MACBETH in the state of PERAK?

They say life imitates art but the great writers like Shakespeare used the events of the time to create their plots and people are able to easily relate to their stories.
Many artists too used to portray prominent persons in paintings in subtle ways that showed their flaws.
I think Raja Nazrin acted well in the circumstances for having endured such a long wait and it must have tested the royal patience. I think having to wait for anything more than 10 minutes is a real bother but I suppose royalty are brought up to face such challenges.
After all the state assembly would have been in total chaos is he had left after a delay of say 30 minutes of freestyle wrestling among the state legislators.
If what the Star reported is true about his aside to Nizar, it appears that there is still some hope that a PR government may be acceptable in the near future.
Again it is the Police who appear to have come off the worst in the state assembly fiasco.
First of all, they decided that wearing black was an offence and then they enforced a 500m "no go" radius all around the state secretariat building.
There was no emergency, no bomb threat and yet the public and businesses in the area were being penalised so that they would look good at bullying ordinary folks who wanted to see how the politicians would resolve the Perak imbroglio.
They did not have to wait long. You see the Speaker was forcibly removed from his chair without proper ceremony. Since he could not be removed via any proper procedure, the BN decided that force was the only means. Some media reported that special branch was involved and if this the the case, it means that democracy in Perak was not only raped but trampled upon.
It is the blackest day for democracy in Malaysia and I daresay like most victims, sometimes the mind becomes too numb to react. The abuse is too great and the violation too unspeakable.
But back to Macbeth and perhaps this quote is relevant.

"But in these cases
We still have judgement here, that we but teach
Bloody instructions which, being taught, return
To plague th'inventor. This even-handed justice
Commends th'ingredience of our poisoned chalice
To our own lips."

You can read more in malaysiakini on how more lawyers were arrested after they turned up at a police station to inquire about a Bersih leader who was arrested.
It appears that the BN government is incapable of keeping the police under control after they rejected the IPCMC.

Photo: thanks to the Star (in Malaysia drinking teh tarek can be an offence)

malaysiakini and the BIRTH of a POLICE STATE?

I have always had the view that the failure of the government to implement the IPCMC is a major blow to our progress as a democratic nation.
In fact the government did not fail to implement the IPCMC - they did much worse. You see the government "chickened" out after a group of officers apparently resisted the government's move after the Royal Commission found out many flaws in how the police operated.
We all know well about the many deaths of suspects in police custody and rampant money politics in major political parties. Not to forget the Lingam tapes inquiry that should have put a few people in the dock for corruption and conspiracy charges.
Maybe the government could not take action like the IPCMC as it was bluntly told that many of its own leaders had cases that had been "held back" for political reasons.
Somehow I believe that the IPCMC was watered down as a "quid pro quo" that allowed everyone to carry on with their sordid business as usual.
Unfortunately as this malaysiakini article on the rape of Perak shows, the police have now become "a bully force" for the ruling party and have violated all the codes of an independent force.
Sivakumar dragged out shows how the conniving forces of the BN and the Police have joined to commit a grievous injury to politics and liberty in Perak.
It is a good indication of what can happen after the next general elections when the BN is expected to lose power.
The police have shown that they prefer BN rule as they will be free to carry on their usual practices of detention of innocent citizens who somehow irritate the political leaders.
So are you prepared to stand up and be counted or live forever shackled in your thinking?

malaysiakini on all the POMP and PAGEANTRY Signifying NOTHING in PERAK...

The Star and NST describe how the Regent of Perak will open the Perak State Assembly with much fanfare and ceremony but if one reads how the state constitution has been abused by the usurpers and the one-sided approach of the Polis, one can only be angry at the way the citizens of Perak have been denied their rights to a legitimately elected government.
This crisis would have been easily averted if new state elections had been called instead of the months of legal wrangling.
This article in malaysiakini says it all Chaos in State Assembly.
There are 2 things that concern me about the developments in Perak.
1.The prevention of the will of the people to be expressed in elections when a political stalemate is evident.
2.The one-sided approach of the Polis and even preventing the peaceful freedom of expression by wearing black as a sign of protest.

Malaysia could be the first country where your sartorial choice could be a hazard when wearing black can result in instant arrest. I guess it makes it easy for the Polis to spot you compared to the snatch robbers in major towns.

malaysiakini on WEARING Black.....

The arrest of a non-violent activist as reported in malaysiakini certainly rings alarm bells for liberty in Malaysia.
This free article in malaysiakini is worth reading Wear black to protest Wong's arrest describes how the government is certainly acting like the proverbial elephant in the china-shop.
Even a peaceful protest is being stifled with the Sedition Act.
Wearing black can hardly be considered a serious offence - it is not even a misdemeanor compared to the atrocities heaped upon ordinary citizens like:

1.Plotting the overthrow of a legitimate state government.
2.Using the police to thwart a proper state assembly meeting.
3.Allowing errant judges to remain free at large.
4.Condoning corrupt leaders to remain in public office after being found guilty of money politics.

Maybe we don't really need to wear black. The body of our nation Malaysia has been battered blue and black all over and wearing black only covers up the many bruises and batterings.

malaysiakini and SOLVING the ASM/ASW PROBLEM

Looking at the numerous letters in malaysiakini and also the local press about the problems related to the recent and previous ASM/ASW shares for the public, it appears that the fund manager is either asleep or just couldn't be bothered about service standards.

The method in which they distribute the allocation is similar to what MIDFCCS used to do 25 years ago with public share issues. Of course nowadays, public issues generate not much interest as many new issues actually lose money within one year of going public.

But that system of application and processing can be adopted for ASM/ASW if only the fund manager takes the trouble to make good use of ICT.
It will save time, energy and costs for all Malaysians who want to invest for the future.
Here is how it will work over a period of say 30 days:

1.Citizens are allowed to open a ASM/ASW account with RM10 with any bank in Malaysia.
2.The fund manager will announce the size of the offering and the rules for subscribing like:
a) size of the issue like RM2b
b) first time subscribers limit like RM10k
c) others limit like RM20k to 50k depending on balance in account
d) time to subscribe like within 12days for first timers and then open to others if issue not fully subscribed.

This ASM/ASW account can even be opened via Internet banking and funds can be deposited at ATM machines. This will remove the need to line up at banks.
The way things are managed, it appears that Malaysians are being penalised with both the hassle of filling even more forms and also allowing the bank to make use of depositers' funds during the processing.

Photo: Thanks to the Star

malaysiakini on NAJIB Taking SABAHANS for GRANTED...

Sabah used to be the great hope for a more cosmopolitan and inclusive Malaysia, especially when Joseph Pairin Kitingan won his Tambunan seat in a major upset against the BN many years ago.
But since he took PBS back into the BN, Sabah seems to be more complacent or maybe the a better word is acquiescent and the PBS has been a steady component of the BN for many years now.
The party is one of the many component BN parties of Sabah and both Sabah and Sarawak have become very strong contributors to the BN as far as federal control is concerned. Part of the reason is that the average size of the electorate in these 2 states is estimated at two-thirds those in Peninsula Malaysia.
But for the PM to describe Sabah in this malaysiakini article as "a fixed deposit" smacks of condesencion especially since the people of both Sabah and Sarawak make up the largest numbers of the poor in Malaysia.
Both these states have vast resources of timber and mineral wealth but it seems that the wealth is slow to trickle down to most ordinary folks.
On the other hand, being described as a "fixed deposit" may be accurate after all. Someone other than the citizens are surely enjoying the "interest" on their behalf.

malaysiakini and WAITING for JUSTICE for KUGAN'S KILLERS....

It all started with the "nude squat" incident years ago that resulted in a Royal Inquiry with the recommendations for the IPCMC.
Unfortunately the BN government backed down after the PDRM protested and now we still can read of more abuse and killings of suspects held in police lock-ups.
So this article in malaysiakini is hardly surprising. It is about Deciphering Kugan's post-mortem reports wherein there are now 3 different reports on a single death.
This must be quite bewildering for ordinary folks and adds to the heavy perception that now yet another government department is being used for the cover-up of police abuse.
The IPCMC proved that the PDRM needed fundamental reforms; the Lingam tape scandal indicated the corruption of the Judiciary - so why should anyone be surprised that the Executive can also order the MoH to do their bidding?
Do we need to change the BN government before the evil of corruption is purged? Increasingly that seems to be the only solution left for Malaysians.