Indonesia volcano active again

Mount Merapi spews ash and lava after killing more than 30 people on the island of Java earlier in the week.

The Mount Merapi volcano has started rumbling and spewing clouds of ash and lava again, after killing more than 30 people earlier this week.

There were no reports of new injuries or damage, but officials on Friday evacuated hundreds more villagers living around the slopes and extended the danger zone from eight to 10 kilometres.

Clouds of hot gas reached as high as one kilometre above the mountain's 2,968 metre peak, and thick dust spread to villages nearby.

Government volcanologists said the activity was not a fresh eruption and could help to stabilise Mount Merapi following Tuesday's series of deadly eruptions.

"It shot heat clouds at 6:10am as far as 3.5km down its southeastern slopes and followed this with ash rain," Heru Suparwoko, a volcanologist, told the AFP news agency.

"It's definitely dangerous for anyone who might be in the path of the heat clouds."

Several blasts occurred in the following hours.

The activity appeared to be easing pressure behind a lava dome that has formed in the crater, Safari Dwiyono, a scientist who has been monitoring Merapi for 15 years, said.

"If the energy continues to release little by little like this, it reduces the chances of having a bigger, powerful eruption," he said.

Thousands evacuated

More than 40,000 people are living in temporary shelters near the city of Yogyakarta after being ordered to evacuate a 10-kilometre danger zone on Monday.

The villages of Kinahrejo, Ngrangkah, and Kaliadem were devastated on Tuesday.

Officials have later brought cows, buffalo and goats down the mountain so that villagers would not try to go home to check on their livestock.

Al Jazeera's Step Vaessen, reporting from the capital, Jakarta, said authorities were having some difficulties trying to convince people to stay in the camps.

"There was a bit of a strange incident this morning, with the police chief himself going up the mountain as the eruption was taking place," she said.

"There were pictures on local television showing him forcing himself up to the top. He wanted to see if there were still people up there, because farmers are still going back to the villages despite the highest alert level."

Officials said ash from the volcano was threatening a 9th-century temple complex that is one of the country's most popular tourist attractions.

The famed Borobudur temples, which draw millions of visitors every year, have been closed to the public so workers can clean off a blanket of white ash from Tuesday's eruptions.

Marsis Sutopo, head of the temple conservation office, said there were concerns the acidic soot will speed the decay of the stones.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

SLAP IN RACIST UMNO’S FACE– Indian Government responds to Hindraf/HRP’s request for scholarships for high performing Malaysian Indian students denied educational opportunities in Malaysia.

PM grants Rs 5 cr for Indian scholarship fund in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has announced a grant of Rs five crore to augment the Indian scholarship fund for ethnic Indians in Malaysia.

Dr Manmohan, who is in Malaysia on a state visit, made the announcement while addressing the Indian community here.

The fund was set up in 1946 by the former Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, to assist Malaysian-Indian students. With the new grant, the corpus of the fund will be Rs 7.55 crore.

Malaysian-Indians had requested the Indian Government to allot some quota for their students. The Prime Minister also announced 20 scholarships for Malaysian students to study traditional system of medicine in India. — PTI

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blnus/14281101.htm
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PM grants 5 crore rupees to augment scholarship prog in Malaysia

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today announced a grant of five crore rupees to augment the Indian scholarship fund for ethnic Indians in Malaysia.

Singh, who is in Malaysia on a state visit, made the announcement while addressing the Indian community here.

The fund was set up in 1946 by former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to assist Malaysian-Indian students. With the new grant, the corpus of the fund will be 7.55 crore rupees.
Malaysian-Indians had requested Indian government to allot some quota for their students.
Singh also announced 20 scholarships for Malaysian students to study traditional system of medicine in India.

Muslim-majority Malaysia's 27 million people are 25 per cent ethnic Chinese and eight per cent ethnic Indians, who are mostly Hindus from Tamil Nadu.

Earlier, a Malaysian party had requested Singh to let more Malaysian-Indian students in India to study alleging that capable students were unable to get admission in universities here.

The Human Rights Party, which evolved after the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF) was outlawed in 2007, alleged that though Malaysia had one of the largest Indian populations outside India, they felt marginalised in their own country.

The pro-India Human Rights Party was launched by P Uthayakumar, an ethnic Indian who was one of the Hindraf leaders

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/108261/pm-grants-5-crore-rupees.html

Triple blow to Najib's reforms

(Malaysiakini) On Monday, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak launched the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).

It was also the start of a week that saw the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) suffering a triple blow.

The first blow was Monday's tabling in Parliament of the 2009 Auditor-General's Report, which continues to be an annual tale of horrors of waste, mismanagement, misuse of public funds and corruption - as highlighted by headlines such as:

• Federal government debt hits five-year high;
• KTMB mired in RM1.45 billion debt;
• Only 18.2% of pupils bring free eBooks to school;
• Stimulus funds used for chandeliers, home theatre, government audit shows;
• PTPTN to face whopping RM46 bil deficit;
• PTPTN okayed RM23 mil to students who didn't apply;
• Million-ringgit scanner stuck in KLIA, under-utilisation woes;
• 'Sandwich kosong' for school kids, sardines missing.

The Auditor-General's Report, which was completed in July this year, was deliberately held back when it should have been tabled on the first day of the budget meeting of Parliament on Oct 11.

Clearly, this was done to avoid the "annual horror stories" from stealing the thunder from Najib's Oct 15 budget speech and his Umno Presidential Address on Oct 21 - testimony that the Barisan Nasional government is not fully serious and committed to the GTP, or even to Najib's "People First Performance First" mantra.

The second blow was on Tuesday, Oct 26, when the 2010 Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) was released.

The findings highlighted the failure of the key National Key Results Areas (NKRA) in fighting corruption, under which the new low of the CPI score at 4.5 in 2009 was targeted to increase to 4.9 by 2010. In actual fact, Malaysia's CPI score in 2010 sunk to the lowest in 16 years.

Worst-ever plunge in corruption index

During nine years under the premiership of Dr Mahathir Mohamad from 1995 to 2003, Malaysia's TI CPI score was stuck in the narrow groove of between 5.32 in 1996 and 4.8 in 2000, while the CPI ranking fell 14 places from No 23 in 1995 to No 37 in 2003.

In the five-year premiership of Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Malaysia's TI CPI ranking fell 10 places from 37 in 2003 to 47 placing in 2008, while CPI score stuck between 5.0 and 5.1.

In his 18 months as Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak presided over the worst single-year plunge in TI CPI ranking and score - a nine-placing fall from No 47 in 2008 to No 56 in 2009, with the score plunging to the lowest ever of 4.5 last year. 

For 2010, Malaysia's ranking is still at the worst spot of No 56, while the CPI score fell further to 4.4.

Abdullah's (right) National Integrity Plan, launched in 2004 with a five-year target to improve Malaysia's TI CPI from 37^th place in 2003 to at least 30^th position in 2008 and the 5.2 CPI score for Malaysia in 2003 to at least 6.5 by 2008 was an utter failure.

However, Najib's 18 months have seen both Malaysia's TI CPI rank and score plunge to new depths despite all the fanfare and hullabaloo of GTP, NKRAs and national transformation.

The third blow to Najib's GTP is Wednesday's release of 2010 Legatum Prosperity Index ranking Malaysia 43^rd out of 110 countries, behind Singapore - 17, Japan - 18, Hong Kong - 20, Taiwan - 22 and South Korea - 27, although ahead of Thailand - 52, China - 58, Vietnam - 61, Philippines - 64 and Indonesia - 70.

The Legatum Prosperity Index sub-index on "safety and security" ranking of Malaysia as No 52 out of 110 warrants serious attention as it impacts on our international competitiveness as well as another NKRA on keeping crime low.

Lowest press freedom index in nine years

Based on this sub-index, the publication The Diplomat recently published a photo essay on "The Safest Places in the Asia-Pacific". The 10 safest nations named were firstly Singapore, followed by New Zealand, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam and Kazakhstan.

The exclusion of Malaysia from this list is a national shame. What have the prime minister (right) and the home minister got to say?
Both before and after the 2011 Budget presentation on Oct 15, there have been more world-wide indices adversely affecting Malaysia's international competitiveness, for example:

• Lowest press freedom index in nine years last week when Malaysia plunged 10 places to 141 in the 2010 World Press Freedom Index - outranked for the first time by Singapore since the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) began releasing its ranking in 2002.

• World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011 saw Malaysia falling two places from No 24 to 26 - despite the warning of the GTP Roadmap in January this year of the nation's competitiveness "slipping significantly from the top 21 most competitive nations in the world three years ago to our current standing of 24".

• Malaysian universities falling out of the league of world's Top 200 universities for the eighth year in a row - whether in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2010-11, the QS World University Rankings 2010 or Shanghai Jiao Tong University's 2010 ranking of top 500 universities.

These are not the signs of a country prepared to take a quantum leap to escape the decades-old middle-income trap to achieve inclusive, sustainable high-income developed status in 2020 - but those of a country heading towards a failed state or a bankrupt nation in 2019, as warned by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Idris Jala.

'Time to wake up' warning not heeded

A veteran leader had warned that "it is time to wake up".
He said: "Without a doubt, Malaysia is slipping. Billions have been looted from this country, and billions more are being siphoned out of the country as our entire political structure crumbles."

Warning that corruption is the single biggest threat to the nation, he warned that corruption has become institutionalised in our political system and was ruining Malaysia.

Who is this veteran leader? He is the head of the Barisan Nasional by-election in Galas, the MP for Gua Musang Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

Will his views about the crisis of nation-building now be heeded?

Of course not - just as it is clear that the prime minister does not have the political will to implement the New Economic Model (NEM) that he launched on March 30 to transform Malaysia into a developed, competitive and high-income economy that is inclusive and sustainable.

Despite all its bombast and pyrotechnics, Najib's 2011 budget is not a child of the New Economic Model but bears all the marks of the old, discredited Mahathirish policies which have landed Malaysia in the middle-income trap for more than a decade, putting the country on a failed and bankrupt nation track come 2019.

The symbol of the 2011 Budget and the ETP is the proposed RM5 billion 100-storey Warisan Merdeka tower, which is a throwback to Mahathirish obsession with mega projects.

Even the young say 'no' to the mega tower

If Najib is seriously committed to a New Economic Model, based on economic, social and government transformation, wouldn't it be more appropriate for Malaysia to achieve targets of being ranked among the first 20, if not first 10, of the least corrupt nations in the annual Transparency International Corruption Perception Index or having at least 10 universities that are ranked among the Top 100 Universities in the world?

In fact, it must be asked whether Najib is secretly trying to out-Mahathir Mahathir (left), not only to build a tower higher than Mahathir's Petronas Twin Towers, but which could be acclaimed as the tallest in the world - however brief the claim? The "No Mega Tower" Facebook campaign was close to the 200,000 mark in less than 12 days.

The prime minister has asked the government to give priority to the social media and to respect the views of ordinary Malaysians, especially the young generation of all races. 

The majority using Facebook are young Malaysians and the prime minister should seriously cancel the 100-storey Warisan Merdeka project as it will only end up as a white elephant.

It has been estimated that the 100-storey tower with 3 million sq-ft of space will add to the glut of office space in Kuala Lumpur - equivalent to 7.8 years of office space supply based on the average annual take up of 1.72 million sq-ft in 1985-2009, even without taking into account massive projects announced recently.

In Segamat, its tallest 20-storey building, completed in the early 80s, has become a Tower for Birds, housing swiftlet farms, with only the ground floor occupied. Let's not end up with the highest swiftlet farm in Malaysia, and probably in the world!

This an excerpt of DAP national adviser and MP for Ipoh Timor Lim Kit Siang's speech in Parliament on the 2011 Budget, delivered on Oct 27.

Anwar’s lawyers to prosecution: Show all evidence

Karpal: Any document used by the prosecution must be served to the defence...if it’s mandatory to be supplied before trial, it automatically must follow it can’t be produced during the course of the trial.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will know on November 22 if he gets to see medical notes which his lawyers argue the prosecution needs to produce along with all evidence, even if it is detrimental to their case.

The High Court fixed that date to deliver the decision if the handwritten notes of three Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) doctors will be made available to the defence team for the Opposition Leader in his sodomy trial.

Judge Datuk Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah said so after an hour-long submission by lead defence lawyer Karpal Singh, who said that Mohd Zabidin should “take his time” to form a proper judgment with detailed explanation. The three HKL doctor’s handwritten medical examination notes were recorded during a three-hour examination of Saiful on June 28, 2008.

Earlier on during the trial, Karpal told the court that it needed to review an earlier decision made which disallowed Anwar’s team access to the medical notes.

The white-haired lawyer-cum-politician explained that the credibility of SP2-Dr Razali Ibrahim (one of the three doctors) hinged on the data and materials in the medical notes, and that the defence would be able to scrutinise his judgment on the examination of Sodomy II accuser Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan should they be furnished with the said notes.

‎“Even if the defence is not entitled to material, your lordship should demand it..your lordship would be abdicating your duty if your lordship does nothing about it,” said Karpal.

The veteran lawyer said that the defence team was acting on a “hunch” that they would be able to prove that the testimony of Dr Razali as well as the other doctors would be “contradicted” by their own handwritten medical notes.

“Even a kindergarten kid can tell a two-liner is not a detailed report. Hence, the court should provide us with the clinical notes for us to prove and possibly challenge the witness testimony,” claimed Karpal.

He then took a shot at Dr Razali, saying that he was “evasive” during the defence’s cross-examination and did not make any “sense” whatsoever.

‎“He refused to refer to notes to refresh his memory,” said Karpal, alleging that the witness did it to deny the defence a chance to look at the notes.

Besides that, Karpal also demanded that Saiful’s toxicology reports be rendered “inadmissible” because the prosecution did not supply it to the defence prior to or even during the trial.

“We say that the document cannot be used for any purpose whatsoever. It is inadmissible because it was not supplied to us prior or during the commencement of the trial.

“Any document used by the prosecution must be served to the defence...if it’s mandatory to be supplied before trial, it automatically must follow it can’t be produced during the course of the trial,” added Karpal.

In response, Solicitor-General II Datuk Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden said that the defence could not demand for the medical notes based on a “hunch”alone, and must show material contradiction and evidence of discrepancy to justify their application.

“So far the defence has not shown any material contradiction or unexplained circumstances (to ask for the medical report) and (yet)challenged the witness’ testimony,” said Yusof.

Yusof also added that the chemist who prepared the toxicology report has yet to be called to testify, and the report has not been marked as an exhibit.

He maintained that the medical notes can only be given to the defence team should the prosecution’s witness decided to refer to it.

“It is wrong that the defence should be given all the latitude as this is the prosecution’s case. The witness (Dr Razali) did not apply to look at the notes,” said the lead prosecutor.

Anwar, the 62-year-old PKR de facto leader, is currently facing sodomy charges for the second time in his life.

The former deputy prime minister is charged with sodomising Saiful at Unit 11-5-1 of the Desa Damansara Condominium in Jalan Setiakasih, Bukit Damansara here between 3.01pm and 4.30pm on June 26, 2008.

Anwar has denied the charge, describing it as “evil, frivolous lies by those in power” when the charge was read out to him. He is charged under section 377B of the Penal Code and can be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years’ jail and whipping upon conviction. The trial is taking place 18 months after Anwar was charged in court in August 2008.

He was charged with sodomy and corruption in 1998 after he was sacked from the Cabinet and was later convicted and jailed for both offences. He was freed in September 2004 and later resurrected his political career by winning back his Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat in a by-election in 2008, which had been held in the interim by his wife.

He had two years ago led the opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat, to a historic sweep of five states and 82 parliamentary seats in Election 2008.

'Missing' allocations: MP takes govt to court

By Rahmah Ghazali - Free Malaysia Today

KUALA LUMPUR: An opposition leader has dragged the government to court over its failure to provide allocations for the Sungai Siput parliamentary constituency for the past three years.

Parti Sosialis Malaysia's (PSM) Dr D Jeyakumar, who is also the MP for Sungai Siput, filed for a judicial review with the High Court here this morning.

In his 12-page application, he named director-general of the implementation and coordination unit of the Prime Minister's Department, director of the Perak State Development Office and the government as respondents.

The application was filed through lawyer Daniel Albert from Sreenevasan Advocates and Solicitors.

Jeyakumar was also seeking reliefs, among others, that a writ of “quo warranto” (court order) be issued against the respondents and that each of them show cause and give information as to their authority to exercise, vest and/or delegate the discretion to approve and disburse funds from the Federal Consolidated Funds which are allocated in Budget 2010 and any annual federal budget to the Prime Minister's Department.

The application also stated that the government's failure to provide allocations went against Article 8(1) of the Federal Constitution where the Special Constituency Allocation must be provided and be available to all Members of Parliament equally.

Speaking to reporters later, Jeyakumar said that he had not received any allocation since he won the constituency in the 2008 general election after defeating MIC president S Samy Vellu.

'Missing' funds

The MP said his numerous applications to the government and land office for the allocations were turned down for no apparent reason.

“When I became MP, I applied in 2008, 2009 and this year as well but I didn’t get a single sen. I also heard that all MPs from the opposition did not get (the allocations). The funds were only provided to BN MPs,” he said.

Although the allocation scheme had been in existence since 1975, he said, no opposition MP had received the funds.

"When I wrote again, they said that Sungai Siput received RM950,000 in 2008. However, they refused to answer when I asked who were given the funds.

“So every year they say they give allocations but I do not get any answer when I ask who received the money," he said.

Jeyakumar said he received a letter recently, stating that RM1.7 million was allocated to Sungai Siput from funds provided under the Prime Minister’s Office.

"It also said the funds were dispersed to a Chinese school, a Methodist school and an orphanage. When I checked with the schools, they said they never received the funds," he added.

He also claimed that he was in the dark over the amount of allocations, as the amount for each year was different.

Asked about his chances in winning the case, Jeyakumar replied: "We will give a good fight. When I fought in Sungai Siput (against Samy Vellu), many people said I had no chance of winning. But I want to be realistic. Let's push the boundaries and we see what happens.”

PKR polls run into problems in Kelantan

By Fazy Sahir - Free Malaysia Today

PETALING JAYA: PKR's election to pick national leaders has run into a major glitch in Kelantan involving the Tumpat and Kota Baru divisions.

The voting at these two divisions, which are said to favour party Federal Territories chief and supreme council member Zaid Ibrahim for deputy president, has yet to start although voting was supposed to have begun at 10am.

PKR is the first political party in the country to introduce the "one-member, one-vote" system where party members are given the opportunity to pick national leaders directly. It is estimated that a total of 400,000 PKR members would be eligible to cast their ballots to pick the national leaders.

All eyes are on the deputy president battle with three "big names" in contention. Apart from Zaid, PKR vice-presidents Mustapha Kamil Ayub and Azmin Ali are also in this battle royale. The president post was won uncontested by Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, wife of PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim.

PKR member Adnan Ibrahim told FMT that in Kota Baru as at 10am today, ballots for the PKR Wanita deputy chief post had yet to arrive, thus delaying the entire voting process.

He said he was informed by the Kota Baru PKR Wanita chief Wan Norjan Wan Sulaiman through telephone that voting had been delayed.

“Wan Norjan confirmed that there was a delay in the ballots to pick the deputy Wanita chief. The voting process has been interrupted because of this and an party election official only known by Joe and another election official from Rantau Panjang had decided to continue with the process despite this problem," he told FMT.

Meanwhile, he was also made to understand that the ballot papers for the Tumpat division only arrived at 12.10pm.

This, he claimed, made it difficult for members to vote as today being Friday, the Muslim members would have to perform their Friday prayers. Voting is expected to close at 4pm.

"This will give them very little time to vote. The problem should not have arisen in the first place. It should have been planned well but this is not the case. I hope this delay is not intentional as it is an open secret that these divisions had backed Zaid for the party number two post," he added.

Age, tough terrain no obstacle for Ku Li

GUA MUSANG: The wet and slippery dirt road into the interior made travel difficult, even in four-wheel-drive vehicles.
Age was also not on the side of the 73-year-old Barisan Nasional (BN) election director for the Galas state by-election.

But Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah had only one thing on his mind yesterday – to meet the Orang Asli community in two settlements, even if it were to take him all day to do so.

He accomplished the mission, spending almost 12 hours from 8.30am!

Some of the vehicles in the convoy got caught, at times, in the slush dirt road leading to Pos Balar, some 90km and four hours inland, and then on to Pos Hau, another four hours away.

Razaleigh, who is highly regarded by the Orang Asli in Gua Musang, spoke to the more than 100 Orang Asli in Pos Balar, assuring them that the BN federal government had not marginalised them from mainstream development.

"The federal government has provided various basic infrastructure, such as clinics and schools, and an allocation of RM10.8 million for the development of the Orang Asli in Gua Musang," he told the residents.

Future generations

Razaleigh said he would negotiate with the PAS government of Kelantan to give land to the Orang Asli for use as housing sites, burial ground and farmland so that they have property to pass on to their future generations.

"The 'ladang rakyat' apparently implemented for the benefit of the Orang Asli is nonsense because they become mere coolies when what they want is their own land," he said.

Razaleigh spent about an hour meeting the people of Pos Balar and then moved on to Pos Hau, by road for another four hours, to meet about 200 people.

Speaking to reporters later, he said the Orang Asli community raised questions with him, many regarding land.

"They want to own land and want to retain their reserve land without exploitation by anyone. They have lost much farmland and hunting ground, forcing them to lose their source of livelihood," he said, adding that he would raise the matter with the state government.

The Galas state constituency has 1,889 Orang Asli voters in five settlements – Pos Balar, Pos Hendrop, Pos Bihai, Pos Hau and Pos Brooke.

The by-election on Nov 4 is a straight fight between Abdul Aziz Yusoff of the BN and Dr Zulkefli Mohamad of PAS. It has been necessitated by the death of the assemblyman, Che Hashim Sulaima Sulaima, 46, of PAS, on Sept 27.

- Bernama

A legacy of apathy and neglect

By Michael Kaung - Free Malaysia Today

SANDAKAN: The Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition government, fighting to prevent the opposition from making inroads into Batu Sapi, is struggling to keep voter anger in check.

In a nine-day sprint to woo a bitter electorate in this enormous constituency that sprawls over an area half the size of Johor, the BN election machinery is struggling to placate supporters who had expected wealth and job opportunities to pour in during its long regime.

The opposition candidates' steady reminders to the voters of BN's inefficiency are not making matters easier.

PKR's Ansari Abdullah and the Sabah Progressive Party's (SAPP) Yong Teck Lee have been quick to pounce on the shortcomings of the BN, portraying the ruling coalition as inefficient and corrupt.

Ansari fired a broadside at the BN by questioning what the coalition had done for the people despite having Chief Minister Musa Aman, Deputy Chief Minister Peter Pang, Federal Deputy Minister VK Liew and the late MP Edmund Chong as their elected representatives.

The by-election is widely seen as a referendum on Musa's own record as chief minister and Sabah BN chairman. A loss in Batu Sapi would be a big blow to both him and Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) leader Joseph Pairin Kitingan.

Ansari, when releasing the PKR manifesto, accused the BN of being indifferent to the people's welfare after taking power.

He said this could be seen by the alleged land grab by the BN-led state government in Kampung Perpaduan in 2002-2003.

The village was established during the era of the now-defunct BN component party, Usno. Usno led the state government from 1963 (when Sabah gained independence) to 1976.

Land grab

The BN state government ordered Kampung Perpaduan demolished in 2002 to make way for a major development project.

Ansari, the lawyer who represented the families of the 3,800 households in the village, claimed that the Sandakan Municipal Council had entered into a joint venture with a company owned by one Nasir Yeo, allegedly a nominee of Musa.

"They invited the Sultan of Brunei to invest in the project and built two hotels, including a six-star hotel. There is a lot of land in Sabah, so why do you want to take people's land?" he asked.

The Kampung Perpaduan residents have a legitimate claim to their native customary rights (NCR) land, which has been ignored by the BN government, he said.

"This is recognised by the British... the British are more concerned about NCR than the BN government," he said, adding that PKR and PAS leaders had been harassed and detained for defending the villagers' rights.

Ansari and Yong's accusations have struck a chord. The constituency is pockmarked with shabby, shantytown villages by the waterfront, some of which have been razed to pave the way for infrastructure projects.

While development projects like roadworks are welcome, they have, however, displaced the villagers, many of whom have been left without shelter. They have been forced to find a new place to put up their squatter shacks.

The poor eke out a living as fishermen and odd-job workers and earn between RM10 and RM30 a day. A sizeable number of them are from the islands that dot the coast and are about half an hour to an hour by speedboat from town.

"The fishermen are still poor and the youths who can afford to leave have left to work elsewhere like in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu," said a frequent visitor to Sandakan who asked not to be named.

"They live in filthy conditions and it's hard to imagine that the government has not done anything to improve their living standards.

"Small businessmen complain that all the projects and contracts, even the small ones, are taken by the politicians and their cronies," he said.

"They are angry with Musa and Samsuddin (Yahya), Umno’s Sekong assemblyman. All contracts go to Musa's men."

Those who can afford, mostly the Chinese, have left the town to live in the housing estates and rented out their shophouses to others.

Weekend MP

The list of grouses includes land grabs, water scarcity, poverty, growing cronyism and empty promises by BN politicians.

BN has not been helped by the fact that Chong was seen as a "weekend politician" which has put his wife Linda Tsen, the BN candidate in the Nov 4 by-election, in a difficult position on the campaign trail.

"Her husband's record (as an MP) is poor," said Lim, a shopkeeper.

"He was seen as a 'weekend MP'… listening to the people only during the weekends.

"All these (BN) politicians have been talking big... they have just been coming and making promises and promises."

Tsen herself is seen as a "reluctant candidate", according to those attending the BN ceramahs.

"She is shielded most of the time from questions by her handlers like Yee (State Resource Development and Information Technology Minister Dr Yee Moi Chai).

"She's been unimpressive and at the same time, the PBS is at a loss without any proper machinery to get its message across even if it has one. It is depending on Umno to do the work for them.

"Money will swing the votes here again," said an observer, referring to the vast sums of money that have always been allegedly used to buy votes.

"The BN people have already started distributing RM30 or so to the poor. They are poor so RM30 is a lot… it's what they can earn in a whole day.

"It's all a question of money at the end of the day… this and the 'dubious voters' will decide who win," said a political observer.

NO HOLDS BARRED Friday, 29 October 2010 The Constitutional Conference of January-February 1956 agreed that a Constitutional Commission would be set to address many issues, one being to "safeguard the position and prestige of the Rulers" plus to "safeguard the special position of the Malays and the legitimate interests of the other (non-Malay) communities". There is no agreement on the Malays being accorded special rights and privileges and it was agreed that the new Federal Constitution of Malaya would be based on what the Constitutional Conference decides. NO HOLDS BARRED Raja Petra Kamarudin Read more 10 Comments Be patient, Perkasa tells Orang Asli NEWS/COMMENTARIES Friday, 29 October 2010 By Patrick Lee. Free Malaysia Today The Orang Asli must wait for the government to provide their much-needed infrastructure, according to right-wing Malay NGO Perkasa. “They (the Orang Asli) need to wait. (Prime Minister) Najib (Tun Razak) is taking steps to transform Malaysia,” said Perkasa Youth chief Arman Azhar Abu Hanifah. Asked how long the Orang Asli must wait before seeing results, Arman said it would take time. “Our country is big, and it is still young. It is only 53 years old,” he said. Read more 15 Comments DAP, PKR dismiss ‘secret’ pact to ensure Chinese rule NEWS/COMMENTARIES Friday, 29 October 2010 By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal, The Malaysian Insider PKR and DAP lawmakers have furiously dismissed the notion of a secret pact between the two allies to ensure Chinese rule should Pakatan Rakyat (PR) capture Putrajaya. Instead both parties trained their guns on ex-PKR MP Zulkifli Noordin, who made the claim, calling him a liar who was “spinning tall tales” to serve his “political masters” in Barisan Nasional (BN). Read more 11 Comments MCLM’s Social Contract NO HOLDS BARRED Thursday, 28 October 2010 This was our Agreement, our Contract, THE Social Contract, a Magna Carta of sorts. And that is why we defend this Social Contract in the form of The People’s Voice and The People’s Declaration with passion and zeal. NO HOLDS BARRED Raja Petra Kamarudin Read more 6 Comments The mystery of the missing initial report THE CORRIDORS OF POWER Thursday, 28 October 2010 In 2008, the police raided my house to look for the PUSRAWI medical report, which Malaysia Today published and which debunks Saiful Bukhari Azlan’s allegation that Anwar Ibrahim sodomised him. I was also brought in for interrogation with regards to that report. Two years on and that medical report is now said to be missing and the Prosecution declares it is not aware of such a report. Well, maybe we can republish it for the sake of the Prosecution. THE CORRIDORS OF POWER Raja Petra Kamarudin Read more 15 Comments Menara Tertinggi? Binalah Atas Gunung Kinabalu! A REPUBLIC OF VIRTUE Friday, 29 October 2010 Tidak, kita tidak perlu bermegah-megah dengan kecenderungan kepada megalomanic. Kita perlu melihat kepada keperluan semasa dan keutamaan ketika negara semakin hilang arah tujunya dipimpin oleh sebuah rejim yang mabuk kuasa bertunjangkan amalan pemerintahan strategi purba iaitu pecah dan perintah sebagai alat. Tidak, kita tidak mampu menanggung sebuah lagi menara kuasa. A REPUBLIC OF VIRTUE Dr. Azly Rahman (translated by Anonymous, from the English version) Read more 1 Comments Anal Retentive dUMNO speech LETTERS/SURAT Thursday, 28 October 2010 Written by dUMNO Yang Berhormat, Yang kurang Berhormat, dan Yang Tidak Dihormat, Datuk-Datuk, Nenek-Nenek, Tuan-Tuan, Puan-Puan dan para hadirin seklian. For the benefit of the NON's, I will conduct this important speech in England, just to prove that I can speaking it, terrer-terrer, like sebiji Orang Puteh. Let it be known that I will now "change my mode". Read more 8 Comments The Linda Tsen candidacy: Where did it come from? GUEST COLUMNISTS Friday, 29 October 2010 By Mariam Mokhtar, Malaysian Mirror One minute she is a housewife, devoted mother and part-time piano teacher; the next minute she is projected as the 'giant' and superwoman, who will restore BN's glory. They are expecting far too much of her in such a short, concentrated space of time. Read more 7 Comments A legacy of apathy and neglect NEWS/COMMENTARIES Friday, 29 October 2010 By Michael Kaung, Free Malaysia Today SANDAKAN: The Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition government, fighting to prevent the opposition from making inroads into Batu Sapi, is struggling to keep voter anger in check. In a nine-day sprint to woo a bitter electorate in this enormous constituency that sprawls over an area half the size of Johor, the BN election machinery is struggling to placate supporters who had expected wealth and job opportunities to pour in during its long regime. Read more 3 Comments RM465m paid for incomplete RM256m project NEWS/COMMENTARIES Thursday, 28 October 2010 By Rahmah Ghazali, Free Malaysia Today KUALA LUMPUR: The government has paid RM465 million to a company for a RM256 million job that it has not done, according to DAP publicity chief Tony Pua. The apparently scandalous deal was made in 1997 between the Defence Ministry and Kausar Corporation Sdn Bhd. Read more 14 Comments Saiful’s rectum was empty, doctor tells court NEWS/COMMENTARIES Thursday, 28 October 2010 By Debra Chong, The Malaysian Insider Surgeon Razali Ibrahim, who had examined Saiful Bukhary Azlan for signs of sodomy, told the High Court today he found the complainant’s rectum “empty”. Read more 30 Comments Malaysia’s Culture of Political and Social Oppression GUEST COLUMNISTS Thursday, 28 October 2010 By Nurul Izzah Anwar In recent years, Malaysia has seen a huge wave of migrations, with an estimated one million Malaysians now living abroad. The UK is now home to over 50,000 Malaysian citizens. Many travel to the UK to study or work, and choose not to return to Malaysia, often stifled by the lack of civil liberties and basic human rights in their own back yard. This is compounded by the race-based economic and social policies selectively championed by the ruling United Malay National Organisation(UMNO) that enriches a few at the expense of majority Malays who remain poor and where many non-Malays feel that they are often treated as second class citizens. Read more 7 Comments 'Secret DAP-PKR pact to keep Chinese in power' NEWS/COMMENTARIES Thursday, 28 October 2010 The younger generation must be taught the real historical facts surrounding the May 13, 1969 bloody riots so that they can be “exposed to the truth” about Gerakan and DAP. By Rahmah Ghazali, Free Malaysia Today Independent MP Zulkifli Noordin (Kulim Bandar Baru) today dropped a bombshell when he claimed that there is a “secret contract” between PKR and DAP to keep the Chinese in power if the opposition coalition takes over Putrajaya. Read more 21 Comments MCA boss: Dimwits in Umno should retire NEWS/COMMENTARIES Thursday, 28 October 2010 (Free Malaysia Today) - MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek has one piece of advice for Umno leaders who are not the brightest of bulbs – retire. Read more 14 Comments Gerakan challenges Umno to contest in Chinese areas NEWS/COMMENTARIES Thursday, 28 October 2010 (The Star) - Umno can go ahead and contest in Chinese-majority seats in Penang in the next general election if it is so confident of winning, said Gerakan secretary-general Teng Chang Yeow. Read more 18 Comments The Malay understanding of the Social Contract VIDEO Thursday, 28 October 2010 Read more 27 Comments Part 22: How one signature is worth RM614 million but which the MACC does not regard as abuse of power THE CORRIDORS OF POWER Thursday, 28 October 2010 You have seen how a ‘surat sokongan’ or 'support letter' can get you a government contract. You have seen how Malaysian ministers, deputy prime ministers and prime ministers dish out 'surat sokongan' by the truck loads. But what does this translate to in terms of money? Well, this one contract alone comes to RM614 million. THE CORRIDORS OF POWER Raja Petra Kamarudin Read more 18 Comments More Articles... * The Constitutional Conference also addressed amendments to the Federation Agreement (part 7 of the series on the Social Contract) * When you don’t trust your own people * Can the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement give life to the much talked about ‘Third Force’? * 246,962 register as voters in 3 months * 300 Malaysians * Of megalomaniacs and mega towers * Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #38 * Umno website Malaysia Instinct corrects the wrong Chinese version of Malayan history * Nurul Izzah questions ballot order in PKR polls * Najib pulling wools over rakyats’ eyes again with RM30billion. * UMNO/BN's Rakyat Diutamakan Down The Drain * Pls Help: Man faces torture for testifying cops beat detainee | Bkt Aman, 30/10, 10am * Social Contract & 1Malaysia * DAP Justice Reform Group * Bukit Larut - a natural treasure up for sacrifice? * « * Start * Prev * 1 * 2 * 3 * Next * End * » Page 1 of 3 Language Translation NO HOLDS BARRED Concluding the series on the Constitutional Conference which was the foundation of the ‘Social Contract’ (part 8 of the series on the Social Contract) News image The Constitutional Conference of January-February 1956 agreed that a Constitutional Commission would be set to address many issues, one being to "safegu... MCLM’s Social Contract News image This was our Agreement, our Contract, THE Social Contract, a Magna Carta of sorts. And that is why we defend this Socia... The Constitutional Conference also addressed amendments to the Federation Agreement (part 7 of the series on the Social Contract) News image The Federation of Malaya Agreement was signed on 21st January 1948 and came into force on 1st February of that same year. A form of common citizenship was created f... When you don’t trust your own people News image In other words, Pakatan Rakyat does not trust their own party members and they also don’t trust their own candidates. So they ha... The Constitutional Conference was attended by the Alliance government and not Umno (part 6 of the series on the Social Contract) News image Appendix A of the report on the Constitutional Conference held in London from January-February 1956 shows that it was attended by the Alliance government of Malaya and not Umno. A... Why the mad scramble (UPDATED with Chinese Translation) News image Your position as division chief is not a guarantee or passport to becoming a candidate in the elections. You do not earn that undisputed right to contest the general o... The ‘Social Contract’ is signed and sealed on 8th February 1956 (part 5 of the series on the Social Contract) News image The Constitutional Conference agreed that Merdeka be given to Malaya in August 1957 subject to certain constitutional changes, as can be read below. To achieve this and to meet t... The Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) (UPDATED with Chinese Translation) News image Earlier this month, Tan Sri Sanusi Junid came to my house for dinner and we talked about the MCLM that is going to be legalised at the end of t... The agreement on the Malayan Civil Service (part 4 of the series on the Social Contract) News image The Constitutional Conference of 1956 between the British government and the Alliance government of Malaya agreed that a Public Service Commission will be set up and that it will b... ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ was not part of the Merdeka deal (part 3 of the series on the Social Contract) News image The Constitutional Conference, which was held in London from 18th January to 6th February 1956, was attended by representatives of the Malay ... * Concluding the series on the Constitutional Conference which was the foundation of the ‘Social Contract’ (part 8 of the series on the Social Contract) * MCLM’s Social Contract * The Constitutional Conference also addressed amendments to the Federation Agreement (part 7 of the series on the Social Contract) * When you don’t trust your own people * The Constitutional Conference was attended by the Alliance government and not Umno (part 6 of the series on the Social Contract) * Why the mad scramble (UPDATED with Chinese Translation) * The ‘Social Contract’ is signed and sealed on 8th February 1956 (part 5 of the series on the Social Contract) * The Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) (UPDATED with Chinese Translation) * The agreement on the Malayan Civil Service (part 4 of the series on the Social Contract) * ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ was not part of the Merdeka deal (part 3 of the series on the Social Contract) THE CORRIDORS OF POWER The mystery of the missing initial report News image In 2008, the police raided my house to look for the PUSRAWI medical rep... Part 22: How one signature is worth RM614 million but which the MACC does not regard as abuse of power News image You have seen how a ‘surat sokongan’ or 'support letter' can get you a government contract. You have seen how Malaysian ministers, deputy prime ministers and prime ministers dish o... Part 21: The surat sokongan, the SOP for Barisan Nasional News image Recently, the MACC were frothing at the mouth when they heard that certain DAP leaders from Selangor had issued ‘surat sokongan’ or ‘support letters’ for government jobs and projects. A... Part 20: Skim runding terus, which the MACC does not regard as abuse of power News image Now let us look at the New Economic Policy in action and how 'skim runding terus' or direct negotiation contracts are implemented, and at what cost to the taxpayers. A... Part 19: Can the MACC explain this? News image The Urban Development Authority (UDA), in joint-venture with Timang Saga Sdn Bhd (who holds 70%), will be developing the site of the old Pudu Jail in Bukit Bintang, Kuala L... MCA is actually right (UPDATED with Chinese Translation) News image Let’s hope I don’t get to say ‘I told you so’ after the Galas and Batu Sapi by-elections. Let’s hope the opposition, for once, gets to prove me wrong. I... Part 18: Set up the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission, says the MACC senior officer (3) News image On 7th December 2006, Ramli Manan of the MACC said that the MACC has been r... The trial of Anwar Ibrahim News image The 24-page report on the trial of Datuk Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim in the High Court of Malaysia observed on behalf of ... Part 17: The MACC head is a ‘useless fella’ and bad police officer, says the MACC senior officer (2) News image On 7th December 2006, Ramli Manan of the MACC said that the MACC head is a ... Part 16: The MACC officers are useless, says the MACC senior officer (1) News image On 7th December 2006, Ramli Manan of the MACC sent Sidek Hassan, the KSN, an... * The mystery of the missing initial report * Part 22: How one signature is worth RM614 million but which the MACC does not regard as abuse of power * Part 21: The surat sokongan, the SOP for Barisan Nasional * Part 20: Skim runding terus, which the MACC does not regard as abuse of power * Part 19: Can the MACC explain this? * MCA is actually right (UPDATED with Chinese Translation) * Part 18: Set up the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission, says the MACC senior officer (3) * The trial of Anwar Ibrahim * Part 17: The MACC head is a ‘useless fella’ and bad police officer, says the MACC senior officer (2) * Part 16: The MACC officers are useless, says the MACC senior officer (1) Top 10 This Week * ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ was not part of the Merdeka deal (part 3 of the series on the Social Contract) * MCA is actually right (UPDATED with Chinese Translation) * The Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) (UPDATED with Chinese Translation) * The agreement on the Malayan Civil Service (part 4 of the series on the Social Contract) * Part 19: Can the MACC explain this? * The ‘Social Contract’ is signed and sealed on 8th February 1956 (part 5 of the series on the Social Contract) * MAS Cabin Crew Lowest Paid in the World * Why the mad scramble (UPDATED with Chinese Translation) * Part 21: The surat sokongan, the SOP for Barisan Nasional * Malacca to be ‘developed state’ Oct 20...NOT Top 10 This Month * Umno panics and does a u-turn * Don’t you just hate it when someone says: I told you so? (UPDATED with Chinese Translation) * Part 4: The MACC NFA the case against Khir Toyo (1) * Part 5: The MACC NFA the case against Khir Toyo (2) * Part 12: Surat terbuka Dato Mat Zain bin Ibrahim * Part 10: The MACC NFA the case against Khir Toyo (7) * So, who was right, Anwar or I? * Part 9: The MACC NFA the case against Khir Toyo (6) * Umno is beginning to look better than PKR (UPDATED with Chinese Translation) * Musa Hassan, a thorn in Hishammuddin’s side RSS Feed 2.0 * Malaysia Today * The Corridors of Power * No Holds Barred * A Republic of Virtue * Dari Jelebu * Letters / Surat * Guest Columnist * Antara Kita * News / Comentaries * From Around the Blogs * Berita / Komentar * Special Reports BUY THE BOOK HERE **Paypal only option for now** AnswerTips-enabled This Site is AnswerTips enabled. Just double click on any word on this site to get a quick reference.

The Constitutional Conference of January-February 1956 agreed that a Constitutional Commission would be set to address many issues, one being to "safeguard the position and prestige of the Rulers" plus to "safeguard the special position of the Malays and the legitimate interests of the other (non-Malay) communities". There is no agreement on the Malays being accorded special rights and privileges and it was agreed that the new Federal Constitution of Malaya would be based on what the Constitutional Conference decides.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE FILE IN PDF FORMAT HERE: http://malaysia-today.net/files/ConstitutionalConference.pdf 

We are here, not because we are law-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become law-makers – Emmeline Pankhurst Halt PKR election 2010 immediately

By Haris Ibrahim,

Just received the press statement below minutes ago

_________________________________________

We are gravely concerned about the manner in which the Parti Keadilan Rakyat election is being conducted by the Central Election Committee (JPP) and the party secretariat.

Today is the first day of polling where thousands of party members are eligible to vote at the polling centres in several Kedah and Kelantan divisions, which should have begun at 10:00 am. However, we have received numerous reports that members were unable to vote at several divisions this morning and many have left in frustration.

From the information we have received, the following problems were faced by local members at the respective divisions:

1. Kota Bharu, Kelantan: Although the ballot papers for the other positions were available, the polling did not proceed because the ballot papers for the position of Vice Chief of the Women’s Wing were not available.

2. Tumpat, Kelantan: The ballot papers have not arrived as at 12:00 noon and the ballot boxes were also not ready. Thus, many members left for Friday prayers.

3. Langkawi, Kedah: The ballot papers arrived very late and registration of new members is taking place whilst the polls are ongoing, and it seems that some of these new members are being allowed to vote.

4. Alor Setar, Kedah: The ballot papers have not arrived as at 12:00 noon and many members left for Friday prayers without voting.

Three out of the four divisions mentioned above nominated Datuk Zaid Ibrahim for the position of Deputy President, and a sizeable number of members were mobilised to vote for him at the fourth division in Langkawi.

In light of these alarming logistical problems on the very first day of polling, we expect more serious problems ahead; especially considering that there are only 10 divisions polling today and there will be 79 more divisions polling during this weekend.

Although the JPP and party secretariat assured us that the election will be conducted professionally to ensure a free and fair election, the above problems have cast serious doubts on the entire election process.

After discussing these problems with Dr Molly Cheah (the Chairperson of the JPP) this morning, we are now even more disturbed as she claims that she is no longer involved in the management of the election process. Indeed, she said that she has no knowledge of the briefing of the candidates and/or their election agents that was conducted at the eleventh hour last night by the party secretariat. She also said that she regrets the problems faced by voters at the divisions mentioned above but she is unable to do anything about it.

In light of these serious concerns, the party election should be halted immediately and resumed only after all these logistical problems have been remedied. If the JPP and/or the secretariat proceeds without resolving these basic but fundamental issues, the party will lose the trust of its members and also damage its reputation as a party that fights for democracy and justice for all Malaysians.

Moreover, if the Chairperson of the JPP claims that she is no longer in control of the election process, then she should no longer hold on to the position and resign immediately. Similarly, if the party secretariat, which is under the responsibility of the Secretary General, is unable to perform their duties properly, then the responsibility for the conduct of the party election should be entrusted to others who can do the job.

Rashid Azad Khan Muhammad Firdaus Christopher

Election Agent, Zaid Ibrahim Political Aide, Zaid Ibrahim

Candidate for Deputy President Candidate for Deputy President

Medical Reports: Judge To Decide On Nov 22

Dari Malaysiakini

Perbicaraan liwat melibatkan Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim bersambung dengan mahkamah mendengar penghujahan daripada pihak pendakwaan dan pembelaan berhubung laporan kimia, termasuk ujian toksikolgi yang dibuat oleh pengadu Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

Peguam Anwar diketuai KarpLr Singh manakala Peguam Cara II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden akan berhujah bagi pihak pendakwaan.

Selepas itu, mahkamah akan diteruskan dengan pemeriksaan semula oleh pakar bedah Hospital Kuala Lumpur HKL Dr Mohd Razali Ibrahim.

Semalam, pakar bedah Am Dr Razali Ibrahim yang memeriksa Mohd Saiful Bukhary Azlan untuk mengenal pasti kesan-kesan diliwat memberitahu mahkamah, beliau mendapati rektum pengadu itu “kosong.”

LAPORAN LANGSUNG

9.07am: Mahkamah disambung semula oleh hakim Mahkamah Tinggi Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah.

Peguam CaraI I Yusof memberitahu mahkamah hari ini akan akan mendengar permohonan daripada pihak pembelaan bagi mendapatkan nota klinikal dan laporan kimia sama ada ia menepati Seksyen 51A Kanun Acara Jenayah.
9.13am: Karpal merujuk kepada keputusan Mahkamah Persekutuan berkenaan asas pembelaan bagi mendapatkan nota klinikal.

Katanya, Mahkamah Persekutuan membuat keputusan bahawa dalam pra-perbicaraan kes itu, pembelaan tidak berhak untuk dokumen itu.

Karpal berkata mahkamah terlalu bergantung terhadap hujah pendakwaan bahawa nota itu tidak dirujuk, justeru tidak boleh diberikan kepada pembelaan.

Katanya, kredibeliti saksi pakar (Dr Mohd Razali) bergantung pada nota tersebut.

9.29am: Karpal berkata hakim akan dilihat tidak melakukan apa-apa sekiranya permintaan pembelaan tidak diendahkan.

9.38am: Karpal juga berhujah laporan ahli kimia tidak dapat diterima apabila pendakwaan tidak mahu memasukkan laporan toksikolgi Saiful sebagai sebahagian daripada bukti walaupun ia dilampirkan bersama laporan ahli kimia itu.

9.55am: Karpal berhujah bahawa melalui nota klinikal itu “kami akan cuba dan buktikan bahawa testimoni saksi pakar akan bercangggah dengan notanya”

Karpal menamatkan hujahnya dan kini giliran Yusof pula.

10.03am: Yusof mempertahankan bahawsa nota klinikal hanya akan diberikan sekiranya saksi memutuskan mahu merujuknya.

10.12am: Yusof memberitahu mahkamah, seperti dalam kes pembunuhan, hanya laporan bedah siasat akhir sahaja yang dikemukakan.

10.22am: Yusof berkata, tiada permohonan daripada saksi untuk merujuk kepada nota klinikal tersebut.

10.36am: Seperti laporan ahli kimia, Yusof berkata ia tidak mewujudkan prejudis terhadap tertuduh (Anwar).

10.55am: Sambil memohon membatalkan permohonan pembelaan, Yusof menegaskan pihak pembelaan tidak berhak mendapatkan laporan klinikal kerana tidak menepati Seksyen 155 dan 161 Kanun Acara Jenayah.

Karpal memohon masa rehat singkat.

11.16am: Mahkamah bersambung dengan jawatan Karpal.

Beliau mengingatkan bahawa menjadi tanggungjawab hakim bagi memastikan keadilan – di mana ia mesti banyak bergantung kepada bukti pakar.

11.24am: Hakim Zabidin menetapkan tarikh 22 November bagi membuat keputusan.
—–

Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial resumes today with submissions by the prosecution and the defence on the admissibility of the chemist reports, which included the toxicology test done on complainant Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

Both parties will also submit on the defence’s application to obtain the clinical notes taken by three Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) doctors during Saiful’s medical examination.

Anwar’s lawyer Karpal Singh will lead the defence submission, while solicitor-general II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden will argue on behalf of the prosecution.
Following this, the court will proceed with the continual re-examination of HKL general surgeon Dr Mohd Razali Ibrahim.

Yesterday, Dr Razali testified that Saiful’s rectum was empty when he inspected the alleged victim’s anus during the three-hour examination at HKL on the night of June 28, 2008.

This was despite that Saiful had earlier told the court that he had not defecated for two days after the alleged sodomy act.

LIVE REPORTS

8.36am: Solicitor-general II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden and deputy public prosecutors Mohd Hanafiah Zakaria and CK Wong are in court.

Also present are members of the defence team – Param Cumaraswamy, Sankara Nair and Australian criminologist and forensic specialist Dr David Wells.

8.47am: Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim arrives with his wife, PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, and daughter, Nurul Nuha.

He looks cheery although last night he was on the campaign trail and addressed two ceramahs in Galas.

In his early morning tweet on his return from Galas, he called on voters to defend the Tok Guru (Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat) Kelantan government against the BN.

The courtroom is still half empty – there are a number of Anwar’s supporters and his aides in the public gallery.

8.56am: Top defence lawyer Karpal Singh is wheeled in by his assistant into the courtroom.

9.07am: Court resumes with High Court judge Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah (left) presiding.

Solicitor-general II Yusof tells the court that today is for the submission on the defence’s application for the clinical notes as well as the admissibility of the chemist reports on whether they comply with Section 51A of the Criminal Procedure Code.

9.13am: Karpal refers to the Federal Court decision on the defence’s basis in getting the clinical notes.

He says the Federal Court had ruled that during the pre-trial of this case, the defence was not entitled to the documents.

“However, the apex court ruled the defence could apply documents during the course of trial.”

Karpal says the court had relied heavily on the prosecution’s submission that if the notes were not referred to, hence it (the notes) cannot be made accessible to the defence.

“However, the court has a wide latitude, and the defence has similar rights to do the case.”

He said the credibility of the expert witness (HKL’s Dr Mohd Razali Ibrahim) depends on the notes.

9.29am: Karpal says the judge will be seen as abdicating his duty if the court decides not to entertain the defence application for the clinical notes.

“Your lordship will be seen as sitting and doing nothing about it if the defence application is not allowed as truth must prevail.”

9.38am: Karpal (right) also submits that the chemist report is not admissible as the prosecution does not want to include Saiful’s toxicology report as part of its evidence although it is attached to the chemist report.

He said the Federal Court had ruled that if a document is to be submitted as evidence, the whole of it must be admitted.

“The defence is denied access to the toxicology report, but they want to admit the chemist report,” argues Karpal.

“We have been denied our right. Yang Arif (Your Honour) can’t just sit back and not do anything about it.”

If the documents, he says, are not admitted in its entirety than the whole chemist report should be rejected.

9.55am: Karpal argues that the defence is acting on a hunch that through the clinical notes “we will try and prove that the expert witnesses’ testimony will be contradicted by their notes”.

“We want to know the patient’s history. It cannot just be a two-liner as stated in the final medical report,” he tells the court.

“Even a kindergarten kid can tell a two-liner is not a detailed report. Hence, the court should provide us with the clinical notes for us to prove and possibly challenge the witness testimony.”

Karpal ends his submission. It is Yusof’s turn to submit.

10.03am: Yusof maintains that the clinical notes can only be given if the witness decides to refer to it.

He said the situation in India, which Karpal had earlier referred to, is different.

“What’s important is the experts’ evidence, and not the notes.”

10.10am: Yusof tells the court at the present stage of the trial, it is still the prosecution’s case and it can so chooses which evidence to tender.

“It is not yet the defence’s case.”

10.12am: Yusof (right) tells the court as in murder cases, only the final post-mortem report is submitted.

“The post-mortem notes is not submitted,” he says.

“It is wrong that defence should be given all the latitude as this is the prosecution’s case. The witness (Dr Razali) did not apply to look at the notes.”

10.22am: Yusof says there is no application for the witness to look at the clinical notes.

He adds that the defence cannot act on hunch alone, as the defence must show material contradiction and discrepancy to justify their application.

“So far, the defence has not shown any material contradiction or unexplained circumstances (to ask for the clinical report) and challenged the witness (Dr Razali’s) testimony.”

10.36am: As to the chemist report, Yusof says it has not prejudiced the accused, Anwar Ibrahim.

According to the solicitor-general II, the defence argued that they have been prejudiced because they are not given a copy of Saiful’s toxicology report.

Yusof points out that the chemist has yet been called to give her evidence, and the report itself has not been marked as an exhibit.

10.45am: DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang arrives and sits next to Wan Azizah in the public gallery.

10.55am: In pleading to dismiss the defence application, Yusof says it is not entitled to get the clinical report as it did not fulfil section 155 and 161 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

“The witness did not apply to see the clinical report. Furthermore, they had failed to show any material contradiction for them to act on a hunch to disprove the witness testimony.

“Furthermore, the defence cannot compel the prosecution to do so.”

On the chemist’s report, Yusof says the attached toxicology report on Saiful is not related, and would not prejudice the accused.

Following this, he asks the court to dismiss the application.

Karpal applies for a short break.

11.16am: The court resumes with Karpal’s reply.

He reminds that it is the judge’s duty to ensure justice, as the court depends a lot on the experts’ evidence.

“The expert is here to assist the court. He is duty-bound to tell the truth.”

Karpal promises to provide an Indian authority which the defence is relying on to show that the court can compel the clinical reports to be revealed.

11.24am: Justice Zabidin fixes Nov 22 to deliver its decision.

Umno’s ugly side revealed again

By Jeswan Kaur | Malaysiakini

What has made Umno president Najib Abdul Razak and his band of top officials so insecure as to use the Umno general assembly to harp on Malay rights and privileges?

Last week’s 61st general assembly once again revealed the party’s ugly side as Najib, deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin and vice-presidents Shafie Apdal and Hishammuddin Hussein reminded the ‘other races’ not to question the Malay rights and privileges.

In short, all three told non-Malays to leave the federal constitution alone with regard to Article 153, which assures the special privileges of the Malays and the bumiputera of Sabah and Sarawak.

Why does Najib play with public emotions by raising the issue? How dare he make the irresponsible remark that “the Malays had actually made the biggest sacrifice to achieve independence when they were willing to share the ownership of the Tanah Melayu, … their motherland, with the other races”.

The immaturity of Najib and his ‘three stooges’ has only confirmed their deep-rooted insecurity, as they shamelessly threatened non-Malays not to debate Article 153.

Najib, in spite of his 1Malaysia propaganda, showed his divisiveness when he made it clear that non-Malays must be thankful to the Malays for being allowed to take shelter in this country.

If 1Malaysia is his way to votes, then Najib is in for a rude surprise. He needs the votes of all Malaysians, but statements hitting out at non-Malays will only work in the opposition’s favour.

Umno is no longer a party that can be looked upon with admiration and respect. The party’s obsession with power – and absolute power at that – is terrifying because it is being achieved via the ‘divide and rule’ method.

Umno founder’s vision

Najib must bear in mind that Umno founder Onn Jaafar left the party because he was disgusted with its communal policies, after his suggestion to open membership to non-Malays was met with objection among the Malays.

Onn had the foresight to note the importance of inclusion but his vision was not appreciated by hardcore members. He then quit as Umno president and formed the Independence of Malaya Party whose membership was open to people of all races.

Najib and Muhyiddin should set an example as leaders who are wise enough to note the pulse of the nation.

When Muyhiddin (right) boasted that he is “Malay first”, for example, Najib should have admonished his deputy.

Instead, it was life as usual for both, with no regard shown for the sentiments of non-Malays.

Such remarks do not speak well of Malaysia’s leadership, and leave the people with little faith in the administration.

JESWAN KAUR was a journalist who spent many years writing for the mainstream media before deciding to ‘break free’ and put pen to paper to focus on and fight for issues that are conveniently marginalised by the powers-that-be.

Press Release: End police brutality now

The Malaysian Bar is deeply concerned with the “open verdict” delivered by the coroner’s court on 25 Oct 2010 in the inquest to determine the cause of Gunasegaran s/o Rajasundram’s death.  Coroner Siti Shakirah bt Mohtarudin found insufficient evidence to record a conclusion.

The Malaysian Bar urges coroners to be bold in highlighting discrepancies and failings during inquests so that the truth of a tragedy will see the light of day.  The inability of the coroner to make a definitive finding in this case, notwithstanding the strength of the evidence pointing to the culpability of the police, casts grave doubts on the effectiveness of the inquest mechanism and renders the whole process meaningless.

The three persons who were in police custody with R Gunasegaran consistently identified Lance Corporal Mohd Faizal as having physically assaulted R Gunasegaran.  They did so despite threats to their safety by the police and despite the inducement that their cooperation would secure their immediate release.  Their incontrovertible evidence stands in stark contrast to the inconsistent and conflicting testimony provided by the police witnesses. 

This situation highlights, once again, firstly, the requirement for those in police custody to have immediate access to legal counsel upon arrest, and secondly, the need for an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission, to function as an independent, external oversight body to investigate complaints about police personnel and to make the police accountable for their conduct.  

The Malaysian Bar is also troubled that K Selvach Santhiran, one of the three witnesses who identified Lance Corporal Mohd Faizal, was arrested on the night after the inquest verdict was delivered.  The police allegedly physically attacked him in front of his family before taking him away.  He is reportedly being detained under the Emergency (Public Order and Prevention of Crime) Ordinance 1969 for 60 days and held at an undisclosed location.  If true, such blatant abuse is clearly intended to intimidate those who speak up against injustices or wrongdoings perpetrated by members of the police force.

The Malaysian Bar calls on the Inspector General of Police to undertake a thorough internal inquiry and make public the findings.  The conduct of the police officers in question is tantamount to acts of torture that must be penalised.  Whistleblowers should be protected by the law rather than punished by law enforcement officers.

The Malaysian Bar urges that the police undergo more effective and holistic human rights education and practical training, with a view to changing the attitudes of law enforcement personnel and their methods in relation to detention, arrest and treatment of persons in custody.

The police cannot be permitted to continue to operate in an environment of impunity.

Lim Chee Wee
Vice-President
Malaysian Bar

Beneath Little India

by Dinesweri Puspanadan,



The Indian community has made important contributions to the development of Malaysia during the past hundred years. They have worked with sincerity and dedication. They have excelled at medicine, law, engineering and accountancy. They have participated at each stage in the building of Malaysia -- Dr Manmohan Sing, Prime Minister of India


Its a sense of achievement, pride, moment of silent high maniac, short period of mild ecstasy when the Prime Minister of India Dr Man Mohan Sing shared a very close to heart conversation with the Indian community in Malaysia during the Inauguration of LITTLE INDIA at Brickfields recently. For the tired ears which have been injected with heart stabbing and pride degrading racial slurs, India PM's words tend to be a source of an interim refuge.

What could be more fascinating for the residents there, who are mostly Indians when their congested and less popular neighbourhood turned out to be the center of attention which  bridged and strengthen the relationship between India and Malaysia.

Any Tom and Hardy, despite their mental slavery could verify the fact that Brickfields, has been standing proudly on the platform of Indian heritage; traditional food, costumes, savories, decorations, spices, and accessories which also stores memories of many family gatherings with some sentimental valued landscapes around  since our grandparents' thumb-sucking era.

Brim stacked shops beautified with authentic India decorations like Sakthi Rasam, Parampara incense and Gold Winner Sunflower oil plus grand welcoming archway seem convincing enough to crown the Brickfields street as 'Little India' which many claimed it  belittled the India.

Little India project, since the day one proposed, received mixed reactions from various groups. Unsurprisingly, 'barking agents' barked with baseless allegations, 'community welfare driven' people threaten to protest, and the biggest group;the clueless jokers, just clang on their 'favorite figures'  faithfully for a free publicity.

Looking it at a bigger context(as how some 'intellectual' people prefer), Little India might help to beef up the economy of this nation. A series of MoU and Agreement;

Agreement towards implementing Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) between Indiaand Malaysia on 1st July 2011
MOU on Cooperation in the Field of Traditional Systems of Medicine
MOU for cooperation in the filed of Tourism
MOU for Cooperation in the filed of IT & Services
Agreement between CSIR of India and UNIK of Malaysia on Research and Development Collaboration
Cultural Exchange Programme for 2010-13, 

signed between both Prime Ministers believed to improve access to each other's market. The mutual benefit that is expected to be achieved by both regimes is increase in the FDI. The visions look promising for who ever read the details of each MoU yet the yield of the project is questioned when we look at the reality of our current bastardized economy. With the hesitant of PM and his team to implement NEM, meritocracy, miserable leakage in the Budget 2011, wasting capitalism, the possibility for the people to benefit from a similar event is doubted.

Why dream to drive a Ferrari when desire to own an old kapchai seems to be difficult  to achieve? Narrowing down into the Indian community, we could hear many grouses from the grass root people. Some hawkers especially were not happy with the project earlier as they complained that the promised relocations for their shops were not prepared which actually affected their business badly.

A walk at Brickfields on one fine day wold explain to you the existing marginalization in the community. Between luxuries condominium and high class restaurants, 'poor and middle class families are trapped'. If you are frequent visitor, I bet you have bumped with kids selling pens or souvenirs. When asked about their identity, they uttered the infamous memorized sentence ' My family is poor and I am selling these things after school to support my family' but deep in our heart, we know that these kids controlled by syndicates who are taking advantage on them.

Despite the fact that the community sufferings contributed by their own attitude, with the implementation of 'Gigantic Projects'marginalization worsens which enlarges the economy and social gap between the people. As a result, urban poverty would be rampant!

You do not need a degree in Economics or Science Political to make sense of current situation and post a simple question; 'How does Little India benefit these 'Little Indians' as a whole?' We might need Little India for various reasons but with fundamental rights and necessities ignored and abandoned, dream to build a business empire is equivalent to building a sand castle in the air

Talking about exporting expertise or competing globally to folks at the street there is ridiculous when their basic rights are axed and necessity is jeopardized. Your talk about walking on the street or eating curry does not make sense to the folks who are struggling even to channel a decent income to the family for a month

In this context, what else Little India could be if not another plain rhetoric to boost the Public relation or another agenda to fish for Indians' votes for upcoming General Election. Perhaps the Little India is a 'help' to the people and the 'return help' maybe expected from the community very soon.

The fact that its too early to judge whether Little India is a successful project or a failed mission is undeniable. The yield could be only observed in the long run. However, we need to remind ourselves that unresolved issues at the grass root level could generate disastrous impacts which would contribute to the down fall of the society.

Is Little India promised wealth or planned disaster? Figures in the future shall speak for themselves...

Indonesia tsunami death toll soars

Number of dead tops 340 as questions are raised about the failure of an early tsunami warning system.

The death toll from Indonesia's tsunami has soared to at least 369 with 338 others missing, as questions mount over whether an elaborate tsunami warning system off the country's western coast had failed.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia's president, headed on Thursday to the disaster zone, where fears were growing for hundreds still missing following Monday's tsunami.

Three-metre high waves triggered by a powerful earthquake hit the Mentawais, a small group of islands 280km to the northwest of Sumatra, on Monday.

Disaster response officials said bodies were still being found on beaches and coastal areas in the Mentawais, which took the full force of the tsunami as it washed away entire villages.

Ade Edward, a West Sumatra provincial disaster official told AFP news agency that the death toll would climb possibly by as much as 200.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said on its website that 4,000 people had been displaced.

Al Jazeera's Wayne Hay, reporting from Sikakap on South Pagai island, said official government death toll figures are slightly lower that what local media are reporting.

Broken alarm system

As the magnitude of the disaster became clear, many began asking whether an expensive warning system - established after the massive 2004 Asian tsunami, which killed at least 168,000 people in Indonesia alone - had failed.

Tsunami survivors have said they had almost no warning that the wall of water was bearing down on them, despite a sophisticated network of alarm buoys off the Sumatran coast.

While an official tsunami warning was apparently issued just after the 7.7-magnitude quake, it either came too late or did not reach the communities in most danger.

"There are suggestions that in fact the [early warning system] has never worked properly since 2004," our correspondent said.

One survivor, Borinte, a 32-year-old farmer, said the wave slammed into his community on North Pagai island only 10 minutes after residents had felt the quake.

"About 10 minutes after the quake we heard a loud, thunderous sound. We went outside and saw the wave coming. We tried to run away to higher ground but the wave was much quicker than us," he told the AFP news agency on Wednesday.

He said he managed to stay alive by clasping to a piece of wood. His wife and three children were killed.

Dealing with disaster

The United States and several of Indonesia's neighbours have pledged help for a nation which often finds itself battling calamity, although Jakarta said it did not see a need for foreign assistance.

Barack Obama, the US president, lived in Indonesia as a boy and is due to return there on an Asian tour next month. Obama voiced his sadness over the deaths and pledged US help.

The Vatican also made appeals for international aid.

Meanwhile, Indonesian vice-president Boediono visited Munte Baru-Baru village, the hardest hit village on Pagai Island, where 88 bodies have been recovered.

Indonesia straddles a region where the meeting of continental plates causes high seismic activity. It has the world's largest number of active volcanoes and is shaken by thousands of earthquakes every year.

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake last year in Padang killed about 1,100 people, triggered by a 9.3-magnitude quake along the same fault line that caused the 2004 Asian tsunami.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

'Little India' brickfields launched

Soi Lek ada pemimpin umno kurang cerdik

Hishamuddin Rais: 23 years on S'pore, M'sia ex-ISA detainees speak out

PROTEST MEMO TO IGP ON 30TH OCTOBER 2010

Beating and abduction of K.Selvachandran by police.

The continuing descent of the Malaysian police force into lawlessness has been graphically demonstrated by the October 25th abduction and beating of K.Selvachandran by police personnel.

Selvachandran was a key witness who testified against the police in the recently concluded R.Gunasegaran inquest. On the very day the verdict was delivered in the inquest, police moved against Selvachandran. When Selva’s children asked police why their father was being dragged away, the police answered by beating Selva in front of his own children.

The trauma caused to the children is unimaginable and in gross violation of international norms on the protection of children. In a twisted perversion of conjugal love, police personnel tried to make Selva’s wife S.Saraswathy kiss him before beating him up in front of her. Selva, who did his duty as a citizen by telling the truth at the Gunasegaran inquest, is now being held at a unknown location with no access to his family or lawyers. It is believed that he is being detained without trial under the Emergency Ordinance.

The outrage done against Selva and his family is only the latest in a long series of police brutality cases going back into and beyond the Mahathir despotism.

WE FREE CITIZENS OF THIS NATION MUST MAKE A STAND AGAINST THE PREVAILING POLICE AND STATE VIOLENCE ! JOIN US FOR THE HANDING OVER OF A PROTEST MEMORANDUM TO THE IGP THIS
SATURDAY ( 30.10.2010 )10.00am
BUKIT AMAN FEDERAL POLICE HQ ( LAKE GARDEN ENTRANCE ).

S.JAYATHAS

Information Chief

Human Rights Party ( HRP)

012-6362287

MIC Chief Hopes Malaysians Businessmen Given More Project Opportunities In India

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 (Bernama) -- MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu hopes that Malaysian businessmen will be given more opportunities by the Indian government to participate in infrastructure development projects in India.

Speaking to reporters after meeting visiting Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh here today, Samy Vellu said he took the opportunity to request for greater trade and investment cooperation between the two countries.

He said in the past 10 years, Malaysian businessmen had played a significant role in infrastructure development in India, completing projects worth about US$20 billion, but the figure had dwindled of late.

"We have made a request so that we can send more contractors to participate in more tenders issued by the Indian government," the former Works Minister said.

Accompanying Samy at the meeting were Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam, MIC deputy president Datuk G. Palanivel, vice presidents Datuk S.K. Devasamy, Datuk M. Saravanan and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk T. Murugiah.

On Wednesday, Dr Manmohan said that India, which plans to raise its investment target in infrastructure projects to US$1 trillion, welcomed greater Malaysian participation given Malaysia's strength in the sector.

Samy Vellu said that he had travelled five times to India in the past two months, and described it as a "national duty" in a bid to talk to the Indian government and preparing grounds to open up more opportunities for Malaysian businessmen to venture into India.

"I believe the discussions will bring much benefits in the future. We also hope to be able to take part in activities that will be benificial to the country," he said.

Samy said he had also requested to Dr Manmohan to consider relaxing visa rules for Malaysian businessmen travelling to India as the current two-month visa was insufficient.

Meanwhile, Dr S. Subramaniam told reporters that presently there were about 45,000 Indian nationals working legally in Malaysia, with the majority of them in the service, construction, agriculture, plantation and manufacturing industries, while there was a sizeable of them working as professionals such as in the information and technology industries.

"We are also working with the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry to see how we can facilitate more professionals in the IT industry from India to work here, and help to strenghten our IT industry," he added.

Zul Noordin claims ‘secret’ PKR, DAP pact to ensure Chinese rule

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 — Zulkifi Noordin alleged today that there was a “secret contract” between PKR and DAP that will ensure Chinese dominance should Pakatan Rakyat (PR) take over Putrajaya.

The Kulim Bandar-Baharu MP, an ex-PKR MP turned independent critic of the opposition, claimed that even PAS was not aware of the contract in an inflammatory speech in Parliament today.

“The contract promises that Chinese leaders in DAP will be given autonomy in Penang,” said Zulkifli told Parliament during the debate on Budget 2011.

The independent MP who was once closely associated with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim lashed out at DAP, calling it a “chauvinist-infected party” and accused the party of being responsible for the May 13 riots in 1969.

“[Should PR take power] Malay candidates will be put in Negeri Sembilan and Perak. And if they win (in the states), they will pick a menteri besar from DAP to head the states,” he said.

Zulkifli and other independents in Parliament, who were former PR lawmakers, have denied claims that they are Barisan Nasional (BN) supporters, but his speech today echoes the oft used Umno line when attacking PR.

The Kulim-Bandar Baharu MP, however did not provide any details to his accusations as his speech was abruptly cut short by Deputy Speaker Datuk Wan Junaidi Jaafar.

Earlier on in his speech, Zulkifli said that Malaysians needed to be re-educated on the details of the May 13 riots so that they couls be “exposed to the truth” of the DAP.

What the party is doing, is they are playing up the same pattern of inciting racial hatred against the Malays despite being warned by Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj against doing so,” said Zulkifli.

According to him, the country’s first prime minister had warned DAP back then to not “question” Article 153 of the constitution as well as Malay rights.

“And this is exactly what DAP is doing now,” said Zulkifli.

The independent MP also defended Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s recent alleged inflammatory statements during the Umno general assembly, saying that Najib was “misquoted” by opposition.

Najib has come under heavy fire from the opposition for saying that he wanted to defend Putrajaya at all costs, as PR lawmakers have even brought up the matter in Parliament earlier this week.

Kit Siang labels Budget as ‘Mahathirish’ policy

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 — Lim Kit Siang claimed today that Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Budget 2011 was not a child of his New Economic Model (NEM) but instead “bore the marks of old, discredited Mahathirish policies”.

Addressing Parliament today, the veteran DAP lawmaker argued that it was exactly the policies of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad which had landed Malaysia in the middle-income trap it now finds itself in.

Lim (picture) contended that the Budget proposals was a throwback to the previous Mahathir Administration’s obsession with mega projects.

He said that the Najib Administration’s efforts in reforming the economy had been severely halted by three main setbacks — the release of the Auditor-General’s report on Monday, Transparency

International’s (TI) release of its Corruption Perception Index (CPI) in which Malaysia performed poorly, as well as the release of the 2010 Legatum Prosperity Index which ranked Malaysia the 43rd most prosperous out of 110 countries.

“Despite all its bombast and pyrotechnics, Najib’s 2011 budget is not a child of the New Economic Model but bears all the marks of old discredited Mahathirish policies which have landed Malaysia in the middle-income trap for more than a decade, setting the country towards a failed and bankrupt nation come 2019.

“The symbol of the 2011 Budget and the ETP is the proposed RM5 billion 100-storey Warisan Merdeka tower, and is a throwback to the era of Mahathirish obsession with mega projects.

“If Najib is seriously committed to a New Economic Model, based on economic, social and government transformation, wouldn’t it be more appropriate for Malaysia to achieve targets as being ranked among the first twenty if not first ten of the least corrupt nations in the annual Transparency International Corruption Perception Index or having at least 10 universities which are ranked among the Top 100

Universities in the world?” the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leader told Parliament.

The 2009 Auditor-General’s report, tabled in Parliament on Monday, has revealed various discrepancies on ministries and government agencies.

Among the discrepancies and wastages identified by the report includes a sharp increase in the federal government’s collective debt for the past 5 years, Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTMB)’s RM1.45 million debt,

PTPTN’s RM46 million deficit, and misuse of economic stimulus for chandeliers and home theatre systems.

“The Auditor-General’s Reports, which were completed in June/July this year, were deliberately held back when they should have been tabled on the first day of the budget meeting of Parliament on October 11, clearly to avoid the “annual horror stories” from stealing the thunder from Najib’s 2011 Budget speech on October 15 and his Umno Presidential Address on October 21,” said Lim.

The Ipoh Timur MP also said that Malaysia’s CPI drop “highlighted” the failure of the National Key Results Area (NKRA) in fighting corruption, which was targeted to increase the CPI score from the new low of 4.5 in 2009 to 4.9 by 2010.

“In actual fact, Malaysia’s CPI score in 2010 sunk to the lowest in 16 years. In his 18 months as Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak presided over the worst single-year plunge in TI CPI ranking and score, i.e. a nine-placing fall from No. 47 in 2008 to No. 56 in 2009, with the score plunging to the lowest ever of 4.5 last year. For 2010, Malaysia’s ranking is still at the worst spot of No. 56 while the CPI score fell further to 4.4

“Abdullah’s National Integrity Plan, launched in 2004 with the five-year target to improve Malaysia’s TI CPI from 37th place in 2003 to at least 30th position in 2008 and the 5.2 CPI score for Malaysia in 2003 to at least 6.5 by 2008 was an utter failure but Najib’s 18 months have seen both Malaysia’s TI CPI rank and score plumbed to new depths despite all the fanfare and hulaballoo of GTP, NKRAs and national transformation,” said the Ipoh Timur MP.

Lim said that the “third blow” to the governtment transformation programme was the today’s release of 2010 Legatum Prosperity Index ranking Malaysia 43rd out of 110 countries, behind Singapore — 17, Japan — 18, Hong Kong — 20, Taiwan — 22, South Korea — 27 though ahead of Thailand — 52, China — 58, Vietnam — 61, Philippines — 64 and Indonesia — 70.

It is understood that the Legatum Prosperity Index sub-index on “safety and security” ranked Malaysia as No. 52 out of 110, something which Lim said “warrants” serious attention on the Home Ministry’s ability to safeguard the country from crime.

Lim also echoed his other PR colleagues’ remarks attacking Prime Minister Datuk Seri najib Razak for wanting to go ahead with the 100-storey Warisan Merdeka skyscraper despite widespread public opposition.

An anti-Warisan Merdeka Facebook campaign which started as soon as Najib announced the plans for building the tower is fast gaining fans towards its cause — with nearly 200,000 Facebook fans who are against the tower’s construction.

“The Prime Minister has asked the government to give priority to the social media and to respect the views of ordinary Malaysians, especially the young generation of all races.

“The majority using the facebook are young Malaysians and the Prime Minister should seriously cancel the 100-storey Warisan Merdeka Tower project as it will not only end up as a white elephant which will be worst possible symbol for any national transformation in the country.

“It has been estimated that the 100-storey Warisan Merdeka Tower with 3 million sq ft will add to the glut of office space in Kuala Lumpur which will be equivalent to 7.8 years of office space supply in Kuala

Lumpur based on the average annual take up of 1.72 million sq ft in 1985-2009, even without taking into account massive projects announced recently,” said Lim.

Analysts have warned that by dismissing the opposition towards the construction of the tower, Barisan Nasional (BN) risks losing major support among voters.

Second shooter in Aminulrasyid case

SHAH ALAM, Oct 28 — A second gun was fired by police the night Aminulrasyid Amzah was killed, a ballistics expert revealed to the Shah Alam Sessions Court today.

Shaari Desa from the Department of Chemistry (DOC) Petaling Jaya confirmed that the bullet casings police retrieved from the crime scene and gave him for testing were fired from two separate Heckler & Koch (HK) MP5 sub-machineguns.

In methodical fashion, the chemist-by-training said that a comparison of the casings in question to those retrieved from firing tests in his laboratory indicated that 13 shots were fired from the HK MP5 marked as “X” by the police, while three other shots were fired from a similar firearm labelled “Y”.

The HK MP5 A3 with adjustable buttstock labelled “X” is believed to belong to Corporal Jenain Subi, who has been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder of 14-year-old Aminulrasyid.

The identity of the policeman who fired the fixed buttstock HK MP5 A2 labelled “Y” is not known.

However, deputy public prosecutor Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar told The Malaysian Insider that further evidence concerning the identity of the second gunman will be presented to the court at the next session.

Jenain, 48, a member of the Shah Alam district police patrol unit, is charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder of 14-year-old Aminulrasyid, who took a midnight joyride in a car and was allegedly mistaken for a felon on the run.

The Form Three schoolboy who would be sitting for his PMR examinations today died in the early hours of April 26 this year, believed to be between 1.10am and 2am.

He had been driving a white Proton Iswara with his best friend and neighbour, 15-year-old Muhammad Azamuddin Omar in the front passenger seat.

Their car crashed into the curb at Jalan Tarian 11/2, Section 11.

Jenain faces up to 30 years in jail and a fine if found guilty.

The trial will resume on November 9 with Shaari taking the stand once more. -The Malaysian Insider