We Are the Many - Not the Few

WE ARE THE MANY,
NOT THE FEW

OCCUPY YOUR RIGHTS


STAND UP FOR YOUR FREEDOMS



WE ARE THE MANY


THEY ARE THE FEW

Summum ius, summa iniuria


The extreme law is the greatest injustice. (Cicero)

UMNO ACKNOWLEDGES IT IS ABOVE THE LAW

Image source: http://www.thenutgraph.com/umnos-unholy-trinity

Read what UMNO legal advisor was reported as saying, click HERE

Extract:

“Cases of alleged corruption by Umno members are handled internally and not by anti-graft laws, party legal adviser Datuk Hafarizam Harun said.

The party, through its own mechanisms, could address such a problem, he said.

"For reasons reflected in the party's constitution and members' code of ethics, I look at it as more of political corruption, not corruption per se, although some may not agree.

"I agree that it is morally and ethically wrong, but it does not come under corruption-related acts." .......................”

How arrogant and big-headed UMNO are, they are simply a Registered Society, under the control of the Registrar of Societies, through the enforcement of laws as follows:

The Societies Act 1966 and Socities Rules 1984

- so how come UMNO can seemingly openly profess to be above the law, act as they deem fit and seemingly get away scot free?

Surely corruption, of any type, within a Registered Society is not condoned by the ROS?

This is typical of the state of affairs in Malaysia in the 21^st Century.

Why does the Registrar of Societies Md Alias bin Hj. Kalil have nothing to say regarding this matter?

http://www.ros.gov.my/

Beneficium accipere libertatem est vendere


To accept a favour (bribe) is to sell freedom

Anwar Ibrahim’s ongoing “Show Trial”

Anwar Ibrahim & his wife Wan Azizah

Read an opinion in an article published in a Canadian newspaper, The Globe and Mail, by clicking HERE

Extract:

“The presence of so many foreign embassies attending Mr. Anwar's show trial is a clear expression of international concern. This is an issue on which the world must speak out.”

You can read what was said in an article published in the Los Angeles Times by clicking HERE

Extract:

"Legal records suggest that sodomy charges under Section 377 have been leveled only seven times in Malaysia in 70 years, according to thenutgraph.com, an independent Malaysian news website, with four of those charges being against Anwar."

To read a BBC news article on this issue, please click HERE

Extract: "Umno is too rotten to be saved"

Commune periculum concordiam parit

Common dangers bring forth harmony

Diligite justitiam, o judices terrae

Cherish justice, o judges of the earth

A HAPPY AND TOLERANT NEW YEAR TO ALL

In Malaysia, 2009 ended on a somewhat positive note:

The Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that Christians have the constitutional right to use the Arabic word الله‎ 'Allah' in reference to 'God'.

The High Court also ruled that the government ban on non-Muslims using God's / Allah's name was illegal.

To Christians and to all sensible and tolerant people, the rulings, on New Years Eve, are a victory for freedom of religion in Muslim-majority Malaysia.

May 2010 be the beginning of many changes for the better in Malaysia.

The people have suffered under the BN / UMNO federal government for far too long!

Mihi cura futuri

My concern is the future

Magnas inter opes inops

A pauper in the midst of wealth

What possessed the cow-head protesters?

That is the title of an excellent article that summarises the sorry state of affairs in Malaysia today.

So do you still want to go out and vote for UMNO / BN again?

Do your part.

I'm trying my best by disseminating news you won't find printed in the normal channels.

Cyberpower will prevail.

Please ask your other friends this question.

What possessed them, those pigheaded cow-head protesters?

" 4 Sep 09 : 8.00AM

By Jacqueline Ann Surin
jacquelinesurin@thenutgraph.com

(Source: openclipart.org)

WHAT possessed them? That's the question I'd like to ask the protesters who desecrated a cow head on 28 Aug 2009 after Friday prayers to object the building of a Hindu temple in Section 23, Shah Alam.

We know that it's not Islam that teaches intolerance of and disrespect toward other religious beliefs, nor is it Islam that preaches violence or force if Muslims don't get their way. We also know that it is really not Malaysian or Malay custom at all to be so obnoxious, threatening and crude. For all my life as a Malaysian, I have known Malay customs to be gentle, sophisticated and inclusive. This is most likely because the "Malay" race was actually historically constructed; its customs weaved from a convergence of different continents and cultures.

So, if neither Islam nor Malay custom drove the 50 protesters to publicly despoil a sacred Hindu creature and to threaten bloodshed because of a Hindu temple, what was it?

Possessed by superiority
My hunch is that these protesters were emboldened by a culture of Malay Muslim superiority that has been carefully cultivated and strategically stoked by the Umno-led government, Malay Muslim politicians from Umno, PAS and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), and by the judiciary both civil and syariah.

We only need to consider the following events where non-Muslim, non-Malay Malaysian rights are deferred, even trampled on, by a system that upholds Malay-Muslim rights and sensitivities as ultimate and unquestionable.



(Pic by Bill Davenport / sxc.hu)

Despite several police reports that have been lodged by Catholics against Al Islam for an undercover report that desecrated the holy communion, no action has reportedly been taken against either the publisher or the editorial team.

Despite the incendiary reports and headlines in Utusan Malaysia that promote ketuanan Melayu at the expense of the constitutional rights of other citizens, no action has been taken against the Malay-language daily by the Home Ministry. Consider how other media have received warnings and threats, and have even been suspended or shut down before for much vaguer offences.

Additionally, let's not forget that in 2006, it was the Barisan Nasional (BN) government, under the leadership of then Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who banned any discussion of Article 11 and the proposed Interfaith Commission. Abdullah also threatened to use the Sedition Act if Malaysians attempted to discuss their constitutional rights in the light of issues arising from a clash between civil and syariah laws because some Muslim groups charged that these initiatives were attempts to undermine Islam.

According to Selangor PAS, beer must not be sold in Muslim-majority areas regardless of non-Muslims, who may want to consume alcohol and are not prohibited from doing so.

Because this is the holy month of Ramadan, PAS Youth wants the Michael Learns to Rock concert banned. They have described it as a huge insult to Islam especially since Muslims, presumably, should not be having any fun during the fasting month. The Umno-led BN government, surprise, surprise, has also chided the concert organisers for being disrespectful towards Muslims and Ramadan.

But since when was Ramadan meant to be a kill-joy for Muslims and non-Muslims? I don't recall Catholics in Malaysia insisting that non-Catholics should also fast and sacrifice during Lent. Or Hindus suggesting that everyone else should also be a vegetarian on a Hindu holy day.

(Pic by Theodore99 / sxc.hu)

Mind you, this attempt to ban a band because of preferences, defined by some Muslims for all others, is no different from when the animated movie Babe, which starred a pig as the lead character, was banned several years ago.

Consider also how "Allah" cannot be used by non-Muslims in their worship in Malaysia, out of deference for perceived Muslim insecurity and the notion that the word "Allah" only belongs to Muslims. Let's remember that it is the government of Malaysia that is upholding the ban on the use of "Allah" even though historically and culturally, the word cannot be copyrighted by Muslims, and was used even before Islam.

Notice also how the proscription of pork in students' school lunch boxes and increasing regulation for pet dog ownership presupposes that Muslim sensitivities are all-important regardless of the way of life of other Malaysians.

And it's not just food and pets, its dress codes, too. Remember how in 2005, several ministers defended the dress code imposed by the International Islamic University on non-Muslim female students? No matter that even among Muslim scholars, there is no consensus about the requirement for Muslim women to wear the tudung.

In the conversion cases involving, among others, Shamala Sathiyaseelan, M Moorthy, R Subashini and more recently, M Indira Gandhi and Mohan Singh, one outcome keeps recurring: not even the civil courts will uphold the rights of non-Muslims.

Police inaction
I'll also wager that the Shah Alam protestors were bold enough to do what they did so publicly, showing no fear of being caught or penalised by the police, because they knew that they would not be arrested. After all, in the past, police have demonstrated an uncanny ability to restrain themselves from taking action whenever a Muslim mob attacked a Malaysian forum that tried to address the issues of political Islam and how they affect our nation.

We shouldn't be surprised at all that the Selangor police stood by and did nothing on 28 Aug while the protesters promised bloodshed and clearly threatened the peace. After all, the police also took minimal action against the mob that disrupted the peaceful Article 11 forum in Penang in 2006, and against another mob, led by PKR's Zulkifli Noordin, that disrupted the August 2008 Bar Council forum on conversion in Malaysia.

Hishammuddin (Pic courtesy of theSun)And what has the current administration led by Datuk Seri Najib Razak demonstrated to reinforce this culture of inaction in the face of threats and attacks against civil liberties and the legitimate rights of non-Malay and non-Muslim Malaysians? It excuses these threats of violence. Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein not only found time to meet the cow-head protesters at his office, he also found ways to justify their actions by making them out to be the ones who were "victimised".

We all know that if any group protested against the building of a mosque by using a severed and bloodied pig head, the group would not have stood a chance with the authorities. And they definitely would not have been so easily welcomed, and then defended, by the home minister in his office. And that's why, even when protests that are designed to insult Islam happens, the perpetrators of such hate antics do so without revealing themselves.

So, what possessed the residents of Section 23, Shah Alam to do what they did so boldly and publicly? I'll be happy to wager that it's because they believed they would get away with it. Even if they eventually don't because of public outrage, including among Muslims, and the embarrassing international headlines, these protesters probably started off by believing that their method of protest would not result in any repercussions on them. Indeed, Hishammuddin's defence of them may just be an indicator of how, even if they are taken to task for instigating violence, they will be let off lightly.

And so, do you blame the protesters for thinking they would get away with threats of violence? I don't. The evidence, after all, that they would likely escape action because they belong to a Malay Muslim majority, is just too overwhelming. Denying that a particular political culture has been put in place in order to favour such bigoted, violent and intolerant behaviour would be to deny that the 28 Aug demonstration ever occurred.

---

Jacqueline Ann Surin had to shout to be heard over a Merdeka dinner at a friend's home in Section 6, PJ because the terawih prayers from the nearby mosque was being blared for more than an hour before she left. She wonders if for some Muslims, piety is best demonstrated by being a nuisance to one's neighbours."


Veritas numquam perit


Truth never perishes



Vivere commune est, sed non commune mereri



Everybody lives; not everybody deserves to

POWER TO THE PENAN

THE BRAVE AND HONOURABLE PENAN

Hundreds of Penan armed with spears and blowpipes have set up new blockades deep in the Borneo jungles, escalating their campaign against logging and palm oil plantations.

The Penan, indigenous people from Malaysia's state of Sarawak, manned a blockade and displayed banners and held spears and blowpipies to challenge vehicles from timber and plantation companies in Long Nen.

POWER TO THE PENAN!

This land is their land, the indigenous people, such as the Panan and other native tribes, should be commended and honoured for their determination and steadfastness in standing up for their inalienable fundamental human rights.

Mr Jok Jau Evong from Friends of the Earth in Sarawak, was reported as saying:

“This is the last chance for them to protect their territory. If they don't succeed, there will be no life for them, no chance for them to survive.”

Mr Alah Beling, headman of Long Belok settlement, which is a cluster of wooden huts which are home to 298 people and are reachable only by a long suspension bridge, near where one of the barricades has been built, reportedly said:

"The forest was once our supermarket, but now it's hard to find food, the wild boar have gone".

To read a full news report, dated 23.08.2009, on this issue please click HERE

and HERE for a belated, (24.08.2009) but more detailed, report from the Star Malaysia.

Deus et natua non faciunt frusta

God and nature do not work together in vain

Dum inter homines sumus, colamus humanitatem

As long as we are among humans, let us be humane

A Gesture of Love

In this time of selfishness, greed, hypocrisy, corruption, nepotism, cronyism, racial and religious discrimination, when lies, deception and cheating are more often than not norms.

When there is too little love and too much hate, when there is bias and favouritism, crime without punishment and punishment without crime.

Take a look at this short video and reflect on important issues affecting everyone, and vow to do something to make things better.





And please remember this too:

Als die Nazis-(1945) by Rev. Martin Niemöller

Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten,

habe ich geschwiegen;

ich war ja kein Kommunist.

Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten,

habe ich geschwiegen;

ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat.

Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten,

habe ich nicht protestiert;

ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter.

Als sie die Juden holten,

habe ich geschwiegen;

ich war ja kein Jude.

Als sie mich holten,

gab es keinen mehr, der protestierte.

English Translation:

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not protest;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to protest.

Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)

Expressio unius est exclusio alterius



The mention of one thing may exclude others




Respice post te, mortalem te esse memento



Look around you, remember that you are mortal.

DNA of an unknown male was found on political secretary Teoh Beng Hock's belt & jacket

The late Teoh Beng Hock

The DNA of an unknown male was found on the late political secretary Teoh Beng Hock's blazer and belt.

It is reported that efforts are on-going to find a match from among DNA samples taken from 102 people, this was revealed was revealed at the inquest into Beng Hock's death. The inquest began in the morning of 29th July 2009 at the Coroner's Court in Shah Alam, ans was adjourned at lunchtime the same day, until 5th August 2009.

Read more about it HERE & HERE

In cauda venenum


In the tail [is the] poison.
Watch out for what you don't see

What happened on the 16th July 2009 at the MACC office at Shah Alam?

For one very sad version (fictional) of what may have transpired, go to YouTube and watch "MACC Downfall Parody" by clicking HERE

or alternatively, watch the embedded video below.

Causarum justia et misericordia

For the causes of justice and mercy

UMNO Spin or Fact?

Truth or Lies, or even different versions of the Truth & Lies?


RGB

Real, Generated or Blatant

Perhaps Nik Aziz did indeed commend Kartika Sari Sewi Shukarno for accepting her whipping punishment, without an appeal, but did he actually say all that was reported by the NST?

Read this news (please click HERE) reported by the Malaysian UMNO controlled newspaper New Straits Times.

If what Nik Aziz is reported to say is really true, and not the result of UMNO spin doctoring, then it may be a much needed boost for UMNO's flagging support.

If it is untrue, then it will be yet another nail in the UMNO / BN coffin.

Most Malaysians would, I feel, prefer a more secular government, rather than a fundamentalist Islamic one under which brutal, cruel and inhuman punishments like, whipping, amputation, stoning to death and beheading are the norms.

This news has so far NOT been seen in any other news media, including the PAS on-line daily news Harakah Online click HERE.

Salva veritate

With truth preserved

Medio tutissimus ibis

You will go safest in the middle. (Moderation in all things)

In Memory of Teoh Beng Hock

The people demand the truth and justice!

Teoh Beng Hock was laid to rest today

Memoria in aeterna - In everlasting remembrance

Those who are responsible, directly or indirectly, for the death of Teoh Beng Hock must be brought to justice.

Also, the idiotic and rhetorical statements, by UMNO / BN supporters, about the political opposition in Malaysia targeting Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) because is a Malay race dominated government agency, should stop. What inane stupidity to even suggest that!

This matter extends beyond skin colour, it’s not about race, or religion or ethnicity; wake up you blinkered, narrow minded, hypocrite dumb arses who wrote, or were quoted, in the UMNO / BN controlled main stream media.

Let all in Malaysia follow this ideal:

“I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,

But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything,
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."

Edward Everett Hale

This issue not about politics, it is not about race, it is purely about justice!

All those who are guilty must be severely punished, without fear or favour.

Multi famam, conscientiam pauci verentur

Many fear their reputation, few their conscience.

Inhumanitas omni aetate molesta est

Inhumanity is harmful in every age

Mega Rally Planned for Wednesday 8th July 2009 at the Kuala Lumpur court complex

>

Mega Rally on the first day of Anwar Ibrahim's 'Sodomy II' Trial on Wednesday 8^th July 2009 at the Kuala Lumpur court complex where the trial will open , about 5,000 patriots are expected to assemble, they will all be wearing black clothes, such as T shirts.

Shamsul Iskandar Mohammad Akin, National Justice Party (Keadilan Nasional) youth chief, said;

'We want to have a gathering to show our support for Anwar and to tell the world that these allegations made against him are false and baseless' '

The government is attacking him because they do not want to see his reform agenda for Malaysia to succeed,'

Read the full story by clicking HERE

BLACK ATTIRE DE RIGUERE

SLOGAN OPTIONAL

Facta, non verba

Deeds, not words

Fortiter in re, suaviter in modo

Resolutely in action, gently in manner

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