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Najib’s silence on Zahid signals trouble

– Jay Jay Denis
The Malay Mail Online
October 12, 2013

OCT 12 — “If we get evidence, we shoot them first,” Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was quoted as saying. Reporters were then threatened that if any of what he said was reported, their news portals might be shut down. This is a Member of Parliament put in charge of one of the most key ministries in the country.

What will happen after this? I think you know. There is no need for elaboration.

The Home Affairs Minister has “crossed the line” many a time but has he been held accountable? I don’t recall him being investigated for his statements at all.

To say that “we shoot them first” is preposterous. And that coming from a minister!

Many countries try to observe the rule of law, putting it above everything else so that it acts (via the judicial system), as a check and balance for any society. Ahmad Zahid has undermined the rule of law. Continue reading “Najib’s silence on Zahid signals trouble”

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Election Courts are worse than the Election Commission

– P Ramakrishnan
The Malaysian Insider
October 12, 2013

Yes, the Election Courts are worse than the Election Commission (EC)! The recent disappointing decisions of the Election Courts have proved that there is no hope for parliamentary democracy even in the judiciary.

If the Barisan Nasional (BN) is a great let-down for democracy, the Election Commission is an even greater let-down for the electoral process. But shockingly, the Election Courts comparatively are far worse in that they cannot dispense justice to the aggrieved party even if there was a glaring injustice.

It is clear as daylight that the BN abused the electoral process by openly bribing voters through its many projects launched especially during the period leading up to the GE13 (including the campaign period itself) by dishing out goodies and cash inducements to win over the voters. Billions of ringgit in cash or projects was dispensed freely giving an unfair disadvantage to the Opposition who were cash-strapped. Continue reading “Election Courts are worse than the Election Commission”