TEOH BENG HOCK'S INQUEST

It has been awhile since my last post but that's because I have been on holiday and also busy with work that keeps me alive. A lot have happened since then.... deaths in custody, Teoh Beng Hock's (TBH) death, allegations of corruption of Pakatan leaders etc. and TBH's death making the headlines more than any other news for the past week. So many questions asked and a lot unanswered. As a result, an inquest is being held to answer those questions in relation to TBH's death.

The inquest started today (29/7/09) at the Shah Alam Magistrates Court. Gobind Singh Deo is acting for TBH's family, Malik Imtiaz, Ashok Kandiah and I are acting for the Selangor State Government, Hisham Teh Poh Teik, Rajpal Singh and Salim Bashir are acting for the Bar Council and Tan Hock Chuan is acting for the prosecution. The coroner is Tuan Azmil Muntapha.

We received documents from the prosecution today and managed to get an adjournment to peruse the documents. We were given all post mortem reports, Chemists reports, photographs, plans and all reports and documents pursuant to the investigation of TBH's death.

We were also informed that there are 90 more chemists reports to be served and 12 more to be completed.

The coroner allowed the adjournment to 5th August 2009 to enable parties to study the documents forwarded. The prosecution informed the court that 80 witnesses were present in court today to give evidence.

I shall try to post updates of the inquest as and when the matter proceeds in court. Meanwhile if you would like another view on TBH's death, read rights2write.wordpress.com.

Ungrateful=Unappreciative

The new Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, denied using the word "ungrateful" when relating to the Chinese voters but simply used the word "unappreciative" in an interview in an issue of Mingguan Malaysia last Sunday. According to him, ungrateful and unappreciative are two different words that carry two different meanings. He also offered to send those who "twisted" his words back to school for Malay lessons. Well that is really thoughtful of him but I think he is missing the point. Let us just look at the actual text in the malay language before we start jumping to conclusions. Below is the original text from Mingguan Malaysia:

"...Ya, kadang-kadang kita berasa terpedaya juga kerana zahirnya nampak macam 'ok', sambutan dengan tepukan gemuruh tetapi mungkin sudah ada tertanam dalam hati iaitu sesuatu tidak mudah hendak berubah, pokoknya masalah isu Perak terutamanya di kalangan masyarakat Cina yang mungkin telah dipengaruhi dengan sentimen simpati kepada Datuk Seri Ir.Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin, kononnya dia 'dijatuhkan', lepas itu kononnya dasar memberi pegangan tanah selama 99 tahun dilihat dasar yang menguntungkan.

Ini yang mungkin menyebabkan sukar BN mendapat sokongan walaupun kita fikir bila mereka hendak sekolah Cina dibantu, kita bantu, sepatutnya mereka membalas budi. Pada waktu itu, kita pun tidak berharap sokongan kaum Cina akan meningkat 40 peratus dan sebagainya cuma kita berharap ada peningkatan sedikit tetapi apa yang berlaku ia mencatatkan penurunan, macam tidak ada penghargaan terhadap apa yang kita lakukan"

My malay is not perfect but the last line in red seems to me that he is saying that the Chinese have not appreciated what BN had done for them. To me whether he meant ungrateful or unappreciative the meaning comes out the same. We all speak, write and understand basic malay. Who is he trying to fool? Being the new education minister, he should check his English before making a statement like that.

There is another thing that bothers me about his statement. The Election Commission has always insisted that the elections are free and fair and that our vote is a secret. If that is so, how did they know that the Chinese did not vote for BN at Bukit Gantang? Maybe the Chinese voted for BN and Malays did not. For the DPM to make a bold statement against the Chinese voters could only mean that they know who we are voting for. Well I guess you would say " Of course they do, they always did". True but the Election Commission assures the voters their votes are kept secret.

If this is the post mortem that BN has come up with for the by-elections then it is no better than Kugan's first post mortem report. The only way BN will only start getting some respect and garner some support when UMNO starts respecting Malaysians as people.

Who is running the country?

It is without a doubt that Malaysia is going through a recession whether the government likes it or not. The recent RM 60 billion stimulus package unveiled by the government says it all. We cannot hide from the fact that the financial meltdown is effecting the whole world. But how much of this RM60 billion is actually going to help the middle income and the lower income groups, those who are really affected by the slowdown? I would say, almost none of it.

The whole idea of this stimulus package is to help failing businesses and development companies which are probably linked to the government. There is no transparency of where the money is actually going. All we know is that money has been given out to help businesses and companies in trouble. To be able to help the people who actually need the money, the government has to go to the ground to actually see how bad it is affecting the middle income and the lower income groups. Does the government really care about them? If so, what studies have they done to know that the RM 60 billion would be enough to stimulate the economy?

The bad economy is already affecting the country and it shows with the high crime rate. The magistrate courts are filled with cases of petty crimes which include snatch theft, motorcycle theft, theft, cheating and the list goes on. I was in the magistrate courts this week and the accused persons charged for petty crimes were not hardcore criminals but just people like you and I. Some accused persons while pleading for leniency actually said that they stole because they need to feed their family and did not have money because they lost their jobs. They are people with no criminal records, probably not done a crime in their lives but due to desperation resorted to stealing to put food on the table.

It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that there is a breakdown in the system and the government does not care about it. They are too busy holding on to power and this attitude is causing a breakdown in society. Well I am not just blaming the government but I blame the politics of it all. The politicians are just thinking about how to snooker each other and are not finding a solution to better the economy or a method of running the country effectively. Malaysia seems to be on auto-pilot with BN not running it.

Pakatan Rakyat should start working on the next general elections and stop giving people false hopes. If you can govern show us by governing the states that you are in control of. It has been a year since the general elections and has Pakatan followed through with what they promised in their respective manifestos? I do not expect the government to keep any of their promises but I do expect the opposition to do so. Pakatan Rakyat is still on trial and has an uphill battle to keep the support strong.

While people are busy trying to put food on the table, politicians are busy fighting for power without regard to the consequences to the nation.

Open Letter to the King

Reporters Without Borders sent an open letter to the King after the RPK's case at the Federal Court. We are being watched internationally and the judiciary is under scrutiny. One wonders if the judiciary cares. This letter can also be accessed at the Reporters Without Borders website. http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=30330

“Your Majesty, do everything in your power to prevent any judicial error”
Open letter to the king of Malaysia about blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin

Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard wrote today to Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Ibni Almarhum Sultan Mahmud Al Mukhtafi Billah Shah, the king of Malaysia, asking him to intercede in the case of "RPK".

“Your Majesty,

Reporters Without Borders, an organisation that defends press freedom worldwide, would like to draw your attention to the case of Raja Petra Kamaruddin, a journalist also known as “RPK,” who is charged under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in connection with articles posted on his Malaysia Today blog (http://mt.m2day.org/2008/) and who now faces the possibility of being imprisoned again.

In the speech you gave today, you described the younger generation as Malaysia’s hope and future. RPK is a model of the free speech this generation should enjoy.

The way the federal court in Putrajaya is conducting RPK’s case is travesty of justice. The court’s impartiality is jeopardised by the fact that Augustine Paul, one of the three judges on the panel handling the case, issued a ruling against RPK in 2001 as a “threat to internal security.” RPK had posted comments online that lambasted the judge for his role in Anwar Ibrahim’s corruption trial - comments that were widely circulated on the Internet.

The decision by judges Nik Hashim Nik Ab Rahman and Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin to reject a request by RPK’s lawyers to recuse Judge Paul seems to be unconstitutional. Paul chose not to remain in court to hear the application for his recusal, leaving the other two judges. However, the law requires that such an application by heard by three federal judges.

Since the start of this case, the police and government officials have acted outside the law as established by the constitution. RPK was jailed under the only section of the ISA that allows the authorities to imprison a person without giving their reasons. And the charges brought against him violated some of his basic rights, including individual freedom (article 5.1), freedom of expression (article 10.1) and freedom of religion (article 11).

Malaysia has ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, so such violations of freedom cannot continue. This situation threatens the rule of law in Malaysia and offers an extremely negative image of your country internationally. In the current context, it seems clear that this is a political manoeuvre to silence RPK and put pressure on Malaysia’s civil society leaders.

We believe that it is your role, as your country’s monarch, to defend your people and ensure respect for their basic rights, while remaining completely neutral and independent of any political party, as required by the constitution. This is why we are seeking your help and why we ask you to ensure the withdrawal of the appeal against RPK’s release and to prevent any other attempt to detain him under the ISA.

These proceedings are a challenge which Malaysia should take care to meet. A new hearing has been set for 23 February. We urge you, Your Majesty, to do everything in your power to prevent any further judicial errors.

We trust you will give our request your careful consideration.

Respectfully.”

MORE INFORMATION : http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=30330