PAS wins KT by 2,631 votes

PAS WINS KUALA TERENGGANU BY 2,769 VOTES

Unofficial sources have revealed that PAS has won the Kuala Terengganu Parliamentary by-election with a majority of 2,769 votes.

The time has come for Barisan Nasional component parties to evaluate their position before another March 8 tsunami hits them totally due to the uncaring, selfish, arrogant and corrupted UMNO.

Syabas to Kuala Terengganu voters for their VOTE FOR CHANGE.

news courtesy of anilnetto.com & Malaysiakini, while picture courtesy of Malaysiakini

A father, his son and the actress who swallowed weed killer

By Baradan Kuppusamy, themalaysianinsider.com, Jan 16 2009

The upcoming inquest into the death of K. Sujatha, actress and former personal secretary to Vel Paari, the son of embattled MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, will be explosive and is likely to be politically damaging to both father and son.

The son is just emerging, politically, out of his father's shadow and is ambitious to carve out a political career for himself as his father departs from the political stage is imminent.

But the inquest, in which Vel Paari is expected to be a star witness, could possibly damage his political career.

A key question the Feb 13 inquest will determine is whether Sujatha was murdered, as alleged by some opposition politicians, or had committed suicide by consuming weed killer.

Either way questions would be raised during the inquest over how and why she died, why she was rushed from her apartment in Kuala Lumpur to the Klang hospital some 30km away and why her body was hurriedly cremated.

"This inquest is long overdue and I hope all these questions are answered," said Kapar MP S. Manikavasagam, the PKR leader who put the issue in the public arena and made a name for himself as a opposition firebrand and is a fierce critic of Samy Vellu, Vel Paari and former Sentul OCP ACP K.Kumaran over the handling of Sujatha's death.

Kumaran has since filed a multi- million dollar defamation suit against Manivasagam for alleging he covered up the case. Vel Paari has repeatedly denied any improper involvement in her death.

It has been widely speculated that Val Paari had a relationship with the actress when Sujatha worked as his private secretary at Maika Holdings where Paari, Samy Vellu's only son, is CEO.

The inquest at the Magistrates Court 2 in Jalan Duta will be before Coroner Mohd Faizi bin Abu.

Police extensively probed the case and questioned Paari at length but never made public their findings, which are likely to be revealed at the inquest.

The unresolved controversy surrounding her death was a key issue exploited by the opposition to discredit Samy Vellu, the MIC and consequently caused the BN the Indian votes in the general election.

Political analysts say it is significant that the inquest is being held now, nearly two years after her death, and at a time when Samy Vellu is mired in numerous controversies including his still unknown plans to hand over power of the party to a yet unnamed successor.

The inquest, MIC insiders said, will pile the pressure on Samy to hand over power sooner rather than later.

Sujatha, 29, died on June 25, 2007 at the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang after she swallowed weed killer.

She is said to have confessed on her death bed to what had actually taken place at her apartment but that confession has also never been revealed.

Manikavasagam, who accused Kumaran of covering up the case, had claimed that he had proof of foul play linking Vel Paari to the case and lodged several police reports alleging the same.

But Paari denied any involvement. He was questioned at length by a special Bukit Aman team that took over the investigation from the Sentul police.

Manikavasagam has also asked the Bar Council to hold a watching brief at the inquest.

Kemenangan Rakyat Bergema Di Kuala Terengganu

Alhamdulillah syukur ke hadrat Ilahi, Pakatan Rakyat berjaya menambah satu lagi kerusi di Dewan Rakyat, menjadikan jumlah keseluruhan sebanyak 83 kerusi.

Saya mengambil kesempatan ini untuk merakamkan setingi-tinggi penghargaan kepada para pengundi Kuala Terengganu kerana memilih calon PAS, YB Mohd Abdul Wahid Endut sebagai Ahli Parlimen Kuala Terengganu yang baru.

Tahniah dan syabas saya ucapkan buat Abdul Wahid serta seluruh jentera Pakatan Rakyat di Kuala Terengganu.

Saya percaya Abdul Wahid Endut akan melaksanakan tanggungjawabnya dengan sebaik mungkin, bukan sahaja kepada warga Kuala Terangganu, bahkan kepada rakyat Malaysia keseluruhannya.

Kemenangan beliau menjadi bukti bahawa rakyat sememangnya dahagakan perubahan.

Makanya hari ini kita menyaksikan di Kuala Terangganu, rakyat menuntut perubahan. Warga Kuala Terengganu melalui pilihanraya kecil ini telah memilih seorang calon yang mereka yakini akan dapat bersama rakan-rakan Pakatan Rakyat lainnya di Parlimen untuk merealisasikan agenda perubahan tersebut.

Kemenangan ini juga seharusnya menjadi pemangkin serta pencetus keazaman di kalangan pendokong Pakatan Rakyat untuk terus bekerja dengan lebih kuat, bukan untuk kita, akan tetapi untuk seluruh rakyat Malaysia. Moga Ketuanan Rakyat akhirnya menjadi kenyataan.

ANWAR IBRAHIM

Labu Airport

1. Air Asia has done well to explain the justification for the so-called KLIA-East in Labu.

2. Not having the facilities and personnel I can only give my very unprofessional view on the justification:

a) Passenger Capacity

I must congratulate Air Asia on its very remarkable success. By 2014 it will handle 26 million passengers. Present terminal at KLIA is handling about 25 million passengers.

KLIA is planned to handle 125 million passengers. It has 25,000 acres of land to build another terminal and four satellites. It can even duplicate these terminals and satellites. But Air Asia wants low-cost terminals with no aero-bridge, no luxury interiors. This is not a problem for KLIA.

There is enough space in the 25,000 acres of reserved land to build the low-cost terminal to accommodate the 60 million Air Asia passengers in the distant future. MAHB (Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad) can do this. (Incidentally Putrajaya has only 10,000 acres of land). However, by 2014 the total number of Air Asia passengers would only be 27 million. Accommodating this number should be no big deal for MAHB.

b) Runway capacity

By 2014 Air Asia will have 77 aircrafts. LCCT capacity will still be for 33 aircrafts. Does Air Asia expect all its aircrafts to be on the ground in LCCT all the time?

Usually some would be in the air and many would be at other airports. Expanding the parking area would not be too difficult. There would still be enough land at KLIA.

As for the runways Times Online reports that Heathrow will now build its third runway to be completed in 2020. Presently Heathrow has only two runways and it still handles almost 70 million passengers.

As stated above, KLIA can build another three runways to handle 125 million passengers. If passengers and aircrafts increase to more than presently handled by Heathrow, a third runway can quickly be built.

If KLIA LCCT is not connected by rail and bus, the thing to do is to provide all these. Extension to the Express Rail Link line can be built. Terrain is no problem. We have sliced through higher hills to build roads.

If the waiting time for taxis has increased due to the huge airport layout (I don't understand this), whatever solution for this problem is proposed for Labu, the same solution can also be applied to KLIA LCCT.

c) Number of Gates

Since Air Asia will not be using the main terminal why should the small number of gates there be of concern to Air Asia?

If Air Asia will be putting more than 55 Gates at Labu to cater for its large number of aircrafts and movements, why cannot LCCT at KLIA be expanded to have maybe 100 Gates to avoid any shortages? Will Labu be provided with 100 Gates? If so, when? Again, why be bothered about KLIA Terminal being equipped with aero-bridges etc when Air Asia does not want to use it?

3. The comparison with Dubai and Jackson Atlanta International Airport is misleading.

4. The picture shows four runways (no indication which airport). Multiple runways is common but they are operated by one airport with one control tower. The picture and the layout does not suggest separate towers for different runways. You cannot have multiple runways close to each other but controlled by different towers.

5. Perhaps Air Asia can show documents that separations between different airport runways of 2km are permissible. Is there any example of two major airports operating separately but located 2km from each other? I don't know. Please enlighten me.

6. The problem prompting the idea of a new airport is the allegedly high charges by MAHB for the use of LCCT by Air Asia. MAHB is owned by Khazanah and it is believed Khazanah has a stake in Air Asia. Both are therefore GLCs. The Government can tell them to negotiate fair charges. Or is it the Government that wants this airport at Labu for reasons other than need?

7. Or is it that Sime Darby now wants to go into airport business?