Please attend 3rd ANTI-ISA CANDLELIGHT VIGIL AT SEREMBAN TOMORROW 14 November 2008

THIRD ANTI-ISA Seremban Candlelight Vigil

on

Friday November 14, 2008, beginning 8.00pm.

{Some voluntary PR work at request of the Gr8 Desi}

from Desi's blog:


"I ***bum-ped into a Furongknight this morning at Temiang and he came up to greAt Des, asked about how angelA was after her arrest at PJ Anti-ISA Candlelight Vigil last week. I smiled and replied that all is well that ends well.

He then asked now that RPK aka Pete has been released from ISA detention, would the Candlelight Vigils in Seremban gon on ... I said with a caital Y and a s-mile seen by my Blogger matey Bernard Khoo aka zorro 40miles away -- YES!:)


SO...
Third Consecutive Friday, ie TOMORROW -- Please come. Alone. With family. With friends. To show that wit' PEOPLE'S POWER, VVVVVVVe can do anything!

BECAUSE VVVVVVVe, the people, believe

In the power of united vision and concerted efforts

BECAUSE VVVVVVVe, the people, hope

The spirit moves, hills, valleys and mountains.

BECAUSE VVVVVVVe, the people, care

And will continue to care, and dare

_____________________

ANTI-ISA CANDLELIGHT VIGIL IN SEREMBAN

Written by YL Chong
in cahoots with angelA and zorro

Following two successful *Anti-ISA Candlelight Vigils last Friday and the Friday preceding in Seremban, the same group of concerned citizens in the capital city of Negri Sembilan are organising the Third Vigil aimed at gathering a larger crowd than the first Vigil's 150 and the second's 200+.

THIRD ANTI-ISA CANDLELIGHT VIGIL IN SEREMBAN


In Solidarity with All ISA Detainees, numbering 60-plus

Venue: DATARAN SEREMBAN PARK [very near to Terminal 1 bus station & short walk from / to Seremban Railway Station]

Date/Time: Friday, November 14, 2008 at 8.00PM – 10.00PM

Contact:

ANGELA OOI 019-3628367
&/or
YL Chong 012-9702285 (Ref: desiderata2000.blogspot.com)

ALL MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC ARE INVITED TO TAKE PART:)

PLEASE BRING YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS ALONG!

EXCERPT from "Midnight Voices and Other Poems" (see July 7, 2007 Post at desiderata2000.blogspot.com:) by Desiderata-YL Chong + Companion Essay POETRY as a Special Medium of Communication; published April 2007; pages 89 and 90:

In April/ May 2003 at the height of the US-led war on Iraq, my thoughts went back to the ‘60s, when the Vietnam War took a heavy toll on both Americans and Vietnamese, and the rumination inspired the following poem:

Warfront Faraway

The United States and allies have been

Raining missiles on Iraq for eight days now

Targetting a tyrant called Saddam Hussein"

Vox populi, vox Dei



The voice of the people is the voice of God



Lux et veritas



Light and Truth

Editors want media laws reveiwed before setting up of proposed National Media Council in Malaysia

"Editors want media laws reviewed first

11 Nov 08 : 7.46PM

By Elizabeth Looi
elizabethlooi@thenutgraph.com

PETALING JAYA, 11 Nov 2008: Editors and media stakeholders have called for the government to review media restrictive laws before setting up the proposed national media council.

Most of them feel that the proposed council would only end up as another regulatory body if laws such as the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) and the Official Secrets Act (OSA) are not amended first. They also said the council should be independent and must not be governed by the ministry.

The issues were raised in a two-hour meeting with home ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof today, which was attended by about 40 editors, media stakeholders and representatives of the Malaysian Press Institute.

Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) executive director V Gayathry said almost everyone at the meeting agreed for the laws to first be reviewed or amended together with the setting up of the proposed council.

"I think it has to go in tandem because it will show the public that the government is serious about amending the laws," she said in a phone interview today.

Most of the editors also emphasised the need for an independent self-regulatory body, she said.

"The public is not going to have confidence in the council if it is under the government, because they know that the government is already controlling the mainstream media," said Gayathry.

A senior editor who did not want to be named for fear of government action said it would be a mockery if the council was placed under the ministry.

"If the national press council [had been] set up in 1973 (as was proposed then), it would have been good because the council would be self-regulatory. It was meant to pre-empt the government from putting in more laws to regulate the press.

"But the proposal was postponed for so many years and the government has meanwhile put in so many laws. So, to establish a media council now will seem like another level of control," he told The Nut Graph.

He added that media stakeholders would probably support the setting up of the council if the government repealed the PPPA, or draft laws to repeal or amend the act. The PPPA gives the home minister the absolute discretion to grant, suspend or revoke the publishing permit of newspapers.

However, The Star's group chief editor, Datuk Wong Chun Wai, said some of the editors kept an open mind about the media council and did not totally reject the proposal.

"But we want to look at the council's functions and structure, and we feel that the laws must be reviewed first," he said.

Wong said for example, part of the OSA and the requirement for the annual renewal of publishing permits must be reviewed.

He also agreed that the council should be independent so that it doesn't create another layer of regulation for the media.

National Alliance of Bloggers pro-tem chairperson Ahirudin Atan said he was opposed to the council. "I don't see how they can set up a single council to regulate print, broadcast and online media. I think the government is being overambitious."

Ahirudin — who has a blog, Rocky's Bru — said any council should be independent. "The government must not be involved, especially the home ministry which regulates the (press) licence." "

These are very good proposals, I must agree with Rocky's view, and the opinion of all those who agree that should a council be set up, it must be fully independent, self regulating and free from any form government interference.

If it is not, then it will be to all intents and purposes just another arm of the all grasping BN federal government of Malaysia.


Verba volant, (littera) scripta manet


Words fly away, the written (letter) remains

RPK is a free man, video

A video from Malaysiakini / YouTube

RPK's release from unlawful detention under the ISA




Straits Times, Singapore, report HERE


FREE ALL THOSE DETAINED WITHOUT TRIAL


Iustitia omnibus


Justice for all

RKP to be freed later today, what about all the others detained without trial in Malaysia

It is indeed very good that RPK is to be released from unlawful detention under the ISA, but there are many more people under detention without trial in Malaysia, under the ISA, Emergency Ordinance, and other oppressive, draconian and undemocratic laws.


Until such laws are repealed, and unless all those detained without trial are released, the candlelight vigils, and the peaceful gatherings to protest against them should continue.


The US has new new President Barak Obama who heralds a new beginning and a change for the better for the United States and even the whole world.


In Malaysia, change is long overdue, now is the time for this change.



All those who are eligible to vote, but have not yet registered to vote, please do so as a matter of utmost urgency.


At the next general election, you can make a difference.



Those who do not vote, or who have not registered as a voter and thus cannot vote, may make all the difference between a victory for Pakatan Rakyat and change, or more of the same BN style oppression.


INSIST ON JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY IN MALAYSIA

RPK TO BE FREED TODAY

WONDERFUL NEWS

Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin is to be freed today 7th November 2008.

Raja Petra Kamarudin was successful in his bid to obtain a release order from detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA) via a habeas corpus application.

The judge ruled that the Home Minister (Hamid Albar) had acted outside his jurisdiction when he issued the two-year detention order under Section 8(1) of the ISA.

The High Court in Shah Alam also allowed Raja Petra to be brought to court to be released today.

He was detained under the archaic and draconian ISA for a second time on 12th September 2008.

One small step for justice, one small step for democracy in Malaysia.

The Home Affairs minister Hamid Albar should be sacked immediately.