The country has gone to the mad-house, and the government is clearly no longer subscribing to the concept introduced by Prime Minister Najib Razak himself of 1 Malaysia: People First, Performance Now.
Malaysia has instead fallen into the hands of the PDRM (Royal Police) and an Inspector General of Police who answers to the Home Minister who in turn is the cousin of the Prime Minister.
Basically, all the characters have no credibility whatsoever and don't deserve the posts entrusted to them by the people and certainly not qualified to lead this country.
Imagine, out of fear of a citizen's march for free-and-fair elections, the police got the courts to issue a restriction order, prohibiting 91 individuals from entering the key business district of Kuala Lumpur, where the rally is to be held.
UMNO Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin spells it out in no uncertain terms when he posted on micro-blogging site Twitter that he had “just landed back in KL after trying to break Israeli blockade of Gaza only to find that I’ve been blockaded from KL. Excuse me if I say WTF?”
Malaysia has been very vocal about the Israelis blocking humanitarian aid from reaching the Palestinians, yet the GOM is practicing a blockade against its own people. A blockade of basic human rights to freedom of speech and also to freedom of movement.
Restriction Order in breach of Article 13 UDHR
The IGP and Home Minister are responsible for several serious crimes against civil rights. One of the worst in Malaysian history is the shocking blockade of the 91 individuals and also on the clamping down of a whole city, if not the nation, for an event that has yet to happen.
The paranoia that has gripped the nation is not the work of Bersih but was seeded by an irresponsible police force and their immediate parenting agency - the Hime Ministry.
Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights state that:
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
The police have categorically violated this article, signed by members states of the United Nation to which Malaysia subscribes to and not only that, Article 9 of the Malaysian Federal Constitution that states -
(1) No citizen shall be banished or excluded from the Federation
(2) Subject to Clause
(3) and to any law relating to the security of the Federation or any part thereof, public order, public health, or the punishment of offenders, every citizen has the right to move freely throughout the Federation and to reside in any part thereof
(4) So long as under this Constitution any other State is in a special position as compared with the States of Malaya, Parliament may by law impose restrictions, as between that State and other States, on the rights conferred by Clause (2) in respect of movement and residence.
The facts in the case
In the lead up to July 9, the movement of Malaysian citizens has been hampered by the police. Any restriction to move within the federation has to be imposed by a law that is an act of Parliament. Did the Parliament endorse and issue a law to restrict movements within the federation? So far, only the police seem to know if this law exists.
The court ordered restriction on 91 individuals, a breach of the order would contravene Section 188 of the Penal Code for disobedience to an order duly promulgated by a public servant, punishable by up to six months’ jail or up to RM2,000 fine or both.
A similar restraining order was granted by the Kuala Lumpur Magistrate’s Court preventing polls reform group Bersih members from gathering in the vicinity of Parliament House in 2007.
This restraining order, back in 2007, was also as confusing as the one being served in 2011. Back then constitutional expert Prof Dr Abdul Aziz Bari had argued that the court order was unconstitutional as it overrode the Bersih petitioners’ constitutional right to freedom of assembly.
He reiterated, “I don’t see how the court in a country with a written constitution like ours can go on mysterious grounds (in granting the restraining order).
“How can we place ordinary law above the Federal Constitution? This is monstrous!” said the International Islamic University Malaysia law lecturer.
He argued that the police, even under Section 27 of the Police Act which empowers it to act on an illegal assembly, does not have absolute power to stop rallies as they are required to assess the situation objectively.
Puppets on a string
The same argument can be applied to the present day situation in 2011. The courts in granting the restraining order to the police, have violated the Malaysian Federal Constitution.
How can this restraining order against 91 individuals be higher and greater than the Malaysian Federal Constitution? Additionally, is intended crime the same as acted-upon crime?
All these restrictions, blockades and obstacles endorsed and supported by UMNO are for actions on a future event. Which clearly points to the reactive nature of an UMNO running scared and afraid of a nation willing to stand up and speak up on its own terms.
There are no reasons for the actions of the police and judiciary except that they are puppets to an oppressive government desperate to hold on to power.
- Malaysia Chronicle
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