But Dr Mahathir is old and senile. Nik Aziz is a country bumpkin. Saudi Arabia is crazy. It is our civil right to watch porn. No one should stop us from watching porn. So we have children also watching porn. But that is the price of freedom of information. There should be no censorship.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

More than 11 years ago, back in early 2001, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad explained why Malaysia needs a detention without trial law.

The Internal Security Act (ISA) is a preventive law, explained Dr Mahathir. It is a law that makes it possible to detain people before they commit a crime. If they have already committed a crime then they can be arrested and charged in court.

But it is better to detain these people before they commit a crime, Dr Mathathir said. Once they have already committed the crime they would probably be far away from the scene of the crime and would have escaped by the time the police arrive.

Even if they are arrested and charged they may get off. Maybe there is not enough evidence to get a conviction or a smart lawyer would get them acquitted. Hence, even if they are arrested, there is no guarantee they would be punished.

This makes the ISA necessary, said Dr Mahathir. People can be detained even before they commit a crime. Even while they are still thinking of committing a crime they can already be detained. Once they have committed a crime the damage would have already be done. Better we prevent the damage before it happens.

Then 911 happened. And this allowed Dr Mahathir to gloat and tell us ‘I told you so’.

Our Twin Towers is still standing because Malaysia has a detention without trial law, said Dr Mahathir. The US does not have such a law so their Twin Towers is gone. That shows how useful the ISA is to preserve peace, order and stability. The US too needs a preventive detention law like Malaysia, Dr Mahathir counselled that great power.

Then the US ‘followed’ Malaysia’s ‘advice’ by introducing their version of a detention without trial law. And the western countries too started embarking on preventive detention. They detained suspected terrorists who had yet to commit any crime but were suspected of planning or thinking of committing a crime.

So the world proved Dr Mahathir right in the end.

And now we find that adults who have sex with children escape punishment. Then we say that Malaysia’s legal system stinks. People who should be punished are not punished and people who should not be punished are punished. It is the world upside down. And, of course, we are not happy about this.

So what do we do? Do we detain without trial people who are suspected of planning to commit a crime or do we wait until they do commit the crime and then arrest and charge them and see them get acquitted and escape punishment?

Then we have people like Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat who says that boys and girls (or men and women) should not be allowed to mix freely. In fact, countries like Saudi Arabia do not allow girls or women to leave the house unless escorted or chaperoned by male members of their family. This is to prevent girls or women from being raped or duped into having sex with horny male predators.

But we call Nik Aziz an idiot and Saudi Arabia a backward country. We do not want segregation of the sexes or separate swimming pools and checkout counters for males and females. We want males and females the freedom to mix and not having to endure forced segregation by the state.

Yes, we want this and we want that. We want everything. We also want race-free political parties that will uphold the interest of our race. Hmm…that sounds like we want virgin prostitutes.

Then we have a 14-year old girl who has sex with a 13-year old boy. Do we now charge the girl for sex with a minor since she is one-year older than the boy? Or will this apply only if an 18-year old girl has sex with a 17-year old boy and then the 18-year old girl gets sent to jail in the interest of the 17-year old boy?

But it was the boy who seduced the girl. So how can the girl be punished? Yes, but it is the age that counts. And since the girl is older than the boy then she and not the boy has to be punished.

But why, in the first place, do children of 12 or 13 have sex? Well, this could be because children of nine or ten have access to the Internet and they get to see porn on the Internet. So they want to try out all those exciting things they see every day on the Internet.

So it is the Internet then that has to be blamed? Or is it because boys and girls or men and women are allowed to mix freely? Would barring girls from leaving the house without a chaperone or having separate swimming pools and checkout counters for males and females help? Or do we just arrest more people and charge them in court and see them get acquitted and go unpunished?

Phew…what a dilemma we are facing. Then Dr Mahathir comes out and makes a statement that the Internet needs to be regulated. Then we whack Dr Mahathir and call him all sorts of names.

But there is just too much porn on the Internet, argues Dr Mahathir. We are allowing children to see things they should not be allowed to see. And if we allow children free access to porn sites then they might want to try what they see on the Internet. And then we will have children indulging in sex.

But Dr Mahathir is old and senile. Nik Aziz is a country bumpkin. Saudi Arabia is crazy. It is our civil right to watch porn. No one should stop us from watching porn. So we have children also watching porn. But that is the price of freedom of information. There should be no censorship.

Okay, the downside is children who watch porn indulge in sex. But we do not agree to chaperoning girls or women. We also do not agree to segregation of the sexes. We want more policemen on the streets arresting adults who have sex with children and strict judges who are prepared to send these people to jail. And if a 19-year old girl has sex with a 17-year old boy then the girl must be locked up even if it was the boy who seduced the girl.

And since Barisan Nasional cannot do this then we must kick out Barisan Nasional and replace the government with Pakatan Rakyat. And how will Pakatan Rakyat solve this problem that Barisan Nasional cannot?

That is not important. What is important is we gave Barisan Nasional 55 years and they could not solve the problem. No doubt Pakatan Rakyat has not told us yet how they are going to solve the problem that Barisan Nasional could not solve. But we will talk about that later. Let’s vote them into office first and then we will discuss how Pakatan Rakyat is going to solve the problem that Barisan Nasional cannot solve.

Maybe we will do what Dr Mahathir suggests. Maybe we will listen to Nik Aziz. Maybe we will follow what Saudi Arabia does. Maybe we can show children various verses of the Qur'an and Bible that say sex outside marriage is forbidden and that they will go to hell if they violate God's command. Maybe we can detain without trial suspected sex offenders before they commit a crime. Or maybe we will do nothing and the problem will just continue. But let’s vote first and find out later.