| By Martin Jalleh |
| "I think this government under Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is a very, very liberal government," Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz tried very hard to convince himself as he spoke at a National Union of Journalists (NUJ) forum in September. How and when was Pak Lah's government "very, very liberal"? Was it when:
The "liberalism" which Nazri spoke so proudly of resulted in Bolehland achieving the worst-ever ranking in the latest worldwide press freedom index released by Paris-based watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) – the sharpest plunge of 32 spots from 92 to 124 placing, which is also Malaysia's worst ranking in the RSF annual worldwide press freedom ranking since it was started in 2002. Judicial jesters The defects which began to show on nine occasions in a three-month period after the opening of the second largest court complex in the world in Jalan Duta were very symbolic of the state of the judiciary in 2007.
For the first time, the country did not have a chief judge for eight months, and Nazri would insist that there "is no law that says the chief justice cannot act as the chief judge of Malaya". It was also the first time when a de facto law minister of Bolehland openly declared that he is the minister for the chief justice. It showed how nascent Nazri was. For the first time too the country heard a CJ confess the existence of judges who (a) were often seen socialising with lawyers, prosecutors and corporate figures while hearing their cases in court; (b) were "constantly angry and foul-tempered" , portraying themselves as being the most brilliant or perfect judge in court; (c) accepted bribes. No action was taken against all these judges. The super fast-track appointment of Umno lawyer Zaki Azmi as the president of the Court of Appeal was also unprecedented. The government was passing a vote of no confidence on the judiciary and saying there was no one else in the judiciary worthy of the position. Fairuz would go on to advocate the abolition of Common Law and favouring its replacement by an Islamic law system. He would challenge Karpal Singh to reveal the name of a Federal Court judge who had not written judgments in as many as 35 cases. When the latter did, the then CJ kept an elegant silence. With his track record, Fairuz was put on a fast-track to retirement. It was perhaps the most "correct, correct, correct" thing that Pak Lah and his government did. It would also give Fairuz a lot of time to recall his supposed infamous telephone conversation with V K Lingam. People power 2007 was a year when ordinary citizens decided courageously to record their feelings on the streets of Bolehland. They believed in their right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, in spite of the government's poor track record of respecting these rights. And so they told Pak Lah the truth – on Sept 8 when 750 people gathered near Batu Buruk, in Terengganu for a Bersih ceremah; on Sept 26 when 2,000 lawyers and others marched to the PM's Department in Putrajaya to hand over a memorandum asking for a royal commission to investigate the lingering Lingam tape scandal.
The tell-me-the- truth government could not handle the truth. Predictably each assembly was labeled "illegal" – is the Federal Constitution illegal? We were told it is not our culture to demonstrate – ask Umno, it's in their history. It will damaged the country's good name – peaceful assemblies are a common democratic feature overseas. There will be violence – only when the police "riot". In sharp contrast was former deputy PM Musa Hitam, who, when asked in an interview whether Malaysia is ready for peaceful assemblies, spontaneously declared: "Yes! Come on, we have been independent for 50 years." Pak Lah's ministers stammered, stuttered and struggled to make some sense in front of the international media and to justify the government's desperate responses such as charging those at the peaceful Hindraf assembly for "attempted murder"! The mainstream media sank to a new low. At the 50th year of our nationhood we still have a servile press sucking up to their political superiors and giving stories a spin and a slant that suits, soothes and serves the government. The police pranced, pounced on and provoked. They pushed and pulverised. They pummeled and reduced to a pulp. They pounded with chemical-laced water and pierced the air with tear gas. But the people, especially in the Bersih and Hindraf assemblies showed they were no longer afraid. There were even moments when they stood their ground. The police lost all authority and respect Fully armed, they were helpless! Race and religion For years, Malaysia was very well known as Asia's melting pot of races and religion. But Pak Lah's track record showed a country gradually turning into a boiling pot – a land where opportunistic politicians used race and religion to stir the cauldron. The PM, of whom well-known writer M Bakri Musa calls "His Hollowness the Imam of Islam Hadhari" failed to put a leash on the increasing number of lower echelon zealots or those whom columnist Helen Ang calls "Little Mullah Napoleons" running riot with their brand of religion. Marina Mahathir's Musings in May 2007 highlighted the existence of a "new association registered for the propagation of the shallow and superficial (SS)" and meant for those "who have nothing better to do with their lives than look for monsters under their beds, enemies in their blankets or crosses in their buns". "Just as we don't see the supreme irony of trumpeting our religious superiority while at the same time claiming that it only takes biscuits to destroy us, we don't see the irony of extolling ourselves as a superior race while at the same time insisting on crutches and handouts," was Marina's marvelous conclusion.
In 2007, Pak Lah would create a record of sorts by contradicting himself time and again on matters concerning race and religion. For example, he would preach the virtues of inter-religious dialogue but would go on to ban the Building Bridges Conference, a seminar meant to bring together Christian and Muslim scholars of international repute. The PM would insist on Malaysians being sensitive to each other but he would defend Hishammuddin' s brandishing of the keris at the Umno annual general assembly. He would also give his blessings to Umno holding its annual general assembly – on Deepavali! He would emphasise that Malaysia is not a secular nor a theocratic state but would later decide to follow his deputy in declaring that Malaysia is an Islamic state – and made sure that the mainstream media carried his and Najib's views only – what a dialogue! In his Christmas message of 2007, he would call on Malaysians to move forward and put the country's interest before any "narrowly-defined demands". He would then be so "narrow-minded" as to ban the use of the word "Allah" by those of non-Muslim faiths, and its use in the Herald, a Catholic weekly. Anwar Ibrahim provides a good comment on Pak Lah's track record in this regard: "The ruling BN coalition is appealing to Muslim sentiment to reinforce its support in elections which could come in March…Malaysia' s problem is not radicalism…The real issue is what I would describe as state-sponsored Muslim puritanism more by racist sentiments than religious principles." Flip-flopping into the future? The once looking good PM who had the people feeling good, increasingly failed to deliver the goods of transparency and accountability. Indeed in 2007, the supposed fairy tale of change by Pak Lah became what it really was – a full-bloom farce. After four years, the PM has no concrete results to show – just cheap claptrap. The only significant change of Pak Lah was when he made an amendment to the Federal Constitution to allow the then 65-year-old Election Commission chief to serve until the age of 66 – do you smell a rat? Will the citizens of Bolehland re-elect the "flip-flop" PM and continue to stomach the farce, flaws and fraud flung at our faces by the 4th- floor Boys? Will Malaysians want to bring back the many soiled reputations, spent characters and self-seeking politicians of Umno and BN? It is time to get real. Even the part-time model "space participant" , who came close to a moonwalk at the cost of RM90 million of our hard-earned money, had to come down to earth, and is probably busy back at the catwalk. Indeed, ratting through the past four years it does not take very much for one to see that Pak Lah has ratted on his promises of 2004. Surely, enough is enough! A Happy Rat Year! |
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Of blockheads, buffoons and bigots (Part 2)
Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin (Zam) told the top editors of the media that there was "no need to tell the PM the truth"?
Here too Pak Lah and his government achieved a record of sorts. The two main players were then chief justice (CJ) Ahmad Fairuz and Nazri who is also the de facto law minister. Both were ready to do whatever it took and to utter the most na
On Nov 10, 40,000 converged at Istana Negara to express their concern over the conduct of elections in 
"2007 has proved to be one of the most divisive and troubled years in the half-a-century of Malaysia's nationhood – with religious polarisation assuming its most serious dimension, compounding an already difficult problem of racial polarisation in the nation-building process," observed Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang.
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