JULY 12 — I’m as ordinary as it gets. I live in a decent-sized condo, in a fairly popular middle-upper class neighbourhood. I married my husband in my early 30s. I’ve got a decent job in a well-regarded private corporation, where I’m middle management.
No children just yet but we’re trying for the average number of two. On the weekends, we do what most Malaysians in our circumstances might do — head to the cinema, have a meal at one of KL’s many malls, catch up with family and friends.
Recently, I had to answer a little profile write-up for work. When asked “what’s your biggest achievement?”, I could think of nothing I’d done so far that qualified. Yes, I’m that ordinary. Continue reading “When the ordinary became extraordinary”
JULY 12 — “Are you ready to die for the country?” I asked as I walked together with Simeon heading from Mirama Hotel on Jalan Maharajalela to Petaling Street.
My honest answer to my own question was, “No. I don’t believe I should die now. When I’m only 24. There is so much more that I want and believe I can do for my country.”
“But what if it takes bloodshed for people to wake up? What if we were the ones to go — so that people will finally realise the need for change?” was Simeon’s reply. Continue reading “Tanah tumpahnya darahku”
JULY 12 — As I headed for the LRT station to enter the city on the morning of July 9, I was both fearful and determined — fearful that a “May 13” type violence would erupt, and afraid of being arrested. Yet, I was determined to break this shroud of fear that had gained intensity over the last two weeks from reading the newspapers, watching television and listening to coffeeshop talk.
I nervously joined a predominantly Malay group outside the KTM building. From those whom I glanced at a bit longer, I received courteous smiles. I soon started to join them in shouting “Hidup Rakyat” or “Hidup Bersih” and punching the air as we strolled along. When they shouted calling upon “Allah”, I suddenly became conscious of the present controversy concerning the use of the word by non-Muslims, reducing my voice to a murmur. Continue reading “Bersih 2.0 “bersih”ed me!”
When the Tunku raised his hand to the cries of “Merdeka”, I was on the cusp of turning six.
On 9 July 2011, as I approach 60, I was among those who rallied at the Bersih 2.0 carnival. Yes, it was a carnival. And what a carnival! The atmosphere couldn’t have been more convivial and peaceable.
The gathering was diverse, emblematic of the Malaysian identity – Indian, Malay and Chinese; young, middle-aged and old; priest and laity; rich and the not-so-rich; politicians, NGOs and the ordinary voters.
A truer representation of what Malaysia represents would be hard to replicate. We came because we wanted to – for love of our country.
Memorial Service: Teoh Beng Hock - 2 years later on 15/7/11 (Fri) 8pm at Dewan Serbaguna, Sri Kembangan
The Cabinet has been sitting on the Royal Commission of Inquiry report into the death of Teoh Beng Hock for three weeks since it was first submitted to the Yang di Pertuan Agong on June 22, 2011.
This is most inconsiderate to the Teoh Beng Hock family members as well as inefficient, as in developed democracies which fully upholds the principles of accountability, transparency and good governance, Royal Commission of Inquiry reports are invariably made public at the same time they are submitted to the heads of states.
There is no need for the government of the day to study the Royal Commission of Inquiry reports concerned as to whether they are in agreement or otherwise, as the RCI reports are commissioned in the name of the people and country.
If the government has any views and decisions pertaining to findings or recommendations of Royal Commissions of Inquiry, they could be made public subsequently.
As in another four days it will be the second anniversary of Teoh Beng Hock’s mysterious and unusual death at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters in Shah Alam on July 16, 2009, the Cabinet should not sit on the Teoh Beng Hock RCI report any further but must act responsibly by releasing it immediately to the public tomorrow itself in line with the principles of accountability, transparency and good governance and in time for Teoh Beng Hock’s second death anniversary.
DAP MP for PJ Utara and National Publicity Secretary Tony Pua was rightly outraged and accused the MCA Deputy President and Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai of “lying through his teeth” when the latter denied that police had fired tear gas and water cannons into the Tung Shin Maternity Hospital during the 709 Bersih 2.0 rally on Saturday.
Pua has also rightly demanded the Health Minister apologise to the hospital authorities and Malaysians for his statement as Pua is not only an eye-witness but a victim of the wanton, reckless and unforgivable police attacks on the Tong Shin Maternity Hospital,
By Melissa Chi
July 12, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
Raja Aziz AddruseKUALA LUMPUR, July 12 — Raja Aziz Addruse, one of the country’s most distinguished and respected lawyers, died today after a long illness. He was 74.
He was elected a commissioner of the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) in 2006. Raja Aziz was the third Malaysian to be elected to this prestigious post after former Lord President Tun Mohd Suffian Hashim and senior lawyer Param Cumaraswamy.
Raja Aziz (picture) was elected Bar Council president three times, the first from the 1976-1978, then 1988-1989 and then for the 1992-1993 term.
He appeared before the courts in a variety of high-profile human rights and rule-of-law cases. He was the lead counsel for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy I case.
He was also a member of the Malaysian National Society of Human Rights.
He studied law at the University of Bristol.
“Fundamental liberties no longer exist; this is a harsh thing to say but the courts don’t seem to think that fundamental rights are important.
“To me, the constitution now means nothing because it can be changed at any time,”
Raja Aziz had said at a session themed “What the Constitution means to me” in 2007.
The senior constitutional lawyer said on the last day of the 14th Malaysian Law Conference that the checks and balances that were in the 1957 constitution did not exist anymore.
Tan Sri L.C. Vohrah, a long-time friend of Raja Aziz, and a retired High Court judge, had described Raja Aziz as “a man of immense integrity and a self-effacing person” who deserved to be elected to the commissioner of the ICJ position.
Raja Aziz will be buried after Zohor tomorrow at 1 pm at the Kiara Muslim Cemetery.
By Clara Chooi
July 12, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 — DAP MP Tony Pua today accused MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai of “lying through his teeth” when the latter denied that police had fired tear gas and water cannons into the Tung Shin Maternity Hospital on Saturday.
The Petaling Jaya Utara MP, who was among the group seeking refuge in the hospital during the chemical bombardment, demanded that the health minister apologise to the hospital authorities and Malaysians for his statement. Continue reading “Pua: Liow ‘lying through his teeth’ on hospital attack”
Wong waved his hands in the air. “The tear gas canister was right in front of me!” he said.
The 22-year-old working adult was one of thousands of young Malaysians who went to Saturday’s rally that saw tens of thousands of people in the city centre.
Some of them weren’t die-hard supporters of Bersih’s call for clean and fair elections. Some like Wong were there “just for the fun” while others were relentless in their pursuit for the “perfect” photo.
Thousands of protestors and onlookers were at the rally with their cameras and snapped away at everything they saw. Some gung-ho ones even stood between riot police and protestors eager to get a good shot. Continue reading “The days of gatekeeping are numbered”
One explanation for the hamfisted and gross mishandling of the 709 Bersih 2.0 rally for free and fair elections in Merdeka Stadium is that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, DPM Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, the Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and all the Cabinet Ministers are trapped in a “time warp” causing their total disconnect with ordinary Malaysians and the fact that they are living in 2011 in the era of social media and the Internet.
This is why there is considerable merit in the advice by the University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) social anthropologist Professor Datuk Shamsul Amri Baharuddin that the Najib administration should discard its “Cold War” mindset and to modernize its concepts to address internal security and national issues.
Shamsul reminded the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition that the “enemy” was no longer armed communists battling a jungle war but a civilian movement consisting of politically awakened middle class that is wired to the global community and moved by fully legitimate issu Continue reading “Government in “time warp””
By Andrew Chee
July 12, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
JULY 12 — I’m a 28 moving on to 29-year-old man in Kuala Lumpur, the place where in 2008 I decided to get a fresh start. I am originally from Malacca and had been in Singapore for about 4½ years prior to moving to KL.
For the purposes of this story, let’s just say the sum of my life experiences has made me grouchy, surly, disgruntled and yes… RACIST. But I was a funny type of racist; I’m Chinese but have part-Baba heritage with very Westernised conditioning and cannot, for the life of me, speak any sort of Chinese dialect (save to order food).
I disliked the Malays and Indians for the usual stereotypical reasons, and I disliked the Chinese even more for being too “Cina” and I disliked the “lain-lains” for just being “lain-lain.” Sure, I have friends from other races; my very best friends are Malay Singaporeans, and my childhood friend, who is in KL as well, is a Chindian. Continue reading “How Bersih cleansed my Malaysian soul”
By Edwin Yapp
July 12, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
JULY 12 — A government elected by the people, for the people — that is the bedrock principle of any fully-functioning democracy.
As we recover from the aftermath of the events on July 9, 2011, I find myself having to explain this very crucial principle to some of the people who are most important to me — my children.
I feel compelled to do so simply because there is so much misinformation out there that the young will inevitably be misled and confused.
Like, for example, my son said to me a day after the Bersih 2.0 rally: “Pa, can we wear yellow again?” Admittedly, I should have explained to him earlier what was going on and why the government of the day has outlawed people wearing yellow T-shirts, which carry the word Bersih 2.0. Continue reading “Dismantling the tyranny of democracy”
JULY 12 — The object of derision and concern is the Election Commission. How does the government respond?
It did so by demonising the Bersih rally. The PM went a step further and went on his, well, now predictable, charm offensive. The business people complaining on TV3 about lost business would also not be doing good business on a normal day. But their grievance is now useful to the government because it can be used as testimony that the rally caused severe economic hardship.
The Egyptian tourist, who talked about something similar happening in Cairo some weeks ago, was probably looking for a good time in Bukit Bintang. He was also probably searching for Datuk Eskay whom he may have heard can arrange for a good time for horny Egyptians. Continue reading “Untameable Bersih – Part 1”
By Golongan Kiri
July 11, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
JULY 11 — On Saturday, July 9, thousands of ordinary Malaysians thronged into various spots around central KL to demand a just electoral system. The government had tried its best to suppress the rally through various means, but ultimately failed to stop it from going ahead.
With the previous week’s cat and mouse game played by the government in agreeing to the rally and the roadblocks to intimidate citizens, the fact that the rally even materialised is a moral victory for the cause and major slap in the government’s face. Obviously shutting off the entire city centre and major traffic arteries failed to paralyse the movement of protestors into the city. Continue reading “The day I lost my fear”
They have been accused of hijacking the July 9 rally as calls of ‘reformasi’ – PKR’s battle cry – reverberated on the streets of Kuala Lumpur instead of cries of ‘Bersih’ for electoral reforms.
Yet more than 5,000 turned up to throw a hero’s welcome for Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and PAS deputy chief Mohamad Sabu at the Seberang Jaya Expo site last night, a ceramah which the latter described as ‘Bersih 3.0’.
Both leaders, who arrived within 20 minutes of each other, made a grand entrance – Anwar entered sporting a neck brace and had to assisted as he headed for the stage, while Mohamad was in a wheelchair and was hauled up onto the platform by several security personnel. Continue reading “Thousands throng ‘Bersih 3.0’ ceramah in Penang”
The police stood prepared with their anti-riot weapons, with one of them aiming his tear gas gun at Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim. That’s what his bodyguard Fayyadh Afiq saw, and he immediately took action.
As he heard the order to fire, Fayyadh said he pulled Anwar away.
PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu today claimed police rammed a truck into the motorbike he was riding en-route to join Bersih 2.0 protesters last Saturday.
Visiting the Selangor state assembly building in a wheelchair, the usually jovial leader took a more sombre tone as he recounted his harrowing experience.
“I was on a motorbike on the way to Masjid Negara, when suddenly a Land Rover rammed into us. I didn’t know it was a police Land Rover at the time,” he told journalists at a press conference.
“The impact threw me off and I was rolling on the ground. They then brought me into the Land Rover and took me to a clinic in Jinjang, which referred me to the hospital.” Continue reading “Mat Sabu: Police Land Rover rammed me”
KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 — Anti-Bersih supporters have mounted a petition online, threatening to abandon its support for Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s administration if the prime minister fails to revoke the citizenships of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Datuk Ambiga Sreenavasan and punish Bersih marchers.
Pledging one million signatures, the petition started by one Rahmat Azim Abd Aziz, 39, warns Najib against ignoring its five demands, saying its signatories would not hesitate to rebel to defend Malaysia, “even without the help of Datuk Seri’s (Najib) government”.
As of 8pm today, the petition entitled, “Legal action and recommendations to His Royal Highness the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia to revoke medals and accolades” has attracted 173 signatures. Continue reading “Anti-Bersih group holds Najib to ransom”
BANGI, July 11 — Social anthropologist Datuk Shamsul Amri Baharuddin today advised the Najib administration to modernise its internal security to deal with present-day threats, instead of holding on to “Cold War” tactics just to be able to deploy them on political rivals.
The professor from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) reminded the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition that the “enemy” was no longer armed communists battling a jungle war but a civilian movement consisting of politically-awakened middle class that is wired to the global community.
