Poll Position: If it weren't for double-standards, we wouldn't have any standards at all...

Technorati tags: Poll Position, Opinion Poll, Police Action, Anti-ISA Vigils

This was something of an obvious poll, in the sense that Walski already knew what the majority of participants’ response would be.

And 73% is pretty much a majority whichever way you wanna cut it.
(the natives are restless, and more, in the full post)

What was most telling was the fact that NOBODY picked the response that the government is serious in improving law enforcement. Not one single person. It’s an indication that the public has serious trust issues when it comes to the police and what they do. And it also is an indication that the people feel the police are being deployed not to keep the peace, per se, but to quell healthy dissent.

The ISA was introduced in 1960 to the then government’s bid to combat the Communist Party of Malaya. According to historical record, though, it was an act that was very reluctantly introduced.

When the ISA was introduced in 1960, solemn promises were made in Parliament by then prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, his deputy Tun Abdul Razak and the Minister of Home Affairs Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, that the law will be used judiciously and only against communists, terrorists and subversives.
(source: Centre for Policy Initiatives "FAQs on ISA")

August 1st, two Sundays ago, marked 50 years of the ISA being in force. But over the years since its introduction, the ISA has been applied beyond its promised scope of use. In particular, it has been used against political dissenters, particularly during the years of the Mahathir administration, most notably Operasi Lalang in 1987.

But calls for its repeal have pretty much fallen on deaf ears. The best that the government is willing to do is to review it. Which is not what Walski thinks the majority of Malaysians want.

As can be seen from the results, there is a small minority of folks who actually believe that the ISA is an unalienable Malay right. Strange, but unfortunately true. These are probably the same people who think that Perkasa is the best thing since instant nasi lemak.

There were two Other responses that the poll participants provided:

• fcuk
• The cops are like cows

Now, Walski reckons that “fcuk” doesn’t refer to the popular fashion brand, but rather a more polite way of the poll responder expressing his/her outrage.

“The cops are like cows” response? Well, that’s a clue indicating what 3% felt – that “cows don’t have feelings”. Walski’s not exactly sure if the 3% actually caught on to what he was trying to imply, however.

Another thing that was telling was how 11% responded, that “Malaysia is beyond redemption and it’s time to leave”. Telling of the fact that how fed up some folks are, and not just with how the police seemingly practise double-standards either. The proverbial natives, as they say, are restless.

But will the BN/UMNO-led government take heed? Or will they continue to live in their own realm of denial, convincing themselves “semuanya OK”?

On a related note, to end this post, is this news item from a few days ago.

The impression that our Foreign Minister was desperately trying to give is that the crackdown had nothing to do with BN. It’s a position that many thinking people would be very skeptical of. Nice words and promises, nevertheless.

The question Walski has, though, Anifah – what the fuck are you waiting for?