Delirious Decorums

As irony goes, it seems that one of our MSM shows the reason why we need the Internal Security Act.

It has been fanning outwardly provocative racial sentiments for quite a while now.

Alas, the Act has not been invoked where it (perhaps) should.

After all, this is one Act that allows:

“the detention, at the discretion of the Home Minister, without charge or trial of any person in respect of whom the Home Minister was satisfied that such detention was necessary to prevent him or her from acting in any manner prejudicial to national security or to the maintenance of essential services or to the economic life in Malaysia.”

(Taken from Wiki lock, stock and barrel.)

Perhaps the preamble of the law - accused of being draconian by some quarters - has changed.

Highly plausible, as it came out as a means to combat communists, then the odd racial bigots and suspected terrorists, and so on and so forth.

It was invoked once (or was it twice?) last year as “protective custody from life threatening threats” .

Thus the proposal to change the name of the Act to another is simply brilliant as it is quite the Caca Merba Act now.

What were our Constitutional forefathers thinking when they drafted this Act in the first place?

Really, the Anti-ISA marchers should not have bothered with their Saturday walk-the-streets and disrupt-the-shopping-spree programme.

They should have known it would be a BIG (blipping) waste of time and resources.

BERSIH came and went, then Hindraf, then quite a few others.

Have anything MAJOR really changed?

(Of there are changes, but minor ones don’t count.)

I mean, listen to what our PM is saying:

“We can provide them stadiums where they can shout themselves hoarse till dawn, but don’t cause disturbance on the streets.”

Shout all you want, but don’t expect anyone to listen.

The need for EARS is one reason why demonstrations are always street demonstrations and not stadium demonstration.

Then again, never in the civilized world has there ever been a stadium demonstration.

It would be a proud Malaysian achievement really, worthy of perhaps even a World Record addendum.

Now that’s something even the MSMs might just embrace with splash pages.

Alas, that would take the “fun” out of demonstrating, doesn’t it?

ISA = In Situ Activism.

What a riot.

DC Comics' Injustice League

Faithful Volition

“We were all standing so close to each other that no one could move. The plainclothes guards came into the room and broke all the light bulbs, and in the pitch dark started beating us, whoever they could.”

This is the narrative allegedly from one of the many prisoners from the Iranian’s election debacle.

Apparently, there have been many deaths; of bruised corpses being returned to families.

Allegations of bodies being released only on condition their deaths are certified as naturally caused.

Unlike Neda Agha-Soltan.

Western Anti Islam propaganda, perhaps?

Iran is after one of the few remaining Muslim majority countries who continue to snub its nose against the US and her Western allies.

That so, it is hard to identify any country as Islamic when you are confronted with such barbarity in acts.

Islam is just. It is about fairness, about tolerance.

Can any country in the world qualify?

Can we?

Here we have another call for a Fatwa: this time on the Internal Security Act.

I hate to ask, but, to what ends?

To justify its continued existence, its’ scrapping, its’ review?

The country has long adopted a secular constitutional system based on the English law for our legal system which includes the aforementioned ISA.

All the laws – with the exceptions of the Syariah laws - in the country are not enacted based on Fatwa.

Why do we need one for ISA?

So that Malaysian Muslims can rest easy if the law receives a positive response from the National Fatwa Council?

Fact remains that ISA is unjust and unfair.

It's existence justified on the basis of the majority’s interest against rabble rousers.

Nothing wrong with that.

There are, after all, enough in other preventive laws that restricts the movements of persons deemed either a nuisance or downright dangerous.

But there should be limits imposed that are fair to everyone.

Asking for Fatwa for everything would allow Muslims easy escape from using their volition and faith.

In Indonesia, there is a Fatwa that smoking in public (notice this peculiar proviso) is against Islamic teachings.

Islam is universal in application.

So why aren’t we - Indonesia’s closest Muslim majority neighbor - following this edict?

The truth is that we couldn’t care less of Fatwa unless it favors us.

A trillion Fatwa will not make a country Islamic if they are continually treated with disrespect.

So do we even need one on ISA?

What do we say to being incarcerated without trial for days and weeks?

Fair? Just?

Lest We Forget...

Gadis Kecil - Usman Awang (1929 – 2001)

Tubuh itu mengingatkan daku
sebatang pinang di desa sepi
kurus dan tinggi
ketika ribut besar
pohon sekitarnya rebah terkapar
dan pohon pinang tegak menanti
sinar mentari pagi

Demikianlah gadis kecil itu
kurus seperti sebatang pinang
bertahun berulang-alik melalui
penjara kawat duri menemui
ayahnya yang bertahun pula sendiri
menentang tiap penderitaan
tabah dan beriman.

Gadis kecil itu mengagumkan daku
tenang dan senyuman yang agung
dengan sopan menolak pemberianku
'saya tak perlu wang, pak cik,
cukuplah kertas dan buku.'

Usianya terlalu muda
Jiwanya didewasakan oleh pengalaman
tidak semua orang mencapai kekuatan demikian
ketabahan yang unik, mempesonakan.
Bila aku menyatakan simpati dan dukaku
rasa pilu terhadapnya

sekali lagi dia tersenyum dan berkata:
'jangan sedih, pak cik, tabahkan hati
banyak anak-anak seperti saya di dunia ini.'

Aku jadi terpaku
dia, si gadis kecil itu menenteramkan
mengawal ombak emosiku
jangan sedih melihat derita pahitnya.
Alangkah malunya hati seorang lelaki dewasa
yang mahu membela manusia derita terpenjara
menerima nasihat supaya tabah dan berani,
dari anak penghuni penjara sendiri?

Sepuluh anak seperti dia
akan menghapuskan erti seribu penjara.

~~~~~~~

One such Gadis Kecil will no longer visit her detained (Entah sampai bila) father…

Freedom most sweet..

Private Perceptions

I was at home in Kluang for the Aidil Fitri but wishing I was elsewhere.

Having been raised by my grandparents together with an elder sister, I have never managed the art of being close to both Mom and Dad.

Conversations tended to be forced, stilted and very formal. Mom has the tendency to hearing without actually listening, while Dad was just slightly aloof and too regimented.

They get along really well with my younger sister (whom they raised on their own from young) though.

That late evening of Syawal 1st, I discovered another share similarities in both Mom and younger Sis: that of a hatred for Seputeh MP Teresa Kok for perceived anti Islam stand.

As they spew venom against TK, I came to realize that their sentiments were similar to that of a mainstream newspaper accused of targeting the DAP MP in its sights.

Probably Mom and Sis both did not bother the read ALL the news on the issue, sticking instead to the headlines, some quotes and, perhaps, some anecdotes from friends and relatives.

Incidentally, Mom and Dad are both staunch Umno supporters. Don’t know about Sis, but her hubby is the younger brother of a prominent Umno Pahang politician.

They quieted down when I impressed on them that there was a lack of fair play and justice in the matter, as similar actions are not being taken against others who are playing and fanning the racial embers simply because of their political affiliation.

On a roll, I spoke at length the preamble of the (much talked and highly dreaded) ISA, its intended use and how its usage in detaining TK, Raja Petra and the Sin Chiew journalist was unjustified.

Whether or not they accept what I said I do not know. I sincerely hope that some of what I said filtered through, but I doubt if it would be lasting.

The conversation came back to me as I read Malik Imtiaz’s latest posting especially where he wrote:

"As much as the current Home Affairs Minister may think he is Judge Dredd (tread with caution, the image of the Minister in leather, zips and boots is not for the faint hearted), he should perhaps appreciate more fully that Malaysia is not facing the kind of apocalyptic prospect that the ISA was designed for.”

His warnings came too late for me. :)

Though no fan of Judge (Joe, Joseph, Stallone?)“I am Da Law” Dredd, I have a fair share of his exploits in my comics collections.

Dredd’s Mega City One is not a future I wish my children, their children and their children’s children to be a part of.

But it’s surely a place where our ISA would fit right in.

Geschwiegen

The Poet

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think.

Guess who?

Love and Hate

Somebody in Utusan must really love Seputeh MP Teresa Kok (referred to as TK after this).

Open their Dalam Negeri section (Online Edition) and you can read six reports on her, including a full “makanan tidak sedap slightly better than dog food” interview transcript.

Wow.

You’d think she is the Prime Minister or at the very least the Opposition leader to warrant such an extensive coverage.

What’s clear, though, is a blatant "missing the forest for the trees" via the diverting of attention from the main issue of her detention under the ISA for alleged “crimes” which TK denies adamantly.

This point is conveniently disregarded in the midst of the euphoria to “belasah TK cukup – cukup” on her remarks.

While I have never seen the food served to ISA detainees (touch wood!), my Courts beat those days in the (old) Malay Mail did provide some peeks on the lunch served at the police and court lockups.

Something like this, but with tonnes more curry.


Being mostly “kuah taruh atas” serving, TK would probably not like those very much but I suspect, those who love Nasi Kandar and the likes would not mind them at all.

I am one such, probably one of many.

The difference is that we – those outside – have a choice if we want to eat something else instead.

From Sept 12 to 19, TK was denied such luxury.

If we’re in her shoes, I bet we’d “merungut” too.



But that would be the least of our concerns with the Sword of Damocles of a possible continued detention without trial a mere signature away.

Happened to Raja Petra , who joins others in Kamunting today onwards.

Will he be the last?

Not as long as the Act is around.

Bygone Days

Are decisions to invoke the Internal Security Act one of Ministerial or Cabinet?

The provisions suggest a two-tier stage of arrest and detention: the first empowered to the police under Section 73 (1) and the second to the Minister by Section 8 (1).

Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Syed Jaafar Albar is in everyone’s sights with the arrest of three under the Act on Aug 12, but he was technically correct in stating, "I did not order it" .

His later remarks on the matter, reported by Utusan Malaysia under the title: Syed Hamid jawab Zaid , after the latter - the De Facto Law Minister - responded negatively on the arrest and detention (note this word) of blogger Raja Petra and State Assemblyman Theresa Kok piqued my curiosity somewhat.

According to Utusan, Syed Hamid said it was a Government’s decision.

If so, the remarks made by the various Ministers, including Zaid, then run headlong against the doctrine of collective responsibility.

As we modeled ourselves after the British Westminster system (sort of), shouldn’t this doctrine that members of the Cabinet must publicly support all governmental decisions made in Cabinet, even if they do not privately agree with them, holds true?

Cabinet members who disagree with any such decisions should – by right and if such doctrine is adhered to in the first place – resign, as Zaid himself had intimated a willingness to do so during his press conference on the matter.

Was it, however, a Cabinet’s call or one that is Ministerial at best?

Syed Hamid’s statement seems to indicate so but the negative statements from Zaid, Datuk Ong Tee Keat, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai and Datuk Dr. S. Subramaniam – to name a few - seems to indicate otherwise. Mind you they are all full ministers.

Such a question is important to address as it can be looked at as a sign of small revolt if it’s a Cabinet (even if pre-supposed) or a far less innocuous disagreement between Cabinet colleagues of a Ministerial decision.

The first has, of course, far reaching ramifications.

Principle-wise, that is.

Whether this would translate as such reality wise is, alas, another thing altogether.