The People’s Parliament

By Helen Ang

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Singapore has had National Service for 41 years, Malaysia 4. Theirs is for lads who serve two to two-and-half years fulltime.

As far as I can ascertain from the Mindef website, the last time that Singapore national servicemen died in camp was August and September 2003. In June 2007, there was one case ruled suicide and earlier, sudden death of a sergeant in Singapore Air Force (SAF).

In the corresponding period (2004 until present), there were more than 20 deaths related to our NS, none for Singapore.

In October 2003, Singapore Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean answered to Parliament. The deaths were Hu En Huai, 19, and Andrew Chew Heng Huat, 20. The minister said Hu collapsed during a Combat Survival Training (CST) session and Chew during a 2.4-km run (for obese recruits) in Basic Military Training Programme.

Hu collapsed at 1645 hours, was given medical treatment onsite and evacuated to Pulau Tekong Medical Centre at 1710 hrs, and by helicopter to Singapore General Hospital arriving at 1752 hrs. Chew collapsed at 1745 hrs and evacuated by helicopter, arriving hospital at 1842 hrs.

Hu died of asphyxia and near drowning. The SAF suspended the CST immediately after the incident. Four officers and a senior specialist who conducted the training were immediately suspended, two instructors responsible for supervising the training relieved of duty and the CO relieved from command. In short, heads rolled for the “extremely serious lapse in the conduct of the training”.

The basic difference is that both Singaporean boys were sent by helicopter to hospital within an hour, whereas the Malaysian boys and girls had been left to be sick and unattended for days. The other difference is that the Singaporeans were doing serious military training as soldiers for the defence of their country; we don’t know what our kids are doing in summer camp.

Singapore Mindef promised “to take all the necessary measures so that what can be prevented will not happen again”. The Malaysian training council chairman still maintains that ‘NS is good for youths’ and claims, “There is only so much I can do as a non-executive chairman given the fact that I do not have executive powers.” http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/5/13/focus/21226158&sec=focus

Our ‘friend’ the MCA think tank CEO remarked in NST recently: “Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye jumped from DAP to ‘pro-establishment’ for the same reason [as Gerakan’s Datuk Lee Kah Choon in Penang], because he wanted to serve.” http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Wednesday/Columns/2232996/Article/index_html

Aaah, those who have chosen to ‘work within the system’.

From the cursory comparison with Singapore, our NS looks fatally flawed. The Boleh ‘system’ makes it so. And along this trail of death, Malaysian parents have thus far used ‘proper channels’ to voice their objections. They have not been given proper answers, unlike in Singapore.

Lee Lam Thye said in The Star: “In the final analysis, what is crucially important is whether all those given responsibilities and the trust to manage the camps discharge their duties with care, honesty, integrity and a sense of commitment.”

The Tan Sri’s choice and use of words evokes what theSun says in its World Press Freedom Day editorial: “However, with the dawn of the Abdullah administration four years ago, the media – both mainstream and alternative – have been enjoying greater liberties in shaping public opinion and nurturing reforms.”

theSun makes this claim for itself: “This paper at least is committed to ‘telling it as it is’. The exposes and columns that have graced the cover and opinion pages would have been close to impossible under the previous administration.”

theSun’s second claim: “The results of the March general election – spurred by the popularity of the alternative as well some traditional media in giving space to the Opposition – further proved that the freer media played a big part in the unprecedented outcome.” http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=21969

The paper’s ex-editors venturing into New Media claim to continue a legacy of providing “content that is written and edited according to the journalistic standards of fairness, accuracy, balance and accountability”.

Its ex-editors also claim the proud tradition: “All a reader needs to do to judge our journalistic integrity is to measure the quality of the interviews we conduct and the issues we write about.”

What has theSun written about the recent spate of deaths in NS? Shall we ask it to interview Lee Lam Thye?

By Prof. Dr Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi

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I have been calling for a public inquiry on all the National Service deaths since six letters ago. Yet nothing has come out from our unconcerned Lee Lam Thye or Abdul Hadi Awang Kechil, the director-general of National Service, Ministry of Defence.

The parents of the newest deaths have decided to sue for negligence and I fully support them. I have always suspected that the camps have played a major role in the deaths by not alerting parents, not using proper procedure and simply not caring two cents what happens to our children.

Take the two cases quoted by The Star (May 11) by the parents. John Ooi wrote that his son was urinating blood and was kept in the camp in Bintulu for several days before being sent to hospital. When the condition showed no changes, John said he faxed a letter to Dato’ Hadi to ask permission to take his son to a KL specialist. He said that his letter was never replied.

Another parent wrote that his child was kept in the Semanggul camp for many days with severe diarrhoea and vomiting whilst the parents were never told of the condition. These two cases support my argument that the NS people do not have the expertise to take care of our children. We parents must demand two important things from the NS while waiting for a complete revamp of the programme.

The first thing is that all the trainees must be allowed handphone access at ALL times. This is to facilitate their calling parents when they are sick or bullied, or molested or bitten by snakes. Parents should also make a habit of calling them at least once in two days. Yes, we all ‘manjakan anak’. In the context of more than 20 deaths, I think we as parents are more than justified in NOT trusting the NS people at all.

The second thing we must demand is that any and all cases of sickness MUST be referred immediately to a nearby clinic in town with a certified doctor. I no longer trust Dato’ Hadi’s Medical Unit with his so-called Medical Assistants. No go, Dato’. Your setup is a total screw-up! You should pray that we parents don’t prosecute you and your staff along with that Lee Lam Thye for causing the deaths of all the children.

If these two conditions are not met, I do not foresee anything but absolute danger for our children in this murderous programme. After this, we must call for a complete stop to all NS programmes. We must call for a public inquiry into all the deaths and prosecute all the officials involved. Then we must sit down together to debate what programme, if need be at all, is most suitable for our ‘manja’ children.

If ever Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim comes to power, the first thing I will personally ask him is to stop this murderous programme! If not, then, moving to another country is my next option next year.

Prof Tajuddin earlier voiced his reservations about NS in these letters to Malaysiakini:

www.malaysiakini.com/letters/82601

www.malaysiakini.com/letters/82174

www.malaysiakini.com/letters/81755

To get the ball rolling on the National Service pressure group, the Prof has volunteered RM2,000 for printing posters and underwriting other campaign expenditure. – Helen Ang

To participate in further discussions, please send an e-mail for your inclusion in the group under the subject header ‘No more Non-Sense’ to thepeoplesparliament@gmail.com.

By Helen Ang

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There’s really only one word to describe a party that holds 15 Parliamentary seats out of 214 –Poof (as in, ‘Begone!’)

An Evil Lie long told is that MCA represents the Chinese. One newspaper kindly extended a helping hand to the Chinese party’s attempt at re-branding its Evil Eye.

Article title: ‘MCA must regain its vision’

Publication: theSun, April 30, 2008

Author: Ms Fui K. Soong

Position: CEO of Insap, the MCA think tank

Insap is the Institute of Strategic Analysis and Policy Research, and below is what its article says – ‘strategically’, ‘analytically’, policy-wise, after research and all: [excerpted verbatim] http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=21896

1. (a) Contrary to what many believe, MCA did have a political ideology, [and in later paragraphs], (b) Whether MCA takes on a right or middle-of-the-road political thinking, it still needs to pivot itself on a clear, credible, solidified platform as the basis of its political cause, and (c) Whatever the topic or issue, arguments must be both credible and consistent, founded on a basic set of political principles.

2. Therefore, the question of the “tale of two cities” with the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer is not the sole domain of Pakatan Rakyat. The democratic debate spectrum is wide enough!

3. Today, 90-95% of the Chinese population (and they are mostly concentrated in the MCA constituencies) are one way or another tied to the private sector either as employees, professionals, businesses or as petty traders. They all have an interest in economic expansion and prosperity. Don’t we also need a language of social justice that is distinct from a welfare state?

Here’s what I think.

1. Like wow! You take 60 words to say nothing in 3 sentences?

2. What did MCA opine in that wide-enough spectrum of democratic debate? Does anyone even recall what MCA said before March 8 about the gap between rich and poor widening?

3. So Malaysia’s 6.77 million Chinese are mostly concentrated in MCA’s 15 constituencies, is it? Has the party been colluding in the creation of Bantustans?

But this is what gave me the sun-stroke: The towkay party is now trying to appropriate the “language of social justice”.

The MCA think tank’s biggest gripe about ‘injustice’ is contained in this paragraph: “We [Malaysia] take a neo-liberalist stand to government-linked companies (GLCs) by providing them with immense and expansive immunity to regulations and real market competition, while the rest of the business community struggles in an unlevel playing field.”

The grievance of the Insap CEO is:

GLCs, i.e. Malay interests, are coddled by the government. “The rest of the business community” … er, Chinese? … suffer the playing field tilted.

Was MCA never imbricated in the whole patronage system that spells BN? Didn’t towkays benefit from tax incentives favouring businesses? Don’t the laws that restrict trade union rights and the lack of a minimum wage benefit these towkays? So what’s with the overuse and abuse of the word ‘socialism’ by Soong? [c.f. Sun-stroke, Part 1]

Unlike theSun, People’s Parliament does not claim “well-thought out opinionated writing”, “balanced commentary” nor “good journalism”. We do not claim either to “educate readers”; on the contrary, I’m waiting for readers to educate me since I’m Econs ignorant.

A MalaysiaVotes fan once characterised People’s Parliament as that “website plastered with anti-BN logos”. As someone whose writing previously appeared under those logos, I’ve just a few BN-unfriendly observations. I’d like to know if we’ve been getting value for our country’s public expenditure. Also wondering, is the BN formula: Expenditure equals Leakage plus Money into the pockets of those in power (?)

MCA has held the Health Ministry portfolio for as long as I can remember. If that party has the welfare of the poor at heart, may I ask why public healthcare sucks so much?

This is what the present Health Minister said of the latest death in the National Service, reported in The Star: “We will review the standard operating procedures. Trainees should tell the medical attendants immediately if they have a problem.”

What’s one word to describe MCA, Insap, The Star and theSun collectively?

Related article

Sun-stroke: Help! MCA think tank a tipple

Reader participation is again invited; to ‘oster’ and those who’ve contributed deconstruction in Part 1, Thank You.

“This is a historic decision. It is a major step for a progressive, multi-racial and multi-cultural Malaysia”.

“It was Siti Fatimah’s right to embrace Islam and likewise, it is also her right to return to her original faith. This is a matter for her to decide and no one else”

“It is hoped that with this decision, the cases of affected Malaysians would be resolved”.

So says Ong Ka Ting, as reported in the online Star yesterday under the heading ‘MCA hails court decision’.

No surprise that MCA is in the cesspool that it is today!

On the one hand, Ka Ting proclaims that this was a matter for Tan alone to decide and no-one else.

Yet in the same breath he declares that her having to submit to a judicial process where she could only formally exit Islam upon the ‘yes, go ahead, you may go’ order of the Syariah court, as ‘a major step for a progressive, multi-racial and multi-cultural Malaysia’ .

And this decision, he hopes, will provide the solution for the Lina Joys and Revathis!

Missing altogether the point that some judge was deciding whether Tan could or could not renounce Islam!

This, for Ka Ting and MCA, amounts to “a matter for her to decide and no one else” ?

Could somebody in the MCA think-tank shake this man up from his slumber?

Or else tell him that it would help if he put on his thinking cap before he shoots off his mouth!

Glad to see that Wong Chun Wai, at least, has not missed the inherent difficulties in the Siti Fatimah decision.

In his blog, WCW says this ( the emphasis in red is my own and not WCW’s :

‘The Syariah High Court in Penang may have allowed the application by Muslim convert Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah to renounce Islam and revert to her original faith but that’s not the end of her problems. Or the problems of others in the same situation. The court did not grant her application to change the religious status on her IC from Muslim to Buddhist, saying that it did not come under the court’s jurisdiction and she had to pursue the matter with the National Registration Department. Let’s hope the NRD would be kind to her. Unlike the civil courts, Syariah Courts are not bound by the principle of judicial precedents. The Syariah court judges exercise their own judicial findings. The Penang Syariah Court’s decision maybe unprecedented but other states may not necessarily follow suit. For that matter, the next case that comes up in Penang, the judge is not bound to make a similar decision. The concept of precedent is for the purpose of consistency which is normally followed, unless the facts and circumstances being tried are different. But lawyers and court reporters have told me that the gates have not been opened. The Penang decision is a victory for the freedom of religion but don’t jump for joy too fast’

Wong, kudos to you.

However, given that your paper has given such prominence to the idiotic views of Ka Ting on this very important issue, how’s about your devoting an op-ed on your take as articulated in your blog on the Siti Fatimah decision?

In the print version of the Star, please.

One more NS trainee death.

DAP says suspend or scrap this programme.

Health Minister Liow says that operating procedures for health matters regarding national service trainees will be reviewed, according to the online Star.

Many parents have e-mailed me to say this ‘killer’ government programme must stop.

Can it be stopped? And if it cannot be stopped, can it nonetheless be avoided?

I’ve been in contact with my friend, Malik Imtiaz, who has very kindly agreed to speak at a forum bearing the same title as this post. This is in the pipeline.

Meanwhile the ‘no nonsense’ e-group has been set up. Could I please trouble you to e-mail me again at thepeoplesparliament@gmail.com if you would like to be involved in this effort.

bluefire sent this in as a comment.

bluefire, I’ve just got too much on my plate just now to get directly involved in your effort.

I’m therefore putting your comment up as a post in the hope that it will elicit support from others who are prepared to help.

If there’s any lawyer reading this, maybe you want to look into this issue.

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I have 2 wonderful sons whom are undergoing mental abuse with their mother (ex-wife) and her boyfriend. My youngest was molested when he was only 4 years of age. I have been pursuing this matter with Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat as well as the police since 2004. I am now planning to sue the Kementerian Wanita for not taking the necessary action when needed. JKM went to the extent of telling me that if I made to much noise, they’ll take my boys away and put them in a welfare dept. home. Of course, they also reminded me what these homes were like. It is apparently a place where kids get sodomized!

I have also gone to court to vary the court order and the stupid judge had the audacity to call my boys (14 years and 7 years old)ungrateful children in front of the lawyers. The judge is only a JC and is incapable of accessing the situation or the damage being caused to the children. There have been numerous police reports made, including some made by my ex-wife and yet NO action has been taken. Useless illiterate cops are incapable of handling this type of situation.

I currently help out by running a social service / community center for PKR at Desa Mentari. I do attend KJPP and I would very much like to discuss this further with you. We have in place a government system filled with illiterates. Wasn’t that Zakaria Derus guy a railway gate keeper or something? What can be expected of our judges? Illiterates!

We should begin a class action law suit against the Kementerian Wanita and prod them for information. How many children have they destroyed and how many more will they destroy? Their entire country is filled with social related issues and I will be going after Kementerian for failing in it’s obligation and duties. They have committed treason to the public and must be hanged in public!

To the Malaysian Public, if you don’t do something about what is happening at the Kementerian wanita, we have failed our duty towards our children and this nation. We are responsible for putting this shitheads in power and now we must fix the problem. We cannot simply stand and watch. Let us do something and not just talk. Our nation will no longer have normal kids in the next 20 years or so and it’s our fault, if we don’t do something now.

The head of the legal dept at Kementerian Wanita is a Encik Rafi and his assistant is Cik Fitri. Fitri’s mobile number is 0133644635. There is also another piece of wood in this dept. You may ask for Encik Jeyaraman at 26904080.

Please respond to my comments if you want to join us to fight for our children’s rights. You may also visit http://www.pemalik.org for further info.

In RPK’s latest posting today entitled ‘Thank you so much and sorry for letting you down’ , he says :

‘On the money collected thus far, if all you donors can agree to it, I am going to propose that the surplus be put into a BLOGGERS DEFENCE FUND so that any blogger who may in future suffer persecution from the powers-that-be will have financial support to stand and fight. The bail is of course refundable and can be put back into the fund for future use. And the fund can also be used for legal costs whenever we can’t find lawyers who will defend bloggers on a pro bono basis’

Let me first say, Pet, that you owe no-one any apology. I thank God that He guided you to that wise decision.

That’s not what this post is about, though.

As I sat in the patrol car last night headed to the police station, I thought about the charges brought against Pet and Syed and the interference of my own liberty and wondered if this was indicative of what we should expect in the days and months to come.

If so, we should ready ourselves to defend our own.

By ‘our own’, I mean those who make up the blogosphere.

Take this blog.

I am the moderator, but without you, the readers and, more importantly, the commentators, lending for healthy, constructive discussions on issues that are of concern to us all, my postings would be no more than monologues of one who was disenchanted with the state of things in this country.

If I have never said it before, let me now say thank you to all of you who bring your valuable thoughts to this forum.

As I travelled in the patrol car last night, I too thought that it was time to put in place a defence fund for bloggers, but such a fund should extend support to both the moderators and the commentators.

In the case of the recent sedition charges this week, such a fund should extend support to both Pet and Syed.

I fully support Pet’s call to set up this fund and his suggestion that this may be kicked off with the surplus that was collected this week.

I would urge all of you to go to Pet’s latest posting and send in a comment in support of this proposal.

Photo courtesy of the Fisherman’s Wharf

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I had said I would light a candle in Dataran last night and I was determined that I would, even if mine was the only one.

Jaya, who joined me, albeit without a candle, has sent in his account of what took place, leading up to my arrest / harrass. Let me give you his take first.

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I was at Dataran Merdeka at 8.05 pm to attend the Candle Light Vigil for Raja Petra. My friend Haris Ibrahim arrived carrying a lit candle at about 8.10pm and we sat down to chat.

At about 8.25 pm, five Police officers approached us. The ‘exchange of words’ to the best of my recollection is as follows:

Officer [O]: In a rude and arrogant manner asks Haris, “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

Haris: [HI]: “I am a citizen. I am just holding a candle.”

O: “Why? You are not supposed to be here. This is a ‘safe’ [sic] place. Put of the candle and go away.”

HI: In a polite tone says, “Sir, what is wrong? I am just holding a candle.”

O: “No. Cannot! Put of the candle and move away.”

HI: “Sir, May I ask what is the offence?”

O: “No. You go away, otherwise I will take action.”

HI: “Why? I am just holding a candle.”

O: “You cannot be here!”

HI: “Sir, can you please explain why I cannot be here?”

O: “Cannot!”

O: The Officer then abruptly instructs his subordinates, “Ambil dia pergi ke Balai.”

[Observation]: Throughout this ‘bizarre conversation’ Haris was polite and surprisingly deferential. The Officer was rude and arrogant in his demeanour.

The police personnel then escort Haris, still holding his lit candle, to the main road.

I, the witness was left standing, pondering the future of this nation where the authorities deem it wrong for citizens to assemble in peace at ‘Independence Square’ for a cause!

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The officer that Jaya speaks of is ACP Zulkarnain.

After I was escorted off Dataran Merdeka onto Jalan Raja, another officer who I was later told was one Sidney Jeremy ( assume the spelling is correct ) approached me and blew out my candle. I enquired if I was under arrest. He replied ‘Yes’ and directed me to enter a patrol car. I inquired as to where I would be taken and he informed me that I would be taken to the Tun H.S. Lee station.

Given the confirmation that I was under arrest, I complied with his direction, first passing the car keys and information as to my intended destination to Wilson Yew, who was the man behind the MyBlog-TV camera last night.

Managed to get one call to my sister to say I had been arrested before my phone was taken away from me on the orders of Sidney.

When we reached the police station, whilst awaiting their ‘processing’ me, I informed the officer who had accompanied me in the patrol car that I suffered a medical condition, ‘nicotinitis’, and that if I did not have my regular medication, I might become difficult. Turned out he, too, suffered the same debilitating condition so we both stepped outside the station to take our ‘medication’.

Back inside soon after, the same officer sat me down to get some background info. Name address, occupation, blah, blah, blah.

Until we got to this question, at which time, Edmond Bon had walked in.

O : Tempat mana Encik pergi untuk relaks?

H : Rumah

O : Maksud saya tempat pergi kalau nak lepas tension atau stress?

H : Rumah

O : Maksud saya tempat encik pergi untuk meluangkan masa untuk hobi yang paling di gemari encik. Contoh macam kalau nak pergi pancing ikan ke…

H : Kalau nak pancing ikan, saya pancing kat rumah

O : Jadi saya tulis pancing ikan hobi paling kegemaran encik?

H : Pancing bukan hobi paling kegemaran saya. Macam2 kegemaran saya. Baca, musik

At this juncture, I think Edmund figured he wasn’t about to waste his precious evening on this mindless exchange.

Was I under arrest, Edmund asked.

‘Belum lagi’, was the reply.

I then alerted the officer that Sidney said I was under arrest and that otherwise I would not have got into the patrol car. i then said if I was not I was going to leave the station.

Seemingly confused, he attempted to contact his boss by phone.

Edmund and I stepped out for a nicotinitis fix. The officer joined us, still trying to contact the boss.

Finally, ACP Zulkarnain arrived at the station. As he passed us, he turned and acknowledged me and proceeded to complain about the behaviour of someone at the Dataran Merdeka.

I asked him if he was referring to me.

‘No, you were okay’, he said.

I then told him that I thought he had been unnecessarily rude whilst addressing me at Dataran, and that whilst he may have had a job to do in asking me to disperse, I had every right to inquire as to the basis or the reason that I was not permitted to be in that public place.

You can well imagine that both Zulkarnain and I were unable to arrive at any consensus on this point.

Meanwhile, lawyer Visva also arrived on the scene.

I then inquired if I was under arrest, and informed him that Sidney had earlier said that I was.

The reply.

‘He does not know. I am in charge. No arrest, just harrass’.

Edmund, Visva and I headed off to the Press Club.

By then, it was about 9.30pm.

For another account of last night at Dataran, go HERE

To Edmund, Visva, and everyone who sms’ed alerts of my arrest / harrass as well as those who sms’ed me to check if I was ok, thank you so much for caring.

Bail’s been posted.

He’s out and faces the media.

And then friends and supporters.

Then off to PJ Hilton for his first meal since Monday.

Pet, rest well.

There’s still much work to be done to free the people.

And in this, you are not alone.

Marina just informed me that RPK will be released tomorrow morning at the PJ Sessions Court, round about 9.30am.

Would be great if we were there to welcome him.

I will be there tomorrow.

I will also be joining others to light a candle tonight at Dataran Merdeka.

Hope to see all of you tonight and tomorrow.