Singapore under threat

By Patrick Lee, FreeMalaysiaToday KUALA LUMPUR: A PKR leader promised that if convicted Malaysian drug mule Yong Vui Kong is hanged, it will have grave repercussions. "I warn the Singaporean government: if they hang Yong, I will come back and bring a coffin here! (Singapore High Commission)," said Kapar MP S Manikavasagam. He also took a swipe at Foreign Minister Anifah Aman for not doing enough. “I am ashamed of the minister. He should put more pressure on the Singapore government,” he said. Added human rights lawyer N Surendran: “Our government claims that it's doing great things for this country. But if it cannot stand up for one Malaysian in trouble overseas, can Malaysians rely on the government?” Earlier, Manikavasagam and Surendran joined some 20 mostly PKR members to present a memorandum to the Singapore High Commission here today. Also present were Teluk Intan MP M Manogaran and PKR information chief Latheefa Koya.... The above is part of an article published in FreeMalaysiaToday. The brave and bold PKR leader declared that he was warning the Singapore Govt not to hang Yong Vui Kong. I am wondering whether he is trying to help Yong or helping to nail his coffin. This kind of garang talk about threatening a foreign govt, especially Singapore, is only forcing the issue. And the ending is one that is exactly the opposite of what Kapar intended to achieve. Or perhaps that is exactly what he wanted to achieve, force the Singapore Govt’s hand, and then he can stand up as the champion of Yong. Kapar is giving the Singapore Govt no way out but to hang Yong. For no sovereign govt can uphold its integrity by giving in to the demand of a crazy foreign politician. This is different from the demand of a disgruntled policeman asking for reinstatement of his job. Carry on Kapar. Well done!

Ming Yi is out of jail

The monk Ming Yi is out of jail and under house detention. Is he still a monk or has he been derobed? Monkhood is open to all, criminals and non criminals. It is a place to seek repentence for wrong doings. So, shall he be derobed and not be given a chance to seek repentence in the solitary life of a monk? With religious people getting closely involved in society and social works, and collecting big money, and with many self anointed or self appointed priests and monks, is there a need for a regulatory body to remove the criminals in them? Oops, how can criminals be removed from becoing religious people when they have turned over a new leaf, to be good, to seek God's forgiveness? But there are those who are hiding under the facade of the holy orders to cheat and swindle the innocent and naive believers. How should these hustlers or crooks be dealt with? Quite a complex situation. To make things simpler, in the case of Ming Yi and Father Kang, are both still in their previous status as a monk and priest or should they remain in their orders?

Medals for the Philippines police

With more facts and evidence in the open, Aquino should seriously consider awarding the Police Chief and his SWAT team a medal... for Stupidity. The Police Chief should get a higher award, Medal for Stupidity of the Highest Order. In the public inquest he was asked why he didn't accede to the simple request from the ex police officer. His reply was a rigid text book version 1.01, that if he gave way, more officers will repeat the act of holding hostages to make demands. How ridiculous could this be. Even a machine could be more flexible and think better. And for the police officers running around the hijacked bus wielding their sledge hammers that could do no damage to the bus windows, did they know that the hijacker could spray his M16 at the hostages and finished them off in 5 secs? And they were happily hammering away as if they got the whole day to do so. The fact that the hijacker was willing to talk, to release hostages said a lot about his lack of intent to kill the hostages. And the fact that after all the messing around, many hostages were still unhurt and alive is proof that he was not really interested in killing them. Medals of Stupidity shall be part and parcel of the awards of any country and be conferred to the well deserved recipients when necessary.

What is appealing about the Abdul Malik arrest?

He blogged about burning Vivian, the Minister. He called on the people to vote out the govt. He was arrested for inciting violence. And cyberspace is on fire with many voicing support for Abdul Malik. I must say that the word ‘burn’ is a very sensitive word here. We kind of developed a phobia for burning politicians. Bloggers are well advised not to use such a word in their blogging. I don’t know if Abdul Malik’s call to vote out the govt is against any law. Or could it be a call that can only be uttered during a general election? What is important here is to look at Abdul Malik himself and ask if he is a terrorist, someone trying to incite violence, or is he just a blogger, like many bloggers, including me, spurting generalization and at times nonsensical and provocative comments. My only concern is not to treat bloggers as terrorists or dangerous elements out to destroy the social fabric of our country.

What is appalling about the commando assault?

Some wonder why the hooha over the bungled commando assault by the Philippines police. Many who have watched the drama live on TV would have the same impression as well, without any prompting, that it was an amateurist work of art. And the truth is revealing itself to confirm that it was a bungle, nothing less. Even the Philippines Govt admitted it outright and calling for a thorough impression. What is appalling about the whole episode is the total disregard of the lives of the tourists. That was the impression that I got. The police were running around the bus in full view of the kidnapper and that itself is the most provocative act. You could see that killing the kidnapper was their only concern. Now with the truth disclosed that the kidnapper was no terrorist, no hard core criminal or robber or extremist, it is much harder to swallow that the incident ended in so many death, including the death of the kidnapper. He was an unhappy man. No, he was a model cop that was unjustly dismissed or framed up. At least that was his version of the story. Would such a man who was demanding for an investigation and probably a reinstatement of his job become a killer? His demands were proof that he wanted his job back, with no intention to kill. And who would want to kill him and let to the killing of the innocent tourists? Why couldn't they appease him with an investigation to his dismissal and settle his grievance later, saving the lives of the tourists? The priority, it seemed, was to apprehend or kill the kidnapper. The lives of the tourists did not matter all. The tourists were just calafares in a police and robber movie. Donald Tsang tried the whole day to get in touch with Aquino but in vain. They did not want Aquino to speak to Donald Tsang. And when Aquino appeared on TV the same day and the day after, he was all smiling with no hints of sadness that so many innocent lives were lost for nothing. And now they are still going to investigate the dead cop's dismissal, which was what the dead cop wanted. And there were many pictures of the cops involved in the botched operation taking photos with the bullet ridden bus as the backdrop. It was all like fun, a picnic. These pictures are now circulating in the internet. I have seen several of them. All the police men and women were smiling like they had just completed a movie shooting and celebrating for a job well done. That itself would tell what was important and what was not to them. It is appalling and disgusting, really.