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Monday, August 3, 2009

ISA and the Massive Traffic Jam

The ISA have served us well in the early stages of our country’s development. It was used basically against suspected communists, terrorists and those directly involved in subversive activities. Occasionally, it was used against politicians. Operation Lalang was the most infamous where both BN and opposition leaders were detained over the issue when non-Mandarin speaking teachers were posted to Chinese schools as headmasters.

In a multiracial country like ours, racial relationship at its best can be described as fragile. We pride ourselves of having excellent racial harmony and with it political and social stability. Except for May 13, the peace and stability in the country becomes the pre-requisite for the country’s development. Under the 1 Malaysia, the Prime Minister talks not only about mutual respect, but there is also a need of mutual acceptance. We are Malaysians but we preserve our ethnic identity. The non-Malays seems to reject assimilation. In most of the Asian countries, through the process of gradual assimilation, most of the Chinese have lost their ethnic identity.

When ISA was used to detain a young reporter, it stirs a lot of emotional outburst that ISA was abused. Since then, some Malaysians seems to have strong feeling that the ISA should be abolished, that it is an outdated law where the potential of abuse is huge. Obviously, the ISA cannot remain without review. The government has promised that the ISA is now under review. There is a need to have a mechanism in place so that the right to detain under ISA cannot be vested on one person. There should be checks and balances. There is a need for greater transparency when ISA is used. The people need to be told why ISA was used and not other preventive laws which are available within the country.

The ISA demonstration serves no positive purpose. The only purpose it has is to create massive traffic jam and inconveniences around KL city. Many people were stuck in the jam for 3 hours just to move from point A to point B in KL city. I am also given to understand that the Masjid Jamek LRT station stopped its operation due to the demonstration that lasted for more than 2 hours. Apart from that, many traders and businessmen lost a lot of good opportunities because the demonstration drives away many clients. I also noticed that since the demonstration area is a tourist spot, there were many tourists who got caught in the demonstration and were mistaken as protestors. As a result, it left a very bad impression among the tourists that Malaysia is an unsafe country and further discourage them from visiting Malaysia.

Hence, PM Najib’s suggestion to allow public gatherings to be held in stadiums to voice out their dissatisfaction rather than street demonstration is a good suggestion and the opposition should pick up this idea. Since there are 4 PR controlled states, they could put their state stadiums into good use rather than letting the protestors running wild on the street to create unnecessary havoc.

When Najib became the Prime Minister in April this year, he has pledged that the ISA would be reviewed and everyone knows that the ISA is being reviewed. There is no valid reason for any ISA demonstration. I always believe that peaceful discussion is anytime better than to resort to street demonstration with the potential to become violent. With the ISA being reviewed, I hope that the rakyat remains calm and not jump into conclusions.

10 comments:

Richard Loh said...

Well Datuk Seri, I am sad to say that you still cannot learn and see the right from the wrong.

Are you among the people in the rally, I suppose not. I am there and I can tell you that all the causes that you and your master complaint about are not due to the rally but created by the police and fru forces. You depend on your controlled media for the news report which I think you know very well also just like you, they report them in a way to make your master happy.

You worry about Massive Traffic Jam but do you know that your master that moves around with the large police escort are also causing massive jam each time they took to the road? No complain?

Unknown said...

Dato Chua, have you been to a demo yourself? if not you should actually go and find out who or what causes the massive traffic jam!

this mess, traffic jam and chaos are self inflicted.

I was at hindraf rally, the police put roadblocks until penang, they lockdown the city, they created massive traffic jams 3 days before the rally!

people came to demo, not create fight nor chaos, did you see any molotov coktail being thrown?

but the police hit us and hit us hard, with tear gas to choke us, with chemical water to drench us, beat and arrested hundreds to please UMNO and later to have ministers say rm 100 million has been wasted because of demo.

have you seen any demo in 1st world country? have you ever asked yourself why people demo?
will you walk with us in the next demo?

august said...

It all sounds very nice on paper but is it going to happen? The govt is all talk but no action. people are sick ofthe inaction. People who complain of traffic jam and loss of business are those who do not show concern for the country. They are mere bystanders and one of these days when they are affected by the ISA will they know ..... It could happen to you too, Dr Chua

Harvin Dhillon said...

First off Mr. Chua, most of the public arent stupid. The traffic congestion wasnt a result of the gathering but the police who blocked roads but checked nothing. Their purpose was just to block traffic into the city. Plus they start a day ahead which serves no purpose. Valuable time which could have been used to hunt down criminals is used to block roads!

Peaceful demonstrations happen in all develop democratic countries. The police are used but only to keep the people calm and help them along their way so they create a minimal disturbance as possible. Here the police shoot first and ask questions later!

Police are used to harass the common Joe on the street rather than catch criminals. It is a wonder how the police, the FRU etc... can be mobalised so easily whereas crime rates are soaring. My area has a robbery every other month and yet the police do nothing. Almost everyone in my house has been robbed at one moment or another. What are the police doing about it??

Everyone knows the police are there to create nuisance so that the people direct their anger at the protesters, what the BN government doesnt know is that most people are politically awake now and know who are the real culprits for all the congestion.

So Mr. Chua, stop all the bull shit, nobody bites no more ;)

bungled said...

Who caused the jam? It seems that the blame is wholly on the demonstrators alone. Obviously the battalion of police shock troops, extensive road blocks, police trucks, chemical water trucks etc etc ain't the cause of the jam. That being the case, i would say Madonna is most definitely a virgin.

Whether the ISA is under review or not is a moot point. The bottom line is that this government will use any and all methods, right or wrong, just or unjust, lawful or criminal, ethical or otherwise, with ISA or without, to perpetuate their rule. Even in Singapore where corruption/cronyism etc is at a minimum, PAP is experiencing a slow but sure erosion of support. People despise arrogance and high handedness even if it is a clean government, what more in Malaysia where the perception is the the dustbin is cleaner than this government.

talkosong said...

My personal view and that of many others is that we have enough laws in this country to deal with those who are a real threat to our national security.Peace loving malaysian of all races are sure to support BN if the right law is use on the those law breakers.

Unknown said...

I thought u are different , looks like u r the same with the rest of BN crooks ..

The organiser already said many times, it is a peaceful marching from Point A to B. Why cant the police just open a road for them to march ..just treat this a marathon event .. why so hard .. why the police want to use the water cannon or tear gas ..those people on the street is just want to voice about ISA and they are malaysian just like you and me ..

u said najib want to review the ISA .. can you gurantee that , will you resign your post and quit mca if najib didnt do it by next year .. we have listen so many times that ISA will be reviewed until now it still there ..

about massive traffic jam .. what is the problem here , we all stuck in the jam everyday thanks to your BN poor planning on the road map ..

during merdeka celebration and new year celebration or marathon event, it create massive jam as well .. so why not just dont organised any event ...

u really dissapoint me .. i swear i will never vote MCA again ..

i hope you dont filter my comments

Unknown said...

Hi! Dr Chua,

My family members and 15 tourists from Middle East, Japan, Korea, German, UK, China, India, UK and Sweden are having lunches and nice shopping at Sogo and Pertama Complex on Saturday. Suprisingly we saw many FRU and policemen were questioning and arresting public members who wore black or red shirts. The tourists puzzled that it is unlawful and crime to wear black and red shirts in Malaysia.

They were very sad to see the FRU & policemen were abusing their power against a peaceful demo by thousands of anti-ISA supporters.

One Korean tourist was pushed away with a baton by a FRU guy when the tourist politely questioned him in English what is happening in KL city. The FRU guy misunderstood his looks like a Chinese and unable to understand English. Then, we told the FRU guy that he is a tourist and we pulled him away before been detained.

Unfortunately, several tourists, our children and I experienced painful red eyes from the chemical water and tear gas fired by FRU forces. We saw many innocent shoppers, tourists, protestors and children ran like "HELL" to take cover when the police forces continued attacking the people on the streets filled with tear smoke and acid rain in KL warzone.

Finally, we and foreign tourists managed to escape and locked ourselves in a restaurant at nearby Maju Junction for almost 4 hours. We were very angry and disgusted over the uncalled violence and abused of power by the authorities against the peaceful people and anti-ISA supporters in a good nice weekend. Yes, some tourists managed to capture the police riots against their people in the video cameras. Few Arabian and German tourists said they will show the video clips to the international human rights in their countries on how badly the BN govt is using her forces against their people in a peaceful demo to abolish dragonian ISA.

In short, many tourists never blamed the peaceful demo people in the streets but they felt ashamed and anger over the uncivilised actions by the police forces against the peaceful multiracial nation. A Japanese said if PM Najib was concerned about the safety of Malaysian to reduce crime rate, then the violence of the police against the peaceful protestors should have been condemned

Does Dr Chua experiences such painful red eyes from the tear gas and chemical water fired at you ? If not, then you have no rights to comment unless you have witness and experience it on 1 August 2009.
It is indeed a mini civil war between the police forces and the unarmed Malaysians in 1 Black Malaysia today.

shinliang said...

Why is there a need for rally?

Why, if there isn't a rally, would anyone care to consider amend or abolish ISA? The reason Najib has put amending ISA as one of his priorities is because of all the previous rallies summed together, no? Don't tell me, pls, don't tell me that one day, BN will just realised that, "Ah, ISA is obsolete, let's amend it."

We would not have resorted to street rallies, if there are better ways in doing it. Unlike BN ppl like you, we are actually susceptible to the draconian laws. So we felt the urgency, do you?

Btw, before this, I thought MCA were somehow 'forced' into agreeing ISA and disapproving street rallies by their big brother. It seems to me now, it's not UMNO's fault. It's MCA fault. You chose this path, willingly and without the slightest coercion from your big brother. This, coming from the 'liberal' Dr. Chua, has convinced me of this.

Pearls said...

Here is the deal...

Peaceful demonstration or walks or protest or whatever you wanna call it is part and parcel of democracy. It is a right! Every change that rock this world started with just that! So, are the people wrong to demonstrate if they feel there is an issue close to their heart? I would say NO.

As for enforcement units, well, I think the government has not gotten into their stubborn head that enforcement units are to be there to ensure PEACE and ORDER!! So, if I am not wrong, it means, these police or FRU or RELA or whatever are suppose to ensure that people who walk or protest do it in an orderly fashion!! Nobody throw anything at anybody! Nobody provoke anybody.

These enforcement people are not to fire tear gas or aim those big water cannons at anyone just to stop people from demonstrating/walking/protesting! Doing such thing is a violation of democratic rights. So, for the love of all things that are holy, get this correct. If these enforcement units can grasp such logic, than there wouldnt be any jam/inconvenience la! And also, if the government can grasp this logic, the government will look like a BIG government and not like a fail big time government la!

In my own personal opinion, I dont think we can do away with ISA. We do need it as we do have a lot of crazy people around who have big ideas of blowing up people all in the name of righteous! However, having said that, I must stress that we need to fine tune this ISA thing. And since the PM say he will look into it, give him a chance to do it la! What's the big issue here? Of course, if PM dont do anything within a certain time frame or whatever he does is not up to standard, than take to the street la!

WE GOTTA LEARN TO MEET EACH OTHER HALFWAY! GIVE AND TAKE LA!

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