NRD shields itself, blames outdated database again

The National Registration Department admitted that failure to update its database has resulted in another case where an apparently non-citizen is listed as a voter.

According a NRD spokesperson Jainisah Mohd Noor, 27-year-old Pandan voter Yusnati Haris Lakmana, who is listed as a holder of a temporary identity card on the NRD website, is in fact a citizen.

"We ran a check and found that she was granted citizenship in 2008," said the officer.

She said that Yusnati is still listed as a green IC holder on the website because the publicly-accessible database is not updated.

"We are still waiting for an explanation on this from the IT department," Jainisah added when contacted earlier this week.

When contacted another officer from the Election Commission who refused to be named also laid the blame on the NRD's outdated database.

This was also the case for Mismah, who was listed as a permanent resident on the NRD website, but as a voter on the Election Commission website.

Mismah was initially listed as a red IC holder, which denotes the person as a "permanent resident" while a green IC means that he or she is a "temporary resident".

The NRD had within hours of Malaysiakini's checks changed her status to 'citizen', later clarifying that Mismah was a permanent resident for 29 years before being granted citizenship.

Green IC revived in 2008

The issuance of green ICs was terminated in January 2005, and revived by the Home Ministry in October, 2008.

In announcing it,then Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said that green IC are issued to those born in Malaysia and have Malaysian birth certificates, but cannot verify their parents' background.

Bernama had then reported that the cards, valid for five years, were to be issued from December 2008 to June 2009 to solve the problem of undocumented residents.

The national news agency reported that the operation's main targets are ethnic Indian residents living in border towns, particularly in Kelantan, 30,000 of whom were estimated to be without documents.

An answer in Parliament to Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar (left) in 2009 revealed that 8,616 green ICs had been issued to stateless persons as of Feb 25, 2009.

"30,056 holders of green ICs (issued prior to 2005) had yet to come to the NRD to renew the cards," current Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein had said.

More 'Yusnatis' found?

Malaysiakini ran checks on both the Election Commission and NRD websites and found that Yusnati is a voter in the Chempaka state constituency and Pandan parliamentary constituency.

Yesterday, PAS revealed three more cases like Yusnati's, where green card holders were found on the electoral roll.

The three cases found on rolls for Terengganu and Selangor, he said, are among many more found by the party.

The Islamic party claims of the cases of irregularities were spotted after the objections period.

PAS that one of the address of an individual who is listed as a Serdang voter is non-existent and that no one in the residential area knew such a person.

‘Pak Lah’s sister-in-law arranged aircraft deal’

A leaked 2006 US cable noted that Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's sister-in-law was involved in the procurement of a US$400 million aircraft deal.

KUALA LUMPUR: A confidential US diplomatic cable from 2006 has claimed that then prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s sister-in-law was allegedly involved in the procurement of a US$400 million aircraft deal.

According to the cable, Abdullah’s brother had also suggested that the deal was done in return for a commission, ostensibly for the sister-in-law.

The cable stated that Abdullah made the announcement for the purchase of the cargo aircraft from European makers Airbus after his trip to France.

“Prime Minister Abdullah’s sister-in-law arranged a US$400 million contract to purchase military cargo aircraft from Airbus.

“There had been no indication that the Malaysian military were in the market for a new cargo aircraft prior to this announcement,” said the cable. It did not name the sister-in-law.

The cable quoted a source who said he was informed by Abdullah’s brother that the aircraft was “done for political or other reasons, such as commission”.

This particular deal was pointed out by the US diplomats in their cable to highlight the weakenesses in the Malaysian procurement process.

They said that Malaysia’s procurement process, which plays a large role in the nation’s economy, fell short in three key areas: lack of transparency, outright corruption, and Bumiputera requirements and preferences.

’30% commission’

The cable, sent from the US embassy here to the State Department in Washington, outlined corruption as a significant problem, particularly for larger contracts, and gave examples of the alleged involvement of the then prime minister, his deputy and the ruling party Umno.

In citing another example, the cable said that the sellers – local politicians, agents, civil servants and military personnel – all received a 30% commission from the procurement of T91 Polish tanks and SU-30 Russian aircraft.

The US diplomats also said that their source – an executive at a US aerospace firm – was allegedly approached by someone purporting to work for (the then) Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Najib (Tun Razak) about a deal, suggesting, “you will get a part of it”. The source declined this offer, added the cable.

Other sources had also similarly informed the US diplomats of corruption in the Malaysian procurement process.

The cable stated that political parties, including the ruling Umno, relied on money politics for much of their operating funds.

“Projects or tenders often are awarded as political patronage, with a cut of the funds circulating back to the party through different channels,” stated that cable dated June 6, 2006.
The confidential cable was leaked by whistleblower site WikiLeaks to the Malaysia Today blog run by Raja Petra Kamarudin who posted it today.

Removing protectionist policies

The US cable said that American firms operating in Malaysia had complained that the implementation of the Malaysian procurement rules lacked transparency, and that they found the Bumiputera-favouring policies to be restrictive, if not prohibitive.

“Phasing out Bumiputera preferences may not be feasible, but even achieving transparent, rules- based procurement would make a big difference to US firms,” the cable said, stating that the right forum to raise the issue would be at the ongoing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks between the US and Malaysia.

However, the US diplomats conceded that it would be difficult to negotiate the removal or the loosening of the Bumiputera policy

“The Malaysian government’s high sensitivity concerning government procurement is suggested by the repeated efforts of its officials to try to remove this subject from the FTA agenda, despite clear statements from US officials that it must be on the table.

“The Bumiputera preferences will be the most difficult element of these negotiations. Eliminating them, even with a phased-out period, would be an unrealistic objective,” added the cable.

It suggested that a more feasible approach would be to seek a “de minimis” level below which Bumiputera preferences would be allowed to remain, but above which contracts would be open to international competition.

“Even this may be more than the Malaysian government could concede, but merely instilling discipline, transparency and responsiveness in the current system would make a big difference to US firms,” noted the US cable.

The US-Malaysia FTA talks – which started in 2006 – have been held back since July 2008 following the Malaysian government’s reluctance to do away with some of the protectionist policies.

However, in October 2010, the US entered into a regional negotiation with Malaysia and seven other Asia-Pacific nations to achieve a regional trade agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement.

Kempen ‘Bersihkan Najib’ dalam Umno?

"Benda ni agak dah lama saya tahu, lebih kurang tiga bulan lepas bila seorang pemimpin peringkat negeri memaklumkan kepada saya," kata seorang pemimpin Umno Selangor.

PETALING JAYA: Satu gerakan tersusun yang dinamakan ‘Bersihkan Najib’ di dalam Umno untuk menolak Presiden Umno yang juga Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak dikatakan mula dijalankan oleh pihak tertentu di dalam parti itu.

Selain serangan terus terhadap Najib sendiri, gerakan tersebut juga dikatakan banyak menumpukan serangan ke atas isterinya, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor bagi melemahkan kredibiliti Najib sebagai pemimpin nombor satu negara itu.

Demikian menurut sebuah blog pro Umno terkenal, www.umno-reform2.com yang dikendalikan oleh Anuar Mohd Nor yang juga merupakan Ketua Eksekutif Institut Kajian Asas Kemasyarakatan.

“Paling ketara usaha ini menjalankan serangan ke atas Rosmah untuk memperkecil kredibiliti Najib dan mendesak beliau supaya berundur,” menurut petikan entri dari blog terbabit.

Penulis blog terbabit juga percaya pihak-pihak di dalam Umno akan membuat penafian sekaligus menyatakan ikrar taat setia terhadap presiden Umno itu.

“Setakat ini realiti program untuk menjatuhkan dan mendesak Najib untuk melepaskan jawatan adalah benar dan wujud walaupun mungkin penafian akan timbul tetapi Najib harus tahu realiti yang ada ini,” tulis beliau lagi.

Bagaimanapun, beliau yang mendakwa mengetahui beberapa nama terlibat dengan gerakan ini masih belum mahu mendedahkan pihak -pihak yang memainkan peranan menjalankan agenda ‘Bersihkan Najib’ dari Umno ini.

“Suara yang menamakan mereka yang terbabit sudah ada sungguhpun www.umno-reform2.com belum berhajat untuk memaklumkannya,” tambah beliau lagi.

Sementara itu, dalam perkembangan berkaitan seorang pemimpin Umno di peringkat bahagian dari negeri Selangor turut percaya kewujudan gerakan ‘Bersihkan Najib’ tersebut.

Beliau yang enggan mendedahkan identitinya itu mendakwa, gerakan untuk menjatuhkan Najib itu diketahuinya apabila diberitahu oleh seorang pemimpin peringkat negeri kira-kira tiga bulan lalu.

“Benda ni agak dah lama saya tahu, lebih kurang tiga bulan lepas bila seorang pemimpin peringkat negeri memaklumkan kepada saya,” ujar beliau ketika ditemui di sini.

Najib gagal kawal tindak-tanduk isteri?

Menurutnya antara sebab utama berlakunya penolakan kepimpinan Najib dari dalam Umno sendiri berpunca daripada Najib yang dikatakan gagal mengawal tindak-tanduk isterinya.

“Najib bukan sahaja nampak lemah dalam beberapa aspek kepimpinannya, imejnya, tapi lebih teruk lagi tindak-tanduk isterinya semakin memberatkan agenda Umno dan Barisan Nasional untuk meraih keputusan yang baik dalam pilihan raya akan datang.

“Walaupun Najib dan pemimpin Umno yang lain memang berusaha memberikan persepsi positif di mata rakyat terhadap penglibatan Rosmah dalam urusan kerajaan, orang ramai tetap menganggap sebaliknya.

“Dalam isu isteri PM ini, apa yang dilihat oleh ahli-ahli Umno khususnya golongan akar umbi tidak menunjukan apa yang dikatakan oleh Najib mahupun pemimpin-pemimpin Umno sendiri.

“Lebih menghairankan, saya dan kebanyakan rakan-rakan lain dalam Umno percaya Najib sendiri sedar kesan negatif dari tindak-tanduk isterinya itu, tetapi malangnya Najib seolah-olah tidak dapat berbuat apa-apa tentangnya,” ujarnya.

'Five detained' over Delhi blast claim

Authorities are investigating a claim of responsibility allegedly made by the armed group, Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami [AFP]
 
Five people, including the owner of an internet cafe, have been detained for questioning over an email allegedly claiming responsibility for Wednesday's deadly blast in New Delhi that left 12 dead, police say.

Senior police officials told the Reuters news agency on Thursday that they had detained the owner of an internet cafe in the Kishtwar region of Indian-administered Kashmir from where they suspect the email was sent on Wednesday.

The blast inquiry was quickly turned over to the National Investigation Agency [NIA], established after the Mumbai attack of 2008 to investigate and prevent terror attacks.

Police were scouring the city for possible suspects, searching hotels, bus stands, railway stations and the airport, UK Bansal, a senior security official, said.

All roads out of the city were under surveillance as well, he said.

Of the dozens injured in the blast, 19 still remain in intensive care unit. An official said on Thursday the government would do all it can to provide medical assistance.

Sketches released

Late on Wednesday, police also released two sketches they said were based on descriptions given by witnesses who claimed they had seen someone with a briefcase waiting in line outside the building.
Authorities are investigating the claim of responsibility allegedly made by the armed group Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami [HUJI], an al-Qaeda-linked with bases in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

It has claimed responsibility for attacks in India in the past. "That mail has to be looked at very seriously because HUJI is a very prominent terrorist group among whose targets India is one," SC Sinha, the NIA chief, said. In an email to the NIA, the group called on India to repeal the death sentence of a man convicted in connection with an attack on the Indian parliament in 2001 who was awaiting execution by hanging. "We are determined to track down the perpetrators of this horrific crime and bring them to justice,'' P Chidambaram, India's interior minister, told parliament on Wednesday. PM's admission Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, conceded that there were "weaknesses in our security system and terrorists are taking advantage of them". "We will never succumb to the pressure of terrorism," he said. "This is a long war in which all political parties, all the the people of India, have to stand united so that this scourge of terrorism is crushed." Delhi police have released a photofit of two suspects linked to Wednesday's deadly blast in the city [EPA] However, Arun Jaitley, an opposition politician, asked in parliament: "Have we become so vulnerable that terrorist groups can almost strike at will?" The attack was carried out even though Delhi had been on high alert because parliament was in session. The blast erupted near a large crowd of people waiting in line to reach a reception counter where passes are made for entry to the court building, RK Singh, India's home secretary, said. The blast will renew concern about the authorities' ability to prevent attacks, particularly in sensitive, high-risk areas. "This is a glaring example of the shortage of intelligence, both human and technical," Ajai Sahni, executive director at the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi, said. In May, a low-intensity blast outside the same Delhi court triggered panic but injured no one. The explosion on Wednesday was outside the busiest gate of the building. It was the first major attack in India since a string of bombs exploded in three busy Mumbai neighbourhoods on July 13, killing 24 people.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

UK court allows review of Btg Kali massacre

After six decades, family members of victims may see closure and some sense of justice.

KUALA LUMPUR: Family members of 24 unarmed Malaysian Chinese workers allegedly shot dead by British troops in a massacre more than six decades ago won a significant court battle in Britain that would give hope the massacre would be formally investigated, their lawyers said on Thursday.

The British High Court ruled on Aug 31 in favour of the family members for a review to a decision by the British government refusing to investigate the massacre, where the unarmed rubber plantation workers in Batang Kali were killed after being accused as terrorists trying to escape during the Malayan Emergency.

The court granted the judicial review as it deemed the case “raises arguable issues of importance”, reports China’s news agency Xinhua.

The lawyers said a full hearing would begin in spring 2012. It will examine whether the British Secretaries of State for Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office acted lawfully when they refused to hold a public inquiry into both the killings and their coverup, and to make any form of reparation to the victims’ families.

“After decades of seeking redress for the Batang Kali massacre victims we can now, finally, see the light of justice at the end of the tunnel,” lawyer representing the victim’s family, Quek Ngee Meng, said.

“We do not expect the British government to reverse its stance, but it should immediately and unconditionally release all documents relating to the massacre and the aborted attempt to investigate in the past so the court that hears this case, and the public, have a complete picture,” he told reporters at a press conference attended by six surviving kin of the victims, lawmakers and dozens of activists and representatives of ethnic Chinese groups.

The 24 ethnic Chinese were shot dead by British Scots Guards in 1948, when the then Malaya was under British colonial rule.

They were accused of being sympathisers of the communists and said to be trying to escape during the Malayan Emergency — a guerilla war fought between the Commonwealth armed forces and the Malayan communist group.

The victims’ lawyers said the British government refused to correct the records even as evidence suggested all 24 victims were innocent.

After numerous appeals to both the British and the Malaysian governments for a probe into the massacre were turned down, citing lack of evidence, family members of the victims took the case to the British court.

“For the first time after six decades, I feel a sense of closure,” said Loh Ah Choy, whose uncle was killed before his eyes when he was nine.

“He was my only uncle and he deserves justice,” the 70-year-old told Xinhua.
- Bernama

A history lesson in the year 3000

Nevertheless, since Malaysia no longer exists and is now a small province of a bigger country called Indonesia, the Indonesian Government has classified Mat Indera as a national hero who was unjustly executed by the evil British Colonial Government for opposing Colonialism, in particular the British who illegally occupied North Borneo and gave the two states of Sabah and Sarawak to Malaysia instead of giving them back to Indonesia like they should have and as argued by Indonesia’s Father of Independence, President Sukarno.

NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin


Once upon a time, 1,000 years ago, in a country that used to be called Malaysia but no longer exists and is now a province of a bigger country called Indonesia, there raged a hot debate.

Malaysia, 1,000 years ago, was suffering from a serious problem of an influx of immigrants from its neighbouring countries that threatened to swamp the local population. If they allowed this indiscriminate and uncontrolled immigration policy to go on, the local population would soon be outnumbered and the foreign population, which was being given citizenship and was being issued with identity cards so that they could vote in the elections, would soon enough take over the country.

The British Colonial Government, 100 years before that, had already realised the dangers of an indiscriminate and uncontrolled immigration policy and the migration of foreign workers that started in 1850 was ended in 1920. A hundred years later, the independent Government of Malaysia re-launched the immigration policy that the British had earlier ended.

Nevertheless, the hot debate that was raging throughout the country was not about this in spite of the fact that the East Malaysian state of Sabah was already showing signs of a serious social problem of an increase in crime, drug addiction, homeless children, prostitution and whatnot because of this indiscriminate and uncontrolled immigration policy where the foreign population was given citizenship and issued with identity cards to enable them to vote in the elections.

But this was not what the hot debate was all about.

Once upon a time, 1,000 years ago, in a country that used to be called Malaysia but no longer exists and is now a province of a bigger country called Indonesia, there raged a hot debate.

Malaysia, 1,000 years ago, was suffering from a serious problem of corruption and abuse of the power and the country was being run into the ground, which would in no time at all reduce the country to the status of a failed state.

Those who fought against corruption and abuse of power were arrested and jailed while those who propagated corruption and abuse of power were revered and appointed as leaders of the country.

Those who threatened the establishment were murdered and all these murders went unsolved and the deaths were classified as ‘sudden death’ or death due to the stopping of breathing.

The country’s resources were being plundered by all and sundry who walked in the corridors of power and these people were not shunned or treated as the pariahs of society but instead were honoured with titles such as Yang Berhormat, Yang Berbahagia, Datuk, Tan Sri, Tun, etc., and who would carry these titles in their names: for example, ‘Yang Mulia Tun Tan Sri Datuk Seri Datuk Raja Petra al Haj Bin Raja Kamarudin al Haj Almarhum’, which for short would be ‘Pete’.

But this was not what the hot debate was all about.

Once upon a time, 1,000 years ago, in a country that used to be called Malaysia but no longer exists and is now a province of a bigger country called Indonesia, there raged a hot debate.

Malaysia, 1,000 years ago, was suffering from a serious problem of racism and of religion being used for political purposes. It came to a stage where Nazi Germany of WWII or England of the time of Henry VIII began to look tame by comparison and the official religion of that country, Islam, started to appear like a joke when Muslims did and said things allegedly in the name of Islam that gave an impression that these people were utterly brainless.

The racism and ridiculous deeds and statements in the name of religion frightened and disgusted many Malaysians and those with a good education and strong finances left the country to seek citizenship in other countries that were not so silly.

Malaysia eventually suffered from this brain drain and capital flight and every Malaysian with brains and/or money who left the country was replaced with foreigners who had no education and/or no money and this further sapped the resources of the country until it soon got reduced to a country with a population that had very little education and almost no money.

But this was not what the hot debate was all about.

The hot debate that tore the country into two was about a man named Mat Indera who died in 1950 and the two sides that debated this person who had died more than 60 years before that argued about whether he was a Communist or Islamist, whether he was a traitor or patriot, whether he was a terrorist or freedom fighter, whether he fought against the government or fought to free the country, whether he was a bad man or a good man.

And while the hot debate about a man whom 99% of Malaysians had never heard of before that, did not know about till then, and did not care about anyway, the country was brought to a standstill.

No one bothered any longer about the future of the country and where the country was heading for and where it would be 60 years hence. They only cared about what happened 60 years before that and about a man who had died 60 years earlier and who was of no significance to the future of the country anyway.

That was what the hot debate was all about and which tore the country into two. And because of that the country once known as Malaysia no longer exists and is now a small province of a country called Indonesia when all Malaysians with brains and money left the country and the immigrants with no education and no money were given citizenship and after some time outnumbered the local population and voted in favour of that country being given back to its true owners, Indonesia, like what the Japanese proposed back in WWII when they kicked out the British and took over the administration of that country.

Nevertheless, since Malaysia no longer exists and is now a small province of a bigger country called Indonesia, the Indonesian Government has classified Mat Indera as a national hero who was unjustly executed by the evil British Colonial Government for opposing Colonialism, in particular the British who illegally occupied North Borneo and gave the two states of Sabah and Sarawak to Malaysia instead of giving them back to Indonesia like they should have and as argued by Indonesia’s Father of Independence, President Sukarno.

Pertemuan Najib-hakim dibimbangi pengaruhi kes Anwar

(Oleh: Nabihah Hamid)

KUALA LUMPUR: Pertemuan antara Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak dengan para hakim hari ini, dibimbangi sebagai satu percubaan untuk mempengaruhi kes perbicaraan Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Ketua Angkatan Muda KEADILAN (AMK), Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin mengulas pertemuan tersebut yang dikatakan untuk memberi taklimat bagaimana dana kerajaan persekutuan diguna untuk menambahbaik sistem penyampaian mahkamah.

“Dari segi prinsip ketelusan undang-undang, ia dilihat satu perkara yang bercanggah dengan pemisahan dalam sistem pentadbiran negara (Eksekutif dan kehakiman).

“Ia memeranjatkan apabila ketua hakim negara telah melanggar kepada prinsip asas itu. Sangat meragukan apabila seorang hakim dilihat membuat kunjungan hormat dalam keadaan PM bakal menjadi saksi dalam kes Fitnah terhadap Anwar yang sedang berjalan,” kata Shamsul.

Shamsul berkata, jika perkara itu berterusan, integriti badan kehakiman akan menjadi semakin teruk dan parah.

“Saya juga menganggap ini merupakan satu indikasi bahawa Najib mungkin akan diselamatkan oleh hakim agar tidak perlu menghadiri sebagai saksi sepertimana yang dilakukan oleh bekas PM Tun Mahathir di mana alasan yang diberikan tidak relevan.

“Apa relevan tindakan hakim berjumpa dengan Najib,” ujarnya yang juga Pengerusi Majlis Pimpinan KEADILAN Melaka.

Ketua Hakim Negara yang bakal bersara, Tun Zaki Azmi hari ini dilapor berkata, pertemuan tersebut bukan perkara baru kerana ia pernah diadakan sebanyak dua kali dengan Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad ketika  menjadi perdana menteri.

Sejumlah 130 hakim Mahkamah Tinggi, Mahkamah Rayuan dan Mahkamah Persekutuan menghadiri pertemuan dengan perdana menteri di Istana Kehakiman- yang dulunya dikenali sebagai Istana Keadilan- pada petang ini.

Tun Azmi juga menyatakan pelantikan hakim dan pesuruhjaya kehakiman ke mahkamah lebih tinggi pada masa ini lebih telus kerana ia dilakukan menerusi undi sulit. Sebelum pelantikan dibuat melalui JAC, kata Zaki, beban pelantikan hakim adalah pada pihak eksekutif dan ketua hakim.

Short URL: http://www.keadilandaily.com/?p=19926

Najib Announces Three Programmes To Achieve Six Strategic Reform Initiatives

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today announced three new programmes to achieve the six Strategic Reform Initiatives (SRI) in respect of human resource development which was announced in June.

He said that to achieve the aspiration, MSC Malaysia's MyProCert programme would be launched this month to raise the skills of Malaysians towards international certification standards.

"Trained and certified Malaysians within this programme will be part of the critical supply for talent sourcing and development for industry players and potential foreign investors," he said at the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) update, here Thursday.

Najib said the second programme was the establishment of the National Talent Enhancement Programme (NTEP), an initiative within the electrical and electronics (E&E) National Key Economic Areas (NKEA).

The NTEP is open to engineering graduates with one or two years of working experience and those who wish to upskill/re-skill to enter into the electrical and electronics and green technology sectors.

It is a 12-month trainee programme to help develop industry-relevant skills via partnership with E&E companies.

Najib said five agencies and companies would spearhead the initiative namely Akademi Teknologi Hijau Sdn Bhd, the East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC), the Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA), Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) and the Selangor Human Resources Development Centre (SHRDC).

Meanwhile, TERAS or High Performing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which was launched by Unit Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera (TERAJU) to increase Bumiputera SMEs, has identified 1,100 Bumiputera SMEs and 1,000 small/micro companies as a starting point.

Najib said the programme was intended to develop the next generation of world class Bumiputera entrepreneurs across all 12 NKEAs and aimed to increase the participation of Bumiputera SMEs in the economy by enabling SMEs to scale up, accelerate their growth and compete in the open market without heavy reliance on government contracts.

"I am pleased to say that the participation has been encouraging so far and I urge more Bumiputera companies to come forward and participate in this programme which will be beneficial to all of you as entrepreneurs and to the country as a whole," he said.

The SRIs are the second critical component of the ETP in addition to the 12 National Key Economic Areas in a bid to boost the nation's global competitiveness.

The other SRIs are the Government's Role in Business, Human Capital Development, Public Service Delivery, International Standards & Liberalisation and Narrowing Disparities.

Bomb alerts force PIA jets to land in Turkey, M’sia

Pakistani passenger jet with 187 people on board landed in Kuala Lumpur at 9:24 pm yesterday following a bomb alert, but a search of the aircraft found no explosive devices on board.

ISTANBUL: Bomb alerts forced two Pakistan International Airlines planes Wednesday to land at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport and in Kuala Lumpur, but no bombs were found, officials and news agency reports said.

Security officials in Istanbul with sniffer dogs searched the Boeing 777-300EA, which had 378 passengers on board, as well as passengers’ luggage for three hours, Anatolia news agency said.

No explosives were found and the bomb threat was declared a hoax, CNN-Turk and NTV news channels reported, quoting airport authorities.

The plane had departed from Lahore in Pakistan bound for the British city of Manchester, when it was diverted to Istanbul, a spokesman at Manchester airport told AFP.

The bomb alert, which came as the aircraft was flying over the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, caused panic among passengers, Anatolia news agency said.

After landing in Istanbul around 1400 GMT, the passengers were evacuated from the aircraft, which was moved to a security zone.

In Malaysia, a Pakistani passenger jet with 187 people on board landed in Kuala Lumpur at 9:24 pm following a bomb alert, but a search of the aircraft found no explosive devices on board, officials later said.

The scheduled flight from the Pakistani city of Lahore to the Malaysian capital landed after the bomb threat was received while it was in mid-air.

“According to our people on the ground, the plane has been searched and they have not found any bomb, it appears to be a hoax,” Pakistan High Commission official Hamid Raza Khan told AFP.

Airport authorities confirmed that police completed a search of the plane’s cabin and cargo hold and “declared the aircraft to be cleared of any explosive materials”.

“The checked-in luggage have been offloaded from the cargo compartment and screening of the luggage will be performed by the Bomb Disposal Unit and the K-nine Unit,” the airport said in a statement.

Bomb warning

Airport officials said they had received information from PIA officials of “an aircraft bomb warning” for Flight PK898 from Lahore to Kuala Lumpur at 8:45 pm.

“The flight PK898 safely landed at 9:24 pm. The airline confirmed a total of 164 passengers, three cockpit crew and 10 cabin crew on board,” the airport said.

The airport said all the passengers had left the plane and were being held at a secure lounge while they were screened.

A senior PIA official confirmed the two bomb threats.

“We received emails about the presence of bombs on two PIA flights,” the official told AFP.
“Since the flights had taken off already, the pilots were directed to land at the nearest airport.”

“One flight bound for Manchester landed in Istanbul and the second flight touched down at Kuala Lumpur,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
- AFP

Give back school’s land, MIC told

Party branch chief revives controversy about alleged land grab in Bandar Utama.

KLANG: A local MIC leader today asked the party to return a piece of land that he said was originally alienated for a Tamil school.

V Thiagarajan, who heads the Taman Mujur MIC branch, said party president G Palanivel should “do the right thing” by ensuring that the Effingham Tamil School get back the three acres of prime land.

The school is located in Bandar Utama, Damansara. The accusation about the land grab first surfaced in 2009, with former students and residents of the area claiming that the developer of Bandar Utama had set aside six acres for the school in 1999.

They said the late K Sivalingam, an MIC leader and an executive councillor in the then BN-led state government, decided that only three acres should be given to the school and the rest to the party.

There was also an allegation of mismanagement of RM300,000 in developer contributions to the school. MIC was accused of trying to channel the money to its Maju Institute of Education Development (MIED) although the developer disagreed.

MIC has claimed that there was an error in the description of the proprietor in the land title and that the party is the rightful owner of the three acres.

Currently, the school has 600 pupils, but the number is expected to increase steadily.
Thiagarajan told FMT he had “solid evidence” that all six acres belonged to the school.

“I plead with Palanivel to use his veto power to give back the land to the school,” he said.
“I have all the evidence to show clearly that the land MIC claims as its own should be part of school.”

‘Islamicism’ Canada’s Biggest Threat: PM

"If you are talking about terrorism it is Islamicism," Harper said

CAIRO – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper believes that “Islamic militancy” poses the biggest threat to Canada.

"There are a number of threats on a number of levels, but if you are talking about terrorism it is Islamicism," Harper said in an interview with the CBC, to be broadcast on Thursday, September 8.

"That is the one that occupies the security [establishment] most regularly in terms of actual terrorist threats."

The interview comes as the United States marks the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Harper said that Canada is safer now than it was during the 9/11 attacks.

However, he said, "the major threat is still Islamicism."

"When people think of Islamic terrorism, they think of Afghanistan, or maybe they think of some place in the Middle East, but the truth is that threat exists all over the world."

Harper said the threat of terrorism is diffused across the globe, citing a recent attack on a UN headquarters in Nigeria.

And in Canada, "homegrown [Islamic] terrorism is something we keep an eye on."
Muslims make around 1.9 percent of Canada's 32.8 million population, and Islam is the number one non-Christian faith in the Roman Catholic country.

A survey has showed the overwhelming majority of Muslims are proud to be Canadian.

Terror Laws

The Canadian premier also hinted that his government would re-introduce anti-terror laws that were scrapped four years ago.

"We think those measures are necessary,” Harper told CBC.
“We think they've been useful.

‘And as you know … they're applied rarely, but there are times where they're needed."

Following the 9/11 attacks, the Canadian parliament passed tough laws to fight terrorism.

Under one provisions of the laws, police had the power to arrest suspects without a warrant and detain them for three days without charges.

Another provision allowed a judge to compel a witness to testify in secret about past associations or perhaps pending acts under penalty of going to jail if the witness didn't comply.

In October 2006, a parliamentary committee recommended extending the two provisions after their expiry.

In 2007, opposition parties rejected a proposal by the Conservatives to keep the measures in place for three more years.

The rest of the legislation remained in force.
When asked if he would try to bring those laws back, Harper replied: "That is our plan."

Mydin to leverage Kedai Rakyat to keep own prices low

Ameer Ali said suppliers also stood to gain from higher order volumes. — Picture by Jack Ooi

SUBANG JAYA, Sept 8 — Local wholesale and retail giant Mydin expects additional orders of generic items for its Kedai Rakyat 1 Malaysia operations to push down prices of the company’s own store brand products, which are sourced from the same suppliers.


Mydin Mohamed Holdings Bhd managing director Datuk Ameer Ali Mydin said that while the government-backed mini market was part of the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR), there was also a profit motive behind its offer to set up and run Kedai Rakyat.

“In the long term, the supply chain of this is very profitable because the more chocolate drinks I order, the more the supplier becomes subservient to me,” he told The Malaysian Insider in an interview.
“And he has to give cheaper to Mydin, correct or not? So, indirectly, there is a hidden benefit to Mydin because of that massive supply.”

Savings from lower procurement costs will be passed to customers, who will be able to enjoy cheaper goods at Mydin stores, he said.

But Ameer Ali pointed out that suppliers also stood to gain from higher order volumes, especially since many of the companies involved in processing and packing generic products were small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) in need of custom.

Calling it another “hidden benefit”, he said this would help SMEs develop their business as well as allow them a “rare opportunity” to promote their goods on a wider platform than would otherwise be possible.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak launched the first of many Kedai Rakyat 1 Malaysia at the Kelana Jaya LRT station in June. There are now three such shops in the Klang Valley with 22 more in the pipeline.

The 2,000 sq ft shop offers 250 generic products like rice, oil, flour, bread, eggs, milk powder and diapers at prices 30 to 40 per cent lower than market rates as well as Mydin products and branded goods.
Najib said more Kedai Rakyat will be set up in other locations similar to the 1 Malaysia clinics his administration has established in states like Sabah and Sarawak.

Ameer Ali also said Mydin’s long-term goal was to increase the proportion of Kedai Rakyat 1 Malaysia brand items from some 25 per cent now to “almost everything” in future.

He said, however, that this would only happen once a sufficient number of outlets have been opened as suppliers were not going to produce goods in small batches.

“The factories are not going to produce 20 cans of sardines... As more and more outlets open, then you’ll be able to have more and more (generic) brands out there,” he said.

Mydin will not limit itself to LRT stations, which were not designed for commercial purposes, when considering future locations for Kedai Rakyat 1 Malaysia, Ameer Ali added.

Umno leaders must stop this madness

Umno did not fight a war to gain independence. It just ran the final fourth lap.

COMMENT

Utusan Malaysia’s suggested description of PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu or Mat Sabu as an Islamic communist will add a new twist to Umno’s political lexicon – one can be godless and Muslim at the same time.

Only Utusan and Umno are capable of doing that and it does not matter how imbecilic and mundane it sounds.

Umno’s godsend issue now is the communism of Mat Sabu. But where is the political premium for Umno in debating this issue?

There is no mileage in Umno escalating the issue of Mat Sabu extolling communism.

If pursued further, in the end, Umno will be exposed for what it truly is – a racist non-inclusive Malay political party.

Umno leaders must stop this madness. Don’t sacrifice potential long-term gains for the allure of short-term gains.

The short-term gain is winning the argument against Mat Sabu. The long-term gain is to ensure Umno retains its image as a voice of moderation and reasonableness.

Isolating Mat Sabu

And how do we do this? The strategy is to isolate Mat Sabu.

What Mat Sabu said has nothing to do with communism. The godless creed remains Islam’s eternal enemy.

Umno foot soldiers will find it increasingly difficult to defend its fictional creation.

PAS leadership will stand behind Mat Sabu, insisting that what he meant was historical injustice done to one Mat Indera.

Umno can simply demolish this allegation of historical injustice. The Umno-led Johor government had in fact honoured Mat Indera by listing him as one of the influential Johoreans who had contributed to the state.

The Johor government has done substantially more to the memory of Mat Indera than Mat Sabu’s rhetorical stunt in his speech.

And the issue should have stopped at just that. Nail Mat Sabu for his stupid stunt.
But we will let Umno drown in its stupidity if it chooses to escalate Mat Sabu’s communism to a racial issue.

It will be an exercise in futility and counterproductive to the reinvention of Umno’s image as a party of moderation and reasonableness.

Umno did not fight a war

What this furore has done is to heighten awareness of who Mat Indera was and what he did.
The danger however is this – the reassessment of Mat Indera’s position in the history of Malaya.

This will force people to also reassess Umno’s own legitimacy in determining history and their historical appreciation of politics in the country as well as the role that Umno played.

Umno didn’t take up arms to secure independence. Other people laid down their lives for independence.
What Umno did was run the final fourth lap, whereas the previous three freedom fighters were executed by others.

What the hawkish and right-wing elements in Umno have done is to claim absolute credit. Umno’s credit doesn’t rest on running the last lap.

Its credit rests on its image as the voice of moderation and reasonableness, both of which have enabled Umno to become the unifying force for all races in Malaysia.

This excerpt is from the writer’s blog sakmongkolak47. The writer is a FMT columnist.

Not right to detain teens under EO, says Suhakam

The Star
By SHAILA KOSHY

KUALA LUMPUR: The young, especially those who are in their teens, should be put on trial if they have committed a crime and not be detained under the Emergency (Public Order and Prevention of Crime) Ordinance (EO).

Suhakam commissioner Muhammad Sha'ani Abdullah said there were 30 youths, aged between 16 and 21, detained for various offences at the Rehabilitation Centre in Machang, Kelantan, when the commission visited on April 13.

He said the use of preventive detention on children contravened the Child Act, which defines children as those under 18, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which defines them as persons up to the age of 18.

“The EO should not be used on children. They must be charged in court or they must be released,” said Sha'ani, who reiterated Suhakam's stand that detention without trial was a violation of human rights.

Of the 30, he said, five were suspected of stealing motorcycles, three of breaking into a house/car, one of buying a stolen motorcycle, one of causing a death in a fight, and 20 of being involved in gang fights, robbery or armed/gang robbery.

He wrote to the Home Ministry, Inspector-General of Police, Welfare Department, Prison Commissioner-General and Attorney-General's Chambers about their findings but had yet to get a reply.

Asked whether the detainees had expressed any hope to the Suhakam commissioners and officers who interviewed them, he said 24 were keen on continuing their schooling either there or after their release, taking the PMR or SPM, or picking up some vocational/skills training.

“A few complained that there was limited reading materials,” he said.

Asked whether any had made representations to the Advisory Board for a review, Sha'ani replied: “None of the 30 we interviewed had legal representation at any stage.”

“What's the point in having the right to be told of the accusation against you, possibility of release through a habeas corpus petition or the right to make a representation if you don't know about them, the authorities don't tell you and you have no lawyer to advise you?”

Before 2005, several cases collapsed after trial judges threw out caution statements on grounds police may have coerced the confessions.

Sha'ani reckons the 2007 amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code abolishing cautioned statements could be why many suspects of motorcycle theft end up as EO detainees.

“The police can't rely on a confession any more.

“By using the EO, they circumvent the A-G's Chambers and the court,” he added.

In March, the United Nations (UN) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which had been invited here last year by the Government, said the same in its report to the UN.

Pas Clarifies Stand On The Fight For Independence

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 (Bernama) -- PAS declared today that it rejected the communist ideology and struggle and said it did not deny Umno's role in fighting for the country's independence.

This statement by the party's secretary-general, Datuk Mustafa Ali, was in direct contrast to the statement attributed to deputy president Mohamad Sabu recently.

Mohamad had allegedly praised communist terrorists and discredited the country's security forces when commenting on the former's killing of 25 policemen and their families in the tragedy at the Bukit Kepong police station near Muar in Johor in 1950.

Mustafa told a news conference at the party headquarters here that the struggle for independence was fought in two ways -- through "confrontation and peaceful cooperation".

He explained that the confrontation against the British colonialists began way back during the time of Malay warriors such as Datuk Maharajalela (in Perak), Datuk Bahaman (Pahang), Dol Said (Melaka and Negeri Sembilan), Tok Janggut (Kelantan) and many others.

Mustafa said today's statement reflected the official stand of PAS after the party had looked at the statement attributed to Mohamad.

Mohamad, who was present at the news conference, said Tunku Abdul Rahman and Onn Jaafar were rightly freedom fighters, but added that other freedom fighters should also be grouped with them.

Mohamad also said that the police had asked him to give a statement two days ago over his speech made in Tasek Gelugor, Penang, on the matter.

More than 500 police reports had been made in the country by various quarters in protest against Mohamad's statement allegedly hailing communist terrorists as national heroes.

Terror strikes Delhi again, 11 dead in HC blast

Click to play video

New Delhi: The national capital was once again the target of a terror strike when a high intensity bomb blast outside the Delhi High Court on Wednesday killed 11 people and injured 76 others. The bomb, reportedly a combination of ammonium nitrate and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) and planted by terror group Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) in a suitcase, exploded at 10:14 AM outside Delhi High Court's Gate No. 5 where more that 100 litigants had gathered for passes to enter the court's premises. 

What made planting of the bomb in one of the most high security area an easy job was the fact that there were no CCTV cameras installed at the gate. Even the metal detectors and scanners were not functioning making the task of checking and frisking hundreds of litigants, lawyers and visitors a tough job for the security personnel.



Unlike most of the recent bomb blasts, the terror strike at the High Court was carried out in the morning and the day was also carefully chosen as Wednesday is one of the heaviest days of court business because it is the day when Public Interest Litigations (PILs) are filed.

Even though Home Minister P Chidamabarm said in the Lok Sabha that the terror group behind the dastardly attack has not been identified an e-mail sent from the id harkatuljihadi2011@gmail.com claimed that HuJI had carried out the blast in retaliation of Parliament attack Afzal Guru's death sentence.

The investigations into the blast will be carried out by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). NIA chief SC Sinha announced that a team of 20 officials will investigate the case.

What is extremely worrying is the blast took place in a high security area with Parliament, the Prime Minister's Office and India Gate in the vicinity and comes less than four months after an explosion took outside the same complex.

The injured were taken to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital and Lok Nayak Jay Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital with some of them reportedly in a critical condition.

The Delhi government announced that Rs 4 lakh would be given as compensation for families who have lost adult members and Rs 1.5 lakh to families who have lost minors. The seriously injured will get Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50,000 will be given to those who sustained minor injuries. Those permanently incapacitated in the blast will get Rs 2 lakh.

Wednesday's attack is the worst terror attack in the capital since the triple blasts on September 13, 2008 in which 25 people were killed. On September 13, 2008 serials blasts had rocked Karol Bagh, Connaught Place and Greater Kailash in the capital in which over 150 people were injured.

Helpline numbers: Safdarjung Hospital: 011-26707444
RML Hospital: 011-23348200, 23404446, 23743769, 23404478
AIIMS: 011-26588700

2 Killed and Many Injured in Muslim riots during Ganesh festival in Madhya Pradesh

A typical Ganesh Idol installment during Ganesh Chaturthi

Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh (CHAKRA) -  There were Hindu – Muslim riots on the issue of installation of Ganesh idol at Ujjain. Two persons were killed and many got injured during these riots. Curfew has been imposed in the jurisdiction of 9 police stations in the city.

The trouble began on Friday night in the Daulatgunj old town area of Ujjain after a Hindu shop-owner installed an idol of Ganesh at his store, which is adjacent to a mosque. Police said that some members of the Muslim community objected to it since the idol is un-Islamic and was near the Mosque where Muslims were praying. Although the idol was on the shopkeepers property, police urged the shopkeeper to shift the idol to another spot to calm the Muslim mob.

When discussions were going about place of installation, riots started. The Muslim group tried to move the idol and began to stone pelt Police and Hindus trying to install the Ganesh idol.

Two persons have been killed and many injured during the riots.

  The violent mob was caned and police opened tear gas shells to have control over them. The police, however, declared curfew when they failed to bring the situation under control. Additional police force has also been called from the neigbouring district to calm the Muslim extremist mob.

What has the Indian community come to?

September 7, 2011 From MK Periasamy, via e-mail, FMT LETTER

 

Having recently received a mass forwarded e-mail about an upcoming conference on the future of Indians, I was interested to see who had taken the initiative to organise this event. In any event, another conference is just BN’s and PR’s delaying tactics.

It seems to me that what needs to be done for the Indians is clear for all except the politicians and current Indian ‘champions’. The promoters in the case of this conference are P Sivakumar, Malaysian Indian Business Association president and Denison Jayasooria.

The Jokers: Sivakumar & Denison Jayasooria

On Sivakumar, I read with interest a letter from SA Kumaresan recently who correctly questioned the contributions of MIBA since it was setup by Sivakumar more than 10 years ago now.

MIBA has generated next to nothing for the Indian community apart from organising talk shop after talk shop, where like minded people get together and lament dishonest politicians and poor delivery but never ever themselves step up to do anything about it.

Sivakumar has managed MIBA the MIC way without holding proper elections and summarily dismissing people from his organising committee according to his will and fancies. It would be a surprise to many if this Johor Bahru organisation of not more than 25 people pretending to be a national organisation ever achieves anything.

He has excluded the SMC and other notable Indian NGOs from this forum, NGOs that actually contribute to the Indian community.

This clearly shows that Sivakumar’s only motivation is to scale the social ladder and become yet another empty vessel Indian ‘champion’, content to occupy centerstage but unwilling to sacrifice in order to achieve.

Sivakumar is joined by Denison Jayasooria, the one time protégé of S Samy Vellu. Over the last 10 years of Samy Vellu’s reign as MIC president, Denison was his brains trust and one-man think tank.

If anyone can recall any positive changes that were delivered to the Indian community over the last decade of Samy Vellu’s reign, many Indians would be interested to know what these are as we cannot recall any.

How Denison and the MIC foundation, YSS, that Denison led spent RM30 million are still things that have not been cleared up. One thing Denison did do, while under Samy’s watchful eye, was to organise conference after conference and conduct a lot of research that never ever amounted to actual improvement in the lives of Indians.

He regularly publishes books compiling the outcomes of the conferences he organises, books that are really not worth the paper they are printed on. The only reason he left Samy is because he was refused a seat and a deputy ministership when he personally approached Samy for this before the 12th General Election.

More recently, he was also removed from the Special Implementation Taskforce of the BN government because he wanted to replace minister Dr Subramaniamas as chairman of the said taskforce.

In order to shore up his relevance, and rather than take risks and be bold as people like S Ambiga have been, he has chosen to do research loudly i.e. to catch the public eye and therefore hope to maintain his dwindling relevance to the Indian community.

Furthermore, he and a group of has-beens regularly put out statements from a group called Proham on any issue of the day, content to comment but never to act.

If the initiative to chart the future of the Indian community is now left to people like Sivakumar and Denison and not with members of the Indian community that have actually achieved something real for themsleves and for the community, then we Indians are really in trouble.

The BN and PR will not honestly help us out, and if these two jokers are what we are left with, then we really have to wake up and take notice.

Dr Asri: Restriction of Islam could provoke apostasy

Dr Asri also said that religious authorities were using their power over Islam to hamper the development of the religion itself. — file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 — Influential Muslim scholar Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin today accused religious authorities of using a colonial system to restrict Islam, saying this could further provoke apostasy.


The former Perlis Mufti was responding to the Selangor Islamic Religious Department’s (Jais) decision to charge PAS MP Khalid Samad over delivering an unauthorised sermon and for revoking Selangor PAS chief Dr Rani Osman’s religious credentials.

The outspoken leader came to the defence of the duo in a strongly-worded statement on his Facebook profile page this morning.

“... sympathies when there are MPs punished by Jais for giving sermons ... although there was no proof of errors in the sermon ... so hard to preach ... colonial system used to restrict own religion ... do not be surprised if more leave the faith,” he said.

He added that religious authorities were using their power over Islam to hamper the development of the religion itself.

“The ones unqualified to propagate religion are given the immunity that was not even accorded to the al-Khulafa al-Rasyidin at all,” he said.

According to Harakahdaily, Khalid was summoned to Jais yesterday where he was notified of a charge in relation to a sermon he had given in Klang during the recent fasting month.

The PAS party organ also said that Dr Rani, whose credentials expired during Ramadan, had his renewal application rejected.

“I received the credentials last year and applied to extend them but I received a letter from Jais informing me that my application has been rejected and my credentials revoked,” the Meru assemblyman said of the license which allows a Muslim scholar to give sermons without prior permission.

Khalid was charge under Section 119 of the Selangor Islamic Religious Administration Enactment for giving a sermon in a surau at Taman Seri Sementa, Kapar in Klang on August 16 without prior permission.

The Shah Alam MP will face trial on November 24 in the Klang Syariah court.

He told Harakahdaily that the sermon had touched on the role of Muslims in the religious affairs of the state.

“I gave a sermon saying Islamic justice is not just for Muslims but also for Jews or even those at odds with Islam itself. I was relating it to how we should hear both sides in the case of Jais’s investigations into the church,” he said, referring to the religious authorities probe into alleged proselytisation last month.

Jais had showed up at a dinner event at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) in Petaling Jaya on August 3, claiming that it was acting on a complaint that Muslims were being converted by Christians at the time.

The church had denied the allegations and insisted that the 12 Muslims present that night were attending a thanksgiving dinner by a local NGO.

The contentious raid has escalated religious conflict between Muslims and Christians in the country, with Malay newspapers highlighting allegations of Christians trying to convert Muslims through welfare work.

Najib sees no harm meeting with judges

The prime minister says he attended the conference at the invitation of the outgoing chief justice.

PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said he saw no harm in attending a meeting with the country’s top judges as it did not breach the principle of separation of powers.

Some quarters have argued that his presence at the Council of Judges’ Conference was tantamount to tampering with the judiciary.

Several lawyers including former judges have said Najib’s visit to the Palace of Justice alongside the country’s top judiciary members, including the outgoing Chief Justice Zaki Azmi, could be perceived negatively.

Najib said his visit was at the invitation of Zaki.

“I had to think hard before I accepted the invitation,” he said in his speech before the judges.
“I only agreed to visit after the chief justice invited me and assured me that there was no problem,” he added.

Zaki said the meeting with Najib was merely to prove that the allocation of RM130 million in public funding to modernise the courts was well spent.

Najib agreed, saying that his visit to the Palace of Justice was to observe the changes made in the judiciary under Zaki’s helm.

Initially, the top agenda of the conference was to discuss the delays in submitting written judgments.
However, it was changed at the last minute to include a trip to the Palace of Justice to meet and take photo-shots with Najib.

No such meeting before?

However, critics, including former Bar Council president, K Ragunath, was quoted by an online news portal as saying that the meeting was the first of its kind in the country’s history.

But incoming Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria, who was also present, told reporters that there had been two such meetings in the past where a prime minister had attended to have a dialogue with the judges.

Meanwhile, Najib praised the courts for speedily reducing the backlog of cases by up to 90% over the past two years under Zaki.

The new policy had supposedly resulted in three-quarters of the courtrooms now only dealing with cases filed in 2010 and 2011.

Najib claimed that a World Bank report released on Monday praised the judiciary for reducing the the backlog, saying it had achieved results “rarely reached”.

Why Indonesian maids shun M’sia

Poor policies, ill-treatment and official arrogance are among reasons why they avoid Malaysia as an employment destination, says Tenaganita.

PETALING JAYA: Indonesian maids are turning away from Malaysia as an employment destination because of poor treatment and official arrogance on matters concerning their welfare, said Tenaganita.

Its executive director, Irene Fernandez, said this in response to the Malaysian Association of Foreign Maid Agencies (PAPA) recent call to the government to look into why Indonesian maids were not coming into the country.

PAPA said maids were avoiding Malaysia despite amendments to the 2006 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which was signed in May and designed to end a two-year moratorium on the recruitment of domestic workers from Indonesia.

Irene said that the Indonesian Embassy has stated that there was no such moratorium enforced in place and that Indonesian women “simply do not want to work as domestic workers in Malaysia”.

“The MoU signed three months ago with Indonesia does not protect the rights of the domestic workers to Malaysia. The Employment Act does not recognise them as workers but as servants. This non-recognition opens the gate to exploitation,” said Irene.

She added that the right to day/days off in a week was vague in the MoU and there were no means to account for what constitutes as overtime and how it will be documented.

“The Human Resources Ministry has yet to develop a standard contract for work. The current policy and the MoU do not protect rights of domestic workers and thus they find that Malaysia is no longer a safe place to seek employment,” said Irene.

Dangerous destination for Indon maids
Tenaganita, she said, had conducted a study recently on recruitment of maids from Indonesia and it revealed that families “did not want to send their daughters to Malaysia as their lives will be threatened”.

“Malaysia is seen as a dangerous place, especially for women and domestic workers. Recent media reports of maids being locked away for days with little food and some being severely abused or even found dead only reinforces this belief,” she added.

Irene also said Malaysia’s response to these issues smacked of arrogance as there has been “absolutely no soul searching” on the part of the government to solve these serious problems.

She slammed director general of labour, Sheikh Yahya Sheikh Mohamed, who was quoted in The Star, as saying that Malaysia was not “desperate” for Indonesian maids and could hire maids from other countries.

“His statement smacks of arrogance. What he is saying is that since we are ‘rich’, we can move anywhere to recruit maids,” said Irene.

The recent decision by the Australian High Court to block the refugee swap deal between Australia and Malaysia was a slap to Malaysia’s policies and should “awaken us to change”.

Malaysia she said was shamelessly sliding back into exploitation and slavery as other nations move towards developed sustainability.

“The government can no longer sustain this form of modern day slavery manifested in domestic labour.
“Employers must realise that they can no longer expect cheap labour, demand 18-hour work schedules and silence migrant workers with the support of the state.”

Indians vs Indians debate an insult, says Ramasamy

Penang Deputy Chief Minister II denounces upcoming forum and wants a showdown with Umno on issues plaguing the community

GEORGE TOWN: Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy wants to debate with Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and any other top Umno leaders on Indian issues in the country.

He does not want to be entrapped by Umno into debating with other Indian political leaders on the pressing issues facing the community.

“Why are Indians being pitted against Indians yet again to quarrel over Indian issues? The real culprit is Umno … we should debate with Umno,” he said.

Ramasamy was commenting on the open debate forum to be organised by the Malaysian Indian Business Association (MIBA) this Sunday.

The forum entitled: ‘Future of Malaysian Indians Towards the 13th General Election’ is scheduled to be held at Menara PKNS in Petaling Jaya.

It would see Indian leaders from Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat facing off in an open debate on the future of Indians in the coming general election.

Ramasamy aside, MIC president G Palanivel, PPP president M Kayveas and Gerakan vice-president A Kohilan Pillay, Selangor exco Xavier Jayakumar have been invited for the forum.

Participants will be charged RM100 per person.

Ramasamy is not attending the forum due to pre-arranged programmes and because he has a ‘fundamental and principled disagreement’ about it.

“It’s an insult to organise an Indian versus Indian debate in the first place,” he said.

He even suggested that Umno could be behind the proposed debate merely to keep Indians busy quarreling with each other while Umno escaped scot free.

“I think MIBA should focus on helping Indian businesses instead,” he said, adding that he had never agreed to take part in the proposed debate.

Umno needs to be dismantled

He said the debate would be meaningless because MIC and other Indian leaders in BN were actually spineless and powerless.

He added that Umno’s Malay hegemony is solely to be blamed for the systematic marginalisation and backwardness of the Indian community for 50 over years.

“If I want to debate on the issue, I will debate with Najib or Umno leaders anywhere anytime, not with another Indian.

“If you want to liberate the country, you should dismantle Umno,” the state DAP deputy chief told a press conference in Komtar here today.

Ramasamy said he even wanted to debate with former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, but dropped the idea because “the old man has now become senile.”

“The existence of many unregistered Hindu temples and shrines, the dilapidated condition of Tamil schools and stateless status of thousands of Indians are products of Umno’s hegemony and racist agenda,” said Ramasamy.

Ramasamy is furious that he was not notified before hand to be included in the debate.
“I was not given an official invitation nor told about it. The organiser simply announced my name and called me to inform about it two days ago.

“It’s also ridiculous to charge people RM100,” he said.

The hill still belongs to BN

Cameron Highlands, with its high number of Orang Asli voters, continues to be a safe bet for the ruling coalition.

CAMERON HIGHLANDS: Boasting the highest number of Orang Asli voters, Cameron Highlands continues to be a safe bet for Barisan Nasional.

The parliamentary seat has 25,000 voters – Malays at 32%, Chinese 34%, Orang Ali 20% and Indians 14%.
Speaking to FMT, a local MIC branch chairman said that winning over the Orang Asli voters is a major factor in Cameron Highlands.

The constituency has 89 villages comprising those from the Senoi, Temier, Jakun and Negrito tribes.
Some of these villages are deep in the forest and to reach them, one needs to travel by boat for more than two hours.

“There are almost 6,000 Orang Asli voters in the the parliamentary constituency who are considered as ‘fixed deposit’ for BN,” the branch chairman told FMT.

While it is difficult to gauge Chinese and Indian votes, he said that most of the Malays however are from Felda settlements.

“We all know that Felda settlements are Umno strongholds,” he added.

Who will contest?

Speculation has been rife that MIC president G Palanivel is eyeing the seat, but the MIC branch chairman believes that it would not be a wise move.

“As the party president and minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Palanivel should not ‘jump’ from Klang Valley,” he said on condition of anonymity.

He said that in the last general election, MIC only managed to retain three parliamentary seats, with Cameron Highlands being one of them.

This time around, MIC believes that it could win back the six seats which the party lost to the opposition in 2008.

“But to win back the support of the Indians and the six seats, there has to be a concerted effort from all its leaders. At this critical juncture, candidates who won in the last election must be rewarded not punished,” he said, referring to Cameron Highlands incumbent MP SK Devamany (photo).

The MIC vice-president defeated DAP candidate J Applasamy by a majority of 3,117 votes.

Contacted later, Devamany, who is a deputy minister, refused to comment on the speculation but vowed to continue to serving his constituents.

“I will continue to serve my constituents and MIC with more vigour,” he said.

Meanwhile, Applasamy admitted that it would be an uphill battle for Pakatan Rakyat to win the seat since the opposition was unable to “penetrate” the Felda settlements and Orang Asli voters.

“The veteran settlers remain loyal to BN because it looked after them from the time when they were landless peasants,” he said.

However, Applasamy said if the Malay votes were divided and if Pakatn increased Chinese and Indian votes, Pakatan stood a good chance of winning the seat.

Are we still on track?

The leader of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) also initially called for ISA to be abolished, and on December 1 said PPP would withdraw from BN unless if the ISA were not amended before the next election.  In response, Prime Minister Abdullah called PPP's bluff and said the small party, which holds no seats in Parliament, could leave BN if it wished. -- US Embassy, KL
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin

Ali Rustam: PPP can leave BN - now
(Malaysiakini, 20 Oct 2007) -- People’s Progressive Party (PPP) members are left reeling after receiving a political blow from Umno’s third most powerful leader during the Malacca PPP annual general assembly early this week.
At the assembly on Monday, Umno vice-president Mohd Ali Rustam delivered a scathing speech which chided the PPP for “threatening” Barisan Nasional for more seats to contest in the coming general election
He also repeatedly stressed that PPP could leave the BN fold if it was unhappy.
This left many party members in a daze at how Mohd Ali - who was the guest of honour as Malacca chief minister - could utter such remarks.
“He came to our house, seemingly with the intention to humiliate us,” said a PPP source who attended the event.
Eyewitnesses said a handful of party members stormed out of the venue in protest, but that did not deter Mohd Ali.
“PPP can leave BN,” said Mohd Ali.
He then pointed at the stunned delegates and added: “All of you can leave. Either today or tomorrow. Why wait until the general election? What’s there to wait for?”
Show of hands
Mohd Ali also claimed that the Umno supreme council was unhappy with PPP for accepting former Umno members as their members.
He even asked if any of the delegates formerly with Umno, MCA, Gerakan and MIC to put up their hands.
Mohd Ali also took a dig at Pahang Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob for suggesting that PPP should ask every state for a seat to contest in.
“That's his business. As far as I am concerned - no seat in Malacca (for PPP),” he added.
When Mohd Ali wrapped up his tirade and declared the assembly open, PPP delegates refused to applaud.
Eyewitnesses reported that PPP president M Kayveas maintained his composure throughout the hour-long speech and was seen vigorously taking down notes.
Funeral-like atmosphere
When contacted, Kayveas said delegates were “disappointed and dejected” by the “unwarranted and undiplomatic” remarks uttered by Mohd Ali.
Kayveas said delegates were expecting inspiring speeches from Mohd Ali in order to prepare the party for the upcoming general election.
“(Instead) the chief minister's speech made the entire assembly feel like a funeral. As the third highest ranking in Umno, the consequences of his speech worries me,” he said.
He added that some remarks which Mohd Ali made regarding other BN component parties and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi were also uncalled for.
According to media sources, Mohd Ali had asked journalists to exclude the hard-hitting part of his speech in their reports. He claimed these were only meant for the delegates.
It is uncertain if Mohd Ali’s speech would lead to souring ties between PPP and Umno.
However, there is already talks within PPP rank-and-file that the party may silently boycott Umno programmes and functions.

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PPP says it will leave BN if ISA is not amended
(The Malaysian Insider, 1 Dec 2008) -- The PPP, a minor party in the Barisan Nasional (BN), has threatened to pull out of the ruling coalition if the Internal Security Act (ISA) is not amended before the next general election.
It is the latest party to join the bandwagon calling for reforms to prevent the abuse of the legislature which allows detention without trial.
Party president Datuk M Kayveas said today: “I ask for amendments to the law so that it does not become a draconian law imposed on innocent citizens.”
While Pakatan Rakyat (PR) parties PKR, DAP and Pas have always adopted an anti-ISA position, BN parties have always staunchly defended the law as necessary until recently.
Datuk Zaid Ibrahim resigned from the Cabinet recently in protest against the use of the ISA on a journalist, blogger and a senior Selangor PR government official.
There has even been growing calls from the MCA, the second biggest party in BN after Umno, urging for either reform or repeal of the ISA.
Speaking at his party’s youth and women’s wing congress today, Kayveas said BN should amend the ISA if it was serious about rebranding itself.
“BN has to make changes before the next general elections. It is suicidal if we do not plan.
“The problem with BN is its success. Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they cannot lose,” he said.
Kayveas added the March election results have shown that multi-racialism and good governance is what the voters are looking for.
“The solution has always been multi-racialism but we are caught in our own political racial configuration,” he said.

******************************************

PM to PPP: Go if you want to
(The Star, 10 Dec 2008) -- PPP is free to quit the Barisan Nasional coalition if it wants to, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.
The government has no plans to amend the Internal Security Act (ISA), said Abdullah, also the coalition chairman, after a Barisan supreme council meeting here on Tuesday.
Recently, party president Datuk M. Kayveas said the PPP would pull out of Barisan Nasional if the ISA was not amended before the next general election.
He said PPP’s Youth and Wanita divisions wanted the ISA abolished, and he had to follow their proposals.
He also said Barisan had to make changes before the next general election, adding that “it would be suicidal if we did not.”
When asked whether this meant that PPP was free to leave the Barisan, Abdullah said: “If that is their choice, what can we do?”
Kayveas’ statement was slammed by many Barisan leaders, largely members of the largest component party Umno, who said it reflected badly on the coalition’s unity.
However, MCA central committee member Wong Nai Chee said his party supported PPP’s call to amend the ISA.

**************************************

Don't push us, Gerakan Youth tells BN leaders
(Malaysiakini, 7 Sep 2011) -- Telling BN leaders not to “push Gerakan to the edge”, Ang said the party “will fight back with dignity”.
“We will not be a punching bag of Umno and we will no longer keep quiet when you shout. Gerakan is now 43 years old and we are old enough and experienced enough to decide our own destiny and direction that we do not need Umno or any other party to tell us where we should contest.
“We will decide where we should contest and we will let them know when (the) time is right,” said Ang in his tersely-worded statement.
Ang was responding to remarks by Umno supreme council member Mohd Ali Rustam that the state BN would field a "winnable candidate" from either Umno or MCA - instead of Gerakan - for the Bachang state constituency in the next general election.

The Bloody War for Southern Thailand

Soldiers accompany Buddhist monks in southern Thailand

Islamist separatists clash with Thai Army as Buddhists, Muslims die 

Each morning, Buddhist monks wrap themselves in saffron-colored robes and silently stroll, collecting alms in Thailand's three southern provinces while a phalanx of troops armed with assault rifles walk alongside, protecting them from Islamist assassins.

Buddhist and anti-separatist Muslim teachers suffer a similar deadly fate in the south, despite military escorts to and from campus, armed soldiers posted inside classrooms, and official permission for every teacher to carry a gun. In the grim struggle, which escalated in 2004, more than 4,700 people on all sides -- Buddhists and Muslims -- have been killed plus 9,000 injured.

On Sept. 6, suspected Islamist guerrillas shot dead a school teacher, poured gasoline on his body and set him on fire in Yala province, Police Lt. Col. Krisanapong Paetsith said after shocked villagers discovered the corpse in flames on the side of a road. The teacher had been executed with a bullet to the head. He had been riding his motorcycle, which lay abandoned nearby, after helping students in an academic contest.

The military has also set up fortified outposts along the graceful walls of Buddhist temples in the south to safeguard monks and worshippers amid shrines and statues of the Buddha, where troops also detain suspects for questioning. But often the military is thwarted, as on Aug. 23, when an improvised explosive device injured one monk, nine soldiers and three civilians in Pattani province, despite 15 soldiers escorting the monks and young novices returning to their temple, police said. The remote-controlled bomb was hidden in a five-kilogram cooking gas cylinder in an untended pushcart, which had been used to sell fried chicken. The same day, in neighboring Yala province, a bomb at a bridge killed two paramilitary rangers on a motorcycle.

Muslim guerrillas bomb, shoot, stab and behead government officials, teachers, moderate Muslims, rubber plantation workers, shopkeepers, restaurant owners, hoteliers, businessmen, Buddhist monks, worshippers and others to force an exodus of residents who oppose the Islamists' demands for autonomy or independence in the south. But on the other side, army and police in the mountainous jungle region unleash their assaults with mixed results, amid documented reports of extrajudicial killings, torture, kidnapping, wrongful imprisonment and other human rights violations.

In July, a court ordered the army, defense ministry and police to pay US$175,000 to the family of a Muslim religious teacher who was killed in military custody while undergoing violent interrogation for two days in 2008. Yapa Koseng, 56, had been arrested for suspected links to the guerrillas, but the court ruled the imam was not involved with the insurgency.

Thailand's new Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who was elected on July 3, now faces a seemingly intractable war. The violence is mostly confined to the three southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat where ethnic Malay-Thai Muslims comprise a 95 percent majority of the region's 1.7 million population along Thailand's border with Muslim-majority Malaysia.

Politicians and the military denounce the Islamist guerrillas as greedy and corrupt Muslims, allied to criminal gangs, who want to terrorize Buddhists and Muslims, seize their property, and create anarchy so they can smuggle drugs, weapons and other black market items.

"Those who subscribe to a true separatist ideology make up only 20 percent of the insurgents. The rest are drug traffickers and oil smugglers who stage insurgent violence," said Lt. Gen. Udomchai Thammasarorat, the army chief in charge of the military's assaults in the south. "Every time they deliver drugs, they will plant bombs to divert the authorities' attention," he said in August.

Independent analysts, however, say the Islamists want political, ideological and economic control over the region's profitable rubber plantations, coastal fishing industry and other natural resources, and to dominate the population under sharia law.

To avoid discovery, the guerrillas keep themselves hidden, do not identify any leader or spokesman, and do not claim credit for successful attacks except for occasionally scattering printed warnings about their vengeance.

Investigators link most attacks to the Barisan Revolusi Nasional Coordinate (BRN-C), or National Revolutionary Front-Coordinate, which is rooted in the pan-Arab Islam of the 1960s. The BRN-C appears to use mosques and Muslim "pondok" schools to spread a fundamentalist Islamic doctrine, and operates a village-based cell structure to ensure confidentiality which has enabled it to become the Thai military's most difficult and deadly enemy.

Another group, the Pattani United Liberation Organization (PULO), was founded in 1968 but now has its main spokesman Kasturi Mahkota based in Sweden. Critics say PULO has no control over the south's new generation of increasingly hard-line Islamist guerrillas.

Rival groups have also staged attacks, but have grown weaker over the past two decades due to arrests, deaths, defections and splits. Graffiti and pamphlets by various Islamists herald the revival of an independent Pattani, which they describe as a prosperous Malay sultanate before it was invaded in 1786 by northern Buddhists.

In 1909, British colonialists arranged for the territory to be annexed by Bangkok, which curbed the Muslims from emphasizing their Malay dialect and history, and boosted the use of Thai language and a sanitized, nationalistic storyline. But the dream of a "liberated" Pattani has not disappeared. When an appeals court on July 27 upheld a life sentence for rebellion against an Islamist guerrilla, Rosdi Mayama, it said he was terrorizing southerners to create an independent Pattani nation. Prosecutors said Rosdi organized rebels to bomb targets and execute informants.

Some Malay-Thai insurgents fought in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s and chaotic aftermath of the 1990s, while some Muslim clergy were influenced by a puritanical Salafi or Wahhabi theology, which dates back to Islam's earliest followers and remains inspirational in some Arab nations.

Other Malay-Thai rebels have loose links with guerrillas in neighboring Indonesia and the Philippines. But US and independent investigators have not found any major relationship with al Qaeda or other foreign-based jihadists, and describe Thailand's war as home-grown and localized mostly to the south.

The army insists its 60,000 troops in the south have whittled the rebels to less than 5,000 fighters, but the guerrillas seemingly attack at will -- often several times a week -- and usually escape.

Thailand's senior generals meanwhile are more often focused on the disastrous ramifications of their opportunistic 2006 coup and ensuring military promotions, lucrative procurement contracts, and legal immunity for their actions in the south and elsewhere, despite the war's urgency.

The U.S., however, has been warning of Bangkok's mistreatment of southern Muslims.

"Apart from a distinct regional identity based on the historical Kingdom of Pattani, the southern insurgency is fueled by a communal sense of grievance based on an overall lack of justice," the U.S. Embassy wrote in a March 20, 2009 confidential cable to Washington released by the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.

"The police and judiciary have historically been part of the problem in the deep south," said the cable, signed by then-U.S. Ambassador Eric John. "Corrupt and abusive police units, coupled with a weak and opaque judicial system, have inflamed the long-standing animosity of majority Malay-Muslim population towards the central government. As these institutions have exacerbated the problems in the South, their reform is crucial to any RTG [Royal Thai government] effort end the violence," it said.

"We have a guidance in the embassy: 'No boots on the ground in the south.' That means no military people down there," said Randall D. Bennett, Senior Regional Security Officer at the American Embassy in Bangkok in a rare public description of U.S. government anti-terrorist activity in the south.

"If we go, we go down without profile. We go down from point A to point B. We don't wander around. It's kind of an invisible presence," Mr. Bennett said in a news conference last year.

When Thailand's military invited him to the southern war zone, "I went straight to Hat Yai, they flew me into the Yala base, and I met with the senior command, and we had a lot of good discussions about terrorism and ways that you can win people over," Mr. Bennett said.

"We have a program called the Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program, where we provide about 12 courses, every year, to royal Thai police and royal Thai government officials in a wide range of topics that typically are somehow anti-terrorism related."

That program is officially known as Diplomatic Security Anti-Terrorist Training and includes "training in intelligence, VIP protection, canine operations, small arms, and similar subjects," according to the 2009 U.S. Embassy cable.

During 2009 and 2010, "I think we've had about 30 courses. So we bring a lot of the southern force people up here, the leaders, the commanders, and we train them here, and then they go back," Mr. Bennett said.

"We are very concerned, we are very interested, but this is an internal insurgency."