Giving warnings against illegal assembly against the very people they are sworn to protect suggests that the police are now awaiting clearance to join the BN as the latest component party.'
On Chemical-laced water sprayed on Uthaya's supporters
Puterabatu: Sometimes it is vexing to understand the vanguards of Malaysian law - the Royal Malaysian Police. They seem to be doubly worried and perplexed when a group of three persons or more are assembling.
Even more so when the objectives of the assembly seem to be implicating the ruling government in certain 'misplaced' actions.
The action by the police in blasting a congregation of Hindraf supporters with water is nothing more than a justification to the rakyat that the police are nothing but a big bully.
They seem to have nothing better to do. Giving warnings against illegal assembly against the very people they are sworn to protect suggests that the police are now awaiting clearance to join the Barisan Nasional as the latest component party.
Where were you when the ' celaka ' from Umno Youth were assaulting an MP?
My friends in Hindraf, remember what Anwar Ibrahim said in response as to whether he is showing too much 'face' to the Chinese and Indians: 'The children of the Malays are my children, so are the children of the Chinese and Indians - they are my children'.
When the candidacy for Bukit Selambau is announced, I pretty damn well hope that a person representing Hindraf is selected. My boys and I will be sure to be there, helping the cause in whatever means we can.
I strongly suggest that we allow a candidate from Hindraf to contest in Bukit Selambau. Let the voice of Makkal Sakti ring through the hills of Kedah and bring justice to Uthayakumar.
AsianGuy: In a supposedly civilised society such as Malaysia, it beggars belief why the authorities will not even provide proper medical treatment to its prison inmates. Especially to someone of Uthayakumar's stature.
If the swelling on his leg was due to fractures, immobilisation by splinting, rest, and elevation (and possibly surgery) may be necessary. If it is due to cardiac failure, diuretics or ACE inhibitors may be necessary; etc.
If proper medical treatment has/is already been administered, or if no treatment is necessary, the onus lies on the authorities to at least provide a reasonable explanation to the family or allow a second opinion.
Is this too much to ask? Or is this meant to be a punishment for the family as well?
It is barbaric enough in this day and age to detain someone indefinitely under the Internal Security Act on a flimsy excuse without recourse to a proper hearing, let alone deny the inmate proper medical treatment, if that's the case. This is not justice even by Asian standards.
I cry for my beloved country.
Raja: These supporters of Uthayakumar were there to make a police report on the discrimination against Uhayakumar but unfortunately, the Indian community didn't know that we don't even have the right to make the police report.
We know that Pakatan Rakyat won five states on March 8, 2008 due to the shift of the Indian community's vote but it is a sad story that the persons or the group that made this happen are still under the ISA.
What is the Pakatan coalition and its parties doing about this? Where have all its leaders gone too? Do they only come out when there is a general election?
What happened to the ‘defender' of the Indian community Samy Vellu, the ‘defender' of human rights Suhakam (good-for-nothings ), the ‘defender' of our rakyat PM-to-be Najib and our Pakatan leader Anwar Ibrahim?
Have all these people been blindfolded that they cannot see? Or is it they don't want to see and don't care? Why is there still so much discrimination against the Indian community?
John Johnson: This is disgraceful. We are not from Zimbabwe or Angola. It is a black day for the government of Malaysia with a Hindu rights activist being denied medical treatment for his diabetic condition and his human rights being violated.
His supporters who turned up to demand medical treatment for him had chemically-laced water sprayed on them.
This is a corrupt and dangerous government, one at that. we all should condemn. We should rightly stand up for our rights. It is time to seriously think of the welfare of our future generations and stand together as one to bring down this despicable regime.
Let us not give in our struggle to have equality, freedom and justice and to make all Malaysians proud.
The Avathar: The latest episode of the police brutality is when some 300 supporters of Hindraf leader P Utayakumar were sprayed chemically-laced water.
The supporters were only accompanying nine people representing nine states and a relative of Uthayakumar, all whom intended to lodge police reports alleging that the Hindraf leader was denied proper medical attention for his ailment.
But Brickfields police chief Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid ordered chemically-laced water to be fired onto the crowd while some 18 individuals were arrested.
Why is that the police did not spray any chemically-laced water when Umno Youth staged various protests throughout the country?
How about when thousands of UiTM students did a street march, where were the police then? Didn't these street protests cause public discomfort?
Where is the one and only self-claimed Indian champion, the honourable ex-minister S Samy Velu to defend these arrested Indians. He claimed some time ago he was in a discussion with the government to release the Hindraf 5.
And what has the IGP and the government got to say about this treatment of the Indians?
On 'OK for Umno to rally, not Hindraf'
Peter Ooi:
After reading how chemically-laced water was sprayed onto Uthayakumar's supporters and then watching images of BN youths marching to the Kedah state secretariat , I can't help but agree with the many accusing the police of practicing double standards.Both gatherings had the same aim - to hand over a document to the authorities concerned.
Uthayakumar's supporters wanted to hand over a letter appealing to the authorities to give proper medical treatment to Uthayakumar while BN youths wanted to hand over a letter to the state secretary claiming that a Kedah state assembly person had shown disrespect to the Sultan of Kedah
Both gatherings were not given police permits were illegal. But police reaction towards both of them were worlds apart.
Uthaya's supporters were sprayed with chemically-laced water while the BN youths were spared this misery. Some of Uthayar's supporters were arrested while there were no reported arrest of the BN youths.
If this is not double standards, then what is, IGP?
Richard Teo: Can the home Mmnister explain why the 100 police reports made by Umno Youth against Karpal Singh did not meet with any chemically-laced water whereas a handful of Indians were brutally met with baton-carrying police and a chemically-laced water?
The home minister has once again shown he is incapable of meting out justice equally to all Malaysians. Umno Youth and its members seemed to be given preferential treatment and there appears to be one separate set of laws for them.
We have seen Umno Youth members holding demonstrations without any permits, barging into the august Parliament to manhandle parliamentarians and uttering seditious words with impunity.
While others would be immediately punished for any such infringements of the law, we see police and authorities' indifference to Umno memberss breach of any law.
Pakatan Rakyat will continue to benefit from the home minister's partial treatment of Malaysians. As long as Syed Hamid Albar is at the helm of this ministry, Pakatan Rakyat will have an ally who will ensure the reign of Najib will be a short and non-distinguished one.
On Gov't U-turn: Toll hike put off
Loloi: This is akin to a bad cop-good cop play from our politician actors. First, by announcing the toll hike it causes anxiety for the rakyat , then the ‘hero' steps in to defer the toll hike.
The objective of this ‘play', as we all know, is to ‘win' the hearts and affection of the rakyat and hopefully pull in enough votes to win the upcoming by-elections.
I'm surprised by the government's naivety and shallow thinking in assuming that by pulling off this kind of cheap stunt, they can win over the rakyat .
I think even a ten-year old boy can see their ploy and their actual objective.
Vijaya Kumar Muthiyah: First of all, I would like to thank the government for the U-turn. Just when I was thinking on how to manage this, the news flowed in. Thank you very much.
Unlike other commentators linking it to the coming by-elections, I do not. We should not politicise this issue as this doesn't affect the by-election areas.
There are no highways there except for Plus'. So unless they are going travelling, most of the people there don't depend on these highways.
On New anti-corruption body yet another BN lap dog?
Jr Lee: It is indeed stunningly shocking to read that our MACC chief commissioner Ahmad Said equate child pornography to traffic offences.
The Australian authorities, who caught his son bringing child pornography into Australia, had been involved in arresting traffickers of child pornography for many years and surely they know what child pornography is all about!
Understandably, in defending his son, Ahmad Said equated his son's offence to a traffic offence.
But, doesn't our MACC chief commissioner knows that thousands of innocent children throughout the world have been utterly destroyed in the production of child pornography in order to satisfy those who lusts for these videos.
To equate child pornography with a traffic offence is definitely poor judgment on the part of our MACC chief commissioner, a position of esteemed standing and highly regarded in the fight against crime and corruption.
Equally shocking is Ahmad Said's claim that you can find clips of child pornography in most men's handphones! Is our MACC chief commissioner referring to himself?
Then again, who in Malaysia has the authority to check his handphone? A simple test as to whether his claim is credible is to check all the handphones of the MPs in the Parliament and see how many actually possess child pornography.
Malaysians are terrified by Ahmad Said's poor judgment and incredulous claim.
Many now question whether many past ACA cases have been properly handled with sound judgment otherwise innocent Malaysian lives could have been affected.
Millionth Citizen: MACC chief commissioner, Ahmad Said Hamdan, your son was arrested with child pornography (that we all know) in Australia and you defending him is your problem.
Do not label all other men like your son. Your son can be a pervert but that is his problem. What gives you the right to run all other men down?
From your conduct, we see you are biased and pro-government,.you should therefore resign. You have no locus standi to talk about others even more so when nothing has been proved yet - unlike your son's case.
Ganesh: I read with disgust the chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Ahmad Said Hamdan's statement that most Malaysian men carry pornography in their handphones.
The reality is, most Malaysian men don't. I definitely don't carry pornography in my handphone and none of my many hundreds of friends do either.
I am shocked as to how one of the country's top most officials can come up with such a disgraceful statement. The MACC chief has no right to speak on behalf of most men in this country. What would our female counterparts think of us (men) now?
What would our children think of us now? Assuming my daughter reads the report, how am I going to answer my daughter? How does Ahmad Said know that most Malaysian men carry pornography in their handphones by the way?
Is this how a top BN-led government official comments? Ahmad Said also vehemently denied that the videos seized from his son's laptop in Australia featured child pornography. He said that the titles of the videos were ‘misleading'.
If Ahmad Said believes that the video clips were ‘misleading', he should start a proper appeals process in the Australian courts to clear his son's name and not justify his son's actions by implying that most Malaysian men carry pornography in their handphones.
CH Ong: Ahmad Said was reported to have denied that the pornographic material in his son's computer was not child pornography, and that the titles of the video clips (‘Raped (sic) Virgin', ‘10-Year Old' and ‘High School Students') were misleading.
Actually what really got my attention and prompted me to write this was not Ahmad Said's above statement but this following statement of his: ‘I can bet with you that it's (the pornographic materials in his son's laptop computer) something that you will find on most men's handphones'.
Since Ahmad Said is the head of the MACC I assume that he must be a person of the highest integrity and therefore his statement is based on facts and not something he cooked up to justify his son's possession of child pornographic material.
It is certainly logical to assume that Ahmad Said's claim that such pornography is ‘something that you will find on most men's handphones' had to be based on the practice among his circle of male friends, acquaintances and relations.
Does Ahmad Said realise that his statement to the press quoted above actually exposed the low morals of his circle of male friends, acquaintances and relations?
And that the public now know for a fact that most of his male friends, acquaintances and relations possess pornographic materials on their handphones?
Of course, I also expect that our police will act swiftly in confiscating the handphones of all of Ahmad Said's circle of male friends, acquaintances and relation and checking them for pornographic materials. Perhaps pornographic material may even be found on Ahmad Said's own handphone!
On Opinions divided over legality of Perak assembly sitting
Micheal: If Anwar Ibrahim ,or any other individual ,decides to challenge in court the legality of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's appointment as PM ,will his action disallow the speaker of the Parliament from calling for a sitting of parliament?
Even an illiterate will tell you that the answer is absolutely ‘no'.
There is no such provision under Perak state laws that prevent the speaker from calling for a sitting of the state assembly in this scenario.
And the fact of the matter is, there are more reasons to call for a sitting to determine,once and for all, the status of the MBs, past and present.
On ‘We appreciate Japanese loans but ...'
Retired Contractor: I'm a very experienced contractor who has been involved in many projects funded by Jica/JBIC. From my experience, their contracts always have loopholes where the contractor can claim extra later on.
It is obvious why Jica does not favour a compliant tender as this will not give opportunities for the contractor to claim more later on.
This could be the reason why Jica wants to do away with the compliant tender bid and select a tender where more claims are possible in the future.
On: Khairy: Own goals keeping local football down
YSC: Yes, own goals indeed. But goals scored by the likes of Umno-clone Khairy-types who mercilessly rob the nation of its playing fields, not only killing football but hockey, rugby, athletics and sports in general.
These schools, clubs and public fields were plundered from Malaysian children and youths by self- enriching politicians and their cronies for their own selfish interests under the guise of development.
Khairy, the blood for the killing of Malaysian football is on the hands of politicians of your ilk. All sports- loving Malaysians know this.
Please do the nation a favour. Stay away from destroying the nation completely now that your predecessors have killed off Malaysian sports.
Such hypocrisy! So Khairy, just keep quiet okay. Just give back the playing fields to the people.
On Ku Li backs Hadi's 'unity govt' call
Abu Nu'man:
In the above report, Ku Li observes that Umno has to use to brute force to sustain power thus undermining the institution of law, decorum and ethics.I just wonder whether this observation by Ku Li was made out of political expediency or out of naivety.
Perhaps out of naivety, like so many educated people (me included) who believe that our world now is so modern and we have a modern system of government in the world befitting that modernity.
But a casual look at history, antiquated or modern, will show one that the powerful nations have always used brute force to sustain power, either as a last resort or as a strategic tool.
The case of the Russians in Afghanistan, the Americans in Vietnam with the latest being the Zionist Israelis in Gaza are cases at hand.
What Umno is doing in this country is what the powerful always do eslewhere
On The fighting cocks in Batang Ai
Yuvan: Sarawak badly needs ‘fresh breeze' and a change of political climate. It is up to the people of Batang Ai to set the ball rolling and make it happen.
This state must be freed from the clutches of some completely selfish individuals who are running it like their ‘ancestral property'.
Micheal: Truly speaking, the majority of the Chinese in this country are not particularly concerned with the on-going 'in-house' tussle between the top two in MCA.
I dare to say more than 80 percent (probably an under-estimation) of the Chinese in this country were already fed-up with the party even without the tussle (perhaps similar to that of the former Indian support of the MIC).
This in-fighting serves as a reminder to the ordinary Chinese about two irresponsible leaders searching for more power and control. MCA leaders will never be able to shed the perception of putting self-interest above everything.
As long as their boss in BN continues to divide the rakyat with its racial policies ,MCA will never be able to revive itself. The next general election will create a new political history as it will probably witness the fall of the MCA president and perhaps his deputy, if he choose to contest.
On MIED - CEO lodges police reports
Yuvan:
Chithirakala's outburst and police reports are not a surprise. This show down was inevitable. I was just waiting to see when it was going to happen.It appears that Chithirakala was already not happy for quite some time and had some serious doubts about Samy Vellu's involvement in the management of MIED (and also Aimst).
I have two questions for her. First question, why did she not voice out her concerns earlier to the MIED board members and offer to resign from her position?
And the second question, why did she publish that coffee-table book heaped with praises about Samy Vellu and how was this publication funded?
I believe she was under tremendous pressure to follow orders from the ‘higher ups' and had only acted ‘in good faith' on many of the administrative and operational matters.
Now we can also understand the agony that all the previous CEOs and senior executives of Maika Holdings Berhad (the investment arm of MIC) would have gone through and the reason for the current state of affairs there.
Politicians, even those with popular support, need not necessarily be good administrators or good managers especially when it comes to financial matters. They should engage properly qualified and competent people to manage the operations and financial affairs involving their political parties.
It can be commercial or non-commercial ventures. These ventures should also have qualified compliance personnel who should be empowered to report any wrongdoings directly to the chairperson and/or board members of such ventures.
Some politicians may be good financial managers. But that does not qualify them to be involved or to interfere in the day-to-day running of these ventures.
They must know that a ‘conflict of interest' situations will always arise and it is best that they stay completely clear of any involvement and interference.
This is the only way for them to gain public confidence and respect when it comes to money matters involving their parties.
On Another U-turn: Ban on 'Allah' in Christian publications remains
Clinique Ang:
If only they spare that energy, persistence, determination and use to think of how to boost the Malaysian economy...Shaful: Why should Christians in Malaysia use ‘Allah' in naming their God? Don't they have any specific name for their own God? Do Christians in Western countries use the term ‘Allah' to refer to their God?
