The Cabinet tomorrow has the last chance at its meeting tomorrow to act with statesmanship and maturity to put the Wee Meng Chee Negarakuku rap controversy to rest in view of his apology or the 50th Merdeka anniversary will be held under a dark cloud and unprecedented dissension particularly from the young generation.
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had often said that he wants to be Prime Minister for all Malaysians and not for any one racial group and that he wants to hear the “truth” from the people however unpleasant.
It is time he walks the talk in both by ending the orchestrated campaign led by Umno Ministers and leaders to demonise, criminalize and crush a 24-year-old Malaysian undergraduate in Taiwan for articulating the frustrations and grievances of his generation and in fact of all Malaysians, particularly about police corruption, public service bureaucracy and inefficiency as well as government insensitivity to the rights and interests of all communities.
Wee may be faulted for his rough language, irreverent expressions and lack of sensitivity in dealing with religious matters — but all these shortcomings do not add up to the capital crime of treason or sedition or the grave charges of being unpatriotic, disloyal, anti-Islam or anti-Malay.
The 50th Merdeka anniversary celebrations run the risk of becoming a mockery, both national and international, when the whole power and machinery of the state is being deployed as a sledgehammer to demonise, criminalize and crush Wee, despite his public apology.
In declaring war on Wee, the Cabinet and government is declaring war on Malaysians and in particular the young generation of Malaysians, causing one of the worst generational polarizations in the nation’s history.
Umno Youth leader and Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein was again in the forefront demanding a “pound of flesh” from Wee, as reported by today’s Utusan Malaysia: “Meng Chee tetap kena tindakan”.
The two salient points made Hishammuddin in Johor Baru yesterday demanding a “pound of flesh” from Wee are:
- Although he sympathise with Wee, the Muar undergraduate must be punished for his offence.
- Wee cannot escape legal consequences just because of his apology. Can a person who murder or burn the national flag be let off scotfree just because of an apology?
Was Hishamuddin speaking as Umno Youth leader or Education Minister? The views expressed by Hishamuddin is typical of an Umno Youth Leader, who could brandish the Malay keris in utter contempt of the rights and sensitivities of the non-Malay communities in the country — but completely unacceptable for an Education Minister who should set an example of national unity instead of dissension.
This is why I had told Hishammuddin in Parliament last year that he should choose whether he wants to be Umno Youth Leader or Education Minister, because he cannot be both, with his former position requiring him to pander to Malay communal impulses and sentiments resulting in his weidling the Malay keris while the latter office demands a person who is a model and symbol of unity of races, religions and generations instead of polarization.
Hishammudin’s conflicting and contradictory roles are again highlighted by the Wee Meng Chee Negarakuku rap controversy.
As Umno Youth leaeder, he is leading the pack trying to demonise, criminalize and crush Wee, throwing.all the books at him, whether National Anthem Act, Sedition Act, Internal Security Act and even demands to cancel Wee’s passport, extradite him back from Taiwan and to revoke his citizenship,
From his statement in Johor Baru yesterday, Hishammuddin had already pre-judged Wee as a criminal guilty of breaking the laws of the country – assuming the multiple roles of prosecutor, jury and judge!
However, as Education Minister, he should be a voice of reason and wisdom to point out that although Wee could be faulted for his rough language, irreverent expressions and lack of sensitivity in treating religious matters, Wee should be told where he had gone wrong and his apology should be accepted to end the controversy. Furthermore, the Cabinet and government should listen to what Wee had to say in his rap!
Instead Hishammuddin added oil to the fire by equating Wee’s rap as murder and burning the Jalur Gemilang, which is not only baseless but the height of irresponsibility and a great shame for any Education Minister mindful that he should be the nation’s No. One Educator instead of being the No. One Instigator.
The Wee Negarakuku rap controversy had also brought to the fore the double-standards in law and enforcement, how those in authority could on the one hand demand the application of the full rigours of the law for others when they themselves enjoy the culture of impunity despite numerous police reports lodged against them for criminal offences.
The Cabinet should rise up to the occasion of the 50th Merdeka anniversary at its meeting tomorrow to lay to rest the Wee Meng Chee Negarakuku rap controversy by accepting Wee apology, listen and respond to the messages in Wee’s rap and end the shameful campaign to demonise, criminalize and crush Wee with the whole weight and power of the state.
To all supporters of Namewee and also supporters of freedom of speech & expression, myself and a few volunteers are planning to hold a silent protest on the National Day. We need your support as there’s only a small amount of us.
We won’t force any of you to participate but I must ask you this, you can bravely defend Namewee behind your computer screen, but are you brave enough to defend him in public?
Some detractors say that we are only all talk and no show, how we are all cowards who will run away when it actually comes to taking action. Well, now is our chance to prove them wrong.
I won’t deny that this will come with some risks. But, if you are serious in joining us and want to know further details, please email us at:
[email protected]
or
[email protected]
We understand Hishamuddin is being groomed, with the assistance of his cousin, to take over deputy prime minister post when Najib is elevated to be the prime minister when Abdullah quit the scene, isn’t that disturbing?
The PM has promised to be the Prime Minister to all races. He promised us many other things before the election, but being old and senile he forgot about the promises. He tasted power and he love it very much. Now he has a new wife, a new private jet, a new Yacht, a new home in Perth(under the care of Patrick lim’s wife) and lots of money given by his cronies who plundered the nation’s kitty (PKFZ is one). He hopes that we will once again believe in him when he will promise us many more things during the coming election where he expect us to return him a winner once again to clean up whatever is left in the kitty.
We are all powerless to stop him cos there are people who will still believe in him and vote him in.
Didnt KJ the famous SIL of the famous FIL burned the national flag of US of A in front of the US Embassy during Condoleeza Rice’s visit last time? Did he not?
SO was that a good example? U can burn other ppl’s flag in ur anger and u can raise a small tool in assembly?
Is it any wonder why Hishamuddin & even that “lady minister†Azalina are both asking for more punitive punishment? Under the national Anthem act, Wee’s offence is only RM500 fine and less than 1 month jail. So they now invoke the cyberlaw by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). But Rais was more forthright in calling politicians (including opposition) should not be too emotional over this issue. Yes emotions like energy, they flow through you; you feel them and then they disappear. These UMNO politicians should let their angry emotions evaporate away for when they try to hold them back and dwell on them, they build up and when they get more worked up if there is further incitement, people might protest and get violent.
More details at:
http://powerpresent.blogspot.com/2007/08/namewee-rm500-fine-1-month-jail-in.html
Siapa makan cili dia terasa pedas…
Its like bringing a whole army to fight an ant. What la these people, no wonder crime rate is so high. Malaysia crime rate is rising and they wan to deal with someone in Taiwan.
This INDIVIDUAL person apologised for his mistake………and criminals who threaten or incite aggression, hatred and, may be, voilence aganist innocent people are free and no leader/s expressed their outrage of their totally unacceptable and dangerous behaviors in the society.
This is a big joke…..some irresponsible and aggressive politicians are deliberately looking for trouble by exploiting this issue to achieve their narrow, personal and damaging political motives!
If this issue is caused by a political party/politician, as seen in the yearly rituals, one can understand the anger and outrage of the community and society.
What about people who are anti other religions and other races?
If the Education minsiter sympathises with Wee, then what is he doing about it? Does he mean to say he can see Wee’s problems and sympathizes but wont do anything about it? Typical!
Kerismudin is not his father, and he is no way big enough to fit into his grandfather’s shoes. I hope we can all soon forget this person. Forget this noneity. Just ignore everything and anything he has to say. And then vote him out when the tie comes!
We can do it if we want! The power is in our hands! But we need greater force due to the manipulation of votes, postal votes etc.
Anyway, by playing up this issue, BN is doing more harm to itself. So keep it up BNand alienate more young voters!
“Can a person who murder or burn the national flag be let off scotfree just because of an apology?” – Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.
But how can one compare what Wee Meng Chee had done with his Negarakuku rap with murder or burning the national flag?
It is a common practice of many countries that prisoners were released under auspices of national days celebrations as part of national reconciliation and forgiveness….
Hence, to name a few :
· Liberia marked the 154th anniversary of the nation’s independence in 2001 by granting an amnesty for all treason suspects living abroad as well as rebels fighting in the northern Lofa county.
· About 25,000 prisoners nationwide would be released under a royal pardon to mark the 60th anniversary in June 2006 of King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s Diamond Jubilee (equivalent of Thailand’s national day)
· Some 2000 thousand prisoners were released 4 February 2005 on a presidential amnesty to mark the 57th Independence Day of Sri Lanka;
· Socialist state of Vietnam granted amnesty to 8,623 prisoners on the occasion of 59th National Day in 2005, including 51 foreign citizens and two prisoners held on espionage charges. And Viet Nam will free 10,428 prisoners through a general amnesty granted by the State President on the 60th National Day (September 2, 2007);
· Myanmar’s ruling junta on Wednesday freed on 3rd January 2007 nearly 3,000 prisoners, including at least 20 charged with political crimes, ahead of celebrations marking Myanmar’s 59th anniversary of independence from Britain.
What about Malaysia in our 50th Merdeka anniversary? We are contemplating prosecuting and imprisoning young Wee Meng Chee for his Negarakuku rap.
The 50th Merdeka anniversary is an appropriate time to pause, seriously, and think (or rethink) about our situation why instead of releasing prisoners as part of national reconciliation and forgiveness, we are causing greater divisions instead of reconciliation in the nation by seeking to the pound of flesh from a young Malaysian who articulates “the frustrations and grievances of his generation and in fact of all Malaysians, particularly about police corruption, public service bureaucracy and inefficiency as well as government insensitivity to the rights and interests of all communitiesâ€Â.
To digress a bit,another bus accident happened again near Gua Musang last night.There was one death and a number of casualties reported by Sin Chew.Real shame to RTD and CKC and also those who are indirectly responsible.B etween this latest one and the Bukit Gantang bus carnage,there were at least two or three accidents involving express coaches in the peninsula.
The way it goes the whole country really going KUKU ie haywire with half-past-six cabinet ministers still not yet give up wasting productive time talking about this silly issue.
Merdeka! … are we? Think the current ruling party is worst than the colonial days with this kind of oppressive, corrupted and racist regime in the cabinet.
Something I digged
http://www.jeffooi.com/2006/07/one_more_night_one_more_night.php
I only started reading this blog since last week. Though I am young enough not to vote just yet, I am pretty sure to which party I will cast my voteS to in the future…
Namewee put up his beloved country flag nicely against the wall and it is clean looking. In the whole video, he only sang. And what did he sing about if it is not about the things that are not very right. Corruption. Hypocrisy. He did not do anything to the flag. He did not write anything on it. He did not burn it. He did not wear it. In fact he has respect for the flag. Not like some government buildings with dirty, torn Malaysia flag flying. And it flies for 24 hours a day, 366 days a year and nobody bothers to take it down to be washed or to be replaced with another clean flag. Ask yourself just how good you are in maintaining your flag that is flying high for world leaders to see. The government wants to turn him into a scapegoat as an example for Malaysian internet users to see. As if we don’t know. Typical of you all to punish one person only and let the others go scot free. Again, how fair can you be ?
“Can a person who murder or burn the national flag be let off scotfree just because of an apology?”
Yes, and why not? the government let off Indonesians who burnt the Malaysian flag.
You know what is bullying? This case is a perfect example! Well, UMNO is bullying with pride though, how silly!?
What UMNO is trying to do is to make Meng Chee out as an example of what can happen if the oppressed minority do not become completely servile under their domination. However, I think they have underestimated quite a number of things there.
First, they think they can really get Meng Chee back into the country to do him damage. FAT HOPE. Not only is he protected by more than 40% of the population, he is also probably at this moment being head huntered for his talents. Just like a few millions of his talented countrymen who have already migrated for good, he is already lost to the nation and may never set foot into the country again. Will Taiwan extradict hime to Malaysia? No way. For what crime? For singing Negaraku ku? It is a joke to them. What most likely will happen is he will take up citizenship in one of a few dozen countries who offer it to him and from there he make some more hilarious videos for all of us to enjoy.
The second underestimation is in the latent force generated from frustration of the oppressed and deprieved minorities in the country. You push them to a corner and take everything they have, they will have no choice but to come around to bite you. The racist at UMNO really think the minorities can be frightened off by his keris and call for blood. He just look like a greedy idiot. Don’t they know that wars now are fought with guns and cannons and not keris. It make more sense for him maybe to be waving a machine gun and C4 explosives and smear some war paint on his face like the Red Indian warriors.
The third is control of the media. Really they are still leaving in the dark ages. Want to sue Youtube, ban bloggers, ban internet. They really think that media blackout is still possible these days. Just give them a clue out of pity. A great number of people who contribute to blogs like these are not even staying in the country. The webpage and blog is not even base in Malaysia. These are the people which have been driven out of country because of the shameful discriminatory policies. They number in the millions and have IQ about double that of the racists in UMNO. We should never have agreed to get independence from the British. Leaving under the British rule would really have been better.
Yes, our country takes great pride of their talented millions, their own citizens, leaving as a result of the grossly shameful and damaging and discriminatory policies.
BN, in particular UNMO, do not see this as shameful and destroying the lives of innocent people forced to leave, not by choice…..it is probably seen as a success for their narrow, damaging and short sighted political objectives.
This is the country greatest failure to take proper care of her own citizens and the most shameful policies lasting decades, let alone its abuse and exploitation………..for millions there is nothing to celebrate on the 50th Merdeka!!
We must demand then 2 pounds of flesh from the silly clown who waved his kris and threatened to bathe it in Chinese blood!
Good point UFOne…I too have seen many Malaysian flags torn, jaded, disfigured by being on top of posts 24/7. And many of these are at Municiapal buildings. Should they be punished as well for destroying the flag? Perhaps what Meng Chee was saying was getting too close for comfort for those whose conscience is clouded.
/// Wee cannot escape legal consequences just because of his apology. Can a person who murder or burn the national flag be let off scotfree just because of an apology? ///
Murder equated with burning the national flag???
Rapping to the tune of Mamula Moon is on a par with murder???
A pound of flesh??? Looks more like asking for 50 kg of Meng Chee’s flesh, plus all the entrails.
What Meng Chee had done was to desecrate the national anthem. Wrong, but, did no physical harm nor threaten anyone.
Hisap-muddin, however, threatened genocide. This sent shivers down the spine of an entire people. Hitler started this same way.
In the court of public opinion, Hisap-muddin is a greater criminal than Meng Chee. But he will not be punished, much less charged. This is the man being groomed to be PM one day. A Hitler in the making.
The dark cloud is here to stay.
Apology goes to mitigation and not liability.
But first there must be liability.
aiyo you folks don’t bring burning the national flag and murder into the discussion when there is no such relation at all.
Bodowi already take you guys walk around the garden and now you want to take the discussion around the garden.
The morons in BN will equate the rap to burning the flag soon if you guys continue.
“To all supporters of Namewee and also supporters of freedom of speech & expression, myself and a few volunteers are planning to hold a silent protest on the National Day. We need your support as there’s only a small amount of us.”
Tis is a mistake and be prepared to embarrass yourselves. You’re not defending freedom of speech n expression. You’re defending and supporting an imbecile. DAP is lucky when Namewee declines to join the party.
He made two songs ‘Kawan ku’ n ‘Negara ku’. The first song he instigate racial sentiment and he even disses his own race. The latter he uses the country’s anthem. His choice of words are meant to infuriate and hurt the feelings of certain parties. No doubt about that.
Trade him for a truce. He’s fat, ugly and dumb. I fear there is nothing to gain using Namewee as a cause to highlight freedom of speech n expression or the frustration of the minorities.
He’s not a sympathetic character. I would love nothing more than see to it he’s punished. In other words I want to wipe that smirk off his face. Humility not arrogance.
The Chinese population aren’t too happy about the first song ‘Kawan ku’ which did not surfaced until after the fiasco. So he pisses every one off in the name of … ? I seriously ???
So who is Namewee? A wannabe rapper that copies from other artistes that have real issues to rap about. He merely spits out everything he digest. I have examples of the groups he wants to emulate – Machi from Taiwan , LMF from Hong Kong [none samples their National anthem]
‘Jangan sue saya tak ade duit!!’
I find it funny and I think he’s coward. Truly, a brave man would not include such a line in a song. If there’s anything good from it … it shows how our education system has failed and now the proof. A 24 year old mental retard.
My advice – sacrifice him. There won’t be any victory in this battle when he mocks me, you and apologize without taking a stand.
I think NameWee make a wonderful job as a patriotic Malaysian. He is too clever and the songs really awesome. Well done !!!
Feel free to comment it ~~> http://www.crunchyroll.com/showmedia?id=122603
AH YOI ..Hamsab mudin can be our future P.M, we sure die wan,so what we do make sure he is kick out during the next erection ( solly next election)
This sick chiken wave the kris its ok , another idiot shout lets use it ..its ok AH WEE sing the truth all hell break lose in UMNO ,s camp,M.C.A put their tails between their legs and hide,HEY U GUYS THOSE IDIOTS IN U.M.N.O,ARE NOT ARE NOT BOTHERED ABOUT AH WEE SONG .BUT THE TRUTH OF THE SONG.