NEW LINE-UP, SAME FILTH

About 40 plus days ago, the UMNO led government saw fit to invoke the much-dreaded ISA and arrested prominent blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, opposition MP Teresa Kok and “Sin Chew” reporter, Tan Hoon Cheng. The arrests sparked off some strong protests from the general public.

Politicians from both sides of the divide condemned the arrests. It was unprecedented, but the likes of keris waving Hishamuddin and senior leaders of both the MCA and Gerakan also questioned the wisdom of invoking this horrendous piece of legislature. Zaid Ibrahim, the de facto Law Minister then, resigned, claiming that the Home Minister had abused ISA and thereby making his (Zaid’s) position untenable!

The Gerakan leaders of Penang declared that they would sever ties with UMNO Penang and the party as whole was re-looking at their relevance in the BN coalition. Tough talk indeed! The MCA too, was very vocal about the ISA and pledge to press for a review/repeal of this draconian law. The BN politicians finally saw the light, we thought, but we were so wrong! They have learned nothing from the March 8 tsunami.

Recently, the MCA had their elections and a totally new team was put in place. My fellow contributor on this blog, featured them in his post. I commented that it is no big deal and the MCA were just a mere bunch of sycophants and scumbags beholden to UMNO. I was accused of not giving them a chance. How could I? I just do not trust them! I was proven right.

A couple of days after their (MCA) elections, opposition MP Teresa Kok moved a motion in Parliament seeking a Parliamentary Debate on the review/repeal of the ISA. To-date, only 77 MPs have signed the petition. One BN member, two independents (SAPP) and the rest were from Pakatan Rakyat. Where are the MCA and the Gerakan? Both were so vocal at the height of the ISA arrests. It is obvious that both the MCA and Gerakan are not here to serve the Rakyat.