Erna Mahyuni - I can see Russia from Putrajaya @ Wed Jun 20 2012

Main - Opinion - Erna Mahyuni - I can see Russia from Putrajaya @ Wed Jun 20 2012

From London with love:- A Reply to UMNO Youth

Hiu Woong-Sin
Malaysiakini
May 25, 2012

An open reply to Umno Youth’s challenge to a debate published in The
Star over my ‘heckling’ of PM Najib Razak in London:

Dear Khairun Aseh,

There is enough evidence on YouTube to substantiate my act of chanting
“Bersih” (during Najib’s event in London). I do not know what other
evidence you require from me to substantiate what I did.

If you wish to understand what Bersih is all about, there’s plenty of
information and evidence provided by the organisation’s steering
committee online.

Rather than debate with me about Bersih wouldn’t it make more sense
for you to publicly engage with its steering committee? A principled
government will engage with civil society groups like Bersih instead
of using the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 to suppress civil dissent.

I am aware that my actions have attracted numerous responses through
media and social network.
Your challenge to me is but an act of redemption for your president
and an act that avoids a loss of face for Umno.

In other words, your challenge is just another public relation stunt
for that party and it will not benefit the Malaysian taxpayers who had
already paid for the PM’s promotional stunt in London.

My actions were grounded on the moral conviction that, in a democracy
I am entitled to freedom of expression. I acted upon my obligation as
a Malaysian citizen to make reasonable demands for a free and fair
electoral system.

The Rakyat are well aware that all legitimate channels for demanding
Free and Fair Elections have been exhausted.
Yet the government continues to use the mainstream media to manipulate
the Rakyat in claiming that it has addressed Bersih’s demands.

If the government has shown any sincerity in addressing its demands,
the political blunder on the amendment to the Election Offences Act
would not have happened in the first place.

Needless to say, the government under Najib’s watch has again failed
to protect the welfare of Malaysian citizens when our heartfelt
request for ‘duduk bantah’ at Dataran Merdeka was met with extreme
police brutality.

The London 02 protest was a legitimate act of citizenship because
chanting Bersih was the only way left to get the message across to a
prime minister who shies away from dialogue, yet continues to
intimidate dissenting voices.

Civil disobedience is a non-violent act of protest and was not
intended to insult or humiliate the PM. On the question of what is
Malaysian and un-Malaysian, Umno cannot claim it is on a moral high
ground on the subject of ethical conduct.
Ethical conduct involves a fundamental respect for the law, and our
conduct at the London O2 did not contravene the legal codes in the UK
or even in Malaysia.

We voiced our discontent and it stopped there. Whereas the acts of
public humiliation that Umno and Perkasa undertook in mounting
personal attacks against other public figures of the opposition,
undermines fundamental ethics of political conduct, going as far as
invading an individual’s right to privacy.

If such public intimidation can be engineered against public figures,
what’s going to stop Umno from bullying an ordinary fellow like me?

Democracy allows dissenting voices to be heard and when we express our
discontent within the remit of the law, it becomes very undemocratic
of Umno to use the machinery of the government to bully individual
citizens.
This clearly contradicts Najib’s slogan of ‘Rakyat Didahulukan’. Umno
no longer has the moral credentials to have any say about
‘mannerisms’.

After more than five decades in power, the ruling party has choked
freedom with the politics of fear. On a final note, Najib offered to
speak to me after the event. Hence I do not want to waste my time
debating with Umno Youth.

Najib can hide behind Umno Youth; unleash his institutional prowess
through the might of youthful minions. But how long is Najib going to
hide? The prime minister needs to answer the call of Bersih and to be
sincere about this subject.

I am prepared to face the court of public opinion for my conduct, and
I leave it to the public to reflect upon the political conduct and
aims of Umno Youth for instigating an unwarranted challenge. Thank you
for listening to me.

…and then there was Paulino Miranda « The People's Parliament

…and then there was Paulino Miranda « The People's Parliament

And who is Paulino Miranda, you ask?

Read about him in the Malaysianinsider.

A man of the cloth who walks the talk.

In Bolehland, "Hurt" = "DEATH"??!!

Deaths in custody - the hurt lock-up

S Thayaparan 8:06AM Jun 16, 2012

"Jail's no home for the truth." - Carandiru


COMMENT Three years is not a long time. Here in Malaysia, it's just a year short of how long a regime can legitimately hold on to power before it needs to hold an election to get the endorsement of the voting public to remain in power.

Three years for ‘causing hurt' to A Kugan is what an officer of the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) received.

The truth will never be known in this case or in the hundreds or perhaps even thousands of others who have suddenly died in police custody, immigrant detention camps, police shootouts and jails over the years. We will never know the anguish of families of those killed or who have died in custody due to negligence.

We may share their sense of outrage but our outrage is diluted with our disdain for the systemic corruption that permeates every level of government.

Our outrage in some cases is also dependent on the guilt of the parties involved. We are indifferent to the fates of convicted inmates and the unsanitary (and most often criminally negligent) conditions they are housed in when it is the responsibility of the state to administer their welfare.

Our parasitic relationship with ‘foreigners', legal or otherwise, does not leave much room for empathy when it comes to their welfare while in custody for whatever reasons.

And before anyone accuses me of conflating various issues of our penal and enforcement systems, let me remind you that to this system, everyone who died is guilty or at least that is the presumption.

And like many Malaysians of a certain class (and perhaps because of my previous professions) my interactions with the PDRM has been positive for the most part - so-called illegal rallies excluded - but personal anecdote has no place in the face of the historical and current corruption of the system.

The Kugan case like most flashpoints when it comes to the PDRM or any of the enforcement branches of the state reveals simmering race and class tensions that are so often glossed over in this country.

This case in particular is perhaps the most cogent example of the state's disdain for the rights of its citizens.


More here

WE are the cause of it all.

"It was my silence that has brought us here. 

It was your silence too. 

It is our silence that has made this land groan under our feet. 

We are the cause Malaysia suffers. 

We are the reason our rich and poor divide widens. 

We are the reason we practice a civilised, governmentally endorsed racism." 

(This is circulating around FB and turned up in my inbox)

WHAT does it mean to be Malaysian? For CW Vong, it was growing up listening to tales of corruption and racism. But  does the recent rise of civil society movements signal times are changing – as are the people?

Photo: TV Smith

Dear Malaysians,

Recently, I watched some Bersih videos on YouTube. I have been avoiding watching them and reading articles related to the rally because such news often makes me feel depressed. Perhaps I should have stuck to my habits because I found myself extraordinarily shaken after watching these videos.

I did not go to the Bersih rally here in Melbourne. I have not, in any way, ever lent support to any political organisation in Malaysia, be it those currently in office or their opposition. Admittedly, I do not know if my name and identity card number has been used to vote without my knowledge – which is always a possibility in my country. Personally, I have never seen the inside of a voting booth. I have avoided matters of a political nature regarding my country my entire life.
‘Why?’ you ask. Because, truth be told, I have never believed that my country could change and that it was worth sticking out my neck for. Mr Anwar Ibrahim is only the most famous of many who have been through the ISA. I have kept silent. And so have many of you. So why should I be so emotionally charged after watching a demonstration video?

Malaysians, let me tell you my story. Your story might not be the same as mine – I do hope it is kinder – but this is what I learned about Malaysia as I grew up:
When I was about 11-years-old, I came back to Penang after my family had lived in Glasgow, Scotland, for four years. I came back with a strong Scottish accent, a smattering of our national language, Bahasa Melayu, and I was completely unable to speak Chinese, my own mother tongue.

Linguistically, life was a challenge. In Scotland, I had faced some racism in the form of a scuffle or two with children in the playground, since I was the only yellow dot in a sea of white. But otherwise, I had been left reasonably unscathed. The form of racism I met with in Malaysia was more insidious – and possibly more harmful.

As I attended primary school, my relatives were quick to warn me about the two other major races, the Indians and the Malays. Indians were labelled as “sneaky” and “untrustworthy”. Today, I still meet the odd Chinese uncle who will quote at me possibly the most racist quote I have ever come across: “If you meet an Indian and a snake on the road, you hit the Indian first.”’
Malays, on the other hand, were labelled as the lazy bunch. Stupid and lazy. My elders told me if ever a Malay achieved anything academically, he must have either Indian or Chinese blood mixed in him somewhere. How seriously was I to take these statements? I am still unsure. As a child from a Confucian culture, you were meant to nod and accept everything your seniors told you.

I wonder how the other two races view us Chinese. I had an Indian friend confess to me once that he and his mates would share stories with each other, howling in laughter, about the Chinese they had just cheated in some recent transaction. Was it some form of vengeance?
I also once read a poem, from one of our school textbooks no less, about a Malay grandfather telling his grandchildren about Hari Raya, the Muslim new year. In the poem, the grandfather makes mention of how they would go to town and buy fireworks from Chinese traders for exorbitant prices. But, he said, it was alright to be cheated by the Chinese just that one time a year, for the sake of Hari Raya.

How strange it was to continue the next few years making friends with these two other races. In fact, because I could not speak Chinese or any of its dialects, my best friends were often either Malay or Indian, with whom I could communicate in English without shame.

Photo: Tekkaus

Why didn’t my elders ever tell me that Indians were one of the most fun races ever to be around? That if you wanted to throw a good party, invite some Indians to run it and they will show you the real meaning of a good time? Why did they never tell me that Malays have one of the most welcoming, caring and comfortable cultures I would ever come across? That if a Malay becomes your friend, you are his brother? Why did they never tell me of the wisdom you could gain by fasting with a Muslim through the month of Ramadan?

At age twelve, real tragedy struck. I became subject to the racial preferential treatment that my government had been practicing for thirty years. I scored decently for my UPSR (the end of primary school exams) with 3As and a B but was denied entry into the most prestigious secondary school in my state, Penang Free School.

Meanwhile, some of my Malay classmates were entering this school with strings of Cs and Ds on their result cards. Looking back, I realise that at 12, I did not comprehend the gravity of the situation. Nor did I fully understand the frustration of my parents. Perhaps the silent racism of the generations before me was not entirely unvalidated. Perhaps the racial preference reinforced by the government had deeper ramifications than we think. How are we to measure these things?

My story ends well though, as years later I would have the grace of academia to win an ASEAN scholarship to Singapore and be blessed to have parents who could provide me with the finances to study in Melbourne, Australia. I feel pained for those forsaken by our country’s system – those who could have received the necessary tertiary education to bolster their careers and put them in a strong position to contribute to society.
I have stayed here in Australia almost ten years now and currently work in a suburb called St. Albans. St. Albans is an interesting suburb because of its muliculturalism. There are Sudanese, Vietnamese, Albanians, Greeks, Italians, Chinese, Indians, Slovakians, Romanians, Ukrainians and many others besides.

While it might be pushing it to say they live in completely harmony, there is at least an honesty in their dealings with each other. They like and dislike openly. Could we at home in Malaysia co-exist were we to be honest with each other? Or is silence the only way we are to survive, pleasantly singing Negaraku while black marking each other behind backs?

Multicultural Malaysia? Photo: Fendy Zaidan

I learned many things growing up that I was taught never to say aloud. As mentioned, I knew that to trust or befriend any Indian or Malay too closely was seen as a foolish act. It always made me laugh, though, that the Chinese trust each other only as far as they can throw a rock.
As a student, I knew that my government would give someone else better opportunities than I on the grounds of his skin colour. Out of hours, school teachers would whisper to me that they knew for a fact exam results were doctored according to race. After all, how did a weak, recalcitrant student who had been barely scraping passes through school suddenly produce an A in an official exam?

As a student, I was told that the education system was shoddy, which is why we practiced mathematics from Singaporean work books. Many people viewed teachers as stupid and incompetent. Being a teacher was the worst career you could choose according to anyone who was not a teacher, and only those who were incapable of anything else became teachers. This was strange to toggle in my head, having an auntie who is a teacher and pretty good at what she does.

As a teenager, the horizon darkened, as I was told that there were those who had scored straight A’s in their exams but denied entry into university because of racial quotas.
I learned that if you wanted to escape a traffic fine, you kept RM50 ready to pay the policeman a bribe. I learned that if you wanted to make sure you kept your shop lot safe from vandalism, it was a good idea that when your local police station called you up to contribute several thousand dollars for their annual dinner, you did not deny them. I learned that if you delivered the baby of a police officer, you did not charge them the surgery cost.

I learned that if you wanted to open a business you needed a Malay partner. I learned that the government was full of Malays and it was hinted that all they did all day sometimes was photocopy a few papers, and if they had to do any real work like serve you at a post office counter they would pull a long face. I learned at the post office a sign instructed you to wish the counter person good morning. But once I did wish them good morning, I was lucky to receive a grunt in response, reinforcing my low opinion of them.

I was taught that our highways were dangerous, heavily taxed and that all the bus and truck drivers were on drugs while driving. Most bus and truck drivers were Malay or Indian. I learned that you could get stolen goods that “fell” off the back of these trucks if you knew the right person. That person could be a doctor of a well established private hospital. That doctor was Chinese.

I learned that the states in the north were governed by Muslim fanatics and were being trained to get involved with the troubles of the Middle East. I knew that corruption happened and that we lost millions if not billions of dollars a year to it. I knew my country was held together by a strained tolerance and that our unity was a farce to cover up a precariously balanced economical functionality. I knew of friends and family who had suffered because of these things, unable to earn a living or cheated of money and recognition.

I was told the elections were a farce and I had many strange letters to unknown people coming into my mailbox during elections. These people were known as “phantom voters” and I suspect were already deceased. I knew that in my household, we did not bother to turn on my television to know the election results. I had learned that not only would my country not care for me, worse, it would put me down for the sake of some unknown person hoarding power and wealth somewhere up the political chain.

I knew myself and many others were fleeing the country because we were scared of these things and we wanted a better life elsewhere. I knew that my country and those not as fortunate as myself would suffer because I and others were leaving them behind, taking our talent and contribution with us.

Election posters in Little India, Malaysia. Photo: Oliver Laumann

I knew these things and I have kept silent all this while. So have many of you. Because how could these things change? How could we say anything and not receive repercussions? What and who did we owe to justify us making a stand and a sacrifice for these things? So best we let our country be.

Best we let it rot and die.
Our beautiful country of Malaysia.

Have you ever truly thought about how beautiful our country is? Have you felt the soft white sands of Langkawi and felt the breeze driving in from the Indian Ocean? Have you stood in a darkened room and heard the tropical storms thunder overhead and lash with ferocity as the clouds move in from the South China Sea? Have you ever pondered the silhouette of our mountain ranges and felt the call of the wild and ancient jungles thrum through the air? Have you felt the fragility of the species we hold in our hands, the tapir and the orang utan and the Sumatran tiger – creatures that, if we are not careful, will soon be fossils and pictures in children’s books? Do you comprehend the riches of the earth our country has been blessed with? Fertile land for farming, lush jungles for lumber, rubber and palm oil, and the black gold of the earth from our coasts.

Have you just stood in the middle of a sweaty, smoke filled hawker centre and marvelled at the banquet of smells and tastes before you? Such a fantastic palate, that I have never heard a single foreigner complain of it. Have you looked at the faces buzzing around you in our shopping malls, and known the immense weight of history and tradition we carry from the mighty civilisations that emerged from the holy Ganges River, the vast Yangtze River and the archipelago of Southeast Asia? Do you wonder at our wonderful tapestries, the gongs and chants from the temples, the smells of incense, the flash and colour of our parades, the solemn call of mosques in the evenings, hundreds of dances and song, more religious festivals than any country in the world, our languages and our rich historical inheritance?
As unpatriotic as any of us could be, how could we not love Malaysia?

The hawker centre at Gurney Drive in Penang, Malaysia. Photo: Sookie

When I watched the Bersih videos, it was not just the political movement that got me. I agree fully with the call for fair and clean elections. But what was overpowering, was seeing thousands of people, of every age, of every colour, from every segment of society, from all walks of life, come together and say, “We care. We will not let this country rot and die.”

I never believed I would see such a thing. I never believed my people, a people that did not trust each other and insulted each other in silence, could ever really unite. Yet here they were, standing together in the streets, getting beaten up and having water sprayed at them. Hurting. But united. So from their hope of a better future, from their faith in each other to stand as one over a country they love and their love for the land and its people, I too draw faith and hope and love.

Malaysians, our time is short. The world changes faster and faster everyday and as the old Chinese curse would have it, we live in interesting times. Today, Europe, that was once the mightiest power on earth, threatens to topple spectacularly. America, the world’s super power, is fearful of its own internal workings. And the Chinese dragon shifts restlessly from slumber. Our world has been globalising for decades now and that pace has simply accelerated. The world is tense and troublesome enough to navigate without our own internal strife.

Our economy has been sluggish and in recession for two decades now. While times were good, we could make up for the corruption of our country. But now there is no more leeway for such activities. Our corruption must stop. And let us not just point at our politicians, although they have much to answer for. Let us not just point at our policemen, as easy as they may be to target.

It was my silence that has brought us here. It was your silence too. It is our silence that has made this land groan under our feet. We are the cause Malaysia suffers. We are the reason our rich and poor divide widens. We are the reason we practice a civilised, governmentally endorsed racism. We are the reason our rainforests are dying and smog blankets our atmosphere. We are the reason so many of us do not return to our own country and instead hope to live in foreign lands.

Photo: Shock Tempo

Malaysians, can you change? 
It will be difficult and we are working against decades of culture and practice. There will be, and have already been, casualties in multiple arenas. There will be a price to pay for the way we have lived. May others, with more wisdom than I, find the way through to a better future.


But as long as we keep our silence, our country will suffer. 
May whatever powers that govern our universe have mercy upon us.

Yours sincerely,

Vong

"Social Contract" = The Magna Carta?? ROTFLOL- the mouth does move faster than the brain ...

"It is now a done deal, a fait accompli, something that has come to pass and cannot be reversed because it has already ended and no longer exists. The Social Contract is not there anymore. What is there is the product of that Social Contract. And that would be the government that we have, the Constitution that we have, the Constitutional Monarchy that we have, the Parliament that we have, the elections that we have, and so on.

Some of you are saying that this Social Contract is a thing of the past and something that people long gone and dead agreed upon and the present generation should not be bound by it.

Do you know what you are saying? You are saying that we abolish elections, abolish Parliament, give back absolute powers to the Rulers, cancel the citizenship of all the non-Malays, and so on. Are you utterly mad or do you not understand how Malaysia came into being?"
~RPK

===========================


Okay- so it "exists" - but only in the form of what transpired in history, in the imagination ... UMNO's "history" modified as and when they please.
However- All I know is, the closest thing we have to a "social contract" are the Reid/Cobbold Commission Report and the Federal Constitution is all there is to speak of it- nothing more.
Anything read in the Federal Constitution should be read along with these reports- because it articulated all there was in the so-called "social contract" they (UMNO/MCA/MIC) made while they partied together.
Those are the rules of engagement. Period.


So RPK is now mouthing the "Social Contract" as if it was a document!!
He speaks of it as though he knows what  exactly transpired- beyond the above mentioned documents!!

He is trying to manipulate people into believing that what UMNO (aka Tunku, Razak and other Malay elitists) discussed while drinking some Scotch, over cigars or over some Nasi Lemak, or having a piss together - constitutes a "Social Contract" equivalent to the MAGNA CARTA of England, by which we are supposed to live our lives!!!!


He is actually comparing a non-existent entity to the Magna Carta!!!
That's like comparing a wheel-barrow to a Ferrari!! 
Talk about the mouth moving faster than the brain .... *sigh*.
Here, it seems like shit flies out of RPK's mouth faster than anything else!!

*****************************

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta

Magna Carta, also called Magna Carta Libertatum or The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions. The later versions excluded the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority that had been present in the 1215 charter. The charter first passed into law in 1225; the 1297 version, with the long title (originally in Latin) The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, and of the Liberties of the Forest, still remains on the statute books of England and Wales.

************************************************

Next he will be equating UMNO's "struggle/fight for independence" to India's fight for Independence or Mandela's struggle fighting Apartheid!!


Okay- so it "exists" - but only in the form of what transpired in history, in imagination ... UMNO's "history" modified as and when they please.
However- All I know is, the closest thing we have to a "social contract" are the Reid/Cobbold Commission Report and the Federal Constitution is all there is to speak of it- nothing more.
Those are the rules of engagement. Period.

Wouldn't be surprised if RPK comes around mouthing some Ketuanan Melayu sh#t very soon.

"Rock of Gibraltar" Justice: "... Unless the Contrary is Proved"

Looks like the Bolehland LAZY, mindless and bungling justice system has found a solution for their inefficiency and lack of grey-matter. 

What is the solution?

Yes... you guessed it, friend- You can now be "PRESUMED GUILTY" until you can prove your innocence!!

(and why does it stink of a "great mamak" to me?)

I'd call this the Augustine Paul's "Rock of Gibraltar" solution.
It all comes back to me now .....

Now we know why not so long ago,
the mattress went up & down the court house, 

people got sodomized in a non-existent condo and 

"Justice" Augustine Paul can pronounce people guilty becos ....

the accused had "failed to prove his innocence" in "Sodomy-I".
That is, he was presumed guilty- "unless the contrary was proved".

So NOW, whatever crappy "evidence" the police uses against you 

is deemed the indisputable "proof of guilt"- until you prove them wrong. 

The police need to do nothing more. 

The Attorney General's Chambers need to do nothing. 

NOW YOU DO THE INVESTIGATION 

TO ESCAPE PUNISHMENT, YOU "PROLE"!!

So much for our "First-class Democracy" which the PM spits out eh?
I just "love" UMNO's justice system!!

**********************************************

Guilty! 

Go directly to JAIL. 

Do not pass Go. 

Do not collect $200

There is a piece of very scary news on the front page of The Sun today. It is titled "Presumed guilty" and is about the recent amendment (No.2) to the Evidence Act.

Doesn't mean anything to you? Not worth bothering about? You could be in for a rude shock. If you have a blog, use Facebook or just have a broadband WiFi account you could land in big trouble.
If "someone posts content said to be offensive on your Facebook wall, or if someone piggybacks your WiFi account and uploads a controversial document, you will be immediately deemed the publisher of the content and subject to prosecution under the relevant laws such as the Sedition Act."
For more, go to "Niamah!!!"

********************************

This is what The Sun Says:-

"Not only that, if a person starts a blog in your name and publishes content that is red-flagged, you will be considered the publisher unless you can prove otherwise.

All of this is provided for through the insertion of Section 114A into the Act which was recently bulldozed through both houses of Parliament in its last meeting with no debate.

Section 114A, which explains presumption of fact in publication, states:

– a person whose name, photograph or pseudonym appears on any publication depicting himself as the owner, host, administrator, editor or sub-editor, or who in any manner facilitates to publish or re-publish the publication is presumed to have published or re-published the contents of the publication 

unless the contrary is proved.

– a person who is registered with a network service provider as a subscriber of a network service on which any publication originates from is presumed to be the person who published or re-published the publication 

unless the contrary is proved.

– Any person who has in his custody or control any computer on which any publication originates from is presumed to have published or re-published the content of the publication 

unless the contrary is proved. 

(Computer here means any data processing device, including tablets, laptops and mobile phones.)

Kuala Lumpur Bar Information Technology Committee co-chairman Foong Cheng Leong told theSun these amendments would put fear in people.

“We shouldn’t even be discussing this law because it is based on the idea that one is presumed being guilty until proven innocent.

“Why does the owner of a site, or Facebook account, have to take the rap and prove his innocence while being subject to investigation and seizure of property?” he asked.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz, while winding up the Bill in Parliament on April 18, had said the use of pseudonyms and anonymity by any party to commit cyber crimes made it difficult for action to be taken against them.

Hence, he said the Evidence Act 1950 had to be amended to address the issue of internet anonymity."