The People’s Parliament

If you’re out shopping or taking the kids to the movies or just out with friends, don’t forget to wear something yellow.

To remind the government that we have not forgotten that they owe us electoral reforms.

Pak Lah and his merry men want to make sure Rashid runs one more election for them.

Yes, the next election that we are expecting any time soon.

Rashid is due to retire on 31st December, 2007.

The move to extend Rashid’s term for another year could mean either that the elections will only be held next year or if before the end of this year, then Rashid is still needed to helm the EC if and when there are petitions to challenge any election results.

Pak Lah is pushing for a constitutional amendment to extend the retirement age to 66.

There they go again, messing about with our constitution for their own ends.

On 20th November, 2007, bodoh! bodoh! bodoh! tabled the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2007 in Parliament for its first reading. This bill seeks to extend the retirement age of EC members to 66.

The bill is scheduled for the second and third reading on 11th December, 2007.

Kim Quek has written an excellent piece on this disgraceful move to tinker with the constitution. It appears in Malaysiakini and you can read it HERE. 

On the day scheduled for the second and third reading of the bill, BERSIH is planning a gathering outside Parliament at 11am to call on parliamentarians to vote against the bill.

What can we do now?

Click HERE. This is a link to all the details of the MPs.

Find the postal address or e-mail details of your MP.

Write to your MP now and tell him or her that you want him to vote against the amendment bill. Tell your MP that you will check Hansard to make sure that if he or she speaks during the second and third reading of the bill, that he or she speaks against the bill. Remind your MP that he or she is there to represent you and not the party. Tell your MP that how he or she votes on this bill will determine how you will vote in the coming elections. Tell your MP that you want a new chairman of the EC.

Send a copy of your letter to your MP to thepeoplesparliament@gmail.com

I will collate all such letters so that we will all know which MP has been directed by their constituents on this important issue and who from amongst them abided by this direction.

People, you walked the talk on 10-Eleven.

It’s time to walk the talk again.

You are up to it.

I know you can.

                                                                                                                         ( created by Meesh )

adamabd, in a comment to my suggestion that this 2nd December, 2007 we commemorate our Hindu brothers efforts on 25/11 as a rallying call to emancipate all underprivileged Malaysians by lighting candles, asked :

‘Haris, you suggested a candle-lit vigil as an alternative. All nice and quiet, right? My kind of show. And what’s the significance of the candle?’

First, the significance of the candle.

On 19th June, 2007, Malaysians converged on Dataran Merdeka to light candles in solidarity with Revathi. You can read about it HERE.

From that day, this blog has carried a lit candle in the sidebar.

It represents, for me, the light of love, hope and solidarity of a people waking up.

All nice and quiet, you asked?

Well, its up to you. You can have a wild party and light candles or make it a quiet affair with the family.

Me. I’m going to get a few friends together, and maybe some family members and light some candles. If you would like to join us, please send me an e-mail at thepeoplesparliament@gmail.com . You’ll have to identify yourself, though. Yes, just like you did when you signed the petition. No anonymity, please. And as I do want to keep this small so that we can really fraternise, do not be offended if I reply and say that we have reached optimum. 

Blogger friends, please help to publicise this initiative.

People, commit yourselves to tell 20 others about this initiative. Urge them to tell 20 others. Call your friends and family who do not have access to the internet and tell them about Saffron Sunday, why we are doing it and ask them to join in and to tell others. Ask them to take photos and to send it to you.

Wherever you and your friends meet to light candles, please take pictures and send them to me if you do not have your own blog to put them up.

Next week, I will dedicate a post to put up all pictures and write-ins from anyone who cares to send them in to thepeoplesparliament@gmail.com

If we commit ourselves to this, it is not impossible to have candles lit at 8.30pm on Saffron Sunday from Perlis to Johor.

And Sabah and Sarawak. Let’s not forget our brothers and sisters there.

 Wouldn’t that tell us how strong civil society has become?

Wouldn’t that send out a very strong message to the government that they must heed our call for change?

I shall be asking a friend who subscribes to Google Earth to get pictures.

People, like the many initiatives started through this blog, Saffron Sunday is yours, not mine.

Its success and effectiveness, or otherwise, is in your hands.

UPDATE : My friend with the Google Earth account has just told me to stop talking nonsense.

Sigh! No satellite picture.

Just got word that Dora was found this morning.

The impression I was given is that she was unharmed. She is in any event  now in hospital.

Thank you, God.

In my ‘observation of the rally’ post, I noted that I saw a lot of determined people in the rally.

Someone sent me a whole series of photos. 

These say it all.

He steels himself for what is to come.

Go on, do the worst that you can do, for I walk the path of righteousness and I shall fear no evil.

The force unleashed.

Do what you will, I will not waiver from my quest for justice.

No disrespect intended to the Hindraf leadership, but these were the heroes of 25/11.

These are the fellow Malaysians whose determination and resolve for justice the rest of us must emulate.

Can we?

Brave commentators in this blog, can you?

Bobsam wrote in a comment :

What do u say, this weekend, we all light a candle for our country. MALAYSIA!

Bobsam, I say let us take it further.

I say civil society adopt the march on 25/11 by our brothers and sisters as our rallying call to end marginalisation, deprivation and neglect of any and all Malaysians. 

I say we commemorate their sterling lesson of bravery and determination this Sunday, 2nd December, 2007, say round about 8.30pm, by getting our friends together and, wherever we are, lighting candles.

PM is reported to have threatened the use of the ISA.

Let us light candles this Sunday to send out a message that we will not be bullied.

Let us call 2nd December, 2007 Saffron Sunday.

People, I have just received an alert that a kidnap took place in Shah Alam this morning.

Her name is Dora Goh Wei Wei. Aged 25. Curly hair.

This was the message I received.

3 guys kidnapped a Chinese girl in a silver colour Toyota Camry (the boxy version) . The plat no. is 7641 (she did not see the preceding alphabets). Please report to the nearest police station if you see this car.

If you see a car of this description and bearing those numbers on the registration plate, or you see Dora or someone resembling her, please contact the nearest police station.

For the second time in the space of a week, I pray that I will have to put up a post to say ‘Sorry, I was wrong to…’.

Hindraf champions the cause of the downtrodden Indians.

My friends and I in the ‘One People, One Nation’ initiative desire the emancipation of all peoples of our nation, without discrimination, without exclusion, without exception.

It follows that the ‘One People, One Nation’ initiative encompasses and includes the legitimate interests of those whom Hindraf presently stand for.

I believe that the Hindraf leadership, too, wishes the best for all Malaysians.

Perhaps, though, in articulating their concerns for the disadvantaged Indians and in advancing their demands to set right the ills in the Indian community, they may have erred, whether in the choice of words or in the framing of demands.

To err is, after all, human.

I ask the Hindraf leadership to reflect on this, and if you find any truth in what I say here, why not offer conciliatory words and an olive branch that may ease any hurt to any quarter occasioned by such error?

Say sorry.

There is no shame in it.

I know.   

I say again that in substance, both Hindraf and the ‘One People, One Nation’ initiative desire the same thing.

We are, therefore, not opponents.

BN and its ‘divide and rule’ blueprint is our common enemy.

Let me also acknowledge that where the ‘One People, One Nation’ initiative is still working on its outreach to the Malay heartland, Hindraf has succeeded in reaching out to the impoverished, disadvantaged Indians.

The crowds on Sunday bear testimony to this. 

Let us give credit where it is due.

Sunday was a start. Where do you go from there?

I ask the Hindraf leadership to note the concerns being articulated by many about the methods they have adopted and the demands they have made.

I ask the Hindraf leadership to not take these as criticisms of you, but as concerns voiced by those who are on your side.

I am one of those.

Both Hindraf and the ‘One People, One Nation’ initiative must recognise that because the target of our respective initiatives differ, the latter’s being wider in scope, so too our methods and our strategies differ.

The Hindraf leadership, I hope, will forgive me for this observation, and that is, that Hindraf has thus far taken an isolationist approach in pursuing its cause.

Perhaps, until Sunday, circumstances made it necessary.

The danger that we face now is that, if we pursue our respective strategies and methods independent of each other rather than working together on a common strategy, neither will get anywhere and the current status quo will remain.

In all humility, I say that if Hindraf is to take the cause that it now champions to its desired end, it must now change course.

I ask the Hindraf leadership to reflect upon this with an open heart.  

My friends and I would welcome with open arms the Hindraf leadership to come together as one and secure justice and equality for all.

We wrote to SPR, Perak on 12th November, 2007 giving them 14 days to let us have a full explanation as to the increase of 8,463 registered voters in Ipoh Timur.

Until 26th November, we had not heard from them, although Encik Osman had, at the meeting at their office on 2nd November, assured those in attendance that they would.

I sent another letter yesterday.

If they do not revert within seven days, I will hand this matter over to solicitors to pursue through the courts.

Moses, if I lose track of time, I’m sure I can depend on you to nudge me on.

In case you have not blocked your diary, this is a reminder that 9th December, 2007 is the day that the Bar Council Human Rights Committee celebrates Human Rights Day.

For details, click HERE.

The long explanation is the mini series I mentioned in my rejoinder to Shar’s comment.

Let me take the short route first.

Like Imtiaz, I commend for your consideration and immediate reading, ‘The Hindraf Campaign : A Critique, by Dr. Kumar of the Parti Sosialis Malaysia.

Imtiaz has reproduced it in full at his blog and you can read it HERE.

Dr. Kumar’s paper has comprehensively set out all of my concerns and misgivings about the agenda, the methodology, the effectiveness and the ramifications of the Hindraf initiative. 

Do look at it. 

The long of it, if still thought necessary thereafter, will follow in parts.