Uthaya forces three-way fights in Pakatan seats

The Human Rights Party will force three-cornered fights in eight Pakatan Selangor seats that are largely strongholds of Pakatan senior leaders.

The Hindraf offshoot today announced their intention to contest in three parliamentary and its accompanying state seats: Kota Raja (Seri Andalas and Seri Muda), Kuala Selangor (Ijok and Bukit Melawati) and Kelana Jaya (Seri Setia).

Their leader P Uthayakumar (centre in photo) will be vying for both a state and parliamentary seat.

"Our candidate for P111 Kota Raja and N49 Seri Andalas will be P Uthayakumar," said HRP's protem national treasurer A Sugumaran at a press conference today.

HRP is one of the factions that resulted from a multiple split in the Hindu rights movement Hindraf after its milestone street protest in 2007.

Uthayakumar's brother Waythamoorthy heads another offshoot that has been attempting to court both Pakatan Rakyat and BN with its blueprint to solve the problems of the Indian community.

Uthaya upbeat on winning

Uthayakumar said he has chosen to run in Kota Raja because the constituency has roughly 29 percent Indian voters, whom he expects to support his movement.

He expects the 44 percent Malay voters to be split between BN and Pakatan.

He is counting on getting the full Indian vote and a part of the Chinese vote to secure him a safe win.

He added that BN is unlikely to have a strong presence due to the absence of Felda voters, Orang Asli and army postal voters that are the ruling party’s "fixed deposit".

Uthayakumar said their theme for the election will be 'Send the first Hindraf MP to Parliament'.

He said having a Hindraf rep in the house will be able to solve the problems of poverty and statelessness afflicting the Indian community.

“If I have power, I can do a lot more, but up to now all I can do is to highlight the issues,” he said.

HRP, an attempt to turn the Hindraf movement into a political force, has however been frustrated by the Registrar of Societies’ rejection of their application.

Bersih sets rules for caretaker govt, candidates

Bersih co-chairperson S Ambiga says any politician who violates the prohibitions listed in their guidelines will be blacklisted by the coalition.

PETALING JAYA: Impatient with the authorities’ feet-dragging over the matter, the coalition for free and fair elections, Bersih 2.0, today launched a guideline for the caretaker government, as well as code of conduct for Election 2013 participants.

“This is the right time, as the parliament was dissolved yesterday and a caretaker government is now in place. Since no one is interested in issuing guidelines for the caretaker government, Bersih has issued it,” said Bersih co-chairperson S Ambiga at a press conference today.

“Basically a caretaker government can’t do much. Delivery of services, security… all of these the caretaker government must provide to everybody without fear or favour or bias,” she explained.

According to the guidelines she read out, a caretaker government is unable to:

make major policy decisions that are likely to commit an incoming government;

make significant appointments;

enter major contracts or undertakings;

announce new financial grants in any form whatsoever or promises thereof;

lay foundation stones etc., or projects or schemes of any kind; and

make any new promises of construction of infrastructure or the carrying out of public projects.

Last Thursday, Election Commission (EC) chairman Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said it had no power to make guidelines for the caretaker government as there was no provision under the constitution and law.

De facto law minister Nazri Aziz, meanwhile, said last week he was requesting the Attorney-General’s Chambers to set the guidelines for the caretaker government, but Bersih today pointed out he was too slow.

“It’s a bit late by now, if the guidelines aren’t out by the time the Parliament is dissolved. But they can always refer to our guidelines,” said Ambiga.

Universal standards


Meanwhile, the code of conduct for participants of the 13th general election prepared by Bersih prohibits speech that promotes ill-will and hostility, smear campaigns, intimidation and violence, and election offences.

It also emphasised the freedom of journalists and election observers to carry out their duties.

Ambiga said that the list of rules was adopted from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) 1994 Declaration on Criteria for Free and Fair Elections, the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom, the Election Commission of India, and the Chief Minister and Treasury Directorate of the Australian Capital Territory.

“The reason we set out the IPU declaration and resolution is because Malaysia has been a member since 1967. We also sit on the Human Rights Council.

“So all these standards we refer to are universal standards. As members, we have a moral duty to abide by standards and regulations. Nobody can therefore say they aren’t aware,” she said.

Name and shame

When asked what sanctions would be placed on individuals who violated the guidelines, Ambiga said Bersih would name and shame them.

“There will be consequences,” she promised. “We will keep an eye on them, on all the candidates. So whoever breaches this code of conduct, we will take them to task.

“This is the people enforcing and demanding the best conduct from our potential leaders. If the candidates breach this rule, we will blacklist them on our website.”

But she said that all individuals would be given a chance to explain themselves and apologise before being blacklisted.

Maria Chin Abdullah, who is a Bersih steering committee member, said that they already had two potential candidates for their blacklist: Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Hishammuddin had last month blamed the opposition pact for the increasing political violence, saying that they had riled up BN supporters with their derogatory labels of the police force.

Meanwhile, after Najib announced the Dewan Rakyat’s dissolution, Zahid had tweeted yesterday: “we shall move to the warzone to kill all adversed (sic) politicial intruders.”

“What does he mean and why does he use such harsh words? ‘Kill’? are we entering the war zone?” Maria said.

“We will give them a chance to refute before blacklisting. And even after they are blacklisted, they can come to us and rectify.”

Najib, Palani will decide on Samy’s ‘request’

The former MIC president has indicated that he is a winnable candidate and wants to contest again in Sungai Siput.

PUTRAJAYA: Although former MIC president S Samy Vellu has declared himself as a “winnable candidate” in the 13th general election, his position will only be decided by Barisan Nasional chairman Najib Tun Razak and MIC president G Palanivel.

MIC deputy president Dr S Subramaniam said only Najib and Palanivel could decide on the selection of candidates and constituencies representing the party although certain leaders had strong confidence in contesting and ensuring victory for the MIC and BN.

“The question of who will be the candidates and representing which constituencies will be finalised by the MIC president and BN chairman. Anyone can say anything, but only the two leaders have the power to decide [for the MIC],” he told reporters, here today.

Subramaniam was asked to comment on the statement by Samy Vellu who had expressed his strong desire to contest again in the Sungai Siput parliamentary constituency after failing to defend the seat he had held since 1974, in the 12th general election.

In the 2008 general election, the former works minister lost in Sungai Siput, which had long been an MIC stronghold, to Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj from the Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) by a majority of 1,821 votes.

Following the dissolution of Parliament yesterday, Samy Vellu, who is the Malaysian special envoy to India and South Asia for infrastructure, said he was prepared to contest if the prime minister decides that he is the right candidate for BN.

Man claims he was shot by police

(The Star) - Mahendran underwent surgery at the hospital and upon being discharged, found out he is being investigated by the Sentul police for attempted murder and is currently on police bail.

A 24-year-old man has claimed that he was shot by four men who identified themselves as policemen when he refused to get out of his car.

S. Mahendran who lives in Sentul said the incident occurred at 5am on March 3 when he was leaving a restaurant in his car along Jalan Khalsa off Jalan Ipoh here.

“Three men in plainclothes and on motorcycles pulled up next to me at the traffic junction and identified themselves as policemen.

“They ordered me out of the car. I refused and instead asked them to show their police identity cards first,” he said during a press conference held with Suaram at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall.

Mahendran, who is unemployed, said he had been a victim of two robberies in 2012 and most recently in February this year and was afraid the men in plainclothes could be posing as bogus cops.

He drove to a police station in Jalan Kasipillay and the trio on motorcycles trailed him there. A fourth man claiming to be a policeman also asked him to get out of the car.

“I feared for my safety and decided to leave but as I was driving off, I knocked into one of the motorcycles belonging to the men. The next thing I heard was gun shots and I felt pain in my left thigh,” he said, adding that the group did not pursue him.

Mahendran called his father, who lives in Klang, and the father told him to get a friend to drive him to the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang.

Mahendran underwent surgery at the hospital and upon being discharged, found out he is being investigated by the Sentul police for attempted murder and is currently on police bail.

“I have lodged a police report on the matter and hope the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters or Bukit Aman would look into my case,” he said.

He added that he is astounded by the alleged policemen opening fire outside a police station and having the cheek to investigate him for attempted murder.

Sentul OCPD Asst Comm Zakaria Pagan confirmed the case and said police are investigating.

Najib hands out citizenship papers to Indians ahead of polls

KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today handed out documents Datuk Seri Najib Razak handing over a citizenship certificate to Ng Hiang Moon. – Saw Siow Fengto help solve the citizenship status of some “stateless” Indians, a key issue for the community, just ahead of Election 2013 expected to be held soon.

The Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman said today’s event, which saw him giving out birth certificates, entry permits and citizenship papers to 120 recipients of which a majority of them are Indians, showed he had kept the promise he made immediately after taking office in April 2009.

“After 100 days of me leading this administration, I had promised to solve the registration problem as soon as possible. I made it one of the 12 key promises,” he told about 1,000 people who attended the documents distribution event in Sentul here.

“From then on, the government had worked hard to achieve that target,” added the Pekan lawmaker, who will be seeking his own mandate as prime minister in the upcoming polls.

He claimed Putrajaya had to date solved 219,000 cases involving citizenship documents while half of the 7,600 applications for identity documents from the Indian community from 2012 to this year had been solved.

The success in achieving the “tough task”, was credited to his flagship Government Transformation Plan (GTP) which changed the mindset of the relevant ministry to adopt a radical solution to the problem, added Najib.

The GTP was trumpeted as one of the many achievements of the Najib administration on live television just days before the BN chairman announced the dissolution of Parliament yesterday.

In its push for the country’s third biggest electorate, the opposition claimed the Najib administration had failed to address the “stateless” Indian problem, alleging there are 300,000 Malaysia-born Indians still without papers as a result of racial discrimination.

The federal opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat (PR) said it would gather the 300,000 in a protest in front of the National Registration Department in Putrajaya but only 300 had turned up.

PR had also included in its elections manifesto the pledge to solve all 300,000 cases within 100 days should it be voted into power but Najib today dismissed the idea as “impossible”.

“I asked the officers of the home ministry, if it was possible to do this. They told me ‘no’. Why? Because first, there are no 300,000. And even if there are, this means they have to solve 3000 cases a day. That is impossible,” he said.

“This is just another one of their false promises, their lies,” Najib said, an argument often repeated by members of the ruling coalition to counter PR’s elections pledges.

Polling day is expected to be held by the end of April and Najib is scheduled to unveil BN’s manifesto this Saturday.

He had often boasted of how his government have offered voters a better social and economic future based on realistic reformist policies and but needed a stronger mandate to continue with his “unfinished” work.

“I am responsible for all Malaysians, I want a government that can give social justice... we will return to Putrajaya because our work is unfinished.

“But with a stronger mandate, you will see a greater transformation,” he said.

Earlier today the prime minister said he was “cautiously optimistic” BN would “win big” in the 13th general election, but stressed that the ruling coalition had to work hard and minimise internal problems.

Yesterday former president of BN’s Indian component party Datuk Seri Samy Vellu said he believed the ruling coalition will garner a bigger majority with Indian support.

India's US$35 Touchscreen Tablet Circus

It's no Apple...

(Asia Sentinel) Former HRD minister Kapil Sibal behind Aakash fiasco
It was a project of great national pride - to beat the rest of the world to an affordable touchscreen tablet for online education delivery. Touted in 2009 by Kapil Sibal, then Minister of Human Resource Development as India's low-cost US$35 tablet breakthrough for students, the Aakash made headlines around the world.

The Aakash is now making headlines for failure.

DataWind, the company that pitched the idea to Kapil, received 1.4 million prepaid orders by February 2012. But instead of delivering promptly, DataWind offered 'rebates' for its higher-priced US$77 and US$96 UbiSlate 7 models, angering consumers who refused to take the up-sell bait. Many who did receive their US$35 Aakash found its screen awkward, its battery life too short and with annoying glitches. Many more were left angry with neither tablet nor cash.

Although DataWind secured the tender for 100,000 units for subsidized distribution to schools, the company's second deadline passed at the end of March after it missed its December shipment date. Only 20,000 have been supplied so far - a shortfall of 80 percent on a globally publicized government breakthrough claim.

Suneet Singh Tuli CEO of DataWind blamed India Customs' verification process for the delay in delivery. Declaring his commitment to the Indian hi-tech industry, Tuli claimed that "In addition to the four new Indian manufacturing partners for the Aakash 2 tablets, DataWind has also set up India's first touch-screen lab in Amritsar." He reiterated that the outstanding units for the HRD tender are being readied for shipment to the Indian Instititute of Technology in Bombay - the executing agency.

The made-in-China Aakash
Another embarrassment occurred when President Pranab Mukherjee officiated at a high-profile presentation of the Aakash last November, puffed with national pride. The new HRD minister, Pallam Raju, and minister of state Shashi Tharoor beamed alongside him. But then India Ink, a news website owned by the New York Times, reported on Nov. 26 that its investigations into the Aakash found the units had actually been sourced from four Chinese manufacturers. Telephone and email checks by India Ink with the Chinese firms confirmed that components and assembly of the hardware were executed there.

Suneet Singh Tuli told India Ink that "for expediency sake we had the motherboards and kits manufactured in our Chinese subcontractor's facilities, and then the units have been 'kitted' in China at various manufacturers," Tuli said the assembly, and programming was done at DataWind's lab in Amritsar and in Delhi.

New minister reviews Aakash project
Minister Sibal's successor at HRD, Pallam Raju, has appointed two review committees to report on the project and DataWind - pending a new tender deferred from February for 5 million units. One committee is headed by Prof Goverdhan Mehta who is chairman of the board of governors at IIT Jodhpur and the other is headed by NIIT Chairman Rajendra Pawar. Prof Mehta's report has reportedly been submitted to the ministry which is waiting for Rajendra Pawar's before deciding which way to turn on the embarrassment.

IIT Jodhpur was originally charged with supervising the DataWind contract. However the Jodhpur tech guardians squabbled with Datawind over testing procedures and specifications, with bitter recriminations following between the vendor and the testing institution. The HRD ministry under Kapil Sibal intervened to switch technical supervision to IIT Bombay and to referee the contract.

Pallam Raju, however, is shifting thinking away from obsessing with hardware manufacture. The new HRD minister prefers to focus on the education content eco-system and 'last-mile' connectivity for students and teachers to access via tablets. There are a range of tablets at the US$35 price point now as hardware components get cheaper, giving consumers better screen quality, battery life and reliability.

The HRD minister feels students should be able to decide freely which tablet to buy while the ministry focuses on connectivity and availability of content as its mission.

"Aakash will enable you to access content," Raju said. "But there are others which have come up...Students will pick whatever serves their purpose better and is affordable. Developing the product as content is an ongoing exercise. Production of the hardware is where the project failed."

Netizens scathing in cyber-chatter
Meanwhile the cyber-chatter on the Aakash has been vicious, ranging from dismay at using the IITs as "testing labs for junk products" to describing Kapil Sibal as a serial scam-master for the Congress Party. He was the minister in charge of the Telecoms ministry when the 2G scandal surfaced. He dismissed the massive losses to the government as 'nominal' although India's Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) assessed a 'presumptive loss' to the treasury of US$33 billion.

At his prior science and technology portfolio, Kapil had a grand vision to build a database of 500,000 Indians resident in the US. A CAG report implicated him in favoring a particular company for the tender to build the database. Payments were made but the project was abandoned "with only 16 percent of the work completed."

Kapil is now lodged at the communications and information technology ministry where his refusal to remove Article 66A of the Information Technology Act used to arrest two schoolgirls for complaining on Facebook about the shutdown of Mumbai on the death of Bal Thackeray*, led to activists hacking his personal website in November 2012 to post this message: "Born with a below-60 IQ he thought he could mess with the Internet and let his party suppress freedom of speech."

*Bal Thackeray was a xenophobic champion of ethnocentric exclusivity for Maharashtra state against what he saw as an invasion of immigrants from Bihar, Rajasthan and South India. He founded the Shiv Sena as a political party and organized goons to terrorize 'foreigners' who applied for jobs at Maharashtra institutions. He wielded such influence of terror that actors, politicians and businessmen paid homage at his funeral which brought Mumbai to a standstill. He is on public record as an admirer of Adolf Hitler.

(Cyril Pereira is a regular contributor to Asia Sentinel)

GE13: Polls date likely by end of April

The Star
by RAZAK AHMAD and MAZWIN NIK ANIS

PETALING JAYA: Now that the Dewan Rakyat has been dissolved to pave way for the 13th general election, the focus is on polling, which is expected to be held before the end of this month.

However, we will have to wait a few more days for the exact date because the Election Commission will only decide next week as seven states did not dissolve their legislatures yesterday.

Despite no clear indication, the most speculated polling date is April 27, which is a Saturday when most Malaysian elections have been held, with nomination at least 11 days earlier on April 16.

Under the Constitution, polling must be held within 60 days of the dissolution of the De-wan Rakyat.

For the 2008 general election, the Dewan Rakyat was dissolved on Feb 13 that year, the EC gave itself 10 days to prepare for nomination, which was fixed for Feb 24 with polling on March 8. This means a gap of 25 days between dissolution and polling.

Polling in the past two general elections took place on a weekend. So, if the trend continues, the first available weekend 25 days after dissolution is April 27.

EC deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said the commission was waiting for all states to notify it of their dissolution before meeting early next week to decide on the nomination and polling dates.

“Hopefully, by the end of Thursday (today), we would have received notification on the dissolution of all state assemblies by the respective speakers,” he told The Star.

At press time, Malacca, Perlis, Perak, Terengganu, Pahang and Sabah had dissolved their state assemblies while Johor and the four Pakatan Rakyat-controlled states of Kedah, Kelantan, Selangor and Penang are expected to disband their legislatures today.

With the dissolution of Parliament, both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat have hit the ground running for their showdown.

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak will chair the Umno supreme council meeting at 9am today, followed by a session with Barisan component party presidents.

On Saturday, the Prime Minister will unveil the Barisan manifesto at a Perhimpunan Janji 1Malaysia Rakyat Didahulukan event at Stadium Putra in Bukit Jalil.

The Pakatan leadership council will hold a meeting on elections preparations today at the PKR headquarters here.

Newsflash: Anwar Ibrahim Di Lenggong Perak 04/04/2013

Open Letter to Tengku Razaleigh: Time to Take a Bold Stand

by Koon Yew Yin

As the election date draws nearer, it is important that all politicians wishing to take part should make known to the public what they stand for.

Among our political leaders, there are few that have earned the respect of Malaysians in the same way that Tengku Razaleigh has. Through his actions he has struck many as a man of honour, decency, good sense and ability. These qualities – not superhuman virtues – are the ones needed at the helm of the nation to guide us through this difficult time of racial and religious extremism, and unquenched opportunism and power craze.

On what Tengku Razaleigh stands for, there is little or no doubt. However, given his marginalization in the mainstream media, many Malaysians may not be aware of his political philosophy. This philosophy which I heard him elaborate on in Ipoh in 2012 could serve as the template for the nation’s political development. It has served as the template for my book, Malaysia: Road Map for Achieving Vision 2020.

I call on all election candidates – as well as parties – across the political divide to read and endorse Tungku Razaleigh’s 10 principles contained in his speech to the Perak Academy event. These ‘10 Golden Political Principles’ are necessary to ensure Malaysia’s political future, irrespective of whichever coalition party wins the elections.

Ku LI’s Ten Golden Political Principles

1. All political parties are required to include in their constitutional objectives the equality of citizenship as provided for in the Federal Constitution.

2. An economic and political policy that political parties propagate must not discriminate against any citizen.

3. All parties shall include and uphold constitutional democracy and the separation of powers as a fundamental principle.

4. It shall be the duty of all political parties to adhere to the objectives of public service and refrain from involvement in business, and ensure the separation of business from political parties.

5. It shall be the duty of all political parties to ensure and respect the independence of the judiciary and the judicial process.

6. All parties shall ensure that the party election system will adhere to the highest standards of conduct, and also ensure that the elections are free of corrupt practices. Legislation should be considered to provide funding of political parties.

7. It shall be the duty of all parties to ensure that all political dialogues and statements will not create racial or religious animosity.

8. All parties undertake not to use racial and communal agitation as political policies.

9. To remove and eradicate all barriers that hinder national unity and Malaysian identity.

10. To uphold the Federal and State Constitutions and its democratic intent and spirit, the Rule of Law, the fundamental liberties as enshrined in Part II of the Malaysian Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Taking a Stand on Party of Choice Based on Principle

If adhered to by the winning coalition, these principles – not what are in the Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat elections manifestos – can provide an important foundation for rebuilding our Malaysian unity which has been undermined by the likes of Ibrahim Ali, Perkasa and sadly too, the former Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir.

Whilst Tengku Razaleigh does not need to publicly restate his political philosophy, there is an urgent need for him to decide whether he should stand as an UMNO candidate or on some other platform and to announce this decision to the public as soon as possible. Now is the correct time for put his principles into practice.

Should Tengku Razaleigh decide to stand as a candidate of UMNO – a party lacking in the political integrity and ethical standards that he has espoused – I and many other Malaysians who have the deepest respect for him – will feel badly disappointed and let down.

We are sure he is aware of the saying, “It is better to die with honour, than to live without.”

PAS Will Not Mediate In Johor PKR-DAP Quarrel

JOHOR BAHARU, April 4 (Bernama) -- Johor PAS will not be mediator in the quarrel between DAP and PKR, which appears to be worsening over the allocation of seats in the state for the 13th general election (13GE).

Its commissioner Datuk Dr Mahfodz Mohamed said he regarded the quarrel between two of the partners in the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) as "small" and did not require the intervention of a third party.

He also believed that the Johor DAP-PKR tiff would not affect PR's preparations and cooperation in facing the 13GE in the Barisan Nasional stronghold.

Besides tussling over the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat, PKR and DAP are also quarrelling over which of the two parties should be contesting the Johor Jaya and Tangkak state seats and Segamat parliamentary seat.

The recent announcement that DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang would be contesting in Gelang Patah, had upset Johor PKR chairman Datuk Chua Jui Ming who decided to take a "long leave" from party activities. Following this, the state PKR leadership stated that it would not compromise anymore with DAP in the allocation of seats.

Meanwhile, Mahfodz said Johor PAS would be fielding candidates in eight parliamentary seats and 29 or 30 state seats in this general election.

He, however, declined to say where PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub would be contesting, although there were reports saying that he would be vying for the Pulai parliamentary seat and Nusajaya state seat.

Four Years Of Building A Brighter Future - Najib

KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 (Bernama) -- The core of the country's transformation is national unity irrespective of race or religious belief, with nobody should be left behind as the country moves ahead to developed nation status, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.

In his www.1malaysia.com.my blog posting today, Najib said the concept of 1Malaysia was born together with various initiatives that benefit the people till this day.

"From housing and healthcare to food and education, you can find many 1Malaysia-themed programmes that provide affordable and quality services for all Malaysians," he said.

He said the Economic Transformation Programme had delivered real results in this regard, and while many countries remain mired in debt and low growth, Malaysia had raced ahead.

"Last year, for instance, our economy grew at an average rate of 5.6 per cent, bringing new jobs and prosperity to the people," he said.

On political transformation, Najib said since 2009, he had answered the people's calls for greater freedoms through a package of political reforms that represent the greatest increase in civil liberties since Independence.

"These include repealing the Internal Security Act, allowing greater student participation in politics, liberalising media laws and introducing the Peaceful Assembly Act. I also look forward to repealing the Sedition Act and replacing it with legislation more suited to our times," he said.

On global leadership, he said it was important for Malaysia to maintain strong ties with its allies and neighbours and to act as a positive influence in the world.

"In this regard, we have worked hard and in good faith to help encourage lasting peace in troubled parts of our region.

"And through the Global Movement of the Moderates, we have also tried to bridge the differences between East and West and show Islam in its true light, as a religion of peace. The Global Movement of the Moderates has been praised by leaders across the world, including (United States) President (Barack) Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron," he said.

Najib said new, online channels had also been opened to facilitate easier communication between the people and the government.

"Through Facebook and Twitter, I have enjoyed sharing information as well as listening to what the people have to say. The era of 'government knows best is truly over," he said.

He said although the country had accomplished a lot, there were still so much left to do.

"So, let us move forward together, and enjoy four more years of progress and prosperity," he added.

P. Uthayakumar Bakal Bertanding di Parlimen Kota Raja

Parti Hak Asasi Manusia (HRP) akan menampilkan P. Uthayakumar sebagai calon bertanding untuk pilihanraya umum nanti di kawasan parlimen Kota Raja Dan Dewan Undangan Negeri, Dun Sri Andalas. Ketika bercakap kepada media di Ibu negara, beliau berkata, pencalonannya adalah bagi memperjuangkan nasib masyarakat India miskin di negara ini.

Tolong kilk link dibawah untuk menonton video :

 http://www.mobtv.my/current_affairs-3096.html

Hindraf gets good vibes from BN, wants debate with DAP

Hindraf is looking forward to a second meeting with Najib after getting positive feedback through informal contacts. It is also challenging Lim Kit Siang to a debate on its blueprint.

PETALING JAYA: Hindraf today said that there were indications that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak would seriously look into its five-year blueprint for the betterment of the marginalised Indian community.

“We think there are chances of our proposals being adopted by the Barisan Nasional,” Hindraf’s national adviser N Ganesan told FMT today.

He said that following a formal meeting between Hindraf and Najib on March 25 at Putrajaya, there have been “informal contacts” between the parties on the matter.

“Based on these informal contacts, things are looking positive. We now await our second formal meeting to take place to take this to the next step,” he said.

No date has been fixed for the second meeting but Ganesan is confident that it would be held very soon.

“We don’t know if Najib would be free in the next couple of days but we believe the high-profile meeting will take place very soon,” he added.

He refused to divulge more details on the informal contacts, apart from saying that the outcome of these contacts has been very favourable.

“There are indications of acceptance [by the BN] of our proposal,” he said.

On March 25, a three-member Hindraf delegation which included Hindraf chairman P Waythamoorthy and Ganesan had met Najib at the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya.

Najib had then assured them that he would be holding a second meeting with them to discuss the Hindraf blueprint for the Indian community.

Hindraf’s blueprint, among others, highlights issues related to displaced Indian plantation workers, the need for tertiary-level education for Indian students, job opportunities in the government sector, financial loans to Indian entrepreneurs, and the establishment of a Minorities Affairs Ministry.

Waythamoorthy had embarked on a hunger strike on March 10 in order to get either BN or Pakatan Rakyat to endorse the Hindraf blueprint. He ended his hunger strike on March 31.

He had previously said that Hindraf would support whichever party that endorsed its blueprint. Alternatively, he had declared that Hindraf supporters would abstain from voting if neither Pakatan nor BN was willing to endorse the blueprint.

He had also expressed his disappointment with Pakatan and its leader Anwar Ibrahim for not taking them seriously despite having several meetings.

With the latest development now, it looks like Najib and BN would be benefiting from Hindraf’s support if he accepts their proposals for the Indian community. However, it is uncertain if he would accept the Hindraf blueprint in toto or would negotiate for some compromise.

Debate challenge to Kit Siang



In another development, Ganesan today challenged DAP veteran leader Lim Kit Siang to debate him on the DAP’s blueprint for the Indian communtity which was launched on March 31 in Gelang Patah. Lim is contesting in Gelang Patah this time around.

Ganesan said that most of the DAP blueprint was plagiarised from Hindraf’s blueprint, adding that he found it baffling as to why DAP had failed to endorse Hindraf’s blueprint but found it acceptable to take a large chunk of its proposals to be incorporated into its own blueprint.

“We find all this baffling. We are left wondering if there is any seriousness at all in this entire episode. So, instead of us just calling the effort insincere, we will let the people decide, if the effort is sincere or otherwise.

“We call upon Lim Kit Siang personally for such a debate in front of an open audience to clear the air on this.

“We will debate the proposition that the ‘DAP Gelang Patah Plan for the Indians is not a sincere plan to address the problems of the Indian poor in comprehensive and permanent ways’,” he said.

He hoped that Lim would accept the challenge and show the country that Hindraf was wrong.

“If however, Lim does not accept this challenge, then we have to conclude that DAP is doing what it is doing only because it is good politics – nothing more, nothing less,” he said.

DAP’s 14-point blueprint tagged, “The Gelang Patah Declaration: Vision and Strategy for Indian Empowerment”, is supposed to improve the standard of living for the Indians.

DAP leaders hope that their Pakatan partners PKR and PAS would endorse their proposals to make it work nationwide if Pakatan captures Putrajaya

Businessman shot dead in car

GEORGE TOWN: A 48-year-old businessman was gunned down in his car yesterday with several shots hitting the head and body .

State Criminal Investigation Department chief SAC Mazlan Kesah said S. Arumugam from Changkat Minden, here, died on the spot in the shooting which happened in Jalan Pantai Jerejak 4 about 4.30pm.

He said Arumugam was found dead slumped on the driver's seat and initial investigations showed that two assailants riding on a motorcycle fired seven shots at close range.

He said the victim together with an unidentified man had apparently pulled over the vehicle before the gunmen struck.

"Two men on a motorcycle wearing full-faced helmets rode next to Arumugam before the pillion rider opened fire at point blank and sped off. The victim sustained gunshot wounds on the head and body. The man seated next to him fled the scene and we are still tracing him," he said at the scene.

Mazlan said a check on the passport showed the victim, who had a previous criminal record, had returned from Thailand recently.

A police forensic team combed the scene and recovered bullet casings scattered on the ground. A baseball bat was also retrieved from the car.

The victim's body was sent for a post-mortem. Police have yet to establish the motive behind the murder.

Read more: Businessman shot dead in car - General - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/businessman-shot-dead-in-car-1.247020#ixzz2PQGxv1h7

Waytha's answers to Mariam's questions

Mariam Mokhtar,
Waytha Moorthy has just ended his hunger strike. He has been on strike for 21 days. He is unable to respond to your questions personally for obvious reasons and he has asked me to respond on his behalf.
The responses though they come from me closely mirror Waytha's thoughts.
I feel sad that you are portraying him to be a renegade to his cause and you are pressing this point at a time when he is going through this Hunger Viratham and physically and mentally is under great stress. So much for having been your friend...
Regardless, here are the responses.

If you are what you portray yourself to be, send my entire response to print - the questions and the answers. Otherwise forever keep your silence.
(Mariam's questions are in italics)

1. Some people claim that in approaching both parties, you (and/or Hindraf) are acting like prostitutes. What have to say about this?

You talk about two parties as if one was all good and the other evil. The truth is they are really not that much different - not their economic policies, not their social policies.

One just has not had the opportunity yet, to be that corrupt, though we can already see the outlines of corruption even in the fledgling Pakatan administrations across the country.
As for social policy, talk to Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and he will tell you how sacred Article 153 is to him, just the same as Umno.

To the poor it makes little difference who is in power as long as there is no impact to their daily lives.
There is nothing sacred for them, one or the other. We represent them. We are only interested in real changes in their lives. Their lives have gotten rotten because of Umno's policies of the past.
If there are changes in Umno's policies tomorrow and it improves their lives then that is what they must go for.
That does not mean we change our push for a just and equal Malaysia. After having dealt directly with Pakatan and all their bungling, we are beginning to question if they are the change that Malaysia truly needs.
That does not mean our basic policies have changed. It is just that they are really not that different - in spite of their high sounding rhetoric.

Much as we want to work with Pakatan, they are the ones who seem to have a problem with us. We have made so many overtures and you are not privy to any of that information.
All we see on their part is bungling. We seem to be in their way to Putrajaya, so they try to kill us off in so many ways. And it is a pity that journalists like you whom we used to consider decent, too can get caught up with all that.

2. BN's track record with Indians in not exemplary.
Nor is Pakatan's. Just giving a few additional positions in the state hierarchy does not make one better, when you still demolish Indian settlements, Indian burial grounds and Hindu temples.
For 56 years, BN failed the Indians and continually broke their promises to them.
Pakatan has done no better for the 5 years that they have been in office in Penang -Kg Buah Pala, in Kedah,- Batu Pekak Burial Ground, in Selangor, all those places of worship?
Despite this, you blame PR, for failing Hindraf.
Pakatan has not failed Hindraf; they just want to kill off this troublesome new kid on the block. Can you blame us for blaming Pakatan for wanting to kill us off?

i. Do you like the Umno/BN style of governance? What is your view of Umno's corruption?
After having known Waythamoorthy for so long, I am surprised you even ask a question like that. I wonder what you truly have in your mind - when you pose questions like that. This is a no brainer question and I will just say this - go look at all his work in the past.

ii. Can you claim to be principled when you are having talks with BN?
What is unprincipled about talking to your enemy? How else do problems get resolved if not through contact of this sort? We want to solve problems.
There is nothing underhand here. There is only a genuine attempt to solve problems. It does not mean Pakatan has all the solutions and Umno none.
If you are in the know you will know that they are bungling very badly in their relationships with all the minorities in the country, East and West Malaysia.
Hubris seems to have got them. In 2008 that same factor wiped out BN/Umno. In these elections if they do not watch it, much the same will hit them.
Let me ask you Mariam, are you being principled yourself in asking these kinds of convoluted questions after, as I understand, of having spent so many hours in discourse with him?

3. The ban on Hindraf was lifted, you obtained your passport and was given safe passage into Malaysia. Some people allege that you or others in Hindraf had done a "deal" with Umno, perhaps, even with Mahathir, the former PM.

i. What have you to say about this allegation?

Did Anwar do a deal with Najib for him to get off the hook on Sodomy 2? Allegations are easy. You have to decide what you want to believe.

Najib is trying to placate the Indians for the votes he seeks from them. All what you list above derives from that.
Waytha was just using the cracks in the situation and making the calls for advantage. You can relegate all that to his smartness in reading the opportunities.

4. Are you (or Hindraf) trying to fill the vacuum left by the MIC?

MIC never stood up for the Indian poor -never. They just served Umno and themselves. We represent a segment of Malaysian society, never before represented. This question is based on too simplistic a view. I am surprised at your shallowness of understanding in this matter.

5. When Hindraf highlighted the pertinent issues which affect marginalized Indian communities, Malaysians were full of praise for you; however, what started out as a human rights party has morphed into a race-based political party.
No Mariam, you got it all wrong. They were full of praise as long as we remained the fall guys. But when we started to stand up and ask for our fair share of the national resources, then we are accused of morphing into a race based party.
We have not changed policy wise, one bit. We are what we have always been in policy terms.
What may have changed is that we may now be more discussion orientated and less confrontation orientated. We have to find our future on our own without relying on others when dealing with devils.

See how messy things can get when the slaves start asking for their place in the sun.

We are still very much a human rights organisation. We fight for the rights of those who have been denied their rights and just because they all happen to be Indians, that does not make us racists.
Wasn't the civil rights movement of Martin Luther King also racist by that definition? What do you have to say about that?

i. How is Malaysia to move forwards and reject racial politics if you continue to play the race-card?
You are absolutely right. Is DAP not a Chinese party. Is PAS a not a Malay Muslim party. Is PKR not a largely Malay party?
When they can give up their individual identities and merge into one big party on a common platform, then and only then can we truly move forward on a non racial basis.
But they will not, because everyone, knows it is still very much a race based game. It is not Hindraf that is holding the party back, please. We just represent the Indian poor and you call that playing the race card.
Yet you have all these huge players playing the huge race cards right in front of your eyes and you do not want to see that. It is only when the thambi stands and asks for his share of things that he is dabbling in dirty racial politics.
This is typical Ketuanan Melayu approach. So how have you morphed, Mariam?

ii. How are your policies better than Pakatan's?
We are not competing with Pakatan on whose policies are better. All we are saying is solve the problems we raise.
Their policies will not solve the core problems that we raise in a comprehensive and permanent manner any time soon. There is no line of sight between their Buku Jingga policies platform and the problems we raise. That's all.

6. There are stateless Indians, just as there are stateless Orang Asli, Penans etc.
There are poor Jews too, you forgot to say that.

i. How is Malaysia to fight racism with more racism?
What is your definition of racism? When victims of racism start speaking up, do they become racists themselves. Were the blacks of the USA racists during the civil rights movement days?
Mariam, I am surprised with your understanding on this very fundamental question.
When we have so called progressives with such shallow understanding of things, who will really speak up for the victims of racism, but themselves.
You call that fighting racism with racism. Pakatan's veiled structures and strategies are in truth racist.
That is fighting racism with a new brand of racism, with heralds like you for them.

ii. Hindraf will look after the Indians, so what will Hindraf do for the poor people from the Malay, Chinese and other communities?

What do they want from us? If they come up to us we will do for them everything we do for the Indian poor.
We are a few committed people who are struggling to do something for the poor Indians and you want to kill even that bit off. Then you ask us why we are not doing more - real convoluted logic I must say.

7. Many people have been played out by Umno and Najib. These two do not keep their promises. What makes you think that they will honor their promises and keep their "janji-di tepati" to you?
You are right about this. That is why we are asking for any endorsement from both Pakatan and BN in a binding manner.
But then Anwar himself has serious reservations about signing an agreement on the Blueprint, I am sure you are fully aware about this.
Why does he say he agrees in principle and then says he does not want to sign the agreement in a binding way?
This brings me back to my earlier point - there is not much difference.

8. GE-13 is fast approaching. Do you seriously think you are going to win the 17 seat allocations you demanded from PR?
We cannot win in any seat on our platform without support from other parties. We harbor no illusions; this is the current fate of minorities in the country. When we try to rise, you and your ilk shout us down saying we are bloody racists.
i. If you do not get either PR or BN to align with you, what is your advice to your followers?
We have several options and we will decide that in a while.

ii. Will you tell them to abstain from voting? Is this wise?
Strategic abstention has been known to have impact too. If it has impact and used judiciously, it can be a wise move. We will be deciding on all of this very soon.

9. Hindraf demanded 10 parliamentary seats and 8 state seats from Pakatan.
Your numbers are wrong.

i. Have you made similar demands from BN?
We have just started the process of discussion. We have not made any such demands.

10. You are now in your 18^th day of the hunger strike.

i. Do you think BN cares about the consequences of your hunger strike?
Let them answer that to the people to whom the hunger strike is an important symbol. Please see the attached photo of the people that gathered when Waytha ended his hunger strike.

ii. Do you think you will make a significant impact on the Malaysian people with your hunger strike?
With the Indian poor -yes.
iii. What are your real reasons for going on this strike?
To expose the fact that both sides are only interested in the votes but not the problems of the Indian poor. We want to sharpen this view to our supporters too so that they will not be carried away by the rhetoric.
iv. What do you seek to accomplish with this hunger strike? What will make you start eating again?
When we have made clear the positions of both Pakatan and BN on how much they care for the problems of the Indian poor, I will start eating again.

Mariam, on what authority you ask Waytha these questions I do not know.
Now, let me see if you are indeed a professional journalist.
Here are 10 questions that we would like you to pose to Anwar Ibrahim to clarify your credentials, that you are not a new morphed form of Ketuanan Melayu journalist and then go public with any response or lack of it from him. Here they are:

To Anwar Ibrahim:

1) People accuse you of being an Umno person at heart, still harboring visions of Ketuanan Melayu. They say you can get Anwar out of Umno but not Umno out of Anwar, what do you have to say?

i) You were involved at the senior leadership level of the Umno government for 12 years out of 50 of pure BN rule 1957-2008; do you take any ownership for what you are battling today?

ii) Have you considered apologising to the Malaysian people for your contribution for the ills of Malaysian society of today?

2) In the 1997 Kampung Rawa incident in Penang, did you threaten that you will stop all bells from ringing in Hindu temples?

3) When you were the agriculture minister, then education minister and the finance minister were your policies race based or needs based and has it changed since then and why has it changed?

4) People accuse you of being a chameleon. Is that a suitable image for you now that you are near the top and what will you do to change that image?

5) You have very powerful friends from among the neo conservative coterie in the US. Their policies tend not to be in the interests of local people. In your new avatar as a people coalition leader, how do you expect to reconcile your relationships with the needs of the people of Malaysia?

6) You say that Pakatan policies are needs based and not race based and that they transcend racial boundaries, have you considered dissolving the race based approach to political formation - PAS for Malay Muslims, DAP for Chinese , PKR largely for Malays and reform into a non race based party. If not why not?

7) Article 153 is the basis for the racism that has come to characterise contemporary Malaysia.
Every one accuses Umno of being at the forefront of protecting the two tier citizenship arrangements that has resulted in the regime running on racist institutions, the loss of transparency of the operations of government and the corruption that has become so rampant. What will you do to change this?

8) The syariah courts have been slowly encroaching on the guaranteed rights of non-Muslims, what will you do ensure the syariah courts will stay within their constitutionally defined jurisdiction.

9) It is viewed that the Pakatan coalition is a coalition of Malays, Muslims and the Chinese. Where is the representation for the other minorities in the country?
If there is no effective representation than how will their specific interests be safeguarded if you were to form the government.

10) Why are you so adverse to signing Hindraf's Five Year Blueprint, after all you have said you do agree in principle. Is this so that you have space afterwards for wiggling out of the pre election promise?
Why do you continue to call Hindraf a racist organisation? In what ways is Hindraf more racist that DAP, PAS or PKR, please clarify?

Mariam, we hope you will ask these questions to Anwar Ibrahim with the same objective passion as you have done of Waythamoorthy.
If you do not pose these questions we will just have to take it that you are just a morphed form of Ketuanan Melayu journalist.
Life teaches us every day.

Thank you.

Kind regards
N Ganesan

Hindraf dares Kit Siang to an open debate

N Ganesan, via e-mail

After studying the contents of the DAP Gelang Patah Plan for the Indians, it is very obvious that most of the plan is plagiarised from Hindraf’s five-year Blueprint. After having been through the effort to draw up the blueprint ourselves, we cannot understand how a serious document in this category can be developed otherwise within 24 hours.

Since a large part of the Gelang Patah document really comes from the Hindraf Blueprint, we cannot understand why in the first place DAP does not want to endorse the Hindraf Blueprint itself or negotiate on it till it becomes acceptable and then to endorse it.

In our opinion if DAP is sincere there was abundant opportunity to have worked with us on this matter since November of last year. But they let all of that slip and just before the General Elections and in a matter of hours they turn up with this plan.

In our opinion all of this reeks of political opportunism and another impending grand deception for the Indian poor. We cannot stand by and watch another attempt to cheat the poor people and to run off with their votes and then return peanuts to them.

The sincerity of DAP in coming up with this document in this manner right on the eve of the GE and announced in a constituency that Lim Kit Siang is rumoured to contest, is really questionable. There are over 12,000 Indian voters (12%) in Gelang Patah .

DAP Chairman Karpal Singh had just on the the 30th of March called on Waytha Moorthy to end his Hunger Viratham and resume discussion with Anwar Ibrahim. He also urged Anwar Ibrahim to find an amicable solution to end the Hindraf blueprint stalemate.

The next day Lim Kit Siang announces the Gelang Patah Plan. We find all this baffling. We are left wondering if there is any seriousness at all in this entire episode. So, instead of us just calling the effort insincere, we will let the people decide, if the effort is sincere or otherwise.

We call upon Lim Kit Siang personally for such a a debate in front of an open audience to clear the air on this. We will debate the proposition that the “DAP Gelang Patah Plan for the Indians is not a sincere plan to address the problems of the Indian poor in comprehensive and permanent ways.”

We hope Lim Kit Siang will accept this challenge and show the country that Hindraf is wrong , that DAP is indeed sincere in trying to improve the lot of the Indian Poor. If however, Lim Kit Siang does not accept this challenge , then we have to conclude that DAP is doing what they are doing only because it is good politics – nothing more, nothing less.
Please let us know through an open acceptance or you can contact me, N Ganesan at 012 -480-3284 and let us know of your acceptance and we will arrange the necessary details for the event.

GE13: PKR hit by yet another sex allegation

(The Star) - PKR has been hit by another round of allegations of sexual misconduct after a photograph of two of its Penang leaders in a compromising position went viral.

Claiming that the picture of him with the woman leader was “superimposed”, Bayan Baru PKR deputy chief Tan Seng Keat criticised it as “gutter politics”.

However, Tan, a municipal councillor, said he would not be lodging a police report following advice from party leaders.

“Certain people are out to tarnish my reputation as the general election is around the corner,” he said in an interview here yesterday.

“I know the leader as we are both in the same party.

“They (party leaders) want me to focus on my role as the elections director for the Bayan Baru parliamentary constituency.

“They don't want me to get distracted by such nonsense.”

The woman, said Tan, used to be an assemblyman's aide before she quit in December last year.

“From what I know, she is a piano teacher at a music centre,” said Tan, who is married with two children.

When contacted, the woman accused “opponents of PKR” of being desperate in trying to sabotage the party ahead of the elections.

“I am considering whether to lodge a police report,” she said.

“Even if I do, it will be difficult to trace the culprit,” said the woman, who declined to reveal her marital status or age.

Last week, PKR vice-president N. Surendran had said that the party would investigate images on the Internet that allegedly showed a Kedah PKR official performing an indecent act while chatting with a woman online.

In ALOR SETAR, state PKR chairman Datuk Wan Salleh Wan Isa confirmed that the man was a senior member in the party.

The Kedah PKR disciplinary board, he said, had initiated investigation into the lewd video.

North Korea sparks crisis over workers from South

Paju, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea on Wednesday stirred up fresh unease in Northeast Asia, blocking hundreds of South Koreans from entering a joint industrial complex that serves as an important symbol of cooperation between the two countries.

The move comes a day after Pyongyang announced plans to restart a nuclear reactor it shut down five years ago and follows weeks of bombastic threats against the United States and South Korea from the North's young leader, Kim Jong Un, and his government.

The fiery North Korean rhetoric, fueled by recent U.N. sanctions over its latest nuclear test, has created a tense atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula just as the United States and South Korea are engaged in joint military exercises in South Korean territory.

Pyongyang's threat last month of a possible pre-emptive nuclear strike on the United States and South Korea caused particular alarm, despite heavy skepticism from analysts and U.S. officials that the North Korean military is anywhere near capable of carrying out such an attack.

The United States has in turn made a show of its military strength in the annual drills, flying B-2 stealth bombers capable of carrying conventional or nuclear weapons, Cold War-era B-52s and F-22 Raptor stealth fighters over South Korea.

North Korea's decision Wednesday to prevent South Korean workers and managers from entering the Kaesong Industrial Complex, which sits on the North's side of the border but houses operations of scores of South Korean companies, is a tangible sign of the tensions between the two sides.

It's also a move that could end up hurting Pyongyang financially, since Kaesong is considered to be an important source of hard currency for Kim's regime.

More than 50,000 North Koreans work in the zone, producing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of goods each year. Those workers earn on average $134 a month, of which North Korean authorities take about 45% in various taxes.

The North had threatened at the weekend to shut down the industrial complex.

A 'cash cow'

"We are highly skeptical that they will close this cash cow, as some recent reports have suggested," Stephan Haggard, professor at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego, wrote in an article published Monday.

"But if they did, the costs would be higher for the North than for the South," Haggard wrote in the article for the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington-based research organization.

Seoul said it "deeply regrets" the North's decision to stop South Koreans from entering Kaesong.

"North Korea's action creates a barrier to the stable operation" of the complex, the South Korean Unification Ministry said in a statement, urging its neighbor to "immediately normalize" the entry and exit process.

And South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin said military action could be taken if the safety of the South Koreans in the zone were to come under threat.

"If there is a serious situation, we are fully ready, including military measures," he said at a meeting of lawmakers, the semiofficial South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

The North has blocked the crossing into Kaesong before.

In March 2009, also during joint U.S.-South Korean military drills that it said were a threat, Pyongyang shut the border, temporarily trapping hundreds of South Korean workers in the industrial complex.

It allowed many of the stranded workers to return to South Korea the next day, and fully reopened the border about a week later without explaining its reversal.

Hundreds of workers

It was unclear Wednesday whether the latest drama over Kaesong would play out in similar fashion.

At the start of the day, when the North informed the South that it would prevent new entries to the complex, there were 861 South Korean workers in there, according to the Unification Ministry. The North said it would continue to let people leave the zone.

Hundreds of workers rotate in and out of Kaesong each day in a series of scheduled entries and exits. Many of them stay there for several nights.

A total of 484 workers were registered Wednesday to enter the complex, the ministry said, and 446 were registered to leave.

During the late morning and early afternoon exit windows, only a trickle of workers was seen returning to South Korea from Kaesong, far fewer than the scores who were registered to leave at those times.

South Korean authorities didn't immediately provide an explanation for the discrepancy, saying the individual companies decide when to send workers back.

Kim Kyong-sin, the manager of a textile manufacturing company in Kaesong who came back into South Korea on Wednesday, said some people were staying in the complex because "they are worried they might not be able to come back in."

During the March 2009 crisis, many South Korean companies with operations in the zone chose to keep more workers there to compensate for those not being allowed in.

Kim said he was scheduled to go back into Kaesong on Thursday, but wasn't optimistic.

He said there were concerns inside the zone that the blockage at the border could cause supplies of production materials and food for workers to run out within days.

"I think if this continues there, business will be affected," Kim said. "I think the damage will be serious."

Kerry calls North 'reckless'

U.S. and South Korean officials have kept up their criticism of the North's actions in recent days.

John Kerry, the U.S. secretary of state, warned Tuesday that the United States will not accept North Korea as a "nuclear state."

"The bottom line is simply that what Kim Jong Un is choosing to do is provocative. It is dangerous, reckless," Kerry said during a joint briefing in Washington with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se.

"And I reiterate again the United States will do what is necessary to defend ourselves and defend our allies, Korea and Japan," Kerry added. "We are fully prepared and capable of doing so, and I think the DPRK understands that."

DPRK is short for Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the official name for North Korea.

The North has said that its nuclear weapons, which it describes as a deterrent, are no longer up for negotiation.

Kerry's comments came hours after Pyongyang's declaration that it would restart the reactor at its Yongbyon nuclear complex.

The statement demonstrated Kim's commitment to the North's nuclear weapons program that the international community has tried to persuade it to abandon.

Crisis has 'gone too far'

The North Korean announcement was followed by a plea for calm from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is South Korean.

North Korean defectors return rhetorical fire

"The current crisis has already gone too far," he said in a statement from Andorra. "Nuclear threats are not a game. Aggressive rhetoric and military posturing only result in counteractions, and fuel fear and instability.

"Things must begin to calm down, as this situation, made worse by the lack of communication, could lead down a path that nobody should want to follow."

On Tuesday evening, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with Chinese Minister of National Defense Gen. Chang Wanquan, the Pentagon said.

China is a key ally of North Korea, but it has expressed disappointment and frustration with some of Pyongyang's recent actions. It supported the U.N. Security Council's tougher sanctions on Kim's regime last month.

"The secretary emphasized the growing threat to the U.S. and our allies posed by North Korea's aggressive pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs and expressed to General Chang the importance of sustained U.S.-China dialogue and cooperation on these issues," Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said.

During the saber-rattling of the past few weeks, Pyongyang has severed a key military hot line with Seoul and declared void the 1953 armistice that stopped the Korean War.

This week, the United States positioned two warships and a sea-based radar platform near the Korean Peninsula to monitor North Korean military moves, defense officials said.

Seoul, meanwhile, on Monday warned that any provocative moves from North Korea would trigger a strong response "without any political considerations."

Parliament dissolved

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak dissolves Parliament to pave the way for Malaysia's 13th general election.

PUTRAJAYA: After keeping the country in suspense for more than a year, Parliament was today dissolved to pave way for the 13th general election.

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak announced today that he met the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to obtain consent on the dissolution of Parliament, this morning and the King has consented to the request.

Najib made the announcement in a live telecast address, beamed nationwide from here. Also present was his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin.

As such, all Barisan Nasional-held State Legislative Assemblies would apply for dissolution to ensure a simultaneous parliamentary and state assembly election.

With the dissolution of Parliament, the EC will now meet soon to set the nomination and polling dates of the national polls.

The announcement puts an end to speculation of the date of the polls over the last 18 months.

It is learnt that the EC would announce the nomination and polling dates this week or latest by early next week.

FMT also learnt that Cabinet ministers had their group photo taken prior to the Cabinet meeting today.

Both sides of the political divide are confident of capturing more than half of the 222 parliamentary seats at stake.

At the last election, the ruling coalition produced one of its worst election performances losing its long held two-thirds majority in Parliament, and at the same time losing four state government to Pakatan Rakyat opposition pact made up of PKR, DAP and PAS.

The election result forced then prime minister and Umno president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to vacate his seat.

The 13th general election will be the first election for Najib as Prime Minister.

PI Bala's wife and children missing, claims lawyer

Private eye P Balasubramaniam's wife, A Santamil Selvi, and her children are mysteriously missing from their family home in Rawang, Bala's lawyer Americk Sidhu revealed today.

Americk said that Selvi had become incommunicado since yesterday morning.

Last Saturday, a few members of the press and even police officers showed up at her home after an SMS was circulated claiming that she would file a police report to claim that her husband had been paid by lawyers to make the false first statutory declaration (SD1).

Americk admitted his fears that she could be pushed to make a similar U-turn as Bala had done.

In 2006, just one day after signing SD1, in which he implicated Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor in the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shariibuu, Bala retracted it and signed a second SD which claimed that the first was signed under duress.

Bala passed away on March 15 from a heart attack shortly after returning from self-imposed exile in Chennai. He had been campaigning for Pakatan Rakyat.
Americk said on Monday, two “journalists” had appeared at Bala’s house claiming that their editors had told them that Selvi wanted to make a statement.

She denied this to the reporters, but seated in a black car, they were seen to be taking pictures of the house from a distance.

According to Americk, neighbours had informed Bala’s friend that the whole family had left the house in their car at about 10.15am yesterday and have not been reachable since then.

A family friend had today visited the house to notice that the family dog was out of it’s cage and roaming out in the front porch, with the front gates closed.

“The neighbours are also missing and have been uncontactable all day,” he said, adding that the turn of events was very “uncharacteristic” of Selvi.

Strong Hindu agitation after Hindu woman forcefully converted to Islam and married by Muslim kidnapper in Pakistan.

Hindus protest after woman forcefully converted to Islam in Pakistan

Hindus protest after woman converted to Islam in Pakistan (Jacobabad, Sindh).

ISLAMABAD | TOI | 30 MARCH 2013:: Members of Pakistan’s minority Hindu community staged a protest in southern Sindh province after a Hindu woman converted to Islam and married a Muslim man, according to a media report on Saturday.

The protest and a “wave of anger” within the minority community led to the postponement of polls for the Hindu panchayat in Jacobabad on Friday.

Reports from Jhanjhri Street area of Jacobabad said Ganga, the daughter of gold trader Ashok Kumar, married Asif Ali, son of another gold trader Bahadur Ali Surhio, at Amrot Sharif Dargah after converting to Islam, the Dawn reported.

Ganga changed her name to Aasia. The woman’s parents and several relatives rushed to the shrine after learning about the conversion but the marriage had already been registered.

They returned to Jacobabad and lodged an FIR that alleged Ganga was kidnapped by Asif Ali, his father, a brother named Abid Ali, and another man identified as Miran Bukhsh. Asif Ali was not at his residence but his father, brother and Miran Bukhsh were arrested.

The Hindu community of Jacobabad took to the streets and organised a protest against the “kidnapping” of the woman. Angry groups of local residents called for a strike and postponement of the Hindu panchayat polls till the matter was settled.

Heated arguments over the polls created an ugly situation and police had to be called in to restore order.

Incumbent panchayat chief Harpal Das Chabria told several hundred voters and their candidates that kidnapping of Hindu girls and their “forced conversion” had increased for some time.

He appealed to authorities to check the trend and provide protection to Hindus in Sindh.

A rally was organised from Janta Hall in Jacobabad against the alleged kidnapping. People marched to the local press club, shouting slogans for Ganga’s reunion with her family.

Hindu leaders warned that if their demand was not met, the community would observe a strike across the city and start an agitation.

Some Hindus alleged Sarafa association president Samiullah Surhio was involved in the alleged kidnapping.

However, Surhio told the media that he had nothing to do with the matter.

The Hindu community in Sindh has been up in arms since last year over the alleged abduction and forced conversion of several women.

Saudi Criminal's Sentence: Paralysis

(Newser) – When he was 14, Ali al-Khawahir stabbed his best friend in the back, paralyzing him for life. Now, because of an eye-for-an-eye sentence, al-Khawahir is facing paralysis as well. The Saudi Arabia man can only avoid the sentence by raising more than $266,600, the amount his victim requested in order to forgive his attacker. He has been jailed for the 10 years since the attack, the Saudi Gazette reports, but GlobalPost says a court decision on the sentence was made yesterday. A campaign has been organized to help raise the money, since al-Khawahir's family is poor.

Mumbai Police circular says girls being trained for Jihad at Islamic organisation

Mumbai Police has kicked up a controversy following its circular which says the women's wing of an Islamic organisation is "brainwashing and training girls for Jihad".

The outfit has threatened legal action if no apology is tendered by the police.

The "internal circular" said the Girls Islamic Organisation (GIO) of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, one of the country's largest Islamic organisations that runs 40 high schools and three junior colleges in Maharashtra, has been operating with the objective of "brainwashing college and school girls and train them for jihad".

"The group GIO is related to Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and it was established in Kerala. The purported aim of this organisation is to make more and more Muslim women aware of their religion and the holy Quran. But the real objective of this organisation is to brainwash school and college girls and train them for jihad," the circular, issued last month, says.

The document, meant for internal circulation, got leaked and has invited the wrath of Jamaat with its Maharashtra spokesman Mohammad Aslam Ghazi threatening to sue the police department if it does not apologise.

Ghazi alleged it was a deliberate attempt to tarnish the image of the socio-religious organisation.

"The circular was leaked with vicious intentions. The allegations against GIO are false and baseless," he said.

"The Mumbai Police either has to prove the allegations or apologise for the error. Otherwise, we would sue them for defamation," said Ghazi, adding their organisation worked for "peace, justice and to fight against prejudice of the state machinery".

Mumbai Police spokesman Satyanarayana Choudhary said "the circular was meant to be only for the department and not for public."

Earlier, Mumbai Police had got embroiled in a row over a poem by a traffic police inspector Sujata Patil published in an issue of the force's in-house journal Samwad where she had described last year's Azad Maidan protesters as "snakes" and "traitors" whose hands should have been "chopped off".

Amid threat of legal action and mounting anger of Mulim organisations, Patil had apologised in writing. The apology was published in the next issue of Samwad.

Najib urges Petronas staff to back BN, announces RM1,000 handout

KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced today a “token of appreciation” of RM1,000 each to staff of the national oil company Petronas ahead of elections expected soon.

Najib (picture), who is also finance minister tasked to oversee Petronas, said the cash gift was Putrajaya’s appreciation for the company’s contribution to the economy.

“The board and management have recommended a small gesture to bring cheer to the staff.

“Finally, I decided to accept the recommendation. A RM1,000 token will be given to all staff as a gesture of our appreciation, so spend it wisely,” he told some 4,000 Petronas employees at a town hall meeting at the Kuala Lumpur Conventional Centre here.

Earlier in his speech, Najib urged Petronas employees to continue backing the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, the founder of the national oil firm whose contribution to its success is crucial.

He warned against voting the opposition into power, accusing the Pakatan Rakyat pact as enemies of Petronas since many of its proposals, including increasing state oil royalties and keeping fuel prices low, went against the interests of the company.

Najib said Petronas and BN have shared a long and beneficial relationship since its formation in the early 1970s and that putting power into an untested government could be detrimental to the firm.

“So when the time comes, I hope you decide wisely,” he said.

Today’s cash gift follows several other handouts dished out to key constituents under government programmes such as the popular 1 Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) and increased allocations for loans targeted towards Bumiputera businesses.

Najib will be seeking his own mandate at Election 2013 where he will face an uphill battle to restore BN’s two-thirds parliamentary majority.

BN lost its customary supermajority and five states in the last national polls.

The dismal performance led to the removal of Najib’s predecessor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his subsequent appointment as prime minister on April 3, 2009.

Tomorrow will mark his fourth year as the country’s sixth prime minister.

Kapar MP hits back at unfair media report on crime

In Kapar, the ratio of police to residents is 1:2000, so how can he be blamed for 'worsening' gangsterism? asks Kapar MP S Manikavasagam.

PETALING JAYA: A Pakatan Rakyat MP has lodged a police report against the New Straits Times over an article linking him to the problem of gangsterism in Kapar.

Kapar MP, S Manikavasagam, lodged the report against the national daily and its reporter at 11.30am here at the Klang district police station, urging the police and Home Ministry to take stern action.

Manikavasagam, who was accompanied by a dozen PKR members, claimed the NST report was politically motivated. He claimed it was instigated by someone from within PKR to tarnish his reputation among the residents of Kapar.

“What NST has done is irresponsible and goes against journalistic ethics. I will file a defamation suit against NST and the reporter,” he told FMT.

Yesterday, NST published a news report on Kapar titled “Gangsterism, main worry of Kapar folk”, claiming that Manikavasagam had “worsened” the problem by bailing out the suspects.

Manikavasagam denied the allegation and challenged both NST and the reporter to reveal the “list of suspects” bailed out by him as alleged.

He also expressed his suspicion on the source of the article.

“As the general election nears, someone is trying very hard to sideline me from Kapar. I am very sure the news was planted by a PKR man,” he added.

However, Manikavasagam refused to reveal who that “someone” was, except to say that it was a “party internal matter”.

Only two police stations

When asked to elaborate on the crime allegations, Manikavasagam said that the key reason was inadequate police force.

“There are only two police stations in Kapar, which caused a lot of problems in the constituency with about 142,000 voters.

“This is a large constituency and the current ratio of police to population is one is to 2,000.

“How are you going to handle such a large constituency with two police stations?” he asked.

Manikavasagam said he had sent several letters on the issue to the top police officers urging them to increase the number of police personnel here, but todate there has been no response.

“The police are under the federal government. They should take action to solve the gangsterism issue here. I have raised the issue in Parliament so many times, ” he said.

He also expressed disappointment with the Home Ministry for deliberately overlooking Kapar since Pakatan took over the state in 2008.

Signature campaign

Meanwhile, NGOs in Kapar have begun a signature campaign urging PKR’s top leadership to allow incumbent Manikavasagam to defend his seat in the 13th general election.

The NGOs pledged to give their support to Pakatan if Manickavasagam was retained.

It is learnt that some 2,000 residents have already signed the petition.

It was reported that PKR has decided to replace Manikavasagam in Kapar with Selangor executive councillor Dr Xavier Jayakumar.

PKR is planning to field Manikavasagam in the Bukit Melawati state seat.

Duo blasts DAP blueprint

Ex-DAP man Tuan Tat and Gerakan's Baljit Singh doubt if the DAP can deliver on its promise to Indians as the blueprint has yet to be endorsed by its Pakatan allies.

GEORGE TOWN: DAP’s 14-point blueprint for the Indian community is nothing but a desperate attempt to fish for votes, alleged a former DAP branch leader and a Gerakan politician.

Tan Tuan Tat, the ex-DAP Taman Seri Sungai Pelek branch chairman and Baljit Singh, Penang Gerakan’s legal and human rights bureau head, said the blueprint raised many questions.

They doubted that the DAP can deliver the blueprint since it has yet to be endorsed and adopted by its Pakatan Rakyat partners, PKR and PAS.

Baljit recalled Pakatan de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim promising to absorb some Indian issues into the already launched coalition manifesto, although he has done nothing thus far.

He asked why did the DAP hastily and hurriedly prepare and launch a blueprint, that too in Gelang Patah of all places, without consulting its allies.

Baljit is curious to know the fate of the blueprint should PKR and PAS reject it on the usual and oft-quoted grounds of multiracial politics.

“It is clearly an eyewash: a piece of paper to hide DAP’s failure to deliver anything worthy to Indians in the last five years.

“DAP thought the blueprint can arrest the waning Indian support to the party and Pakatan,” Baljit told FMT here today.

Many ethnic Indians were frustrated when Pakatan’s manifesto failed to address their woes. Their disenchantment deepened when Pakatan also ignored Hindraf’s blueprint for them.

Is DAP going its separate way?

Their anger against Pakatan boiled over when Hindraf leader P Waythamoorthy held his 21-day hunger strike to compel both Pakatan and BN to endorse Hindraf blueprint.

Switching into defensive mode, Pakatan leaders claimed that they did not need to endorse the blueprint as the coalition’s Orange Book or Buku Jingga tackled them all.

However, until today Pakatan leaders have not been able to show which portion of the Buku Jingga featured Hindraf’s blueprint.

Baljit questioned the need for a separate DAP manifesto if indeed Pakatan’s Buku Jingga, which formed the basis of the coalition manifesto, had addressed Indian issues.

“Is it the DAP’s way of showing its displeasure against Buku Jingga and Pakatan’s manifesto for failing to address Indian issues? Is DAP going separate way from its allies?” he asked.

Tan was curious to know how DAP suddenly became very caring and concerned about Indians when the Chinese-dominated party never bothered about them all these years.

Besides being the ruling party in Penang, he pointed out that DAP dominated the Pakatan government in Selangor and for a while in Perak, before the state fell to BN.

However, he said the DAP had not carried out any projects or programmes in these states to benefit the Indian community, especially those in the poorer rung of society.

“Suddenly DAP comes up with an overnight blueprint for Indians. Suddenly DAP is so caring about Indians and their welfare,” said Tan.

He asked if the blueprint was ever tabled for approval at the party highest’s decision-making body, the central executive committee (CEC).

He also raised doubts if chairman Karpal Singh was aware of the blueprint since he had called on Pakatan leaders to resume talks with Hindraf leadership on their blueprint.

“If DAP has a blueprint duly endorsed by the CEC, why should Karpal ask Pakatan to find an amicable solution to Hindraf’s blueprint?”

The 14-point DAP blueprint tagged, “The Gelang Patah Declaration: Vision and Strategy for Indian Empowerment”, is supposed to improve the standard of living for the Indians.

It was launched by the party senior leader Lim Kit Siang, who will contest the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat.