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Deconstructing Abdullah's legal brain

Knowing the human flaws in de facto Law Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz, NST journalist Aniza Damis must have got the better of him -- she virtually cajoled the minister to do a mental striptease in public!

Read this interview, where the minister said about bloggers:

I don’t (read blogs). I don’t waste my time. The few pieces that people print for me are just rubbish.[...]

Our bloggers are really not up to standard. When they put up something, it’s not something that they want to discuss in a very intellectual way. It’s more because of their anger - the language they use. Why should I read all this rubbish? When the standard of our bloggers is upgraded, then probably I will look at what is written. But anyway, they are a minority. My concern is for the majority.

Oh yes, it takes a journo-blogger to conclude that Nazri doesn't read blogs. If he did, they were printout versions prepared by people, not reading off computer monitor by himself.

In actual fact, Nazri's interview has a larger picture in mind, It's about the super limbo in the current Abdullah Administration: The video clip, the walk, the panel.

Lawyer-blogger Malik Imtiaz read the interview and concludes that this Nazri "reminds us of how much we are to blame for the Government we have".

Read Imtiaz's blow-by-blow deconstruction of the joker -- here and here.

Here are the parts of disquiet:

It is a chilling indication of how far removed the Government is from the needs and aspirations of the people, of how drunk with power those who lead us are.

It dramatically underscores the need for us to start thinking about what we need to do to improve the system around us. Judging by Nazri's comments, the Government is in no hurry as its interests, and by that I take it those of the individuals who form the government, are served.


What does Malik say that we need to start thinking about what we need to do to reform Malaysia? His deconstruction of Nazri -- Abdullah's legal brain -- is best looked upon via journalist Aniza's loaded questions unto the minister:
  1. Q: Is there a crisis in the judiciary? Why is there a perception of there being one?

  2. Q: Some 1,000-2,000 lawyers were involved in the Bar Council walk. Are you saying that that many lawyers have been misled?

  3. Q: You don’t think 1,000 (lawyers taking the walk) is enough?

  4. Q: Aren’t the views of the minority also important?

  5. Q: So, if you wanted to be convinced (that there is a crisis), you would need 7,000 lawyers to walk?

  6. Q: Do you really want that many people marching in the streets?

  7. Q: But what if people want a BN government, but they also want you to ensure a clean judiciary?

  8. Q: You’re the de-facto Law Minister. And they are not asking for a sacking — they are asking for a more transparent appointment system.

  9. Q: But if we had a transparent system, perhaps all judicial appointees would be acceptable to the people.

  10. Q: Can the (Judicial Appointments) commission be appointed by consensus or stakeholders?

  11. Q: You have said the government was happy with the current system of appointments. Why?

  12. Q: Is the tenure of the chief justice going to be extended?

  13. Q: The video-clip issue will not yet be settled at the time of his retirement (scheduled for Thursday). Don’t you think that it’s rather unfortunate for him to retire before this matter is settled?

  14. Q: Has the prime minister indicated anything to you?

  15. Q: If you just take into account what is printed in the media and what comes out in the blogs, it would appear that there is a crisis in the judiciary.

  16. Q: Coffeeshop chit-chat is not important?

  17. Q: But the fear that is felt is genuine.

  18. Q: So, you don’t think it’s important to try to address the worries of these people?

  19. Q: Do you read blogs?

  20. Q: Indians in Malaysia are a minority. Does that mean that they don’t count?

  21. Q: What did you mean when you said that, by walking, the lawyers were behaving like the opposition?

  22. Q: Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan said the reason they walked was that they felt all their appeals were falling on deaf ears.

  23. Q: But why would you want to cover your ears?

  24. Q: Maybe walking just says that they are partisan towards justice?

  25. Q: Is there anything wrong in walking for your beliefs?

  26. Q: If, for instance, the Bar Council wants to take that avenue (of getting an appointment with the PM) now, can they still take it?

  27. Q: The Bar Council claims that they have never been able to get an appointment with the CJ.

  28. Q: But you are more than an ordinary person. You are also the de facto law minister.

  29. Q: That’s very irresponsible (for Nazri to say "you cannot divorce me from the fact that I am also a human being").

  30. Q: Why didn’t the government empower the panel to compel witnesses?

  31. Q: What if the video clip is genuine, but the person doesn’t want to come forward?

  32. Q: Why can’t you set up something that can compel a person to come forward?

  33. Q: The third party that brought forward the video clip says they are not going to talk to the panel; it is only going to talk to a royal commission.

  34. Q: If people come forward and give their statements to the panel, and the authenticity of the video clip is verified, what would the next step be?

  35. Q: Why not just set it (Royal Commission) up from the beginning?

  36. Q: There is less than two weeks for people to come forward with what they have. Are you hoping that they will?

  37. Q: Maybe the informants’ concern is not so much the government, but that the parties in the video clip might take action against them.

  38. Q: So how is anyone supposed to do their work, if they are not protected?

  39. Q: Where is the Witness Protection bill now?

  40. Q: You have said that even without a Witness Protection Act, the government can still protect witnesses.

  41. Q: So, why do we need a Witness Protection bill?

  42. Q: If someone were to come forward now, on the video clip, how much protection could you offer?

  43. Q: But that requires the person to come forward first. This is no guarantee of protection.

  44. Q: What happens, if, by the closing of office hours on Nov 7, no one has come forward to the Independent Panel) ?

  45. Q: So, the conclusion is that there is no issue?

  46. Q: But at the same time, a video clip has been released, there’s been a walk, there’s been concern?

  47. Q: So, the government’s not going to do anything?

  48. Q: Would you be sad, if no one came forward?

Finally, after all the 49 leading and loaded questions, journalist Aniza was satisfied she got the story, and Nazri said: "But because this is a video clip whose authenticity has not been verified, then no further action can be taken."

Now, go to Malik Imtiaz's DISQUIET.

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Comments

To the contrary, blogger will held another view. Just replace NAA word from blogger to Malaysia newspaper, change whatever emotional to "propaganda". And this is what you get. :)


I don’t (read Mainstream newspaper). I don’t waste my time. The few pieces that people print for me are just rubbish.[...]

Our mainstream newspaper are really not up to standard. When they put up something, it’s not something that they want to discuss in a very intellectual way. It’s more because of their propaganda- the language they use. Why should I read all this rubbish? When the standard of our mainstream newspaper is upgraded, then probably I will look at what is written. But anyway, they are a minority. My concern is for the majority.

Nazri has committed too much of [ DELETED ] that he can't afford to switch side anymore, so he has to stand firm alongside Pak Lah or otherwise, who is going to accept him?

Padang Renggas ppl, stand up and vote against him, we don't need morons to represent us in the Parliament.

I think Aniza Damis did a really good job there, kudos to her.

I believe Malaysia is one of the rare few countries where law ministers openly curse in interviews. What excellent decorum.

Even a journalist is smarter than him...

Hamid Albar didnt warn Nazri about interviews?

After reading that interview, I find that our de-facto Law Minister is somewhat biased, arrogant and unassumingly boorish towards the opinions of those who are not part of the majority.

So the question would be how are we to somehow reach the majority to garner enough support for him to listen to us.

Another hartal, perhaps?

Unfortunately the majority of Malaysians are dumb, so forget about garnering any support from them, Nazri probably know that when he speaks. Mahathir's right, "The people deserve the government they get".

To the hall of infamy bedecked by such as khairy, taib, deros and badruddin, add nazri. Is this the best that Umno can produce? Woe betide this country.

Nazri spoke about the majority. How can he use that as an excuse when he himself doesn't know if the majority would have voted against his stand if they know the truth which is what everyone is clamouring for?

True to arrogance, he knows there's no way they will get the chance to do so because his administration is making sure the road to truth about the video is being paved with spikes and traps.

He talks about authenticating the video first and offering protection to the whistleblower. If someone can command the UTK to blow up a translator, what protection can prevail to safeguard a whistleblower in the matter of nepotism in the highest judiciary office of the state? They can't even provide vests to the police as a routine budget.

Furthermore, how does the five minutes missing segment invalidate the nine minutes present segment? He already knows the full length won't be forthcoming to protect the whistleblower and therefore he can now say in advance that in the absence of that condition which Putrajaya has set ahead of the deadline, there will be no case. The rakyat have already drawn their conclusion when the terms of the panel were drawn up in such a ludicrous way they puzzle even a former IGP, himself a lawyer trained in buckingham, to boot. What a sandiwara.

He talks about separation of powers; why didn't he ask the said judge to make his own public denial when the latter communicated through him on account he was the defacto 'law minister'?

And who in the judiciary are the lawyers and rakyat to approach if the matter at hand is the chief judge? Who knows how many others down the line have benefited from such backdoor arrangements? Now the rakyat will also ask how many cases that went to court have ended with compromised judgements. Who can honestly live on with that sort of question?

That so many lawyers have walked the March of September and so many rakyat have petitioned for Royal intervention go to show that the matter is grave because what we are seeing today is the collapse of the last bastion of judiciary independence.

Indeed, Malik Imtiaz's "might for right" as opposed to "might is right" says it all. If a government thinks it is enough to be mighty in order to be right, it is sorely mistaken for how will it be different from your local schoolyard bully? Did the populace elect a government to bully and intimidate them?

The majority that Nazri is trying to draw strength from existed only at the last poll when this and many other things didn't yet happen. In this particular matter of injudicious judiciary, the majority matter naught because you can put a hundred kampung folks in a room with one lawyer, those folks will not be able to delve into what is at stake as deftly as the lawyer whose training has been in that field. He should know that, isn't he a lawyer himself? Furthermore, the kampung folks who are now juggling between shrinking incomes just to survive will have other things on their mind and therefore will depend on that lawyer in the same room as them, namely this country, to defend them in the event of facing a chief judge whose promotion has been called to question, and that's not just because of laziness to write judgements.

The them-vs-us we have presaged before has come out in full view from this interview in which a minister cum lawyer has himself been cross-examined and ended up crossing himself out. The umno govt is disconnected from the rakyat on matters of principle, even representation. They arrogate to themselves what is considered right and because of that stand, they conclude nothing that comes from the opposition can be right. Is this reasonable?

Their practice of denials has also taken a laughably juvenile form; if they don't like how you present something, they don't want to entertain you. It must be on eight-point garamond because if you use fourteen-point arial, they will say you're trying to be bigger than them, the elite elected by the majority. And while it is alright for them to spew profanities on others, vice-versas are vices for which one can get arrested. Or rubbished. Such fine standards of justice and intelligence, one must add. We are already behind Indonesia, the next batch of foreign workers will smugly attest.

A good leader is a humble man. He realizes that it is Godsend to have people tell him off in no uncertain terms that he's doing something wrong, or not doing the right things. How else can he know whether he's making the right impact for them and nation? You can't wait for a summary vote result in four years time just to sum up the three things done right against the three hundred done wrong in order to say your administration is therefore justified to continue running the country, can you?

A bad leader does the opposite of a good leader, and lacks the confidence to tackle the principles at hand, perpetually holding on to form over substance in order to continue his own miserable existence and extend the pathetic lifespan of his own political agenda.

Whether the feedback or complaint is couched in nice words preceded by supercilious honorifics such as 'Yang Amat Berhormats', or words uttered by those felicitous Umno MPs in that abbatoir called parliament, or even whispered atop Brokeback Mountain on a rainy afternoon, it doesn't matter; they will not define who is the good or bad leader. Only the facts and truth and the principles of integrity, fairness and good governance will pay homage to good leaders.

No facts and truths will come out from a government intent on being opaque and obsolete before the rakyat.

Umno is both.

Putrajaya is trying to bury this fiasco; it should ask itself how it can bury radioactive waste. The stink, taint and toxicity will last many lifetimes and investment rebuffs. The lawyers won't forget it.

Better keep an eye on those C4 stock level.

I think the major issue with the Opposition is that they are not going to the people as they have been in the past.

Instead, I think the Opposition is stuck in the online media. Adding to that, they have yet to actually have a traveling crew that campaigns in the rural areas, and focus more on the urban areas to explain their stances.

And in the case of the Opposition actually holding on to the ground they gain, I have yet to get a proper explanation from any party on how Terengganu was lost, and how Keadilan lost all but one seat.

UMNO states that the hype of Anwar died down. So will this issue with the judiciary, unless the Opposition in every state goes out to explain to the people them implications of such an act.

I am not saying that the people are stupid or ignorant. I'm saying that they spend too much time looking into that biased idiot box controlled by our Minister of Misinformation and Propaganda.

Unless the Opposition breaks that monopoly by actually doing live speeches....honestly, the Opposition will not hold on to this issue long enough for the next election.

Q: You don’t think 1,000 is enough?
A: 1,000 of 13,000 — is that a majority? What’s the big deal?

In a democracy, the minority cannot control the majority. The minority does not speak for the majority.


----------------------------
1). Cabinet = 10 ~ 20 members

2). Malaysians = 25 millions

3). According to democracy, Nazri should agree to this equation;
Cabinet (ministries) = minority, Malaysians (people) = majority

Therefore, Malaysia is not democratic for this reason;

Cabinet (minority) > Malaysians (25 mil)

* > = Greater than (in term of power and control)

Dear aput83,
It is common sense for opposition NOT to waste resources on rural area. The rural area are too content to government.
Do you know that all the living pressure are build up on the city? Nobody care if the blade not on their neck. Until the petrol/diesel/fertilizer/etc subsidiaries dissapear, with skyrocket living cost, it is not easy for opposition to deal with this "buy over" tactics.

INTERNET does not operate in a legal vacuum.
Read this before you post a comment in this blog!

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