Who says Desi is "not balanced" as a Blogger? I am in that happy position -- like Rockybru, is that a GOoD beneficial association/link ah? -- in that I have one foot in the 4th estate, the other in the 5th estate. ANALOGY: I'm a socialist most weakdays, and a 100% Capitalist on the wickends. Hence I always insist whoever wants to treat YL, please invite Desi only on Saturdays and Sundaes. CON BF also cun!:) ENJOY the lamb at BUM2009! -- YL as Jurassick nu'eshound(in *******MSM capacity), Desi as BUMmer(in non-MSM cappedcity)
Take 1:
From cpiasia.net where it's rumoured/humoured that YL Chong earns to pay for the three layers of Skippy on his french toast (knot capped:(
already layered with Butter and "kaya"!
Perak debacle – an unforgivable violation of the Constitution
Columnists
Written by Kim Quek, CPI
Saturday, 09 May 2009 00:40
8 May 2009
The Barisan Nasional (BN) government has probably scored another first in the world. It has sent its police force to enter a state legislative assembly hall to physically haul the sitting speaker out of the assembly hall and escort another speaker of its choice to take over the empty seat during a melee. Through this act, BN claimed that it has successfully ousted the Pakatan Rakyat speaker S. Sivakumar.
We have seen scuffles between opposing legislators in legislative assemblies in other parts of the world, notably in Taiwan and South Korea . And we have also seen Sergeants-at-arms getting physical in such situations. But I don’t believe there is a precedent anywhere that the police force enters a legislature to take control of events – least of all, physically evicting an incumbent speaker and physically installing a new speaker from the opposing camp, like what happened in the Perak state assembly on May 7, 2009.
Under the doctrine of Separation of Powers, upon which the Malaysian Constitution is founded, neither the Executive, nor the Judiciary can meddle into the affairs of the legislature. As the supreme body of a government and as an independent institution, the legislative assembly enjoys autonomy and has always been meticulously out of bounds to the police force.
Sending a horde of police personnel into the assembly hall to forcibly enforce a decision of one party against another is therefore a heinous and unforgivable act of violation of the fundamental principles of our Constitution. First, the police should never intrude into the sacrosanct grounds of the assembly; and second, the police should never take sides in a political dispute, as it should at all time act as a politically neutral body to enforce law and order.
The pandemonium that broke out in the Perak Assembly is rooted in a tussle for legitimacy to govern the Perak State. The constitutional crisis exploded in early February when the Ruler appointed a new Menteri Besar from BN when the incumbent Pakatan Rakyat Menteri Besar had not resigned, resulting in two parallel governments. The issues that complicate the impasse now are:
a) whether the three defectors from Pakatan Rakyat (PR) did or did not resign as assemblymen
b) whether the suspensions of BN Menteri Besar Zambry Kadir and his six executive councilors for 18 months and 12 months respectively from the assembly are valid
c) which of the two -- BN's Zambry or PR's Nizar Jamaluddin-- is the rightful Menteri Besar
All these three issues are now being legally contested in a web of suits and counter suits in the high courts, the eventual outcomes of which may take years to decide as they wiggle their ways to the higher courts. The obvious, and in fact the only practical solution to the stalemate, is a dissolution of the assembly and return the mandate to the people of Perak. Failing which, the Perak crisis will continue to fester as unbearable political and economic sore to not only Perakians but to all Malaysians.
Meanwhile, BN must not be too quick to celebrate their ‘success’ in physically evicting the incumbent Pakatan speaker Sivakumar, as physical eviction is not necessary the same as legal eviction. As rightly pointed out by Pakatan Menteri Besar Nizar Jamaluddin and speaker Sivakumar, the motion of no confidence in speaker Sivakumar was null and void as he had not even convened the meeting yet when the motion was proposed by Zambry. Besides, Sivakumar had already issued a letter of rejection of the motion a day earlier, in exercise of his right under the standing orders.
As for the police violation of the Constitution, the prime culprits ultimately responsible for this debacle are the Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan and Home Affairs Minister Hishammuddin Hussein. In any established democracy, they will have to defend their honour by offering to resign. However, short of resignation, the least they should do now is to offer an apology to the nation.
Take 2:
Written by The Star (an *******MSM)
Published by malaysia-today.net (+++non-MSM)
Time to end Perak’s circus
Posted by admin
Friday, 08 May 2009 09:11
Taking steps to let the people decide the government and to stop any attempt to thwart their will is the ultimate solution to the problem.
BY P. GUNASEGARAM (The Star)
FROM whoever’s point of view, the ongoing circus in Perak is a mockery of democracy, its institutions, and the state and federal constitutions as politicians jostle for power over, and control of, the state.
The root of the problem is the infamous three hopping out of Pakatan Rakyat to be Independents friendly to Barisan Nasio-nal.
That does not mean the Pakatan government is blameless. It was, after all, their de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who famously or infamously – depending on your orientation – declared that he would topple the Federal Barisan Government.
But it turned out to be an empty boast. The Sept 16 deadline last year has expired and the Federal Government still stands strong and firm – with its 58-seat majority, just eight short of a two-thirds majority, intact. Not a single Barisan lawmaker hopped over to the opposition.
The amazing thing about that episode was that while as long as it was thought that Anwar had a chance to pull off that major hop, the criticism against thwarting the people’s will was muted among Pakatan’s leaders.
The one clear exception was the old lion and DAP stalwart Karpal Singh.
And for Pakatan as a whole to acquiesce to the suggestion that the Federal Government be overthrown by party hoppers was nothing short of appalling. And dangerous, too.
Does it not mean that the people’s will was being thwarted? After all, the people voted in Pakatan for only five states – as important as some of the states were, such as Selangor, Perak and Penang. They did NOT vote in Pakatan for the Federal Government.
What that abortive attempt to unseat the Federal Government meant was that Pakatan had lost the moral high ground to protest when its three representatives in Perak hopped out and declared themselves Independents friendly to Barisan.
However we may argue the situation now, the undisputed fact is that Barisan has the majority of seats in the Perak State Assembly. Everything else is procedural. If the state assembly were to sit, who will enjoy the confidence of the majority? The answer is plain.
But just as Barisan has used a legal, if underhand, tactic to get to power, we can expect that Pakatan will exhaust every trick in the book to delay and question the issue by all means legal and politically expedient.
That means the cauldron will continue to simmer for a while yet. It may even overflow occasionally if Pakatan can induce some crossovers and get the pot to boiling again.
Already the circus has descended to the physical level – which has been largely kept out of our legislative assemblies. The public has had to bear ridiculous – even comical, if it were not so serious – scenes such as the assembly under a tree, which gained world headlines. And then there was yesterday which we all could have done without.
The people are restive. They elected somebody else but someone else has come to power by the back door. The process is still not over and there are going to be challenges and counter challenges.
In the meantime it will be the state and the people who suffer while politicians focus on politics and neglect government.
The problem is the politicians have not shown themselves to be responsible. On one side of the divide, they threatened to overthrow the government and on the other side they actually did. Both of them showed complete disdain for the people.
Now it is high time to put these things behind us. If politicians agree that the will of the people has to be respected – anyone who disagrees is not only not a politician but a despot to boot – then they must do what is necessary to actualise that.
At the end of the day, there is only one way to end the circus. Let the people decide. And put in place the laws to stop party-hopping by elected representatives. If they do, they must be made to face the people for a fresh mandate.
It was Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, then a government minister in charge of law, who proposed that party-hopping of elected representatives be discouraged by forcing automatic by-elections.
It came to pass that his proposal was not only rejected by many within Barisan but met with lukewarm reception from the opposition as well.
Realistically, as far as Perak is concerned, we have probably passed the point of no return. That means continuing turmoil to the detriment of the people and state, at least until elections are held again.
But the public itself should not give up hope. It should push for its will to be respected and followed. Accordingly, it should pressure the two main coalitions to publicly declare support for by-elections in the event of party defections.
If one of them declines, we know who to vote for. If both decline, we have a problem – we have to start looking further. If both agree, we don’t have a problem, right?
We just have to work out the mechanics in full public view so that the people can judge who is balking.
That’s the beauty of having choices and alternatives.
_____________________________________
Managing editor of The Star P. Gunasegaram remembers too many disgraceful episodes of party-hopping over the last 25 years. It is high time we put a stop to it, he says.
******* DESIDERATA: If my dear ER has/have to ask what is MSM, you should then get some education at BUM2009! ~~ Desi, knottyaSsusual:)
Surf to bum2009.wordpress.com NOW!
+++ As for non-MSM, hey, it seats OPPOSITE the MSM, off course, you dummy! OOops,delete "dummy", it should read IGNORAmuse,jest as Desi's a muse-d!:)
SEE you at LVC one week from now -- Strong and Steady as a cow, not lamb -- on Saturday May 16, 2009. Especially at Warren Bufet's table from 8.30PM -- please leave wan leg of lamb for Desi, willya!
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