It's truly amazing! We the rakyat voted in the government, and the government, in turn, whenever it so pleases, uses draconian laws against us. Such is the gall of the government of this land. They are able to use the country's laws at their whims and fancies against the rakyat. No need for proof. No need to weigh the merits of the case. Just arrest them and put them in jail.
Question: can the rakyat do the same to the leaders in government? Can the rakyat haul government leaders into jail if there are any insinuation of impropriety? The rakyat , after all, are the people who voted them into office. So why is it that the ‘employee’ is now abusing the real boss?
It appears that these ' wakil rakyat ' (read: employee) believe they know better than the rakyat (read: the boss), and believe they should decide on behalf of the boss what is good and what is bad for 'him.' A case in point: charging prominent blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK), the editor of ‘Malaysia Today’ blog under the Sedition Act. There is no need to clarify the meaning of the word ‘seditious.’ Enough has been said in the last few days of its meaning.
The government, in this case, is saying ‘we think this Raja Petra fellow is doing great harm to the nation and its leaders, and we have decided that he should be punished to the fullest extent of the law to keep peace and ensure national security.’
In a Bernama report, DPM Najib Razak was quoted as saying: ‘The government will continue to be liberal towards bloggers and netizens, but this country has laws on libel and defamation. Just because you operate in cyberspace, it doesn't mean you are absolved of having to comply with the laws of the nation.’
He obviously continues to think the rakyat is stupid. Wake up! This is the 21st century. Just as his own lovely wife has cautioned the people not to ‘ telan bulat-bulat ’ what has been said about her, the rakyat will not ‘ telan bulat-bulat ’ what he has said in the newspapers (read: mainstream media). The onus is on him to convince us, not the other way around. We don't necessarily share his opinion or believe his explanation anymore. The rakyat doesn't have to. And just because we don't agree with what the government is saying to us does not mean we are against the government or being seditious.
Critics of the government are not traitors. They are, in fact, patriots. Unlike many of our so-called ‘leaders’ in government who cannot or simply refuse to acknowledge their wrong-doings and failures, and continue to insist that there is nothing wrong with the government and how they are running the country, RPK is calling a spade, a spade. Nothing more. Nothing less. He is simply seeking justice for a girl who is no longer around to defend herself. And for that he gets to be sent to the slammer.
This, sadly, is only the tip of the iceberg.
Gerakan Wanita chief Tan Lian Hoe, in a strongly-worded winding-up speech last year at the party's national delegates conference, said merely listening to the grouses from the rakyat will be insufficient as what the people wanted are for swift actions to be taken. She referred to PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's opening speech the day before (at the party's national delegates conference) that the latter wanted to hear the truth even if it hurts.
Our dear PM wants to hear the truth even if it hurts? But he's only good at listening. He has not done very much.
‘Listen, listen, listen, but no action taken. The people are actually disappointed, frustrated and angry,’ Tan told the delegates. ‘It is useless that we only listen but no firm and swift action is being taken. This would not solve the problem,’ she added, pointing out that those who voiced their grouses against the government should not be deemed as traitors. ‘They are not traitors, they just want to air their views. The real traitors are those who are corrupt, do not have integrity and dishonest,’ she added.
Meanwhile, the DPM also claimed that the purchase of Sukhoi fighter jets and the Scorpene submarines were above board and had received approvals at all levels and adhered to all the required procedures. By that, he was also implying that there is absolutely no need for the government to establish a commission to investigate the negotiations for the purchase of the aircraft and submarines.
Now, billions of taxpayers money are involved here. At the very least, the books should be available easily for the rakyat (the government's direct boss) to scrutinise the transactions. Don't squirrel the books away in some hard-to-reach corner and tell us that the purchases were above board. That is not good enough and totally unacceptable in this day and age where transparency is vital and expected, particularly for persons in public office.
The Barisan Nasional government has completely lost the plot. Not only that, it has also lost the respect and the trust of the people it was supposed to represent. Instead of waking up after receiving a very tight slap on its face after the March 8 general election, the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi-led government continues in its wanton ways to rile up the rakyat as if challenging the rakyat to see if we dare to speak up. One could almost hear the government saying this:‘I dare you to criticise us. You sure you don't want to end up like Raja Petra?’
Speak up we will. In fact, we already have. And the rakyat is giving you a chance to prove yourself one last time. But at the rate things are going, it will not be a surprise if Barisan Nasional is thrown into oblivion in the 13th general election, yes, together with its other race- centred component parties.
In a democracy, whichever style you want to call it, everyone has a voice. This right does not belong to any one race or person or religion. Instead of serving the rakyat, the AAB-led government continues to 'champion' archaic issues like ‘Ketuanan Melayu,’ the New Economic Policy (NEP), and other race and religion-related stuff. Does it not know that these are no longer in vogue in the 21st century's global village?
Why can't the AAB-led government champion worthy causes like justice (the Altantuya murder case, for instance, to ensure that the perpetrators are incarcerated), racial integration and harmony, religious tolerance, integrity in the judiciary, equality for all, freedom of speech, human rights, etc?
Surely we want our children to grow up with these. Or don't we? We certainly don't want our children to emulate leaders who grab a woman's bottom and get away with it, hurl sexist and racist remarks in Parliament or close one eye to corruption.
