Yesterday was quite an "eventful" day - I was served a subpoena to attend the Session Court at Jln Duta on 22/12/08 (with regard to the "Insulting Islam" case - with Syed Akbar Ali as defendant). Thank God it wasn't against RPK, as I cannot imagine how he might have insulted Islam.
As for Syed Akbar (who I presume is/was "muftimurtad" aka "mm2007" aka "penerangan umno" on the old MT)- well, he did make some remarks regarding which I wrote HERE and HERE. (Of course the links given in the article are all "dead" now - since MT has changed its domain name- a pity, really - very exciting discussions those days).
However, I suppose, if one were to understand him and the environment right (considering the truly "no-holds-barred" & vibrant nature of MT those days which wasn't for the faint hearted), things might have been quite different. Maybe they want me to be a witness, although I cannot imagine what they can get from me (besides my PC lah ....). Maybe, listening to RPK's talk on "Islam and the Malay mind", might help one understand the reasons for this case.
Moving on - The article "Heading towards first class" today in the Nut Graph, was quite an amusing piece of work. It appears to be what our Dewan Rakyat Speaker used to harp on as a catch phrase/ cliche. As in all the sloganeering (since the time of Mahathir's "Bersih, Cekap, Amanah" days), that's about all it is actually - just another cliche to hoodwink the public- as Umno cannot afford to have this happen.
This is simply becos Umno as we know it simply doesn't understand the concept of the parliament - let alone democracy!
Umno is meant to function without any opposition, which can "possibly stimulate" their minds through intellectual discourse, and "pose a danger to their well-being". This is the very reason we have people like "Pasir Salak" barking and "Kinabatangan" in the parliament, who bark (or use-sign-language) obscenities at the very moment their opinions are challenged. They probably feel that it is a glamourous role that they play for BN/Umno, when they make the headlines for being notorious. Nazri is of course no better (with his repetitive "racist" shouting)- despite all the accolades he may have won from certain MSM articles for being a debater who could face Uncle Lim "head-to-head" in parliament. As for Syed Hamid Albar, the less said, the better - he better qualifies to be Bart Simpson's "Krusty the Clown" (and he looks the role too!).
Anyways - this is what I had to say about the article mentioned above, which I also posted on Malaysia Today :-
written by cruzeiro, December 19, 2008 12:44:35
Under the BN system of the "social contract", the Parliament isn't supposed to work! It's just meant to be an "ornament", to showcase democracy.
This has been the scenario ever since 1971, after the unity govt became BN under Tun Razak - so that the opposition was rendered a lame duck due to low numbers, and wouldn't have a voice.
The parliament was meant to be subverted thru backdoor deals done behind closed doors, due to the overwhelming majority of the BN. To do that, they first subvert the opposition states/ parties, by making them "allies" first. Slowly but surely, they emasculate/ neutralize these parties. This way, they appear to be "strong", when it is actually the opposition that is weak - just as Mahathir today claims that the opposition appears strong becos the govt is weak.
Those opposition parties who attempted to resist were apparently blackmailed into submission. As a result, DAP was the lone ranger in the opposition bench - until PAS once again realized the deceit which Umno harboured. There was no way that the opposition could do anything, except bark at the clueless & sleeping MPs of BN. Those BN MPs who had any element of intellectual capacity were weeded out so as to avoid any form of dissent. This was made more so, during the time of Mahathir.
Over time, BN only needed "kangkungs" who had to vote along party lines, so as to enact legislations/ ammendments.
The reality is - Umno is intellectually bankrupt & weak, and has always been that way ever since the remnants of TAR's cabinet were weeded out by Mahathir. They only appeared to be strong thru their ability to induce greed, corruption and terror in the minds of people thru draconian laws like ISA, wherein every citizen is rendered a "criminal" by virtue of being human - for wanting to gather peacefully. They were now liable for detention every single day - at the whim and fancy of security personnel, for "security reasons". The people were now supposed to live in fear, and quietly do their work like "kerbau dicucuk hidung" - hence the "fear and apathy" of the general public.
To appear good, they also subverted the media thru the PPPA, so that only twisted logic would be used to brainwash the public.
To silence students - the seat/seed of thought and the future, they had UUCA- and they harvested a batch of unthinking pseudo-intellectual kangkungs (thanks to BTN) to sing accolades for the great leaders of Umno. To shut out debate on the corruption that it brought about, they had OSA. To make sure they win overwhelming majorities in elections, they had Rashid in place. To win court cases and complete the subversion of all institutions of democracy so that the executive reigns supreme, (should they be challenged) they stripped the Judiciary and the Royalty of its role.
Umno's "victory" was now complete - and now it was time for the "Vision 2020" cliche.
With these circumstances in place, they had had no use for a parliament, (or even democracy, for that matter) - which was a hindrance to their agenda of greed.
In short, the "subversion" of the parliament was started by Tun Razak's Umno, and was completed and "perfected" in Mahathir's Umno Baru, through the destruction of UMNO (although he likes to claim that he saved it - the fact being that he created a monster out of the ashes).
There cannot be any change in the system that governs the state until and unless Umno knows what it feels like to be out of power - only then will they fight for real reform.
Thanks to Mahathir's megalomania and anti-intellectualism, right now it is just "NO CLASS", as opposed to "first class". As for the MACC and JAC - I seriously doubt anything will come out of it - it's just another fresh layer on the stale "kuih lapis" they serve the people .....
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To know why I say the above, do visit the following link (other links are below the following):
Razak's UMNO, Mahathir's UMNO Baru Dilemma.
