To all my Muslim friends and readers, I’d like to wish you a happy and blessed Hari Raya Aidilfitiri, Maaf Zahir dan Batin!

Question: Why the establishment of an independent panel with so many hoo-ha if the primary and the only objective is merely to investigate the authenticity of the "Lingam video"?

Since last week, I’ve been asking this question consistently. (Click here and here)

Apparently, the answer is quite obvious, seek assistance of any forensic expert!

Well, in the case of Nurin Jazlin’s gruesome murder, Federal police Director of CID Christopher Wan Soo Kee revealed the footage of closed-circuit camera (CCTV) recording to the public to assist in the investigation into the murder.

The interesting fact is that the CCTV recording had been sent to the United States (US) Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) forensic laboratory in Washington on Sept 27 to produce the best enhancement!

Now, here’s another question. Why the Government established three-man independent panel where neither of them is a forensic expert? Why the "Lingam video" wasn’t sent to FBI for authentication purpose if FBI’s forensic laboratory already proven to be able to offer trusted expertise in this field? Why the double standard?

Now, let’s come back to more pressing issues on hand, especially when both DPM Najib Tun Razak and Rela director-general Zaidon Asmuni denied the report that Muslianah Nurdin, who is the wife of Indonesia’s education and culture attache as being detained last Wednesday while shopping in Kuala Lumpur despite showing her identification as being untrue.

The repercussion started to be seen when Indonesian MPs urged further diplomatic action against Malaysia.

"Things like these happen again and again. If we stay silent they will think we Indonesians are stupid," said Yusron Ihza Mahendra, deputy chairman of a parliament commission on foreign affairs.

"We must take strong action that sends a clear message that we are angry," Mahendra added.

Besides, the chairman of parliament’s foreign affairs and defence commission Theo Sambuaga, said ties between the two countries were hurt because of Malaysian "arrogance" and urged the two countries’ leaders to meet to sort out the problems.

"We ask Malaysia, its apparatus and the media, to stop denigrating Indonesians," he said.

Apparently, today is going to be a great and bad day for Malaysia as when we’re in the midst of celebrating our first Malaysian astronaut, extra sensitivity from both side while commenting on the the wrongful detention and maltreatment reports are very much appreciated to ensure that the already deteriorated bilateral friendship built over the decades would not be further damaged.

Our government, including us also have to realise that Malaysia with the already tarnished reputation among international eyes, can’t contra-off the bad news with the declaration of our first Malaysian astronaut. Najib should be aware of the fact that usual active denial syndrome is only applicable domestically among Malaysians, but not on international relationship, such as what’s happening in this latest scenario.

Two rights can’t make up for one wrong, do the graceful things to mend the relationship before it’s late (before blogger Unspun and many Malaysians based in Indonesia are being expelled!).

When Malaysians wake up later, we’d be thronged by many headlines celebrating our first Malaysian astronaut - Sheikh Muszaphar.

(SOURCE: NASA)


(SOURCE: AP)
Together with two other crew from Russia and United States, the Russian Soyuz-FG, adorned with a Malaysian flag, lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Among the international headlines on major news organizations are:

• CNN: U.S., Russian, Malaysian heading for space station
  
• BBC: Landmark lift-off for space crew
  
• Reuters: Russian rocket launches first Malaysian into space
  
• IHT: Malaysia celebrates as its first astronaut blasts into space
  
• Al-Jazeera: Malaysian astronaut enters space
  
• AFP: First Malaysian, first female commander blast into space

Syabas, Malaysia!

From Nila Tanzil to Donald Luther Kalapita to the latest Muslianah Nurdin, who is the wife of Indonesia’s education and culture attache, was detained last Wednesday while shopping in Kuala Lumpur despite showing her identification, Malaysian based in Jakarta Unspun is feeling malu.

The headline: Rasa anything but sayang.

I am very malu to be a Malaysian and I think many Malaysians feel this way, again. To my Indonesian friends: We are sorry for a very goblok government that seems to be losing control of even its own government servants.

He strongly believed that our Government should apologize unconditionally for this latest act of stupidity, which I’ve to concur wholeheartedly, for all the wrong reasons starting from early this year.

For a start, an ex-US Navy serviceman complained he was treated inhumanely which made him felt like a dog. Recently, he is back to Malaysia considering suing the Tourism Minister headed by Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor. Latest status unknown.

May 2007, Indian film director Sanjiv Mishra was in Malaysia to shoot a documentary, he was detained by Rela officers after mistaking him for an illegal immigrant.

Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor was shocked by the incident and apologized. He slammed the Rela for its insensitive approach to foreigners and reminded them not to go overboard while carrying out their duties.

The bad incident was followed by the detention of an Indian software professional, who was handcuffed and detained by police for not carrying his passport while shopping. Both events were reported by IHT too.

Besides incidents highlighted above, probably the most infamous incident thus far after Nila’s would be the unfortunate event where an American couple were woken at 2am with threats to break down the door of their rented holiday apartment on Langkawi Island, where they were alleged to be Muslim and insisted to be checked upon by a team of 6 enforcement officers.

10 months into Visit Malaysia Year 2007, bad incidents affecting our tourism industry were reported by local mainstream medias, bloggers as well as international press too.

However, continuous rhetorical statements by fellow politicians, authorities and any other parties are not effective anymore. Instead of pushing buckets around, Tengku Adnan as the Tourism Minister must stand out and pushes for better reform for a better image and more importantly, to curb over-zealous act by any concerned parties.

Tengku Adnan knows this, the same goes to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi too, otherwise, tourism industry which has long been one of the main revenue generator for this country, might be at risk of losing out to more exotic destinations in neighboring countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and etc.

It’s too high a price to pay for.

While we’re arguing about the non-existence of the Witness Protection Act in Malaysia, this is what the international news organization like BBC looks into Malaysia beyond its mirror.

(SOURCE: BBC, 8 October 2007)

Skeptics can put the blame on BBC for making fun of us as if many of us (Malaysians) are generally lack of common sense, but on second thought, we truly deserve to be the clown of the day, for we’re responsible of voting in the idiot up there who continues to make seemingly effortless yet idiosyncratic remark which consistently put us on the international arena for all the wrong causes.

No thanks to the absolute idiot.

He thinks he’s so smart.

Before that, he used to act like a smart ars, hence raised further doubts whether the doctrine "separation of powers" still work in Malaysia.

Then, he spoke like a smart ars, denying there is a crisis in our country’s judiciary system.

Not feeling repent, now he speaks like a smart ars which makes him really look like an absolute idiot, when he was quoted as saying that the source (for the "VK Lingam tape") witness will not only be protected by the government under the so-called "Witness Protection Act" but will also be given a new identity and a new face through cosmetic surgery.

"The protection is stated under the Witness Protection Act." […]

"We have an Act to protect witnesses. If we do not have trust in the government to protect the witness whom can we trust. Surely not Anwar"

Immediately, the promise that came out from the horse mouth was quickly snubbed by PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail when she said there is no evidence of such a crucial bill being tabled in Parliament in the last sitting as reported by Malaysiakini.

"My office had confirmed this fact with the Legal Division of the Parliament, that no such bill had been tabled for a first reading in the Lower House," she said.

Now, apparently with all humble pies on the so-called de-facto law minister, let’s not deviate from the pressing issue at large which needs our immediate attention.

Lets remain focus on pushing for the establishment of a royal commission to probe into the rotting judiciary system further exposed by the VK Lingam video which was essentially denied by the said minister above, together with seeking urgent clarification from the Government on some critical questions which remained unanswered as mentioned earlier.

1. How do we expect an independent panel to conduct a thorough investigation when it has no legal power, no power to call witness, no power to administer oaths and no immunity under the lawyer as confessed by one of the panel member Mahadev Shankar?
2. Why the establishment of an independent panel with so many hoo-ha if the primary and the only objective is merely to investigate the authenticity of the "Lingam video"?
3. As the panel is powerless to call for witness, they can only pray hard for witnesses to come forward and testify. The question is, why should the people come forward when the independent panel can’t protect them from prosecution?
4. Why the knee-jerk reaction from the Anti Corruption Agency (ACA) where instead of picking up the senior lawyer VK Lingam for further questioning, they’re quizzing messengers like PKR vice-president R Sivarasa and Anwar’s aide Sim Tze Tzin as reported by Malaysiakini? Click here to read blogger Elizabeth Wong’s take on this, in which she calls it "the game of catch the whistleblower".
5. What’s the transparency level for the independent panel to carry out their duties when investigations would be conducted on close door basic and the outcome will be submitted only to the Government?

What’s the big deal with authentication?

Instead of setting up the three-man independent panel, PRK vice-president R Sivarasa helped to highlight the question #2 raised above by questioning the need of the panel instead of getting forensic expert to determine the video’s authenticity.

“It is no rocket science to figure this out. Give an appropriate copy of the video clip to a relevant expert in this field and the person will be able to confirm whether the video clip is an authentic recording or not in a matter of a few hours," he said.

How insulting the statement "to confirm whether the video clip is an authentic recording or not in a matter of a few hours" can be in undermining the Government’s reputation, which in another way round, that actually shows the knee jerk reaction and stop-gap act taken by the Government merely to pacify the crowd but not sincere in applying a permanent fix into the judiciary system.

[UPDATED VERSION] Now, let’s maximize the power of internet, reduce the fear factor and contribute your little bit in promoting more of tipping points as shared by Global Voices Online’s David Sasaki.

Do us (do yourself) a favor with little effort in promoting the recorded video by blogger Zan Azlee on the YouTube, the presentation slides by David on slideshare.net and pictures taken by Lensa Malaysia’s Paul Choo on Flickr.

(SOURCE: YouTube, 6 October 2007)

(SOURCE: slideshare, 6 October 2007)

(SOURCE: Flickr, 6 October 2007)
[ORIGINAL VERSION at 4:07pm, 5 October 2007] That’s right, it’s the state of fear among Malaysians that deter Malaysia bloggers to promote the transition from the "digital democracy" of cyberspace to actual democracy in society.

(SOURCE: Screenshots, 5 October 2007)
But what’s exactly "the state of fear" which David Sasaki shared to a group of bloggers, lawyers, fellow journalists from online alternative media Malaysiakini and Chinese press Nanyang Siang Pau, ex-journalists, NGOs, activiststs and etc. as part of his finding?

"I can tell that, in Malaysia, there’s a big fear factor when it comes to blogging: "If I write something, am I going to lose my job? Is it going to prevent me from getting a job in the future? Am I going to be detained by some authority and questioned? What’s going to happen to me?" he said. […]

"Blogging, podcasting, and citizen media has not reached that tipping point in Malaysia because there aren’t enough people jumping off the rock. We need a concerted effort and a lot of people who are motivated to apply for some of these grants - who are willing to take the risk.

"If there are enough people to do it, then there’s not going to be any arrests because you have that critical mass." [Malaysiakini]

Some of the suggestions proposed by David to fully relish the great potential among bloggers in Malaysia is to minimize the fear factor and to promote more of tipping points by getting more Malaysians to become part of the blogging community.

Tipping point occurs when change happens quickly and unexpectedly after an apparently slow build-up or in another word, an event of a previously rare phenomenon becoming rapidly and dramatically more common, in which according to David, the term "tipping point" was coined to describe the state of near-paralysis or hesitation he and his friends experienced as teenagers whenever they were about to dive off a particular rock into a river - 40 feet below - they used to swim in.

None of them would initially want to be the first to jump off that rock - to go beyond that tipping point - into the air and plunge 40 feet into the water, said Sasaki. It was only when one of them overcame that fear that the rest followed.

I have faith that blogging is the latest tipping point of communication because no other form of communication has been so immediate, so interactive, so far-reaching and so ready-made for relationships.

As many of us are just beginning to figure out the depth and breadth of blogging, together with the relationships we are making and the information we are gathering, we need to believe that we can change things and bring light to events that would have never seen the light of day.

If we set our minds in the same direction, who’s to say that we can’t change this country?

After 3 nights in a row, my friend at Global Voices Online David Sasaki came to a conclusion that the state of fear among Malaysians is tremendously high and more importantly, he doesn’t expect the severity level to be that serious.

He is in Malaysia through invitation of ALL BLOGS to tell us how governments around the world are engaging blogs and bloggers.

Without going into the details of what’s the state of fear he meant (more details on this later), I’d like to call upon each and everyone of you to help sign a petition initiated by People’s Parliament to His Majesty the Yang Dipertuan Agong to ask for the establishment of a Royal Commission to look into and stop the rot in the judiciary and to return the judiciary back to the rakyat.

According to the latest update at the People’s Parliament, as at 7.30 pm last night, the total number of signatories was 1600, where if each person who has signed on can get another 2 persons to sign the petition, the target to achieve 5000 signatures would materialise.

So, have you read the petition?

To read the draft petition in English, please click here.

The actual petition, complete with the language of protocol, can be viewed here.

To sign up in support of this petition, please send your name and i.c. number to savethejudiciary@gmail.com.

For the time being, let’s forget about the state of fear.

The better question to ask is, are you ready to defend your constitution and sign the petition for a better Malaysia for you, your family, your kids, your friends and people that you care about?

Act now!

Tun Dr. Mahathir continues to gain strength in his post-op op’s rehabilitation process and is now able to consume home-cooked food.

While doctors are happy that his vital parameters continue to be stable, he will continue to be warded at the ICU.

Please find the official media statement issued by Tun’s personal aide Sufi Yusoff.

MEDIA STATEMENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Institut Jantung Negara, 4th October….YABhg Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad spends more time sitting up as he continues to gain strength in his post surgical rehabilitation process.

Eleven days into his second surgery for wound debridement, he is now able to consume home-cooked food. It is vital for Tun Dr Mahathir to continue to get good nutrition to build up his strength.

IJN doctors are happy that his vital parameters continue to be stable. Tun Dr Mahathir will continue to be warded at the Intensive Care Unit.