Policing the police
The way you make communities safer and police safer is through community policing. – Tim Kaine, US Senator Some disturbing media reports surfaced recently that some errant enforcement officers of the police, army and immigration are involved in human trafficking business that is reaping millions in ill-gotten ringgit. One such racket was recently smashed open […]
Where ringgit dares
It’s accepted fact. It’s legal bribery of political candidates. – Jimmy Carter, former US President I keep hearing that the 14th general election in 2018 cost RM750 million according to the Election Commission. Prima facie, that smacks of money politics. Is this what it costs the government and opposition candidates? Wow! This triggers a […]
Fearsome freedoms
Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing. — George Orwell, English novelist The biggest freedom every human being enjoys is the freedom of thought. The power, authority, luxury and right to think good, bad, ugly, reprehensible, joyful, awesome, awful, hateful, or beautiful […]
Elysium 2100
The life of inner peace, being harmonious and without stress, is the easiest type of existence. – Norman Vincent Peale, American minister who popularised the ‘Power of Positive Thinking’ Elysium, in the year of our Lord 2100, is a haven of recurring delight, pure bliss, constant joy and perpetual peace. There are no known, detected […]
Elective dictatorship
Politics is more dangerous than war, for in war you are only killed once. – Winston Churchill, wartime British prime minister The theory of utilitarianism first conceptualised, established and politicised by Jeremy Bentham promotes a sovereign’s actions that maximise happiness and well-being for the affected individuals with benefits, obligations, duties, advantages, rights, positions, privileges and claims. Theoretically, […]
Constitutional hernia
If the machinery of government is of such nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then I say, break the law. – Henry David Thoreau, American philosopher and essayist Malaysians from all walks of life have started taking stock of the conditional movement control order (CMCO) in varying degrees […]
Jejune jurisprudence
Public policy is an unruly horse but it is up to an able and competent judge to ride that unruly horse and bring it down on the side of justice. – Lord Denning, English lawyer and judge A great judicial escapade occurs when judges believe that their job is to judicially interpret and verbally enforce […]
Constitutional conundrum
The strength of the constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it. Only if every single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defence are the constitutional rights secure. – ALBERT EINSTEIN, THEORETICAL PHYSICIST Einstein’s dictum is wholly relevant to right-thinking Malaysians, especially those amongst us who genuinely […]
Customary law
The epoch of Customary Law, and of its custody by a privileged order, is a very remarkable one. – SIR HENRY JAMES SUMNER MAINE, BRITISH JURIST AND HISTORIAN Customary law is the sharpest arrow in the quiver of “the law” since custom or usage is the best interpreterof laws – consuetudino est optima legume interpres […]
Sowing and navigating chaos
The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem. – PROFESSOR MILTON FREIDMAN, AMERICAN ECONOMIST I have taken up darts. My dartboard is adorned with the pictures of the fathers — mothers unknown — of political philosophy and political science like Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), Hugo Grotius (1583-1645), Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), John […]
