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Why do Malaysians march?

By Yeo Yang Poh

WHY march, when the government has said that it will review the Internal Security Act? Why march, when there are other very cosy ways of giving your views and feedback?

One would understand if these were questions posed by nine-year-olds. But they are not. They are questions posed by the prime minister of this nation we call our home. Answer we must. So, why?

Because thousands who died while in detention cannot march or speak any more. That is why others have to do it for them.

Because persons in the corridors of power, persons who have amassed tremendous wealth and live in mansions, and persons who are in the position to right wrongs but won’t, continue to rule our nation with suffocating might. And they certainly would not march. They would prevent others from marching.

Because the have-nots, the sidelined, the oppressed, the discriminated and the persecuted have no effective line to the powerful.

Because the nice ways have been tried ad nauseam for decades, but have fallen on deaf ears.
Continue reading “Why do Malaysians march?”

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Police arrest of 589 people in crackdown of peaceful “Abolish ISA” assembly a “black eye” to Police and BN human rights but which Najib and Hishammuddin seem to regard as a “badge of honour”!

It is indeed both tragic and pathetic.

The mass arrest of 589 people in the harsh police crackdown of the peaceful patriotic “Abolish ISA” assembly in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday using excessive force and indiscriminate firing of tear gas and chemically-laced water cannon at all and sundry, including women and children, passers-by and the residents in the vicinity, is a veritable “black eye” to the police and the Barisan Nasional human rights record – nationally and internationally as evidenced by the very critical and damaging international media coverage.

But to Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and their other Cabinet Ministers, the “black day” in the Kuala Lumpur streets of August 1, 2009 – where it is not the peaceful patriotic tens of thousands who caused breaches of peace and disorder with their remarkable discipline and commitment to peaceful protest but the “disciplined” 5,000-strong police force on the directives of their police superiors – and the “black eye” to the police and Barisan Nasional human rights record are regarded as a “badge of honour”!
Continue reading “Police arrest of 589 people in crackdown of peaceful “Abolish ISA” assembly a “black eye” to Police and BN human rights but which Najib and Hishammuddin seem to regard as a “badge of honour”!”

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Malaysian Arrests Put in Question Vow of Rights

By THOMAS FULLER
Published: August 2, 2009
New York Times / International Herald Tribune

BANGKOK — Soon after coming to power four months ago, Najib Razak, the Malaysian prime minister, vowed to temper the country’s repressive laws and respect civil liberties though they have often been ignored.

But Malaysia’s honeymoon of liberalism hit the rocks over the weekend, when the police broke up a large rally in Kuala Lumpur, arresting nearly 600 people and reaffirming the governing party’s longstanding policy of zero tolerance toward street protests.

Opposition parties, which organized the rally, were calling for the repeal of a law that allows the government to jail its critics indefinitely without charge. The opposition is also pressing the government to expand an inquiry into the recent death under mysterious circumstances of a political aide after a late-night interrogation by anticorruption officials.
Continue reading “Malaysian Arrests Put in Question Vow of Rights”

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Musa Hassan wreaking personal vengeance against me and other Pakatan Rakyat leaders for the Parliamentary Roundtable last week calling for a new IGP to create a safe Malaysia

I come straight from Kuala Lumpur where this afternoon tens of thousands of Malaysians of all races participated peacefully in a mammoth gathering to demand the repeal of draconian laws, in particular the infamous Internal Security Act (ISA).

For the first time in 43 years in politics under six Prime Ministers from Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir, Tun Abdullah and Datuk Seri Najib Razak, I experienced first-hand today the indiscriminate police use of tear gas and its corrosive effects.

Is this an indication that the Najib premiership is going to be the most draconian of all Prime Ministers since Merdeka in 1957?

It was clear that the cause of breach of peace and public disorder in Kuala Lumpur today was not the peaceful tens of thousands of Malaysians who merely wanted to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Prime Minister that draconian laws like the ISA must be removed from the statute books, but the police who indiscriminately fired tear gas and chemically-laced water cannons at the peaceful masses, in utter disregard of human rights of Malaysians to freedom of speech, expression and assembly.
Continue reading “Musa Hassan wreaking personal vengeance against me and other Pakatan Rakyat leaders for the Parliamentary Roundtable last week calling for a new IGP to create a safe Malaysia”

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Penan Starvation: People First, Performance Now?

by Augustine Anthony

Time and again I have said that our country is a land of milk and honey but we now suffer a well entrenched system of governance that betrays its own people.

The news report in Utusan Online under caption “Lebih 3,000 Penan kebuluran” is one by product of a system failure.

Malaysia is seen on many occasions as a generous contributor whenever there are calamities around the world. Some of the aids that are despatched are laudably swift, perhaps within days or weeks of such calamities.

Of course we welcome such generosity of Malaysia. But what about our own backyard?
Continue reading “Penan Starvation: People First, Performance Now?”

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Will recruitment of Rela personnel to help police to keep streets safe be a cure which is worse than the disease if Rela personnel are not sensitized about the importance of human rights?

Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said yesterday that the best from the civil Defence Department and Rela have been enlisted to help police keep the streets safer and that 254 – 115 from the Civil Defence and 139 from Rela – had been shortlisted from 1,000 applicants last week.

The recruitment of Rela personnel to help police to keep streets safe raises public fear whether Rela human rights abuses against immigrants will now extend to ordinary Malaysians.

Rela human rights abuses have become so notorious not only locally but also internationally that human rights organizations local and abroad have called for Rela’s disbandment.
Continue reading “Will recruitment of Rela personnel to help police to keep streets safe be a cure which is worse than the disease if Rela personnel are not sensitized about the importance of human rights?”

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Crucial to resolve conversion issues without delay: Lim

The Sun | Giam Say Khoon

KUALA LUMPUR (July 1, 2009) : Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) wants parliament to convene an emergency sitting to pass amendments to the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 not relating to Islam.

He said the announcement of Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz on Tuesday that laws on conversion would be indefinitely put on hold pending a decision of the Conference of Rulers was a great disappointment and setback in the resolution of such a “burning issue”.

“I call on the cabinet on Friday to take a bold decision on matters arising from unilateral conversions … these must be resolved without any delay,” Lim said.

“The Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act has nothing to do with Islam, and I call on the cabinet to make a decision so that parliament can convene an emergency sitting in July or August, specially to deal with this problem which has become so polarising and dividing,” he said at the parliament lobby.
Continue reading “Crucial to resolve conversion issues without delay: Lim”

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Don’t tell Najib the truth or risk charge of sedition/criminal defamation!

I believe the overwhelming majority of the people, in Perak and Malaysia, agree with what I said at the Guar Perahu ceramah – that Najib must bear the greatest responsibility for the protracted Perak political and constitutional crisis, set off by Najib’s unethical, undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional power grab in Perak, which has now broadened into a larger national crisis of confidence of key national institutions, like police, election commission, MACC, civil service, judiciary, whose credibility, legitimacy and integrity have been compromised in serving Najib’s political agenda.

Are there enough court houses for the police to prosecute the overwhelming majority of Malaysians who think alike with me and are there enough prisons for them if they are convicted of the serious offences of sedition and criminal defamation of the Prime Minister?

What really surprised me is not that the police are investigating a police report lodged against me for sedition and criminal defamation, but that the police report was lodged by the police itself.

Chief Inspector Pang Meng Tuck lodged the police report against me because, as the police recording officer for the PKR Penanti by-election ceramah in Guar Perahu, Kubang Semang on Sunday, 24th May 2009, he was of the view that my speech defamed the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and was seditious. Continue reading “Don’t tell Najib the truth or risk charge of sedition/criminal defamation!”

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PDRM’s 3 minutes to disperse….. 1,2,3 Catch, Catch, Catch!

by Augustine Anthony
29.5.09

It is now clear that the assurance given by Justice Syed Ahmad Idid to Anthony Clement Skinner (who is now the Kota Kinabalu High Court Judge) in the case of Datuk Yong Teck Lee v PP & Anor 1993 1mlj 295 has travelled through the intestinal passages of abuses of constitutional protection of citizens and now awaits it’s final moment. To be flushed down in the toilet bowl.

Skinner’s (as he then was and whom I know as a judge blessed with enviable judicial temperament) fears were well founded as he provided an illustration of the extensive powers of the police under the Police Act 1967 and the likely abuses by the police.

“‘If three school boys decide to go to the cinema for a film show, they cannot do so. It is illegal to do so unless they have a licence from the OCPD to do so. Any steps taken in furtherance of the intention (without a licence) would render the meeting or assembly illegal and any person taking part thereto shall be guilty of an offence.”

Continue reading “PDRM’s 3 minutes to disperse….. 1,2,3 Catch, Catch, Catch!”

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Indictment of IGP Musa Hassan’s failure – Ah Longs beating and chaining victims like dogs in illegal prisons for months on end

Malaysians are shocked today by more evidence that Malaysia is taking on the characteristics of a failed state, when they read reports and see photos of “Loan shark’s hellhole torture for defaulters”, with men chained like dogs, beaten and forced to survive on water and bread for months on end, the horrific treatment inflicted by loan sharks on their debtors.

Ah Long cell

The discovery of such hell-hole came to light when police rescued three men who were held in an unoccupied shoplot in Seri Kembangan, near Kuala Lumpur, for two months as they could not pay their loans which ranged from RM1,500 to RM4,000.

A police party raided the shoplot yesterday afternoon and found the three men tied to the wall with heavy chains.

The victims, aged 25, 34 and 49, were abducted from Segambut, Semenyih and Gombak.

As Gombak police chief Assistant Commissioner Abdul Rahim Abdullah described it:

“The victims were very weak. They were wearing the same clothes they had on for the past two months and had been beaten regularly with sticks.

“The loan sharks contacted the victims’ families and demanded they settle the loans if they wanted to see their loved ones again.”

The families could not raise the money but did not seek police help.

Rahim said the victims were imprisoned in two makeshift six-by-seven metre cells, each with an open toilet. They were chained at their necks and feet to a wall.

Firemen used an electric chainsaw to cut through the 6kg chains.

The captives sobbed uncontrollably when they saw the rescue party.

He said they were only given five slices of bread every few days and water from a small tap connected to their cells.

“If we made noise, we would be kicked and beaten.”

Continue reading “Indictment of IGP Musa Hassan’s failure – Ah Longs beating and chaining victims like dogs in illegal prisons for months on end”

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Najib’s 1 Malaysia has morphed to 1 Police State

By Dr. Chen Man Hin

The sudden police raid of party headquarters without a search warrant means that the police does not care about ‘rule of law’ in a civilised society.

Barging into the party premises and snatching a ‘server’, brazenly ignoring the objections of party personnel is tantamount to the behaviour of police in communist and totalitarian states like Nazi Germany and Communist Russia.

The police in Malaysia has changed its character.from a guardian of the people, to become a secret police.

Malaysia’s own secret police behaviour is no different from the behaviour of the Gestapo, the Kempetai of Japan. We are living in a police state.

DEFINITION OF A POLICE STATE.
The term police state describes a state in which the government exercises rigid and repressive control over the social, economic and political life of the population. A police state typically exhibits elements of totalitarianism and social control and there is usually little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the executive.
Continue reading “Najib’s 1 Malaysia has morphed to 1 Police State”

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Najib must apologise for what five previous Prime Ministers had not done – police raid on DAP Hqrs as if DAP is a terrorist organization like Al Maunah

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should apologise for what five previous Prime Ministers had not done in the 43 year history of the DAP – police raid on DAP Hqrs as if the DAP is a terrorist organization like Al Maunah.

I was enroute to Air Kala for a DAP branch function and had stopped in Sauk for dinner for its famous fresh-water fish, jerawat and malau, when I received a phone call at 6.27 pm from DAP IT manager, Goh Kheng Teong that a police party of 12 in plainclothes had brought along a handcuffed DAPSY political education director Ooi Leng Heng in a police raid of DAP hqrs.

I was unable to tweet the outrageous police action as I could not access the Internet with Maxis 3G and I later authorized Goh to update the twitter on my behalf.

Why has Najib, who had committed himself to an open and democratic premiership only seven weeks ago, allowed the police to go on a rampage to the extent of doing things which the previous five Prime Ministers had not allowed the police to do for 43 years – a police raid on DAP Hqrs as if the DAP is a terrorist organization like Al Maunah. Continue reading “Najib must apologise for what five previous Prime Ministers had not done – police raid on DAP Hqrs as if DAP is a terrorist organization like Al Maunah”

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Hishammuddin should send the OCPDs of Brickfields and Ampang Jaya to a human rights sensitization course

Malaysians are shocked by the outrageous conduct of the OCPDs of Brickfields and Ampang Jaya, Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Talib and Abd Jalil Hassan, whose boorish conduct are caught on video, serving as prime examples of police officers who have no notion or respect for human rights or even civil behaviour.

Both of them have brought shame not only to the country, but also to the Royal Malaysian Police Force, in their unprofessional conduct and excessive display of police power – showing utter contempt for elected representatives of the people and ordinary members of the public.

When police officers could summon massive police reinforcements to deal with a small and peaceful group of civic-minded Malaysians lighting candles to send their message of protest to the authorities over the unethical, undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional power grab in Perak, something is very wrong with the training of police officers. In fact, something is very wrong with the direction the country is heading.
Continue reading “Hishammuddin should send the OCPDs of Brickfields and Ampang Jaya to a human rights sensitization course”

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Aung San Suu Kyi’s Monday trial – Malaysian Cabinet should condemn Myanmar junta on Wednesday

ASEAN should condemn the Myanmar military junta if its proceeds tomorrow with the arbitrary trial of Nobel Peace Prize Laureatee and Burmese pro-democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi despite world-wide protests and release her from the notorious Insein Prison.

The revocation of the licence of a top lawyer, Aung Thien, barring him from defending Suu Kyi is ominous sign of the length the Myanmese military junta is prepared to go ensure that she remains in detention despite the expected expiry of her six-year house arrest on May 27 and to keep her sidelined ahead of the junta’s promised elections in 2010 as part of its sham seven-step “roadmap to democracy”.

Malaysia should take the lead in such ASEAN condemnation which should be formally decided by the Cabinet at its meeting on Wednesday. Continue reading “Aung San Suu Kyi’s Monday trial – Malaysian Cabinet should condemn Myanmar junta on Wednesday”

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ASSK’s Monday trial – Malaysia/ASEAN should pressure Myanmar junta as ASEAN Charter should not be human rights “whitewash”

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should lead Malaysia and ASEAN to pressure the Myanmar military junta to release Burmese democracy icon and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to prove to the world that the ASEAN Charter is no “whitewash” for the most egregious human rights violations in Myanmar.

Malaysia and ASEAN’s credibility in international society are also dragged through the mud when Suu Kyi was indicted with the ridiculous charge of breaching the terms of her house arrest over a bizarre incident in which a US Vietnam veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder swam to her lakeside house.

Charged under the country’s Law Safeguarding the State from the Dangers of Subversive Elements, which carries jail sentence up to five years, Suu Kyi faces lengthy and harsh incarceration in Rangoon’s notorious Insein prison.

The purpose clearly is to stretch her detention past its supposed expiry date this month and through controversial elections due in 2010, an important plank of the Myanmese military junta’s sham “12-step road to democracy”.
Continue reading “ASSK’s Monday trial – Malaysia/ASEAN should pressure Myanmar junta as ASEAN Charter should not be human rights “whitewash””

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Asian public intellectuals condemn Wong Chin Huat’s detention

Joint statement issued by a group of concerned public intellectuals. The people who endorsed the statement are either past or current recipients of the Asian Public Intellectual Fellowship, given by the Nippon Foundation in Tokyo, Japan.

We, the Asian Public Intellectual (API) fellows, view with grave alarm and concern the recent arrest of a fellow intellectual, Mr. Wong Chin Huat under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act. We believe his detention was related to his call, on behalf of the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections (Bersih), to all Malaysians to wear black on Thursday the 7 May 2009, as a mark of protest against the illegal and unconstitutional usurpation of power by the Barisan Nasional (BN) in Perak.

This action by the authorities, in our opinion, was totally unwarranted and unjust. Chin Huat had done nothing wrong, beyond exercising his right as a citizen to engage in a social movement that is committed to the conduct of clean, free and fair elections. His arrest and detention are an attack by the Government against the fundamental and inalienable right of a citizen, as enshrined in the Federal Constitution. The recent ruling by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur simply proves and confirms that Chin Huat was taking a constitutionally right decision and action.
Continue reading “Asian public intellectuals condemn Wong Chin Huat’s detention”

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Why Najib’s good Vesak Day message fell flat

I commend the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak for a great Vesak Day message, when he called on Malaysians not to focus on differences between one another, but to look for similarities and common ground,

Although Najib invoked the call “In the spirit of human progress, in the spirit of developing this great country, in the spirit of 1Malaysia”, it unfortunately fell flat because the actions of his government in his first month as Prime Minister failed to match his slogan of “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now.”

Despite his attendance at the Vesak celebrations at the Fo Guang Shan Dong Zen Buddhist Temple in Jenjarom yesterday, Najib had not been able to evoke the electrifying effect his predecessor, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi created in his first Christmas message as Prime Minister in his second month in office in December 2003, and when he was guest-of-honour at the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM)’s Christmas reception in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur six years ago.

Najib and his think-tank should give deep and serious study as to why his premiership has not been able to launch off successfully despite various goodies and promises of more to come. Continue reading “Why Najib’s good Vesak Day message fell flat”

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Remove restrictive ISA release conditions, lift ban on Hindraf and appoint Uthayakumar as member of Royal Commission of Inquiry into marginalisation of Malaysian Indians

I am calling this media conference on the release of the three Hindraf leaders, P. Uthayakumar, DAP Selangor Assemblyman for Kota Alam Shah M. Manoharan and K. Vasanthakumar from Kamunting Detention Centre under the Internal Security Act (ISA) two hours ago.

The formation of Hindraf, the arbitrary, undemocratic and unjust detention of the five Hindraf leaders in December and the Makkal Sakti phenomenon were important factors resulting in the March 8 “political tsunami” in last year’s general election.

The time has come for the Barisan Nasional government not just to release the three remaining Hindraf leaders under the ISA today but to come to terms and address the root causes for the alienation and marginalisation of the Indian community in the country after half-a-century of nationhood.

Neither the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak nor the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein should entertain any notion that the Malaysian Indians should “membalas budi” for the release of the Hindraf leaders, as they should not be detained without trial under the ISA in the first place.

To realistically and boldly address the root causes of the Hindraf and Makkal
Sakti phenomena, I call on Najib to implement three measures: Continue reading “Remove restrictive ISA release conditions, lift ban on Hindraf and appoint Uthayakumar as member of Royal Commission of Inquiry into marginalisation of Malaysian Indians”

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Hishammuddin more incompetent than Hamid Albar as Home Minister, requring longer time to release 13 ISA detainees?

Is the current Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein more incompetent than Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar that the former must take a longer time than his predecessor to release 13 Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees?

When Datuk Seri Najib Razak was sworn in as the sixth Prime Minister on Friday, 3rd April 2009, he announced in his maiden address to the nation telecast live at 8 pm the same night the release “with immediate effect” of 13 ISA detainees, including two Hindraf leaders Ganapathi Rao and R. Kenghadharan.

I had at the time expected the 13 ISA detainees to be released from Kamunting Detention Centre latest by the next day, Saturday, 4th April 2009.

This was not to be and Ganabatirau and Kenghadharan’s families were made victims of a cruel police game of “cat and mouse” lasting some 46 hours, as both of them were only released to their homes in Selangor at about 6 p.m. on Sunday 5th April 2009 – despite Najib’s “immediate release” announcement on Friday night and the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan’s undertaking on Saturday midday that the 13 ISA detainees would be allowed to leave Kamunting Detention Centre on Sunday morning.

Now, is Hishammuddin going to take longer than 46 hours to release another 13 ISA detainees, including the remaining three Hindraf leaders under the ISA, P. Uthayakumar, DAP Selangor State Assemblyman for Kota Alam Shah, M. Manoharan and K. Vasantha Kumar? Continue reading “Hishammuddin more incompetent than Hamid Albar as Home Minister, requring longer time to release 13 ISA detainees?”