Saving Elizabeth

Hantu Laut

There are men and there are sickos.Whoever betrayed a woman's trust by releasing nude pictures of her taken voluntarily or not is a sicko. A man, in the right frame of mind, no matter how angry he is, won't do such a thing.The agony, the anger and the sense of hopelessness of the victim is hard to imagine.No word of comfort can lessen the pain of betrayal, only time can heal the wound.

Our sympathy should go out to Elizabeth Wong if she is truly innocent and was a victim of betrayal.As I have said in my earlier post we should not jump to conclusion and condemn her without first knowing the truth.Calling for her resignation at this juncture is not right and Khir Toyo should be the last man to ask her to step down.Those who were under suspicion of wrongdoings and those who didn't have clean slate should shut up. Don't try to show your sanctimoniousness when you don't have any in the first place.

However, if more photographs of her surfaced showing it as her lifestyle than it would be untenable for her to keep her public office and would be a defining moment of her life.

Pakatan's Can Of Worms

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From bigamist to nudity.The opening of Pakatan's can of worms.

Poor Elizabeth Wong had been had.Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

They say don't stand for public office if you have too many skeletons in the closet. We should not jump to conclusion and must give her the benefit of the doubt.Let's not judge her hastily but give her a chance to explain how nude photos of her can come to public domain.Who's the culprit? Are there more ?

When we are in love,besotted and infatuated we lost our sense and sensibilities.We put all our trusts in those we trust.In a moment like this we realise only in God can we trust.

Will there be more ?

Land Grabs And Land Pirates

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Land grab was unheard of in Sabah before.The pirates were mostly at sea, plundering coastal villages and any sea crafts that they fancy would bring them valuable loots.

Most pirates were from the southern Philippines mainly from the Sulu Archipelago.As a group they are called Suluk but most prefered to be called by the name of their tribes. Be they Bajaus,Illanuns,Tausogs or Ubians their forefathers have indulged in piracy of some sort in the past.Even as recent as the eighties pirate attacks on small coastal villages were not uncommon.

In most islands of the southern Philippines, law and order, doesn't really exist.This is an exclusive zone where the central government has little influence.A murder would be settled with another murder.Justice is at the end of the barrel of a gun or the thin edge of a machete. Manila has no control or the will to enforce the law in many of the islands in the south.Many years of neglect and failure to bring development by the majority Christian government to the mainly Muslim south had excited lawlessness and armed struggle for secession.Those who escaped from the restive and volatile province mostly ended up in Sabah.

A nasty incident at Kunak recently where disputes over ownership of land ended in confrontation with illegal immigrants purportedly employed by a cooperative society who claimed ownership of the land that ended in murders and serious injuries on unarmed smallholders.The smallholders had obtained a court injunction to allow them to enter the land.The land pirates showed no respect for the Court Order and proceeded to attack the smallholders.The confrontation turned to murderous rage when two persons were murdered and scores seriously injured. These are the products of the kind of lawlessness coming from the southern Philippines. They came here as illegals and behaved as if Sabah is part of the southern Philippines, where they can act with impunity. They came across the porous sea border freely, as and when they like, occasionally encouraged and supported by politicians from the area.

Land matters have always been a dicey business in Sabah and a source of quick money.When government opened up new areas and wished to give away thousand of acres to the landless with 15 acres allotted to each applicant, there would be hundreds of applicants.More often than not the land would have been sold to big plantation companies even before the titles were issued to the applicants.The applicants would give 'Power of Attorney' to an agent to sell the land and in many instances they either get cheated or didn't get the amount they were promised.Most land given out to the kampong people ended up this way because they have no intention to till the land in the first place.

In some areas where land were to be given to big companies for cultivation, the kampong people would protest and in some cases put up blockages and make spurious claims of customary rights. In almost all of these type of cases some greedy politicians would be behind it, instigating the people to cause disturbance to try stop the government from alienating the land to big companies because they have special interest in the land themselves.

In the Kunak case, the Chairperson of the Tingkayu Cooperative Land Development Society Limited Hajjah Alima Usman said the cooperative had never hired any illegal immigrants to work for them and also wanted the police to investigate the people who claimed to be smallholders of the land.She also claimed there were two court injunctions issued by the same judge, one on 1 Feb 2008 and subsequently 18 March 2008 that ruled the small holders as trespassers.

I believe the police should also investigate Hajjah Alima Usman and see whether as head of the cooperative she in a party to the deadly attack on the small holders.

Menteri Besar Kurang Ajar

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There is no other word befitting former Menteri Besar of Perak Nizar Jamaluddin......kurang ajar! This man is so in love with power he is willing to severely
embarrass the Sultan and behaved like a spoilt child.Most people with the right sense of mind would have accepted it and wait for the outcome of the court case.

He said he is not against the Sultan but what he did by attending the Sultan's silver jubilee celebration uninvited was intentionally done to cause embarrassment to the Sultan in front of his other guests. Nizar has thrown down the gauntlet at the Sultan.Maybe, it's time for the Sultan to respond.

Since he has brought the case to court, isn't it proper to wait for the case to be heard and let the court decide.There may be 100,000 Perakians who say the Sultan is wrong because they listen to the skewed version from the people they supported. Do you think the kampong people know the working of the Constitution? Their sentiments would be based according to what the leaders in PAS and Pakatan explained to them.It is now without any doubt that Nizar had been encouraged by the leaders in PAS, DAP and PKR to ensure maximum damage to the Sultan's reputation. All the confessions that they were not against the Sultan were just lies and subterfuge.

Other Malay rulers should take caution, any of them could be next to face severe censure from Pakatan leaders and supporters if they are not happy with the ruler's decision even though there are provisions in the Constitution giving them the power to act accordingly.

Pakatan seems to have many highly qualified constitutional lawyers who think the Sultan was wrong in his decision, tantamount to accusing the Sultan of taking sides and favouring the BN to govern his state. Anwar Ibrahim who claimed to be the leader of the oppositions said they are not against the Sultan but appears to have no control over Nizar's tantalising and rude behaviour against the Sultan. Either that or he is hand in glove with the irascible former menteri besar to continuously hound the Sultan.Otherwise, there was no reason for Nizar to turn up at the palace uninvited.

Below is part of an article that appeared in Malaysian Insider that clearly shows the writer painting half a picture and not sure where he stands:

"But Malaysia is not an absolute monarchy but a constitutional monarchy. If it were an absolute monarchy, then Sultan Azlan Shah or any Malay Ruler would have complete power over all aspects of life in the state. In an absolute monarchy there is no constitution or legal restriction on the monarch's power.

But in a constitutional monarchy like Malaysia, the power of the Sultan is restrained by a parliament, by law, or by custom. In short, his decisions can be questioned and challenged. More so after 1993 when the constitution was amended by the Mahathir administration to remove the immunity Malay Rulers enjoyed from legal action".

You can read the full article here.

True, Malaysia is not an absolute monarchy.

Wrong, there are rules in the Constitution that gives rulers certain powers that shouldn't be challenged.

The Eight Schedule (Article 71)of Federal Constitution:Provisions To Be Inserted In State Constitutions.

(2) The ruler may act in his discretion in the performance of the following functions (in addition to those in the performance of which he may act in his discretion under the Federal Constitution) that is to say:

(a) the appointment of a Menteri Besar;

(b) the withholding of consent to a request for the dissolution of the Legislative Assembly;

(c) the making of a request for a meeting of the Conference of Ruler concerned solely with the privileges,position,honours and dignities of Their Royal Highnesses or religious acts, observances or ceremonies;

(d) any function as Head of the religion of Islam or relating to the customs of the Malays;

(e) the appointment of an heir or heirs, consort,Regent or Council of Regency;

(f) the appointment of persons to Malay customary ranks,titles,honours and dignities and the designation of the functions appertaining thereto;

(g) the regulation of royal courts and palaces.

The Sultan of Perak was an ex Lord President and well-versed in the rules of law.Would he stakes his name to do anything unconstitutional and to take sides?

All the Pakatan leaders knew these are the laws but they didn't give a damn because they were angry that they have lost the government and blamed the Sultan instead of themselves.They instigated their supporters to demonstrate to try force the Sultan to change his mind.Protest and demonstration is Anwar's brand of politics. Only he can spearhead such monumental demonstrations.

After the March 2008 Elections when the Sultan of Trengganu refused to swear in the menteri besar chosen by Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, it was true Badawi was unhappy, but he stood down and eventually let the Sultan appoint the menteri besar of his choice.There was no huge demonstration and continuous show of defiance by Badawi and there was no threat of legal action against the Sultan.

When Mahathir amended the Federal Constitution to remove the immunity of the rulers it was confined mainly to civil and criminal cases and royal assent to Bills passed by Parliament.He did not curtail the constitutional powers of the rulers to deal with matters of state embodied within their respective state constitution.

All rulers can only be tried in a Special Court as set out in Article 182 of the Federal Constitution and cannot be tried personally without the consent of the Attorney General as set out in Article 183.

Why do you think Pakatan dropped the case personally against the Sultan? They found out that they can't sue the Sultan without the AG's consent.If it was that easy they would surely want to take the Sultan to the cleaners.Now, they have changed their tune and denied they are against the Sultan.How do you reconcile the two contradictory statements. We are not against you but we will disobey and show our defiance against you.

To Nizar and those in Pakatan ..... be civilised, stand down and wait for the court case.

For Perak Legislative Assembly Speaker V.Sivakumar, don't shame yourself, the government who put you there is gone, just go gracefully.

This the most stupendously stupid case I have come across.They have taken the case to court and yet still insisted they are the legitimate government and refused to let go and the Speaker talked cock about removing the new Menteri Besar.

How do you deal with this kind of people ? They want the best of both worlds.Have their cake and eat it.