Why I am I who I am today, and why I support Bersih.

http://www.globalbersih.org/2012/04/18/bersihstories-clement-ting-petaling-jaya-formerly-in-melbourne/

I was once a Malaysian that held 0% interest in politics and love for the country. I had the belief that as long as I can stand on my own two feet and excel academically, I will be able to succeed anywhere in the world. I never had much love for the country much as I felt the country did not have much love for me. I studied in Australia for my 3 year degree where I had planned to migrate, live there, and die there. Having met people from various backgrounds and nationalities made me felt highly embarrassed to be a Malaysian. Every time a foreigner asked me about my country, I often came up as highly critical.

This all changed after having a chat with an Indonesian girl who overheard my criticism about my country. She was 17+ back then. Yet, she was able to change my life and views completely. I remember she told me that this is the country that I grew up in. No matter how bad it has treated you, this will always be your home. Irreplaceable memories grew from it. Unforgettable friends were made there. Our families live there. Our teachers, neighbours, and everyone else that we love, are still there. Yes, Australia is a better country to live in. A higher income, an easier lifestyle, and a more promising career. But will you be satisfied? Will you be content, living in a foreign land with no roots?

Though 3 years younger than me, she was able to think more maturely. I felt highly ashamed after that, realizing how cowardly I was, I began to ponder upon my actions. For many nights before closing my eyes to sleep, I began to think about my past, my memories and my friends. Yes, those were sweet memories. I remember the tough times that I had went through, the silly things that I did, the sad or even my painful moments.

Looking back, these are the experiences that I can share with my friends, make a laugh about it, and felt great to have live through life in this way. This is the fun-painful times that I too wish my future children will be able to live in. To have a life that I once had, to have a place that they too can term it their one true home, and when they reach my age, talk about it with their friends, and too, smile at it.
My plan was to always run away from this problem. Never once have I thought of facing it.

However, the advice I was given by the girl also made me realize how fortunate I was to have an education, more so one from a prestigious university. It made me realize that if I can stay abroad, who is going to take care of those that I love that are still stuck in the country? Not all my friends and relatives are fortunate as me. Some failed to even enter college because they were just not gifted academically. Who is going to take care of them, if not people like me? More importantly, who is going to take care of my parents while I am gone?

All these thoughts changed me completely. I soon realised that there were many Malaysians, working hard to pave the way towards a true democracy by standing up to the current government. This provided a shed of light to what was what once seemed to be completely dark cave in my world. The unravelling of Bersih 2.0 was this light for me. It made me understand how much home meant. When we sang the national anthem at Federation Square in Melbourne as one people and one voice, I could truly appreciate its meaning, for the first time as a Malaysian.

I would like to end this by sharing a quote from a friend which has touched my heart. “Why is it human nature to remember their bitter memories better than their happy ones? Because it is also human nature that we continue to never stop searching for our happy ones. Would you like to join me and search for a happy future together?”

Public Transport comparison between PJ + KL with Melbourne.

The importance of transport, and how it may affect property prices and human productivity.
We all know about the importance of public transport. For one, it takes us into the busiest place in the shortest period of time (yes, I am talking about Kuala Lumpur), provided that it has its own personal road/rail/tunnel etc.  It is also cost saving at the individual level (excluding car pooling for some cases) and most important of all, environmental friendly. Now would not this be a better Malaysia, if people were to use public transport more often?

My transport experience in Melbourne
I just recently got back from my three years of study in Melbourne, and I do not own a car there because it was not necessary to own one. In Malaysia however, a car can be categorised under essential goods. We relied too heavily on our personal vehicles to get to work, university, travel and/or even going out to the market which is a five to ten minutes walk away from home!

Unlike my three year stay in Melbourne, I can do all these through public transport alone with hardly any worries of ever being late! Public transport in Melbourne, I dare say, has fulfilled all my general transporting requirements from grocery shopping to work, university and even out for a holiday!

Unlike Australia, most of my Malaysian friends who recently entered college or just started working have already gotten a car on their own or from their parents. Their reason, “it’s hard to get around in KL without a car”. After getting a car, fresh graduates will then complain about having to commit 25% of their monthly income to petrol and car installments and parking spaces everyday while those in Melbourne only complain about trains being three to five minutes late.

Actually, these complaints are the least of their worries. Having no choice but to take roughly an hour to reach home because of the traffic on a journey that is usually 10 minutes or less is another pain in the butt. We are already forced to spend lesser time with our families by working on occasional weekends. Yet, we still have to waste our lives on the road. A simple Subang or Petalling Jaya resident working in KL wastes about 80 minutes (40 minutes for one way) a day for 5 days a week. That is equivalent to a loss of about 6 hours a week! Imagine if Malaysia relies heavily on public transport (such as Melbourne), I dare say that I can reach home in half the time than my current situation.


The difference between Melbourne train system, Metro and KL’s train system.
Metro, Melbourne’s lifeline train company is more efficient than our average KTM, Monorail, LRT etc all combined. Actually, it cannot be compared to the Malaysian train system at all! The difference between these two is one, efficiency, two, price relative to purchasing power and the ticket’s traveling frequency and three, the train’s capacity. I will leave out the first as it is obvious and need not be explained further.

Price Relative to Purchasing Power and the Ticket’s Travelling Frequency
I pay about $10 (RM32) per day for UNLIMITED transport usage. In Malaysia, if I were to take the LRT and the monorail, I will be paying about RM8 for just 2 ways. I have not included the bus fare home or other fares should my boss suddenly ask me to go meet up a client.

Train Size/Capacity
For trains that only operate very close to or within Kuala Lumpur, the frequency is fairly often, which is a good thing. But the amount of passengers it can carry at one time is VERY VERY small. In Melbourne, their city heart-line, Metro, operate their trains at the size of KTM trains (with many more fleets of trains, unlike KTM of course). Metro transports passengers from as far as Cranbourne to Melbourne CBD in one hour. That is as far as Kuala Lumpur to Seremban. Furthermore, the train frequency during busy hours can range from 5 to 10 minutes or even lesser!


What causes this difference? Why are people not driving to the city?
1.       Expensive Parking Fees. Why not utilize the efficient public transport instead?

How did the Melbourne government made their people take the public transport instead of driving their own car? For starters, parking in Melbourne is ridiculously expensive. A typical parking lot in Melbourne CBD can cost up to $3 (RM10) to $10 (RM32) per hour! Even though cars are more affordable there, this move have successfully changed the mindset of Melbournians because having to pay (for example) $30 (RM96) a day, five days a week is psychologically more painful (and more expensive in the long run) than paying $6000 (RM19,200) for the car.

2.       Efficiency

Probably the most important reason for this difference would be the accessibility of public transport in Australia. This will be surprising for Malaysians because we have not experience the life of efficient public transport and hence may find it hard to believe. In Melbourne, public transport is highly accessible. When I say highly, I mean HIGHLY. Those living close to the CBD area can hop onto the tram anytime (and pretty much anywhere too). Trams have their somewhat private road where cars cannot simply just enter; giving easier access for trams to move and reach their destination on time.

3.       Fuel Prices and Environmental Reasons

Fuel is also another determining factor. Malaysian fuel is highly subsidised, unlike Australia. Furthermore, the average Australian is much “greener” than the average Malaysian and hence, chooses to walk or rely on public transport instead of private ones.

The Effect caused by this difference
Those that have never been overseas will fail to see this. Kuala Lumpur is very dense when compared to Melbourne. As mentioned earlier, Metro can ferry passengers during busy hours at the FULL CAPACITY of KTM trains in every 5 to 10 minutes or less. What this creates is people living further away but can still come to the heart of the city on time without having the need to wake up before dawn just to catch the early train or risk lining up for a later train during peak hours.

Furthermore, there are plenty of condos in PJ and KL. Assume a large plot of land having the capacity to fit 40 average houses, with each house owning two cars per family (80 cars for 40 families). Instead of building 40 houses, condos with the capacity to fit 240 families plus two parking lots per condo were built. This averages out to roughly about 480 cars but let’s be conservative and assume 400 cars instead. Now, use this logic/formula for the amount of condos, apartments and flats in Kuala Lumpur, and tell me, HOW ON EARTH are we suppose to cope for the future as more and more condos are being built EVERYDAY?

One more thing to note, there are not that many condos in Melbourne compared to KL and PJ. It is mostly houses. The same for Seoul, Korea and many other developed nations with the exception of a few places such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.

Imagine the possibility of having people from Seremban coming to KL for work everyday. Would that not allow the majority of KL and Petaling Jaya people to move further outskirt where houses are cheaper but yet, convenient? Their transport to KL will also take about the same time as in their current situation even though they are living closer to the heart of the city

Currently, people in Melbourne are willing to live even further than Cranbourne (the equivalent distance of Seremban to KL) because property prices are increasing every year. Similarly, if KL follows this system, people, too will start to move further and further away. When the population density of a place increases, development will happen even without the forceful development intervention like Putrajaya because Putrajaya is just in between Seremban and KL.

Unity

Ever since Mr. Najib took office on 3rd April 2009, the word unity is still another empty word printed on slogans without much effort in actually putting this word into serious action. Lets look at the latest and hottest slogan promoted by our dear PM Najib himself, 1Malaysia.

The 1Malaysia slogan is now everywhere from Kedai Rakyat 1 Malaysia (KR1M), 1 Malaysia clinics, 1Malaysia pillars, banners, posters etc. I am not trying to blast down the idea as I think this message has successfully reached everyone from the urban cities to rural areas. However, I personally feel that these are just all talk and show but no action as I see many people talking about it, but doing nothing about it. Furthermore, this 1Malaysia slogan is contradictory in so many ways to the extent that instead of promoting unity amongst Malaysians, it is possible that it is doing the exact opposite.

Why is it contradictory? To start off, different race interpret the meaning differently. Dr. Mahathir mentioned in his blog (http://chedet.cc/blog/?p=468) that

“The Malays generally interpret 1 Malaysia to mean real adoption of the national language as the home language by every citizen as happens in other multiracial countries. They also expect the abolition of Chinese and Tamil schools and ensuring the private sector has a fair participation of Malays and other Bumiputeras.”

According to the constitution, the rights of the Chinese and Indians to continue studying in their vernacular schools are protected. So maybe there is a problem with the demands of the Malays.

Similarly for the non-Malays, they interpret 1Malaysia as having abolish the rights of Bumiputeras and a fair and equal treatment towards all Malaysians according to article 8 of the constitution which talks about equality. This is also a problem because the largest proportion of Malaysians which are Malays disagrees with this. They have been brainwashed to think that this is their land and no one else but them have the “legitimate” rights towards Malaysia.

Without a proper outline on what is 1Malaysia, it will just be another empty slogan, at best, no matter how effective the government advertises it. On a more negative scale, it may even create complications and arguments on what is truly 1Malaysia.

Let me give you another example on how contradictory and unhealthy this 1Malaysia slogan can be. In two different speeches given by Mr. Najib and Mr. Muhyiddin, when Mr. Najib tried his best to promote the 1Malaysia slogan, his deputy goes around and tarnishes the slogan by shouting “I am Malay first, Malaysian second”. Even within the party grounds itself we can already see this stark contradiction made by two of the most powerful man in Malaysia. How can Mr. Najib expect Malaysians to understand his slogan if his deputy is confused himself? Or maybe it was Mr. Najib himself that was confused? On a side note, this internal conflict in UMNO was taken advantaged of by PR where Lim Guan Eng checkmated UMNO and BN when he said “I am Malaysian first, and Malaysian last”.

Although our nation is only 54 years old, but our unity has not improved at all. After half a century, I still see Chinese hanging out only with the Chinese, the Malays with the Malays, and Indians with the Indians (in majority by the way). Even when I celebrated Hari Raya in Melbourne, the Chinese and the Indians hardly mixed with the Malays. Neither groups wanted to take the first step in blending in.

Similarly in Malaysia, how often do you get to see this mixture of different races? Hardly any Indians celebrate Chinese New Year; hardly any Malays celebrate Thaipusam (heck, some do not even know the meaning of Thaipusam); hardly any Chinese are able to differentiate the meaning between Hari Raya Puasa/Aidilfitri and Hari Raya Haji! How can we expect unity if such wonderful cultures are not even shared?

To make matters worse, even some conservative Malays are demanding for Muslims to not celebrate Christmas simply because it is an annual celebration to commemorate the birth of Christ. What is wrong with Muslims celebrating Christmas? Do they not know that Nabi Isa, who is also Jesus Christ, is also a well known prophet in the Quran?

Michelle Yeoh once said in an advertisement about a decade ago, “This is Malaysia, truly Asia”. I personally envision and believe that Malaysia, that has three major races, can one day blend together peacefully to create the truly Asian flavour. Lots more work must be done than just the current 1Malaysia slogans. We need more actions from our government. We need to see that the government can be united first, if they ever wish for a united Malaysia. Until our leaders themselves can be effective in showing us some unity, all these hope will just be another dream waiting to be realized.

Why BN must go

Over the years, most Malaysians have been living in constant tolerance over other races due to our differences. Acceptance was not apparent, due to the very nature on how our leaders themselves lead, which, as of today, are lead by racial parties – UMNO, MCA and MIC – where you can only join a certain party if you qualify through your skin colour.

Having govern Malaysia for over 54 years, and despite the fact that we could have been better off if the country were to be governed fairly (no corruption and appreciation of talents for example), most Malaysians have managed to overcome the poverty barrier and have a good education as well. However, it is also these very same people that have overcome such barriers that understand how much Malaysia is unappreciative of their talents. Hence, they leave the country which ultimately leads us to a significant brain drain (BD) issue.

How significant is this issue? Let me show you what our fourth Prime Minister has to say.

‘Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad demanded that other countries pay Malaysia for having seduced them to stay, "since, by right, the graduates' training and knowledge should be called intellectual property."’

http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2308&Itemid=400

There must be a reason for Dr. Mahathir to say this, and I am sure every Malaysian knows why. This is living proof on how much talents we have and how unappreciative Malaysia is of its children. Developed countries wanting Malaysian’s intellectual property must mean that we are something – a raw diamond if you wish – and how quick it could have been for us to be a developed nation, if only they stayed and work here instead!

We Malaysians could have stood higher than most developed countries in the world through so many ifs. If there were no race quota; if there were no discrimination; if our party leaders were better examples; if there was a transparent government system and many more. It may sound impossible because no one can turn back time and amend the mistakes of the past. However, if we were to compare to other countries that were on equal or lower footing (eg, Korea) than Malaysia 54 years ago, and compare their policy with ours, we can see that if all these ifs happened, our lives could have been very different from today.

Singapore has achieved its developed status in less than 50 years mainly through their human capital whereas Malaysia has arrived to where it is today driven mainly (majority) by it’s natural resources. If we were to apply both human capital and capital goods into the economy, a simplistic calculation would be that we would have arrived to where we are today in half the time! This means more of our parents would have the privilege to study overseas and receive greater exposure. And who knows, University Malaya may have also maintained its unique standard in the world as one of the best universities around, triggering students globally to want to come to Malaysia instead, much like how many Malaysians today are flying to Australia for example.

As for Korea, here is what Tony Pua has to say.

‘we are failing to achieve our income potential and it cited the damning but instructive example of South Korea where “four decades ago South Korea was markedly poorer than Malaysia, South Korea’s per capita income is now three times higher than Malaysia’s.”’

http://tonypua.blogspot.com/2011/05/equal-opportunity-commission-to-reverse.html

Why is this happening? Go figure, it’s not hard.

Despite all our tragic fate, we did still somehow arrive at the point where the rakyat have begun to think and be aware of what is happening; triggering the Bersih movement not just locally, but also internationally to further spread the awareness. Most of us have somehow managed to understand today that we can no longer live peacefully through tolerance in this unfair country. Tolerance simply means hatred/dislike adding on to patience. If our patience were to die off one day, only hatred/dislike remains and we cannot have a peaceful country based on this. What we need is acceptance. We need to really live on the 1Malaysia concept where, as quoted by Lim Guan Eng, “I am Malaysian first, AND Malaysian last” and not like, as quoted by our deputy prime minister, Tan Sri Muhyddin, “I am Malay first, Malaysian second”.

Malaysians have finally emerge out of the thick hard coconut shell to realize that there is a time ticking bomb of hatred that is going to explode if nothing is done to prevent it. As such, there is a great number of Malaysians today fighting this unfair and tough battle to protect the peace in the country. For this to happen, we need and must have integration within our society. We need cooperation through acceptance of one another to enter the second half of the century of Malaysia. Lastly, we need fair treatment so that our human capital can grow because there’s only a finite amount of natural resources on earth whilst our ideas are infinite.

What we can see from Barisan National, is that although they claim to be cooperating with each other, there is no apparent integration and so, their supporters will only support their race parties. They will continue to tolerate other race parties for as long as the word BN remains official in the papers. Imagine one day if either one of the three parties, say MIC for example, were to leave BN. Will the MIC supporters continue to support MCA and UMNO? My answer is to a large extent, no. The racial party system subconsciously creates a tolerating environment than an accepting one which is not healthy for our future.

Of course, if it’s not for BN, then it must be for PR. However, I want to point out that PR itself is not perfect and should change as well. PR which consists of DAP, PKR and PAS allows different races to enter (PAS allows Muslims only, so technically a Chinese Muslim can join if they want to). This supports the need for social integration which the society desperately requires. Unfortunately, this is still not enough because PAS still segregates people through their religion while DAP is still highly viewed as a communist and Chinese party. If we truly want change, our party leaders must strongly battle the tough journey ahead and push for a truly integrated party where anyone can join.

Although Malaysia may have been “used” to the system of ruling through racial parties, there is no harm in adapting and changing for a better system. This is because those that evolve faster can adapt more rapidly to changing conditions and compete more successfully in harsher environments. As such, BN as lead by Najib today must go down because their mindset are still stuck in the mid 20^th century mindset which is obviously not suitable for the Malaysia we all want for the 21^st century.

COW DEAL or LAND DEAL?

~ Better do you Cow Math, otherwise become Mad Cow

Excerpt from pro-BN blogger ~ Syed Akbar Ali's article

Bung Mukhtar Crosses Over?

RM76,000 Per Cow

............ RM250 million project, Government "soft loan" and 5,000 acres of land. Wow!

And only 3,289 cows were produced.

Lets do some kira-kira.

RM250 million / 3,289 lembu = RM76,000 per lembu (thus far).

If each lembu produces 200 kg of meat, that works out to RM380 per kg of meat.

Saya tahu, this is just a rule of thumb calculation.

But looking at it from the taxpayer's point of view,

the public has had RM250 million of their money (duit rakyat) squandered in a project that has yielded only 3,289 cows.

As the project stands today, the public has suffered RM76,000 per cow.

Those are very expensive cows!!

Folks I just spoke to a feedlot cow farmer.

The guy is laughing his head off about this National Feedlot Project.

Here is some quick information from this farmer :

Feedlot cows are bought when they are about 2 to 2 1/2 years old with a live body weight of about 300 kg.
After they arrive at the feedlot station, the cows are fed for three to four months where they should gain 25 kg of weight per month.

So say after four months of "feedlot" feeding, the cows reach a minimum live weight of 400 kg which is suitable for meat slaughter.

A 400 kg live cow should yield 50-55% meat.

The market price is now about RM8.00 per kg (of live weight cow).

2 to 2 1/2 year old cows can be sourced from Thailand for as low as RM2,000 per head.

This is considered a good price.

More expensive ones are imported from Australia.

However, the average price is about RM8.00 per kg for live weight cow.

So a 300 kg live weight cow will cost up to RM2,400.

After say four months feedlot feeding and reaching 400 kg weight,

the same cow would fetch a price of RM3,200.

This gives a gross margin in excess of 33% (which is not bad business).

Note: RM3,200 per Australia Cow VS RM76,000 per NFC Cow

The farmer I spoke to has a 14 acre farm where he raises 300 feedlot cows.

But his actual feedlot area is only 1.5 acres, to house and feed his 300 cows.

The remaining 12.5 acres are planted with grass ("Napier grass??) which are then harvested to feed the cows.

He says a feedlot cow needs only about 20 square feet of space each.

The guy says 30 square feet of space per feedlot cow is considered a luxury.

So even if you have 5,000 cows on your feedlot, you only need 5,000 cows x 30 sf = 150,000 square feet or less than 3.5 acres of space.

He says being a feedlot, you do not want your cows walking or running around too much.

They will not gain weight.

So what is the purpose of the 5,000 acres that was given to the National Feedlot Corporation?

The guy also said that 1 acre of land can grow enough "Napier" grass to feed 25 cows.

So if you grow Napier grass on 100 acres, that is sufficient to sustain 2,500 cows.

Going by this rule of thumb,

the 5,000 acres of land given to the National Feedlot Corporation can grow enough grass to sustain a population of 125,000 cows.

But the Auditor General's Report says 3,289 cows represents 41% of the desired target.

That means the feedlot's capacity was about 8,000 cows only.

Using the feedlot farmers numbers, 8,000 cows would only need 320 acres of grass land to sustain them.

So what was the purpose of giving the National Feedlot Corporation 5,000 acres of land?

5,000 acres of land is enough to create a substantial oil palm plantation.

Note: Feedlot area by other farmer : 14 acres farm land for 300 feedlot cows

Feedlot area by NFC : 5,000 acres farm land for 8,000 feedlot cows

So, it is 373 acres for 8,000 feedlot cows by other farmers VS 5,000 acres for 8,000 feedlot cows by NFC

Too many UMNO people and BN people are unhappy that something like this is being treated so casually.

They may not be saying much but they are not happy.

The public is even more unhappy.

Where is the Prime Minister's statement on this fiasco?

Dato Seri seems to be maintaining an elegant silence.

This is very disgraceful and if no action is taken, or heads chopped, it will cost the Government plenty of votes.

It cannot be "business as usual" like as though nothing has happened.

Speech by Lim Guan Eng whilst campaigning for the PAS candidate in the Tenang By-Election on 25th Jan 2011 at 8 pm:*

**Since the mainstream media is banned from publishing such news by the
govt, please do a bit of national service by forwarding this report to your
contacts on the net & ask them to repeat the process.

Just imagine the exponential power of disseminating news in this manner. If
one person sends out this message to 10 of his contacts and each of the 10
contacts in turn repeats this process of spreading the word around, by the
7th level, 1 million readers would have received the same message.*

*This is one simple & powerful way where we can spread the censored message
to the rakyat to bring about a change of govt for the good of the country**.
**

The 4 PR states RM25 billion investments have beaten the other **10 BN
states attracted 53% of Malaysia's total investments of** RM47.2 billion in
2010
*
*The 4 PR states of Penang, Selangor, Kedah & Kelantan have beaten the
other 10 BN st
ates by attracting RM25 billion in investments comprising 53% of Malaysia's
total investments of RM47.2 billion in 2010. For the first time in history,
Penang is now the new champion of investments in Malaysia, coming out top
in 2010.

Penang replaced the previous 2009 champion Sarawak by recording RM 12.2
billion in 2010 as compared to Sarawak RM3.9 billion. Penang was No. 4 in
2009 with RM 2.1 billion but shot up 5 times to No.1. On the other hand
Sarawak went down from No.1 in 2009 with RM 8.5 billion to No. 4 with RM3.9
billion in 2010. Penang's success in drawing in RM12.2 billion is an
extraordinary vote of confidence by both foreign and local investors in the
PR state govt of Penang.

The No.2 state after Penang is another PR state of Selangor with RM 10.6
billion in investments. In fact the 4 PR states of Penang, Selangor, Kedah
and Kelantan combined comprise RM 25 billion investments or 53% of the
total investments in Malaysia of RM47,177 million in 2010. These 4 PR
states alone can beat the remainder 10 states of BN Malaysia combined!

Despite the financial constraints and limitations imposed by BN, PR have
shown our good governance. In Penang, we have excelled by being praised by
the Auditor-General Report for being the best financially managed state
with record surpluses of RM88 million in 2008 and RM77 million in 2009.
Penang became the first state govt in history to be commended by
Transparency International for CAT(Competency, Accountability &
Transparency) governance in establishing integrity in leadership.

We have wiped out hard-core poverty, the first state to do so in Malaysia.
We are giving senior citizens RM100 every year & when they die, their
beneficiaries a one-off RM1,000/-. All partially assisted schools of
Chinese,Tamil & Sekolah Agama Rakyat are given a fixed sum of at least
RM11.3 million every year. We are working towards a wifi state offered free
of charge.

Penang is going green and leading in green practices such as "No Free
Plastic Bag" campaigns and waste treatment through 3R of Reduce, Reuse
Recycle. Penang enjoys the cheapest water rates in the country. Penang is
also the Silicon Valley of Malaysia and selected as the most livable city
in Malaysia on par with KL. We have done more in 3 years what BN fail to do
in 51 years.**

So who says that PR can not govern. We may not have the experience but
neither do we have the experience to cheat or be corrupt. PR has proven
that a clean government can outperform corrupt govts. Voters of Tenang
should choose PR that offers a better future not only for you but for your
children.*

*PR is the better choice because we embrace the future. We embrace the
future by embracing each & every one of you whether Malays, Indians,
Chinese, Kadazans & Ibans as Malaysian brothers & sisters, Malaysian sons &
daughters. Let us grow together, learn together & enjoy the success
together.*

*Lim Guan Eng <http://limguaneng.com/>,
Penang Chief Minister &
DAP Secretary General

Peaceful Assembly Bill

THIS IS GOING TO IMPACT YOUR EVERYDAY LIVES, ESPECIALLY FOR THOSE THAT DO NOT GIVE A CRAP ABOUT POLITICS UNTIL IT IS TOO LATE AND ENDED UP IN JAIL ALL BECAUSE YOU WERE CARRYING A PAIR OF CHOPSTICKS!

To put the Peaceful Assembly Bill (PAB) bluntly, the rights to assembly is determined 100% by the police on who and where can do what and when. Or to put it in a Malaysian way, if the police were to wonder around "doing their everyday job", all they have to do is simply approach a gang of people and ask if they have the appropriate "approval" or not. If no, then you better prepare some duit kopi or go to court and pay up to RM20,000.

Our Home Minister, Hishammuddin, in his speech, announced on public television 2 (maybe 3) days ago, that

"... dengan akta baru, awak kena faham, tak perlu permit pun! Perlu maklum saja kepada pihak berkuasa! Dan bukan tak ada sekatan kepada perhimpunan malah mereka membenarkan perhimpunan diadakan."

(... with the new law, you have to understand that the need for a permit is no longer needed! You just have to tell the right authorities only! There will be no roadblocks (I think this was what he was trying to say, because in BM, it says there is roadblock) and the assembly will also be approved.)

http://www.youtube.com/user/malaysiakini?feature=grec_index#p/u/10/xo1MVCiGAj8

Sounds good right? But wait, there is a catch. According to Subsection 9(1), we must inform the right authorities 30 days prior to the event. By the way, Myanmar just gave out a similar assembly bill recently but it only requires 5 days (Kit Siang: M’sia lebih teruk dari Myanmar, FreeMalaysiaToday, 26 November 2011)! Furthermore, IF the person went against the 30 day rule, he is LIABLE to a fine of up to RM10,000 (Subsection 9(5)).

In lay men’s term, if you want to go shopping with a group of friends, you MUST inform the right authorities 30days in advance or if a police ever finds out that you did not notify them of your “assembly”, you WILL be liable to a fine of up to RM10,000.

Amazing, is it not? “Fortunately”, subsection 9(2)(b) allows us to have certain assemblies without having the need to inform the authorities. So maybe we actually CAN have SOME assemblies without notifying the authorities (Religious, funeral, wedding, open houses during festivities, family gatherings, family day and general meetings of societies or associations). But WAIT! Because according to the Right to Assemble Peaceably and Without Arms, there ARE still some terms and conditions that must be fulfilled!

(By the way, Arms as defined by this bill means firearm, ammunition, explosive, corrosive, injurious or obnovious substance, STICK, stone, or ANY WEAPON OR OBJECT, WHICH BY ITS NATURE CAN BE USED TO INCITE FEAR OR CAUSE INJURY TO PERSON, OR DAMAGE TO PROPERTY.)

Apparently, according to subsection 4(1), if we were to ever hold an assembly that is allowed within the Third Schedule (lets say a funeral), but if your spouse or friend or family friend who is NOT a Malaysian citizen but also attended the funeral, then the organizer is liable to a fine of up to RM10,000.

More interestingly, family gatherings are (PAB is ambiguous in so many ways so please check it up and correct me on this part if I am wrong) constricted to FAMILIES ONLY (hence, FAMILY gathering. Outsiders in your family gathering will be deem an illegal assembly and NOT a family gathering unless given 30days notice)! Actually, to be more specific, it should be constricted to family members who are MALAYSIAN CITIZENS! So if one day you get caught in a family gathering because a non-family member (your maid for example) is there, you are liable to a fine of up to RM10,000.

Oh and one more thing, is your maid a Malaysian citizen? Hm...

To make matters even more laughable, EVERY CHINESE during their lunch or dinner with their family members (this is considered a family gathering) must all start eating with fork and spoon because Arms as defined by PAB include sticks. Then again, I am not sure if fork can be categorized under Arms because it does say that anything that can be used to incite fear or cause injury is considered Arms. What say you?

By the way, before I forget, assembly is defined as gatherings of the public, outdoors or indoors and it does not matter if the venue is ordinarily open to the public or if it is private venue. (WOW)

What this means is no more sleepovers, no more straight As celebration and yes, you cannot go to cyber cafes and play Call of Duty anymore with your friends. Especially for those under 21 because no one under 21 can assemble in relation to the organization of an assembly according to Subsection 4(1)(d). Tough being a Malaysian is it not? Fortunately the government was fair enough to allow everyone under 21 to not attend any school assemblies anymore unless the school actually gives the government a 30 day notice.

After much hoo-hahs about assemblies, lets go to where can we organize an assembly IF we ever want to assemble and granted that we CAN assemble. Well, according to subsection 4(1)(b) and the First Schedule, the prohibited places are within 50 metres from these places:

1. Damns, reservoirs and water catchment areas
2. Water treatment plants
3. Electricity generating stations
4. Petrol stations
5. Hospitals
6. Fire stations
7. Airports
8. Failways, I mean Railways
9. Land public transport terminals
10. Ports, canals, docks, wharves, piers, bridges and marinas
11. Places of worship
12. Kindergartens and schools

NOTE : Our forest and jungles are considered water catchment areas.

What this bill is trying to say is that although the Third Schedule allows us to attend religious assemblies, we are not allowed to do so in any places of worship. If you want to buy a new house, and if you ever want to have an open house for it, please do NOT buy a house that is within 50 metre radius of any schools, kindergartens, land public transport terminals including bus or taxi stands and also railways. Lastly, if the school EVER DOES give the police a 30 day notice that it would like to have a morning assembly, they CANNOT do it within 50 metre radius of any kindergartens and schools.

So what will happen if anyone ever does oppose the police because of their daily assembly? Imagine a group of aunties with lots of shopping items ranging from clothes to dining and/or kitchen wares (remember the chopstick story above?) to high heels. Technically according to PAB, they ARE carrying arms. The police officer (under subsection 21(2)), in exercising the power to disperse an assembly under this section, MAY USE ALL REASONABLE FORCE after...after...oh wait, NO WARNINGS NEEDED. This means that those aunties are subject to tear gas, water cannons, batons, bazookas and what not if the police thinks that they are “within reasonable force”.

OK! So when Najib said he was going to give birth to the BEST democracy in the world in Malaysia, I am pretty sure he means it with all his heart because this is seriously the BEST law in the world and is only suitable for the BEST democratic country. And when Hisham said "...malah mereka membenarkan perhimpunan diadakan", he too actually mean it with all his heart, just that we must fulfill some of his terms and conditions before we can have an assembly. By Monday, which is the third hearing, IF the law is passed, we can expect to see no more aunties in Malaysia and yes, Malaysia can indeed be more peaceful with the very peaceful Peaceful Assembly Bill.

*Note, I am not a lawyer nor have I studied law before, but if you ever have doubts in any of my explanations, go read it up yourself.

PAB can be gotten from : http://www.perlembagaanku.com.my/2011/11/peaceful-assembly-bill-2011/

**Credits to David Teoh for explaining some of the stuff and throwing in some of the jokes for this bill in Global Bersih Day yesterday**