A series of faux pas?

Within a short period of time, our PM seems to have pushed his luck: from the failed attempt to extend the tenure of the former Chief Justice, the 3-step (hop, step and jump) appointment of Zaki to eventually assume the CJ post, and now the passing of the Amendment Bill to allow Rashid and his team to delay their retirement which is so obviously to allow them to 'continue with the same' in the coming elections. The last act and the way it was carried out was utterly disgusting and shameless.

The overkill in what could have been an easy passage in Parliament really made me lose what little respect I had for the BN regime.

I wish I can wipe the smirk off his face


HJ Angus:

Desperate Measures by the Authorities...

The arrest of 23 marchers on their way to Parliament as reported in malaysiakini is a sad day for democracy in Malaysia.

These people merely wanted to hand in a memorandum to their MPs protesting the passage of a bill to extend the term of the Elections Commission Chairman.

Instead of allowing a democratic process of petitioning and discussion to take place, the authorities are using a really heavy approach to handle small problems. Were they afraid the BN MPs would have kicked the bill out?

This episode show that the authorities are really desperate and only able to use brute force to crush dissent. It does not make for a healthy democracy.

As for those MPs who passed the bill, I hope some of you will not be returned to Parliament after the next elections.

KTemoc:

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown

When I read the headlines in Malaysiakini which tell of All roads to Parliament blocked to prevent certain Bersih leaders from delivering a Bersih memo: Why he (Abdul Rashid) is unfit to continue as EC chief and the eventual but predictable outcome which caused Vexed (Opp) MPs to stage (a) walkout in frustration at the undemocratic and oppressive conduct of the AAB government ...

... I did wonder why AAB has gone to such silly attention-attracting tactics when he could have easily permitted Bersih to deliver the memo (afterall Bersih did say they weren’t going to conduct a rally), get one of his parliamentary staff to accept the memo and say he’d look into it ... and end of story without high drama to entertain or anger the public.

I have often attributed his dramatic but unproductive pronouncements or actions to the poor advice of his moronic sub-mediocre advisors, but I am beginning to wonder in these recent cases of rallies and unnecessary heavy-handed police actions, whether there may be more than meet the eye (well, at least my eye).

Straits Mongrel:

The amendment was unanimously passed at 4.50pm.

That's the ominous final line in Malaysiakini's report on the constitutional amendment bill to extend the retirement age of Election Commission members to 66 years.

Unanimous.

That came after all opposition MPs staged a walkout in protest of the arrests that took place in Parliament grounds today. That also tells you every single BN MP - MCA, Gerakan, MIC, PPP, SUPP etc - is in support of that amendment which speedily and conveniently skews the scales even more to suit the incumbent govt.

It also tells you this: It's that easy to muck around the Constitution if you give them such overwhelming power.

Just what have we done?