Saturday, September 24, 2011

Made in Malaysia, Malaysian style - Rasa Sayang 2.0 & Undilah


By Namewee [黃明志] & KarenKong [龔柯允] 

Theme song in Nasi Lemak 2.0 [辣死你媽]




A Pete Teo PSA Music Video promoting the vote. Features vocals by Afdlin Shauki, Namewee & Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and many Malaysians

Thursday, September 22, 2011

ISA: Don't cheer till new laws can be scrutinised

Har Wai Mun [Sept 20, 2011]
[Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/176368]


Anyone aware of Sun Tzu's 'Art of War' will know that a surprise indirect attack yields higher chances to success.

In political warfare, adding a bit more of hypocrisy and media coverage will make the outcome even much better.

Perhaps, that is Najib's latest recipe for the coming general election.

On hypocrisy, let me highlight these points. Firstly, the draconian Internal Security Acts (ISA) is a violation of human rights and democracy.

Thus, the country should not have had it in the first place, not to mention it being purposely and radically misused it by the BN government.

So, what is the big deal? Abolishing the ISA is just correcting what the government has done wrong previously.

Indeed, this removal of this draconian act should be accompanied with a formal apology to the victims and strong condemnation on those who established and misused it.

The reason given by the minister is that those people are detained 'legally' as the ISA is still law.

Nonetheless, is this so-called law morally correct and justified when democracy and human rights are taken into consideration?

Detention through ISA may be legally correct, yet the agenda behind the usage of that draconian law is strongly questionable. The treatment to detainees is another mockery of the nation's legislation and human rights practices.

Secondly, the prime minister's claim of having two new laws to replace the ISA should be read with caution. Will they be different from the one they are going to replace?

If Najib is sincere in wanting to abolish ISA, why must there be other 'replacements'?

Further, the removal only can be done next year. Does that mean if BN does not win the coming election (should it be held this year), they still can use the ISA to turn around the results.

Thirdly, there many other ways to curb opposing views, such as using the laws on sedition and defamation. The former has already been widely used while the latter has bankrupted many opposition leaders in Singapore. Besides, BN can still rely on Utusan Malaysia, Perkasa and Malay ultras to cause tension as a warning for opposing the rule of BN.

Fourth, there are other restrictions on Malaysians other than on human rights.

Every day and night we live in fear of theft and crime. On the roads, our rights are suppressed in order to avoid possible violent acts by road bullies.

We cannot use public parking spaces as they are being illegally occupied by illegal car jockeys, eateries and car repair shops. Illegal 'Ah Long' advertisements have taken over our cities, including road signboards.

These are also the rakyat's basic freedoms and rights that are denied due to the inaction of federal, state and local government and their agencies.

Thus, as Teresa Kok (MP for Seputeh) warned, welcome Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's political reforms with caution.

Not long ago, those BN top fellows swore to protect their reign with blood. So, do we believe that they would reform laws not favouring them?

If 1Malaysia was the top hypocrisy last year, do we expect these political reforms announced on Malaysia Day to come out tops this year?