Zaid's walk the talk Letter to PM

At the end of Ramadhan, what a relieving start in this Hari Raya Puasa when Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, a former UMNO Cabinet Minister in charge of law openly defying close door discussion by publishing an open letter to the Prime Minister requesting or rather demanding that the Prime Minister walk the talk.

It is rather long piece. But what I intend to do is to bold what I see as important which the Prime Minister MUST act according to the wishes of the people. Importantly, an UMNO member saw it fit. This is a letter not from a member of the Opposition. Now in his last days as Prime Minister, he can still do what is best in raising the benchmark. And hopefully Prime Minister Abdullah will be known as Bapa Reformasi instead of Bapa Flip Flop...

He still has the power to do good as such if he is reading this (of which I doubt), PLEASE DO SOMETHING....

Maybe Dr Rais Yatim should also do something....

-------

29 September 2008

YAB Dato’ Seri Abdullah Badawi
Prime Minister of Malaysia
5th Floor, East Wing
Perdana Putra Building
Putrajaya
Malaysia

Dear Mr Prime Minister

In our proclamation of independence, our first Prime Minister gave voice to the lofty aspirations and dreams of the people of Malaya: that Malaya was founded on the principles of liberty and justice, and the promise that collectively we would always strive to improve the welfare and happiness of its people.

Many years have passed since that momentous occasion and those aspirations and dreams remain true and are as relevant to us today as they were then. This was made possible by a strong grasp of fundamentals in the early period of this nation. The Federal Constitution and the laws made pursuant to it were well founded; they embodied the key elements of a democracy built on the Rule of Law. The Malaysian Judiciary once commanded great respect from Malaysians and was hailed as a beacon for other nations. Our earlier Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn were truly leaders of integrity, patriots in their own right and most importantly, men of humility. They believed in and built this nation on the principles and values enunciated in our Constitution.

Even when they had to enact the Internal Security Act (ISA) 1960, they were very cautious and apologetic about it. Tunku stated clearly that the Act was passed to deal with the communist threat. “My cabinet colleagues and I gave a solemn promise to Parliament and the nation that the immense powers given to the Government under the ISA would never be used to stifle legitimate opposition and silent lawful dissent”, was what the Tunku said. Our third Prime Minister Tun Hussein Onn reinforced this position by saying that the ISA was not intended to repress lawful political opposition and democratic activity on the part of the citizenry.

The events of the last three weeks have compelled me to review the way in which the ISA has been used. This exercise has sadly led me to the conclusion that the Government has time and time again failed the people of this country in repeatedly reneging on that solemn promise made by Tunku Abdul Rahman. This has been made possible because the Government and the law have mistakenly allowed the Minister of Home Affairs to detain anyone for whatever reason he thinks fit. This subjective discretion has been abused to further certain political interests.

History is the great teacher and speaks volumes in this regard. Even a cursory examination of the manner in which the ISA has been used almost from its inception would reveal the extent to which its intended purpose has been subjugated to the politics of the day.

Regrettably, Tunku Abdul Rahman himself reneged on his promise. In 1965, his administration detained Burhanuddin Helmi, the truly towering Malay intellectual, a nationalist who happened to be a PAS leader. He was kept in detention until his death in 1969. Helmi was a political opponent and could by no stretch of the imagination be considered to have been involved in the armed rebellion or communism that the ISA was designed to deal with. This detention was an aberration, a regrettable moment where politics had been permitted to trump the rule of law. It unfortunately appears to have set a precedent and many detentions of persons viewed as having been threatening to the incumbent administration followed through the years. Even our literary giant, ‘sasterawan negara’ the late Tan Sri A Samad Ismail was subjected to the ISA in 1976. How could he have been a threat to national security?

I need not remind you of the terrible impact of the 1987 Operasi Lalang. Its spectre haunts the Government as much as it does the peace loving people of this nation, casting a gloom over all of us. There were and still are many unanswered questions about those dark hours when more than a hundred persons were detained for purportedly being threats to national security. Why they were detained has never been made clear to Malaysians. Similarly, no explanation has been forthcoming as to why they were never charged in court. Those detainees included amongst their numbers senior opposition Members of Parliament who are still active in Parliament today. The only thing that is certain about that period was that UMNO was facing a leadership crisis. Isn’t it coincidental that the recent spate of ISA arrests has occurred when UMNO is again having a leadership crisis?

In 2001, Keadilan ‘reformasi’ activists were detained in an exercise that the Federal Court declared was in bad faith and unlawful. The continued detention of those that were not released earlier in the Kamunting detention facility was made possible only by the fact that the ISA had been questionably amended in 1988 to preclude judicial review of the Minister’s order to detain. Malaysians were told that these detainees had been attempting to overthrow the Government via militant means and violent demonstrations. Seven years have gone and yet no evidence in support of this assertion has been presented. Compounding the confusion even further, one of these so-called militants, Ezam Mohamad Noor, recently rejoined UMNO to great fanfare, as a prized catch it would seem.

At around the same time, members of PAS were also detained for purportedly being militant and allegedly having links to international terrorist networks. Those detained included Nik Adli, the son of Tuan Guru Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat the Menteri Besar of Kelantan. Malaysians were made a promise by the Government that evidence of the alleged terrorist activities and links of these detainees would be disclosed. To date no such evidence has been produced.

The same formula was used in late 2007 when the HINDRAF 5 were detained. Malaysians were told once again that these individuals were involved in efforts to overthrow the Government and had links with the militant Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam of Sri Lanka. To date no concrete evidence have been presented to support this assertion. It would seem therefore that the five were detained for their involvement in efforts that led to a mobilisation of Malaysian Indians to express, through peaceful means, their frustration against the way in which their community had been allowed to be marginalised. This cause has since been recognised as a legitimate one. The HINDRAF demonstration is nothing extraordinary as such assemblies are universally recognised as being a legitimate means of expression.

In the same vein, the grounds advanced in support of the most recent detentions of Tan Hoon Cheng, Teresa Kok and Raja Petra Kamarudin leave much to be desired. The explanation that Tan Hoon Cheng was detained for her own safety was farcical. The suggestion that Teresa Kok had been inciting religious sentiments was unfounded as was evinced by her subsequent release.

As for Raja Petra Kamarudin, the prominent critic of the Government, a perusal of his writings would show that he might have been insulting of the Government and certain individuals within it. However, being critical and insulting could not in any way amount to a threat to national security. If his writings are viewed as being insulting of Islam, Muslims or the Holy Prophet (pbuh), he should instead be charged under the Penal Code and not under the ISA. In any event, he had already been charged for sedition and criminal defamation in respect of some of his statements. He had claimed trial, indicating as such his readiness and ability to defend himself. Justice would best be served by allowing him his day in court more so where, in the minds of the public, the Government is in a position of conflict for having been the target of his strident criticism.

The instances cited above strongly suggest that the Government is undemocratic. It is this perspective that has over the last 25 plus years led to the Government seemingly arbitrarily detaining political opponents, civil society and consumer advocates, writers, businessmen, students, journalists whose crime, if it could be called that, was to have been critical of the Government. How it is these individuals can be perceived as being threats to national security is beyond my comprehension. The self-evident reality is that legitimate dissent was and is quashed through the heavy-handed use of the ISA.

There are those who support and advocate this carte-blanche reading of the ISA. They will seek to persuade you that the interests of the country demand that such power be retained, that Malaysians owe their peace and stability to laws such as the ISA. This overlooks the simple truth that Malaysians of all races cherish peace. We lived together harmoniously for the last 400 years, not because of these laws but in spite of them.

I believe the people of this country are mature and intelligent enough to distinguish actions that constitute a ‘real’ threat to the country from those that threaten political interests. Malaysians have come know that the ISA is used against political opponents and, it would seem, when the leadership is under challenge either from within the ruling party or from external elements.

Malaysians today want to see a Government that is committed to the court process to determine guilt or innocence even for alleged acts of incitement of racial or religious sentiment. They are less willing to believe, as they once did, that a single individual, namely the Minister of Home Affairs, knows best about matters of national security. They value freedom and the protection of civil liberties and this is true of people of other nations too.

Mr Prime Minister, the results of the last General Election are clear indication that the people of Malaysia are demanding a reinstatement of the Rule of Law. I was appointed as your, albeit short-lived, Minister in charge of legal affairs and judicial reform. In that capacity, I came to understand more keenly how many of us want reform, not for the sake of it, but for the extent to which our institutions have been undermined by events and the impact this has had on society.

With your blessing, I attempted to push for reform. High on my list of priorities was a reinstatement of the inherent right of judicial review that could be enabled through a reversion of the key constitutional provision to its form prior to the controversial amendment in 1988. I need not remind you that that constitutional amendment was prompted by the same series of events that led not only to Operasi Lalang but the sacking of the then Lord President and two supreme court justices. Chief amongst my concerns was the way in which the jurisdiction and the power of the Courts to grant remedy against unconstitutional and arbitrary action of the Executive had been removed by Parliament and the extent to which this had permitted an erosion of the civil liberties of Malaysians. It was this constitutional amendment that paved the way for the ouster provision in the ISA that virtually immunises the Minister from judicial review, a provision which exemplifies the injustice the constitutional amendment of 1988 has lent itself.

I also sought to introduce means by which steps could be taken to assist the Judiciary to regain the reputation for independence and competence it once had. Unfortunately, this was viewed as undesirable by some since an independent Judiciary would mean that the Executive would be less ‘influential’.

I attempted to do these things and more because of the realisation that Malaysia’s democratic traditions and the Rule of Law are under siege. Anyway, there is nothing wrong with giving everyone an independent Judiciary and the opportunity to a fair trial. This is consistent with the universal norms of human rights as it is with the tenets of Islam, the religion of the Federation. Unchecked power to detain at the whim of one man is oppressiveness at its highest. Even in Israel, a nation that is perpetually at war, the power to detain is not vested in one man and detention orders require endorsement from a judge.

If there are national security considerations, then these can be approached without jettisoning the safeguards intended to protect individual citizens from being penalised wrongfully. In other jurisdictions involved in armed conflicts, trials are held in camera to allow for judicial scrutiny of evidence considered too sensitive for public disclosure so as to satisfy the ends of justice. If this can be done in these jurisdictions, why not here where the last armed struggle we saw, the very one that precipitated the need for the ISA, came to an end in the 1980s? Any doubts as to the continued relevance of the ISA in its present form should have been put to rest by the recommendation by the National Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM) that the ISA be repealed and an anti-terror legislation suited to the times enacted in its place. Containing as it did a sunset clause in its original times, the ISA was never intended to be a permanent feature on the Malaysian legal landscape.

Through its continued use in the manner described above and in the face of public sentiment, it is only natural that the ISA has become in the mind of the people an instrument of oppression and the Government is one that lends itself to oppressiveness. Its continued use does not bode well for a society that is struggling to find its place in the global arena. It does not bode well for the democracy that is so vital for us to develop sustainably.

Mr Prime Minister, I remember very clearly what you once said; that if one has the opportunity to do what is good and right for the country, then he must take on the task. I respect you deeply for that and if I were confident that I would have been able to do some good for Malaysia, I would have remained on your team. Sir, you are still the Prime Minister and you still have the opportunity to leave your footprint in Malaysian history. I urge you to do so by repealing the ISA once and for all.

Let us attempt to fulfil that solemn promise made by our beloved first Prime Minister to the people of this country.

Yours sincerely

ZAID IBRAHIM
Kuala Lumpur

Nah Bagi U, Utusan Setan

Bagi sama you, Setan... Almost a devil. This is Utusan Malaysia. A racist newspaper deserved to be ISAed. License must be revoked immediately. Write without facts, without understanding, only with full malice.

The writer in that piece deserved a knock out. He is never a human, just devilish. You are a bas***d. I just can't believe that you can sleep so soundly. People like you should not be called Malaysians. You are nothing BUT embarrassment to good journalism.

(I have never been SO UPSET before in my blog. I am so pissed off.)

Sassy MP, we are behind you....

*The letter of Demand to Utusan was faxed to the editor at 4.40pm today.

Your Ref: please advise

Our Ref: SNN/YBT/ Civil/08

Date: 15-9-2008
THE EDITOR

Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Berhad

46M, Jalan Lima Off Jalan Chan Sow Lin

55200 Kuala Lumpur

Sir,

RE: LIBELOUS ARTICLE

We act for YB Teresa Kok Suh Sim.

Our client refers you to the following article that was carried by your newspaper on 10 September 2008 under the captions “Azan, jawi, JAIS, UiTM dan ba-alif-ba-ya…” (hereinafter known as “the impugned article”)

The impugned article that you published, mean and were understood to mean that our client, inter alia:-

1. is a racist;
2. is a religious bigot;
3. is an untrustworthy person as well as an untrustworthy and a bad politician;
4. is intolerant and unprincipled; and
5. is a parochial politician who is anti Islam and anti Malay.

Our client contends the following:-

1. the impugned article as stated above of our client are and were grossly negligent, reckless, irresponsible, deliberate, malicious and aimed to lower our client’s esteem in the eye of the public and expose our client to public hatred, scorn, odium, contempt and ridicule;

2. the impugned article as stated above of our client are motivated or actuated by mala fides, distortion of facts suggesting moral and legal impropriety on the part of our client and are principally done in your pursuit of seeking cheap publicity, sensationalism;

3. the impugned article as stated above of our client are pre-mediated and calculated to tarnish, malign, defame and seriously injure the good name and character of our client;

We are further instructed that you have or caused to have republished the following impugned article.

The allegations and the comments in the impugned article against our client amount to a very serious libel on our client and have caused her considerable distress and embarrassment. These allegations made against her are false and your attack on her is wholly unjustified.

We are therefore instructed to demand, which we hereby do:

1. An immediate and unequivocal public retraction of the impugned article by your newspaper and the removal of all the offending and defamatory comments forthwith.

2. An apology in terms to be approved by us as solicitors to be published in newspapers of our client’s choice.

3. An undertaking by yourselves not to repeat the above words, allegations and comments contained in the impugned article.

Our client has also instructed us to demand damages from you for the injury caused to her reputation of RM30,000,000-00 (Ringgit Malaysia Thirty Million).

Our client has also requested us to demand payment of all legal costs that has been incurred with regard to this matter.

This letter is written in accordance with the pre-action protocol prior to the institution of a libel action. We look forward to hear from you without delay. If we do not receive a satisfactory reply within twenty four (24) hours of receipt of this letter, our instructions are to institute legal proceedings. In the meantime, our client reserves all her rights in this matter.

Kindly acknowledge receipt accordingly.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

S N NAIR & PARTNERS

c.c. client

Karpal versus Utusan Malaysia (1-0)

Sometimes, we need to show the strength of the people against a racist newspaper like Utusan. YB Karpal, you have our support.

25th August, 2008

The Editor,Utusan Malaysia,
46M, Jalan Lima,
Off Jalan Chan Sow Lin,
55200 Kuala Lumpur.

Re: Notice of demand in relation to the libellous statements made against Y.B. Karpal Singh, Member of Parliament for Bukit Gelugor, and Chairman of the Democratic Action Party, in the article under the heading “ DAP diingati jangan bakar perasaan Melayu” in the edition of Utusan Malaysia dated 25.08.2008, at page 2.

________________________________________________________________

We refer to the above whereby we act for Y.B. Karpal Singh, MP for Bukit Gelugor and Chairman of the Democratic Action Party, a component party of the Pakatan Rakyat, who has handed us a copy of your newspaper dated 25.08.2008 which carries the following libellous words in the article under the heading “DAP diingati jangan bakar perasaan Melayu”:-

“Pengerusi DAP Karpal Singh ketika berucap pada perasmian Kongres Kebangsaan DAP ke 15 semalam menolak Islam sebagai agama rasmi Negara…”

(hereinafter referred to as the said words complained of)

We are instructed to state that the said words complained of are false and have no truth or basis whatsoever and are highly malicious in nature. Our client has not at any time whatsoever uttered the said words complained of.

As a result of the said words complained of being published, especially on the eve of the polling day of the Permatang Pauh by-election, our client has been made to suffer serious public odium, contempt and ridicule, and has as a consequence suffered serious loss and damages.

In view of the highly defamatory nature of the said words complained of, we write to you to unconditionally retract the said word complained of and apologise to our client in your edition of the Utusan Malaysia tomorrow, (26.08.2008).

Kindly note that the said retraction and apology must be published in a prominent part of the front page of your edition of the Utusan Malaysia tomorrow, (26.08.2008), failing which we have firm instructions to commence legal proceedings against your newspaper for, inter alia, damages and an apology without any further reference to you.

Kindly note our demand to you to retract and apologise is without prejudice to our rights to commence legal proceedings against you in respect of the above.

It would be in your interests to retract and apologise immediately so as to mitigate the damages which will be ultimately ordered against you.

Yours faithfully,


KARPAL SINGH & CO.

Parliamentarian Clowing

Though I may agree with the writer, Miss Jenny Chow regarding the behaviour of some of our wakil rakyat, I may also may want to reply (not to rebut) her letter.

As for me, there are certain actions which I feel some attention are needed to be stressed. The celebration of a birthday of an ISA detainee, for me, is a symbolic gesture of a daughter desire to celebrate the birthday of the father who is illegally and unlawfully detained without trial under the Internal Security Act.

That gesture is not a cheap publicity stunt by a little girl but basically a cry out from her heart in wanting to see her father release unconditionally. That is her right to express. As such coming to parliament to express that expression is something all Malaysians must take note of. AND not just push aside and say "it's funny" or some may say "security of parliament" and whatever reasons anybody and everybody will find. More often than not ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS and the message is send across.

On the other hand, giving red hard-boiled eggs to newsmen to mark their first month in the Dewan, is something 'should not be done'. Nevertheless, give them the benefit of a doubt that probably it was just after the mudslinging session in the Dewan that the two MPs here are just intending to take a 'kit kat' from the heaviness attachment of the Honourable Dewan. Sometimes to clown around is such a stress reliever.

Now I also heard from almost everybody that there are such waste of time by our parliamentarians. Besides the name calling like Bigfoot and 'Monyet', the Standing Orders are there to be followed. As such I hope sincerely our parliamentarians follow strictly the Orders. The Standing Orders are rules of parliamentary procedures which all parliamentarian must know and follow. The Speaker of the House must ensure that strict application of the Orders are to be adhered to. Unfortunately, our Parliamentarians be that from BN or Pakatan, failed to follow. This make it a junk house instead of the Honourable House.

The Standing Orders or in malay, Peraturan Mesyuarat, gives order to the House. With that order, motion are debated, statements made are explained, arguments are raised. So parliamentarians follow the Order please. As such when YB Karpal or Uncle Kit invoke the Standing Orders, it simply means to their opposing side, follow the Order. Simple as that.

My two cents opinion.....

©New Straits Times (Letters Section) (Used by permission)
by Jenny Chow, Alor Star

I WAS amazed to see a picture of two MPs distributing red hard-boiled eggs to newsmen at the Parliament to mark their first month in the Dewan Rakyat.

Not long ago, it was a whole group of Opposition MPs celebrating the birthday of the daughter of an Internal Security Act detainee.

It looks really funny, as in my opinion, the Dewan Rakyat is supposed to be a place where MPs have their meetings, debate and all that important stuff.

Before this, I always thought highly of the Dewan Rakyat and the important issues.

Unfortunately, when I look at the Dewan Rakyat now, all I see is a bunch of people trying new stuff to "impress" the rakyat who voted for them.

Sometimes, some of the MPs also like to debate over trivial issues and waste the Dewan's time. It's annoying to see these people putting up all these acts.

To me, there is no need to over-react and MPs should only debate important matters.

With MPs celebrating birthdays and distributing red hard-boiled eggs, I wonder what else will happen in the future.

The Only Letter Mahatir speaks sense....

I read this letter by Tun Mahatir in the Star, very interesting insights by the old man. Words like this can never be accepted by people in UMNO or BN. What all can agree is that Gerakan 'hilang' satu member yang berwibawa. He was tipped to be a CM in Penang should he and his party win in the general election. But of course that dream never materialised. Unfortunately to Kah Choon when he was appointed as Director to the two state government agencies, he was called 'inexperience' by the leadership in his party. At one point you are tipped to be a VVIP and on the other hand 'inexperience'.

But reading between the lines of the letter, I must say that BN in order to survive in the political arena of this country MUST change it's ways. UMNO and BN are too narrow minded. If PAS is able to adapt changes by inviting non Muslim to contest in the general election, UMNO and especially UMNO must change to be relevant.

So to UMNO and BN, please take heed to the call of the person whom you love before...

------- Mahatir's letter below

THE recent decision of a senior Gerakan leader to take a job under the DAP Government of Penang should not be taken lightly by the Barisan Nasional if it wishes to survive and regain support of its members and supporters.

The Gerakan leader may be motivated by a genuine desire to work for the good of Penang and Malaysia. But it may also be because loyalty to the Barisan is now based on personal gains or fear of punishment of some kind.

This is especially so among the leaders. There is no genuine love for the objectives said to be the raison d’etre for the party’s existence. They are all fighting to get a piece of the cake that the party would be able to distribute when it wins elections. They could become Ministers or Mentris Besar or Deputy Ministers or Speakers. They could get contracts or licences, APs etc.

When the party loses, these will not be forthcoming. The reason for supporting the party would disappear.

The rank and file on the other hand stands to gain nothing, win or lose. The party is not any longer for the general good of the country but only for lining the pockets of the leaders. So why should the ordinary members help the leaders to line their pockets?

The party can keep on making promises but the members know that these promises are empty.

Supposing the Opposition are smart enough to provide good Government, to look after the interests of the ordinary people, to lead a Spartan life like not flying in chartered planes when going to Kuala Lumpur or taking excos and divisional heads on jaunts to foreign countries, then those people who voted for the Opposition out of anger against the Barisan in 2008 would transfer their loyalty permanently to the Opposition.

When that happens, the Barisan, Umno and other component parties can forget about recapturing the states lost to the Opposition. Their turncoat members (saboteurs as they are classified by Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) will remain turncoats and will actively work against the Barisan t the next election. To lose once is bad but to lose a second time in Malaysian election is an unmitigated disaster.

The window of opportunity will close pretty soon. Unless drastic actions are taken now, there would be no time to rehabilitate the Barisan and Umno and indeed all the other Barisan component parties for the next election. When this happens and Barisan is totally defeated, the leaders who mismanaged the Barisan will go down in history as betrayers of the parties that had so successfully defeated the Malayan Union, gained independence for the country and developed it to what it is today.

The leaders still have a choice. Continue supporting a person under whom the Barisan and its component parties were defeated or stop being self-serving and return to the true national struggle. You may gain something for yourself personally today but your children and grandchildren will pay a terrible price. The choice is yours.

DR MAHATHIR MOHAMAD.