for the most egregious human rights violations in Myanmar.
Malaysia and ASEAN’s credibility in international society are also dragged through the mud when Suu Kyi was indicted with the ridiculous charge of breaching the terms of her house arrest over a bizarre incident in which a US Vietnam veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder swam to her lakeside house.
Charged under the country’s Law Safeguarding the State from the Dangers of Subversive Elements, which carries jail sentence up to five years, Suu Kyi faces lengthy and harsh incarceration in Rangoon’s notorious Insein prison.
The purpose clearly is to stretch her detention past its supposed expiry date this month and through controversial elections due in 2010, an important plank of the Myanmese military junta’s sham “12-step road to democracy”.
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May 13 tragedy, we should move on
Posted by Kit in nation building on Friday, 15 May 2009, 11:54 am
By Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad
1.While we remember the 40th anniversary of the May 13 tragedy, we should move on. It’s time for closure of the sad, very sad incident.
2.The tragic and vicious incident need not have happened had Tun Razak’s message to Dato’ Harun Idris, the menteri besar of Selangor, reached him 30-minutes earlier or had Tan Sri David Tan Chee Khoon and Tun Lim Chong Eu spoken to Tun Razak 30 minutes earlier relaying their decision not to cooperate with DAP to form the state government of Selangor nor worked together in Perak and elsewhere. I was beside Tun Razak when he took the calls from them late past tea time on the fateful evening of 13 May. I recall clearly what Tun Razak told Harun “…the good news is you will continue to run Selangor. Chee Khoon and Chong Eu had just spoken to me that they want status quo preserved. So tell the people gathering at your house to disperse.” Harun thanked Tun and asked him to convey his gratitude to the two statesmen. Between five-to-ten minutes after that Harun rang Tun Razak to say that it was too late. As he was persuading them to disperse news reached the crowd that clashes had begun in Chow Kit Road and surroundings and beyond.
3.Tun Razak asked Harun to calm the gathering and urged him, in strong terms, to attempt his best to stop the clashes from escalating. The rest, as they say, is history. Though Harun and I were not on good political terms I must be fair. I think he did try, but by then, to no avail.
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Speech by Khalid Samad – May 13 forum (video)
Posted by Kit in nation building on Friday, 15 May 2009, 9:40 am
“May 13 to 1Malaysia – Future of Malaysian nation building” forum (video 10)
Speech by Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad – May 13 forum (video)
Posted by Kit in nation building on Friday, 15 May 2009, 9:38 am
“May 13 to 1Malaysia – Future of Malaysian nation building” forum (video 9)
Speech by NH Chan – May 13 forum (video)
Posted by Kit in nation building on Thursday, 14 May 2009, 11:22 pm
“May 13 to 1Malaysia – Future of Malaysian nation building” forum (video 8)
Speech by Tricia Yeoh – May 13 forum (video)
Posted by Kit in nation building on Thursday, 14 May 2009, 11:10 pm
“May 13 to 1Malaysia – Future of Malaysian nation building” forum (video 7)
Speech by Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin – May 13 forum (video)
Posted by Kit in nation building on Thursday, 14 May 2009, 10:18 pm
“May 13 to 1Malaysia – Future of Malaysian nation building” forum (video 3)
Speech by Tunku Abdul Aziz – May 13 forum (video)
Posted by Kit in nation building on Thursday, 14 May 2009, 10:13 pm
“May 13 to 1Malaysia – Future of Malaysian nation building” forum (video 6)
Speech by K. Ragunath – May 13 forum (video)
Posted by Kit in nation building on Thursday, 14 May 2009, 10:10 pm
“May 13 to 1Malaysia – Future of Malaysian nation building” forum (video 5)
Speech by Dr Azmi Sharom – May 13 forum (video)
Posted by Kit in nation building on Thursday, 14 May 2009, 10:08 pm
“May 13 to 1Malaysia – Future of Malaysian nation building” forum (video 4)
Speech by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim – May 13 forum (video)
Posted by Kit in nation building on Thursday, 14 May 2009, 10:04 pm
“May 13 to 1Malaysia – Future of Malaysian nation building” – forum (video 2)
Speech by Lim Kit Siang – May 13 forum (video)
Posted by Kit in nation building on Thursday, 14 May 2009, 10:02 pm
“May 13 to 1Malaysia – Future of Malaysian nation building” forum (video 1)
No more “May 13” spectre – now its “May 7” spectre!
Posted by Kit in nation building on Thursday, 14 May 2009, 12:05 pm
Thousands of Malaysians from all races and religions are gathered here tonight on the 40th anniversary of the traumatic May 13 riots in 1969 to send out a clear and unmistakable message – that after the March 8 “political tsunami” last year, Malaysians have put the 40-year spectre of “May 13” behind them as the new haunting image is the “May 7” Day of Infamy of the Perak Speaker V. Sivakumar physically dragged out of the Assembly.
This is an image which has instilled such fear in the Barisan Nasional that it has banned television stations from playing video footages of the “May 7” Day of Infamy in the Perak State Assembly – which will be as effective as the book-burning orgies of tyrants of olden ages.
Barisan Nasional leaders do not seem to realize that while they can ban television stations and mainstream media from reproducing the horrifying images of the Perak Speaker being physically dragged out of the Assembly, in Speaker robes and Speaker chair, there is no way to wipe out the pictures from the minds of Malaysians, for the pictures and video footages can be played in every home and in fact are already viewed and disseminated worldwide through the Internet.
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Perak crisis has become national crisis – PR leaders meeting today
Posted by Kit in nation building, Perak on Thursday, 14 May 2009, 10:44 am
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has said that Pakatan Rakyat must not set terms or conditions if it wants to talk about the co-operation to resolve the Perak political crisis.
As I said in my speech at the public forum “From May 13 to 1Malaysia – The Future of Malaysian Nation Building” at the Petaling Jaya Civic Centre last night, Pakatan Rakyat leaders will meet today and this subject will be top on the agenda.
On Saturday, while travelling between Kangar and Alor Star, I received news that the remaining three Hindraf leaders, DAP Selangor State Assemblyman Kota Alam Shah, P. Uthayakumar and K. Vasanthakumar, had been sent off from Kamunting Detention Centre for release under the Internal Security Act.
In a media conference in Alor Setar at about 4.30 pm, I said that the time had come for Najib to have a summit meeting with Pakatan Rakyat leaders to resolve the protracted Perak constitutional crisis and political stalemate.
I said that the release of the Hindraf leaders by themselves were not adequate measures to restore public confidence in key national institutions in the country, especially when the Perak constitutional crisis had become a Malaysian political crisis undermining national confidence in the key national institutions and impairing Malaysia’s international image and competitiveness.
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Even when you do the right thing, it is still wrong
By NHChan
The other day a friend asked me this question: How is it that some of our judges do not seem to know what is the right thing to do, when all of us know what is right or wrong? I was flabbergasted by the question. It was such a simple question, yet I couldn’t give her a direct answer immediately. I just looked at her and shrugged. It was only much later when I got home that I remember what I have read (you joined the Inns of Court to read law, not study law) as a law student some half a century ago – the case of Dudley and Stephens.
We know it is wrong to kill a human being for food in order to survive although necessity is a defence to the charge of murder.
I shall recount the saga of Dudley and Stephens from Lord Denning’s at Next in the Law, Butterworths, London, 1982, pp 48, 49:
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A million May 13s
Posted by Kit in nation building on Thursday, 14 May 2009, 9:47 am
By Farish A. Noor
AND so once again, we are on the cusp of the fateful day of 13 May. Tomorrow, we will be joined together in a state of national mourning over the passing of what many have described as Malaysia’s golden years.
Year in, year out, Malaysians are reminded of the tragic events of 13 May 1969, and made to repent for the sins of our forefathers and foremothers. Like a restless ghost, we cannot get past this date without a sense of foreboding and the fear that one day, the past will revisit the present in no uncertain terms.
To add to our fear, the country’s leaders (though they tend to be those on one side of the political fence) are wont to resurrect May 1969 whenever it suits them most, and to frame the event in a decidedly jaundiced aspect. We are told time and again that to demand political freedom, the right to speak, the right to believe, the right to love, will lead us down the path that ends in the impasse of communal bloodshed and violence.
But does it and will it?
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Can Malaysians expect justice in cases involving top Umno leaders when there is an Umno Chief Justice, Tan Sri Zaki Azmi?
The question bugging Malaysians in the past 20 months have finally come to the very fore – whether Malaysians can expect justice in cases involving top Umno leaders when the Chief Justice, Tan Sri Zaki Azmi had been a long-time Umno lawyer and stalwart?
When Zaki was appointed directly as Federal Court judge in September 2007, it is open secret that he was headed for what turned out to be a quintuple jump as Chief Justice in a matter of 13 months.
Both inside and outside Parliament, the propriety of Zaki’s appointment as Chief Justice and how it could help in restoring national and international confidence in the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary was raised – with no attempt by the Prime Minister of-the-day to give proper and acceptable answers.
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Zambry (self-claimed 3-in-1 Mandela, Gandhi, King) returns to SUK as a doubly illegitimate Perak MB
Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir (self-claimed 3-in-1 Mandela, Gandhi, King) returns to the Mentri Besar’s office in SUK (State Secretariat) Perak this morning as a doubly illegitimate Perak Mentri Besar.
When Zambry first entered the Perak Mentri Besar’s office on Feb. 6, 2009, he was just illegitimate Mentri Besar as it was the result of an unethical, undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional power grab based on three “political frogs” who have since disappeared from public view and dared not return to their constituency to meet their voters.
When Zambry re-entered the SUK today, he had become doubly illegitimate Mentri Besar as a result of the landmark Kuala Lumpur High Court judgment that there was never a vacancy for him to become a lawful and legitimate MB.
Zambry knew that since Monday, he had become doubly illegitimate as pretender Mentri Besar after the judgment by Justice Datuk Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim declaring Datuk Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin as the lawful Mentri Besar.
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Asian public intellectuals condemn Wong Chin Huat’s detention
Posted by Kit in Human Rights on Wednesday, 13 May 2009, 12:14 pm
Joint statement issued by a group of concerned public intellectuals. The people who endorsed the statement are either past or current recipients of the Asian Public Intellectual Fellowship, given by the Nippon Foundation in Tokyo, Japan.
We, the Asian Public Intellectual (API) fellows, view with grave alarm and concern the recent arrest of a fellow intellectual, Mr. Wong Chin Huat under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act. We believe his detention was related to his call, on behalf of the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections (Bersih), to all Malaysians to wear black on Thursday the 7 May 2009, as a mark of protest against the illegal and unconstitutional usurpation of power by the Barisan Nasional (BN) in Perak.
This action by the authorities, in our opinion, was totally unwarranted and unjust. Chin Huat had done nothing wrong, beyond exercising his right as a citizen to engage in a social movement that is committed to the conduct of clean, free and fair elections. His arrest and detention are an attack by the Government against the fundamental and inalienable right of a citizen, as enshrined in the Federal Constitution. The recent ruling by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur simply proves and confirms that Chin Huat was taking a constitutionally right decision and action.
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Kit Siang Tweets
Kit Siang Tweets
He uses the Internet tool to update on Perak’s political turmoil
By JOSEPH KAOS JR | Malay Mail | 13 May 2009
[email protected]
TECHNOLOGY has made it possible for hundreds of people to experience the Perak political turmoil through the lenses of Lim Kit Siang.
Using the increasingly popular Internet tool Twitter, the veteran politician has been feeding his “followers” with minute-by-minute updates on the Perak crisis.
Although the latest happenings can be gathered from online news websites, many turn to Twitter instead as Lim’s updates are posted as soon as it happens. This is possible with the help of the handphone web services.
“Entering the Menteri Besar’s office now,” said one of his Twitter updates, or Tweets. “MB’s office empty except some stationery,” revealed another.
Considering that all sorts of changes occur in Perak before anyone can say Jack Robinson, people will be eager to have the information as soon as possible.
The 68-year-old Lim defies the stereotype that most older people are rather clueless about embracing technology. Besides being among the first few politicians to set up a blog site, Lim also has a Facebook account.
To date, Lim has 505 Twitter followers.
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