Malaysia - Where Honour, Integrity and Human Rights are Bad for Your Health- Part 3 of 3

Now that we have covered the Human Rights Day celebration (Part 1) and the points in the memorandum against the extension of Rashid's tenure as EC Chairman(Part 2), we will now get into the events on 11/12 when the Bersih delegation delivered the memorandum to Parliament.

What happened?
It's very simple really. First there were roadblocks around the city. Then there were policemen and FRUs lined up in front of parliament blocking any entry to the parliament.

All because 20 old men were going to deliver some memorandum.

Laugh factor: They actually got a court order (restraining order) prohibiting some of these 20 men from going to the parliament.

The police arrested people going to the parliament and also people leaving the parliament.
It looks like sleeping beauty is waking up from slumber and doesn't want to be disturbed by the people.

(I know at this point, some of you may say -Nazri style- "Wat people? Dees are de minoritee, BN was voted by the majoritee. Wat are you talking about?")

My answer to that will be:
"Go back to school and find out what exactly democracy means. Because obviously, you either don't have an inkling of what democracy is, OR you don't give two shits about it."

(Going a bit off topic here) But I feel that it is my responsibility to tell you what democracy means. My pal, 20 cent wrote:

Taken from the Greek words demos, meaning people, and krateo, meaning rule; the literal translation of the word democracy is ‘rule of the people’. It should be note that the ‘rule of the people’, is applied to all of the people. Not just some of the people, not just most of the people, but all the people.

The fact that our ruling party is so fond of quoting to the masses and the international media that our country is an democracy merely because its has been elected by a mandate by majority - and as such, it represents the 'will of its people' - shows that the government has not even began to grasp the basic tenets of a democracy, much less its execution.

Indeed, if the ruling coalition delineates that its definition of a democracy is merely a mandate by majority, then by inference it is not perpetuating a democracy, but rather a fiction of one, as elections are a rather undemocratic process of setting up a democratic government. After all, the ballot box is merely a process, not a practice, so any government that comes to power from it cannot in all honesty say that it represents all of the people, regardless of how democratic the process is.

Governments elected from a mandate of the majority can be constituted as a democratic government if - and only if - it recognizes and protects the basic rights of each and every citizen it claims to govern. And it is here that our ruling coalition seems to have lost the thread of democratic observances. Once a government respects these rights, as enshrined by various constitutions in various nations, then - and only then - can a government derive its powers from consent of those it governs.

Aaaannyways back to the issue at hand:

Why are the authorities preventing the people from reaching out to their leaders? Why are we being told to shut up? Why is having a strong opinion so wrong? Why is criticizing them so wrong? Sensitive sangat ke? Are we hurting their feelings? Tak boleh handle ke?

If they are so sensitive, don't become politicians. If you can't take criticism, don't be a leader. A leader actually listens to the people, not just come out with a press statement claiming the fact then go to sleep after that.

Although I agree that defying the police is a crime, but I don't understand the logic behind these arrests. Even the court order is ridiculous. Logically speaking, I don't see the fairness there. The damning part is that no one actually bothered giving a credible explanation. Always vague answers.

The court order, like the constitution amendment, was done too quickly, too brashly and without much debate or consideration of the feelings of some Malaysians. To me, if you have nothing to hide, nothing to gain from it, why do it now? Why not do what they always do, which is delay, delay, delay? They're so good at it, why not do the same in this case? Why the urgency?

Most importantly, why is Rashid SO INDISPENSABLE? I'm sure they are able to find somebody equally as 'muka tak malu' like Rashid.

You know what pissed me off that day? It was this incident:

Lim Kit Siang asked the PM why are the people being arrested in parliament? It is unfair..
PM answered that they were not actually IN parliament. They were in the parking lot. That's outside.
- I don't know what to say to this except... Arghh!!!-

To the Nay Sayers
To those of you who were complaining and downright bitching earlier about the Bersih rally, you have no right to bitch about it now. You know why? Because we took your suggestions:

"I don't understand why you had to go march to the King's palace. It was inconveniencing the rest of the people and businesses suffer. You guys are inconsiderate. Don't be stupid la. Why do you need such a big number of people to deliver some stupid memorandum? Why can't you send a small delegation instead? Stop this nonsense."

Ok. We took your suggestions (we actually LISTENED despite the fact that our ears are not that big) and implemented it. We sent a small delegation to the parliament to deliver the memorandum. What happens? Many many arrests.

We only succeeded in making it easier for them to arrest the leaders handing over the memorandum.

The sad part? The most demoralizing, depressing, down right rude part? The most upsetting, most utterly mind boggling part?

Some people attack Bersih and those of us voicing out our concerns. Isn't it sad when you do something that you feel is a selfless act and you get shot for it? Isn't it upsetting and demoralizing when the people you are defending or fighting for, are the ones who turn around and bugger you in the ass?

You want to know what's even more depressing?

It all comes down to ignorance.

Some say 'Ignorance is bliss.' Well, it won't be bliss for long, dudes and dudettes. By the time everyone realizes the truth, it'll be too late. By that time, this country will be such a deep shit hole that you can't help but smell the shit you're swimming in. The tide is coming. Reserves are depleting.

How long will it take you to realize that the actions of the current government are mainly self beneficiary and not for the people of this country? (If it was mainly for the people, but they get small kickbacks from it, I can still live with it... but this is too much)

Political awareness, human rights awareness or even democratic awareness in this country is at an all time low. Human rights and democratic awareness is not that complicated.

We should be allowed to have an opinion. We should be allowed voice our opinions. We should be allowed to defend ourselves in court if we are arrested. We should be allowed to demand fairness and equal treatment.

We should be allowed to demand transparency in government dealings. We should know what they do with our money. We should be able to access information regarding the running of our country. We should be able to trace our money and where it goes.

The Official Secrets Act was amended in 1986 so that the definitions of official secrets also include government tender documents (even after completion of the tender exercise) and any other documents or materials which ministers and public officials may deem secret or confidential.

Points: Government tenders are Official Secrets (ooooooohh) and the ministers and public officials are the ones who decide if it should be secret or confidential (aaaaaaaahhh).

Oh, I get it, they get to serve their own greed AND get away with it... genius!

You see the purpose of this amendment? I don't.. unless it is to blindfold the people.

And this is just one out of many...jeng jeng jeng...