Negarakuku - no longer a Wee issue

“We have to show that the law is above everybody, let it be a lesson" so said Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar in response to queries about the possibility of Malaysian student Wee Men Chee, the amateur rapper of Negarakuku, losing his Malaysian citizenship.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahah

Sorry ;-) I wasn't laughing at the citizenship issue but Syed Hamid's pontification on the law being above 'everybody'.

Anyway, malaysiakini reported Syed Hamid as stating that Wee won’t be losing his citizenship as he had been threatened with earlier.

Just as the government’s chief head kicker, Nazri, had contradicted his colleague, Zanuiddin Maidin, the Information Minister, by saying Wee couldn’t be forgiven nor his apologies accepted, Syed Hamid now contradicts Nazri, stating the cabinet has accepted Wee’s apologies.

I am not so sure whether it has been a case of soft cop, hard cop, medium cop, or just back pedalling, or Nazri shooting his mouth off FTL*?

* faster than light speed

However, Syed said, despite the acceptance of the apology, investigations against Wee would continue according to the process of the law, basically the Rais Yatim's pronouncement.

He pontificated (dangerously if I may add): "If someone has committed an offence, he/she will be punished according to the law ...".

Hope you mean it, Minister, because there have been questionable issues like death in police custody, seditious racist remarks by UMNO members during the last UMNO general assembly, the still unexplained approval by the Finance Minister for the ECM-Libra merger, dodgy processes in the Port Klang complex, a Port Klang politician tolerated in his building of an unapproved palace, senior police officers having millions in their unaccountable assets, etc .......

Oh, talking about the last UMNO general assembly I can’t recall whether it was the PM or DPM who attempted to explained away those extreme racist comments by claiming those delegates didn’t have much experience.

Well, recall Hatchet man Nazri dismissing Wee’s young age as a reason for letting him off, and insisting that Wee is an adult and shouldn’t be excused.

So ... what’s good for the goose should be good for the gander ... those bigoted UMNO delegates must now be prosecuted for racist threatening comments made in the public forum (aired on TV). They can't claim inexperience as they are all adults.

OK, but I won't hold my breath.

Now, here’s a probable reason why Nazri had acted tough - in Kangar, the Perlis Malay Association (Pemanis) called for action to be taken against Wee as a lesson to all Malaysians (except, as we know, UMNOputras). Its president said an apology was not good enough and that Wee should realise the implications of his action.

He claimed: "It beats the purpose of having a law in the country if someone who commits an offence can escape punishment just by apologising for his/her mistake."

Hmmm, lots of law abiding citizens - OK then, let’s not have double standards then. Let’s start with UMNO misdeeds, which incidentally have never been apologised for – thus they’re twice over worse than Wee’s error.

Yes, Wee's saga seems to be turning out to be anything but a wee issue that it should have been in the first place.

And talking about lack of professionalism in the Civil Service, I think by now we can see just how equally unprofessional our ministers are, with three to four different views coming out on a matter so insignificant compared to more burning national issues, that it's hardly surprising, as an example, the national crime rate has soared through the ceiling, unaddressed for years.