Carry on, Malaysians — Ali Kadir
June 01, 2012
JUNE 1 — Remember this, Malaysians: We only fear God.
We don’t fear politicians and we have no reason to be cowed by the royalty.
There is no punishment that can be worse than eternal damnation. Not jail. Not a hefty fine. Not even condemnation in the media.
I am stating this point in the wake of the court decision to fine Chan Hon Keong RM50,000 and sentence him to a year’s jail for some unfavourable comments made about the Perak Sultan during the power grab in the state three years ago.
The conviction and sentence is intended to be a deterrent, to stop the public from making comments online about the powerful. But it should not stop us from keeping those in power honest.
What happened in Perak was a travesty, a day in which Umno used its power and abused institutions to usurp power from the legitimate holders. There was a lot of anger and people vented their frustration, mostly online.
The authorities were shocked at the outpouring of anger and went in search of someone to make an example of. Sadly, Chan was that example.
We should raise funds to pay the fine for this man as a show of solidarity. After all, if we don’t stand up for each other, who is going to do so?
In the meantime, expect the mainstream media to use this case to scare us into submission. But like I said, total submission and obedience is only reserved for the Almighty.
Humans, no matter how lofty their positions, are never to be feared.
They may fine us, jail us, teargas us and even abduct us. But we won’t fear them.
* Ali Kadir reads The Malaysian Insider
We don’t fear politicians and we have no reason to be cowed by the royalty.
There is no punishment that can be worse than eternal damnation. Not jail. Not a hefty fine. Not even condemnation in the media.
I am stating this point in the wake of the court decision to fine Chan Hon Keong RM50,000 and sentence him to a year’s jail for some unfavourable comments made about the Perak Sultan during the power grab in the state three years ago.
The conviction and sentence is intended to be a deterrent, to stop the public from making comments online about the powerful. But it should not stop us from keeping those in power honest.
What happened in Perak was a travesty, a day in which Umno used its power and abused institutions to usurp power from the legitimate holders. There was a lot of anger and people vented their frustration, mostly online.
The authorities were shocked at the outpouring of anger and went in search of someone to make an example of. Sadly, Chan was that example.
We should raise funds to pay the fine for this man as a show of solidarity. After all, if we don’t stand up for each other, who is going to do so?
In the meantime, expect the mainstream media to use this case to scare us into submission. But like I said, total submission and obedience is only reserved for the Almighty.
Humans, no matter how lofty their positions, are never to be feared.
They may fine us, jail us, teargas us and even abduct us. But we won’t fear them.
* Ali Kadir reads The Malaysian Insider
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