Friday, February 19, 2010

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...

8 comments:

Fi-sha said...

Dear Mr Dnightcalled,

I hope our Mrs Dnightcaller is recuperating well under your watchful eyes.

Is he a real tiger?

George Bernard Shaw once said, "When a man wants to murder a tiger, he calls it sport; when the tiger wants to murder him, he calls it ferocity. The distinction between crime and justice is no greater".

Make sense to your post? I think so.

Have a pleasant weekend.

~Woody Tigress~
George Bernard Shaw

nightcaller said...

Fi-sha

Mrs NC is recuperating as per schedule, God willing. Thks for ur thoughts...

As for ur comment, I will add that for others it might be ferociously sporting but for Hishamuddein, it might be timidly gameful and even that on pre-condition that the target has been "certified" carcass.

BTW, have you heard about a certain MB flying to Germany in recent days to gets assurance of his continuity as MB of the state? Word has it that when the jet je was on took to the air, someone from "certain" agency is asking the purpose of his trip and whether the trip is sanctioned by the state government or not. Clue : the MB is believed to be perorming his umrah now...:)

Fi-sha said...

Dear Sir,

Germany? The land of O Great Col. Stauffenberg of famous Valkyrie Operation?

I think I know because I know 'someone', from the same state, is there too, kan?

Interesting story sir!

You take care too ok..

Anonymous said...

Dnightcaller,
It's been some time before I land myself in your blog. My apologies! I do heard that your wife is currently recuperating from illness. Do hope that she would heal completely. I believe you believe in miracle. Micracle shall happen.

Dnightcaller,
I am sorry that I have to register my opposition against the Syariah Court's ruling on those 3 women. Lets not talk about me rejecting the fact that such act might not adhere to the constituition of Malaysia. Hehe, Otherwise, we would have problems seeing eye to eye. I am still a believe that Malaysia is still a secular country with Islam as the state religion
As I have said I am not going to touch on the basis of constituition, lets talk about the basis of conviction

Dnigthcaller,
I simply don't understand. Illicit sex is involved both parties. If canning is justified for the women. What happen the jantans.
It takes 2 to tango. One can't just whack the women while the men got away scot free. Just as in Anwar's case, why Saifool got away scotfree

Dnightcaller,
Like I say, if the men were not rotan teruk2, I believe the women should be spared from canning.
Furthermore, I have seen plenty of cases meted out by Syariah Court are very inconsistent. One of the most serious cases are Incest. That's the worst kind

Dnighcaller,
I heard that the pepetrators gone scot free with mere fine. There are plenty cases like that. Fine less than M$5K.
Frankly with that revelation, I am not sure about you but If I were you, I don't much confidence in the Syariah System
I suggest that Syariah Court System should have an overhaul & meanwhile stick to Civil Court.

Dnighcaller,
Zahrain's case is a personal vendetta between Mansor & Zahrain himself. Plus, Zahrain is an old school. Zul is nyanyuk. Tee Beng has shown his true colour. Anyway, Nibong Tebal used to DAP's a battlefront with BN. Goh Cheng Huat, DAP ex-man, now PKR man used to cross duel there. With possible Tee Beng's crossover, perhaps, PKR should give it back to DAP

Dnightcaller,
Meanwhile there shall be the battle of titan between Muhyiddin & Najib. Notice with all bad news coming out. Nasir's outburst, Submarine can't sink & Warplane no engine. I sense sabo time.
Just as Abdullah kenna by Najib. Mohiddeen might do a Brutus Act on Najib. By the way, Ali Rustam no longer corrupt suspect anymore.

Dnightcaller,
While we are seeing facade of the so called "Pakatan Disunity", take note that BN itself is actually crumbling.
Kuomintang looks very good at paper in 1946. And 3 years later, Chiang left for Taiwan. Hmmm.......

Dnightcaller,
Seriously, I felt that Anwar should choose LKY as his mentor instead of Mahathir.....Wishful thinking.....

nightcaller said...

Looes74

Thks for your thoughts...

On with your comments:-
1.Newspapers mentioned that the three women were caned for illicit sex and there were also 4 men caned for the same offence ie their partners were also caned the syariah way. However, what puzzles me is that why 4 men were caned when 3 women were involved, unless they were multiple partners involved...The men were caned in the men's section of Kajang prison.

2. One of the news mentioned that the couples surrendered themselves to the authority. This news are not independently verified nor about the possibility of any child born out of wedlock. I would like to take this opportunity to cite an example during prophet's time when a woman met with the prophet and confessed her sins and her predicament of being pregnant. The prophet ask her to go home and repent. That continues until the child was born, even after the child has completed breastfeeding (that will take 2 years). On the last instance when the woman still asking to be sentenced, the prophet sentenced her. The point is - the prophet did not jump into carrying out the sentence.

The same in this case. Before the sentence is carried out, the authorities should be asking whether the sins were commited out of ignorance or out of bad influence. Only if the authorities has exhausted teh avenues, then only sentence were meted out. But, this case of the three women is super-fast, super-efficient, as if there is another ulterior motive to the whole scene...

3. Yes, I agree with you on the different implementation of civil and syariah cases. Why were incest not judged the syariah way? The authorities should cover this too. JAKIM should be spearheading this and determine the distinct difference what syariah and civil courts will cover (for the Muslims).

4. As for Zahrain, it looks like his dissatisfaction is based on his failure to win a contact from Penang state government. Zahrain can deny it, Lim GE can capitalise on it. One way or another, Zahrain may be an interested party and his explaination has not win me over, thus far.

5. Najib is facing enemies from within his own party. It is much too coincidence for the explosive exposure on jet engines, submarine failures, selling off country's secrets with Najib's inner officer's outburst in Malacca is totally unacceptable and 180 degree turn from Najib's call for 1Malaysia. Muhyiddein is taking a much more aggresive and ultra approach than Najib, Zahid exposing Najib's weakness in his last ministerial posting looks more like a planned move to offset and throw Najib off balance. Rosmah is not helping much whilst JJ is too far to offer support to Najib.

6. Another blogger gives BN 2 years before being shown the door.Is BN reaching the end of its shelf life? Is Bn expiring soon? That depends on how well PR can manage their states and whether BN keep on shooting its foot.

7. Anwar? He needs to be more patient and not keep on jumping the gun because he keeps on receiving wrong signals from his leiutenants...

ahoo said...

Wah, lots of Tigers, leh! Was at the CNY open house in Lumut and bothe Dato Seri Kong & Pele of Perak claimed to be born in the year of Tiger. Pele further claimed that bn do not plays politic of hate ??? I almost got choked on my food.

Anyway, do hope that Mrs NC will have a speedy recovery. May this untimely incident brings both of you together in a more knitted way. To love and to cherish each other more day by day.

Anonymous said...

Dnightcaller,
I have come across this fact that Sharizat says that Oman does not can guilty women. Be it under Syariah or Civil law. I know, Dnighcaller that they are not the mainstream Sunni clan. They are the Ibadis. But if its' verified to be the Truth. This is getting very interesting.
Yes, Shazrizat says that there is sharing session with Oman on canning process. Ahem.....

nightcaller said...

Ahoo

Perak Pele a tiger? Fortunately he did not "eat" you alive during the open house ceremony. Glad to know that u are back safely to your abode in Selangor/KL.

Looes74,
Thks for the highlight. Shahrizat "outmanuevers" JAKIM and even Hishamuddin in this regard. Clearly it shows that Shahrizat is trying hard to go against the mainstream sunnis (which Malaysian Muslims ptactise). The problem in that is not whether Oman is from Ibadi sect but more on how the syariah laws is interpreted. Shahrizat fails to give the reasonings for Oman's syariah laws. It is better for Shahrizat to arrange the conference to be attended by religous scholars as well and not wholly participated by logic thinkers and Quranic translation readers...

It will be an interesting conference, indeed...I bet Shahrizat will not be embracing Ibadi sect...not in her present state of mind :)