Sunday, September 06, 2009

Malaysiakini and Its Cow-Head Videos

I am reading this piece : 'Malaysiakini, don't be cowed by MCMC'
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/112178

It seems that Somebody in Authority told Malaysiakini to take down the videos on the cow-head protest.

Isn't/Is this a form of internet censorship?

I believe there is not much for me to say after reading thist article from Haris Ibrahim :
Malaysiakini stands up to defy the oppressors . The words highlighted here are "with the intent of"

To summarise this, in my personal opinion, Malaysiakini is just doing its work as an online news site, displaying the videos and text in the spirit of journalism and intent of providing news to the public as it has done for many years.

For many years, Malaysiakini has been quite fair, providing news from both sides of the coin.

I, as well as many Malaysians, believe and support Malaysiakini. The videos are of importance to me. As a concerned Malaysian, I need to know what is happening.

On other news, I am not sure about Utusan, NST, sometimes, The Star but well, does MCMC check their "intention" as well? It is not really that hard to use common or cow sense to evaluate the situation, I believe.

Saturday, August 08, 2009

Internet Censorship Too ?

I am really shocked after reading this article :

Malaysian Insider : Malaysia mulls ‘Green Dam’ despite China’s failure

Let's put it simply, filtering is a form of censorship. Censorship violates MSC Bill of Guarantees Article 7 that reads "Ensure no Internet censorship". Whether it is to filter pornography or so-called "undesirable websites", it can't be denied it would be considered as internet censorship. Besides, the term "undesirable" is a very vague and subjective term, similar to phrases like "excite disaffection"

Why do we need to study from India, Pakistan, Australia and Hong Kong when we can learn from Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea ?

Even as we speak, Hong Kongers have begun a campaign against Internet filtering since last year. I'm really curious about the registration of bloggers part. From what I gather, many bloggers need to register themselves with respective free website providers before beginning their own writing.

Another point to take into context is, how does one define a blogger? One can be writing simple articles or music reviews over the net, does one have to register oneself? How about one that writes about cooking, but not in blogspot.com or wordpress.com? How about the other person that writes about drugs and fashion? How about a fellow that writes his opinions and letters on social matters and publish it all over the net?

Would they be considered bloggers too? Not music reviewer, writer, cooking reviewer, drug writer, fashion reviewer? If that is so, would it happen that perhaps people (including non-Malaysians) all over the internet will have to register with the Malaysian government in order for other Malaysians to view their work?

I am very sure people outside Malaysia will not do that for Malaysians.

This may be a serious deterrent to the growth of ICT industry in Malaysia.

Malaysians should be allowed to exercise their freedom in performing self-censorship. I believe it is not necessary for Malaysians to have a Big Brother / Parent Software deciding on what they should or should not view.

If one has sufficient religious conscience to perceive pornographic elements as negative, one would practise restrain from visiting pornographic sites.

As for other forms of "undesirable" sites, I believe Malaysians are able to read, judge and decide on the viability of the contents in those sites. Most Malaysian internet users have had sufficient education for performing such feat.

Friday, August 07, 2009

Why Do Malaysians Demonstrate and March ?

Yeo Yang Poh wrote two great articles that reflects what goes on my mind. It is written in the aftermath of the 2009 Anti-ISA March. It was originally said to be Anti and Pro-ISA March but since I do not see any Pro-ISA marchers significantly in any pictures, I will conclude this as an Anti-ISA march instead.

English : Why do Malaysians march?

Bahasa Melayu : Mengapa berdemonstrasi?

Well, put it this way : No one likes to march amidst tear gas, water cannons, Black Marias, under the hot sun with huge amounts of police running around for the sake of fun.


Compared to BERSIH walk or the previous year Anti-ISA march, the presence of police and aggression are heavier this time around. There are more warnings through mainstream media and a higher potential of confrontation with people on the other side of the coin (Pro-ISA).


If Malaysians are willing to risk all that to participate in a march, it becomes an indicator that a certain part of the population are very dissatisfied and they want to make their mind known and find no better way to express.


Malaysians should be given freedom to assemble as provided as a constitutional right in Open Air places (not just stadiums) such as Dataran Merdeka. It should be part of the aim of 1Malaysia that ensure such right is not violated.

Monday, August 03, 2009

Bernama News on Losses Due to Anti-ISA Protests

Bernama reported : Estimated Losses Of RM100-200 Million Due To Illegal Demo: Raja Nong Chik

1) Can we see the breakdown of the losses in full , albeit OFFICIALLY ?

2) Did all the costs come from Unnecessary Road Blocks, Arrests, Usage of FRU water cannon trucks, Black Marias and Tear Gas?



3) Wouldn't the cost be unnoticeably low if the demonstration is declared legal and allowed to centralise at the front of Istana Negara or Dataran Merdeka? Wouldn't the cost be largely reduced if the items from (2) are not used and the protesters allowed to gather peacefully at Istana Negara or Dataran Merdeka?

4) Why is the demonstration declared illegal? Why is it not allowed? I thought Freedom to assemble is part of the constitutional right of Malaysians?

5) Gerakan Mansuh ISA organised the event. "Mansuh ISA" means "Repeal/Abolish ISA". It does not mean "Review ISA".

6) "Politicised" is a strange word to use considering the fact that only political parties like BN is primarily the chief in deciding on the abolition of ISA.

Malaysiakini pics on the Anti-ISA protests are here.

The Edge Malaysia pics : Scenes of the anti- and pro-ISA rallies in KL

Pictures from joyce-tedoen.com . She went there as a neutral person but managed to catch all these :






Am I not wrong to say that the number of Pro-ISA contestants are almost non-existent? I guess there are no ISA supporters.

Saturday, August 01, 2009

The March For and Against ISA !

Wouldn't it be more interesting if they hold it on 31st August (Independence Day) rather than 1st August?

For more information on ISA, the abbreviation for the draconian law Internal Security Act, one can read this :

CPI Asia : FAQs on ISA

This is a map that I found over the net while searching for information :



Looks like it will be a very big event tomorrow. As usual, whenever such protests happen, police will discourage public to participate, roadblocks will be set in various places in and out of town. The blocks have started even as we speak.

Remember, remember the 10th of November, when the BERSIH yellow wave swept through the streets of KL amidst torrential rain on 10th November 2007?

Perhaps this time around, it will be black (anti) and white (pro).

As far as I can recall, Gerakan Mansuh ISA (anti) had started calling for participation for quite some time. In fact GMI holds annual protests on the ISA matter. I have only heard about Pro-ISA recently. Hmmnnn ...

If there is any truth to the map above, I would say both anti and pro groups will meet somewhere in the middle of the journey.

Who planned to chance upon whom? Whatever that is, I believe everyone should have a chance to voice out.

The biggest opposition party has urged its members to participate, therefore the numbers will be great. I believe human rights activists will be there too.

Somebody said ISA rallies pointless and should not be politicised . I'd say, since only political parties, regardless of which divide, will decide on this matter, the term "politicised" is quite a strange word to apply to this event.

I do not even understand why certain groups are pro-ISA. What is so good about :

1) indefinite imprisonment with periodical internal reviews to release a detainee
2) arrest of any person without the need for trial in certain defined circumstances
3) violation of fundamental human rights
4) having laws of subjective language with terms such as ‘substantial body’, ‘substantial number’, ‘cause to fear’, ‘excite disaffection’, ‘promote feelings of ill-will and hostility’.
5) having potential to abuse the law for certain reasons due to item (4).

I'd ask, "why review? why not totally abolish it?"

It seems that there are more information in jelas.info on the event tomorrow.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Royal Commissions of Inquiry should inquire the Right Thing : Death of Beng Hock !

This afternoon, I was a just a little relieved thinking that some senses finally came to the ministers, knowing from internet news the formation of a Royal Commission of Inquiry pertaining to Teoh Beng Hock's Death .

Hell, I should have paid attention to details .. !

Yes, it is an RCI of course but according to the few blogs below, possibly only to investigate MACC procedures !

Lim Kit Siang : Teoh Beng Hock’s death – Cabinet decision on Royal Commission of Inquiry falls far short of public expectation, unsatisfactory and unacceptable

Haris Ibrahim : Cabinet oks Royal Commission : Hold the champagne, folks

Nathaniel Tan : Royal Commission established only to investigate “MACC procedures,” NOT Teoh’s death!! >:(

Now, I can imagine how this so-called RCI will be played up in mainstream media.

I believe the public wants a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate THE CAUSE OF TEOH BENG HOCK'S DEATH, especially what transpired in MACC not only MACC procedures.

I am disappointed with this decision.

Will this Royal Commission end up like the Royal Commissions on VK Lingam and the IPCMC? We should not be given an orange when we requested for an apple.

Justice for Beng Hock Petition

There is an online petition going on ... Justice for Beng Hock !

Please sign the petition !!!!

To date : 7968 signatures .. Please tell your friends about it .. Make it 10000 and more !

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Teoh Beng Hock's Funeral, Vigil and Public Concerns

On 21st July 2009, Teoh Beng Hock , the political secretary who went into MACC building alive and came out as a corpse has laid to rest in Semenyih.

His funeral is attended by many Pakatan Rakyat politicians as can be seen here in justiceforbenghock.blogspot.com . Certainly, it is not strange, considering that Teoh Beng Hock is a political secretary to an Exco of Selangor government Ean Yong Hian Wah of Democratic Action Party (DAP). One can't help but wonder if there were any Barisan Nasional politicians present to pay respects.

Sivin Kit posted pictures in his blog : Justice for Beng Hock . Generally, Teoh's mother, in-laws and would-be-wife cried over Teoh's departure. Who wouldn't? The death is so sudden and too mysterious and justice has yet to be seen.

Firstly, it was said that there are several media somewhere pointing out that Pakatan Rakyat is making this a racial issue. This is somehow surprising because I was there at the Kelana Jaya Stadium on 20th of July, listening to speeches from MPs such as Husam Musa (PAS), Xavier Jayakumar (PKR), Lim Kit Siang (DAP), so on and so forth telling the attendees of the Memorial Vigil that Teoh's demise should not be placed in the racial perspective.

I can remember clearly that it was mentioned that regardless if Teoh is a Malay, Chinese or Indian, Malaysians should stand together as one to ensure there is justice served to another Malaysian, Teoh Beng Hock himself. That includes Kugan too. In my honest opinion, perfectly sensible. Shall we say that is what 1Malaysia should be all about?

Secondly, I find it strange that somehow somewhere Somebody described the speculations surrounding Teoh's untimely demise to be motivated by politics. We must be clear about a few things.

Why are people speculating? Probably, there is disbelief among the masses that Teoh had committed suicide. It is hard for the public to stomach the reason that a man with a promising career in politics, a father and husband-to-be (Teoh was supposed to get married soon with his pregnant would be-wife) would be suicidal (bear in mind, that this blog is stating the nature of his death is inconclusive. Hopefully, a Royal Commission of Inquiry would be formed to investigate the nature of his death).

The information given to the public is just too little. Take for example, the public does not even know who were the interviewing officers etc. etc. When there is too little information, people tend to guess using their own version of logic and perspective. I am not in a position to say it is right nor wrong.

Teoh himself was in the political circle, it is not surprising that his colleagues, particularly the Pakatan MPs would speak about him in public. Even blogs write about Teoh, Malaysians talk about Teoh in coffee shops. Therefore, this issue is no longer simply motivated by politics.

It is a serious issue with social concerns. What else is going through the minds of the public concerning MACC and this incident? MACC is a powerful and important commission. Its positive image and public confidence are important. Malaysians are also concerned with bigger alleged corruption scandals. Are Malaysians concerned about their own security as well? What are the SOPs of MACC? In my opinion, it will be terribly unbelievable if SOPs are not clearly in black-and-white, authorised.

Federal and Selangor State MPs, NGOs irregardless of political affiliation (BN or non-BN) should address and discuss these issues in Parliament.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

I Must Speak Out for Teoh Beng Hock !!!!


The Nut Graph : What happened to Teoh Beng Hock?

I have not been blogging for a while, due to tough working conditions. Much has transpired since October 2008.

However, none of it is as shocking as what I have just recently read. The DEATH OF TEOH BENG HOCK !!!!!

The poor 30-year old man , who is a political secretary to one of the n0n-BN parties, getting registered for marriage with his pregnant soon-to-be-wife the next day if he was still alive was found dead near MACC building.

It was reported , Mr. Teoh was being interrogated past one day at the building !

His death is mysterious ... As can be read here :

Although the above cannot totally be held as truth, but indeed, Teoh's death is indeed puzzling. And as a Malaysian citizen, I find myself very dissatisfied with the authorities explanation on this issue ...


How should anyone know that Teoh jumped out of the building? A marrying man, an expecting father would do that? If Teoh had really jumped, why? How can a man full of hope for a future with a family would want to do that?

On Haris Ibrahim's question "Will you continue to stand on the sidelines and just watch?" .. My answer is a definite NO !

A man had died near MACC building with such a big looming mystery. Reading the blogs and online vox populi at http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/108762 which somehow mirrors a part of the public view and news, such an incident could seriously affect the image of MACC.

I am terribly unhappy, displeased and angry. I feel for Teoh and his family ....

It seems that there is a Justice for Beng Hock Memorial Vigil at Stadium Kelana Jaya, 19 July 2009, Sunday 4.30pm. I would probably be attired in Black.
Condolences, it is 1 black day for Malaysia. We need a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate this issue.
Citizens, we must all be concerned with this Terrible Incident !