How about an Act Act?

Dean Johns

I see that former Court of Appeal judge Mohd Noor Abdullah, perhaps emboldened by his getting away with falsely branding the Chinese-Malaysians as “traitors” to their Malay brethren for largely supporting the opposition in the 13th general election, has made a second bid for stardom by calling for a Treason Act to punish offences against the Agong.

He has now been supported in this call by Rural and Regional Development Minister and Umno vice-president Mohd Shafie Apdal. And meanwhile, Communications and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek has been mooting new regulations to control the online media.

But as far as I’m concerned, Malaysia has more than enough Acts and bad Actors already. Far more, in fact, than the BN regime knows what to do with or can be bothered enforcing, except selectively against its critics and opponents.

For example, if BN employed its Sedition Act as actively against racist rabble-rousers like Mohd Noor, the editors and ‘journalists’ of BN-owned alleged ‘newspaper’ Utusan Malaysia and Perkasa, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and current 47 percent Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak as it does against opposition activists, race relations in the country would be greatly enhanced.

So if there’s one Act that the nation is crying out for, it’s an Act Act. A piece of special legislation compelling the BN regime and its functionaries in the judiciary, the police, MACC and every other instrument of government and to act promptly, fairly and equally against breaches of existing laws.

Of course I’m joking, because as adept and even enthusiastic as BN is in laying down the law to the people while acting as a total law unto itself, it’s really nothing but talk when it comes to action according to the Act.

In fact the forces of Malaysian law and order are so slow, selective and generally unwilling to act except in the regime’s interests that attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail(left) seemed to think he was doing the public a special favour by recommending the prosecution of several police personnel for the alleged murder of detainee N Dhamendran.

“The AG’s Chambers views this latest incident of a death of a detainee while in the custody of a law enforcement agency seriously,” he crowed, “and is committed to dealing with any alleged wrongdoing leading to the death of Dhamendran in accordance with the law.”

Thus raising the question of why the Gani and his lawmen suddenly view this homicide “seriously” when there have been literally hundreds of other highly suspicious deaths in custody, not to mention in suspicious ‘shootouts’ with police, that have clearly been viewed so unseriously as to go uninvestigated, let alone to prosecution of the police culprits.

In fact Gani even went on to try and downplay the seriousness of the Dhamendran case, calling it “regrettable” rather than as seriously tragic and atrocious as it is, and then went on to praise the “swift action of the Royal Malaysia Police” as “commendable” and reflective of its “commitment to uphold the integrity of the institution of the Royal Malaysia Police.”

Fact Act, too

In other words, in Gani’s mind, the bringing of this case to court has nothing to do with any duty or imperative he and his accomplices in crime-fighting feel they might have to act according to the law, or to accord justice to the victim and his family, and is just a sop to appease critics of the police.

And as for his commending of the police for their so-called “commitment” to uphold their “integrity”, who does Gani think he’s kidding? A question that causes me to wonder whether, along with an Act Act to require or compel the BN regime and its agents to act in accordance with their sworn oaths of office, maybe Malaysia also needs a Fact Act to force them to tell the truth.

Not every time, necessarily, as the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth at all times is a virtually unattainable ideal for any of us, let alone those in public office. But human fallibility is no excuse for never, ever uttering anything even remotely resembling the truth, as BN spokespersons so infamously do.

If Malaysia had a Fact Act, and of course an Act Act to ensure it was acted on, the entire lying, perjuring BN regime and the mendacious morons running its lying ‘mainstream’ media would be utterly lost for words.

No more trash talk about the “integrity” of BN’s hopelessly corrupt and outright criminal police forces. No more outrageously false accusations of “betrayal” of the Malays and thus Malaysia at large by the Chinese or any other racialised, demonised or marginalised segments of the population.

No more false assertions that moves to curb the online media or any other repressive intentions are “not politically motivated.” No more claims by Najib of such blatant and patently obvious falsehoods as his “1Malaysia”, “transformation of the nation”, “zero tolerance for corruption”, “free media we can all be proud of” or “progress towards the world’s best democracy”.

In fact, considering that I haven’t ever seen a reported remark by Najib that wasn’t a total pack of lies, I presume that the enaction of a Fact Act and an Act Act to back it up would render him utterly dumb. Though on second thoughts he could still silently sign such documents as his notoriously fraudulent Election Integrity Pledge.

And speaking of elections, in light of a Fact Act the laughably regime-compliant Election Commission (EC) would no longer be able to claim, out loud, at least, “the world’s cleanest electoral roll” or keep on vociferously denying that the election it recently oversaw, or rather committed, was a clear-cut case of fraud.

But of course the BN regime, or what remains of it after its moral defeat in GE13, as much enthusiasm as it may have for Acts against free speech, peaceful public protest and even disrespect to the ‘royals’ that it is so careful to keep on its side, will never consider let alone pass an Act Act, or Fact Act, or even another piece of legislation, come to think of it, for which there is a crying need, an Incompetents-and-Crooks-Should-be-Sacked Act.

Acting and speaking honestly in the nation’s interest instead of their own power and profit would see them out of office even faster than a free and fair election would, not to mention land a good many of them in police detention.

And until somebody passes an Act creating a genuine Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission, they would run the very grave risk in detention of getting themselves fatally whacked.