Friday, May 8, 2009

Perak Aftermath: In Some Circles They Would Call This Talking Out of Your...

...well, I'll leave that to your imagination. Let's just say Christina Aguilera would have an inkling.

If you thought that it was something to see the gall in trying to legitimize a BN-run Perak government, all you had to to was wait a day to hear the pathetic excuses for their actions.

The Malaysian Insider noted Zambry's comments:
Zambry agreed the police were not supposed to be in the chambers but added the BN-elected speaker Datuk R Ganesan had the power under the standing orders to call in the police.

“Ganesan had no choice but to ask the police to help control the dewan. Let the people decide on the actions of the Pakatan assemblymen today,” said Zambry.

Whoever works as Zambry's PR guy could best advise the purported Mentri Besar to leave out the words "let the people decide" out of his speeches. For that is exactly what he is preventing.

The next case of foot-in-mouth came from Hee Yit Foong, who said of her former DAP colleagues: "Hati mereka ada hantu." Never mind that every kid in every school who hears this will laugh their heads off. And add it to their toilet grafitti.

And then the PM decides to open up another can of worms in today's Malaysian Insider:

Speaking to reporters today, Najib, who is also Umno president, brushed aside PR claims that the takeover in Perak was unconstitutional.

He cited Winston Churchill, the former British prime minister, as an example of a politician who had changed parties.

Churchill you say? The words of Churchill himself are the best rebuttal of our Prime Minister:

"He is one of those orators of whom it was well said, 'Before they get up, they do not know what they are are going to say; when they are speaking, they do not know what they are saying; and when they have sat down, they do not know what they have said.'" ~ Winston Churchill.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Fashion Police



When it comes whatever extent of a democracy Malaysia has, one thing is certain - we like to keep things literal. When it came to throwing the book, Karpal Singh famously took it one step further in Parliament by throwing his shoe. When it came to branches of government, the legitimate Perak government took it one step further by turning to the Tree of Democracy. And now police have arrested Wong Chin Huat for sedition for suggesting that people wear black today in protest of the Barisan Nasional's hostile takeover of the Perak government - bringing a special new stench to the words "fashion police." Plus, the undemocratic nature of Barisan Nasional's "power-grab" is certified with the physical removal of Perak Speaker Sivakumar from his seat.

Photo sourced from Lim Kit Siang, showing the forced removal of Sivakumar

Ultimately, people will remember the words of people like Najib and Muhiyiddin falsely accusing the Pakatan Rakyat of forcing unnecessary by-elections (which in itself makes no sense), when in Perak these very politicians are doing their best to avoid what is a necessary state-wide election.

All this while Dr Mahathir maintains his classic independent streak (despite all the show of solidarity at the UMNO General Assembly) by commenting again on the validity of the removal of Perak Mentri Besar Nizar:

As far as I know, the federal constitution states very clearly that a monarch cannot remove a prime minister. He can refuse to appoint a prime minister, but once appointed you cannot remove him until there's a vote of no-confidence made against him. - Dr Mahathir, as reported by mysinchew
Once upon a time, Malaysia received a black eye in international standing when more literally Anwar Ibrahim received a black eye while in police custody, hit - while handcuffed - by none other than the top man in the police force. Today, the police have decided to give themselves a black eye, going against not the power of black shirts, but the strength of ideals and ideas of conscience, due process and the true quality of one's democracy.

Perhaps even more importantly, they have failed to protect the people of Perak - including their democratically elected Speaker - from those who would usurp their right to decide.