Cut costs in your dept, PM urged

If Najib is serious about asking ordinary Malaysians to change their lifestyles to adapt to rising prices, he should also reduce expenditure in his own department.

PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak should walk the talk by shaving expenditure in his own backyard and not create new, expensive agencies.

Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming said in a statement that the PM who is also the Finance Minister announced in the budget the setting up of a new Green Foundation (Yayasan Hijau) and the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Center (MAGIC).

“The expenditure allocated to the Prime Minister’s Department has increased from RM14.6 billion this year to a projected RM16.5 billion next year, an increase of 13 percent,” Ong said.

He also said the employment of many contract staff on very high wages, especially in the Prime Minister’s Department, has increased government expenditure significantly over the past four years.

“I was informed that the yearly salary, allowance and the bonus of the chief executive officer (CEO) of Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM) was RM830,500 which works out to about a monthly salary of RM69,000.

“The CEO of the Land Transport Commission or SPAD was paid a yearly salary of RM480,000 (RM40,000 monthly), a yearly allowance of RM162,000 and a bonus of RM60,000 which gives a yearly salary totalling RM622,000.

“The CEO of TalentCorp receives a monthly salary of RM30,000 and a monthly car allowance of RM5,000 which works out to a yearly salary of RM420,000,” Ong pointed out after receiving a parliamentary reply this month.

GLC CEOs earn more than Chief Secretary

The DAP leader also highlighted that these CEOs monthly salaries are higher than the monthly salary of the highest paid civil servant, which is the Chief Secretary (Ketua Setiausaha Negara) who draws a maximum monthly salary of RM23,577.

He also pointed out that other agencies such as Iskandar Regional Development Authority (Irda), the East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC), the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA), the Malaysian Industry Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT), the Unit Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera (Teraju) and the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu).

“Not only are the CEOs of these agencies paid salaries that are higher than their civil servant equivalents, the staff of these agencies – many of whom are contract staff and not government servants – also received salaries higher than civil servant equivalent salaries.

“For example, a director at Pemandu, which is equivalent to a Jusa A/B civil servant has a maximum salary of RM49,000 a month, an associate director at Pemandu, which is equivalent to a Jusa C civil servant has a maximum salary of RM31,600 a month and a senior manager which is equivalent to a Grade 54 civil servant has a maximum salary of RM21,000 a month,” Ong said.

Perkasa chief: We’re not against Christians

However Ibrahim Ali says Perkasa is fighting for the Malay rights in accordance to what is stipulated in the federal constitution.

KUALA LUMPUR: Perkasa leader Ibrahim Ali said that his organisation was not against Christians or Christianity, blaming certain political parties for politicising the ‘Allah’ issue for their own mileage.

Ibrahim explained that when Sabah and Sarawak joined the Peninsular during the formation of Malaysia in 1963, the usage of ‘Allah’ was not an issue.

The former politician came under fire recently with his remarks on the issue, claiming that Christians do not have a name for their God, and that is why they fought hard to use the word Allah.

“DAP made it an issue to garner support among the Christians in the east during the previous general election knowing that Sabah and Sarawak were BN’s stronghold,” Ibrahim told FMT during a recent interview.

“It was the religious scholars who came up to say that the word ‘Allah’ was restricted to Muslims only and I am just following what they said as I don’t want to be infidel,” he added.

He also claimed that he doesn’t understand why the public was not angry with the Islamic scholars instead.

“Christians have to understand that it is not about making enemies. We are all Malaysians and we are all friends,” Ibrahim said.

Vital to protect the Malays

Meanwhile, commenting on Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s Bumiputera Economic Agenda, Ibrahim said that the scenario today have changed as Malaysians are now in a borderless world.

The Bumiputera Economic Agenda has sunk into Najib’s bigger plans which include the non-Malays, Ibrahim claims.

“Lots of Malays are still economically backwards but it doesn’t mean we have to neglect other races,” the Perkasa leader added.

He also explained his stand when it comes to JPA scholarships and other privileges: that it is not about increasing the percentage of non-Malay students receiving scholarships but it is about sustaining the percentage of Malay candidates while using other funds from private companies to support non-Malay students.

Ibrahim explained that the government could obtain funds for the non-Malay students, should there be an increasing percentage of successful candidates, from renowned groups like Berjaya and YTL group, whom the government has extended privileges for the development of the conglomerates.

He added that the BN government could ‘take back’ from people like tycoon Anandha Krishnan, ranked as the second richest man in the country, whom Ibrahim claims to be successful with the help of the BN government, to support the non-Malay scholarships.

Ibrahim said he was not asking for something that is unconstitutional as Perkasa is fighting for the Malay rights according to what is stipulated in the constitution.

He further elaborated on why the interests of Malays have to be protected, claiming that the non-Malays had greater advantages in businesses, especially in the multi-million ringgit entertainment industry such as pubs and casinos.

“Malays are denied license to operate entertainment hubs like pubs and casinos as Islam is the official religion of the country. A large chunk of money derives from such businesses which are operated by the non-Malays. Hence, it is vital to protect the majority group economically,” he explained.

Mahathir faces a bore's dilemma

COMMENT Every hero becomes a bore at last, predicted the American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson.

This fate awaits Dr Mahathir Mohamad judging from the contents of his latest salvo at the Najib Razak administration.

But Mahathir's 'hero' stature in the eyes of assorted Umno and Perkasa types has always meant that anything he says is regarded as legal tender, worthy of interactive exchange in the political realm.

Mahathir says that the Najib administration has pandered to extremists among the opposition and has lost support because this effort at placating the ultras has not drawn votes from them.

The upshot: the Najib administration has lost more support than it would have gained if it had steered by a course that worked the middle ground while ignoring the lunatic fringe.

As a description of what had actually transpired, this analysis bears as much relation to reality as the claim that the coalition of Malaysian NGOs (Comango) that had recently petitioned the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights was a liberal conspiracy against Islam.

Comango asserts the contrary: it says it merely made a case for the Malaysian government's adherence to rights guaranteed in the federal constitution, the one that holds that Malaysia is a secular country with Islam as the official religion.

Many would regard the twining of a secular polity with an official religion as the source of our present muddles, but the word secular did not possess the connotations it did six decades ago when the constitution was drafted and a 'secular' disposition was not regarded as antithetical to the holding of a religious worldview.

But this is another matter. The one being dwelt on here is Mahathir's take on what the country's current prime minister has been up to and whether that description fits with what has actually transpired.

Irreconcilable forces

What the Najib administration has done since the PM took over from predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in April 2009 was to hew to a policy that resembled aspects of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat's agenda for political and economic reform for the country while taking care not to offend the defenders of the status quo.

Najib tried to steer this middling course while now and then doffing his hat to the demands of Malay right-wing group, Perkasa, which incidentally paraded Mahathir as patron.

Perkasa were against any economic and political liberalisation, a leaning which was the seeming preference of the new broom PM who had no less than his deputy, Muhyiddin Yassin, acting like he was the Perkasa tether on Najib's tilt towards liberalism.

Because of this attempt to accommodate diametrically opposed positions - that of Perkasa and that of Pakatan - the Najib administration came off seeming half-baked, as any leader would who tries to please irreconcilable forces.

But this tact was not without its dividends: Umno saw an increase in its MPs, garnering 88 seats at last May's general elections over the 79 it took at the 2008 polls.

However, Umno-BN were pegged to 47 percent of the popular vote while Pakatan helped themselves to 51 percent of the overall take.

The country's gerrymandered electoral system had yielded a general election result that saw Umno justified in calling themselves the popular choice of the majority Malay community while Pakatan was the choice of voters who were less ethnocentric in outlook.

But in the blinkered reckoning of Mahathir, the results of GE13 suggested that the extremists of Pakatan had gained ground while the Najib government had fallen behind.

Reformist credentials undermined

A more realistic assessment of the polls results would conclude that the Najib administration had gained more traction among the Malays while losing it among those whose outlook was less sectarian.

In other words, a liberal leaning PM has wound up in a paradoxical corner - as more parochial than when he started out. And since the election, Najib has proceeded to retract liberalising political measures he initiated and reinforced race-based nostrums he had sought to relax.

These moves have undermined his reformist credentials but they have won him endorsements from his party's electorate, as reflected in the triumph of his slate of candidates in Umno's internal elections held earlier this month.

One should think this would earn him points from the party's eminence grise, Mahathir. The opposite is the case.

At one time or the other, Mahathir has inhabited all the positions on the political spectrum, shedding or retooling each with chameleon-like ease as and when it served his purpose. His opinions have been a labyrinth without a centre.

The problem for Mahathir now is that his target is equipped with the disposition that's almost perfect as antidote: Najib will play up to while simultaneously ignoring him.

That's a bore's worst dilemma: he does not know if he is being heeded or merely patronised.

---

TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for close on four decades. He likes the occupation because it puts him in contact with the eminent without being under the necessity to admire them. It is the ideal occupation for a temperament that finds power fascinating and its exercise abhorrent. 

Courts never under PM's thumb, says ex-premier

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today denied allegations that he had subverted the judicial system, pointing out that the courts had often ruled against him, his party and his administration.

In a blog posting today, Mahathir (left) said that a "classic case" which debunks the argument was how Umno was declared illegal in 1988 by the courts.

"When the central committee of the DAP was found to have basically cheated, it was simply asked to hold another election.

"But for Umno, when four out of more than 6,000 branches did not follow procedures, the whole party was declared illegal.

"The judge who made this judgement was then promoted. I did not object," Mahathir wrote.

Mahathir then pointed out that the courts had also allowed his former deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, to postpone a defamation suit against the former several times.

'I was denied justice too'

He argued that if the courts were indeed under his thumb, Anwar would not be allowed to delay the trial and delay the opportunity for Mahathir to have his day in court.

The defamation suit was filed in 2006 over Mahathir's remarks during a press conference where the latter cited portions of the 2004 Federal Court judgment that acquited Anwar of sodomy charges.

Anwar (right) eventually lost the suit and the subsequent appeals, but Mahathir argued that the lengthy duration of the trial due to postponements had denied him justice for four years.

"During those four years I was deprived of the right to say anything against Anwar as the case was considered to be sub judice. I basically lost my right of free speech and Anwar enjoyed a long period of freedom from my criticisms.

"If the courts of Malaysia are shackled forever by me, surely the decision would have been reached at the first sitting... In my case, the court took four years to find me innocent. Justice was denied me," he said.

ISA detainees freed

Another example cited by Mahathir was how the courts freed Internal Security Act 1969 detainees based on a writ of habeas corpus.

"Before I was prime minister, no one ever challenged the right of the minister concerned to detain anyone under the ISA," he said.

The final example cited by Mahathir was how the High Court had ruled in favour of The Herald to use the term "Allah". He argued that if the courts were "in thrall" to the prime minister, the High Court would not have made such a ruling.

Mahathir's lengthy blog post today was in response to an article titled "Standing up for the right things, not the stable ones" on The Malaysian Insider on Oct 21.

The article appeared two days after the news portal uploaded a erroneous Bahasa Malaysia translation on Oct 18 of an English article.

The translation error had implied that Mahathir had admitted to bribing Umno delegates with RM200.

An apology was issued by The Malaysian Insider on Oct 26.

Cow slaughter part of school education, says MP

PARLIAMENT A BN MP has claimed that the slaughtering of cows on school grounds was in fact part of the education of Muslim students in school.

Shabudin Yahaya (BN-Tasek Gelugor - left) described the slaughter as a practical lesson for the Islamic Studies subject when interjecting to M Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat) during the budget debate in Parliament.

“The cow slaughtering is not a regular slaughter, it is part of the (school’s) subject and korban is in the Islamic studies subject taught in schools as part of Fiqh (jurisprudence).

“It is a practical to lessons on how to proper conduct a slaughter and it should be done,” said Shabudin.
Shabudin added that there was no intention to offend Hindus, and the Muslim community had similarly been tolerant with processions by the Indian and Chinese communities.

Earlier, Kulasegaran (right) had complained about the slaughtering of cows on school grounds during the Aidiladha celebration which he said hurt the sensitivities of Hindu who deem the creature sacred.

“Is it (school) an abattoir? Is it even licensed to do it (slaughter)?” he said.

Such religiously insensitive activities in national schools, Kulasegaran added, did not help in attracting multiracial students.

“Ninety three percent of Chinese send their children to Chinese schools and more than 60 percent of Indians send their children to Tamil schools,” he said.

On a separate matter, Kulasegaran urged the government to drop all charges against Komas programme director Lena Hendry over the screening of the film ‘No Fire Zone’.

Lena was charged under the Film Censorship Act 2012 for organising the film’s screening which talks about the Sri Lankan government’s alleged abuses against the Tamil community.

‘MPs also guilty?’

“On the morning of that screening, it was also shown to MPs in Parliament. If the film’s screening is wrong, then the screening in Parliament would have also been illegal. Why was there no action?

“Are MPs above the law? No! So the government should drop all charges against Lena Hendry,” he said.

He added that the government should not be cowed by pressure from the Sri Lankan embassy.

Kulasegaran also chastised Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia over the lack of its proposals in the recent Budget 2014.

“This is the only place in the world where (Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia leader) P Waythamoorthy (left) can go on a hunger strike and end up as a deputy minister.”

Prior to the general election, the movement had thrown its support behind BN after the coalition agreed to implement its blueprint on uplifting the Indian poor.

Waythamoorthy was appointed as a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department after the election.

Azizan's son demands apology from Muhyiddin over diabetes remarks

NOT IN WORDS, ATTACK PAKISTAN IN LOC AND POK. THE BLOOD OF JAWANS IS NOT WORTHLESS. TEACH A LESSON TO PAK ENEMIES. JAI HIND.

Shinde don’t betray your words. Prepare a War against Pakistan, while they broke all norms of Peace and Friendship with Bharat. 

But, is this the duty of the Home Minister? When did Shinde become the Border Minister from Home Minister? What is our Defence Minister doing? If he is not well, can the country go without a DM?

Angry Shinde tells troops to give fitting reply to Pakistan….

Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said India will befitting reply to Pakistan. (PTI)

Bharti Jain | TNN | New Delhi| 23 Oct 2013::  Agitated over the killing of a BSF jawan in firing by Pakistani troops along the international border in Jammu on Tuesday night, Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde upped the ante, saying that all such unprovoked acts would be met with a “befitting” reply from the Indian side.

“We will give a befitting reply to Pakistan,” Shinde told reporters here, reacting to the large-scale firing since Tuesday on BSF positions along the international border in Jammu. He added that additional BSF troops were being deployed at vantage points in the wake of the recurrent ceasefire violations.

Senior officials in the BSF told TOI that each ceasefire violation by the Pakistani troops was being countered with retaliatory fire, and that the force was fully geared to respond to every act of aggression from across the border. They feel that the large scale firing on Tuesday night, covering nearly 50 BSF outposts, was pre-meditated and part of a Pakistani ploy to step up border tensions.

Pakistan has reportedly shown little interest in sorting out issues through flag meetings. Their commanders failed to turn up for the flag meeting on October 18, when one of their jawans was killed in retaliatory fire, as well as on Wednesday.

The Pakistani Rangers, had on Tuesday opened fire and heavily shelled over 50 border outposts along the International Border overnight, in the biggest-ever provocative act from across the border during the last few years. BSF jawan, M L Meena of Rajasthan was killed in the firing.

Minister of state for home RPN Singh said acts of aggression on Indian soil would not be tolerated and “our troops will reply in the same coin”.

A policeman shows mortar shells recovered at Jerda village in Ramgarh sector of Samba district, about 52 kilometers south of Jammu. (AP Photo)

Pakistan’s aggressive act, which cost a BSF jawan his life in RS Pora, coincided with Shinde’s trip to Jammu on Tuesday to review the situation at forward positions on the international border/Line of Control and discuss steps with arms of the Unified Command to beef up Indian positions and effectively counter aggression from across Pakistan.

Altogether, more than 130 ceasefire violations have been reported so far this year, the highest in the past eight years.

Pakistani Rangers had on Monday opened fire at 10 border posts and heavily shelled over 50 border outposts the following night, killing a head constable of BSF.

Asked about the rise infiltration attempts – they totaled 254 until September 30 this year – Shinde said, “There are rivers and rivulets which are tough to fence. But we have discussed possible solutions”.

Shinde had on Tuesday conducted an aerial tour of the fenced areas along IB, besides surveying infiltration routes and damaged fencing and riverine border belts with Pakistan lying between Akhnoor in Jammu district and Pahadpur (in Kathua district). He even presided over a meeting with agencies that make up the Unified Command, asking the J&K Police, BSF and Army to get their acts together and work in complete synergy while countering the terrorists.

Half of Syria living in poverty: UN

7.9m people have become poor since 2011; economic devastation wrought by war could be felt for years to come

Image Credit: Reuters A Free Syrian Army fighter starts a fire to make coffee in the old city of Aleppo on Thursday. Economic devastation wrought by the conflict could be felt for years to come, according to a report commissioned by UN agencies.

 

Damascus: Syria’s war has destroyed livelihoods and collapsed the economy, leaving more than half the country’s population in poverty, according to a report commissioned by UN agencies this month.

Some 115,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since the war broke out in 2011, and the report warned that the economic devastation wrought by the conflict could be felt for years to come.

“More than half the population now live in poverty, with 7.9 million people becoming poor since the beginning of the crisis, of whom 4.4 million now live in extreme poverty,” the report said.

Unemployment has soared to 48.6 per cent, education in Syria “is in the midst of a silent disaster” with 49 per cent of children out of school, and the health sector faces “significant collapse,” it warned.

India detentions over Patna blasts

 More than 100 people were injured in Sunday's blasts

 

Police in India have arrested two men and detained several others in connection with bomb attacks on a crowd gathered for an opposition rally in the northern state of Bihar.

A senior police official in the state capital, Patna, told the BBC that they were questioning the men.

The blasts on Sunday took place near a park in Patna where prime ministerial hopeful Narendra Modi was due to speak.

Six people died in the explosions and 102 others were wounded.

No group has said it carried out the attacks.
'Low-intensity' blasts

Tens of thousands of people had gathered in the city centre to hear the speech by Mr Modi, who later offered condolences to the families of the victims.

Mr Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to unseat Congress in a general election due next year.

"We have arrested two men, including the main accused, and detained more than 10 people," senior police official Manu Maharaj told the BBC from Patna on Monday.

Some people have also been detained in the neighbouring state of Jharkhand, police in that state's capital, Ranchi, said.

Meanwhile, a hospital official said the death toll had gone up to six overnight after an injured man died in hospital.

The explosions were caused by crude, home-made bombs and were "low-intensity", officials said.

The first bomb detonated at Patna railway station. Six others followed, all of them close to a public park filled with tens of thousands of BJP supporters.

Mr Modi, one of the most polarising figures in Indian politics, had been due to address a rally ahead of nationwide polls next year.

He was criticised in 2002 for doing little to prevent religious riots in his home state, Gujarat, in which more than 1,000 people died.

But he is also widely admired for making Gujarat one of India's most developed states.

Yum! plans to open 1,000 KFCs and Pizza Huts by 2015 in India

After carving out a comfortable lead in China as the dominant Western fast food chain, Yum! Brands, which owns KFC and Pizza Hut, is aggressively courting customer loyalty in India which is set to become home to to more than 1,000 restaurants by 2015.

The fast food company released its strategy for the booming country this week while announcing the opening of their 40,000th restaurant in the world in Goa.

With a rapidly growing middle class and a potential marketplace of 1.2 billion people, 65 percent of whom are under the age of 35, Yum! is hoping to secure brand loyalty and catch consumers while they're still young.

In two years, the company is expected to make $1 billion in system sales and have more than a thousand KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell outlets across 100 cities.

As a predominantly Hindu country where the cow is considered a sacred animal, the growth potential for brands like KFC and Pizza Hut is huge: India is the sixth largest poultry consumer market in the world.

Currently, KFC is the fastest growing quick-service restaurant brand in India, having tripled in size over the last five years to 296 outlets.

This year, the brand also opened 700 new Yum! branded outlets in China, where Colonel Sanders is more ubiquitous than the Golden Arches.

Meanwhile, Starbucks is also hoping to become a dominant presence in India. This week, the coffee giant celebrated its one-year anniversary there by launching a domestically-grown coffee, India Estates Blend.

Since opening its first store last October, the coffee chain has grown to 25 outlets in India. - AFP/Relaxnews, October 28, 2013.

Gerakan says Perkasa was poison to BN in GE13

Gerakan has described Malay right wing group Perkasa as having poisoned the BN during the last general election and that it had also failed to assist the ruling coalition to win more votes.

In a tit-for-tat spat with Perkasa, Gerakan's newly-elected central committee member Dr Dominic Lau said Perkasa had caused the ruling coalition to lose more votes, including that of the Malays, Chinese and Indians.

"The most obvious example would be in Pasir Mas, where Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali himself contested and failed to get the support from the locals, including the Malays," Lau (left) said in a statement today.

Reiterating that Gerakan does not require any help from Perkasa, he said the movement was making the situation in the country worse for the ruling coalition.

"Although it claims to be representing the Malays, Perkasa failed to receive the majority support of the Malay community, while at the same time causes racial polarisation by releasing racist statements from time to time," Lau added.

Yesterday, Ibrahim added fuel to the fire by urging Gerakan to dissolve itself and for the members to join MCA, because the party failed to win the Chinese votes in the last general election.

'Stop giving publicity to Perkasa'
Lau also urged the media to stop publishing articles on Perkasa, as this was akin to giving it free publicity and that this would destroy Malaysian unity.

"Gerakan's ideology is a 1Malaysia concept, regardless of political beliefs and religion. If Ibrahim does not understand the meaning of multiracial politics, Gerakan will be more than glad to explain it to
him, for free," he said.

While Gerakan respects Perkasa's role as a non-governmental organisation advancing Malay interests, Lau said, his party rejects the extreme way in which Perkasa is hurting the other communities.

He urged Ibrahim to toe the line in leading Perkasa and not to just be an opportunistic politician.

Mahathir: Gov't weak, yes, but don't please extremists

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has described the current government as "weak", but warned that should not be a reason for it accede to extremists in the country.

He said in a bid to regain support, the government had already looked into the demands of such people, but yet did not receive the support they sought.

"What we see today is a weak government because it did not get strong support from the people.

"With weakness there is tendency to accede to the demands of extremists in the opposition and having acceded, still find no support for the government," he said in a speech in Putrajaya this morning.
Mahathir added that any demands made by these “extremists” were in fact aimed at toppling the government.

“If the government responds by saying okay, what you say is correct, if you find something offensive we will get rid of it, the extremists will not say ‘thank you very much, we will support you’.

“The extremists aim is to unseat the government and if they have an issue they will cling on to it and if you solve it, they will come up with another issue.

“They will still feel dissatisfied and will not support the authority that granted their wish,” he said.

Therefore, he said the government stood to gain nothing by accommodating to such “extremists”.

‘Reactionary extremists’

Mahathir said that the actions of these “extremists” were also prompting reactions from extremists in other communities.

“For example, if the Chinese extremists are not happy about education, they will make unreasonable demands and the majority who are moderates will not say anything as they fear being negatively labelled.

“As a response, the extremists from the other side will answer but the moderates on that side will also not say anything for fear of becoming a target,” he said.

After the 2008 general election, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had reached out to previous quarters in a bid to recover support, including controversial Chinese educationist groups Dong Zong.

However, Najib led BN to a worse performance in 2013 in which he described the the general election as a “Chinese tsunami”.

During a question and answer session later, Mahathir was asked if DAP could form the government, to which he replied that it was unlikely as DAP was too Chinese-centric.

“DAP appeals only to the Chinese and fights for issues like Chinese education, things like that will never attract more than 50 percent of the population’s support,” he said.

He added that even if DAP were to team up with PKR and PAS, it would still be a fragile government as they were not cohesive.

NRD: Many security firms hire foreigners with fake ICs

The National Registration Department has detected several security firms hiring foreigners with fake identity cards.

NRD investigations and enforcement director Wan Zakaria Wan Awang said he was not surprised that foreigners having fake identity cards were found working in security units of banks.

"I believe there are many security personnel with fake identity cards employed in various sensitive sectors," Wan Zakaria is quoted by Utusan Malaysia as saying.

"We even caught one Filipino working as an arms storekeeper with a security firm," he revealed.

The report follows the RM450,000 Ambank robbery and murder of its operational officer Norazita Abu Talib, 37, in Subang Jaya.

It was discovered that the security guard who shot her was a foreigner with a fake IC.

Wan Zakaria said he was uncertain where the foreigners obtained the fake identity cards, as those arrested were caught in various states.

"The largest number of arrests were made in Perak and the Klang Valley. NRD believes the foreigners pay RM500 to get the fake ICs to gain employment here."

He also proposed that security firms verify identity cards by checking fingerprints on them with the NRD.

Banks can also inform the NRD if they suspect the security personnel employed are foreigners, Wan Zakaria added.

Brunei's hudud keeps flame alive for Kelantan

Kelantan Menteri Besar Ahmad Yaakob said the PAS-led government will not give up pursuing the implementation of hudud, encouraged that Brunei has announced implementing the Islamic laws.

According to the New Straits Times, Ahmad said Brunei's move to embrace hudud has given the state new zest and confidence in implementing the law in the future.

“Kelantan has made efforts to enforce hudud for a long time but was unsuccessful because of various obstacles.

"Some critics have alleged that the state government's action is a political ploy when it is they who are politicising the issue,” said the Kelantan MB (right).

The Kelantan state legislative assembly passed the implementation of hudud law in 1993.

Ahmad said the media has given the public a bad image of the Islamic laws, saying hudud is not limited to amputation of limbs and caning for related offences.

Hudud is a form of Islamic punishment implemented for certain crimes like theft, fornication, adultery and consuming alcoholic beverages.

Ahmad said the state government will not give up its aspirations.

Various foreign press last week reported that Brunei will be installing its hudud laws in various phases over the next six months.
Troubled by Ahmad's comments
Meanwhile, Kelantan MCA said they were troubled by Ahmad Yaakob’s comments as it did not consider how hudud laws will harm the minority non-Muslims who reside in the state.

“PAS assumes that only Muslims will be subjected to its party’s policies, and that non-Muslims will not be impacted. But previous encounters with local authorities have proven simply otherwise,” said Kelantan MCA’s state liaison committee secretary Tan Ken Ten in a statement.

Tan said MCA wants PAS to guarantee that hudud law will not be implemented in Kelantan as the party must recognise that Malaysia is a multi-ethnic, religious and cultural country.

“Mere window-dressing on slowing down is insufficient,” Tan said, bringing up again last month’s issue about how hair salons were made to remove some posters to comply with Islamic norms.

‘Good frog’ Ibrahim: I’m often misunderstood

Perkasa supremo says he is often misunderstood and labelled as racist by the public, without them knowing the 'real' Ibrahim Ali, who has respect for other races and religions.
VIDEO INSIDE

KUALA LUMPUR: It is not easy championing one’s community as my actions are often misinterpreted, said Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali.

In an exclusive interview with FMT, the 62-year-old politician said that despite the challenges, he has learnt that the trick to dealing with bad press is by laughing it off.

“Whenever I make a statement on any issue, people think it is racial or political but when other leaders make the same statement on the same issue, the public does not cry [say] a word,” said Ibrahim, with a chuckle.

On why he thinks people love to antagonise him, Ibrahim said,” I think they are jealous of me but I have learnt to accept their scorn as part and parcel of life.”

Dismissing the racist label levelled against him, Ibrahim said he would have launched a huge protest against entertainment and gambling centres if he was a racist, owing to the fact that Islam is the official religion of Malaysia.

“How can I be a racist? My personal driver is a Indian-Hindu and I have a lot of respect for him.

“During Thaipusam, whenever there is a chariot procession, I stop my car or move to give way to the chariot. I do respect other religions contrary to what people think of me,” said Ibrahim.

However, the firebrand politician was not apologetic when it came to Perkasa, saying that the Malay rights NGO he founded would continue to speak out on issues affecting the Malays, Rulers and on Islam.

‘I’m a good frog’

“Perkasa came about after BN performed poorly at the 12th general election. We started championing Malay rights aggressively and for that, we are labelled as racists.

“Would we be called a racist organisation if we were to support Anwar Ibrahim and the opposition?” Ibrahim asked.

Commenting on the ‘frog’ monicker levelled against him, Ibrahim admitted that it was given to him for often switching his political allegiance in the past.

Ibrahim was first elected as Pasir Mas MP in the 1986 general election, under the Umno banner. He later held the same seat on the Semangat 46 ticket.

In the 12th general election, Ibrahim ran for the seat on the PAS ticket and won. He later fell-out with the Islamist party and became a pro-Barisan Nasional (BN) independent.

In the recent 13th general election, Ibrahim was defeated by Nik Muhammad Abduh Nik Aziz, the son of former Kelantan menteri besar Nik Aziz Nik Mat.

Ibrahim defended himself, saying that amongst the so-called ‘frogs’, he is the good one [frog] as he was not a corrupt leader.

“If one says I am a frog, then there are many other frogs including (Opposition Leader) Anwar Ibrahim who has switched parties several times.

“I am a good frog, not a corrupted one. Has anyone ever accused me of indulging in corruption?” asked Ibrahim, adding that he only owns one house and a car.

Selain Azizan, bapa Jamil Khir turut dipolitikkan

Saya faham bapa dia kerana bapa dia itu jiwanya PAS, original PAS," kata Mahfuz lagi.
ANALYSIS

YAN: Dalam politik menjelang PRK Sungai Limau, macam macam hal boleh dipolitikkan. Selain aruah Tan Sri Azizan Abdul Razak dipolitikkan oleh kedua-dua pihak, BN dan PAS, turut jadi isu politik ialah ayah Ketua Umno Bahagian Jerai, Baharom Ramli,

Naib Presiden PAS, Datuk Mahfuz Omar mempertahankan kenyataannya sebelum ini yang mendakwa bapa Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Jamil Khir Baharom mendoakan kejayaan PAS dalam pilihan raya kecil N20 Sungai Limau.

Menurutnya, Jamil Khir tiada di rumah sewaktu lawatan itu berlangsung.

“Dia tak ada dalam itu. Dia bukan ada pun dalam (lawatan) itu.

“Dia bukan hadir pun masa bapa dia tadah tangan berdoa itu,” katanya sewaktu diminta mengulas kontroversi lawatan itu.

Menurutnya lagi, beliau cukup mengenali Baharom Ramli, 77 tahun, yang telah lama bergiat dengan PAS.

“Saya faham dia ahli PAS, dia mengaku dia bayar yuran, cukuplah setakat itu.

“Tak apalah Datuk Jamil kata saya tak betul tak apa, tapi saya faham bapa dia sebab saya lama dengan bapa dia.

Jiwa PAS

“Saya faham bapa dia kerana bapa dia itu jiwanya PAS, original PAS,” kata Mahfuz lagi.

Jamil Khir semalam mendakwa bapanya hanya sekadar mengaminkan doa yang dibaca PAS sewaktu mereka menziarahi bapanya di rumah mereka di Kampung Sedaka, Yan.

Dakwanya lagi, bapanya kini tertekan secara moral apabila ziarah itu dijadikan modal kempen PAS dalam kempen pilihan raya yang sedang berlangsung..

Bagi Pengerusi BN Kedah, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, banyak pihak tertanya-tanya muslihatnya kerana gambar yang diambil bersama Baharom dimuat naik dalam internet beberapa minit selepas itu.

“Adakah mereka ikhlas membuat kunjungan hormat ke atas Baharom atau sebaliknya. Kenapa perlu menghebohkan kunjungan itu melainkan jika ingin meraih tujuan politik,” katanya pada sidang media di bilik gerakan induk BN di Sungai Limau semalam.

Beliau yang juga Menteri Besar Kedah diminta mengulas kunjungan Mohd Azam bersama Pesuruhjaya Pas Kedah, Mahfuz Omar ke rumah Baharom semalam atas alasan menghargai jasanya yang banyak memberikan sumbangan kepada parti itu.

Menurutnya, jika mahu menghargainya, tidak perlu menggunakan gambar kunjungan itu untuk kepentingan politik dalam PRK ini.

Ini, katanya berbeza dengan pendekatan BN ketika membuat kunjungan hormat ke rumah balu bekas menteri besar, Toh Puan Faekah Sheikh Hamzah di Alor Setar pada malam selepas pengumuman calon BN untuk PRK Dun Sungai Limau, Dr Ahmad Sohaimi Lazim.

Menghormati

“Saya dan Ahmad Sohaimi serta beberapa orang lain pergi ke rumah Allahyarham Azizan Abdul Razak untuk memperkenalkan calon kita kepada isterinya.

“Kita lakukan ini sebagai menghormati Allahyarham dan kawasan Sungai Limau yang diwakilinya selama lima penggal. Kami berbual hampir dua jam di rumahnya dan tiada siapa pun yang tahu,” katanya.

Menurutnya, perkara itu dirahsiakan kerana ia adalah urusan peribadi BN dan tidak mahu ada pihak yang cuba menangguk di air keruh.

“Tiada siapa pun yang tahu. Hari ini baru saya beritahu anda semua. Tiada gambar atau berita mengenainya di dalam surat khabar atau internet sebelum ini atau hingga hari ini,” katanya.

Mukhriz berharap rakyat dapat menilai pendekatan yang digunakan BN dalam pilihan raya ini yang tidak pernah mengambil kesempatan atas apa-apa isu untuk meraih sokongan rakyat.

Inilah kali pertama dalam sejarah Umno seorang ahli parlimen Umno berbapakan orang PAS. Dari satu segi, Jamil Khir berjaya menawan kerusi parlimen Jerai pada Mei lalu kerana saudara maranya dalam PAS mengundi BN apabila Jamil Khir sendiri bertanding.

Pada 4 November ini, bagaimana pula kedudukan saudara mara Jamil Khir? Apakah mereka akan mengundi calon BN atau calon PAS? Ini yang menarik perhatian kita.

Najib abai Orang Asli?

Komitmen pentadbiran Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak dalam isu hak milik tanah adat menjadi persoalan kerana tiada peruntukan di dalam Bajet 2014.

Bajet 2014 yang dibentangkan oleh Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak pada hari Jumaat lalu tidak mengendahkan kepentingan masyarakat Orang Asli yang mahu pengiktirafan sewajarnya diberikan kepada tanah adat mereka.

Masyarakat Orang Asal di Sabah dan Sarawak pula hanya menerima peruntukan RM50 juta untuk tujuan pengukuran dan pemilikan tanah adat, umum Najib, merangkap Menteri Kewangan pada hari Jumaat.

Peruntukan RM50 juta semestinya tidak mencukupi untuk mengukur dan mengiktiraf tanah adat di seluruh Malaysia.

Sementara itu, Menteri Pembangunan Tanah Sarawak Tan Sri James Masing dilaporkan berkata bahawa peruntukan tersebut akan membantu mengurangkan konflik di antara kerajaan negeri dan masyarakat Orang Asal.

Persoalan yang ingin dibangkitkan ialah berkenaan dengan syor-syor Laporan Inkuiri Nasional Mengenai Hak Tanah Orang Asal/Asli kerana perkara ini dipandang enteng.

Terdapat sejumlah 18 syor yang dikemukakan oleh Suhakam dalam laporan tersebut yang dikeluarkan dua bulan lepas.

Ia dibahagikan di dalam enam tema utama iaitu pengiktirafan hak adat Orang Asal terhadap tanah, remedi bagi tanah yang hilang dan isu ketidakseimbangan pembangunan tanah.

Tema lain termasuk pencegahan kehilangan tanah adat orang Asal di masa hadapan, isu-isu pentadbiran tanah dan pengiktirafan tanah sebagai nadi kepada identiti Orang Asal.

Perkara-perkara berkaitan syor-syor dan tema di dalam laporan ini tidak disentuh secara menyeluruh di dalam Bajet 2014.

Sebelum Bajet 2014, masyarakat Orang Asli dan Orang Asal telah pun menzahirkan kekecewaan mereka kerana laporan ini tidak dibentangkan di dalam sidang Dewan Rakyat.

Laporan ini sebaliknya diteliti oleh satu jawatankuasa membabitkan kerajaan dan NGO berkepentingan di dalam isu masyarakat Orang Asli/Asal.

Dalam perkembangan berkaitan, iltizam kerajaan ke arah usaha mempertingkatkan kualiti hidup masyarakat Orang Asli/Asal turut dipersoal di dalam sesi Penilaian Berkala Sejagat di Geneva, Switzerland.

Negara-negara seperti Finland, Sweden, Norway dan New Zealand telah mengesyorkan agar hak Orang Asli / Asal ke atas tanah adat dan budaya mereka diiktiraf oleh kerajaan.

Jika pentadbiran Najib dilihat bersikap seperti melepaskan batok di tangga, para pemimpin Pakatan Rakyat juga kelihatan mempunyai pendirian sama dengan BN.

Pada hari Ahad yang lalu Presiden PAS Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang menggesa masyarakat Orang Asli agar tidak merayau di hutan.

“Orang asal sampai bila nak merayau? Mereka patut berubah jangan selama-lamanya berada pada tahap itu.

“Daripada terus mengharapkan kawasan rayau untuk mereka disediakan, mereka harus keluar daripada kebiasaan,” kata Hadi semasa penutupan perasmian Konvesyen Tanah dan Perbandaran Kebangsaan 2013, di Shah Alam.

Kenyataan ini bagaimanapun ditolak oleh Jawatankuasa Orang Asli Kelantan yang mahu kerajaan negeri dan pusat mengiktiraf tanah adat.

Malaysia's English language crisis

(Straits Times) - Govt anxious to counter slump in test results by local students

IN PERAK on the northern Peninsular Malaysia, an English teacher uses textbooks meant for seven-year-olds to teach her Form One class of students, mostly aged 13.
"When I first taught them, they could not even tell the difference between 'when' and 'what'," the teacher, who wants to be known only as Yee, told The Straits Times recently.

"I had to put my planned lessons aside and start with the basics."

It is the type of story many English teachers in Malaysia share, but are reluctant to speak openly about because they worry about being sanctioned by the education ministry.

And so, when the ministry recently announced that from 2016 onwards, students in Form Five - the equivalent of a GCE O-level class in Singapore - must pass English before they can obtain their school-leaving certificates, it set tongues wagging.

After all, last year, almost a quarter of 470,000 Form Five students failed English, and only 16 per cent of them scored highly in the language.

"Without the school-leaving certificates, the students cannot further their studies or get jobs," said Lok Yim Pheng, secretary-general of the National Union of the Teaching Profession. "Is their future being killed?"

Part of the problem, educators say, is that there are not enough qualified English teachers. Recently, the education ministry revealed that 70 per cent of the country's 70,000 English teachers failed a competency test to teach the language.

The ministry is now working overtime to re-train thousands of English teachers around the country to try and meet the 2016 deadline.

"It is an ambitious goal, but we cannot tolerate students not being able to communicate in English any more," Dr Habibah Abdul Rahim, head of a new agency within the ministry, told The Straits Times in a recent interview.

"Something needs to be done."

In Malaysia, English is a |compulsory subject from Primary One to Form Five. Despite that, many school-leavers, especially in rural areas, cannot converse or write fluently in English.

It was not always this way.

During the British colonial era, schools used English as the medium of instruction. This continued after independence in 1957 and many English teachers either came from the United Kingdom or were trained there.

"In the 1960s, one of the books read and discussed in English classes by sixteen-year-olds was George Orwell's "Animal Farm", recalled Andrew Yip, 60, a shopkeeper in Ipoh, Perak.

In 1970, the Malaysian government began requiring all state-funded schools to use Malay to teach, to build nationalism; though English remained a compulsory subject.

Many English teachers were phased out.

Over the years, students' academic performances declined.

In the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment, an international benchmark on students' performance in reading, science and mathematics, Malaysian students were in the bottom third among 74 countries.

By contrast, 15-year-old students in Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea appeared to have the equivalent of another three or more years of schooling compared to Malaysian students.

According to Jobstreet.com Malaysia, a recruitment agency, poor English is among the top complaints that employers have about fresh graduates.

To compensate, middle-class parents are increasingly sending their children for tuition, or to private schools, as they lose confidence in the quality of education in national schools.

Teachers who spoke to The Straits Times on condition of anonymity said it was impossible to meet the ministry's English "must-pass" target in two years.

Habibah said they aim to prove sceptics wrong.

Her agency is named Padu, or the Performance and Delivery Unit. Starting in November last year, some 14,000 teachers have been enrolled on crash courses in English. After school hours, they take lessons online and attend classes taught by teachers from the British Council and English university lecturers.

Upon finishing 480 hours of studies, they are reassessed. Those who fail are redeployed to teach other subjects.

The ministry is also promoting experienced teachers to be coaches. Already, almost 300 such coaches have been sent to district education offices in mostly rural Kedah and Sabah provinces.

But some feel it is not enough.

Former premier Mahathir Mohamad has called for a return to teaching science and mathematics in English, a policy introduced by him in 2003 and scrapped by Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2009.

Such flip-flops, said Dr Kua Kia Soong, an educator, have hurt students. "They have affected students' concentration in grasping the language," he said.

A teacher in Sabah, who asked to be identified only as Nurul, is among those preparing the first batch of students aiming to achieve the compulsory English pass. She said they are doing what they can. For example, she advises the weakest students to find and copy sentences that have similar words to the question.

"At least they get some marks and do not hand in a blank exam paper," she said.

Deaths at NS camps due to undetectable diseases, claims ministry

Female students sit in their tent on the first day of the National Service Program at a camp in Kuala Kubu Baru outside of Kuala Lumpur 16 February 2004. — AFP

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 — All 20 deaths at National Service (NS) camps, except for one, were caused by “undetectable” health problems such as leukemia, the Defence Ministry revealed today.

In a reply to Sungai Petani MP Datuk Johari Abdul in Parliament, Deputy Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri said the deaths were “undetectable” as they were due to health problems prior to the trainees’ participation at the camps.

“Since the programme started in 2004, actually there were only 20 deaths, and not 22. “There were various reasons for the deaths but the majority was caused by the trainees’ health problems like leukemia, heart problems, breathing difficulties, which were not detectable, while one death at the Muadzam Shah camp was caused by a serious misunderstanding, resulting in one person being charged in court,” he said.

On September 22, 2013, an 18-year-old trainee was bludgeoned to death at the Muadzam Shah, Pahang camp for allegedly cutting queue during breakfast earlier in the day.

However, there has been reports such as death caused by leptospirosis, or commonly known as the “rat fever” in March 2012, at a camp in Perak, a death due to viral infection in June 2005, in Negri Sembilan, another death in Sabah in May during the same year after allegedly being injured during training.

There was also a report on a trainee who died when he was swimming in Sarawak in April 2004.

“There is one rape case on February 24, 2004 when the programme had just started and the case has been tried in court and brought up to the Court of Appeal, the trainer has been punished 12 years jail with three strokes of the cane.

“As for arguments or fights, there are 442 cases misunderstandings in 10 years from 2004 to 2013 and 242 reported to police to be recorded and get counseling from the police while the rest were settled amicably.

“The government is always concerned about these cases and will take the appropriate action based on the law especially cases involving negligence and officers who did not follow the SOP,” he said.

The Kudat MP stressed that unlike the programmes similar to NS in Korea and Singapore which are based on military training, NS in Malaysia is based on shaping identities, training for national integration, and to foster the spirit of patriotism and volunteerism

“In 2009, [the National Service Training Department] and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia conducted a survey on 61,950 respondents from different backgrounds and found that 80 percent agreed that the National Service programme has reached its goals and had brought positive effect on the trainees,” he said.

Since the programme was first introduced in 2004, Abdul Rahim said 752, 643 people were trained, costing RM550 million to RM650 million annually.

NGO leader in Malaysia Alleges Prison Torture

Officials deny mistreatment

Jailbird

 

P Uthayakumar, the de facto leader of the Hindu Rights Action Force, a Indian rights organization protesting mistreatment of Malaysia’s Indian population, has issued an open letter to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and other officials alleging horrific treatment at the hands of prison guards at Kajang Prison, where he has been locked up since June on sedition charges.

“I have and am being tortured…at the most feared and dreaded closed isolation lock-up of Kajang Prison all in for 27 days and to continue indefinitely,” Kumar wrote. “I am locked-up under solitary confinement alone, 24 hours a day not seeing sunlight or fresh air [in a] dimly lit cell and [with] just one set of prison pants and shirt in an empty lock-up."

The prisons department denied mistreating the Hindraf leader, saying he had been put into solitary confinement for 13 days on two separate occasions for disciplinary problems. Uthayakumar was described as a “rebellious prisoner who caused ‘tense situations’ with the prison staff.

The 52-year-old Uthayakumar is the legal advisor to the NGO, which supported the Barisan Nasional in May 2013 national elections. In recognition, Najib appointed Hindraf chairman P Wayathamoorthy a deputy minister in the prime minister’s office. Hindraf members have since called for Wayathamoorthy to quit, alleging the government has done nothing to bring poor ethnic Indians into the country's mainstream.

Uthayakumar was first arrested in 2007 for taking part in a demonstration against the demolition of a Hindu shrine in Kuala Lumpur. A few weeks later police raided his office and confiscated fliers that were described as seditious. He previously served two years in prison under the country’s Internal Security Act, which has since been replaced by a less draconian security law. He began serving a new 30-month sentence on June 5.

In his letter, which was sent to Asia Sentinel and other publications, he said he was denied reading and writing materials, a toothbrush, toothpaste, bathing and washing soap, towel, blanket, pillow and even a half-inch foam mattress to sleep on the cement floor and that he was denied medical treatment for his diabetes.

“I am forced to sleep on the bare cold cement floor despite also suffering from arthritis, forced to drink rice porridge using a dipper that hundreds, if not thousands of other prisoners use/have used to wash their backsides. My sole shirt and pants remain unwashed (even with plain water) for days, as it will take days to dry with the very small only one feet x 1½ feet ventilation grille.”

After being returned from a court hearing on Sept. 24, he said, he was locked up for eight days “in a dirty, dark, hot and stuffy 10 feet x 10 feet ‘quarantine’ lock-up at the death row with another open (no partition) squatting toilet bowl and bath area of 2 feet x 10 feet with no bathroom privacy even during early morning long calls together with five other dangerous and violent criminals.”

Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar denied in Parliament that Uthaykumar was treated harshly, saying his cell in solitary confinement has a mattress, blanket and toiletries just like other cells and that he is being given the same food as other prisoners. He is being served bread and vegetables instead of rice as he is diabetic, the deputy minister said.

It is difficult to check Uthayakumar’s charges although there seems to be some indication that conditions in Malaysian prisons are hardly ideal. The US State Department’s 2012 Human Rights Report on Malaysia said prison overcrowding is a serious problem, with local and international NGOs making “credible allegations of overcrowding, inadequate food and clothing, lack of regular access to clean water, poor medical care, improper sanitation, and lack of bedding in Immigration Detention Centers,” although the report didn’t address conventional prisons. Accusations of rape of prisoners while in prison or detention have occurred. The Prisons Act does not provide a process for prisoners to submit complaints to judicial authorities, nor are NGOs generally allowed to monitor prison conditions.

On June 19, 2012, the Malaysian Human Rights Commission began investigating information from a staff member at the Kamunting Detention Camp who claimed the 45 prisoners still in custody under the ISA had been subject to various forms of torture before arriving at the camp.

A police spokesperson denied the allegations as “baseless and malicious.” On June 25, a lawyer for one of the detainees claimed her client had been subject to cruel and degrading treatment such as beatings, being forced to stand naked for pictures, and the application of chili paste to his body.

Inmates charged that camp authorities assaulted and placed them in solitary confinement with no ventilation. On July 21, after continued protests held by NGOs and families of the ISA detainees outside the prison, Home Minister Hishammuddin stated the detainees would be released in “due time” when “all the capacity building” of the police was in place to protect the public.

“For complaining about the above and other prison conditions and abuse of other prisoners, I have been scolded with the words "kurang ajar" (ill mannered) by DSP Mohamad Noor and ‘you are a bloody prisoner’ by prison Superintendent Ranjit Singh and repeatedly shouted at,” Uthayakumar wrote. “After almost four months being treated with at least some semblance of a security prisoner, the prison authorities are now forcing me to squat in line in muster (roll call) with other dangerous and violent criminals. Earlier I was allowed to remain in my cell for the other three i.e. 11 am, 2 pm and 4 pm musters.

“Despite my appeal letter to the Prison Director dated October 2, 2013, not only has there been no positive action but this latest torture of 27 days (plus eight days quarantine) in the most feared and dreaded isolation cell, for citing my safety and not wanting to muster with the other dangerous and violent criminals,” the letter continued.

Uthaykumar appealed to be transferred to the hospital wing in view of his illnesses and for officials to stop prison torture and abuses of all other prisoners.

Noh, wrong! Ops Lalang was orchestrated

COMMENT BN's Tanjung Karang MP Noh Omar has been quoted as saying that Malaysia will not be a country at peace if Operasi Lalang had not been carried out in 1987.

He said this on Oct 22, during the debate in Parliament on the amendments to the Security Offences (Special Measures] Act (Sosma). The amendments seek to place organised crime as an offence punishable under Sosma.

Noh (left) said there was a threat of racial riots in 1987, resulting in the dragnet that saw more than 100 innocent Malaysians arrested and detained without trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

I was one of those detained and I happen to be one of the few Malaysians who have been documenting and monitoring Umno and the way it orchestrates "sensitive issues" whenever there is a crisis facing the party.

Yes, like the May 13 pogrom, Ops Lalang was also orchestrated by Umno. Unlike May 13, we have the benefit of more media coverage and more witnesses among the present generation regarding Operation Lalang.

Umno is facing a break-up

We know that 1987 that time during Dr Mahathir Mohamad's term when he faced the biggest threat to his rule, with Team B under Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah challenging the results of the Umno elections.

A court decision in Team B's favour would have meant the end of Mahathir's grasp on power.

Thus, in the run up to Ops Lalang and before the assault on the judiciary resulting in the sacking of the Lord President and several other Supreme Court judges, the ruling party orchestrated a tense situation in the country by creating various "sensitive" issues.

These included the sending of non-Mandarin qualified administrators to the Chinese schools, conversion of Muslims to Christianity and even threats to organise a 500,000-people Umno rally in the capital.

All these were to justify the unleashing of ‘Ops Lalang' to deal with the so-called "threat to national security".

The country's first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, in his twilight years at that time, had more perception and integrity than Mahathir in his prime and certainly more political nous than the Tanjung Karang MP.

The Tunku, like many other perceptive democrats at the time, could see how Ops Lalang was orchestrated. This is how he described the situation:

"Umno was facing a break-up. The Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's hold on the party appeared critical when election rigging was alleged to have given him a very narrow victory over Tengku Razaleigh. The case alleging irregularities brought by Umno members was pending in court. If the judgment went against him he would have no choice but to step down. So he had to find a way out of his predicament. A national crisis had to be created to bring UMNO together as a united force to fight a common enemy - and the imaginary enemy in this case was the Chinese community."

Gangsters new ‘threat to national security'?

The ISA has been at the convenient disposal of the government of the day ever since its introduction in 1960. When it was first introduced in Parliament, Abdul Razak Hussein tried to justify it by saying it would only be used against "communist terrorists".

Through its grisly career, the ISA has been used most blatantly by the ruling coalition to cripple its political opponents, most notably the arrest and detention of practically the entire leadership of the Socialist Front, the main threat to the Alliance during the Sixties.

This sham democracy was the main reason for the Socialist Front's boycott of the 1969 general elections.

Since then, "threats to national security" have included Members of Parliament, trade unionists, environmentalists, educationists, Christian evangelists, Islamic practitioners, document forgers, and the list goes on...

Since the repeal of the ISA, detention without trial now comes in the guise of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act. With the latest amendments to Sosma, we are told that gangsters are the new "threat to national security".

All this points not to any threat to the nation but to the machinations of a very insecure regime that orchestrates "sensitive issues" whenever any crisis to the ruling party necessitates it.

---

DR KUA KIA SOONG is adviser to the human rights NGO Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram).

Much to be done in Malaysia on human rights front

The Star
by VICTORIA BROWN

KUALA LUMPUR: Much more attention and action are needed on the human rights front in Malaysia, said Datuk Ho May Yong, the head of the government delegation to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Malaysia.

“While Malaysia has come a long way, we acknowledge that there are certain areas which require more attention and action,” said Ho, who is also the Foreign Ministry deputy secretary-general for multilateral affairs.

“We acknowledge the shortcomings and challenges that we face,” added Ho in the closing remarks of Malaysia’s UPR process on Thursday.

Many of the 104 United Nations (UN) member states that participated in the interactive session with Malaysia during the second UPR process encouraged the Malaysian government to accede to the six remaining core international human rights conventions which have yet to be signed.

The Coalition of Malaysian NGOs for the UPR Process (Comago), Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS) and the Bar Council through its Human Rights Committee also shared Ho’s sentiments for more emphasis on human rights in Malaysia.

“Many countries called for Malaysia to continue its efforts to reduce income inequalities, education opportunities, teacher training and gender sensitivity,” said the various stakeholders in a statement.

Other noteworthy recommendations include measures to monitor human trafficking and improving the welfare of human trafficking victims, better access to healthcare and education for the poor and marginalised communities, and safeguarding the rights and interests of indigenous peoples.

“It will not be easy for the government to ignore these recommendations, as they did not come just from Western countries, but also from other countries in Asia, from Africa and Latin America,” they said.

Chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) Tan Sri Hasmy Agam said in a statement that although several positive comments were shared by UN states, Malaysia still needed to improve the human rights situation in the country.

“The Commission is of the view that critically constructive comments and recommendations by the Members States would have served as valid and useful reminders to the Malaysian Government of the need to redouble its efforts to promote and protect the human rights situation in the country,” said Hasmy.

Although Malaysia can choose to either accept or reject the recommendations given by UN member states, Suhakam urged the government to consider accepting “as many constructive and practical recommendations as possible”.

Suhakam hoped that Malaysia would implement the recommendations outlined at this year’s UPR process over the next four and a half years before Malaysia is due to be reviewed for the third time in 2018.

“By which time Malaysia would be on the threshold of becoming a developed nation,” said Hasmy.

Ho reassured the UPR delegations in her closing remarks that the Malaysian government will seriously consider the comments and recommendations made.

“Malaysia has taken this review exercise very seriously and with an open mind,” she said.

Human rights recommendations proposed to Malaysia

During the UPR, each of country was given one minute and five seconds to voice their feedback on Malaysia's performance since the first review in 2009 and to give their respective proposals.

Here are some recommendations from UN states:

- Argentina recommended that to eradicate discrimination against migrant women and LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual) community, and work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to respect refugee rights.

- Australia recommended the prompt registered newborns of indigenous people and refugees.

- Austria urged for the freedom to practice and change religions, including the Muslim population. The Austrian representative also recommended media freedom be given to online news portals and bloggers.

- Canada recommended for the ability to worship in peace and security without disturbance, and to recognise freedom of religion. It also recommended the criminalisation of marital rape.

- Denmark made a specific recommendation to amend Section 114A of the Evidence Act 1950 to remove the presumption in relation to Internet and other electronic media postings.

- Iran recommended to combat discrimination against religious minorities.

- Japan recommended the promotion of Internet freedom, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.

- New Zealand recommended the setting-up of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission.

- The United States specifically called for the abolishment of repressive laws such as the Sedition Act 1948 and the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984. They also recommended the ratification of the convention on refugees.

- The United Kingdom urges the removal of restrictions on freedom of expression and the creation open spaces for free media practices. They also recommended the abolishment of the death penalty.

Finding the lunatic fringe in Malaysia

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pic) today spoke of the lunatic fringe holding sway in the country, saying that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was acceding to demands from extremists in the opposition.

However, he did not name the extremists or say what their demands were.

“We have a government that is weak because of weak support from the people, and with a tendency to accede to the demands of extremists in the opposition," Dr Mahathir said in his Perdana Foundation office, across a lake from the prime minister's office in Putrajaya.

“The worst part is that they make extreme demands to unseat the government who can’t get rid of whatever they don’t like. But if you think that they will then say ‘thanks, we will support you now’, you are mistaken,” said the country's longest-serving prime minister.

In the past decade since Dr Mahathir stepped down, and even before that, the opposition had been asking for greater democracy, the rule of law, good governance, equity for all citizens and cutting down excesses.

Perhaps only the lunatics dream of such things in Malaysia.

Dr Mahathir is right of course, that the government is weak because support from the people is weak. And that is probably due to the extremists who harangue the government from the far right.

The ones who believe that Malaysia is only for the Malays, who see it as their absolute right to restrict the word Allah to only Muslims in Malaysia and who believe anything else is sacrilegious.

Witness the flip-flop over using the word Allah in Sabah and Sarawak for a dose of what extremists can make the government do.

The thing is, had Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim or even Lim Kit Siang said what Dr Mahathir said today, Umno's lunatic fringe or shall we say Malaysia's lunatic fringe, Umno, would have called them traitors and asked for their citizenship to be stripped.

Of course, one has to wonder why Dr Mahathir finally decided to come out today with both guns blazing at the current government. He took a longer time this time than with the Abdullah administration.

Has it got to do with his son Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir's close loss in the Umno polls? He did say the Umno winners were victorious because of money politics.

Was the loss even bigger to him than Barisan Nasional's loss in Election 2013, which happened despite his support for the ruling coalition. In 2008, he did not campaign for Barisan Nasional (BN) and they only won 140 federal seats but this time, the coalition fared even worse, winning only 133.

Can the BN government actually stop pandering to the extremists, as Dr Mahathir recommends, and understand the thinking of the moderates and convince them to work together to promote stability?

It only depends if the ruling coalition can determine who and where the lunatic fringe are. They should be looking at their own backyard, not across the aisle. - October 28, 2013.

Najib Meets Malaysian Professionals In London

From Nor Baizura Basri

LONDON, Oct 28 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak spent about one-and-a-half hours meeting with Malaysian professionals here, resuming his working visit despite concerns over St Jude storm that swept South West England and Wales.

The networking lunch with the Malaysian diaspora was organised by the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade), the national trade promotion agency.

Also present were Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed and Matrade Chief Executive Officer Datuk Dr Wong Lai Sum.

Malaysian High Commissioner to United Kingdom Datuk Seri Zakaria Sulong also attended the event.

Some 20 working professionals across various sectors including fund management, legal, banking and properties, took the opportunity to see the prime minister, who is currently on a working visit to Manchester and London from Oct 27 to Oct 31.

Earlier, Najib cancelled his trip to Manchester due to severe weather as a result of St Jude's storm.

Korban in schools - ministers contradict each other

Second Education Minister Idris Jusoh said the ministry will not prohibit the religious slaughtering of cattle or other animals in schools for korban (ritual sacrifice).

However, Idris (left) who is also the Besut MP, said any programme the school organises should take into consideration the sensitivity of the other races.

"We must respect others if such programme is to be implemented," he says in a Facebook posting.

Idris' statement contrasts with that of Deputy Education Minister II P Kamalanathan, who last week said the religious sacrifice of cattle is not allowed.

"Actually that act is not permitted. We have already investigated the matter. The problem arose because the district education department was not informed," the deputy minister was quoted as saying.

"If they had informed the district education office, they would have been advised to carry it out at a nearby surau," Kamalanathan reportedly said.

Idris and Kamalanathan (right) were responding to the outcry by the non-Muslim community over the ritual sacrificing of animals, including cattle, at SK Puchong Jaya in Selangor earlier this month for Hari Raya Haji.

It was also reported that Kamalanathan's comment on the matter has been attacked by Malay right-wing group Perkasa, with its Youth chief Irwan Fahmi Ideris describing the deputy minister's statement as an insult to Malays and Muslims.

Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali also criticised the deputy minister for interfering in a religious matter and asked Kamalanathan to take the issue up with the Conference of Rulers.