UPDATE, 13-9-2008: Malaysiakini reports that “Journalist Tan Hoon Cheng was released this afternoon and is now back at her house in Bukit Mertajam, Penang.”
How is Malaysia going to face the world with such draconian acts?
L-R: Raja Petra Kamarudin, Tan Hoon Cheng, Teresa Kok (courtesy of Malaysiakini)
At about 1.00 p.m. today, Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK) was arrested and detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA). If RPK has committed an offence then the Government should charge him in Court. DETENTION OF ANY CITIZEN UNDER ANY PREVENTIVE LAW WITHOUT A FAIR TRIAL CAN NEVER BE JUSTIFIED IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY! All Malaysians should hang our heads low in shame for allowing such a draconian act against a citizen to happen in the 21st Century.
ISA is the most draconian law, which was enacted to curb communism during the period of insurgency in the 1960’s. Such ISA should not be used during peace time and should be repealed forthwith.
At about 8:30 to 8:45 p.m. a Sin Chew Daily’s journalist, Ms Tan Hoon Cheng, was believed to have been arrested at her home in Bukit Mertajam, Penang, and detained under the ISA. Ms Tan is the journalist, who reported the speech of the UMNO Bukit Bendera division’s leader, Datuk Ahmad Ismail, during the Pematang Pauh’s by-election. Published in the Sin Chew Daily, Ms Tan’s report stated that Datuk Ahmad Ismail has allegedly said “the Chinese in the country were immigrants and squatters and did not deserve equal rights.”
It has attracted furor from most, if not all political parties including Gerakan and MCA. Many political parties came out in condemnation of Datuk Ahamd Ismail’s alleged racist remark. After several days later of the condemnation, Datuk Ahmad Ismail claimed that he was misquoted by Sin Chew Daily. The management of Sin Chew Daily issued a press statement in full support of its journalist, Ms Tan Hoon Cheng, and stand by its report on what has been allegedly uttered by Datuk Ahamd Ismail during the Permatang Pauh by-election.
Some time last week, YAB Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi, the Prime Minister, directed Datuk Ahmad Ismail to apologise and retract his alleged statement. On 08 September 2008 in the press conference Datuk Ahmad Ismail refused to apologise or retract the alleged statement and his supporters tore up the poster of Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon, the acting President of Gerakan, resulting in the Gerakan in Penang severing ties with the UMNO in Penang. 12 UMNO division leaders immediately pledged support for Datuk Ahamd Ismail.
On 10 September 2009 YAB Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi, the UMNO President and Prime Minister, announced that UMNO has suspended Datuk Ahmad Ismail from the party for 3 years and stripped him of all post and membership rights. Datuk Ahmad Ismail accepted the suspension but remained defiant as ever. Why were the 12 UMNO division not suspended for supporting Datuk Ahmad Ismail?
Although there were calls for Datuk Ahmad Ismail to be detained under ISA, we must never allow the Government to use ISA against him. The only “crime” that this Sin Chew Daily young journalist has committed was to carry out her job to report what had happened.
Also, just before this post could be published, it was also reported in Malaysiakini that “DAP leader Teresa Kok has also been detained under the Internal Security Act – the third person to be detained without trial today.
“It is learnt that the Selangor senior executive councillor and Seputeh parliamentarian was stopped by the police at about 11.18 p.m. on her way back from a function in Kuala Lumpur.”
Are these three detentions the prelude of many more to come? Another Operation Lalang?
The question for this week then is:
Should a professional journalist or any citizen, who has discharged or is discharging his or her duty be put in constant fear of official intimidation of being detained under the ISA, under the guise of maintaining national security?
Wee Choo Keong 
Malaysia is hopeless under BN gov !!!
Those whom the Gods wish to destroy, the first made mad!
Let’s pray that good sense will prevail and Malaysia lives down this day of shame.
Take care, YB
KH
I’m boiling mad.
Sesungguhnya mereka telah merancang tetapi mereka lupa yang Tuhan adalah perancang yang sebenar…
Mereka pasti gagal untuk mengatasi perancangan Tuhan….
The detention of RPK and others is more FREEDOM under Badawi’s administration!
What freedom? It was a FRAUD from the very beginning. Badawi should detain all Malaysians and stay in power.
I have have had enough of Bodohwi. Have you?
MCA, Gerakan and MIC are just big jokes!!! Let them be in BN and Malaysians shall teach them a good lesson.
I guess the government has to behave just like the way the American thunmb their nose in Guantano Bay through the Patriot Act or like the UK where similar act was also introduced…
maybe we are indeed moving on track towards a developed country status… ala the American or the Brits..
[UPDATE – Teresa was taken to Wangsa Maju Police Station from the condominium and at 2.50 a.m (13th September 2008), she left the Wangsa Maju police station and was taken to the an unknown custody centre where she would be held for her police custodial detention which could be up to 60 days. After that, it is up to the Home Minister to decide whether to issue a formal order of detention without trial, which could be for two years, renewable indefinitely]
Aiyoyo, the BN is doing more wrong day by day. They are their own enemy.
The Sin Chew reporter ah do no wrong lah. She is only doing her job. The person wrong is that Datuk Ahmad Ismail for saying what he says lah. If what he says is not true then why Najib apologise to the rakyat? Where is the logic one?
With more and more of this nonsense happening BN is going down faster you know. From my recearch I talk to the rakyat about 90% want the new government to take over.
Can Anwar please move faster ah? We rakyat cannot tahan alreadi. Please lah, Pakatan Rakyat hurry. Thank you.
wif more and more of the bn trick,the easier pr make 916 happen
Zaman sekarang tak sama dengan 1969.
Rakyat BUKAN BODOH lagi.
BN boleh buat apa2 saje tapi rakyat tak peduli. Rakyat tunggu dengan tenang untuk DSAI mengubah kerajaan.
Datuk Seri, boleh kah cepat sikit?
Hidup rakyat Malaysia! Hidup Pakatan Rakyat!
Saya tak nak ceritalah pasal pak lah lagi.dia dah gone caselah.tapi mana anwar ibrahim,janji nak selamatkan kita pada 16 sept.sekarang tukar date pulak.saya berharapkan perubahan dan jangan main2 dengan janji kalau tak anwar pun akan dilihat 2×5 saja dengan pak lah
Our country is a small insignificant country like Myanmar. No one will help us if BN decides to rule this country like how the military rule Myanmar.
From today onwards, Thailand & Indonesia governments are better than ours. Ours is on par with Myanmar government.
I hope we all will continue to remain in peace. Do not fall into the trap of the evil one. Let us see changes in a peaceful way. Show to those evil, we wont be like them.
Obviously the whole drama has been pre-planned to invoke anger and protest from the Rakyat – make the wrong move and they will declare Emergency – March 8 will be made irrelevant….The whole thing does not make sense esp Teresa Kok’s arrest – for something that she wasn’t even involved! So be careful, don’t be tricked this time…..
I’m sure Teresa Kok will be out soon, with all that pressure..
Mr. Wee, I was in Tj Sepat and was so taken up when I saw the crowd..
The free dinner by the local folks really showed that the grassroots want that change…
I’ve taken quite a number of pictures of the ‘Historical’ occassion..
I’m sure Anwar will make it on the 16th or so, altho’ many are doubtful, but still we’re prepared to wait, and our worry is about what the monkeys may do next….
Hope all turns out well… All our Churches are offering special prayers for the Dawning of a New Era for Malaysia..
Best wishes….
The country have have had enough of Bodohwi’s administration. Lets work together to get rid of this piece of shit that has caused the country misery.
Bodohwi, aren’t you ashamed of yourself after the several electoral defeats or are you still in the state of denial syndrome?
I hope that GOD will help Malaysia to get rid of the Sleepy Head as soon as humanly possible. Malaysia cannot afford to have the Sleepy Head sitting there and do nothing constructive except by taking care and protecting of son-in-law.
Sleepy Head please carrying sleeping and if possible don’t wake up!!
I think you do have friends as BN MPs. Please speak to them and tell them they can no longer be part of AAB govt if they have any conscience left.
To BN MPs..how can you support a govt that bullies it own citizens? arresting a reporter and not arresting the dickhead that started it all?
This is the beginning of the down fall of an useless leader. We stop this stupid PM from making his problems in UMNO to become the rakyat problems.
Let all join hands to get rid of the Sleepy Head and his members of he family, who are the national menaces.
i read in the papers that when the PDRM was asked why Ahmad Ismail was not picked up, the reply was that the PDRM have not finished the investigation.
When was there an investigation on Ms. Tan and Ms. Kok?
There are too many coincidences. 2 PKR assemblymen’s corruption case in Perak, 2 DAP assemblymen in Perak have their image transposed onto pornorgraphic images, wasting of OUR money to put MPs in Taiwan and now this.
The explanation by Hamid is not acceptable. We do not use an anti-terrorist law to protect a honest tax payer doing her job while the other offending person still walk around unrepentent and even upping the tempo
Put this situation in a form 5 pendidikan moral question and I have no answer. You can’t rationalise and justified an irrational and unjustifiable stupidity.
Even the officials in the mosque spoke in support of Teresa Kok. Well, Teresa has just secured her seat again in the next GE.
今天大约下午1时，拉惹伯特拉（RPK）在内安法令下被逮捕与拘留。如果RPK犯下罪行的话，政府应该把他提控上庭。在没有公正的审判之下以內安法令拘留任何公民根本不是一个民主的社会！在21世纪仍被以如此严苛的法令对待，马来西亚全民应当感到被辱。
内安法令是最严可的法令，这是在六十年代叛乱期间被用来遏止共产主义的法令。这样的法令不应该在和平时代之下运用，并且应该立即废除。
昨晚约八点半至晚上八点四十五分，一名星洲日报记者陈云清小姐在其位于槟城大山脚的住所，在内安法令下被认为已被拘捕。陈小姐就是在巴东浦补选期间报道巫统升旗山区部主席阿末依斯迈寄居论的高级记者。在星洲日报》，陈小姐的报道指出，拿督阿末依斯迈说：”华人只是寄居于大马所以不能得到平等权利” 。
寄居论引起了大众的反感，不但所有政党，而且还包括民政党和马华。许多政党站出来谴责拿督阿末依斯迈种族主义言论。经过数天的谴责，拿督阿末依斯迈声称自己是被《星洲日报》错误引述他的演说。《星洲日报》管理层发表了一份声明，他们将全力支持陈记者和坚持立场，他们的报道是平铺直叙完全没有渲染阿末在巴东浦补选时的演讲。
上个星期，首相拿督斯里阿都拉巴达威指示指示拿督阿末依斯迈道歉，并收回他指称的声明。于2008年9月8日的记者招待会上，拿督阿末依斯迈拒绝道歉和收回指称的声明。他的支持者撕毁民政党代理主席丹斯里许子根的海报，以至在槟城的民政党与巫统断绝关系。 有12位巫统领导员声称支持拿督阿末依斯迈。
在2009年9月10日，也是巫统主席的首相拿督斯里阿都拉巴达威宣布，巫统已冻结拿督阿末依斯迈从党三年，并剥夺他的所有会员权利。拿督阿末依斯迈接受被冻结党籍，但依然一如往昔。为什么12支持拿督阿末依斯迈的巫统领导员不被冻结党籍？
虽然有人提议以内安法令扣留拿督阿末依斯迈，可是我们决不允许政府使用的ISA反对他。这名星洲日报年轻的记者唯一的“罪行”是执行她据实报道的责任.
此外，刚刚在此发表之前，另据今日大马的报道，“行动党领导人秘书Teresa Kok（郭素沁）也被以内安法令拘留，她是今天第三位在未经审讯就被拘留拘留的人。
“据悉，雪州高级行政议员及Seputeh国会议员是被警察于下午大约11时18分逮捕，当时她正从在吉隆坡举行的活动回家途中” 。
以上三个拘留事件是否代表更多拘留的序幕？另一项茅草行动？
这个星期的问题是：
一个专业记者或任何公民，在他履行任务之后或正在执行他的责任时，是否应该受到官方以维护国家安全为理由而不断地被以内安法令扣留恐吓？
saya pun terpikir mana janji2 yg ditaburkan ……mana anuar…. tukar tarikh utk kerajaan pakatan………atau janji politik sahaja…..
DSAI hanya merancang, Allah yg menentukan..walaupun xjadi 16 sept ni..mungkin pd tarikh lain kerajaan akan bertukar..harus diingat DSAI bkn Yang Maha Kuasa. kite harus sabar menunggu semoga Allah dpt mberi DSAI memerintah Malaysia dgn adil.
Many people are angry for selective prosecution by the govt of the day! The fear within us of ISA is not as before because the peoples wanted change and the perceive change is coming too slowly with so many things at prices beyond the reach of many.
With internet information today, it is impossible for the govt to cover up wrong decision or framed up charges. There may be many civil servants who are righteous and with conscience to stand up against the evil scheme by providing information of value to the bloggers at large.
Let us not be cowed by the use of ISA to intimidate those who dare stand for citizens when the racists are only given a slap on the wrist. The speed of police investigation into many reports by opposition members are moving like a slow coach whereas trump up charges against Ms Teresa Kok landed her in jail via ISA.
Note that even the mosque officials confirmed that she was not involved and this incident started in Jan 08 even before she was elected for Puchong. So someone acting as ‘smart alex’ is trying to cause trouble and interestingly police report against the former MB of S’gor is moving at a snail pace.
Maybe they need to be thorough with their investigation, some may say but why so many COINCIDENCES lately ? At the rate the bn govt is going, there is no need for opposition lah. They will just disintegrate and have not enough majority to rule this nation soon.
ISA – Taktik paling bodoh digunakan oleh BN; membuatkan rakyat lebih bencikan Kerajaan BN!