Ceramah Shahul Hamid: Mengapa penganut Hindu marah?

Somali Woman Killed for Refusing to Wear Veil (American Feminists Silent, as Usual)

Muhammad's wife Aisha once said: “I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women” (Sahih al-Bukhari 5825). According to Aisha, Muslim women are treated worse than Jewish women, Christian women, or pagan women. It's odd, then, that so many Muslims in the West claim that Islam liberates women.

BBC—Militant Islamists in Somalia have shot dead a Muslim woman for refusing to wear a veil, her relatives say.

Ruqiya Farah Yarow was killed outside her hut near the southern Somali town of Hosingow by gunmen belonging to the al-Shabab group, they say.

The militants had ordered her to put on a veil, and then killed her after returning and finding she was still not wearing one, the relatives said.

An al-Shabab spokesman denied the group had killed the woman.

Al-Shabab does not fully control the area where she was living, he added.

Relatives, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, told the BBC that Mrs Yarow was killed at about 07:30 (04:30 GMT).

She was shot twice and died instantly, they added.

She is survived by her husband and children, the relatives said.

Al-Shabab, which controls much of southern and central Somalia, imposes strict rules of behaviour, including dress codes for men and women. (Continue Reading.)

Pro-ISIS Demonstrators Call for “Death to Jews” in the Netherlands

By Damien Sharkov

Jewish human rights group the Simon Wiesenthal Center has expressed its shock that protests in support of Islamic terrorist group ISIS have gone undeterred by Dutch authorities in the Hague. Two public rallies, expressing support for ISIS have been held this month, with chants advocating the murder of “dirty Jews from the sewers” heard at both.

The first protest inciting violence towards Jews was held on July 4, while a second went ahead last week, on July 24, Dutch newspaper NL Times reports.

Doctor Shimon Samuels of the Simon Wiesenthal Center addressed a passionate letter to the Dutch prime minister in response to the protests, asking him to rescind approval should a third demonstration of this kind be organised.

“Yesterday, the call in Arabic and Dutch was for ‘dirty Jews from the sewers to be killed,’” Samuels told Jewish paper the Algemeiner, a day after the second protest.

“This rally had little to do with Gaza solidarity. It was unambiguously targeted against Jews, but also according to the Dutch press sought to lynch journalists, who were pulled to safety by the police, otherwise serving as silent spectators.”

Doctor Samuels had initially pleaded to the Mayor of the Hague, Mayor Jozias van Aartsen, to undertake preventative measures to stifle the protest to no success.

“The Dutch people today, sadly, face two forms of terrorism”, the letter reads. “The first from those who brought down the Malaysian aircraft over Ukraine. The second from the potential danger at home from ISIS,” Samuels wrote.

“Mr. Mayor, you can stop the second, if you wish. If you do not, you will share responsibility for the consequence.”

Samuels presented video footage of the rally, which shows a crowd larger than 50, waving ISIS flags and yelling “Maut al-Yahud’ (Death to the Jews)”.

According to Samuels, police reports of the demonstration on the July 24 misrepresented the scale of the violence, disagreeing with the account given by authorities.

The Public Prosecutor’s report of the rally said that “there were only 40 to 50 people present… the police were present with an Arabic speaking police officer” and “the slogans overheard by this officer were not considered as crossing boundaries. Hence no arrest was made.”

One Dutch parliamentarian who joined the calls of condemnation of the protest was part-Moroccan Labor MP Ahmed Marcouch. “What are these kids doing there in the first place? ISIS is pure barbarism, it is bloodthirsty," he told The Daily Beast. "We can’t allow them to win our children away from us.”

“The greatest insult of ISIS may even be toward the Muslims and Islam itself,” he said.

“I call on the Muslim community: stand up and don’t allow your religion to be hijacked by these idiots! Don’t make light of them, but make yourself strong against them, these barbaric criminals. Muslims have to speak out: ‘Not in my name! Stay away from my faith,’" he added

While sporadic and sometimes anti-Semitic violence has broken out at pro-Palestinian protests in European capitals over the last month, official action to contain them has been undertaken by French, German and Italian authorities.

The Dutch protest also marks the first time demonstrations in support of ISIS, now known as the Islamic State, which has declared a ‘caliphate’ over parts of Syria and northern Iraq that it controls, have been held publicly in Europe.

Mayor van Aartsen’s refusal to discourage the protests has sparked a petition to remove him from office, which has already collected close to 17 000 signatures.

News of anti-Semitic violence in Europe comes as video footage showing far right Israeli protesters chanting “"There's no children left there [in Gaza]" and "Gaza is a cemetery" in Tel Aviv yesterday, has emerged online.

Hundreds protest ustaz's 'Hindu' curry powder jibe - Malaysiakini

Hundreds of people gathered in Brickfields today demanding action be taken against an Islamic preacher, Ustaz Shahul Hamid, for insulting Hinduism in a speech at a surau in Shah Alam in February this year.

The protest, organised by MIC Youth and several other NGOs, also saw MIC vice-president M Saravanan (left) demand clarification on whether Shahul Hamid, a Penangite, is actually a PAS member.

"If it's true, PAS must take action against him," Saravanan said.

A video clip of Shahul Hamid's speech has gone viral, in which he is heard telling Muslims not to buy curry powder products from what he deemed as  “Hindu” companies, such as Alagappa's and Baba's.

"If you go to the Alagappa's factory near Permatang Pauh, you will a statue (goddess) at the entrance, and the tongue is out. Why is the tongue out? Because the goddess must taste all the curry powder before they sell it," Shahul Hamid says in the video recording.

He subsequently posted a short apology on his Facebook, saying that he made the remarks in a closed-door event and he did not anticipate anyone uploading the video.

'Action must be taken'

But Saravanan said action must be taken against Shahul Hamid and vowed that Indians will not forget about this matter after mere weeks, like how they did with Zulkifli Noordin, the former Perkasa deputy president, who was also captured on video insulting Hindus last year.

However, no action was taken against Zulkifli, who has also apologised for his remarks, and he was even subsequently named as BN candidate for the Shah Alam parliamentary seat in the previous general election.

Saravanan said a group will protest in front of Shahul Hamid's house in Penang if no action is taken within a week.

As of this afternoon, the organisers said more than 400 police reports had been lodged against Shahul Hamid for his insulting speech.

The crowd of about 150 people gathered at the fountain near Little India about 1.15pm and protested for over 40 minutes at the venue.

Among the other prominent personalities who attended were MIC youth chief C Sivaraajh, and National Indian Action Team (NIAT) chairperson Thasleem Ibrahim.

Thasleem said that people like Shahul Hameed would not be making statement such as these if action was taken against Zulkifli Noordin for his remarks.

"I was the first one to make a police report against Zulkifli. I hope this time, action is taken," Thasleem said.

Thasleem said that even though he was Muslim by religion, he was still an Indian and would stand up for the community.

Police report lodged

Meanwhile, Malaysian Indian Progressive Association (Mipas) also lodged a police report against Shahul at about 1.30pm at the Sentul police station.

In its report, Mipas chief S Bharathidasan urged the police to investigate Shahul under the Sedition Act.

Meanwhile, MIC president G Palanivel also weighed in on the controversy with a statement today, saying that Shahul "should not" have criticised the Hindu religion.

"This is not his job. Everybody must respect each other's faith," Palanivel said, while asking Shahul to "apologise to everybody".

Meanwhile, former Penang PAS commissioner Mohd Salleh Man confirmed that Shahul is a PAS member and the offending video was made five years ago.

“I just spoke with Shahul and he told me it was said at a closed-door event nearly five years ago, which has only surfaced now. It is up to the current state committee to decide if any action should be taken,” he was quoted as saying.

Penang PAS is expected to call a press conference tomorrow morning.

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/270160#sthash.8AY2pKTy.dpuf

Abdullah was a better leader than Najib, say ex-Umno minister and DAP

Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was a stronger leader than Datuk Seri Najib Razak because the former had a clear agenda for reform, a DAP lawmaker and an ex-Umno minister said at a book launch today.

In describing Abdullah, who is popularly known as Pak Lah, as "sincere", Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong said although the former prime minister failed to implement his reforms, he at least had a clear agenda which could set the benchmark on how the nation can improve and move forward.

He also pointed out while Abdullah's administration was quite chaotic, it was also "quite democratic", more so than now.

Liew was speaking after the launch of the book, "Bangkit: Tempoh Pentadbiran Abdullah Badawi di Malaysia" at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre this afternoon.

The book features selected essays from the best-selling book, "Awakening", which is now translated into Bahasa Malaysia.

In contrast, Liew said, Najib sees himself as a manager instead of a leader.

With the exception of the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 where Najib took a firm leadership role, the DAP strategist said there were many instances when the premier was merely a manager.

"He's managing things without showing leadership and that is not good," he said.

Liew said Abdullah, who was prime minister from October 2003 till April 2009, could have made a different choice during the watershed 2008 general election where Barisan Nasional lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority but he choose to recognise the democratic decision of the electorate, and stepped down.

In the 2008 general election, the opposition won 82 out of 222 parliamentary seats.

The loose three-party coalition of Pakatan Rakyat also won Penang, Kedah, Selangor and for a short while, Perak.

Former Umno minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim rated Abdullah's administration better than Najib purely because of the lack of racial religious rhetoric that is permeating in today's climate.

"Abdullah is better not because he was more democratic but because there was no hatred. He would not tolerate any form of hatred.

"As a leader, this is the one thing that will destroy any country if you allow seeds of hatred and bigotry to take root.

"If you are the prime minister and remain silent and interested only in physical transformation or processes, then to me, you have failed.

"This country can only be built and prosper on goodwill, respect and common ground. Once these are destroyed, any leader who can't defend them is not a good leader in my book."

Zaid was a minister in the Abdullah administration until he quit the Cabinet in September 2008 to join PKR, only to leave in 2010 due to differences with the leadership.

Zaid said during Abdullah's administration, the political climate was not as racially and religiously charged as now.

"During his time, there were no stories of 'Ketuanan Melayu' (Malay supremacy) or that Islam is being challenged, because he is a leader who respected the contributions of other races," he said.

DAP's Impian Malaysia initiative adviser Wan Hamidi Hamid pointed out both Abdullah and Najib shared the same problem, namely they do not have a strong political will.

The lack of this, he said, will open the floodgates for others to start challenging their position.

In citing an example, he said Abdullah was openly challenged by his predecessor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad through the media and this opened the floodgates for others to bring up racial and religious issues, which was unheard of for the past 20 years.

"When Najib took over, it's the same situation with all extremist religious groups still out in the open that you can't even have a decent dialogue without anyone questioning whether you are challenging something or another," he said.

The former journalist also said Malaysians have yet to find a unifying factor to oppose Barisan Nasional as they are still embroiled in "petty things" such as PAS's plans to implement the Islamic penal code hudud and setting up an Islamic state as well as the current Selangor menteri besar crisis.

"I wish we can find this unifying factor, maybe we can trust each other more instead of looking at everything through the racial lense," he said.

www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/abdullah-was-a-better-leader-than-najib-say-ex-umno-minister-and-dap#sthash.EFCmYzbE.dpuf

Najib, Pak Lah and Mahathir also named in banknote graft case injunction, says WikiLeaks

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, his two predecessors and several former ministers have been named in the gag order obtained by the Australian government that censors the media there from reporting about a multi-million dollar corruption case involving Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, whistleblower website WikiLeaks revealed today.

The case involves the Reserve Bank of Australia's subsidiary companies Securency and Note Printing Australia.

Employees from both companies are alleged to have bribed foreign officials in Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam from 1999 to 2004 to win banknote printing contracts.

Besides Najib, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin were among prominent Malaysian politicians named in the injunction.

Also named were former international trade and industry minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz and former foreign affairs minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar.

It also included a sister–in-law of Abdullah, who is identified only as Noni in the injunction.

WikiLeaks had managed to obtain a copy of the super injunction order, which had been granted to prevent damage to Australia's international relations.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said the orders had been made on the grounds that it was necessary to prevent prejudice to the interests of the Commonwealth in relation to national security.

"The orders were deemed necessary to prevent a real and substantial risk of prejudice to the proper administration of justice that cannot be prevented by other reasonably available means."

Assange had criticised the Australian government for obtaining the super injunction, accusing them of gagging and blindfolding the Australian public.

"This is not simply a question of the Australian government failing to give this international corruption case the public scrutiny it is due," Assange said.

"Foreign Minister Julie Bishop must explain why she is threatening every Australian with imprisonment in an attempt to cover up an embarrassing corruption scandal involving the government."

The bribery allegations first surfaced in 2009, which at the time prompted Australian Federal Police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to begin separate probes.

In 2010, the MACC detained three individuals linked to the supply of RM5 polymer notes following a report that Securency had offered bribes to officials in Malaysia.

All three, including a businessman, were charged with taking RM11.3 million to secure the contract from Bank Negara Malaysia and to ensure that the government of Malaysia opted for the polymer notes.

Abdullah, who is popularly known as Pak Lah, had in 2011, denied allegations that the two Australian firms attempted to bribe him for a RM100 million Malaysian currency contract during his tenure as prime minister.

The attempt is believed to be related to the deal to supply the RM5 polymer notes that began circulating in 2004.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/najib-pak-lah-and-mahathir-also-named-in-banknote-graft-case-injunction-say#sthash.t2CwFBPG.dpuf

Ustaz apologises for making disparaging remarks

An Ustaz has apologised to Hindus for making disparaging remarks about Hindu deities.

GEORGE TOWN: A video showing a Muslim cleric insulting Hinduism and Ganesha (the Elephant God) while calling on Muslims to boycott the popular Alagappa brand curry powder, has caused a stir among Hindus nationwide.

Many Penang-based Hindu groups, including MIC, PPP, the Malaysia Hindu Youth Council and the Malaysia Hindu Sangam have lodged reports against Ustaz Shahrul Hamid.

The video went viral on social media and micro-blogging sites on Monday.

The Hindu groups have urged authorities to take firm and stern action against Shahrul.

A demonstration, led by MIC national youth chief C. Sivarajah, was held in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur today and police reports, lodged.

However, apparently another video recording has gone viral since late yesterday showing Shahrul apologising to Malaysians, especially the Indian community, for his offensive remarks, if any.

Shahrul claimed that the video showing him insulting Hinduism and making his boycott call on Alagappa curry powder was uploaded without his knowledge or permission by certain unknown quarters with bad intentions.

The forum, said Shahrul, was all about “halal and haram” in Muslim life.

“In the course of my speech, I may have spoken certain words that could be construed as an insult to the Indian community.

“I apologise for any offensive remarks that might have insulted and hurt the Indians or others.

“I can assure that it would never happen again,” said Shahrul.

Alagappa curry powder products are manufactured by a company based in Bukit Mertajam.

Don’t sacrifice quality

At the end of the day, nothing beats the maxim – quality is better than quantity. What’s the use of having all those PhD holders if half of them cannot string two sentences without five mistakes?

R. Nadeswaran, The Sun Daily

UNTIL 1968, those in Form Five in government secondary schools in Klang had to sit for the Form Six Entrance Examinations if they had wanted to further their studies. Each year, a handful of students from the five secondary schools in Klang would get places in five secondary schools in Kuala Lumpur.

“Those are the studious ones,” we would remark of the qualifiers. The majority of us went to work after leaving school and only went to university late in life, or took up part-time courses or never at all.

In 1968, the Education Ministry announced the setting up of Form Six in Klang High School and it welcomed students from other secondary schools in the area and became a co-ed school about 40 years after its founding. One from the pioneer batch of students is Court of Appeal judge, Datuk Varghese George.

A good result in the Higher School Certificate examinations was a pre-requisite for tertiary education. These days, there are Form Six classes in most secondary schools but entry into universities no longer required students to have good grades in the Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia examinations.

With four credits at Form Five level, any college, university college or university would welcome you with open arms as education has turned into a big money spinner for entrepreneurs.

Every year, thousands of “graduates” are churned out by these educational outfits and very regularly, we hear of graduates who have not found jobs after graduation. They fall into two categories – unemployed and unemployable.

In the case of the unemployed, they may have done courses in areas for which there is scarce demand or in disciplines where supply has outstripped demand.

In the case of unemployable ones whom I have come across, is a case of having a piece of paper as a qualification but with no substance.

They have no communications skills and are unable to relate their course work to the job requirements. To the interviewer, they appear to have “passed by memorising” rather than having applied what they learnt at lectures.

In the past, I have been given copies of answer scripts where students’ answers showed they had no clue as to the questions. Besides, the spelling and grammar were horrendous, to put it mildly.

Against this backdrop, the government’s plans came as a shock. In a letter published in this newspaper two weeks ago, the Education Ministry wrote: “In an attempt to increase the national competency and capacity for higher level research and innovation, the National Higher Education Strategic Plan has initiated a High Impact Agenda; namely, MyBrain15. This programme has been developed to enhance research, development and innovation by increasing the number of highly knowledgeable human capital with world class researchers and doctorate holders within 15 years.

“The government wishes to create a pool of brilliant human resources among Malaysians and aims to have 60,000 PhD holders by 2023. MyBrain15 will embark on coordinated efforts in human capital development with a common goal of enhancing national competitiveness, innovation system and wealth creation.”

It is not my intention to pour cold water on such ambitious plans but we need to bear in mind that we have to sieve and filter the applications so that only the best are chosen. If those magic numbers have to be reached, look no further than the degree mills which have grown around the world.

I have nothing against late bloomers or those who choose to further their education later in life. But we often come across some which stick out like a sore thumb.

READ MORE HERE

Wan Azizah: It is my duty to take over as Selangor MB

(The Star) – PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail says it is her duty and responsibility to assume the role of Selangor Mentri Besar as the party had already made its decision on the matter.

“All the positions I hold are a responsibility.

“Even without a position, it is a service to the people,” she said Wednesday after a prayer ceremony at the Permatang Nibong mosque here.

On claims that as MB, she would be a mere “puppet” of her husband Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Dr Wan Azizah said: “Well, he was in jail when I was elected (party) president.

“They can criticise whatever they want, but we have a team and teamwork is what we emphasise on,” she said.

The PKR supreme council endorsed Dr Wan Azizah for the role of Selangor MB, last Monday.

On Wednesday, the party’s decision to replace Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim was agreed to in principle by PKR’s Pakatan Rakyat partners DAP and PAS.

On Friday, however, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang defended Khalid, saying he wanted the latter to remain in office.

He was reported as saying that a majority of PAS grassroots agreed that Khalid should stay on, judging from his track record in helming the state.

In an immediate reaction, PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu said that Hadi’s statement was merely a personal opinion and not the party’s official stand.

PAS spiritual leader Datuk Niz Abdul Aziz Nik Mat has also supported Hadi’s view, saying that Khalid has not done anything wrong.

Crisis for Anwar’s Coalition

Internal squabbling could splinter Malaysian opposition

By Asia Sentinel

Malaysia’s unwieldy Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition, born in 2008 and led by Anwar Ibrahim, looks to be in the biggest crisis of its existence and could come apart, costing it the leadership of Selangor, the country’s richest state, potentially costing Malaysia its only alternative to the scandal-ridden Barisan Nasional led by the United Malays National Organization, whose popularity with voters continues to flag.

The issue that may undo the coalition is an internecine squabble over who should be the chief minister of Selangor. It could force a snap state election that could result in victory for the Barisan Nasional, the ruling national coalition, according to the head of a Kuala Lumpur-based think tank.

Others are less pessimistic. A Malay businessman said he thought the parties eventually would sort out the issue, and that UMNO is more concerned about a Selangor snap election than the Pakatan coalition because they fear they would still lose.

Anwar, in an interview with the popular website Malaysian Insider, expressed optimism that the coalition could stay together, with the leadership of the three-party coalition looking at larger interests. "We have already endured so long with principles like tolerance," he said. "I do not see it as a breakup."

It is true that the coalition survived a long string of crises to prosper in the 2013 general election despite the disparate nature of the three parties that make it up. But, say several sources in Kuala Lumpur, Anwar is preoccupied over concern that he might be jailed as the result of a guilty verdict rushed through an appellate court in March, reversing a 2012 not-guilty verdict in a high court in a case that has since become known as Sodomy II, in which he was accused of having forced sex with a male aide. Anwar spent six years in a Malaysian prison from 1998 to 2004 on similar charges that were widely considered to be trumped up by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and UMNO officials to keep him from heading the opposition.

Critics say the appellate decision, in Malaysia’s malleable court system, was designed to keep him from running in a by-election to give him the right to become chief minister of Selangor, and giving him a platform to take on the prime minister. Friends say Anwar is depressed and believes that before the end of the year he may well be put back in prison. That, they say, has affected his ability to keep his fractious coalition together.

The coalition is composed of Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat, made up mostly of urban, moderate ethnic Malays; Parti Islam se-Malaysia, a fundamentalist Malay Muslim party with its roots in rural Malaysia; and the Democratic Action Party, made up primarily of ethnic Chinese. It came together in the immediate wake of the 2008 general election, in which the three parties gained control of five state assemblies and made significant gains at the federal level, denying the national ruling coalition a two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat, or parliament.

The coalition hit its high point in the 13th general election in May 2013, winning an absolute majority in the parliament with 50.87 percent of the votes cast to 46.38 percent for the Barisan. However, gerrymandering and the first-past-the-post electoral system gave the Barisan 133 seats compared to 89 for the opposition. That is increasingly looking like the crest, perhaps for good, especially if Anwar, who is now 66, goes to jail.

The strains between three such dissimilar parties have made for disruptive politics for the six years of its existence. But now the coalition could come apart altogether over what appears to be a parochial matter – the leadership of Selangor by the Parti Keadilan chief minister, Khalid Ibrahim, whom Anwar decided to replace in March, allegedly for lack of leadership. Anwar engineered the resignation of the seat-holder, Lee Chin Cheh, in a Kuala Lumpur suburb to create a vacancy that he hoped to fill via a by-election.

However, Anwar’s plans were blocked when the appellate court rushed through the guilty verdict. The verdict, now on appeal to the country’s Federal Court, disqualified him from running for the seat as a convicted felon. His wife, Wan Aziza Wan Ismail, ran instead and won. The plan was to install her as chief minister.

It didn’t work. Khalid Ibrahim found an unlikely ally in PAS president in PAS leader Abdul Hadi Awang, who would ultimately like to make an ally, Parti Keadilan vice president Azmin Ali, the chief minister. While Azmin is a member of Anwar’s own party, the two are rivals. The DAP backs Anwar. In order to decide who gets the job, it might require a state snap election, which, according to sources in Kuala Lumpur, the national ruling coalition might be able to take the state back.

While the issue of the chief ministership is the focal point, virtually since the coalition came together there have been understandable strains. Neither the moderate urban Malays nor the Chinese in the DAP wants anything to do with PAS’s continuing efforts to push through hudud for the state of Kelantan, which it controls. Hudud is a medieval system of punishment under Islamic religious law that would include the amputation of limbs for minor crimes and stoning for adultery. The other two parties fear that passage in Kelantan could be contagious, with other Malay-majority states adopting the system. And, they fear, if those states adopt hudud, it wouldn’t be long before it is applied to non-Malays.

UMNO has played skilfully on the divisions between the parties, particularly over the hudud issue. Although it would be unheard of for an opposition party to be allowed to introduce a private member’s bill in the parliament, The issue was quickly steered to a committee for study. But the question comes down to whether the fear of a resurgence of the Barisan and UMNO is enough to keep the warring elements together to solve the problem.

Tampered MH17 site not likely to yield new clues, experts say

KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 — After over 12 days of exposure to looters, amateur searchers, and now debris from nearby battles, experts on the ground believe that evidence from MH17’s crash site in eastern Ukraine may be too contaminated to be of much use to investigators.

According to CNN, one frustrated official labelled the site “one of the biggest open crime scenes in the world” after a team of Dutch and Australian investigators were forced to turn back yesterday due to nearby clashes between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists.

The 45-member team, which was accompanied by officials from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), were left frustrated by the fighting which, according to reports from wire agencies, may have destroyed parts of the site where the aircraft’s remains still lie.

AFP reported Vladimir Antyufeev, the self-styled deputy chief of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” as saying that the Ukrainian army has now “taken over part of the crash site”.

The situation on the ground now “is very complicated, it is not a secret”, the rebel leader added, AFP added.

OSCE spokesman Michael Bociurkiw told CNN that on-site experts are growing “sick and tired” of being delayed.

“We all know there are still human remains out there exposed to the elements, number one.

“Secondly, it is one of the biggest open crime scenes in the world as we speak, and it is not secured. There’s no security perimetre around the 30— or 35-square-kilometre site,” he was quoted saying on the news channel’s website.

The Dutch and Australian team was forced to turn back yesterday despite a weekend agreement between Malaysia and the rebels at the crash site which sought to secure the area and protect investigators by allowing entry to police personnel.

But a senior air-safety official said the wreckage may now be “long past contamination”, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported today, and investigators may have to rely on a broader range of evidence to determine how the aircraft came down.

Among others, investigators could examine satellite imagery and the flight’s radar tracks, apart from information gleaned from the plane’s black boxes.

According to WSJ, Dutch authorities believe they can find out what happened to the plane and who should be held responsible for the crash.

“They also have talked about the likelihood of conducting some type of criminal investigation to punish the guilty,” the international newspaper reported.

But, the paper noted, air-safety experts have maintained that recovering the plane’s fuselage could provide an important insight to the crash prove, through metallurgical and chemical analyses.

Without guaranteed security for crash investigators, however, the process of retrieving parts of the fuselage may be near impossible.

On CNN, Bociurkiw said the team will attempt again to access the site today.

“We will keep trying every day,” he said.

A broadcast channel reported that its media team had been part of yesterday’s convoy into the site but had to turn back on orders from armed men near Shakhtorsk. They were followed shortly after by a group of forensic experts.

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH17, a commercial jetliner ferrying 298 civilians from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, on July 17.

Western governments and Ukraine have insisted that the Boeing 777 aircraft had been shot down by a Buk missile system operated by the Russia-backed rebels controlling Donetsk. The rebels, however, have accused Ukrainian forces for shooting down the Malaysian plane.

Najib To Meet With Dutch PM Over MH17 Crash

From Mohd Razman Abdullah

AMSTERDAM, July 30 (Bernama) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is scheduled to meet his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte in The Hague over the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH17 crash in Ukraine when he arrives Thursday for a two-day working visit to the Netherlands.

Najib is scheduled to arrive at 8 am (2 pm in Malaysia), accompanied by his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam and Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin.

Malaysian Ambassador to the Netherlands Datuk Dr Fauziah Mohamad Taib said Najib's visit was primarily aimed at getting an update on the identification of the victims of the disaster and the repatriation of the remains.

She told Malaysian journalists here that Najib would have discussions with Rutte from 11.15 am (5.15 pm in Malaysia) and then leave for Hilversum where the remains of the victims were undergoing identification and forensic process.

The MAS flight, MH17, was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it went down in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border on July 17.

The Boeing 777-200 aircraft, which was carrying 298 people - 283 passengers and 15 crew, is believed to have been shot down, but until today no one has claimed responsibility.

The remains of the victims were flown from Ukraine to the Netherlands. Dutch nationals, at 193, comprised the largest number of passengers on Flight MH17.

Dr Fauziah said Najib would host a dinner Thursday and a media conference at 8 am (2 pm in Malaysia) the next day.

She said this was Najib's first working visit to the Netherlands. Previous Malaysian leaders who visited the Netherlands were former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, in 2005, and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, in 1986, she added.

Dr Fauziah said Malaysia was the Netherlands' largest trading and investment partner among Southeast Asian countries.