According to Malaysiakini, Sin Chew Daily journalist Tan Hoon Cheng, who reported about Ahmad Ismail’s racist rant, has been arrested under the Internal Security Act at 8.30pm on Friday (Sept 12) at her home in Bukit Mertajam, Penang.
Latest news from Thestar reported that Seputeh MP Teresa Kok is held under ISA too. She was arrested at 11.20pm.
This is getting ridiculous.
Update - Tan was released after 18 hours of detention. Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said Tan’s detention under the ISA was part of the police’s action to ensure her safety after she received threatening calls… huh???
Teresa is still under arrest.
WTF is the Barisan Nasional government thinking?
As if they haven’t done enough to damage their reputation for the past six months… they decided to detain controversial blogger Raja Petra under ISA for being a threat to security, peace and public order [more on Malaysiakini and Thestar]
I am not a fan of RPK; I think he is an arrogant jerk who trash-talked too much and often bordering on spreading rumours and fabricating stories. But has he done enough to cause security concern for the country? I strongly doubt so.
Pak Lah is trying to justify that the government will not be using ISA without concrete reasons, but seriously… how is it justifiable that the likes of Ahmad Ismail is walking on the streets acting like a patriotic hero?
And from my point of view I won’t even want to see Ahmad Ismail detained under ISA because it’s plain wrong to detain a person without trial as you wished.
When Namewee was caught in the Negarakuku saga, ridiculing Muslim prayers… you said that the Malays were over-reacting, that sedition act was barbaric, that freedom of expression was not respected.
When Ahmad Ismail was caught in the racist saga, calling some Malaysians as squatters… you justified the Chinese’ reactions, that sedition act is great, that freedom of expression has its limits.
What Ahmad Ismail said was stupid, and deserved his share of criticism… but please show the same attitude when it’s one of your own that made the insensitive act.
What is national distress?
When we are invaded.
When nature disaster strike; something huge like the Asian Tsunami.
When food crisis strike; not just temporarily shortage of sugar or cooking oil… but when people started to feel the hunger because of food shortage.
When hyperinflation… not when people are chatting in Starbucks on how expensive our fuel is, but when people can’t even afford a cup of coffee in mamak stall.
When people are started losing jobs and couldn’t find new jobs. When unemployment is largely due to lack of jobs and not because of the poor qualities (and some laziness) of our young graduates.
When the police and armed forces are becoming thugs. This is the one hanging on borderline… but set aside a few political cases, the police are still doing their job to fight crimes. Remember this, some of them are risking their lives to protect ours.
When democracy is irrelevant. Don’t tell me that our democracy is dead… we are given the rights to vote, and despite not being perfectly fair, we do have the power to determine which parties and people we want to form our government.
If Malaysia is in distress, what should we call other countries like Philippines or India? For name sake I don’t even think the likes of Philippines and India are in distress yet, let alone Malaysia?
Some Malaysians are just too pampered these days… distress? WTF.
Raja Petra Kamarudin has made a statutory declaration on June 18 alleging that Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, Deputy Prime Minister Najib’s wife, was at the murder scene of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu. [Malaysiakini]
The news is not picked up by the main media yet, but the blogosphere has been heated up with all sorts of discussions.
Whether the allegation is truth or not, I don’t know… in fact only very few people would know at the moment. RPK has shown his courage over the years, but frankly, sometimes he is abusing his influence to bully the politicians.
Read the rest of this post »
Petrol stations located in border states will be barred from selling petrol and diesel to foreign-registered cars starting Friday (May 30). [Thestar]
Update - the plan has been postphoned. The northern border will start the ban on June 2 while southern border on June 9.
Update June 5 - the ban has been lifted following the new petrol scheme.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad said the move is aimed at plugging loopholes in the current subsidy system; but the move is temporary until the ministry could come up with better management of the subsidy system.
Read the rest of this post »
MIC president Datuk Seri Samy Vellu is calling for the release of the five Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders under ISA detention, saying two of them should be freed sooner because one is ill and the other is now an elected representative. [Bernama]
It’s funny reading how many times Samy Vellu had to stress that it’s not a political stunt; I doubt many would agree with him in this sense. He should have make the call much earlier, but it’s better late than never… political stunt or not, I don’t really mind as long as it makes a change at the end.
This raise the same old issue again… what’s the point of having ISA at the first place? It’s probably the most barbaric act we have in Malaysia. I can understand the need for certain laws to protect the nation against terrorism or racial crash, but locking up people without trial for months and years is just not right.
I would have support an act to detain a suspicious terrorist for prolonged period, say for 14 or 28 days… but if there is no solid proofs to file any charges, the suspect have to be let go. It’s one of the basic fundamentals of our constitution… that we would rather let a criminal off the hook than to put an innocent man into wrong justice.
I am not saying that the Hindraf 5 are innocent; the Hindraf memorandum still rings in my mind occasionally… truth or not it’s seditious nonetheless. However, it’s just not right to detain anyone without giving them a fair trial.
It’s not just about releasing the Hindraf 5… ISA should be abolished.
Quoted from Nuraina A Samad…
“If the government was so sure that the 5 Hindraf leaders had breached any law of the land, then the 5 should have been subjected to the processes of law. Detention under the ISA is not a due process of law. It is unjust.”
They came with a dream, but Malaysia is not their dreamland after all…
Some 1,000 Bangladeshi workers have been living along the cemented banks of Sungai Gombak, behind the Bangladesh High Commission, for the past two weeks after leaving their employers with claims of abuse and delayed salary payments.
The Bangladeshis have mixed complaints, with the majority alleging that they had not been paid their salaries for up to nine months. Others said their work did not match the job stated in their employment contract, while others alleged physical abuse, including beatings.
I hope the government is taking this issue seriously… it’s unacceptable that slavery is still happening in the 21st century. It is an embarrassment to our country, and it’s a violation of basic human rights.