Money politics: 'Guilty until proven innocent' - AUG 25, 2004

You thought that you've seen it all!

Surprised, nah, no surprises anymore. Malaysia inded BOLEH! (malay word for CAN) Reading this news coverage at Singapore's NST; Money politics: 'Guilty until proven innocent' - AUG 25, 2004, made me cringed with horror.

This statement from a very silly old man ,who most probably have similar train of tots with his former boss, the supreme lord who lords over the whole malays of Malaysia, Mahathir, the former PM, currently still acting as one still; indeed confirmed 1 thing. People's suspicion that the latest Malaysian founded maxim has indeed been tested well and successful during the trial of one blacken-eye-man-with-bad-back, Anwar Ibrahim. With the successful implementation at the judicial court in Malaysia, UMNO now deems it is their god-given duty to transplant this maxim everywhere in the country, starting from their own political party constitution.

What else is left for the rest of the sensible Malaysian to do? Keep looking and turning the other cheek? :)

Innocent until proven guilty, a maxim which has even been adopted by The United Nations in its Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 and is generally accepted by others as well. Even though not found in Magna Carta, most observers believed that everyone expected this to be the case on English courts.

Pennington has noted in his paper that when Johannes de Pogiali examined the facts when few Christian women complaints on the deceits of Salamon and his son Moyses, 2 Jews living in Rimini, that made the women commited fornication with them, he concluded that "it was better to leave a crime unpunished than to condemn an innocent person." Similarly, Blackstone’s argument that 'the law holds that it is better that ten guilty persons escape than one person suffer' is very deeply entrenched on the minds of conscious individuals.

There's even a joke on this maxim!

What do these guys have to say about this?

For the benefit of those who may have missed this article, I have copied-and-pasted the offending article below:-
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AUG 25, 2004Money politics: 'Guilty until proven innocent'
This is one of the moves mooted by the Umno disciplinary board to fight scourge in run-up to party elections
KUALA LUMPUR - Guilty until proven innocent - this is one of the moves proposed by the Umno disciplinary board to fight money politics which has been rampant in the run-up to the party elections next month.
Umno disciplinary board chairman Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen Tengku Ismail said this was aimed at overcoming shortcomings in dealing with complaints of misconduct during party elections.
Some of the complaints received were thrown out because of lack of evidence, he said, adding that there was a need to fix flaws in the party's code of ethics.
He said: 'We recommended that the onus of proof is no longer on the person making the allegation. This means that the accused himself would have to prove his innocence.'
He said it would be easier to go after those who buy votes and their agents if the burden of proof was shifted.
'This is one view to tighten the code of ethics to effectively eradicate money politics,' he said after the board meeting on Monday.
He also announced the suspension of three more members for three years or one term - whichever came later - for practising money politics during the branch and divisional elections.
The three included Tanah Merah Youth chief and Umno Youth executive committee member Ikhmal Hisham Abdul Aziz, who was vying for the Tanah Merah division chief's post.
The other two are former Temiang branch chief Abdullah Zawawi Che Omar and Mohamed Yusoff Deraman of the Tanah Merah division, both of whom acted as 'agents' for candidates contesting the branch and divisional elections.
'The main culprits could not be pinned down,' said Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen.
He said Abdullah Zawawi had acted as an agent in Kuala Krai, Kelantan, to accept money and organise meetings.
This brought to four the number of members suspended for breaching the party's code of ethics during the elections.
Asked whether the warning given to three members recently was effective as a deterrent, Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen said the action fitted the nature of the offences.
'The Umno leadership has repeatedly stated its stern stand against money politics and their intention not to see this practice spread within the party,' he said. \-- The Star/Asia News Network,New Straits Times
Copyright @ 2004 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.