Press freedom, a la MCA

by Thomas Lee Seng Hock
COMMENT

MCA president Chua Soi Lek has declared that his party wants the current restrictive and oppressive Printing Presses and Publications Act scrapped, to keep up with the increasing public demands for more openness and freedom of expression.

Chua said at the recently concluded 58th MCA annual general assembly that the aspirations of the new generation of Malaysians for a more liberal and democratic society means that the Barisan Nasional government should be bold and confident enough to dump the intolerable piece of harsh and authoritarian legislation, not just make amendments to it.

“We must work towards abolishing the Printing Presses and Publications Act and set a time frame for that. The government has to be bold and confident enough to take such a step,” he said. Continue reading “Press freedom, a la MCA”

DAP supports PSC on Electoral Reforms with reservations

The DAP welcomes the setting up of this Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reforms though we have many doubts and reservations.

Since 70s in Parliament, DAP MPs had been calling for free, fair and clean general elections, making proposals such as the following:

• a clean, honest and comprehensive electoral list where every eligible voter is on the list which could be simply achieved with an automatic voters registration system for every citizen who comes of voting age and the cleansing of phantom and illegal voters;

• eradication of postal vote abuses;

• Reduction of eligible voting age from 21 to 18 years;

• fair campaign period to allow voters adequate time to make informed decisions on their choice from competing candidates and political parties.

• eradication of electoral offences and corrupt practices, as money politics to buy votes;

• introduction of the concept of caretaker government to carry out day-to-day administration of the country between dissolution of Parliament and polling day where the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers are legally barred from abusing and misusing their public offices, resources or funds for any party electioneering campaigning on pain of disqualification despite election – like the case of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi whose election to Parliament was declared null and void in 1975 on grounds of electoral malpractices because she had used government resources including helicopter for campaigning.

• An independent, credible and professional Elections Commission to carry out the constitutional duty to conduct free and fair elections, and not one which claims that its responsibility is to conduct elections with no powers to ensure it is clean, free and fair.

• Free and fair access to media;

• Fair and democratic redelineation of constituencies to give meaning to the principle of “one man, one vote, one value”.

For four decades these calls for a free, fair and clean electoral system had been ignored by UMNO and Barisan Nasional because they have been able to perpetuate their political power through such an undemocratic, unfair and even corrupt electoral system.

Is there now a genuine “change of heart” by the Prime Minister, UMNO and BN represented by the formation of the PSC for electoral reforms before Parliament today? Continue reading “DAP supports PSC on Electoral Reforms with reservations”

Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #84

By M. Bakri Musa
Chapter 10: Freedom, Justice, and the Law

Society and Individuals

Society and individual may be the two sides of the same coin; nonetheless our attitude or more importantly the attitude of those in power as to which side to be viewed first, involves more than just a simple toss of the coin. The difference between a totalitarian state versus a civil one is that with the former, the individual serves the state; in a civilized society, the state is there for the citizens. This seminal distinction makes all the difference.

The purported supremacy of Asian values that place a premium on societal goals over the dignity of the individual is in reality at best nothing more than a benign manifestation of authoritarian tendencies. It is no surprise that such societies are prone to militaristic and dictatorial tendencies, as demonstrated by Communist China and the Japan of World War II.
Continue reading “Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #84”

A vote for Najib is a vote for…

— Tan Teck Huat
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 02, 2011

OCT 2 — … Utusan Malaysia, The Star, News Sraits Times and other propaganda papers.

Today I made the colossal mistake of reading that MCA-owned ragsheet, The Star.

Under the pretence of caring about the future of Malaysia, they went on and on about hudud laws, trying to frighten Malaysians about PAS and Pakatan Rakyat.

But there was nothing in the paper about the theft of native land in Sarawak, about corruption in the country and abuse of power by Barisan Nasional politicians, including those from the MCA.

It is the same with Utusan Malaysia. Continue reading “A vote for Najib is a vote for…”