Tuesday, July 24, 2012

The Home Minister is infamous for his irrationality must quit his job,

 High Court judge Datuk Rohana Yusof  ruled that Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein’s declaration was "tainted with irrationality". The Home Minister is infamous for his irrationality when he opens his mouth. Judge Rohana just immortalized that trait of his in her judgment when declaring Bersih not unlawful. her ruling today, High Court judge Datuk Rohana Yusof said the coalition of civil societies known as Bersih 2.0, though not officially registered, can be considered a society under the Societies Act.
 

“The minister’s order is quashed because Bersih is a lawful society,” Rohana said.


The home minister’s decision to declare Bersih unlawful on grounds the movement was a threat to national security was irrational and was not based on relevant facts, the judge said.


She noted that the then-Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Shah, had granted an audience to the movement’s leaders in the national capital and the authorities had been willing to negotiate terms prior to the July 9 rally last year.


“It does not make sense, that a week later the reason is no longer valid... the government’s declaration that the organisation is unlawful cannot be accepted.The reasons put forth by Justice Rohana, sound reasonable, but will our thick skinned ministers be able to understand the ruling? Right from the start, if the AG (if he is learned)..he would have advised against it. Now it looks so stupid. Hishammuddin, I've always maintained that you are not fit to be the Home Minister. And after this ruling, you might as well step down as the courts have ruled in favour of Bersih and it's a real slap on your face. But then again, knowing that you are thick-skinned, I doubt that you would even consider resigning. All the same, we'll patiently wait for GE-13 when we'll boot not only you but the whole UMNO/BN so that we will really have a clean and caring government - not one that pretends to hear the rakyat and in the process enriches themselves and their cronies. I'm sure we have the rakyat behind us and what is more important is God Almighty is with us and with him on our side, there is nothing to fear of UMNO/BN's intimidation! Didn"t he say that confiscating Journalist's Camera equipment is a STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE of the police.According to the Umno supreme council line up, he has a chance to become PM.
Just a thought of it will send a shiver down to our spine.


“Even if that is so, then the declaration should have been lifted accordingly,” Rohana said.
Not only peoples want to be clean and fair,now v can feel that,court also had a clean paper in the judge table for the justice, l on behalf rakyat of malaysia,Billion of Thanks to Puan,Rohana and Bersih unity steering committee teamwork peoples voice,Another BN failure to wrong the right . Only evil government will try to say that Bersih ( an organization asking for clean and fair elections ) is outlawed . The court has made the right decision . This decision will strengthened the spirits of participants of the last Bersih 's peaceful gathering 


Astute, experienced, supremely diplomatic, and ambitious as he is, such a man is likely to be stalled at crucial step, particularly in a world of power and politics.Politicians score on various skills. Some win hearts by being polite, defensive and conceding at the cost of  survival. Other win on manipulating vote bank politics, and promising more than can be delivered. These also know at first hand how to throw the blame on the rival for his continued indifference. Some play the game more comprehensively using divisive tactics, voter incentives, and keep smoldering fires well fanned.. Years of experience has taught him to adopt just the stance where a slight tilt can allow him to join the rightists, leftists, the backwards, the regional forces, and the now the extremely influential India Inc. lobby. The man speaks less, chooses his words, and people generally get fearfully jittery when he reserves his comments when it is expected that he shall retort for an insulting denial.Politics in this country has changed. The farmer is aware of what he invests, what he gets, and what is the  price his product sells finally. The student is aware of the financial burden of just getting a certification, forget true education. The ageing government servant is aware of the petty pension against the rising inflation and the huge medical bills.I do not know if alternative governments perceived or predicted would be any better. People who have reached the pinnacle of power and position need to deal with each other more maturely. The country cannot wait for them to sign their personal treaties, and even if that be so, it should not hamper systems and programs running, and more on the anvil.


Will UMNO, after being in power consecutively for 50 years, be able to surmount anti-incumbency in the 2013 polls? The conventional logic is that it won’t be able to do so. The popular belief is that although the UMNO will lose the next general elections the UMNO will not be able to win the polls. In other words we will be in a hanging from mid- air with governments formed by notoriously instable political alliances trying rule the country.


That the UMNO is on a bad wicket is fairly obvious. It has been in powers and any party which has been (or will be) in for fifty years has to face strong incumbency. Moreover they are unable as yet to unambiguously declare who in 2013 will be their candidate for the Prime minister’s post. 
 The greater anti- incumbency that UMNO will face is this one. We can call this long term anti-incumbency. When you hear statements like ‘the mahathir –Najib family should be kicked out’ it is this long term anti –incumbency feeling that is reflected. 


This is the only way that UMNO –which is going downhill – can rejuvenate itself. Popular wisdom is that in the 2013 general elections umno weighed down by the anti -incumbency impact of fifty will be booted out of power. 

Since the anti-incumbency is expected to be demonstrated by the electorate in the form of a vote against rising corruption,Najib can play a great role in warding off this impact. 

All men are equal but some are more equal than others. In this country of 25million, the more equal citizens are those who are called the umno Untouchables, . If a common man is caught breaking the law he can be tried and punished, for the umno Untouchables the law is different, it seems. Even if accused of wrong doing, they can be let off the hook. All this can happen officially and within the provisions of law and the officer can be freed without standing trial.
 Read on to figure out how.case study in India  

 when Pranab Mukherjee was unveiling his budget in Lok Sabha and millions of eyes were riveted on TV, there was action in the special CBI court in Hyderabad. His Lordship was pronouncing a judgement that has a far reaching impact on corruption and demonstrates how IAS babus can gang up to save their own from being even prosecuted for wrong doing. In the instant case, the special judge released from jail B P Acharya, an IAS officer of the 1983 batch who had been behind the prison wall for the last fifty days. The judge’s reason: there was no sanction from the government to prosecute Mr Acharya.


True, section 19 (1A) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) 1988 requires the nod of the Government of India (GOI) before an IAS officer is prosecuted.  It also requires that the application for prosecution be routed through the state government.  In the case of Mr Acharya, however his colleagues decided to do something which turned out to be a huge favor for the arrested officer. The officials of the General Administration department (GAD) who handle such applications just let this request be. Under the excuse that the CBI request for prosecution had come along with voluminous papers and that needed to be examined first, the GAD of the Government Of AP decided to sit on the application. When asked by newspersons, the head of the GAD said that the papers were “being examined” and let it be known that he could not specify a date by which this process would be complete and when the request would be forwarded to the union government.


The special judge of the CBI court, however did not ask about the details of the sanctions sought by CBI. The honorable judge said that since there was no clearance from the GOI there was no point in keeping Mr Acharya in jail. He released the IAS officer from jail on bond of Rs 50,000 and more importantly refused to take cognizance of the charge sheet filed against him. The CBI in its charge sheet- that pertains to the Emaar case - had arraigned Mr Acharya not only under two sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) but also four sections of the Indian Penal Code including section 120 B ( conspiracy), 420 ( cheating), 409 and 477-A.  The case relates to a golf course, cum residential complex in Gachibowli , a post enclave of Hyderabad. The allegation is that Mr Acharya as vice chairman of the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) allowed Emaar of Dubai to bring in a partner into the venture such that the government stake in the joint venture was reduced. Further the marketing rights of the venture were transferred to a private company Emaar MGF. All this led to a huge loss run into tens of crore to the AP government. 


Thus by resorting to the standard tactics of delaying files (so typical in babudom and something that babus are so adept at), the IAS lobby ensured that CBI was effectively blocked from proceeding with the prosecution of one of its own officers. Incidentally Mr B P Acharya had a road named after him in the industrial area where APIIC had joint ventures with many private parties. 


Mr Acharya, was not the only officer bailed out by the IAS lobby. Another IAS officer L V Subramanyam who is also an accused in this case was similarly let off. Subramanyam , also a 1983 batch IAS officer, had however not been arrested, so it was not that he was in jail. But in his case also the CBI court refused to take cognizance of the charge sheet filed. Incidentally he had in another case also got a similar safe passage. This relates to the Volkswagen case of 2005 where a fraud was committed on the Andhra Pradesh government which paid money into the accounts of a company called Vashistha Wahan which was touted as a front for Volkswagen. The CBI wanted to charge sheet Subramanyam for this case too, but again it never got official sanction to proceed against the officer. Today the IAS officer is the chief executive officer of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD)!


Investigations in the Emaar case began after CBI was directly asked by the AP High Court to do so. This followed a PIL by a ruling party MLA who was subsequently made a minister but was later axed. The PIL came after the AP government’s own Vigilance and Enforcement Department unearthed a scam in the whole affair.


A police officer serving in the Anti- Corruption Bureau (ACB) tells me that there are many cases not only in Andhra Pradesh but in all parts of the country, where IAS officers are not permitted by the government (read IAS officers) to be prosecuted.  Not surprising, the standard practice is to sit on files relating to permission for prosecution for an indefinite period without saying either yes or no. This in effect turns out to be an emphatic no.


Grappling with this practice, the Supreme Court in a 2G scam related matter had observed in January this year that the government could take up to three or at most four months to deal with an application for permission for prosecution. If the government does not answer with either yes or no in this stipulated period, it should be assumed that it has given “deemed sanction.” Lawyers however presume that the apex court had made a mere observation and it is for the central government to amend the PCA to include this stipulation in the relevant sections of the Act.  


Whether anybody would approach the apex court for a clarification or not is not known but last month that the IAS Officers’ Association of Andhra Pradesh had convened an extra ordinary general meeting of its members and had come up with a slew of demands. Among them was that IAS officers be quizzed by CBI sleuths only in their offices (and not that of the CBI) and that too in the presence of civilians who are conversant with business rules (read IAS officers). They had also demanded that the legal costs of defending the IAS officers be borne by the state government. The officers had also gone on a delegation to the chief minister. Although a strike and a pen down by the officers had been proposed by some officers, in the eventuality no such demand was made. The IAS lobby being so strong who knows ultimately these demands may be get codified as a standard practice.


It is usual for analysts to blame politicians- netas - for all the ills of the country. But to me it seems that the officers – the babus are as complicit as the netas if not more. If the IAS lobby sits on a file for prosecution for so long, it is also because the political executive is weak or fully complicit in the matter. In the instant case, it is because the political establishment in Andhra Pradesh is very weak and cannot assert its authority in running the government. But that is another story.


The chair incidence may be used to highlight that executive performance is much beyond a government's pecking order. Have two chairs if that solves the problem, but stick to the common purpose of development. 
Much has been deprived to the common on the basis of "compulsions of a co-alition" ------or is it the lack of maturity to work together as one people for a vast nation. The talent is there, the co-ordiantion misses out.


No comments:

Post a Comment