@ Nathaniel's Vigil

Thanks to Malaysiakini who recorded the event, my little impromptu speech at the vigil for Nathaniel Tan on Saturday evening seeking his release was captured on video ;)

Before me, you can hear Nathaniel's sister, Cheryl sing, and Nik Nazmi addressing the crowd. You can also catch other Malaysiakini on the vigils as well as his release on Malaysiakini.tv.

And as he has been released from detention by the police, he has graciously agreed to speak to us about his detention tomorrow evening @ KL & Selangor Assembly Hall ;) So see you guys there!

No to a Police State in Blogosphere

Nathaniel Tan, a 26 year old dedicated blogger, a Harvard University alumnus and an aide to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been arrested under the Section 8 of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) over allegations that he had documents linked to Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Johari Baharom’s alleged involvement in corruption.

To demonstrate our solidarity with Nathaniel who has been dealt with great injustice, to show our steadfast refusal to let the Government curb the democratisation impact of blogs and the Internet, and to voice our displeasure at the OSA, we are organising a forum with invited speakers from across the civil society with details as follows:

Venue: KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall
Date: 19th July 2007 (Thursday)
Time: 7.30 pm
Admission is Free; Bring Friends

The panel of Distinguished Speakers include:

• Nathaniel Tan, Blogger & Aide to PKR Advisor*
• Jeff Ooi, Protem Vice-President, All Blogs Malaysia
• Harris Ibrahim, Lawyer & Founder of The People's Parliament
• Nurul Izzah Anwar, Special Assistant to PKR Advisor
• Lim Guan Eng, Secretary-General of DAP
• Tony Pua, Economic Advisor to DAP Secretary-General

Chairperson: Soon Li Tsin, Journalist & Blogger

* We will be inviting Nathaniel to speak to us and relay his experiences at the Forum should he be released from remand on Tuesday, 17th July or before. We'll also be trying to leave as much time to the floor as possible, so as to enable greater interaction at the forum.

And for those who would like to find out a little more about the young man who wants to do so much for his country, check out the write up at Jeff's blog.

A quick note on the OSA:

The OSA in its current form allows for a government to administer this country covertly and in defiance of the accountability and transparency that is crucial to democratic process. As human rights lawyer, Malik Imtiaz says, "this impacts on all our lives in more ways that we can begin to understand as the government is given a means to thwart legitimate public interest by the forced suppression of material and relevant information."

See you there!! ;)

Candlelight Vigil for Nathaniel

More activities are being planned for Nathaniel as I write. Leaders of both DAP and PKR have unreservedly condemned Nathaniel's arrest.

Meanwhile, there's a candlelight vigil for Nathaniel tonight (Sunday 15th July) at 8.00pm outside the Dang Wangi Police Station (Jalan Stadium, near Merdeka Stadium). Let's show that we are not cowed by irresponsible, vindictive, unethical (I can go on...) police and government actions. See you guys there!

Free Nathaniel

The blogosphere is abuzz with Nathaniel's arrest. I really don't think I'll add to the opinions already raised, except to say that Nat is such a nice guy that doesn't deserve this treatment. The police abuse of the laws of the land is abhorrent and deplorable.

Secrets

To quote the most recent issue of our leading financial weekly, The Edge newspaper, "What's the big secret?" The Government has classified the toll and other utilites concession agreements under the Official Secrets Act (OSA), which if contravened, will require a mandatory 1-year jail sentence.

The problem is, while 4 leaders of opposition parties are facing the threat of prosecution under the OSA at this point of time, many others who have made equally 'damning' disclosures are not investigated.

Information contained in water and toll concession agreements is often readily available to investors and bondholders... While bondholders do not necessarily view the actual concession agreements, all vital information contained in these is presented to them through those other documents.

These secondary documents tell investors in precies detail what and when toll rates or water tariffs will be raised and what sort of compensation concessionaires are liable for men the government fails to raise tariffs as provided in the concession agreements.

Hence, given that the concession companies have themselves made the information within the so called confidential agreements "publicly" available to the "investment class", why shouldn't we, the taxpayers be "accorded an equal right to such transparency and accountability"?

As an example, while it's not a widely available public information, the "investment class" would have known for a while now that Litrak, the conession-holder for the Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong (LDP) is cash-rich despite it's borrowings and requisite loan repayments. It has been highlighted that Litrak has so much cash, it's like to return them to its shareholders soon.

Over the next 2 years, [Litrak] may have the capacity to undertake further repayments as its free cash flows increases, says AmResearch. The research house estimates that Litrak's free cash flows will increase between 16% and 18% by FY2007-2008 from 9.3% in 2006.

Litrak's earnings are expected to increase significantly in its financial year ending March 31, 2008, on the back of higher toll roates. Given the higher toll receipts, AmResearch estimates that the company's earnings will grow 64.8% to RM136.2 million in FY2008.

Such sharp estimates could not have been made without access to OSA-classified information, or AmResearch must have been irresponsibly plucking assumptions from thin air.

Of course, the fact that, thanks to our benevolent government, the shareholders of Litrak will have more guaranteed bumper years, at the expense of the rakyat.

Footnote: For more examples of such disclosure of OSA-classified information, check out the post by Sdr Lim Kit Siang.