In the present sodomy allegations against Anwar by his aide, and despite the denials by Anwar, there seems to be a presumption that the allegations are true and that investigations must proceed.

On Police, AG in Anwar's sights yet again

Concerned Law Prof: There seems to be a disquieting way in which the investigative system seems to be working in dealing with allegations in police reports, statutory declarations and court proceedings.

In the statutory declaration by blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, the immediate reaction from the AG was to announce criminal defamation charges against him for the allegations made. This means the allegations were assumed to be untrue and prima facie defamatory.

The ACA also announced investigation of potential corruption charges against the SAPP president based on the evidence disclosed in an on-going corruption trial of an accused. This evidence had yet to be evaluated by the judge – a matter that is only done at the end of the trial in the form of a judgment.

In the present sodomy allegations against Anwar by his aide, and despite the denials by Anwar, there seems to be a presumption that the allegations are true and that investigations must proceed. ‘Let the investigations proceed’ is the current refrain from officialdom. The PM said that it was only natural that a person against whom an allegation is made, to deny them. Yet this is precisely what he and his wife did in relation to the allegations by Raja Petra.

Now, I am not pleading a cause for anyone. But should there not be a level-playing field – the same ground rules – for all, and, in all situations?

On Reliving the myth of the lazy natives?

Arin Kottir: I know many Bidayuh kids back in the kampung in Sarawak who are not good in Malay and are even worse in English. They hide when they see me coming because they are afraid that I will speak to them in English.

These students will get a decent education if they could have it in their mother tongue, i.e. Bidayuh at least initially up to Year 6 and later to Form 3 and perhaps even up to Form 5. Thereafter, they should acquire some skills for the workplace or move to Form 6 and beyond. By this time, they should be able to follow if the subjects are taught in English.

It's our right to get an education in the language where we have a decent vocabulary and you can't beat the mother tongue or the adopted mother tongue for that. What is mother tongue? Mother tongue is the language in which your mother talked to you from birth.

We must remember that not everyone goes to university or goes overseas. Liberalisation and democratisation of education will have no meaning if we deny our people the benefits of mother-tongue education.

At the moment, mother-tongue education in Malaysia is in Tamil, Malay and Chinese. The options are rather limited. The government should offer more choices and include English, Iban, Bidayuh, Dusun, Bajau, etc.

Schools should also do away with monthly, semester, mid-year and year-end tests and examinations. Instead, they should introduce weekly tests. The monthly test marks can be an average of the weekly tests, etc. Standards will go up.

The Healer: How many ministers' children go to national schools?

This is a very good question indeed. As far as I know, our current home minister’s children attended the Garden International School. Oh, before we forget, he was our education minister too.

On 100 days, 11 gifts but nothing for public transport

Shamsudin Omar: The recent announcement by the government to give incentives to toll highway users is indeed a timely gesture and this is the third announcement after Litrak and Plus had their discount offers making headlines. There seems to be a load of incentives for automated toll collection.

However, has it occurred to the highway operators that the SmartTag which is there to help dispose traffic faster at toll plazas, especially during peak hours is a big let down. I find the SmartTag extremely useful but it has been two months now since my SmartTag was stolen and I haven’t been able to buy a replacement.

I have been calling up Touch ‘n’ Go and I was told I will have to wait for at least two months as there is no stock available. I wonder why it is taking so long for the stocks to arrive.

May I also appeal to the government to offer some kind of subsidy for the SmartTag which sells at RM100 each. Perhaps a small fraction of the budget allocated for the frequent traveler rebate can be channeled towards subsiding SmartTag. It will certainly ease the burden and at the same time make passing through the many toll plazas more efficient.

ExasperatedMalaysian: Taxi fares are going up in the sweet hope that taxi companies and taxi drivers will improve their service. If this is how our dear ministers think, then I'd very much like to work for them because then I can slack off, pick and choose my duties, and demonstrate a generally abysmal performance, and yet I'll be given a raise in the hope that I will improve my conduct! What foresight!

Helen Yeap: Amidst all the hullabaloo over the highly suspicious death of Teoh Beng Hock, I wonder if the Malaysian public noticed how our so-called ‘democratically elected’ government has slowly reneged on their promise to "improve the quality" of the Malaysian public transport system stated so proudly in the last budget on Aug 29, 2008?

I believe a sum of RM35 billion was supposed to be allocated up to 2014 for the so-called improvement of the public transport system. Exactly how much of this allocation has actually filtered down, one wonders since commuters hear of nothing but fare increases, which was recently approved again, and poor quality buses and trains who don't seem to keep to their schedules.

Of course, our PM and his wife would never have the good fortune to experience the wonderful quirks of our Malaysian public transport system. Hello Malaysians, can we all wake up now? It is time we woke up and decide once and for all to kick these BN clowns out for good at the next

general elections.

On Massive Gerakan Indians exodus to Uthaya's new party

Ong: V Sivaperumal said that Lim Guan Eng "cannot keep on blaming others for everything...". He and his group are doing exactly the same thing, blaming everyone else except themselves for all the Indian problems.

They think that only Indians are facing problems and that all non-Indians are living in paradise. They blame their own party Gerakan, they blame the Pakatan Rakyat state government, and they presumably also blame Samy Vellu's MIC and every other Indian-based party because they are joining P Uthayakumar's Human Rights Party instead of joining one of the existing Indian-based parties.

When they cannot get their unreasonable demands fulfilled by senior Indian officials in the Pakatan government they accuse these people as traitors to the Indians. They call their proposed party Human Rights Party but my guess is that it will turn out to be Indian Rights Party.

They are behaving exactly like many Umno Malays who blames everyone else except themselves for whatever problems the Malays ever had. I hope they can get organised fast enough for the next general elections. With the catchy "human rights" platform enough of us may even get blinded into supporting them and they will then win the next general elections easily. Then Uthayakumar can become the next chief minister, with V Sivaperumal as his deputy.