Viciousness Escalated

Bersih 3.0 came and went; and yet the slanging match continues unabated.

The event unfolded quite dramatically over the social networks last Saturday.

Quite a few of my friends who was at the Sit Down and Protest provided minute to minute or so updates through their FB account.

Unfortunately, these same postings were sometime subjected to vile replies which grew vicious.

While many from both faction exercised restrain at what proved to be a highly charged event, others where callous.


One so-called former press-compatriot “friend” posted that the police should have used LIVE BULLETS instead of rubber bullets against the protestors.

Sick.

Dude, there are friends of ours in the crowd who are only voicing out their dismay over the slacks in our electoral system.

And you want them dead? WTF?!!!

Remember those much hated Yahudis who posted downright demeaning remarks on the death of Palestinians children during a bus accident?

Not much different aren’t we?

The words babi, bodoh, yahudi etc were flying around the FB (and Twitter) postings like nobody’s business.

Agreeing to disagree is really an alien concept it seems for many on May 28.

More importantly, what now?

Brick bats, videos (edited and unedited) exchanged, threats, statements and hospital visitations notwithstanding, what about the crux of why people took to the street last Saturday: the electoral system?

In an age where data can travel across continents in less than a blink, it is downright funny ha ha that we can’t clean up our electoral roll, cannot make adjustments to our Parliamentary demarcation boundaries so that 1 vote here is approximately 1 vote everywhere, cannot make automatic voter registration when they reached voting age, cannot update people who is obviously lived beyond what is considered manically platinum age, cannot distinguish non citizens from citizens so on so forth.

Let’s see f anything changes in the next few weeks.

Won’t bet on it, though.

PS: The proliferation of videos mostly unedited via the FB gave some good overall picture of what happened so that bullshits from either side could be minimized.

God knows there’s too much being thrown about.

Clearly Loud

Electoral Fairness and Impartiality.

One Person One Vote.

Or is a proportional system the answer?

Any which, surely they can hear the LOUD voice for changes.

But listening?

Preve-sieve Thoughts

If Proton is made private by its new owner, is it still categorically a national car?

Will the nation still be needed to “help out” a privately-owned Proton?

Proton’s going private is the latest in a string of going-private-moves in Malaysia Inc.  and I supposed this shouldn’t be of any concerned to us lay-non corporate-movers-man on the street.

Unless Proton is still very much a national category brand with all the national car benefits and what not, that is.

Really: what does going private mean anyway?

All I know is that you don’t need to answer to anyone as the company / corporation is bloody yours to do as you will and pleases. Correct?

Some corporate-world savvy bloggers must surely be able to enlighten us on this one.

The relationship between Proton and the lay person goes a long way ever since the car-maker and sometimes assembler made its debut a long time ago in 1983 with its Proton Saga.

Alas, what was initially set up as a Malaysia automotive tour-de force is today much maligned by its detractors who blamed Proton for its part in skyrocketing the price of automobiles in this country.

Comparatively, that is: cherries and pisang nangka comparison at best.

One thing that does stand out is its inability to force its way into the International arena unlike, for example, its Korean counterpart Hyundai.

Arguably though, Hyundai did come into the scene much earlier in 1967 and made international market headway in the 1980’s. It is going great guns these days, together with its stable-mate Kia.

Back to Proton: What will it take for the brand to make its global breakthrough?

It is pushing the mass-market envelope with latest offering in the Proton Prevé  which is priced just borderline-competitive in the C-Segment for us locals.

As for me, it’s always a case of once twice shy when it comes to Proton as I’ve had the worst of experience with a lemony of an acquisition of the Proton Gen2.

Suffice to say, my better half swears off the maker for life. Me: I still give some kudos to Proton designers although the Prevé’s rear lights mirror (heh) that of the previous City a fair bit.

Is the Prevé it for Proton?  Or is making Proton private it?

Or don’t we care anymore?

 

Uphill Gostanning

"The officers' misconduct violated regulations, so we're in the process of asking them to explain the allegations against them," said MACC chief commissioner Datuk Seri Abu Kassim Mohamed, according to Bernama.

Is “in the process of” the formalspeak of the more familiar “on the way” informalspeak?

“On the way”, by the way, is a way overused phrased which does not specify the when-about, the how-about or the where-abouts of its utterer to, usually, the question of: “Where are you?”

The officers’ in the above statement, of course, refers to the trio found by a Royal Commission Inquiry as having “driven to commit suicide by the aggressive and relentless interrogation” one Teoh Beng Hock (RIP), the former political aide to Selangor Exco, Ean Yong Hian Wah.

That was nearly three years ago (minus three months or so) on July 16, 2009 when the late Teoh was found dead at Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam.

Three years after the tragic incident and they are still “in the process”.

The RCI perhaps? Ah yes, the RCI.

But shouldn’t there be an internal procedure dealing with cases of death - especially one so suspicious – of accused (more so when involving a mere witness) in custody? Isn’t this supposed to be an automatic trigger for ALL legitimate enforcement bodies throughout the world?

They were suspended: Yep. So, weren’t there any “explanation” made then?

Really can’t recall if all three officers had their say during the RCI. If they had, then having another round of explaining is surely an exercise of repetitively recurring redundancy.

And, if they were suspended pre-RCI finding, what other “disciplinary actions” can be taken against the trio based on their explanations, which I supposed would be “on the way”?

By the way, according to Bernama, all three officers’ suspension has since been lifted and they are no longer with the Selangor office.

The wheels of justice are really “in the process” of turning in this one.