Action Against Fiery Umno Speakers Will Set A Good Precedent.
Investigation papers on the police reports lodged against fiery Umno speakers at last month's Umno General Assembly have been handed to the Attorney-General's Chambers for further action. Their speeches were deemed inflammatory and seditious.Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Johari Baharum said police, who opened five investigation papers following the reports, had completed investigations. "All the five investigation papers have been sent to the A-G's Chambers in Putrajaya," he said when winding up the debate on the 2007 Budget at committee stage for the Internal Security Ministry at the Dewan Rakyat Thursday.
Police received several reports from opposition parties alleging that the debates at the three-day assembly had racial undertones.
Among the reports received was from Lau Weng Sang, political secretary to DAP secretary-general Lim Guang Eng, on Nov 18, naming eight Umno speakers whose speeches were allegedly seditious which could harm racial harmony, national integration and unity.
-- BERNAMA
***** The referral of the 'fiery' Umno speakers to the Attorney-General shows that the BN government is serious in stemming this kind of heated rhetoric and posturing in the future. However whatever action taken should be judicious and not seem to be too harsh. We must remember that this sort of rabble-rousing has been going on for a long time and the speakers probably thought nothing of it when they spoke as they did. Unfortunately this time around, it was telecasted. Those in the know say that at least some of these so-called fiery speakers are reasonable men who count many non-Malays among their close friends and have never had any real ill-intention towards them. This was the usual sandiwara in their assemblies and a few of them got carried away in their speeches, that's all. No serious harm was meant or done.
The purpose of any action by the A-G should be to underline the fact that such speeches by any party or person is not on and shan't be tolerated in the future. Rap hard on the knuckles of this present group of speakers but don't tie and burn them at the stake.
Picture Source
Labels: Malaysian Politics.
posted by The Malaysian. at 12/08/2006 02:32:00 PM
6 Comments:
First off, nice job on the new post adornments of late... graphics always add a certain oomph to posts, me thinks...
On to the comment...
While I agree the AG's action does demonstrate the Government's seriousness, what I find ironic is that the #1 and #2 of Government themselves were present during the speeches, and didn't more strongly admonish the speakers for their fire and brimstone.
And what punishment would be appropriate? I don't know, but I do agree that harsh penalties would not be just in this case, since the practice has been going on for quite a while.
What's more important is that similar vein of speeches don't re-occur in future GA's, regardless of whose.
Regardless, what occured at the recent UMNO GA has put a black mark on the party, and it will take a long time before the general public opinion of the kinds of characters forming the rank and file of the party changes. While they may be reasonable persons in real life, there is no smoke, as they say, without fire. The doubts harbored by many about their real character will linger on for a while to come.
boss,
can't say i'm with you on this one.
i reckon one of the worst problems in m'sia is our culture of impunity - how everyone seems to get away with murder (literally, often!). and scot free at that!
i can appreciate that the fellas might have good non-malay friends, etc, but doesn't that make it worse? he is willing to sacrifice those friendships in an unholy quest for political mobility?
i think they should be given the worst punishments allowed by the law, but am not holding my breath waiting for it to happen.
You're quite right Walski, that there is now a black mark on the party and the doubts will definitely linger. But a start has to be made somewhere to put an end to this sort of 'fiery' speeches. This referral to the A-G may even salvage a little of Umno's credibility.
As for the adornments, thanks. One tries to do one's best.
Nat, I can appreciate your view and I respect it. Frankly I too don't expect a very harsh sentence.
the newspaper only reports that all the five investigation papers have been sent to the A-G's Chambers in Putrajaya.
a lot of papers are sitting on the a-g's table. no action. nothing.
welcome to bolehland!
Umno could have prevented this from happening...
The speakers should have well known the effects of their speeches when it's to be broadcast live...They should have maintained their emotion and fought for a just cause..But things done are done..
Majlis Tinggi Umno should have tackled the after-assembly-meeting by imposing some kind of punishments on those speakers...When they only dealt them with the so called spicy warning,the rest of Non-Umno folks were up to their guards..But again things done are done...
Now it rest on the A-G chamber on what legal procedures can be taken over them...
At the end Umno tarnished their own image and any punishment meted out by the court will solidify the arguments that the Umno assembly was out of the hand of AAB and it was made to be a racial stage by some speakers..
And again Martin Luther King's thought came to my mind...' I have a dream '..so do the rest of us..
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