It’s amazing how Syed Hamid managed to use Benazir’s assassination to condemn street demo… what a loser.

The turmoil in Pakistan is caused by corruption, dictatorship, suppression of freedom, improper governance etc. Street demonstration would come at the very bottom of the list if it’s of any relevance at all.

If Malaysia need to worry about becoming the next Pakistan… what the government need to do is to fight corruption, communicate with common citizens, ensure a fair election, and allow more freedom of speech.

If the government has done their job properly… people would not need to go to the streets at all; we won’t have the reasons to do so.

Gerakan acting president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said Sunday (Dec 23) the party viewed the matter seriously and that the case has been referred to the Disciplinary Committee for a decision on the action to be taken before it was to be brought to the party’s Central Working Committee (CWC). [Bernama]

Paranjothy is alleged to have issued a press statement to Malaysiakini claiming that he was not happy with Umno and the way Indians in the country were being treated. Excerpt from Malaysiakini…

In an audacious move, a notable Gerakan politician has taken Barisan Nasional coalition leader Umno to task for inciting racial sentiments among Malays to gain political mileage.

“They incite racial sentiments among their community in a petty attempt to further their political career,” Gerakan Youth vice-chief S Paranjothy alleged today (Dec 21).

Such attempts, he said, include taking potshots at other BN component parties which draw their support from non-Malay communities.

“Umno leaders are very found of picking on component parties and use them as their punching bag or stepping-stone to gain popularity in their community,” Paranjothy said in a hard-hitting four-page statement entitled ‘Discrimination from Womb to Tomb’.

He singled out Umno Youth Chief Hishammuddin Hussien’s keris waving and his deputy Khairy Jamaluddin’s claim that non-Malays would take advantage of a weak Umno leadership, as prime examples of racial posturing.

He also cited Khairy’s speech at the Umno general assembly last month, during which he blamed newspaper vendors for not wanting to work on Deepavali day. He made a pointed reference to the fact that the sector is predominated by Indian Malaysians.

Paranjothy also mentioned that Malaysian Indians are treated as fourth-class citizens; and that the government has practised double-standards in the issuance of police permits for public demonstrations.

Hishammuddin responded on Saturday by demanding an explanation from Koh…

“If the explanation given is not satisfactory, we are prepared to sever all relations with Gerakan. This is no laughing matter.”

What is racial sensitive?

I can’t agree with Paranjothy’s statement that Indians are treated as fourth-class citizens. There are some racial biased policies in Malaysia, but not to the extend that any particular races are being marginalized. The government is not doing enough to help the poor, but there are other factors and people that should be blamed as well. I will write a post later to share further thought on this.

What I want to raise here… is what kind of statements could be deemed as racial sensitive? After 50 years of independence, it’s pathetic to think that every word that question about racial issues in Malaysia is categorized as sensitive remarks.

Malaysia is a multiracial country… we need to be tolerant and careful with our action and speeches; but that doesn’t mean that we should keep quiet about every racial issue that has surfaced. If we do that we are just cheating ourselves and allowing problems to grow bigger instead of finding solutions for it.

Besides, what part of Paranjothy’s accusations is wrong? Hishammuddin’s keris waving has angered thousands of people, and he is finding his own words to justify his action instead of considering that his action might ignite racial discontent; Khairy’s Deepavali story is even worse… but why are these Umno people be allowed to continue raising the tension whereas the others are not allowed to speak up their mind?

Political scapegoat

Hishamuddin’s fast response is clearly to boost his own Umno political image and not for the sake of national unity. He knows that if he didn’t condemn Paranjothy fast enough… Khairy would speak about it and steal the spotlight instead.

The Umno leaders are constantly in tug-of-war for power and political future… and often used other political parties as the scapegoat to gain popularity in their community. Paranjothy has mentioned this in his statement, and Hishammudin’s threatening demand against Gerakan probably has just endorsed this.

I am disappointed that Koh Tsu Koon has given in to Hishammudin’s demand rather easily. Paranjothy might have broken the stupid political rank in BN, but Gerakan should at least show their pride to condemn Hishammudin’s arrogance before taking action against their own man. Gerakan are acting like cowards now… and it brings no respect from both Gerakan and Umno supporters.

Umno Government is not going to listen

MIC parliamentarian K. Devamany got himself into trouble in late November after saying that “the government was not doing enough for the (Indian) community” in response to the Hindraf rally… and this time it’s Paranjothy’s political future that is in jeopardy.

The government leaders are not listening to opposition parties obviously, and they are not allowing any comments from their own men that are against their policies… in the end nothing besides S kissing words are going to get into their ears.

Government is willing to listen to criticism? It has been proven as empty talk once again.

What has Hindraf achieved in the end?

Don’t get me wrong. As mentioned at my previous post… although I am not a public demo fan, I don’t feel that I have the right to deny others the freedom of expression. However, I am really confused on what Hindraf is fighting for.

In general view… Hindraf has planned the gathering to submit their petition to Queen Elizabeth II seeking support for the Indian community in a US$4 trillion class action suit against the British government for bringing Indians as labourers to the then Malaya and thereafter exploiting them.

The suit is a joke; the Hindraf organizers should know that. Initially I gave them beneficial of doubts thinking that they are using the suit to gain wide attention to the social problem instead of taking the monetary claim seriously… I hope I was right.

I have doubts on what Hindraf is trying to achieve with the protest though. After taking all the effort to bring people to the streets to endure the tear gas and water cannon… Hindraf failed to make a constructive point of what they are fighting for.

Ya, I know… fighting for equal rights for Indian minorities. However, what exactly do Hindraf want? They have to make their demand clear and precise.

More Indian schools?
More public servicing jobs for Indians?
Minimum wage for blue collars?
Stop demolition of Hindu temples?
Permits for Hindu temples?
Samy Vellu to step down from leadership?

So, what is Hindraf actually fighting for? Precisely?

Update Nov 29 – Hindraf’s memorandom to UK Prime Minister

Klang Valley folks should have noticed the unusual jam in and around KL for the past 2 days. Police has set up roadblocks, albeit prematurely, to cope with the potential confrontation before the rally. Seems like they has just up their ante by arresting the leaders of Hindraf.

About Hindraf and the rally

Not many Malaysians beside the Hindu community are paying attention to Hindraf… that’s a sad fact. After 50 years of independence, Malaysians are not giving much damn about the welfare of other races. The irony thing is… the arrest and roadblocks actually helped spreading Hindraf’s movement.

Hindraf is planning a gathering outside of British High Commission at Jalan Ampang on Sunday to submit a petition with 100,000 signatures to Queen Elizabeth II to appoint a Queen’s Counsel to represent the Indian community in a class action suit against the British government for bringing Indians as labourers to the then Malaya and thereafter exploiting them.

The suit, filed at the Royal Courts of Justice in London by Hindraf chief P. Wathyamoorthy in August, sought compensation of up to US$4 trillion (RM13.5 trillion), or US$1 million (RM3.4 million) for every Indian in Malaysia.

The petition and suit might sound ridiculous; people have been teasing the real motive behind the rally. Regardless, I am not going to question the possible personal agenda in Hindraf organization… I chose to believe that they want to seek international (and Malaysians’) attention on the problem the Indian society is facing in Malaysia, and that the suit is just a gimmick to get attention.

I am not a big fan of public rally or demonstration, but I am not going to deny the rights of others to voice their thoughts. Besides, who would want to bath under the torching sun or soak in the rain (and possibly polices’ tear gas and water cannon) to demonstrate if their voices are heard in a more comfortable way? People go to the streets because they don’t have much choice, not for fun.

For whatever cause it is… Don’t bring minors to a demonstration. One thing that I absolute distaste during the BERSIH rally is seeing minors involved.

Street demo is always unpredictable; the crowd might go wild, or the police might become irrational in handling situations. Violent confrontation might happen… it’s not safe to bring your young children to a demo. Forget about education from young age, that’s bull sh!t… there are better ways teaching children about democracy, human rights or whatever.

3 groups lodge reports against blogger (NST)

Three police reports were lodged against blogger Jeff Ooi for allegedly defaming the country, government and police force.

The reports were lodged by the Malaysian Islamic Consumers Association, Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress and Pertubuhan Seni Silat Ikatan Kalam Malaysia against a statement issued by Ooi to an Al Jazeera reporter. The statement was allegedly broadcast on YouTube following an illegal gathering on Nov 10 organised by a coalition of opposition parties and non-governmental organisations calling itself Bersih.

The police reports were lodged at the Sentul police headquarters yesterday about 4.30pm.

The complainants want Ooi to be investigated, alleging that the interview given to Al Jazeera not only tarnished the image of the country but was also seditious and caused racial tension.

Ooi is also alleged to have given inaccurate information to Al Jazeera in stating that the police used unnecessary force in dispersing the demonstrators.

[The videos in questions... video 1 & video 2]

Police report lodged against Malaysia Today, Raja Petra (Thestar)

A businessman has lodged a police report against web portal Malaysia Today and its owner Raja Petra Kamaruddin for an article in the site which he alleged could cause disunity.

Noor Hisham Yusoh, 33, lodged the report at the Brickfields police station at about 7.30pm yesterday accompanied by seven other friends urging the authorities to carry out investigations into the article.

He said the article headlined “What the eye does not see” by Raja Petra had elements of instigation.

“As a Malaysian citizen, I think that his accusations are serious and can convince a lot of people in Malaysia that the country is not peaceful anymore,” he said, adding that the article could make the situation worse.

Noor Hisham from Bukit Subang said he decided to lodge the report after having a discussion with his friends who agreed that the article could cause disunity in the country.

“We are living in a very prosperous country and we do not want such an article to cause any problem,” he said.

Responses from Jeff and Raja Petra…

Jeff: ZAM, Al-Jazeera & police reports against Jeff Ooi
Raja Petra: I am greatly offended

Thoughts from other bloggers (and commentors)…

Police report against Malaysia Today, again
3 lodge police report against Jeff Ooi
Police Report lodged against Jeff for Al-Jazeera Interview
Kimma Lodges Police Report Against Jeff Ooi
Another Frivolous Police Report Filed Against RPK and Malaysia Today
Jeff Ooi implicated for defamation & Sedition
Police reports lodged against 2 bloggers
RPK, Government and the Army

I applaud the protesters’ spirit to convey their thoughts;
I condemn police’s action to use tear gas and water cannons on the protesters;
I hope that the Election Commission (EC) could be more independent;
I wish that the flaws in our electoral system could be minimized.

So why am I still not a supporter of the BERSIH rally?

EC is not our main concern

EC might be favouring our BN government in policies and having double standards when implementing certain things, but I still believe that we have a decent electoral system.

I doubt that there is any election in the world that is 100% clean, and I believe that our election is not that bad.

The main reason for BN’s dominance in the 2004 election is not the unfairness in election or the flaws in EC… it’s because we don’t have a strong enough opposition party (or alliance).

The opposition parties need to buck up their reputation, attract more quality members, and think of a way to form a strong alliance against the current BN government.

One thing that the BN government managed to do well all these years is to keep their alliances intact… it shows that Malaysians can work together regardless of occasional controversies. That is something that the oppositions are far from emulating.

The BERSIH march is a good lead to show bonding among opposition parties… work on it.

The involvement of political parties

It’s irony that both the success and failure of the rally are caused by the involvement of political parties.

Without them BERSIH would not have attracted such a large crowd; but their participation has made the rally a political driven protest instead of independent voices.

We may argue that BERSIH is formed by just 5 political parties and dozens of other NGOs… but fact is the political parties’ involvement will always grab the attention instead.

Read this, the headlines from Reuters’ reports…

Malaysia police move to foil opposition rally
Malaysia police use water cannon at Anwar rally

And here is an excerpt from AFP…

“Some 30,000 protesters eventually massed outside Malaysia’s royal palace, led by opposition leaders including dissident former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, as they faced off against hundreds of riot police.”

We don’t need our biased local press to mislead the mass; even the independent news source would perceive that it’s an opposition rally… and I’m afraid that most bystanders would think of the same thing too.

It’s ok if the political parties take part in this kind of rally, but their leaders need to back off from taking the spotlight. Let the NGOs handle the case instead, it shows more credibility ahead of political agenda.

Just a simple challenge to BERSIH supporters… name me 3 non political organizations that took part in the BERSIH rally. I apologize in advance if you managed to name it straight away without references… I doubt that I would need to apologize to most of the protesters though.

Would BERSIH boycott the election?

Would BERSIH move on to boycott the election if their demands are not granted?

If they chose not to boycott the coming election… it shows that BERSIH still have faith with our electoral system ain’t so? If that’s the case, why started the rally at the first place?

The operation was protested by some residents and Hindu devotees, which turned into a police confrontation… people getting injured and some arrested. Shots reportedly fired, and the demolition was later alleged to be without a valid court order.

Above is my simple understanding of what was happening at the Rimba Jaya fracas… prime media is not giving much coverage about this issue except some interviews with Samy Vellu who finally speak up about temple demolition, which came a bit too late and with dubious intention of fearing a slash back by Indian voters in coming election.

News and thoughts from various sources…

The news…

Temple demolition leads to all-out fracas
Temple Demolished Without Warning – A Cruel Act

Bloggers’ thoughts…

Go fly kite
Kg Rimba Jaya
Pictures of latest Hindu temple Demolish in Klang
Blood and Mayhem Against Kg Rimba Settlers
Indian Temple Demolition and Chaos: Mainstream Media Silence
Shah Alam temple demolished and media blackout
Shah Alam temple demolishment details
The Police Must Be Crazy
What lies behind City Hall’s brutalities?
The Demise of the Malaysian Indian Voice
Deepavali and Bulan Syawal Destruction

More details, pics and videos…

Malaysianbar ll Malaysiakini ll AFP ll Jeffooi ll Wengsan ll Rockybru

The clash was sparked when police ordered the crowd of 500 people (some reported 750) gathering at Jalan Sultan Mahmud, close to Batu Buruk, to disperse peacefully at 10pm. The crowd was there to attend a talk organized by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH), which was held without police’s permit.

Police officer fired live bullets

Terengganu police chief Senior Asst Comm Datuk Ayub Yaakob said that the policeman has fired one shot as act of self defence, while some PAS and PKR spokesmen claim that a few shots have been fired.

According to Malaysiakini, the alleged officer (a constable) had fired 4 shots.

This must be the first time I’ve heard that a live bullet is fired at a riot of this scale around the world. Anti-riot forces don’t use live bullets in general, for fear that it could injured (or killed) innocents during the crowd, for fear that the weapons might be seized by the rioters and cause other violence, and for other reasons.

To be fair… if I am the policeman that was under attack by group of people with sticks and stones during the riot, I would have pulled the trigger if I think my life was threatened. It could be an act of self defence, but under those chaoses… how sure was the police officer that he was firing at the right people? He could miss-fire and ended up wounding those bystanders around instead of those who attacked him.

That’s why… policemen should try their best to stay out of the crowd (especially when they are alone), and they shouldn’t carry guns into the crowd.

Why BERSIH didn’t cancel the gathering?

BERSIH has never given a permit to hold this particular gathering. There are accusations that the police was siding the BN government and offered unreasonable excuse to not issue the permits, which could be true… but that didn’t warrant BERSIH to hold the gathering as planned.

BERSIH organizers should know that police will interfere if the gathering carried on, and that there could be a clash between the crowd and the police. A (Chinese) report from Merdekareview said that the organizers had decided to cancel the gathering before the clash, but did they cancelled it soon enough, or just hours before the show?

If a law is stupid, you try to change it… if you can’t, you don’t break it. The gathering should be cancelled when permits were not granted, or alternatives should be sought.

Conspiracy Theories

PAS came out with a conspiracy theory that the riot was pre-planned by the police and UMNO…

Insiden berdarah di Pantai Batu Buruk 8 September lalu adalah hasil konspirasi jahat dan provokasi pihak polis yang dipergunakan oleh Umno-BN.

Maklumat tersebut disampaikan oleh Pesuruhjaya PAS Terengganu, Dato’ Mustapa Ali dalam satu sidang media yang diadakan di Pejabat Agung PAS Jalan Raja Laut tengahari ini.

Jelasnya, beliau mendapat maklumat daripada Adun Wakaf Mempelam, Abdul Wahid Endut yang menyatakan bahawa terdapat saksi yang telah menyatakan bahawa ia adalah ‘pre-plan’ yang melibatkan antara Setiausaha Politik Perdana Menteri, Senator Dato’ Wan Farid.

“Maklumat tersebut menyebutkan bahawa kira-kira jam 3 hingga 4 petang pada 8 September lalu, sewaktu satu kursus diadakan, seorang polis yang mengendalikan kursus tersebut telah menerima satu panggilan yang memaklumkan bahawa satu ‘huru-hara’ akan berlaku menjelang malam nanti di pantai Batu Buruk dan pegawai polis bertugas yang tidak beruniform dikehendaki memastikan identiti dengan memakai riben,” jelasnya.

Talk is easy Mr Mustapa Ali… prove it.

Update Sep 12 – BERSIH released their own media statement