bobjots : redux

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008)

Known also as the Dostoyevsky of 20th century, the 1970 Nobel Prize for Literature winner, playwright and a Gulag guest of Stalin died at the age of 89. Rest in Peace. I am at a loss for words .. I'll let others do it :

Anwar Ibrahim was arrested as a suspect under Section 377A (according to the NST) and/or Section 377C (according to The Star) of the Penal Code :

Carnal intercourse against the order of nature
377A. Any person who has sexual connection with another person by the introduction of the penis into the anus or mouth of the other person is said to commit carnal intercourse against the order of nature.

Explanation—Penetration is sufficient to constitute the sexual connection necessary to the offence described in this section.

Committing carnal intercourse against the order of nature without consent, etc.
377C. Whoever voluntarily commits carnal intercourse against the order of nature on another person without the consent, or against the will, of the other person, or by putting the other person in fear of death or hurt to the person or any other person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of not less than five years and not more than twenty years, and shall also be liable to whipping.

Punishment for defamation
500. Whoever defames another shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or with fine or with both.

Raja Petra, who was arrested earlier today, has been released after the magistrate's court ruled that the charges filed against him were incomplete and insufficient to proceed with a trial. He will be free until the Attorney General's Chambers files new charges against him :

KUALA LUMPUR, 17, Julai (SK) - Hakim Mahkamah Majistret hari ini bersetuju untuk mengatakan bahawa pertuduhan keatas Raja Petra Kamarudin adalah tidak lengkap.

Beliau akan dibebakan sehingga Peguam Negara meminda dan membuat satu lagi pertuduhan baru keatas beliau.

Sebelum ini, Raja Petra enggan berkata apa-apa berhubung akuan berkanunnya di Mahkamah yang mengaitkan isteri timbalan perdana menteri dengan pembunuhan Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Beliau pagi tiba di IPK KL kira-kira jam 10 pagi tadi dan seterusnya dibawa ke Mahkamah Jalan Duta.

Menurut laporan berita Malaysiakini, beliau dijangka didakwa mengikut Seksyen 500 Kanun Keseksaan berhubung akuannya 18 Jun lalu yang mengaitkan Rosmah Mansor dengan pembunuhan wanita Mongolia itu.

- (Source : Suara KeADILan)

Anwar Ibrahim was arrested outside his house just before 1.00 pm while he was making his way to the Kuala Lumpur Police HQ to meet his 2.00 pm appointment. Apparently masked men were involved, reminiscent of his initial arrest in 1998. And its been reported that it required 15 cars to escort him to God knows where. I guess when you're in the (un)civil service, its ok to waste fossil fuels since taxpayers have already paid for it.

Then again, if some of his detractors are to be believed, who knows .. this might just be another sandiwara by KeADILan and the Pakatan Rakyat to gain sympathy. I guess some won't be satisfied until they see him leave custody feet first.

Hmm .. perhaps the threat of defections was more real than many of us imagined?

This is for the benefit of those who missed it :

Anil Netto captured most of the salient points and some of the Q & A in his blow by blow account here. Most of the SMS'es I received were of the opinion that Anwar pawned Shabery. What do you think?

cow·ard·ice [kou-er-dis]

noun lack of courage to face danger, difficulty, opposition, pain, etc. [Origin: 1250–1300; Middle English: cowardise < Old French co(u)ardise, equiv. to co(u)art cowardly (see coward) + -ise -ice]

Synonyms pusillanimity, timidity

cowardice. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved July 13, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cowardice

I guess this is as good a reason as any to confer the Darjah Yang Utama Pelepah Putih (The Grand Order of the White Feather) which carries the title Mak Datuk.

Interesting how dysfunctional we can allow ourselves to be. Excuse me while I go throw up.

Opposition Leader, Datin Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, has filed notice with the Dewan Rakyat to table a motion of no confidence against the Prime Minister. This is an unprecedented move and it is still unclear whether the Speaker of the Parliament, who has almost absolute discretion in deciding whether or not motions may be tabled, would allow it.

By the convention of the British Parliament, in which our Westminster system of government is based upon, a government which fails to win confidence by the responsible house (ie. the house of Parliament that's directly elected by the people, in our case the Dewan Rakyat), would either be compelled to :

• Resign, or

• Seek the dissolution of Parliament and call for new elections, failing which it has to resign and allow the head of state to appoint a new government led by a member of Parliament whom the head of state feels has the confidence of Parliament

The sociologist Max Weber observed :

Luther and Calvin did away with the monasteries and, in turn, made the whole world into a monastery

.. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Die protestantische Ethik und der 'Geist' des Kapitalismus)

The world is my parish

Bernama (which is probably taking lessons on professionalism from the KCNA) claimed quite a few things in its report on the protest carnival (I'd like to call it a demonstration but it was way too surreal) held yesterday in the Kelana Jaya Stadium. I really must wonder. Why must tax payers fund institutions that make it a point to editorialise news reports with such an obvious spin?

Here are some notable quotes from the report that seem significantly irrelevant and out of context within a news report :

.. The poor response to the gathering which did not have a permit and organised by opposition leaders showed their failure to influence the public at large to protest against the government ..

The event today turned out to be peaceful with people having the opportunity to express their general frustrations in a safe and secure manner. The general sense that things are still not all that well is still there and a cursory glance at the newspapers of the day will vindicate that feeling. For me personally, I get the sense that there are attempts to manufacture a scenario or a set of scenarios based on a lot of one sided pronouncements and opinions presented as objective truths.

So, the "battle" isn't over yet. The need for intercession and direct action is still necessary. Direct action doesn't necessarily have to be in the realm of macro politics or confrontational attitudes. Small shifts in how we engage and interact with the people around us can make a big difference.

According to Malaysiakini at least. I just got back from church and will be going over to the stadium shortly. I am thankful that the earlier fears have proven unfounded so far. Thanks to all of those who have kept the nation in prayer. The day is yet to be over, so I trust you will continue to pray (and if you can, drop by at the Kelana Jaya Stadium).

I saw this short post at Jonson's blog. I must admit I am not too far from his opinion on Anwar and the party :

I am in Keadilan to advance the people’s interests & position, not because it is headed by Anwar. And as you know, I was a member of PRM & became a member of Keadilan when the parties merged. Anyway, I feel that it is irrelevant whether I believe in Anwar or not. More importantly, do we believe he can help us bring our nation forward & are there other better alternatives?

The organisers for the gathering at the Kelana Jaya Stadium today has gone on the record to warn of agent provocateurs attempting to create an incident that would justify police intervention. So, be forewarned and don't get hoodwinked.

We want to express our dissatisfaction but I believe we can do so with decorum and in peace. Agent provocateurs are nothing new and we've generally learnt how to ignore them. This lesson ought to be well remembered today.

.. or at least, they try to since they do have almost absolute control of the printed and electronic media, something unprecedented has been occuring in Rembau, Negeri Sembilan. Yep .. the same Rembau where Khairy Jamaluddin, the brilliant son-in-law of the Prime Minister, is currently the Member of Parliament of.

A joint press conference was held between the local KeADILan Youth and Umno Youth to publicly state their rejection of the sexual allegations against Anwar Ibrahim. Yep .. you read correct. It's a joint press conference between KeADILan Youth and Umno Youth. Their contention is that a large majority of people do not believe the allegations anyway and there seemed to be an element of distraction being played out here.

Nat has graciously granted permission to republish this piece which I believe is worth disseminating :

The Army is on our streets - What will you do in Malaysia’s hour of need?

Some days, we feel that all the good fights have been fought; that all the important struggles are over and left to history. Some days, we feel like we are mere spectators in the great river of destiny.

I have been informed that R. Kumaresan the nephew of private investigator, P. Balasubramaniam, has made a missing persons report at the Brickfields police station together with a legal counsel named Surendran. This is because Balasubramaniam has not been able to be reached since his appearance to the press yesterday. A press conference is being conducted right at this moment and I will post more details as I get them.

Update (1934)

According to a report on Malaysiakini, not only is Bala missing but his wife and 3 children are also incommunicado. Again I must reiterate the need to pray for our nation.

Why was Balasubramaniam left to face the wolves alone after making such an explosive allegation? Granted most of us have been badly overstretched due to the various twists and turns that's been happening over the last week .. but how could such a major security breach have occured?

According to Americk Singh, Bala's lawyer until recently, he last saw Bala at around 4.45pm in his office when he left, ostensibly to meet a friend for fish head curry. That friend incidentally is an ASP (Assistant Superintendent of Police). To quote Anil Netto who has more details,

Bala didn’t seem to be apprehensive about the ASP; he seemed to know him quite well. From the conversation on the phone, Americk said it sounded jovial and happy, and the ASP seemed happy that Bala had made the SD.

If this truly is negligence, I hope the party leadership learns from this. With the number of people promoting the party's cause, whether as volunteers or otherwise, and sometimes with professional or personal risk, it would really be nice to know that the party leadership is watching our six.

The jury is still out as to which statutory declaration was made under duress. The two photographs below show the key actor, P. Balasubramaniam, at 2 different occasions. The first, on the left, was taken the day the first statutory declaration was made, The second, taken yesterday, was when the second statutory declaration retracting certain portions of the first declaration was made.

        

I suspect the court of public opinion may have already decided which was actually made under duress.

The following official responses have been given in regards to Balasubramaniam's retraction of his statutory declaration implicating the Deputy Prime Minister with the Altantuya case:

From Americk Singh Sidhu, Legal Counsel for P. Balasubramaniam:

I have been made to understand that Mr. Balasubramaniam a/l Perumal has issued a statutory declaration at a press conference held at the Prince Hotel at 11.00 am this morning, retracting his earlier statutory declaration affirmed on the 1st July 2008.

The reason given for this retraction is that his original statutory declaration, recorded by myself, was “compelled to be affirmed under duress”.

Not everyone is called to take up the role of an activist or a politician. The mantle of the prophet is given to few. But one thing we can all do is to intercede and pray for the nation in this uncertain and troubled time. Many of us, irregardless of our faith traditions or lack thereof, are used to praying or at least hoping for peace. I remember that as a kid, before making the choice to embrace the Christian faith, I used to be taught to pray for 平安 (peace and tranquility).

As a Christian today, my posit is that peace requires justice. In the chaotic geo-politics of today, a lot of people are clamouring for a just peace. It is not enough to merely impose peace but also to bring it about justly. Martin Shaw of the University of Sussex suggests:

Peace entails justice, indeed, not merely in this sense of criminal responsibility, but in the larger sense of a just political and economic settlement for the people

In order to faithfully live in community, the Church must prayerfully support the elimination of poverty, war, racism, sexism, hate, and the like. True peace is intimately entwined to real justice and our own scriptures testify to it very strongly :

I have been informed that friends and family of P. Balasubramaniam, the private investigator who made the explosive statutory declaration yesterday that implicated the Deputy Prime Minister with the Altantuya Sharibuu murder case only to retract it today, have been unable to get in touch with him. According to a Malaysiakini report, his lawyer accompanied him to the Brickfields police station yesterday at 4.45 pm but have since not been able to contact him.

Family friends have informed me that he called his wife at 9.00 pm last night who then promised to inform friends when he got home but both husband and wife have not been contactable since. Folks are reasonably concerned about their safety, especially in consideration of the circumstances and context in which this whole drama is being played out.

It is interesting to note that in his latest statutory declaration, he claimed he made the earlier declaration under duress. I have to wonder aloud .. just which side of this drama actually have the wherewithal and leverage to compel a person to make a false sworn statement.

More like waggin' the finger :

I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky Sharibuu

I just got a call from a friend who works in the journalism industry. Apparently there're some strong rumours that Anwar will be arrested within the next 48 hours. Of course they are just rumours but as experience shows, in Malaysia .. rumours tend to become fact very fast and fact is oftentimes stranger than fiction.

The full text of the statutory declaration is linked from this post as a PDF attachment. It was preceded by this statement from Anwar Ibrahim:

Press Statement
For Immediate Release

Today we witness another episode of a consistent pattern of abuse of power and manipulation of the criminal justice system.

Recently one of the witnesses in the Altantuya trial approached us with detailed information of events connected to her disappearance and murder. The information was shocking.

Mr. P. Balasubramaniam, who was engaged by Abdul Razak Baginda as a private investigator was advised to seek legal counsel and document his story independently.

If you're lucky, you might be able to catch the audio feed.

Basically we have a statutory declaration from the first prosecution witness, P. Subramaniam, that he had seen evidence implicating the Deputy Prime Minister on the "predicament" with Altantuya Sharibuu. Apparently it involves a US$ 500,000 commission promised on the purchase of certain naval hardware from a Western European country. The story's still unfolding but I've just lost my audio feed. Sigh ..

Update (1207)

Ah .. great .. its back

The recent developments of the sodomy allegations against Anwar with the spin and the counter spin goes to prove one thing. We Malaysians are generally still victims of misinformation with no way of actually being able to trust any source of information, whether it originates from the mainstream media (read as Ministry of Information) or from the Opposition media (due to the fact that they are openly and unabashedly biased in favour of the political parties that run them).

There's a petition that's making its rounds on cyberspace. I have found it fit to endorse and thought you might too. You can do so here. The petition reads:

Don't Let Homophobia Undermine Democracy
30 June 2008

We, the undersigned, are deeply disturbed that Anwar Ibrahim has been accused of 'sodomy', yet again, in what looks like another attempt to destroy his political career. We are not promoting or supporting Anwar as a leader or an individual in any way, but we are addressing the issues that have been raised by this latest allegation against him.

We believe simply that Anwar's human rights are being violated once again. In effect, we are seeing a virtual repeat of the incidents of 1998, when sodomy allegations against Anwar became a tool to urge the Malaysian public to refuse his potential leadership. The underlying assumption here now, as it was then, is that due to Anwar's alleged sexual practices, he is not fit to become a national leader.

Anwar Ibrahim filed a police report against the Inspector General of Police, Musa Hassan, and the Attorney General, Abdul Gani Patail, this afternoon at the Selangor Police Contingent HQ at Shah Alam. This was a follow up to his claims that he had obtained evidence of the falsification of evidence against him during his 1998-99 trials for corruption and sodomy. The text of the report in both English and Bahasa Malaysia is as follows :

It took the new administration 100 days to decide and even longer than that to let those of us who are staying in Subang Jaya to know who they were, but generally I am satisfied with the slate. Of course, I'd probably be much happier when we finally get to elect our own municipal councillors but I must admit that what we have today is still generally much more transparent and representative than in the Barisan Nasional ruled states. Interestingly, these are the states that have generally been left out of the media scrutiny.

I am made to understand that the councillors have been appointed on a one year probation with the possibility of an extension by another two years. Of course, that is assuming that the current Local Government Act isn't amended to restore elected local governments. If it is, the circumstances might be a bit different. Anyway .. here's the list. I'm happy to see some familiar and tested names among them.

Once we Christians get past figuring out whether or not we ought to pay a little more attention in making this world a better place for all creation (yep .. that includes people who may not share our belief systems and worldviews), the next set of questions come up.

Of course the attention is called for, not because we seek to establish God's Kingdom on earth (that would be for Him to do in His own time with or without our help) or because it is necessary for salvation (there's already plenty of Pelagianism in the Church to go around .. we don't need to add to it), but because it is a natural expression of our love for God and humanity.

Don't take my word for it. Go check it out yourself. Do note the singularity in the brief lesson - implying a holistic application perhaps?

So how do we actually get about doing it? Sivin, Alice and TK Tan came up with some good ideas at The Micah Mandate, roughly categorised along these lines ..

• What we can do as individuals
• What we can do as a church
• What we can do in partnership with established organisations

Piqued? Go have a look here and leave some thoughts or two while you're at it.

What does a discredited 6 footer, 4 imminent defections, the number 50, sovereign territory of an Eurasian nation in Malaysia, a by-election, and a woman with the letter "R" in the name have in common?

If my sources are correct, quite a bit apparently. That at least are some of the more interesting snippets of information I've received when I was down at the KeADILan HQ at Tropicana earlier.

Anyway .. this is turning out to be a PR disaster for certain interested parties, some of which had their representatives caught on national TV with the "deer caught in the headlights" look. The next few days are going to be interesting.

Sound advice from Bung Syed :

Despite our mistrust, we want the police to do its duties.

We don't want it to cause any instability, certainly, because we want peace and order to be maintained because the government would want to see certain instabilities, certain troubles, so that they can crack down upon the opposition, especially upon PKR, and to probably proclaim all kinds of acts or laws which can (curb) the freedoms of this country.

Source : Malaysiakini

• Emergency Scenario Possible

Anwar Ibrahim has released a press statement from the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Kuala Lumpur :

I am issuing this statement from within the embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Kuala Lumpur. I was transported to the embassy earlier this morning fearing that my personal safety was in danger. I thank all those who offered to assist me in this time of need and am grateful to the Turkish Ambassador for extending an invitation to seek refuge within the Embassy.

Since the March 8th elections, numerous credible sources from within the government and military intelligence have advised me that certain agents from within Barisan Nasional leadership have initiated plots to cause harm to me or my family or my supporters. I have been told that my assassination has not been ruled out as means to subvert the people’s will and bring an end to the transformational changes taking place in Malaysia.

A lot has happened over the last 18 hours. Photographs of the accuser with certain members of the incumbent ruling party are being circulated online, the police are warning those who dare doubt the credibility of the charges and discuss alternative scenarios with persecution, Anwar is reportedly taking refuge in a foreign embassy - due to an assassination threat (which some mainstream papers glossed over by appending the term "political" in front). The same papers have also found it fit not to repeat the allegation that Anwar has received evidence of misconduct by the Attorney General and the Inspector General of the Police.

I've been thinking a bit about this. If this really was a plot to bring down Anwar, why be so stupid and bring up an old, discredited story? One would really have to be bloody daft to risk something like this in a conservative society like ours when one is so close to victory.

What could be the possible outcome of such an allegation (and subsequent action against the accused)? I assume there'd be a general sense of outrage, possibly even mass action taken to the streets. Which brings me to the next question, if such a scenario were to take place, how would Umno-BN react?

The only plausible reaction, something which has been making its rounds in some of the more pro-Umno blogs since March, would be the suspension of the Constitution and civil rights, the declaration of Emergency, suspension of Parliament and rule by decree. A MAGERAN II if you'd so have it.

That's why I would like to appeal for calm and level headedness. At this juncture, more damage is being done to tyranny and oppression by being in Parliament with a strong minority than being outside. The Pakatan parties seem to be on the ball and are taking the lead in terms of reactions and responses. We would do well to wait for their cue.