Indiscriminate Arrest - What Is the Police Trying To Proof

Malaysiakini reported that Tuition teacher Paula Khoo arrested at anti-ISA vigil on Saturday night. More at Malaysiakini
Everyday as you move along from one destination to another you are bound to notice that the law "prohibiting the gathering of more then four people" (illegal gathering) were broken every minute of the day and everywhere.

Our country's top leaders keep on reminding us that action will be taken should anyone broke any of the country's law. Their big dirty mouths keep spitting out this holy statement of theirs The "law is the law and no one is above the law".

Do they really meant what they say and order the police to act strictly according to the law, even if a crime is committed by the sons or son in laws of any leaders or members of the ruling parties?

I am 100% agreeable for the police to take action against anyone who broke the law of this country. But when action is taken against a person who committed an offence while another person is allow to commit the same offence with no action taken, then, there is a cause for concern.

Let me take you back to the latest arrest of Paula Khoo and the "Penang Anti ISA Light A Candle Vigil" on the 15th Nov 2008.

The Esplanade as usual is flooded with people on a Saturday night. I can see groups of people walking, sitting or fishing along this beautiful seafront. Nearby, the hawker center with two separated areas, one for selling halal food and the other for non halal were crowded as well.

You can see family members of 8 enjoying the tasty food while another group of 10 people talking ever so loudly as they drink their beer. As I walk towards the location where the vigil is to be held, I saw a bus load of passengers, most likely local tourist, disembarking. They look very happy upon seeing the beautiful night scene of the Esplanade, some started clicking away with their modern digital cameras. I roughly estimated there are about 30 people in this group.

I could easily see at least 10 groups comprising more than 5 people enjoying themselves at various parts of the Esplanade.

At this moment my mind does not provide me any hint at all that almost all the people having a good time at the Esplanade were committing an offence according to the law of the country.

The vigil started at 8pm sharp with the welcome message from the MC. She invited speakers to take the stage to speak their thoughts and bring awareness to the public about the expired draconian ISA Act. The ISA is good to fight the communists and terrorists but when it is used indiscriminately against those who speak or write the truth and voice their concern against the ruling government, then, this ISA Act does not serve its original purposes anymore and must be repealed.

In between speakers, the MC also played the guitar and sang a few songs to the delight of the audiences who join in the singing as well. A carnival like environment, I should say.

Many people knew that a few SBs were mingling among the crowd before the event starts and they could not be bothered with them. Half way through the event, 6 to 8 uniformed police arrived and stand along side the crowds. Everything was peaceful, just like the other crowds that I mentioned earlier, everyone just having the fun and enjoyment spending their weekend time at the Esplanade.

What could go wrong, nothing, the crowds are not going to start a riot or start hurling stones even with the arrival of 5 FRU personals just five minutes before the event ended.

The event came to a close just before 9pm and while the organiser start to pack their things, we heard the police issuing orders for the crowd to disperse within ten minutes. The police was clarifying with one of the organiser that this gathering was without permit.

While everyone was busy talking, organisers moving their equipments and others just standing around, two policewomen quietly escorted the MC to a white van which we learn a little later that she was taken to the Pattani Road Police Station for interrogation.

More details of the arrest and the aftermath at the police station from Lucia, Zorro, Antares and Malaysiakini.

Why the arrest or rather the indiscriminate arrest?

If the police are just doing their job and following the law they need to arrest her as the gathering is without a permit. Fair, very fair I would say. But what about the other groups hanging around the Esplanade, why are they not arrested as well?

The government had spoken, "nobody is above the law". Right and good. Can I ask a stupid question, did the 5 FRU apply for a permit to gather at the Esplanade? If not why? They cannot be above the law. Did the 6 to 8 uniformed policemen apply for a permit to gather at the Esplanade? We do not care whether its their job or they are performing their duties, but the law specify very clearly that any gathering of more than 4 people must have a police permit and nobody is above the law.

Malik Imtiaz Sarwar had written "An Open Letter To The Inspector General of Police" and I abstract a portion to highlight what I am trying to say as well.

Compare, for instance, the experience of protestors outside the Bar Council and UITM students demonstrating against the admission of non-Malays this August with the treatment of participants in the anti-ISA vigil held earlier this month. While the third event had dispersed, spontaneous peaceful gatherings of small groups of citizens were acted against with force and culminated in numerous arrests. Though the earlier two events were by any comparison that much more aggressive, no action was taken despite the protest outside the Bar Council having disrupted a closed-door event.

Fellow Malaysians, where are we heading. The door to Freedom for this country is closing so fast that if we do not do anything now, a full police state will be installed when you wake up one fine day.

Wake Up Call - Pakatan Rakyat, You Are Under Attack

Malaysiakini reports on "Higher deficit budget for Penang", with a RM39.4 million deficit Budget 2009. More at Malaysiakini.
Being a Penangnite's, I will just hit or "attack" the Penang State Government and hopefully other States under Pakatan Rakyat will heed this wake up call.

Penang State now under PR rule, especially DAP must not repeat the same mistakes by the previous umno/bn government. The people voted PR for just one simple reason, and that is to see changes from the bad and mismanagement of the previous government to an open, creative and honest government with the State and the rakyat in mind.

I had read through various blogs that posted many negative views of the State Government with readers negative comments as well. This is not a good sign and we have Realigned Bloggers who are using their blogs and their latest tools, "the medias" to spin the other way round, claiming that "We can’t attack the DAP, Anwar, Teresa" which is totally untrue.

This is my statement in an earlier posting titled, Realigned Bloggers Who Themselves Are Showing Their True Colours:

As bloggers especially socio-political blogs, we penned our thoughts which should be neutral and base on true facts. We will "attack" anyone that is perceived to have done wrong even if it is the party we are aligned too.

Its well over eight months since PR took over the State Government and there are good and bad decisions being made so far. We do not expect 100% achievement but at least there must be a certain level of visual improvement in the State.

There are bloggers who are attacking every decision that the State make, especially on the proposed wifi access throughout the State, transportation systems, the MOU with the Koreans on the proposed Golf Course and the “Kings of Tennis” debacle.

From what I observed, the bloggers who are leading the pack and most of the rakyat want to know everything inside out of any development plan proposed by the State Government even before any negotiation takes place.

This must be a tough call, but, if the State Government is really working towards the advancement and betterment of the State and the people, following DAP's CAT ideology, I am sure something can be worked out.

Even though the “Kings of Tennis” debacle was caused by private interest, the State Government must still share the blame for the debacle. We understand that any event, be it by the Government or private sector will still have to go through the Government to get all the necessary paper works and approval done.

To prevent any future debacles of any kind, the State Government must come out with a "Central Think Tank" (CTT) comprising of experience professionals ranging from Planners, Consultants of various fields, Environmentalists to NGOs. This CTT is not the EXCOs or Government officials nor politicians.

This CTT is an independent body, where they will study all preliminary private and Government development proposals, events etc, etc, that means everything that are of concern to the State and the public.

The CTT will have to gauge the pros, cons and evaluation of each development or event proposal and if deem necessary to arrange forum to get the feedbacks from the public. At this stage, the CTT is also responsible to disseminate informations to the public about all the preliminary private and Government development proposals and events on their studies and findings. Some projects may be confidential because of certain understanding with foreign investors, but, this does not stop the CTT from the evaluations and recommendations.

After completing the evaluation of each project, the CTT will then submit their findings and make recommendations to the Government whether the project is viable to proceed and also with the public endorsement. The Government will then decide base on the CTT recommendations and if any project falls in the negative evaluation, the Government will have to restudy or restructure the said project before implementation.

The public now wants to know more what the Government is planning or implementing projects that can be of benefits to them and not destroy the environment or causes certain negative effects.

My suggestion may not be so easily implemented, but I hope the State Government will look into something that works along this line.

We need to see a "Separation Of Power" decision making.

Realigned Bloggers Who Themselves Are Showing Their True Colours

Malaysiakini daily reporting about umno news but not on realigned bloggers showing their true colours for MalaysiaKini.
Ever since the famous blogger and the President of National Bloggers Alliance, Rockybru, slowly starting to realign himself to the shifting change in umno leadership, sometime in the middle of this year, I knew for certain that more bloggers of his kind will follow suit.

I just read the star spinning news about bloggers through Kickdefella blog and here is my take of what they are trying to spin and these realigned bloggers showing their own true colours.

“We are seeing the true colours of the socio-political bloggers,” explained Rocky.

There is a change in attitude. Bloggers are shown to be political activists.

“Those claiming they are for change are not walking the talk,” he said, citing the Selangor Government’s stand on the latest temple demolition. People are rearranging their hierarchy of trust. Before, trust was very high. Now we are slipping very fast.”
“I used to support Pakatan,” declared Zainol Abidin, 50 (aka Mahaguru58). “I felt we needed a change. I expected change. Now they have taken over five states and there is no change. So I am aligning myself to no one, not the Barisan, and I will whack Anwar (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) left, right and blue!”
Former journalist Nuraina Samad, whose 3540 jalan sudin has over a million hits, was more philosophical. The Government had come under “unbridled attack and some people now feel that enough is enough”, she said.

You can always sense the government control medias are spinning when you received a one sided views reporting. What rocky said is very true, for he himself is the one who shows his true colour and with his realignment to the umno new leadership, he is now a valuable assets to the news media.

You can easily pick some realigned bloggers to stand up together with you to condemn the five States under PKR rule for not effecting changes but does not identify what kind of changes they want. I am very sure that for each blogger who is not seeing any changes of the five States, there are ten bloggers who can see that the changes are on going even though there are so many obstacles along the way which these realigned bloggers know very well.

“Bloggers during the general election were for change,” she noted. “We walked together many times: the penguin walk, freedom walk, yellow march.”
If after the election, the PR had expected bloggers to continue with this line, they were disappointed. “We can’t attack the DAP, Anwar, Teresa,”said Nuraina.

When bloggers try to point out corruption in Pakatan-held states, they become very combative and go on the offensive.

“Those Opposition bloggers even view neutral ones like me as pro-government. I am accused of not being supportive,” said Rocky.

Just one line statement “We can’t attack the DAP, Anwar, Teresa,”said Nuraina. with no examples or incidents that it occurs. I recall the only incident at rocky's blog about Teresa and utusan where rocky defended utusan (in the name "freedom of the press")for printing lies about the azan, where over 90% of comments do not agree with him. So, Zuraina, are you suggesting we must allow rocky to attack DAP Teresa with impunity even though rocky is hiding behind the freedom of the press argument to defend utusan for false reporting?

This statement When bloggers try to point out corruption in Pakatan-held states, they become very combative and go on the offensive. is again pluck out with no identification where such behaviors happens. Again, I recall that some kind of corruptions happen with some Perak excos. When this news broke, I remember reading from bloggers and their readers hitting hard at PKR for allowing it to happen. The latest is on the fuss over the Korean trip by the Penang State government. Without verifying, some bloggers including readers also hit at the DAP State Government. There may be a few who are combative and go on the offensive, which I think is because most of the cases have yet to be clarified.

Bloggers being dubbed by fellow bloggers as I see it. Bloggers Jeff Ooi, Haris, Bernard Khoo and other famous bloggers who trusted and believe in these so call realigned bloggers must have had it.

These realigned bloggers, all along are using them to fight their causes and that is to bring down badawi. Now the job is done, these realigned bloggers are showing their true colours stabbing other bloggers in full views and in broad daylight without even blinking an eyelid.

These realigned bloggers are now prepared to be used by umno to attack and split bloggers and to achieve umno's and their own agendas.

MAY GOD SAVE THIS COUNTRY FROM ALL KIND OF HYPOCRISY

A Challenge To UMNO - Kick MCA Out

Why is this wayang kulit keeps on replaying itself every time umno and its bn component parties are having their elections. All of you only dare to speak out loud during this time and will go into mute mood after the parties elections.

For once show your cards and be done with. It is rather disgraceful for umno and mca to counter each other as base on these reports by Malaysiakini.

In his swan song speech, outgoing MCA president Ong Ka Ting says that the ‘power sharing’ principle in Barisan Nasional was not practiced in the right spirit. Ong Ka Ting said the public perceives that Umno is the dominant member of Barisan Nasional and that the coalition’s ‘power sharing’ concept was not effective.
Read full report here.

Then may I ask MCA: Why are you still hanging in there. Take MCA out of BN and be done with. Don't make all the empty noises after the election that umno is still the best coalition partner, close door discussion to fulfill all the Chinese demands, umno will listen to our request so on and so forth.

This is not the rakyat perceptions but the actual truth that umno is the dominant member and taiko to you all and there is never any power sharing concept since the 70's.

In another Malaysiakini reports;

The premier, in rebutting a remark made by the outgoing MCA chief, has denied that Umno has ever ‘bullied’ other component parties at their expense.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has dismissed suggestions that Umno has over-dominated the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition at the expense of other component parties.
Read full report here.

Badawi, why are you still lying. Can you for once stop lying before you step down, or have you already been exterminated. If you insist that you are right, then OKT must be wrong and a liar. If this is the case then you have a very easy way to handle OKT and mca.

I challenge you to tell OKT and mca straight in their faces:

"GET OUT OF BARISAN NATIONAL IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY WITH OUR PARTNERSHIP".

Have you or any of your umno members got the ball at this time to kick mca out?

Parliament Sitting Tomorrow - Parliamentarians Please Do The Right Thing

Tomorrow Parliament sitting is not about Anwar but the country. The country is in such a mess that only you, The Parliamentarians, can do to rectify the situation. Important points to raise or actions that needs to be taken to salvage whatever is left of our country.

1) The budget needs to be rectified by the new finance minister before putting them for debate. The budget presented by the former finance minister may be obsolete with the fast changing world economy.

2) To introduce a new law in Parliament to allow elected Parliamentarians to screen and question the Prime Minister or PM-in-waiting of its capability to run the country, i.e his integrity, honesty, incorruptible, non-racist, fairness to all Malaysians and has no hands in any crime committed, past or present.

At this point, we have a PM-in-waiting who by the general public perception are full of dirt and an arrogant racist. Malaysiakini and major popular blogs have reported on his abuse of power with regard to the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case.

Malaysiakini has this report:
Altantuya-Najib allegations resurface

Altantuya Shariibuu, the controversially murdered Mongolian national, and Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak are back again in the spotlight.

Making waves in cyberspace is an article entitled ‘Abuse of power by the deputy prime minister’ appearing in ISA detainee Raja Petra Kamaruddin’s Malaysia Today website.
Read the full account of the SMS-Chat Between Najib and Shafee at Malaysia-Today.

3) Repeal the ISA and free all the ISA detainees or charge them in court.

The country does not need the ISA anymore. ISA is nothing but a FEAR weapon used by those who cannot accept the truth and reality in order to remain in power.

So, Parliamentarians, especially those from the BN, show us that you care about the rakyat and the country. Prove to us that you are elected to carry out your duty as representatives of the people and the country and not for monetary gain or power.