The constitution guarantees the right of assembly

Any legistation that disallows these rights, violate the constitution.

The police must issue the permit if the assembly or gathering is
peaceful, and the police cannot make a presumption that any assembly
is not peaceful because it will be against the right of assembly.

The police can only have the right not to issue a permit, if the
intention is clearly not peaceful. If the intention is peaceful, and
the police refuses to give any permit, the police has violated the
constitution.

I've got the feeling that the police acted on people who gather in
large numbers although they are peaceful. By acting violently against
peaceful demonstrators, it made an appearance of force and violence,
to the point of hurting children and women. How can children and women
be violent? They don't have the strength to be violent.

Videos must be taken of all these processions and taken to court in
order to challenge the actions of the police. Malaysian civil servants
had little respect for the law and this is very disturbing. And they
are allowed to break the laws at will because they were not challenged
in courts, and courts took too long to make decisions, as long as 10
years.

Ir. Hj. Othman bin Hj. Ahmad
Sabah is heaven. Beautiful shark-free beaches and mountains,
next to civilizations with no natural or man-made disasters,
except Malaysia. But how long will it last?
Disclaimer: I only speak for myself.
Homepage: http://othmanA.tripod.com
Blog: http://othmanahmad.blogspot.com

Supporting ineffective leaders is committing 2 sins

If you know a leader represents an organisation that is not effective
in developing ourselves, and yet you still support them, it should be
clear that you are committing a sin that will haunt you forever.

But what is not clear is that, the reason usually put forward to
support such leaders is that the alternatives are even worse. Which I
tend to support and therefore had been silent all these while.

But it this were the case, you are committing another sin of
condemning someone before he has committed any crime. I know that all
politicians are bad. But how can we be sure that the opposition
politicians will be even worse, without even giving them a chance to
prove themselves. Even if you are right in the end, you still do not
have the right to condemn them without giving them any chance to
succeed.

It is unlikely that any opposition will ever be in a worse position
than BN is. Our laws are the most oppressive ever, and still is. It is
correct that Malaysia is still in a state of emergency. Election fraud
is rampant now. We are now in a position of no turning back.

In fact one reasons why people support BN is because of the certainly
of winning due to the election frauds. In Malaysia, if you don't
support the winning party, it will mean the end of your business and
businessmen are still the most important component of any party. All
need money to fund their campaigns.

This in itself is an evil thing to do, and yet perfectly acceptable to
Malaysians. Intimidation is part and parcel of living. Short term
gains is much better than long term gains. Soon we will end up like
North Korea, where we shall be thankful for even the provision of the
very basic necessities, to the point of worshipping the leaders for
giving us medical support that can only be provided by foreigners, as
shown by one documentary, of an eye surgeon.

Will the opposition leaders succumb to the same evils? Maybe. PAS may
impose even worse laws such as the forbidding of alcohol, the wearing
of microskirts by Air Asia flight attendants that allow them to show
their genitals especially when they use G-string underwear. All these
are just hearsay. We cannot condemn them for something that they
haven't done yet.

Even I am so suspicious that we will end up becoming the Taliban
Afghanistan if PAS won. The point is, we cannot condemn them for
something that they had not done. For Muslims it is a sin that we will
be penalised in the hereafter.

Sarawak's resources stolen because it is not economical for Sarawak to use?

Click the picture above in order to see a larger picture.

Borneo Post today: (11 Nov 2007)

Although it is recognised by Sarawak's Chief Minister that Sarawak is still backward, he accepts that resources from Sarawak be used to develop the already developed Malaya more than Sarawak that is in dire needs for development in all aspects, just because it is not economical to spend per population in Sarawak because of Sarawak's remoteness.

In order for Sarawakian to survive, it has to cut more of its trees and open up more plantations, destroying its environments, because its resources are used up to develop Malaya that is already in a much more advanced state of development.

In fact these expenditures of resources that had made Malaya cheaper to develop further than Sarawak. It is much cheaper to develop what is already developed than one that has never been developed. It was not cheap when the British developed Malaya and Sarawak initially. It is now much cheaper to develop Malaya per population because the basic infrastructures are already there. It is the expenditures of resources that had made it more economical to develop Malaya compard to Sarawak, and if more resources were used, it will make it cheaper to develop Sarawak. Sarawak was at a stage of development that Malaya was earlier.

When the British first built the Malayan railways, there was virtually nobody building homes along the railway tracks. It must have been extremely uneconomical in those days, and yet the British had persisted for the sake of long term benefits.

Once the railways were built up, more people will inhabit the towns along the tracks making it more economical to build more roads.

The same thing should happen to Sarawak and Sabah. You first spend money at a less economic rate, in order to develop roads linking major population centres that will allow the areas around the roads to be developed cheaply and economically, increasing productivity.

Actually this is just an excuse to steal the resources of Sarawak and Sabah. In Sabah, there is no attempt to build roads to Tambisan, which is just a few miles from Felda Sahabat Plantations build around the town of Sabahat, and yet, no attempt was ever made to build such road.

It is certainly very economical for everybody because it will allow the fish and small holders in Tambisan to sell their goods to the major population centres. Whereas virtually nobody with little economic prospect areas in Malaya, in the mountainous areass, were developed with billions of ringgit, so the criteria for economic viability per population is never followed.

The reasons why the Paitan and Sapulut roads were build had nothing to do with helping Sabah, but only to help the Malayan planters in the areas to prosper and no expenditure was ever considered for the economic well being of the surrounding very poor people in these areas by extending these roads to their villages, unlike in Malaya where even the tiniest villages with only a few houses are connected to sealed roads.

This is worse than colonisation. This is blatant theft and it can only be bad for Sabah and Sarawak in the long run. The destruction of our natural resources will be even faster. Malaysia is indeed a disaster for Sabah and Sarawak.

The excuse that Malaya will make a good market for Sarawak's renewable resources is just another theft. Out of 12 billion RM, only 4 billion is spent on developing the resources. 8 billion is spent on the transmission to the cruel imperialist Malaya, and the cost is to be take up by Sarawak, along with the destruction of hundreds of acres of prime land and forests, as well as the bio-diversity of Borneo. And worse, these renewable resources are not for sale to Sabah and Sarawak, let alone Indonesian Kalimatan which is nearer and much more economical to sell. Sarawak and Sabah has to settle for more environment destruction such as the huge coal plant at Silam, the site of the Eco-Challenge, and still, Sabah is suffering from lack of electricity and prices much higher than in Malay.

No, this is not colonisation, like the British Colonisation, this is blatant imperialistic theft of resources of Borneo, which is wrong and very destructive to the world. The rich environment of Borneo must be preserved and protected as long as necessary, not to be wasted in order to appease the appetite for the Malayans for cheap resources.