Show Hindraf 5 our gratitude

Before you lay yourself down to sleep tonight, take a moment to think of the Hindraf 5 currently being detained under the ISA in Kamunting. Just wonder what must be going through their minds, as they lie on their beds. Without doubt, they must be missing their wives and children. Take a moment to think of their children who cannot see, hug or play with their fathers.

The Hindraf 5 must be wondering how to support their families since they are out of work. They must be thinking how to continue the struggle for the Indians in this country since their freedom has been so unjustly taken away from them. They may even wonder if the Indian Malaysians have forgotten them.

Now, take a moment to think of our prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Think of him lying on his comfortable bed in Putrajaya. Do you think he feels an iota of guilt, since he was the one who signed the ISA instructions to wrongfully separate these men from their wives and children? Think of MIC President S Samy Vellu lying on his bed after a good dinner with his family.

Do you think he feels sorry for the plight of these men, since he was the one who boldly declared to the international media that they were detained under the ISA on mere suspicions that they had terrorist links? Both of them know in their hearts that these men are innocent, but they had to selfishly put them away to safeguard their political futures.

How can we continue to allow these kinds of men to be our leaders?

The MIC was supposed to take care of the Indian community’s interests all these years, but only after the Nov 25 Hindraf rally do you see the government taking such a keen interest in this deprived community. Million of dollars have been ‘promised’ for Tamil schools. The chief secretary to the government has been instructed to ‘look into’ hiring more Indians for the civil service. An Indian boy falls to his death at a school in Puchong, and Umno Youth now sends an officer to visit the family and investigate!

Would all this have taken place if not for Hindraf? If your answer is ‘no,’ take a moment to think about where their struggles and sacrifices have landed them.

How do we repay these men who put the interests of their community above themselves and their families? How do we give back for the sacrifices they have made?

The best thing we can do is to free them. How do we do it? The ISA is the tool of this government. If this government is replaced in the next elections, the ISA will fall, and the Hindraf heroes will be freed. Therefore, if you value the sacrifices these men, their wives and their young children have made for your interests, then all you registered voters should make a commitment to vote against the Barisan Nasional on March 8, election day.

Go out in force and urge your families and friends to go with you. Just remember that every vote counts. The government has taken us for fools by promising a lot of last-minute goodies and last-minute development plans. Let us show them that we are not fools.

Most importantly, come election day, let us show Uthayakumar, Manoharan, Kenghadharan, Ganabatirau, Vasantakumar and their families that we have not, and will never forget them.

Malaysian bloggers warned being monitored

KUALA LUMPUR - AFP : A Malaysian government minister has accused bloggers, who have been writing avidly on upcoming elections, of being cowards and warned they are being monitored, a report said Friday.

Youth and Sports Minister Azalina Othman said opposition parties were using blogs to get their message out because they believed the Home Affairs Ministry was busy monitoring reports in the mainstream media, the Star daily said.

"They think they can get away with it but it is not the case as they too are being monitored," she reportedly said, adding that bloggers were cowards and a nuisance to the ruling party.

Opposition parties have resorted to blogs, SMS messaging and YouTube in their campaign for the March 8 polls, to dodge a virtual blackout on mainstream media.

Major newspapers and television stations -- many partly owned by parties in the ruling coalition -- have given blanket coverage to the government and its achievements since the election was called.

The opposition parties rate barely a mention, but thanks to the Internet they have begun campaigning feverishly in cyberspace with the aim of reaching young, urban, educated voters.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranks Malaysia 124 out of 169 on its worldwide press freedom index, and says the main media are "often compelled to ignore or to play down the many events organised by the opposition".

The government has previously threatened that bloggers could be punished under draconian internal security laws which provide for detention without trial. - Channel NewsAsia

Malaysian Election For Idiots

The list is not exhaustive, please continue.

1. Election Commission of Malaysia is an unofficial component of Barisan Nasional .

2.The chairman of Election Commission of Malaysia is an UMNO member .

3. The current chairmanship of Election Commission of Malaysia had expired but was extended under Constitutional Amendment Bill. It was so obviously being rushed through to keep him the job as to insult to both the Constitution and Parliament.

4. The main functions of Election Commission are to follow any orders from Barisan Nasional chairman and to ensure Barisan Nasional win by hook or by crook.

5. The policy of the Election Commission is to safeguard, supervise and maintain the undemocratic process of the country through not free and unfair elections .

6. Election Commission will spend RM200 million for the election, deploying 149,000 staff and 50,000 casual staff including helicopter pilots and boat navigators on behalf of Barisan Nasional.

7. The election date is always based on feng shui and wet dreams of Prime Minister.

8. Malaysia’s population is now around 26 million. About 15 million Malaysians are eligible to vote but only 10,701,054 voters are registered either by themselves or somebody else.

9. Not all of these 10,701,054 registered voters will cast their votes on polling day.

10. Not all of these 10,701,054 registered voters are alive any time on polling day.

11. The electoral rolls is deliberately contaminated by Election Commission with the names of the dead, non-citizens, multiple registrations and the under-aged, to ensure election outcomes are determined by phantoms rather than citizens as per instructions of Barisan Nasional.

12. Most of the deads among 10,701,054 registered voters will return from their graves to cast their votes to the ruling party on polling day.

13. Phantom voters are people with fake ICs and identities but can never be caught as long as they are voting for Barisan Nasional on polling day.

14. The phantom voters are here to stay as the government responded to the Likas verdict by changing the Election Act so that election outcome can no longer be challenged on the grounds of electoral roll validity.

15. The extent of irregularities and fraudulent registrations is part of the chairman's KPIs and quantum of bonus.

16. For years, elections have seen high number of missing ballots in many constituencies but Election Commission chairman always closes both eyes .

17. Spoilt votes are counted to spoil the results.

18. Mal-apportionment and gerrymandering of constituencies have gone from bad to worse with the 2002 constituency re-delineation exercise but who cares as long as Barisan Nasional is the government.

19. There are 221,085 postal voters mainly military personnel whose votes normally casted by their superiors.

20. Only 4 categories of Malaysian Citizens who are overseas qualify to register as postal voters under Elections (Registration of Electors) Regulation, 2002 and they are all Barisan Nasional supporters only .

21. Postal voters are not necessarily casting their ballots by post or even exist at all .

22. Indelible Ink is not necessarily indelible for phantom voters.

23. Transparent ballot boxes are implemented to enrich certain cronies of Barisan Nasional.

24. Ballot papers without serial numbers would be used in this election but not necessarily your
votes are secret.

25. Oppostion parties can have access to the Government controlled print and broadcast media as long as they make fool of themselves.

26. There will be thousands of opposition supporters joining Barisan Nasional and all over the media before polling day.

27. Thousands of people will attend opposition rallies but they are not registered voters.

28. The opposition parties will be bickering and quarelling all over the media even before nomination days .

29. Nomination days are like festivals with a lot of drama and actions before both supporters kick each other.

30. There are a lot of cash, kain pelikat, kain batiks with Barisan Nasional stamp available for free during campaign period and on polling day than any other days of the year.

31. Mat Rempits with Barisan Nasional t-shirts and flags will be kings of the roads.

32. Barisan Nasional will return to power with more than 2/3 majority even with only 40 percent overall votes.

You know but who cares that:-

* It is an offence to provide food, drinks or refreshments with a view to induce voters to either vote for a particular candidate or not vote at all.

* It is illegal to provide monetary rewards for voting for a certain candidate.

* It is an offence to threaten a person to vote for a candidate or not to vote. In 2004 this was extended to include "spiritual threats".

* It is an offence to obstruct passage to and from a voting centre. Setting up a location for any candidate within 50 yards (50 m) of the voting centre is an offence. Similarly, loitering in this zone is also an offence. Only voters are allowed in this zone on voting day.

* It is technically an offence to provide transportation to a voting centre. However, this is not normally enforced as all parties do this to some degree. It is a further offence to use a vehicle that is normally rented out (such as a taxi or hired bus) to provide such transportation. The only exception to this is that it is allowed to provide for the crossing of rivers. No passengers of any vehicle can be forced to alight within 50 yards of a candidate's booth on voting day.

* Each candidate is not allowed to spend more than RM 200,000 (parliamentary) or RM 100,000 (state) for campaigning under Section 19 of the Elections Offences Act, 1954. It has been alleged, however, that the governing Barisan Nasional coalition spent around RM1.5 billion in the 2004 general election, far more than the RM94,300,000 permitted under the regulations.[4]

Radio TV Malaysia TIDAK LAGI PROFESIONAL DAN BERETIKA

Bermula dari isu kekecohan Batu Burok, perarakan aman peguam, hingga ke perarakan aman Bersih dan Hindraf, RTM telah menunjukkan belangnya untuk mengampu dan membodek kerajaan sekaligus meminggirkan rintihan dan rayuan rakyat marhaen.

Kempen TV yang menunjukkan rusuhan rakyat jelata negara asing menentang kerajaan mereka kemudian diselitkan dengan protes rakyat marhaen dengan ungkapan " ini bukan budaya kita". Yang lebih menyakitkan hati adalah kempen propaganda terbaru sempena 'pancing undi' iaitu " mereka berpakat" RTM cuba memberikan mesej kepada rakyat marhaen bahwa ada suatu muslihat di sebalik pakatan parti pembangkang. Ya kah? Apa dia pakatan tu?

Di sini saya ingin huraikan apa sebenarnya yang harus ditekankan oleh RTM dalam usaha mengwar-warkan kempen " ini bukan budaya kita" dan " mereka berpakat". Sila ikuti pemerhatian saya dalam usaha RTM ingin mengajar rakyat marhean antara apa sebenarnya budaya kita dan apa yang bukan. Sepatutnya kempen RTM harus berbunyi " ini kah budaya kita?" dengan mengutarakan isu-isu berikut;

INIKAH BUDAYA KITA?;
1- rakyat majmuk yg bersatu membantah/ protes dihalang, dipukul dan dimasukkan dalam lokap oleh kerajan - INIKAH BUDAYA KITA?

2- ketua SPR, Rashid aka Ra-shit , dipanjangkan tempuh perkhidmatan untuk meneruskan agenda penipuan dalam pilihan raya akan datang - INIKAH BUDAYA KITA?

3- RTM TIDAK pernah menemuramah mereka-mereka yang turun protes di jalanan dalam APA JUA protes sekalipun untuk mendapatkan gambaran sebenar kenapa rakyat marhean sanggup melanggar perintah kera-jaan untuk mara menyokong perhimpunan yang kononnya haram - inikah budaya RTM? Yang sepatutnya profesional dan beretika?

M- menteri penerangan yang PALING memalukan yang pernah saya lihat sejak kita merdeka! Menteri Penerangan yang TIDAK fasih bahasa global iaitu Bahasa Inggeris masih disanjung sebagai menteri penerangan! Beliau TIDAK mampu memberi penerangan yang jelas kepada dunia, keadaan ini amat memalukan sekali. Ini jelas dibuktikan dalam video klip Al-Jazeera
semasa beliau disoal mengenai perarakan aman BERSIH yang berlangsung dalam Bahasa Inggeris! Bagi saya, taraf beliau adalah lebih kurang taraf budak melayu sekolah kebangsaan tahun 3, yang tidak pernah bertutur Bahasa Inggeris di luar kelas. INIKAH BUDAYA KITA?

Saya ingin akhiri surat ini di sini kerana saya telah muak dengan pendirian RTM dewasa ini. Yang terbaru, perhimpunan aman bunga mawar anjuran Hindraf juga tidak mendapat liputan dari RTM yang sentiasa war-warkan kononnya memberikan maklumat terkini. Saya tidak faham kenapa RTM setelah sekian lama tidak turun padang untuk mendapatkan pendapat dan pandangan sebenar dari rakyat yang menyertai pelbagai perhimpunan aman?

Samy Vellu a liability?

Several leaders of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) are quietly worried that party president Samy Vellu has become a liability and think he should be replaced soon, Malaysiakini reported yesterday.

But they are reportedly clueless on how to convince him to give up his posts within the party and the government.

Mr Vellu, who is also the Works Minister, is set to contest in the March 8 general election his parliamentary seat in Perak state, which he has held since 1974. For the last 29 years, he has been president of the MIC, a member of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

"Recently, we see that many members of the community have been publicly vocal in blaming Samy Vellu for the failures of the community," an MIC party veteran was quoted by Malaysiakini as saying. The community's anger has been escalating since the Nov 25 Hindraf (Hindu Rights Action Force) rally.

"First, it was against the government, and then it was against MIC, but now it is increasingly against Samy Vellu," he added.

He cited the incident in Penang on Sunday when a group of Indians confronted Mr Vellu, demanding the release of Hindraf protesters detained at an illegal rally in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

The authorities used water cannons and tear gas to contain the demonstration by some 300 ethnic Indians, who were calling for justice and an end to alleged discrimination against their community.

According to local media, Mr Vellu's car was blocked by the angry group from leaving Sunday's function and he was jeered for being unable to help Malaysia's Indians. Mr Vellu was stuck in his car for more than 30 minutes and had to wait for the police to clear the way.

Last Wednesday, Mr Vellu was surrounded and heckled by young people at a ceremony for a Tamil school in Selangor.

"The anger on the ground is not going away. In fact, it is increasing. We realise this but the party can only put on a brave face and claim we can counter them," Malaysiakini quoted another MIC leader who witnessed the Butterworth incident.

According to Malaysiakini, other MIC leaders they contacted refused to publicly comment on the mounting criticism against their party's boss. They are standing behind Mr Vellu, saying that only he can ensure that the government fulfills demands made through the MIC, the sole Indian representative in the government. - TodayOnline