Misuse of ISA - Syed Hamid or AAB responsible?

I wonder who was it who had ‘instructed’ the police to detain Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK), Tan Hoon Cheng (for 1 day) and Teresa Kok by use (or misuse) of the ISA.

Home Affairs Minister Syed Hamid claimed he didn’t, so if that had been the case, it must be the PM, who incidentally had been the former Home Affairs boss …

… and don’t we just know in Malaysia, ex-bosses have a habit of ordering their old departments around as if they are still in charge – yes, I’ve met a few of those bosses who conveniently forgot they’re no longer holding the reins - see Malaysiakini, you don’t have to use the word ‘helm’ ;-).

Now, was it the 4th Floor Wonders who had been advising the PM ... and so badly for the last 4 years?

If so, they have balls-ed it up again, because even Zaid Ibrahim, the minister in the Prime Minister's Department overseeing legal matters (virtually the de facto Law Minister) had condemned the wanton use of the ISA.

Malaysiakini reported in Law minister threatens to quit over ISA that Zaid had threatened to do just that if the government continues to use the ISA against non-terrorists.

He wants RPK and Teresa Kok released a.s.a.p.

As I had blogged a number of times over the last two years, UMNO can only be destroyed from within. That political party has to implode on its own (and not be exploded from externally because that will only rally the heartland around it) ...

... and it seems to be nicely doing just that.

We must recognize UMNO's progressive self immolation because the startling outcome of the recent general election was not just about, what had been flamboyantly and perhaps euphorically touted as, ‘The Day Malaysia Woke Up’, also the title of a book written by Kee Thuan Chye about the 08 March 08 political tsunami …

... because if we were to believe that the rakyat had voted the PR in rather than the BN out, we may not be properly prepared for the next general election in 2012. We may also be susceptible to arrogance and take the rakyat's support for granted.

Oh, by the way Kee's book features a write-up by Penang famous civic activist Lucia Lai, the blogger of well-known Mental Jog.

Lucia is my dear matey and you’ll piss me off if you don’t get (or beg, borrow or steal) a copy of the book if only to read her article ;-)

OK, back to what I was saying, that a (if not ‘the’) major cause of the 08 March 2008 political tsunami had been because UMNO was then, and still is very much a house divided. While it was/is involved with its internal jostling and manoeuvrings, it hasn’t been united in keeping an eye outside. There have been talks of even intra-party sabotaging.

But with a background of such internal UMNO squabbling, I would really like to know who had ‘instructed’ the police to conduct the ISA detention, because I just cannot bring myself to believe the police had acted independently in those 3 cases.

MCA Youth leader Liow Tiong Lai had this morning succinctly pointed out, as reported by the Star, that the Act cannot be used to ‘protect’ detainee in referring to the spin that Tan Hoon Cheng was detained under the ISA for her own protection.

Liow remarked “It is not a clever excuse” – what he meant was “It’s a STUPID excuse.”

Then MCA VP Dr Fong Chan Onn jumped on the ‘attack Syed Hamid’ bandwagon to declare that the Home Minister’s explanation for Tan’s detention was “totally unacceptable" and a feeble attempt to justify the use of the ISA on the Sin Chew sweetie.

He lamented: “As the Home Minister, he should be responsible for any action undertaken by the police, especially when it involves the sensitivities of the people. As a senior Minister, (he) must be very familiar with these procedures.”

Now, has Syed Hamid been too clever by half or was he acting on instruction from the 4th Floor?

But as I had posted yesterday, the arrest of Tan Hoon Cheng was an Act of gargantuan stupidity.

I want to see some accountability for the draconian but gross misuse of the ACT on issues not related to terrorism or insurgency - someone in the cabinet must accept responsibility.

I want to see some minister’s head rolling, be that Syed Hamid’s or AAB’s or his advisor, the 4th Floor Wonder ….. or if the police were truly acting independently, then the IGP’s.

But regardless of who had been responsible, Syed Hamid as the Home Minister must go, for Malaysiakini has reported his unrepentant recalcitrance over the ISA scandal in Minister: Journalist to be blamed too.

Syed Hamid has the unbelievable brazen gall to blame Tan Hoon Cheng for the public anger against Ahmad Ismail’s insensitive remarks about some Malaysians being only ‘squatter’ in their own country.

Either he’s totally stupid or completely in defensive self-denial of facts. But whichever, he’s not fit to be a minister.