It is the law

Does this sound silly? If you are in possession of a blank piece of paper or a roll of toilet paper but just because an office boy without any brains stamped RAHSIA on it then you get sent to jail for two years or so? Does this sound absurd?

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Selangor to be first to have freedom of information law
By SHAILA KOSHY, The Star, 28 May 2009

The Selangor state government will be the first state to table a Freedom of Information (FOI) Enactment in its legislative assembly by the end this year.

Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said the Pakatan Rakyat government in Selangor had decided to do so because it believed all citizens have the right to have and know as much information as they need.

“Freedom of information and media freedom stand shoulder to shoulder. Without access to information, how can journalists be effective in their jobs?” Khalid said yesterday at the government’s belated observance of World Press Freedom Day and the launch of its Communications and Media Network - a monthly newspaper Selangorkini, a web portal Selangorkini and TV Selangor - at the Petaling Jaya Civic Centre here.

He said the state government had set up a Freedom of Information Taskforce, chaired by Assemblyperson Elizabeth Wong, comprising of assemblymen and the public last year to ensure an FOI Bill was tabled in the Legislature before the end of the year.

Asked at a press conference later what would happen if the state government declares a document public under its proposed FOI law but the Federal Government deems it a secret under the Official Secrets Act (OSA), Khalid said federal law would supersede.

Wong said the common view was that everything was under the OSA but their view was all information should be made public, with some exceptions.

Asked whether the draft enactment would be made public before it was tabled, Wong said yes, adding she was hoping to have it ready for the July or October meeting.

After the second reading, she said the Bill would be referred to a Select Committee that will have six months to get feedback and hold consultations with the public and public bodies and study the FOI laws in other countries.

Later, at a public consultation and forum themed “Freedom of Information: The Right to Reclaim”, Wong listed public interest override, legal privilege, health and safety as some of the usual exceptions to public access under any FOI law.

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It is the law! That is what they would say in defence of laws that are less than fair to the people. It is the law! So just grin and bear it. There is nothing you can really do unless the law is changed or abolished. But if you wish to change the law then make sure you win at least two-thirds of the seats in Parliament. Once you control two-thirds of the seats in Parliament then you will have the power to change any laws you consider less than fair. Until then, it is the law, so accept it.

That is what we have been led to believe. Once it is the law you really can’t do much about it except to accept it without protest. Protesting is futile because by doing so you will be opposing what is legal. And by opposing what is legal that makes you a lawbreaker, an outlaw of sorts.

That was the same argument they used 800 years ago in England. If you killed a deer, they would hang you. This is because deer lived in the forest and the forest, and everything in it, belongs to someone. So this means the deer also belongs to someone. And by killing a deer you are poaching and poachers would be arrested and hanged. That was the law, then.

But does this mean just because someone decided that this is the law it was right? Today, we look back on what they did 800 years ago in England and we laugh. It is utterly ridiculous. Just because someone gave you a title and power over the forest you have every right to decide what happens in that forest and anyone killing an animal in that forest will be put to death?

Now, we must not mistake this as a penchant for animal rights. The ‘owner’ of that forest was not in the least concerned about the welfare of the animals. In fact, someone with the rank of forester would be tasked with the job of killing at least one deer every day so that the tables of the Lords and Nobles would be overflowing with meat. It is just that they wanted all this meat for themselves and they felt that the common rakyat did not deserve any of the meat.

It is all about everything in this land as far as the eye can see belongs to me and nobody had better try to steal anything.

When we look at the ‘system’ and laws of 800 years ago in a country like England that is supposed to be extremely advanced and civilised, we wonder how the people of that time tolerated all this bullshit without fighting back. Legend has it they did fight back, though, and people like Robin Hood was supposed to have led his Gay Men (‘Gay’ as in ‘Merry’, not as in you know what) to oppose the cruel system and laws.

I am sure many of you know the story of Robin Hood, Prince John, King Richard, the Sheriff of Nottingham, and whatnot. Robin Hood was supposed to have been the goodie. That is because he was supposed to have robbed the rich and given what he robbed to the poor. King Richard was also supposed to be the goodie while the two evil ones were Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham.

This shows what Hollywood can do to warp your mind. If Robin Hood was the goodie because he robbed from the rich to give to the poor then so would Botak Chin be considered a goodie. And I heard Botak Chin sent a ‘get well soon’ message to Prime Minister Tun Hussein Onn when he was recuperating in hospital, but I can’t confirm this though.

Maid Marian was supposed to have been a beautiful virgin living in Prince John’s palace. If she really was beautiful and was living in Prince John’s palace then no way she would be a virgin in an era when even priests raped girls and boys aged 12 or 13. Again, the power of Hollywood.

And what about King Richard, the other goodie? Do you know when Richard became king he persecuted the Jews? In fact, as soon as he became king, the Jews all over England, and in particular in London, were massacred and their property confiscated. King Richard was no better than Hitler and not the hero that Hollywood makes him out to be. And he actually became king by ousting his father from the throne. That would make him a treacherous son. And Richard was French, not English, as Hollywood tries to portray him, plus he did not speak English well.

Richard, as we all know, spent a lot of time with the Crusades. Actually, he spent most of his time outside England. He only went back to England to collect the tax money that the peasants had to pay. That’s right, the poor people of England were, by law, forced to pay all their hard-earned money to the palace. The people starved while the king lived well on the sweat of the people. But then that was the law, 800 years ago.

It may be the law. It may have even been considered right 800 years ago. That may have been what the government-of-the-day decreed. But that does not make it right. And what do we do when it is not right? Do we cheer on the king who oppressed his peasants with heavy taxes and draconian laws? Is Robin Hood our hero for opposing the system? Did he really oppose the system or was it a personal fight because, according to the legend, he had lost all his wealth? Robin Hood was a criminal. He broke the law. How can a criminal like Botak Chin be regarded a hero?

Yes, that is certainly food for thought is it not? Malaysia has an Official Secrets Act. Any document stamped with the word RAHSIA automatically becomes a classified document. And all it needs is an office boy somewhere to stamp that document with the word RAHSIA and it becomes a classified document. And, as argued by Raja Aziz Adruse during Marina Yusoff’s sedition trial in Penang, the contents of the document is not crucial. What is crucial is the RAHSIA stamp on that document. Even if the document is blank or if toilet paper has been stamped with the word RAHSIA, then you would be committing a crime if you happen to be in possession of it.

Does this sound silly? If you are in possession of a blank piece of paper or a roll of toilet paper but just because an office boy without any brains stamped RAHSIA on it then you get sent to jail for two years or so? Does this sound absurd? It may sound absurd but then this is the law. And if you kill a deer in the forest then you hang for it. This is also the law. And that law was made by a Frenchman who spoke no English and who taxed the English peasants down to their underwear and persecuted the Jews that resulted in a bloodbath all over England. But he was the king and that was the law. So that makes it right.