SUHAKAM Should Not Be So Wishy-Washy

While it is good that SUHAKAM has now decided to hold a public inquiry, it should not appear to be so vacillating in its decision-making.

In the first article in malaysiakini, a spokesman was quoted as saying "Section 12 of the Human Rights Commission Act 1999 forbids the commission from investigating human rights violation complaints when related cases are being argued in court."

Today it seems the Commission has had a change of heart.

SUHAKAM should deliberate carefully before making such important decisions or it loses much of its credibility. If in doubt about legal matters it should seek proper legal advice.

This body can also request that laws be amended if they impede the proper functioning of such an important body.

BERSIH Rally...the AfterMath

In any functioning democracy, a peaceful protest or demo is part and parcel of daily life.

Often the silent majority are content to just go about their daily activities and for many, spending time out defying the law must require a serious problem.

The rally of November 10th was not about an individual but about the principles and practical workings of the voting process; without which a good democracy cannot survive long.

It is therefore sad that the Agong is being perceived as being unable to differentiate between his duties to the government and to his loyal subjects as described in this malaysiakini article.

Now it appears that the police want to take action against both marchers and their children under the Child Protection Act.

I wonder what does "rehabilitate" mean? It seems like a heavy-handed approach to children who were following the parents' bidding.

Even the action against the parents seems out of proportion to the disobeying of the authorities in not going to an illegal gathering.

For a start, the children's presence caused the police to to act less brutally against a peaceful march and a more brutal response would have damaged the police reputation even more.

I am guessing that possibly a friendly police contact may have tipped off the marchers that the police SOP is not to tear gas and water-cannon children.

I would allow demonstrations based on the following conditions:

1. Away from large town centers.
2. No unfriendly gestures like flag-burning or burning effigies.
3. Definite time limit like 4 hours and must end before 7pm.
4. Pay police for security and traffic arrangements.
5. No breach of any laws of the land.

And this will also apply to any demonstration organised by the ruling parties.

Photo: Thanks to malaysiakini

More Bureaucracy to Work Subsidies?......

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I agree with this letter from malaysiakini that opposes the complication of petrol pricing for motorists so that the RM40billion subsidy will be reduced by making rich motorists pay more.

This is trying to control the economy at the micro level and will be difficult to implement as millions of transactions are involved.

We are know that any government is always very poor at cost control and Malaysia is no execption. I remember in the 70s there was an excellent documentary on the late Milton Friedman's work called "Free to Choose" and the basic lesson is that governments should be given only the smallest role in business and it is a major source of waste.

Even without looking at the jobs analysis, the Malaysian civil service is BLOATED with unproductive employees and too many Ministers compared to other countries.

Perhaps the proposed controls for the fuel subsidies will provide them something to do?

PS. MalaysiaWatch has has reached the 100,000 visitors mark. Hope you return often. Have a nice day!

Decision-Making for Police Permits

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malaysiakini has this letter that adroitly describes the Bersih petition march and I agree that the authorities would ha gained more goodwill if they had decided to grant the police permit.

It is simply impossible to control traffic in a large city unless one imposes a curfew. I am not going into all the pros and cons here but a simple flow chart will suffice to show the many decisions that need to be considered to handle this type of a demonstration.

The march was well organised and the security provided was good. The actions by the police was to be expected.

Just look at the chart and see how much simpler the work would have been if a permit had been granted. Now a lot of energy has to be used to work out the actions after Steps 5 in the chart.

We Share the PM's Concern.....

Every Malaysian parent is concerned that local universities are following the law of gravity in slippng lower each year in academic standings.

Those who are able to send their children overseas are unperturbed as they have given up on local standards.

According to this malaysiakini report, our PM has noticed and is concerned.

I don't intend to write a long argument but there is only one solution to the slippery slope. It is spelled
M E R I T O C R A C Y.

All the government needs to do is to privatise one of the local Us and grant them full autonomy to operate without being restricted by any laws related to universities. Perhaps one of the more established colleges will be able to show the way.

Give them 5 years to improve and I am sure it will solve many of our problems.
What do you think?

A Journey of a Thousand Miles....

While the marchers to the palace can claim a major victory that they were able to hand in a petition to the Agong, there is still much work to be done to make a prominent dent in the BN juggernaut.

We should be thankful for the Internet as it provides a cheap communications platform and one does not need tons of money to operate a web-site.
Special mention too should be made of malaysiakini and Malaysia Today that have been good examples of very useful sites for those interested to read and share opinions on the state of the nation.

The march to the palace only reflects the true feelings and aspirations of the common folks and one only has to search for "Malaysian blogs" to see a cross-section of the citizens' views.

It would be good for the government to take heed of such sentiments and not just dismiss bloggers as being irresponsible.

The defiance of the police and braving tear gas and water cannon is not only a sign of anger and frustration but also a plea for fairness and justice.

A Moral Victory for Malaysians.....

Depending on whether you read malaysiakini or the mainstream papers, the "yellow" march to the palace to hand in a petition for electoral reforms may mark the birth of a new movement for all loyal Malaysians to defend and protect the nation.

It was a shame that the police ordered people away from the capital thereby preventing many from participating in this peaceful march.

It seems the only violence was created by the police and reports of reporters being beaten do not improve the image of the police.

To the rational observer, once the police were instructed/ordered(?) not to grant a permit for this peaceful march, there was going to be trouble and the only question was,"How much collateral damage?".

Some marchers were sprayed but all in the results were satisfactory for both the police and the marches.
The marchers managed to deliver their petition and the police managed to show they still have the ability to control a large crowd.

Mind you, this was a peaceful march and we should salute all those Malaysians who took part. You are the real guardians of the nation. Keep up the good work.

I guess the police too were told not to attack the marchers or we could have had truckloads of people with broken limbs and cracked heads.

Certainly there are lessons to be learned for both sides. Imagine what a good example for the rest of the world Malaysia would be if a permit had been granted and the march completed without a drop of chemicals being sprayed or a single marcher being unruly?

That would surely augur well for the nation's future. Maybe next time?