Raja Petra: Prisoner Of Conscience?

Hantu Laut

Webmaster Raja Petra Kamaruddin was today charged under the Sedition Act over an article he wrote on his website.

He was allowed bail of RM5000, which he refused to post, deciding instead to stay in custody until the hearing which has been fixed on 6 to 10 Oct this year.

The popular blogger is represented by a team of 6 lawyers led by Karpal Singh.

What's the point? It is not RM5 million, only RM5000 unless he wants to be a "prisoner of conscience".

Not worth it, mate! Better be out, than out on a limb.

In 1945 the founder members of the United Nations approved theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 18.—

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion: this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom either alone or in company with others in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19.—

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression:this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Raja Petra, does he truly believes what he is doing is for the greater good or is he just an anarchist and a demagogic blogger ?

He doesn't deserve that treatment.Let's wait and see whether he gets a fair trail.

THE TRAIL by PINK FLOYD

"The Trial"

Good morning Worm your honour
The crown will plainly show
The prisoner who now stands before you
Was caught red handed showing feelings
Showing feelings of an almost human nature
This will not do

CALL THE SCHOOLMASTER

I always said he'd come to no good
In the end your honour
If they'd let me have my way I could
Have flayed him into shape
But my hands were tied
The bleeding hearts and artists
Let him get away with murder
Let me hammer him today

Crazy toys in the attic I am crazy
Truly gone fishing
They must have taken my marbles away
Crazy toys in the attic he is crazy

You little shit, you're in it now
I hope they throw away the key
You should talked to me more often
Than you did, but no you had to
Go your own way. Have you broken any homes up lately?

"Just five minutes Worm your honour him and me alone"

Baaaaaabe
Come to mother baby let me hold you in my arms
M'Lord I never wanted him to get in any trouble
Why'd he ever have to leave me
Worm your honour let me take him home

Crazy over the rainbow I am crazy
Bars in the window
There must have been a door there in the wall
When I came in
Crazy over the rainbow he is crazy

The evidence before the court is
Incontrovertible, there's no need for
The jury to retire
In all my years of judging
I have never heard before of
Some one more deserving
The full penalty of law
The way you made them suffer
Your exquisite wife and mother
Fills me with an urge to defecate
Since my friend you have revealed your deepest fear
I sentence you to be expunged before your peers

Tear down the wall

Related stories:

IHT:Malaysian blogger charged with sedition
Asia Sentinel: Malaysian Political Blogger Charged with Sedition
Malaysian Insider:Free speech is costly!

Are We A Police State ?

Hantu Laut

People who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat the same mistakes.

Let us go back to the year 1940, when Hitler's armies were driving the French and British forces back across France, and Britain faced imminent invasion.The British people heard the words of Winston Churchill:

"I have nothing to offer but blood,toil,tears and sweat"

Only a great leader would have dared to make such a promise - and the British people suddenly knew they had such a leader.

When Churchill turned to America for help he didn't spend hours to persuade Roosevelt, all he said was:

"Give us the tools, and we will finish the job"

He got the tools and finished Hitler off.

One would have thought after the bad outing at the recent polls the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would bring some meaningful changes to its administration for the benefits of the people.Many promises were made but none have been implemented. There seems to be certain forces in his government who were against reforms.They still wish to continue their old feudalistic and unrealistic way.

A government that believes in strong-arm tactic to protect themselves from public scrutiny would eventually self-destruct. History is kind to those who learned from it and damned to those who don't.

The sheer arrogance of those in power are shown by the recent police harassment of the infamous( through the government eyes) blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin on an article he wrote which the government deemed to be seditious.

What is sedition ? The Oxford Dictionary says "the use of words or actions that are intended to encourage people to oppose a government". The Webster Dictionary says "incitement of resistance to or of insurrection against lawful authority".Both gave the same meaning and we will examine whether the article is seditious.

Although I don't quite agree with some of Raja Petra's composition, I couldn't find any word, sentence or phrase in his article " Let’s send the Altantuya murderers to hell" inciting the people to go against the government. It was more directed at a few individuals associated with the murderers of the Mongolian model and the way investigation was conducted and the snail pace of the court case. If the article had offended or defamed anyone the rightful thing to do is to take civil action against Raja Petra and bring him to a court of law.Using the police to harass and intimidate him is most improper and makes Malaysia looks like a totalitarian nation and a police state.

It would be interesting to know which part of the article the police found to be seditious and whether such writing can bring down the government.

The police not being able to produce a police report they purported to have is inexcusable.It is within a person rights to know the allegations made against him by someone in a police report before he gives his statement, if he voluntarily wanted to. Why would a policeman and not the aggrieved party makes a police report against Raja Petra ?

The recent police action against a well-known blogger goes to show the government talk of reforms and freedom of expression are nothing more than lip service.We are back to square one and the old-fashioned way to settle a score.

Another very disquieting and absolutely ridiculous news is the proposal by Foreign Minister RaisYatim for local women to get consent from parents or family members before they can travel alone overseas.It says out of 119 cases of Malaysian women hauled up before foreign courts, 90% were linked to drug. I would say out of the 119 women 90% knew what they are doing, only 10% are gullible, stupid and innocent. Are you going to inconvenient millions of women in this country because of 119 women whoring themselves to drug traffickers.

Honorable Minister, put on your thinking cap and think again whether your proposal makes any sense.

I know one thing for sure come next elections you would have lost most of the women's votes.

What happened on 8th of March 2008 was only the beginning. If you don't get your act together now and repair the damaged bilge pump on your ship, it may not make the journey to the next polls.

Related article:

Women's groups express outrage

Buccaneering Blogger:Will Najib Be Prime Minister ?

Hantu Laut

The much awaited succession plan in UMNO has not materialised. There was no definite date or specific plan for Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah) to hand over the helm to his deputy Dato Sri Najib Tun Razak.

Abdullah has asked UMNO members to refrain from calling for his resignation and to wait till December when he will either consider stepping down or contest the presidency of the party if challenged.

In spite of numerous calls for him to go, beleaguered Abdullah has stood his ground and refused to accede to the demand. Short of saying when he will resign and that Najib is definitely his successor he gave his deputy no glimmer of hope other than to wait for the day that may never come.

Are there things that Pak Lah is privy to that the Malaysian general public are not aware of ? Are there extenuating circumstances that he should not leave office now and hand over the helm to Najib or was it, he hadn't had enough yet and wanted to continue as prime minister as long as possible and to prove to all and sundry that he can bring back BN and UMNO to its former glory.

Despite the overwhelming calls for Pak Lah to step down Najib has been a good deputy and never took advantage to pressure Pak Lah to step aside.Najib's refusal to fish in troubled water has angered former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohammad who had openly supported him to displace Abdullah.The former prime minister called Najib a coward and said he is no more his preference to replace Abdullah.His reluctance to oust Abdullah could be due to lack of support from his comrades in the party.

Irrespective of his claim that he doesn't know her and not having met her before, his relationship with the accused murderers of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu has brought him public odium and ridicule.The photograph where he purportedly had dinner with the mastermind of the murder Razak Beginda and the murdered girl had not surfaced other than the one doctored by Tian Chua, a member of opposition party PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyaat). If there was such a photograph why hasn't it surface or is it being kept as an ace up somebody's sleeve and to be used at a later date.Even more puzzling he had not taken any civil action against Tian Chua for the doctored photograph and against Anwar for implications made against him during electioneering.

Is there a concerted effort to tarnish his name to pre-empt his succession? The possibility is always there.There are others who are covertly interested in the position but would not make it known until they are sure they have eliminated the competition.

In his article "Let's Send The Altantuya Murderers To Hell" the writer Raja Petra Kamaruddin raised some pertinent questions especially the way the court case is being conducted.The abrupt changes to defence team, prosecutors and judges in the early stage of the case are viewed as interference from the powers that be and deemed to be the progenitors of an eventual miscarriage of justice.Even if it was not true these are the widespread public perceptions. Such perceptions would be difficult to change unless there is palatable change in the on going trail.

In the same article Raja Petra also raised the issue on the erasure of immigration records which the prosecution seems not at all interested to investigate and get to the roots of the mysterious disappearance of the immigration records of the murdered victim.Who gave the order? It can either be directly from a very powerful person or some staff in the Immigration Department with password access to the computer received substantial bribes from someone involved in the murder. These are material evidence that the prosecution should have procured but wouldn't do so for reasons only known to themselves.

Is Raja Petra pushing his luck? In his article he also mentioned an affidavit that implicates Najib's wife Rosmah.Would he be able to prove all the allegations if he were called upon in the court of law?

In the past some of Raja Petra's stories have proven to be not far from some of the truth, if not the whole truth. Would he be on the right track this time or would he be dragged to court or worse still to the interrogation chamber.

His article has brought some very surprising outcome.He has received a response here from the Press Secretary to Deputy Prime Minister Dato Sri Najib Tun Razak and in true combat form and buccaneering spirit he has replied to the letter here.

Come December would Abdullah hand over the baton to Najib or would he let Najib challenge him.Looking at the changing political scenario Abdullah may prevail over Najib if it was a straight fight.

A dark horse may make an appearance come this December and Abdullah and Najib better watch out for the unexpected.

The Ugly Singaporeans

Hantu Laut

The United Nations will launch "Day Off" campaign in Singapore on Thursday to drive home the point that a day off every week for foreign maids working in the city state should be made mandatory.

The gleaming city state of Singapore has one of the highest per capita income in Asia and considered a highly developed nation. Unfortunately, this squeaky clean city has one of the worse working conditions for foreign maids and a government who doesn't care at all for the foreign domestic workers dreadful terms of employment.

Not only are they poorly paid, many are not given a day off for the whole duration of their contracts.Salaries are paid on discriminatory basis based on country of origin and colour of the skin.

Indonesia and Sri Lankan maids are paid up to S$280 a month and Filipinas up to $350.In comparison, Hong Kong and Taiwan employers pay US$500 and US$550 respectively.

There are close to 170,000 foreign maids in Singapore and half of this number are believed not to have a rest day at all according to a United Nation's report and some have to work almost round the clock. The Singapore government has done nothing at all to stop this abuse of human rights.Domestic workers are not included in the country's employment act and are, therefore, left at the mercy of their employers.

How could such a modern and highly developed society behaved in such inhuman, uncivilised and appalling manner.This is nothing less than modern day slavery, getting maximum output on a meagre payment and horrendous working conditions.

There were a few cases of maid abuse before which seemed to have ceased after government harsh punishment on the perpetrators. For fear of losing their only source of income there may be significant number of unreported cases of abuse.

It is obvious most Singaporeans can only be disciplined by force of law, just like littering and breaking of the highway codes.They don't do it out of their sense of civic pride.They don't do it in their country because of the very strict laws.

The moment they come to Malaysia, they treat it like one big trash can and the Malaysian highways as race tracks and for some no need to pay traffic summonses.