Malaysia's Sedition Act - A Law which Should Never Be In Existence

When I saw a status change the other day from my Facebook friend Uncle Lim Kit Siang, supreme leader of the Democratic Action Party that the police was after him, I had to dig deeper as to why a beacon of Malaysian politics for four decades was being sought after by our 'esteemed' Malaysian Police force for an alledged crime against the Malaysian government. I managed to read a news update from the Malaysian Insider website that the police wanted to question Uncle Lim for his political speech during campaigning a couple of days ago linking Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to the political impasse in the state of Perak. It was later discovered that the people who made the police report that led to the police wanting a statement from Uncle Lim was none other than the police themsleves. Now, since when did police take political sides? However, if you've been a follower of Malaysian politics over the years, you'd be naive to think that the Malaysian police was anything but impartial.

The authorities are considering charging Uncle Lim for Sedition for linking Najib to the political crisis in Perak in his speech. You can imagine my reaction like most rational, logical, like minded people who heard of this news was little short of shock and disbelief. What business has the Malaysian police got to do poking their noses into political speeches in the middle of a political campaign? Is speaking the truth deserved of being charged for a crime and thrown into jail? If they were lies, then why not sue Uncle Lim for defamation? I went back further and found out that the crime of Sedition was more common than I originally thought.

In the US, the Sedition Act of 1918 was enacted by President Woodrow Wilson during the time of war to quell dissent against the US government at a time where harmony from within was crucial in winning the war. This act however was later challenged in court and the Freedom of Speech guaranteed by the First Amendment made this act no longer constitutional. Before that in 1798, it was also in existence in some form or other while the US was under threat of war from France. Fast forward about two hundred years at a time of peace in Malaysia and not a day goes by since Najib had taken over the helms of the highest office in Malaysia that he hasn't used this draconian law to intimidate and put his political opponents out of action. In fact he has used both the Sedition Act and the Internal Security Act to quell dissent and protect his battered reputation precipitated by his links to the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya and the 2002 Submarine scandal while he was Malaysia's Defence Minister.

All this talk of Sedition being a crime beggared belief especially when the definition of the word was less than clear and led me to investigate further what the exact meaning of Sedition meant. The Thesaurus' definition of 'Sedition' is varied but the few I found even relevant to the possible 'crime' that took place are:
rebellion
Synonyms:
agitation, defiance, disobedience, dissent, insubordination, insurgence, insurgency, insurrection, mutiny, revolt, revolution, treason, uprising

In other words, if the government found you to be rebellious and disobeying, they can charge you for Sedition and throw you in jail! Does this mean if a bill is tabled in parliament and the opposition lawmakers thwarted the government proposal by opposing the bill, they are guilty of sedition as they have defied the government? Does this mean you cannot dissent against the government? Would this make Malaysia on par with Burma, Fiji and Zimbabwe? Does this mean you cannot show insubordination towards the government? This would certainly make Malaysia rank below Thailand, Indonesia and the Phillipines in democratic principles. Does this mean you cannot agitate the Malaysian Government? This would certainly make Malaysia the laughing stock of the international community. Malaysians must surely realise the longer these laws are in placed to be used and abused by the ruling elite, Freedom of Expression would be just that, an 'expression'.

Some Things in Australia Just Ain't Right

Well the week has not ended just yet but already I feel that this is one of the longer weeks, with negotiations with debtors, a late night debate with friends about how to live our lives, an intense discussion about monopoly in the market place and the company I work for coming down hard on employee expenses part of the highlights so far. I’m worn out already but I guess I can count my lucky stars I did not experience a repeat of the disaster I had last week. Read it here if you missed it: http://damien-crankyramblings.blogspot.com/2009/05/another-bad-week-to-complain-about.html

I also received a link to an article written by Alexander Downer, former foreign minister of Australia which I thought was quite brilliant, though I would have preferred for him to say it while he was in high office instead of out of it but the reality of modern politics would have rendered that political suicide. It was titled "Idiot Aussies: Grow Up and Take Responsibility. Read it here: http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,,25531441-5006703,00.html. I thought he stated his points plainly and bluntly and that they were valid as far as I was concerned. He basically wrote that while he was the foreign minister of Australia he had to be responsible for Australians travelling abroad and while that was ok if they faced extreme unavoidable circumstances (e.g. the Bali bombings), he questioned why those who travelled and ignored the travel advisory and at the same time being dumb and irresponsible demanded that the Australian government ‘bail them out’? He gave the example of a mother who wanted him to rescue her son who was trapped in the hurricane Katrina disaster while many Americans died in the tragedy. What could he do, he questioned. Fly a helicopter all the way from Australia to America and pick her son up while leaving the Americans behind? I can’t help but agree with Alexander Downer as Australians are famous for expecting the government to do everything for them. Retrenched from your job? Government’s fault! Economic Crisis? Government’s fault, never mind the whole world experiencing the Global economic crisis not seen since the days of the Great Depression. Pensioners not enough money? Government’s fault! Never mind they only had 40 years to save up for their retirement.

Take the recent example of a mom who went to Thailand and was put in prison for stealing a bar mat. While I think that going to prison for stealing a bar mat was harsh, the reality is that it is the law of the country and for the life of me can’t understand why Australians travelling abroad don’t believe that the laws of the foreign country apply to them and they expect the Australian government to rescue them from their stupidity and irresponsibility every time they get into trouble. While the Thai governor went out of his way to apologise (although there was no need to) and pay her fine, instead of saying thank you publicly she had the gall to say that she would not return to Thailand, ever! Our bad Aussie manners overseas never seem to amaze me. You can go back further to Schapelle Corby and the Bali Nine all asking the Australian government to do more, although they were found guilty of being drug couriers and are the scum of the earth.

I also had a discussion on the way large Australian companies are slowly monopolising our markets and the Australian government do not seem to want to get serious about curbing this predatory behaviour of our largest companies. In retail we have two mammoth companies like Coles and Woolies who are dominating not only the supermarkets but also the petrol outlets. They will drop their prices, ruin their competition and when they are out of business increase their prices once again. They also come up with their brand of products and deliberately raise the prices of the other brands, making consumers buy their brand and making the other brands slowly fade from the shelves. They will then raise their prices and the consumer once again will have to pay higher prices.

How about those oil companies like Caltex and Shell. When come the long weekend (like the one coming up this weekend), then price will magically go up by twenty cents a litre! And if you can believe them, they put it down to the normal price cycle. But why always a long weekend or a normal weekend and not a week day? Because more people fill up on the weekends than they do on the weekdays. Take for example Caltex is selling petrol at $1.10 a litre and so is Shell. If Caltex raises their price to $1.29 and one day later so too does Shell, this is an unwritten, unspoken complicit price fixing which happens all the time in Australia and should be deemed illegal. I’m not sure about Australia but if this happened in America, the CEO of both companies would be spending time in jail. Here in Australia, there has been a lot of rhetoric by the government and the petrol watchdog but the results so far have been wanting to say the least. What makes me even more incensed is that the government can and should act but are not doing so as they are probably making more money than anyone else on this.

How about the banks? If you wanted to ruffle any feathers amongst Australians, you just mention the money grubbing banks and you almost always get a vile response. Anything from bullies to crooks and I tend to agree. They have gotten so big that they have merged with or bought out all their smaller competitors to the point that we’re left with just four major players in the banking sector. Recently the Reserve Bank dropped interest rates by 0.25% and one bank decided to not pass on any of that to their customers, meaning the 0.25% interest rate drop by the Reserve Bank was to go straight to their bottom lines. The reason for the Reserve Bank to drop interest rates was to stimulate the economy but this bank chose to be greedy and keep it all for themselves. While many companies have felt the full brunt of the recent economic downturn, the banks are still making their customary billions of dollars in profit and they still give us their age old excuse of ‘higher international funding’ to justify not passing on the rate cuts.

Lastly, it was discovered this week that Malcolm Turnbull, the Liberal opposition leader was worth a whopping $175 million dollars. When confronted by the media, he was almost apologetic and shies to admit it and gave a decrepit response like the figures were plucked from the sky and is not accurate. He may be right but if anything the figures were conservative as these were his known assets only. Anyway if this happened in the US people would be asking ‘geez how’d ya do it pal? Let me in on ya secret’. In Australia however, the tall poppy syndrome is still alive and kicking and if you had $175 million, then you’re sure to have screwed someone on the way to amassing this fortune. Being brilliant and hard working would almost never be the first thought on their minds. Malcolm would probably argue that being known for his wealth would make him be perceived as not as in touch with the battlers as needed. Who knows?

Another Bad Week to Complain About!

If you have been following my blog, my first entry in May was about my top ten worst gripes in life. I have since been told that some of them on the list would not even make it on other people’s top one hundred gripes in life. After thinking for awhile and re-visiting what I wrote, I must admit albeit reluctantly that I was a bit too petty with my list. I do stand by my list, though which only means that I’m a petty guy.

Anyway, today’s entry is more of the same pettiness. It’s about the blaringly idiotic, incompetent and unreasonable behaviour of people we deal with in our everyday life, except that in my case it all happened to me last week.

The first incident was when I noticed a charge of $84 towards my credit card for child care services. Now, we are regular users of child care and I usually do not question nor go to too much detail with their charges. When they automatically charge the costs to my credit card I usually accept and pay it, but this one stuck out like a sore thumb as I knew I had not booked child care services for this term. This one was an easy one to solve, so I thought.

I called the child care to enquire about the irregularity and I was promptly told they would investigate and get back to me. Two days later, to my utter surprise and disgust, the accountant from the child care called me up and told me that there were further irregularities on my account and the computer actually shows that I owed them in excess of a thousand dollars. She gave some feeble excuse about their old system not being very good and she is new taking over the previous accountant etc. etc. but never once conceded that they stuffed up nor offered an apology. She told me she would tidy up our account and e-mail me the details (or bill) and I would then have to pay up. The mistakes apparently had been occurring since the very first day we had been using their services. Now what further complicates things is the tie in between the government rebates/ family tax office and the child care billings which is going to cause unnecessary nightmares for all involved. So, because I had queried the $84 charge, I am confronted with a billing mistake in excess of one thousand dollars, which I owe. I’m expecting the statement next week and they’re going to get a surprise when I tell them that I need as long to pay back the amount owing as the time in which the mistake has been going on. How incompetent can they be? Year two maths at most.

Second incident was yesterday when I was sending the kids to school. We drove up to our usual ‘drop off’ area and while approaching the spot, I noticed two cop-like men standing close to the entrance of the school. My first thought was that the school was so dedicated to the safety and protection of the children that they engaged security during the early drop off times. But then from the rear view mirror I saw one of the men take out his little digital camera and snapped a picture of the car. I was then told that the area that I had been dropping my kids off for the last 3 years is a ‘no standing’ area and a fine of $50 was on the way. It was then that I knew those men were the mean council rangers going about giving fines willy nilly to raise revenue for the council and not security men as I had initially thought.

I asked my daughter Kathleen, who is a school councillor to try to find out from the vice principal if she knew about the rangers outside. We pretty much concluded after her talk with the vice principal that the school had called the ‘authorities’ to harass parents and issue fines. Now, I’m upset about this not because I got a fine. I’m upset not because the rule of law does not apply to me. When I took a closer look, there was in fact a ‘no standing’ sign there and I was indeed breaking the law, and so too were loads of other parents. What I was upset about was the school did not have a designated ‘drop off zone’ and the area which we normally dropped the kids off was the closest to the school. No parent would like to drop their kids off far away from the school entrance, where the kids will have to navigate the dangers on the roads like 4 WD vehicles and weirdos looking to harm our young and vulnerable. Surely, we would drop them off as close as possible. Furthermore, for the last three years using that entrance to drop the kids off, we’ve never had a safety or congestion problem of any notice. Why would the school have a need to call in the rangers and cause this unnecessary rift between the school and the parents is beyond me. The school needs to educate instead of using heavy handed tactics to harass by calling in the ‘authorities’ to issue fines when they themselves have not got their act together by providing the proper designated drop off spots.

The last incident happened at work where we have a parking problem. Too many cars not enough parking spots….sound familiar? I’ve received numerous fines just by parking my car on the roadside to go to work. To avoid the fines, people normally park in the office car park but you could be blocked in as there are not enough spaces for everyone. Anyway, that was what I did yesterday and I was blocked in by someone. When it was then time to go home, this car was still blocking me. I then proceeded to call the number that was left on the windscreen but the business card was thrown on the car dashboard in such a way that the view of the person’s mobile number was obstructed by the corner of the windscreen. I then proceeded to call the land line number on the business card twice but there was no answer. While I was doing all this the rain was pouring down on me. I then proceeded to ask the reception to try to get in contact with this person. She managed to find a mobile number for the car, called it three times and left three urgent messages and after 15 minutes still no one turned up. I then managed to track down the person who had his mobile phone on his table but was sitting around another colleague’s table having a ‘chat’. I then proceeded to explain to the guy that he was blocking me in and the inconvenience he had caused and that he should answer his phone and put his business card on his car dashboard in plain view so people could see the number and he just ignored me. He rushed to his car, drove it to another spot, went back to what he was doing and did not utter a word of regret or apology. He gave me the impression that he felt I had interrupted his ‘social chat’ with his mate and that I was the one inconveniencing him. Not only was the incident annoying the resultant attitude and behaviour of this idiot was even worse.

So beware pricks and idiots are everywhere, especially this close to me. My apologies to all as this is another one of my whinging entries but I feel a little better now that I’ve got it out in the open.

Perth Votes 'NO' to Daylight Savings - the DATA show they should have voted 'YES'

Well then, the results of the Daylight Savings referendum is in and Perth has voted a resounding 'No' to daylight savings 55% against and 45% for. I believe this is the fourth referendum where the daylight savings bill has been blocked. For the life of me I can't understand why Perth continue to have this backward, self defeatist attitude towards an issue long adopted by others around the world as logical and beneficial. Look at how we view Sunday shopping, extended retail hours, high rise development etc. etc.

Now almost every man and his dog in Perth has an opinion on daylight savings and it ranges from the effects daylight savings have on the stock market, on cows, on children, on crime, on road accidents etc etc. I heard it all. Most are illogical arguments but that's what an emotive subject can do to you. You spew crap just to win an argument you feel you must win. Well I'm no different, though I would like to stick to more scientific facts. Here's my take on this.

Now like a respectable writer, I did some research on this via a meteorological website and found the following data for the summer months of Dec- March.

Month Sun rise Sun set (add one hour if daylight savings applied)
Dec 5.04 19.18
Jan 6.25 20.26
Feb 6.54 20.06
Mar 7.16 19.35

and winter months:

Month Sun rise Sun set
Jun 7.14 17.19
July 7.15 17.19
Aug 6.53 17.49

The above times are sun rise and sun set times for the summer and winter months. Note, March is not an official summer month but would be included as a daylight savings month in the referendum, though some say if daylight savings were adopted, they would move to have it removed. Also the times stated are data taken for the fifteenth day of every month e.g. 15 Jan, 15 Feb etc. and lastly, the times shown above are non daylight savings times and you would need to add one hour to the summer months if daylight savings were to apply.

The reason why I went through the trouble to get this data is because as they say the numbers never lie (but people do). From the data above, it is plain and obvious, we have more sunlight during summer and less sunlight during winter and I believe our clocks should reflect this.

Let's take a look at the sunrise times. During the summer months, apart from March the sunrise times are anywhere between 2 hours plus to 20 minutes earlier than the winter months. Those that argue that if daylight savings applied, they would be running in the dark! What the data shows us, is even if one hour was added to the summer times shown, they would not be too far off the winter months sunrise times, so they should be complaining about running in the dark in the winter months as well. By adopting daylight savings, this effectively maintains the status quo. Imagine if there was no daylight savings as shown in the times above, the sun would rise at 5.04 (for December)! Most would be sleeping at this time and those saying they would be running in the dark are just kidding themselves. In fact, some nocturnal beings would be turning in for the night at this time. So my view is that there is no point of having daylight at a time when most people are in bed sleeping. If you want to use the children argument, then you could argue that the sunlight would wake your children up and they in turn will wake you up at 5 in the morning! Great! Who wouldn't like to wake up at 5 in the morning.

Since the daylight hours are longer during summer, I say take full advantage and shift it to the more productive evenings where quality time is hard to come by after work. Nowadays, when people are working from dusk to dawn, adding an additional one hour of sunlight in the evenings would do wonders. Quality time spent with the family outdoors and outdoor works around the house can be done even after work if daylight savings were adopted. Those finishing work in the late evenings and taking public transport could get a safer passage home as they find their journey home under the security of daylight. Whatever the reason, the effect is having more hours to do more outdoor activities in the evenings, whatever they may be.

Anyway, I'll keep my article short, as Perth has voted and it's too late to make anykind of stance right now. We might have to wait another few decades before the mindset of Perth changes and progress with the times. I hope I'll be around to see it, but I won't hold my breath.

My Top Ten Worst Gripes in Life!

I thought today we will change the pace a bit and do away with the current affairs type important issues and rant a bit and list the top ten worst gripes I have about anything and everything in life. I like to complain and abuse and what better way to do it than on my blog. Well here they are, my top ten worst gripes in life:

1. Idiots Jumping Queues: This has got to be one of my worst gripes in life. Imagine queueing up for a long time and suddenly a person who thinks that the universal laws of life do not apply to them and just jumps your queue. How aggravating is that but surprisingly many accept it as a part of life, but not me! I will go out of my way to refuse a car that I know is deliberately jumping my queue. I will give a person an unhealthy stare and tell them off, if they've jump queue in a supermarket, like I once told a woman who jumped right in front of me. I asked her what she was doing and she told me that because she had been waiting too long in her line, she had the 'right' to jump to another line that was faster. I told her she was a lunatic and asked her to get back to her line. The rest of the folks behind us just smiled and gave me an approving look.
2. Bad Drivers: This one kills me especially when I'm in a hurry. People who know me well, know I can get a bit impatient, especially on the road, but I tell you some of these bad drivers are worse bad drivers than I am impatient. I'm talking about drivers who talk on their mobile phones while their cars sway left and right at 30km/h, drivers that do not signal and think the people behind them are mind readers, drivers that go too slow, drivers who speed up when you're trying to overtake them, drivers who back into parking spots when there is a long queue of cars behind them, drivers who do not remain in their lanes, and as mentioned in gripe number one, drivers who jump queues. I've had it up to here with bad drivers!
3. People who complain too much. They would complain about anything and everything, big or small. My water is too cold, too hot, my airplane seat is not an aisle seat, it's not a window seat, my food came with the wrong type of noodle etc etc. and their complaining never aim to get their grouse fixed but eminates from a love of complaining and feeling better by making the recepient feel bad. What these chronic complainers do not realise is that life is short and every moment spent complaining is a moment of their precious life lost.
4. Budget Airlines: I've included this because I have used budget airlines a few times and unfortunately more times than not my experience has been horrible. No doubts, the prices are cheap but you'll find yourself paying for it in other ways. We got our flights changed for no apparent reason but suspected it was because they could not fill their flights and cancelled one of the three flights that day. This caused us to miss a day's itenerary and a hotel booking. I tried to call and email them but they were not contactable/ reacheable. Once my money was taken, there was no way of getting any service after that. You couldn't talk to them and you wouldn't get a reason as to why they stuffed up your holiday and guess what, they covered themselves well in their terms and conditions of sale. So you're stuffed and there is no recourse available. Budget airlines tickets are not flexible, once bought not refundable or changeable. Tickets are point to point which means that if you had a connecting flight and your budget airline flight to that destination is delayed, you'll then miss your connecting flight and there is nothing you can do about it. This means you may have to stay overnight for your connecting flight in case of any delays (which is quite common with budget airlines) and you will incur additional costs like hotels, taxi, food and your time! Another scam I encountered on the budget airline website was an offer of insurance where if you clicked on 'cancel' as opposed to 'ok' you would have accepted to buy the insurance unknowingly. By reading the notes properly, it said if you clicked 'cancel' it means you want the insurance. Now this is an outright scam! (which I fell for). I can guarantee you will pay in so many different ways with these budget airlines. As far as I'm concerened, its not cheap, as you are paying for what it's worth. You're paying a lower price because the product is a lower quality but they advertise it as cheap, which it is not.
5. On Sale Items that are Expired: This one happened to me a few times in the grocery shops. You see some items 'on offer' and you purchase them thinking you have just bought a bargain just to find out that you have to eat all the instant noodles by the same afternoon! I like instant noodles but eating 5 packs in the one afternoon is even beyond me! Of course this also applies to buying cars (that are lemons), electrical items etc. etc. I think the premise is that no one likes being taken for a ride. Anyway look out for those 'bargains' especially in those smaller type shops. The saying 'There's No free lunch' has never been truer in this instance.
6. Frustration with my Telco: Once you sign up with a Telco, more often than not they lock you in for a period of 12 or 24 months and if you decide to leave will have to 'buy out' your contract for the remaining period. This condition of locking people in for long periods of time reeks of unfairness but what do you do when most of the Telcos impose the same terms and the industry competition watchdog do nothing. Their strategy is to lock you in and if you don't like the service after that, you're stuffed. You can call their 'customer service' people but they are there only to frustrate you. They read from a pre-prepared script and have no sincerety whatsoever to genuinely help solve your problem. If you had a serious technical problem that the Telco knew about, they will pretend that they didn't know and play the charade by leading you to nowhere, asking you to 'try' this and try that, asking you to take some 'data' and call them back next week, passing your problem to the 'technical experts' who will then call you back, but they won't, telling you they will send your 'report' to be 'analysed', saying they will send a technician over to your area's exchange etc. etc. I once had a problem with a 24 month mobile broadband contract which was just not working (literally). It took me months of wasting my time complaining to the Telco before I was fed up and took it to the Telecommunication Industry Ombudsman who ruled in my favour. I felt very strongly that the Telco knew that their product was just no good and were using delaying tactics in the hope I would give up and accept the fault. From now on, any future problems will be referred straight to the TIO and i won't be wasting my time with the Telco.
7. Overcharged Bill: This happens to me and many other people, many of whom do not even realise it. What's worse is if this was done deliberately, which of course is very hard to prove, but if it happens to you in the same shop, relatively frequently, then you can pretty much conclude that there was a high chance it was deliberate! Unfortunately, most time when I find out I've been overcharged it's normally too late as I have long left the shop and most times already back home. It's not about the money but the principle. Nobody likes to be cheated!
8. Rude People in the Service Industry: When you go out to have a meal, you normally want the outing to be a pleasant one, but service staff nowadays have just lost the passion for their work. It shows when they are rude, they're abrupt, they think they are doing you a favour by waiting on you, they get your order wrong and they get upset when you bring it up with them. I'm not sure if they realise that the customers are paying their wages! If they don't like to deal with people, then shouldn't be working in the service industry.
9. Selfish People Not Giving Up their Seats for the Elderly: Its easy to give up your seat to the elderly, handicapped or pregnant women, however, if you see how some of these people 'hang on' to their seats (on buses, trains etc.) you would think it was a massive sacrifice to do so. What is the big deal to have to stand up for 10-20 minutes so that a much more needy person could sit down? Is it so absurd to expect them to do so?
10. Women who Want Total Equality to Prove a Point: Now when a woman wants to be totally equal to a man, what does this mean? Does she want to open the car door for the man? Does she want to foot the dinner bill everytime they go out? Does she want to carry the heavy grocery bags? I'm not a sexist but let's face it, man and women are created differently, genetically and to a certain extend socially and that's just a part of life. Women need to accept that and excel in what they are good at and not compete with men. Some women have to compete with men in the men's domain to 'prove' to people that they are just as good. Unfortunately, in a large sample over a longer period of time, history has told us that it's just not achievable, no matter how much these women want to believe they are equal. If you take the best men's basketball team on the planet and the best women's basketball team on the planet, I'll bet my bottom dollar that the women's basketball team will never in a hundred years be able to beat the men's team. Men's dominance in the workforce, has never been challenged in hundred years of history, though women have made some inroads in the last 30 years. The natural balance of life though may be showing us a plateau of this progression. I'm afraid that's just a part of life. Men and women are created unequal. A man cannot breast feed, so if he wanted to be 'equal' here, it's just not possible. Enough said, before I get myself further into trouble, but I hope you get my point. We want men to be the best they can and women to be the best they can too but neither have to compete in the other's traditional domain of dominance to prove anything to anyone.

So there you go, my top ten worst gripes in life in no particular order. Have a good day!