Rights Stripped??

I don't know if the ISA will come and arrest me for posting this blog but I sure hell don't give a damn about it. I'm pretty sure that all are aware about the recent arrest of Tan Hoon Cheng -a reporter for Sin Chew Daily- Selangor executive councillor Teresa Kok and Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin (RPK) by the ISA grabbed the headlines all over the nation. They were arrested under Section 73(1) of the Internal Security Act 1960. What struck me with a headshot is that Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said, according to The Star Sept 14th 2008, Miss Tan was ARRESTED because her safety was under threat. Why would anyone be arrested under such reason? And why would the police issue an arrest warrant for Miss Tan so that she be protected? An arrest warrant?? Surely there are other alternatives.

RPK was arrested for being a threat to security, peace and public order. I'm thinking, all this while, all he has done is condemning our "beloved" Kerajaan by means of blogging through his blog. If what he has done is wrong in the eyes of Kerajaan, it certainly contradicts with the statement made by Prime Minister Pak Lah who, a few weeks ago, said that "the media should write the truth and there should be no fear in writing the truth". And that is basically what he and Miss Tan did. She is a reporter and it is her duty to report on events that happened not long ago when UMNO Division Chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail made racist remarks about the Chinese being pendatang (squatters) and do not deserve equal rights. If I look at it properly, it is Datuk Ahmad who should be arrested for being a threat to public safety as his remarks have caused a furore among the non-Malays -and he refuses to apologise for it. All he got is a 3-year suspension from UMNO and no arrest warrant was issued to him. And yet, he decided to put fire to the flame by saying that the Malays should unite as one. To me, as far as the allegations made about RPK disrupting the peace and security of the public, Datuk Ahmad certainly fulfill the requirements for the same allegation. I am a Malay yet I am ashamed that he made these sorts of remarks. These sorts of remarks is one of the many reasons that hinder the objective of the Government of producing a Malaysia free of racism. A man like Datuk Ahmad doesn't deserve to get a 3-year suspension. He should be expelled completely and be banned from entering any political party for the rest of his life.

It may be or may not be true that the arrest of the 3 of them has to do with the Government's plan to foil the Sept 16 takeover by PKR, I don't know. I have no interest politics and their little games. I am merely saying what is in my heart and if this post got me arrested, it means that we as Malaysian, have lost our right for freedom of speech. And if we lose our rights for freedom of speech, we can't call Malaysia a country practising democratic system, but instead we will call it a country that is ruled under a dictatorship-style ruling where all rights have been stripped and abandoned.