Was DPM's reminder targeted at Umno, too?

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YOURSAY ‘Was his May 13 reminder also made to his own party members?’

 

'May 13 hint not offence under harmony bills'                    

Ferdtan: I tend to agree and hope that the newly proposed harmony bills should not be too repressive, too inhibiting, that one loses his freedom to express his or her opinion - right or wrong.

 

We do not want a society to ban this and ban that. That will make us citizens of robots. We must allow of difference of opinionsWe should be allowed the same recourse to rebut any silly views expressed by such morons.

 

The harmony bills should only rarely (or not often) be used - only for malicious intents to create racial and religious issues, which may lead to violence. There must be concrete evidence produced in court to prove that the suspects’ motives/acts are real before we put the culprits in jail.

 

With that I think DPM Muhyiddin Yassin’s statement should not fall into the chargeable category if the bills are passed into laws.

 

That said, it doesn’t mean that Muhyiddin does not deserve condemnation. He is rightfully criticised. And especially so since he is our DPM.

 

Folks, don’t forget when the new law is passed and if the interpretations of its law are so wide, ambiguous and vague, who do you think will suffer the most? Yes, you, we, opposition lawmakers and anyone who dare to oppose the government.

 

A mere harmless statement can land us in jail if the powers-to-be are not happy with it. Do you think the enforcement agencies, the courts and the Attorney-General’s Chambers which interpreted the laws will change for the better with the introduction of this new law?

 

Don’t count on it. In fact now they have much wider power or equal to the soon-to-be repealed Sedition Act to nab anyone who displeases their master. It is not the law, it is the people who control the law that are at fault.

 

Turvy: Yes, we are confusing legal liability under an enactment that has not yet been interpreted with the political responsibility of an elected leader to maintaining civil tranquillity.

 

My comments are not intended to force any prosecution of the man but to tell him that his resorting to sowing fear using the threat of racial violence is not the kind of conduct we expect of a leader, especially in times like these when there are lunatics on the political fringe who seem to think that racial violence is the only remedy for their demented and imagined fears.

 

Malaccan: Is the DPM to be held to the lowest standards, the same as would-be criminals and offenders? Indeed if the DPM's statement were to somehow fall foul of the harmony law, would the AG press charges?

 

The law is the minimum acceptable standards in society, not its highest. Is the DPM so base that his behaviour have to swirl around the ankles? Or should he rise up for all Malaysians to look up to?

 

I expect the DPM to lead by lofty ideals and the highest principles. But alas, he doesn't have the qualities and the integrity to rise above himself and already he is ready to be binned into our nation's past and forgotten.

 

Kangkung: When you want to make a seditious/hate speech, make sure you are an Umno member. (Better still if you are an Umno minister.)

 

If you are one, then it is completely alright. For the rest, even for uttering a word like 'celaka' may land you in jail.

 

Negarawan: Universiti Teknologi Mara’s anti-Christian seminar was just brainstorming session, and May 13 remark was just a reminder, so said Muhyiddin.

 

Who is Muhyiddin trying to fool? I think he needs to listen hard to Universiti Islam Antarabangsa’s Dr Maszlee Malik on forward looking leadership which brings hope for a brighter future, not threatening and creating fear of the past.

 

The racist attitude and low integrity of Muhyiddin is not that befitting of a national leader.

 

Casey: What we're talking about here is human rights. The right to live as human with dignity and full liberty in their very own country. And that right is colour blind as enshrined in the constitution.

 

However, what we're facing now is an unprecedented threat and challenge to human dignity and equality. How much more ignorant and naive can Umno's leaders and their cohorts be?

 

It was Umno which has betrayed the trust of the people and the nation. For they've been entrusted to look after the rights of the people and the paramount interest of the nation for the last six decades.

 

But instead, they brought upon the the country the worst kind of shame and international disrepute. No where else in the free world can you find a government that, perversely or otherwise, threaten its people with riot, hold the nation to ransom, practice prejudice against its citizen, promote racial and religious bigotries, or for that matter, condone corruption.

 

Be warned that the government was instituted by the people, and not the other way around; that the government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed.

 

Now that the government has become destructive towards these ends, it is the right of the people to criticise and to force upon it the imminent need for change.

 

If that should fail, to have it voted out from power and to institute a new government. In other words, unless BN commits to a genuine and not a lip service reform, it shall perish comes GE14.

 

Magnus: Why do you allow your government to treat you, adult Malaysian citizens, so childishly and so stupidly and badly with such insulting mollycoddling paternalistic behaviour and policies that show a grave disrespect for your own maturity, your intelligence and your own ability to think and decide for yourselves as mature adults?

 

Who gave them that right over you if not yourselves as the voting electorate who voted them into power to do all those very insulting things to adult citizens like you? How can you tolerate and put up with such unacceptable nonsense when you know you do not have to and your democratic constitution too says you don’t have to?

 

As Thomas Jefferson in the 18th century: "When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."

 

So why do you not go meet your MPs to discuss your concerns with them or write to them and government ministers every time they behave stupidly or in unacceptable ways towards you?

 

Argonist: How can the courts elicit intention that is malicious when it is so abstract?

 

It will easily become that any intention to be construed by the words spoken by the opposition members of parliament will be malicious and contravenes the 'intention' that is being  considered by National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC). 

 

If May 13 was mentioned in the speech, would that make it 'intentional'? Was the reminder also made to Muhyiddin’s own party members?

 

RKR: Minister of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Abdul Rahman Dahlan is absolutely right when he says, "Is racial tension on the rise? Yes. Is religious bigotry getting worst? Yes. Do we need a reminder to behave? Yes. So why is DAP upset?"

 

Except that the perpetrators of racial tension and bigotry are from Umno and the pro-Umno camp. So the so-called 'reminder' should be targeted at themselves, not the public at large.


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