Mahathir Says Malaysia Is Now A ‘Police State.' Is This Really True?
Tun Dr Mahathir has complained that the Prime Minister has turned the country into a police state, something human rights groups often associated with Mahathir!
"I pointed out to him that firstly this country has become a police state because any time anybody who invited me to give a talk would be called up by the police to withdraw the invitation," Mahathir said.
"I told him I will continue to make criticism. I will go on in my usual way but I do hope that this habit of asking the police to frighten people should stop and my civic right should be restored and I have a right to speak to UMNO and any audience I like," he added.
**** I have only one question to pose. Does anyone really, and I mean really think that our government is turning Malaysia into a police state? This is the most ironical of statements to come from Dr Mahathir. If at all any Malaysian leader can be accused of strengthening and misusing the state apparatus to the detriment of the public's right to free speech and association, it is the great Tun himself!
If at all, the present leadership has in many ways relaxed the repressive rules put in place and exercised often by the Mahathir regime. The fact that we can openly criticise the PM in our blogs and no action has been taken, shows that he at least tolerates some amount of free speech as long as seditious issues are kept at arm's length.
What Dr Mahathir is perhaps experiencing now is what he dished out to the entire nation for twenty-two years. Therefore to turn around now and accuse Pak Lah of presiding over a police state is laughable.
Any opinion of the readers on this topic is greatly welcomed.
To all Muslim readers of this blog I wish Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri 1427 Hijrah.
"I pointed out to him that firstly this country has become a police state because any time anybody who invited me to give a talk would be called up by the police to withdraw the invitation," Mahathir said.
"I told him I will continue to make criticism. I will go on in my usual way but I do hope that this habit of asking the police to frighten people should stop and my civic right should be restored and I have a right to speak to UMNO and any audience I like," he added.
**** I have only one question to pose. Does anyone really, and I mean really think that our government is turning Malaysia into a police state? This is the most ironical of statements to come from Dr Mahathir. If at all any Malaysian leader can be accused of strengthening and misusing the state apparatus to the detriment of the public's right to free speech and association, it is the great Tun himself!
If at all, the present leadership has in many ways relaxed the repressive rules put in place and exercised often by the Mahathir regime. The fact that we can openly criticise the PM in our blogs and no action has been taken, shows that he at least tolerates some amount of free speech as long as seditious issues are kept at arm's length.
What Dr Mahathir is perhaps experiencing now is what he dished out to the entire nation for twenty-two years. Therefore to turn around now and accuse Pak Lah of presiding over a police state is laughable.
Any opinion of the readers on this topic is greatly welcomed.
To all Muslim readers of this blog I wish Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri 1427 Hijrah.
posted by The Malaysian. at 10/23/2006 08:26:00 PM
6 Comments:
Says the guy who was responsible for Operasi Lallang and the sacking of five (count 'em and weep, hombres) honest judges.....to the guy who had released a group of suspected terrorists from ISA and also, despite the follies of Khir Toyol and his UMNO associates for the past few months, have 'permitted' the press to report freely on it. Quite a change from the past, wouldn't you all agree?
Its kinda like Mao Tse-Tung accusing Nikita Khrushchev of being a Capitalist Revisionist.
Well said Robin my man!
TDM had been using the same tactics when he was in power, didn't he? Why complain now? This is his legacy, in fact, many of us are glad to see how he feels now that he is tasting his own medicine.
I thank The Malaysian and prl for their kind support in respect to my comments made earlier. I am still wondering whether Pak Lah will pull a 'Secret Speech' stunt this coming November, like Khrushchev, and whether he would be disposed off, prematurely and unceremoniously, by an UMNO Brezhnev.
Is Malaysia becoming a police state?
A more accurate question is WHEN did Malaysia become a police state? It has been that way since the 70s at earliest.
And in the 80s, our beloved ex-PM Tun Dr.M further entrenched our position as a replica of Orwell's fictional nation in 1984.
Pot kettle black...
I have lived in Oman which is a police state of watchers and listerns. Malaysia is not like that but . . . Malaysia is fast becoming a religious police state and that is something the Sultan of Oman would not tolerate.
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