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Nurin and Sharminie would have been safe if Royal Police Commission report implemented

Two days ago, the media splashed the news that the police was finally on the verge of solving the horrendous Nurin Jazlin abduction-rape-murder crime, with reports that the police has obtained a seven-day remand order against a 31-year-old security guard who was detained in connection with the murder of eight-year-old Nurin Jazlin Jazimin last September.

Nurin was sexually abused by her assailant and killed, her body in a sports bag abandoned in Petaling Jaya, near the location where five-year-old girl Sharlinie Mohd Nashar went missing a week ago – another victim of the heinous crime of child abduction.

News report today that the security guard was released after three days of seven-day remand, as well as the release of another 43-year-old man detained last Saturday also in connection with Nurin’s murder, have further shaken public confidence in the competence and professionalism of the police force.

Recently, the police have proven itself very competent, diligent and successful in the arrest of peddlers of the Chua Soi Lek sex DVDs, which raises pertinent question as to the proper order of police priorities in fighting crime and creating an environment where Malaysians are assured of personal safety and property security.

After the shocking disappearance and abduction of Sharlinie and the fruitless search for her, despite personal pleas by the Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers and even the Inspector-General of Police, there appears to be a CCTV-mania as if the installation of CCTVs can ensure a crime-free or low-crime society.

This is a great fallacy and evasion of government and police responsibility to fight crime with an efficient, professional world-class police force, for if CCTVs are so efficacious in fighting crime, then there is no need for any expansion and upgrading of the police force or increased allocations for the police apart from installing CCTVs. Continue reading “Nurin and Sharminie would have been safe if Royal Police Commission report implemented”

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Remove SMK BUD4 principal unless she mends her ways (4)

My blog on the complaint by a parent against the school principal of SMK Bandar Utama 4 Damansara for her lack of understanding and respect for the sensitivities and rights of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures in plural Malaysia has provoked quite a firestorm of response.

There have been over 200 comments in the three threads on the subject since yesterday:

(1) BU4 Damansara – another case of “Napoleon” and school principal insensitivity – 72 comments

(2) Hishammuddin sets worst example for sensitivities in plural Malaysia – 76 comments

(3) More about SMK BUD4 (3) – 58 comments

The complaints of the parent against the school principal, which had been endorsed by many commentators, were her decisions in imposing in a school with 85% Chinese and 10% Muslim students “bacaan doa” during assembly, banning the cheerleading team, no more wearing of shorts for PE and her directive that for CNY, the school can have a lion dance performance but without the drum.

In the comments, there have been more criticisms of the school principal’s insensitive and “Little Napoleonic” ways which are best summed up in the following email from an alma mater of the school: Continue reading “Remove SMK BUD4 principal unless she mends her ways (4)”

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Will Keng Yaik redeem his political sins in his last few weeks in Cabinet?

Gerakan Minister for Energy, Water and Communications, Datuk Seri Lim Keng Yaik, with over two decades as Federal Minister, must bear responsibility together with the MIC President and sole Indian Cabinet Minister for over 28 years, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu for the marginalization of the Malaysian Indians into a new underclass.

Keng Yaik should redeem his “political sins” in his last few weeks in Cabinet before the dissolution of Parliament in the next six weeks by speaking up for the Indians instead of undermining their cause for justice.

The least Keng Yaik should do is to defend the Gerakan Youth vice chief S. Paranjothy who had said that the 30,000 Indians had taken part in the November 25 Hindraf demonstration in Kuala Lumpur “to express their frustrations and anger” because the community has been “marginalized, oppressed and ignored”.

Keng Yaik should tell the the Umno Youth leader, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein that Paranjothy had neither committed any wrong nor indiscipline in speaking the truth and blaming Hishammuddin and the Deputy UMNO Youth Leader Khairy Jamaluddin for racial posturing and inciting racial sentiments among Malays to gain political mileage – citing against the former the keris-wielding episodes and against the latter his berating of the Indian news vendors when the UMNO presidential address of Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was not carried in the press the next day as UMNO general assembly fell on Deepavali, with the next day an annual press holiday. Continue reading “Will Keng Yaik redeem his political sins in his last few weeks in Cabinet?”

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More about SMK BUD4 (3)…

Letters

by Philip Yong

I am writing this e-mail to you regarding your latest post on my former school, SMK BUD4. What the parent has wrote to you is indeed correct. Although I have left BU4 for good but I still do communicate with my friends and teachers of that school. In fact I still do visit it quite frequently.

After hearing about these issues about the new principal I felt that I should play my part as a former student of this school as well. I have a few additional information I would like to share with you. As Valentine’s Day is drawing near, the Scout Troop of SMKBU4 proposed to sell cookies for that occasion to gather some funds for our activities and charity. But to their dismay the Principal rejected the proposal immediately by the reason that she is a Muslim and does not celebrate Valentine’s Day. As far as I know, Malaysia is a multiracial country. The government is trying to promote multiracial values but their civil servant are going against that.

Besides that, our school hold a Talent Night Event for students to show off their capability and talent every year. The new principal has also said that she does not want the event to be held this year. She told a teacher that if we wanted to attend a contest we can go to the US or other Western Countries. After hearing this I felt that this principal has a real narrow mind. I feel sad for her honestly. Continue reading “More about SMK BUD4 (3)…”

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Postmortem on Hindraf rally (1)

By Helen Ang

The authorities are now intimidating Hindraf donors. And Samy Vellu was in India, saying everything’s hunky-dory, defending his Umno bosses. While civil society here is grappling still with the ramifications of the Nov 25 rally.

You may recall that Haris Ibrahim and Nat Tan were the two opinion shapers in cyberspace advancing antipodal schools of thought on the rally.

On Nov 24, Haris posted “Why I will not walk this Sunday and why the walk must not proceed”, while Nat vice versa. Readership for both websites – the People’s Parliament and Nat’s blog – experienced a sharp spike during this period; ours eliciting 105 comments.

Increased site traffic is an indicator of the influence that political blogs wield as opinion movers when information is blacked out or distorted in the mainstream media. In this regard, the lacuna was a dereliction of duty, that is, if MSM did not altogether abdicate duty at the behest of their political masters.

The Indian grassroots agitation must have been building up discernibly, yet the Hindraf groundswell washed upon us as suddenly as the tsunami. Reporters, not Haris and Nat, are paid to do the job of informing the public. When you fork over your money for your day’s paper, you’re part-financing their operations to keep you informed. They did not give readers value for money. They sinned by omission.

Now with the benefit of hindsight, it might be instructive to revisit the events of November that opened the curtain to the Hindraf saga. Continue reading “Postmortem on Hindraf rally (1)”

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The limits of democracy and individualism

by Dr. Azly Rahman

(Part 3 of the speech to Malaysian and Indonesian Muslim students of North America and Canada, Washington DC, December 2007.)

I begin with two familiar quotes:

“A life unexamined is not worth living,” said Socrates.

“Work hard as if you are to live forever, devote your beingness to the Creator as if you are to die tomorrow,” goes a saying attributed to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)

In this third part of our discussion, we will talk about the world within and this relates to the limits of democracy and individualism. I use the word “personacracy” or “deeply personal democracy” to describe what is it that we need to know about ourselves in order to navigate through the politics of representation of the modern world and signs and symbols of the postmodern environment we inhabit. We need, as an American social critic Frederic Jameson called a “cartography of the self” or a GPS system of our inner and outer world to function in this environment.

But first, what does being and “individual” mean? Let me offer a perspective that you can build upon. I need you to listen carefully to the concepts. They might make sense. Continue reading “The limits of democracy and individualism”