Suaram Penang will be distributing leaflets (18th August 2010) tomorrow, together with the last round of petition for Yong Vui Kong.

There will be 2 sessions. Detailed as below:

Session 1:

Time: 11.30am – 1pm
Place: Double Star Coffee Shop (near Suaram Office)
Note: Gather at Suaram Office by 11.30pm

Session 2:

Time: 8pm – 10pm
Place: Air Itam Night Market
Note: Gather at Suaram Office by 7.30pm

Please kindly help in distributing leaflets. Your help is much appreciated.

For any further enquiries, please contact:
1. Joseph Cheong 012-4356795
2. Chia Pei Shan 012-3632197

The morning of 12 August 2010, at the corridor of level 2, Duta Court, there were sporadic crowd of people at the entrance of their respective courtroom.

As usual, the courtroom where Gunasegaran case was held saw the usual dotted heads from NGO and reporter from the Tamil newspapers.

The atmosphere today at court room 11 was filled with the usual mundane mood except for a few journalists who were present for the submission of Gunasegaran death in police custody after the inquest that had stretched over a year.

The deceased pro bono lawyer, M Visvanathan, emerged from the court room and announced that the submission will be on 13 September 2010.

His inquisitiveness cannot be quenched and his ferocious determination to get to the bottom of it all was beyond words. And wanting to tie up a few more details, new eye-witnesses will be called up to stand in the witness box on the 27 August 2010.

The past inquests proved stark discrepancies in all six police evidence.

Three eye-witnesses identified positively the police officer who had hit and kicked Gunasegaran which resulted in the fatality.

Marks found on the body of the deceased could not even escape from untrained eyes.

Does the date 16 July ring a bell? Of course it does! It is the day that Teoh Beng Hock left to be with god. But people could hardly remember that between a gap of a few hours on the same day, Gunasegaran succumbed to the injuries inflicted on him.

Both their passing was in the hands of the authorities that are expected to perform their job professionally but nay. Their lives vapourized in the thin air and with untold subjugation of physical and mental abuses.

As for Teoh Beng Hock, he was blessed with a job and family, but Gunasegaran was jobless and his closest next-of-kin is his only sister.

Teoh Beng Hock’s passing had activated public outcry, but for Gunasegaran, it was a silent cry.

Renowned lawyers spearhead Teoh Beng Hock’s inquest while Gunasegaran was left to be forgotten.

God is great! He works in a mysterious way and He knows justice should prevail.

Gunasegeran’s sister with little education and financially constrained was left in the lurch. What could she do except to cry out for help because she had lost her only sibling in a cruel fashion.

When news reached C. Sekaran, he desperately tried to reach out to help and was rewarded with an answer. He found lawyer M.Visvanathan.

There are so many similarities between Teoh Beng Hock and Gunasegaran. But unfortunately for Gunasegaran, he was alone.

Are we still blind to virtue and conveniently forget about human values? We are the same human species but shy away from the colour of the skin. This can be a pathetic statement, but say what you like it does not bother me a bit!

When People’s Parliament highlighted the frightening figures -1805, it represents the number of deaths in police custody. Are the figures not alarming enough to scare the hell out of you or to wait until someone you love share the same fate?

Please ponder over it because as a member of the civil society, our awareness counts to the last digit.

The morning of 12 August 2010, at the corridor of level 2, Duta Court, there were sporadic crowd of people at the entrance of their respective courtroom.

As usual, the courtroom where Gunasegaran case was held saw the usual dotted heads from NGO and reporter from the Tamil newspapers.

The atmosphere today at court room 11 was filled with the usual mundane mood except for a few journalists who were present for the submission of Gunasegaran death in police custody after the inquest that had stretched over a year.

The deceased pro bono lawyer, M Visvanathan, emerged from the court room and announced that the submission will be on 13 September 2010.

His inquisitiveness cannot be quenched and his ferocious determination to get to the bottom of it all was beyond words. And wanting to tie up a few more details, new eye-witnesses will be called up to stand in the witness box on the 27 August 2010.

The past inquests proved stark discrepancies in all six police evidence.

Three eye-witnesses identified positively the police officer who had hit and kicked Gunasegaran which resulted in the fatality.

Marks found on the body of the deceased could not even escape from untrained eyes.

Does the date 16 July ring a bell? Of course it does! It is the day that Teoh Beng Hock left to be with god. But people could hardly remember that between a gap of a few hours on the same day, Gunasegaran succumbed to the injuries inflicted on him.

Both their passing was in the hands of the authorities that are expected to perform their job professionally but nay. Their lives vapourized in the thin air and with untold subjugation of physical and mental abuses.

As for Teoh Beng Hock, he was blessed with a job and family, but Gunasegaran was jobless and his closest next-of-kin is his only sister.

Teoh Beng Hock’s passing had activated public outcry, but for Gunasegaran, it was a silent cry.

Renowned lawyers spearhead Teoh Beng Hock’s inquest while Gunasegaran was left to be forgotten.

God is great! He works in a mysterious way and He knows justice should prevail.

Gunasegeran’s sister with little education and financially constrained was left in the lurch. What could she do except to cry out for help because she had lost her only sibling in a cruel fashion.

When news reached C. Sekaran, he desperately tried to reach out to help and was rewarded with an answer. He found lawyer M.Visvanathan.

There are so many similarities between Teoh Beng Hock and Gunasegaran. But unfortunately for Gunasegaran, he was alone.

Are we still blind to virtue and conveniently forget about human values? We are the same human species but shy away from the colour of the skin. This can be a pathetic statement, but say what you like it does not bother me a bit!

When People’s Parliament highlighted the frightening figures -1805, it represents the number of deaths in police custody. Is the figures not alarming enough to scare the hell out of you or to wait until someone you love share the same fate?

Please ponder over it because as a member of the civil society, our awareness counts to the last digit.

Arjunaidi Mohamed
Ketua Polis Daerah Petaling Jaya
Ibupejabat Polis DaerahPetaling Jaya
Polis Diraja Malaysia
Petaling Jaya

Sir,

We are writing to you to express our outrage and our strongest condemnation over the brutality and misuse of power by your personnel at the Anti ISA candlelight vigil on 1st August 2010 at Padang Timur MBPJ, Petaling Jaya. The candlelight vigil organised by Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA (GMI) was held to commemorate the passing of the Internal Security Act (ISA) 50 years ago and to call for the abolition of the ISA.

On 1st August, 29 persons were arrested at around Amcorp Mall Petaling Jaya and IPD Petaling Jaya for exercising their right to assemble peacefully as guaranteed under the Federal Constitution. As the Officer in Charge of Police District (OCPD) Petaling Jaya, your violent and heavy handed tactics in dispersing the peaceful assembly was highly unprofessional and uncalled for. Instead of acceding to the organisers’ request to negotiate terms for the vigil and providing time for the crowd to disperse peacefully, you ordered your officers to move in forcibly on the crowd which resulted in a situation of chaos and fear. In your arrogance, you even denied the legitimacy of the permit given by the Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (MBPJ) to the organisers.

Violence was brutally deployed when your officers moved in to arrest participants of the vigil. Those arrested were shoved, beaten, slapped, dragged, choked and verbally abused by your police officers. Even women were not exempt from the violence. Such extreme use of violence was highly unnecessary as those arrested would have cooperated when informed that they were being arrested. You exercised your powers arbitrarily and as such, you are to be blamed for the human rights violations that occurred on that night.

In addition to that, we condemn your various intimidation tactics such as deploying water cannon trucks and the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) to frighten the good citizens who gathered outside the District Police Headquarters (IPD) Petaling Jaya in solidarity with those arrested. Vindictively, you also arrested another 3 individuals outside the IPD and deployed traffic police in the wee hours of the morning to summon the vehicles of those who were waiting outside the police station for the arrested to be released. However, we regard the intimidation of the highest order to be your action to compel the lawyers representing those arrested to give a separate witness statement. We condemn outright violation of the right to seek counsel and the rights of the lawyer when representing their clients.

Even though Section 27 of the Police Act provides police with arbitrary powers to allow or refuse permits for public gatherings, this provision is in contravention of Article 10 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia which guarantees civil liberties with regards to the right to assembly and free speech.

As an OCPD, you should be ashamed of yourself for being a poor example as a leader to the younger and lower ranking police officers under your charge. As a member and leader of the police force, you should be setting an example to the officers under your charge by respecting fundamental human rights in your endeavours to protect the public from crimes. Contrary to this, you have shown not just your officers but the people of Malaysia that you exercise control over the public by inflicting fear and terror.

Due to the above, SUARAM demands that you publicly apologise to the participants of the candlelight vigil, those who were abused by your officers and the lawyers whom you have intimidated. We also urge you not to press charges against those who were arrested as they were merely exercising their Constitutional rights to assemble peacefully.

Like the activists and participants of the candlelight vigil, you are also a citizen of Malaysia. We believe that you would equally benefit from the preservation of the right to assembly and free speech that are essential in a democratic society.

Thank you.
Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)
05 August 2010

Open letter to Sharizat.

APRIL 18 — Many senior citizens are outraged by your uncalled for comments about the RM100 given to them by the Penang state government in appreciation of their contributions to the development of Penang.

Your comments indicate how uncultured you are, totally unbefitting of a cabinet minister. You said you are ashamed and offered your sympathies to Penang’s senior citizens because they are worth — according to your absurd calculation — less than RM10 a month in the eyes of the state government.

Can I ask you how much a senior citizen was worth when the BN ruled Penang? Absolutely nothing, Yes Nothing at all.
You went on to say that you thank God that there is a federal government and a Barisan Nasional government to take care of the people’s welfare without which the poor in Penang will be starving. Yes, the BN government looked after the people of Penang so well that on 8 March 2008, they kicked the BN out of Penang!

As a senior citizen, let me tell you this. It is not the money that matters. It is the thought, the appreciation and the caring attitude of the state government that senior citizens value most.

Did you say that the BN government looks after the people’s welfare? Let us examine the BN’s track record. The NEP has been in existence for almost 40 years and during this period about 1 trillion ringgit was allocated supposedly to help Malays through ASN, ASB and numerous other government programmes involving many government agencies.

Umnoputras hijacked the NEP and by masquerading as champions of the Malays siphoned off a sizeable amount of the funds to enrich themselves, their families and their cronies. These Umnoputras live in palatial houses and live opulent lifestyles. Look at the posh cars they and their cronies drive and the designer clothes they wear while the poor Malays continue to languish in poverty, even after 52 years of Umno’s total dominance in Malaysian politics. How much have these Umnoputras, their families and cronies invested in high-end properties overseas? How much of the loot is stashed away in overseas banks?

A Morgan Stanley analyst estimated that between 1984 and 2003, RM360 billion was siphoned off by Umnoputras and their cronies. The Auditor-General’s Report bears ample testimony to the plunder of the nation’s wealth.

After more than 52 years of Merdeka, many kampungs do not have basic amenities like piped water and electricity while Umnoputras are wallowing in wealth and luxury. No wonder the income differential in the Malay community is the highest among all ethnic groups in Asia.

You were defeated in the last elections and came into the cabinet through the backdoor. We are ashamed of you. No wonder Rafidah poured scorn on you. As minister of Women, Family and Community Development, you did little to genuinely empower Malaysian women, especially Muslim women whose problems — marriage, divorce, custody of children, alimony, property rights etc,etc have remained unresolved. Your failures in this regard are well documented by women NGOs and Sisters in Islam.

You had the audacity to offer your sympathies to the senior citizens of Penang. Let me tell you this: Shut your face, honey. Guan Eng is making money (for Penang, of course), unlike you and the rest of umno gang.

My advice to you is this:

Don’t open your mouth to make a bloody fool of yourself, Do us a favour; disappear from the political scene.

Stop monkeying around.

Orang Lama.

When people get onto the streets to protest, there is always a reason to do so. Whether the enthusiastic group is from which side of the political divide or even from the civil society, the obvious reaction from the police is expected – partiality!

Say what you like, the confidence for the federal government is waning and this has struck the inevitable fear and desperately trying to instill fear through blatant arrests.

The first timers suffer rude shock and this is understandable because they merely want to exercise their fundamental rights but least expected to be pounced upon by the police.

Thanks to such unprecedented experience, they are actually being molded to be resilient to face the challenges another day.

The hidden impact that can generate more support derives from the non-participating crowd. This is because they are witnessing wanton abuse of power to curb peaceful protest. The driving force does not only come from sympathy but also with disgust and most of all anger.

The general public is making the impact surreptitiously and the undercurrent is so rapidly harnessed that ultimately it will be evident in each protest to come.

As for those politicians who were voted to hold office will be the eyed target. It is better not to get arrested and lose your seat.

Planted trouble makers are on the prowl. By creating hooliganism with the objective for disruption is an excellent recipe for mayhem. It will come the time that fire has to be fought with fire. By then, the agitators will go scot free and the victims charged.

What lesson can we learn even before it comes true? Patience is the answer and when the time comes, flood the ballot boxes to set yourself free!

The distinction between a peaceful protest and a seditious one can be easily deciphered. The peaceful protest lies in exercising one’s right while the latter is the plausible incitement for a showdown.

History has taught us valuable lessons. However, those hold the power chose to be illiterate and allowing greed to rule for power and wealth. It is the people who have to decide what they want. By being complacent than you have your freedom in fetters!

Salam Perjuangan,

The Saying; we are what we eat, is true to the core as far as Malaysian politics is concerned.

The administration that wails political power has surpassed the limit of abuse. The once respected institution to uphold integrity and the well-being of the people is crumbling at a consistent rate.

The present public outcry against corruption has not gained momentum judging from the past public forums which served as “refresher” for the urbanites. They are capable to search and gather information unlike those in the outskirts who depended very much on the mainstream media.

This is the group of people who has been deprived from the truth is stark because of the censorship from the mainstream media. Thanks to the recent increase in petroleum price and the subsequent effect on the daily basic necessity to come, the pinch will tell a different story.

By crying out loud and to compare our wealth from the god-sent natural resources with other countries that have not, has become a mundane argument.

Each day hardly passes by without the shock of the hidden scandal that is brought into the open. Corruption is so rampant that the people are living without one iota of hope that the present government is capable to make a turnaround but to dig deeper into its own demise instead.

Nothing seems to be free from corruption and projects irrespective of its sizes are tainted with scandals. The emergence of political elites amassing huge wealth is uncommon. Has corruption become a way of politicians’ life and nothing can be done about it?

The members of parliament from the opposition party, NGOs and political bloggers should be lauded for their courage to expose how corrupted the government has been.

We should not allow corruption to reign over the people but to uproot it collectively. If the government cannot cease to be corrupted then the people should make it a reality, it has to be home grown effort.

Think about the spending power a wage earner has at his disposal. What about those of the lower income group? I dread to think how they are going to go through daily with so little to spend, let alone to save for a rainy day.

It is a shame that Malaysia is synonymous to corruption because this is, we are what we