This Is Not About, Dare I Say It, Pigs !

WE all know that Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee did with the "bak kut teh" invite and all. So I'm not going to drag everybody through all that nonsense  again. And we all know the anger they triggered among Muslims and non-Muslims. So I'm not going to repeat the angry words and the calls for them to be "lynched".

Instead let's take a look at Mohamad Hanipa Madin, the lawyer-cum-PAS MP for Sepang. Rather what he said recently about the couple via a statement carried by The Malaysian Insider. 

To Hanipa, the couple should be given a chance to "redeem"  for their mistakes. "Any act of insulting religion, any faith for that matter, is despicable," said Hanipa. But in this case both have apologised and should be given a chance and not repeat what they had done.

Islam, said Hanipa, is a about compassion and also "agama rahmah" or religion of mercy. "So I feel there's nothing wrong for Muslims to accept their apology."

He is suggesting a "soft and delicate" approach be used so that negative thoughts the couple have towards the religion can be removed. He cited a case of a non-Muslim poet in the days of Prophet Muhamad.  

The poet, said Hanipa, would often insult the prophet until one of the prophet's companion, Umar al Khatab, could not take it anymore that he wanted to pull off the teeth of the poet.

"The prophet prevented Umar from doing so. Finally the poet embraced Islam and put his skills to good use in propagating the religion," said Hanipa, quoting Islamic history.

"Islam will not be weakened by the insulting act of the couple and Islam will not be strengthened by our loud call for action to be taken against them using draconian laws such as the Sedition Act," Hanipa was quoted as saying.

Anyway, reaction to Hanipa statement was missed as expected. And he had his share of angry words. 

Hanipa, and to an extent PAS, were told to "stop playing politics as GE is over". Also, he (and PAS of course) stand accused of "encouraging act of insulting islam in the holy month of Ramadan".

By sheer coincidence or not, on the same day Hanipa made his statement, the AFP news agency ran a report from Australia. According  to the report, Australian police have began investigations after the remains of two pigs including their heads and entrails were dumped at a Muslim cemetery in a memorial park near Perth. The incident comes during the month of Ramadan.

Iqbal Samnakay, chairman of Perth Muslim social and sports association, said the desecration of any burial site, Muslim or not, was offensive.

Read more:http://www.fz.com/content/not-about-dare-i-say-it-pigs#ixzz2ZZOsV1nl

On Jews and Justice

Hantu Laut

Taking respite  from the unpleasant world of politics. 

Below is a short,  somewhat facetious composition from Kirk Douglas on racism, or rather anti-Semitism he experienced when he was a kid. 

I guess not many people know he is a Jew and his real name is Issur Danielovitch, later changed to Izzy Demsky and later legally changed to Kirk Douglas.

He is now 97 years old and have stopped making movies.

On Jews And Justice

Kirk Douglas

I was six-years-old when I had my first contact with anti-Semitism. I came home from school one day with a bloody nose, crying to my mother -- "Yanak hit me!"

"Why?" my mother asked.

"He said I killed Jesus Christ."

"What? You killed who?"

"I didn't kill him. I don't even know who he is."

My nose stopped bleeding and soon I was playing again with Yanack as if nothing had happened between us. It wasn't his fault, because that was what he had been taught to believe by his father. And come to think of it, it wasn't Yanack's father's fault either because he'd certainly been taught the same thing by his father. Maybe none of them could read, because if they had actually studied their New Testament, they would have learned the truth: that the Romans were the ones who crucified Jesus. Only the Romans had the right of public execution. The Jews were a tiny people subject to the laws of the Roman empire.

Rodgers and Hammerstein dealt with the subject of learned prejudice when they wrote the highly successful musical comedy South Pacific. South Pacific was a hit on Broadway but when they started the tour in the Southern states they ran into trouble. The state of Georgia introduced a bill outlawing South Pacific because it contained "an underlying philosophy inspired by Moscow." The claim was based on one song, "You've Got to be Carefully Taught." Here are the lyrics:

"You've Got To Be Carefully Taught" (Lyrics from South Pacific)

You've got to be taught to hate and fear,
You've got to be taught from year to year,
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate.

The Southern legislators maintained that this "song justifying interracial marriage was implicitly a threat to the American way of life." Rodgers and Hammerstein fought stubbornly against them and the song stayed in.

Read more.

Which Come First The Law Or The Judge's Intention ?

Hantu Laut

There would be no need for a by-election as the judge is very clear in what he says.He doesn't want another by-election.

Than! why not fine him below RM2000?

Below is the relevant section of the Penal Code that Tian Chua is charged with.

Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty.

332. Whoever voluntarily causes hurt to any person being a
public servant in the discharge of his duty as such public servant,
or with intent to prevent or deter that person or any other public
servant from discharging his duty as such public servant, or in
consequence of anything done or attempted to be done by that
person in the lawful discharge of his duty as such public servant,
shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend
to three years or with fine or with both.

Do you see any minimum fine stated therein.I believe, the amount is at the judge's discretion.

Tian Chua a happy man.The BN happier still. There is no need for the BN to fight another by-election which in all likelihood they will lose.The only unhappy people are the leaders in Pakatan Rakyat.Can't show off their rising popularity.

So, which is supreme, the law or the judge's intention?

I am confused!

Justice Indonesian Style

Hantu Laut

This is justice Indonesian style.This could be a classic example of travesty of justice.A woman who complained about poor treatment she received at a hospital was sent to prison by a court in Indonesia. This is pale in comparison to Raja Petra's Statutory Declaration and Susan Loone's smuts. Read the story below.

Ex-patient to stand trial, wins support from Net users

Multa Fidrus , The Jakarta Post , Tangerang | Wed, 06/03/2009 9:17 AM | Headlines

Prita Mulyasari, a housewife who has been detained for defamation allegations after complaining over the Internet about receiving allegedly substandard hospital treatment, will stand a criminal case trial at the Tangerang District Court on Thursday.

In a September 2008 civil lawsuit, the court ordered her to pay Rp 50 million (US$4,761) of the Rp 400 million compensation demanded by the hospital, as well as make a public apology in two printed media.

Prita has spent three weeks at Tangerang Women Penitentiary after being accused of defamation by Omni International Hospital in Serpong, Tangerang. She was separated from her two children, Khairan Ananta, 3, and Ranariya, 15 months old, and therefore unable to breast feed the latter.

Her story has created a buzz over the Internet with support pouring in through blogs and a Facebook cause titled Dukungan Bagi Ibu Prita Mulyasari, Penulis Surat Keluhan Melalui Internet yang Dipenjara (Support for Ibu Prita Mulyasari, Arrested Internet Complaint Author). About 14,000 people have joined the cause.

She also received support from the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

“I miss my children. I just want to see them. All I did was spill the beans to my friends in an email. I did not mean to defame the hospital at all,” said Prita, who lost five kilograms in detention.

Prita said her Aug. 27, 2008 email — titled Penipuan (Fraud by) Omni International Hospital Alam Sutera Tangerang — revealed her disappointment over the hospital's poor service, its management's arrogance and its doctors’ inability to diagnose her illness during her treatment at the hospital from Aug. 7 to 12.

“I sent an email to 10 friends, hoping they would not suffer the same mistreatment at the hospital,” she said. But her email was then forwarded to mailing lists and blogs.

Prita's husband, Andre Nugroho, said he had filed a request for Prita's release but to no avail.

Tangerang Prosecutor's Office's head of general crimes, Irfan Jaya, said prosecutors charged Prita for violating Articles 27 of the Electronic Information Transaction Law and Article 310 and 311 of the Criminal Code. The articles carry a maximum sentence of six years in jail.

The case began when Prita came to the hospital for a health check on Aug. 7. The doctors who examined her — Hengky Gosal and Grace Herza Yarlen Nela — diagnosed her with dengue fever and ordered her to be treated at the hospital.

Laboratory tests and medical records showed her thrombocyte count dropped to 27,000, far from the minimum thrombocyte count of 100,000 platelets per cubic millimeter of blood. Prita was advised to be hospitalized for treatment. The next day, medical records showed her thrombocyte count reached 181,000.

Baffled, Prita then asked for a copy of her initial medical records but the hospital management refused to give it to her. As her condition worsened during the treatment, she decided to move to another hospital where she was later diagnosed with mumps.Read more.........

Justice Must Be Seen To Be Done

Hantu Laut

Anwar Ibrahim might not be my favourite politician but I hope the rule of law will prevail in this country if the police decides to charge him.

The government  with its credibility at stake must go out of its way to ensure a fair trail for Anwar Ibrahim.None of those currently accused by him of past wrongdoings should be allowed to be involved in the case, particularly the IGP and the AG, whom he has accused of fabricating evidence in his previous sodomy case.So far the Prime Minister has kept his promise by not allowing the two to be involved.

It is also imperative that the Court and judges should have no fear to call upon any prominent figures as witnesses if the need arises.No immunity should be given to any of those holding high offices, including the PM and DPM, from appearing in court should their presence be required as witnesses.

If the government is really serious about salvaging its shrunken popularity and its inglorious reputation than it should consider taking a bold step to do what has not been done before.

Since all branches of government including the judiciary are under trail in the court of public opinion and to appease the sceptics of the impartiality of the government in the case, serious consideration should be given to appoint independent public prosecutors (foreign or local) and a trial by jury or if that is not possible than  additional judges chosen from Britain or any of the Commonwealth countries to sit with our judges to hear the case.

I hope Pak Lah will have the conscience to do what is right.

"Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done"

Judges And Politicians:Ghosts From The Past

Hantu Laut

"I am sick and fed up of judges who have no guts to speak up when in office and to live up to their oath of office.

Judges demand an independent judiciary but are unwilling to make sacrifices to ensure its independence. It is such silence in the face of such outrageous misconduct by a fellow judge that confirms the public’s perception that judges are opportunists and cowards.

Why make spurious allegations now and not before?

The problem of the judiciary is to be found within the judiciary. Don’t blame third parties for your sordid state of affairs!"

Those are words of Matthias Chang, the ever faithful and obedient sidekick of the former prime minister.

He said Justice Datuk Ian Chin must be sacked for conduct unbecoming of a judge and prosecuted for sedition and contempt.

He and the ex-premier son Mukhriz lamented that Justice Chin should have brought up the matter when Mahathir was still the Prime Minister.

He is definitely faithful to the former prime minister and goes out or his way to defend him and what is even more amazing he, like his former boss, is calling for a tribunal to remove Justice Chin.Didn't that sound familiar and similar to what happened in 1988 when Tun Salleh Abas was sacked by a tribunal.

It was common knowledge that the Agong at that time before he ascended the Johor throne had been prosecuted by Salleh Abas when he was public prosecutor, convicted of homicide and sentenced to six months in jail.It didn't make life too difficult for Mahathir to get what he wanted.

Brought up the matter when Mahathir was still the PM ? Mukhriz is either joking or pretended not to know what kind of a man his father is.

Does Matthias thinks judges should suffer in silence and not speak out if there were injustices against them.What would have happened to Justice Chin if he had spoken when Mahathir was still the PM ? It wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume that a tribunal would have been the answer to Justice Chin's revelation.

Matthias was wrong when he says there was public perception that judges are opportunists and cowards.The only public perception of judges that I know of are that some of them (not all) are corrupted.

Matthias appealed to fellow Malaysians not to pay heed to the sideshow and said " You may have noticed by now, that whenever the Badawi Regime has a crisis eg. The UMNO crisis following the General Election disaster and now the oil price fiasco, the Badawi spin doctors would attempt to divert your attention with allegations against Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.

This happened just before the General Elections with the setting up of the Royal Commission and the wild allegations against Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.

This is another side show to throw your mind and anger away from the oil price hike to a non-issue by a frustrated old Judge who cannot even lie properly. This judge is angry because he covets the post of Chief Judge of Sarawak and Sabah. He cannot understand why Tan Sri Richard Malanjun was promoted to the post instead. He blames the former prime minister but he care not to examine his infantile behaviour. And now, the desperate politicians are taking advantage of his stupidity for their political ends!

Don’t fall for this insidious tactic of the Badawi Regime and the blogs and websites fronting for Anwar Ibrahim".

Matthias, like master, like man has thrown a challenge against the Honorable Judge and said
"In the circumstances, I call upon this disreputable judge to an Open Public Debate on the issues raised in his Open Court Statement within a week from the date hereof.

If he refuses, I am calling him a coward, a liar and a man unfit to continue in office as a judge.

And I challenge him to hold me in contempt of his court in making this challenge!

And I am warning Justice Datuk Ian Chin that I intend to lodge a police report against him on his unfounded allegation on the expiry of my notice to him to accept my challenge!

The courage of Justice Datuk Ian Chin’s convictions will be tested by the courage of my convictions!"

Justice Ian Chin is known for his high integrity and had no reason to lie and would not benefit from such histrionics. I wouldn't want to speculate on the two judges who didn't hear what was being said by Mahathir at that time.

From my experience attending conferences before, I found it is normal for some people, young and old, to fall asleep while the speaker is delivering his speech.Most of the time it is out of boredom and made worse if the speaker is not articulated.Justice Chin said it was a thinly veiled threats which possibly was not picked up by the other two judges.

I am certain Justice Chin will not allow himself to be used by politicians.

Matthias is seeing ghosts from the past.

You can read his full article here.

Is It Wrong To Say "I Am Sorry" ?

Hantu Laut

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahamd Badawi was a guest of honour at the Bar Council Dinner on Thursday.Special guests were Tun Salleh Abas, Tan Sri Azmi Kamaruddin and Datuk George Seah.

The late Tan Sri Eusoffe Abdolcadeer and Tan Sri Wan Suleiman (Pawanteh) represented by their respective families: representing Tan Sri Wan Suleiman are Puan Sri Siti Nurhayati and his son Wan Noor Azli; representing Tan Sri Eusoffe are his granddaughter Brenda Lim and her husband.Tan Sri Wan Hamzah (Mohamed Salleh) was unable to attend.

Abdullah fairly lenghty speech among other things offer to compensate the judges for the pain and loss they have endured for wrongs done to them two decades ago and he said "In recognition of the contributions of the six outstanding judges, the government has decided to make goodwill ex gratia payments to them. Gentlemen, I do not presume to equate your contributions, pain and loss with mere currency, but I hope that you can accept this as a heartfelt and sincere gesture to mend what has been".

It was reported earlier that the government will not apologise to the judges for what happened to them 20 years ago. The man who was deemed responsible for the judicial sacrilege refused to apologise stating that he wasn't the one who sacked them. The fact that he orchestrated the whole thing didn't bother him one least bit. The former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad is always in a state of denial whenever it suits him.

The sacking of the Lord President and the three judges was consequential of the court declaration of UMNO being an illegal association.The fast and furious Mahathir quickly used his authoritarian power to punish the Lord President. He was furious when the then Lord President wrote to the Agong about interference in the judiciary by the executive. The Agong agreed to appoint a tribunal to look into alleged misconduct of the Lord President.

The tribunals that removed Tun Salleh Abas and the judges that defended him were constituted of fellow judges chosen for their allegiance and compliant to Mahathir. From that day onwards the judiciary with a very compliant new Lord President had been whipped into total obedience and had to look upon the executive as its masters. It's the dawn of a new era for the judiciary .A shameful period of conspiracy, corruptions and unconscionable judgements. The 'Hall Of Justice' became the 'Hall Of Fear'. Those with money can buy justice.

Then there were shameless legal scoundrel like Mr Correct, Correct, Correct who befriended filthy rich merchants to finance and influence the appointment of judges.

The crisis of confidence in the judiciary had gone so bad some foreign companies doing business in Malaysia insisted on their legal disputes to be settled outside Malaysia.

Isn't paying ex-gratia payment or compensation a form of apology ?The Prime Minister and his deputy don't think so.So is the Oxford Dictionary.

The Oxford Dictionary defines 'ex-gratia' as "given or done as a gift or favour, not because there is a legal duty to do it"

"The ex-gratia payment does not tantamount to revisiting whatever that has been decided. It is not to be construed as any form of apology but this is our way of addressing some of the personal considerations and experiences and hardship they have gone through.It should be seen in that light and should not be construed as anything beyond that," said Deputy Prime Minister NajibRazak.

It may not be appropriate to ask Mahathir to apologise now because he believes he was right in what he had done.

Since the present government had taken the bold step to resuscitate the case and pay ex-gratia to the victims, it may be more appropriate for the government to apologise. Would an apology hurt the government more than the harm and shame it had placed on the former Lord President and the three judges ?

The government refused to apologise because of possible legal implications, I am not sure whether they can be sued if there was an official apology, which could be even more costly to the government in term of compensation.

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi was given a standing ovation for his speech by the very same people who a few months back admonished him for failure to conduct investigation into corruptions and fixing of appointment of judges in the judiciary.

Was it a show of support for him from the legal fraternity or they were only applauding his speech. Let's hope Abdullah don't misconstrue it as a support of his leadership and would jettison his succession plan.

Paying ex-gratia and paying penitence would be more appropriate to vindicate all the victims of the injustice.