Wednesday, June 17, 2009

DE PROFUNDIS CLAMAVI AD TE, DOMINE: DOMINE, EXAUDI VOCEM MEAM.

Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice.
Let Thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.


The De Profundis takes its name from the first two words of the psalm in Latin. It is a penitential psalm that is sung as part of vespers (evening prayer) and in commemorations of the dead. It is also a good psalm to express our sorrow.


WHAT SORROW?

Suhakam faces an imminent downgrade in status from A to B if the human rights body fails to be in compliance with the Paris Principles on Human Rights. Status A allows Suhakam and Malaysia to have speaking rights on human rights issues at all UN organs and other international bodies.

“Status B denies these rights and reduces the country virtually to the category of an outcast on human rights,” according to a Suhakam commissioner

The Human Rights Council went through a long litany of complaints against Malaysia in Sept last year.

Aside from the ISA “to silence the opposition and bloggers”, mention is made of “a whole raft of emergency ordinances which undermine fundamental rights and liberties such as freedom of assembly, expression, the right to due process”.

Also brought up was the dubious role of the half million strong untrained Rela (People’s Volunteer Corps or Ikatan Relawan Rakyat) in arresting undocumented workers and criminals, and the lack of protection for domestic workers.

The Human Rights Council has since recommended that Malaysia “rescind the ISA” and “release all detained under the Act or charge them in a court of law in accordance with international fair trial standards”.


Malaysia blacklisted for human trafficking.

The United States has put Malaysia back on the blacklist of countries trafficking in people after removing the country from the list last year.

The State Department annual 'Trafficking in Persons Report 2009', which examined efforts in more than 173 countries to combat trafficking for forced labour, prostitution, military service and other purposes, has Malaysia sharing the blacklist with 16 other countries.

Among the 17 countries on the blacklist are Zimbabwe, Sudan and Saudi Arabia.

Malaysia is the one of five Asian nations on the blacklist - the others are Burma, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and North Korea.

+++++


It is a crying shame. In things that are most important to us, the agencies commissioned have only done a lot of paper shuffling and a lot of talking.

It is a crying shame that as we approach developed nation status, we are sliding, not imperceptibly but perilously.

It is a crying shame that we are lumped in the company of renegade states like Burma, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Saudi Arabia.

It is a crying shame that it is now proven that commissioned and Royally appointed agencies are toothless and impotent.

It is a crying shame that they do not resign when they cannot perform.

It is a crying shame that the world looks down on Malaysia with opprobrium.

Can we take the laborious climb up the slope of acceptability? We can if we have these agencies report to Parliament and not to the Executive. We need to take away this pervasive overt protection that the Executive employ for their own preservation.

These two down-gradings are a slap in the face to our Sovereign who appointed these on the advise of the PM. In short, the Agong has been wrongly advised.

The donkey, it has been said, came about because too many committees were appointed to design a horse.

Flowers are placed on the The Pillar of Shame - a statue to mark the Beijing Tiananmen crackdown,
in Hong Kong on June 3, 2009.
June 4, 2009 is the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

+++++

Read More at Malaysiakini, HERE & HERE

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wither Malaysia?

A concerned citizen

Anonymous said...

1Malaysia. to hell with the rest.

NO black! No candlelights. NO mention of Mongolia. NO nothing unless Musa decides its ok. Thats 1Malaysia.

Anonymous said...

The downgrade affirms the demands of Malaysians who call for the abolition of the ISA and other oppressive acts against citizens of this country. Whilst we are all scratching our heads as to what 1Malaysia really means, and the motives behind this grand scheme, the country that most of us love so much now shares the blacklist with the likes of Zimbabwe and North Korea.

Yes, it is sorrowful indeed.

Alice

Fi-sha said...

Dear Uncle Zorro

No wonder my heart is crying...

Anonymous said...

Why did Mahathir not act on the SDs on Musa, the ones handed to him by RPK? Perhaps Musa is also holding Mahathir's balls, a soft target??? Great write Zorro, as usual straight for the guts. The 15 year old single was superb Sir!

Shalom Admiral Tojo

artchan said...

response from Minister inBolehland....

"huh? what?...no such thing..other people jealous of our success so they talk cock about us. I will ISA those buggers giving wrong info to UN. If we are so bad..why so many Indons are working here..why so many Bangla working here. Of course we screw them once awhile with the RELA guys..but remember they have better life here that at home even if we give them shitty salary. No..No..we don't give a damn on any US report. Anyway the US never liked us, so even if we lick the ambassadors testicles, they will not have anything good to say."

Anonymous said...

What happens now, Unca Zorro...?

Since our PM & "his" goverment has brought Malaysia to BIG shame.....

Can our Agung step in & change them now...????????????
It's also even a BIGGER slap to him too......

Malaysia is sooo.... screwed now.
Our tourism will be screwed too...!

Malaysia & Malaysian are always in the global news arena.....
PM in denial...
The rest just follow only.....
As usual..!!!!!!!!

What next...?????????

Anonymous said...

Who cares? United States Of ShAmerica blacklisted us? Lol big deal. They have blacklisted everybody else but themselves. ( Read: Texas and Mexico border) and their human rights record is not that pretty either (read: Abu gharib, Guantanamo bay.) Please laa people dunt have this micropenis mentality when it comes to Unite States of Shamerica.

yeah yeah illegal immigrant from Myanmar... China .... Filipina were forced to work in brothels, restaurant etc. Some were sent across border must be Thailand laa or Batam may be (most likely as you know what) some to Middle east (most likely as forced labour)

So think people....can these people just jump from the boat or TONGKANG and go to the nearest brothel and say “ Hey.. U ada kerja Kosong ka?” There must be a middle man somewhere... like brothel operators, pimps, taikos and Tais-Tais, Ah Bengs and Ah Lians, one officer from immigration department (may be la)

You see people the source or the root of the problem is actually these people la. The failure or not up to the mark performance by our Government according to the State Department of Shamerica is largely attributed to the operator/traffickers themselves. They are so well organised. They know what to do who to pay and who to call.

So who are these people? Before you people jerit jerit shame on you government please la see whether are they --- your cousin? your taikos? your Tai-tais? your neighbour? Your Father? Your grandfather? Your own people? Your Race? Dont just keep quite on this issue and blame it squarely on the Government. You see the Government is having a hard times. On one side when the para militia tangkap people people say Government Racist. And when tak tangkap people they say Government Rasuah. So either way government always Salah.

So how liddat? To be blunt about it if you think carefully and openly the source of the problem is really the greed of certain race in Malaysia in making money so much so they tak kira whether it is legal or not. In the process they give rasuah here and there, So actually these people who really contributed the most when it comes to this shameful episode. (not that I really care what United States Of ShAmerica think of my country anyway)

Also people this is why you people diam diam only when it comes to the source of the problem but buat bising when the troubleshooter aka government screwed-up. Because they are your people.

and yeah u can call me belacan if u like.

BelacanMelaka

zorro said...

BM(above): I hear you. I too don't subscribe to what America thinks of us. We cannot be dancing to the tune of America or any other developed country. But if facts are given and proven, we as citizens wants our authorities to be accountable and not sweep things under the carpet.

However, I do not agree with you when you termed the government as troublshooters. Troubleshooters are unbiased, they do not and must not take sides. They zero in on the problem, look for the cause of the probpem and provide solutions.
And troubleshooters will be shot if they sweep anything under the carpet. You still troubleshooters aka the government?

And by the way belacan is not a derogatory term. It is a necessary condiment in our cooking and I can't do without it. No I can't because I pound my sambal belacan myself, and the right proportion of belacan to the chillis is key!

Gadfly said...

Suhakam may soon be upgraded to have the status to speak of Inhuman Rights. Not bad.