Walkout on Dr. M: Freedom of expression or … ?
Sunday, September 11th, 2005 | 1:38 am @ SK
Three diplomats from British, Hungary and Holland walked out in protest against former premier Dr. Mahathir Mohamad speech which critisized US and British policies in Iraq, during a conference on human rights organised by the Human Rights Commision of Malaysia (Suhakam).
When asked on what he thought of the walkout, Mahathir replied:
“Well! I am sorry. As much as they have the right to criticise me, they should give me the right to criticise them.”“But if you don’t want to hear my criticisms of them, then you are denying my right to speak up.”
“These are soldiers who must expect to be killed. But the Iraqis who died because of US action or the civil war in Iraq that the US precipitated were innocent civilians who under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein would have been alive. ” […]
BBC welcomes comments on this topic: “Are Mahathir Mohamad’s comments fair?“. I would like to quote one of the comments by Adriana Blankenship from UK:
He has a right to speak his mind, although I feel he is somewhat misdirecting his comments. The bomber pilots wouldn’t be there without the governments’ directives. He should lay blame where it is due.
Like it or not, the damage was done. I just hope that they are OK with Pak Lah, that’s the least to ask for now.
What you think?
September 11th, 2005 at 2:32 am
I think he should sit at home and watch tv, he will destroy this country even further with his stupid comments towards the west. We will suffer from his action, he won’t.
“But if you don’t want to hear my criticisms of them, then you are denying my right to speak up.”
Yes, u can say watever u like, but why can’t they choose not to listen to you ah?
He is not the PM anymore, not the manager of Malaysia anymore, we don’t need him to speak on behalf of Malaysia, we got Abudullah now, so let Abdullah do the talking.
If he wanna act like a hero, don’t step down as the PM in the 1st place. If he wanna teach Abdullah how to handle the country, dial his number, don’t do it like a show.Eg:AP fiasco, proton….
oh damn, i remembered he set up some stupid committee to ensure fair trial of Saddam Hussein too! why so kepoh? But frankly i don’t think anyone give a damn of what he do lah!!
The local media should not pay so much attention to him anymore, every weeks i read about what he said, what he did on the paper,i’m so fed up with that!He even stole the limelight of Merdeka Day with the outgoing Rafidah(my prediction nia,see abdullah got guts to do it or not)!
I don’t want to read about him anymore lah!read for so many years liao,dulan lah….I bet most of the ppl in other countries still thinks Mahathir is the PM, wanna bet?run a poll
The most sohai ppl here were SUHAKAM, how stupid can one be? what is SUHAKAM? they invited a guy that used ISA towards his political rivals for a speech on human rights?and i thought Suhakam had called for the repeal of the ISA !!
SUHAKAM is total rubbish .
September 11th, 2005 at 5:31 am
Hamdan was right when he used the words ‘very distasteful.’ It was very distasteful to invite some guests to your house and then have your dog snarled its teeth at them. Integrity of Suhakam has been compromised with the help of a clown.
September 11th, 2005 at 8:36 am
When I first read about Suhakam’s invitation for Tun M, I laughed. There was lack of Human Rights practices in Malaysia during his dictatorship.
But, in this case.. Tun was talking about the West’s action againts Iraq. Yes, this time I give him my support. Thank God he didnt gave this speech during his dictatorship.
We can clearly see his point of view of international affairs. But, in domestic affairs, he is just another crap. All of us here know what he did to Anwar Ibrahim and how brutal is the ISA.
Of course the diplomats can do whatever they want. Even the opposition party can do the same.
Is there anyway we can read the whole speech of Tun? It is not fair to bang him without reading the truth.
September 11th, 2005 at 1:01 pm
The full speech is here:
http://tskheng.blogspot.com/2005/09/walkout-on-dr-m-freedom-of-expression.html
Tun has some good points. And the diplomats were rude. They prefer to walk out saying they were insulted rather than debate the issue like intellectual mature humans. Such attitude is to be frowned upon.
September 11th, 2005 at 1:05 pm
Hi Totoro,
Are you pasting the wrong link here?
September 12th, 2005 at 3:12 pm
Ppl should really focus on why da useless Suhakam invited him in the 1st place, what are they trying to prove?
and also why on earth Mahathir do that before Abdullah go on tour in UK & US? a big WHY
September 23rd, 2005 at 5:23 pm
[…] Ex-deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim sent a legal letter to the ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad for calling him a sodomist during a press conference at the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) on Septemer 9, 2005. […]