engineer in Egypt is routine in Malaysia.
You can be released from detention via a court order and rearrested
the same day with new charges!!!
This is just one of the parallels. The most striking similarity is the
EMERGENCY LAW that Malaysia is still under, that disallow peaceful
gathering despite the constitution clearly saying that THE RIGHT FOR
FREE ASSEMBLY CANNOT BE LIMITED EVEN BY PARLIAMENT.
And yet even simple Magistrates and Policemen can limit this right by
requiring permits which is not approved. Not only are these lowest
enforcement bodies RESTRICT FREE ASSEMBLY, they can ALSO DENY. Which
means that they are more powerful than PARLIAMENT.
The reason quoted had been the STATE OF EMERGENCY that Malaysia is
still in, allowing Policemen to DENY FREE ASSEMBLY. Judges also accept
this argument.
Voters also accept this argument which means Malaysians as a whole DO
NOT RESPECT THE CONSTITUTION.
When BN parties are routinely returned to power with more than 2 third
majority allowing them to change the constitutions AT WILL. There is
nobody to blame but ordinary Malaysians themselves.
While Egyptians reject unjust and undemocratic laws, Malaysian welcome
these unjust and undemocratic laws because they believe that it is
good for peace. The result is very clear for all to see. The poorest
people on earth in a land of plenty. If Hosni got billiions, so should
the BN politicians. We just don't know yet.
One other parallel that I didn't mention was THE DIVIDE AND RULE. It
is worst in Malaysia because of the multiracial and multi religious
population. I had just got the video campaigns from Indians claiming
to be victimised while ignoring the facts of the matter than other
communities are even in worse situations, as noted by world bodies.
Statistics also indicate that Malays are still the poorest despite
forming the backbone of the BN ruling party.
in fact, the strongest supporters of BN are the poorest. Very strange
indeed. My theory is that these people are so poor that they need
government support or corruption in order to survive or make ends
meet.
These Egyptians are deemed as poor but when I look at their houses in
CNN, BBC and AlJazeera, their homes are much better than most homes in
Sabah.
My theory again is very simple. BN frighten these people against each
other. To Malays, BN will say that ONLY BN can protect the rights of
the Malays. To Indians, only BN parties are able to provide for
Indians. The opposition has no money to give to Indians, and has no
ability to govern etc. After all, it is accepted that governments have
the right to victimize oppositions. Malaysians believe that it is the
moral right of BN governments to victimise oppositions.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/12/AR2011021203779_pf.html
washingtonpost.com
NEWS | LOCAL | POLITICS | SPORTS | OPINIONS | BUSINESS | ARTS & LIVING
| GOING OUT GUIDE | JOBS | CARS | REAL ESTATE |SHOPPING
ad_icon
Quantcast
The morning after in Egypt, grim realities
By Ernesto Londono
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, February 12, 2011; 11:23 PM
CAIRO - As Abdul Rahman al-Sharkawi danced with the infectious joy
gripping Cairo on Saturday, he was unable to shake one image - his
father languishing in a tiny prison cell in a town in Egypt's western
desert.
Fears for his 61-year-old father, who has been imprisoned for years
under an emergency law that allows detention without judicial review,
have haunted him since childhood.
"He's an old man and he spent half his life in prison," Sharkawi, 30,
said Saturday, looking bleary-eyed but triumphant as he celebrated the
ouster of Egypt's long-time authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.
Cairo's downtown streets abounded in signs of hope and renewal.
Volunteers wearing rubber gloves and surgical masks picked up trash in
Tahrir Square, where demonstrators had proved their mettle against
well-armed policemen. Civilians used rubbing alcohol to wipe off anti-
government graffiti scribbled on tanks as soldiers posed for photos
with flag-waving children.
But the morning after Mubarak surrendered his powers to the military,
many took stock of the scars left by his 30 years in power. They also
began coming to grips with a sobering reality: Many of the root causes
of the 18-day uprising will take years to address.
"Thousands of Egyptian families have been broken by Mubarak and his
political apparatus," said Egyptian human rights activist Hossam
Bahgat. "We can establish the truth of what happened to them and maybe
ensure that they receive compensation. But we will never be able to
give them their lives back."
Mohamed al-Sharkawi, an engineer who studied in the United States and
the Netherlands, was first detained in 1981. An observant Muslim, he
returned to an Egypt transfixed by the assassination of Mubarak's
predecessor, President Anwar Sadat, by members of an extremist Islamic
group.
"He was detained just because he had a long beard," which was common
among devout Muslims, his son said.
Mohamed al-Sharkawi was defiant under interrogation. "My father fought
back," his son said. "He stood up for his rights."
For decades, Egyptian inmates detained under the emergency law have
had few tools to defend themselves. Mohamed al-Sharkawi spent three
years in custody. He was released after being acquitted of criminal
charges that sought to link him to the assassination plot.
In 1987, shortly after the assassination of an interior minister, he
was taken into custody again. He spent a year in jail and this time
received no trial.
After being released, he moved to Pakistan, determined to build a new
life. But in December 1994, officials in Egypt, who were battling
violent Islamist groups, sought the deportation of several Egyptians
living in Pakistan. Mohamed al-Sharkawi was one of them. He was
returned to Cairo the following year.
His son said he was beaten and strung up and kept in solitary
confinement for years.
The family spent years and thousands of dollars in legal fees in a
futile effort to free him. They obtained 18 court orders demanding his
release. When each one was issued, Mohamed al-Sharkawi was
procedurally released - then taken into custody again, with
authorities citing new allegations.
In 2008, intelligence officers raided Abdul Rahman al-Sharkawi's house
and took him into custody as well. They interrogated him for hours,
chastising him for delivering letters his father had written to the
state prosecutor's office alleging prison abuse.
The younger Sharkawi said he was blindfolded during his 20-day
detention.
"I was tied to a bed and tortured with electric shocks for an hour,"
he said. "They were asking, 'Why did you send those letters and whom
in the human rights organizations do you have contact with?'"
When he was released, Sharkawi said, he wanted to leave Egypt. "I felt
it was useless to spend your life in a place where there is no respect
for anyone," he said.
When the anti-government demonstrations began last month, he was
initially apprehensive about joining in. But after the Jan. 28 clashes
between protesters and anti-riot police, he felt galvanized.
"The old Egyptian people were frightened," said Sharkawi, who works
for a market research company. "They were telling us not to go. After
I saw everyone go out, I felt there was a change. They couldn't arrest
all those people. That's what gave me the motivation to go out."
Repealing the emergency law was among the top demands of the
protesters who brought down Mubarak. The military commanders who
assumed control of the country have promised to do so soon.
Sharkawi said he is optimistic his father will be released once the
emergency law is lifted. But it is unclear how the country's interim
leaders will handle such cases.
"I don't know whom to go to," he said. "Do I go to the military? I
don't know."
Since he's been in jail, Mohamed al-Sharkawi has grown increasingly
embittered, his son said.
"My father was very pessimistic about Egypt. He said, 'If I come out
of jail, I'm not going to spend a single day in Egypt,' " his son
recalled. "Now, I'm sure his view will be changed."
Post a Comment
View all comments that have been posted about this article.
No comments:
Post a Comment