I thought that the infamous Negarakuku incident is closed-case after Namewee decided to apologize for his action… seems like the cabinet is not ready to forgive the young man yet.
I first read about the decision from Merdekareview, quoting from Nazri Aziz that the cabinet has decided to take action against Namewee (real name Wee Meng Chee) under Sedition Act 1948.
(Nazri also warned that action will be taken against bloggers that published the video)
Malaysiakini and Thestar have confirmed that the cabinet has not accepted Namewee’s apology and will continue to investigate the case.
Nobody is against the law. Even if the law is stupid, it is still a law… that is what constitution is about. If it is an unlawful act to alter Negarakuku, go ahead and sue him; Namewee is not a child and naive-ness is not an excuse to break the law.
However, using sedition act in this matter is a shame. It sounds like the cabinet is so desperate to penalize Namewee… so desperate that they are willing to spend more time doing so then to fight against the real criminals.
Besides, can most of the cabinet members understand exactly what Namewee was singing? How are these people going to judge what Namewee was trying to tell in his song when they couldn’t understand most part of the video?
If the cabinet is so keen on using the sedition act, shouldn’t they look into the few papers that make it a nationwide racist issue when it was merely a stupid act? Aren’t what the papers did more seditious then what Namewee did?
Here it goes again… the tudung controversy for International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) female graduates.
It’s nothing new that IIUM female graduates have to wear tudung… I am not sure if the dress code is written in official regulations now, but the dress code has been practiced for years. I just can’t understand why those who are against the dress code have decided to get into IIUM at the first place. [IIUM graduates' dress code]
Don’t get me wrong… I don’t think that forcing non-Muslims to wear a tudung is proper.
You see, the rulers (Agung, Sultans etc) are the head of Islam, but I can’t recall anyone being forced to wear a tudung or songkok when getting into the Palace. [Istana Negara dress code] Shouldn’t IIUM take that as an example to follow instead?
Despite its term as an Islamic university, IIUM is still a public place. If they want to enforce their strict dress code, they shouldn’t be enrolling non-Muslims at all.
The only places that such strict dress code should be enforced is at holy places… unless it’s a mosque or something, nobody should be forced to wear a tudung.
Condolences to families of the deceased in the bus crash near Bukit Gantang on August 13.
It’s reported that the deceased driver had 13 summonses and 2 arrest warrants in his name for various traffic offences. It’s easy to blame on the driver for the accident, but fact is multiple parties should be held responsible for the crash… the bus company, PUSPAKOM, JPJ, police, Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Human Resources etc.
Horrific bus accidents tend to happen in Malaysia every one or two years. Each time it happened, the government will jump out promising all countermeasures to prevent it from happening again… but it is still happening again and again and again. All those countermeasures were only empty talks, nothing much was actually done.
Don’t count on any improvements after this… chances are most people will forget about the accident a few days later; the government leaders will be among these peeps.
It’s reported from Malaysiakini that Ministry of Tourism has spent RM5.7 million to purchase tickets from MST Ad Suria, the private company that runs Eye on Malaysia, the 60-metre high ferries wheel located along the lake in Taman Tasik Titiwangsa.
Government has put high hope for the 30-million project, but it is apparent that the landmark is not as popular as they wished. The operation of the Eye was awarded to a private company MST Ad Suria, which is probably losing big bucks at the moment… but no worries; the government is spending millions of Ringgits to rescue them.
It’s good to do business in Malaysia… you get to know somebody from the government, you will get a project that will make big money… and if the project fails… you will still get the money because government will pay you regardless. You sure win, IF you know the right person and right channel.
We are in Malaysia, you can rest assured that no action will be taken to investigate the ministry and the company involved, and even if there is any investigation… our government will probably order to close the case when the investigation is still in premature stage like what we did in a number of corruption allegations.
The main media will not (dare to) report or follow up on the case as usual… and it will become another tiny dust under the carpet. Welcome to Malaysia.
Conglomerate Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd (CMS) and global Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto Tuesday (August 7) signed an agreement for the proposed development of an aluminium smelter in Sarawak. [Bernama]
Malaysia doesn’t have rich resource of bauxite (raw mineral for aluminium), we don’t have a large market for aluminium, and our labor cost is no longer the cheapest these days… the only reason for Rio Tinto to invest in Sarawak is because of its demand for high power supply, which the controversial Bakun Dam will be able to provide.
This raise my questions… why do we build the Bakun Dam at the first place? Isn’t Bakun built to supply sufficient energy for Malaysia for the next few decades?
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A BM excerpt from Harian Metro Online regarding the summoning of Marina Lee, wife of Raja Petra (webmaster of Malaysia-today.net)…
Isteri penulis artikel dalam Malaysian Today yang menghina Yang Dipertua dan agama Islam, diambil keterangan oleh polis untuk membantu siasatan, hari ini.
Since when did Raja Petra, the webmaster of Malaysia Today, has been found guilty of insulting the king and Islam? Amazing how papers are reporting news these days.
Screenshot from Harian Metro Online
The 2nd PIKOM PC fair of the year was launched last weekend (August 3-5) in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Kluang, Kota Kinabalu, and Lahad Datu. Below are some pictures from various bloggers that went to KL Convention Center for the event.
Before the show started (Image courtesy of
MeiQ; she worked at the event)
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From Malaysia Today…
Raja Petra Kamarudin’s wife, Marina Lee, has been summoned to the Dang Wangi Police Station, Jalan Stadium, at 11.00am, Wednesday, 8 August 2007, for interrogation related to the investigation under the Sedition Act launched against Raja Petra.
It is not known whether the police are trying to build up a case against Marina as well so that she can be jointly-charged with Raja Petra.
I don’t want to comment much until I am sure what is happening… I just hope it’s not another police-too-free-got-nothing-better-to-do incident.
Some thoughts from other bloggers…
CIJ Bangkit: Further persecution of online activists in Malaysia
Crankshaft: RPK’s Wife Interrogated
Ghostline: Police vs RPK and Marina Lee
MarinaM: Marina for Marina
Rocky: Ah, Marina Raja Petra
KJ Lim: Sedition act again
