Friday, August 29, 2008

When a govt reneges on its promise ...

Malaysia's promise of no Internet censorship was given by Dr Mahathir Mohamad when he was Prime Minister. Did you know, or remember? In 1998, when cyberspace was used by the Reformasi soldiers, including Raja Petra Kamaruddin, to wage war against his government and his person, Dr M did not censor the Internet. He did not break Malaysia's promise to the world.

Read his latest posting on Chedet:

1. When a Government makes a promise to the country and then reneges on its promise, then not only will the Government lose credibility but also any respect that the public may have for it.

2. I do not often agree with Malaysia-Today.net and Raja Petra Kamaruddin. He had been sometimes quite irresponsible. But court action had already been taken against him. He is not above the law and if he is found guilty there are already adequate punishment that can be passed against.

3. But to break a promise and to openly show that you can meddle with the security of the internet is to expose a degree of oppressive arrogance worthy of a totalitarian state.

Click here for more.

The Star spoke to me yesterday and Malaysiakini called me for my comments today. I share Dr M's views.

National Alliance of Bloggers interim president Ahirudin Attan said it was the first time that the commission had decided to go against the spirit of the promise the Government had made and stressed that it would “rattle investors’ confidence in the country.”

“Google is planning to invest here by building a multi-billion ringgit data centre here. If this is the way the commission behaves, it is as good as telling Google to please go away.”

Click here to read the Star article. And here for the Malaysiakini's piece.

21 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:23 pm

    Laa... tak habis habis Dr. Mahathir...

    Kalau dah termaktub dalam undang undang pasai Internet tu takleh censor, sudah lah.

    Mahathir cakap ke, siapa cakap ke, bukannya beza apa.

    Lagipong, Tak meng-censor Internet to standard practice seluruh dunia, kecuali di segelintir negara seperti China, Arab Saudi, Iran dan sebagainya.

    Jadi mesti la Malaysia pun tak harus hadkan Internet. Kita tak perlukan Mahathir untuk sebutkan ini.

    Kalau bukan Mahathir pun, kalau Labu Labi jadi perdana menteri kita dulu pun, ini standard sedunia yang memang Malaysia pun harus laksanakan. Kecuali lah kalau kita ni kerajaan giler macam Arab Saudi atau China atau Burma.

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  2. Anonymous5:24 pm

    Does this govt think before embarking on any mission? seems to me, they just dont knwo what the hell is going on. on one hand, the censorship aint gonna work. you can still access MT thru mirror site now. on the other hand, its gonna drive away potential investors.
    what sort of quality is there in the cabinet? truly moronic.

    YY

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  3. When a goverment begins to lose its bearing, this is what you can expect from it. Reneging on promises and doing underhanded work are things that weak people do. They are also deeds of people who lack confidence in themselves. And it is this type of people we have for leaders today. Need I say more?

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  4. Anonymous6:18 pm

    Mahathir ni cakap tak serupa bikin. Dulu berapa ramai editors dia buang. Berapa banyak suratkhabar yang kena gantung lesen sehingga ada wartawan kena jual kacang puteh nak hidup masa operasi lalang. Belum lagi kira jumlah ahli pembangkang yang kena simpan di kemunting.

    A pot calling the kettle black.

    ANTI-M

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  5. Anonymous6:58 pm

    Anonymous,
    This has to be expected, we have the three umno stooges holding complete power. PM = FLIP FLOP DPM = LIAR LIAR HM = SHIT HAMID. The current government lacks intergrity and cannot be trusted for anything. The other component parties might as well not be there, they have no say in anything, they are just there to continue their corrupt ways and lick umno's balls. It is time MCA and MIC abandon the sinking umno ship, and the east Malaysian MP does not know what they want, they just flow with the tide and enrich themselves, I don't even want to start on the CM of Sarawak. Gerakan is totally bankrupt and are irrelevant to say the least.
    Get rid of umno and all will be fine.
    Shit on UMNO

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  6. /// When a government makes a promise to the country and then reneges on its promise, then not only will the government lose credibility but also any respect that the public may have for it.” ///

    TDM is as usual the consummate hypocrite and speaking from both sides of his mouth.

    TDM has no compunction in disregarding the water agreement with Singapore when he wanted to unilaterally change the terms.

    TDM has no compunction when he wanted to build the crooked bridge and demolish the causeway in breach of the Separation Agreement.

    TDM has no compunction when he reneged on the Points of Agreement signed by Daim with Singapore on the resolution of the KTM land, water, etc.

    TDM has no compunction when he clobbered CLOB.

    TDM has no compunction when he re-drew the Malaysian maps and raised the heckles of all ASEAN members who shared boundaries with Malaysia as suddenly many islands became “Malaysian” overnight.

    The list goes on…

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  7. Anonymous8:26 pm

    It should be obvious to everyone by now that the future of the DPM overrides the future of the Country.


    Against boy with Siver Spoon in Mouth

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  8. The present Govt's stupidity and illiteracy is very telling.

    To say that they shame the nation is an understatement.

    Ultimately it is the people who suffer when FDIs shun Malaysia.

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  9. Government has overreacted.Perhaps they worry that people will know their wrong doings thru RPK's Malaysia Kini that's why they shut it down before RPK starts digging out more shit.

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  10. Anonymous9:17 pm

    yo rock

    nothing to do with anything but hoping you would move Anwar Ibrahim's link from bloggers to your Yang Berkhidmat link:D

    after all, he is now the opposition leader !

    3 cheers to DSAI!!!!

    -shiver-

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  11. Anonymous9:28 pm

    The BN Government is afraid more cans of worms will be spilled by RPK and because of this Present Moronic Government is corrupted and dirty therefore on the pretext of helping the Rakyats, they could swindle and plunder more money from the Budget Deficit and with most of the Money coming from Petronas. Beware that the Money allocated is for their own Prime Minister's and Cronies' pockets expenditure and not for helping the Rakyats. Look for example at the Crystal Mosque's and Mariner Club's Fiasco in Terengganu's Billions in Wang Ehsan, Billions had been lost as white elephants.
    The same could happen to the empty promises of aid and help to the Rakyats these could all be lip service only unless it is monitored by reputable NGOs. On the irreversible Food Prices inflation, the unnecessary Moronic previous price hike on Petrol & Diesel had caused great permanent damage to the Food Price Structure and even if the price cut to Petrol and Diesel revert to their original prices prior to their hike, it will not revert the Food prices back to their original state and only the PeeM is to be solely blamed for his unwarranted Fuel Price Hike. His 2009 budget did not help the Rakyats' quelled their immediate hardship suffered nor did that help them solve their Transport Problems immediately with multiple schemes but none available immediately with all the empty rhoterics but nothing concrete that could solve their immediate problems after years of neglect from this incompetent sleeping PeeM. Come Sept 16, 2008 send him home to sleep forever he is no longer needed.

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  12. Anonymous9:38 pm

    Dear Rocky,

    Reading your blog and other socio political blog has become my daily routine to get a fresh 'hot from oven' info on Malaysia current political scenario. A much reliable source than the crappy, biased national newspaper write up.

    Before I move on, I am letting you know that I am not a writer, nor a political blogger, let alone the political expert. I am just a humble Malaysian citizen, who loves and misses her beloved country so much.

    While I heard many disappointment remarks from Malaysian citizen on our current politic situation, I feel the opposite. For me, this is a lesson for Malaysian. We can't expect a smooth sailing leadership for thousand of years, which, I believe is impossible. We, Malaysian need a change and need to change. Allow a new brain while not forgotten the old….

    For a more than 20 years we, Malaysian just let one man to think and worry about the country. While we, the rakyat enjoying or rather accepting what the 'man' bring into the country be it right or wrong. No voice against it, and if there is, it is more like a general rambling over kedai kopi and later been forgotten as no action can be taken. We 'rakyat' has been helpless for so long. We did not worry much then as everything 'seem to be fine looking and well taken cared of. The vast development e.g, flashy KLCC, the canggih airport, the well manicured landscape of Putrajaya camouflage the real situation the country is facing e.g corruption, unemployment, govt debts, deficit in country reserve. But nobody is complaining as everything 'look' good. And for those who tried to voice out, was asked to shut up or ended in ISA. The media was reporting all the good thing about the government. We heard less complain and less voice from the rakyat as anyone that go against the government was handled ‘gracefully’. The rakyat was made to believe that the price increase and the unemployment is part and parcel of growing nation or rather pointing out to the global crisis e.g, war, food crisis. We are so USED to accept and follow, an autocratic way of ruling. The precedent was set for rakyat to just follow, no question ask. As we can see, our current leader has been a very good student to his predecessor.

    And with that, can you point out the different between post and current ruling in term of FREEDOM of voice? However, it seems to be that being a good student is insufficient without being bold. That is the weakness of the current ‘man’ whom failed to control people’s voice. When voice goes out of control, it will spread like a virus, more and more people go against the govt as the current govt FAIL to curb the source that trigger the deadly virus. Come to think on it, we should be GRATEFUL as we are more ‘FREE’ than ever to express our thoughts, our disagreement.

    Aren’t we, Rocky?

    P/s- I wonder why Google should choose Malaysia to set up its multi billion dollar data center while other company is moving away to other low capital investment continent like India, China or Vietnam…….

    my 2 cents,
    Lyza

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  13. Bro,
    Below are the most hated persons in Malaysia:
    1)Syed Hamid Albar(yemenis or arab??)-Minister of Hal Elwal Rumah(home affair) .
    2)People who take orders from HIM
    3)HIS bosses who have no ears and eyes(no brain also),sleepy and C4 lover.

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  14. There goes all the dot com companies running away from us!

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  15. Anonymous11:28 pm

    But the promise WAS committed by 'tun gmen' !!

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  16. Anonymous11:39 pm

    The Budget 2009 is a Desperado Budget by the Badawi regime. This Budget must be viewed with caution by the Rakyat as it is a deficit budget. The BN/Umno regime will do anything to dupe the Rakyat and cling on to power. Badawi's cheap shot during the Budget speech in Parliament at YB Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (picture left) tells you how desperate this guy is...More http://margeemar.blogspot.com

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  17. I foresee another famous flip-flop "U-turn" decision soon.

    With the mounting pressure from within and outside, the government of the day will again bow to pressue.

    So, predictable, don't you think?

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  18. why would agencies allow themselves to be used by the (UMNO) politicians?

    I think the fact that they could be manipulated by such groups means that they have no credibility. Of course the current government' credibility has long vanished.

    Has any UMNO politicians ask themselves which art of their action is for the rakyat before pushing it through? I have not seen many actions and policies that is for the rakyat but more for their ultimate power seats only.

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  19. Anonymous9:51 am

    Have you forgotten that during MAHATHIR'S ERA, the Internal Security Act was used to detain web operators in Malaysia?

    That was one of the reasons the MSC LOST the confidence of many investors and subsequently (along with many other factors) became a FLOP!

    Rocky, your blog is biased and almost always worshiping Mahathir. Get your facts right lah.

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  20. Anonymous1:05 pm

    Talking of Binafikir (in another entry). The COO of MCMC is Mohamed Sharil Mohamed Tarmizi, a former ED of Binafikir. Appointed in June 2008.

    Did he play a role in the blocking of MT. In the past, no matter what were posted in MT, no one would even considered censoring anything.

    Maybe the members of MCMC would be kind enough to answer the rakyat.They are:

    Datuk Dr. Halim Shafie (Chairman)
    Dato' Dr Halim Man Secretary General of the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications
    Dato' Dr Gan Khuan Poh President of the Malaysian Economic Association
    Datuk C. Rajandram Executive Deputy Chairman of Rating Agency Malaysia Holdings Berhad (RAM)
    Dato' Abdul Hanan Alang Endut Secretary General of the Ministry of Science, Technology and
    Innovation, Malaysia (MOSTI).
    Datuk Dr. Abdul Samad bin Haji Alias Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australi
    Encik Idris bin Abdullah Member of the Companies Commission.
    Encik Mohamed Sharil Mohamed Tarmizi Executive Director of Binafikir

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  21. Anonymous1:20 pm

    Anonymous,
    The government thinks they are smart by playing the good guys and the bad guys. We know the unmo government is the UGLY guy, no matter how they blame others.
    Shit UMNO.

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