Friday, May 30, 2008

Mahathir should be charged for sedition.

He was the one who amended the Fedral Constitution to remove the ruler's immunity from criminal prosecution under a special court.
Therefore if rulers cannot even be exempted from criminal prosecution then why is the former premier not brought to court for his seditious comments in Johore when he accused the non malays were gradually taking away the rights of the malays. ?
Then in Japan for a conference he went to say that extremists non-malays were making unfair demands on the govt. If anybody else had uttered those words they would have been classified as seditious and charged accordingly.Then may I ask why is not Mahathir charged for his seditious comments?Being an ex -premier does not mean he is immune to the laws of the country which even the rulers are not exempted.
The Attorney-General must display fairness in prosecuting offenders who have infringed on any of our legislated laws and failing to do so would give the perception that there are two laws in the country, one for the ordinary citizens and one for our political leaders.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Election Chairman should be Independent and answerable to Parliament.

Two articles reported by Malaysiakini should be of interest to the Malaysian Public
.First it was the EC chairman statement when he dropped the bombshell that it was the cabinet decision to scrap the use of the indelible ink in the march 8th General election.
The other article reported by a senior UMNO veteran Shahrir, came after Mahathir's decision to resign from the party.According to him the exodus of resignation from the party could result in Abdullah calling for a fresh snap election.
The first statement by the EC chairman confirms what Bersih had all along asserted that the election commission was not independent and that it was acting under the behest of the executive.It was an honest admission that the Election Commission was not independent and that for that matter it had always acted in the interest of the ruling party.
This admission has placed the integrity of the whole electoral process into question.Was the decision to abolish the use of the indelible ink four days before the election an act to allow phantom voters to cast their votes?The use of the indelible ink was to disallow that possibility and the last minute abolishment of that use under some dubious ,unproven security reason paved the way for phantom voters to emerge.
Then , did the Election commission played a vital role in the use and leverage of the postal votes?The manner in which the procedure for the postal votes were carried out left many unanswered questions. Every postal voter had to insert their identification number on the postal vote and such mandatory procedure violated the privacy and secrecy of the voters preference.At the expense and sacrifice of their careers many meekly complied with the superiors influence.
The second article by Shahrir seems to suggest the possibilty of a snap election.If this does come to fruition then where does this place the role of the Election Commission?Can the present Election Commission chairman be expected to assume the same role as before where it was obviously by its own admission subservient to the ruling party?In order for a fair and transparent election to take place, Bersih and all contesting parties should insist the appointment of an Election Chairman that is impartial and answerable only to parliament..Only with such a change can the electorate be assured of a free, fair and transparent election.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Mahathir should be charged if he is found guilty.

If Nixon who was the President of the most powerful nation on earth can be impeached and charged for his role in the Watergate scandal, I cannot see why Mahathir who is a retired former head of state cannot be charged for his role in the fixing of the judges.According to a report in Malaysiakini ,Mahathir challenged the govt to charge him.
If the govt is serious in getting to the truth of the Lingam scandal, no stones should be left unturned to expose the insidious conspiracy that allowed a less than capable judge Tun Ahmad Fairuz to be appointed as the chief Judge over the more popular and capable Judge, Datuk Abdul Malek.
Since Mahathir has thrown the ball at the govt's feet, Pak Lah should have no hesitation in taking up the gauntlet. The royal commission report has already provided an insight as to Mahahtir's role in the scandal.If further investigation can be unravelled to prove his pivitol role in the scandal then the full force of the law should be brought against the former Premier irrespective of his former status.
His former status should not provide him with any form of immunity if there are grounds to charge him for subverting and conspiring the appointment of Judges.
Pak Lah should not be cowed by Mahathir's challenge and to prove that he is serious in cleaning up the Judiciary,the Attorney-General should be directed to investigate the revelation in the Royal commission of the Lingam Scandal.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Another clandestine appointment of Judge?

Was there a similar clandestine appointment of judge when Datuk Zaki, the once UMNO adviser was parachuted to become the court of Appeal Judge and who was recently elevated to become the President of the Court of Appeal.?
Well, we will never know unless someone produce another video clip showing the appointment of Zaki as a Court of appeal judge.
However what is significant is his sudden appointment which seems to indicate a planned purpose.
By the time the Altantuya case reached the apex court on appeal, assuming there is an appeal by the losing side, Zaki would in all probabilty be presiding the case as the elevated chief Judge. So as a previous UMNO adviser now conveniently ensconced in the apex court his role is to ensure that Razak Baginda and Najib escape unscathed in the enigmatic court case which have captured the imagination of a world wide audience.
If not for this purpose then why was Zaki parachuted from an ordinary UMNO adviser to become a judge in the Court of Appeal ahead of many senior serving Judges ?

Saturday, May 10, 2008

UMNO's sickening display of loyalty to the monarch.

As expected, UMNO's henchmen were in every state making police report against Karpal's purported insult to Sultan Raja Azlan Shah's perogative to order the Perak M.B to reinstate the State Religious Director,Datuk Jamry Sury.But where were the same people when the sultan of Trengganu refused to appoint Datuk Idris as M.B of Trengganu?They were out in the streets carrying banners with the words 'Nantang' directing their ire at the royal steadfast decision not to appoint Datuk Idris.
That was indeed blatant sedition and why was no police report made against the perpetrators?It seems quite evident by now that only UMNO reserves the right to insult the royalty when and where they feel like it.
Karpal's statement that the Sultan has no jurisdiction to order reinstatement of the civil servant is based on legal precedents which he did not hesitate to quote.That statement was merely to point out to the ruler that an error of judgement based on law was made. It was not intended to undermine or insult the Perak Ruler.If indeed Karpal was wrong in his legal argument than someone should rightly point out to him.To bring the whole matter in question as one that borders on sedition is not only ridiculous but smacks of political opportunism.
P.M and DPM's inflamatory comments and suggestion to the Attorney-General to institute formal charges is interferring with the due process of the Law and to cause unnecessary influence to the A.G's Dept.to commence seditious charges even before examining the merits of such a charge.
The speed in which Karpal was asked to report and give a statement seems to indicate that pressure was unduly applied to come out with some trump up seditious charge.
The march 8th election seems to vindicate one thing . This evil regime has to go before some form of justice can prevail.

Selangor needs a Change in Pakatan's Leadership

I refer to Malaysiakini's article 'Barricade row: Pakatan State Govt 'weak'".
Ever since the beginning when Pakatan Rakyat under Tan Sri Khalid took over the reins of the Selangor govt there was already signs of a weak govt.
Events until now has not dispel that lingering doubts.Immediately after taking control of the govt,there was strong compelling evidence that the previous administration was shredding important state documents which could have incriminated their administration and yet Tan Sri Khalid chose to ignore them with a nonchalant attitude as if it was of little importance.
That single act of ommission has virtually deprived the rakyat of the opportunity to punish those perpetrators of their crime for which they were so eager to conceal and destroy.
When Penang's Chief minister announced their intention to abolish the NEP and replaced it with one that is more equitable there was a deafeaning silence from the Selangor State Govt.Either Tan Sri Khalid didnt hear the announcement or he had totally forgotten about the Pakatan's manifesto.
Tan Sri Khalid's reluctance to prosecute those UMNO leaders responsible for shredding those State documents is understandable. After all he was once a blue-eyed boy of UMNO who so happen to loose their favour sometime ago.Fortune has been kind to him and now that he is in the driver's seat he is slowly remembering his old UMNO roots.
As long as Selangor continue to be under the helm of Tan Sri Khalid there will be little change from its previous UMNO predeccessor.After all both Tan SriKhalid and Mohd Toyo came from the same UMNO origin.
In the case of the Bandar Makhota Cheras Barricade, the whole matter could have been expediously resolved if there was strong leadership.Land in the state comes under state jurisdiction and if the incumbent govt cannot even settle what is within their purview then Pakatan Rakyat is heading for a very short term.
Five years in politics is a very short time.If Pakatan's govt cannot reform the govt like it promised then maybe the rakyat will have to look for an alternative govt.