KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — A Barisan Nasional MP and two independents are among 77 mostly opposition legislators who have so far signed a petition to the Prime Minister calling for a debate in Parliament to review or repeal the Internal Security Act.
The anti-ISA parliamentary caucus did not, however, reveal the name of the BN MP, but chairman Lim Kit Siang of the DAP said he hopes to get more MPs from the BN to sign the petition and make it a bipartisan effort.
Lim told reporters in the Parliament lobby today that 77 MPs had signed a petition calling for Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to prioritise a motion to debate the review and repeal of the Internal Security Act when the House reconvenes next Wednesday.
"This includes one BN MP, two independents and 74 Pakatan Rakyat MPs," the Ipoh Timur MP said, explaining later that other PR legislators were out of town and unable to sign the petition.
He also revealed that the two independents were Datuk Dr Chua Soon Bui and Eric Enchin Majimbun, the MPs from SAPP, which recently exited the BN coalition.
"If more than a third of MPs show their desire to debate this issue, then the Prime Minister must make it a top priority if parliamentary democracy has any meaning here. If he says no, he is completely irresponsible.
"I regret that only one BN MP has supported the motion," the DAP parliamentary leader said, adding that it was not even a motion to abolish the ISA but merely to debate it.
Caucus secretary Fong Po Kuan also stated that 23 BN MPs had been approached so far to sign the petition but only one agreed.
PKR Sungai Petani MP Johari Abdul said that "some personally agreed but did not dare to sign as they needed to see what those above had to say. Maybe in three or four days they will change their mind."
"At their national delegates conferences, both Gerakan and MCA called for a repeal of the ISA. By not supporting this petition their ministers and MPs have betrayed the trust of their delegates," Lim added.
He also said that a second batch of signatures would be sent after the Deepavali break.
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who has missed several deadlines to unseat the government, says he is running out of options to replace the ruling coalition.
Seven months after reducing the Barisan Nasional’s majority in Parliament in the March general election, he has failed to get BN lawmakers to cross over to the opposition and to table a vote of no confidence in Parliament in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
The premier's response was to accelerate a power handover to his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Razak, according to Bloomberg.
"I'm not saying we have no options left, but I'm saying it's getting to be much more difficult," Anwar said in an interview with Bloomberg yesterday.
His three-party Pakatan Rakyat coalition remains confident it can woo the 30 BN MPs it needs to form a majority in Parliament after taking control of 5 of 13 states in the March elections, he said.
Anwar's assessment, the most pessimistic since the election, suggests the transfer of power to Najib will be smooth, removing the uncertainty that has contributed to a 37 per cent decline in the benchmark stock index this year, the report said.
"It's only right for Anwar to clarify Pakatan's stand to the public," regarding their diminishing options, Bloomberg quoted Tricia Yeoh, director of the Centre for Public Policy Studies, an independent research institute in Kuala Lumpur, as saying. "They should focus on administering the five states well and strengthening the bonds within the parties. This will demonstrate that they can be a formidable alternative federal government."
Anwar failed to meet his Sept 16 deadline to oust Abdullah, timed to coincide with the anniversary of the founding of Malaysia. He was also unable to persuade the prime minister to recall Parliament for a confidence vote or even meet with Abdullah to discuss a change of government.
According to Bloomberg, Anwar said he was exploring other options for a takeover that would be "peaceful and orderly" and adhere to the constitution, without elaborating.
Abdullah, 68, agreed this month to hand over power to Najib in March. Previously the transition had been planned for June 2010, three years before the next general election must be held.
In a separate interview, Bloomberg quoted former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as saying that "the opposition wants Abdullah to carry on, because they believe if he leads the party in the next election, their chances would be enhanced".
Dr Mahathir, the nation's longest-serving leader, handpicked Abdullah as his successor, a decision he said he now regrets.
Anwar returned to Parliament in a by-election on Aug 26. He was fired as deputy prime minister by Dr Mahathir in 1998 and jailed on charges of having illegal sex with a man and abuse of power. The sodomy conviction was overturned in 2004.
Anwar is currently facing similar sex charges after a 23-year-old former male aide filed a complaint with police.
"They don't have a case. That I know for a fact," Anwar told Bloomberg. "What they want to do is to embarrass me."
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In business, it’s not just about brokering deals; it’s about drinks and entertainment, and sadly, who you supply to sweeten the deal. How does one educate business folk that young girls and boys are not to be touched? A few months ago, yours truly and friends were invited to a little do at a posh nightclub. Once in a while, this writer needs an airing, so off she went with her friends. |
PUTRAJAYA: Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar has denied he lied about Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leader P. Waythamoorthy’s passport.
He said there had previously been a directive for the Hindraf man to surrender his passport to the Malaysian High Commission in Britain, where he is now living in self exile.In the letter dated Sept 23, it was stated that the British Embassy in Kuala Lumpur was notified of the cancellation on March 14.
Kumpulan Hindu Right Action Force (Hindraf) hari ini menyerahkan memorandum bagi menggesa kerajaan menyerahkan semula pasport antarabangsa milik pengerusinya, P. Waytha Moorthy yang kini berada di Britain bagi mendapatkan perlindungan.
Wakil pertubuhan itu, N. Thianenthan mendakwa Menteri Dalam Negeri, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar telah mengeluarkan kenyataan bercanggah berhubung status sebenar pasport milik Waytha.
"Tempoh hari beliau bercakap di Parlimen dengan mengatakan bahawa pasport Waytha tidak dibatalkan.
"Ternyata beliau berbohong dan hari ini kami membawa surat daripada pejabat Menteri Dalam Negeri United Kingdom (UK) untuk menunjukkan bukti yang kukuh bahawa kedutaan Malaysia di UK mengarahkan supaya pasport beliau dibatalkan," katanya dalam sidang media di Parlimen di sini, hari ini.
Memorandum tersebut diserahkan kepada Ahli Parlimen Subang, R. Sivarasa.
Gesaan ahli keluarga Waytha dan penyokong pertubuhan itu dilakukan bagi mengembalikan hak pemimpin Hindraf itu untuk pulang merayakan Deepavali bersama anggota keluarganya.
"Jadi kami minta supaya beliau diberikan semula haknya untuk balik dan bebas ke mana sahaja terutamanya untuk merayakan Deepavali yang semakin hampir," katanya.
Mengulas lanjut, beliau berkata pada mulanya, Syed Hamid mengeluarkan kenyataan bahawa pasport Waytha telah tamat tempoh, namun mengeluarkan kenyataan kedua di Parlimen bahawa pasport itu tidak dibatalkan.
"Beliau selaku Menteri kanan boleh berbohong sedemikian. Beliau harus disiasat dan ditahan di bawah Akta Hasutan kerana mengeluarkan kenyataan yang bercanggah dan menghasut," katanya.
Dalam pada itu, Ahli Parlimen Ipoh Timur, Lim Kit Siang yang turut hadir dalam sidang media tersebut berkata beliau akan membawa usul tersebut di Dewan Rakyat supaya Syed Hamid dihadapkan ke Jawatan Kuasa Hak dan Keistimewaan Parlimen kerana berbohong di Parlimen.
"Kita akan membawa usul ini sama ada hari ini atau esok untuk dibahaskan," katanya.
Dalam sidang media yang sama, kumpulan tersebut turut meminta Kementerian Dalam Negeri menarik balik pengharaman Hindraf.
Mereka turut meminta supaya lima pemimpin Hindraf yang ditahan di bawah Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) dibebaskan.
"Memandangkan Deepavali sudah dekat, jadi kami harap mereka dibebaskan segera sekurang-kurangnya sebelum Deepavali," katanya.
Sebelum itu, kumpulan tersebut melepaskan dua ekor burung merpati putih sebagai simbolik menuntut kebebasan Waytha dan pemimpin Hindraf yang ditahan ISA.
Mereka memasuki bangunan Parlimen kira-kira pukul 11.30 pagi dengan campur tangan beberapa Ahli Parlimen Pakatan Rakyat iaitu Sivarasa, Lim Kit Siang dan N.Gobalakrishnan (PKR-Padang Serai).
Mereka juga membawa bersama seorang kanak-kanak perempuan sebagai 'duta kecil' menuntut ISA dimansuhkan.
“I call on the cabinet to take a definitive decision at its Friday meeting that the Letter of Intent awarded to Eurocopter is suspended until the outcome of the scrutiny of the PAC (Public Accounts Committee) on the helicopter deal,” said DAP leader Lim Kit Siang.
According to Lim, PAC has decided last Wednesday to scrutinise the three “mega-scandals” highlighted by the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition in the 2009 budget debate.
Lim described Defence Ministry secretary-general Abu Bakar Abdullah’s statement last Friday claiming that the decision to procure the Eurocopters had followed proper procedure as “unsatisfactory”.
“No satisfactory answer had been given to queries as to why the full technical evaluation process had not followed standard international practices and lacked transparency,” said Lim in a statement today.
Lim, who is Ipoh Timor parliamentarian, said that “all information and data must be presented to the PAC for its scrutiny, including the outcome of the respective technical, offset and price evaluations for each tender bid”.
He said representives from each of the seven tender bidders should be invited to appear before the committee “as only they will know how the tender process had disadvantaged or sidelined their aircraft”.
PAC, which is tasked to scrutinise and monitor the utilisation of public funds, comprises 13 members from both sides of the House - five of whom are from Pakatan.
The committee is headed by former home minister Azmi Khalid (Umno-Padang Besar) with Dr Tan Seng Giaw (DAP-Kepong) as deputy chairperson.
“In its scrutiny, the PAC should have the benefit of independent expert advice and not be totally dependent on the Defence Ministry or Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF),” added Lim.
“Parliament should empower PAC to engage consultants who is knowledgeable in the aviation field especially the helicopter industry and profession.”
Why Brazil can get a better deal?
Lim said that the committee should also investigate the way the “tender team has carried out the selection and check the scoring system to ensure there is no partiality in the grading”.
“Of particular interest to the PAC is the price differential in the Eurocopter deal by Malaysia as compared to Brazil, which is acquiring 50 ‘Super Cougar’ units from Eurocopter at a price consideration of US$1.2 billion, of which the first unit will be delivered in 2010, giving an average unit price of RM84 million as compared to the average unit price of RM193 million for the RMAF’s 12 Cougar EC725 helicopters.”
The Eurocopter controversy was first highlighted in a letter dated October 7 addressed to former defence minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is also deputy prime minister and finance minister.
In the five-page letter, Mentari Services Sdn Bhd chairperson Capt (rtd) Zahar Hashim suggested that the tender process, initiated during Najib’s tenure, could have been a “gimmick” since the ministry appeared to favour one company.
Zahar also accused Najib of providing Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who took over the defence portfolio on September 17, with an “inaccurate” report pertaining to the contract.
He said the government could have purchased the same number of helicopters from Kelowna, the firm he represents, and save almost RM1.5 billion.-Malaysiakini
 Justice Datuk Syed Ahmad Helmy • Raja Petra trial: ‘It should be handled by religious authorities then’ ©Bernama "The applicant has at times been critical of the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the respondent (Internal Security Minister), among others. This has been undermining the political interests of Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) as can be seen from the shift of voter support," he said. |
Not surprisingly, Malaysia has dropped from 124th last year to 132nd place in 2008 in the RSF press freedom ranking.
Among ten South-East Asian nations, Malaysian remains in 5th place while Timor-Leste, which has the freest press in the region, showed the biggest improvement in the global rankings, shooting up 29 places to 65th. Thailand climbed 11 places to finish above Malaysia at 124th place. Singapore, Laos, Vietnam and Burma prop up the regional table with the least press freedom - unchanged from last year.
For all the talk of reforms under Abdullah Badawi, Malaysia’s press freedom ranking has actually dropped from 104th place in 2003, the year Abdullah took over, to 132nd place now. That’s a plunge of 28 places.
Abdullah’s brightest year was in 2006, when Malaysia’s ranking reached a high of 92nd spot, making it the second freest in South-East Asia after Timor-Leste. But since then, we have sunk 42 places within the space of two years to reach 134th! What happened, Abdullah? Did your administration have to crack down on mounting disenchantment when your promised reforms failed to take off fast enough?
Here is the RSF global ranking for 2008: Click Here
PUTRAJAYA: Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar has denied he lied about Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leader P. Waythamoorthy’s passport.
He said there had previously been a directive for the Hindraf man to surrender his passport to the Malaysian High Commission in Britain, where he is now living in self exile.
“The order was for him to surrender his passport so that it could be cancelled and we could bring him home for a warrant of arrest to be executed against him under the Internal Security Act. However, he never went.
“I never lied. The passport was never cancelled when I gave my first statement. How can it be cancelled if he never came to the High Commission? We would need to have take it back and stamp the word ‘cancelled’ on it.
“However, I subsequently gave the order in my first meeting as Home Minister -- and I am sure they would have implemented it -- for this directive to be rescinded,” he told reporters after attending the Rela Hari Raya open house at Taman Warisan here on Wednesday.
“He can travel and come back to face the consequences of his action then. They (Hindraf) have been distorting and misinfoming (people on) the issue,” Syed Hamid alleged, responding to claims made by Hindraf coordinator R.S. Thanenthiran.
Thanenthiran said group, which has since been declared illegal by the Malaysian Government, had a letter from the United Kingdom border agency saying that it had received a notice of cancellation against the passport because Waythamoorthy was being sought for “criminal charges.”
In the letter dated Sept 23, it was stated that the British Embassy in Kuala Lumpur was notified of the cancellation on March 14.
Pakatan Rakyat sentiasa konsisten dan komited di dalam merangka sebarang dasar mahupun program untuk rakyat. Kita malah berulang kali menegaskan pentingnya tidak dibebani dengan kadar inflasi yang tinggi sekaligus mengakibatkan kerencatan ekonomi negara. Tindakan kerajaan untuk menaikkan harga minyak petrol serta dengan boros membelanjakan wang untuk menjana projek mega amat mengecewakan.
Di dalam perbahasan belanjawan tempoh hari, saya menegaskan belanjawan 2009 yang dibentangkan sudah tidak bermakna lagi. Unjuran yang dibuat berasaskan angka dan fakta lapok! Malah saya menggesa Menteri Kewangan yang baru agar segera membentangkan belanjawan berdasarkan unjuran yang terkini. Ternyata gesaan ini dipandang sepi walau ianya memanfaatkan negara dan rakyat. Jelas ini merupakan satu tindakan tidak bertanggungjawab oleh kerajaan.
Semalam kerajaan sekali lagi bertindak terburu-buru dengan membelakangkan kepentingan rakyat dan negara. Pengumuman Menteri Kewangan bahawa Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja akan meminjamkan sejumlah RM 5 Billion kepada Valuecap Sdn. Bhd. untuk menyokong pasaran saham tempatan menampakkan ketidakcekapan di dalam mengurus ekonomi negara.
Tindakan ini mengesahkan kenyataan kami bahawa asas ekonomi tidak kukuh dan langkah drastik dan berani harus segera diambil. Rasuah, ketirisan harus dibasmi dan ekonomi negara harus dipacu dan dikendalikan oleh orang yang berkebolehan, bukannya oleh segelintir yang dekat dengan pemerintah.
ANWAR IBRAHIM
