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Friday, March 13, 2009

Insulting Perak Sultan - punishment must fit the crime!

In Malaysiakini Six in court for insulting sultan, one fined RM10,000 it was reported that:

In Kuala Lumpur, a lab assistant pleaded guilty at the Sessions Court for insulting Sultan Azlan Shah in the Perak sultan's website and was fined RM10,000.

I have read his comments in Malaysiakini and must say those were just a wee feral. But for the court to levy a RM10K fine on a bloke who earns RM1680 per month (6 months worth of salary) that’s very very cruel …..

….. a punishment that's totally out of proportion to his misdemeanour, bearing in mind in Malaysia royalty is not above criticism by the rakyat, thanks to Dr Mahathir. And we need to remember that 'punishment must fit the crime'!

And if not for UMNO exploiting the issue to hammer down on PR supporters, the poor bloke wouldn’t have suffered this tsunamic financial punishment.

A little aside, I note he is a lab assistant which reminds me of another lab assistant some years ago (2004) when I had just started blogging over at BolehTalk in partnership with Mr X.

That other lab assistant left quite a feral comment (about oil and water) at Jeff Ooi’s Screenshot which brought the wrath of the UMNO-led government (supposedly egged on by KJ and Kalimullah) and eventually Lim Keng Yaik as Minister of Comms on him.

Mr X and I (but principally Mr X, and I am proud to have been his partner in those early blogging days) fought for him on the web and through Malaysiakini.


I also presented my views on that affair to Bloggers speak out in October 2004.

Several months later I believe the BN government dropped the issue - ‘twas really Jeff Ooi they were after, not a lab assistant.

But anyway, what’s this with lab assistants, always falling foul of UMNO?

Back to the current issue - poor bloke is now facing financial devastation over the loss of half a year’s income.

‘Nice’ of the court to come down so heavily on a low income earner. Unless that fine is reduced, the legal penalty would become in itself unjust.

Maybe some kind PR people can help donate some money to mitigate his pain in the pocket.

But in the end we must ask the outcome of this sorry saga. Who has suffered the greater loss – this poor lab assistant (by RM10K) or HRH the Sultan (by the obvious loss of public respect for him)?

19 comments:

  1. Beware KT (Kaki Tahi) - we are watching U.
    Nobody is totally untraceable on the Internet. We will come after you one of these days....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beware KT (Kaki Tahi) - we are watching U.
    Suggest you concentrate yourselves on the other blogs first . And intimidating someone using UMNO selamanya sounds FISHY . I won't be surprise it could actually be Anwar Selamanya .
    This is because KT's articles are usually Anwar bashing .
    Nobody would want to announce that they are watching U .
    I smell a rat here !

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  3. UMNO for a short part of its history was the party of the Malay folks. That UMNO died many years ago. The UMNO today is the party of the rich and well connected Malays. A small fry Malay getting trampled and shit on? Well, what can this poor bloke do to UMNO? Nothing, because he is no better than shit in the eyes of UMNO.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Vinnan,
    What's this got to do with Umno.
    It's a clear case of insulting the Sultan.
    It's a lesson to us all who abuse the internet to rant our prejudices.
    I just wonder why only six.
    There were much more guilty ones especially in Susan the looney blog.

    ReplyDelete
  5. loss of public respect to the sultan?

    Ktemoc, what portion of the public are you talking about? do you mean the majority? or the few sore losers who dont understand whats stated in the constitution? you seem to forget who is the majority here, and you need to get ur version of reality checked too. Netizens does not represent the majority.

    Research before making statements ktemoc. We wouldnt want you to be pulling a Paklah now do we?

    btw, there is no such thing as freedom of speech, the fool said want he wanted, now he has to pay.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Can't do the time, don't do the crime

    ReplyDelete
  7. I believe in freedom of speech with responsibility, those abusing the freedom of speech need to pay the price.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Selective prosecution. Why no action against BN/UMNO supporters who carried banners calling HRH Trengganu/Agung as ''natang!'

    http://donplaypuks.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. The lesson learned is if you want to comment negatively on a potentially hostile blog , you should use proxy server !

    ReplyDelete
  10. In case you don't understand, its called a "deterrent sentence".

    I fully support imposing even harsher penalties - up to the maximum sentence.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Why no action against BN/UMNO supporters who carried banners calling HRH Trengganu/Agung as ''natang!'

    They already paid their dues - they lost the KT by election and this was one of the issues . you reap what you sow .

    ReplyDelete
  12. Why is it that lab assistants have so much time on their hands as to be able to visit blogs and post comments? Aren't they supposed to be working?

    ReplyDelete
  13. A lab assistant is the equivalent of a "General Worker" in a laboratory. Their workload is proportional to the amount of work which the lab handles.

    Some government labs are "make work" projects because some politician decided it was necessary to build a lab (Hint : RM 500 screwdriver). Sometimes the lab assistants just clean the work desk once a day.

    ReplyDelete
  14. i think we should stop the monarchy.

    They are just uselss piece of junks.


    money use to pay for their luxury life can save thousands of poor people.

    ReplyDelete
  15. In Russia, royal get pwned. :p

    ReplyDelete
  16. There's a fairly strong monarchist movement in Russia now.
    Because they realise in the end both the Communist Party and strongmen like Putin are just shit.

    ReplyDelete
  17. For those here who may belong to UMNO, MCA, MIC etc.
    Please, please get this message to your leadership.

    I am not a PR/PKR supporter, and I don't think they are ready or capable to run the country.

    BUT , at the rate events are unfolding, If UMNO, BN do not make serious reforms to the way they run the country, by the time the next General Elections come around, there is a very serious possibility the people you laugh at as Fuckatan Riot will be running the country, and BN will be an opposition party.

    I can't make it clearer than that. Please don't spin and spin this around, OK ?
    Games and Dirty Tricks are not reform. Propaganda is not reform.

    ReplyDelete
  18. "Monarchist said...
    There's a fairly strong monarchist movement in Russia now. Because they realise in the end both the Communist Party and strongmen like Putin are just shit."

    You mean the Russian monarchy was not shit? If it wasn't shit, the Russian Revolution wouldn't have taken place. Of course, the Russians made the mistake of replacing one form of autocracy with another. This is the mistake that Malaysia should never ever fall into, whether the autocrat is in the form of a monarch or a more dictatorial version of Mamak s/o Kutty Mohamad (God forbid!).

    ReplyDelete
  19. Let's say we act "goodie goodie" and not use words to "insult " the Sultan - what can we do to indicate our feelings of the Royals (yes, those whose lavish livestyles are supported by you workingcoolies)? What words would you liken to your feelings for the Sultans?

    ReplyDelete