Malaysiakini :: Letters
Malaysiakini :: Letters |
| Palestinians must register their claim for statehood Posted: 22 Sep 2011 02:55 AM PDT The last time I rechecked the United Nations did not belong to the United States, neither to those countries with veto power like China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom. In fact the United Nations (UN) is an international organisation whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace. And the UN was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace the League of Nations, to stop wars between countries, and to provide a platform for dialogue. It contains multiple subsidiary organisations to carry out its missions. So why is the U.S. President Barack Obama telling the United Nations on Wednesday there was no short cut to Middle East peace and urging the Palestinians to stop trying to get statehood from the Security Council in their application tomorrow? That is not all. The Washington Hawks are furiously scrambling to head off a UN showdown when it is clear that the US is warning world leaders that trying to create a Palestinian nation by simple decree is unwise! For that matter again why amid frantic efforts to avert a diplomatic disaster, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is urging the United Nations to grant the Palestinians the status of observer state, like the Vatican, while outlining a one-year roadmap to peace? The irony remains that both Presidents who are having major domestic problems and challenge to their presidency, are offering different solutions to defuse the diplomatic crisis! Obama need not preach to us either that 'peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the United Nations'. The world already knows that and you do not have to be a rocket scientist or a professor of law at Harvard to know that with the vulgar Jewish lobby, the presence of the Washington Hawks, the pressures of the US right wing and US's veto, this will not be possible as the US will do everything possible to protect the rights, interests and obsessions of that mischievous bully and misbehaved nation called Israel! I am happy to learn from my friends among the Palestinians that they will go ahead with their proposal and will not be intimidated by any quarter! I am also encouraged by the words of Palestinian senior aide Saeb Erekat who stated that the pursuit of full UN membership would not be slowed and that they will not allows any political maneuvering on this issue! This is important for President Abbas who has to save face and prevent an embarrassing defeat that might empower his Fatah party's rival faction, the alleged militant Islamic group Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group by Israel and the United States from gaining ultimate power! We are all aware that at the 15-member Security Council, approval of a resolution requires nine 'yes' votes and no veto by a permanent member - the US, Russia, China, Britain and France. If the resolution gets fewer than nine votes, it would be defeated without the US having to use its veto. And that will be the worse case scenario for the US and President Barrack Obama in the wake of the Arab reawakening and the Arab Spring. The Palestinians could also seek a lesser form of recognition by the larger UN General Assembly, where they have overwhelming support. This is the least they could do after failed peace talks, bickering and sporadic outbreaks of violence, genocide, war crimes, and the imprisonment of a population robbed of their peace, land, statehood, independence, human dignity and life itself. On one hand, it is about a homeland, human dignity and the right to statehood for a community of people who have endured suffering, genocide, war crimes, theft of land and property and the other, the awful reality of the Jewish lobby, Israel's cannibalism, bullying and a powerful punishing US veto! Gosh, what a situation! |
| Can separation of powers in M'sia become reality? Posted: 22 Sep 2011 01:51 AM PDT The recent announcement by the Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak of pending political reforms is an important step in the right direction for the country. These reforms are needed to complement the earlier economic ones. The prime minister's boldness in enacting these reforms has been applauded by all quarters, except for Malay supremacist groups such as Perkasa who have been agitating for the harsher use of punitive laws against groups opposed to their notion of Malay rights and who are against any liberalisation of the status quo. However, critics and cynics have questioned whether the reforms are being undertaken by the government to gain popularity and to counter the increasing potency of these civil liberty issues in the coming general elections. Concern has also been expressed on whether the new laws to deter terrorism may be misused by the authorities and may have the same effect of stifling legitimate dissent. Also the proposed decision to abolish annual licencing for the print media under the Printing Presses and Publications Act is really a minor improvement since the home minister's decision not to renew a licence is final and cannot be disputed in any court of law. At the same time, there also appears to be no move to rescind or amend the Sedition Act and the Official Secrets Act which have been used to muzzle legitimate political dissent. For now though, Malaysians should comfort themselves that the proposed new laws will - if truly implemented - take some powers away from the Home Ministry and return them to the judiciary. This makes the role of the judiciary even more important to ensure that there is no abuse of power by the executive. Restore the independence of judiciary The drafters of our constitution had laid the groundwork for this by specifying "the supremacy of the law and the power and duty of the Courts to annul any attempt to subvert any of the fundamental rights [contained in the constitution] whether by legislative or administrative action or otherwise" (Reid Commission Report, para 161). Since 1988 however, the independence of the judiciary has been compromised by numerous actions which have undermined its powers and circumscribed its responsibility to defend the constitution from legislative and other pressures. If the prime minister is really serious about his "commitment to making Malaysia a modern, progressive democracy that can be proud to take its place at the top table of international leadership", the restoration of the independence and integrity of the judiciary must be his next reform. Among the necessary steps for this reform process to take place are the following:
The prime minister must realise that a manipulated and dependent judiciary can only lead to a weakened democracy. The public's impression of a compromised judiciary was very much at the heart of the recent Perak state government coup d'etat which saw the ousting of the Pakatan Rakyat government and its replacement by what many Perakians - including myself - regard as the illegitimate government of the BN in February 2009. At that time, I had made the appeal to the Sultan of Perak in my open letter in the following manner: "To the letter of the law a government must be answerable, and the one standing above politics must be accountable as well. In my humble opinion, Perak will regain its shine and the people's trust when the sultan accedes to the dissolution of the state assembly." According to US diplomats in a leaked WikiLeaks cable, the BN victory in Perak was a "successful political power play both in terms of brute and refined power". The diplomats also commented that "(This) reminds us that of the two coalitions, only the BN has the clout, money, and ability to manipulate the government system (Election Commission, Courts) to muscle its way to power," |
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