ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE

Being a lawyer, I hereby declare my interest in this matter touching on the administration of justice. We all want to see an efficient judicial department, but, we should not in pursuit of efficiency forget the importance of justice and the welfare and health of those involved in the administration of justice.

In the pursuit of efficiency, court has been order to sit and hear cases at 8.30 a.m., instead of the usual 9.00 a.m. and quality of work has been compromised. Such a change had affected the daily lives of many members of the police force, prison and court staffs, judges, magistrates, lawyers, witnesses and members of the public. Lawyers, judges and prosecutors now have to work until late night as they have to rush and finish their cases within a certain time frame period. Those involved in court work has short lunch break and cases finished for the day as late as 7.00 p.m. There were cases where judges, lawyers and those involved in the in trials only left court as late as 9.00 p.m. By the time they reached home it would already be very dark. Their kids may have already gone to bed by the time they reached home. They could not now spend much time with their children. In order to finish cases at hand, some judges even suggested trial to continue at weekends.

To police and prison officers, they have to reach their offices even before dawn as they have to get ready the prisoners so that prisoners could reach court before 8.00 a.m. In the long run, the health of those involved in the administration of justice would be affected. This will not be good and the government will in turn, see rising cost in hospital bills from government servants. Time will come that many government servants may just fall sick. The government should first conduct a study and impact of change on the health and psychological effect of such a drastic change before implementing a change in the administration of justice. We don’t want due to work stress a day will come that there could be bad things happening in court which may take lives of judges, lawyers and those involved in the administration of justice.

Manpower, not more money to cops!

The announcement of increments and allowances to police officers by the government is a bad move in terms of security management of the country. Police officers at this moment have good pay and their allowances had been increased or adjusted not long ago. Given the tedious and danger of police work, one may agree that police officers should be given better pay, but, we should also not forget that their income is very much better than many civil servants. Even before this announcement by the Prime Minster, a police constable with a Form 5 or SPM qualification enjoys a starting pay of about RM897.00 and can reach to RM2,065. 40 during his career in the Force. Besides that, a police constable can also enjoy a monthly service allowance of RM115.00, incentive allowance of RM200.00 and also housing allowance of RM275.00 per month. For a start, a constable can earn about RM1287.00 per month. After a minimum of three years, a constable can be eligible for advancement in rank to lance corporal and the advancement in rank will carry better pay and incentives for the constable. Police Inspectors in their present salary scale can now earn a few thousand ringgit a month.

Salary grade
Rank *Monthly salary
(RM) **Civil Service Allowance
(RM) ***Incentive Allowance
(RM) ****Housing Allowance

(RM)* ** *** ****
Trainee 897.00 115 - -
Constable 897.00-2,065.40 115 100 275
Lance corporal 1,386.21 - 2,285.94 115 100 275
Corporal 1,071.61 - 2,551.66 115 100 275
Sergeant 1,513.62 - 2836.62 115 100 275
Sergeant Major 1,773.16 - 2,897.80 115 100 275
Sub Inspector 2,032.71 - 3,157.35 115 100 275




In terms of security management, the government had shown bad financial management by increasing the salaries of police officers by giving at this moment better allowances. The additional fund of RM84 million, instead of allowances to the policemen, what the government should have done was to use that fund to increase the present manpower of the Force itself. At this moment, the Police Force lacked manpower and this manpower had not increased since the last 30 years.

When I joined the Police Force in the 1980s, the manpower of the Police Force stood about 80,000 men and it is also the same at today with about 89, 197 personnel only. With increased development and population, manpower in the Force should be increased, not their salaries in which, is already very high if compared with other government servants with same qualifications. This was the reason why we hardly could nowadays find policemen patrolling the streets and housing estates on foot and bicycles today. Given the better facilities today with patrol cars, this does not mean that better facilities will promote better efficiency if the Police Force lacked manpower.

The basic crime prevention in our society still needs policemen on foot and on bicycles. Even in advanced countries we still can see policemen on bicycles. The rationale behind this was to create of sense of friendliness with the public and with closer contact with public, policemen patrolling the streets on foot and bicycles can create a sense of security to members of the public. At the same time, it would be much easier for members of the public to supply information to police officers as patrol cars will not have this advantage.

The Home Ministry also should study the utilization of manpower in the Police Force. At present, we can find policemen doing clerical work and these clerical works could easily be performed by civilian staff. Being trained in security, investigation and crime prevention, it is a waste to see policemen and officers sitting in office to do clerical work in which are not suitable to their training. It is estimated that about 30% of the strength of the Police Force at this moment are doing desk job now and this includes the Inspector-General of Police himself. He should with his senior police officers be seen on the streets and checking their men more often rather than attending meetings and giving command from their offices. This is because only on first hand knowledge of the ground then could these officers been able to know what really was going on. This at the same time, this will create much public confidence and closer rapport from members of the public.

THIS IS OUR HOME WE CARE, WE WANT TO MAKE IT BETTER

Speech presented in a forum sponsored by Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia at Harbourview Hotel in Kuching, Sarawak on 14. 3. 2010.

Speakers at the forum were:
Datuk Dr. Jeffery Gapari Kitingan,
Baru Bian, Esq.,
Harris Ibrahim, Esq.,
Voon Lee Shan, Esq.,
Mr. John Cobbold,
Miss Flora peter,
Mr. Jayanath Appudurai.


When God created this planet, Earth, God sent men to this planet. In this part of the world, where our country Malaysia is God sent men of various races. Here we have Chinese, Indians, malays, Kadazans, Dusuns, Dayaks, and others to lived together. Why there are so many races in Malaysia, not one race? Why God made things that way? Of course, there is a reason but our God Almighty knows very well what He wants for us. We are here as creation of God to live together as a family and we need to love each other in whatever situation and differences that may arise, but, the problems that we are facing in these present days are our own creation.

I can say, politicians play a very major role in leading the direction where this country will go and how this country should be governed. Politicians in the world, especially in Malaysia, are the people who can greatly influence the thoughts of the people. There are politicians that took advantage of our situation here for reasons known to themselves who started to tell Malaysians that Chinese and Indians have no place in Malaysia and should be treated as foreigners. This in the past, of course, had created much racial tension. Many Malaysians, especially the Chinese out of fear of mistreatment had migrated to other countries. Some people of other races might have migrated because they also fear that one day the issue of race will explode like May 13, 1969.

We all know under the Federal Constitution, the malays have a very special place in this country and under the Federal Constitution, they enjoyed many privileges. Although the malays enjoy special place and privileges in this country, this does not mean that other races are not given rights at all to pursue their daily lives. So, to other races especially, the Chinese and Indians, we should not say we are born unlucky not to be malays. To these races who are not malays, we have no choice, but, God wanted us born under that race. Of course, if we can have a choice, many may wish to pick the kind of race they wanted.

The issue of race has in the past been exploited by many politicians and it was due to this reasons that many political parties in the country are race based parties. The issue of race is intertwined with religion. Each race based party fought for their own race and with that they fought for their religion. Therefore due to that they only fought to protect the rights of their own race and religion. This is here our problems arise and when each race were too eager to protect own race and the rights of own race and religion, racial tension arose. Therefore, the problem of race is the biggest obstacle that we all need to overcome, if we consider Malaysia our home.

As for myself, although born a Chinese, I am a Malaysian and Malaysia is my home. Although my ancestors were from China, I can’t think of China, but, I can only think of Malaysia and like all Chinese in this country, I have to live and die here. With that, I must think how to make this country better and how to make Malaysia a better home for me and everybody.

We see Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore. His ancestors came from China and settled in Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew never thought of going back to China. Lee Kuan Yew may not be a perfect leader, but, he made Singapore proud having a son like him. A small island state was turn by Lee Kuan Yew into a giant business centre in this region. Singapore should belong to the malays because the malays were said the earliest settlers, but, why Lee Kuan Yew could do well for Singapore? With that, other races including the malays, also benefited under Lee Kuan Yew and he is a very respected person in the island for having turned a poor island into an economic power house far surpassed many countries in this region. We must take it as a reality that Malaysia has been far left behind Singapore in terms of prosperity and their dollar is stronger than us two times.

Now, why Lee Kuan Yew could help develop Singapore to what it is today and left many countries in this region far behind? We must understand, Lee Kuan Yew was given equal rights and equal opportunity with other races in the island to help the country in whatever his talent could do.

Now, turn back to Malaysia. We want to make this country better and we care. We are not foreigners as some politicians in UMNO had said, but, sons of the soil of Malaysia. Although the malays have better privileges in Malaysia, I just hope that if we want Malaysia to prosper like Singapore we have to change. We need to tell people in power, especially, UMNO, who rules this country since independence that we need to change and we should not anymore be too protective of one race. What we should do is to work together for a true Bangsa Malaysia. Although we had been differentiated by skin complexion, we are all the same.

We must remember, when God sent us here and although born of different races, God had made us equal and wanted us to be equal. God gave every baby that came to this world irrespective whether he was born a malay, Indian, Chinese, dayaks and so forth, the gift of speech. The baby when born cried in the same language known to all men! The baby did not cry in the Indian language, not also in the malay language and also not in languages of other races! All babies when born have ears, a mouth, two hands, two legs, one head and two eyes and with a body. They were all made equal, but, it is we men that made things unequal and difficult for everybody. As I had said all these things were influenced and shaped by the politicians in the country. To us here and to all countrymen, I hereby call everyone to arise, not anymore be blind followers of politicians.

We should break the race barrier and must truly strive to build a Bangsa Malaysia and only when we recognize the existence of Bangsa Malaysia can we prosper and move forward with no more racial and religious tension.

In fact, the issue of race and religion have been in the past been exploited by these narrow minded politicians, who failed to focus to make this country a better home and a better Malaysia, but, a better own race – “bangsa sendiri”. We don’t want one race trying to destroy another race. Each race should be allowed to grow and to live side by side with each other.

We should not forget what Hitler did in Germany. Many Jews were killed, but, it was the Jews, although their numbers are not many, that became the better scientists in this world.

We had seen that when race and religion had been exploited, these politicians who propagated the supremacy of race, normally took advantage of the situation to enrich themselves and to climb to the higher echelon of the society. To do this, they will then leave many of their own race behind and also will leave other Malaysians at the bottom of the social strata. This then created tension among ourselves. We could see many in UMNO had left UMNO and there were also people in MCA that left MCA for DAP and other political parties, because these political parties put own race above all.

These politicians who propagated supremacy of race also took advantage of the culture of our people and society. It is our Malaysian culture that we seldom wish to pin point mistakes created by our leaders. At the same time, our race culture also was that we need to respect our elders and most of the time we were just blind followers, not knowing what happened and why things was done that way or this way. We just follow until we hit the rock! This is why we could not progress fast.

We also need to be aware that if we allow our nation to have race and religion to shape our destiny, then, we in East Malaysia would be very much in a disadvantaged position. This is because although we, Kadazan-Dusuns and Dayaks can always group ourselves together in own respective race, but, we can’t spread our wings to West Malaysia. We don’t have Kadazan-Dusuns in West Malaysia and Dayaks, except, a for a small number in Johore, we also don’t have dayaks in West Malaysia.

Although the Federal Constitution also protects and gives special privileges to the indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak, but, when we allow race to take precedence in any decisions affecting our country, I can say the protection in the Federal Constitution is only a show case. It did not help the indigenous people of East Malaysia much because Kadazan-Duzuns and Dayaks in Sabah and Sarawak do not have the numbers. So, the protection is not there and in truth not many Kadazan-Duzuns and Dayaks enjoyed the privileges given under the Federal Constitution.

So, we should not let the issue or race and religion to shape our destiny and our country. Although we are small in numbers, we have many talented people in East Malaysia, but, if we allow race and religion takes precedence, l would regret that many talented people will not be able to take centre stage in many things, thus, depriving the country of good and talented people to help make this country a better home for all. We need more people like Lee Kuan Yew or maybe Datuk Idris Jala or Datuk Seri Tony Fernandez of Air Asia to help shape this country into a true Bangsa Malaysia.

As citizens, we forgot that we should be guided by democratic process founded on the principle of equality, social justice, transparency, good governance, mutual understanding and mutual respect of each other. At the same time, we must while progressing forward, nurture a sense of brotherhood in among each other. We must love each other as brothers and sisters. It is here that we as common people in the society need to play a part. We should not only leave things to politicians alone. We should know what is right or wrong for ourselves and also what we want for our home. We should be brave enough to play our part and we should not blindly be dictated by politicians. We should not be subservient or too obedient to politicians and if they are not good, have no sense of brotherhood, not productive, and could no more help improve our society and homeland, then, we have to exercise our democratic rights to have him leave his seat.

The destiny of this homeland is in our hands, not in the politicians alone. This is our home, we all should care and we all should make it better. The country belongs to the people, not the few politicians in the ruling party in the BN government. Malaysian Government is the Peoples’ Government, not a Barisan Nasional Government. This was a wrong concept that had been instilled by these crooked politicians in the ruling parties to make people subservient to them and to make us forget that it is the people that put them in power and that it is the people that formed the government. So a government chosen by the people is the Peoples’ Government, not a Barisan Nasional Government.

So, countrymen, whenever we are to exercise our democratic rights, please chose a Peoples’ Government – a government that truly takes care of the people and the nation.

Stop Internal Bickering!

Opposition members should no more be bickering against each other and instead be more focused in sharpening their weaponry to fight the BN. We have very limited resources and very much lacking in manpower and money to fight the BN and yet we still hear Opposition members still very actively accusing each other and forcing own comrades to leave Camp and join BN. This will erode public confidence. We had been trying very hard to build a strong force together to what we are today, but, yet we have people who wanted each other out. Let us stay cool and think of ways to beat the BN instead of beating each other. This was the reason why I said factional politics is bad for all parties, be it in the Opposition or in the BN.

The Prime Minister in recent months had traveled far and wide in Sarawak and had poured billions of ringgits and this had won the hearts of many people in the rural area. I had said many times before that the battle this time will be in the interior and this is where we must put our resources together. The reason I said that the battle is in the interior because BN knows very well that we in the Opposition no Money Power to go to the interior. In urban areas, DAP and PKR are doing well and it is in these areas that we are able to kill BN off better. We must understand without Money Power, this BN is nothing and Taib also can’t play the tune much to please the people.

The problem of politics in Opposition is that many could see the prospect of capturing the government is good and very imminent in the next poll and in order not to miss the boat in the cabinet in the event an Opposition government is formed, many thought that the right thing to do is to keep their comrades at bay! This is here factional politics creates problems. This is bad and if this persists, we will never be able to capture the government because we are destroying each other instead of destroying the BN. So, let us no more do that and concentrate on our efforts to destroy the BN once and for all!

For myself, I can be out of the Party or out of politics, but, I want to still see the Opposition takes over the government soon. To sideline me is already bad but not all is lost for DAP and other Opposition parties. To the new face who will take over from me, I hope he can do better.

SHOW CAUSE LETTER TO THE DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE

I received the show cause letter dated 2. 2. 2010 by fax from the Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the Democratic Action Party Malaysia on 3. 2. 2010. I gave a serious thought whether or not I should reply the show cause letter, but, decided to do so when it was learnt that a leader from our DAP Sarawak said I should not be believed and that what I said were lies or that I had twisted the facts. I also know the consequences of not replying and also the effect of my reply. I was caught in a dilemma because the main issue that may influence any outcome is “Who is the Boss?” and how the Boss will react.

The show cause letter disclosed that the Disciplinary Committee had to act on a complaint from Wong Ho Leng, the Chairman of DAP Sarawak. It was a very general show cause letter of about over a page.

The reply was posted by me by way of Pos Laju yesterday afternoon 11. 2. 2010 and it contained about 62 pages. The matter touched on how I was involved in politics and the "football" we played in many “matches” in Sarawak elections. It also touched on the development of the “DAP Football Team” since the team was formed in Sarawak. I also touched on “footballers” that had to leave for other “teams” and their possible threat to the DAP Sarawak team.

When talking about football, I still remember a goalkeeper was charged for match-fixing in England many years ago. He was very talented and was my favourite goalkeeper at that time. A world class, I should say, but, it shocked me when he was charged in court. In Malaysia, fixing matches in football games was at one time a very common thing and it had brought the game into disrepute.

When I came to know football was no more a clean game, I then hanged my boots. Nowadays, I seldom watch football matches because of too many cheats. I was a footballer and a coach at one time and had played football with our Malaysian player, James Yakup when in the police. I met many footballers and at times also spent time with our "towkay" Soh Chin Aun in Alor Gajah for coffee during my football days.


I had to tell a story and the football team that went wrong and now I leave it to the Disciplinary Committee to decide.

HO LENG SAID VOON SELDOM SPOKE IN THE DEWAN?
For the past weeks, I was being condemned by my own leaders for replying against the unfounded allegations by a comrade in his facebook. We all know that facebook could be accessible to the whole world. I am entitled to defend myself against attack as it affected my image, but, in the past weeks I was too patient and just kept quiet. Now, the article in the facebook and my reply thereto had been deleted. With that, it is much easier to condemn me and sad to say my Chairman Wong Ho Leng joined the fray to throw dirt at me and public are not happy. Again, I have to clean myself and to clear my name in public.

Members of the public did not condemn me, but, showed a lot of sympathy towards me of what happened to me. Here, I convey my sincere thanks to them for their sympathy and concern for what had happened in the past weeks. I could not have the leisure to spend time to rebut all allegations levelled against me because my time are precious and I preferred my time be spent for useful things and be used to attend problems faced by the people my Batu Lintang constituency, rather than to respond to what Wong Ho Leng had said unnecessarily. But, as a human being I have my limit and I just could not keep quiet at all times.

I respect Wong Ho Leng, but, I just pray that God will guide him as our supreme leader in the Party to solve problems in the party and not to aggravate it or prolong the problem to aggravate further. A child could be very disobedient, but, this does not mean that the child is stupid and we must understand that when a child becomes rebellious, the child would create a lot of problem in the family and it is up to the parents how to take care of the child and show love to child. We all know when a child goes wrong the parents should be held responsible. The child lacks experience in life and needs much guidance from his parents to tackle problems of the outside world.

This was what actually had happened in Perak government under PR. The Perak problem was like a disobedient child who was full of anger. There was fire in his heart, but, leaders did not cool him down. If there is fire, we need water to dose it out. Instead, leaders whom I say are generals, poured petrol to it and the fire burnt the whole house! What I say, the fire was there, but, why poured petrol to the fire? Control the fire from spreading by calling the fire brigades and dose the fire by water! This was what should be done.

The Perak government collapsed and the generals put the blame on the solders! No, the blame should be on the generals, not on the soldiers, because the generals had no ability or management skill to take care and control of their soldiers. Soldiers normally follow orders and are there to protect their generals if the generals know how to command and control them. Therefore, in wars, normally soldiers died and not the generals! This is why there was a saying that “There are bad generals but no bad soldiers!” This is because the generals are selfish people and they seldom die in wars and instead they let the soldiers die by having them to fight at the front and when attacked, the generals will get the soldiers to protect them!

Yes, in politics I am a solider and was sent by the commanders to the front to fight the war. I still remember in 2001 state election, I was ordered to prepare to fight BN in Batu Lintang and I worked very hard for about two years. The comrades who followed me were stung by the bees, bitten by the dogs and some of them even fell into the drains when chased by the people who scolded us. But about three weeks before the nomination day, I was ordered by party commanders to fight BN in Pending in a three cornered fight involving Dominique Ng. Both Dominique Ng and I were killed in that battle field and the incumbent won handsomely! Why got Dominique and I killed each other when we should be in the same camp?

The commanders did this because I supposed they wanted KeAdilan instead to DAP to fight the incumbent. I could not see the true reason behind this until now. I regret Cheng Hui Hong from KeAdilan could not plug the fruits I and my few comrades had planted there for him. DAP was lucky to have a straight fight in Padungan at that time. Until today I could not understand why Dominique Ng from KeAdilan was ordered by his commanders to fight against me and against the incumbent in Pending in 2001 although his political work all the years was in Padungan area.

In that 2001 state election, I was nearly been assaulted and battered in CHMS No.3 when during a public meeting addressed by the incumbent, I challenged the incumbent to admit that there was a press statement in the 1980s that the land in the stutong resettlement scheme was supposed to be given to the occupants there free and without premiums when premiums were then imposed after the occupants had comfortably settled down.

Now, I come to Wong Ho Leng, our supreme commander in DAP Sarawak. In the press dated 23. 1. 2010 Wong Ho Leng said my voice was seldom heard in the Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN). As his soldier, I could not understand the reason why Wong Ho Leng as our supreme commander had to say this. He was throwing dirt at me in public and I have to clean myself and I should not allow dirt to stick on me all the time. We need to understand that time to speak in the Dewan has always been curtailed by all possible tricks from the BN backbenchers. Worst still, too much time was spent in unnecessary arguments, like the shouting of monkeys, kangaroos and kurang ajar just to attract the people in the public gallery and the press. I was always very amused when YBs shouting and pointing fingers at each other were seen just laughing at each other or their opponents when they were seen shouting at each other in the Dewan. To those who did not observe their action, but, followed the press could not see what actually happened in the Dewan sitting and thought that these YBs were heroes. Unwittingly, we in the opposition also fell into the trap of the BN backbenchers led by YB Abdul Karim from Asajaya and when time came to speak and debate on the real issues, we found that there was not enough time to speak. We made ourselves fools and wasted the precious time allocated to us. We only had about 8 to 10 days meeting each time where not less than 50 YBs wanted to speak. Many times, YBs were only allocated 15-20 minutes by the speaker. At times, I could find myself lucky to be able to speak longer. There were times that the speaker allowed me to speak for about an hour.

To the public, I have to say that I had always been very careful of my words so that I would not be chased out of the Dewan unnecessarily and had to manage my time well. I did not want to get involved in all the unnecessary arguments with BN backbenchers, but, when I need to shout, I had to shout aloud and was serious at it, even if be commanded to leave by the speaker. I have to tell the people that given the restricted time allocated to us in the Dewan, we must as elected representative representing the voice of the people find means to get ourselves heard. The contents and quality of our speeches are more important than the unnecessary shouting that created headlines in the press. I also have to tell the people that many gave lengthy speeches, but, lacked ideas and quality in the contents of their speeches. When ideas are lacking from the floor how are we able to assist the ministers to run the state more effectively for the benefit of the state and everybody?

Wong Ho Leng as our commander must understand that he should be the first one to stand up when Chong Chieng Jen in the May 2009 sitting was attacked and booed in the Dewan by BN backbenchers and by the ministers when Chong Chieng Jen was about to speak on the land matters. There was a walk out by BN backbenchers and by the ministers led by DCM George Chan, thus, leaving the Dewan no quorum to hear the debate made by Chong Chieng Jen. I could not understand until today why our supreme commander did not or slow react on that occasion well. As a solider it was impolite for me to ask my commander. He was not aggressive enough when the opportunity was there for him to do so.

I had to stand up and challenge DCM George Chan to offer an apology to the speaker, the Dewan and the people of Sarawak for leading the BN backbenchers out of the Dewan during the sitting of the Dewan when our commander did not respond immediately. If I could remember two days had lapsed, yet, our commander did not do anything to aggressively condemned DCM Dr. George Chan. I regret that my commander’s reaction was not something that could be expected from him as he should have aggressively attacked DCM George Chan. When I stood up it resulted in very heated argument and I was chased out of the Dewan. I addressed the minister politely, but, when he ignored me, I had to shout and was very serious about it because land matters involved the whole people of Sarawak, be he a malay, a Chinese or a dayak and I felt that DCM should be held responsible for his action.

I have to tell the people that after I had been chased out, I did not want to go back and had to wait for DCM to come out of the Dewan and confronted him again. I had to wait for DCM George Chan because land matter was an important issue and in each sitting where BN backbenchers could play their tricks, I was aware that time was not with us to tackle the problem for the benefit of the people of Sarawak and it could be seen that I had been fighting the unjust policy on land matters since I joined DAP. The incident in CHMS No. 3 was scary but I had to carry on.

My heart was in pain when I could not see my commander at my side when I challenged DCM George of his action. DCM George Chan and many YBs stared ferociously like tigers waiting to eat me. They were also showing their hands and pointing their fingers at me. I just wanted to know why DCM George Chan led a stage out and why he was not serious about the matter. Being a leader of the people there was no reason why DCM George Chan should not be aware of the importance of the matter. I was a lone ranger facing the odds. The ministers and other BN YBs were all there and they surrounded me. I could have been assaulted by people around. I was not intimidated by their acts and presence, but, until to day I could not understand why my commander did not save me from the assault by Dr. George Chan at the corridors of the Dewan. I am very sad, but, this will not leave me demoralized to help and work harder for the people of Sarawak.

At the same time, the press statement of Wong Ho Leng published on 23. 1. 2010 has implied that the people in Batu Lintang was wrong to vote for DAP in which I am the elected representative. They said it was an insult to their intelligence. With that press statement, I was confronted by many people from Batu Lintang about the wisdom of my commander in what the commander said in the press statement. The people in Batu Lintang refused to listen to my explanation and had demanded an apology from my commander.

Show Cause letter from DAP Disciplinary Committee

I had already receive a show cause letter from DAP Party Headquarters in Kuala Lumpur signed by Sdr. Tan Kok Wai on 3 February, 2010. I was given 14 days to reply and to offer an explanation as to why action should not be taken against me for bringing the party into disrepute. The show cause letter was issue after a complaint was made by DAP Sarawak Chairman, Wong Ho Leng to the Disciplinary Committee on 22 January, 2010. The show cause letter was given because I was said to have made media statements and postings on the internet in relation to certain grievances against the state leaders.

Last weekend a state committee meeting was held and it was voted that I should be suspended from the Party. I was told those who attended only had three choices. These choices were that they could only vote either to expel, suspend or to give warning to me. They could not abstain from voting and neither could they vote that I was not guilty. They also could not plead for me. The majority voted me that I should be suspended! Now, it seems that DAP Headquarters have no choice, but, to endorse the suspension. With it, I shall be out of the coming election as long as the suspension shall not be lifted! I am very confused!

Now, people guess who will DAP field to contest in Batu Lintang in the event I could not contest? Chong Chieng Jen or Wong King Wei? Or could it be Chieng Jen’s brother-in-law or his wife? Whoever shall be fielded, I hope DAP will retain Batu Lintang, but, I regret I just will not be allowed to campaign for DAP because of the suspension. I hope DAP will change the rule, that is, to allow me join the campaign for the DAP candidate that may stand in Batu Lintang. To Batu Lintang voters, please give support to them. My spirit and soul are there and to vote for them is to vote for me.

Further, I had been found guilty even before I could answer the allegations against me! I am more confused and I don’t know whether or not I should proceed to file a defence to the Disciplinary Committee.

Chong Chieng Jen had already delivered his own verdict even without seeing my defence when he was quoted in the Borneo Post on February 5, 2010 as saying, “As far as Voon’s public allegation is concerned, a lot of the statements were untrue, twisting facts and misleading.” Which part I was said misleading was not mentioned at all. Now, I find it more difficult to answer the show cause letter. Maybe, Chong Chieng Jen or Wong Ho Leng should help me.

In a court of law, I know that a person is not to be found guilty and be sentenced until he is allowed to make his defence or refused to make his defence. Even that, the court has to evaluate the whole evidence and to find out whether or not the charge has been proved beyond reasonable doubt against the accused person. Maybe, the system involving politics is different from the civil system of the courts in all democratic countries.

It confused me further when in Legislative Assemblies, elected representatives would cry foul if being chased our of the Assembly Hall without a hearing. I think our Wong Ho Leng and Chong Chieng Jen, will also do the same if being chased out of the Dewan Undangan Negeri or Parliament without a hearing or without being given a chance to offer a defence. We all know democracy involves transparency, fairness, equlity and partnership amongst equal,but, in politics, it seems the reverse. So, I just could not understand politics! No wonder, too many people laughed at me and told me politics was not made for me and had advised me no more to help people through politics, but, through other channels or sources.

The show cause letter also disallowed me to refrain from making public statements that would aggravate party image. Now, I am more confused when some party leaders could openly say something through the press that affects the credibility of party leaders.

For an explanation offered in answer to allegations in a facebook of a comrade, I was accused of bringing the party into dispute. Now, the facebook has been erased! Lucky I kept a copy of it! The comrade who made the unfounded allegations against me had not received any show cause letter yet. I am not sure whether this is a correct procedure for political parties to follow.