政治马戏笑死国际

Thankfully, I managed to get my Chinese column in Oriental Daily printed on Monday last week for I was discussing the issue of Wee Meng Chee, which as become a "political circus", while Malaysia became the butt of jokes by the international community. For on the very next day, the all powerful Internal Security Ministry headed by none other than the Prime Minister himself, issued an instruction to stop all further discussions and reports on the issue, well, except when its raised by the all-knowing Prime Minister himself, and his deputy.

Once again, I'll reiterate that I do not wholly agree with the content of Wee's songs, particularly in his use of coarse language as well as when he touches on religion. However, it becomes absolutely ridiculous when senior ministers of the Malaysian cabinet all took turns to jump on to the bandwagon to take potshots at the 24 year old student, threatening him with anything from detention under the ISA, withdrawing his citizenship and even charging him for treason!

The funniest of it all, must be Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz's highly thought provoking remark, when he wanted to take action against YouTube.com. If only our Ministers could act against all the other ills plaguing the country with equal seriousness and gusto.

(And Wee's back, now with his debut album to be released on 2nd Sept)

政治马戏笑死国际
潘俭伟

马来西亚内阁全然变成了一束国际笑话：一位24岁、年轻有为又潇洒的旅台生--黄明志只是唱了一首歌上载到YouTube.com网站，就足以使整个内阁直跳脚。

雪州前任州务大臣、巫统宣传主任莫哈末泰益及马六甲州首席部长阿里鲁斯旦建议政府撤销黄明志的公民权。首相署部长纳兹里要援引煽动法令控告黄明志。外交部长赛哈密提出把黄明志从台湾引渡回国的问题。。。。。。

还有，青年及体育部长阿莎丽娜威胁要援引内部安全法令扣留黄明志。教育部长希山慕丁及副首相纳吉把黄明志标签为“叛徒”。这可不是开玩笑的！叛国罪唯一的惩罚就是死刑。

马华的卫生部长蔡细历医生还特别代表黄明志向国人及政府道歉。然而，蔡细历在代表黄明志道歉时，却当着黄明志父亲即黄安熙面前通过电视及平面媒体再痛骂一顿，甚至批评黄明志是个“天真”、“幼稚”及“不成熟”的年轻人。

我们的内阁部长好像个个都特别空闲，以致没有其它更重要的事情急须处理。

过去3年来，马来西亚的犯罪指数飙升45%。我国外来直接投资额在过去10年内降低45%，反观城市的生活消费越来越高。耗资46亿令吉设立的巴生港口自由贸易区，引发涉嫌贪污及滥权的大问号。

根据最新公布的上海交通大学“世界500所最佳大学”排行榜，我国没有任何高等学府列在榜上。然而，我们亲爱的部长从来不认为这些属于国家大事，似乎不比黄明志所撰写的歌词来得严重。

即使黄明志道歉之后，内阁经过商议后还是决定要把黄明志提控上庭。如果我是黄明志，我很自然地反问：若是这样，我为何要先道歉呢？至于那些通过互联网发表威胁我及家人安全的人，为何没有面对同样的待遇呢？

最有趣的是，纳兹里竟然说除了援引法律对付黄明志之外，政府还要对付YouTube。纳兹里这番言论是否有点太“天真”、“幼稚”及“不成熟”？

YouTube是美国网络巨人Google的子公司。Google市值高达1千560亿美元（5千460亿令吉），或相等于占马来西亚国内生产总值的一半。最根本的问题还是Google的电脑伺服器未设在马来西亚。那么，政府又有什么权力“对付”Google呢？

要是这些内阁部长能够以同样程度的激情、热心与关心，去面对并解决其它领域包括经济、罪案、教育等方面的问题，我国人民肯定受惠无穷。只可惜，这些国阵领袖不仅成了马戏团的小丑，他们还成了国际社会见笑的卡通政治人物。

Malaysia-Today Censored?

Update: It has now been confirmed. Malaysia-Today has been censored by the Government and it spells the end of Mahathir's Multimedia Super Corridor. When a Bill of Guarantee deemed sacred is infringed, then there is nothing else credible in it. Let's hope it spells the end of this UMNO-led government as well.

I have received information that the ultra-popular Malaysia-Today website operated by Raja Petra Kamaruddin may have been blocked and censored altogether by the Malaysian authorities, and cannot be accessed via TMNet connections.

You can still access the website via the mirror site @ http://mt.harapanmalaysia.com.

Well, it may look like the end of the Multimedia Super Corridor Bill of Guarantees which has promised no censorship and there may be plenty of truth in the exposé by Malaysian Insider yesterday on the fact that bloggers are being targetted next.

Let's just hope that we are wrong about all this.

Avril Lavigne Too Sexy

You must be kidding me. Avril Lavigne has attitude. She wears the grunge look with dark eye-shadows. Yes, I'm a fan. But Avril Lavigne "too sexy"? Unbelievable.

Unfortunately, our very own Minister of Culture and Heritage agrees with the PAS Youth leadership that Avril is inappropriate for Malaysian youth. So permit has been denied for the concert, and I should think, unless you are Tom Jones or Cliff Richard, one should just forget about visiting Malaysia.

In fact, I think sooner or later, the famous Hong Kong and Taiwan artistes will be banned as well, for as far as I can tell, singers like Jolin Tsai or Karen Mok and many others dresses much more sexily than Avril Lavigne (without in my opinion being inappropriate).

Malaysian Artistes’ Association (Karyawan) describing the move as “ridiculous”.

“Their narrow-mindedness will definitely not get the support of the rakyat. They are always looking at the world through blinkers. They cannot see any other point of view except theirs.”

We can forget about Malaysia becoming a "cultural and entertainment" centre in the region, and one of the biggest victims will be our tourism industry in itself. Of course, that obviously isn't the concern of PAS Youth. Inul was asked to be banned. Same for Gwen Stefani. They even our very own Malaysian Ella and Mas Idayu's concert, much to the consternation of Selangor's Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm quite certain that after watching these concerts I won't suddenly get the urge to consume drugs, rob banks, go on a murder rampage or even cheat on my wife. And I don't even drink! So what's the problem?

I wonder if these PAS Youth members even looked out of the windows in their house? Or more pertinently, do they have windows?

Malaysian Cabinet Bullies Young Student

In an unbelieveable circus which, for one reason or another, can only happen in Malaysia, the entire might of the Malaysian cabinet bore down upon a 24 year old helpless young man who is currently still a student at a university in Taiwan. For what? Because he shot a video of himself singing and criticising the negative aspects of the country in a crude satirical fashion.

Yes, Wee Meng Chee used swear words. Yes, he used images of feces. Yes, he sang that he got woken up by prayers at a mosque early in the morning. And yes, he made the national anthem a tad more snappy to those who are young at heart. I wouldn't do that.

But for goodness sake! Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, himself the Minister of Education, as well as the Datuk Seri Najib "Islamic State" Razak labelled Wee Meng Chee a "traitor" on national television and all mainstream press. Tan Sri Muhammad Taib, the influential former Selangor Menteri Besar asked for his citizenship to be revoked! Other ministers asked for him to be extradited to be trialled back in Malaysia, for his university sponsorship to be retracted (even if he wasn't sponsored by the Government), for him to be charged under the draconian Sedition Act (even though there was a national anthem act).

All because of a 3-minute entertaining satirical music video which must have been view more than a million times by now by viewers all over the world. Wee Meng Chee rapped on police corruption, civil service bureaucracy, discrimination against Chinese education as well as the insensitivity of the authorities.

Harian Metro led the charge to demonise Wee, leading to plenty of threats against him and his family. "Now the messages posted in Youtube say the Malays want to bomb my family, burn my house, kill my family members and others."

Under intense pressure and threats, Wee finally succumbed to apologise to "those who are offended by his work". This apology was proudly conveyed by Datuk Chua Soi Lek, representing the Malaysia Chinese Association (MCA). Wee and his parents must have suffered total ignominy when the Minister of Health went on national television to publicly and openly criticise Wee as being "naive and immature".

Wee must have swallowed his pride in order for the furore to pass, as promised by the MCA politicians in the hope that his parents will be able to find peace and anonymity in Muar once more. MCA for a day, behaved like heroes for "saving the day".

But unfortunately, it was not to be. MCA's bed partner, UMNO, decided that the apology should not be accepted, and the matter must be referred to the Attorney General for prosecution under the Malaysian laws. Clearly, it has shown Malaysians that MCA can't even protect the interest of a 24 year old student from UMNO, even after forcing an apology out of Wee, as well as bringing Wee family's reputation into disrepute with the public scolding Dr Chua meted out. (What type of useless party is that?)

I feel completely disgusted. I'm completely disgusted not only to the treatment meted out to Wee Meng Chee, but also the total double standards the Barisan Nasional government handles these type of matters.

While Wee's videos were crude and rude, the article posted by Kelab Penyokong Maya UMNO (KPMU) was incontrovertibly offensive and seditious, when the latter insinuated that the Christian God was false, and their descendents deviants.

The overwhelming might of the Cabinet and Barisan Nasional was brought to bear upon Wee, while til today, absolutely no action has been taken against KPMU despite a police report having been filed more than a week ago. The offensive article remains in its website, totally unchallenged, not even by MCA who claims to represent the Chinese community.

Or what about the case of Tung Ket Ming who was trashed and tortured by the Police after being arrested? Absolutely pin-silent from our BN, the epitome of moral uprightness.

Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. This Government has clearly lost its moral compass.

Read also Ong Kian Ming's view of the circus at our other blog here.

Action Against UMNO Supporters' Website?

As mentioned in my previous post, I lodged a police report on a highly seditious and incendiary article posted only by Kelab Penyokong Maya Umno (KPMU). This has also been reported in Malaysiakini today.

The whole point of the article was to insinuate and accuse the fact that Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin was not a true Muslim but instead a closet Christian, but in doing so proceeded to hurl various hurtful, unfounded and grossly insulting remarks with regards to Christianity and its believers.

Raja Petra himself have responded to the article by rightly pointing out that if KPMU, whom Raja Petra accused of being the Cyber Troopers engaged by UMNO, has a bone to pick with him, then pick the fight with him, and not go one to hurl uncalled for insults using coarse language at others, including his family members and the Christian community.

I urge the Kelab Penyokong Maya Umno boys to play fair. Call me a swindler, someone who runs away to Thailand to secretly marry the Sultan’s daughter, gay, sex pervert who shags animals, male prostitute, gambler, mother-fxxxer, or anything at all you so wish. I can take it.

I appeal to the Kelab Penyokong Maya Umno boys to be a bit more sensitive to the feelings of Christians. By all means engage Malaysia Today. But please spare the Christians.

While the "insulting Agung and Islam" case against Raja Petra lodged by UMNO has been incredulously based on comments left on his blog, in this case, the owners and editors of the site have published KPMU's article which is really a direct insult to a multi-racial and multi-religion Malaysians.

Hence we can only hope that the police will be equally efficient in calling up the Editor of KPMU, a Dato' Siddiq Akmal Ismail for interrogation within 2 days of the report being filed. So far, after a day, I've just been asked to make my statement at the Mutiara Damansara police post earlier this evening. (no

Like the cases of Malaysiakini in 2004 and Nathaniel Tan a month ago, their computers were confiscated, will the Police do likewise to KPMU since the hosting company is based in Kuching and the data centre is located in Telekom Malaysia?

For the police report, I've specifically taken the liberty of using the summary extracts compiled by 5xMom

Repot Polis Bertarikh 7hb Ogos 2007

Saya, Pua Kiam Wee, yang beralamat 55-M Jalan SS21/1A, Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, ingin membuat report mengenai laman web Kelab Penyokong Maya UMNO (KPMU) yang beralamat web http://www.kpmu.net.

Dalam satu rencana bertajuk 'Riwayat Raja Petra II' tanpa tarikh yang baru diterbitkan di laman web - http://www.kpmu.net/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=129, KPMU telah membuat tuduhan yang teramat menghina terhadap kaum beragama Kristian. Penulis, penyunting, penerbit dan pemilik laman web KPMU perlu ditahan polis dan disiasat atas undang-undang hasutan (Sedition Act).

Penyunting laman web KPMU adalah Dato' Siddiq Akmal Ismail.

Rencana tersebut menuduh bahawa Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin, pemilik blog “Malaysia-Today” bukannya beragama Islam. Sebaliknya dia beragama Kristian. Antara seksyen-seksyen rencana tersebut yang jelas tidak bertimbang-rasa terhadap penganut agama Kristian in Malaysia, dan akan membawa keadaan cemas dalam hubungan antara rakyat berbagai kaum, adat dan agama di negara kita, termasuklah:

1. Tuduhan bahawa Tuhan agama Kristian palsu dan tidak wujud:
   
   “Ada jugak yang I dengar pernah nampak dia singgah ke gereja bersama dengan isterinya. Buat apa lagi? Dah tentu lah itu cara dia mengingati tuhan nya yang palsu tu.”
   
   
2. Tuduhan bahawa penganut Kristian adalah pemabuk:
   
   “Biasalah kalau dah kafir tu, mestilah dia dengan arak tak dapat dipisahkan. Umpama orang mabuk yang mengantuk tidur dengan botol arak-araknya. Confirm la bangun pagi wain dah tentulah dalam gengamannya.”
   
   
3. Tuduhan bahawa penganut Kristian di Malaysia berniat menghapuskan kaum Melayu:
   
   “Orang macam ni memang tak boleh di percayai. Manusia yang bertopengkan Islam sedangkan pada dasarnya jiwanya masih kristian dan cuba untuk menjatuhkan bangsa melayu.”
   
   
4. Tuduhan bahawa penganut Kristian adalah orang liar dan "deviant":
   
   “Keturunan yang mengalirkan darah kristian dalam tubuh anak-anak,cucu-cucu serta semua generasi petra yang akan datang akan terus menjadi songsang.”

Tuduhan-tuduhan di atas langsung tidak berasas dan diterbitkan bertujuan menghina penganut Kristian dan menghasut perasaan sakit hati, marah, kecemasan dan menimbulkan ketidak-tenteraman antara rakyat Malaysia.

Pihak polis mesti memberikan perhatian dan tumpuan terpenting dalam urusan kes ini supaya kesemua pihak yang bertanggungjawab akan dibawa ke mahkamah secepat mungkin.

Siasatan terhadap Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin dapat dilaksanakan dalam masa yang singkat sekali, dua hari selepas satu repot polis yang diserahkan oleh pihak UMNO di mana Raja Petra dituduh menghina Agung dan agama Islam. Kami berharap supaya pihak polis akan bertindak dengan kecekapan dan kepantasan yang sama.

Salinan rencana KPMU ada dilampirkan bersama report ini.

Halaman web tersebut dikendalikan oleh Hive Hosting Sdn. Bhd., yang beralamat 9A Lot 539 Section 10 KTLD Rubber Road Commercials, Kuching, 93400. Syarikat tersebut bertelefon +60.82234588 dan berfaks: +60.82234588. Manakala, server laman KPMU berada di pusat data, Telekom Malaysia. Matlumat di atas boleh diperolehi dari laman http://whois.net, seperti yang juga dilampirkan dalam repot ini.

We look forward to the fair and just Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who has preached responsibility in blogging, who is also the Internal Security Minister, to act without fear or favour.

Silencing Cyberspace: The Final Frontier?

This forum is part of a event by the Democratic Action Party (DAP) to promote and protect the freedom of expression by the Malaysian civil society, particularly on the Internet.

SILENCING CYBERSPACE - THE FINAL FRONTIER?

Date: 6 February2007 (Tuesday)
Time: 7.30 pm
Venue: KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall

Speakers:

• Mr Yeo Yang Poh, President of the Malaysian Bar Council
• Mr Jeff Ooi, Pioneer Malaysian Blogger
• Ms Sonia Randhawa, Executive Director, Centre for Independent Journalism
• Mr Lim Kit Siang, Parliamentary Opposition Leader
• Mr Lim Guan Eng, Secretary-General of DAP

As of today, we have the Printing and Publications Act 1984which provides that it is a criminal offense to possess or use a printing press without a licence granted by the Home Affairs Minister. The Minister is given "absolute discretion" in the granting and revocation of licences, which is required to be renewed on a yearly basis.

We do not require such an Act to govern us in the cyberspace. The Bill of Guarantees of the Multimedia Super Corridor project assures us, Malaysians, and the world that there will be no censorship of the Internet.

Hence it is important to protect the civil society's rights to express fair-minded views, opinions and commentaries on the Internet through arguably Malaysia's only source of freedom of expression.

Instead of making veiled threats in the news media or through our legal system, which appears to be increasingly prevalent, to silence the cyberspace, we hope that our Government will play its part to promote responsible freedom of expression on the Internet.

See you there! ;)