Do we need a RCI on RCI on Lingam Tape to restore confidence in judiciary?

The second-week proceedings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry  (RCI) into the Lingam Tape has delivered three body blows undermining  the commission’s  public credibility as an independent and fearless agency to restore national and international confidence in the independence, integrity and quality of the Malaysian judiciary.

The first blow stems from the continued testimony of senior lawyer V. K.Lingam, coming on the heels of former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and former Chief Justice Tun Eusoff Chin, turning the Royal Commission of Inquiry into a public circus to the extent that a Malaysian quiz could be created to ask who had respectively been responsible for the  following unforgettable  words:

“Correct, correct, correct”;

“No, No, No”;

“Coincidence, coincidence, coincidence”
; and

“Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit”
.

Malaysians are astounded as to how the Royal Commission of Inquiry had allowed the  “star witness” of  the “it looks like me, it sounds like me but I will not say 100% that it’s me” quote to turn it into a circus – reflecting adversely not just on Lingam but even more seriously, on all the five Commissioners.

The language used by Lingam in his testimony at the RCI on Lingam Tape  was unprecedentedly offensive  in any court or public hearing – and which would have been  disallowed as “unparliamentary” in Parliament.   In fact, the language used was so unprintable for polite society  that two leading dailies had to use asterisks for part of the word instead of printing it in full!

The second blow was the ruling of the RCI  limiting its scope to judge-fixing and  not cases-fixing, or to use Datuk Mahadev Shankar’s colourful  description, to completely exclude the

“pom, pom, pom, pom part”
!

The third blow was the RCI’s  decision
not to be “that open anymore”
 to “prevent baseless and wild allegations from making way into the news”.

The commission secretary, Datuk Abdullah Sani Ab Hamid  said: “It’s not going to be that open anymore, like previously. It’s not nice for the news to come out first and then only it is (evidence) decided whether it is relevant to the terms of reference of the inquiry.

“The commission must determine first the questions to be asked so that unrelated matters are not brought up.”

Why has the RCI  taken the fatal step to retreat from openness, accountability and transparency and resorted  to the culture of secrecy like
in camera
 proceedings just to hear submissions by counsels for Parti Keadilan Rakyat adviser  Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Lingam’s brother Thirunama Karasu whether they should be called to testify at the Inquiry?

The commission said it  wanted to make sure that allegations that had nothing to do with the video clip would not be included as evidence.

Why can’t this process be carried out openly and transparently as the Royal Commission of Inquiry is also accountable and answerable to the court of public opinion whether it had diligently carried out its underlying  terms of reference to restore national and international confidence in the independence, integrity and quality of the judiciary or whether it has abdicated from its national duty by giving the narrowest interpretation of its scope of deliberations?

The RCI’s view that “it’s not nice for the news to come out first and then only it is (evidence) decided whether it is relevant” must be seen in the larger perspective whether it is nice for Malaysia and its judiciary to be pilloried nationally and internationally as a laughing-stock for 19 years for its fall from grace as a globally-recognised judiciary of independence, integrity and competence!

The RCI  into the Lingam Tape should reconsider its decision to restrict the scope of its terms of reference as to completely exclude the “pom, pom, pom, pom part” as well as to resort to closed-door proceedings to decide on the relevance of summoning or allowing witnesses to help in its inquiry.

The entire
in camera
proceeding of the RCI  yesterday should be adjourned to a public hearing for all the arguments to be made again in public before the RCI comes to any decision.

It will be sad and tragic if public confidence in the RCI  into the Lingam Tape plummets to a stage where a national consensus is reached that what is needed now is a RCI on the RCI on Lingam Tape to restore national and international confidence in the independence, integrity and quality of the judiciary!

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 26 January 2008, 1:08 pm and is filed under
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If Anwar not a factor, why Abdullah cannot wait less than 2 months for next general election?

“Tell it to the marines”
 – that will be the common response to the statement by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in CNN’s World News Asia telecast live from Davos, Switzerland yesterday that former deputy prime minister,  Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was
not a factor
in his decision on the timing of the next general election.
(“Telling it to the marines” is the scornful response to a tall and unbelieved story/claim.)

Asserting that he was
not pre-empting
the former deputy prime minister from contesting the general election, Abdullah said:

“There are other factors in my mind that I have to think about before I recommend the dissolution of parliament and fix the date for the elections.”

If Anwar is not a factor in his calculations for the next polls, Abdullah  should explain why he cannot wait less than  two  months to allow the former DPM to contest in the 12th general election?

Is it because Abdullah has been advised by his strategists and the Putrajaya fourth-storey advisers that the electoral  prospects for the Barisan Nasional can only get worse and not better, especially if Anwar is allowed to participate personally in the hustings as a candidate?

The
latest opinion poll
should be a “shocker” for Abdullah and the Barisan Nasional leaders, as it found that the Prime Minister’s approval rating has hit a personal low, slipping from a high of 91 per cent when he took power in late 2003 to  61 per cent in December last month, the lowest since he took office in late 2003  and down by 10 percentage points from November.

The poll by market research firm Merdeka Center found that as the country gears up for early elections, voters were  unhappy over rising prices, racial tensions and crime – issues which the DAP had been hammering over the past few months and years!

Abdullah’s statement “There are other factors in my mind that I have to think about before I recommend the dissolution of parliament and fix the date for the elections” is very wrong for another reason.

Under Malaysia’s system of parliamentary democracy, the Prime Minister has the sole discretion to decide when to recommend the dissolution of Parliament to the Yang di  Pertuan Agong but once  Parliament is dissolved, it is the constitutional duty of the Election Commission to conduct the general election, including the issue of the election writ  and the fixing of the Nomination and Polling dates.

It is unconstitutional and gross abuse of power for the Prime Minister not only to recommend the date for the dissolution of Parliament, but also to fix dates for nomination and polling, in effect deciding on the length of the campaign period – which is the sole prerogative of the Election Commission!

Thus, when Abdullah told CNN interview that  he had various factors to think about before he recommended “the dissolution of parliament and fix the date for the elections”, he was making a confession that in the 2004 general election, he had acted unconstitutionally and abused the powers of a Prime Minister in fixing the election dates of nomination and polling – providing the shortest election campaign period in the nation’s history –  when this should be decided by the Election Commission without interference or directive from the Prime Minister!

Is Abdullah prepared to own up to his past unconstitutional action and abuses of power and fully respect the untrammeled right of the Election Commission to fix the dates for nomination and polling for the 2008 general election without any directive from the Putrajaya fourth storey?

It is clear that as far as Abdullah is concerned, the polling day for the next general election will be in the first half of March.  March 15 was the favourite day as this was said to be recommended by his feng shui master.

The March 15 date will have to be ruled out however if Abdullah is serious about his announcement in Madrid last week when attending the First Alliance of Civilisations Annual Forum that he would be in Senegal to hand over the chairmanship of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) at the OIC Summit in Dakar on March 13-14.

On the other hand, this could be a ruse – as Abdullah could either request for a postponement of the OIC Summit or finally skip the OIC Summit on the ground of having a general election in Malaysia.

Be that as it may, there is no reason for Abdullah to act with such secrecy when he should be  setting  an example of “First World Infrastructure, First World Mentality” as  Prime Ministers and Presidents of first-world developed nations give several months’ notice of the election day, and not like in Malaysia, where there is lightning notice for the shortest period for election campaign provided by an unfair and undemocratic election law.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 26 January 2008, 10:30 am and is filed under
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Will Ong Ka Ting review the PHFSA?

Letters

by
RS

With reference to media reports of a doctor being convicted for not registering his clinic, (Jan 19th 2008), it is incomprehensible that this registered doctor was fined a whopping RM120,000 for not registering his clinic. And since he couldn’t come up with the fine, he was sent off to serve a three month jail term at Kajang Prison.

In April of last year the DG of Health, asserted that the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998 (PHFSA) was enacted to direct private hospitals to carry out their social responsibilities and was not meant to be punitive or detrimental in nature.

He and the previous Health Minister, Chua Soi Lek, further assured the medical community that since the Act was outdated, changes would be made and ratified by the Attorney-General’s chambers.

These changes have yet to be agreed upon or ratified but the Act has already been applied leading now to a doctor being convicted on a technicality.

Will the DG now tell the judge,  that she should not have passed this type of sentence? Of course not, because that is not how the law works once an Act is passed.

This is the end result of laws that are not debated transparently or done so secretly or in a callous manner. Someone down the road will have to bear the consequences and this unfortunate doctor will now have to pay a heavy price.

And what was this doctor’s “crime”? It was not that he performed an illegal operation, killed or maimed a patient, knocked off a baby’s arm or transfused HIV blood into a trusting patient.

He apparently is a qualified doctor registered with the MMC with a valid Annual Practicing Certificate, quite unlike some sinsehs, bomohs or beauticians who masquerade as one and carry out clinical procedures.

His crime is reportedly a technical one. He did not register his clinic. His first duty would have been, like any other doctor, to see to his patient’s health.  It doesn’t bear logic that not registering his clinic would kill his patient.

Many doctors were wary of the implications of these punitive punishments when Chua Soi Lek and the current DG, Ismail Merican, were actively campaigning for this law.

All their assurances that doctors will not be punished on technicalities has now come to naught as evidenced by the lop-sided punishment this doctor, who apparently didn’t have the financial means to appoint a counsel, received. Not only will his family be left to fend for themselves but his career as a doctor may come to an end.

This Act was passed in a rush and now has clearly been applied in bad faith.  Without doubt, this incident will only erode further the trust doctors will have on an already disorganized Ministry of Health.

This blatant betrayal of trust by the DG and the previous Health Minister needs clear explanations. The DG may have his own runaway Little Napoleans in his Ministry and may not be in control.

It is left to the current Acting Health Minister, Ong Ka Ting to explain this transgression to the medical community and he must state if he will review or repeal this acrimonious Act.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 26 January 2008, 6:49 am and is filed under
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Abdullah and Samy ignore Makkal Sakti at their own peril

Today’s press reported that Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said in Seremban that the people must  reject leaders who fail to perform when given the opportunity.

Apart from aiming his shots at the Opposition, many must be wondering who in the ruling coalition could Najib be directing his fire.

Could he be referring to Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, who is  fighting for his political life after being MIC President and sole Indian Cabinet Minister for over 28 years – and who was recently snubbed  internationally when the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M. Karunanidi refused to grant him “an audience” despite Samy Vellu waiting for an appointment from  him for three days in Chennai or after following Karunanidi to New Delhi!

Or could Najib be referring to Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who, to use Lingam-lingo, “looks like the Prime Minister, speaks like the  Prime Minister, but nobody can 100% say is the Prime Minister”?

Abdullah has been Prime Minister for four years and his four-year report card is one of dismal failure.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 27 January 2008, 4:05 pm and is filed under
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End body-snatchings – cause human suffering, break families and undermine ethnic relations

In his international sojourns, one of Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s favourite topics  is to preach inter-faith dialogue, pointing to Malaysia as a model of inter-faith co-operation.

Back home in Malaysia, however, initiatives for inter-faith dialogue had never faced greater obstacles  under the Abdullah administration with an unprecedented and lengthening catalogue of incidents aggravating religious polarization instead fostering greater inter-religious understanding and goodwill.

In the past two days, Malaysia again made international news with another deplorable episode undermining Malaysia’s reputation  as a model for inter-faith co-operation – the latest body-snatching incident, this time over  74-year-old Gan Eng Gor when his body was seized by the police while his family (wife and seven children) was carrying out Buddhist rites in a Chinese funeral parlor.

This followed a complaint by his eldest son, Abdul Rahman Gan, a Muslim convert. He claimed his father had changed his religion from Buddhism to Islam last July, and  identified as  Amir Gan Abdullah should be buried according to Islamic rites.

The rest of the family challenged this claim.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 27 January 2008, 2:13 pm and is filed under
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Four quotes from Gandhi

At last night’s  DAP ceramah on
“ISA detention of Hindraf 5”
 at the Penang Chinese Town Hall, with an overflowing crowd spilling out of the hall, I ended my speech with four quotes from Gandhi.

They are:

1.	Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.

2.	In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.

3.	Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.

4.	I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 27 January 2008, 12:32 pm and is filed under
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Quash 3-month jail for Dr. Basmullah – AG/CJ/CJM should act

I call on the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail to uphold justice and intervene to quash  the three-month jailing of a private practitioner Dr. Basmullah Yusom for being unable to pay RM120,000 fine for operating a clinic without registering it under the Private Health Facilities and Services Act 1998.

Yesterday, my blog received and put up a letter on the jailing of Dr. Basmullah on 18th January 2008, drawing my attention to this gross injustice for the first time.

I checked the press and found this New Straits Times report
“Doctor fined RM120,000 for not registering clinic”
 dated 19th November 2008.

I call on the Attorney-General to make swift amends of such travesty of justice and invoke the revisionary powers inherent in his office to call up Dr. Baharum’s case to get him out of jail without any moment of delay.

Alternatively, I call on the Chief Judge of Malaya or the Chief Justice of Malaysia to invoke their revisionary powers to call up the case to quash the jail sentence imposed to Dr. Baharum.

DAP MPs and leaders will contact Dr. Baharum’s family to see how we can help to get him out of jail.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 27 January 2008, 12:02 pm and is filed under
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End “body-snatching” – Cabinet cannot continue to shirk its responsibility

Why are the MCA, Gerakan, MIC and other non-Muslim Ministers silent on another body-snatching case after the divisive Moorthy case two years ago where S. kaliammal, the widow of  Everest mountaineer L/Kpl M. Moorthy, found only grief and injustice when she had no remedy in any court in the dispute as to whether her husband was a Hindu or a  Muslim?

At the time, Malaysians were given the assurance  that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his Barisan Nasional cabinet ministers would ensure that Malaysian inter-racial and inter-religious unity and harmony as well as Malaysia’s international reputation as a model of multi-religious nation would not again be marred by  more body-snatching incidents.

However, the body-snatching incidents have not stopped, with the latest case involving the police seizing the body of Gan Eng Gor, who died a week ago aged 74, after his eldest son – himself a Muslim convert – said he had converted to Islam last year. This claim had been challenged by Gan’s wife and his seven other children.

(Speech at the DAP Kepayang dinner in Ipoh Barat on Sunday, 27th January 2008 at 10 pm)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 28 January 2008, 10:53 am and is filed under
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I owe no apology to Samy, who owes  apologies to me, MIC, Malaysian Indians, BN and Malaysia

Yesterday, MIC President Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu demanded that I apologise to the Indian community for asking the people to light candles in a temple.

Bernama in  its report “Samy Vellu Demands Apology from DAP Chairman For Insulting Hindus” demanded that I apologise to all Hindus for “insulting their religion”.

He said that M. Kulasegaran and I had called for Hindus to bring candles into their temples, which he described as “tarnishing the holiness of the religion”.

Samy Vellu said: “He doesn’t know anything about Hinduism. He belittles the religion. Kulasegaran, despite being a Hindu, is also insensitive in the matter because as Hindus, we are only allowed to light a certain type of lamp or fire for religious ceremonies in temples, not candles.”

Bernama  also quoted Samy Vellu as demanding that I should “make an open apology for using Hindus house of worship for political purposes”.

Samy Vellu, who had been MIC President and the sole Indian Cabinet Minister for more than 28 years, is not only fighting for his political life – but is waging a losing battle.

This has become such a great burden for him that it has affected his judgment, words and deeds.

It has been said that when a person is under extreme stress, it  could be seen from his increasingly irrational utterances and actions – and this can be seen in the case of Samy Vellu.

I do not owe Samy Vellu any apology as it is Samy Vellu himself who owes me, the MIC, Malaysian Indians, the Barisan Nasional  and the Malaysian nation at least five apologies.

Firstly, he owes me an apology for his baseless attacks and outbursts against me as reported by New Straits Times, Bernama, Tamil Nesan and other press today.

It is clear that Samy Vellu has become so flustered by his recent political  troubles as to increasingly lose touch with reality.  I am not DAP National Chairman as I relinquished this position four years ago.

In the second place, I had never at any time called on the Hindus to light candles in Hindu temples, leaving aside the question of  its relevance, appropriateness and justification in the struggle of the Malaysian Indians for justice to end their long-standing  political, economic, educational, social, cultural and religious marginalization in the country which had reduced  them into a new underclass in Malaysia.

Secondly, Samy Vellu owes the MIC an apology for he has brought  the MIC to the party’s lowest political stocks in the party history, to the extent that both the MIC President and MIC are in a position akin to  the Chinese saying of  “the rat running across the street” with everyone  calling for them  to be smacked!

Thirdly, Samy Vellu owes the Malaysian Indians an apology for his role in the long-standing marginalization of the community.  Some three-and-a-half years ago, Kulasegaran and I had proposed to Samy Vellu that a Parliamentary Select Committee of the Marginalisation of the Indians should be set up and I gave him an official letter so that he could take this proposal to  the Cabinet for its approval.  No word has come from Samy Vellu, although he had expressed his support for the proposal at the time.

Fourthly, Samy Vellu owes the Barisan Nasional  an apology for the sharp drop in the Prime Minister’s approval rating among the Indians which plunged from 82% in September 2007 to 38 % in December 2007 – a 54% plunge in a matter of three months before and after the 30,000 people Hindraf rally of November 25, 2007, which must be traced to Samy Vellu’s failure to effectively represent the interests of the Malaysian Indians in the Barisan Nasional government.

Fifthly, Samy Vellu owes the nation an apology for the humiliation and indignity to the country when he was internationally snubbed by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi  who refused to see him despite waiting for three days and three nights for an appointment in Chennai and even after following Karunanidhi  to New Delhi early this month

                This entry was posted on Monday, 28 January 2008, 6:03 pm and is filed under
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Learning From The American Elections

M. Bakri Musa

The American election campaign is now in full swing although citizens will not cast their votes until November.  In fact this presidential campaign cycle started right after the last general elections over three years ago.  America seems to be in a perpetual campaign mode.  One wonders when these elected public officials would have the time to perform the duties for which they were being elected.

            I much prefer the Malaysian election cycle, modeled after the British, where the ruling party could call an election any time before its five-year mandate is over.  Yes, it gives an unfair advantage to the ruling party, but it spares the country from degenerating into perpetual campaigning.

           Malaysia has an election cycle comparable to the Americans in the elections of party – specifically UMNO – leaders.  Since they would become the nation’s leaders, the benefits of the British system of national elections are somewhat diluted.  While the country may not be in a perpetual campaign election mode, UMNO and its leaders are. Therein lies the problem.  UMNO leaders are less interested in leading the country and attending to its myriad problems but more in ensuring their survival in the party’s leadership hierarchy.

            During the last cycle of UMNO party elections, a number of ministers were chastened to learn that their positions as party leaders were threatened, and with that their chance of being appointed to plump governmental, including cabinet, positions.  Hence the disgusting sights of ministers like Hishammuddin slavishly pandering to party members instead of paying attention to our deteriorating schools.

Decoupling Party From Governmental Positions

            In my book Towards A Competitive Malaysia, I suggest one way of overcoming this blight by decoupling party from governmental positions.  Apart from widening the talent pool, such a system would also diffuse power and create some semblance of a system of checks and balances.  Both are severely lacking at present.

            Currently, a Menteri Besar is not only the state’s chief executive but he also heads the party within the state, manages the state’s development corporations, as well as chairs the municipal council of the state capital.

            A fast rising star in UMNO confided to me that she is giving up her elected and party positions to concentrate on her private business.  She just could not do justice to her official duties while having to attend the numerous weddings and funerals of her constituents, as well as constantly humor petty party officials and members.

            This is where the American system is superior.  Cabinet secretaries (ministers) and other senior political appointees could concentrate fully on their official duties and not have to worry whether some political punk back in his home town would be scheming to usurp his party position.

            An American president has a wide and deep talent pool to tap; he is not restricted to members of his own party.  Contrast that to a Malaysian Prime Minister who is restricted not only to his party members but only those in top leadership positions.  Consequently young party members are diverted not to developing fully their individual talent that could benefit their party and country but to clawing their way up the party system.  The skills they learn and habits they acquire along the way are mainly the unsavory ones like brandishing their kerises and racial taunting.  When they do reach the top levels in their party, they are reduced to being political animals of the worst type.

            Consequently while America counts effective executives, accomplished professionals, and seasoned scholars as cabinet secretaries, Malaysian ministers are for the most part scheming and opportunistic politicians.

            With decoupling and the resulting diffusion of power and greater accountability, ministers and other elected officials would now have to answer not only to the Prime Minister but also to other party leaders.  This would effectively reduce the power and influence of the Prime Minister.  If nothing else, this would minimize the current dangerous tendency of making the Prime Minister the country’s eleventh sultan.

            The most important reason for decoupling is that the skills needed to win elections are not necessarily those needed to run an agency or department.  In fact they are the very opposite.

Unfair Criticism of the Malaysian Model

            An oft stated unfair criticism of the Malaysian electoral system is that it “disenfranchises” urban dwellers in favor of rural ones.  The “one man one vote” mantra should be viewed as a statement of an ideal and not be read literally.  With greater urbanization, an urban constituency of 100,000 would cover only a few square miles and be readily served by one Member of Parliament, while a similar sized rural constituency would cover hundreds of square miles, taxing the physical ability of its lone political representative

            In America, the bastion of democracy, this “one-man-one-vote” rule applies at best only to the House of Representatives.  California with the largest population has the largest contingent of Congressmen and women.  With the Senate, while California has a population 70 times larger than Wyoming, the two have the same number of senators:  two.  Similarly, Alaska with a land mass 700 times that of Rhode Island and where you would need days if not weeks to go from one end to the other on a plane, yet the two states have the same number of senators.  Meanwhile the District of Columbia with a population larger than Wyoming does not even have any Senate representation.

            The Malaysian Senate, while not an elected body, is far more representative of Malaysian society than the United States Senate is of American.  While a literal interpretation of the ideal of “one-man-one-vote” would make the Malaysian Senate non “democratic,” in reality and in perception, it is more representative of Malaysians.

            Having a representative elected political body is not enough.  We must also ensure that the election process be fair and accessible.  Unfortunately America has little to offer Malaysia in this regard.  Public debacles such as Florida’s “hanging chads,” obstacles to voter registrations, the stranglehold of the two-party system and its staggered primaries, and the endless campaigns run by professionals, have turned the public off politics.  The decline in voter participation reflects this.

            The Malaysian Elections Commission is determined to best its American counterpart by not being voter friendly.  The worst part is that Malaysia prides itself in doing this.

            Fortunately in America, once in a while there comes a candidate who is so inspiring, who makes ordinary citizens believe again in themselves and who appeals to their better side such that voters are galvanized once again to take part in the electoral process.  We had that in the 1960s with Jack Kennedy, in the 1980s with Ronald Reagan, and today with Barack Obama.

            I long for the day when the Malaysian political system would produce its own John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, or Barack Obama.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 28 January 2008, 10:32 pm and is filed under
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Obituary – Suharto

The ‘Father’of Indonesia

Former General and President Suharto

(b. 1921 – d. 2008)

by Farish Noor

A couple of years ago, during a visit to the Central Javanese city of Jogjakarta that had been devastated by a major earthquake which had laid waste to many parts of the special province, I overheard a conversation between two Indonesians who were lamenting the fate of their country with its ruined economy, enduring military control, civil strife and the rising spectre of religious militancy. One of them said to his sorrowful friend: “brother, you are suffering from SARS – Sindrom Aku Rindu Suharto (‘I Miss Suharto Syndrome’)”.

That some Indonesians can still look back to the Suharto era with fondness speaks volumes about the manifold achievements of the man, who lived in an age of great politics – as nothing could be greater than the two world wars and the Cold War of the 20th century – which in turn gave rise to the era of great leaders. Suharto, whose quiet death stood in bold contrast to the spectacular age he lived in and the life he led, was one such man; and like all great men his achievements as well as his mistakes, of which there were many, can only be measured in similarly hyperbolic and magnified terms.

To some (and in this case we are talking about millions of loyal followers and admirers who til today regard him as ‘Pak’ (Father) Harto) he was the man who rescued Indonesia from the teetering and ailing democracy of Sukarno, saved Indonesia from the menace of Communism, and finally brought the country into the modern age and the globalised world economy. To as many detractors, he was the American puppet-crony who sold the Indonesian economy to foreign interests, destroyed what little remained of Indonesia’s protective barriers that insulated its fledgling local industry, persecuted the country’s intellectuals, students, workers and dissidents and was primarily responsible for the deaths, torture and disappearances of half a million alleged Communists in 1965 and a quarter of a million of Timorese after the violent annexation of East Timor in 1974. Mediocre dictators are seldom accused of the deaths of millions, and in this respect Suharto was far from ordinary and he ruled over a country that is as great as it is complex.

Suharto was born on 20th February 1921 in the humble village of Kemusu Argamulya in Central Java that was even then teeming with an overcrowded population suffering from illiteracy, poverty and lack of development. Indonesia was then a Dutch colony and Suharto later joined the Dutch colonial army just when the star of Dutch colonial rule was waning and the Japanese were about to occupy the country. Nothing singled him out for greatness during the early stages of his life, and fate could easily have chosen for him a destiny similar to millions of other Indonesian peasants then.

But like many a young proto-nationalist during that time, Suharto’s military career then took off under Japanese military rule where he learned fast enough how men in uniform could run a country and reduce civilian politicians to pen-pushers and redundant rubber stamps. He also earned his stripes by fighting against the Dutch in the independence war of the mid-1940s, and made his name as one of the young nationalist-patriots of his time, very much in the same mould as Aung San, father of the Burma ‘s Aung San Su Kyi, who was likewise a Japanese-trained military man and nationalist.

When Indonesia unilaterally declared independence in 1945, Suharto was a rising officer in the new Indonesian Republican army. It is undeniable that the Indonesian army (like the armies of Vietnam and Burma ) played the decisive role in securing the independence of the nation. Suharto’s first significant personal success came when he masterminded the capture of the city of Yogjakarta in March 1949 from the Dutch troops who had been sent to regain control of their former colony. In time, his reputation as an able commander grew, as well as the respect he earned from his fellow fighting men. A Javanese at heart, Suharto understood the nature of his countrymen and their love – and need – for heroes and leaders. By standing at the forefront to accept all responsibility for the operations he led, he was also in the position to claim credit for their successes.

Indonesia ‘s independence was fought and won in fits and starts: Despite declaring themselves independent in 1945, the Indonesians had to deal with the return of Dutch (as well as British) troops who were not prepared to give up their former colony that easily. The 1940s and 1950s were the decades of sporadic guerilla warfare, of deadly ambushes and massive campaigns that galvanised the Indonesian peasants and mobilised the Indonesian army. Soon after the departure of the Dutch the Indonesian archipelago was rocked by successive splinter movements and successionist struggles that nearly ripped the fragile new country apart. Many of these revolts like the PRRI – PEMESTA campaigns were led by Muslims who wanted to make the country an Islamic state, and it was later discovered that some of the rebel factions were even aided by none other than the United States of America , which was then wary of Sukarno who was suspected of having pro-Soviet leanings.

While President Sukarno tried to keep this weak and nebulous nation together by conceding to the different demands of the nationalists, Communists and Muslim conservatives, it was the army that had to do the dirty work and fighting in the outer island provinces of Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and the Moluccas . It was also during this time that Suharto distinguished himself as a military man who understood the nature of both conventional as well as psychological warfare, til he was elevated to the post of commander of the army’s Strategic Reserve (KONSTRAD) force.

Suharto’s moment arrived when it became clear that Sukarno’s ailing government and his feeble attempts at introducing what was then termed ‘guided democracy’ had failed in Indonesia. Following the failure of the August 1965 coup, Sukarno unleashed the army and senior officers like Suharto (then commander of KONSTRAD) on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). The anti-communist purges that followed were the bloodiest massacres in Indonesian history, with anything between half a million to one million people killed in the name of anti-Communism. Suharto and Kostrad then took much of the credit for the massacres, as well as the blame when the true extent of the butchery became known to the world years later.

With Sukarno weakened and discredited politically, it was a matter of time before the army took over. Almost overnight the tone and tenor of Indonesian politics began to change. During his time in office Sukarno was affectionately known as ‘Bung Karno’ (Brother Karno), indicative of the man’s desire to be close to his people and seen as one of them. Suharto, however, was referred to as Pak or Bapak (Father), a semantic shift that was loaded with meaning and which signaled the new authoritarianism that had set in.

What was also clear from the time that Suharto really took over power in 1970, however, was that the ‘New Order’ he instituted after Sukarno’s pitiful downfall was supported, financed, trained and protected by none other than Indonesia’s new strategic ally, the United States of America. Suharto and the other generals of the Indonesian army had, by then, realized that the United States was destined to be a major player in their country’s history, and the USA ’s support of rebel groups in the 1950s demonstrated that it could be a worrisome enemy if its wishes were thwarted. Indonesia ’s great ideological U-turn, from being one of the leading states of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to a pro-American developing country, took place during Suharto’s tenure.

From the 1970s to the 1980s Suharto re-engineered the Indonesian economy by aligning the country closer and closer to Western (re. American) interests. The economic turn-around came with the introduction of the so-called ‘Berkeley mafia’, a group of American-trained and European-trained technocrats and businessmen who spearheaded the economic liberalization of Indonesia, opening it to global capital and also offering the country as a source of cheap labour and resources. By the late 1980s, Indonesia was boasting of double-digit GDP growth but at a high social cost: Mass migration to Java led to overpopulation on the island; which resources like gas and oil were expatriated from other lesser-developed provinces.

Politically Indonesia also bade farewell to the last traces of democracy and civil society: All forms of social protest were banned on the grounds of national security and pro-democracy activists were rounded up and detained as alleged Communists. Racial and religious conflict was kept on the boil and the army became a key player in the domestic politics of the outer island provinces. Thousands of intellectuals, students and activists were routinely harassed and the Indonesian press lost what little independence it had. Campus life came to a standstill as new rules and regulations were introduced to de-politicise the universities and the political parties of the countries were forced to merge together into three large unwieldly grand alliances that appeared ideologically similar.

While all this was happening, the international community turned a blind eye as Indonesia was billed as a success: The country was seen as a progressive developing economy that was mercifully spared the fate of Communist Vietnam and beloved by Western tourists who were taken to Bali to show what a paradise it was. Successive American Presidents like Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy, Nixon and Jimmy Carter spoke about human rights and democracy in their struggle to discredit the Soviet Union then, but the same standards were not applied in many an American allied state such as Indonesia, Philippines and South Vietnam. This was the era of Asia’s strongmen: Indonesia’s Suharto, the Philippines’ Ferdinand Marcos and even Vietnam’s Bao Dai were propped up by their friends and allies in Washington and while the struggle against Communism was being fought in the jungles of Southeast Asia, scant regard was paid to the plight of those who were the victims of these military regimes.

The peak of these outrages came in 1974 with the forced annexation of East Timor , a former Portuguese colony that was then feared to become the next ‘Cuba of Asia’. With tacit Western support, Indonesian troops landed on the island and annexed it at gunpoint. Among the units responsible for the worst killings and tortures was the Konstrad, that was formerly led by Suharto himself. Indonesian officers like General Wiranto were given a free hand to ‘solve’ the East Timorese ‘problem’ and it was nearly a decade later before East Timor really became an international concern.

The end of the Cold War marked the end of these strongmen, for the game was up and as Eastern Europe was brought into the fold of the Free Market it became less and less palatable for Western heads of states to dine and chat with Asian and African mass-murderers and tyrants. Suharto’s fall in 1998 during the East Asian economic crisis marked the final chapter of a long and painful history where such great and powerful men were made all the greater (and consequently dangerous) thanks to the weapons and military training given to them and their counterparts at army bases in the USA.

The last decade of his life saw Suharto withering away quietly, cocooned and protected by the very same military elite he had helped to create and develop. Numerous cases and accusations were made against him and military leaders like Generals Wiranto, Benny Moerdani, Hendrypriono, et al., but to no avail. Between 2002-2005 Indonesia experienced a succession of disasters that included the Jogjakarta earthquake, the Tsunami the destroyed Aceh, the rise of religious fundamentalism and inter-religious violence in the Moluccas and ethnic violence in Kalimantan . Many of the instances of civil strife and conflict were, analysts argued, the result of decades of political repression and the normalization of violence in Indonesia society thanks to prolonged military rule. Yet, despite the condemnation of the man there were as many Indonesians who benefited from Suharto’s rule and did not want to see the man in court. Revered by millions and equally despised by others, Suharto’s legacy is a mixed and ambivalent one that will no doubt occupy the interests and enquiries of scores of historians in the years to come.

For millions of ordinary Indonesians Suharto will be remembered as ‘Bapak’ who brought the country to the modern age of rapid economic development and prosperity. But for millions he will also be remembered as the man who stole from his own people not only their wealth but also their rights; as the General-turned-President who understood the character of his people whom he saved and oppressed in equal measure. Suharto was seen by many as the ‘smiling general’ whose apparently benevolent demeanour belied a capacity for brutal violence like none other, and the smile of Suharto was once described to me as ‘poisonous’ and ‘eerie’. However no matter how one looks at the man, it cannot be denied that for both his achievements and his bloody mistakes, Suharto will go down as one of the greatest leaders of Asia of the 20th century.

End.

Dr. Farish A. Noor is Senior Fellow and Research Director at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies of Nanyang Technical University, Singapore . He is also one of the founders of the
www.othermalaysia.org
 research site.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 28 January 2008, 9:15 pm and is filed under
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Obituary – The ‘Father’ of Indonesia

by Farish Noor

                This entry was posted on Monday, 28 January 2008, 9:15 am and is filed under
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Although case lost in Seremban High Court – let 74-yr-old Gan Eng Gor be the last “body-snatching”  in Malaysia!

The Cabinet meeting tomorrow must resolve that 74-year-old Gan Eng Gor will be the last “body-snatching” case in Malaysia as it is a  standing rebuttal of Malaysia’s boast as a world example of inter-racial co-operation and harmony.

The Cabinet should also decide that the police should not be involved in any “body-snatching” case as public confidence in the police will be adversely affected, on top of the divisive  effects of such “body-snatching” incidents on Malaysian nation-building.

The Cabinet decision tomorrow is all the more imperative as the Gor family has lost all avenues of redress in the civil courts, as their application to the Seremban High Court for a declaration that Gor was not a Muslim was dismissed this morning in chambers on the ground that the High Court  has no jurisdiction in the matter, as it belonged to the Syariah Court.

This is sad day for Malaysian nation-building and the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s oft-repeated boasts in international conferences of Malaysia as a model of inter-faith co-operation.

I am sure that the founding fathers of this nation, when agreeing to the Merdeka social contract in 1957, would never have imagined that 50 years after nationhood, Malaysia  would have regressed to the extent that “body-snatching” has become a nightmare to bedevil inter-racial and inter-religious relations.

I have no doubt that Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Tan Cheng Lock, Tun Tan Siew Sin and Tun Sambanthan would have found it completely unthinkable that the nation could be plagued by a problem like “body-snatching” – with the police aiding and abetting the “body-snatchers”.

Enough is enough, and I call on the  Cabinet tomorrow to send out a clear and unmistakable message that “body-snatching” is completely detrimental to the process of nation-building in multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-religious Malaysia and  the worst possible advertisement of the nation as “Truly Asia” and  a model of inter-faith understanding.  The police must be directed that they should never be  a party to such disgraceful “body-snatchings” in the country.

In the Gan Eng Gor case, the 74-year-old  man was buried as a Muslim last week after his Buddhist family lost a battle with Islamic authorities who said he had converted.

Police seized the body of Gan Eng For, who died a week ago, after his oldest son – himself a Muslim convert – said he had switched to the religion last year.

Other family members said Gan could not have converted because he was senile and paralysed after suffering two strokes.

Gan’s wife and seven other children challenged the claim that the bedridden Gan had made an oral declaration in Arabic to accept Islam, as  the family has medical confirmation that the elder Gan  was unable to speak after a stroke in 2006. They said the alleged conversion papers were also flawed because they weren’t signed and certified.

All the necessary documentation to rebut the claim that the elder Gan had embraced Islam last year had been put up on the Internet and I urge Ministers particularly from  the MCA, Gerakan and  MIC to present them in Cabinet for a detailed discussion and a just decision tomorrow.

The Gan family had gone to the MCA for help but the case had been disposed off in a most unsatisfactory and unacceptable  manner.  It is now up to the four Ministers in the Cabinet to redeem the failure of the MCA to resolve the issue satisfactorily and, together with other fair-minded Ministers,  restore justice and fair play to the aggrieved Gan family in Seremban.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 29 January 2008, 11:51 am and is filed under
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Mahathir should be recalled to Lingam Tape RCI now that he has recovered his “elephant memory”

Former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has clearly recovered his “elephant memory” from his
comments
 on the death of former Indonesian President Suharto.

Mahathir told Bernama that accounts the former Indonesian leader killed some 500,000 people after taking power in 1965 were “absolute nonsense”.

He said: “I know this for a fact. I knew what happened. Indonesia was in a state of anarchy then and he has no authority. At the time of the killings, he was not even the president. He did not order the killing.”

Mahathir, who ruled for two decades before stepping down in 2003, said he regarded Suharto as a friend of Malaysia and a personal friend.

“We looked up to him as a great leader and as an international statesman. For me, it’s quite personal. I know him and I have worked with him for a very long time.

“Even though Indonesia was not an ideal democracy during Suharto’s time, the fact remained that he brought stability to Indonesia.”

Mahathir added: “Of course, there is a price to be paid,” acknowledging that some people had suffered under Suharto’s administration.

Without getting  into a debate on Mahathir’s assessment of Suharto’s leadership of Indonesia, it is good to see Mahathir’s recovery from his recent lapse of memory. He gave his comments on Suharto with confidence and authority, in total command of his memory.

This was very unlike his appearance before the Royal  Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Lingam Tape eleven days ago on January 17, when  he had to repeatedly  plead loss of memory  in his  90-minute testimony.

Asked why he rejected the recommendation of the then Chief Justice, Tun Dzaiddin Abdullah to appoint Dr. Andrew Chew Peng Hui and Zainuddin Ismail as judges, Mahathir replied: “I don’t remember my reasons.”

Asked whether he could recall that before Ahmad Fairuz was recommended as chief judge of Malaya, Dzaiddin had nominated Malek Ahmad, Mahathir said: “I can’t remember precisely.”

There was this  Q & A between Mahathir and Dzaiddin’s counsel, Wong Chong Wah:

Wong: Do you remember whether, when Dzaiddin recommended Malek Ahmad, you rejected his suggestion?

Dr Mahathir: I can’t remember him recommending to me.

Wong: A letter dated Aug 19, 2002, from Dzaiddin to you, suggests that he had made an earlier recommendation for Malek Ahmad to be chief judge of Malaya. Did you agree to Dzaiddin’s recommendation at that stage?

Dr Mahathir: I don’t remember whether I agreed or not. I’ve read this

letter but I don’t recall any decision I made on Malek Ahmad.

Now that Mahathir has recovered his “elephant memory” he should be recalled to the RCI on Lingam Tape to throw light on the many dubious and devious decisions he made affecting the judiciary particularly during the last 15 years of his 22-year premiership where he single-handedly destroyed national and international confidence in  the independence, integrity and quality of the judiciary.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 29 January 2008, 1:46 pm and is filed under
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You can’t even tell the government that prices are high!

by TT

nowdays in malaysia, the rakyat can’t even tell the government that prices of goods in malaysia is high!.. the government is paranoid!…

approx more than 50 people arrested for a peaceful gathering… indian lady was pushed, hit a pole and punched… people wearing bersih t-shirt arrested… man with 2 ‘special children’ with a baby pram pulled…

all the above actually happened during a peaceful rally in front of klcc and along jalan ampang!… this price hike rally was organised by the colition against inflation (protes)!…

the time i left my house approx 1315 hours with a backpack contained an extra set of clothes wrapped in a plastic bag, disposable raincoat and a pair of sandals.. that was the 1st saturday i didn’t wear my bersih t-shirt and walked out of my house!… still undecided whether to take the train or drive to klcc… decided to drive and expect major traffic as understand the roads will be closed… surprising, the traffic in kl were so smooth as if that was the 1st day of chinese new year!… as soon as i got on to jalan ampang, opposite ampang park… tons of men-in-blue who the rakyat pay their salaries can be seen fm the ampang putra lrt station entrance, mca building, wisma naluri right up to the entrance of klcc!…

got to klcc, parked my car and walk to the entrance of klcc… here and there you get those men-in-blue who the rakyat pay their salaries stare at you as if you are the one who abducted sharlinie!… made a few phone calls and walked to ampang park… before reaching ampang park, saw a group of indians with parti sosialis malaysia (psm) and/or anti isa badge pinned on them in front of the mca building… stopped there and make few more calls… met someone and understand there’s a court which issued on the 25th january 2008 (talk about being efficient) stating they ban the rally and 5 names were mentioned… anyway, ended up in nikko hotel and took the newspapaer… true enough!… anyway, waited in nikko hotel, made a few phone calls… understand the men-in-blue who the rakyat pay their salaries already started their operation… many people are nabbed… at that time already approx 1540 hours… decided to go back to klcc…

on the way saw at least 2-3 thousand of people fm wisma central onwards…

saw a commotion outside avenue k… rushed across the road, before that saw a man-in-blue who the rakyat pay his salary bang on the window of one cab and shouted the driver.. “jalan terus lah!”… mind you, with the strength he used, the window may shatter to pieces!… wonder who will pay for the damage if the window breaks!… anyway, met a well-known blogger and saw an indian lady who is in her 40’s in the fainting/passing out condition… understand a psycho pushed and she hit a pole and apparently she got punched too!… pathetic!… an ambulance stopped right infront of avenue k for the lady… her companion shouted something like… “ini barang kerajaan, jangan harap kita mau naik”… perfect statement i would say!… her friends then brought her few meters away for her to rest… it was then an indian notorious looking man-in-blue who the rakyat pay their salaries shouted loudly… “bawak dia keluar!”… to this, one of her friend replied… “kalau dia pengsan dan mati tengah jalan, you mau jawab kah?!?”.. i would say his comeback was brilliant!… the notorious looking man-in-blue who the rakyat pay his salaries just kept quiet…

a helicopter was hovering above and around us…

walk further down the road and saw a group of men-in-blue who the rakyat pay their salaries was requesting the i/c of a guy with the bersih t-shirt on!… next thing you know he got hauled up the truck!…

another commotion happened across the road, in front of wisma central… a man with a baby pram with his ‘special daughter’ in it was pulled DESPITE he was holding a baby pram!… brainless authorities who the rakyat pay their salaries i say!… couple of more people nabbed minutes after that!…

by that time, it was already approx 1715 hours… crowd dwindling and men-in-blue who the rakyat pay their salaries relaxing and smiling, probably smiling to a victory which they have just won!…

went into wisma central for a quick tea with the well known blogger and continue my walk back to klcc…

the helicopter still hovering above and around us then…

it’s been quite sometime since i last went to klcc, decided to hang around near the bus-stop enjoying the bright sky and the brezzy wind… chatting to 2 reporters from france and hong kong with ‘red pass’.. one of them actually experienced a rela fella want to ‘take’ his watch until that pathetic guy saw his camera and his red pass!… don’t think i want to go into details on what other pathetic stuffs they witnessed and still witnessing in malaysia and the authorities!…

i thought it was all over… until i saw another commotion right smack outside the entrance of klcc… this time another well known blogger, a well know lady who is gutsy activist and another guy nabbed!… why?!?… understand it’s because they are handing out a “2008 elections : time for change” leaflets… pathetic, moronic and iditotic!…

i sighed and walk to the washroom to freshen up before coming out again for a few minutes and left the place…

it was a very good outing!… with the hundreds of reporters and thousands of clicks fm their cameras, it was an excellent awareness to prove what the malaysian authorities are doing!…

only a peaceful price hike rally and they called in hundreds of safety personnels… go look for sharlinie will do you greater things i would say!…

i didn’t regret a single bit for not resting on that saturday (26th janury 2008) after a hectic week!… also, i believe the presence of each and every indivdual made a different and their presence is important to make that change, change for the better that is!…

fore more eye-witness reporting…

(http://zorro-zorro-unmasked.blogspot.com/2008/01/hello-zorrocan-i-have-your-particulars.html)
…

(http://elizabethwong.wordpress.com/2008/01/27/saturdays-protest-against-price-hikes/)
…

p/s ; this basically sums the whole thing up… (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuOW0_jdCdA
)…

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 29 January 2008, 9:00 am and is filed under
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Armed robbery – just happened to me

Letters

(received 10.23 am)

by NKK

I just faced up to four Indian armed robbers this 3am morning in Alam Damai Cheras, KL

This is a true story about my lifetime first-hand experience with an armed robbery on 30 Jan 2008.  I was eating and reading a late-night newspapers in a “mamak” (Indian Muslim) restaurant at Alam Damai Cheras of Kuala Lumpur at about 3AM morning.

Suddenly four Indian robbers broke in from nowhere, three of them ski-masked and armed with 2-feet matchet each.

The gang leader ordered cashiers and all (four) customers, including me in the shop to surrender our money and phones. All were robbed except me, I managed to escape from their seizure. No advisable to fight armed robbers with your bare hands.

Two police patrol cars arrived at the scene after about 20 minutes of reporting. I will try to get CCTV photos from the shop-owner and publish robbers’ photos in this webiste.

Regards,

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 30 January 2008, 4:33 pm and is filed under
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Botched PHFSA – why the Director-General of Health must resign

Letters

by EJB

It is with regret that medical practitioners learn of a doctor being jailed under the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998 (PHFSA) for not registering his clinic. This is clearly not what was promised to doctors when both the current Director General of Health, Ismail Merican and the previous Health Minister Chua Soi Lek were all gung ho about implementing an Act that was clearly poorly drafted. When the PHFSA came into effect on Nov 1, 2006, there was great resentment and distrust among private doctors. The PHFSA was regarded as an insult to their integrity and demeaning the profession.  Many were distrustful about the implementation of a haphazardly written law by a ministry known primarily for its incompetence.

Despite the misgivings of senior GPs, specialists, ex-DGs, ex-MMA chairmen and even a senior judge such as Datuk Mahadev Shankar who was an authority on medico-legal proceedings, both the Minister and the DG ran roughshod over their objections in implementing this law. Doctors still recall how Chua and the DG quickly convened a meeting when medical practitioners threatened to march to parliament. At the meeting, they promised various amendments to the Act. The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) and other medical associations trusted the word of both the Minister and the Director General and did not even push for all the changes to be in writing before the law was passed.

But today it is clear that the word and the credibility of the Director-General means nothing as the regulation has now claimed its first victim, Dr. Basmullah Yusom, a USM graduate, registered with the Malaysian Medical Council with a valid Annual Practicing Certificate. He was fined an unbelievable RM120,000 and jailed subsequently for three months when he could not afford to pay this fine. He couldn’t even afford counsel. Anyone, long enough in the profession will tell you that there are many medical practitioners who serve their communities quietly without expecting too much in financial returns.

Unless the DG thinks nothing of the jailing of a doctor, is this what the DG had in mind regarding the PHFSA? It is common knowledge among the medical profession who the real culprit and draftsman for this dubious Act is at the Ministry of Health, but the DG must now shoulder the ultimate blame. That the Act was so badly drafted was plain to everyone but the DG and the previous Minister. Chua went ahead and tabled it to a trusting parliament including his own Barisan Nasional colleagues. The Minister despite being a doctor was more of a politician, and was probably playing to the gallery and consumer associations.  But the PHFSA was a highly technical and professional issue. The Director-General should have forwarded his concerns but instead chose to also play politics.

The KSN, Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan commented today that the “benevolent public official of I know-what’s-good-for-you” attitude does not and will not work in these times anymore”. Will the KSN, who has promised to clean up the civil service demand for the Director-General’s resignation for misleading Parliament and lying to doctors about the implications and consequences of the PHFSA. I am certain even BN parliamentarians must have been aghast at what they have done. Their reaction would surely be “Mana kita tau? Kita harap Menteri sama DG lah”. If we are going to have responsible governance, civil servants must be held accountable for their follies. “Tak Tau” or “Cannot remember” will not do.  Tan Sri Sidek would do well by calling up the DG of Health as to how such a poorly drafted Act was presented to parliament in the first place? I am certain the government wouldn’t have passed an Act that would criminalize a registered doctor let alone send him to jail? And no government would like to be made a fool of either, as is the case here.

The implementation of this vague and ambiguous Act must be put on hold until proper discussions with all doctors affected by it are held. It must be debated properly and transparently in parliament and implemented only if it is really proven necessary that current legislations prove inadequate. New laws should not be passed just because someone had returned home with a law degree and has this sudden urge to implement a piece of legislation so that he can be promoted. Civil servants should be vigilant about the promulgation of regulations that can have far reaching implications on especially highly technical professions.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 30 January 2008, 6:08 am and is filed under
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Dr.Basmullah paying RM1,333 for every day in jail

Together with DAP MP for Ipoh Barat, M. Kulasegaran, I visited the Kajang Prison and the authorities have confirmed that Dr. Basmullah Yusom is serving three-month jail term for failing to pay RM120,000 fine for operating a clinic without registering it under the Private Health Facilities and Services Act  (PHFSA) 1998.

Every day of jail by  Dr. Basmullah is  equivalent to paying RM1,333 of the fine. He has been jailed for 12 days or equivalent to paying RM15,996 of the RM120,000 fine!

We were unable to see Dr. Basmullah and will try to contact his family members to see how we can be of help to ensure that he could be speedily  freed from jail.

I find it most regrettable that there has been no response from the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail in the past three days to my appeal for his intervention  by invoking  his revisionary powers to call up the case to quash the most unfair and unjust three-month jail sentence – the first doctor to be jailed under the  PHFSA despite assurances by both the Health Minister and Director-General of Health Services that private practitioners would not be jailed over a technicality.

Why is the Acting Health Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting keeping quiet about this gross injustice in the implementation of the PHFSA?

A

“Don’t Jail Doctors Blog Campaign”
 has been launched by medical practitioners on the Internet.

The Malaysian public demand a response from the Acting Health Minister as to what he is doing to end such injustice by getting  Dr. Busmallah out of jail without any delay  – as Dr. Basmullah, a Universiti Sains Malaysia-trained doctor and a father of eight children,  should not be spending time in Kajang Prison at all.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 30 January 2008, 1:38 pm and is filed under
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Keng Yaik wrestling with the truth and his dubious 36-year political legacy?

I received an email from a political observer who noted that Datuk Seri Dr. Lim Keng Yaik,  the retiring Minister for Energy, Water and Communications appeared  to be wrestling with the truth and his dubious 36-year political legacy.

This is the email that I received referring to Keng Yaik:

“With his political career coming to an end after 36 years, LKY  has been wrestling with the truth and his political legacy.

“Four days ago, LKY joked in Malacca that he wanted to retire as after being scolded by Lim Kit Siang-Lim Guan Eng father-and-son for his whole life,  he did not want to  be scolded by the grandson!

“It has been perceptively observed that there is always a kernel of truth even in jokes made by politicians, and LKY is no exception.  In his subconscious, he is aware that he has left a dubious political legacy after 36 years which cannot stand scrutiny whether by the present or future generations.

“As one of the longest-serving Cabinet Ministers, together with MIC President Samy Vellu, LKY will have to accept full responsibility for the parlous state of the  Malaysian nation today 50 years after Merdeka  – in particular, in abandoning the Merdeka social contract on a secular nation by being the first national leader to support Mahathir’s declaration of Malaysia as an Islamic state, the rise in religious intolerance and extremism, the extension of the New Economic Policy from 20 years to 50 years,  the plunge in educational standards and international competitiveness, the destruction of an independent judiciary and professional police, the rise in crime,  rampant corruption, gross human rights abuses through ISA detentions and suppression of press freedoms.

“These are  o failures  by LKY to future generations. No wonder LKY is afraid of being scolded by Lim Kit Siang’s grandson, representing a third generation of Malaysians!

“Two days ago, however, LKY  was trying to hide the truth.  He accused the Lim Kit Siang-Lim Guan Eng father-and-son of wanting to build a ‘Lim dynasty’ in Penang, claiming that Kit Siang would abandon Perak and together with Guan Eng jointly attack Penang –  and declaring that he would not allow the duo to succeed.

“Here, LKY was hiding the truth, that the Gerakan leaders are worried about such a scenario in Penang.”

I find this email a most interesting analysis.  Food for thought, indeed.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 30 January 2008, 12:59 pm and is filed under
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Lessons from the rise and fall of Suharto

By
Farish A. Noor

The verdict of history is still not out yet following the demise of General-turned-President Suharto. For all his achievements in putting his country on the map and leading Indonesia towards industrial development, Suharto’s human rights record remains one of the bloodiest in the post-colonial history of Southeast Asia, matched only by that of Ferdinand Marcos, who was likewise one of the great strongmen of Asia.

Suharto presided over one of the most spectacular socio-economic transformations in Asia of the 20th century: His nation of more than two hundred million souls was transformed over a period of three decades from a faltering post-colonial economy on the verge of bankruptcy to becoming one of the most attractive destinations for foreign capital investment. Yet the social and economic costs were high: Indonesia was sold as a source of cheap human labour and natural resources, to be exploited and plundered by foreign multinationals as never before. During this period normal political activity in the country came to a standstill; political parties were either disbanded or forced to merge; political dissidents were routinely harassed, silence and incarcerated, with hundreds more liquidated at will by the armed forces and security agencies of the state. The Indonesian press was stifled; students told not to enter the arena of politics; feudal structures were reinforced; while corruption was allowed to run rampant.

Even after he was deposed in May 1998 Suharto left office as one of the most corrupt leaders of the Third World, amassing wealth to the tune of billions of dollars that had been expatriated to foreign banks. Until today there is still no accounting of the exact extent and magnitude of his and his family’s corruption; and their collusion with the forces of capital and the army that kept this entire system of patronage and state violence intact for so long.

There are, however, some important lessons to be learned from this complex and often painful – and extended – episode of Indonesian history:

Suharto would never have been allowed to get away with his multiple abuses of power had he opted to keep Indonesia neutral during the Cold War, which was the preferred option of his predecessor Sukarno. It was Sukarno’s commitment to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and his support of progressive anti-imperialist causes worldwide that aligned him to other outstanding Third World leaders like India’s Nehru. But Sukarno was accused by many of the governments of the West – notably the United States of America – as being too ‘soft’ on Communism for his attempt to keep the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in the fold of national politics via the NASAKOM (Nasionalisme-Agama_Komunisme) alliance of the 1960s.

During the 1950s numerous Western governments regarded Sukarno in the same light as other anti-colonial Third World leaders such as Patrice Lumumba, and plans were made to remove him from the political stage altogether. When the young Indonesian republic was rocked by a series of internal civil conflicts, it was the USA that even supported some of the Islamist-fundamentalist successionist movements, mainly with the aim of toppling the Indonesian government.

Suharto performed a major u-turn by re-aligning Indonesia to the West and in particular the United States following the downfall of Sukarno in 1970. Since then it was the US that was Indonesia’s staunchest ally, supporting Suharto in his ‘battle against Communism’ when Southeast Asia was declared ‘the second front’ in the ‘war on Communism’. (Very much like how the ASEAN region today is described as ‘the second front’ in the ‘War on Terror’.

Suharto’s close relationship to the governments and corporations of the West guaranteed that he and his generals and cronies were able to command and rule the country at will, and it was this that allowed the Indonesian army to march into East Timor in 1974 to forcibly annex the country. Yet while the massacre of East Timorese civilians was taking place, Washington and its allies were more vocal in their condemnation of human rights abuses taking place in the Soviet bloc. Needless to say, had Suharto sided with the Russians then, he would have been put in the same category of ‘Communists dictators’ like Tito instead, and duly dealt with.

This is the first lesson that was learned by the dictators of ASEAN since the 1960s and the rise of American global power: That one can rule one’s country with an iron fist and pay scant regard to human rights as long as you are on the side of Uncle Sam and the good ‘ol USA. Marcos understood this, as did South Vietnam’s despot Bao Dai. Today the same lesson has been learned by a host of American crony-puppets all over the world.

The second lesson is that the atrocities that take place in any ASEAN country can be carried out as long as there is no dissent from your neighbors who can be persuaded to look the other way. The great tragedy of Indonesia during the 1970s-1990s was that while the country was being robbed and pillaged by its own leaders, the leaders and governments of ASEAN stood still and said nothing. If Indonesia today is plagued by a host of problems ranging from religious militancy to chronic economic failure and massive unemployment (which in turn leads to other pan-regional problems like the illegal migration of Indonesians to neighboring countries) then it is partly because the other countries of ASEAN did not see fit (or had the moral courage) to say anything. ASEAN is as much at fault for Indonesia’s crisis now as Suharto was, and we – the citizens of ASEAN – have to bear the blame and responsibility too.

Now that Suharto is gone, our focus turns to the military junta in Burma and their brutal suppression of their own people. Once again, ASEAN governments are turning a blind eye to what can only be a major diplomatic and regional crisis in the near future. Yet will we take the lessons of Suharto’s mistakes (and ours) to heart? Or will we once again do nothing, and by doing so pay the price and commit the sin of passive neglect and negative responsibility?

End.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 30 January 2008, 6:09 am and is filed under
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Samy Vellu dropped as BN candidate in next general election?

Would  Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu be dropped as a Barisan Nasional candidate in the next general election?

This question does not sound so far-fetched and unthinkable now as the
query
 which I posed a fortnight ago as to whether Samy Vellu would back out of contest in Sungai Siput in the next general election during my two-day 14-place “whistlestop” campaign in Perak to highlight the DAP national general election theme of “Good Cops, Safe Malaysia”.

I had said on 12th January that Samy Vellu had become the lightning rod of the long-suppressed anger and frustration of the Malaysian Indians over their long-standing political, economic, educational, social, cultural and religious marginalization in the country and the very personification to the Malaysian Indian community of everything that is wrong and unfair about Barisan Nasional policies in the past three decades  which have reduced them into the new underclass in Malaysia.

I said:

“If Samy Vellu re-contests in Sungai Siput in the next general election expected within 65 days, again leading the MIC election campaign, MIC parliamentary and state assembly candidates throughout the country will face massive rejection by the Malaysian Indian voters.

“Are MIC leaders trying to find a way to convey and convince  Samy Vellu that the best service he can do to the MIC after being the MIC President and sole Malaysian Indian Minister for close to three decades is for him to fully absorb the anger and frustration of the Malaysian Indians at  the MIC failure to check the marginalization of the Malaysian Indians  by accepting full  personal responsibility and not contesting in the next general election – thus saving the MIC slate of parliamentary  and state assembly candidates from the full wrath of the Indian community in the polls?”

Undoubtedly, my statement a fortnight ago struck a chord in the MIC and there were moves behind-the-scene to prepare for an alternative leadership – which has angered Samy Vellu resulting in the reported sidelining of the MIC leaders concerned.

However, things are moving very fast in the Malaysian political scene with Parliament expected to be dissolved in the next one month – with the political fate of Samy Vellu moving one notch further, from whether he could be persuaded to step down as MIC President and withdraw as MIC parliamentary candidate in the next general election to whether he would be dropped as a Barisan Nasional candidate in the next general election.

The political weather is getting cold and wintry for Samy Vellu, not only among the Malaysian Indians since the watershed Hindraf rally in Kuala Lumpur on November 25 last year, but also in the Barisan Nasional coalition.

This was why Samy Vellu’s answer to my question a fortnight ago, announcing  that he would definitely be contesting for the ninth  time in Sungai Siput in the next general election,  was received with such  flak and hostility from UMNO.

Leading the attack
on Samy Vellu was the Umno media,
Utusan Malaysia
, after carrying the  front-page headline lead
“‘Saya mesti bertanding’ – Kepala tidak ada mana boleh badan ada lagi – Samy Vellu”
 on Monday (28.1.08)

On the same day, Utusan Malaysia gave double swipe at Samy Vellu with  a front-page cartoon
“SENYUM KAMBING”
 and a critical column by Awang Selamat in
“Bisik Bisik”
.

The front-page cartoon carried the dialogue:

“Samy kata beliau mesti bertanding pilihan raya.”

“Jangan terlalu yakin.”

In the
Bisik Bisik

column, Awang Selamat said no doubt it was a practice in Barisan Nasional that component party leaders contest in the elections, but questioned if it was appropriate for the MIC president to make a brazen remark in such a tone.

The columnist said nevertheless “knowing Samy Vellu’s style,” the leader’s comments did not really come as a surprise.

“But ‘political talk’ concerning Samy Vellu was really hot last year. The issue now is when will there be a transition of power in MIC,” asked the columnist.

He pointed out that Umno, MCA and Gerakan have all seen the passing of the baton, but there were no such sign in MIC.

The broad hints that it is time for Samy to leave the political scene were spelt out the next day when Utusan Malaysia eported criticisms from the Umno Puteri leader, Datuk Noraini Ahmad, the Pahang Umno Youth leader, Datuk Khairuddin Yaakob and even the Umno National Vice President Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam – indicating whether Samy Vellu can continue as MIC President and be a candidate for the ninth time in Sungai Siput may no longer be in the hands of MIC or MIC President and will have to be decided by Umno.

This is because  Samy Vellu is increasingly regarded not only as a liability to MIC but also to Umno and Barisan Nasional.  Who must bear the greatest responsibility for the  sharp drop in the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s approval rating among the Indians which plunged from 82% in September 2007 to 38 % in December 2007 if not Samy Vellu?

Dare Samy Vellu publicly assert that he will definitely  continue as MIC President and be a Barisan Nasional candidate in Sungai Siput  in the next general election and that nobody and nothing in the world can stop him from doing so?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 30 January 2008, 8:27 am and is filed under
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3-hr Cabinet meeting on general election – a premiership quickly losing ability to differentiate between right and wrong

Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader and DAP MP for Ipoh Timur Lim Kit Siang at the launching of the DAP Pasir Pinji Election Operation Centre in Ipoh on Thursday, 31st January 2008 at 1 pm:

3-hr Cabinet meeting yesterday on next general election the latest example of gross abuse of power, lack of integrity and rapid degeneration of ethical quality of Abdullah premiership, which is quickly losing the ability to understand the difference between right and wrong

New Straits Times today carried an exclusive about the three-hour Cabinet meeting yesterday on preparations for impending general election under the heading “
Get ready to face election, ministers told
”, which reads:

    On your marks, get set, go.

      Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told ministers yesterday to get ready to face the general election.

      The prime minister touched extensively on the subject during the cabinet meeting.

      A minister said Abdullah reminded them in a three-hour discussion on election preparations to be fully prepared to go out on the hustings.

      He said the prime minister, who is also Barisan Nasional chairman, did not indicate a date for the election.

      “We are ready to face the general election and this is the commitment we gave the prime minister. We also gave him an assurance that preparations were in third gear.”

      The minister said Abdullah was also informed that all BN election operations rooms were ready for the polls.

      Another minister said the session also saw ministers reporting the economic situation in their constituencies.

It is sad and even tragic that very few Malaysians seem to realize that this report highlights a very decadent political culture unparallelled in the 50-year history of Malaysia, of further degeneration of the ethical standards of the government-of-the-day to the extent that the Abdullah premiership has quickly lost the ability to understand the difference between right and wrong.

The Cabinet is not a Barisan Nasional outfit but the highest decision-making body  of the executive in the country. It has no business to waste its whole morning of three hours to discuss the individual or collective  electoral prospects of the Barisan Nasional Ministers.

Why should the Cabinet be discussing the “economic situation” of the individual constituencies of the Ministers, when they should be concerned about the “economic situation” of the whole country and all Malaysians?

The three-hour Cabinet meeting yesterday on next general election is the latest example of gross abuse of power,  lack of integrity and rapid degeneration of ethical quality of Abdullah premiership, which makes a total mockery of the National Integrity Plan launched by Abdullah in his first year of premiership.

It is not that there weren’t important national issues for the Cabinet to address yesterday, for instance:

    * The latest instance of  “body-snatching” aggravating racial and religious polarization in the country, involving 74-year-old Gan Eng Gor of Seremban.

    * The jailing of Dr. Basmullah Yusom, the first doctor to be jailed under a technicality under the Private Health Facilities and Services Act (PHFSA) 1998 despite assurances of the former Health Minister and Director-General of Health Services that  the PHFSA would be amended and that no doctor would be criminalized or jailed over a technicality.

    * The endemic crime in the country as illustrated by the failure to locate 5-yr-old Sharlinie Nashar, who had been missing for more than three weeks. The one-week deadline given by bomohs that Sharlinie would be found has come and gone.  Clearly, both the terrestrial and supernatural police are of no help to locate and rescue Sharlinie.

Sadly, the issues and concerns of the people were completely sidelined at the Cabinet meeting yesterday.

Abdullah and all Cabinet Ministers should apologise for their most unethical conduct in spending a whole Cabinet meeting yesterday discussing the general election preparations which should rightly be held in Barisan Nasional meetings – when they should be proving their Ministerial worth by addressing the problems of the people!

No wonder former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has dismissed this Cabinet as a “half-past six Cabinet”!

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 31 January 2008, 5:30 pm and is filed under
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Dr. Basmullah in Kajang Prison – Karpal takes up case pro bono publico

DAP National Chairman Karpal Singh will take up the case of Dr. Basmullah Yusom, 44, the first doctor to be jailed under a technicality under the Private Health Facilities and Services Act (PHFSA) 1998 as pro bono publico to get him released from Kajang Prison.

As reported by New Straits Times on 19th November 2008, Dr. Basmullah has earned the dubious reputation of being the first person to be convicted under the PHFSA for not registering his 10-year-old  clinic in Desa Pandan, Kuala Lumpur.

Fined RM120,000 or three months jail, Dr. Basmullah  had been languishing in Kajang Prison for the past fortnight as he does not have the money to pay the fine.

In Penang on  Sunday, I had called on the  Attorney-General, Tan Sri Gani Patail  to intervene in this case of grave injustice and  to invoke the revisionary powers inherent in his office to call up Dr. Basmullah’s case to get the Univeristi Sains Malaysia (USM)-trained doctor and father of eight  out of jail without any moment of delay.

Alternatively, I  had also called  on the Chief Judge of Malaya or the Chief Justice of Malaysia to invoke their revisionary powers to call up the case to quash the jail sentence imposed on Dr. Basmullah.

Unfortunately, there has been no response whatsoever from the Attorney-General’s Office or the judiciary.

This was why DAP MP for Ipoh Barat, M. Kulasegaran and I visited Kajang Prisons two days ago where we received confirmation that Dr. Basmullah was serving his jail sentence although we did not get to see him.

I have  since been in contact with  Dr. Basmullah’s wife, Nurlizah Hassan, who also met Karpal over Dr. Basmullah’s jail term.

I am most  disappointed by the indifference and inaction of the Acting Health Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting over such a blatant and flagrant injustice which has occurred directly under his turf,  especially as the previous Health Minister and Director-General of Health Services had given repeated assurances that no doctor would be jailed over a technicality under the PHFSA.

This is why a
“Don’t Jail Doctors Blog Campaign”
 has been launched on the Internet by
Palmdoc
, with the following protest:

“The Government has begun to arrest and jail doctors on a technicality – not registering their clinic with the PHFSA. This act treats doctors like common criminals. These are community doctors who have not committed a serious crime but instead face an incredibly harsh sentence for their technical lapse. Dr Basmullah Yusom, a family practitioner, is the first victim of this legislation. He was sentenced despite not having legal counsel representing him, despite pleading for leniency (he had wanted to sell the clinic anyway and is in financial trouble) and as he could not pay the hefty RM 120,000 fine, he is now in Kajang prison.

“The ex-Health Minister had promised that the Act would be used only against Bogus doctors and Bogus clinics. Yet, we see that legitimate licensed APC holding medical practitioners are now being targeted. “

If Ong Ka Ting does not know what to do in the Dr. Basmullah case, he should ask  the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to relieve him from the Ministry and to appoint another Acting Health Minister who can be hands-on to immediately respond to  all problems relating to the health and medical system in the country – and not subjecting the country to the disaster of total silence for two weeks from the No. 1 man in the Health Ministry on the Dr. Basmullah jail-sentence scandal.

In this connection, I also call on the Malaysian Medical Association and all medical-related organizations to speak up loud and clear to ask the Attorney-General, the Chief Judge of Malaya or Chief Justice of Malaysia to intervene by calling up Dr. Basmullah’s  sentence for revision without having to wait for Karpal to institute legal proceedings which will take time – especially with the various impending public holidays – and  involve more delays and injustice.

Let Malaysians show the world that we – the government, the judiciary, the professions and the civil society –  are capable of quick and fast action so that injustice meted out to Dr. Basmullah is not prolonged another day!

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 31 January 2008, 9:29 am and is filed under
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Evolving from ‘bullshit to truth’

Dr. Azly Rahman

Each candidate behaved well in the hope of being judged worthy of election. However, this system was disastrous when the city had become corrupt. For then it was not the most virtuous but the most powerful who stood for election, and the weak, even if virtuous, were too frightened to run for office.
– Niccolo Machiavelli

It’s exciting; I don’t know whether I’m going to win or not. I think I am. I do know I’m ready for the job. And, if not, that’s just the way it goes
.- George W Bush, 43rd President of the United States

Elections are supposed to be an educational process – not a time when propaganda rules the airwaves and cyberspace, and indoctrination rules the minds of those playing the game of choosing a new government.

It is a time when, borrowing the words of Princeton professor Harold Frankfurt, one sees the evolution of “bullshit to truth” in the continuum of “truthiness or truthism”.

But one wonders how much understanding of the election process the Malaysian voters have. We seem to rush through elections and have become good at being indecisive, secretive and calculative about the date of the general election. We should instead be preparing the minds of voters with a sense of predictability and basic understanding of what is involved in electing a government.

We must treat an election as something more that a Geertzian ‘Balinese cockfight’; a time of high stakes in a game of shame and blame. We must make our voters more intelligent so that they may in turn choose intelligent governments that respect human rights and freedom of speech, and will work for all.

As voters, we have to ask ourselves many questions.

Are we voting on issues or are we voting for individuals with unresolved issues? What are the election issues that we have understood and are ready to take a stand on? What is the character of the individual we are voting for? Is he/she a good person for all seasons and all races? Or a racist and a bigot who is out of sync with a cosmopolitan world?

What is the platform of each political party? What are they fighting for? Which one is more credible than the others and which one will deliver the promises better? Which political party or a coalition of many will do a better job given the circumstances of changing times in changing realities and the shifting of the definition of freedom in this age of globalisation?

Within each political party, what criteria are set for each candidate? What is the track record of each candidate? Have they amassed millions of Ringgit during their tenure as elected representatives? Who will finance their stay in power? How have they performed and where can the public access data on their failures and accomplishments?

Who owns the media and what impact will this have on the process of indoctrination and the dissemination of propaganda as election approaches? Will the media give each candidate equal access during campaigning?

How dynastic should politics be? Can anybody’s sister-in-law become the prime minister? Why shouldn’t a non-Malay with excellent values become the prime minister?

How do we better prepare the public psychologically and educationally for the election process?

What do the people want? Do they understand what the government is doing to ensure that tolerance and social justice become the guiding principles of national development? How ready are they to choose the next regime?

Cure voter-apathy

For the last 50 years, we have failed to educate our children on the importance of democracy and elections.

Our textbooks on civics education are perhaps written from the point of view of telling the citizens what a government is, based on selected history packaged as official knowledge, to be memorised as facts and to be regurgitated when the time comes for teachers to demand for the right answers from our children.

We have failed to ask them what it means to be a Malaysian, how to think like a Malaysian, and how to elect governments that will serve the interest of all Malaysians. There is no debate in schools on the merit of what our various political parties stand for.

We therefore cannot blame voters for this disease called ‘voter apathy’. Children’s understanding of politics has become truncated and limited to the idea that politics is only about political parties, dying dictators, and deadwood wakil rakyat; politics is not to be discussed in schools let alone be used as a platform of learning about good citizenship.

We therefore cannot blame university students for being more interested in passing exams, acquiring the latest electronic gadgets, idolising gangsta rappers and Death Metallists, or chanting slogans during rallies.

They are not able to articulate diverse viewpoints, let alone define a just society or conjure up the essence of a Malaysian-inspired ‘republic of virtue’. Ironically, the moment they are interested in politics and the fate of the nation, they get hunted down by university authorities!

We have only ourselves to blame. We deserve the government we elect because we have been conditioned to believe that one race is superior to others. The false sense of superiority demands, by any means necessary, that a fresh mandate be given in this ritual called election.

Education is a tedious process, a long haul, and an enterprise in which one makes one step ahead and perhaps go back three steps backwards. Education for democracy in a country such as Malaysia is going to be a tedious process not only because he have failed to prepare our citizens with the concepts and skills necessary to become informed voters, but also because we have successfully instill the fear of change in them.

It is ironic that we often talk about critical thinking and creativity in schools and structure these concepts into the curriculum and the learning process across all disciplines, but we have not seen the manifestations of this idea of education for social imagination.

What we have successfully done is to instill fear of each other based on the racial construct or religious constructs and economic condition we are born into. We not only have race-based political parties in fact playing their role in dividing and conquering the people, but also powerful related agencies working closely with structures of race-based ideology. These institutions are employed to turn our citizens into what American sociologist Herbert Marcuse call “one-dimensional beings”.

However, all is not lost. Let us at least hold the election next year. Let all the information be out in the open, so that we will have all the facts and informed opinions before each one of us votes. There is still time to educate, not aggravate. In education, there will always be hope.

As for our elections, let us set it for May 13, 2009 – a symbolic date of building bridges in a new era of change. It will be a more predictable date.

We can then open a new peaceful chapter of our epic story on race relations in a country of broken promises run by politicians demanding a fresh mandate.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 31 January 2008, 7:47 am and is filed under
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