Hopes for a meaningful holy day for all Hindus :)
Jan 302010
So, the latest:
We’ve gotten confirmations that the books are being held for ‘investigations’ to see if they may cause some breach of the peace :|
Yeah, I know :P
While this is going on, it is still perfectly legal to buy and sell the books. There are three ways you can currently help support the cause and get a book, before they possibly get pulled from the shelves:
1. Get one from your local major bookstore (I’ve previously seen them available in Popular, MPH, Borders, etc). Note: If they are not on the bookshelves, they may still be available over the counter on request.
2. Order one online from Kinibooks.
3. (If you live within the Klang Valley) Place an order with whereisjustice@jelas.info, and we will do our best to get a copy to you at RM 30 (incl delivery costs), on a COD basis.
A lot of books have been in the news. SIS, I’m glad to report, managed to get its book ban overturned, K Arumugam today had his decision postponed, and Dr. Kua Kia Soong a while ago also successfully got his book on May 13 through censors.
As explained before, we took great pains to ensure that the book stuck to the facts, and provided a sense of objectivity while representing the spectrum of Malaysian opinions on the matter.
1FunnyMalaysia, which is also facing the same fate, represents an integral ability to laugh at ourselves while facing repression and injustice – so that’s also certainly worth a purchase.
All this has been possible no doubt through your continued support, so we hope you’ll stay tuned, spread the word, and get a copy if you can. Continued pressure is of the utmost importance.
Thank you!
I attended a press conference with Kugan’s family and their lawyers this morning, and since there were so few press, I felt I should report a little on the proceedings.
By way of quick background, the family had some time ago successfully filed for a court order directing the police to return the samples taken from Kugan’s post-mortem.
The police eventually did, BUT it turns out that they
a) failed to return one particular sample, and
b) failed to freeze another sample accordingly, rendering it useless.
The lawyers are basically now saying that the police are in contempt of court, having possibly tampered with and destroyed evidence.
The situation really is getting out of hand. At another press conference yesterday, there was an attempt to publicise the case of an innocent woman who was shot five times by the police :P Apparently no press picked it up (more on that to come).
I also talked to another gentleman about the Gunasegaran death in custody, and I’m hoping to receive more info on the inquest proceedings that passed (and beginning again on March 8th :P ).
He spoke about how both Gunasegaran and Teoh Beng Hock died, but how there was almost no one at the former’s inquest except his sister.
On a slightly more positive note, he said that this was perhaps the first time in a death in custody case that there were eyewitnesses to the crime. Perhaps there may be the faint glimmer of hope for justice.
A quick word on the UM students who are/were staging a sit-in in the school’s administrative building, in protest of the newly introduced e-voting system.
Reminds me of an incident from my uni days (the guy in the picture was a housemate of mine, I’m proud to say).
There’s long been a need for cleaner elections – in universities and throughout the country. Let’s hope we get there!
Also, as highlighted below, there was apparently a knife attack at USM in an incident also related to campus elections :P
There’s a lot at stake here. As Shazni – the gentleman I met last Saturday night – said to MK, “this is not some election of prefects, but of the future cabinet of Malaysia.”
Hi all – some have kindly asked about where they might be able to pick up copies of the confiscated books.
They have not technically been banned yet, so they should be available online via Kinibooks, and in major bookstores in the Klang Valley (Popular, MPH, Borders, etc).
We may think about other avenues for distribution as well, soon enough, but if possible, try to get them via this means if it’s still an option.
I’m rushing out at the moment, but will try to have more updates for you soon. Thanks!
The authorities have confiscated two books published by Kinibooks, a subsidiary of Malaysiakini, in separate operations conducted in Malacca and Penang.
The books – ’1FunnyMalaysia’ and ‘Where is Justice?’ – were seized from Popular Book in Melaka Shopping Centre, Malacca today, while an earlier operation was conducted at another branch of the bookstore in Gurney Plaza, Penang on Jan 7.
According to the authorities, the books could pose a threat to “public order, morality, security”. A total of 64 copies of the books were seized in both operations.
A team of officers from the Malacca police headquarters visit the Malacca branch of Popular Book today and removed 33 copies of the books from the shelves.
According to them, the raid was carried out under section 18 of Printing Presses and Publications Act.
Section 18 of PPPA states that the authorities are empowered to “seize and detain” any publication which they have reason to believe to be evidence of an offence under the Act.
Meanwhile, 34 copies of the both books were seized by officers from the Home Ministry in Penang three weeks ago.
Well, we had some serious doubts any book with a picture of Altantuya and Teoh Beng Hock would last long, and here we have it.
All I can say is that if they are gonna come after us, they better have a better case than they did the last time.
We took considerable pains to ensure that everything in Where is Justice was carefully written to be factual, and all opinion therein had been previously published online.
If the cops and the government don’t want bad publicity, perhaps they shouldn’t let people fall of buildings, ‘drown’ from a glass of water, or explode in the jungle. Don’t shoot the messenger.
All news here is preliminary, but we’ll be following the case closely and will provide updates when we can.
Support us by buying the books while they’re still on the shelves :P Available in most major bookstores, or get it delivered to your doorstep :P
Jan 272010
Our friends at The Star seem to be having quite a field day with Zul Nordin – yesterday it was “PKR tensions” or something, and today “Defiant Zul.”
Notwithstanding that a gag order has already been imposed on the Kulim MP pending a decision by PKR’s disciplinary board, it seems The Star is flailing desperately at a headline that will avoid the many problems Malaysia is in.
Oh, but did they think we would forget? The Star is owned by a party that… oh, what’s that?… COULDN’T ELECT IT’S OWN DAMN PRESIDENT?!
Having an MCA mouthpiece go on about one fellow in an opposing party, while it itself was plunged in the most mind boggling, ridiculous and downright embarrassing leadership struggle at the highest of levels so recently, is simply too much for this blogger to bear.
Hey, I’m the first to admit, PKR is rife with problems, and yes, I’d be glad to see the back of our Bandar Baru friend. The fact that PKR is far from unique in this regard is worth noting – although that is not an excuse for poor leadership or failing to make every effort to improve.
But this goes too far.
The Zul matter isn’t even the most odious thing in today’s Star. The venom in the article on the WSJ is really out of this world.
There isn’t enough space to counter that here, but stay tuned.
Jan 272010
I condemn in no uncertain terms this ridiculous throwing of pig’s heads into mosques. Good to see YBs Hee and Nurul Izzah quick on the scene.
Whether this is the work of a conspiracy playing both sides (entirely possible) or truly the result of animosity, I hope the perpetrators know this: Malaysians will not fall for it.
Clearly a small group of people are taking advantage of poor leadership by the government to incite serious trouble. But if these fools think that Malaysians will take the bait and follow them down this path of hate, they have another thing coming.
TMI:
Universities must embrace new ways of exploring the potential of the best ideas and research, especially through collaborative efforts with the private and public sectors, said Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.
On innovation and creativity, he said a developed society must exhibit not just technological achievements, but more importantly reflect the capacity to organise their societies and exhibit the values which are of the highest moral and intellectual standards.
“By developing novel ideas in the humanities and social sciences as well as reinterpreting those ideas from the past, we may benefit from their wisdom,” he said.
This must be the height of hypocrisy.
“Exploring the potential of the best ideas and research” and “developing novel ideas in the humanities and social sciences” is the exact anthesis of things like the Akujanji pledge, and the University and University Colleges Act (AUKU) – both of with severely restrict freedom of intellectual inquiry.
Malaysian universities will forever continue to meander at the bottom of the pit unless it functions the way a university is supposed to: as a safe place for all to explore any and all ideas with full freedom.
Fear of ideas is the beginning of backwardness and tyranny. If ideas are bad, we must be fully free and fully trained to identify how and why they are bad, and be able to defend good ideas against them.
Restrictions on this freedom merely reflects insecurity and an inability to articulate and advocate ones ideals properly in the open market of ideas.
This post comes a bit late, but around 10.30pm Saturday night, after dinner following the SABM forum, I stopped by my old ‘stomping grounds’ at the Dang Wangi police station.
There I met friends and rakan seperjuangan of the 9 people who were arrested that morning during a march to uphold democracy at Malaysian universities. They had been there since noon.
I couldn’t help but admire the spirit – of those who braved the arrests, of those who waited so long in solidarity with their comrades, and of those who marched the streets in defiance of the police to uphold pillars of a just society.
I met Shazni, an articulate and composed student leader who related how the cops targeted certain leaders after the march was over, and explained their mission of protesting issues like the short campaign period, abuse of power by campus administration and so on.
There was obviously no need for the 9 to have been held so long (how long does it take to record a statement?!?!), but clearly the police had to show power and just make life difficult for everyone as usual :P
In one of the more bizarre twists of the evening, some of the SABM coordinators had gone to the police station in an attempt to post bail for some of the students, only to be told that non-Muslims could not bail out Muslims?! >:(
I guess that’s Najib’s 1Malaysia for you.
