Posts (page 2)

It is amazing, is it not?

With the rising crime rates all around the nation, the police finally managed to curb an illegal gathering by taking personnel from four separate states to bring down an anti-ISA rally.

If only they showed such enthusiasm in weeding out rapists, rempits and robberies. And of course, white collar criminals as well.

My principal belief on the ISA are well known, even if some would brand me uncivilised, apparently. But people can believe whatever they want.

Here are the few things that I found wrongful about the protest in KL last weekend from both sides of the divide.

Firstly, although it was meant to supposedly represent the people of the "entire" nation, let me just say this. Leave my name out of it. I don't justify an illegal gathering simply by stating that I'm against a draconian law.

Instead, I'd rather arrange an open session with MPs from both side of the divide to get together and find a common ground on what can and cannot be undone in the ISA.

For one thing, the total repeal is not viable. However, the issue of detention time within the law and the lacking in legal representation is inhumane and can be undone. Therefore, a push for amendments is viable.

Secondly, I disagree with the involvement of kids and minors in protests, even if they are the children of those being detained under the ISA.

Why drag your 10-year-old and 13-year-old kid to protests?

What is the justification for this? Why get your kids involved with water cannons and tear gas canisters?

If anything, all it shows are that parents from certain quarters take no heed in the safety of their kids. If it is found that parents do bring their kids to such rallies, then I think they should be put behind bars for 10 years, as highlighted today.

Thirdly, the police did not take down the protest with "unnecessary force" since they have mentioned and warned beforehand that it would be taken down with all the force it could muster. That was a warning.

For 20,000 people not to heed it and then come out criticising it is merely an act of denying that the police were doing their duty with the authority granted to them within the boundaries of the law.

And then for a senior Opposition MP to think that the protest was put down hard because apparently he criticised the IGP makes no sense. Because if people criticising the IGP were doused with water cannons and tear gas, I would have probably been dragged to a forest reserve, had C4 stuffed up my rear end and blown to bits.

The police did what they had to do. Similarly if the protesters were arrested and remanded, they did what they thought they had to do and now have to bear the consequences.

If anything, I now hope that Malaysians know one thing for sure.

The problem here is not the law enforcement.

It's the law itself.

And why is the law a problem?

Because it allows for abuse.

Who made it this way?

We all did, one way or another.

Primarily by being apathetic towards the continuous amendments to our Federal Constitution since the 80's and 90's, which, taking my age, would have been obviously impossible for me to rant about.

So how do we change the law?

Not through protests, but through the application of pressure via other avenues available without the sensationalism seeked out by the Opposition as the did last week.

Tun Dr. Ismail highlighted the importance of the press in ensuring that laws are not abused.

Similarly, I would take the same approach.

The media is an unstoppable and uncontrollable force that this nation cannot control, especially with the evolution of technology.

Similarly, open discussions on the rationale from both sides are required to find a middle ground. What is the ISA needed for? What can be fixed with the ISA? What components within the ISA and the laws of other nations that are similar?

What about the adherence to the UDHR? Is there a middle ground with that?

We live in supposedly a society which above all else pushes for intellectual discussions. It is sad to note that most of our leaders from both sides lack the intellect and statesmanship to push for this instead of going to the streets.

Let me just be very open about my opinion of you, so we can get that out of the way.

I would think a nation’s leader has to have an image of a statesman, and not have enough excess baggage to give AirAsia a profitable smile.

That aside, I would like to lay down some challenges that I’m sure you could address, especially since you have at least 40 years of experience in Malaysian politics.

First Challenge: Amend the ISA

In your appointment speech, you undid the ban on two news publications, released 13 ISA detainees and, most importantly, started a comprehensive review of the Internal Security Act. I would like to address the third item.

I challenge you to actually amend the ISA in line with the standards of the West, which adhere to the principles of human rights. This would include shorter detention time, supervision of the detainees against abuse as well as the need to address the abuses of this law.

This is not an easy challenge because it would include reaching out to the Opposition to fulfil the need for unbiased supervision, as well as checks and balances.

Second Challenge: Reform the police force

Similarly, it is time to change the Inspector General of Police, for his failure to address the continued increase in crime rates.

Crimes that need addressing, of course, do not include illegal gatherings and your political oppositions’ events, particularly vigils with ‘highly flammable candles’, party dinners with ‘dangerous audio equipment’ and hunger strikes with ‘deadly balloons’.

Focus instead on crimes that threaten the livelihood of the people and put them in mortal danger.

Third Challenge: Media liberalisation

Dearest Prime Minister, the media can be for you or against you, and as Lord Jeffrey Archer mentions, the power of the Fourth Estate is absolute and important.

The media now consists of not only the newspapers, but also the online communities and portals that bring to light issues the traditional media does not.

Try as you may, you cannot control the Internet. The Internet controls you. As such, it is time to liberalise not only the news media, but the entirety of media.

This includes the Internet, television, movies and publications. For too long, Malaysians have been sheltered by the government from issues that exist; issues that have been denied and misunderstood by the rakyat due to the lack of information available, besides what’s obtainable on the Internet.

That needs to change.

Open, formal discussions of such issues in the media will encourage the growth of Malaysian intellect and cater to a more open Malaysian society, regardless of race, religion, politics and even sexual orientation.

Fourth Challenge: Protection of minorities

While I may not be labelled nor label myself as a representative of a certain group, as how Karpal Singh brands himself the representative of the “orang kurang upaya”, I challenge you to work towards the protection of the social minority.

This minority consists of gays, bisexuals, lesbians, transvestites and transsexuals in this nation, who face constant harassment by the authorities via the existence of Penal Code 377 and the Syariah law.

You, dearest Prime Minister, have the power to undo the former, and suggest a need to address the latter.

It is with this knowledge that I put forth the call to repeal Penal Code 377, which is a breach of human rights as well as the right to privacy, in its entirety.

With India now officially repealing laws against consensual same-sex intercourse, the West now allowing gay marriage and even Korea acknowledging the success of its transvestite community, it is about time that Malaysia steps up to the plate.

Conclusion

What you have done in 100 days is to basically undo your political opposition’s memorandum piecemeal, by removing the 30 per cent Bumiputera equity requirement, liberalising the multitude of industries and, even now, looking at lowering the toll rates.

These are all economic issues to ensure the nation’s growth on an economic scale. These, however, do not encourage the growth of human intellect and the evolution of a Malaysian society towards unity.

I believe all of these challenges are in line with your 1Malaysia, a concept which should be defined by a people governed by those who strive towards an inclusive nation, one that does not discriminate against a person’s gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, politics and class.

JULY 15 — I don’t make snap judgments on any party without first trying to get whatever information I can through whatever sources I can find. Such sources include most notoriously the World Wide Web.

Recently I was asked to look up statistics for blackmail cases in Malaysia that were reported to the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP). One would think that these statistics, at least the number of reported cases, would be available for public viewing.

They’re not. Neither are statistics on rape, murder, snatch theft, Rempits, or even robbery.

Well, maybe to the RMP such information is not worth sharing with the public.

Instead, our admirable police force finds it a necessity to only disseminate the data on traffic issues via continuous reports on Ops Sikap (congratulations to the traffic division then), narcotics and commercial crimes.

And, of course, missing person’s statistics that have yet to be updated since August 2008.

You would think that a police force with a vision promoted on its website to be “the main enforcement agency with integrity, competence and commitment”, it could actually prove it with solid evidence in the form of statistics.

So, in an effort to highlight just how inept our police are in this day and age, in a nation priding itself as the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), let’s compare our royal police force’s website with a number of its peers, or even subordinates for that matter.

In the Asean region, I managed to find a few websites to compare with. These include the Singapore Police Force (SPF)and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

It is rather shameful to admit that our neighbours down south can come up with a statistical annual report and analysis made public via its website since 2005.

It is even sadder to note that the Philippine police force actually uploads PDF’s of its newsletter (Police Digest) and journals, albeit irregularly and out of date. Their last newsletter upload is dated December 2008.

However, the PNP website does have a link which plots out the national crime map, which details the crime statistics by month since October 2007 up to March 2009.

The SPF, while lacking such detail, instead has a presence on social networking website Facebook, a Youtube channel as well as an online show available at its website called “Crimewatch”.

I guess the Malaysian police can always take pride with their “Gerak Khas” episodes available on RTM.

Now perhaps it’s a bit too much to compare the Malaysian police with two Asean countries with probably greater expenditure on their police forces.

So let’s go to a place that recently received a budget cut after its governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, recently announced that the state has no cash to spend. Welcome to California.

The Los Angeles Police Department website has a crime summary report dating back to 1996, its most recent one being a summary report for 2008.

What’s really interesting about the LAPD website is that it also has a blog with a podcast of a recent police station inspection. Its latest post, of course, is its official statement on the death of Michael Jackson.

Oh, and did I mention that its website is available in 10 different languages?

Still sticking to California, I would also like to highlight the existence of the Automated Regional Justice Information System, or ARJIS. ARJIS is an information sharing website that allows its browsers to generate crime statistics reports for the police within the counties of San Diego and Imperial City, California.

Now close to 600 words down the line, I’m just wondering if the head of our RMP, Inspector-General Tan Sri Musa Hassan, is ashamed enough to admit that its website is inadequate and totally lacks whatever standards of achievement our police currently adhere to.

In March 2007, while the police force was celebrating its bicentennial anniversary, the IGP stated that the police must undergo a rebranding exercise in order to regain their credibility in the eyes of the public. The theme then was “Royal Malaysia Police towards Global Distinction”.

In lieu of the comparisons with the police websites from the Philippines, Singapore and even bankrupt Los Angeles, California, I ask the IGP and even anyone reading this:

Is the RMP moving towards “global distinction” in the wrong direction, regressing towards global infamy as perhaps one of the most backwards police forces in terms of information dissemination and transparency?

As per my article in The Malaysian Insider:

Let me just be very open about my opinion of you, so we can get that out of the way.

I would think a nation’s leader has to have an image of a statesman, and not have enough excess baggage to give AirAsia a profitable smile.

That aside, I would like to lay down some challenges that I’m sure you could address, especially since you have at least 40 years of experience in Malaysian politics.

First Challenge: Amend the ISA

In your appointment speech, you undid the ban on two news publications, released 13 ISA detainees and, most importantly, started a comprehensive review of the Internal Security Act. I would like to address the third item.

I challenge you to actually amend the ISA in line with the standards of the West, which adhere to the principles of human rights. This would include shorter detention time, supervision of the detainees against abuse as well as the need to address the abuses of this law.

This is not an easy challenge because it would include reaching out to the Opposition to fulfil the need for unbiased supervision, as well as checks and balances.

Second Challenge: Reform the police force

Similarly, it is time to change the Inspector General of Police, for his failure to address the continued increase in crime rates.

Crimes that need addressing, of course, do not include illegal gatherings and your political oppositions’ events, particularly vigils with ‘highly flammable candles’, party dinners with ‘dangerous audio equipment’ and hunger strikes with ‘deadly balloons’.

Focus instead on crimes that threaten the livelihood of the people and put them in mortal danger.

Third Challenge: Media liberalisation

Dearest Prime Minister, the media can be for you or against you, and as Lord Jeffrey Archer mentions, the power of the Fourth Estate is absolute and important.

The media now consists of not only the newspapers, but also the online communities and portals that bring to light issues the traditional media does not.

Try as you may, you cannot control the Internet. The Internet controls you. As such, it is time to liberalise not only the news media, but the entirety of media.

This includes the Internet, television, movies and publications. For too long, Malaysians have been sheltered by the government from issues that exist; issues that have been denied and misunderstood by the rakyat due to the lack of information available, besides what’s obtainable on the Internet.

That needs to change.

Open, formal discussions of such issues in the media will encourage the growth of Malaysian intellect and cater to a more open Malaysian society, regardless of race, religion, politics and even sexual orientation.

Fourth Challenge: Protection of minorities

While I may not be labelled nor label myself as a representative of a certain group, as how Karpal Singh brands himself the representative of the “orang kurang upaya”, I challenge you to work towards the protection of the social minority.

This minority consists of gays, bisexuals, lesbians, transvestites and transsexuals in this nation, who face constant harassment by the authorities via the existence of Penal Code 377 and the Syariah law.

You, dearest Prime Minister, have the power to undo the former, and suggest a need to address the latter.

It is with this knowledge that I put forth the call to repeal Penal Code 377, which is a breach of human rights as well as the right to privacy, in its entirety.

With India now officially repealing laws against consensual same-sex intercourse, the West now allowing gay marriage and even Korea acknowledging the success of its transvestite community, it is about time that Malaysia steps up to the plate.

Conclusion

What you have done in 100 days is to basically undo your political opposition’s memorandum piecemeal, by removing the 30 per cent Bumiputera equity requirement, liberalising the multitude of industries and, even now, looking at lowering the toll rates.

These are all economic issues to ensure the nation’s growth on an economic scale. These, however, do not encourage the growth of human intellect and the evolution of a Malaysian society towards unity.

I believe all of these challenges are in line with your 1Malaysia, a concept which should be defined by a people governed by those who strive towards an inclusive nation, one that does not discriminate against a person’s gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, politics and class.

So I got another freelance writing job here in Malaysia. Here's the link:

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/opinion/hafidz-baharom/30171-just-what-exactly-is-1-malaysia

Enjoy reading, everyone.

I seldom take a stance on the issue of Perak because I consider it a state issue. However, since our Home Minister has commented that the removal of the former Speaker Sivakumar by the police is within the Standing Orders of Perak state, I have to interject.

See, this is where being an independent makes you a rational and better human being than being a biased nutcase on either side. You actually seek out information for yourself.

http://www.digitalibrary.my/index.php?view=article&catid=75%3Astanding-orders&id=901%3Astanding-orders-of-the-state-legislative-assembly-of-perak-darul-ridzuan&option=com_content&Itemid=25

Referring to the PDF file provided above, page 28, Standing Order 44 (2):

"The Chair shall order any member whose conduct is grossly disorderly to withdraw immediately from the Assembly during the remainder of that day's sitting, and the Bentara Dewan shall act on such orders as he may receive from the Chair in pursuance of this Standing Order"

The standing order specifically states that the Bentara Dewan shall act on such orders, not the police. Therefore, the government of Perak has every right to sue the police and the Home Minister, as Hishamuddin Tun Hussein suggests.

First and foremost, I would think RPK won't lose sleep over this once since it's not his abbreviation being mentioned in the title.

The World Health Organisation has declared the spread Swine Flu/ Selsema Babi/ A H1N1 influenza as a pandemic flu alert. In other words, people should start panicking as if the world's about to end and billions will perish throughout the world.

Next thing you know, we'll be a soon to be extinct race fighting off robots.

The WHO is being rather hypocritical in declaring just what exactly makes a phase 6 pandemic, aren't they?

Let's look at the statistics.

Patient Zero of the Swine flu/ Selsema babi/A H1N1 influenza virus is still alive.

The reasoning given to raise it to a "Phase 6" pandemic as highlighted by Ban Ki Moon was that it was widespread geographically, but not how virulent it was. - Bernama

Well, I happen to know a virus that has been geographically widespread since the 80's and has killed 25 million people worldwide regardless of race, religion, location, sexual orientation and even age.

The Human Immunodefficiency Virus, or HIV.

So while the world is going around panicking about how people are getting the flu with not all of them dying, and even having a supposed vaccine in the form of Tamiflu, I'm just wondering why they can't or won't do the same for HIV.

If that's too descriminately gay for those descriminatory people out there, think again. It's not just a gay person's problem. Statistics in Malaysia are showing that heterosexuals are the majority of those infected by this virus.

Particularly standing out is the fact that straight women are the one's being infected.

We know very well that HIV spreads particularly, not through the sharing of needles by drug abusers, but through sex.

And yet, we have a government and every single religious body preaching abstinence instead of safe sex with condoms, which, I might add, will also stop newborn babies being found in dumped into toilets, garbage cans and even landfills.

During an open discussion with some friends, it was highlighted by a doctor that he had gone on Al-Jazeera . Also in that interview was a representative from the religious right wing in Malaysia.

According to the doctor, when he highlighted the use of condoms in sex to stop the spread of HIV, he got this reaction from the right winger:

"No feeling."

Okay......

Now while I have yet to ascertain who that moron was and who to write to, it is without a doubt the stupidest excuse to stop the spread of a virus that has killed 25 million people, is it not?

Politics is hypocrisy, which makes politicians the greatest hypocrites on Earth. Any doubt of such was erased just reading the papers right after the PAS Muktamar when you had their leaders at first chastise each other for wanting to form a 'unity government' with UMNO and then mention that they won't be 'joining UMNO'.

Okay. Just what the heck does that mean?

Imagine this.

Let's just say PAS joins the government side. Now we all know that when it comes to voting a resolution in our Parliament, the whip is enforced unless otherwise mentioned.

So then pray tell, just how is PAS going to influence any motion by the government?

Even if they don't vote it won't make much of a difference.

Do you see the irrationality right here?

Well sure, their quest for Malay unity and perhaps more power in handling religious affairs of state would be increased, but in the end it's nothing more than just a smokescreen.

There's only one reason PAS would switch sides and that is to further their goal for a more increasingly religiously conservative government.

And it's obvious that such an objective cannot be met with DAP and PKR, particularly since it has already been stated that such policies will not come to pass without all three parties within the PR's agreement.

With that in mind, what is PAS but basically a courtesan whoring around to see who can give her more power to achieve her ambitions?

Mata Hari had more credibility.

In a recent interview, the PM's wife Datin Seri Rosmah mentioned that women should strive to get at least degrees, particularly highlighting mothers.

Well, just wishing to point out one fact. Most women are, particularly in the urban areas. The fact of the matter is, we are now seeing more women with degrees instead of those with kids.

In fact, I would think that we even have more women striving to obtain a post graduate degree in comparison to men.

I don't think it's a problem for women to excel in the education field since in my college days most of them outnumbered me and were kicking my educational rear end every other quiz or test or finals.

However, I do think that women are receiving a bad rep in terms of employment though the reasons may vary according to profession and job scope.

But the sad part is, we're not even seeing women receiving equal treatment in the government, particularly in this nation. Just look at Parliament and tell me how many women MPs we have.

How many women MPs were candidates? How many women MPs in the government were selected to become Ministers?

How many women were voted onto the PAS Central Committee during the recent Muktamar?

The inequality of treatment amongst our upper echelons of governance and political parties itself speaks loads to the people down below, especially when we now have countries in the Middle East allowing women more favorable places in their parliaments.

Let's face it.

This is a nation that would probably give way to a closeted gay guy in comparison to an all out full fledged feminist who can care for the community just as well.

From TheStar newspaper:

WHEN Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak visited Brickfields – known as the Little India of Kuala Lumpur – soon after taking office in April, he left more than just a good impression on the residents.

Tamil Nesan reported that a popular restaurant there now has a “Najib’s Corner” after its owner named part of the outlet after the Prime Minister.

Owner of the Kortumalai Pillar Restaurant S. Sathasivam said he did it because he wanted to honour and show his support for Najib. He said “Najib’s Corner,” was adorned with photographs of Najib’s visit there during the walkabout.

The restaurant is located near the junction of Jalan Tun Sambantan and Jalan Travers. Deputy Federal Territories Minister Datuk M. Saravanan said the people’s support and respect for the Prime Minister had increased after his visit to the area.