Tiger, caning...and Hishamuddin

Let's see what kind of tiger is Hishamuddin - I hope he is not a paper tiger...crouching tiger? Maybe, if Hishamuddin is also lurking at the sidelines to pounce on his cousin. Tigers are known to be solitary animals and at times killed their own cousins too...no? Has the clown finally grow into a tiger?

Welcome to the Chinese year of the Tiger. The question is who will roar like a tiger and who will meow? Will there be a paper tiger? What about toothless tiger? Or will there be a Malaysian version ala "The ten tigers of Kwangtung"?

When Australian MPs' recently lodged a formal protest on the sodomy II trial, up goes our young tiger pub from Rembau leading 500 strong protesters on alledged interference by the MPs'. Is that all? Just 500? With UMNO youth, BBN back benchers club, Perkasa, Makkal Sakhhti and MIC youth combined, they can only muster 500?

This time around the Tiger may not be kind to Malaysia. Just look at PR. Something is stirring and PR is no longer able to hold the group together. Zahrain is on personal vendetta in Penang, Zulkifli Noordin is on auto-pilot, whilst TB Tan is getting cosy with Penang Gerakan. Topping the cake, Anwar admitted his mistakes in picking wrong candidates to stand in 2008 GE. It takes a strong man to admit his mistakes but then again Anwar's mistakes may keads to PR's fai;ures in GE 13. Mark my word. Anwar may be sorry now but in 2 years time, he will repeat the same mistakes. Not because he wanted to but because there are not enough able leaders in PR.

That does not mean BN can breathe easy. The past weeks have not been kind to Najib. Zahid has been exposing the leakages in our defense. Some say that Muhyiddin is preparing his move and Khairy failed to win a cabinet post - yet. With RM 2 million handout to UMNO youth, will that be enough to keep Khairy at bay? For Najib, he failed to realise that BN no longer govern Selangor and yet BN choose to erect billboards of the coming CNY-do in Pandamaran without applying for proper permits.

Just once, why cant BN and PR share the same stage in Jenjarom this 20th Feb '10? I believe that the Dong Zen temple is big enough for PR and BN to share the stage. In the spirit of the Tiger, couldn't they share the same stage? Afterall let Dong Zen remains apolitical... as the way it should be...

Politics aside, Malaysians should not be led astray with all those political rhetoric and let the Government off with the recent caning of three women under syariah law offences. It seems that the Government is on a mission to divert the much-publicised Kartika Sari's case. Remember Kartika Sari? She was arrested in July 2007 for a syariah related offence and was sentenced in July 2009 with caning. Kartika was and is ready to receive the sentences but the Government has dilly dally the sentence and has repeatedly postphone the sentence with excuses like :-

1. The prison department are not qualified and not trained to carry out syariah-based caning;
2. A person cannot be canned if he/she is not serving a prison sentence;
3. The syariah court wants Kartika to appeal the case (which she rejects and state her willingness to be caned);
4. Kartika must meet the Pahang regent first to discuss the case before the sentence is finalised (and the date has not been finalised);
   

Thus, Hishamuddin's statement on the caning sentence on the three women took the nation by surprise. On top of that, what is Hishamuddin's real motives? Let's look at the case of the three women :-

1. The three women's identitiy were not revealed;
2. Hishamuddin said that Kartika's case has been blown out of proportion and has caused public anxiety;
3. He said that the whipping sentence did not cause any injury to the women;
4. Their sentence were meted out between December 2009 and January 2010 by Kuala Lumpur syariah high court. Express sentencing?;
5. Hishamuddin hoped that the issue will not be wrongly interpreted;
6. The country's prison authorities are now willing to carry out caning sentences if directed by syariah courts;
   

Fine. If that is what the syariah court ruled, it is fine with me. The thing that I am asking out loud now is :-

1. Has the three women exhausted all means of appealing? Looking at the timing of the sentence, the three women may not have appealed the sentences. Is it because they are remorseful of their guilt or is it because they thought that the caning sentence will not be carried out just yet, based on Kartika's experience?;
2. Why were the caning sentence "blacked out"? Is it the fear of being labelled "old school"?;
3. Is the caning sentence one-off? Will it be carried out in the future or will it be reviewed?;
4. Is the caning sentence carried out to facilitate Pahang's regent meeting with Kartika? Is this a political face-saving act?;
5. Did the three women undergo the sentence willingly?;
6. There is no mention that their family members attended the caning sentence, why? Were the family members informed? If yes, why were they not there? If not, why were they not informed?;
   

Let me state my stand on this issue. I am for the caning sentence under the syariah laws and courts. I believe that the syariah court has its jurisdiction and since the laws are applicable to Muslims only, let the syariah court judgement be respected by all. However, it will be better for everybody if the caning sentence is witnessed by those who are against caning to women too. This will give them an insight that the syariah caning is not similar to civil caning.

Hishamuddin claimed that there is no physical injury to the women, let Amnesty International decides. Why need to hide the truth? But the problem now is - how can the government convince the public that the three women did indeed caned based on syariah method? Not because it never happen but because the confidence level is already at a minimum low. Where is the transperancy? Does transperancy occurs after sentencing is carried out? More so, after 1 week has passed? Why didn't Hishamuddin revealed it immediately? Why the hush? Why the timing?

I see Hishamuddin trying to play down Kartika's sentence because it has attracted international attention. By carrying out the caning sentence on the three women, Hishamuddin is trying to pooh pooh Kartika's case and hoping that the attention will be diverted elsewhere and in the process hoping that the Kartika aura diminish. The problem is - it shows more what the government is doing behind our back. It just carry out what it wanted to without informing. Case in point - as this is a landmark issue, why isn't Hishamuddin himself present during the caning? If he did, then he has full authority to declare that no physical injury were left on the three women. But he is not there, so his statement is based on reports from his officers. If Hishamuddin claims that the caning is witnessed by women only, why couldn't Hishamuddin arrange for Shahrizat to witness the caning? Or is it too secretive that the cabinet members are not informed? Lack of transperancy with the public is one thing, lack of transperancy within the cabinet members is totally unacceptable....

Or did Hishamuddin shy away from the caning sentence because he too may have some skeletons hidden in his closet?

And the biggest question of all - will there be anymore caning done based on syariah judgement after this? If yes, will it be public caning or will it be private caning? If no, why not? Let's see what kind of tiger is Hishamuddin - I hope he is not a paper tiger...crouching tiger? Maybe, if Hishamuddin is also lurking at the sidelines to pounce on his cousin. Tigers are known to be solitary animals and at times killed their own cousins too...no? Has the clown finally grow into a tiger?

Till then...G'nite M'sia...wherever u are...