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Yes, the Malaysian Police is very efficient, and superbly networked, internationally.
Crime fighting in Malaysia is a serious business. Our crime-busting rate is wondrous, to say the least.
All those reports you read about police shooting dead robbery/drug trafficking suspects must be very comforting especially the following line, “with the shooting of these suspects the police said they have solved the case/crippled the ring.”
Our boys in blue must be commended for their exemplary conduct in maintaining law and order without fear or favour. Criminals must pay, even if it means branding them with hot metals and beating them to death in custody.
Criminals must pay, even if one of them is a loony. They deserve the shot to the forehead. Hell, some had worse fates, like being blown up with C4.
Oh, and if those riff raff chose to protest it by asking people to wear a black shirt to mourn the death of justice and democracy, pick them up and make them a guest of the friendly neighbourhood police lock up.
If their friends protest their arrest with a candlelight vigil, hell, arrest them, and their lawyers too.
If they choose to go on a hunger strike, screw it, haul them all off to the lock up and give them nasi lemak and KFC.
Dissent must NOT be tolerated. What would the foreigners say? What would the investors say? Tsk tsk.
And who the hell does this impertinent RPK think he is, digging up dirt and slandering of all people…the Prime Minister. Can’t he take care of his own family?
This is Malaysia. According to the Information bla bla bla Minister, all this show of dissent is not our culture. I wonder what is our culture? Jadi Pak Turut?
Now the “coward” RPK has run away and still delivering hurtful salvos from beyond our shores. Such a pain in the ass, this guy. How can one guy give so many people in authority a painful case of hernia at the same time?
He needs to be found! Even if you have to cari dia sampai lubang cacing. Never mind if the lubang cacing is on the Gold Coast…way down under.
Interpol kan ada. Let’s activate the network. Bring him back. After all, we have an extradition treaty with Australia, don’t we?
Let’s hope the Aussies turn a blind eye to the contents of the treaty, especially this part…
ARTICLE 3
EXCEPTIONS TO EXTRADITION
1. Extradition shall not be granted in any of the following circumstances:
(b) if there are substantial grounds for believing that a request for extradition for an ordinary criminal offence has been made for the purpose of prosecuting or punishing a person on account of that person’s race, colour, sex, language, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, political opinion or other status, or that that person’s position may be prejudiced for any of those reasons;
Small matter isn’t it? After all, our cops and the Attorney General who lost us Batu Putih are such experts in their jobs, aren’t they?
Good luck fellas, as you look for RPK. Don’t worry, we won’t bother you with the small details like multiple murders by junkies, missing and brutally murdered children. Ini cerita biasa..kan?
And while you cops are at it with the Interpol folks, can you get them to get that Hilmi fella to come back from Indonesia? His assistance is needed in the Elizabeth Wong picture distribution case.
And don’t forget Mr Double SD and Disappear Bala, who is apparently on extended holiday in India.
Blog brethrens…take note!
Many of us would have had the problem accessing information which we are often entitled to, but thanks to a system of bureaucratic runaround and cover-your-own-ass, we don’t get them.
Learn more about what you as a citizen can expect. Turn up tomorrow, but call first. Places are limited.
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Right to Information Forum, organized by TI-Malaysia (TI_M) and The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ)
Transparency International – Malaysia and The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) are jointly organising a series of dialogues on Right to Information and its benefits to society.
It is a short programme that would discuss issues related to right to information and local experiences of how lack of information impedes good governance.
We would like to invite journalists and bloggers to attend the awareness workshop which will be held:
Date: 27th May (Wed), 2009
Time: 7:30pm -10pm
Venue: National Press Club, 84, Jalan Tangsi, 50480 Kuala Lumpur.
Participants: Media, NPC members, Bloggers
Speakers: H.R Dipendra (South East Asia Media Defence Network)
Noel Dass (Center For Public Policy Studies)
Light food and refreshments will be served
Those who wish to attend, please contact Usha Devi at 012-3707787 or 03-2284 0630( Santha-TI-M secretariat) as places are limited.
A little background.
Right to Information and its benefits to society on improving governance, transparency and accountability in Malaysia
Introduction
One of the most effective tools in the fight against corruption is right to information – the public’s right to request and receive information from the government. Right to information is a long established principle and a cornerstone of international law. It has been heralded by the UN General Assembly as “a fundamental human right and a touchstone of all freedoms to the United Nations is consecrated”. By holding the government to account for their decision-making processes and public expenditures, right to information can increase government transparency and reduce any gaps that exist between official and public knowledge.
Information is the prerequisite for effective civil society participation and monitoring of government activities. Free access to information enables law-enforcement agencies, citizens, and the media to uncover cases of corruption and maladministration. More importantly, however, the transparency herewith achieved acts as a deterrent to bad governance as the risk of detection of illicit or otherwise questionable practices increases. Right to information is thus an essential element of sustainable corruption control.
Right to information encompasses three main elements:
➢ the public’s right to request information
➢ the government’s corresponding duty to provide the information requested
➢ an obligation on the authorities to proactively publish information of public interest at regular intervals.
Although exemptions to disclosures will exist, they should be subject to the overriding
principle that all information should be disclosed, unless the harm caused by disclosure is
greater than the public interest in accessing information. The information should be
accessible in a user-friendly, cheap, quick and simple way and the government should be
required to conduct ongoing training for government officials and educate the public on
the right to information.
Forum objectives and aims
The ultimate aim of the Forum is to generate public support for a Right to Information law.
The Forum/Dialogue will:
• Introduce participants to the basic principles of Right to Information objective.
• Engage participants on how Right to Information can improve local governance.
• Promote the UN Convention on Anti-Corruption (UNCAC) and Right to Information as essential rights for a fair, transparent and accountable government.
Proposed Participants to be invited
➢ Bar Council representatives
➢ Representatives from the electronic, print and broadcast media
➢ State government officials
➢ NGO representatives
➢ State Anti Corruption Agency
➢ Resident’s association
➢ Academics
➢ Businesses
➢ Public
Forum Format – Half Day Forum (Dialogue – Presentation and Q & A)
The session will begin with a presentation on the basic principles of RTI and where applicable, sharing of cases of local communities in their efforts to access public information. This will be followed by a discussion through questions and answers. Sessions that begin in the morning can end with a light lunch, while those starting later can incorporate refreshments for the forums.
Folks. I am not joking.
The software giant has apparently unveiled a new software programme called Microsoft CIBAI.
I suppose there are no Hokkien speaking fellas in Microsoft, or else they wud not have made this colossal boo boo.
In his defence, the research guy is apparently French. But the brickbats are already raining. Read them at Josh’s , Infopirate and izreloaded.
This is a humiliation that I don’t think Microsoft can live down for a while.
I still remember HSBC did an ad campaign called The Importance of Local Knowledge, not too many years ago.
You know, football means different things in UK, US and Australia.
In advertising, it is often our job come up with names for products. Hundreds of names, all rejected for various reasons. Still some unfortunate brand names have entered the marketplace.
Read some of them here and be prepared to cringe.
Some words of advice for our newly appointed Ambassador to the USA.
1) Don’t go groping bargirls in DC. The least you will get a a black eye. The worst, you might be shot by the said bargirl’s boyfriend, who could be packing some serious ammo. The diplomatic embarrassment that would then ensue would be unimaginable.
It is not like Malaysia where you can grope some chick at a lounge and when she lodges a report, lean on her to retract the said report claiming she’s not thinking straight.
Anyway the Brickfields groping incident I wrote about a year ago may be forgotten already by our paragons in the media, but not me. There were unanswered questions then, but one thing I got clear. In Malaysia we should call the cops Polis Raja Di Malaysia. They can do anything and everything with impunity.
2) Please don’t go calling people “low class” just because of their skin colour. That is just not on, especially now that you are part of the diplomatic corp. That too an ambassador of minister status.
Actually I wonder at this whole “appointments of people to high places” thingie. While I wouldn’t call Tun Dr M’s Petronas advisorship a sinecure (the man is still sharp as a tack), I do question the Malaysia Airlines advisorship of Tun Abdullah Badawi.
And also Leo Moggie’s chairmanship of Tenaga Nasional. Granted he was the Energy minister but then, what does this really mean? All ministers can count on a sinecure position once they are out of politics or the cabinet?
Oh, by the way, Tempe, and Ashraf Abdullah, since you guys are big on morality, on the question of Elizabeth Wong, let’s talk about this groping fella’s right to his ambassadorship.
What? It was not proven you say? Yeah…right.
This is 1Malaysia. Anything boleh.
Yeah. Where is your kindness and generosity? Will you allow this sort of atrocity continue to happen?
Veteran blogger TV Smith went on a recon mission off Pulau Ketam and discovered the darker side of the rustic seafood destination.
Read about the dogs abandoned on a deserted island on TV Smith’s Sightings.
It underscores the wanton disregard our society have for animals, coupled with an extreme case of NIMBY-ism.
We can put this right, if we want to. Together, we can help to ensure that those dogs live to see another day.
The heroes who are championing this cause will need your help. That means cash for boat charter, vet and stuff. For more information, please click here and if possible, let all your friends know.
Don’t let this kind of dog-genocide go on. It is absolute cruelty.
Here’s a dialogue from a favourite movie of mine, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
SOAP: Oh, you assume, do ya? What do they say about assumption being the brother of all f**k-ups?
TOM: It’s the mother of f**k-ups, stupid!
SOAP: Well, excuse me, brother, mother or any other sucker, doesn’t make any difference…
Now, you more or less understand that the Assumption is more or less the first family of all f**k-ups.
Everybody does. Or so we assume. Huh huh…remember what I said about assumption again?
Heh!
Looking back at the events of the recent past in Malaysia, I can’t help but think that lots of red faces, anger, frustration and consternation would have been avoided if the players involved just stopped to think instead of assuming that everything will be alright cos it did in the past.
Rais Yatim assumed, when he got Information as well as Communications in his Ministry, that it gave him carte blanche to play Big Brother.
And of course, the assumption of this guy, just like most people in the rickety old BN, is that all mainstream media must reflect the views and the policies of the government of the day.
They should not be critical. It is “not on” for RTM to cover any Opposition news. And it should only be flattering to the BN posse and their likes.
Well, is it surprising then that the Malaysian public distrusts the govt, are revolted by the stuff they see on RTM 1, RTM 2 and even the Media Prima stable of TV channels.
So they go online. Malaysia’s online population is above average. 62 % or nearly 16 million. And newspaper readership is shrinking.
Now to address the loss of trust, perhaps Mr 1 Malaysia could start with some egalitarian media policies you know.
Hey, stop laughing!
I’m an idealistic idiot, I know. But being government owned doesn’t mean you can be an objective, critical media. In some countries they take pride in an independent media.
Of course, they are very few and far in between.
Still, government owned media is in a precarious position to uphold that “impartiality” principle.
Still, you could try, right? Like the BBC before the Lord Hutton episode a few years ago. Lord Hutton, was the Lord Chief Justice in the UK at the time and in his leanings and decisions, could be compared to our own Tun Hamid Omar or dear old Fairuz of the Lingam saga.
That was really Tony Blair govt leaning on the BBC for having the temerity to chide them for going to war with Iraq over suspect evidence of George Bush’s WMD.
The entire journalism community of Britain knew that it was a BBC that was being victimised. Its chairman Gavin Davies and MD Greg Dyke both left BBC in protest.
I suppose no one in RTM or the mainstream media has the testicular fortitude to take on the might of the ruling coalition. Cari makan laa.
These principles, honesty, duty to public and all that chestnut, are dispensable, especially when you and your kin could be called to Bukit Aman to “assist with investigations”.
The public, who knows it has no choice but to flip to the other side of divide to read Malaysiakini, The Malaysian Insider or The Nut Graph.
Or opinion portals like the hugely popular Malaysia Today and some blogs.
Or the political party media like Harakah, or Suara Keadilan.
So the dubious Perak government decision not to invite the new media yesterday, is an ill-advised one.
Why?
Because it is continuing to demonstrate that 1 Malaysia or not, the BN government doesn’t recognise new media and its opinion-shaping potential.
Because it signals that BN is still ignorant/oblivious/willfully blind to the grassroot reality.
Because it doesn’t help the 1Malaysia CEO’s image one bit.
Because it signals that the BN govt in Perak are intolerant of any form of dissent and criticism.
Because it tells the people that Zambry and his band of merry men still live in the stone age.
Because it tells you that for all his Phd, Zambry doesn’t think all that much.
Sad, but nothing new in Malaysia. Nothing new in the world.
And don’t expect the mainstream media folks to stand up and cry foul over the exclusion of their new media colleagues.
What balls those editors had, is all shrivelled up after the pre-Kuala Terengganu ultimatum by Mr 1Malaysia himself.
