VOXPOP 'When political leaders see nothing wrong in their colleagues collecting kickbacks, that's when we know for sure that crooks have taken over the country.'

RM70mil kickback: Mong has done 'nothing wrong'

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/191559

vox populi small thumbnail James Dean: A robber breaks into your house, but he is caught and thus unable to steal anything, yet according to PRS (Parti Rakyat Sarawak) chief James Masing's logic this is not a crime.

Anonymous: Sorry, ignorance is no excuse. Whether the transaction is carried through or not is immaterial. Criminal intention is as much a crime itself.

AngryBird: It looks like Bolehland is being managed by not only a bunch of first-class crooks but also liars.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is as usual in slumberland because the politician is from Sarawak BN, which is Umno's fixed deposit.

If action is taken against this politician and his boss - the mother of all corrupt politicians - Umno will definitely lose the fixed deposit.

CiViC: This is Malaysian law at its best. A politician was soliciting RM70 million in kickbacks (in black and white) and yet he was deemed innocent. What a joke.

Anonymous: Now we have been informed officially in a nutshell the key elements of the law of corruption in Malaysia, ie. it is only corruption if you have asked for payment in return for something you have the authority to.

Disgusted: This is the type of logic given by BN leaders to cover up corruption. However, the rules are different for Pakatan Rakyat leaders, for whom it is corruption even if it is petty cash.

MACC will swoop down on the ‘suspect' the very next minute a report is made or even if no report is made and based on hearsay, they will start a fishing expedition to find something even if it kills the witness.

Congrats: In other countries, even when there is intent to commit graft, etc, the politician concerned would have resigned. But only in this country, they are allowed to remain in office. The people must kick them out.

Tailek: Is this honour among thieves? Masing is one dumb politician for suggesting Sarawak assistant agriculture minister Mong Dagang did nothing wrong because he did not have the power to request for land.

Honestly, our government leaders are so stupid that it boggles the mind.

Malaysia's wealth is like a private ATM machine to BN politicians. Anytime you need money, just key in your personal pin code.

No shame, no remorse, no honour, no integrity. Just pure unbridled greed.

Paul Warren: When political leaders see nothing wrong in their team members collecting kickbacks, that's when we know for sure that crooks have taken over the country.

Burstaxon: I always thought it's funny when Sarawakians accuse Peninsular Malaysians of doing them in. They seem to be doing a good job at it themselves.

Jail term for shoe-throwing imam 'excessive'

Swipenter: There is a sense of hopelessness about getting justice in our courts accompanied by a simmering anger underneath at the (social) injustice dish out for us, the ordinary rakyat, by the ruling class.

We don't even feel safe and confident with our judiciary. Now and then this simmering anger boils over and this shoe-throwing incident is only one of them.

The home minister brags that we are the safest country in Southeast Asia but do we feel the same; we guard and gate our communities; we get paranoid if our wives and daughters walk the streets alone especially at night; we grilled our houses making them prison-like. And we hear about police brutality and the victims' hopeless fight for justice.

James1067: We have to face the fact that the shoe-throwing action was wrong. We have reached a stage where there is no respect for the law.

We might agree part of the blame lies with the judiciary where there are many cases in which judges have shown no respect for the law themselves.

But if we allow such an action to go unpunished, then there will be a total breakdown of the justice system.

This act should wake the judges up on how the public feel when they take the side of the rich and well-connected in their judgments.

Hang Babeuf: The proper response, I believe, is not to start making lame excuses and offering dubious kinds of "special pleading" on behalf of this imam who chose to show his contempt for the nation's courts and legal processes.

The arrogance of those who maintain that they are subject to special laws and a ‘higher law', and so are exempt from the demands and operation of the duly-enacted laws of the state, should not be indulged or encouraged.

The proper response is, rather, to demand that all those, without any special exceptions, who have displayed a contempt for the law and the nation's duly and properly instituted legal arrangements be treated with equal, and an equally principled and unfailing, severity.

Beyond that, the people must also demand that the nation's judges and courts, in all their dealings and procedures, must always merit the respect that judgments like this one are intended to uphold and maintain.

Ally Meme: Iman Hoslan Hussin was an ex-staff of mine and a really nice cool guy. For him to actually throw the shoe, he must have been really frustrated with the system.

PAS to raise RM20,000 for shoe-missile imam

L Joy: I am a Catholic and I have great pleasure to aid Hoslan's family for the next one year.

PAS, please open a savings account for his wife and let it be known in Malaysiakini , and I promise to put in money regularly for the family.

What Hoslan did might be wrong in law, but what the judges did in dismissing his appeal was even worse and by imposing a one-year prison term, it really showed how unreal these judges are.

Cocomomo: PAS Youth, please give an account number for the online transfer of funds. I do not agree with throwing shoes at anybody, though in this case many feel it may have been justified.

The jail sentence appears to be an abuse of power. I do believe many non-Muslims will contribute. So please provide an account number.

 

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