Draconian

Last Thursday, a day before the Malaysia Day, I read in the Star that the Prime Minister would make an important announcement at his speech for the Malaysia Day celebration. And according to some insiders, the announcement was so significant that it would give a great impact on the people of Malaysia. Well, I didn't really pay any particular attention to such piece of news, what could it possibly be, how could it change our lives?

That evening, I was rushing to PJ to fetch my wife after work thinking of saving some time. My normal practice would have been going back to Seremban first after work and then going to fetch her at around 8 pm to avoid traffic jam. I left Banting at 5.30 pm sharp and guess what? It took me about 3 hours to reach PJ as there were massive jams all over, at Kesas highway and along Federal Highway. Under normal traffic condition, despite some congestion, I would still be able to make it in an hour from my office in Banting to PJ but I needed triple the time to be there that night, probably because the following day was a holiday.

So I had save some mileage for sure but had to endure such a crazy traffic jam and we only managed to reach home at about 11 pm after a nice dinner taken at Section 17. As I was driving back to Seremban, I recalled that piece of news on PM making important announcement on his Malaysia Day speech. I tuned on the radio and the PM was already addressing and the so called important announcement was none other than the abolishment of ISA.

To an ordinary person, what is the impact of the abolishment of ISA which was regarded as draconian to some politicians, opposition especially who were crucified by such act. But to an ordinary person, the bread and butter issues will perhaps be more important than the ISA per se, or perhaps minimizing the traffic congestion is more important to us than the abolishment of ISA?

Will the abolishment of ISA give more freedom to the people then? That we have to wait until the passing of new laws in place of the ISA, but one thing is for sure, with or without ISA, there are still plentiful of laws that could be used with ill-intention to undermine the opposition. Mat Sabu for instance, was charged in a session court today with criminal defamation on the policemen and their families on his alleged remarks that communist guerillas who attacked a police station in Bukit Kepong in 1950 were the true freedom fighters.

Whether Mat Sabu will be convicted or not only time will tell but it goes to show that with or without ISA, the politicians, opposition especially better think before they speak.