An Air India Express jet was landing just outside the port city of Mangalore on India's southwest coast when it burst into flames on Saturday. Eight passengers escaped but some are in critical condition. The Boeing 737-800, carrying 160 passengers and six crew on a flight from Dubai, overshot the "table-top" runway at Bajpe airport and plunged into a forested gorge where it was engulfed in flames. Survivors of the crash described hearing a loud thud shortly after touchdown and said the main fuselage broke into two before filling with fire and thick smoke. The investigation into the crash was called off in darkness on Saturday night. Investigating teams were expected to resume combing the wreckage during daylight on Sunday, with efforts focusing on finding the "black box" cockpit data recorder that they hope could shed light on the cause of the disaster. US assistance A team from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was to arrive in India to assist investigators. Three officials from the NTSB, a US federal agency that investigates civil transportation accidents, will be joined by teams from the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing, an NTSB spokesman told the German Press Agency DPA. The team was to leave the US on Sunday evening and arrive in Mangalore by Tuesday morning. Boeing said in a statement that it too was invited by Indian authorities to provide technical assistance to the investigators. Officials described the landing conditions as fair with good visibility and said there had been no distress call from the cockpit. Praful Patel, the Indian civil aviation minister, who flew to the crash site on Saturday, said: "The preliminary observation is that the aircraft touched down and did not contain itself within the runway space." He described the chief pilot, a Serbian national, as a "very experienced" flier who had logged 10,000 hours of flying time. Runway in focus Stressing that it was "too early" to determine the precise cause of the crash, Patel acknowledged that the sanded safety area surrounding the runway in the event of an overshoot was shorter than at some airports. "It does not have much of a spillover area [and], in this case, apparently it had not been able to stop the plane," he said.
"What has been debated is the structure of the airport," she told Al Jazeera. "The airport is about 40 years old [and] we are talking about a very difficult topography. The airport is surrounded by hills. [An accident] of this magnitude has raised questions of the flying ability and how much risk was involved. "This particular airport is a little tricky because it does not have the required 100 yards just in case the plane veers off the runway. But those are questions that will be seriously probed in the days to come." Television images from the immediate aftermath of the crash showed smoke billowing from the fuselage, as emergency crews, who struggled down steep, wooded slopes to reach the aircraft, sought to douse the fire with foam. Survivor's account Overnight Air India released the names of seven survivors. Air India Express is budget airline operated as a subsidiary by the state-run carrier. Saturday's disaster came as Air India is struggling to turn around its finances after posting a net loss of more than $1bn last year. The Mangalore tragedy is the first major air crash in India in nearly a decade. Sixty-one people were killed when a Boeing 737 aircraft belonging to the domestic airline, Alliance Air, crashed into a residential area near the airport in the eastern Indian city of Patna in July 2000. |
Sunday, 23 May 2010
India investigates air crash cause - Al Jazeera
MACC to investigate Najib's RM5 mil remark - Malaysiakini
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission today confirmed that it has opened a file into Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's controversial RM5 million "let's make a deal" remark in Sibu last week which many had claimed violated election rules against bribing.
MACC chief Abu Kassim Mohamed told reporters at a press conference in Petaling Jaya that the anti-graft body has received complaints about the PM's campaign speech and are investigating the incident.
MACC investigations director Mustafar Ali also confirmed that a file had been opened on the matter.
MACC chief Abu Kassim Mohamed told reporters at a press conference in Petaling Jaya that the anti-graft body has received complaints about the PM's campaign speech and are investigating the incident.
MACC investigations director Mustafar Ali also confirmed that a file had been opened on the matter.
He told reporters when met after the press conference that that the commission will be calling in witnesses to record their statement on the matter.
Both officials was attending a forum organised by Transparency International Malaysia forum on political financing in Malaysia.
Both officials was attending a forum organised by Transparency International Malaysia forum on political financing in Malaysia.
Indian top SPM student denied Matriculation University and JPN Government Scholarship: UMNO Malay-sia Truly Racist.
HRP/HINDRAF Seri Andalas Highlights the plead of a smart 10 A’s Indian student ,Sugentha Subramaniam, age18, student from MRSM Terendak, Melaka whom was denied
place for Matriculation. She is the only Indian top student among the 7 other
students whom scored straight 10 A’s at MRSM Terendak. She has good track records on
her academy , co curriculum and other school activities.
Being a citizen of this country, she was been denied her rights to deserve the
matriculation. She has put in all her effort to always be the best among the best
and now all her dreams has been shattered down by the UMNO led government .Sugentha
had always wanted to be a Cardiologist and if she was given Matriculation we are
sure she will be the one of the best cardiologist in Malaysia .
In MRSM Terendak, together with Sugentha there were 107 students, which 97 were
muslims and 10 were non muslims . Almost 95 % of the 97 muslim students were
accepted into both Matriculation and UPU but none of the 10 non muslims was accepted
in both the Matriculation and UPU.
Are Indian not part of the PM’s one Malaysia Program.?Why is she denied a place in
the Matriculation program?? She claims that Muslims students obtained lower results
then her is granted a place in Matriculation, she wishes them good of luck but sheis still puzzled why she is denied?? What else has she need to do to be granted a
place?? Could the Education Ministry assist to answer her??
Coming from the middle class living family, her parents can’t afford her to continue
her studies in the Private university . What is going to happen to the future of
this smart indian student ?? This is a classical racial discrimination in Malaysia.
HRP/Hindraf would like to re- iterate that Sugentha deserves a place in the
Matriculation for her hardwork. This is not begging scheme but this is her rights .
Just like Sugentha, there are many Smart indians students denied entry into
Matriculation , JPA Scholarship denied and we want this marginalization to be
stopped immediately .
This is UMNO Prime Minister’s Najib Razak’s One Malay-sia.
P.Latha
Bilik Gerakan HRP Tawan Seri Andalas & Kota Raja Selangor
RPK dares Malaysia to fight him in UK
LONDON, May 23 — Fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin has thrown down the gauntlet to Malaysian authorities, challenging them to bring standing charges against him to the courts in the United Kingdom.Swaggering into a packed hall in the UK capital yesterday and flanked by two burly men in dark glasses, the controversial Malaysia Today writer insisted that he would fight charges of criminal defamation and sedition as well as the appeal against his Internal Security Act (ISA) detention, given a level playing field.
“I will take on the government and I will fight them but I will do what Sun Tzu said, ‘Fight him in your territory.’
“So my territory is here in the UK,” he declared to applause from a largely partisan crowd of over 300, who had their bags searched before entering the hall at the BPP Law School.
Many had to stand for the two-hour talk by the blogger, who repeated what he had written over the years, in his first formal appearance after over a year in self-imposed exile.
Raja Petra wore his now signature beret and immediately refuted the notion that he should return home to prove his innocence of the charges levelled against him.
“A first year law student can tell you that it is not the job of the accused to prove his innocence. It is the job of the prosecution to prove guilt.
“There is the UK court here. There need not be phone call or phone call from someone’s wife,” he said in a thinly-veiled jibe against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, whom he has previously accused of interfering with institutions such as the judiciary.
Despite calls from various BN lawmakers to bring Raja Petra to justice, the government has so far not followed up on suggestions that they apply to extradite the runaway blogger who has made many claims, including the involvement of Najib and Rosmah in scandals such as the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shariibuu.
Police have said they were looking into reports that he was seen in several countries, including the UK and Australia, after he absconded but have not reported any success.
Raja Petra, widely known by his initials RPK, also explained that Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is facing a sodomy charge which Pakatan Rakyat insists is trumped up, was in a different boat.
“Anwar has accepted the fact that he has to stay (in Malaysia) as he aspires to be the next prime minister. I have no political aspirations.
“I’ll probably be a free man longer than Anwar,” he quipped.
The member of the Selangor royal family referred to several incidences in his previous brushes with the law to back his claim that the Malaysian judiciary was not independent.
He questioned why the Federal Court had yet to decide on the government’s appeal against his release from the ISA, after more than a year.
He also said that he had tried to obtain a full bench of nine judges and “thought that maybe we will get seven but we ended up with just three.”
“We were told it was an administrative decision but nobody told us who made the decision or who were the judges until the day of the hearing.
“On the morning of the hearing, we found that one of them was Augustine Paul,” Raja Petra said, repeating what he had written about the hearing.
The late judge had in 2001 denied a habeas corpus application by Raja Petra to declare his first ISA detention illegal. Raja Petra had also written numerous articles criticising the judge who had also presided over Anwar’s first sodomy trial, which saw the sacked deputy prime minister being jailed for six years.
“I’ve written a lot of nasty things about him and called him all sorts of names. Even I would cite myself for contempt of court! How will he give me a fair trial?” Raja Petra said. - The Malaysian Insider
Sabah CM urged to explain alleged MACC probe
By FMT StaffKOTA KINABALU: Sabah DAP has called on Chief Minister Musa Aman to explain the various shocking postings on the internet alleging impropriety by him and his aides.
Sabah DAP chief and Kota Kinabalu MP Dr Hiew King Cheu said a popular Sabah blog site SabahKini posted a news article this month entitled 'Three Billion Dollar Man - Di Arah Istihar Harta?' has raised some eyebrows.
Hiew said it was important for Musa to reassure the public as the article has claimed that the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) had on April 29 issued a notice to the CM to declare his assets, said to be in the region of US$3 billion now and far in excess of the RM300 million he declared prior to becoming chief minister.
Citing knowledgeable sources, the article claimed that Musa had instructed a close aide to look into his finances in various countries.
The report comes two years after Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) was said to have launched an investigation into the movement of large sums of money in and out of Sabah following the detention of a Sabah businessman caught with a huge amount of money at the Hong Kong International Airport.
The businessman was said to be closely linked to Musa, who subsequently denied any relationship with the man.
image from sabahkini
The article also claimed that the same businessman was questioned by Malaysian authorities and provided the MACC with a list of prominent businessmen said to be implicated in the cross-border transactions.
Earlier this month, talk in town was that four prominent people said to be close to the chief minister were taken in for questioning by MACC officers from Putrajaya to assist in their investigation.
Describing the news as shocking, Hiew called on Musa to come forward to explain the various allegations contained in the said article to clear his name once and for all.
Hiew stressed that the MACC must carry out its duties without fear or favour since the article implicated such a senior Barisan Nasional politician who happens to be the state's chief minister.
The MACC branch in the state has said it has no information regarding the allegations.
Gangsters in ceramah: PKR ticks off MB, police
By Zefry DahlanSEREMBAN: Pakatan Rakyat leaders in Rembau took to task the Seremban police for arbitrarily refusing a permit for a ceramah scheduled for May 25.
According to Rembau PKR chief Badrul Hisham Shaharin, the police were forced to relent to pressure from Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Mohd Hasan.
Initially the ceramah was to be held at Kampung Nyatoh, Kuala Sawah, Rantau. Police refused a permit, saying that the location was too close to the main road.
The organisers then switched the location to Taman Bandar Ekar, Rantau. Once again, police refused a permit, this time giving a different reason.
"Seremban OCPD Saiful Azly Kamaruddin said a permit could not issued due to the presence of Indian gangsters and Pekida,” said Badrul.
“The OCPD said there was a chance that groups might retaliate as the location of the ceramah was within the menteri besar's constituency.
"The OCPD’s statement clearly shows that the menteri besar is supported by the Indian gangsters and Pekida. The letter from the police clearly states this,” he added.
Badrul said the letter clearly shows that the police were forced to bow to pressure from the menteri besar and his proxy of gangsters.Badrul, who is also a PKR supreme council member and popularly known as Chegu Bard, challenged Mohd Hasan to a ‘fight’ with facts and not ‘strong-arm tactics’.
Meanwhile Mohd Taufek, the Rembau PAS chief said the police action shows there is no room for democracy, and the impression given by the police is that it is not in control.
"The impression by the police is that it has lost the control over the whole matter. This is worrisome as confidence in the force will be further eroded,” said Mohd Taufek.
Among the speakers who were scheduled to take to the stage at the ceremah were PAS’ crowd-puller Mohamad Sabu, Paroi state assemblyman Mohd Taufek Abdul Ghani, Rahang state assemblyman MK Arumugam, PKR Youth exco Ginie Lim and Badrul Hisham.
In the press conference Badrul conceded to the pressure imposed by the police and announced that he is shifting the location of the ceramah to an isolated place which is more than 15 kilometers from original place.
With the same line-up of the speakers, the ceramah will be held in Taman Angsa Mas, Mambau at 8.30pm on 25th May 2010.
Dr Chua shuffles the deck
KUALA LUMPUR: Corporate business may not be the forte of MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek but he will probably not allow that to put him off the track in his single-minded drive to inject more professionalism and expertise in the management of his party’s assets, including a majority stake in Malaysia’s leading English language newspaper company, Star Publications.
It is reliably learnt that Chua has highly recommended former banker Kuah Hun Liang to helm Star Publications. Huaren Holdings, MCA’s financial arm, met on Thursday, presumably to discuss the recommendation.
Star Publications will have a shareholders’ meeting this Monday and will probably endorse Kuah as board chairman.
Kuah, 49, has a degree in Applied Economics from the University of East London. He was the CEO and managing director of Deutsche Bank until September 2006 and is now an independent non-executive director for both Loh & Loh Corporation Bhd and Putrajaya Perdana Bhd. He is also in the Quality Assurance Committee for the Malaysian Institute of Bankers’ Financial Sector Talent Enrichment Programme.
The current talk about Kuah’s imminent takeover of the Star chairmanship has effectively silenced earlier speculation that Managing Director Yong Poh Kon of Royal Selangor International was going to be the man.
Chua’s decision to appoint a former banker and a non-politician to helm the Star is not surprising since he has promised to provide a professional setting for the growth of the newspaper’s managerial independence and editorial autonomy.
Scoring his own goal in this sense is not a bad thing. The MCA president is poised to soften public criticism and perhaps blur the villain image of the Star as MCA’s propaganda tool.
At the very least, he is making sure not to repeat the bad judgement of his predecessors in appointing political watchdogs to Star’s management and editorial.
Chua’s recommendation of Kuah follows hot on the heels of leaked news that The Edge’s Ho Kay Tat, a professional journalist for the past 24 years, would shortly be joining the Star as executive director, with some saying it was a move to edge out Sarawakian Clement Hii, who is noted as a founder of Segi College and is currently executive deputy chairman.
Ho is considered a prize catch because of his wide experience. He started his career with the New Straits Times and was Kuala Lumpur Bureau Chief for Reuters way back 1990. In 1994, he joined the Singapore-based Business Times.
Clement Hii and executive director Ng Beng Lye, who were both appointed by former MCA president Ong Tee Keat, are expected to step down next week at the shareholders’ meeting.
Two other corporate names tipped to be joining the board are former Arab-Malaysian Securities managing director Lee Siang Chin, 61, and Foetus International founder Vincent Lee, 56. Siang Chin has been a member of the Malaysian Association of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA) since 1975 and Vincent was recently appointed as board member of Huaren Holdings.
RPK in London
URGENT APPEAL:: Four university students being charged under UUCA again!!!
Withdraw University & University College Act 1971 (UUCA) Charge on Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha & Woon King Chai, Immediately
By Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia
The students above (Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai) are second year Political Science students from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and have been charged by the university authority because they were found to be in the vicinity of the Hulu Selangor by-election and allegedly for showing support, sympathy or opposition towards political parties in Malaysia. They are required to attend university disciplinary proceedings on the following dates:
2nd June (Wednesday) : Muhammad Hilman bin Idham
3rd June (Thursday) : Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin
Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha
Woon King Chai
9.00am at Bilik Mesyuarat Canselori, Aras 6, Bangunan Canselori.
We strongly feel that the UUCA charge should be withdrawn because:
a) These 4 students are second year Political Science students with good academic achievements who were in the vicinity of the Hulu Selangor by-election to observe the campaigning for academic research purposes.
b) Article 119 of the Federal Constitution in Malaysia specifically states that every citizen above the age of 21 is qualified to vote, which is a form of expression and participation in politics. Thus, the provisions under Section 15(5)(a) of the University & University College Act 1971 which disallows students from expressing support and participating in politics is in direct contradiction with the Federal Constitution of Malaysia.
c) These 4 students have shown genuine efforts in improving the standing of the university rankings through academic achievements and thus their efforts in observing the Hulu Selangor by-election for academic purposes must not be demonised and punished by their own university.
Background of the incident:
On 22/4/10, Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai were travelling in 2 different vehicles, a van and a sedan, with 3 other members of the public in Hulu Selangor to observe the by-election campaigning process.
1. The van carrying Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Woon King Chai and friends were stopped by the police at a road block in Ampang Pecah, Kuala Kubu Baru at around 11:00am. They were held at the road-block for more than an hour until the arrival of UKM’s Student Affairs Department officials, who immediately accused the Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin and Woon King Chai of participating in politics and expressing support or sympathy towards political parties who were contesting in the by-election.
The police then conducted a search of the van which revealed several wrapped and sealed packets of fliers placed at the back of the van by a member of the party, who accompanied the group of students to tour the Hulu Selangor by-election area and was travelling in a separate car because their own car could not fit the fliers. Even though the fliers and video CDs do not belong to the students, the university assumed this to be of expressing support or sympathy towards political parties.
The police and university officials immediately assumed that these fliers belonged to the students and brought the students in to the Hulu Selangor Police Headquarters for questioning and to record their statements. They were held in the police station for 9 hours before finally being released on bail. They were to report in on 5/5/10 at Kuala Kubu Baru but before reaching that date, the students were told by the Investigating Officer that the police no longer want to pursue this matter and have dropped the investigation.
2. Muhammad Hilman bin Idham and Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha were travelling in a black sedan with another member of the public and was stopped by the police at around 12:30pm while they were eating. They were stopped at Pekan Rasa, Jalan Kuala Kali and were held by the police until the arrival of the university’s Student Affairs Department, who then immediately recognized them as students of UKM and accused them of participating in politics and expressing support or sympathy towards political parties who were contesting in the by-election.
The police then conducted a search of the black sedan which revealed fliers and video CDs that was placed there by a member of the party, who was accompanying the group of students to tour the Hulu Selangor by-election to observe the campaigning process. Even though the fliers and video CDs do not belong to the students but the university assumed this to be of expressing support or sympathy towards political parties.
The police and university officials immediately assumed that these fliers belonged to the students and brought the students in to the Hulu Selangor Police Headquarters for questioning and to record their statements. They were held in the police station for 9 hours before finally being released on bail. They were to report in on 5/5/10 at Kuala Kubu Baru but before reaching that date, the students were told by the Investigating Officer that the police no longer want to pursue this matter and have dropped the investigation.
On 13/5/10, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin received a letter, sent by the university by hand through a representative of the Student Affairs Department, requiring him to attend university disciplinary proceedings on the 3rd of June (Thursday), 9.00am at Bilik Mesyuarat Canselori, Aras 6, Bangunan Canselori. He is being charged by the university with Section 15(5)(a) of the University & University College Act 1971, which prohibits students from participating or expressing sympathy or support for any political parties. He has been charged by the university prior to any investigations by the university, without his knowledge. He is not allowed to be represented by a lawyer during proceedings and can only be represented by himself, or another student or a staff of the university.
On 14/5/10, Muhammad Hilman bin Idham received a letter, sent by the university by hand through a representative of the Student Affairs Department requiring him to attend university disciplinary proceedings on the 2nd of June (Wednesday), 9.00am at Bilik Mesyuarat Canselori, Aras 6, Bangunan Canselori. He is being charged by the university with Section 15(5)(a) of the University & University College Act 1971, which prohibits students from participating or expressing sympathy or support for any political parties. He has been charged by the university prior of any investigations by the university, without his knowledge. He is not allowed to be represented by a lawyer during proceedings and can only be represented by himself, or another student or a staff of the university.
On 16/5/10, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha received a letter, sent by the university through registered mail requiring her to attend university disciplinary proceedings on the 3rd of June (Thursday), 9.00am at Bilik Mesyuarat Canselori, Aras 6, Bangunan Canselori. She is also being charged by the university with Section 15(5)(a) of the University & University College Act 1971, which prohibits students from participating or expressing sympathy or support for any political parties. She has been charged by the university prior of any investigations by the university, without her knowledge. She is not allowed to be represented by a lawyer during proceedings and can only be represented by herself, or another student or a staff of the university.
On 18/5/10, Woon King Chai received a letter, sent by the university through registered mail requiring him to attend university disciplinary proceedings on the 3rd of June (Thursday), 9.00am at Bilik Mesyuarat Canselori, Aras 6, Bangunan Canselori. He is being charged by the university with Section 15(5)(a) of the University & University College Act 1971, which prohibits students from participating or expressing sympathy or support for any political parties. He has been charged by the university prior of any investigations by the university, without his knowledge. He is not allowed to be represented by a lawyer during proceedings and can only be represented by himself, or another student or a staff of the university.
Democracy in UKM
Students, as stakeholders of a university, should be given the opportunity to exercise academic freedom in the pursuit of knowledge and academic research. Thus, as students of Political Science, Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai should be not be demonised and punished by the university for exercising their academic freedom and the right to pursue knowledge and academic research in the field of election analysis.
Aside from that, the university is charging these students with Section 15(5)(a) of the University & University College Act 1971, which prohibits students from participating or expressing sympathy or support for any political parties. However, this is in DIRECT CONTRADICTION with Article 119 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, which guarantees all Malaysian citizens above the age of 21 the right to vote in elections, which is a form of expression and participation in politics. This is blatant disregard and disrespect of the Federal Constitution by the university.
These 4 Political Science students, who are being charged by the university, are top students in their own fields of studies. Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai have achieved a high CGPA of 3.51/4.00, 3.49/4.00, 2.97/4.00 and 3.79/4.00 respectively. Thus, with their genuine efforts in improving the university’s standing through academic achievements and research, they should not be demonised and punished by the university for their pursuit of knowledge in observing the Hulu Selangor by-election.
Demands
Hence, we would like to call upon Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s authority and Student Affairs Department to immediately drop the charges and call off the disciplinary proceedings against Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, and Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai. We urge the university to grant these students the academic freedom to do research and pursue knowledge in their own field of studies. Above all else, drop the charge of Section 15(5)(a) of University & University College Act 1971 which is in direct contradiction with Article 119 of the Federal Constitution.
What Can You Do?
1.Call UKM authority to ask about the case and protest towards the UUCA charge on Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai.
a) Pejabat Naib Canselor
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Tel : 03-8921 5001 / 03-8925 0399
b) Pejabat Timbalan Naib Canselor (Hal-Ehwal Pelajar dan Alumni)
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Tel : 03-8921 5094 / 03-8925 0718
c) Pusat Perkembangan Pelajar
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Tel : 03-8921 3141
2. Fax, e-mail or mail the sample letter (below) to the UKM authority immediately.
a). Prof. Tan Sri Dato’ Dr. Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin
Naib Canselor UKM,
Pejabat Naib Canselor,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor.
Tel : 03-8921 5001 / 03-8925 0399
Faks : 03-8921 4242
E-mel : ncukm@ukm.my This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
b). Prof. Dato' Dr. Mohamad Abdul Razak
Timbalan Naib Canselor (Hal-Ehwal Pelajar dan Alumni),
Pejabat Timbalan Naib Canselor (Hal-Ehwal Pelajar dan Alumni),
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor.
Tel : 03-8921 5094 / 03-8925 0718
Faks : 03-8921 4062
E-mel : tnchepa@ukm.my This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
c). Prof. Madya Dr. Kadderi Md. Desa
Pengarah Pusat Perkembangan Pelajar,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor.
Tel : 03-8921 3141
Faks : 03-8925 8431
Released by,
Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia (SMM)
Heng Lung (Coordinator)
-------------------------------------------------
Sample letter:
To: Date: ______________
Prof. Tan Sri Dato’ Dr. Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin
Naib Canselor UKM,
Pejabat Naib Canselor,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor,
Tel : 03-8921 5001 / 03-8925 0399
Faks : 03-8921 4242
Dear Sir,
Withdraw Disciplinary Charge on Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai Immediately
We/I from ______________________, oppose the action of UKM authority for these 4 Political Science students, Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai for practising their rights as Political Science students and Malaysia citizens, to observe the Hulu Selangor by-election for academic research purposes and pursue of knowledge in the field of election analysis.
2. We/I strongly feel that the disciplinary charge should be withdrawn because:
*
1. Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai has done nothing wrong. They were merely found in the vicinity of the Hulu Selangor by-election observing and studying the campaigning process of the by-election.
2. The use of Section 15(5)(a) of the University & University College Act 1971, which prohibits students from expressing or participating in politics, is in DIRECT CONTRADICTION with Article 119 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, which guarantees all Malaysian citizens above the age of 21, the right to vote, which is a form of expression and participation in politics.
3. The fliers and video CDs found in the respective vehicles do not belong to the students and should not be used as a reason to charge these students.
4. Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai have shown to be role models in the university by constantly updating and concerning themselves with current events and happenings in the country as well as their good achievements in their studies in their pursue of knowledge in their field of studies.
3. Students as one of the stakeholders of a university should be given opportunity to exercise academic freedom in the pursue of knowledge and academic research. Thus, as students of Political Science, Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha, Woon King Chai should be not be demonised and punished by the university for exercising their academic freedom and the right to pursue knowledge and academic research in the field of election analisis. Students should be encouraged to show concern about current events and happenings as well as to pursue knowledge and academic research in their own field of studies. The charging of Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai is a retrogression of democracy and academic freedom in UKM.
4. We/I urge that UKM authority:
*
1. to withdraw disciplinary charge from Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai immediately.
2. to preserve the academic freedom and pursue of knowledge of students to further research their own field of studies.
3. to respect Article 119 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia which guarantees all Malaysian citizens above the age of 21, the right to vote, which is a form of expression and participation in politics instead of charging the students with Section 15(5)(a) of the University & University College Act 1971.
Yours faithfully,
______________
( )
CC:
1). Y.B. DATO' SERI MOHAMED KHALED BIN NORDIN
Menteri Pengajian Tinggi,
Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi,
Aras 7, Blok E3, Parcel E,
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan,
62505 PUTRAJAYA.
Tel : +603-8883 5010
Faks : +603-8889 1952
Emel : menteri@mohe.gov.my This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
2). Dato' Sri Najib bin Tun Razak
Perdana Menteri,
Pejabat Perdana Menteri,
Blok Utama, Bangunan Perdana Putra,
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan,
62502 Putrajaya, MALAYSIA
Tel : 603-8888 8000
Fax : 603-8888 3444
Emel : ppm@pmo.gov This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
By Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia
The students above (Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai) are second year Political Science students from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and have been charged by the university authority because they were found to be in the vicinity of the Hulu Selangor by-election and allegedly for showing support, sympathy or opposition towards political parties in Malaysia. They are required to attend university disciplinary proceedings on the following dates:
2nd June (Wednesday) : Muhammad Hilman bin Idham
3rd June (Thursday) : Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin
Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha
Woon King Chai
9.00am at Bilik Mesyuarat Canselori, Aras 6, Bangunan Canselori.
We strongly feel that the UUCA charge should be withdrawn because:
a) These 4 students are second year Political Science students with good academic achievements who were in the vicinity of the Hulu Selangor by-election to observe the campaigning for academic research purposes.
b) Article 119 of the Federal Constitution in Malaysia specifically states that every citizen above the age of 21 is qualified to vote, which is a form of expression and participation in politics. Thus, the provisions under Section 15(5)(a) of the University & University College Act 1971 which disallows students from expressing support and participating in politics is in direct contradiction with the Federal Constitution of Malaysia.
c) These 4 students have shown genuine efforts in improving the standing of the university rankings through academic achievements and thus their efforts in observing the Hulu Selangor by-election for academic purposes must not be demonised and punished by their own university.
Background of the incident:
On 22/4/10, Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai were travelling in 2 different vehicles, a van and a sedan, with 3 other members of the public in Hulu Selangor to observe the by-election campaigning process.
1. The van carrying Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Woon King Chai and friends were stopped by the police at a road block in Ampang Pecah, Kuala Kubu Baru at around 11:00am. They were held at the road-block for more than an hour until the arrival of UKM’s Student Affairs Department officials, who immediately accused the Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin and Woon King Chai of participating in politics and expressing support or sympathy towards political parties who were contesting in the by-election.
The police then conducted a search of the van which revealed several wrapped and sealed packets of fliers placed at the back of the van by a member of the party, who accompanied the group of students to tour the Hulu Selangor by-election area and was travelling in a separate car because their own car could not fit the fliers. Even though the fliers and video CDs do not belong to the students, the university assumed this to be of expressing support or sympathy towards political parties.
The police and university officials immediately assumed that these fliers belonged to the students and brought the students in to the Hulu Selangor Police Headquarters for questioning and to record their statements. They were held in the police station for 9 hours before finally being released on bail. They were to report in on 5/5/10 at Kuala Kubu Baru but before reaching that date, the students were told by the Investigating Officer that the police no longer want to pursue this matter and have dropped the investigation.
2. Muhammad Hilman bin Idham and Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha were travelling in a black sedan with another member of the public and was stopped by the police at around 12:30pm while they were eating. They were stopped at Pekan Rasa, Jalan Kuala Kali and were held by the police until the arrival of the university’s Student Affairs Department, who then immediately recognized them as students of UKM and accused them of participating in politics and expressing support or sympathy towards political parties who were contesting in the by-election.
The police then conducted a search of the black sedan which revealed fliers and video CDs that was placed there by a member of the party, who was accompanying the group of students to tour the Hulu Selangor by-election to observe the campaigning process. Even though the fliers and video CDs do not belong to the students but the university assumed this to be of expressing support or sympathy towards political parties.
The police and university officials immediately assumed that these fliers belonged to the students and brought the students in to the Hulu Selangor Police Headquarters for questioning and to record their statements. They were held in the police station for 9 hours before finally being released on bail. They were to report in on 5/5/10 at Kuala Kubu Baru but before reaching that date, the students were told by the Investigating Officer that the police no longer want to pursue this matter and have dropped the investigation.
On 13/5/10, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin received a letter, sent by the university by hand through a representative of the Student Affairs Department, requiring him to attend university disciplinary proceedings on the 3rd of June (Thursday), 9.00am at Bilik Mesyuarat Canselori, Aras 6, Bangunan Canselori. He is being charged by the university with Section 15(5)(a) of the University & University College Act 1971, which prohibits students from participating or expressing sympathy or support for any political parties. He has been charged by the university prior to any investigations by the university, without his knowledge. He is not allowed to be represented by a lawyer during proceedings and can only be represented by himself, or another student or a staff of the university.
On 14/5/10, Muhammad Hilman bin Idham received a letter, sent by the university by hand through a representative of the Student Affairs Department requiring him to attend university disciplinary proceedings on the 2nd of June (Wednesday), 9.00am at Bilik Mesyuarat Canselori, Aras 6, Bangunan Canselori. He is being charged by the university with Section 15(5)(a) of the University & University College Act 1971, which prohibits students from participating or expressing sympathy or support for any political parties. He has been charged by the university prior of any investigations by the university, without his knowledge. He is not allowed to be represented by a lawyer during proceedings and can only be represented by himself, or another student or a staff of the university.
On 16/5/10, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha received a letter, sent by the university through registered mail requiring her to attend university disciplinary proceedings on the 3rd of June (Thursday), 9.00am at Bilik Mesyuarat Canselori, Aras 6, Bangunan Canselori. She is also being charged by the university with Section 15(5)(a) of the University & University College Act 1971, which prohibits students from participating or expressing sympathy or support for any political parties. She has been charged by the university prior of any investigations by the university, without her knowledge. She is not allowed to be represented by a lawyer during proceedings and can only be represented by herself, or another student or a staff of the university.
On 18/5/10, Woon King Chai received a letter, sent by the university through registered mail requiring him to attend university disciplinary proceedings on the 3rd of June (Thursday), 9.00am at Bilik Mesyuarat Canselori, Aras 6, Bangunan Canselori. He is being charged by the university with Section 15(5)(a) of the University & University College Act 1971, which prohibits students from participating or expressing sympathy or support for any political parties. He has been charged by the university prior of any investigations by the university, without his knowledge. He is not allowed to be represented by a lawyer during proceedings and can only be represented by himself, or another student or a staff of the university.
Democracy in UKM
Students, as stakeholders of a university, should be given the opportunity to exercise academic freedom in the pursuit of knowledge and academic research. Thus, as students of Political Science, Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai should be not be demonised and punished by the university for exercising their academic freedom and the right to pursue knowledge and academic research in the field of election analysis.
Aside from that, the university is charging these students with Section 15(5)(a) of the University & University College Act 1971, which prohibits students from participating or expressing sympathy or support for any political parties. However, this is in DIRECT CONTRADICTION with Article 119 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, which guarantees all Malaysian citizens above the age of 21 the right to vote in elections, which is a form of expression and participation in politics. This is blatant disregard and disrespect of the Federal Constitution by the university.
These 4 Political Science students, who are being charged by the university, are top students in their own fields of studies. Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai have achieved a high CGPA of 3.51/4.00, 3.49/4.00, 2.97/4.00 and 3.79/4.00 respectively. Thus, with their genuine efforts in improving the university’s standing through academic achievements and research, they should not be demonised and punished by the university for their pursuit of knowledge in observing the Hulu Selangor by-election.
Demands
Hence, we would like to call upon Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s authority and Student Affairs Department to immediately drop the charges and call off the disciplinary proceedings against Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, and Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai. We urge the university to grant these students the academic freedom to do research and pursue knowledge in their own field of studies. Above all else, drop the charge of Section 15(5)(a) of University & University College Act 1971 which is in direct contradiction with Article 119 of the Federal Constitution.
What Can You Do?
1.Call UKM authority to ask about the case and protest towards the UUCA charge on Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai.
a) Pejabat Naib Canselor
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Tel : 03-8921 5001 / 03-8925 0399
b) Pejabat Timbalan Naib Canselor (Hal-Ehwal Pelajar dan Alumni)
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Tel : 03-8921 5094 / 03-8925 0718
c) Pusat Perkembangan Pelajar
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Tel : 03-8921 3141
2. Fax, e-mail or mail the sample letter (below) to the UKM authority immediately.
a). Prof. Tan Sri Dato’ Dr. Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin
Naib Canselor UKM,
Pejabat Naib Canselor,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor.
Tel : 03-8921 5001 / 03-8925 0399
Faks : 03-8921 4242
E-mel : ncukm@ukm.my This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
b). Prof. Dato' Dr. Mohamad Abdul Razak
Timbalan Naib Canselor (Hal-Ehwal Pelajar dan Alumni),
Pejabat Timbalan Naib Canselor (Hal-Ehwal Pelajar dan Alumni),
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor.
Tel : 03-8921 5094 / 03-8925 0718
Faks : 03-8921 4062
E-mel : tnchepa@ukm.my This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
c). Prof. Madya Dr. Kadderi Md. Desa
Pengarah Pusat Perkembangan Pelajar,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor.
Tel : 03-8921 3141
Faks : 03-8925 8431
Released by,
Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia (SMM)
Heng Lung (Coordinator)
-------------------------------------------------
Sample letter:
To: Date: ______________
Prof. Tan Sri Dato’ Dr. Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin
Naib Canselor UKM,
Pejabat Naib Canselor,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor,
Tel : 03-8921 5001 / 03-8925 0399
Faks : 03-8921 4242
Dear Sir,
Withdraw Disciplinary Charge on Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai Immediately
We/I from ______________________, oppose the action of UKM authority for these 4 Political Science students, Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai for practising their rights as Political Science students and Malaysia citizens, to observe the Hulu Selangor by-election for academic research purposes and pursue of knowledge in the field of election analysis.
2. We/I strongly feel that the disciplinary charge should be withdrawn because:
*
1. Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai has done nothing wrong. They were merely found in the vicinity of the Hulu Selangor by-election observing and studying the campaigning process of the by-election.
2. The use of Section 15(5)(a) of the University & University College Act 1971, which prohibits students from expressing or participating in politics, is in DIRECT CONTRADICTION with Article 119 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, which guarantees all Malaysian citizens above the age of 21, the right to vote, which is a form of expression and participation in politics.
3. The fliers and video CDs found in the respective vehicles do not belong to the students and should not be used as a reason to charge these students.
4. Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai have shown to be role models in the university by constantly updating and concerning themselves with current events and happenings in the country as well as their good achievements in their studies in their pursue of knowledge in their field of studies.
3. Students as one of the stakeholders of a university should be given opportunity to exercise academic freedom in the pursue of knowledge and academic research. Thus, as students of Political Science, Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha, Woon King Chai should be not be demonised and punished by the university for exercising their academic freedom and the right to pursue knowledge and academic research in the field of election analisis. Students should be encouraged to show concern about current events and happenings as well as to pursue knowledge and academic research in their own field of studies. The charging of Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai is a retrogression of democracy and academic freedom in UKM.
4. We/I urge that UKM authority:
*
1. to withdraw disciplinary charge from Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adzha and Woon King Chai immediately.
2. to preserve the academic freedom and pursue of knowledge of students to further research their own field of studies.
3. to respect Article 119 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia which guarantees all Malaysian citizens above the age of 21, the right to vote, which is a form of expression and participation in politics instead of charging the students with Section 15(5)(a) of the University & University College Act 1971.
Yours faithfully,
______________
( )
CC:
1). Y.B. DATO' SERI MOHAMED KHALED BIN NORDIN
Menteri Pengajian Tinggi,
Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi,
Aras 7, Blok E3, Parcel E,
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan,
62505 PUTRAJAYA.
Tel : +603-8883 5010
Faks : +603-8889 1952
Emel : menteri@mohe.gov.my This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
2). Dato' Sri Najib bin Tun Razak
Perdana Menteri,
Pejabat Perdana Menteri,
Blok Utama, Bangunan Perdana Putra,
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan,
62502 Putrajaya, MALAYSIA
Tel : 603-8888 8000
Fax : 603-8888 3444
Emel : ppm@pmo.gov This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Saudi woman beats up morality policeman who quizzed her in public
It has not been a good week for Saudi Arabia’s morality police, defenders of the kingdom’s strict Islamic values and the scourge of young men and women who dare to meet in public out of wedlock.
The zealous, all-male volunteer force from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice patrols shopping malls, harassing unescorted women and arresting others for not wearing suitably modest dress, their religious authority unchallenged. They have even been known to ban florists from selling red flowers before Valentine’s Day.
(Times Online) This week, however, two separate reports emerged of Saudi women not just fighting back but besting the intimidating guardians of public morality.
The first case occurred in the eastern city of al-Mubarraz, when a member of the Mutaween, as the volunteer force is known, stopped a young couple in an amusement park and asked them to explain what their relationship was, since it is illegal for women not accompanied by a male relative to go out in public, let alone fraternise with another man.
According to the Saudi daily Okaz, the young man was so frightened by the officer’s questioning that he passed out — but his female companion, incensed at the intrusion, started hitting the morality policeman in the face so hard that he had to be taken to hospital.
Just as the Mutaween were dusting themselves off after that public humiliation, the Los Angeles Times reported that a Syrian-born Saudi woman had gone one step farther. After meeting a man in a public area in the province of Hail, she was spotted by religious policemen in a patrol car — at which point she whipped out a gun and started shooting at them, giving her male friend time to escape.
A local spokesman for the religious police, Sheik Mutlak al-Nabet, said the unnamed woman’s outraged husband had asked for his wife to be punished and stripped of her Saudi nationality, despite the face that she had lived there for many years.
Such illegal meetings can result in whipping and imprisonment, although the authorities have tried in recent years to curb the more intrusive activities of the Mutaween, a group of about 5,000 volunteers set up decades ago in the deeply conservative country. The officers are not supposed to interrogate those they detain; rather, they are expected to hand them over to the real police for questioning.
In 2007, a Saudi newspaper reported that attacks on the religious enforcers — including shootings and stabbings — had increased, as a more modern, assertive society started to rebel against their smothering presence. Nevertheless, the officers have continued their work, jailing a 37-year-old American businesswoman, a married mother of three, for sitting with a male colleague at a Starbucks coffee shop in Riyadh in 2008.
Women in Saudi Arabia have, however, fought back, occasionally taking members of the religious police to court for harassment. “People are so fed up with these religious police, and now they have to pay the price for the humiliation they put people through for years and years,” said Wajiha Huwaidar, an activist. “This is just the beginning. There will be more resistance.”
The zealous, all-male volunteer force from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice patrols shopping malls, harassing unescorted women and arresting others for not wearing suitably modest dress, their religious authority unchallenged. They have even been known to ban florists from selling red flowers before Valentine’s Day.
(Times Online) This week, however, two separate reports emerged of Saudi women not just fighting back but besting the intimidating guardians of public morality.
The first case occurred in the eastern city of al-Mubarraz, when a member of the Mutaween, as the volunteer force is known, stopped a young couple in an amusement park and asked them to explain what their relationship was, since it is illegal for women not accompanied by a male relative to go out in public, let alone fraternise with another man.
According to the Saudi daily Okaz, the young man was so frightened by the officer’s questioning that he passed out — but his female companion, incensed at the intrusion, started hitting the morality policeman in the face so hard that he had to be taken to hospital.
Just as the Mutaween were dusting themselves off after that public humiliation, the Los Angeles Times reported that a Syrian-born Saudi woman had gone one step farther. After meeting a man in a public area in the province of Hail, she was spotted by religious policemen in a patrol car — at which point she whipped out a gun and started shooting at them, giving her male friend time to escape.
A local spokesman for the religious police, Sheik Mutlak al-Nabet, said the unnamed woman’s outraged husband had asked for his wife to be punished and stripped of her Saudi nationality, despite the face that she had lived there for many years.
Such illegal meetings can result in whipping and imprisonment, although the authorities have tried in recent years to curb the more intrusive activities of the Mutaween, a group of about 5,000 volunteers set up decades ago in the deeply conservative country. The officers are not supposed to interrogate those they detain; rather, they are expected to hand them over to the real police for questioning.
In 2007, a Saudi newspaper reported that attacks on the religious enforcers — including shootings and stabbings — had increased, as a more modern, assertive society started to rebel against their smothering presence. Nevertheless, the officers have continued their work, jailing a 37-year-old American businesswoman, a married mother of three, for sitting with a male colleague at a Starbucks coffee shop in Riyadh in 2008.
Women in Saudi Arabia have, however, fought back, occasionally taking members of the religious police to court for harassment. “People are so fed up with these religious police, and now they have to pay the price for the humiliation they put people through for years and years,” said Wajiha Huwaidar, an activist. “This is just the beginning. There will be more resistance.”
Reading between the lines in Sibu
By Pushparani Thilaganathan | FMT
COMMENT Plaza Inn, atop a coffeeshop in Sibu, is flanked by a ‘skyscraper’ and a string of nightclubs on the other end. Evenings are short and the streets are mostly deserted by 9pm.
Life is a straight road. Dawn breaks around 6am, shop shutters rise and the first whiff of brewing coffee reaches up to the hotel room if the windows are open.
If it rains, like it did most nights and some mornings, the mesh of scents is refreshing! Here, where churches are rampant, work is god and toil is truth.
There is no room for perceptions. Only impressions.
But somehow this truth seems to have eluded Barisan Nasional if news reports of how and why they lost their grip on a constituency after a quarter century of presence, is anything to go by.
BN lost because people couldn’t stand the arrogance and power they exuded – from the bag carrying errand boy all the way up the ladder to the ‘kiss my hand’ homage-yearning ministers.
And neither did the voters believe the opposition, Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak – a coalition of DAP, PAS, PKR and SNAP - to be righteous and blameless.
Sibu simply voted for what they believed to be the better of two evils.
The known devil
It was Saturday, the eve of the by-election. I came downstairs to the coffeeshop for my regular ‘cuppa’.
Just as I was being served, sirens rang and a Mercedes Benz ferrying an important BN official whizzed pass.
”Celaka…hari hari bising,” mumbled Misra and carried on with her work.
You can tell a local from a Peninsular Malaysian, said Misra who works at the coffee shop and earns RM400 a month.
“They have a lot of money. They talk loudly..they walk differently,” she said.
In the run-up to the Sibu parliamentary by-election last Sunday, Peninsular Malaysians accompanying their political warlords arrived in droves.
?Their arrival was a boon to business but a bane to the social fabric of this small town community which had never ever seen the likes of ministers, much less the prime minister and his deputy at such close quarters.
Notwithstanding, this money-muscled entourage came with extensive baggage and police protection. Reports said Sibu had 1,000 policemen in town.
High on the list of baggage and most pertinent to the locals was the contentious ‘Allah” issue and Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s continuity.
Both issues the BN and its candidate refused to talk about or explain. Every door that BN closed was a window to be opened for the opposition.
According to church-going Joseph, a Chinese, “(we have) so many questions to ask…”
But only the opposition coalition was prepared to answer.
PAS’ Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad and Kota Raja MP Siti Maria Mahmud had met up with several church groups to explain PAS stand on the issue.
The open discussions was a thirst-quencher and believed to have been among the turning points for the Chinese votes. Majority of Sibu’s voters are Christians.
The unknown angel
They say life is not without its risks.
When you ride the mighty Rajang river and battle the voluminous waters that perennially flood your waking hours, risks is in the blood and fear a momentary hiccup.
Testing out an unknown angel in the form of the Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak coalition is a small risk especially in view of the fact that the state elections is imminent.
Sarawak has to hold its state elections before June 2011.
As such any ensuing discomforts as a result of their collective decision is seen as only temporary.
?Yes, Pakatan has its share of baggage, but fortunately for them, it was not directly relevant to local life.
Sibu is a quiet community. The Ibans speak softly, sometimes you sense shyness and inadequacy but they warm to honesty.
The Malay Melanaus are more confident than the Ibans.
They live closer to the city and are more exposed to the Chinese community. More often than not they are prioritised by government-run agencies over the Ibans.
The Chinese lord the town in terms of numbers but they too are deeply divided.
There is very little real interaction on a social front between the baseline communities.
People are reticent but considerate, often making sure you’re aware of what you are eating, as both pork and Muslims are bedfellows.
Watching and listening help one read between the lines in this community.
In the recent by-election, what was most obvious was the grassroots acceptance of the opposition.
Many of the opposition parliamentarians and state executive councillors of Penang and Selangor were seen coming in taxis, eating at coffee-shops and living in mediocre hotels.
Many flew AirAsia, and word got around very quickly about how ordinary they were.
?But perhaps the most telling of all was Penang Chief Minister Lim Guang Eng’s persona.
Lim was an equal to ‘god-like’ Chief Minister Taib Mahmud. Equal to the federal ministers who visited Sibu during the by-election. But unlike them he had no entourage, police protection or formality about him.
He was warm, approachable and popular with the local Chinese community. They saw him as fearless and endearing, like a tiger.
With him, at the final ceramah on Saturday, were 60 other Pakatan grassroots leaders from all walks of life hailing a ‘common Malaysia, Malaysia for all’.
Here was the elusive 1Malaysia that premier Najib Tun Razak is struggling to achieve, but which he will not see given his own people’s fear of unity.
COMMENT Plaza Inn, atop a coffeeshop in Sibu, is flanked by a ‘skyscraper’ and a string of nightclubs on the other end. Evenings are short and the streets are mostly deserted by 9pm.
Life is a straight road. Dawn breaks around 6am, shop shutters rise and the first whiff of brewing coffee reaches up to the hotel room if the windows are open.
If it rains, like it did most nights and some mornings, the mesh of scents is refreshing! Here, where churches are rampant, work is god and toil is truth.
There is no room for perceptions. Only impressions.
But somehow this truth seems to have eluded Barisan Nasional if news reports of how and why they lost their grip on a constituency after a quarter century of presence, is anything to go by.
BN lost because people couldn’t stand the arrogance and power they exuded – from the bag carrying errand boy all the way up the ladder to the ‘kiss my hand’ homage-yearning ministers.
And neither did the voters believe the opposition, Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak – a coalition of DAP, PAS, PKR and SNAP - to be righteous and blameless.
Sibu simply voted for what they believed to be the better of two evils.
The known devil
It was Saturday, the eve of the by-election. I came downstairs to the coffeeshop for my regular ‘cuppa’.
Just as I was being served, sirens rang and a Mercedes Benz ferrying an important BN official whizzed pass.
”Celaka…hari hari bising,” mumbled Misra and carried on with her work.
You can tell a local from a Peninsular Malaysian, said Misra who works at the coffee shop and earns RM400 a month.
“They have a lot of money. They talk loudly..they walk differently,” she said.
In the run-up to the Sibu parliamentary by-election last Sunday, Peninsular Malaysians accompanying their political warlords arrived in droves.
?Their arrival was a boon to business but a bane to the social fabric of this small town community which had never ever seen the likes of ministers, much less the prime minister and his deputy at such close quarters.
Notwithstanding, this money-muscled entourage came with extensive baggage and police protection. Reports said Sibu had 1,000 policemen in town.
High on the list of baggage and most pertinent to the locals was the contentious ‘Allah” issue and Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s continuity.
Both issues the BN and its candidate refused to talk about or explain. Every door that BN closed was a window to be opened for the opposition.
According to church-going Joseph, a Chinese, “(we have) so many questions to ask…”
But only the opposition coalition was prepared to answer.
PAS’ Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad and Kota Raja MP Siti Maria Mahmud had met up with several church groups to explain PAS stand on the issue.
The open discussions was a thirst-quencher and believed to have been among the turning points for the Chinese votes. Majority of Sibu’s voters are Christians.
The unknown angel
They say life is not without its risks.
When you ride the mighty Rajang river and battle the voluminous waters that perennially flood your waking hours, risks is in the blood and fear a momentary hiccup.
Testing out an unknown angel in the form of the Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak coalition is a small risk especially in view of the fact that the state elections is imminent.
Sarawak has to hold its state elections before June 2011.
As such any ensuing discomforts as a result of their collective decision is seen as only temporary.
?Yes, Pakatan has its share of baggage, but fortunately for them, it was not directly relevant to local life.
Sibu is a quiet community. The Ibans speak softly, sometimes you sense shyness and inadequacy but they warm to honesty.
The Malay Melanaus are more confident than the Ibans.
They live closer to the city and are more exposed to the Chinese community. More often than not they are prioritised by government-run agencies over the Ibans.
The Chinese lord the town in terms of numbers but they too are deeply divided.
There is very little real interaction on a social front between the baseline communities.
People are reticent but considerate, often making sure you’re aware of what you are eating, as both pork and Muslims are bedfellows.
Watching and listening help one read between the lines in this community.
In the recent by-election, what was most obvious was the grassroots acceptance of the opposition.
Many of the opposition parliamentarians and state executive councillors of Penang and Selangor were seen coming in taxis, eating at coffee-shops and living in mediocre hotels.
Many flew AirAsia, and word got around very quickly about how ordinary they were.
?But perhaps the most telling of all was Penang Chief Minister Lim Guang Eng’s persona.
Lim was an equal to ‘god-like’ Chief Minister Taib Mahmud. Equal to the federal ministers who visited Sibu during the by-election. But unlike them he had no entourage, police protection or formality about him.
He was warm, approachable and popular with the local Chinese community. They saw him as fearless and endearing, like a tiger.
With him, at the final ceramah on Saturday, were 60 other Pakatan grassroots leaders from all walks of life hailing a ‘common Malaysia, Malaysia for all’.
Here was the elusive 1Malaysia that premier Najib Tun Razak is struggling to achieve, but which he will not see given his own people’s fear of unity.
RPK dares Malaysia to fight him in UK
The Malaysian Insider
LONDON, May 23 — Fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin has thrown down the gauntlet to Malaysian authorities, challenging them to bring standing charges against him to the courts in the United Kingdom.
Swaggering into a packed hall in the UK capital yesterday and flanked by two burly men in dark glasses, the controversial Malaysia Today writer insisted that he would fight charges of criminal defamation and sedition as well as the appeal against his Internal Security Act (ISA) detention, given a level playing field.
“I will take on the government and I will fight them but I will do what Sun Tzu said, ‘Fight him in your territory.’
“So my territory is here in the UK,” he declared to applause from a largely partisan crowd of over 300, who had their bags searched before entering the hall at the BPP Law School.
Many had to stand for the two-hour talk by the blogger, who repeated what he had written over the years, in his first formal appearance after over a year in self-imposed exile.
Raja Petra wore his now signature beret and immediately refuted the notion that he should return home to prove his innocence of the charges levelled against him.
“A first year law student can tell you that it is not the job of the accused to prove his innocence. It is the job of the prosecution to prove guilt.
“There is the UK court here. There need not be phone call or phone call from someone’s wife,” he said in a thinly-veiled jibe against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, whom he has previously accused of interfering with institutions such as the judiciary.
Despite calls from various BN lawmakers to bring Raja Petra to justice, the government has so far not followed up on suggestions that they apply to extradite the runaway blogger who has made many claims, including the involvement of Najib and Rosmah in scandals such as the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shariibuu.
Police have said they were looking into reports that he was seen in several countries, including the UK and Australia, after he absconded but have not reported any success.
Raja Petra, widely known by his initials RPK, also explained that Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is facing a sodomy charge which Pakatan Rakyat insists is trumped up, was in a different boat.
“Anwar has accepted the fact that he has to stay (in Malaysia) as he aspires to be the next prime minister. I have no political aspirations.
“I’ll probably be a free man longer than Anwar,” he quipped.
The member of the Selangor royal family referred to several incidences in his previous brushes with the law to back his claim that the Malaysian judiciary was not independent.
He questioned why the Federal Court had yet to decide on the government’s appeal against his release from the ISA, after more than a year.
He also said that he had tried to obtain a full bench of nine judges and “thought that maybe we will get seven but we ended up with just three.”
“We were told it was an administrative decision but nobody told us who made the decision or who were the judges until the day of the hearing.
“On the morning of the hearing, we found that one of them was Augustine Paul,” Raja Petra said, repeating what he had written about the hearing.
The late judge had in 2001 denied a habeas corpus application by Raja Petra to declare his first ISA detention illegal. Raja Petra had also written numerous articles criticising the judge who had also presided over Anwar’s first sodomy trial, which saw the sacked deputy prime minister being jailed for six years.
“I’ve written a lot of nasty things about him and called him all sorts of names. Even I would cite myself for contempt of court! How will he give me a fair trial?” Raja Petra said.
LONDON, May 23 — Fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin has thrown down the gauntlet to Malaysian authorities, challenging them to bring standing charges against him to the courts in the United Kingdom.
Swaggering into a packed hall in the UK capital yesterday and flanked by two burly men in dark glasses, the controversial Malaysia Today writer insisted that he would fight charges of criminal defamation and sedition as well as the appeal against his Internal Security Act (ISA) detention, given a level playing field.
“I will take on the government and I will fight them but I will do what Sun Tzu said, ‘Fight him in your territory.’
“So my territory is here in the UK,” he declared to applause from a largely partisan crowd of over 300, who had their bags searched before entering the hall at the BPP Law School.
Many had to stand for the two-hour talk by the blogger, who repeated what he had written over the years, in his first formal appearance after over a year in self-imposed exile.
Raja Petra wore his now signature beret and immediately refuted the notion that he should return home to prove his innocence of the charges levelled against him.
“A first year law student can tell you that it is not the job of the accused to prove his innocence. It is the job of the prosecution to prove guilt.
“There is the UK court here. There need not be phone call or phone call from someone’s wife,” he said in a thinly-veiled jibe against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, whom he has previously accused of interfering with institutions such as the judiciary.
Despite calls from various BN lawmakers to bring Raja Petra to justice, the government has so far not followed up on suggestions that they apply to extradite the runaway blogger who has made many claims, including the involvement of Najib and Rosmah in scandals such as the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shariibuu.
Police have said they were looking into reports that he was seen in several countries, including the UK and Australia, after he absconded but have not reported any success.
Raja Petra, widely known by his initials RPK, also explained that Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is facing a sodomy charge which Pakatan Rakyat insists is trumped up, was in a different boat.
“Anwar has accepted the fact that he has to stay (in Malaysia) as he aspires to be the next prime minister. I have no political aspirations.
“I’ll probably be a free man longer than Anwar,” he quipped.
The member of the Selangor royal family referred to several incidences in his previous brushes with the law to back his claim that the Malaysian judiciary was not independent.
He questioned why the Federal Court had yet to decide on the government’s appeal against his release from the ISA, after more than a year.
He also said that he had tried to obtain a full bench of nine judges and “thought that maybe we will get seven but we ended up with just three.”
“We were told it was an administrative decision but nobody told us who made the decision or who were the judges until the day of the hearing.
“On the morning of the hearing, we found that one of them was Augustine Paul,” Raja Petra said, repeating what he had written about the hearing.
The late judge had in 2001 denied a habeas corpus application by Raja Petra to declare his first ISA detention illegal. Raja Petra had also written numerous articles criticising the judge who had also presided over Anwar’s first sodomy trial, which saw the sacked deputy prime minister being jailed for six years.
“I’ve written a lot of nasty things about him and called him all sorts of names. Even I would cite myself for contempt of court! How will he give me a fair trial?” Raja Petra said.
Peguam syariehanya orang Islam
Utusan Malaysia
Beliau diminta mengulas kenyataan Persatuan Peguam Syarie Malaysia (PGSM) semalam yang menyifatkan tindakan individu bukan Islam memohon menjadi peguam syarie sebagai menghina dan mencemarkan kesucian agama Islam.
PGSM mengeluarkan kenyataan itu sebagai maklum balas di atas tindakan Victoria Jayaseele Martin mendapatkan semakan kehakiman untuk satu perintah mandamus bagi mendesak Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan (MAIWP) menerimanya sebagai peguam syarie tanpa mengambil kira beliau bukan orang Islam.
Victoria, 48, memperoleh Diploma Undang-Undang dan Amalan Syariah (DSLP) pada 2004 dari Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIAM) mengambil tindakan undang-undang di Mahkamah Sivil selepas permohonannya sebagai peguam syarie ditolak MAIWP melalui jawatankuasa peguam syarie.
Dalam pada itu Nooh berkata, para ulama dan pertubuhan bukan kerajaan (NGO) Islam perlu tampil memberikan penjelasan kepada umum terutamanya orang bukan Islam mengenai kebenaran yang hanya diberikan kepada orang Islam untuk menjadi peguam syarie.
''Fatwa yang menetapkan hanya orang Islam layak menjadi peguam syarie sudah jelas, sekiranya perlu penambahan ia wajar dilakukan tetapi apa yang penting penjelasan kepada umum bagi mengelakkan kekeliruan di kalangan orang Islam dan bukan Islam.
''Ia juga bagi mengelakkan kecelaruan dalam pemahaman orang ramai mengenai undang-undang sivil dan syariah yang diamalkan dalam sistem perundangan di negara ini," katanya.
Sehubungan itu, beliau menyeru empat negeri yang belum mewajibkan syarat permohonan menjadi peguam syarie perlu beragama Islam iaitu Perlis, Pulau Pinang, Sabah dan Sarawak diminta segera menggubal peruntukan itu bagi mengelakkan kekeliruan.
Sementara itu, Mufti Selangor, Datuk Seri Mohd. Tamyes Abdul Wahid berkata, seseorang yang memahami selok belok undang-undang Islam mestilah daripada kalangan ahlinya yang menghayati dan mengamalkan kesucian agama itu.
Menurutnya, pemahaman dan pengetahuan mengenai Islam melalui pembacaan sahaja tidak mencukupi bagi melayakkan seseorang itu untuk mengadili orang Islam di Mahkamah Syariah.
''Islam bukan teori semata-mata, tetapi memerlukan amali dan pemahaman jelas kerana jika Islam hanya bersandarkan kepada teori ia tidak akan sampai kepada maksud sebenar Islam itu," katanya.
Sehubungan itu, katanya, beliau percaya tindakan MAIWP menolak permohonan Victoria untuk menjadi peguam syarie adalah berdasarkan kepada sebab munasabah yang perlu difahami oleh mereka yang ingin menjadi peguam syarie.
''Realitinya yang perlu difahami adalah, agama Islam untuk orang Islam yang faham, menghayati dan mengamalkan pegangan agama itu di dalam kehidupan seharian mereka.
''Ia termasuklah dalam konteks untuk menjadi peguam syarie," katanya.
Sementara itu, Pengasas Pertubuhan Seni Silat Lincah Malaysia (PSSLM), Datuk Omar Din Mauju menyokong saranan PPSM supaya Victoria berhenti daripada meneruskan hasratnya untuk mencabar MAIWP untuk menerimanya sebagai peguam syarie.
Ini kerana, kata beliau syarat utama untuk menjadi peguam syarie di Wilayah Persekutuan mestilah beragama Islam seperti yang termaktub dalam Seksyen 59 Akta Pentadbiran Undang-undang Islam (Wilayah Persekutuan) 1993 di bawah perkenan Yang di-pertuan Agong.
''Saya berpendapat sebarang tindakan untuk mencabar peruntukan undang-undang tersebut adalah suatu perbuatan menghina kesucian Islam dan institusi raja-raja Melayu.
''Biarlah urusan berkenaan undang-undang Islam di mahkamah syariah dikendalikan secara eksklusif oleh peguam-peguam Islam yang berkelayakan dan ahli dalam bidang syariah serta perundangan Islam,'' katanya.
KUALA LUMPUR 22 Mei - Seseorang yang mahu mengadili orang Islam di Mahkamah Syariah bukan sahaja perlu beragama Islam malah perlu memahami dan menghayati konsep akidah, tauhid dan rukun Islam.
Penasihat Majlis Agama Islam Johor, Datuk Nooh Gadut (gambar) berkata, seseorang peguam syarie perlu mengetahui syariat-syariat Islam kerana perbicaraan di mahkamah melibatkan hujah-hujah syariah, al-Quran selain penggunaan buku-buku dalam bahasa Arab.
''Islam tidak cukup sekadar teori melalui pembacaan sebaliknya ia perlu diamal dan dihayati," katanya kepada Mingguan Malaysia di sini hari ini.
Penasihat Majlis Agama Islam Johor, Datuk Nooh Gadut (gambar) berkata, seseorang peguam syarie perlu mengetahui syariat-syariat Islam kerana perbicaraan di mahkamah melibatkan hujah-hujah syariah, al-Quran selain penggunaan buku-buku dalam bahasa Arab.
''Islam tidak cukup sekadar teori melalui pembacaan sebaliknya ia perlu diamal dan dihayati," katanya kepada Mingguan Malaysia di sini hari ini.
Beliau diminta mengulas kenyataan Persatuan Peguam Syarie Malaysia (PGSM) semalam yang menyifatkan tindakan individu bukan Islam memohon menjadi peguam syarie sebagai menghina dan mencemarkan kesucian agama Islam.
PGSM mengeluarkan kenyataan itu sebagai maklum balas di atas tindakan Victoria Jayaseele Martin mendapatkan semakan kehakiman untuk satu perintah mandamus bagi mendesak Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan (MAIWP) menerimanya sebagai peguam syarie tanpa mengambil kira beliau bukan orang Islam.
Victoria, 48, memperoleh Diploma Undang-Undang dan Amalan Syariah (DSLP) pada 2004 dari Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIAM) mengambil tindakan undang-undang di Mahkamah Sivil selepas permohonannya sebagai peguam syarie ditolak MAIWP melalui jawatankuasa peguam syarie.
Dalam pada itu Nooh berkata, para ulama dan pertubuhan bukan kerajaan (NGO) Islam perlu tampil memberikan penjelasan kepada umum terutamanya orang bukan Islam mengenai kebenaran yang hanya diberikan kepada orang Islam untuk menjadi peguam syarie.
''Fatwa yang menetapkan hanya orang Islam layak menjadi peguam syarie sudah jelas, sekiranya perlu penambahan ia wajar dilakukan tetapi apa yang penting penjelasan kepada umum bagi mengelakkan kekeliruan di kalangan orang Islam dan bukan Islam.
''Ia juga bagi mengelakkan kecelaruan dalam pemahaman orang ramai mengenai undang-undang sivil dan syariah yang diamalkan dalam sistem perundangan di negara ini," katanya.
Sehubungan itu, beliau menyeru empat negeri yang belum mewajibkan syarat permohonan menjadi peguam syarie perlu beragama Islam iaitu Perlis, Pulau Pinang, Sabah dan Sarawak diminta segera menggubal peruntukan itu bagi mengelakkan kekeliruan.
Sementara itu, Mufti Selangor, Datuk Seri Mohd. Tamyes Abdul Wahid berkata, seseorang yang memahami selok belok undang-undang Islam mestilah daripada kalangan ahlinya yang menghayati dan mengamalkan kesucian agama itu.
Menurutnya, pemahaman dan pengetahuan mengenai Islam melalui pembacaan sahaja tidak mencukupi bagi melayakkan seseorang itu untuk mengadili orang Islam di Mahkamah Syariah.
''Islam bukan teori semata-mata, tetapi memerlukan amali dan pemahaman jelas kerana jika Islam hanya bersandarkan kepada teori ia tidak akan sampai kepada maksud sebenar Islam itu," katanya.
Sehubungan itu, katanya, beliau percaya tindakan MAIWP menolak permohonan Victoria untuk menjadi peguam syarie adalah berdasarkan kepada sebab munasabah yang perlu difahami oleh mereka yang ingin menjadi peguam syarie.
''Realitinya yang perlu difahami adalah, agama Islam untuk orang Islam yang faham, menghayati dan mengamalkan pegangan agama itu di dalam kehidupan seharian mereka.
''Ia termasuklah dalam konteks untuk menjadi peguam syarie," katanya.
Sementara itu, Pengasas Pertubuhan Seni Silat Lincah Malaysia (PSSLM), Datuk Omar Din Mauju menyokong saranan PPSM supaya Victoria berhenti daripada meneruskan hasratnya untuk mencabar MAIWP untuk menerimanya sebagai peguam syarie.
Ini kerana, kata beliau syarat utama untuk menjadi peguam syarie di Wilayah Persekutuan mestilah beragama Islam seperti yang termaktub dalam Seksyen 59 Akta Pentadbiran Undang-undang Islam (Wilayah Persekutuan) 1993 di bawah perkenan Yang di-pertuan Agong.
''Saya berpendapat sebarang tindakan untuk mencabar peruntukan undang-undang tersebut adalah suatu perbuatan menghina kesucian Islam dan institusi raja-raja Melayu.
''Biarlah urusan berkenaan undang-undang Islam di mahkamah syariah dikendalikan secara eksklusif oleh peguam-peguam Islam yang berkelayakan dan ahli dalam bidang syariah serta perundangan Islam,'' katanya.
158 feared dead in India plane crash
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As darkness descended, workers used portable lights to pull charred bodies out of the wreckage outside Mangalore International Airport. All but three bodies have been recovered, said Jeeja Harisingh, head of fire and emergency services.
Eight of the 166 people on board Air India Flight IX-812 survived the crash and were taken to hospitals.
Are you there? Send photos, video
The Boeing 737 took off from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and crashed while trying to make its scheduled landing in Mangalore at 6:30 a.m. Saturday (9 p.m. ET Friday), Air India spokesman Anup Srivastava said.
India's civil aviation minister Praful Patel said an investigation was underway but reasons for the crash would not be known until the flight data and voice data recorders have been recovered. Emergency workers were attempting to cool the fiery wreckage Saturday night to keep the data intact.
The Air India jet touched down on a 8,000-feet runway -- 2,000 feet longer than the old runway and more than sufficient for the Boeing 737, Patel said. The runway has been operational since 2006.
Mangalore's airport was "technically certified" by the country's civil aviation regulator.
Patel said weather conditions were good -- calm winds, no rain and good visibility of six kilometers -- and both the pilot and co-pilot were experienced and had landed many times before at the Mangalore airport. They did not report any problems before landing the plane, India's civil aviation ministry said.
However, the 90-meter spillover sand bed beyond the runway was limited and was not able to stop the aircraft after it overshot the tarmac, Patel said. Only the tail of the aircraft was left intact.
Witnesses said the plane crashed through the hilltop airport's boundary wall and fell into a valley, CNN-IBN reported.
Survivors told CNN's sister network that they jumped out of the plane after it crashed, seconds before it burst into flames.
Rescue workers struggled to reach the crash site in a hilly wooded area, the network said. Smoke from the plane also hampered rescue efforts and many of the recovered bodies were badly burned, CNN-IBN reported.
Abhay Pathak, a regional manager for Air India based in Dubai, said there were 160 passengers on board the plane and six crew members. Of the passengers, 32 were women, 105 were men, 19 were children and four were infants, he said.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced financial aid for the victims Saturday and canceled scheduled events at his residence to mark the end of his first year in office.
The government said families would receive 200,000 rupees, or about $4,260, for each dead passenger and 50,000 rupees, or $1,064, for every injured passenger.
The airline has offered relatives of crash victims in the United Arab Emirates free passage to India, Pathak said, and about 20 people have accepted the offer.
Boeing released a statement saying the company would send a team to provide technical assistance to Indian authorities during their investigation.
The city of Mangalore, situated in the state of Karnataka along India's Western Ghats or hills, had just christened a new terminal. A week later, it was marred by the crash, India's worst aviation disaster in a decade. In 2000, an Alliance Air jet crashed while trying to land in the northeastern city of Patna, killing about 60 people.
Air India has released the following telephone numbers to learn more information about the crash:
General: +91 2560 3101 +91 2565 6196
In Mangalore: 0824 222 0422
Dubai (Air India Express): 00971 4 2165828/29
INDIAN COMMUNITY----Where are we heading to?
By Dinesweri Puspanadan,
Few days ago I attended a meeting with an organization(NGO) to discuss about one of my projects which focuses on low achievers among Indian students. Many issues regarding the community were discussed and it was really a fruitful discussion. Literally the discussion ended there but that discussion contributed to the 'discussion in my mind' One particular question sticks in my mind up to date--What actually hinders the growth of Indian community? A cliche question yet many prefer to not answer. So I decided to answer1.) We are not really good in prioritizing things(sounds vague perhaps). In Malaysia we have 523 Tamil schools and temple--more than 100,000(not including temples which are not registered). Why do we need to spend so much of money in building more temples while our Tamil schools are lacking basic facilities. For a 'kumbaveshegam' in a temple, thousands of money spent but for the school next to the temple, not even few hundreds donated. Even if donate, some Tamil schools' organizations misuse it. How to achieve financial stability if the situation continues to be like this?
2.)Early childhood education among our children;for a group of them precisely fails. We are 7 percent of the population and yet surprisingly 60 percent of the crime is committed by our people. The worst, 14 percent of the prisoners is also our people. In education, 15 % of our students are top achievers and this group usually settle down at overseas while 30 % of our students are IPTA and IPTS students. Apart from that 40 % students belong to the below average achievers and remaining students turn out to be 'hardcore' gangsters who commit heavy crimes. The low achievers group seem to suffer the most and these students are the one who are not certain where they are heading to. What become their choice is the 'hardcore' s choice where they choose their way to live the live; shooting up the crime rate. What do these statistics suggest to us? Some where a long the way has failed our students. Some literature reviews suggest that early childhood education is the root. So we need to look back at that. At the same time, as how we have plenty of plans for top achievers, we also need to focus on low achievers
3.)UNITY is another big big big problem. Why on earth Indians are not united? I do not think I need to elaborate more on this. Think for yourself
Many of us then to blame the others for our current situation. Personally, I believe that the fault is within us. However,I believe that the problem should be tackled from the root. Time to do some 'cleansing' in our community and restructure the whole thing. We are now at a point where we need to do something for our community. If not, there is no turning back . If mothers in the family stop watching Tamil serials and fathers stop loitering at restaurants to talk about politics and divert their mind to concentrate on their children, the situation will change.Financial stability is the key for the betterment of our community. We are the minority and supposedly we should be strong. Unfortunately there are some of use here for political purpose. Community work is not genuine. Events are organized for community by some organization, associations for a cheap advertisement. NO FOLLOW UP. So how? Every individual needs to wake up and bring the change in him or her. Depending on one particular association or organization will bring us nowhere. Time to rectify ourselves and establish our own financial in dependency.
Indian Villagers without power and water for 52years (The Star 22/5/2010)
RM530 Million to supply water to 16,000 house and RM825 Million for electricity to 30,000 homes as per the 2010 National Budget. (Our letter to Prime Minister Najib Razak dated 27/10/2009) refer link- http://www.humanrightspartymalaysia.com/2009/10/27/1-rm-1915-billion-2010-budget-but/But how come these Millions for even the very basic necessity water and electricity does not ever reach these Indian poor homes? Why? This level of racism and supremacy does not happen in any other part of the world.
Who speaks for these Indian poor? PKR? DAP? PAS? NGO’s? Malaysiakini.com? Indian elite?
P.Uthayakumar.
P.Uthayakumar’s presentation at Bloggers Universe Malaysia, BUM 2010: Blogger’s roles to bridge religious divide.
P.Uthayakumar’s presentation at Bloggers Universe Malaysia, BUM 2010 on 22/5/2010 at 6.00pm to 7.30p.mVenue : Lake View Club, Subang
Organiser : bum4msia.wordpress.co
Blogger’s roles to bridge religious divide.
Good evening to all of you present here this evening.
I often drive up and down the north south highway, as I am sure many of you do. As we drive down that highway, we see trees, oil palm trees, rubber trees, that line the sides of the highway and our thoughts ,very likely wonder at the order and beauty in all of that,….. and we go on. But, we do not think of what goes on behind the neat lines
of these trees, let alone deep inside those lines – the history, the socio-political processes, the struggles, in short, about the lives of people that cause these trees.I stand here today to present, to represent the views from deep inside behind those trees. And often times these views are not pretty. I present them with candor and I present them with some anger.
Now let me share some of those thoughts with you.
Let me take you a hundred years back. These tree that line the highway today were first planted then as trees of commercial profit. The imperative of the profit flow from these trees needed a large stable workforce.
History has it that the poorest from South India were targeted and millions plucked out and brought here and supplanted deep behind those trees. To make this workforce stable and sustainable, deriving from the profit flow imperative, their villages in India were mimicked and rural Indian communities were
built up here deep inside the Malaysian forests. And so it has gone on throughout Malaya, a social phenomenon driven by the imperatives of profit –rural Indian communities came to be a significant part of the social landscape of our country. And then all of a sudden with the change of ownership of the plantations in the last 50 odd years, these communities had to go, to give way for what we all call development. These people just had to go.
Given the logic and the laws of those in power, these people had no rights to the lands whatsoever on which they had lived for
generations, creating profit flow for the elites of our country . By the law, they cannot make any claims to ownership of land that had formed their villages, they had no rights to any of the infrastructure in and around the village – their places of worship do not belong to them , their burial grounds do not belong to them, the schools do not belong to them, none of the community facilities belong to them. There is nothing left for them. The law now dictates that all of that is sitting illegally on someonelse’s land.By these brazen laws, which completely lack morality ,the entire fabric of the social life of the Indian poor has been smashed. They are atomized into a new wilderness of the urban spaces. In the cities, they try to recoup in the shanties, in the squatter colonies and in
the low cost settlements and try to rebuild their communities. They own nothing here, either. The long arm of the logic and the law extends here tooSo net, net…..
1 ) places of worship continue to be demolished – till today. This is a well documented phenomenon. I do not need to go into the specifics but to say that several hundred temples have been demolished in the last few years. 2) burial grounds continue to be destroyed with impunity all over the country.
When all of this happens to a marginalized community, it just does not seem to matter to the rest of Malaysia. They are superfluous anyway. They are a society outside of society. They don’t exist, the phenomenon never happened. Each vertical community has its own way of discounting all of
this. I do not want to get into that here.Again I remind you, I am speaking of the views from deep inside behind those neat lines of trees that line the highway. Not of the neat highways nor of the trees that line the highways.
I
n an era of plenty and prosperity for many in the country, it is time that this issue be addressed squarely and with candour. We need to get this into the mainstream of discussion, so these dispossessed and abandoned poor will be able to get back on to the national agenda. The thought that this has gone on for so long, with utter and sometimes purposeful neglect and with impunity gives me my anger. Now, on the question of religious divide let me add these perpectives
The forces that are demolishing the Hindu poor way of life are doing so without any care or responsibility to understand or appreciate
the rights and needs of this impoverished community. And this then creates the divide because those that choose to demolish are not Hindus. And the intensity and impunity with which this demolition has happened causes the the divide to grow. Then neglect not only by the political elite – Malay, Chinese Indian without distinction, but also by all of civil society, NGOs, Rights organizations and the 
Media adds to the growing divide.The econ0omic imperative over the years has also set in motion two other critical tendencies exacerbating the situation. They are the ethnocentrism or to put it more bluntly – racism, that is steadily growing and religious intolerance of the Islamists in ruling elite against the religious rights of the minorities.
These two tendencies converge in the national policies and are most evident at the periphery where most of the Indian poor live. The Indian poor are powerless against the onslaught from the ruling elite encompassing the poltical elite, big business of all shades, the
a
dministration, the judiciary and the police.1) The NEP is an expression of this onslaught. Opportunities are blocked for those that do not count in the political reckoning of the elite. With opportunities blocked this way and because of the many exigencies of life, many from among the Indians convert to Islam. Opportunities open up for such converts, though it may not be the same as for the Muslims by birth, but new opportunities do open up.
2) They then run into the second of the emerging trends of religious intolerance, that of the Islamist extremists among the ruling elite. Even as opportunities open up for the converts, it opens up a Pandora box of problems in the lives of the people they leave behind. The entire ruling elite then gets together to force the issue. Recent incidents of body snatching are testament to this tendency. Example ;
M. Moorthy, the Malaysian hero who climbed Mount Everest, died in December 2005. The Islamic religious authorities obtained a Syariah Court order, in his widow S. Kaliammal’s absence, declaring him a Muslim when he died.
Kaliammal tried to have her deceased husband declared a Hindu at the time of his death by the High Court
Cases of conversion of children by one parent against the wishes of the second and the subsequent endorsement by the civil courts or the abdication of the responsibilities by the Higher civil courts to the inferior Sharia courts are nothing but further testament to this significant trend. Examples
Shamala is a Hindu Mother whose husband converted to Islam after 4 years of marriage.They had two children from the marriage.
Husband converted them to Islam without the knowledge
of Shamala
The Civil High Court did not recognise Shamala’s
rights as Mother of the children
3) The Administration has a bias to force conversions to Islam or to be partial to issues relating to conversions to Islam. There are many reported cases of forced conversions in government run or sponsored welfare homes. Example four year old Darshini whose name was changed to Darshini binti Selvarajoo. There are cases where a non- Muslim married to a Muslim cannot have a legal wedding without conversion. If such marriages are not registered their children lose their statehoods if they are all not Muslims. Example
Menachi 61 years old from Butterworht lived her life with Jamal till Jamal died. They lived as a Hindu and as a Muslim. Their marriage
was not registered in the civil registry because of the interfaith marriage.Menachi has no IC because she ran away from home when she was 12 or 13. They had 5 chiildren. 3 boys and two girls. The boys were brought up as Muslims and they have all their Identity documents intact. The Mother wanted to bring up the daughters as Hndus and till today they do not BCs and ICs.
The NRD officers keep telling her all her problems would be solved if she just converted.
The religious divide continues to grow because of these and other related issues. Are we to just accept all of this, those of us that are in the know, and then let the affected live a life of shameful indignity?
This is the question I pose to you all. Are we, the bloggers, the so called people in the know, to just accept all of this, and let the affected live a life of shameful indignity. Are we?
We the bloggers are supposed to be concerned citizens. We are the intellectuals of this society. There is much that is not understood by people at large, because it just fits the purpose of the greedy elite to maintain that ignorance and mistaken and harmful beliefs among the people. Now, with technology so readily available, the intellectual becomes the blogger. The intellectuals must lay the picture out clearly and objectively to the people so they can see the truth, that has been obscured to them by the elite of the country. We have to undo what the mainstream media has done. We have to help people understand the situation objectively, so we can contribute to closing the divide, not only the religious divide, but also the ethnic divide.
But first the problem of the religious divide has to be understood by us,for what it really is. The bloggers have a role to understand the socio-political mechanisms that contribute to this divide. Bloggers must play an active role in the discourses that go to understand the objective basis of these phenomena. We must not become victims of narrow belief systems ourselves.
For instance, in this presentation of mine, I do not how many of you are receiving what I am saying objectively and not being judgemental or dismissing what I am saying because of some previous notions, based on a belief system that rather tends to reinforce status quo.. If we all had the answers from where we stand, we will not need this kind of discourses. The bloggers have to be educated before they can educate.
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Many accuse me of being sectarian, of only raising Indian and Hindu religious issues. If the blogging community, or the so called opposition parties really do their jobs of raising issues based on the gravity of the situation rather than on its ethnicity, then I would not at all have to take the position that I take, I would be unemployed. But the fact is this – the political opposition parties and the civil society members of whom the bloggers are an integral part do not rise to this occasion. The bloggers all have become victims of the sectarianism and the ethnocentrism that runs so deep within our system – again let me reiterate, this is the view from deep inside and behind those neat lines of trees.
The history of our country has not been written in an objective manner that there is a general agreement on what has happened. That gives for many and different interpretations and a very poor starting point for the building of a great nation. The current entrenched greedy elite further aggravate matters by feeding ethnocentric and religious extremist tendencies within our society and live off the polarization that occurs. Polarization feeds the elite. Clearly this is all not the stuff by which a great country will be built.
The bloggers therefore have a role to play to bring about unity of understanding within our society to start with or to put it in the words of this seminar, the bloggers must play an objective and learned role to narrow the ethno-religious divide that besieges our society. This is my summary on the role that bloggers need to play in bridging the religious divide.
With that I would like to thank BUM for having given me an opportunity to address all of you here today, maybe to begin an era of better understanding.
Zero Indians in government food courts. Indian Roadside stalls immediately demolished (See UM 4/5/2010 at page 26).
A poor Indian without much education who is prepared to work hard and earn a decent living is not allowed to open up a roadside stall unlike the malay muslim as per the photo here.Their stalls would be confiscated or demolished within days if not weeks.
But the Malays are given a leeway even for ten years or even twenty years like in Kg. Kerinchi until they are relocated to some food court or other or make enough money to open up their own food shops.
And these poor Indians are denied by UMNO almost 100% of the stalls in government build lower rental food courts. Why? And PKR, DAP and PAS will never question this racism but would instead allege HRP & Hindraf to be racist for pointing out this grave racism.
S.JAYATHAS
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