Death penalty

A lawyer friend of mine was very sad, disappointed, angry, bitter and disgusted today. The reason- his client was sentenced to death by hanging. He is good defence lawyer ( we have done criminal trials together) so i have no doubt that he would have got an acquittal if the judge was fair and competent. He would not have felt the way he did if his client had got a fair hearing. But his client did not get a fair hearing- the judge was not learned and unable to appreciate the law. He lacked judicial skills of judges of the past. He sat and easily condemned a fellow man to death without any sound reasoning. According to my friend, he had submitted for two hours on fact and law until lunch time. Then court resumed after lunch and the judge delivered his decision to send his client to the gallows without giving reasons as to why he disagreed with points of law and fact raised by defence counsel. Given that this is a capital offence case, the judge should have been more careful when delivering his decision. Why not take a few days to consider arguments put forward? Why the hurry to convict the accused and send him to the gallows? Where is the compassion? Where is the patience? Where is the wisdom? Where is the caution? Where is the mercy? Where is the diligence? Are judges hearing too many cases that they have become immune to compassion, to justice, to life? Is the policy just to clear up the backlog of cases so that a judge can be promoted faster? Is the power to send people to the gallows being exercised for the sake of convenience and self interest? Is life no more dignified, sacred and precious? Are our judges experienced enough, learned in the law enough, to be entrusted with power to take away a man's life?

I have already voiced my complaint about the way the new JAC is constituted. The above episode just confirms my phobia about the present way of appointing judges. There are just too many judges coming from the government departments and the Attorney General Chambers. Otherwise lawyers in private practice who have had connections with the government in the past are appointed. Further there are too many Malays judges and too few judges from the other races.

Judges should be first of all compassionate, selflless, honest, of high moral standing, and very experienced and learned in the law. Otherwise they have no business being a judge. They should not take up the post to satisfy their lust for power, fame and glory. They should not go lobbying to be a judge. They should not fear the government, they should be courageous, they should be be fair, they should be humble, kind, graceful and honorable. They should be thorough and sound when delivering judgments. This should come easily if they have the experience in the law and a talent for writing. Their 'God' should be Natural Justice and Truth. The government has too much say in the appointment of judges and that is a real concern. With the political legal suits being filed these days, with so much at stake for the leaders and political parties involved, there is a strong suspicion that the government or the powers that be, want 'their people' to be appointed judges to serve their interest.

As far as the death penalty is concerned, i think life and death is too sacred and important an issue to be left in the hands of a judge. It should be abolished. If the death penalty cannot be abolished, then i think that the jury system should be revived in this country. At least we have group of 12 lay people deciding on the fate of the accused rather then one judge. It is always safer.

Violation of modesty

I have been receiving so many sms-es for 3 days in a row about a certain local lady politician who was photographed in the nude while she was in her home that it began to bother me. How could the media be so heartless and cold? How could the people who had possession of the photographs be so cruel? Do they not know that they are destroying a lady's life here? Is it all about making profits or pleasing their paymasters? Is it politically motivated?

I just got a copy of the NST and it has the lady saying that she has been violated. She says that it was a malicious attack on her and a gross outrage of her modesty. Now the NST also quotes the former Selangor MB as saying "She must resign from all her positions. This is about morality. I cannot accept a lawmaker whose morality is questionable'. Now who is he to talk about morality? Is he so clean, trusworthy and efficient- without sin to pass judgment? Is his morality unquestionable? Has he never been immoral? I wonder if he would have said the same thing if a politician from his own party had been exposed in a similar situation. Or if he would have resigned his MB's post if he was photographed naked in his home? Or is he just playing politics & thinking about winning the Umno elections which is just a month away? By my moral standards, by him judging her, he has just exposed his own immorality. With leaders like him, the country is headed down the road to perdition.

I am told the lady is single so she is entitled to have boyfriends isn't she? Now what is wrong with being naked in one's own home? Rumours say she was with her ex boyfriend who took the photographs while she was naked and asleep on the sofa. Is that her fault? It could happen to anyone of us in these days of the 'eagle eye' or should i say 'evil eye'. So what if she is with her ex boyfriend in her home? She is not a moslem. Are we to judge her by the laws of Islam? It is the norm these days for couples to stay together before they get married. That does not make them bad, immoral or dishonest people.

As a result of the circulation of the photographs, she has now decided to resign and that means a possibility of another by election. This is an horrific example of how low some people will go to bring another person down. How much did the ex boyfriend get for selling the photographs? Are her political rivals behind the whole affair? Is there hidden agenda?

The question now arises if she should still be allowed to carry out her duties as an elected representative of the people or should she resign? Some are calling her to step down. A friend of mine told me that people say she should as if she did not, everytime men see her, men will get aroused and excited. Is that her fault or the men's fault? Men being men will undress woman anyway if they are pretty and sexy. So lets not be hypocrites. After all, once upon a time, we walked the earth naked and mated without restraint. Polygamy was the norm. Propagation of the species was the priority.

Now who among us have not been nude in our homes? Or slept nude on our beds or sofa? If not just walking around naked, admiring ourselves in the mirrors of our homes, maybe in the act of pleasure itself? So i cannot see why this lady's private matter has been blown out of all proportions. Perhaps somebody wants to force another by election. There are already two coming up. If that is the case then the means adopted is most evil as the poor lady is now in great humiliation, anguish and misery. I do not think she should resign. I think she is an honest politician as she has not denied that she was in the photograph. We need more honest politicians around. She has even offered to resign. That shows sacrifice- she is not putting herself first. She is being selfless. We need more selfless politicians.

Those calling her to resign are judging her. They think themselves superior over her. They think they are infallible and without sin. They do not look at themselves and the filth in their own minds and hearts. They want to take out a 'saw dust' from her eye when there is a 'plank' in their own eyes. They forget all the good this lady has done in the past, they don't focus on the whole of her life and instead focus on the one 'mistake' that she has made and judge her on that mistake alone. They know nothing about forgiveness as they do not want to let go of her throat. They judge with their moral religous laws but they do not realise that those very 'God given laws' are God's mirrors to them to reveal just how filthy their hearts really are. Mirrors can't clean their filth away. What they need is more love, compassion and mercy when dealing with others. That is the right way to act and to purify their hearts, to become more moral.

I hope that the lady finds all the support, encouragement and love that she deserves and that she will carry on serving the public for the rest of her term in office. I also hope that the media focus its attention on the government's performance in tackling the global economic crisis facing the country that i have been harping about rather than nude photographs of politicians.

Insight

We all get insights. It may be right or it may be wrong, only time will tell. This is an insight i have got recently:-

We breathe even though we are not conscious of it. Likewise we digest food unconciously. When we go into a deep sleep, the body functions normally unconciously. It is the natural way. It is always simple, unconscioused and eased way. The way as it is. It is only when the 'i' & its affairs come into the picture that interrupts the natural way & makes everything unnatural, complicated, difficult and dis-eased. The 'i' is the trouble maker..the body is in the mind and not vice versa. If the mind is filled with 'i-ness', which brings suffering, the body being a product of the mind and still exist in the mind will be so conditioned to make it dis-eased.

How to make this country great

When we read the papers today all we read about is about politics. The powers that be do not seem to appreciate fully the threat of the economic crisis. This is a clear sign that the leaders are not matured and not competent to lead the nation to heights of greatness. At a time when there is a need for unity, the leaders of the ruling party keep emphasising on disunity- they play politics to disunite the people.

I propose the following be acted upon to make this country great:-

The introduction of a new economic policy, where all citizens of the country are regarded as equal and a policy that distributes wealth equally and reduces the gap between the rich and the poor........ implementation of policies which pay special attention to the poor and those who are lagging behind the rest.......the introduction of anti discimination laws with strict punishment on those who discriminate.........the introduction of a race relations Act with strict punishment on those who are racists and implement policies that divide based on race...the abolishment of UMNO, MIC and MCA in short the end of any party that is based on race....the introduction of a policy based on merit in the public and private sector (including education) which rewards those who are competent, have talent and ability regardless of race, sex or creed.....the abolishment of any or policies and laws that divide the peoples- that means the end of special rights for certain peoples, the end of the special rights of the people in Sabah and Sarawak, that means equal opportunity for education, trade and making of wealth for all citizens in any of the states in this country......the introduction of special muhibbah companies (instead of bumiputera companies) comprising of specially qualified persons of all races to be sent overseas to invest just like what Temasik does for Singapore........the establishment of a specialised sports body comprising of the only the best sportsmen and sportswomen and qualified young and dynamic persons to ensure that glory is brought back to the nation through sport, in particular football, hockey and badminton..........the implementation of a new education policy where Bahasa Malaysia can be the medium of instruction in national schools but where all students will have to study English, Mandarin and Tamil as well. Other languages can be offered as options as well. All students should also be required to attend philosophy classes where they are thought the fundamentals of Islam, Hindusm, Chrisitianity, Buddhism, Confuciousim, Sikhism- all faiths that exist in this multiracial country...........the implementation of a financial system that is dynamically caring and compassionate to all......the abolishment of religous, tamil and chinese schools as this divides rather than unites. However the attactive and good policies used in these schools will be carried over to the national schools..........To open this country to foreigners who want to do business without imposing any quota or restrictive policies on them, to allow them very special incentives so that they choose to invest here rather than any other country in Asia...........To invite qualified or talented foreigners to come to this country and practice their trade or share their talents by serving our communities........To implement policies that encourage and promote healthy competition rather than restrict competition........To abolish all protectionism policies........To prevent our talented and qualified citizens from migrating or working overseas. To attract those who are overseas back to the country with attractive policies.........the political will to have a free media and press......the political will to have a free and independent judiciary........ the political will to have a free and independent Attorney General Chambers and Anti Corruption Agency.......The political will to distribute wealth and development to all states equally........The political will to produce citizens who have high ideals and moral courage...The political will to prosecute all those who have siphoned off the country's wealth in the past and to recover this lost wealth to the people....To implement the policy of 'Bersih Cekap dan Amanah' but this time to do it correctly once and for all...To start negotiations to bring Singapore back to Malaysia and to invite Brunei to join us too.

The leaders of this country seem not to want the above proposals to be implemented. Instead they seem adamant to put obstacles to their implementation. Their conduct shows they do not have the intention of making this country great, rather they think of how to make themselves great and rich..It is a recipe for disaster for this nation in the long run.