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Hindraf demo – Cabinet should offer olive branch and end all sabre-rattling

The Barisan Nasional leaders, led by Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, should stop their truculent and confrontational responses to the Sunday 30,000 Hindraf demonstration in Kuala Lumpur, as illustrated by the following:

  • Saber-rattling and tough language like newspaper headlines, “Kerajaan tidak gentar — Perhimpunan Hindraf jelas bermotif politik — Najib” (Utusan Malaysia) and “‘WE WON’T BACK DOWN’ — We will meet the challenge — Najib” (New Straits Times);
  • warning of dire action by Umno leaders including the use of Internal Security Act; and
  • Condemnation by Barisan Nasional MPs like the MP for Jasin Datuk Mohd Said Yusof branding the Hindraf leaders as “kurang ajar” and demanding action to be taken against them.

    Instead of threatening all sorts of dire consequences against the Hindraf organizers and supporters, the Cabinet should offer an olive branch to acknowledge the legitimacy of the long-standing grievances of the Indian community at becoming the most marginalized group after 50 years of Merdeka by taking the following measures:

  • Unconditional release of all 136 Hindraf supporters arrested during Sunday’s demonstration;
  • Withdraw all charges and proceedings against Hindraf organizers, including P. Uthayakumar, P. Waytha Moorthy and V. Ganabatirau.
  • Establish a commission of inquiry into the police handling of the Hindraf demonstration on Sunday;
  • Support the establishment of a parliamentary select committee on the marginalization of the Indian community which should be given three months to submit its first report by early March next year.

Continue reading “Hindraf demo – Cabinet should offer olive branch and end all sabre-rattling”

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Between a rock and a hard place (2)

Two YouTube items here:

(1) A longer 8.23 minute video clip of the two parliamentary episodes during question time yesterday when the 30,000-people Hindraf demonstration in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, 25th November 2007 was raised. The earlier clip was 5.08 minutes. The longer video clip has the supplementary question by the “one-eye closed” BN MP for Jasin who demanded to know what action would be taken against the “kurang ajar” Hindraf demonstration. It also exposed the hollowness of the reply by the Internal Security Deputy Minister, Datuk Mohd Johari Baharum that action would be taken against all political leaders who break the law without fear or favour. Johari was stumped and speechless when I riposted why no action was taken against Khairy Jamaluddin.

(2) The controversial Aljazeera interview of MIC Cameron Highlands MP, S.K. Devamany belitting “the type of people” who took part in the Hindraf demonstration, which he accused as having been “orchestrated” by “irresponsible” people.

The Sagaladoola blog has not only volunteered a transcript of part of the Devamany Aljazeera interview, but posed several pertinent questions to the MIC MP who is now caught between a rock and a hard place. Continue reading “Between a rock and a hard place (2)”

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Between a rock and a hard place

See on YouTube two parliamentary episodes during question time today — the first, “Hindraf rally was a cry of desperation by the Indian community” when I asked a supplementary question to the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department pointing out that the Hindraf demonstration was the upshot of the long-standing marginalization of the Malaysian Indians into a new underclass; and the second, when the MIC MP for Cameron Highlands Devamany a/l S. Krishnasamy was asking a supplementary question to the Deputy Internal Security Minister and I intervened to expose his hypocrisy and outrageous Aljazeera interview yesterday attacking the Hindraf demonstration.

Devamany has been caught between a rock and a hard place as illustrated by the following Malaysiakini report:

MIC MP: Rally reflects govt’s failure
Yoges Palaniappan
Nov 26, 07 6:59pm

A Barisan Nasional MP departed from the norm today when he said the rally organised by the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) reflected the Indian community’s disgruntlement towards certain government policies.

K Devamany (MIC-Cameron Highlands) added that the rally proved the failure of government policies which do not benefit the Indians.

The ruling politician made the remark after interjecting Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor) who argued that the rally was a cry of desperation from the Indians.

“Some 50,000 people took to the streets yesterday. It shows the government’s failure and it needs to be looked into carefully,” said Devamany. Continue reading “Between a rock and a hard place”

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RCI on Lingam Tape – test of whether Mahathir is right that Cabinet is “half-past six”

The Cabinet must prove Tun Dr. Mahathir wrong that it is “half-past six’ by establishing a wide-ranging and unfettered Royal Commission of Inquiry on Wednesday to deal with the root-and-branch problem of the crisis of confidence in the judiciary going back for 19 years and not just deal with the “tip of the iceberg” of the Lingam Tape.

International Islamic University constitutional law expert Professor Dr. Abdul Aziz Bari is right his interview with New Sunday Times in describing the Lingam Tape as “just the tip of the iceberg” after the state of the judiciary after 1988.

This led to the question — “If the video clip is the tip, what is the iceberg?” and the following answer in “Putting confidence back in judiciary”:

“A: How the people are selecting the judges, how the judges are having behind-closed-door relationships with lawyers, and how lawyers manage to predict or determine the outcome of cases.

“This is something very serious when it comes to suits. If this is the case, then people won’t have confidence in the judiciary.

“The judiciary’s strength is the public’s confidence. In law, you don’t have to establish bias: if the person cannot convince you of his or her integrity, then he’s got to disqualify himself.

“The mere likelihood (of bias) is good enough to establish a real bias. The moment it (the confidence) is lost, it is difficult to get it back.”

Earlier in the interview, there was a specific Q & A on the “scope of the inquiry”, viz: Continue reading “RCI on Lingam Tape – test of whether Mahathir is right that Cabinet is “half-past six””

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Wimax & penipuan SMS

1 ) Penipuan melalui kandungan SMS

Saya merujuk kepada kenyataan Menteri Tenaga, Air dan Komunikasi bertarikh 5 September 2007 di mana menteri berkenaan menyebut hanya terdapat 23 kes daripada 176 aduan orang awam yang telah melanggar Garispanduan industri pembekalan kandungan SMS, dan hanya 9 syarikat pembekal kandungan SMS tersebut dikenakan penalti secara pembayaran kompaun.

Dalam pada itu, menteri berkenaan juga berkata semua syarikat telekom selular telah diarah untuk melaksanakan satu ‘Preventive System’ untuk menbanteras kejadian penipuan yang seumpamanya — dan tarikh penamatnya (deadline) ialah 30 September.

The New Sunday Times bertarikh 4 November telah melaporkan bahawa sebanyak 712,676 pengguna telefon bimbit telah menjadi mangsa penipuan SMS sejak Januari 2006, melibatkan duit aniaya sebanyak RM377,411.60.

Kami perolehi maklumat dari sumber industri bahawa sebilangan daripada syarikat pembekal kandungan SMS yang dikenakan kompaun masih belum menjelaskan kompaun mereka setelah melebihi tiga bulan.

Malahan, kita juga diberitahu oleh sumber industri bahawa salah satu syarikat pembekal kandungan SMS yang berkali-kali melanggar Garispanduan industri — iaitu Macro Kiosk Bhd — telah dilantik oleh two syarikat telekomunikasi selular menerusi sebuah anak syarikat yang bernama Toprole Network Sdn Bhd, sebagai pembekal dan pengendali ‘Preventive System” yang Menteri berkenaan telah janjikan. Continue reading “Wimax & penipuan SMS”

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Offensive Aljazeera interview on Hindraf demo – MIC MP Devamany owes public apology

MIC MP for Cameron Highlands Devamany a/l S. Krishnasamy should publicly apologise for his Aljazeera interview yesterday belittling the Hindraf demonstration and condemning the demonstrators when he should be deploring the police mishandling and excessive use of force in firing tear gas and liquid chemicals against the defenceless and unarmed in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

In the Aljazeera interview, Devamany joined the chorus of Barisan Nasional leaders in running down the Hindraf demonstration, condemning it as irresponsible with bad intention, making derogatory reference to the “type of people” who came to join the demonstration — as if they were the riff-raff and good-for-nothings when they in fact represented a fair cross-section of the Malaysian Indian community from all over the country, including professionals and among the most idealistic men and women for whom the Malaysian Indian community and the Malaysian nation have every reason to feel proud.

I actually gave Devamany an opportunity during parliamentary question time this morning to apologise and withdraw his offensive and derogratory remarks about the Hindraf demonstration and demonstrators, but he chose to be obstinate and unrepentant, trying to argue and justify his offensive Aljazeera interview.

As I had said during my supplementary question this morning that the government failure to ensure equity has created the conditions for the Hindraf demonstration, which was “a cry of desperation” by the Indian community at their neglect and marginalisation in the Barisan Nasional nation-building policies which have made the Malaysian Indians into a new under class in Malaysia after 50 years of Merdeka.

Never before in the past 50 years have Malaysian Indians felt so discriminated and marginalized in the whole gamut of their citizenship rights –political, economic, social, educational, cultural and religious. Continue reading “Offensive Aljazeera interview on Hindraf demo – MIC MP Devamany owes public apology”

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Moratorium on Syabas water disconnections which violate the fundamental human right of the poor to clean water

The Ministry of Water, Energy and Communications should issue an directive to Syabas to impose an immediate moratorium on water disconnections in the concession area of Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Putrajaya which affect the poor.

Last month, the Coalition Against Water Privatisation (CAWP) and MTUC had spoken up because they were appalled at the high levels of water supply disconnection in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Putrajaya since water privatization in the last two years.

They had consistently argued that organising water for profits would lead to high levels of disconnections, a notion that violates peoples’ rights and access to clean water. Poor and vulnerable communities might be at risk.

CAWP and MTUC have been proven right and the Ministry should instruct Syabas to develop a humane way of collecting water bills, one where peoples’ right to clean water is not violated. Continue reading “Moratorium on Syabas water disconnections which violate the fundamental human right of the poor to clean water”

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Free and peaceful demonstration is provided for in the constituition

by Richard Teo

Why should the govt stifle dissent by refusing to give permits for its citizens to demonstrate? It does not matter whether the govt thinks that the issue is not justifiable or for some imaginary reason it is a threat to national security. Whether their grievances are legitimate or not is something the public will have to judge. The govt’s role is merely to ensure that the demonstration is held peacefully and without any violence.

When people take to the street to demonstrate it is always for a cause. History has shown us repeatedly that when the voice of the people is continually and contemptously ignored the only recourse is to show their displeasure by demonstrating. After all this liberty to demonstrate peacefully is provided in our constituition and it is the inalienable right of every citizen to exercise this right.

I disagree with some view that because the rally was specifically for a certain community the demonstration should not proceed. This view is in direct contradiction with the basic principle that the right to peaceful assembly is enshrined in the constitution and if the aggrieved party is of the view that their grievances have not been addressed than they should have every right to demonstrate. It does not matter whether their grievances merely highlight a particular community interest as long as they perceive there is a need to publicise and convey their message. Continue reading “Free and peaceful demonstration is provided for in the constituition”

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Another Local Demonstration Gone Global

By Farish A. Noor

Let there be no mistake about it: We live in a globalised world. But then again, what’s new about that? Only someone totally ignorant of the history of greater Asia would be surprised to learn that our neatly-compartmentalised nation-states are, after all, bound together by a common shared history that overlaps across so many levels and interfaces. Long before the European ships arrived on our shores, Asians have been travelling all across the great land mass, making tracks from the furthest end of China, across Southeast Asia and the land of the mighty Indus, all the way to the scorching deserts of Arabia and the Gulf and down the West coast of Africa. What colonialism did, however, was to interrupt this movement of peoples, cultures and ideas in two distinct ways: Firstly by dividing the nations of Asia into distinct nation-states with fixed (and artificial) borders; and secondly by attempting to control the movement of people by commodifying human beings into human capital instead.

The net result has been the creation of the world map as we know it today, with intrusive lines rudely and crudely drawn between areas that once overlapped and communities that were once closer united to each other. The Indian Ocean, for instance, was once the corridor between South and Southeast Asia, and that is why so much of Southeast Asia (till today) bears the cultural imprint of India. It was from India that the religions, philosophies, aesthetics and norms of society and governance of Southeast
Asia were derived; and it was no mere coincidence that the Malay archipelago was once referred to as ‘Greater India’, testimony to how close the two regions were — both geographically and culturally.

Sadly today the division of Asia into neat compartments has managed to sever these long-established bonds, leaving the residents of both regions confused as to why they seem so similar yet different. Many a conservative nationalist in Southeast Asia is still loathe to admit that his or her culture shares so much in common with that of India’s, while many South Asians fail to realise that much of what they regard as familiar there is also present in Southeast Asia next door. Continue reading “Another Local Demonstration Gone Global”

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Hindraf rally – excessive use of police force with firing of tear gas and water cannons

The excessive use of police force with the firing of tear gas and water cannons against the Hindraf gathering in Kuala Lumpur this morning to present a memorandum to the British High Commission is most high-handed, ham-fisted, undemocratic and a grave disservice not ony to the Malaysian Indian community but to Malaysia’s international reputation in wanting to be a first-world developed nation.

If the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had “walked the talk” of creating a Malaysia with “First World Infrastructure, First World Mentality”, today’s disgraceful display of excessive police force would not have happened.

Peaceful demonstrations and marches are common and accepted occurrences in First World developed nations which Malaysia aspires to become. As has been rightly pointed out recently, in Britain, Australia and other modern countries, when people wish to demonstrate, the police typically clear the way and make sure no one gets hurt. The streets belong to the people. And the police, like the politicians, are their servants. It is not the other way around as in Malaysia where the first reflex of the police and the government to any peaceful demonstration is to impose a ban and to fire tear gas and water cannons to deny Malaysians the fundamental right to a voice in national affairs.

During the world-wide anti-Iraq war demonstrations in late 2002, the Malaysian government had applauded mammoth peaceful demonstrations in the Western capitals, whether in London, Paris, Rome or Washington where crowds ranging from hundreds of thousands and even millions came out to peacefully voice their anti-war aspirations.

If the Police had issued a permit to Hindraf for their gathering to submit a memorandum to the British High Commission this morning, the whole incident would have ended in a peaceful, orderly and swift manner, which will not only be a credit to the police but to the nation’s international reputation as well.

This is a case where the Police has failed to make the important distinction between their role from that of their political masters in the Barisan Nasional. Continue reading “Hindraf rally – excessive use of police force with firing of tear gas and water cannons”

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Ambiga as commissioner to ensure credibility and legitimacy of Royal Commission of Inquiry

In completely excluding the Bar Council members as members of the Royal Commission of Inquiry in the Lingam Tape, the government is only undermining its own case and cause that it is concerned about the restoration of national and international confidence in the independence and integrity of the judiciary.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said yesterday that there was no possibility that Bar Council members could become royal commissioners themselves.

He said: “There is no chance of that happening. How can they act fairly and be unbiased if they have already marched against the judiciary. They have already made their stand.”

This is classic perverse illogic. The 2,000 lawyers who participated in the historic “March for Justice” in Putrajaya on 26th September 2007 did not march against the judiciary. They marched against a judiciary which is subservient, decadent and corrupt. But they also marched for an independent, honest and incorruptible judiciary.

Going by Nazri’s perverse illogic, isn’t the Executive itself compromised by the 19-year history of a tainted judiciary, because of the acts of omission and commission by the Executive, which should render the Ministers unfit and unqualified to exercise powers to appoint members of the Royal Commission concerned about the independence and integrity of the judiciary?

Cabinet Ministers cannot feign innocence in the nearly two-decade-long ravages and degradation of the Judiciary as they are fully part of the process in the undermining of the independence of the judiciary and the undermining of the fundamental doctrine of the Separation of Powers among the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.

Let good sense prevail. The Bar Council should not only be allowed to take part in the Royal Commission hearings, the Bar Council President Ambiga Sreenevasan should be seriously considered as a member of the Royal Commission to ensure its acceptability, credibility and legitimacy. Continue reading “Ambiga as commissioner to ensure credibility and legitimacy of Royal Commission of Inquiry”

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IPCMC Bill – make public after Cabinet Wednesday to give MPs and civil society at least two weeks to study

The current 42-day budget meeting of Parliament scheduled to end on Dec. 13 has been extended by three days till Dec. 19 to debate a spate of bills, seven of which had been presented for first reading while several others have yet to be brought to the House.

One of the bills which have yet to be presented for first reading but which the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz has promised would be debated before the end of the current parliamentary meeting is the long-delayed Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) Bill proposed by the Royal Police Commission as the most important of its 125 recommendations to create an incorruptible, efficient, professional world-class police service.

The Royal Police Commission had proposed the IPCMC as the centre-piece of its police reform proposals to achieve what it recommended should be the three core objectives of the Police – to keep crime low, eradicate corruption in the police force and uphold human rights.

The Royal Police Commission placed such importance and priority on its IPCMC proposal that it even took the trouble to include a draft IPCMC Bill in its Report to facilitate its establishment, which it envisaged should begin to be operational by May 2006.

However, the Police mounted a strong opposition to the IPCMC proposal threatening even an open revolt in the initial stages, with some top police officers blatantly displaying insubordination to the political masters of the day.

More than 18 months have elapsed from the timeline proposed by the Royal Police Commission for the establishment of the IPCMC, and we are still waiting for the proposed IPCMC bill to surface into the public domain.

The question is whether the final IPCMC Bill when presented to Parliament will still be recognized as basically constituting the external oversight mechanism to check police abuses of power as proposed by the Royal Police Commission or so shorn of the substantive features and “teeth” of the IPCMC proposed by the Royal Police Commission as to be a completely different creature altogether. Continue reading “IPCMC Bill – make public after Cabinet Wednesday to give MPs and civil society at least two weeks to study”

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Aligning Private Aspirations with Public Good

by M. Bakri Musa

Bravo to Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar Mohamad Hasan! In awarding RM25,000 to each first-class honors graduate of local public universities, he clearly demonstrated where the priorities should be. He went further and forgave the students’ loans if they were given by his state agency.

To put that cost in perspective, at a total of about RM300,000 it is less than the inflated cost of one corrupt school laboratory construction project. Yet the benefit far exceeds that of any school computer lab, even if it were well built. As a bonus, unlike a poorly built building, this award program poses no danger to anyone.

Malay leaders, especially those in UMNO, continually lament on the generally backward status of our people despite decades of ever increasingly generous preferential treatment. Unfortunately that is all they are capable of doing — lamenting. Occasionally a bright leader might emerge who in a show of bravado would chastise and upbraid us by degrading our cultural heritage and questioning our biological endowment.

Only very rarely would a leader like Mohamad Hasan do something right, like having an appropriate mechanism in place and aligning the incentive system that would encourage the development of those qualities that we desire in our people. My complimenting Hasan would I hope encourage other leaders to follow his fine example. Continue reading “Aligning Private Aspirations with Public Good”

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Truth and justice are no longer Malaysian way

By Michael Backman
The Age
November 21, 2007

THE Government of Australia will probably change hands this weekend. There will be no arrests, no tear gas and no water cannons. The Government of John Howard will leave office, the Opposition will form a government and everyone will accept the verdict.

For this, every Australian can feel justifiably proud. This playing by the rules is what has made Australia rich and a good place in which to invest. It is a country to which people want to migrate; not leave.

Now consider Malaysia. The weekend before last, up to 40,000 Malaysians took to the streets in Kuala Lumpur to protest peacefully against the judiciary’s lack of independence, electoral fraud, corruption and a controlled media.

In response, they were threatened by the Prime Minister, called monkeys by his powerful son-in-law, and blasted with water cannons and tear gas. And yet the vast majority of Malaysians do not want a change of government. All they want is for their government to govern better.

Both Malaysia and Australia have a rule of law that’s based on the English system. Both started out as colonies of Britain. So why is Malaysia getting it so wrong now?

Malaysia’s Government hates feedback. Dissent is regarded as dangerous, rather than a product of diversity. And like the wicked witch so ugly that she can’t stand mirrors, the Government of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi controls the media so that it doesn’t have to see its own reflection. Continue reading “Truth and justice are no longer Malaysian way”

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Lee Song Yong one-semester suspension – Mustapha should quash it so that Malaysian undergrads do not become zombies

Higher Education Minister Datuk Mustapha Mohamad should quash the one-semester suspension of second-year computer science student Lee Song Yong by Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and send a clear message to all universities to be single-minded in the national objective to create a world-class university system.

The national contribution and challenge of all universities and university administrators in the country is to achieve a world-class university education system without which Malaysia cannot succeed in the transition and transformation from a production-based to a knowledge-based innovative economy.

It is simply outrageous that the UPM should be obsessed with the pettiness of Little Napoleons to penalize independent-spirited students when all universities and university officials should be united by one objective – how to reverse the free fall of international rankings of Malaysian universities confirmed by the latest Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) World’s Top 200 Universities Rankings 2007 which demonstrate that no Malaysian university is competitive internationally.

What is Lee Song Yong’s offence?

On Aug 22, Lee was stopped by security guards at the university’s exit and his notebook was seized on grounds that he was being investigated for being a member of an illegal student organisation.

Lee initially refused to cooperate because the campus officers were not in their uniforms which led to the university accusing him of obstructing its officers from executing their duty.

In the background was the unfair and one-sided rigging of campus student elections, orchestrated by the university student affairs department in cahoots with the campus security personnel.

Should such a minor and trivial matter result in the empanelling of a disciplinary proceeding, where Lee was denied legal representation, leading to his university suspension for six months? Or even the arrogant and contemptuous dismissal of the Suhakam appeal for a suspension of the disciplinary proceedings?

One would have thought from the university’s response that Lee was guilty of some heinous crime, like being a member of some militant terrorist student outfit planning to throw bombs in the campus — when it was nothing of the sort whatsoever.

Lee’s guilt was being too idealistic and independent-minded in wanting to work for change in the university to foster student activism and academic freedom.

Is that a virtue or a vice, or even a crime? Continue reading “Lee Song Yong one-semester suspension – Mustapha should quash it so that Malaysian undergrads do not become zombies”

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Hindraf rally – police stop over-reacting, dismantle roadblocks and issue permit

The police should not repeat their over-reaction and high-handed action on Nov. 10 over the peaceful 40,000-people Bersih gathering to hand over a petition to the Yang di Pertuan Agong for electoral reforms to ensure free, fair and clean elections and should immediately dismantle the roadblocks creating massive jams in Kuala Lumpur and the Klang Valley since yesterday.

The massive Nov. 10 traffic gridlock creating massive congestions in Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley were largely the creation of the police and could have been avoided or ameliorated considerably with enlightened and sensitive police handling of peaceful gatherings by citizens exercising their fundamental constitutional rights to get their voices heard in a meaningful democracy.

If the Police had issued a police permit for the Bersih peaceful gathering on Nov. 10, demonstrating greater sensitivity and respect for human rights guaranteed in the Malaysian Constitution as recommended by the Dzaiddin Royal Police Commission 30 months ago, all legitimate concerns would have been met — the concerns of the police and government with regard to law and order and the concerns of aggrieved citizenry to petition the Yang di Pertuan Agong for an end to electoral abuses.

For the Hindraf rally on Sunday, the Police has not only refused to learn any lesson to respect the human rights of Malaysians to peaceful assembly, but has decided even earlier to impose roadblocks — starting since yesterday on various roads and expressways in the Klang Valley.

Headlines of such traffic gridlocks are already in the media — “Klang Valley chokes up” (The Star), “Roadblocks mounted ahead of Hindraf rally” (The Sun), “Massive traffic jams leading into the city” (New Straits Times) and “Police roadblocks jam up roads, again” (Malaysiakini).

From all indications, the traffic gridlock in Kuala Lumpur and the Klang Valley this time is going to be worse than a fortnight ago — no thanks to the police. Continue reading “Hindraf rally – police stop over-reacting, dismantle roadblocks and issue permit”

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Economic masters and economic slaves

by Dr. Chen Man Hin

The frustration in the hearts of Malaysians at the stubborn attitude of Umno leaders and the greed of their cronies is mounting by the day.

Even the advice of foreign dignitaries like Thierry Rommel had been rejected haughtily by DPM and the Umno Youth chief. The EU envoy had no axe to grind except to see that justice is done.

World Bank statistics have shown that the NEP is jeopardising the economy, and is marginalising the poor whether Malays or non-Malays.

Umno leaders are the economic masters and the non-Malays are the economic slaves. Continue reading “Economic masters and economic slaves”

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An Indictment of Malaysia’s Media

by M. Bakri Musa

Editors and journalists serve as nothing more than as chief errand boys and girls for the establishment.

If you were a Malaysian and had relied only on the mainstream media for news, you could be excused for being befuddled over what happened in Kuala Lumpur on the Saturday of November 10, 2007. You would be confounded too on the day before to see the normally busy streets eerily empty except for police trucks and personnel. Tourists could be excused into thinking that they were visiting a banana republic in the midst of another routine military coup.

It turned out that the only folks befuddled on both days were ministers and officials. The citizens knew exactly what was going on despite the news blackout by the mainstream media. That more than anything demonstrates the irrelevance of these mainstream editors and reporters.

No amount of post event editorial contortions could alter that fact. These editors and journalists have little left of their personal pride and professional integrity; they have completely prostituted themselves to being instruments of the state’s propaganda machinery. They may have fancy titles as Group Editor or Editor-in-Chief, their functions however are nothing more than as “chief errand boys and girls” for the establishment. They acceded only too willingly to orders from their political masters.

Their once informative news pages are today filled with nothing more than ministerial speeches and press releases. Their formerly critical and influential Op-Ed columns are today reduced to carrying unashamedly toadying pieces praising the current leaders.

Malaysians are fully aware of this reality and react accordingly. The mainstream papers’ declining circulation, readership, and influence attest to their lack of credibility. These papers are eagerly read only by members of the ruling party, where the obsession is on tracking which party operatives are being featured on the front page and which ones have been relegated to the middle. The paper is effectively reduced to being the ruling party’s newsletter. Continue reading “An Indictment of Malaysia’s Media”

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Kee Thuan Chye interview (2) – A culture of fearing the truth

Helen Ang
Malaysiakini
Nov 22, 07 12:45pm

{Last week, Kee Thuan Chye opined that many non-Malays have been conditioned to swallow wholesale Ketuanan Melayu propaganda from the exhaustive indoctrination and would probably vote Barisan Nasional again come the general election.

Part 2 of the Q & A continues. The views expressed here are strictly the interviewee’s own and do not reflect the stand of any organisation that he is with.)

Helen: Let’s examine the nuances of non-Malay support for the incumbency. Pundits are predicting that disgruntled Chinese will swing to the opposition this time around. So it may actually turn out that a large percentage of the community will indeed buck the status quo.

What I think is that while Chinese are prepared to secretly (they will refuse to tell anyone who they voted for) cast their once-every-five-years ballot in favour of the opposition, their mindset in the remaining four years and 364 days will remain as you say, conditioned: fearful, refusing to engage and self-centred.

But given the uneven electoral playing field and lack of proportional representation, popular disenchantment may nonetheless not translate into a diminished BN influence. Sadly true?

Kee: The gerrymandering that has been done has really made it harder for the Chinese to swing votes in many constituencies. I was in Balakong a couple of weeks ago and the residents there told me that their constituency used to be opposition-controlled, but lately with the redemarcation exercise, the BN has been winning.

There used to be about 70 per cent Chinese in the constituency but that has been diluted to about 50 per cent. The other 20 per cent has been moved to another constituency. They don’t foresee the opposition winning it back this coming election unless a huge majority of the remaining 50 per cent vote for them. Many Chinese, however, tend to vote BN.

Surely they can see that BN is a gross disservice to their community? Who are those still so blinkered? Continue reading “Kee Thuan Chye interview (2) – A culture of fearing the truth”

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UPM’s one-semester suspension of Lee Song Yong – motion to cut salary of Higher Education Minister

The one-semester suspension of second-year computer science student Lee Song Yong by Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) for obstructing campus officers from confiscating his personal belongings in the run-up to the campus polls in October is not only a grave violation of human rights but also a chilling reminder of the stultifying control of Malaysian academia by Little Napoleons which can only perpetuate a culture of mediocrity.

It is most regrettable that the UPM had completely ignored the call by Suhakam to stop the university disciplinary proceedings against Lee to pave the way for Suhakam investigations into complaint of human rights abuse by the university authorities.

This is another case where the higher education authorities have failed to distinguish between the core functions of universities to be centres of academic excellence from the petty details of regulatory control of lecturers and students which are the refuge of “Little Napoleons”.

In the latest world’s Top 200 Universities Rankings released by Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) a fortnight ago, Universiti Putra Malaysia, which had never been listed in the Top 200 Universities Ranking, still slipped 72 slots from No. 292 in 2006 to 364 in 2007.

It is most disappointing that the university administrators are unable set an example in the nation to respond to calls for a “First-World mentality” so that Malaysia can march towards fully developed nation status but continue to be mired by mindsets and approaches which could only produce universities and generations of mediocrity.

I propose to focus parliamentary and national attention on the disease of mediocrity in the Malaysian universities as highlighted by the free-fall of Malaysian universities in international rankings and the Little Napoleon regimes resulting in victimization of free spirits like Lee Song Yong which are antithetical to the development of a creative academic environment and towering Malaysians in keeping with the Abdullah administration’s slogan of “Cemerlang, Gemiling, Terbilang”. Continue reading “UPM’s one-semester suspension of Lee Song Yong – motion to cut salary of Higher Education Minister”