VOXPOP 'The proof lies upon him who affirms, not upon him who denies; since, by the nature of things, he who denies a fact cannot produce any proof.'

'Misplaced fears' over Evidence Act amendment

Kgen: The only way the victim of an assumed guilt can prove that he did not post an errand message is to show that he was outside and not in a position to post it at the material time.

Even this defence can fail with smartphones, laptops and tablets nowadays capable of having data connection.

Maybe he can get off the hook if he happens to be giving a speech to a hall-full of people at the exact time the post was made.

Otherwise, he may as well surrender and plead for mercy. This is an evil law which only BN is capable of thinking up.

Wira: "The proof lies upon him who affirms, not upon him who denies; since, by the nature of things, he who denies a fact cannot produce any proof."

How can this deputy minister not fathom that the new Evidence Act, which assumes a person to be involved without the prosecutor needing to show proof, contravenes a basic tenet of common law that a person is innocent unless proven guilty?

Not Confused: This clearly shows that contrary to common practice, one is assumed to be guilty until proven innocent.

"In Section 114a, it is clear that the person is only assumed to be involved. All assumptions are open for rebuttal in court, all are only assumptions until (these) can be proven."

I think this is ample reason to be fearful of badly constructed legislation that flies in the face of the internationally accepted concept of ‘innocent until proven guilty'.

Monkey Wrench: Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Liew Vui Keong is by all appearances, which finds agreement with MP from Kuantan Fuziah Salleh, is a nincompoop with the added most apt label of "the master of idiot-ology".

Sad to say, Liew of LDP/Sabah reflects all those characters and yet in the best tradition of Malaysia Boleh, he gets to be a minister.

Jbsuara: Such a superficial reassurance from the government minister should not be trusted nor taken at face value. Once bitten twice shy.

When the Official Secrets Act (OSA) was introduced years ago, over-enthusiastic leaders have purportedly give assurance that such an Act was drawn up to prevent official documents from falling into aliens' or terrorists' hand to protect national security.

Unfortunately, very soon this Act was used against an opposition leader from DAP, and he is of course not a terrorist nor an foreign alien.

Hence, the minister's reassurance is superficial and of doubtful value.

Zahid: My wife was just advising army veterans

Jazz Singer: Why did Persatuan Veteran Tentera Melayu (PVTM) president Mohd Ali Bahrom send the SMSes to the wife of the defence minister in the first place?

He must be a coward to use the wife for his own purposes. If he is indeed an officer and gentleman (which is highly improbable) he would not have used the wife.

All respect has been lost for Mohd Ali and his ‘buttmen' over their despicable behaviour recently.

He is using this vulnerable political times to twist Najib's arm in favour of his pensions. If the government gives in to them, it would mean that even if soldier works for a day, he will be entitled to a pension.

By the way, why should there be an entity such as Malay veterans association. Aren't all ex-soldiers veterans? Why the splitting of hairs?

IloveBN: This is a very funny country. Even wives of ministers can advise or threaten others to mind their own business. Tomorrow it will be their sons, then daughters, maybe even mothers and fathers.

ABBN: Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is your wife? Is she also another Rosmah Mansor in the making?

Mind you, one Rosmah is already more than the rakyat and this country can stomach.

Caripasal: PVTM is a group of cowards. They only dare to bully the 'helpless', such as Bersih co-chairperson S Ambiga.

But when it comes to the defence minister, they were afraid and even listened to his wife. How do we expect them to fight for justice and to defend our country?

Democrat 53: Come to think about it, Ambiga treated them better than Zahid's wife did.

Actually people like PVTM deserve such treatment - what goes around, comes around.

I am told Mindef has an annual grant and other allocations for PVTM. I suppose Mohd Ali Baharom can confirm that fact.

Ferdtan: If someone who is not related to my wife sends her 16 SMS messages, I would be a bit concerned.

Utusan Malaysia , are you there? This could become your favourite scoop of the day.

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