Internal Security Act

This is a crossfire to The Voice of Politics: The Unjustify Remain Unjustify.

Is Internal Security Act 1960 a really bad law? The writer agrees, but to certain extent only. The writer thinks that Internal Security Act, which commonly known as “Detention Without Trial”, is not after all a very bad law, but only a very bad implementation so far.

The writer would not go into the cons of having ISA as the writer’s learned friend, The Voice of Politics, already discuss it. The writer would like to go into the pros (strictly the writer’s personal point of views) of having ISA.

In the writer’s personal point of view, ISA is a very useful and helpful law in tackling the Terrorism. With ISA, the Government could arrest and detain without trial those who were suspected to be the Terrorist, which could harm the internal security of Malaysia. Without ISA and by using the normal procedure, it could be too late for the Government to prevent the terrorism. From the writer’s understanding, some Western Countries also introducing similar Act to help to tackle the Terrorism issue.

The writer’s personal view is that, ISA is a Double Edge Blade. It could help the Government is tackling issues which would damage the internal security of a country. On the other hand, it could also be used as a weapon against those who “against the Government”.

The writer’s conclusion: ISA is not a bad law after all. However, ISA should not be abused.

Dream vs Reality

Political Parties are now busying with the Party Election. Congratulations to those who were elected by the Party Members to represent them. Please bear in mind that in this Generation, members of the public as well as the public are keeping eyes on the elected representative of the Party, be it State Level or Federal Level. Rakyat started to care about your act, your speech and what you have been contributing. Rakyat have the power to elect you, at the same time people also have the power to take away what you have. This is the power of Rakyat and democracy.

One of the most still-ongoing heatest topic during the Party Election is the racist issue brought up by one Ahmad Ismail, who refused to apologise to the Rakyat, eventhough Deputy Prime Minister already apologised to the public.

The writer assume another heatest discussion would be “whether to pull out from BN?”. This was what the writer heard over the coffeeshop where members of the Political Parties were discussing. Thus, the writer assumed this issue would also be brought up during the Party Election.

The writer would like to ask those who is pushing for their Political Party to pull out from BN: “Could your Party stand alone without BN?”

What is the most important thing in Politics? Technically speaking, the aim of a Political Party is to represent the Rakyat and help the Rakyat. If the pulling-out-plan is not well planned, how could the Political Party survive well without the funds from the Government? Could you improve Rakyat’s quality of life alone, without the funds from the Government? The writer does not think so.

Pulling out from BN could be a dream of certain members of the Political Party. In reality, could the Political Party pull out from BN and stay strong?

No doubt the Rakyat want to see dare-devil Political Party, however, please bear in mind that Rakyat are suffering from memory lose syndrome. Pre-Election, the Rakyat demand for something; Post-Election, the Rakyat forgot what they have demanded.

In the end of the day, if a Political Party could not bring betterment for the Rakyat, the Rakyat would soon forget about that Political Party. In the end of the day, Rakyat are only concern about what benefit would they get.

Dream: Pulling out from BN.

Reality: Where to stand? How far can the Political Party go?

Rakyat’s Dream: A better Malaysia;

Reality: It’s for the writer to know and for the reader to find out.

Double Standard?

This is a crossfire

“UNITY IS THE PILLAR OF SUCCESS”

- True or False? -

When the Government is promoting Unity among the Rakyat, it seems that the Government should first promote the concept of Unity in their political party, especially to those who was chosen as State Assemblyman as well as the Member of Parliament.

First Situation:

When you are promoting something on one side, and on the other side you are doing something which is against what you have been promoting, do you think the public will have confident and trust in you?

The writer doubt so…

Second Situation

When your Company is trying to gain trust and confidence from the public by promoting something, and your Employee, especially those who represent your Company one, doing or saying something in public which is against what your Company have been promoting. Do you think you will be able to gain trust and confidence from the public?

Again, the writer doubt so.

Third Situation

Your opponent’s employee is writing an article to promote their product and/ or concept. The words used in the article is quite aggressive and it offended the public. Without any delay, you (a) lodge a complaint, (b) publicly blaming your opponent.

When your employee did the same thing, i.e. publish an aggressive article, you as the Chief Executive Officer, or so-called the Boss, ask your employee to apologise and you announced that warning have been given to that particular, not to repeat the act again.

Do you think your Company is a trustworthy company? The writer do not think so.

What you are doing is not what you have promoting to and/ or promising the public. This is Double Standard. It should not have happened, especially as a Government!

Actions have been taken against bloggers whose articles/ blogs are “seditious”. Raja Petra Kamaruddin was arrested and charged under the Sedition Act 1948 for his statements in his blog. Syed Akbar who gave comment on RPK’s blog is also charged under Sedition Act 1948 for “seditious comment”.

The writer’s question to the Government: Datuk Ahmad Ismail’s statement calling Chinese Pendatang (Immigrants) was not seditious? If yes, the writer believes the public hope to see actions would be taken (not only warning) against Ahmad Ismail, unless the Government is practising a Double Standard.

This is a very very sad situation. The unwillingness to take action against Datuk Ahmad Ismail (other than a warning) is showing the incapability of the Government who is practising Double Standard.

The writer agrees with his learned friend, The Voice of Politics’ view in his latest’s blog: Vote of No Confidence.

As a Rakyat of Malaysia, the writer does not want a Government which is practising Double Standard and could not keep what the Government was promoting, promising and campaigning. It is not tolerable and not acceptable!

- This is a crossfire to Vote of No Confidence -

Promises Are Meant To Be Broken?

26th day of August, 2008 marked a new era under the Government of Barisan Nation which was witnessed by Rakyat. Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim won the Permatang Pauh By-Election. Another incident which the writer is more concern is: Malaysian Communication Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has ordered all internet service providers (ISPs) to block Malaysia Today.

In the effort of promoting the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), the Malaysian Government has come out with a MSC Malaysia’s 10-Point Bill of Guarantees. The Malaysian Government under the 10-Point Bill of Guarantees promises to fulfill the following:-

1. Provide a world-class physical and information infrastructure;
2. Allow unrestricted employment of local and foreign knowledge workers;
3. Ensure freedom of ownership by exempting companies with MSC Malaysia Status from local ownership requirements;
4. Give the freedom to source capital globally for MSC Malaysia infrastructure, and the right to borrow funds globally;
5. Provide competitive financial incentives, including no income tax for up to 10 years or an investment tax allowance, and no duties on import of multimedia equipment;
6. Become a regional leader in intellectual property protection and cyberlaws;
7. Ensure no internet censorship;
8. Provide globally competitive telecommunications tariffs;
9. Tender key MSC Malaysia infrastructure contracts to leading companies willing to use the MSC Malaysia as their regional hub;
10. Provide an effective one-stop agency – the Multimedia Development Corporation.

In the writer’s humble opinion, the blocking of Malaysia Today is an act of censorship. At the same time, it also taken away the freedom of speech of the bloggers. Please bear in mind that the bloggers are the Rakyat of Malaysia. Would it be right to make this assumption that  the Government is in a way taking away/ restricting the freedom of speech of Rakyat? Bloggers’ freedom is coming to an end?

What was promised by the Government under the written and published 10-Point Bill of Guarantees is meant to be broken is the very first place?

Pre-308, the Federal Government promised Penangites to build Penang Second Link Bridge to ease the traffic flow in Penang Bridge. Post-308, the Federal Goverment decided to scrap the said Project.

Pre-308 and while BN still in control of the Penang State Government, the Federal Government decided to build an Outer Ring Road. Post-308, the Federal Government decided to delay the said project.

Are promises meant to be broken?

What lesson(s) did the BN Government learn from 308? Sadly speaking, the writer is of the view that the BN Government did not learn much… The writer feels that the BN Government can promise the Rakyat something in one hand and on the other hand, choose to break the promise. If the BN Government could not keep what was promised, why promise the Rakyat?

Simply because the Rakyat are forgetful?

Being the Government of Malaysia, the writer thought the utmost duty would be to improve Malaysia as a whole, no matter what race or which state. The only way to win back the confidence of the Rakyat towards the Government is not by way of “Reimbursement” (please refer to http://voiceofpolitics.wordpress.com/2008/08/27/reimbursement-or-bribery/), but by showing the Rakyat the efforts of developing Malaysia into a better country.

Unity is the Pillar of Success.

The writer wonders whether this only applies to the Rakyat? What about among political parties, no matter Rulling or Oppostion Parties?

Merdeka…

It’s time for us to celebrate the glorious day for what we have achieved.  What we have fought hard for did paid off. Our dreams came true! Hang on a second. The writer is talking about “The 51st National Day” and not Permatang Pauh By-Election!

The 51st Merdeka is about three (3) days ahead of us. Personally, the writer did not feel anything about the Merdeka Celebration. Where is the spirit of Merdeka? Where is the mood of celebration? Other than the hanging of the National Flag, Jalur Gemilang, the writer did not feel much about the heat of Merdeka. Unlike previous years where sitting in the coffeeshop, you could easily hear people discussing about the National Day.

Are we, Malaysian, forgetting about Merdeka?

How could we forget about Merdeka? We fought hard to achieve Merdeka. The writer believes that no one could forget about the Glorious Day – 31.08.1957. The moment we were declared Merdeka, it also symbolised the capability of Malaysian. We are able to take care of ourselves, don’t we?

The 51st Merdeka slogan is “Perpaduan Teras Kejayaan” (Unity is the Pillar of Success). Thank the Government for reminding the Rakyat the importance of Unity. The writer believes being a Malaysian, we are proud to be Malaysian. Since our primary education, we have been taught to respect and tolerate our fellow Malaysian. The writer thinks that we have been doing pretty well, until recently. Perhaps this is the reason of reminding Malaysian about the importance of unity?

In the earlier days, Malaysia was the model country for other countries. Other countries looking high on Malaysia because even if we are a multi-racial country, we were doing good compared to others. When we mention to others that “We Are Malaysian!”, our chin was high up and we were really proud of it!

We are proud to be a Multi-Racial Country, don’t we? Or we were proud to be a Multi-Racial Country?

After enjoying thr 51 years of Merdeka, where are we? We are supposed to be better than 51 years ago. We are supposed to be more united than 51 years ago. Are we?

After 51 years since Merdeka, are we Good From Far? Or we are Far From Good?

~ Happy 51st Merdeka, Rakyat~ Unity is the Pillar of Success

DNA Identification Act 2008?

Besides the Permatang Pauh By-Election on 26.08.2008, there was something so “happening” in the Parliament, which the writer believes the Rakyat would not put much attention to, i.e. the DNA Identification Bill, which was tabled for second reading in the House of Parliament today. Yes, you hear me right, the DNA Identification Bill was tabled for second reading, instead of the first tabled/ tabled first Universities and Universities College (Amendment) Bill. The Opposition Members of Parliament took their efforts and moved on to block the reading.

The writer’s personal point of view is that, DNA Identification Bill (soon to be Act) is something necessary. In order for the justice to be done, we do need the DNA to identify who is the criminal. DNA is very useful and precise in helping the Police to carry out their investigation. At the same time, it also helps the Prosecuting Officer to pin the criminals, without any miscarriage of justice. Perhaps you might question the writer, “is that all true?” Well… The writer’s answer is pretty simple, “Yes. Theoretically speaking.”

DNA is a double edge sword. Any accused might be caught because of the DNA. On the other hand, any accused might get away because of the DNA too. As we all know the standard of proof in criminal law is “beyond reasonable doubt”. If an accused did not commit the crime, how could his DNA be at the scene of crime? All he needs to do is, raise a doubt in his case. He will gets away with it. Same thing applies to another situation where an accused committed the crime. The DNA evidence would help the Police in their investigation, and the Prosecuting Officer would use the DNA evidence to support their case. The accuracy of the DNA finding is very high and precise. This is the reason why a lot of countries rely on the DNA finding to assist them in solving their cases.

Since DNA identification is so accurate, why would we delay the passing of the DNA Identification Bill?

The writer’s personal view is that, in order for the DNA identification to be carried out without any problem, we must first make sure we have the technology to do so. There is a Chinese proverb, “工欲善其事，必先利其器”, which means (direct translation by the writer) “in order for a worker to carry out his job in perfect manner, he must fist sharpen his equipment” (please feel free to correct the writer about the translation, thank you!).

There are several questions which the writer is of the view that the Government and/ or Members of the Parliament should seriously think before passing the Bill, i.e.:-

• Is our country’s DNA Department well equipped?
• Is our DNA Department has sufficient manpower who could carry out their jobs competently?
• Is our law able to protect the database from being misused?
• Do we have sufficient protection for those who either being forced and/ or compelled to provide his/ her DNA?
• Do we have sufficient protection for those who voluntarily provide his/ her DNA?

The writer would like to bring the attention to the public that in Malaysia we do not have the Data Protection Act, meaning, our data and privacy rights are not protected. Under such circumstances, can the Government ensure the Rakyat that our DNA Data in the Data Bank would not be negligently and/ or purposely being misused or leaked? The writer leaves it for the viewers to make their own conclusion.

In short, the writer thinks that the DNA Identification Bill is Good From Far, but Far From Good. Unless there is adequate safeguards to protect the data of the provider, the DNA Identification Bill should not be passed.

Politics…… Again?

Recently, the hottest issues of the day would be: (i) either the Permatang Pauh By-Election or (ii) the Anwar’s sodomy case. Are both the issues inter related? This is certainly an arguable issue. However, let us not to be the judge and jump to the conclusion. Let us just focus on what we should do, or rather, what we could do. If you are the resident of Permatang Pauh, please exercise your rights to vote on 26th day of August 2008. Well… Please bear in mind that no every citizen of Malaysia has the chance to vote twice in a year.

For those who cannot vote, please also take this opportunity to think of the future of Malaysia. The future of Malaysia is in your hands, is in our hands! You vote for the Government, please do not blame this and that after the election. The famous quotation of law: “Take the Victim as You Find Him”.

Speaking of the by-election, the writer noticed that  lot of people is getting tired of politics. People keep asking themselves, how long will the Drama of Election finally comes to an end? After this coming election, is it the final? Or just like the famous series, Crime Scene Investigation? It’s Season 9 now. How long would it takes to end?

There was a small discussion with a learned friend in the afternoon. The discussion was about whether people who is sick and/ or tired of politics would spoil the vote by simply cast the vote.

In the writer’s point of view, the trend in 308 was, the voters voted the Party, but not the candidates. No matter who is the candidate in the voters’ constituency, just vote for the Opposition Party. The results in Kedah, Pulau Pinang, Perak and Selangor spoke for itself. Will this be the trend again in the Permatang Pauh? The writer would not know and would not jump to any conclusion. However, the writer wishes to discuss a bit of the voting attitude.

The initial idea of voting was to vote or elect those who could work for and represent the voters. Thus, a good candidate would have the advantage over the other. The writer believes this was the ture spirit of voting. However, from era to era, from generation to generation, the trend, culture and/ or attitude of voting had changed. People started to think of which Ruling Party would give them advantages. If I vote for you, what would I get in return. Instead of voting for those who can speak for you, a lot of people have switched to vote for those who could give them advantages.

This is an unhealthy voting attitude. The party as a whole, could gives a nice and attractive manifesto. You voted for this party and it became the Ruling Party. Then you started to sit there and wait for those promised. You wait, waiting and waited…… Nothing was delivered. You started to get angry, and announced to the world that you would not vote for this party again. Soon, you forgot about what was promised, and your announcement. By the time a new General Election is coming to the corner, and that party started to build a nice road, fancy townhall, pretty garden and so on, you started to be attracted by that party once again. You totally forgot about your annoncement and proceeded to vote for that party again.

What about those candidates who could really deliver and take their words seriously? What about those candidates who really care about his constituency and able, ready and willing to contribute to the Society? Should we forget about them? It seems that the culture of voting in Malaysia is the Political Party prevails over the Candidates.

The writer also notice the Malaysian have memory problems as a whole. People started to forget about the manifesto made by the political parties, about the corruption case, about the murder case, about this, about that…… Or perhaps Malaysian are kind hearted Rakyat? You make your own conclusion.

When would Malaysian be matured in voting? When would Political Parties started to take their manifesto seriously? When would Malaysia achieve the status of developed country? Who would win the 26.08.2008 Permatang Pauh By-Election? Would there be a take over on 916?

We shall see……

Welcome!

Welcome to “Good From Far? Far From Good?”. First and foremost, thank you for your time and efforts in reading the articles posted in this blog.

As a Malaysian, the writer of this blog is proud of it! He is proud to be Malaysian. And as a Malaysian, he hopes that Malaysia and Malaysians could do better always. Well, Malaysia is a developing country. Whether Malaysia could achieve the 2020 Vision, this is an unsolved questions until now. In developing the country, the burden should not just lies on the Government. All Malaysian should work together to achieve the same vision.

The writer hopes that Malaysia and Malaysian are not just Good From Far, but Good From Near too! Certainly, he does not hope to see and/ or hear people saying, Malaysia and Malaysian are Far From Good!

What is written in this blog is the true feeling of the writer himself, as a Malaysian. He sees, feels, interprets and writes. You might not agree with him, and the issues discuss here might not be the latest, but please feel free to give any comments. The writer takes the comments treat the comments seriously and as a sign of improvements.

Last but not least, thank you for your time and efforts once again!

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