In MIC, Palanivel moves out of Samy Vellu’s shadow

Palanivel
KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 — In the time honoured tradition of pork barrel politics, MIC leaders and businessmen who previously worshipped former MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy for over 30 years have turned their attention to his successor Datuk G. Palanivel.

At Palanivel’s 62nd birthday party celebrations yesterday, they extolled his virtues and showered him with praise, gifts, bouquets and flower garlands.

The birthday party was held in the Netaji Hall at the MIC headquarters and for several hours individuals lined up to garland the new man leading the MIC.

Leading the way was MIC deputy president and Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam, Palanivel’s rival and leader of an anti-Palanivel cabal in the MIC.

But under pressure from Barisan Nasional chairman and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, the two rivals have buried their differences and are working together to deliver Najib’s promises to the Indian community.

An example is the Mydaftar programme to give stateless Indians birth certificates and identity cards, with the closing period extended until Sunday because of overwhelming response.

Noticeably missing, however, from last night’s celebration was Samy Vellu himself and another former rival, former deputy president Datuk S. Subramaniam — however his business ally K. P. Samy was present at the function with a white colour garland ready.

“I went as a party man to show respect to the president,” Samy said. “Over 600 garlands were given to Palanivel.”

Leading Tamil singer Raja Cholan sang “praise songs” for the birthday boy who beat many rivals in the MIC to rise to the top as party president ever since becoming a speech writer for Samy Vellu in the early 1980s while working as a reporter in Bernama.

Later he became press secretary, MP and rose up the party ladder, always helped by Samy Vellu, until as deputy president and president, both lost their seats in the 2008 general election.

Everybody who was somebody in the MIC attended the birthday bash in which Palanivel’s wife Datin Kanagam, also made an appearance cutting the birthday cake with Palanivel.

Over 1,000 mostly MIC members attended the birthday celebration in which Samy Vellu’s son Vel Paari, who is struggling to make a independent political career of his own, was a leading light, garlanding Palanivel with a huge red-coloured garland.

During Samy Vellu’s long career as MIC president, he rebuffed many attempts by Paari to ride on him and carve out a career for himself but after his father retired on Dec 6 last year, Paari has resumed his ambition and is banking on Palanivel to give him a lift.

Although Palanivel is politically weak and needs to strengthen his position to survive the challenge from Dr Subramaniam that is expected after the upcoming general election, he has several things going for him.

One is incumbency and the other is pork barrel politics. As party president he can dispense largesse such as directorships in GLCs, nominations to be candidates for the general election, senatorship and awards that he can distribute in return for political support.

Besides he is not from any of the dominant castes that control the MIC and thus is able to relate with all without angering any.

The birthday celebration comes as his relationship with his benefactor Samy Vellu appears strained as a result of the latter’s intention to maintain the old status-quo in the MIC and Palanivel’s desire to re-arrange the pecking order to fit his needs.

Palanivel has so far been very careful not to redesign the MIC preferring to tinker here and there to give some space for his supporters to gain a footing.

“He is careful not to anger Samy Vellu because the former president can get very jealous and Palanivel does not want his benefactor in a bad mood,” said a MIC insider.

The two are currently at loggerheads over the future of the MIED, the MIC education wing that owns AIMST University, estimated to be worth RM1 billion.

Palanivel wants MIED to be part of MIC always and controlled by MIC but MIED is now controlled by individuals — MIC leaders and outsiders — who are beholden to Samy Vellu and how they decide, when voting, would decide the future shape of the MIED and its links to the MIC.

An attempt by Samy Vellu to increase the MIED controlling membership has sparked a firestorm with allegations, denied by Samy Vellu, that he plans to hijack the MIED and AMIST University with it.

A MIED meeting, where Palanivel is also involved, and fixed for March 7 over the inclusion of new members who are all Samy Vellu diehards, could see a showdown between benefactor and successor.

Bully victim: Cops ignoring report

A polytechnic student claims that five classmates nearly circumcised him by force.

KUALA LUMPUR: Five bullies held down one of their classmates and threatened to circumcise him, but police have refused to act on a report of the incident, according to the alleged victim.

R Rajiv Singham, a 20-year-old student at Politeknik Sultan Azlan Shah (PSAS) in Behrang, Perak, said Special Branch officers interviewed him and his mother and one of them advised the latter to forgive the five, saying he did not want the issue to turn racial.

Rajiv’s mother, R Sharimala, said she had since found out that the father of one of the assailants is a police officer in Bukit Aman.

The mother and son, who live in Pantai Dalam, spoke about the issue today in an interview with FMT.

Here is their story:

On the night of Feb 24, Rajiv went to a room occupied by a classmate named Hairil for help to complete his assignment. Another classmate, Fizrin, was already there. Shortly afterwards, three others—classmates Nazrul Faiz and Asyraf and “another guy”—entered the room.

Asyraf started a conversation about circumcision and soon started shouting “Sunat, sunat.” (“Sunat” is Malay for “circumcise”.)

One of the boys pressed down Rajiv’s thighs and another held his arms. Another boy produced a pair of scissors and tried to remove his track bottoms. Nazrul made a video recording of the entire episode.

They released him after about five minutes of struggle. Nazrul then played the video recording and threatened to post it on Facebook.

(It was not clear what they wanted from Rajiv, but Sharimala told FMT: “I believe that they were going to sodomise my son.”)

The following day, Rajiv’s class monitor, Iman, told him that he had seen the video. Rajiv then decided to lodge a report with principal Izatul Marini.

Izatul told Rajiv the polytechnic would take action after a discussion with the director of the polytechnic. She also said she wanted to discuss the matter with Rajiv’s family and advised him against lodging a police report.

The principal then held a meeting with Rajiv and three of the bullies. Asyraf, Hairil and Nazrul gave their statements to the principal. The video recording was found in Hairil’s computer. The principal made a copy to keep as evidence.

No action by school

Sharimala lodged a police report at the Brickfields police station on the night of Feb 25, and Asyraf, Hairil and Nazrul were arrested the following day.

One Inspector Teynmoli from the Slim River police station subsequently called her and said the police report against the five should be withdrawn.

Mother and son then went to Slim River, where he told police officers that he was also bullied in the first and second weeks of February.

In Slim River, Special Branch officers interviewed the two separately. Officer Manimaran interviewed Rajiv and Officer Ishak interviewed his mother.

“Ishak told me to forgive the five so I asked whether it was because they were Malays,” Sharimala told FMT.

She said the police officer told her he did not want the issue to become a racial problem. She declined to withdraw the report.

Sharimala also said she subsequently met the PSAS principal and several teachers but was told that the polytechnic could not take any action because a police report had been lodged.

[Image used is a file photo]

Pakatan decries ‘dirty, destructive’ campaign

Umno accused of practising gangster politics in Merlimau

MERLIMAU: Umno’s campaign tactics are becoming cheaper, dirtier and more destructive as polling day approaches, according to Pakatan Rakyat officials.

At a press conference here yesterday, PAS information chief Idris Ahmad and Ayer Keroh state assemblyman Khoo Poay Tiong of DAP spoke of slander, vandalism, and noisy disruptions of Pakatan ceramahs.

“Last night, at a ceramah in Chin Chin, a group of youngsters in green shirts bearing the PAS logo created a ruckus as I was speaking,” Idris said.

“They were seated in the crowd and they shouted God is Great, Long live Islam and Long live Umno.”

(The first two slogans have long been associated with PAS.)

“We know these were not our boys,” Idris said.

He also spoke of campaign literature meant to confuse Pakatan supporters.

In front of Polytechnic Merlimau, there are two banners that appear to have been placed there as part of this tactic to confuse voters. One bears an image of PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat and the words “A vote for PAS is a vote for heaven.”

The other has PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim’s image and the words “Malacca PAS supports Anwar Ibrahim’s pluralist teaching.”

The same two banners are found at Merlimau Pasir.

Idris said none of the Pakatan parties had anything to do with the banners.

Khoo spoke of the wrecking of a car in front of the DAP operation centre here and said it was only the latest in a series of vandal attacks meant to scare voters and opposition supporters.

The incident happened sometime in the wee hours of Tuesday. The car’s rear windscreen was smashed.

“The car belongs to a local resident who lives at one of the shop lots there,” Khoo said.

“We believe this is an attempt to frighten the locals into voting against Pakatan Rakyat. They targeted a car parked exactly in front of the DAP operation centre.”

Malacca PAS Deputy Commissioner Adly Zahari said the incident was a demonstration of Umno’s “gangster politics”.

“What benefit does this kind of provocation bring to the people?” he said.

He said he was surprised that such incidents would occur despite heavy police presence in Merlimau.

‘We can’t act against ‘racist’ HM’

Unless and until a federal directive is issued, headmaster who called parents of schoolchildren 'pariahs' during assembly remains scot-free.

JAWI: The district education office here can only probe into accusations of racism against a headmaster if and unless there was a federal directive.

District education officer Mohd Ghazali Abu Bakar said his department could not simply investigate the allegations on its own without such directive.

“It’s an administrative procedure,” he told FMT.

Ghazali was responding to police reports lodged against SMK Tunku Abdul Rahman headmaster Ng Tong Koang, 56, for allegedly using the word ‘pariah’ during assembly.

Ng has allegedly used the word on Monday to tick off parents of the schoolchildren for regularly making a prohibited U-Turns outside the school.

“I have been telling your parents not to make the illegal U-Turns. Why are your parents not listening? “Are your parents pariahs?” Ng allegedly asked the stunned children.

Separate reports were lodged at the Nibong Tebal police station in the past two days by state MIC Youth chief J Dhinagaran and Hindraf Makkal Sakti’s Nibong Tebal deputy chief P Murugan.

Ghazali explained that the federal education department, acting on press reports, would issue directives, if need be, to district departments to probe any such incidents.

“The district office then would act on the directive and investigate. We will recommend appropriate action based on our findings,” he said.

Shocked by allegations

His department has yet to receive such a directive but Ghazali assured a thorough investigation once a directive had been issued, which he expects to be soon.

Ghazali nevertheless said he was shocked by the allegations against Ng especially when a federal circular recently cautioned principals and teachers against racial controversies.

Ng, in the meantime, had already offered a public apology before teachers and pupils over the incident at a special assembly on Tuesday morning.

On Monday evening, Ng had also apologised to MIC state youth chief Dhinagaran and four other party colleagues for uttering the disparaging word.

Ng told the MIC team, when they met him at his school office, that he did not mean to insult Indians or any other community for that matter.

However, Ng’s apology, was not accepted by Hindraf Makkal Sakti’s Murugan, who said the headmaster could have used any other word to chide the parents.

He demanded the education authorities take stern action the principal.

“Ng’s use of the pariah word is a direct consequence of Interlok,” said Murugan

BN baiting Indian votes with two ‘carrots’

To ensure the Indian votes are safely in its bank, the BN is promising the community a new Tamil school and a temple.

MERLIMAU: The Barisan Nasional (BN), which seems to have a head-start in the Merlimau by-election, is baiting Indian voters with a promise of a new Tamil school building to replace an old one and the construction of a “magnificent” temple in the constituency.

And these two promises seem to be working in favour of the ruling coalition, making it difficult for Pakatan Rakyat to break into the Indian vote bank, Alor Gajah PKR division leader G Rajandran claimed today.

Speaking to FMT, Rajandran said since the first day of the campaign, he and other leaders have met more than 500 Indian voters, “most of whom are afraid that if they vote for PAS, they would be missing out on a new school building”.

He also alleged that MIC had threatened Indian voters here that if they opted for PAS, they would not have the new building for the Tamil school.

“The MIC has also promised the Indian community here that BN is planning to build a magnificent temple in Merlimau if its candidate Roslan Ahmad won the election.

“However, todate there have been no details of this plan. As it is, Merlimau has five temples to cater for the Indians,” he added.

However, the opposition is not about to throw in the towel in the race to win the hearts and minds of the Indian community.

“We expected MIC to play up the school and temple issue… we are prepared and have strategies for it,” he said.

He said Indians in Merlimau should send a strong message to MIC and the BN that the community would no no longer be fooled by empty promises.

Small enrolment

Meanwhile,V Loganathan, from Jasin Lalang, said BN should start constructing the Tamil school within a month of the ground-breaking ceremony, which took place on Feb 14, this year.

Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin performed the ground-breaking ceremony on the five-acre lot.

“As a businessman who frequents Kuala Lumpur, I am sceptical whether the BN is generous enough to allocate five acres to the Tamil school.”

“Honestly, if the Tamil school is built as promised, then it would become one of the largest Tamil schools in the country but the enrolment is small,” he added.

The Merlimau Tamil school has been “squatting” in a secondary school for the last 20 years. The school has also been allocated RM4 million for the construction of the new building.

The by-election, slatted for Sunday, is a straight fight between BN and PAS.

Indians want development and jobs

Limited opportunities have forced Indian youths in Kampung Guntong, Kerdau, to move to other states to eke a living.

TEMERLOH: Seven-year-old P Vasan Kumar is a carefree boy too young to understand the intricacies of life.

Like children of his age, he spends time cycling with friends after school and, when he gets hungry, he goes to his home in Kampung Guntong in front of the railway track in the Kerdau state constituency to have his meal.

The Standard One pupil of Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan (Tamil) Ladang Bee Yong is a happy kid, unaware of the pains his parents, school gardener father S Poobalan, 32, and housewife C Yasotha, 31, endure to raise the family of four children with a meagre monthly income of RM600.

“Although the income is small, we are grateful that we can live comfortably,” said Poobalan.

Kampung Guntong is on the outskirts of Kerdau town, but the 33 families who live in semi-concrete houses have electricity and water supply, a school with 13 teachers and a community hall for gatherings.

A welcome news in  the address made by Prime Minister  Najib Tun Razak in Kerdau town last Sunday was the allocation of RM200,000 for a Hindu temple in the village.

Poobalan said he hoped that the development by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government would continue, particularly in the industrial sector, to provide more jobs.

Many of the youths in the village had moved to other states in search of employment owing to limited opportunities locally, he said.

“Perhaps, it may be too late for me to enjoy a better life. Furthermore, I am not highly educated. I am only concerned about the future of my children.

“I do not think PAS, DAP or PKR can ensure a better future for them,” said Poobalan who has decided to stay put in the village because of his mother who suffers from a thyroid disease.

Fellow villager K Baskaran, 34, said he hoped that the government would consider the application of the villagers for titles to the land they had been occupying for more than 30 years.

He said the villagers had raised the matter with the former assemblyman, Zaharuddin Abu Kassim, who died on Feb 12, necessitating the Kerdau by-election, polling for which is on Sunday.

The by-election is a straight fight between Syed Ibrahim Syed Ahmad of the BN and Hassanuddin Salim of PAS, with the outcome to be decided by the 8,999 voters, 298 of whom are Indians.

“PAS campaign workers had conducted a house-to-house visit and distributed leaflets on the ‘Interlok’ novel and Hindraf issues but, when asked about the land titles, they preferred to remain silent,” Baskaran said.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported that Kuala Krau MIC division chairman M Murugiah as saying that MIC campaign workers had gone from house-to-house to explain the issues raised by the opposition parties.

“The voters cannot be easily swayed by the opposition propaganda because they know that only the BN government can transform their lives for the better,” he said.

Beating Malaysian Authoritarianism with People Power: A Blog Activist’s Tale

Raja Petra Kamarudin, Chairman of the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM), speaks at the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, the Australian National University (38.4 MB 95:57)
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
HEAR THE PODCAST HERE: http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/__data/assets/mp3_file/0012/5061/20110302-Raja-Petra-Kamaruddin.mp3 

Urgent action: Malaysia

Urgent Request to Government of Malaysia on the Crackdown and possible violence by United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) sponsored underworld “3 Line”, Pekida and Extremist Perkasa on Human Rights Advocates

Dear Sir/Madam,

I write to you with the utmost urgency for your attention on the above matter.

HINDRAF is a Human Rights organisation that advocates the rights of the marginalized Indian community in Malaysia. Although the Government of Malaysia has banned this movement without well-founded reasons, it has continued to organise various activities affecting human rights issues nationwide and as of late 2007, the movement has been operating from London.

Recently, the Malaysian government took a decision to approve the use of a novel entitled “Interlok” as part of compulsory curriculum material for 5th Form pupils in selected areas in Malaysia but the ethnic Indian community and HINDRAF take exception to the use of the novel because it contains racially insensitive, degrading, humiliating, and disrespectful use of adjectives that is extreme racist nature and on behalf of the Indian community HINDRAF has called for a total ban of the novel. The government has chosen to ignore our compliant but insist that the material will go into circulation once amendments to the material are passed sometime next month.

In response to the recalcitrant attitude of the government, HINDRAF passed a motion to stage a Solidarity March against Racism on 27th February 2011 and in furtherance to the said event, we also organised various road shows, forums, car drive campaigns and such like at national level. We have managed to amass a total of more than 200 Hindraf Human Rights campaigners to carry out grassroots campaigns including distribution of posters and fliers regarding our intention.

However since 10th February 2011, the Government began a crackdown on HINDRAF Human Rights campaigners using harassment, threat of violence, arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture, inhumane and degrading treatment including the demand that female activists remove their Orange Hindraf T-Shirts in public.

On 13th March 2011, a total of 59 Hindraf leaders and volunteers were arrested nationwide for taking part in an Anti Racism (car drive campaign). Police subjected one volunteer to inhumane ill treatment by placing him in a dark room for almost 19 out of 26 hours he was under arrest and detention. More than 120 other volunteers were prevented from continuing their campaigns nationwide.

The Police harassment continued from 13th February with:

a) Intimidation used against venue owners for allowing us to use their halls to conduct our forums;

b) Threatening venue owners with arbitrary arrest;

c) Threatening HINDRAF volunteers with arrests if they were to continue with forum discussions nationwide;

d) Placing HINDRAF volunteers under surveillance and making unannounced visits to their work places to intimidate and put pressure on employers to terminate HINDRAF volunteers from their jobs;

e) Road blocks at strategic points leading to venues of our nationwide forums thus preventing these forums from taking place.

f) Using the Police Federal Reserve Units (PFRU) in full riot gear to carry out a “baton charge” at a function Hall in Penang thus endangering the safety and security of vulnerable individuals such as the elderly, women and children at the anti racism forums.

g) Further arrests of 16 Hindraf leaders and volunteers also took place on 20th February 2011.

The Government of Malaysia is fearful that our road shows and ground campaigns over the last 3 weeks is likely to draw a large crowd for the Solidarity March on 27th February and is thus threatening us with the possible arrests under the draconian Internal security Act which may be a repeat of similar arrests which took place in 2007.

Despite the threats from the Government, we are undeterred as we are committed in our pursuit to continue with our peaceful Solidarity March scheduled on 27th February 2011. We have made an application for a Police permit; although we do not require one under the Federal Constitution, which guarantees Freedom of speech and assembly. We however anticipate that it is very unlikely that the Police would approve our requests for Police permits.

The March on 27th February 2011 would begin at KLCC and terminate at the Jalan Dang Wangi Police Station where more than 1000 people would lodge reports against the current Government which has been ruling for 54 years and its Primer Minister for practising Institutionalised racism in Malaysia.

We write to urge you to make an urgent representation to the Government of Malaysia to respect the citizens’ universal standards of Human rights, as well as the right to assemble and express feelings of discontentment and allow us to proceed with the March peacefully.

We fear the UMNO led Government would engage its agent provocateurs namely, the notorious 3 LINE and Pekida underworld gangs and its outsourced far right extremist wing such as the Perkasa to cause trouble on the said day.

We attach herewith our letters to the Inspector General of Police seeking his protection and co-operation (which thus far has been ignored) and a copy of the Memorandum of Complaint to the Human Rights Commission Malaysia, which is self-explanatory.

Your kind indulgence and urgent action is very much appreciated.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully

P.Waytha Moorthy

Chair

HINDRAF

+447502289313 (Mobile)

Ex-judge Shaikh Daud should not have compromised his stature by allowing himself to be dragooned by BN propagandists to run down Teoh Beng Hock’s family and lawyers

Former Court of Appeal judge Datuk Shaikh Daud Ismail should not have compromised his stature by allowing himself to be dragooned by Barisan Nasional propagandists to run down Teoh Beng Hock’s family and lawyers for the family’s decision to withdraw from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Teoh’s mysterious death at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters in Shah Alam in July 2009.

Another example of such a media blitzkrieg was the comment by the Universiti Teknologi Mara Assoc Prof of Law Datuk Halim Sidek.

I agree with the advice yesterday by the DAP National Chairman Karpal Singh to Halim that he should “in future demonstrate maturity by checking his facts before making public statements” so as “to set a good example to would-be lawyers under his charge”.

It is most unbecoming of a former judge of the Court of Appeal to make the baseless allegation that Teoh’s family had shown “clear disrespect” to the Yang di Pertuan Agong by pulling out of the Royal Commission of Inquiry.

I am reminded of the shallow attacks by Cabinet Ministers against me in Parliament in the seventies when I first sought to move an amendment to the Motion of Thanks for the Royal Address, on the ground that I was being disloyal and disrespectful of the Yang di Pertuan Agong in seeking to make such an amendment.

This was bunkum and baseless for the Royal Address though delivered by the Yang di Pertuan Agong at the annual opening of Parliament was the policy address of the government-of-the-day and it is established parliamentary practice and convention that criticism of the Royal Address is not criticism of the King but of the government-of-the-day.

It is just amazing that after more than half a century of nationhood, many Malaysians who should know better should still be grappling with such a basic understanding and notion of parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy.

If Sheikh Daud is right and consistent, why hasn’t he ever spoken up to criticize the Prime Minister and government-of-the-day for their disrespect and disloyalty of the Yang di Pertuan Agong when, for instance, the Royal Police Commission of Inquiry’s recommendation for the establishment of a Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police force or the Lingam Videotape Royal Commission of Inquiry’s recommendations for an independent judiciary were not implemented?

For more than 18 months, when the authorities denied the pleas of Teoh Beng Hock’s family for full, independent and no-holds-barred investigations into Teoh’s death, there has been no squeak of concern from either Shaikh Daud or Halim.

Both Shaikh Daud and Halim should have shown greater empathy and support to Teoh Beng Hock’s family for their decision to pull out of the RCI as the family members have no confidence in its independence and professionalism to get to the bottom of Teoh’s mysterious death especially in their objections to the Attorney-General’s role – firstly, in seeking a revision of the Coroner’s “Open Verdict” which rejected “death by suicide” at Teoh Beng Hock’s inquest to one of suicide; and secondly, the AG’s officers conducting the RCI when these officers are committed to secure a finding of suicide instead of homicide as borne out by latest RCI proceedings.

Instead, they have chosen to cast aspersions on Teoh Beng Hock’s family and their lawyers, Karpal Singh and Gobind Singh Deo, doing them all a grave injustice.

Both of them are guilty of even greater injustice when they seem to suggest that the Teoh Beng Hock family has things to hide and do not want to real truth of Teoh Beng Hock’s mysterious death to be out!

Steer Clear Of Pakatan Groups, Longhouse Folks Told

SIBU, March 2 (Bernama) -- Longhouse folks in the Sarawak should steer clear of all groups in the Pakatan coalition, said Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Alfred Jabu.

He said with the state imminent, these groups would be very active in trying to woo the people to support them and their candidates.

"At the same time, they would also be running full gear in trying to run down the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

"They will try to politicise and champion issues," he said before presenting compassionate money to 448 recipients from three areas in the Bawang Assan state constituency at the SK Tanjung Penasu hall in Tanjung Penasu near here Wednesday.

The government has allocated a sum of RM1.7 million to be distributed to a total of 2,625 families from the Bawang Assan and Nangka constituencies for them to do minor repairs on their longhouses.

The payment, in furtherance of a pledge made by the government during the Sibu by-election last year, will be made in stages.

Elaborating, Jabu said the people should avoid the DAP for instance as their supporters, especially those from outside the state, could be very unruly and rough in their behaviour.

"Those from Parti Keadilan Rakyat(PKR) or PAS have shown that they have no regard for local customs and traditions and do not care at all for local sensitivities.

"Then again PKR's top leadership is very bad with ineffective leaders, as evidenced by the defection of not less than 16 of its top leaders so far," he said.

Jabu said there was the likelihood that their presence among the people could breed ill-feelings, quarrels and disunity among the state's multi-racial population.

"This can have very negative impact on the government transformation programme to make the country more developed, the economy stronger and the people becoming high income earners by the year 2020," he said.

State Environment and Local Government Minister Datuk Sri Wong Soon Koh, who also spoke at the function, reminded the people that the government was always very passionate about their welfare and wellbeing.

Top powers split over Libya options

Western powers are weighing the military option against Libya's Muammar Gaddafi with US ships being moved to waters closer to Libya and more calls being made for a "no-fly zone" over the North African country. Russia has however described the no-fly zone idea as "superfluous" and along with France cautioned against moving militarily against Gaddafi without UN authorisation. “At the moment it seems that the international community is not speaking with one voice on this issue, so in the meantime we will have to wait to see how this plays out,” Al Jazeera’s John Terrett, reporting from Washington, said. While Jay Carney, a White House spokesman, said on Tuesday that the ships are being moved in order to prepare for contingencies of a chiefly humanitarian nature, he was quick to add that "we aren't taking any options off the table." Ships to enter Suez Two US amphibious assault ships, the USS Kearsarge, which can carry 2,000 marines, and the USS Ponce, will pass through Egypt's Suez Canal on Wednesday morning, an Egyptian official said on Tuesday. The official said the ships would enter the canal at 03:30 GMT. David Cameron, the British prime minister, on his part said the international community cannot let Gaddafi "murder" his own people, as he justified considerations for a no-fly zone. Click here for more of Al Jazeera's special coverage "It's not acceptable that Colonel Gaddafi can be murdering his own people, using aeroplanes and helicopters gunships ... and we have to plan now to make sure that if it happens we can do something to stop that," he said. "If he starts taking that sort of action we might need to have a no-fly zone in place very quickly." His comments came as Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief, meet Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Nato secretary-general, in Brussels, the Belgian capital, over the situation in Libya. Cameron said he had asked the ministry of defence to work with its allies over plans for a no-fly zone. He added his government would consider arming opposition groups fighting in Libya. However, a senior US military official has warned that establishing a no-fly zone in Libya would be a "challenging" military operation. "My military opinion is that it would be challenging," General James Mattis, commander of US Central Command, told a Senate hearing. "You would have to remove air defence capability in order to establish a no-fly zone, so no illusions here. It would be a military operations - it wouldn't be just telling people not to fly airplanes." Russia against no-fly zone Senior Russian officials have ruled out the idea of creating a no-fly zone over Libya. Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, described the idea of imposing limits on Libyan air space as "superfluous" and said world powers must instead focus on fully using the sanctions approved by the UN Security Council over the weekend. The United Nations general assembly on Monday unanimously suspended Libya's membership of the UN Human Rights Council, citing the government's use of violence against protesters. A statement said that Libya had committed "gross and systematic violations of human rights". Dmitry Rogozin,  Russia's NATO ambassador, cautioned against moving militarily against Gaddafi without UN authorisation. "If someone in Washington is seeking a blitzkrieg in Libya, it is a serious mistake because any use of military force outside the NATO responsibility zone will be considered a violation of international law," Rogozin told Russia's Interfax news agency in Brussels. "A ban on the national air force or civil aviation to fly over their own territory is still a serious interference into the domestic affairs of another country, and at any rate it requires a resolution of the UN Security Council," Rogozin said. Mikhail Margelov, a leading Kremlin-allied parliamentarian, said US military action in Libya could "kill the shoots of democracy in the region". France urges UN mandate France has said military intervention in Libya could only go ahead with a clear United Nations mandate. "At the moment I speak, no military intervention is planned," Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, said. "Different options can be assessed, notably a no-fly zone. But let me put it clearly here - no intervention will happen without a clear UN Security Council mandate". NATO says any intervention in Libya would have to be UN-authorised.  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday that even more action beyond UN sanctions might be needed, because in Libya "a regime that has lost legitimacy has declared war on its own people." "It is up to us, the community of nations, to stand against this crime," Ban said in New York. Barak Seener, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, told Al Jazeera that any UN resolution backing a no-fly zone "would have to demand that the no-fly zone is not open ended and subject to review at certain intervals". He said as most of the atrocities are taking place on the ground, such a plan could lead to a no-drive zone, or a no-sail zone, and so clear parameters would be needed. John Rees from the London-based Stop the War Coalition has said such military intervention would be a "prelude to a new war" and a "classic foreign policy blunder". In an interview with the BBC he said Egypt and Tunisia had proved that people were capable of overthrowing their governments without the help of Western nations. He added that Libyans were capable of toppling Gaddafi's regime alone, saying large sections of the military had already defected. Talks over military intervention come after the United Nations Security Council backed a resolution condemning Gaddafi's actions, imposing travel bans and asset freezes on key government figures. The European Union has also approved its own sanctions on Libya, including an arms embargo and travel bans, and a number of nations, including Britain, the US, Germany, Canada, Switzerland and Austria have announced their own asset freezes.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

One eye on Sarawak, Pakatan resigned to by-election losses

PAS president Datuk Hadi Awang and Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin shake hands after nominations were completed in Kerdau.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 — With its heart and mind already focussed on crucial Sarawak polls — possibly a month away — a lethargic Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is counting the cost of campaigning in the ongoing twin by-elections.

The opposition pact seems loathe to pour resource into the March 6 vote in Kerdau and Merlimau, in the hope of making gains in the Borneo state to create momentum for a general election that is expected to be called within a year.

“Sarawak and the general election coming up and we need to save ourselves for the big elections,” PAS central committee member Dzulkefly Ahmad admitted to The Malaysian Insider.

PAS, which is contesting both state assembly seats which have no bearing on the respective state governments, is finding their finances stretched and election fatigue has set in for both leaders and the electorate.

Many of its top leaders have not yet made their presence felt since the campaign started proper on Saturday.

In Kerdau, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang attracted a crowd of about 400 for his ceramah on nomination day itself while the charismatic central committee member Mohamed Sabu achieved about a tenth of that subsequently.

Alarmingly for PR, both events had the appearance of “members-only” affairs with much of the crowd being made up of party’s own machinery.

Its coalition partners — Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will give his first ceramah tonight in Merlimau — have also been sluggish in rallying behind the Islamic party.

Pahang DAP chief Leong Ngah Ngah has also been allowed to leave for Chiang Mai, Thailand instead of heading his party’s efforts in Kerdau, the clearest sign that PR are not pulling all the stops to make gains in the contest.

Political analyst Khoo Kay Peng said that PR are demoralised after a recent run of by-election defeats and would rather conserve resources than expend them on seats that BN won by handsome margins in the 2008 general election.

“They already have one eye on Sarawak, and it will have a bigger impact if they can make gains there than just one or two by-elections,” he said, adding that PR was obliged to contest in the two BN strongholds.

There has been talk among PAS leaders of “choosing the right battles” but Dzulkefly today said that “if we shy away, we will come away even worse off” despite the 16 by-elections since the 2008 election already thinning out resources.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has been practically camped out in the two constituencies as Barisan Nasional (BN) election director.

Felda settlers in Kerdau have paid little heed to any of the campaigning since Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak arrived early in the campaign to promise that funds were readily available in return for their continued support.

“Whatever we need, we get from BN,” one Felda settler told The Malaysian Insider.

PAS has not seen better luck in Merlimau either, as reformed actor Bob Lokman who recently joined the party has failed to draw in young voters to their ceramah.

Aside from PAS deputy president Nasharuddin Mat Isa, Anwar is the first top PR leader to make the rounds in Melaka with neither Abdul Hadi nor spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat scheduled to speak during the campaign.

It has led Melaka PAS deputy commissioner Adly Zahari to admit that it will need to realign its strategy to focus on door-to-door visits to garner support from the voters.

BN has won four of the last five by-elections and appear to be gathering support before coalition chairman and prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak calls for early snap polls.