Say ‘No’ to Malaysia’s Media Council.

It’s a sham from the very beginning. The government’s proposal for a media consultative council is meant as a propaganda tool, at best, and at worst, to stifle more the current oppressive scenario of the Malaysian media. Thank you CIJ (centre for indepedent journalism) for saying it to their faces!

Already we are shackled by countless laws against press freedom and free speech – the Printing Presses and Publications Act (which determines whether a news organisations get the license to operate yearly) , the Internal Security Act (detention without trial for an indefinite period of time), Sedition laws, and the Multimedia and Communications Act. And now a media consultative council, which would be everything accept ‘consultative’?

Now way, siree!

Why not have a council to abolish all these repressive and anti-freedom law first? Then, let’s talk. You treat journalists like your enemy, then ask us to sit at the table for dinner with you? Well, gangsters do that. But we are not gangsters.

Which is why even academics consider the move as an “attempt to combat “non-conformist” views especially in the alternative media” (Zaharom Nain).

What the media wants is to govern itself. We believe we are capable of doing that. And we’ll do it by expressing our views not silencing or controlling them. Let the voices of dissent flourish, lets a thousand opinions bloom! We’ll deal with unethical journalism by confronting them head-on in our articles and stories, that they are wrong and unacceptable!

But when you have government heads on the ‘consultative’ board, they don’t consult. They’ll come with their authoritative view and do just that – authorise. Who doesn’t know that their ‘chats’ are orders, perintah, as they say in Malay. That’s their ‘meetings’ are warning sessions.

And to top it all, to have BLOG HOUSE – Prime Minister Najib Razak and Mahathir Mohammad’s propaganda tool – to represent “the new media” is the most blatant show of disregard for free speech and the most obvious indication that this ‘consultative’ council is only meant to propagate a one sided and jaded view.

I don’t mind if Blog House is non-partisan and have been conducting itself credibly but it doesn’t. It’s secretary Tony Yew recently lodged a police report against a fellow blogger Lillian Chan of Penang for her twit asking Christians to join the Bersih rally. If the secretary of Blog House cannot tolerate dissent, how can it represent the new media?

What more, Blog House patron is former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad – he put 106 people in ISA (detention without trial) and closed down several newspapers in 1987, and ruled with an iron fist for 22 years until his resignation in 2003. This can represent the “new media”?

Bullshit to the core!!!!!!

Well, after what the government has done to the Economist – blacking out relevant parts of the Bersih 2.0 rally for electoral reforms, what can the council hope to achieve with free press?

I knew from day one where bloggers who follow the tails of bloggers like Rocky Bru would lead to. And my premonition has proven me correct. Bloggers, who used to think that I was a fool, have now told me “You were right, Susan”. I itch to tell them “I told you so”. But I shall remain humble in my farsightedness.

No, thanks! Probably the only good this it does is to disallow online media like Malaysiakini.com to join its ranks. Would be a bloody waste of precious time.

Najib takut?

Happy birthday, Najib! What would you like for a birthday present? Someone on my twitter said: what about an air ticket to france to attend the submarine court case? I thought that was a great idea!

Yesterday, Malaysia was on the world map again. See here, here, and here. As usual, for all the wrong reasons.

An affair which could have remained very low key and local, is now worldwide glare because Malaysia has deported French lawyer William Bourdon.Bourdon is not just any lawyer. He has 30 years and 50 monitoring missions behind him, probing, unraveling and exposing corrupt practises of despotic regimes, from africa to asia. Now he and the organisation he set up in 2005 – Sherpa – has set their eyes on Malaysia. This is made possible by a civil suit filed by Suaram in Paris against shipyard builder DCNS.

Arms dealing and expenditure in the country is not only complex but intriguing. And French probe has unearth millions of ringgit in commission paid to ‘top’ Malaysian officials by DCNS. Such acts are illegal and punishable by French law.
Fighting corruption within one’s one country should be considered noble, even patriotic. An open and transparent government should welcome this gesture.

So when Bourdon was detained in the aircraft just as it touchdown in KLIA on Friday, and later that night deported back to France, one can only conclude that the government under Najib Razak has alot to hide in this respect! This happens to be a universal perception.

Yellow submarine night.

Nothing new was revealed by French lawyer William Bourdon @ the Suaram Ops Scorpene fundraising dinner tonight, because I had somehow reported most of it. But the lawyer sort of told everyone to hang on to his/her seat BECAUSE the best is yet to come

The BEST is when the “beneficiaries” of the alleged corruption and scandal of the two submarines purchased by the government in a 2002 deal are exposed.

Bourdon has promised to share with us those details. Revelations would include secret meetings held in Paris or elsewhere and participants of the meetings, related to the subs deal. Who benefited from the commissions, who travelled with Abdul Razak Baginda and Altantuya Shaariibuu, are all those details people are waiting for.

Would it shed light on the Altantuya murder in 2006 by Prime Minister Najib Razak’s bodyguards? That remains to be seen.

About 600 people turned up for the Ops Scorpene dinner. Lucky we were not served mamak dinner in a yellow submarine. The response and support was overwhelming. Organiser Suaram said they had achieved more than their targeted amount and thanks all the kind souls who donated. It’s not yet enough though. Wait till the case go to court. Translation fees alone amounts to about Euro20K. Sorry, can’t use google this time

It was funny that they played Beatles’ Yellow Submarine at the beginning of the dinner. So right for the occasion. Mat Sabu came in his wheel chair, Lim Kit Siang in his dark sunglasses. Tian Chua was in his usual cheeky mood. Saw Kee Phaik Cheen, who looks good. Met many FB friends like geraklah Gerakan (gG spokesperson) Yeap Ban Choon and a host of other people (including an ex-boss), most of them were people I know. Anil Netto was around and did ‘LIVE’. Oh, how I wish!

Friends Devan and Dr. Gong, who came all the way from Ayer Tawar, Perak, and who donated money for the dinner, and sat at my table (as mom and my neighbours attended too) added some flavour to an otherwise busy night @ work for me. I couldn’t eat. Had to write a story. At the end, the story would only be published tomorrow

BUT tea with Cheah Kah Peng and Raymond Ching after the event was a great conclusion to today’s life story!

Vertical Road, magical & mystical.

The words & poems of my favourite Persian poet, Rumi, came alive in this dance performance, which draws inspiration from Sufism.

“I died from minerality and became vegetable/and from vegitativeness I died and became animal/ I died from animality and became man/ Then why fear disappearance through death?” asks Rumi.

Vertical Road by Arkam Khan Company, performed @ Dewan Sri Pinang last night, was to me, 70 minutes of ‘silent meditation‘ and ‘collective consciouness‘ with about 1,200 people (full house!). It was courtesy of George Town Festival 2011, a big thanks to festival director Joe Sidek for this lovely piece. I went to the show with a journalist friend, and met others, who as always, were a bubbly and exciting group of people.

I was quite fascinated with the show, it was both appealing to my senses and emotions, that the stage was set bare, with only a thin translucent screen and low lights. To me, the title ‘Vertical Road’ itself points towards the soul’s search for the meaning of life, defined ultimately by one’s higher self. To some, this is God, to others, the universe, and to many, an idea, concept, believe, faith, philosophy or cult.

On planet earth, humans arrive, they linger and leave. The question remains, do they return? Are they reborn?

Ops Scorpene – most exclusive dinner of the year

This Thursday, Jul 21, French lawyer William Bourdon will be in Penang to give an exclusive presentation to disclose how even “bigger” commissions were paid to “extremely high level” government officials in Malaysia related to the purchase of two submarines in 2002.

It’s here in the MALAYSIAKINI.COM news.

The Scorpene submarines are at the very heart of the continuing controversy over the death of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28-year old Mongolian translator who was cruelly and brutally C4-ed to her tragic death.

However, many may not know that French lawyers William Bourdon, Renaud Semerdjian and Joseph Breham filed two requests with Parisian prosecutors on Dec. 4, 2009 and Feb. 23 2010 on behalf of the Malaysian human rights organization Suaram to investigate bribery and kickbacks from the deal.

Ops Scorpene has been launched to raise funds and awareness for these concerned parties to further pursue the case in the French courts. It hopes to question arms spending and transparency in arms procurement in the country.

This is where YOU can play a very important role to see that justice and truth prevails. Far above all the coffee shop discussions or online rants, this is YOUR CHANCE to play an active role in unravelling truth.

Other speakers include Cynthia Gabriel (SUARAM), Lim Kiat Siang (DAP), Tian Chua (PKR), and Mat Sabu (PAS).

Date: 21 July 2011 (Thursday)
Time: 8.00p.m.
Venue: Banquet Hall Function Room 2, Level 4, Sunshine Square complex, Penang

For further information, write to jingcheng85@yahoo.com or suarampg@gmail.com or contact Ong Jing Cheng at 012-7583779 .

For further information, http://opscorpene-suaram.blogspot.com/

Gormless: I have gone to London to see the Queen!

Found this on the net. It is hilarious. Did the Queen really wore yellow when giving Prime Minister Najib Razak an audience? Najib hates yellow to the point of death. He vomits and shits yellow wherever and whenever he sees them. Hahaha. If this truly happened, there is no bigger slap for our GORMLESS PM.

Or is this just photo-shop? Whatever, it has made my day.Hope it makes yours too.

Note: Wanna know what GORMLESS is, read HERE.

“Bilateral trade and investment is important. Respect for basic human rights more so”, opined a senior editor of Britain’s The Guardian newspaper, Simon Tisdall, calling the Malaysian government “gormless” and chiding it for “strong-armed tactics” in quashing the Bersih 2.0 rally last Saturday”.

EO – is this law or is it politics?

I am baffled, confused, bewildered, lost
how could anyone wage war against the king
by using t-shirts?
don’t they need guns, bullets and even bombs?
don’t they need to have an army, soldiers at least?

They were caught while travelling in a bus
They did not come in an army tank
They wore sandals, not thick black boots
They didn’t wear uniforms like your Light Strike Force!
All they had in their hands
were bottles of water
Not a riffle!
Not a hand grenade!
Not even a whistle!

They didn’t carry batons, wear head gears
Or face masks
Like your F.R.U!
So pray tell…how can t-shirts and leaflets
mere textile and paper
topple the government?

Have our leaders gone crazy, psychotic, neurotic?
Are they paranoid?
Do they need to see a doctor?

Is the need to grip this power, rule this country
With iron bars and iron fists
For the next 50 years
Made all of you in Putrajaya
Go mad?

Are our leaders so weak, so demented, so frail
So insecured, so childish, such cowards?
That t-shirts and leaflets
Give them nightmares, illusions
Made them wet their pants and stain their beds?

Or are they so blind, color phobic
that yellow, the symbol for free polls
color of the sun and all its wonderful shades
blind them?

You may be blind, Sirs, you may be myopic
but tear gas and chemical laced water
fired at your citizens on Jul 9
meant to blur, to cause hurt, to paralyse their vision
have opened up their eyes!

Release the EO6! Let them go!
You have nothing on them!

Your charge is meaningless, illogical,insane
The EO is draconian, archaic
left by your British masters
Are you still being colonised?

There is no justice
In detention without trial.
Guilty before proven!
Is this law or is this politics?

If t-shirts, leaflets alone can make you shiver
I have news for you, dear Ministers
Wait till you hear the voices of those clamouring for change
By then…it may be too late, too late!

Penang, 3.39pm, Jul 13, 2011, Susan Loone.

Note:
E06 is term used to describe the six Parti Sosialis Malaysia activists who are detained under the Emergency Ordinance, like the Internal Security Act, it allows for detention without trial. An archaic and draconian law left behind by the British colonialists.

The crime of EO6: public disorder, but they were merely on their way to Penang to attend a forum. They carried T-shirts (with Che Guevera’s image, fashionable among youths, really) & leaflets, related to Bersih 2.0. This movement planned a big rally in KL on Jul 9, to demand for electoral reforms.

EO6 were nabbed at the Sungai Dua Toll complex and were accused of waging war against the king. But the king later gave Bersih 2.0 an audience, offering them the stadium. Prime Minister Najib Razak however did not even allow that, a clear demonstration of insulting the king.

Since the king has somehow endorsed Bersh 2.0, does the accusation of waging war against His Majesty still stick? If it doesn’t, please release the EO6.

Post Bersih Blues

For our government – BN ministers, that is.

Since thousands flooded the streets of KL on Jul 9, our ministers have all gone berserk, on a frenzied panic trip, pressing the emergency button with all fingers, foaming at the mouth! During the rally, the police force was on the loose, now post-Bersih, our ministers are on the loose, at least their tongues are:

1. Najib Razak tells the silent majority to stand and be counted. Haha. Hey that silent majority has taken a stand lah, when you were busy with your ETP, GTP, KTK @#$%^&*. But sadly, they have taken a stand on the side of Bersih!

Najib says Bersih wants to make it easier for Anwar Ibrahim to be PM. Another HAHAHA! It is you Najib and your silat wayang guys who would make it easier for the Opposition to reach Putrajaya with all your crazy antics, while cost of living and basic needs are choking the throats of even the middle classes!

Who’s your strategists, huh? Looks like they are not working for you lah but conniving with “the other side”.

Love thy police.

It dawned on me only yesterday that only love can change the police. When all the bru ha ha is over the Jul 9 Bersih rally is over, I suggest that NGOs and political parties do try to engage the police with love. Not joking. What I am talking about is however, on a very personal level. Meaning, surely one has friends and neighbours who are police personnel, FRU (federal reserve unit) or LSF (light strike force).

Why not reach out to them and show you care. They are human, too. Instead of bludgeoning them with salvos after salvos, it’s time to offer the olive branch. The abusers must surely be made accountable, but what about the thousands who never had anything to do with the abuses?

If they are persuaded long enough, or told there is an alternative to their lives, perhaps they’ll start to change as well? A police force which does not stand on the side of the people is a disaster. A police force who become tools of the ruling party is indeed a tragedy.

This poem entitled ‘Jul 9′ came about after talking and listening to the stories of all those who brave the threats, warnings, tear gas, violence etc by the police, to walk on the streets of KL on that fateful day. It is also in memory of Baharuddin Ahmad (a protester) who died after he suffered breathing problems while on a chase by those wicked men in blue. He was laid to rest today in a very tearful ceremony. May his soul rest in peace.

“I sacrificed my weekend
for the mere fantasy
of tasting
democracy
Instead of meeting
justice
I encountered mayhem

Mayhem in KL

[Pix from Malaysiakini.com]

At the point of writing this poem, there is mayhem in KL. Tear gas has rained on  Bersih ralliers. Police have turned brutal, cruel, heartless. Where is the RULE of LAW??!!! Is it necessary to hurt the protestors, bastards!!!!

May God find the victims shelter. Bersih organisers Ambiga and Maria Chin have been arrested. Protect them! The REST are still MARCHING ON To Stadium Merdeka!!!

This poem is dedicated to my brave fellow Malaysians who have braved all the threats (only cowards issue threats!) been brutally attacked by police and arrested:

Bring on the tears gas,
Water cannons
Riffles, batons,
And handcuffs.
Bring on your shackles
Drag us through
The streets of KL
See us bleed
See us scream
But you’ll never see us cry