No More SOSMA Please Anwar! 3

~ The Koboi Project

Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim shared a poem that adresses the tyranny and hypocracy of the continued use of SOSMA under a government led by Anwar Ibrahim –

Kuasa itu manis umpama madu
Tetapi kuasa itu juga racun
Menghitamkan kalbu
Kuasa boleh mengubah segala-galanya

Dulu kita kata undang-undang itu zalim
Kita panggil dia draconian
Akta kuku besi
Menafikan hak asasi
Masa itu kita hanya reformis jalanan
Yang bergelandangan

Kini sudah lain
Dunia sudah berubah
Kita sudah di tampuk kuasa
Nun tinggi di Putrajaya

Dari koridor kuasa
Kita mula bercakap
Tahanan tanpa bicara
hampir sebulan pun tidak mengapa

Demi keselamatan negara
Ketenteraman awam perlu dijaga

Hari ini, suara Pak Menteri
Sudah semacam suara Pak Polisi
Lalu, aku yang berpuisi seperti ini
Dianggap menembak kaki sendiri

Image edited from: https://sea.mashable.com/go-jek/199/malaysian-cop-who-punched-anwar-ibrahim-is-peacemaker-for-the-south-thailand-insurgency

http://asamboi.net/sekali-lagi-ahli-parlimen-pkr-sindir-menteri-melalui-puisi-sentap/

No More SOSMA Please Anwar! 2

~ The Koboi Project

A is for Anwar Ibrahim! On September 2nd 1998, then deputy prime minister and finance minister Anwar Ibraham was sacked from his posts on and expelled from UMNO. He was he was acused of sexual indecency, hindering police investigations and sedition and arrested on September 20 and held for nine days under the country’s Internal Security Act (ISA) before being taken charged with three counts of corruption and four of homosexual acts. Anwar had visible bruising to the face and neck, having been beaten unconscious during his detention under the ISA.

Anwar is now Prime Minister and once again Finance Minister. His party PKR, fights under the logo of an eye which alluses to his abuse while under ISA detention. Surely, Anwar and PKR will live up to their many promises to review SOSMA and do justice to their logo, which thrusts upon the conscience and consciousness of the electiorate, the ethos of reform! Surely He, his party and his PH coalition will make it their higest priority to review and revise, if nor repeal, this draconian act.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/1998/10/mal-o03.html

No More SOSMA Please Anwar!

~ The Koboi Project

Nirmala, mother of two SOSMA detainees reminds the Prime Minister, “Prime Minister kita Datuk Sri Anwar Ibrahim, kita perchaya dan kita undi sebab kita nak dapatkan KEADILAN untuk semua orang dekat sini. We need justice for SOSMA and we dont want all our detainees anak-anak kita dekat dalam merana without any bukti.“

While SOSMA may be less onerous than the Internal Security Act 1960 (ISA), the Malaysian Human Rights body, Suruhanjaya Hak Asasi Manusia (SUHAKAM) has identified four provisions in Security Offences (Special Measure) Act 2012 (SOSMA) that violate human rights:

  1. Section 4 does not provide for judicial oversight when the detention period is extended up to 28 days.
  2. Section 5 allows the police to deny immediate access to legal representation for a period up to 48 hours.
  3. Section 6 permits the interception of communication which may infringe personal liberty and right to privacy.
  4. Section 30 compels the court, upon application by the Prosecutor to commit an acquitted person pending exhaustion of all appeals.

The alleged manifesto commitment to repeal SOSMA was dernied by Mahathir Mohamad’s PH government of GE14. Lets hope Anwar Ibrahim’s Unity Government of GE15 will be able to fulfill this goal in the cause of natural justice and human rights..

https://hakamyouth.substack.com/p/a-tale-of-two-acts-isa-sosma-and

Ke Mana Malaysia Kita? 21

~ The Koboi Project

Anwar Ibrahim clears his first test as PM as a self imposed vote of confidence on his government passes. This, despite insinuations by Hamzah Zainuddin, the leader of the PN opposition of homosexuality by way of mentioning a scurrilous headline in the Italian Nova News.

The image is from the Dari Pusat Tasek  installation and performance at Percha Artspace, Lumut Perak Malaysia, which ran from December 2019 -January 2020. The photographs of this event, constitute a work tentatively Panji Pauh Ulung which ispart of the Koboi Project. My essay contextualizing this work, The Koboi Project: diasporic Artist… diasporic Art, is included in Interlaced Journey: Diaspora and the Contemporary in Southeast Asian Art edited by Patrick D. Flores & Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani.

https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/648587

https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2022/12/19/chaos-in-dewan-as-hamzah-cites-report-on-1st-homosexual-pm/

https://www.agenzianova.com/en/news/Malaysia-first-gay-premier-in-Islamic-country/

http://pcan.org.ph/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Interlaced-Journey_E-BOOK.pdf

Ke Mana Malaysia Kita 20

~ The Koboi Project

I have confidence in confidence alone. Besides which you see I have confidence in MOA!

Anwar Ibrahim faces a vote of confidence in the two-day sitting of parliament that began today. He has done his best to shore up support from his Unity Government partners using both diplomacy and coercion via a Memorandum of Agreement that empowers coalition parties to unseat members of parliament who do not tow the line. He certainly seems to have done everything in his power to ensure that he can have confidence in the confidence vote!

Forms of Government 20

~ The Koboi Project

Dapatocracy: A form of government wherein politicians are out for what they can get (dapat) for themselves. It is notable that the parties in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, including the Democratic Action Party (DAP), have unconditionally backed their Prime Ministerial candidate, Anwar Ibrahim, in forming his Unity Government post GE15. When the cabinet line-up was announced, DAP only got 4 out of 28 positions. This is a sacrifice from the perspective of a party which won the largest quotient of Anwar’s 148 seat majority. They won a whopping 40 seats and, as such, can be said to be making a noble sacrifice. Indeed, it can be said that the DAP is not part of the Malaysian DAPatocracy. But what will become of this traditionally Chinese dominated multiethnic party, given the likely reactions of its base to the equally likely machinations of PH’s new fellows (UMNO, GPS, GRS) remains to be seen.

See –
https://koboiproject.com/2020/06/28/harapan-2/
https://koboiproject.com/2020/06/29/harapan-4/

https://www.msn.com/en-my/news/national/loke-dap-support-for-anwar-as-pm-unconditional-never-asked-for-cabinet-positions/ar-AA14RyIS

Forms of Government 18

~ The Koboi Project

18. Autocracy: A form of government wherein a single person has unlimited power, usually but not necessarily a form of despotism. Malaysians might associate the term with the long reign of Mahathir Mohamad as Prime Minister, although his rule was effected under the auspices of Democracy..

Update 17. 12.2022: Some quarters are now suggesting that Anwar Ibrahim’s Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)signed with his Unity Government supporters on the eve of the vote of confidence on his new government, is a prelude to a new Malaysian Autocracy! The MOA allegedly contains a condition that misconstrues Article 49A of the Federal constitution as it refers to it as the basis for a clause that requires government MPs to vacate their seat if they vote against the prime minister. On the other hand one cannot but sympathize with the new PM in his desperate need to restrain Malaysian parliaments inherently amphibious condition – its tendency towards Katakcracy!

https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/409069
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2022/12/17/unity-govts-mou-prelude-to-dictatorship-says-ex-deputy-law-minister/

Forms of Government 17

~ The Koboi Project

17. Katakcracy: A form of government, expirenced by Malaysians but recently legislated against by way of a constitutional ammendment, in which politicians jump like frogs (katak) from one party to another with no regard for the mandate of the electorate.

Please see :
Cita-cita Rakyat
Cita-cita Rakyat 2
Cita-cita Rakyat 3
Cita-cita Rakyat 4
Cita-cita Rakyat 5
Cita-cita Rakyat 6
Cita-cita Rakyat 7

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/antihopping-law-are-we-all-good

Forms of Government 16

~ The Koboi Project

16. Politocracy: A form of government wherein all causes of the people are instrumentalized by the political class (di mana segala perjuangan rakyat diperalatkan oleh golongan politikus). Just think of the story of Malaysian governance since the rise of Mahathir Mohamed. Malaysia’s first Prime Minister Abdul Rahman said in an interview with the New York Times that he was disgusted with his extreme politicking. Tunku says in the 1988 interview with Henry Kamm, “the whole trouble today is, when he took over, he was trying to make sure he would stay on in power”. Mahathir set the scene and all who have followed him on the path to power have shown themselves as being part of the Malaysian Politocracy.

https://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/08/world/malaysian-founder-disgusted-at-successor.html