Wednesday, April 16, 2008

How will justice be delivered tomorrow night?

Dinner with Salleh Abas and the PM. Nearly 20 years after his sacking on 8/8/88, former Lord President Tun Salleh Abas will be feted tomorrow night at a special dinner hosted by the Bar Council (updated: and sponsored by the Government, see here). Guess who will be there? The Prime Minister will be there, and he will speak on:
Delivering Justice, Renewing Trust
The Cabinet has said no to de facto Law Minister Zaid Ibrahim's suggestion that the government apologize to Saleh for his sacking 20 years ago, so the question is:

What could Badawi offer to Saleh tomorrow night that he could have offered the last 4 years but didn't?

Ambiga, the Bar Council president, is hopeful that something good will happen at the dinner. Many of us share that hope. I hope the PM does the right thing.

Check out Nuraina A. Samad's latest posting Special Guests for Dinner ... for details about the dinner and who else are going to be there.

18 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:08 pm

    I bet the desperate jin setan f**ker would do anything to save his premiership!

    Hei Bodoh, these lawyers are nothing but a bunch of over-rated self absorbed prick.

    Bar Council is nothing but a council of drunkard baboons. Why accredit them more than are.

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  2. Anonymous7:13 pm

    Reference: WSFFM/Press/SUN/(08.02)

    16 April 2008

    Editor
    SUN Newspaper
    4th Floor, Lot 6, Jalan 51/217
    Section 51, 46050 Petaling Jaya
    Selangor Darul Ehsan
    Malaysia
    Tel: +6 03-77846688
    Fax: +6 03 77835871

    Dear respected Editor,

    REPLY TO ARTICLE "SONG AND DANCE WHILE OTHERS SUFFER" IN theSun (Wednesday, April 16 2008)

    With reference to the above-mentioned subject, the WSFFM would like to furnish your goodself with information pertaining the article which has been published by your paper on the WSFFM Annual report of the Foundation. Indeed the WSFFM has made a clear statement on the transparency which we practice by making the report available for public consumption. Naturally, the interpretation and comprehention of any information depends greatly on the vested interest, experience, passion and objectivity of each and every individual. The relevance of sports and it's significance in developing a nation and it's people, potraying the dominance and civilization especially in the mannerism we approach the issue of gender equality has indeed been acknowledged by all.

    The Financial report representing the strategies and management of the taxpayers money indeed should justify the consumption of the taxpayers investment. However, it is important for us to justify which segment of nation improvement are we sports people responsible for, and in what way does that directly or indirectly relates to poverty, education, medical and etc. The segmentation of funds for the purpose of sports is for the purpose of developing a nation via the involvement of sports. The WSFFM is an NGO which has and is dedicated in empowering women.

    It is vital for us to first provide the necessary facts and figures pertaining the wide spectrum of activities and people who have been involved in these programs and subsequently furnish your goodself with information pertaining the respective expenses. The WSFFM has conducted the following programs and the respective people involved:

    1) The National Women Games (2007) - 3,400 (Athletes) and 600 (Officials)
    2) The International Women and Sports Conference (2007) – 289 (Participants)
    3) Coaching, Technical and Umpiring Courses (2007) – 780 (Women Officials)
    4) Membership Program (2007) – 5,832 members recuited

    The rationale behind these programs and the investment placed in them are as follows:

    1) The competitive platform to enhance women participation is indeed the first step in ensuring that women can involve themselves in sports. The National Women Games (2007) involved the following :

    a. 61 Contingents – both state and private clubs.

    b. 12 sports – including weightlifting, sepak takraw (the first in it's history), triathalon,chess (600 over athletes), netball and etc.

    The Games also provided the following to the participants:

    a) Free Internal Transport (Games Village – Competition Venues)

    b) Free Meals for Athletes and Officials. Meals were prepared and monitored by the National Sports Council Dietitions

    c) Gifts and Condolences : These were the free Pillow,Pillowcase, Bedsheets and Blankets given to the 3,400 athletes and 600 officials. The total price is RM44 for one set. These were given to the participants and officials for free because to utilize these at the Games Village @ hostel would require a daily rental of RM10 per day , the total rental cost would be an estimated RM10 * 6 days = RM 60 per person, making this definately more than us producing thise set and distributing it for free. Thus, it would be most not an optmized decision for the mere purpose of renting for the mere purpose of what is perceived as cost effective.

    d) The cost of organizing the entire sports specific (Competition) – which entire organizing grant was given to the National Sports Association for managing and running of the events.

    e) Media plans – in organizing of any events the media is essential, to a large extend women can be given more coverage. The investment into the media is to ensure that in the years to come awareness on the importance of the Games will be done and private investors will come in. It is difficult to quantify a Return on Investment (ROI) to any private sponsorship without media plans, logo buys in which a professional corporate investment would need. The WSFFM did full-fledge presentations and wirtten corporate sponsoship programmes to many major corporate bodies, but all were unable to commit. Thus, in order for the Games to stand tall and most importantly on it's own in the future substantial investment must be placed by the Government now.

    f) T-shirts for the athletes, team officials, security, volunteers, technical officials and the organizing committee. These total t-shirts :

    1. Volunteers – 350 x 2 sets
    2. Security – 180 x 2 sets
    3. Participants – 3,500
    4. Officials (Team / Technical / Committee Member) – 1,820

    The mere reason for the t-shirts in its most humble sense is for Identification of Jobs and Designation. The volunteers need identification, bright orange and security. Justifying t-shirts and uniform at this point would seems just impossible – as it is a necessary and not a luxury. If this was a luxury, then there should be a nation wide rule and policy prihibiting it. Thus, the problems of volunteers and officials who need these uniforms for their execution of their roles, will not be imposed the need to acquire attires for their voluntary involvement in the Games.

    g) Wages / Allowances – There were many people employed for the purpose of running the Games. Their justifications was their total involvement and time consumed at the expense of their careers or full-time jobs. Many of them had to leave their jobs for a period of 6 – 7 months for organizing the Games. In the effort for Malaysia to develop a sports industry, we should be proud to have the ability that the sporting fratenity is paid for the job they do. In the era where people earn wages amounting to thousands doing sales and part-time jobs, the sportsman should not be deprieved of this right.

    Sportman are also the rakyat but somehow or rather, they are always given the ultimitum to sacrifice their time. Eventually, by questioning even a single sen given to the sportman, we are indirectly degrading their expertise. The WSFFM do not want to do this, and this is why we have indeed PAID the services of those who worked for the Games. None of the WSFFM members were paid any wages or allowances for their services to the Games.

    h) Grants – These grants were given to the 15 State Sports Council amounting to RM30,000 each state sports council for their participation in the Games and to the NSAs for organizing the Competitions.

    i) Entertainment (RM1.4 Million) – We would like to furnish your goodself that the precise definition of the term entertainment used in the accounts encompasses a broad range of expenses related to sporting events, athletes and team management participating in the National Women Games 2007. The pure meaning of the word entertainment has been embraced for the purpose of denoting the need to express respect and glorification of athletes via the organization of ceremonial events – such as quoted by the Arafura Games website http://www.arafuragames.nt.gov.au/ which expresses the Arafura Opening Ceremony Entertainment.

    In the same line of definition, the Malaysian Games constitute the opening and closing ceremonies of the National Women Games, the prize giving and recognition ceremonies of the winners, the recognition ceremony for the record breakers and Contingent winners. These events can be expressed to it's best definition of its intended purpose via the participation of the Malaysian people, which in a more generic form can be classified as audience or the general public which support the Games by their presents. Their role as spectators or audience harnesses the need for pre and post ceremonial events constituting of entertainment elements. Its was indeed important for us to recognize that all efforts placed and done for women empowerment must be correlated to the need for a platform of respect. Thus, the thrust of the Games is indeed the sports itself, however, each and every complementary program such as ceremonial programs are equally important. This was inline with the analysis we did with the FESPIC Games, Olympic Games, the Commonwealth Games.

    2) The number of women officials, coaches and umpires between the ages of 18-25 are amounting to less than 2% of the total officials which has been recorded by a research conducted on the 51 National Sports Associations (NSA) in the year 2006. This is indeed an indicator that the younger generation need stipulated and formalized programs to ensure that sports is made as lucrative as other growing and challeging extra curricular activities. These programs were jointly organized by the National Sports Associations and the auditing process did not go through one but two (2) sets auditors as one by the WSFFM and one by their respective NSAs.

    We have always strived to empower women and will continously strive to work harder at doing this. The involvement of women in the National Women Games, the efforts and collaborations with the various NSAs and organizations and the numerous programs we truly need to deploy will enable the realization of many women in the field of sports. We are trying our best to eradicate the perception that sports is not important as women and their participation in sports is still perceived as a luxury and that women are expected to fill the mold of the domestic roles only.

    The WSFFM is able to justify every single expense and investment the Government, Ministry of Youth and Sports and the National Sports Council provides to women and sports. This has enabled us to cooperate with many NSAs on achieving a true gender equal society. The WSFFM go beyond the paradigms of sports specific or domain specific. Women have the same challenges irrespective of their domains and sports, WSFFM in collaboration with NSAs, NSC and all other organizations work at achieving a broad spectrum of enhancement for Women. There is no manipulations in our expenditure, no one has taken a single cent for a personal gain and we have been very transparent to publish this for public consumption. The Media is truly powerful and it indeed forms and structures the mind of our citizens. We sincerely urge you to furnish our citizens with the true management of the Games.

    The people who will most hurt and dissapointed would indeed be the people who believe that Malaysia is a country which respects women and their involvement in sports is serious. The investment we place in them cannot be perceived as a luxury or a method deprieving our other fellow citizens of their rights. The Games must one day, be able to provide a revenue and income for our people and inorder to that the Government has most importantly contributed and has believes in the possibilities. We want to improve and we want to save, we hope that people will participate in sports voluntarily and work with organizers to absorb some cost.

    We could drink boiled water as opposed to mineral water, we could stay in our friends house and travel to the Games by car pooling, we could get the local council to provide free access to competition venues, we could get free buses from agencies and just pay for the petrol. We, Malaysians need to do this, we need to collectively change the way we engage ourselves in sports. However, this paradigm may take timeto form as when we were organizing the Games, there were many people and organizations that just refused to participate if these were not given – because there was no budget for specific women participation. We cannot allow girls and women who want to strive in sports to be hindered by management issues, and that is why we are confident that Malaysians will reach a level of equilibrium to self-dependence but just as how the saying goes ""A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." by Confucius, this is our first step.

    We sincerely thank you and express our unified gratitude for giving us an opportunity to furnish the readers of theSUN with the details pertaining our AGM report.

    Yours sincerely,

    Dr Shamala Subramaniam

    Executive Director

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  3. Anonymous7:51 pm

    What could Badawi offer to Saleh Abas tomorrow night that he could have offered the last 4 years but didn't?

    May I suggest that Salleh Abas be appointed the chairman of the Royal Commission of Inquiry to overhaul the entire judicial system of the country. Having suffered more than 22 years of ignominious injustice, he is in a better position to know what is fundamentally wrong with the system and that is also the only way to say sorry to him without putting it in so many words.

    We need to seek atonement and gain redemption for our past sins and only Salleh Abas can deliver.

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  4. Anonymous8:42 pm

    Bro,

    I think the right question is "can the justice be delivered?" to deliver justice is where eventually all those corrupted ministers and cronies are brought to the court and of course this includes badawi,kamal, KJ & the gang. che det will also not be spared. but this is unlikely to happen.

    Renewal of trust? well, is there anyone there in umno-bn trustworthy? to say yes equals to lying. so renewal is also unlikely to happen.

    the only sure event to happen is enjoying a good and expensive dinner...more lamb please! :)

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  5. Anonymous8:49 pm

    aiyo jumpa pon salah, tak jumpa pon salah.... minta maaf salah, tak minta maaf pon salah... lama-lama jadi serba salah..

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  6. "What could Badawi offer to Saleh tomorrow night that he could have offered the last 4 years but didn't?"

    Precisely Rocky, and Badawi is a hypocrite of the largest order! A reconciliatory note to the former Lord President now would seem like a futile PR excercise on Badawi's part that would even split Umno and the Malays even further. Badawi can keep on doing stupid thing and it is as though he is being advised by the Opposition to make an inadvertent negative and disparaging remarks that can further destroy Umno!
    Keep it up Moron!

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  7. maybe we'll witness an apology but only in PM's personal capacity which will amount to nothing.

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  8. Anonymous11:01 pm

    Justice? He doesn't know the meaning of the word.

    Like he doesn't know what Islam Hadhari is all about. Can't even explain it. Just mumbo jumbo.

    Just slogans. Like "Work with me". But we don't like what you were doing, if you were doing anything at all.

    So we "Worked Against You". Thats justice.

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  9. Anonymous11:21 pm

    PAk Lah will not make any speech.

    He'll fall asleep at the dinner table

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  10. Anonymous11:48 pm

    AAB is history..he is enjoying whatever glamour that is left. What can he do? He had four years..and did nothing. One night more..will not change anything. And as usual Zaid is on a syiok sendiri journey..

    Good luck AAB

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  11. Anonymous12:17 am

    AAB will offer Salleh Abas '50 WAYS TO SLEEP ON THE JOB WHILE APPEARING FULLY AWAKE'... also he would affer '50 WAYS FOR YOUR SIL TO MAKE MONEY OUT OF SCOMI WHILE SAYING SCOMI WILL ONLY DO OVERSEAS CONTRACTS'... and, last but not least, '50 WAYS TO KIPAS BAR COUNCIL SO THEY COULD KISS YOUR A**'... good luck to all who would attend such a circus in the name of justice!

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  12. Anonymous1:10 am

    Dr Shamala,

    If you want to write so long, i suggest you create your own blog! boringlah!

    kawan

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  13. Anonymous1:14 am

    Bru,

    All this is good. But first can the PM explain the rationale of his decision in appointing Zaid Ibrahim to the cabinet when Zaid was found to be guilty of breaching party discipline?

    Buckingham U law grad, UK

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  14. Anonymous11:02 am

    The Spore Straits Times carried a half-page report "Abdullah to unveil judicial reforms today" in today's edition (Apr 17).

    As per the report, there will be 4 main elements:

    - Judicial Commission to appoint and promote judges
    - Greater independence for the judiciary. This will involve changes to the Federal Constitution
    - Financial compensation to sacked judges
    - Expression of regret by PM Abdullah

    The report claimed that the PM faced "stiff opposition from his own Cabinet and administration".

    The PM's address at the dinner, hosted jointly by the govt and the Bar Council, is titled "Delivering Justice, Renewing Trust".

    4 of the 6 judges who were disgraced in 1998 will be at the dinner. They are Tun Salleh Abas, Datuk George Seah, Tan Sri Azmi Kamaruddin and Tan Sri Wan Hamzah.

    The other 2 Supreme Court judges - the late Tan Sri Wan Sulaiman and the late Tan Sri Eusoffe Abdoolcader - will be represented by their families.

    Datin Seri Wan Azizah and Lim Kit Siang are also expected to attend the dinner.

    Will this bring "closure to the 1998 judicial crisis" as the PM hopes it will?

    The report said that some people feel that it may not be enough.

    Datuk V.C. George (a former Court of Appeal judge): "An apology or expression of regret would be sweeping everything that happened 20 years ago under the carpet."

    And will the PM "out" his Cabinet colleagues "who served under Tun Dr Mahathir and were not keen on reforms that would embarrass the former premier"? Are these the same people who criticised the move to set up the Royal Commission last year to investigate a certain infamous video recording that allegedly implicated a prominent lawyer?

    These people should be named and shamed, even if they are "warlords" and "powerbrokers".

    Tun Dr Mahathir will, of course, go ballistic over these moves by the PM.

    The New Straits Times editorial yesterday trumpeted "Get on with the job".

    Yet the Tamil language "Makkal Osai" newspaper has been banned by the non-renewal of it's annual printing permit, according to a notification from the Home Ministry.

    And who is the Home Minister?

    And will the pro-Umno press (NST, Berita Harian, Mingguan Msia and Utusan Msia) make common cause with "Makkal Osai" to protest the ban on the latter?

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  15. This would never have happened before March 8 2008.
    Didn't Nazri say there was nothing wrong with the Judiciary?

    Defeat is a teacher of humility and wisdom.

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  16. Anonymous2:43 pm

    The country need to take some steps to heals the judiciary fiasco. We must let Abdullah do it and he has the mandate("cheating or not") as he is the PM now, give the guy fair chance to fulfill what he has promise in 2004. The lesson is learned, point is taken in 8 March 2008! Get on with the job please!!

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  17. What is required is NOT DINNER!! If dinner could do justice, much justice had been done because there had been so many dinners over the years!! What people want is justice, justice, justice and nothing but justice to Tun Saleh Abas, Tan Sri Wan Sulaiman and Tan Sri Eusoffe Abdoolcader, Datuk George Seah, Tan Sri Wan Hamzah and all the other judges whose career Mahathir had violently attacked, assassinated, maimed and mutilated.

    To me the dinner is another waste of public money. We eat everyday. Why, the food we consume everyday is not enough? Good and meaningful decisions are not made during dinners but in the quietness of the room of the heart.

    Listening to Abdullah's speech?? If any top political leader who can't speak eloquently, it is Abdullah Badawi. So why listen to his speech? Must it be through dinner that justice can be dispensed? What a rubbish!! Please better don't attend the dinner unless it is to celebrate the restoration of the total independence of the judiciary. But first Abdullah must have made major and concrete reform, then celebrate it with dinners. To date nothing has been done, so what is the dinner for? To fatten Abdullah or who?

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  18. I thought the proposal for judicial appointment commission a good start, if only he had the guts to remove the bit about the PM still having the last say...but I suppose you can't have it all

    Secondly I feel that the ex gratia reward for Tun salleh abbas and his colleagues insulting, especially coming from the Prime Minister directly, the message to me is that the executive will just pay with the rakyat's money for its mistakes,

    had it been recommended by a tribunal of their peers it would have been better, it seems that pak lah still doesn't get that politics is a delicate game...

    by the way I got your pictures with the minister and kak nuraina if you want

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