Malaysian Constitution Getting Hijacked?

Subashini decision – constitution being rewritten
by Malay Law Student

Not only is the majority decision in R Subashini case wholly unacceptable to all right-thinking Malaysians – the decision has wider and more worrying long-term implications for the direction of the country.

In the writings of Montesquieu and AV Dicey, whose works underpin the concept of democracy, the judiciary is conceived of as the final bulwark of justice upon which the hapless citizen can depend when he or she is pitted against the seemingly endless resources of the state. Moreover, the judiciary is the arm of government charged with upholding the spirit and purpose of the constitution.

Our Federal Constitution clearly limits the jurisdiction of the Syariah Court to “persons professing the religion of Islam”. [Sch. 9, List 2 (1), Federal Constitution] By expanding the jurisdiction of the Syariah Court to non-Muslims, the decision of the majority of the Court of Appeal in the Subashini case turns the traditional view of the role of the judiciary on its head.

Here, we have a situation where the judiciary is performing the most fantastic of legal gymnastics in order to side with the state, going as far as to adopt a highly dubious interpretation of the very constitution it was meant to protect. So severe are the possible implications of this interpretation that it would be reasonable to view the decision in Subashini as an attempt to rewrite our constitution.

Irrespective of one’s preferences or personal beliefs, it is a fact that were it not for the constitution, most of our structures of governance including the judiciary and the syariah courts themselves would have nothing upon which to base their legitimacy and authority.

Thus, to establish a precedent where a fundamental provision of the constitution affecting a large proportion of the population is so glaringly contradicted in such a casual fashion could be the start of a very slippery slope – one with the potential to threaten the very foundations of our nation.

In view of this, judges and legislators must ask some harsh questions of themselves. Principally, they must decide whether they are prepared to forgo narrow, communal interests for the good of the nation.

A judge has a duty which is owed to all Malaysians and that duty is to fearlessly uphold the principles of the constitution, even if it conflicts with his or her personal or religious beliefs. Currently, Malaysia possesses far too few judges of this calibre.

Overall, we can draw two points from the majority decision in this case. First, it typifies why the Bar Council’s call for the establishment of a Judicial Appointments Committee must not go unheeded. Second, the disaster that is the 1988 amendment to Article 121(1) of the Federal Constitution must be rectified to enable our judiciary to regain its distant integrity.

Source: Malaysiakini

Air Asia Plane Crash

A concerned Malaysia Uncut reader, Kay, forwarded some pictures reputedly of an Air Asia plane crash. He/She said: It would be scary if news like this (provided it is true), is suppressed by the Malaysian Government…

Further details are unavailable. The source and authenticity of the pictures could not be verified. Could someone shed some light on this? Here are more pictures of the alleged crash:

Windows Vista Upgrade Clean Install Tip

The option of purchasing an upgrade over the full version of a new operating system is often the preferred method as it is alot cheaper, but update versions tend to be a little more problematic.  For example, if you wanted to do a clean install of your new os you had to prove that you qualified for the upgrade by inserting the original cd of the older os at some stage during the install.

The upgrade version of the new Windows Vista has done away with this CD check for doing a clean install, but to use it you still need qualifying software, such as Windows XP or Windows 2003.  But here is the good news – Windows Vista upgrade version also accepts an ‘unactivated’ version of Vista!  That means that you can clean install your upgrade version of Vista without activating it and then ‘upgrade’ this install to the upgraded version.  The downside of this means you have to install Vista twice, but Vista installs faster than XP, and you can save as much as 50% of your cash in the process.

Step 1. Boot the PC from the Vista Upgrade DVD.

WinXP Hacks

Deleting System Software

XP hides some system software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can tickle it and make it disgorge everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf, search for the word ‘hide’ and remove it. You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be your prey, exposed and vulnerable.

Creating Shutdown Icon or One Click Shutdown

Navigate to your desktop. On the desktop, right-click and go to New, then to Shortcut (in other words, create a new shortcut). You should now see a pop-up window instructing you to enter a command line path.
Use this path in “Type Location of the Item”
SHUTDOWN -s -t 01
If the C: drive is not your local hard drive, then replace “C” with the correct letter of the hard drive. Click the “Next” button. Name the shortcut and click the “Finish” button. Now whenever you want to shut down, just click on this shortcut and you’re done.

Increasing Band-Width By 20%

You know it’s true

Rob Pilatus, left, and Fab Morvan show off Grammys.
 Milli Vanilli on film (read on to see videos)

A Las Vegas woman who forced the Milli Vanilli scandal to go public hopes a planned film “will be some kind of vindication.”

Jodie Rocco and her twin sister, Linda, were backup singers for the German-produced dance-pop duo that was stripped of a best new artist Grammy in February 1990 when the lip-synching scam was exposed.

Software for Starving Students

Software for Starving Students is a free collection of programs organized for students (but available to anyone). We’ve gathered a list of best-in-class programs onto one CD (one disc for OS X, one for Windows), including a fully-featured office suite, a cutting-edge web browser, multi-media packages, academic tools, utilities and more.

What software is on the CD?

Malaysia: A Haze of Secrecy

Report by ARTICLE 19 and the Center for Independent Journalism examining the level of access to environmental information in Malaysia.

 

Executive summary

 

The Malaysian public are being denied access to vital information about the environment. This is not only in breach of international standards, but also places both citizens and the environment at risk. Greater environmental openness would enable more effective participation in environmental stewardship and decision-making, promoting a truly public interest approach in terms of providing an appropriate balance between competing interests reducing corruption and breach of the rules, and leading to greater protection for the environment. It would also help individuals safeguard themselves against environmental hazards.

 

Malaysia is home to one of the world’s twelve areas of mega-biodiversity. Yet pollution and habitat loss – very often the consequence of big development projects – are taking their toll on local communities and are threatening the country’s abundant natural richness. The government’s approach has been characterised by undue secrecy and the withholding of information, seriously undermining the ability of citizens to participate in decision-making around issues which affect the environment.

Malaysian Army Set to Strike

Malaysia’s military is fighting a formidable foe – termites.

Many of Malaysia’s 80 army bases are believed to be plagued by the pests, forcing authorities to assign special officers to tackle the problem, newspapers reported Saturday.