For anybody who wants a basic overview of Malay law regarding these matters, there's an issue of the Malayan Law Journal (actually an article supplement) that covers this in language easily understood by the layperson (and it's also in English, to boot). The PDF is located here: http://jeraldgomez.com/pdf/7cd40a1889d4539feffda786372ff33b.pdf and I would point you to page 3 (page 4 of the PDF).

Basically, they are based on English Common Law, and signed the UDHR, but have a history of legislation that allows detention without trial, originally designed to combat communism.

No wonder we spend all of our time in the basement. It's the only place we can get any of the really interesting shit done, and almost no one wants to join us.

Old joke:

Three NASA engineers, one from headquarters in Washington, one from the Johnson center in Houston, and one from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena were discussing whether it was better to have a wife or a mistress.

The HQ guy said it was better to have a mistress, because they are more understanding of the long absences required of a NASA employee. The Johnson guy retorted, "Oh, no, one must always follow proper rules and procedures, and marriage is the proper procedure, so it is better to have a wife."

The JPL engineer replied, "No, it is better to have both. That way, you can tell your wife that you're with your mistress, your mistress that you're with your wife, and go to the lab and work."

IMO everyone should be allowed to puplish in the language of their choice, so long as they do it in the privacy of their own home.

Or during an eclipse.

It's a pity you can't afford a computer that uses proportional fonts.

Actually, I suspect that the fraction of the population who would sign up for a job as a test pilot has been pretty constant since the invention of the airplane.

The notion of "the right stuff" is just propagandistic idol-making. Governments love to offer the public a hero.

I doubt it. Only tiny amount of the USA's post-9/11 security spending went toward I'm gonna git that bastid!

Most of it went toward pointless wars and security theatre.

I'll get on that as soon as I finish working on my tail-recursion.

I giggle when I hear it called "Obamacare", because he didn't exactly work up a sweat pushing for it.

And what little he did do, was almost entirely after the Democrats in Congress had already caved on practically every point, to appease Republican committee members who didn't vote for it even after they got what they wanted.

Democrats are stupid. If they had 1/3 of a clue they could have destroyed the Republican party after 2005.