‘Not only are bloggers are not immune to the law, neither are politicians too. We should make sure the law punishes all those who do wrong.’

On Raja Petra: Bail posted, out tomorrow

Lobang: Supposing someone lodged a report against Hishamuddin for his infamous keris- wielding act and words that were obviously threatening to a large portion of the Malaysian populace. Would the authorities charge him for sedition and act with the same alacrity as they do now against RPK? A freedom fighter should test this out.

Aaron Leow: I would like to point out that not only are bloggers are not immune to the law, neither are politicians too be they big or small. If we see the error of others but fail to see the error of our own ways, then it’s as good as pot calling the kettle black. Even the sultans in Malaysia are no longer immune to the law, so I think we should make sure the law punishes all those who do wrong.

On Police fire tear gas at Cheras residents

Enraged Citizen: I am truly fed-up with the antics of the Malaysian police. Can anything be done about this bunch lackeys of the BN politicians, the Umnoputras, the well-connected and the powerful? They should be protecting the rakyat, for heaven’s sake!

What sort of country has Malaysia become, when even the police are behaving like this? We are no better than Myanmar and its military rule, if this continues.

Ensin: Words cannot describe the present federal government. They claim they are listening to the people, they are the people’s government etc. But look at what they are doing to the residents of Cheras,

Firing tear gas, water cannons - why are they doing this to the citizens of their own country? Why is the government protecting one company? Why is not a single Umno MP standing out there to help protect the residents of Cheras?

Why are they busy trying to charge a disabled MP for sedition when there is ample work to solve the citizens’ woes? I sincerely hope Pakatan Rakyat leaders will do their utmost to drive this corrupt Umno government and its allies out of power before they do more harm to the citizens of Malaysia.

HumbleVoice: This matter should be settled amicably in the courts. If the court’s decision is such that the setting up the road barricade is legal and the right of Grand Saga, then police involvements would be a matter of maintaining the law and order of the country.

But dragging hundreds of FRU out there at the present stage to protect the profits of one single private company is a complete outrage. The person(s) who ordered the heavy police presence should be held accountable for the gross wastage of public resources. This whole incident stinks to high heaven.

A Civilian: I was and am very furious to see such kind of things happening in Malaysia. The residents have done their part to prove that part of road does not belongs to Grand Saga, and thus it is illegal to place a barricade to force BMC residents use the tolled road. Why can't Grand Saga challenge this issue legally instead of hiding behind the police in constructing a blockade again?

This is an uncivilised and barbaric act by Grand Saga and the police. The image of the police getting from 'worse to worst' each day. Even gangsters can reason out, why not Grand Saga and the police?

YSM: The fracas involving residents of Bandar Cheras goes to show that democracy is dead under the BN rule. Residents of an area affected by the toll have no reasonable recourse and have no choice but to take matters into their own hands. This is because of pure capitalism allowed to eat away at democracy. It is the government’s duty to see to it that corporations do not take advantage of citizens in their bid to make money.

Now government machinery is being used to pressure community groups and residents. This is appalling. The police continue to serve the BN government rather than the rakyat.

MySecret62: I fear the day has arrived. The BN government and its apparatus has upped the ante against its own citizens and at the same time lowered their 'humaneness'. I fear the rakyat will respond likewise against the present government. There really is no hope in believing that the present powers will accept and change for the better in protecting and safeguarding its citizens. Time to move on and bring in responsible leaders.

BY Yeap: Shame on the police. They were again highhanded in dealing with people who were gathering peacefully to show their frustration with a greedy corporate citizen. Although the Pakatan Rakyat Selangor govt has been sympathetic to the plight of BMC residents, the police are behaving like a protector of this highway concessionaire Grand Saga. Wonder when they can truly reach out and win over the people's heart.

The Healer: Outrageous! Police beating up a wakil rakyat? Do they not know what this implies? Police beating up the people! Why is Grand Saga still insisting to erect the barricade when a resolution is not in place yet? Why are the police so determined to show their cannons to douse the right of the people and side with injustice? Do the police not fear their conscience?

Why are the police giving an order to Grand Saga’s employees to leave the area? Is it not easier to instruct 10 or so workers to leave the area compared to 500-1000 residents boiling in anger? If the police instruct the employees to leave the area, will they not, too, successfully disperse the residents peacefully because the residents are now assured that there is space and equal ground to negotiate and resolve the dispute with Grand Saga?

On Karpal's loyalty under spotlight

JTB: So Karpal Singh has committed treason punishable by death for pointing out to the public that the conduct of a civil servant is under the jurisdiction of the menteri besar and not the Sultan. The Sultan - through his Regent - has pointed that Haji Jamry Sury, is the director of the Perak Islamic Religious Affairs Department and also functions as the secretary to the Perak Council for Islamic Religion and Malay Customs. That appointment is by the Sultan.

The Sultan did say that if there is any transgression or wrongdoing by Jamry, the complaint must be officially lodged and he be tried according to the law before any final decision is made. No one can fault this line of reasoning for it conforms to the rules of natural justice.

Karpal viewed the matter from the state constitution and had interpreted it as such. It was not done with any malice or disrespect to the Sultan. I am sure the Sultan who is learned in law knows this.

So what then is the act of treason? I would like to bring up the incident in Terengganu where 23 state assembly men held a protest against the Terengganu Sultan’s decision to appoint Mohamad Said as mentri besar.

PAS has lodged a police report against them and as usual no action has been taken. Do you not think that these 23 state assembly persons should be charged for treason?

On Gov't to review 'unfair' deals, toll charges could be slashed

Garry Khoo: The toll company should refund the unfair toll charges they collected from the rakyat since our dearest Work Minister confirms they are unfair deals. Meaning that when deciding increases of toll charges, there were no proper studies and surveys. Meaning it was a mistake to increase the toll charges.

Please give us back our hard-earned money. Only after the 12th GE they realise it's unfair. This is a childish tactic. It's a shame.

On Ex-minister: Gov't should promote meritocracy

Tommy Peters: A friend and a father of two girls, agreed that families do practice 'affirmative action' when raising children, in that parents do give a quiet leg-up to the weaker sibling, but he qualified as a matter of 'family' policy and firmness, equality and meritocracy are the rule. The weaker sibling is not given the impression that the little push which helped her is 'policy', let alone a right.

That is the core which gulfs the typical liberal and conservative mindset. The gulf is evident vis-a-vis Singapore and Malaysia. The conservative does feel compassion as much as the liberal but the latter throws it up as public policy while the conservative engages in 'affirmative action' through private and indirect routes. A Singaporean Malay said quiet leg-ups are evident in Singapore, in procurement of business licenses and educational scholarships for example, but via indirect routes such as government linked NGOs.

Affirmative action is an antithesis to public policy. It is In essence designed for the inanimate, not for the animate. Even a toddler will adjust and float when thrown in the deep.

On JPN on the look-out for illegitimate Malay children

Anak Perelih: Islam rules that any child born out of wedlock cannot use 'bin' or 'binti' of the husband of the mother. The child must have 'bin Abdullah' in his/her name instead. It is a religious matter, thus the JPN ruling is just following Islamic rules and is only applied to Muslims in this country.

From the above letter, there was no mention that the child was denied a birth certificate, only that the father's name was written as ‘bin Abdullah'. If the child was born due to early birth, the couple must inform the registration department about it, and if possible, a letter from the doctor can be attached.

There is a law that ‘requires that the parents should be legally married before they can have a child’ for Muslims in this country. It is called the Islamic Law and marriage for Muslims falls under Islamic law jurisprudence in this country, not civil law.

I feel sad to read comments by non-Muslims on this matter as it indicates there were no efforts to check the facts first before making a comment.

On Disabled insult: No apology from Ibrahim

CH Ong: ‘Ibrahim, however, remained obstinate telling the group that they could not ‘politicise this for the benefit of the opposition party’.

This man got elected on a PAS ticket, now considers himself to be an Independent, but is behaving like an Umno MP. I wonder how he conned PAS into allowing him to stand under the PAS banner? Surely religious people (PAS leaders) need not necessarily be that naive.

Stanislaus Anthony: As an Orang Kurang Upaya, I was at the Parliament yesterday with my fellow OKUs. I am very sad that when we arrived at Parliament there was nobody to receive us and the treatment meted out to us was disappointing.

What made me feel really very sad was that not a single MP passing us by in the Parliament lobby acknowledged us. I could not answer to my fellow OKUs when they asked me about this as they knew I am a strong BN supporter.

Oi, sudah menang jangan jadi hati batu. Be humble always and serve the people, OKU or not.

On Leaks in the House again

A Plumber: Oh Lord, not again! This leaking issue seems to be endless and haunting everybody, including those present and those who have departed from gracing the inside chambers where many have sat and slept through the debates, alas to be jolted into reality from the leaking drops.

If you ask Samy Vellu, he would have said it is all from the rubbish churned out in Parliament (wonder how the rubbish made its way to the roof; probably stashed away since whole of Selangor is an eyesore with accumulated rubbish.) On second thoughts he would have said it is from the air-conditioning system as a number of hospitals built at the cost of millions of ringgit have a similar problem and so this is not a serious problem lah.

Not to worry. We had Mr Nazri who took care of Parliamentary matters including the leaks and well known for his fragile tantrums and profitable taxi permits. But then leaks are not a phenomenon in Malaysia got we have a hoard of leaks in our life notably the innumerable pipe leaks which take months to be repaired, examination paper leaks, bribery leaks, sexual scandal leaks etc. Yes, the list could go on, but then why worry, it is only a leak, it is not over my head.

Garry Khoo: Shame! Shame! Shame! Again and again? My house cost only 200k and it never fails me by springing a leak.

On Pakatan Rakyat should go for broke

Henry Poh: I like to congratulate those brave people who fight for change and progress and now we can see now that Pakatan Rakyat is changing the approach and policies of the BN as the latter badly needed to compete in order to win back the votes they lost to PR.

I wish the PR governments would consider changing the following as well:

• Bring Penang back to duty free status
  
• close down all the so-called taxi consortiums, the ‘Ali Babas’ who abused and victimised the poor taxi drivers
  
• Give taxi permits and licences to those who really work and drive their own taxis. No more Ali Babas
  
• Learn from Singapore’s NTUC on how to enforced and educate all the taxi drivers to go by the meter and not charge 400% higher then the metered fare .

Santan: Decades ago, the British were selfishly exploiting our country, uncaring towards us, even resorted to various diabolical schemes to destroy our thirst for freedom and justice. This included spreading racial propaganda and playing up external issues to divide and distract us. The British were cunning – they knew that if we united, we’d be unstoppable. Fortunately we were survived their attempts, triumphant though slightly wounded.

I see our country’s history repeating itself. But this time around, we’re not going against foreigners.