Posts Tagged ‘Parliament’
Exporting censorship
From New Zealand Herald:
Dr Norman is outraged that members of a Chinese delegation were able to push him, hit him with an umbrella and rip a Tibetan flag from his grasp.He was protesting as Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping arrived at Parliament greeted by a few dozen pro-China supporters.
Some of the group, believed to be Chinese security, took exception to Dr Norman waving a Tibetan flag and calling for democracy.The MP brushed away attempts to have an umbrella placed in front of him, then clashed with security guards as they pulled the flag from his grasp and threw it on the ground.
He yelled they could suppress freedom of speech in China, but not in New Zealand.
The treatment Russel Norman has received today on the parliament ground is absolutely appalling. It is no more than a shameless attempt of silencing a dissentient on the land where it suppose to have a freedom of speech. I acknowledge that entourage members do have a duty of protecting VIPs, however, after seeing the unedited footage of the incident, it is clear that the response from Chinese entourage is disproportionate. Norman had neither had any physical contact with anyone nor vocally provoked such response - well unless "free Tibet" counts as a provocation.
However, I'm not really surprised on how Chinese entourage responded. The novel yet extremely childish way of using umbrella to cover things that Chinese officials do not want to see is not new. The first time that such practice brought to the attention of international media is on the 20th anniversary of Tian'anmen Massacre, where plain cloth officers used umbrella to block foreign journalists from filming on Tian’anmen Square. Since then plain cloth with umbrella has become somewhat a standard practice in any occasion where there is a potential of protests.
What shocked me is how Chinese government is exporting such censorship practice to a foreign country with little or no hesitation. I’m not a fan of green party, but I applaud the fact that they never abused their parliamentary privileges – they protested peacefully on every occasion where a Chinese official is visiting. I also have to say that a lone protestor, sometimes also need to confront with a large pro-Chinese crowd, is stirring but also looked a bit stupid. But don’t get me wrong, they have the right to be stupid, New Zealand didn’t take their right to be stupid away from them, so why should Chinese have such right?
Seeing that Chinese entourage used same way of covering up people as they did back in their own country, is a solid reminder that we simply cannot ignore the pain of others in a country on another hemisphere, just like we cannot let a criminal run loose til the date that he is actually hurting YOU.
Another free-rider
This time it's Maori Party MP Hone Harawira. He skipped a day of an EU meeing in Brussels but instead go sightseeing in Paris with his wife. When asked about the trip, the MP responded:
"How many times in my lifetime am I going to get to Europe? So I thought, 'F*** it, I'm off. I'm off to Paris"
There's a few issues that Harawira needs to know.
First, on his salary, I would imagine that he could afford a trip to European once a year ... or maybe every three years. Maximum. As long as he knows how to save money, he's pretty much fine.
Secondly, the trip was a taxpayer-funded travel for specific purposes ONLY. As a taxpayer, I asked him to go Brussles to represent the country, not to fund to his private travel. Although he paid for his own trip, however, it was at expense of not doing what he was suppose to do.
Thirdly, this MP really needs to learn how to express his feeling in a polite manner that represents the culture of this country.
You know, I'm really shocked this time. Are those principles that hard to learn and grasp? I mean, even an elementary school student knows these: don't steal parents' money, complete the school work before having candies, and don't swear.
What is even shocker, is that after reading the Herald's online forum, I realise there is no shortage of people who are actually arguing for these MPs' inappropriate actions.
This country got some serious thinking to do.
Sue Bradford resigns
After 10 years of being a Green MP, Sue Bradford has announced her intention to retire at the end of october.
I have to say that Bradford has been a highly successful parliamentarian. During her service she has managed get three of her private member's bill passed, including raise youth minimum wage in line with adult wage and the highly controversial Anti-smacking bill.
She has been a champion of representing people who usually don't have their voice in the parliament - the young and the unemployed.
And no, I don't regard her as an "extremist" in anyway. She is just simply a woman who has the principle and the guts to stand firm of what she believes. However, her fate was sealed since the anti-smacking bill, only 7 MPs voted against the bill, however, when the tide is turned, it suddenly becomes "Sue's own idea". In my opinion this is directly responsible for her failed bid of the party leadership - the society is turning right, and her very extreme left image would damage the Green Party.
Michael Cullen leaving politics
As expected, he has announced his retirement earlier this afternoon, and was then appointed as the deputy chair of NZ post. And also as expected, the appointment is again attacked by a lot of right wingers/whingers. This is the part I don't like about this country, people judge politicians according to their place on the political spectrum, not their actual abilities. No matter who's in power, they are there to improve this country, but this kind of sick, arrogant culture can really put some of NZ's most talented people away.
In my opinion, although Cullen was not prefect, he did a fine job in the past 9 years. National was reluctant to admit that but they also know it for a fact. He also did a fine job on his baby Cullen fund, I know it has a bit of trouble at the moment, but under the current economic circumstances, which fund is still free from trouble?
I haven't got time to check who is next on Labour's list but if my memory serves me right, the person should be Damien O'Connor. Not too bad, as long as we keep Judith Tizard, the minister responsible for holding PM's handbag out.
Twitter impostors
There is a lot of impostors on Twitter. Nearly every Chinese community party leader, even the deceased Chairman Mao, has a twitter account, and his bio reads like:
I'm living in The Chairman Mao Memorial Hall. Welcome!!!
We all know those twitterers are fake, because we know for a fact that Chairman Mao cannot tweet from the below (or above, as some may still prefer), and for those who are still breathing, they don't need a twitter account as they don't have to go through the general election process.
But in New Zealand and other countries like the States, politicians need get up to date with all the internet new techs although they are usually a bit behind. It is important nowadays for politicians to at least set up a facebook page (although the politician may never have visited "his/her page", as it was done by the employees).
Everyone wants to get their hands on youth votes, but does a facebook page really means those politicians "understand" WWW ? I always feel pity for anyone who thinks they do - the fact is that Section 92A was passed by all major parties, except two that are, in my opinion, sometimes genuinely connected with youth - Maori and Greens.
So no surprise on how John Key was tricked by a twitter impostor on the April's Fool.
Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Bill 2009
RMA reform was part of National's 100 days actions, and it's now online. Here it is.
I don't have time to read it yet, I'll try to do that this weekend to see if there's anything interesting. So far it looks like they didn't change the definition of environment, that's a good sign.
