Zaid Ibrahim (update)

PETALING JAYA (April 28, 2008): Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Zaid Ibrahim says he finds the Internal Security Act (ISA), which has been regarded as draconian by the Opposition and the legal fraternity, unacceptable.

"I am against any unjust and harsh law, and ISA and OSA (Official Secrets Act) are unacceptable to me," the de facto law minister said of his stand on the two Acts during an interview with Nanyang Siang Pau.
"In fact, I have stated my stand (on these laws) in my books," he said.

- The Sun

i really like this man...:)

A Matter of Trust

Jen and I attended a forum today (shocked?)- called “Who Needs an Islamic State”. Now in our forum going euphoria we didn’t think twice. So we headed on our merry way. When we arrived we were greeted by two lovely ladies from the Muslims Professional Forum who welcomed us, and were excited that we were there. The excitement at these things is so infectious that we couldn’t help but be excited ourselves.All speakers handled this quite sensitive, and very potentially controversial topic with grace. My favourite was Dr Dzulkz – he said “You must allow us to have our views, and follow our beliefs” As well as “I don’t use the term non-muslim, I prefer believers of other faiths". Hell yeah. The man is a star in my book.

Anyway, they all had their say, and my heart was filled with excitement for the understanding and open-mindedness that was going on in this seemingly tolerant space. Then the questions began.Now the questions ranged from the typical crap, to some quite interesting though long winded questions. It wasn’t the questions themselves that bothered me.What got me, was what people applauded at. They applauded things like “how will we create an army without an Islamic state”. People quoted fitna! So basically, for the first time, my emotions at a forum were based on what my fellow Malaysians sitting next to me were thinking and feeling rather than the speakers. The enthusiasm at things I was hardly enthusiastic at, and the disdain of things I passionately felt for were contradictions I was not used to feeling at these forums. Having said that, everything about this forum, except for the presence of Malik Imtiaz, was different about the peri-election forums that I attended.It made me feel cold, and it made me feel sad.It made me feel like the thought of an Islamic state is scary. And that has nothing to do with Islam. I feel comfortable with Islam, and I trust Islam.Trust is an arbitrary thing.

Personally, trust is something in my heart. It has nothing to do with practicality. There are certain people in the political scene, that I greatly admire, but that are few and far between that I trust. Is that a good thing, Im not sure. But its me. I trust Sivarasa, and I now trust Dr Dzulkz. I feel I lost something at this forum, and that was trust in my fellow Malaysian.And that is the hardest thing to lose. I felt shaky, after the forum (we had to go and have a stiff drink after). This land, this country is the only thing in the world I know is mine. Truly mine.

And I know I belong to this country and to no other. And that has held me strong for most of my years.If I can not trust my fellow Malaysian, I can not trust Malaysia. If I can not trust my own home, my feet have nowhere to land and my heart nowhere to rest.

(Jena : The other agenda for the day was supposed to be a discussion of "Malaysias Social Contract - by Mavis C Puthucheary"which can be found in "Sharing the Nation : Faith, Difference and the State 50 Years After Merdeka" .And even though its a good way to get some background into the social contract "branding" that we've inherited, we didnt actually get the opportunity to get into the specifics of it coz like Veena said, after the forum all i wanted was alcohol to calm my nerves, and at the best of times i usually only need a teh tarik to be happy! I still have faith that I'll be able to live my life my own way within the laws of this country, but looks like there's still a hell of a looooong way to go, before everyone looks at that issue with complete objectivity and less defensiveness.)

Shenanigan #1! : Zaid Ibrahims “In Good Faith”

In light of the interesting cabinet picked by Badawi's 2008 government, Veena and I thought it’d be a good idea to give Zaid Ibrahim a looksee vis-a vis his book “In Good Faith”. I must say I expected it to be a lot harder to read, but the book is refreshingly free of irritating lawyerspeak and has an easy style in the more law-heavy parts of the book.

So lets see what I knew of zaza (as V & I like to call him)before picking up his book :
He’s an UMNO man, not afraid to say what he thinks, runs the richest law firm in the country,
the proceeds of this book will all go to Zaza’s Kelantan Foundation for the Disabled, (and regardless of his wealth, that is still impressive!).
Former Kota Bahru division chief (suspended for 18 months, but didn’t lose his MP seat),left out of the 2008 elections but brought back via senatorship to be defacto Law Minister (left to be seen if its either to pacify critics or to do something concrete!)
One lawyer friend said he’s arrogant and is a money-driven opportunist,another hates his firm politics….(and Badawi today called him an outspoken maverick!)
And yet more positive & negative stuff.What a mass of contradictions!

Anyway, Literary Shenanigan #1 started off in S’pore on the 29th of March. The 2 of us went to a kopitiam next to Simei MRT station, each with our own copies of “In Good Faith” and spent the next 2 hours trying to out-talk each other! The book itself is an absorbing read till almost two-thirds the way into it and then the intensity wanes a bit.

Since it’s a collection of his articles and interviews over the years, its gives a more or less once-through glance into the politics of the man… For what its worth, if what he writes is what he thinks, then I like his politics….and strangely enough it sounds a lot like what we’ve been hearing from the opposition at their ceramahs!

His articles are well defined and are an educational experience in itself.Constitutional law isn’t the easiest thing to plow through for me but for example in his article “Department of Bumiputera Affairs” he gives a great overview of Article 153 and the respective clauses that guarantee and protect the rights of every citizen of the country, despite what our government usually says is against our culture to discuss!
Read it and see for yourself -I definitely don’t agree with his idea of setting up a new department to regulate Bumiputera affairs(yet another government body isnt likely to solve anything), but I’m glad someone’s pointed out what policies currently propagated are illegal based on our Constitution!

Overall, its refreshing to read succinct arguments by a man with a passion for the rule of law and conviction in the need for reform. At the end of my Zaid journey I’d say I kinda like him.
Maybe not the point, but his simple, clear, passionate points in support of issues he believes in - well that gets me every time…:) I may not agree with everything he says but for me it’s a great book, a good starting point to dive into a discussion about the Malaysian political scenario, and a fantastic way to kickstart our literary adventure!

In the news today is the Malaysian Bar “Dinner of Justice” and Badawi vowing reform - all give me hope -If Zaid Ibrahim is true to his views in his book, and with the right political climate (and political will) it could change the world we Malaysians live in. Who knows? So in good faith, lets see what unfolds.

(N.B: Veena & I will organize a revisit of “In Good Faith” if anyone’s interested in discussing it again- just let us know!)

Literary Shenanigans- In the beginning..

The deal here is - YOU tell us when you are interested in something- we will definitely work around you, cos the more opinions involved the more we learn.



Here is the list of books/articles/essays/films and the tentative dates we are going to discuss them- please let us know if you have any other suggestions

1. Animal Farm - George Orwell (Tentatively - 20th April 2008)


2. Arundhati Roy "The Greater Common Good" and DAM/AGE a related documentary (May '08)

ARUNDHATI ROY'S ARTICLE : THE GREATER COMMON GOOD
http://www.narmada.org/gcg/gcg...

Arundhati Roy - DAM/AGE: A film with Arundhati Roy
http://www.weroy.org/video_damage.shtml


3. The Little Prince - Antoine Saint-Exupery (June '08)

4. Fahmi Reza's "Sepuluh tahun sebelum Merdeka" and Sharing the Nation (Clive Kessler, Mavis Puthucheary, Norani Othman) (July '08 - We'll try to get Fahmi to coordinate the discussion, so we'll plan it around him - its his short film by the way! )
http://10tahun.blogspot.com/

5. The Autobiography of a Sex Worker - Nalini Jameela (August '08)

6. Barack Obamas speech "A More Perfect Union" and Martin Luther Kings "I have a dream" (We'll try to schedule it around the US Presidential Elctions circa Nov 4th '08)

Barack Obama speech in full: a more perfect Union - Times Online
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/t...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk

7. Parti Keadilan Rakyats Malaysian Economic Agenda (this could be the future of our country)
(it'll be whenever Anwars comes back to play..:) )
www.keadilanrakyat.org
http://www.keadilanrakyat.org/library/documents/me...

www.keadilanrakyat.org
http://www.keadilanrakyat.org/library/documents/me...

Between us, we have most of these books/films/articles. Let us know if you need them!!