Eradicate Little Warlords

Sun, 29 Oct 2006 17:50:20 +0100

It is indeed heartening and refreshing to know that the Malay adage "Sepandai pandai tupai melompat akhirnya jatuh ke tanah juga" is actually still applicable. Lord Acton was right when he said that "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely" hence there is a great need for the powers that be to weed out the little warlords in the various municipal councils now before it is too late. - Nicole Tan Lee Koon

A GREAT AND TIMELY PIECE FOR PUBLIC AWARENESS

Sun, 29 Oct 2006 15:44:23 +0100

Wow, this is a comprehensive and well-researched article that is most likely to raise public awareness. I particularly like the scarecrow metaphor. Against the background of the Zakaria Deros affair, it is very relevant and even tells the State Governments that they do not have a free hand since appointments can be challenged on the paramountcy principle pertaining to the interests of the community. Provisions on PROSECUTING offenders and CONTINUING OFFENCES have also been highlighted. Our laws are adequate for the purposes intended. As I have said all the time, our weak point is the enforcement part. We have a system, but we do not seem to be able to work the system according to the Rule of Law which posits three things: (1) that everyone is deemed equal before the law; (2) that the law is applied in its generality; and, (3) that the law is applied neutrally. In my memory bank, this is triggered by the mnemonic GEN - for the Generality of laws, the Equality of everyone before the law, and the Neutrality of the law. This means, for instance, that if any law is used to target a person, a group or a class of persons, then the Rule of Law is breached. Since the suspension of local council elections in 1965, or more than 40 years ago, it is clear that the standard of delivery of local council services has gone south. Something must be drastically done to arrest this southward direction. To illustrate, I have complained to the National Front elected representatives in Penang about stagnant waters in drains, about garbage not being regularly collected, about effluents being freely discharged into rivers resulting in the death of fishes and about factories discharging effluents at night. To be fair, it was given an airing at the State Assembly, AND (not but) that was the end of the matter. The water continues to be stagnant and garbage continued to be lackadaisically collected. Can you imagine an epidemic occurring and spreading very fast? We are living in the Tropics where diseases spread very fast. Why do you think tropical countries like Malaysia never ended up as a settlement colony? It was because of the tropical weather and the diseases this brings. A hundred or more years ago, medical science was still in its infancy and so could not really address the then killer diseases such as malaria and cholera. How many Malaysians must die before we get our act together? But of course, the reply is that there is no epidemic, and that no one has died yet. So I have got carried away by my fertile imagination! With respect, I do not relish the idea of being right in this instance. All I want is that such basic work gets carried out consistently since it affects the quality of our lives. Of course, we all know about the dangers posed by environmental pollution. It affects the water and the air we breathe in 24 hours a day seven days a week. Again, in Penang, there is this heritage building that even Siamese Kings used to stay in while on visits to Penang during the colonial era. One long Christmas break many years ago, this HERITAGE SITE was torn down and in its place now is a new building still being constructed. I believe some party has been FINED. But no one seems to have been PROSECUTED and no one wants to know about a CONTINUING OFFENCE. In our march towards development and progress, PLACES OF WORSHIP seem to be convenient targets. The law must be sensitively applied when it comes to such revered places. We must learn how to moderate any demand to do away with places of worship. We have seen for ourselves that some local councils even have staff members to police our morals. As I have said on that occasion, what they are supposed to do, they don't do well but they try and do what they are not really supposed to do. The roads are sometimes dirty, the drains get clogged up, the marketplace is an organised chaos when it comes to cleanliness and even the public toilets stink. The above grounds alone bear testimony to the strength of calls for the restoration of local council elections. On all points except one, I have agreed with my learned friend, Mr Roger Tan, and in fact commend him for his great and timely work in this area. The exception has to do with local council financing. In fact, in the 1960s, it was almost a secret that the City Council of George Town (CCGT) had a much bigger budget than the State Government of Penang. Besides building cheap housing and even reservoirs and dams, the CCGT even ran the local bus transport system. Today, with the appointed council, we have bus stops where you are free to wait for buses that will turn up when they do. The buses have no time-table to meet. Today, with the appointed council, there has not been a brick laid, let alone a building for so-called cheap council housing. And today, with the appointed council, not a dam or reservoir has been built. The latest dam we in Penang have is in Teluk Bahang. It was built as a State Government project. I stand corrected. - Stephen Tan Ban Cheng

OPINION: Do laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law?

Eradicate Little Warlords

A GREAT AND TIMELY PIECE FOR PUBLIC AWARENESS