Abuse of ISA, OSA, Sedition Act will bring down BN
Kannan K | Jun 17, 08 4:07pm
The Umno-led BN continues to abuse the ISA, OSA and Sedition Act to protect itself and its cronies. It is becoming very clear that its has not leartn its lessons from the recent general elections which saw its popular vote dip to just over 50% of the national average and below 50% for Peninsula Malaysia.
In the process, BN not only lost its long held two-thirds majority but also lost five state governments compared to just one earlier. This unexpected but pleasant result was due to combination of many factors directly related to abuses of power by the Umno-led BN government and their taking of Malaysian voters for granted for far too long.
Among the many the abuses of power is the blatant use of ISA, OSA and the Sedition Act to curb opposition activities and keep the people under threat always. The 2008 general elections saw the rise of People Power or Makkal Sakti which emboldened Malaysians to curb the often abused power of the Umno-led BN government.
Three months after the general elections, the Pakatan Raykat state governments particularly in Penang, Perak and Selangor have shown greater openness in action and are more people-friendly when compared to the previous Umno-led BN governments.
Hence, if these PR governments continue their positive attitude and implement prudent yet non-racist policies, the Umno-led BN may lose the federal government in the next general elections if not brought down this year by defections by BN MPs as predicted by Anwar Ibrahim.
The Umno-led BN abuses the ISA by continuing to detain the five Hindraf leaders who stood up for the rights of the long marginalised Indian Malaysians. By doing so, the Umno-led BN is ignoring the fact that people have rejected the claim that the Hindraf leaders are terrorists.
In fact, people voted in one of the detainees, M. Manoharan as their Selangor state government representative. The government continues to ignore the clear stand taken by the voters in the general elections and refuses to allow their elected representative from taking his rightful place in the Selangor state assembly.
The longer they keep them under detention, more will the Umno-led BN government lose support to Pakatan Raykat.
The only way the Umno-led BN can redeem itself from this debacle is to release all ISA detainees - including the five Hindraf leaders - immediately and if any of them has committed any crime, charge them in an open court.
In fact, in the next general elections, Malaysian voters should insist that ISA be abolished by the incoming government. This should be one of the demands by Malaysian voters before voting.
The Umno-led BN abuses the OSA by denying Malaysians important information on many public interest matters under the pretext of them being ‘Official Secrets’. Why are highway toll agreements with private companies are classified as ‘Official Secrets’?
‘Official Secrets’ are those information which when exposed may endanger the security of the country. How can toll agreements with private companies endanger the security of the country?
Malaysians should insist that all highway toll agreements be made public. We all know that the companies operating the tolled highways are making millions of ringgit of profit every year and they are allowed to increase toll rates every other year.
When we protest, the Umno-led BN government says it is allowed in the contract. Why in the first place had this stupid government agreed to such terms? The public has every right to know the details of these contracts made by their elected government with private companies. Such agreements should not come under the preview of the Official Secrets Act.
The longer the Umno-led BN continues to hide these toll agreements from the voters using the OSA as the excus, the more votes they will lose in the next general elections. Is he OSA covering abuses by the Umno-led BN government and their cronies?
In fact, Malaysians should insist the any future government should make public all the toll agreements before they vote in the next general elections. This will ensure no more hanky-panky in the future. After all, Malaysians are paying tolls which allow the cronies of the Umno-led BN government to make a huge profit.
The Umno-led BN abuses the Sedition Act to threaten Malaysians and prevent them from exercising their rights as citizen. The present chief minister of Penang, Lim Guan Heng was charged under the Sedition Act and jailed for several years for speaking up for an underaged Malay girl abused by a senior Umno leader.
He lost his parliamentary seat then and had to wait until this year to contest the general elections. As fated Lim Guan Eng is now the chief minister of Penang led by Pakatan Rakyat. He is proving himself to be a very capable CM.
Recently, blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin was also charged under the Sedition Act for posting his opinion on his website. His case will come up for hearing in September. DAP leader Karpal Singh is also being investigated under the Sedition Act for his opinion regarding certain actions by the Perak sultan.
These are abuses by the Umno-led BN government to curb Malaysians from exercising their political right and expressing views which may differ from that of the government. A differing opinion does not mean treason.
Malaysians should make abolishment of the Sedition Act as one of their demands in the next general elections to enable a more transparent government in the future. It is important for Malaysians to continue to highlight abuses such as above so that general public is fully aware of them.
A well-informed voter will make the right decision in the next general elections. We have a choice now. Don’t let the Umno-led BN fool us into believing that they are the only ones available.
Pakatan Rakyat is fast proving to be more capable than the racist BN.
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