— Jaleel Hameed
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 14, 2012
AUG 14 — Thank you, Mr Prime Minister, for realising the effects of the Internet Blackout Day today.
But, sir, how did this come about? Why does it take an uproar for your ministers and government to snap into action.
Well, not the government. Only you, sir, and a few other lawmakers, figured it out but that too way after Section 114A of the Evidence Act was passed.
Is this People First, Performance Now?
Because tonight, sir, you reaffirmed that people come first.
“I have asked Cabinet to discuss section 114A of the Evidence Act 1950. Whatever we do we must put people first,” you said on Twitter.
See, sir, you have to watch what’s going on now within your government and supporters, including the sycophantic cybertroopers who support anything done by your colleagues without thinking about it.
Fact is, your ministers are also not thinking deeply when they propose such laws and amendments like S114A.
Your administration must be careful, sir, and engage the people and experts before drafting silly laws that presume guilt rather than innocence. It makes the enforcement’s job easier but it is an injustice.
Don’t you think sir?
See what happened now. Your tweet that the Cabinet will discuss this law smacks of a flip-flop, a U-turn. You don’t need this, sir, because there has been a number of reversals since you took office.
So do us and yourself a favour, sir. Don’t let it slide into a blackout protest for you to finally take action. Make sure your administration engages the public and come up with laws that nurture and make Malaysia better, not laws that curb our freedom.
You want our support, sir. Not our anger to bubble and push you out of office. Get your colleagues in line to make sure people come first and performance is now, not after a furore like today.
THIS really is the big issue. S114A of Evidence Act is simply just symptomatic of the larger disease. It seems that UMNO/BN cannot NOT be told what to do. It seems the people have to constantly keep telling UMNO/BN how to do their job and responsibility.
Any employee that need to be constantly told what to do, deserve to get fired and usually are. An employee that is handsomely rewarded and still have to be told what to do constantly is just simply wrong – a mistake. In our case, a UMNO/BN government that is simply gross mistake..
The biggest problem about him is that he is a constant flip flopper. He doesn’t say what he means and means what he says. Soon after taking office as PM, I still remembered clearly he said “the days when the government knows best is over”. And here we are seeing the government arrogantly trying to shove S.114A down peoples throat. Now he’s going to do an about turn after looking so red-faced with such stupid law and retreat back to his shelter hole under his disguised “People First, Performance Now” banner. This speaks volume of his own performance!