Any MCA Senator who dare to remind Najib/Hishammuddin the first 3 PMs rejected Islamic State?
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Parliament on Monday, 23 July 2007, 2:59 pm
Will MCA Ministers demand in Cabinet on Wednesday the retraction of Internal Security Ministry Publications Control and Al-Quran Texts Unit “ban” to allow for responsible debate of Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najiib Razak’s “717 Declaration” that “Malaysia is Islamic state and was never a secular state” especially when it is undemocratic, unauthorized and clear abuse of power?
It is shocking that in the past five days, MCA Ministers and leaders regard the “ban” as emanating from the most lawful and highest authority, while no one in the UMNO and UMNO Youth paid any heed to the so-called “ban” whatsoever — explaining the warning by the Umno Youth leader, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to MCA leaders to “shut up” and stop making statements of Malaysia being a secular state as well speeches and statements by others including the Umno Youth deputy leader Khairy Jamaluddin and Umno Information chief, Tan Sri Muhammad Muhd Taib giving their distorted version of the Merdeka constitution and “social contract”.
It is most unfortunate that the Dewan Rakyat is not in session when Najib made his highly controversial and divisive “717 Declaration” which had no constitutional basis whatsoever, or DAP MPs would have rectified the distortion and rewriting of constitutional history and developments in Parliament immediately.
The Dewan Negara is in session but no Senator whether from MCA or any other Barisan Nasional component party has the conviction or gumption to stand up in the Senate to question the legality of the “ban” and to demand to know who had issued and authorized the directive but also to put on record the true history and constitutional basis of Malaysian nation-building. Read the rest of this entry »
Appoint Minister with 24/7 responsibility for “all-out war against crime” – give him 6 months to show results or step down from Cabinet
Today’s media coverage on the crime front has again illustrated how after up to 42% pay rise and increased allocations, the Royal Malaysian Police have failed its most fundamental duty — to keep Malaysians and visitors safe from crime and free from the fear of crime.
These are some of the crimes highlighted in today’s media:
- A 19-year-old girl student who went to a 24-hour clinic in Ipoh at 1.20 am on Sunday morning for treatment was abducted by two parang-wielding robbers at the clinic and gang-raped; (Sin Chew)
- A Miri woman tourist in Penang who was severely wounded when she suffered seven cuts when two armed men on a motor-bike targeted her for snatch-theft in Georgetown after supper at a hawker centre on Friday night at about 10 pm. (Nanyang)
- An Australian businessman who makes frequent trips here becoming a snatch theft victim in Malacca in his current visit — at Taman Melaka Raya at around 8.30 pm on July 15. (The Star)
What has happened to the important recommendation of the Royal Police Commission two years ago for a sustained nation-wide drive against crime “until crime levels have reached a point considered no longer alarming”, with the immediate target of “a minimum 20 per cent decrease in crimes” within the first 12 months after the Report? Read the rest of this entry »
Power-sharing in BN? Press freedom in Malaysia?
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Media, Politics, Religion on Sunday, 22 July 2007, 6:45 pm
Further confirmation that the government ban on the media from reporting comments on the “717 Declaration” of Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak that Malaysia is an Islamic state driven by Islamic fundamentals and not and never had been a secular state is confined to Ministers, Deputy Ministers and political leaders from MCA and other Barisan Nasional component parties but not to Umno.
This was why it was reported yesterday
(1) Umno Youth leader Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein defied the “ban” when he arrogated to himself the role of an “elder” and publicly warned MCA leaders to stop making statements on Malaysia being a secular state; and
(2) Umno Information Chief, Tan Sri Muhammad Muhd Taib, distorted and rewrote constitutional history and developments to endorse Najib’s claim.
Today, Umno Youth deputy leader, Khairy Jamaluddin, has demonstrated that he is also not bound by the ban, which applies only to MCA Ministers, Deputy Ministers and national leaders and those from the other Barisan Nasional parties when Berita Minggu reported his speech on the subject, as follows: Read the rest of this entry »
Three responses to Najib’s “717 Declaration” – “Malaysia is an Islamic state and had never been a secular state”
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Politics, Religion on Sunday, 22 July 2007, 11:55 am
The first is by Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (Abim) that “Malaysia has been an Islamic state in practice ever since Independence” from the following Malaysiakini report:
Abim: We’re an Islamic state in practice
Fauwaz Abdul Aziz
Jul 21, 07 2:15pmNotwithstanding the constitutional and theoretical debates, Malaysia has been an Islamic state in practice ever since Independence, said the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (Abim).
Its president Yusri Mohamad said the so-called Islamisation process has not introduced any significant novelty.
“On the contrary, it seeks to preserve the religious practices and values of its Muslim citizens.
“The only ‘changes’ that have occurred are in the attitude of those who cannot accept what has already been happening for a long time,” said Yusri when met at Abim headquarters yesterday. Read the rest of this entry »
Forum: An Islamic State after 50 years?
Posted by Kit in Announcement on Sunday, 22 July 2007, 11:10 am
Forum:An Islamic State after 50 years?
Date: 25 July 2007 (Wed)
Time: 7.30pm
Venue:KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall
Speakers:
Ambiga Sreenevasan, Bar Council President;
Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, HAKAM President;
Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, PKR Secretary-General;
Lim Guan Eng, DAP Secretary-General;
Lim Kit Siang, Parliamentary Opposition Leader.
Enquiries, call 03-79578022 (Lau Weng San)
Hishammuddin’s “no more statement that Malaysia is secular state” warning and power-grab by publications unit
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Human Rights, Media, Religion on Saturday, 21 July 2007, 12:12 pm
“Amaran kepada MCA – Hishammuddin minta henti kenyataan Malaysia Negara secular” — blared the Berita Harian front-page headline today, which carried the report by-lined Norfatimah Ahmad and Suzianah Jiffar as follows:
RANAU: Pergerakan Pemuda Umno meminta pemimpin MCA berhenti daripada mengeluarkan kenyataan yang mendakwa Malaysia sebagai sebuah negara sekular kerana tindakan itu tidak membawa manfaat kepada sesiapa.
Ketuanya, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein (gambar)menegaskan polemik sedemikian tidak harus cuba diperbesar-besarkan oleh MCA kerana ia tidak membawa kebaikan kepada mana-mana pihak sebaliknya boleh memberi kesan negatif.
“Saya beri amaran kepada pemimpin MCA supaya berhenti membuat kenyataan sedemikian. Ingin saya tegaskan, saya bukan pemimpin naif yang akan membenarkan perkara ini berterusan. Amaran saya ialah berhenti membuat kenyataan,” katanya selepas merasmikan mesyuarat Umno Bahagian Ranau, di sini semalam.
Kelmarin, beberapa akhbar melaporkan Setiausaha Agung MCA, Datuk Ong Ka Chuan, mempertikaikan kenyataan Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Isnin lalu yang menegaskan Malaysia adalah negara Islam yang melindungi hak bukan Islam.
Ong antara lain dilaporkan berkata, kedudukan Malaysia sebagai sebuah negara sekular terbukti menerusi pelbagai dokumen sejarah termasuk Laporan Reid, Suruhanjaya Cobbold dan keputusan Mahkamah Agung yang dibuat pada 1988.
Beliau berkata, status sekular Malaysia itu juga terbukti berdasarkan persetujuan dan kontrak sosial oleh pemimpin terdahulu seperti termaktub dalam pelbagai dokumen yang digunakan dalam proses merangka Perlembagaan Persekutuan.
Bernama yesterday also carried a similar report which appeared on New Straits Times online, as follows: Read the rest of this entry »
Mainstream media ban on Najib’s “717 Declaration” – to save MCA for jettisoning Merdeka social contract?
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Politics, Religion on Friday, 20 July 2007, 11:34 am
On July 17, 2007, Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak declared that Malaysia is an Islamic state driven by the fundamentals of Islam and not a secular state. He even went out of his way to emphasise that Malaysia had “never been a secular state”.
Next day, Wednesday, July 18, 2007, just before the Cabinet meeting, MCA President and Housing and Local Government Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting spoke to Najib about the latter’s “717 Declaration”.
What really transpired nobody would know, but the result is there for all to see — the ban on all mainstream media on comments on Najib’s “717 Declaration” that Malaysia is an Islamic State and had never been a secular state.
Did the idea of the ban and blackout of all mainstream media on comments on Najib’s “717 Declaration” emanate from the MCA or did it come from Najib?
Is the ban on all mainstream media from reporting comments on Najib’s “717 Declaration” that Malaysia is an Islamic State designed to salvage MCA from the political fall-outs in being a party to the jettisoning of the Merdeka “social contract”?
This is not only a cowardly and undemocratic act, the gravest blow to press freedom in the 45 months of Abdullah premiership, but a great disservice to the integrity of the Merdeka social contract agreed by the forefathers of the major communities as the cardinal basis of nation building — a secular Malaysia with Islam as the official religion.
The solution is not to ban the press and deny Malaysians the right to speak up to defend the Merdeka social contract which had also been the life-work of the three first Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein, but for Najib to retract his “717 Declaration” and the Cabinet to reaffirm the Merdeka social contract that Malaysia had never been conceived as an Islamic state but as a secular state with Islam as the official religion. Read the rest of this entry »
Independent inquiry – whether Najib negligent in not phasing out Nuri helicopters earlier
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, announced yesterday that the Cabinet had decided that the Nuri helicopters be phased out within three years and that an international tender for new helicopters would be called in the next few months.
The Nuri helicopters would still be used pending the arrival of new helicopters.
He said: “They are the only aircraft available to carry out operations. We can’t stop using them.”
The air force has more than 20 Nuri helicopters aged between 30 and 40 years.
“We pray that such accidents will not happen again,” Najib said, adding that no one could guarantee such incidents would not recur.
Such an explanation is neither satisfactory nor acceptable to the public or the bereaved families of casualties of Nuri helicopter crashes, who must bear a life-long doubt whether their loved ones would still be alive if the authorities concerned had fully discharged their duties to ensure that the Nuri helicopters were fully safe and air-worthy.
When eleven RMAF lives were lost in two RMAF Nuri helicopter crashes in Sabah in March 1997, DAP had called for the most thorough inquiry into the airworthiness of all Nuri helicopters. Read the rest of this entry »
Great letdown – Cabinet failure to reaffirm Malaysia is a secular and not Islamic state
Posted by Kit in Constitution, nation building, Religion on Thursday, 19 July 2007, 12:26 pm
I was waiting for the Cabinet to issue a policy statement after its meeting yesterday to clarify and correct the pronouncement by the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Tuesday that Malaysia is not a secular state but an Islamic state driven by the fundamentals of Islam.
But there had been total silence from the Cabinet after its weekly Wednesday meeting yesterday.
The Cabinet failure to reaffirm that Malaysia is a secular and not an Islamic State is a great letdown bringing to the very fore the question whether the upcoming 50th Merdeka anniversary celebrations is to commemorate 50 years of a secular Malaysian nation or the beginning of a Malaysian Islamic State!
Some MCA leaders have made noises in the media that Najib’s declaration that Malaysia is an Islamic state and not a secular state flies in the face of “numerous documents, including the Reid Report, the Cobbold Commision and a 1988 Supreme Court decision” but why was there not a single one of the four MCA Ministers, as well as the Gerakan, MIC, SUPP, PBS and other non-Muslim Barisan Nasional (BN) Ministers who dared to raise this important subject to ask for a public Cabinet reaffirmation that Malaysia had always been conceived to be a secular and not an Islamic State?
Is this to be another MCA “sandiwara” — using low-level officials to question Najib’s statement that Malaysia is an Islamic and not a secular state while top MCA leaders assured the UMNO leadership of their support in Cabinet and the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council?
This was what happened when former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mdohamad made the unilateral, arbitrary and unconstitutional declaration that Malaysia was an Islamic State at the Gerakan national delegates conference on Sept. 29, 2001 — the “929 declaration”. Read the rest of this entry »
Is Malaysia Going Down the Road of Pakistan?
Posted by Kit in Farish Noor, nation building, Religion on Wednesday, 18 July 2007, 12:44 pm
The recent announcement made by the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Tun Razak, to the effect that ‘we (Malaysia) are an Islamic state’ is mind-boggling to say the least. Speaking during a conference in Kuala Lumpur on the theme of ‘The Role of Islamic States in a Globalised World’, the Deputy Prime Minister claimed that Malaysia has ‘never been affiliated’ to a secular position that that Malaysia’s development ‘has been driven by our adherence to the fundamentals of Islam’. (Bernama, 17 July 2007)
One cannot help but wonder if this was a case of a cynical historical revisionism at work, for there is ample historical data to show that the opposite was the case, and that the forefathers of the Malaysian nation — from Tunku Abdul Rahman to his own father Tun Razak and Hussein Onn — were keen to ensure that Malaysia remained a constitutional democracy where the state would play the role of honest broker and govern a Malaysian public that was multi-racial and multi-confessional.
Furthermore the claim that Malaysia is an Islamic state is far-fetched to say the least according to the criteria of traditional Islamic legal orthodoxy and normative Muslim standards of ethics. Would an Islamic state condone the use of laws like the ISA that allow for detention without trial, or laws like the OSA and the Sedition Act? And does Islam explicitly talk about the need to create faith rehabilitation centres where Muslims and non-Muslims are interned to ‘convert’ them to the right (re. State-defined) practices of Islam?
The comments made by the Deputy Prime Minister would suggest a totalising discourse that fails to take into account the pluralism that is at the heart of the Malaysian nation and nation-building project. When he states that ‘we have always been driven by our adherence to the fundamental principles of Islam’, is he referring to the entire Malaysian population that includes not only Muslims but also Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and peoples of other faiths? Or by the term ‘we’ is he referring to the oligarchy of Malay-Muslim elites who man the helm of UMNO and the ruling National Front alliance that governs the country?
It is therefore not surprising to think that this was yet another case of a Malay-Muslim politician playing to the Malay-Muslim gallery the way that so many other Malay politicians have done in the past. After all, the declaration of Malaysia as an Islamic state was made earlier by former Prime Minister Mahathir; and it was also Mahathir and his former Deputy Anwar Ibrahim who spearheaded the Islamisation programme in Malaysia in the 1980s, taking the country further from its secular constitutional roots and towards a more communitarian register on the basis of Malay-Muslim identity politics.
At this crucial stage in Malaysian history where the Constitution has all but been forgotten, it would be wise to reflect on the mistakes made by other Muslim leaders elsewhere who have brought their countries to the brink of ruin by playing the ‘Islam card’. One country that comes to mind is Pakistan, which today is black-listed as a den of terrorism and has been cast as a pariah state internationally. Yet Pakistan’s slippery slide towards violent sectarian religious politics was not started by conservative Mullahs or even the military dictator General Zia ul Haq, but the secular leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Read the rest of this entry »
Nuri helicopters – is it right to risk lives of air force personnel if Defence Minister and VVIPs find them too dangerous to use?
The country grieves with the families of the six crew members of the S61-A4 Sikorsky Nuri helicopter who perished in a crash in Genting Sempah on Friday, which resulted in a massive five-day search operation involving about 1,600 search and rescue personnel.
The casualties were: Capt Nor Azlan Termuzi, 29, from Kuala Lumpur; co-pilot Capt Nor Intan Asykeen Mohd Arof, 27, from Butterworth; air quartermaster Flight Sergeant Khusnizam Ariffin, 34, from Kelantan; avionics technician Flight Sergeant Mohamad Azmie Md Yassin, 35, from Batu Berendam, Malacca; airframe technician Leading Aircraftsman Saifulizam Alias, 28, from Muar, Johor; and engine technician Leading Aircraftsman Muhammad Ridzuan Ahmad, 27, from Pokok Sena, Kedah.
The latest Nuri helicopter crash — the 17th in 40 years and claiming 72 lives – has again raised questions about the safety and airworthiness of the Nuri helicopters.
It is most heart-rending to read of the account of Hashidee Murshin Hassim, 29, a childhood friend of Captain Nor Azlan Termuzi, of how the pilot in the fatal crash had a “fear of flying Nuri”.
Azlan, who had been a pilot for 11 years, had been flying the Nuri on the Sungai Besi-Kuantan route for the past two years.
The New Straits Times in its report “Captain feared flying Nuri” quoted Hashidee as saying that Azlan had told him that “he would rather drive a truck to Kuantan, because he felt safer”.
According to the NST report:
For each flight, Hashidee said, Azlan would always rely on the assurances given to him by the helicopter technician.
“He was even thinking of quitting the force, but his contract with them was the only thing that stopped him as he would have to fork out RM49,000 for breaching it,” he said.
“Everytime he flew the Nuri he would call to tell me that he was taking off and upon reaching Kuantan, he would call me again.
“This time, he never called me back.”
It is a very serious reflection of the shocking state of morale in the air force when Nuri pilots are living in literal fear of flying the helicopter. Read the rest of this entry »
Challenge to IGP – implement Royal Commission proposal of minimum 20% decrease of crime index in 12 months
The Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan has his tenure as the top police cop renewed when it expires in September but when will he get serious about the rising crime and commit the police to an immediate Crime Reduction Plan whose improvement could be openly monitored on a monthly basis?
When the Royal Police Commission submitted its final report in May 2005, it said that Malaysia’s reputation as a safe country was “seriously dented” by the “dramatic increase” in the incidence of crime in the past few years and that “Malaysians in general, the business sector and foreign investors grew increasingly concerned with the situation”.
The Royal Commission warned that “if the trend continues, there would be major social and economic consequences for Malaysia”.
The Royal Police Commission was referring to the “dramatic increase” in the crime index from 121,176 cases in 1997 to 156,455 cases in 2004, which registered an increase of 29 per cent in eight years.
As a result, the Royal Police Commission proposed a sustained nation-wide drive against crime “until crime levels have reached a point considered no longer alarming”.
Although the Royal Police Commission did not spell out what were the crime levels considered “no longer alarming”, it proposed an immediate target of “a minimum 20 per cent decrease in crimes” within the first 12 months after the Report.
As the Royal Police Commission must be aware of the police target of reducing the crime index by five per cent a year, it would be safe to assume that to the Royal Police Commission, a “no longer alarming” crime index would be a 20% reduction of crime incidence in the first 12 months after the Royal Commission Report followed by a five per cent annual reduction of the crime index.
This would mean that for 2005, there would be a 20% decrease of the crime incidence of 156,455 cases of 2004 followed by a 5% annual decrease in 2006 and 2007 — which will work out to 125,164 cases in 2005, 118,905 cases in 2006 and 112,960 in 2007.
How has the Police fared since the Report of the Royal Police Commission in reducing crime, whether according to the benchmark of the Commission of a minimum 20% decrease in the first 12 months or the police’s own target of an annual reduction of the crime index by five per cent?
Far from being brought to levels which are no longer “alarming” to citizens, tourists and investors, the crime index after the Royal Commission Report had increased by leaps and bounds – shooting up by 9.7 per cent from 156,455 cases in 2004 to 171,604 in 2005, and a further 15.7 per cent in 2006 to 198,622. If there is an annual 5.11 per cent increase for 2007 as reflected for the first six months of the year, then the total crime index would reach a record-high of 208,772 cases!
Instead of reducing the crime incidence of 156,455 cases in 2004 to a level “no longer alarming”, crime incidence is set to break the 200,000 mark this year — which would be a hefty increase of some 30% of the crime incidence of 2004! Instead of bringing down the crime incidence to 112,960 in 2007, it is set to break the 200,000 mark — a shortfall of nearly 80%!
But what is shocking is that no one in police or government regards such a huge jump in the crime incidence as alarming or a threat to the quality of life of Malaysians, tourism and investment despite the alarm sounded by the Royal Police Commission at the 2004 crime index. Read the rest of this entry »
Slaying an Immortal Tiger: Malaysia’s New Economic Policy
Posted by Kit in Azly Rahman, NEP on Wednesday, 18 July 2007, 12:04 am
by Azly Rahman
The New Economic Policy (NEP) owes it genesis to a vision that sought to redistribute wealth among Malaysia’s races and create a Malay middle class. Today, there are a significant number who believe that most of the benefits have gone to upper and upper-middle class Malays. As a whole, a vast swath of the Malaysian middle-classes remain relatively poor. It is the urban lifestyle has brought this group to such a level – like America’s middle-class, they are riddled with credit card debt and face rising costs of living.
The NEP created the country’s own Rockefellars, Vanderbilts, and Carnegies (dynasties of the ‘old money’), as it continues to create its own versions of Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, and Warren Buffet (newer dynasties of ‘new money’). In tandem, there are a growing number of millionaire Chinese and Indians that have benefited from the truncated structure of the NEP.
The NEP has also overseen the growth of a larger class of poor across all ethnic groups too, with Malaysia witnessing the rapid growth of an urban poor who live below the poverty line. Hypermodernity and rapid industrialisation, in the hunt for huge profits through expensive real estate projects have also engendered waves of immigration from Indonesia and Bangladesh, adding to the complex social dynamic in Malaysia’s urban centres.
The NEP was quite ill conceived to begin with, although in fairness, it was not meant to continue indefinitely unlike what one observes today. It was premised upon the principles of ethnic segregation and a leg-up for the most disenfranchised community – the majority Malay-Muslim population. A noble policy then, affirmative action was also the dominant philosophy of human development in the 1960s and 70s.
Today, the NEP can hardly be appended to noble intentions. The only Indian and Chinese individuals that continue to support it are either found in political parties that are aligned to the ruling coalition, the Barisan Nasional or to those Chinese and Indians who rely on government patronage for contracts and tenders. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia an Islamic state – Najib repudiating first three PMs on meaning of Merdeka social contract
Posted by Kit in Constitution, nation building on Tuesday, 17 July 2007, 11:37 pm
Is Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak repudiating the Merdeka “social contract” and the stand of the first three Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn with his statement today that Malaysia is “an Islamic state with its own interpretation”?
Najib’s explanation that “as an Islamic state, it does not mean that we don’t respect the non-Muslims” and that “The Muslims and the non-Muslims have their own rights (in this country)” is no assurance at all, when there is unilateral, arbitrary and unconstitutional revision of the fundamental principles of nation-building agreed by the forefathers of the major communities on the founding of the nation that whilst Islam is the official religion of the Federation, Malaya and later Malaysia is not an Islamic State, whether of the PAS or Umno variety.
This cornerstone of nation-building was best spelt out by Bapa Malaysia and the first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, at the 80th birthday celebrations organized by the Barisan Nasional in his honour on 8th February 1983, where Tunku pointedly said Malaysia should not be turned into an Islamic state, that Malaysia was set up as a secular State with Islam as the official religion which was enshrined in the Constitution.
Tunku said:
“The Constitution must be respected and adhered to. There have been attempts by some people who tried to introduce religious laws and morality laws. This cannot be allowed.
“The country has a multi-racial population with various beliefs. Malaysia must continue as a secular State with Islam as the official religion.”
Tunku’s stand that Malaysia was not and never conceived by the Merdeka Constitution to be an Islamic State was endorsed by Tun Hussein when the third Prime Minister celebrated his 61st birthday five days later.
There can be no doubt that this fundamental position that Malaysia was never conceived to be an Islamic State would also have been endorsed by Tun Razak if he had been alive in 1983 to celebrate Tunku’s 80th birthday and comment on his speech, as there had been no dispute whatsoever in the first three and even four decades of nationhood that Malaysia was a secular and not an Islamic state. Read the rest of this entry »
Public forum – No to a Police State in Blogosphere
Posted by Kit in Announcement on Tuesday, 17 July 2007, 11:24 pm
Nathaniel Tan, a 26 year old dedicated blogger, a Harvard University alumnus and an aide to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was arrested under the Section 8 of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) over allegations that he had documents linked to Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Johari Baharom’s alleged involvement in corruption.
Nathaniel was released after four days’ detention.
To demonstrate our solidarity with Nathaniel who has been dealt with great injustice, to show our steadfast refusal to let the Government curb the democratisation impact of blogs and the Internet, and to voice our displeasure at the OSA, we are organising a forum with invited speakers from across the civil society with details as follows:
Venue: KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall
Date: 19th July 2007 (Thursday)
Time: 7.30 pm
Admission is Free; Bring Friends
The panel of Distinguished Speakers include:
Nathaniel Tan, Blogger & Aide to PKR Advisor
Jeff Ooi, Protem Vice-President, All Blogs Malaysia
Harris Ibrahim, Lawyer & Founder of The People’s Parliament
Nurul Izzah Anwar, Special Assistant to PKR Advisor
Lim Guan Eng, Secretary-General of DAP
Tony Pua, Economic Advisor to DAP Secretary-General
Chairperson: Soon Li Tsin, Journalist & Blogger
Worsening crime index — 8.2 cases of rape a day in first 6 months this year as compared to 4 cases in 2003 and 6.7 cases in 2006
Last Monday in Parliament, I received an answer from the Prime Minister and Internal Security Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that the crime index had registered a 8.7 per cent increase in the first five months of this year as compared to the corresponding period last year, i.e 87,582 cases from Jan. to May 2007 as compared to 80,756 cases for the period last year.
Five days later, the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan updated the crime statistics showing that for the first six months of the year, there had been a 5.11 per cent increase in the crime index as compared to the corresponding period last year. i.e. 106,236 cases from Jan. to June 2007 as compared to 101,073 cases for the period last year.
From Abdullah and Musa’s statements, we can deduce that the average monthly crime incidence for the first five months of this year was 17,516 cases (87,582/5), while the crime incidence for June was 18,654, i.e. the crime incidence in June was 6.5% higher than the monthly average crime index recorded in the first five months of the year.
Malaysians must speak up and make clear that they find it completely unacceptable that the crime index keeps climbing up, reflecting an ever-worsening situation with regard to crime and the fear of crime in the country defeating the very purpose of the establishment of the Royal Police Commission in 2004 to have a world-class police service and reduce crime in the country.
In the first six months of this year, there were 1,507 cases of rape as compared to 1,186 for the corresponding period last year — an increase of 27.1%. This works out to 8.2 cases of rape per day in the first six months of this year as compared to four cases a day in 2003 and 6.7 cases a day in 2006 — another shocking index of the worsening crime and fear-of-crime situation in the country, bearing in mind the high percentage of unreported cases of crime. Read the rest of this entry »
Release Nat Tan now – “investigate then arrest” and not “arrest then investigate”
Posted by Kit in Human Rights, IT on Monday, 16 July 2007, 3:47 pm
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi must respect human rights and end police abuses of power of “arrest then investigate” and insist that police adhere strictly to “investigate then arrest” procedures.
Abdullah should order the immediate release of blogger, PKR webmaster and aide to Anwar Ibrahim, Nathaniel Tan to send a clear message that his administration and the police under his watch respect human rights, one of the three core functions delineated by the Royal Police Commission in its Report and 125 recommendations to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service.
Police abuses of power were manifest when they first let it be known that Tan was arrested in connection with the doctored photograph purportedly showing Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak with his confidante Razak Baginda and the murdered Mongolian woman Altantunya Shaariibuu.
Then there was talk about action against Tan under the Penal Code before the Official Secrets Act (OSA) was trotted out as the reason for Tan’s continued remand.
And most incredible of all, the subject of the OSA action was the anonymous website on the RM5.5 million corruption allegations against Deputy Internal Security Minister, Datuk Seri Johari Baharum.
It is not only Johari who would want to know the identity of the person or persons responsible for the anonymous website which posted the corruption allegations against Johari — and there are allegations that the anonymous website could originate from within the police itself. Read the rest of this entry »
Crime and fear of crime worse than before Royal Police Commission period
Posted by Kit in Parliament, Police on Monday, 16 July 2007, 2:43 pm
Two common threads of the three public hearings of the Parliamentary Caucus on Human Rights and Good Governance on “Fight Rising Crime” held in Johor Baru the previous Sunday, Petaling Jaya on Wednesday and Bukit Mertajam yesterday are:
- Drastic shortfall in the two major objectives of effective policing, firstly, to prevent, reduce and detect crime; and secondly, to provide safety and security for law-abiding citizens and their families.
- Worsening crime situation and a palpable fear of crime which have gripped Malaysians in the hot spots of crime in the country, like Johor Baru, Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Klang, Penang and Ipoh even worse than before the establishment of the Royal Police Commission 42 months ago.
The Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassa and the top police leadership must explain why crime and the fear of crime situation are worse than pre-Royal Police Commission period before 2004 although police pay rise has increased up to 42%?
That the crime situation gotten worse rather than better is illustrated by the latest batch of crime statistics given by Musa on Saturday, where he announced that the crime index in the country had shot up by 5.11 per cent in the first six months of this year as compared to the same period last year. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s Politics Without Mercy
Posted by Kit in Farish Noor, nation building on Monday, 16 July 2007, 6:40 am
One of the paradoxes of politics in developing countries is how uneven that development can be at times: From Latin America to the Far East, the political culture of many a developing country betrays all the signs and symbols of a stunted politics arrested by the competing demands of modernity, feudalism and primordial values that pre-date the modern era.
Witness the development of the cult of leadership in so many countries, from North Korea to Libya and Iraq during the time of Saddam, where every bare space was utilised to promote and project the image of the ‘great leader’, said to be loved by millions. North Korea remains at the top of the league when it comes to the culture of leader-worship, where even the bad haircut of their leader-for-life has been passed down as an iconic image of the unreconstructed Cold War era.
Among the developing countries of the world, Malaysia ranks highly in the eyes of many. So high, in fact, that during his recent visit to Malaysia former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan waxed eloquent about the virtues of this modern majority-Muslim state, commending the government for its record in development and praising the ‘moderate’ Islamisation programme of the current Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Many keen observers of Malaysian politics, however, were taken askance by the comments of the former Sec-Gen of the UN. While it cannot be denied that Malaysia looks outwardly as a prosperous nation with a booming economy, close observation of what has been happening there for the past few years would throw some of Kofi Annnan’s praises into doubt. Read the rest of this entry »
Brickendonbury the answer to end the slaughter of Malaysian football?
“Another bashing” (Sunday Star) and “ANOTHER HUMILIATION” (New Sunday Times) — screaming headlines for Malaysia’s 5-0 thrashing by Uzbekistan in the Asian Cup Group C match yesterday after the earlier 1-5 thrashing by China.
But is Brickendonbury the answer to end the slaughter of Malaysian football — with the national Under-15 football squad leaving for London tonight, according to the following Bernama report yesterday: Read the rest of this entry »
