Nat Released and Public Forum

Yes! Nat is released! (here - subscription based, here, here)but the reason for his arrest is still not clear .. the police is unable to give a concrete reason under a democratic human rights aware rule of law - for arresting him. this is so bullshit. we are not a police state! we are not a mugabe country? or are we - now?

we must not allow the authority to abuse their position. they are here to serve not to intimidate. they are here to protect not to instill fear. they are here to uphold law and order not to break it.

come folks - let's make your voice here in this forum organised by Tony Pua

Theme: ' No to a Police State in Blogosphere'
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

if we continue to be aphathetic just becos we do not know the person being detained without cause then here's 2 piece of advices from sages:

First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.

by Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." - Albert Einstein

Nat arrested? Or just invited for coffee?

i read about Nat being "invited" to Bukit Aman from his blog and then from polytikus
site.

I am so distressed. angry. dissapointed. with all the rhetorics from the PM about "work with me" about asking the rakyat to work together to eradicate corruptions etc...

And on the same day that I read Jeff posting on Kofi Annan speech I quote from his site "Of course, protecting human rights and abiding by the rule of law is first and foremost a national responsibility," he said. "It is only when governments are grounded in the rule of law -- fairly and consistently applied -- that society can rest on a solid foundation."

WHAT is wrong with my beloved country? we have special forces killing and blowing up foreigners for only god knows why. We have high level minister being investigated for purported corruption, we have the top cop being accused of ties to the triads, we have allegations that a certain minister is using company funds to pay off personal debts, our crime level has reach such an extent that we need this public hearing on crime held by the Parliamentary Caucus on Human Rights and Good Governance --- all these issues are national issues as it affect our country integrity, it affects our livelihood, it affect our generations and the next, it affect our economy, it affects FDI and yet instead of focusing on resolving it and instead of rebuilding Malaysia reputation we have just added another black spot to our already tarnish repo in the international scene.

I hope the Ministry of Home Affair will do the right thing - release Nat. Now. or charge him and give him back his basic rights.
I also hope the Ministry of Home Affair will do the right thing by telling the police about Kofi Annan speech on "Responsibility to Protect".

Let's not waste the time of this former United Nations Secretary-General and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate effort for making his trip here.

Pray do the right thing, dear minister of the home affair who incidentally is also our PM wise this Khazanah Merdeka Series would be meaningless.

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

Jul 6, 07

Malaysiakini Vox Populi

On Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!
(need subscription to read)

Brian Fong: The ‘stupid, stupid, stupid’ and ‘I am not convinced’ minister is now participating in public hearings on crime? He is someone who has consistently outdone himself in being deaf to logical reasoning (as proven in the call to review the 1988 judicial crisis when this minister keep on saying, ‘I am not convinced! I need new facts...’ when all the facts are laid bare before him).

Having such a character to solicit feedback... that is the biggest joke of the month and an insult to all victims of crime!

Wintess Protection Unit

Have you read the Malaysiakini piece on "Key witness: My life was threatened"

Yes. The SB and/or the police is at it again. Like what they did in the Anwar case.. giving promises, cajoling, threatening... just so the witness will break down and eventually submit to their psychological pressure and say things which are planted for them to say and not what is necessary the truth...

("Rohaniza told the court that she had given a different version of events to her earlier statement to the police because of pressure from the investigators. "I was under tremendous pressure. I said something but something else was recorded by investigators," she told Mohd Zaki.

"They wrote things I never said," added Rohaniza, who testified in her police uniform, with tears in her eyes. "While I was remanded, they tortured me," she said, referring to threats that she would be investigated for murder.)

Isnt there a life recording in the interrogation room? But then of course these bargers can switch it off anytime... but then if what Rohaniza said is true, then how can the prosecutor sought to impeach her?

If these prosecutors are professionals who are serious about their work of upholding justice and be seen to possess integrity they should instead initiate an investigation into the allegations raised by Rohaniza.

Who interrogated her? Is the camera and recording on during the whole interrogations? Rohaniza also said the following:

Rohaniza told the court that before her cautioned statement was taken, a police officer from the Serious Crime Unit offered to free her and Azilah from the charge of murdering Altantuya. - Isnt this an interference to the course of justice? And who is this police officer to have the power to absolve someone from a criminal charge - (that is if both of them are found guilty) He must've greater power that the Judge, the PM, the DPM and the whole lot sitting in the Parliament put together.

Shouldn't the Hon Judge and the sworn to uphold justice, truth and the law of the country Prosecutor be more interested to find out who this omnipotent police officer is?

She added that the officer who took her cautioned statement also promised to shorten her remand period. As such, she said, she agreed with whatever was stated in the cautioned statement made under Section 112 of the Criminal Procedure Code on Nov 16, 2006 - Isnt there a law governing how long a suspect could be remanded for investigation? By offering a suspect to shorten the remand period in return for a cautioned statement is like saying if you listen to me then I will consider doing this for you ... shouldnt this be a contention point to be highlighted? Can any right minded people with integrity believe that under such condition the cautioned statement make is make without duress and is true?

Rohaniza could not remember the name of the officer. She also said that the same promises were made to her by a number of officers from the Technical Assistance Unit while she was under the 14-day remand. "I was kept isolated in a hotel room... before giving the statement. I was under tremendous pressure. They pressured me, saying I could not go home and would be locked up again." - They pressured me --- man, this statement alone is enuf for the sworn to uphold justice, truth and the law of the country Prosecutor to initiate an investigation on what really happened during the interrogation!

Since Rphaniza has brought up all these irregularities happening in the police station as well as the threat on her life - I think the relevant authority should put her in a Witness Protection Unit and instead of putting her as the Key Prosecution Witness should be the Key Defending Witness or the Key Witness to the Truth .. whatever-la... and her statement must be taken in a transparent way with the observation from representative either from Suhakam, Gerak or TI-M.

Democracy, Freedom of Speech and Wealth

Found this 2 pieces of timeless words from Louis Brandeis, US Supreme Court Justice

On Democracy and Wealth
"We can have a democratic society or we can have great concentrated wealth in the hands of a few. We cannot have both"

On Freedom of Speech

"Those who won our independence believed that the final end of the state was to make men free to develop their faculties, and that in its government the deliberative forces should prevail over the arbitrary.

They valued liberty both as an end and as a means.

They believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty.

They believed that freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable to the discovery and spread of political truth; that without free speech and assembly discussion would be futile; that with them, discussion affords ordinarily adequate protection against the dissemination of noxious doctrine; that the greatest menace to freedom is an inert people; that public discussion is a political duty; and that this should be a fundamental principle of the American government.

- Louis Brandeis, US Supreme Court Justice, 1927

The Singapore factor..and our Police

The Singapore factor..

After years of indonesia illegals committing crime bashing the PDRM is changing its tune now to Singaporean triads bashing!

To be honest, I think there are some truth in the statement given the proximity of Spore to JB and given the superb intelligence (well informed network) and efficiency reputation of the Spore police force, anti-triads agency, SB collectively that any triads that is serious about surviving must have layers and layers of camouflage applied to their operations. For them, making a living as a triad in Spore must be tough...so tough that setting up operations in the nearby JB must've seemed like a breeze.

If that is true than it say a lot about our police efficiency and effectiveness(E&E) in dealing with cross border crime or in curtailing international crime-syndicate from setting foot in Malaysia.

Looking on the bright side, i would prefer that our police to be in-efficient and in-effective rather than the reverse otherwise how can they explain away the increasing crime rate and how do they explain that crime syndicate from foreign country actually set themselves up in Malaysia? (The Star Online- Friday June 29, 2007 - Underworld may be backing triads
Federal police have not ruled out the probability that Singaporean triads terrorising Johor are being backed by the local underworld. ) and
( The Star Online - Sunday July 1, 2007 - IGP: Johor a magnet for overseas gangsters )

If our police force is superb E&E and yet the crime rate goes up with the setting up shops of foreign crime syndicates, then something is very wrong ...internally with the police force.

So it doesnt help much when the IGP call the Malaysian-today Article a slander but is not considering taking any action.

Is his hesitancy in pursuing the matter from a legal perspective a tacit acknowledgment that the MT article carries at least a grain of truth in it?

If the MT report is true and going by the recent announcement in the paper(The Star Paper) by the IGP and his CID Chief such as this - "Underworld may be backing triads" "IGP: Johor a magnet for overseas gangsters" "IGP: Seven gang leaders in JB identified" "Top anti-vice cops moved out" :- what does it sound to you?

Cant blame me for conjuring fishy images, but based on the MT article (if it is true) - then it really sounds like criminals and/or the IGP or his team or whoever the invicible hand maybe, maybe using this crime hoo-haa to consolidate their power base in JB by high-lighting the other crime leaders who are not "aligned" and taking out their ops altogether and ALL done Legitly!
dont you think it is smooth?

On the other hand, if the MT article is not true then the IGP owed the rakyat he served an explanation on:-

1: when did he found out about JB being the fav of overseas crime syndicate? what is so enticing about JB that it can serve as a magnet for them? Is it becos JB seem like the Gotham City of Msia?

2: when did he found out about the 7 gangleaders? what took him so long to find out or did this gangleaders just pop up like mushroom overnite? (oh sure....)

3: what has organised crime got to do with snatch thieves, rapes and house break-ins? Has he been able to tie up the current crime spates to any organised crime network?

Man.. the more I ask the more I wanted to ask..... but enuf for the time being...

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The Star Online > Nation
Friday June 29, 2007

Underworld may be backing triads

KUALA LUMPUR: Federal police have not ruled out the probability that Singaporean triads terrorising Johor are being backed by the local underworld. As such, Johor police, with added muscle from their Singaporean counterparts, are set to wipe out the triads.

CID Director Comm Datuk Christopher Wan Soo Kee said that currently Johor police were gathering intelligence on the Singaporean triads to ascertain their local links and the extent of their network. Among others, the Singaporean triads are believed to have committed murders, rapes, and gangsterism.

Comm Wan said the police were aware there were numerous Singaporean triad members in Johor and added that police had not ruled out the probability that Johor’s underworld could be
offering support to the triads. “They are now under our surveillance and we are just waiting for the right time to strike (at them),” he told a press conference.

On Tuesday, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said police had identified seven gang leaders who have been terrorising Johor with the help of influential people. – Bernama
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The Star Online > Nation - Tuesday June 26, 2007

IGP: I’m not bothered by Malaysia Today article

By MARC LOURDES

KUALA LUMPUR: “It’s all slander. It doesn’t bother me as all I am interested in is doing my job.”

That, in a nutshell, was Inspector- General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan’s response to a recent post on the Malaysia Today website accusing him of graft, corruption and being in cahoots with several underworld figures.

Musa, who was speaking at the handing-over ceremony of Comm Datuk Ismail Omar as the new
police management director, said it was up to the public to decide for themselves on the website’s allegations.

“I don’t need to comment on these things. After all, there are so many websites saying these kinds of things. My job is to improve the force,” he said. When asked if the article, written by Raja Petra Kamarudin, would jeopardise his efforts to revamp the force by undermining public confidence in him, Musa appeared unruffled.

However, when asked if he was going to take any legal action against the website or the author of the article, Musa declined to comment.
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Nation Sunday July 1, 2007

IGP: Johor a magnet for overseas gangsters

KUALA LUMPUR: Johor is a magnet not only for Singaporean gangsters but also Indonesian and
Taiwanese mobs, all of which are heavily involved in organised crime.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said the gangs were believed to be linked to local syndicates and involved in activities ranging from drug distribution and prostitution to illegal gaming.

“They are cooperating with local syndicates who are giving them protection to conduct illegal activities in the country,” he told a press conference after launching the Rakan Cop programme in Taman Melawati.

Musa declined to reveal the number of gangsters in the state but said the police were capable of reining them in. “We have identified the gangs and are gathering intelligence,” he added.

On June 26, Musa revealed that Singaporean gangs were involved in Johor's organised crime.
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Nation - Wednesday June 27, 2007

IGP: Seven gang leaders in JB identified

By LOURDES CHARLES and NELSON BENJAMIN

JOHOR BARU: Police have identified seven gang leaders who have been terrorising the state
with the help of influential people.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said police were in the process of gathering intelligence to either take action against these leaders under the preventive laws or to charge them in court.

“Many crime heads are from the state. Not only are locals involved but Singaporeans also control certain areas,” he said, admitting that there was a lot of illegal activity in the state which needed to be cleaned up.

Musa explained that the police would have to weed out gangsterism, clamp down on VCD pirates, loan sharks and those involved in prostitution.

“We must take action against the leaders and not just target VCD sellers,” he said. Musa was in Johor on a one-day working visit to discuss the crime situation with his men and also to brief Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman on police plans to curb the problem.

Asked whether officers carrying out their duties might fear reprisal or transfers because of these influential people, Musa replied: “My men need not worry about getting transferred if they are doing a good job. Just do not victimise anyone.”

Musa, who was satisfied with the efforts taken by the local police to tackle crime in the state, said there was no need for a special task force from Bukit Aman to be sent to Johor as had been done in Sarawak.

“They (Johor police) have their own task force. The situation in Sarawak is different as they (the gangsters) were too much,” he said. “The situation in Johor is under control but can be improved.”

On gangsterism, Musa said nobody wanted to come forward to give evidence and, as such, the police would have to use preventive laws against the suspects.

“If the gangster comes out from detention within three months, what are we to do?” he asked.

Musa also took local councils to task for approving entertainment licences everywhere, which made policing difficult. “Even in villages there are entertainment outlets,” he said, adding that fights usually broke out at pubs and clubs.

Quotes

from my collection shelved somewhere....

Men are ruled, at this minute, by the clock, by liars who refuse them news, and by fools who cannot govern, and therefore wish to enslave - G. K. Chesterton

Great people have a way of understanding and stating perennial truth long after they are no longer around.