Taliban office in Qatar approved by US

THE US has given its blessing for the Taliban to be brought in from the cold with a critical step towards reconciliation as the world paused to mark the 10th…

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THE US has given its blessing for the Taliban to be brought in from the cold with a critical step towards reconciliation as the world paused to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. 
 
Washington has endorsed plans for the Islamist network to open political headquarters in the gulf state of Qatar by the end of the year. The move has been devised so the West can begin formal peace talks with the Taliban.

As a potent reminder of the potential value of a truce with the Taliban, attacks by the Islamist network in Afghanistan yesterday left two dead and 101 wounded in a truck bomb, marking one of the bloodiest days for American forces since the US invasion 10 years ago.

The office of the self-styled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan would be the first internationally recognised representation for the Taliban since its fall in 2001.

The White House declined to comment on the development last night as Mr Obama addressed the nation on the anniversary of the al-Qa'ida attacks. In the decade since, there has been a shift in Washington's attitudes towards the Taliban and a growing official distinction between the Pashtun nationalists and their former allies in al-Qa'ida.

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Western diplomats said it was hoped the opening of the Taliban office would help to advance talks intended to reconcile insurgents with the Afghan government and bring an end to the decade-long US-led war.

Qatar is believed to have agreed to host the office after Washington insisted that it be located outside Pakistan's sphere of influence. The Afghan government has accused Islamabad of meddling in several previous efforts to negotiate with Taliban intermediaries in an effort to preserve its influence inside Afghanistan.

Western officials said the opening of the office would serve as a confidence-building measure in the lead-up to what they hope will become formal talks towards ending the war.

It would be an address where they had a political office, said one Western diplomat. It would not be an embassy or a consulate but a residence where they could be treated like a political party.

The diplomat stressed the Taliban would not be permitted to use the office for fundraising or in support of their armed struggle in Afghanistan. It is understood the Taliban is seeking assurances that its representatives in Doha, the Qatari capital, would be free from the threat of harassment or arrest.

The initiative follows more than a year of informal stop-start talks between Western diplomats and a senior representative of the Taliban, Tayyab Agha, at the home of a former Taliban diplomat in Qatar.

Abdul Hakim Mujahid, the former Taliban ambassador to Islamabad and one-time envoy to the UN in New York, said Mr Agha was negotiating with the personal authority of the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. Western diplomats said there was little hope of brokering a end to the conflict without his blessing. Previous attempts at negotiations have foundered over the credentials of intermediaries.

Mr Mujahid said the Taliban was seeking to develop its direct contacts with the US because it had little faith in Afghan President Hamid Karzai's ability to honour promises without US backing.

Additional reporting: Jerome Starkey, Kabul

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Official arrogance will bring Najib down

When he took over as prime minister, Najib Tun Razak said he will listen to the people but his officers have turned a deaf ear to the promise with their…

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When he took over as prime minister, Najib Tun Razak said he will listen to the people but his officers have turned a deaf ear to the promise with their arrogance.

COMMENT

In 2009, when Najib Tun Razak took over the country’s affairs from Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, he promised the rakyat that his government would be all ears. But two years down the road it appears that the promise was just lip service.

One such example of refusing to listen to the rakyat was displayed through the insensitive remark by the Federal Territories and Urban Well-Being Minister Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal.

In February this year, Raja Nong Chik had admonished the Bukit Jalil estate workers who turned to him for help in trying to avoid being evicted from their homes. The minister told the residents that they should be contented with the Little India project when they wanted to negotiate compensation.

Raja Nong Chik, instead of living up to the objective of his “ambitious” sounding ministry, told the residents that they should be glad the Barisan Nasional (BN) government had spent a lot of money on the Little India project in Brickfields.

Raja Nong Chik arbitrarily offered RM23,000 each to those who had worked in the rubber estate for more than 15 years and RM11,000 for the rest.

Initially, the offer was RM11,000 for those who worked there for more than 15 years and RM6,000 for the others.

Forty-one families had asked for three acres of a 26-acre land to build low-cost terrace houses as compensation for vacating the land they had been living on for three generations.

Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) had acquired their land in 1980 and pledged that the appointed contractors would pay their wages and make EPF contributions for working on the rubber plantation.

But the pledge was never kept and the residents demanded that DBKL pay up the outstanding wages and EPF contributions.

The residents were equally upset that their representatives were not allowed to speak at a meeting, which was attended by Raja Nong Chik’s deputy M Saravanan and Human Resources Minister Dr S Subramaniam.

Showing more disrespect

Raja Nong Chik, it seems, only allowed the residents to voice their grievances after much objection. The residents who had been living at the Bukit Jalil estate for three generations were given a mere week to consider the offer, failing which the minister threatened to issue them with eviction notices.

It was later revealed that the land belongs to Bukit Jalil Development Sdn Bhd, a property developer. Questions were raised as to why was the BN government negotiating on behalf of a private entity, in a typical show of abuse of power.

The residents were told that upon acquiring the land, the government would build a cemetery on it. But to an independent observer, Shin Choong Men, he doubted as to whether a cemetery would really be built there.

“Are you trying to say that a private developer wants to build a cemetery on this valuable piece of real estate?” Shin asked during a Press conference on this matter.

In August this year, Sarawak’s State Land Development Minister James Masing, labelled the Penan native customary rights landowners as thieves, accusing them of stealing oil palm fruit bunches from four major government-linked oil palm plantations.

Earlier on, Masing accused the Penans of being “good story tellers” when the Penan women and girls cried rape at the hands of timber loggers.

In the case of the oil palm fruit bunches, Masing lost his head because illegal harvesting of oil palm fruits had cost Land Custody Development Authority (LCDA) and its joint-venture partners some RM33.6 million in losses.


As far as Masing was concerned, the thieves were none other than the Penans.

“Stealing is stealing, no matter how you (the landowners) try to justify it. You don’t steal from your friend,” Masing had lashed out at the Penan community.

Masing’s finger-pointing outraged the Penan community in Kampung Ugos, Jambatan Suai, in Baru Niah, who took offence and proceeded to lodge a police report against Masing.

Drop the arrogance

Penan chief Ugos Sugon, who lodged the report on behalf of his people at the Batu Niah police station on Aug 12, said Masing had no right to call them thieves.

“We are not thieves… we are not happy at being accused of stealing from our own land. We have been waiting for our dividends for a very long time.

“In February 2009, after waiting 13 years we received a cash cheque of RM500,000 to be divided among us.

“The 500 of us in Kampung Ugos are to share the RM500,000… after 13 years. It is not right,” he said.
Ugos and his people had, in 1999, agreed to jointly develop their NCR land with the LCDA and its band of private investors.

However, the “deal”, according to the villagers, was somewhat unfair to them.

Many claimed that they had not even seen the agreement. The villagers believe the joint-venture project involving their NCR lands has made millions for LCDA and the private investors “in view of the very good oil palm price for many years”.

Early this month, Tenaganita director, Irene Fernandez, criticised director-general of labour, Sheikh Yahya Sheikh Mohamed, who was quoted in The Star, as saying that Malaysia was not “desperate” for Indonesian maids and could hire maids from other countries.

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

She had pointed out that Indonesian maids were turning away from Malaysia as an employment destination because of the poor treatment and official arrogance on matters concerning their welfare.

A slap to Malaysia

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

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

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

Two years ago, the Labour Department director-general Ismail Abdul Rahim commented that the Sexual Harassment Act “could lead to a dull and rigid environment in the workplace”.

Women, Family and Community Development Ministry revealed that between 2005 and 2008, there were 3,096 cases of sexual violence and harassment cases, including rape and molestation, reported to the police. Another 27 disciplinary cases involving the public sector were reported to the Public Service Department.

“Besides, sexual harassment in whatever forms, be it physical, verbal or psychological, was a serious offence under the Penal Code,” Women, Family and Community Development deputy minister Noriah Kasnon had said.

How should the rakyat perceive a department head like Ismail, who is least disturbed by incidences of sexual harassment at the workplace? One wonders what Ismail’s take is on the Rabia Abdul Salam case, an athlete who committed suicide 17 years ago after she was sexually harassed by her coach.

In December 2009, Immigration Department director-general Abdul Rahim Othman said a Malaysian transsexual fighting deportation from Britain would be punished for bringing “great shame” to Malaysia.
Mohamed Fazdil Min Bahari, a pre-operative transsexual known as Fatine, married a British man in a civil ceremony but was refused permanent visa on technical grounds.

Uncalled-for haughtiness

Abdul Rahim had said that once deported to Malaysia, Fatine could be banned from travelling overseas for at least two years, all because she brought “great shame” to the country.

In April this year, Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister, Noh Amar, who, in his capacity as the Selangor Umno deputy chief, chided urban voters for being ungrateful for the initiatives implemented by the BN government, as seen from their refusal to vote for BN in the Sarawak state polls held on April 16 this year.

Incidentally, on April 7 last year, Noh, infamous for his racist remarks, read out at the Selangor BN convention quotes from speeches of MIC and MCA leaders, in the 1960s, which praised Umno for giving citizenship to the non-Malays.

This prompted 15 Kapar MCA delegates to walk out of the convention, claiming Noh’s speech was an insult to the Chinese and Indians. DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang later raised this issue in the Dewan Rakyat demanding that the government apologise over Noh’s remark.

However, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Nazri Aziz, rejected the demand and instead asked Lim to settle the matter with Noh.

The intention of harking back to incidences of “official arrogance” is to caution Najib of the arrogance festering among the government servants. Instead of serving the rakyat, the department heads show no remorse in name-calling and condemning the very people they are supposed to help, ending up making a hash of a job.

The government servants, through their uncalled-for haughtiness, have conveniently forgotten who the stakeholders really are, that is the rakyat. The carte blanche abuse of power will exert a price, more so going by Najib’s refusal to come to the defence of the rakyat and take such irresponsible department heads to task.

It remains a mystery as to for how long Najib intends to remain silent while the people are bullied under the weight of “official arrogance”.

Perhaps Najib plans to open his mouth and spew words of support just before the 13th general election. But, by then, it would have been too late to undo the damage resulting from the “official arrogance”.

Jeswan Kaur is a freelance journalist and a FMT columnist.

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Australian Govt’s move to amend law welcomed

The Star

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia welcomed the Australian Government’s move to ensure the asylum seekers exchange programme between both countries takes off by amending its immigration law.

Home Minister Datuk Seri…

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The Star

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia welcomed the Australian Government’s move to ensure the asylum seekers exchange programme between both countries takes off by amending its immigration law.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said this showed Malaysia was on the right track when it signed the agreement.

“They are aware of the importance of addressing the asylum seekers’ issue.

“So, when their prime minister says they are going to amend the law, it just shows that we are on the right track,” he said after chairing a weekly meeting with state immigration directors here.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said her government was “determined” to make broad amendments to Australia’s migration laws to halt people smuggling and go ahead with the asylum seeker swap deal with Malaysia.

“We will bring to parliament broad amendments which will restore the executive government’s ability to make arrangements that it sees fit for the transfer and processing of asylum seekers in third countries,” she said.

Hishammuddin said the move by the Australian Government clearly showed that it was serious in working with Malaysia to address issues related to asylum seekers.

“We want the (human trafficking) syndicates to get a clear message that Malaysia and Australia should not be seen as a safe transit or destination,’’ he said.

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Bar may assist EO youths

The Star (Used by permission)
by SHAILA KOSHY

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Bar is looking into providing legal representation for the 30 youths held under the Emergency (Public Order and…

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The Star (Used by permission)
by SHAILA KOSHY

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Bar is looking into providing legal representation for the 30 youths held under the Emergency (Public Order and Prevention of Crime) Ordinance 1969 (EO) in Kelantan.

Its president Lim Chee Wee said the Bar had not known “about this unfortunate state of affairs”.

He said this when asked what the Bar was going to do for the 30 detainees who were in various stages of their detention but had yet to meet a lawyer in that time.

On Sept 8, The Star reported Suhakam commissioner Muham­mad Sha’ani Abdullah as saying they had found 30 persons aged between 16 and 21 detained for various offences at the Reha­bilitation Centre in Machang when they visited on April 13.

Muhammad Sha’ani had decried the use of preventive detention on children – defined under the Child Act as those under 18 years and under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as those up to the age of 18.

Asked what was the point in offering pro bono services if young detainees did not even know their rights or where to go, Lim said this case demonstrated the necessity on the part of the authorities to seriously consider implementing a policy of informing the Bar.

“If they could do that, the Bar could volunteer its services to these detainees, especially the teenagers, in habeas corpus applications.”

Lim said the Bar was helping to raise public awareness by promoting its legal aid services via the various media.

“This serves to remind us of how much more the Government must do to prevent abuse and contravention of its international obligations under the CRC.”

According to Article 37, he said, no child shall be subjected to torture, degrading treatment or punishment, capital punishment or life imprisonment without possibility of release or deprived of life or liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily.

Noting that the detention of a child must be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest period of time, Lim said the CRC added that any child so deprived has the right to prompt access to legal assistance and the right to challenge the legality of his detention.

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Police board Frontier Airlines flight at Metro Airport with guns drawn after suspicious behavior

• By: Tom Wait

METRO AIRPORT (WXYZ) - F-16 fighter jets were ordered to follow a Frontier Airlines flight from Denver to Detroit after reports that three passengers were behaving suspiciously.…

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• By: Tom Wait

METRO AIRPORT (WXYZ) - F-16 fighter jets were ordered to follow a Frontier Airlines flight from Denver to Detroit after reports that three passengers were behaving suspiciously.

According to a statement released by Frontier, flight 623, which originated in San Diego, was diverted from the gate in Detroit after landing at 3:30 p.m., and passengers were taken to a remote area of the airport for questioning.

When police boarded the plane guns drawn they told passengers to put their heads down and their hands on the seat in front of them. Two men and one woman all seated in the same row were removed first by authorities.

"The policeman said everybody remain seated. Everyone remains seated. If you get out of your seats you will be taken care of quickly,” said Marilyn Dietrick, telling us the commands they were given by officers.

“They had us put on our hands up on the seats and heads down.”

People on the plane tell Action News the two men in question spent long periods of time in the plane’s lavatories. It's not clear how the woman was involved.

“They were going back and forth through the aisle,” passenger David Mungia said, describing the behavior of the two men who were taken away by police.

“One of the guys was in the bathroom for at least ten minutes,” Mungia said.

The FBI says after investigation it was determined that the passengers were doing nothing wrong.

The other 113 passengers were ordered off the plane without their belongings. They were bused to a holding area and questioned by the FBI. Agents used dogs to inspect the plane's cargo. Nothing suspicious was found.

At 5:15 p.m. security teams finished their sweep of the aircraft and it was cleared to begin service on other flights.

No one was hurt and so far no one has been placed under arrest. All of the detained passengers, including the three who were first taken off the plane, have been released.

"It was scary enough flying on 9/11. I can't believe this happened," Mungia said.

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A. Sooraj forced into Islam commits suicide with (Hindu) girlfriend as cannot marry her.

This is what we can make out from the news report in Sinarharian 10/8/2011 at page 10). This is just the tip of the iceberg of the pain  suffering &…

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This is what we can make out from the news report in Sinarharian 10/8/2011 at page 10). This is just the tip of the iceberg of the pain  suffering & misery suffered by the Indians as they are forced to remain a Muslim and there is no turning back once they convert to Islam save and except for Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait etc there is no compulsion/ to be forced into Islam in any other part of the world including our neighbor Indonesia, the world’s biggest muslim populated nation. UMNO forces Islam on the Indians in direct contravention of Article 8 of the Federal Constitution which guarantees freedom of religion.

SEREMBAN - Seorang pekerja kargo di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Kuala Lumpur (KLIA), meninggal dunia dipercayai akibat terminum racun di sebuah rumah di Taman Bunga Sejati, Kampung Nyatoh, Rantau dekat sini, semalam.

Menurut jirannya, Suthir Babu, 26, kira-kira jam 8 pagi itu, mangsa, Muhammad Faizal Raj Abdullah @ A Soraj, 28, ditemui dalam keadaan terbaring di ruang tamu rumah terbabit.

Dia berkata, seorang gadis berumur 18 tahun, dipercayai kekasih mangsa turut ditemui dalam keadaan sama dan terbaring di atas dada Muhammad Faizal di tempat kejadian.

“Semasa baru pulang dari kerja, saya tiba-tiba terdengar bunyi dengusan kuat dari arah rumah disewa mangsa.

“Kemudian, saya pergi tengok, mereka dalam keadaan terbaring serta mulut berbuih,” katanya di lokasi kejadian, semalam.

Menurut Suthir, dia dan seorang jiran lain, membawa Muhammad Faizal dan gadis itu dengan kereta milik mangsa ke hospital, namun kenderaan itu gagal dihidupkan.

Suthir berkata, dia menghubungi ambulans tetapi Muhammad Faizal disahkan meninggal dunia oleh petugas perubatan yang tiba.

“Gadis terbabit masih tidak sedarkan diri dan saya difahamkan, dia dibawa ke Hospital Tuanku Ja’afar

(HTJ) dekat sini untuk menerima rawatan,” katanya.

Menurut Suthir, dua cawan plastik mengandungi cecair dipercayai racun serangga ditemui di ruang tamu.

Selain itu, katanya, terdapat sekeping nota di lokasi sama, menyatakan kekecewaan pasangan kekasih berkenaan, setelah hubungan mereka dihalang oleh keluarga.

“Dalam nota itu, turut tertera alamat dan nombor telefon keluarga mereka untuk dihubungi sekiranya mereka meninggal dunia, akibat racun terbabit," katanya.

Suthir berkata, Muhammad Faizal dipercayai menyewa di rumah berkenaan sejak tiga bulan lalu, namun jiran tidak mengetahui status hubungannya mereka.

Difahamkan, setakat petang semalam, gadis berkenaan yang dalam keadaan koma masih dirawat di HTJ dan keluarganya enggan mengulas lanjut tentang kejadian.

Muhammad Faizal dikatakan berasal dari Nilai, manakala gadis berkenaan yang juga anak bongsu dari tiga beradik berasal dari Sungai Pelek di Sepang, Selangor.

Sementara itu, Timbalan Ketua Polis Daerah, Superintendan Md Yusoff Awang, mengesahkan telah menerima laporan tentang kejadian yang diklasifikasikan sebagai mati mengejut dan siasatan masih dijalankan.

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Ex-premier blames ‘extremists’ for increased race strife

Racial and religious friction in Malaysia has continued to boil over since the “Allah” ruling. — File pic

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 12 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed said today that “extremists”…

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Racial and religious friction in Malaysia has continued to boil over since the “Allah” ruling. — File pic

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 12 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed said today that “extremists” from each of the country’s three major races were making increasingly unwarranted demands, adding that such incidents did not happen during his tenure as prime minister.

The former PM said that Malays, Chinese and Indians needed to accept the fact that it was impossible for the government to fully comply with each community’s demands.

“Each race must accept that not a 100 per cent of their demands will be met... the three races have to accept that they will only get half of their demands,” he said today during a taped television interview session with RTM.

He agreed when asked whether he thought there were external factors causing increased racial friction due to demands made by some racial groups.

“There are the extremist groups, the irresponsible ones... all three races have their extremists.”

Dr Mahathir said “freedom” did not mean countless demands could be made, and said doing so often led into clashes among racial groups.

“For example, we allow the Chinese to use their own language in (vernacular) schools, we do that because we understand their needs.

“But then there are cases where non-Malays ask for Malay rights to be abolished... this is about understanding. We cannot claim everything for ourselves,” he added.

Racial and religious tension has continued to mount since 2009, when High Court ruled that the Catholic Church has a constitutional right to use the term “Allah” in the Bahasa Malaysia edition of its newspaper The Herald.

The ruling sparked a serried of arson attacks on churches and other houses of worship.

A proposal to move a Hindu temple to a largely Malay area in Shah Alam also saw a protest in which the severed head of a cow was dragged openly through the streets of the Selangor capital. Cows are considered sacred in Hinduism.

Right wing groups such as Perkasa have claimed that Malays are currently under siege, and that the government needs to do more to defend their rights that they maintain are being eroded.

A recent survey by pollsters Merdeka Center found that Malaysians believe inter-racial relations have degenerated over the past five years due to distrust among the different races.

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Indians flocking back to BN their own loss

This topic is what that has made BN and MIC so glad that they are back from being at the brink after the unexpected turn of events in 2008. The…

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This topic is what that has made BN and MIC so glad that they are back from being at the brink after the unexpected turn of events in 2008. The Indians were never the kind of community in Malaysia that would go against their political masters ever since they had decided to make Malaysia their home and stayed back from returning to India.

They were here just to make a living and sad to say that is still very much the mindset till today, thanks to the stereotyping and indoctrination by Umno-BN through the education system. What we have today is an Indian society that was simply trying its luck the last time around just to see what would happen if they protested.

Now after seeing that all their wishes have been slow in seeing its realisation, the Indians long for going back to the same old barn (the BN-barn) where they have been the most comfortable no matter what kind of treatment they would get.

The real happennings behind the scenes, the understanding of the division of power between the federal and state governments, these seem to be issues which the Malays and Chinese population understand better than the Indians.

If not for the incarceration of the Hindraf 5, the Malaysian Indians would have never woken up from their long slumber and the MIC will be the proudest party in the BN stable for providing a 100 percent winning ability in delivering nine parliamentary and 19 state legislative seats.

How the federal government manipulates the federal finances and continues to undermine and disrespect the choice of the people in Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor is of no concern to the normal Indian on the street.

They don't understand this and neither do they want to understand it, even though some of them may be graduates from local universities. It is never suprising to note that many amongst them are not even bothered to know their constitutional right to vote and their obligation to exercise that right in a democracy.

But the situation is just the opposite amongst the Chinese undergraduates, they are very knowledgable with regard to their right to vote and a vast majority of them are registered voters. Many wait for the opportunity to register themselves as voters and will not sulk if they are asked to go to a shopping mall to get themselves registered as voters.

The Indian undergraduates will find it difficult to even take the effort to learn about voter registration programmes and many have the view that their vote even if registered is not necessary.

Some even have the view that something bad and drastic will happen to them if they vote for any other party except Umno, MIC, MCA, Gerakan and PPP. Therefore with this mindset amongst the young the BN has been a proven winning formula.

Keeping the young Indians misled and misinformed and relying on the old indoctrinated Indians who will vote for a BN candidates - even if he does not even show up in their constituency and speak about national policies and his vision for a brighter and equal standing of the Indians with other races - is the best known way the BN keeps the lid on the Indians.

Indians have made a mistake and Pakatan should not loose much sleep over it, in the wake of the 2008 upheavel a vast group of the highly educated lot amongst them and generally amongst the other races as well have taken it upon themselves to vote for change.

These people understand the shortcomings and are able to see the bigger picture and see that only a two party system can see a proper practice of parliamentary democracy and a system of checks and balances in a country that believes in racial supremacy.

Though this group may be small but the fact is it will have the last laugh at the end of the day. After the 2008 upheaval and a mini revolution, the Indians saw their young graduates being appointed as magistrates, senior assistant registrars, police personnel and customs personnel, a practice which was slowly and surely being eradicated as there was no strong opposition from the Indians.

Besides Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh, M Kulasegaran and a few MIC individuals voicing their opposition to the low number of recruits for the professional categories to the civil service, the vast majority of the MIC warriors were not too interested or bothered as they had their eyes on lucrative Ali-Baba contracts which they could make some loads of money from.

The new class of Indian professional category civil servants will now make the new group of voters for the BN and they like their forefathers before them will not vote for any other party besides the BN.

The indoctrination and the divide and rule system has seeped into the Indian mentality with lasting effects. A classic example would be the sudden about turn of a group that was in the forefront with the Hindraf movement but now is a registered political party calling itself the Malaysian Makkal Sakti party.

The overnight U-turn shows how well the indoctrination works and this is very evident in the mindset of the Indian police officers; many of whom are tasked by the police force to infiltrate Indian organisations and NGOs and any sort of movement or grouping that goes against the word of the indoctrinators.

For the Malaysian Indian, their mindset has been tuned to a point that it is difficult for them to see beyond the racial lens which they have been accustomed to all this while. They see it as being acceptable to live out of the handouts and crumbs thrown out by the masters and the indoctrinators

Anything that goes against what the masters and the indoctrinators have spelt out for them will only invite trouble and this will continuously be the mindset, and they continue to live for the day and will not know when the local council will come knocking on their doors to serve them an eviction notice.

For the moment, the Indian Malaysians seems to want to return to the BN but in doing so, they are bound to lose out on the bigger picture eventually. This will happen when the Indian vote becomes insignificant when the newly legalised Malaysians of Indonesian, Filipino, Bangladeshi, Nepali and Middle Eastern dissent become synchronise with the Malaysian population.

They stand a better chance because the majority will be Muslim with many having children here with bin or binti in their names and will be eventually able to find a place for themselves in the definition of bumiputera, while the Indians will eventually lose out in terms of numbers which will then transcend to political power and representation.

The Indian's belief in the mindset that an Indian political party is for Indian voters will be a thing of the past as they will never be able to see themselves on par with their counterparts in Singapore who are not governed by racial and religious politics.

Indians there gain by merit and the best are sought by the government to be included in the national agenda to lead the nation in various fields, looking only at their ability and not the colour of their skin, the race they belong to or the religion they profess.

The programming of the Indian mindset by the indoctrinators is the best way the ruling elite in the BN and Umno can ensure that they stay within the confines of the BN barn. Making them beg for participation has created a community that sees the ruling Malay class as the masters and themselves as the faithful servants.

The masters, seeing that the Indians are faithful servants but lack in the unity department amongst themselves, make full use of this weakness to further exert control on their already stereotyped mindset.

The Tamil Hindu will despise the Tamil Christian, Tamil Muslim, the Malayalee Hindu, Malayalee Christian or the Telugus. In the Tamil Hindu majority, the caste that they belong to though not very significant today but still reminded upon by the elders will further divide them.

This has been well studied by the Umno masters and they exploit them to the hilt. For the Umno masters, all they care about is the vote and the continous if not perpetual right that they think they have to rule this country without question.

The Indians fail to realise that their best bet for the future is through multi-racial parties and politics. A good example will be the leadership of Ambiga Sreenevasan of the recent Bersih 2.0 rally.
Though the Umno-Perkasa-BN hegemonist described and called her the "Hindu Woman who is anti-Islam" because of her participation in Lina Joy's apostasy case, the Malays and Chinese from the opposition, NGO movement, 'thinking' civil society and Malaysians abroad accepted her leadership and looked forward to her brave stewardship of the entire civil task of registering a point with a very stubborn and recalcitrant Umno-BN government.

The Indians in MIC though, while silently proud of her leadership as one of their own ethnicity, never said a word about her bravery and courage in leading the charge to show the Umno-BN government that the people are fed up.

On the other side, the opposition is slowly but surely going on the right track by putting aside the racial mindset that we have all been stereotyped with, and coming out with a more Malaysian approach of looking at the bigger picture to see how we can progress as Malaysians instead of having only ethnicity in our minds.

Therefore looking at most current political reports and opinions that the Indian vote is heading back to the BN barn, one would say, let it be for they will be the eventual losers. Already being seen as the new urban underclass, the common jobs which the Indians will usually be hired for without question is now being taken over by Indonesian, Bangladeshi and Nepali migrants who have now become overnight legalised new-Malaysians.

This phenomena can't be stopped even if Indians in Malaysia were to give MIC nine parliamentary and 19 state legislative seats because the MIC's voice in the cabinet is always heard in low decibels or never heard at all.

Can we blame them? We can't, as they may then loose what little they and their kin are getting as a result kow-towing to their Umno masters. So whether Pakatan gets the Indian votes or not, is an issue which Pakatan shouldn't loose much sleep over; they have set the agenda, the thinking Malays, Chinese and Indians are ready to accept the fact that the only way forward is to be Malaysian first and racial denomination or ethnicity second.

If the Indians want to go back to the BN barn, let them do so.

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Penang Malays feeling insecure

The Malay community is worried that it would lose its political voice if more Malays are not given state seats to contest in the next general election.

GEORGE TOWN: The…

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The Malay community is worried that it would lose its political voice if more Malays are not given state seats to contest in the next general election.

GEORGE TOWN: The Malay community here is feeling insecure because they fear they would lose their political voice if the Pakatan Rakyat government maintains the status quo in the allocation of seats, said Penang Malay Congress (PMC) president Rahmad Isahak.

This is why there are rumblings of discontent on the Malay ground about the political developments in the state, he added.

There are only two Malay representatives in the state government – Deputy Chief Minister I Mansor Othman and state executive councillor Abdul Malik Abul Kassim.

There are 40 state seats in Penang, of which 19 are held by DAP, one by PAS, nine by PKR, while Umno has 11.

Rahmad claimed that both Mansor and Malik are struggling to command the respect of the Malay community and to contain their displeasure over religious as well as socio-economic issues such as affordable housing.

The ill-feelings have spilled over until Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng is forced to devote more attention to the Malays who are feeling restless, he said.

He added that although Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim is a Penang MP representing Permatang Pauh, he is too preoccupied with helming Pakatan at the national level.

Thus, there is a lack of the Malay voice in the state government, he said.

Unique state

Rahmad said the PMC, a newly-formed non-governmental organisation (NGO), is urging the DAP to allow more of its Malay leaders to be given state seats to contest in the next general election.

The DAP must understand that it is the dominant party in Penang now, so it is best that it reflects a multi-ethnic outlook to convince its detractors that it is no longer just a Chinese-based party, he said.

Although PAS and PKR have been able to appease the Malays here as since 2008, more NGOs are being formed to represent the fractured Malay community, he added.

Rahman said PKR and PAS should be willing to sacrifice some seats in the name of unity within the Pakatan alliance.

“Perhaps, PKR and PAS can be given more seats in other states as a trade-off to allow DAP more seats in Penang. This is a unique state. Its electorate tends to embrace one dominant party. Before, it was Gerakan, now it is the DAP.”

“PMC is a neutral organisation… we do not take sides, nor are we racists.”

Rahmad said Umno is unable to champion the Malay voice effectively in Penang as its coalition partners in the Barisan Nasional (BN) – MCA and Gerakan – have been rejected by the voters.

He said Umno may have some support but MCA and Gerakan are unable to swing the “pendulum” back to the ruling federal coalition.

Hijacking issues

Hence, Malay NGOs here must now look after the interests of the Malays but in a more cultured way.
Rahmad said PMC would not take to the streets to vent its frustration, adding that “this is not our way”.
“Our Malay culture is refined and more diplomatic. We won independence through compromises and
negotiations. We want to express our concerns about the Malay ground but in a more cultured way.”

The PMC has been seeking to meet Lim and after several weeks of lobbying, the latter has apparently agreed to meet the congress.

But some quarters in the state government have accused the congress of being sponsored by Umno to undermine Pakatan.

Meanwhile, Nibong Tebal MP Tan Tee Beng, who is now a Kita member, hit out at BN for hijacking issues raised by third parties such as himself.

BN should be playing its role as the opposition in a constructive manner, if it wants want to win back the support of the people, he said.

Instead, it is hijacking issues such as the Penang Hill development, and spinning them until they go out of context.

“Although BN meant well, their way of doing things has given more clout to Lim,” he said, adding that Lim is a political animal who wants to profit from the weaknesses of others instead of becoming a good administrator.

Tan, who first raised the the Penang Hill issue, said the Pakatan government here is no different from the previous BN administration when the former approved the redevelopment of the Penang Turf Club.

“Pakatan is unable to quench the thirst for deveopment by corporate entities here. The people are concerned about the environment and over-development.”

He also said that BN has made a groundless accusation when it claimed that Pakatan has approved projects on Penang Hill.

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Kita wants to be a ‘loyal’ opposition

The party aims to distance itself from the confrontational culture employed by Pakatan Rakyat towards the government, says its chief Zaid Ibrahim.

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Umno law minister Zaid Ibrahim…

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The party aims to distance itself from the confrontational culture employed by Pakatan Rakyat towards the government, says its chief Zaid Ibrahim.

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Umno law minister Zaid Ibrahim said his party Kita wants to be a “loyal” opposition, supporting the government where necessary and highly critical if it steps out of line.

In a bid to change Malaysia’s “warlike” political culture, Zaid said: “Unless we see clear flaws and shortcomings in the administration’s policies and actions, our first instinct is to support the government. Kita is a small set-up with few resources, but we hope to be a loyal opposition.”

“This also means we will not attack the government just to gain political mileage. We will give credit where credit is due, and will rely on reasonable tests to determine our responses,” he said in his blog posting today.

Zaid, who is very critical of his former party PKR and its de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim whom he accused of crony politics similar to that of their hated rivals Umno, said Kita aims to distance itself from the confrontational culture often employed by Pakatan Rakyat.

He believes the approach would further the opposition’s agenda for a better Malaysia more effectively as confrontations will only embolden the administration to inflict more repressive measures against the opposition.

A sell-out?

Zaid drew flak from Pakatan faithfuls when he criticised the plan to hold a mass rally by polls watchdog Bersih, saying it would be better for them to try and engage the government through dialogue.

At the same time he also drew attention to the hard-handed tactics of the Barisan Nasional government on its handling of the issue, saying the group’s demand for poll reforms was valid and that it was politically more positive for Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to engage Bersih.

His centrist statement was seen as a “sell-out” and that his middle-ground approach was merely a result of his frustration from his defeat in the race for PKR’s deputy president post.

He denied the allegation and reiterated his call for moderation in politics.

But Zaid believes Malaysians are likely to rebuff his views and said he is unperturbed and will continue to promote Kita’s politics of diplomacy.

“Will we succeed? Maybe not. Maybe the public wants to see more of the same and will continue believing that nothing about Najib is right, and nothing about Anwar is wrong.

“They may regard our approach as a sell-out and find it more comforting to continue with George W Bush’s mantra: You are either with me or against me.

“But we are equally resolute about the need to change Malaysia’s warlike political culture,” said Zaid.

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Not cheating, just bending the rules

The truth is, Rosli was targeted simply because he knew too much about Umno’s plundering of MAS. So, last month, the de facto Minister for Law, Nazri Aziz, asked MAS…

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The truth is, Rosli was targeted simply because he knew too much about Umno’s plundering of MAS. So, last month, the de facto Minister for Law, Nazri Aziz, asked MAS to sack Rosli as the company’s lawyer because Rosli had refused to withdraw the cases against Tajuddin. MAS has now appointed Dato’ Hafarizam Harun, Umno’s lawyer, who will facilitate the Global Settlement with Tajudin.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin

Datuk Dr Wan Ismail, Dr Wan Azizah’s father, who used to work for ex-Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to manage his psy-war (which was when I got to know him and when I received my ‘training’) once told me this:
Dr Mahathir is a doctor and a doctor knows that when a patient feels pain in one part of his/her body and you can’t seem to cure it, you just create a bigger pain in another part of his/her body. Then the patient will focus on the bigger pain and will forget about what originally ailed him/her.
We both had a good laugh and I responded: that means if you see a doctor about a stomach ache, he/she just takes a hammer and whacks you on the head and the bigger pain on your head will make you forget about your stomach ache.
Of course, in the medical world this will not quite work. But in psy-war it can.
For example, if the country is going down the drain and people start feeling the pain of the high cost of living, all you need to do is raise issues like: the Christians are trying to convert Muslims to Christianity, the Chinese are trying to take over the country and reduce the Malays to second-class citizens, Malaysia was never colonised by Britain, PAS supports Communism, Anwar Ibrahim can’t keep his dick in his pants, etc.
Then people will forget about their economic pain and will start debating all these ‘hot issues’, which is not going to help put more money in their pockets. The fact that it is more affordable to live in England than in Malaysia will be totally forgotten.
Yes, while we debate all these unproductive issues, many things can be quietly done in the background. They can quietly jack up the cost of the Penang Bridge from the original budget of RM1 billion to RM4.8 billion. They can quietly award the multi-billion Ringgit contract for the double track railway to Singapore to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s golf buddy, Tan Kay Hock. They can quietly, yet again, put their fingers in the Malaysian Airlines (MAS) pie and take a second bite of the cherry.
Yes, even the Umno Bloggers are angry about the latest scam involving MAS. They already scammed it once, which cost the taxpayers RM9 billion. Now they are doing it again. And while they do that, we argue about whether the British were our colonial masters or only our protectors.

By the way, while on the subject of MAS, do you recall lawyer Rosli Dahlan who acted for MAS in suing Tajuddin Ramli? He also acted for Dato Johari Baharom, the then Deputy Minister of Home Security, Dato Ramli Yusuff, the Director of the Commercial Crimes Investigations Dept (CCID) PDRM, plus a few other CCID officers in the loan-sharking syndicate case involving Goh Cheng Poh @ Tengku Goh.
For some strange reason known only to him, AG Gani Patail refused to help the CCID to prepare their affidavits. So the task was given to Rosli who acted on behalf of the CCID.
This made the AG mad as hell. Tengku Goh was the IGP’s underworld business partner in the loan-sharking, prostitution, gambling and drugs syndicate. And the AG and IGP have an arrangement -- you cover my backside and I cover your backside. And Rosli was messing things up by acting for the CCID.
That was when the MACC went to Rosli’s office, assaulted him, dragged him from his office in handcuffs, and detained him overnight in the MACC underground cell in MACC’s HQ in Putrajaya.
The following day, on the eve of Hari Raya of 2007, they paraded him in handcuffs along the Jalan Duta Court corridors to be charged.
Rosli has since sued Utusan Malaysia, the MACC, and its rogue officers for RM50 million, accusing them of a conspiracy to fix him up. That will be an interesting case to follow when it finally comes to court.
Only in Malaysia do the crooks get away scot-free while the whistle blower gets charged. And even when the courts acquit you, the ordeal will not end there. That is, if you are not AG Gani Patail’s friend, of course. 
That was what happened on 20 December 2010 when Rosli he was acquitted by the court and AG Gan Patail directed the MACC to swiftly appeal on the very same day (see the Notice of Appeal below).
After filing that Notice of Appeal, the DPPs in the AG’s Chambers assigned to handle the appeal suddenly realised that there is no basis for an appeal. So they decided to sleep on it -- hoping that, in time, AG Gani Patail would forget about it or that AG Gani would retire early.
It seems Malaysia Today’s recent revelations about AG Gani Patail’s corrupt exploits with Dato’ Vincent Lye of Ho Hup Berhad has had a backlash on Rosli. AG Gani Patail’s anger has reached an extent of paranoia that he starts seeing shadows in every corner.
Like the Malay saying, “anjing takut dengan bayang bayang sendiri”, Gani starts suspecting everyone whom he has fixed up before as having a hand in the problems he is facing on the Ho Hup corruption allegations. Already, Robert Phang is accused of being in RPK’s ‘teammate’ for publicly asking Gani Patail to step down.
Malaysia Today’s Deep Throat in the AG Chambers and the courts told of how AG Gani went ballistic when he discovered that the appeal against Rosli is now out of time. Not about to be outdone, AG Gani has now directed the MACC to resurrect the case against Rosli by asking the court to grant MACC an extension of time to revive the appeal (see the Motion to revive the Appeal below).
If you still cannot see the double standards in the criminal justice system in Malaysia, then consider this -- when Razak Baginda was acquitted of murdering Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu, AG Gani Patail did not see the urgency to immediately appeal against that acquittal. Instead, AG Gani Patail took pains to explain that he respected the court’s finding of fact and would not appeal. So, Razak took the first flight out to London and he has remained a free man until now.
But not so for Rosli.
And what was Rosli’s crime? Did he commit murder, rape, robbery, and embezzlement of billions of ringgit of company’s money -- like what Tajudin did to MAS? Did he receive bribes in the form of house renovations and lightings -- like what AG Gani received from Vincent Lye of Ho Hup?
What has Rosli done that AG Gani is determined to revive an already dead appeal against him?
The truth is, Rosli was targeted simply because he knew too much about Umno’s plundering of MAS. So, last month, the de facto Minister for Law, Nazri Aziz, asked MAS to sack Rosli as the company’s lawyer because Rosli had refused to withdraw the cases against Tajuddin. MAS has now appointed Dato’ Hafarizam Harun, Umno’s lawyer, who will facilitate the Global Settlement with Tajudin.
You see, Umno needs to bury this case before GE 13 is announced, which may be very soon. And one way of doing that is to sack Rosli from acting for MAS and any of the other GLCs. The MACC has done good job in making him lose that clientele.
And, as punishment for his stubbornness in acting for Dato’ Ramli, who had to be eliminated from PDRM, AG Gani will just keep Rosli busy with his own criminal case and will just keep on appealing, as that will hurt Rosli financially. A very simple but effective game plan because the government does not pay cost for criminal prosecution, regardless that it is a fixed-up case.
So you see, while we debate whether the Christians are trying to convert Muslims to Christianity, whether the Chinese are trying to take over the country and reduce the Malays to second-class citizens, whether Malaysia was ever colonised by Britain, whether PAS supports Communism, whether Anwar Ibrahim can’t keep his dick in his pants, etc., those who walk in the corridors of power are quietly pulling off their scams.
As I said, they create a bigger pain to take your mind of another pain. And Malaysia Today’s job is to keep repeating it and keep reminding you -- how tiring it may be to keep repeating the same thing -- so that you will not, as Dr Mahathir said: Melayu mudah lupa.

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Mat Zain Ibrahim's open letter to the IGP

Selain daripada diri saya sendiri, saya mendapat maklum terdapat sekurang-kurangnya dua lagi pihak yang pernah menemui Perdana Menteri, YAB Dato Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Razak (PM Najib), bertujuan menyarankan supaya…

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Selain daripada diri saya sendiri, saya mendapat maklum terdapat sekurang-kurangnya dua lagi pihak yang pernah menemui Perdana Menteri, YAB Dato Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Razak (PM Najib), bertujuan menyarankan supaya sesuatu tindakan diambil terhadap Gani Patail dan Musa Hassan. Ini memandangkan salahlaku jenayah yang telah mereka lakukan, adalah sangat ketara dan telah membebankan Negara, selain daripada memusnahkan kepercayaan Rakyat terhadap Institusi-Institusi Kerajaan.

Mat Zain bin Ibrahim,

matzainibrahim@gmail.com

Kepada,
YDH Tan Sri Ismail bin Haji Omar, IG,
Ketua Polis Negara,
Polis Di-Raja Malaysia,

iho@rmp.gov.my

12hb.September 2011,

Assalamualaikum wbt.
KENYATAAN TERTUDUH-BENARKAH ANWAR DIANIAYA
1. Beberapa pihak telah memberikan pendapat berkaitan tindakan Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim (Anwar) membuat kenyataan pembelaan diri dalam perbicaraan kes Sodomy II dari kandang tertuduh pada 22.08.2011 yang lalu. Setiap seorang termasuk saya,adalah berhak keatas pendapat masing-masing.
2. Membuat kenyataan dari kandang tertuduh( Kenyataan Tertuduh) adalah salah satu dari tiga opsyen yang dibenarkan olih undang-undang kepada seorang Tertuduh. Olih yang demikian, tidak timbul sama ada Anwar telah melakukan suatu kesalahan dari sudut undang-undang atau sebaliknya. Beliau pasti telah diberi nasihat  berkaitan konsekuen atau faedahnya memilih opsyen tersebut.
3. Pada pendapat saya, perkara yang sepatutnya dititikberatkan ialah samada ada keseluruhan kandungan Kenyataan Tertuduh itu adalah benar atau terdapat diantaranya, penegasan yang direka atau palsu. Kedapatan Anwar turut membuat dakwaan salahlaku jenayah yang spesifik, terhadap beberapa individu yang dinamakan dengan jelas. Apa pun opsyen yang dipilih, beliau telah mengemukakan kenyataan tersebut dihadapan seorang Hakim dalam suatu prosiding terbuka. Anwar tetap tertakluk kepada pendakwaan jenayah, sekiranya beliau dibuktikan telah membuat kenyataan yang direka atau palsu.
4. Dalam mengulas isu ini,saya memilih untuk menumpukan perhatian kepada beberapa perenggan Kenyataan Tertuduh seperti berikut:- 
4.1. Dakwaan spesifik terhadap Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail(Gani Patail),Tan Sri Musa Hassan (Musa Hassan) dan Datuk Mohd. Yusof Zainal Abiden (Yusof) dalam peristiwa tahun 1998. Khususnya berkaitan mereka atau memberi keterangan palsu serta dakwaan “cover-up” dalam penyiasatan melibatkan Anwar. Termasuk tetapi tidak terhad kepada  insiden mata-lebam.
4.2. Dakwaan berkaitan keterangan Forensik dan DNA.
4.3. Dakwaan keterlibatan dan salahguna kuasa mantan Perdana Menteri dalam penyiasatan melibatkan Anwar.
5. Saya mendapati hampir keseluruhan Kenyataan Tertuduh itu adalah merupakan “kenyataan ulangan untuk menyegarkan ingatan”.Dakwaan-dakwaan yang Anwar lontarkan terhadap mantan Perdana Menteri Y.A.Bhg. Tun Mahathir Mohamed, Gani Patail, Musa Hassan dan beberapa yang lain, termasuk terhadap Jabatan Peguam Negara dan Polis, bukanlah perkara baru.Beliau pernah membuat kenyataan secara rasmi pada 3.3.1999 ketika prosiding Suruhanjaya Di-Raja siasatan insiden mata-lebam diadakan.Bagaimanapun dakwaan-dakwaan berkenaan tidak dicabar olih mana-mana pihak, walaupun daripada Gani Patail atau Musa Hassan sendiri.
5.1. Selanjutnya,dakwaan salahlaku jenayah secara lebih spesifik  terhadap Gani Patail,Musa Hassan dan Yusof telah beliau kemukakan kepada Mahkamah dalam beberapa afidavit yang telah difailkan sejak 2008 ketika perbicaraan masih diperingkat Mahkamah Sesyen lagi. 
5.2. Selain afidavit, Anwar  juga telah membuat beberapa laporan Polis terhadap Gani Patail,Musa Hassan serta beberapa Timbalan Pendakwa Raya.Laporan-laporan berkenaan kesemuanya berkisar kepada dakwaan mereka keterangan atau membuat afidavit palsu.
6. Olih hal yang demikian, isu beliau membuat Kenyataan Tertuduh sedemikian, sebagai helah untuk mengelakkan diri daripada disoal balas olih Pasukan Pendakwaan, pada pendapat saya tidak tepat untuk dipersoalkan.
6.1. Malahan,Pasukan Pendakwaan atau sesiapa juga yang telah didakwa dalam afidavit atau laporan Polis berkenaan, bolih membuat aduan terhadap Anwar jika terbukti beliau telah mengikrarkan afidavit atau membuat laporan Polis palsu.Bagaimanapun sejak 1998 lagi, Gani Patail dan Musa Hassan tidak mengambil tindakan sedemikian.
7. Peraturan Mahkamah Tinggi berkaitan penegasan dalam sesuatu afidavit adalah jelas. Banyak case laws yang bolih dijadikan teladan. Antaranya  dalam kes Sunrise Sdn.Bhd. vs First People (M) Sdn.Bhd & Anor [1996] 3 MLJ 533.Hakikatnya telah diterima olih Mahkamah bahawa, mana-mana penegasan mustahak dalam afidavit yang tidak dijawab atau dicabar hendaklah dianggap sebagai telah diakui kenyataan yang benar.
7.1. Contoh semasa yang terbaik ialah; dalam kes bunuh Altantuya Shaariibuu, bilamana Hakim telah membebaskan seorang tertuduh Abdul Razak Baginda tanpa dipanggil membela diri, semata-mata bersandarkan afidavit Razak yang tidak dicabar olih Pendakwa Raya.
GANI PATAIL DAN MUSA HASSAN
8. Berbalik kepada dakwaan-dakwaan spesifik terhadap beberapa individu dalam Kenyataan Tertuduh tersebut, kesimpulan saya adalah seperti berikut;
8.1. Dakwaan bahawa Gani Patail pada 26.10.1998 telah mengarahkan seorang Dr. Abdul Rahman Yusof (Dr. Rahman) untuk menyediakan satu laporan Forensik palsu berkaitan kecederaan yang Anwar alami dalam insiden mata lebam itu adalah betul.
Pemalsuan ini telah disusuli dengan 2 lagi pemalsuan olih Dr. Rahman yang dikatakan telah diarahkan sendiri olih Allahyarham Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah, Peguam Negara ketika itu, dalam bulan Disember 1998.
8.2. Dakwaan bahawa Musa Hassan telah bersubahat dengan memberi kemudahan kepada Gani Patail dan Dr.Rahman menyempurnakan pemalsuan-pemalsuan tersebut diatas juga adalah betul.
8.3. Fakta bahawa 2 (dua) daripada 3 (tiga) laporan forensic palsu tersebut telah dikemukakan dalam prosiding Suruhanjaya Di-Raja insiden mata-lebam yang bersidang diantara 22.2.1999 hingga 4.3.1999, juga adalah betul.
9. Apapun keadaannya, keujudan 3 laporan forensik olih Dr.Rahman itu sendiri, merupakan keterangan yang kukuh bagi membuktikan berlakunya perbuatan mereka keterangan palsu terhadap Anwar.Saya menekankan bahawa keterangan ini adalah lebih konklusif daripada keterangan DNA.
YUSOF
10. Dakwaan bahawa Yusof mengetahui keujudan ketiga-tiga laporan palsu tersebut dan penggunaanya dalam prosiding Suruhanjaya diatas, dalam sifat beliau sebagai wakil Peguam Negara sepanjang prosiding berkenaan, adalah berasas dan dipercayai betul.
10.1. Yusof sewajarnya mengistiharkan kepada Mahkamah, sama ada posisi beliau sebagai Ketua Pasukan Pendakwaan kes Sodomi II berada dalam konflik dengan posisi beliau sebagai wakil Peguam Negara dalam prosiding Suruhanjaya mata-lebam. Situasi ini timbul, memandangkan isu Gani Patail dan Musa Hassan memalsukan keterangan dan menggunakannya dalam prosiding Suruhanjaya itu telah dibangkitkan sejak 1.7.2008.Ini disusuli pula dengan dakwaan menerusi afidavit-afidavit dalam pembicaraan Sodomi II. Yusof sendiri turut ditohmahkan sebagai telah menyembunyikan keterangan salahlaku jenayah Gani Patail dan Musa Hassan.
10.2. Hakikatnya tidak dapat dinafikan bahawa Yusof adalah seorang saksi yang mustahak kepada dakwaan salahlaku jenayah terhadap Gani Patail dan Musa Hassan yang telah dilaporkan olih Anwar pada 1.7.2008 itu, manakala pada masa yang sama juga, Yusof adalah Ketua Pasukan Pendakwaan dalam perbicaraan Sodomy II terhadap Anwar.
10.3. Yusof hanya perlu untuk mengesahkan sama ada benar atau tidak ujud 3 laporan forensic yang disediakan olih Dr. Rahman diatas arahan Gani Patail dan Peguam Negara dalam penyiasatan insiden mata-lebam itu. Yang lainnya adalah untuk Mahkamah memutuskan.
KETERANGAN FORENSIK DAN DNA
11. Dakwaan menerusi afidavit menyatakan Musa Hassan dan SAC Datuk Mohamad Rodwan Yusof (Rodwan) cuba mengambil tanpa kebenaran (“mencuri”) sample darah Anwar, daripada simpanan / kawalan seorang Dr.Zahari Noor pada 15.10.1998 untuk kegunaan ujian DNA adalah dipercayai betul. Dr.Zahari sendiri telah memberikan keterangan kearah demikian pada 30.12.1998 ketika perbicaraan Anwar dalam kes salahguna kuasa dihadapan Hakim Dato Augustine Paul (mendiang).
11.1. Setidak-tidaknya, Musa Hassan masih terhutang kepada rakyat jelata, untuk menjelaskan apakah keterangan yang beliau ada ketika memberi taklimat kepada Tun Mahathir ,sehinggakan mantan Perdana Menteri itu begitu yakin untuk mempercayai Anwar terlibat dengan aktibiti seks luar nikah dan homosexsual. Manakala beberapa bulan selepas itu pula, Musa Hassan terdesak untuk mengumpulkan keterangan lanjut berkaitan DNA, sehingga terpaksa mencuri sample darah tersebut.Walhal pada ketika itu, Anwar telahpun dituduh di-Mahkamah dan sedang menunggu tarikh perbicaraan. Sepatutnya proses pengumpulan keterangan asas telah selesai.
11.2. Musa Hassan juga patut jelaskan samada tindakan “mencuri” sample darah sebelum perbicaraan kes dimulakan itu, adalah dalam pengetahuan dan direstui olih Tun Mahathir atau sebaliknya. Ataupun tindakan itu adalah diatas inisiatif beliau sendiri semata-mata untuk menjustifikasikan taklimat meyakinkan yang beliau beri kepada Tun Mahathir beberapa bulan sebelum itu.
11.2.1.Fakta bahawa Musa Hassan telah menemui Dr. Zahari berkaitan sample darah Anwar untuk tujuan DNA pada 15.10.1998 itu sahaja, sudah memadai untuk membuat kesimpulan bahawa Musa Hassan TIDAK mempunyai keterangan yang lengkap ketika mentaklimatkan Tun Mahathir berkaitan Anwar beberapa lama sebelum itu.
11.2.2.Sila rujuk laporan lengkap dalam “surat tertutup” saya bertarikh 27.12.2010 dialamatkan kepada Tan Sri KPN, Solicitor General dan YAB Perdana Menteri berkaitan pemalsuan DNA ini.
DAKWAAN KETERLIBATAN TUN MAHATHIR
12. Menerusi Kenyataan Tertuduh dan afidavit-afidavit yang Anwar telah failkan sebelumnya,beliau telah mendakwa pada tahun 1998 Tun Mahathir telah menyalahgunakan kuasa beliau dalam memberi tekanan keatas Jabatan Kehakiman, Peguam Negara dan Polis sehingga mendapatkan beliau (Anwar) disabitkan dengan kesalahan yang beliau tidak pernah lakukan dan dijatuhkan hukuman penjara berjumlah 15 tahun.
12.1. Saya menegaskan bahawa Anwar TIDAK mempunyai keterangan untuk mengaitkan Tun Mahathir dengan tindakan Gani Patail dan Musa Hassan dalam perbuatan merekacipta atau memberi keterangan palsu terhadap beliau (Anwar).
12.2. Sebaliknya, saya wajar menyatakan bahawa mengikut rekod rasmi dan apa yang tercatit diatas kertas dalam fail siasatan Polis, Tun Mahathir yang telah memberi nasihat dan amaran keras supaya tidak ada sebarang “cover-up” dilakukan dalam penyiasatan kes-kes melibatkan Anwar.
12.3. Nasihat dan amaran Tun Mahathir sedemikian itu telah saya rakamkan dalam diari penyiasatan kes mata-lebam pada 8.10.1998 setelah saya menemui beliau di-Jabatan Perdana Menteri yang dipanggil memberi taklimat kemajuan siasatan Polis dalam kes tersebut.
12.4. Nasihat dan arahan tersebut telah disampaikan kepada pucuk pimpinan tertinggi PDRM pada hari yang sama dan kepada Gani Patail dua hari kemudian.Laporan secara bertulis menerusi kertas siasatan kes, disampaikan kepada Gani Patail pada 15.10.1998 yang diakui penerimaannya secara rasmi.
13. Olih yang demikian,berdasarkan keterangan yang ada,saya menegaskan, segala penipuan dan pemalsuan  keatas Anwar telah dilakukan olih Gani Patail dan Musa Hassan dengan kehendak mereka sendiri untuk faedah masing-masing,melainkan mereka berdua bolih membuktikan terdapat ada pihak ketiga yang terlibat.
MENGENAI SABITAN SALAH DAN HUKUMAN PENJARA 15 TAHUN
14. Sejak 1998 lagi, Anwar secara konsisten mengekalkan pengakuan tidak bersalah sambil mendakwa, bahawa pertuduhan-pertuduhan salahguna kuasa dan liwat yang dikenakan terhadapnya adalah pertuduhan palsu dan berniat jahat dan suatu konspirasi nekad, untuk memusnahkan kerjaya poliktiknya. Beliau turut mendakwa bahawa sabitan salah dan hukuman penjara 15 tahun yang dijatuhkan keatas diri beliau adalah suatu penganiayaan pihak Pemerintah keatas diri dan keluarga beliau.
15. Berdasarkan kepada keterangan dokumentari dan peristiwa-peistiwa penipuan dan pemalsuan yang dilakukan keatas diri beliau, yang bolih dan mampu dibuktikan, maka saya menyatakan bahawa dakwaan Anwar sedemikian itu adalah berasas dan mempunyai meritnya yang tersendiri.
15.1. Perbuatan “mencuri” sample darah Anwar untuk tujuan DNA olih Musa Hassan dan Rodwan telah dilakukan pada 15.10.1998. Manakala pemalsuan keterangan Forensic olih Dr.Rahman pula dilakukan pada 26.10.1998. Kedua-dua peristiwa yang berlaku, adalah diatas arahan dan atau/penyeliaan Gani Patail yang disempurnakan sebagai persediaan untuk keterangan tersebut digunakan terhadap Anwar, sebelum perbicaraan kes salahguna kuasa terhadap beliau dimulakan pada 2.11.1998.
15.2. Tanpa perlu mengulangi secara detail peristiwa diatas,saya menyatakan bahawa kedua-dua kejadian tersebut adalah antara beberapa keterangan kukuh untuk membuktikan keujudan niat jahat (mala fide) dan sikap bias  Gani Patail dan Musa Hassan dalam penyiasatan dan pendakwaan kes ini.
15.3. Walaupun Hakim mendiang Dato Augustine Paul menolak (expunged) keterangan DNA akibat penjelasan yang menimbulkan kecurigaan daripada Ahli Kimia Encik Lim Kong Boon, tidak bermakna bahawa perbuatan “mencuri” sample darah bagi tujuan DNA dan mereka keterangan palsu dalam perkara ini, terbatal sama sekali. Malah ianya mengukuhkan lagi dakwaan-dakwaan bahawa sample darah yang dicuri dari kawalan Dr.Zahari itu telah ditanam (planted) diatas “tilam masyhor” yang diusung turun-naik Mahkamah ketika perbicaraan.
15.4. Perbuatan Musa Hassan memberi keterangan palsu (“perjury”) dalam perbicaraan kes salahguna kuasa terhadap Anwar, tiba-tiba terbongkar, apabila keterangan beliau berikan sendiri sebagai saksi PW75 dalam perbicaraan Kes Pendakwa Raya vs Ramli Yusuff di-Mahkamah Sesyen Kota Kinabalu, dibandingkan dengan keterangan yang beliau berikan dalam kes salahguna kuasa terhadap Anwar tahun 1998. Seorang Ahli Parlimen telah membuat laporan Polis terhadap Musa Hassan kerana melakukan kesalahan “perjury” ini dalam bulan Mac 2010, tetapi penyiasatannya disenyapkan begitu sahaja.  
Analogi
16 Jika Musa Hassan dan Rodwan tidak pernah menemui Dr.Zahari berkaitan sample darah Anwar seperti yang dinyatakan diatas, maka Dr. Zahari Noor tidak akan memberikan keterangan sedemikian dalam perbicaraan kes salahguna kuasa terhadap Anwar dalam bulan Disember 1998. Rodwan juga tidak akan menyebut perkara DNA ini tanpa sebab dalam percakapan yang dirakamkan darinya pada 1.10.1998.
16.1. Jika Musa Hassan sememangnya seorang yang jujur, termasuk apabila memberi keterangan bersumpah,maka Hakim Supang Lian dari Mahkamah Sesyen Kota Kinabalu, tidak akan melabelkan beliau sebagai seorang saksi yang tidak bolih dipercayai, dan kesaksiannya juga ditolak. Walhal beliau adalah seorang Ketua Polis Negara dan memakai pakaian seragam lengkap ketika memberikan keterangan tersebut. Pendek kata Hakim Supang Lian tidak akan membuat komen sedemikian melainkan beliau mempunyai keterangan yang kukuh.
16.2. Jika Musa Hassan tidak ada memberi keterangan palsu ketika perbicaraan kes salahguna kuasa terhadap Anwar, dihadapan Hakim mendiang Dato Augustine Paul dalam tahun 1998, maka tidak akan ujud nota keterangan sedemikian yang bolih dibandingkan pula dengan nota keterangan beliau di-Mahkamah Sesyen Kota Kinabalu sebelas tahun kemudian.
16.3. Jika Musa Hassan tidak pernah memberi kemudahan dan membantu Gani Patail dalam membuat dan mereka keterangan-keterangan palsu dalam penyiasatan insiden mata-lebam tahun 1998, maka saya sendiri tidak akan merakamkan dalam diari penyiasatan saya ketika itu, mengenai peranan dan penglibatan beliau dan Gani Patail dalam salahlaku jenayah ini.
Memoirs
17. Jika Musa Hassan telah berjaya meyakinkan Tun Mahathir untuk mempercayai Anwar terlibat dalam aktibiti homosexsual,lantas beliau dipecat dan dikenakan beberapa pertuduhan jenayah sehingga disabitkan kesalahan dan dipenjarakan, maka nota keterangan Musa Hassan berikan dalam perbicaraan salahguna kuasa terhadap Anwar itu sendiri, akhirnya telah membongkarkan segala pemalsuan dan penipuan lampau yang Musa Hassan telah lakukan.
17.1. Begitu juga apa yang berlaku keatas Gani Patail. Sungguhpun beliau berjaya meyakinkan Tun Mahathir dan Jemaah Menteri ketika itu,dengan memperkecilkan hasil penyiasatan Polis terhadap insiden mata-lebam, sehinggakan Jemaah Menteri percaya bahawa PDRM tidak telus dan professional dalam tugas mereka,lantas menubuhkan Suruhanjaya Di-Raja penyiasatan pula. Maka keterangan-keterangan yang terkandung dalam laporan Suruhanjaya itu sendiri,akhirnya telah mengesahkan segala pemalsuan dan penipuan yang Gani Patail telah lakukan.
17.2. Tanpa diduga 13 tahun kemudian,Tun Mahathir telah mengeluarkan memoirs beliau dalam “A Doctor in the House”, pada bulan Mac 2011. Secara sengaja atau kebetulan, memoirs Tun dalam membincangkan peristiwa mata-lebam dan dakwaan terhadap Anwar, sebaliknya telah mengukuhkan lagi keterangan salahlaku jenayah terhadap Gani Patail dan Musa Hassan pula.     
17.2.1.Jika Tun Mahathir dalam memoirs sendiri telah berterus terang pernah tersalah anggap, bahawa kecederaan mata-lebam yang Anwar alami itu adalah dilakukannya sendiri (self-inflicted), hanya untuk kemudiannya sedar bahawa kecederaan tersebut akibat serangan mantan Ketua Polis Negara,maka Tun juga bolih tersalah anggap mengenai aktibiti homosexsual Anwar. Tun Mahathir tidak bolih mengenepikan kemungkinan beliau telah diperdayakan olih Musa Hassan dengan butir taklimat yang ditokok-tambah atau dimanipulasikan.
17.2.2.Menilai semula penglibatan Musa Hassan dalam peristiwa, yang ramai tidak menyangka beliau sanggup lakukan,iaitu, “mencuri” sample darah untuk tujuan DNA,bersubahat dengan Gani Patail dalam mereka 3 laporan Forensik palsu serta kemudiannya memberi keterangan palsu dalam perbicaraan melibatkan Anwar, yang kesemuanya berlaku selepas beliau memberikan taklimat kepada Tun, maka kemungkinan Tun Mahathir telah diperdayakan menjadi lebih credible.    
17.2.3.Saya menyatakan Tun sememangnya serius apabila beliau pada 8.10.1998 mengarahkan menerusi saya supaya tidak ada sebarang “cover-up” dalam penyiasatan kes-kes terhadap Anwar. Bagaimanapun Tun tidak mempunyai kawalan terhadap tingkahlaku Gani Patail dan Musa Hassan.
17.2.4.Tun Mahathir sendiri mengaku telah mengarahkan KPN supaya berhati-hati apabila menangani Anwar. Malah Tun (memberitahu saya ketika menemui beliau) telah meminta supaya Anwar tidak digari apabila ditangkap, jika bolih. Namun, Anwar tetap juga dibelasah olih mantan KPN tersebut sebaik ditangkap ketika kedua belah tangannya masih bergari.
Begitu juga keadaannya,walaupun Tun telah mengarahkan supaya tidak ada sebarang “cover-up” terhadap kes-kes melibatkan Anwar, dan arahan tersebut telah saya sampaikan kepada mereka yang berkenaan,secara lisan dan bertulis, namun Tun tidak berupaya untuk menghalang  Gani Patail dan Musa Hassan daripada melakukan pemalsuan dan penipuan keatas Anwar dibelakang beliau.
17.2.5.Sekiranya Gani Patail sanggup melibatkan diri melesapkan dokumen yang mengaitkan beliau dengan salahlaku jenayah, sebelum laporan Suruhanjaya Di-Raja mata-lebam dipersembahkan kepada SPB Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, maka apalah manipulasi keatas rakyat biasa kepada beliau.
17.2.6.Dengan berat hati saya menyatakan,bahawa terdapat beberapa kenyataan mustahak Tun dalam Chapter 53 “Doctor in the House”, khususnya menyentuh berkaitan siasatan kes mata-lebam dan tindak-tanduk Pendakwa Raya dalam perkara sama, adalah berbeza dengan fakta terkandung dalam fail siasatan rasmi yang dibuat pada 1998. Saya percaya pekara ini bolih berlaku akibat Tun telah diberikan maklumat atau taklimat yang telah dimanipulasikan dan mengelirukan.
Kesimpulan Perkara
18. Berdasarkan kepada hujah-hujah yang tersebut diatas yang disokong dengan dokumen-dokumen dan keterangan yang ada dalam milik dan pengetahuan saya sendiri, saya berpendapat bahawa sabitan salah keatas Anwar dalam pertuduhan salahguna kuasa keatas beliau,telah diperolehi olih pihak Pendakwaan melalui jalan penipuan dan pemalsuan yang telah dilakukan dengan niat bersama olih Gani Patail dan Musa Hassan untuk faedah bersama mereka. 
18.1. Tidak salah untuk menyatakan hukuman penjara yang Anwar telah lalui adalah penganiayaan terhadap beliau olih mereka berdua.
PENUTUP
19. Selain daripada diri saya sendiri, saya mendapat maklum terdapat sekurang-kurangnya dua lagi pihak yang pernah menemui Perdana Menteri, YAB Dato Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Razak (PM Najib), bertujuan menyarankan supaya sesuatu tindakan diambil terhadap Gani Patail dan Musa Hassan. Ini memandangkan salahlaku jenayah yang telah mereka lakukan, adalah sangat ketara dan telah membebankan Negara, selain daripada memusnahkan kepercayaan Rakyat terhadap Institusi-Institusi Kerajaan.
Saya mempunyai alasan untuk menyatakan, PM Najib turut sedar bahawa keterangan  terhadap Gani Patail dan Musa Hassan adalah jelas dan kukuh. Malahan, tidak ada jalan keluar bagi mereka berdua.
Namun begitu, PM Najib nampaknya masih belum bersedia untuk melaksanakan kuasa beliau sebagai Perdana Menteri diatas sesuatu pertimbangan yang hanya beliau ketahui. Mungkin beliau sedang menunggu masa yang sesuai. Saya yakin PM Najib tidak akan timbulkan soal ketiadaan atau kekurangan keterangan terhadap mereka berdua.
20. Sebagai seorang yang terlibat secara langsung menangani isu-isu berkaitan Anwar sejak 1998, serta mempunyai pengalaman bersemuka dan berinteraksi dengan kesemua “pemain-pemain utama” perkara dalam persoalan ini,terutamanya Tun Mahathir sendiri, Gani Patail, Musa Hassan, Anwar Ibrahim, selain daripada Pesuruhjaya-Pesuruhjaya Suruhanjaya Di-Raja siasatan mata-lebam dan juga PM Najib, maka saya mampu menegaskan, bahawa segala pendedahan fakta yang saya buat dalam surat keluaran ini dan juga dalam beberapa banyak Surat Terbuka saya sebelum ini, tidak pernah lari sedikitpun daripada landasan kebenaran.
21. Saya menyimpan hak saya untuk menyambung ulasan mengenai isu ini pada masa yang sesuai, memandangkan perbicaraan kes Sodomi II akan disambung semula pada 19 September 2011, walaupun saya sedar akan risikonya.
Sekian, untuk makluman dan tindakan YDH Tan Sri dimana berkaitan mengikut peraturan Undang-Undang sedia ada. Salam sejahtera.
Yang benar,
Mat Zain Ibrahim

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Sonia Gandhi's dilemmas

Sonia Gandhi

Ailing Congress Party head faces a host of dilemmas
Sonia Gandhi, the president of India’s Congress Party, has just returned from cancer surgery in New York. Her absence…

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Sonia Gandhi

Ailing Congress Party head faces a host of dilemmas
Sonia Gandhi, the president of India’s Congress Party, has just returned from cancer surgery in New York. Her absence during the public fast and nationwide protests led by India’s new hero Anna Hazare, led to government confusion and humiliation. Congress and the government are in retreat with no effective counter-strategy.

No one knows how sick the 64-year-old Gandhi is. After her treatment for what was said to be cervical cancer at the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, the surgery was said to be a success. The five-year survival rate for all types of cervical cancer is 92 percent if it is caught early.

As head of her party Gandhi has to deal with the following challenges: How to fashion a Lokpal bill, or citizen ombudsman bill, which would have sufficient teeth to chill elected crooks but not allow mob justice? What happens if it results in full scale investigations of Congress politicians? What if Hazare resumes his public fast as he has threatened to do, if his version of the Lokpal Bill is not passed into law?

Can she still steer her son Rahul, now 42, to the prime ministership? Given his wooden response to the Hazare phenomenon, he may be damaged goods already. Who else is there with credibility to lead Congress and the government? What about the next election? Is Congress not guaranteed to be turfed out already? After Sonia, who?

All too much for one just recovering from cancer surgery.

Both the Indian government and its Congress Party leadership failed to read the deep public resentment against the corrupt political class, with disastrous results. They arrested the 74-year old Hazare and his small band of followers. That catapulted him into the national consciousness and fanned public outrage.

Then the country's shrill TV stations turned him into a celebrity with 24-hour coverage and panel punditry. Twitterati and Facebook activists spread viral messages of a corrupt power structure victimizing an old man who dared to protest.

Then the government spin masters falsely accused Hazare and his team of tax evasion, corrupt land deals and more. He challenged them to charge him.

That jolted the urban middle class, NGOs, youth and the unemployed to join the rising public outcry. They found ready targets in a morally bankrupt Congress-led government beset with massive unresolved scandals. The police were instructed to release Hazare with conditions. Hazare ignored all the conditions and started a public fast at the Ramlila Maidan in the national capital.

Hazare's campaign managers were seasoned media minds and legal experts. They turned him into the second coming of Mahatma Gandhi. Hazare subsequently launched a 'second revolution' to rid the nation of what he called the new oppressors of the people. The blow-up poster of Gandhi dominated the raised dais on which the frail Hazare undertook his fast. The campaign linked Hazare and the revered Mahatma in TV images beamed to the nation. His team lobbied the 'Jan Lokpal' Bill to replace the 'toothless' government version.

T-shirts, Gandhi caps, dancing performances, Bollywood stars and pop-songs entertained the crowds. It turned into a national carnival with demonstrations in several cities across the country.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh capitulated with the full support of the Opposition benches, on the 12th day of Hazare's fast, fearing his death on stage would unleash mob outrage against Parliament and all its representatives. Singh agreed in principle to accept all his demands.

The government bought time by passing his bill to the house standing committee to vet along with other submissions.

Hazare's bill seeks to set up an independent bureaucracy to vet public complaints against state legislators and members of parliament, police, judges, ministers and prime minister. No one is exempt. Fast justice is to be meted out. The guilty would be imprisoned and their assets seized.

There is no separation of powers between investigation, prosecution and sentencing. The administration of the Jan Lokpal, as Hazare envisages it, is a law unto itself. It answers to no one. There are no external checks and balances. There is no independent appeal process. Who will guard the guards is unanswered.

The mischief of the political class aside, there is every danger of this supra-government, moralistic crusade degenerating quickly into vendettas, revenge, false accusations and witch hunts on a national scale. Revolutions and jihads throughout history have shown how power unchecked turns into mass abuse.

The Congress Party finds itself on the wrong side of the debate. It has projected itself as willing to use heavy boots to stop the people's call for clean government. It has been forced into the losing position of protecting corrupt practices. Perception is everything in politics. Congress is unlikely to be voted back into office.

Rahul Gandhi stumbles

In the leadership vacuum left by Sonia Gandhi's emergency cancer surgery in New York, Rahul Gandhi was presented with a golden opportunity to rise to the occasion. He failed to seize the moment.

Worse, he recited a wooden, flat script in Parliament warning against usurping the role of elected lawmakers. Instead of co-opting the national energy against the intransigence of the 'old politics', he positioned himself as part of the problem.

The educated youth who form a growing demographic voting block in India, cannot any longer look to Rahul Gandhi for inspiration. He failed them at the most crucial moment. He may well be toast. The youth turned instead to the leadership of a 74-year anti-corruption crusader.

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'Bukti dipalsukan pada bicara kes rasuah Anwar'

Hukuman kerana salah guna kuasa ke atas Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim pada 1999 adalah silap kerana pihak pendakwaan telah memalsukan bukti dan membuat penipuan melalui tindakan pegawai penyiasat ketika itu,…

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Hukuman kerana salah guna kuasa ke atas Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim pada 1999 adalah silap kerana pihak pendakwaan telah memalsukan bukti dan membuat penipuan melalui tindakan pegawai penyiasat ketika itu, Tan Sri Musa Hassan dan pendakwa raya ketika itu Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail.

Dakwaan itu dibuat melalui sepucuk surat terbuka, baru yang dihantar kepada Ketua Polis Negara Tan Sri Ismail Omar, hari ini, oleh bekas Ketua Jabatan Siasatan Jenayah Kuala Lumpur Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim.

Menurut Mat Zain, Musa (kiri) dan Abdul Gani melakukan penipuan berkenaan untuk manfaat bersama mereka. Kedua-dua mereka kemudiannya telah dinaikkan pangkat. Musa menjadi Ketua Polis Negara manakala Abdul Gani pula menjadi Peguam Negara. Musa bersara baru-baru ini.

“Disokong dengan dokumen-dokumen dan keterangan yang ada dalam milik dan pengetahuan saya sendiri, saya berpendapat bahawa sabitan salah ke atas Anwar dalam pertuduhan salahguna kuasa ke atas beliau, telah diperolehi oleh pihak pendakwaan melalui jalan penipuan dan pemalsuan yang telah dilakukan dengan niat bersama oleh Gani Patail dan Musa Hassan untuk faedah bersama mereka.

“Tidak salah untuk menyatakan hukuman penjara yang Anwar telah lalui adalah penganiayaan terhadap beliau oleh mereka berdua,” katanya dalam surat itu.

“Dengan berat hati saya menyatakan,bahawa terdapat beberapa kenyataan mustahak (bekas perdana menteri) Tun (Dr Mahathir Mohamad) dalam bab 53 “Doctor in the House”, khususnya menyentuh berkaitan siasatan kes mata-lebam dan tindak-tanduk Pendakwa Raya dalam perkara sama, adalah berbeza dengan fakta terkandung dalam fail siasatan rasmi yang dibuat pada 1998.

“Saya percaya pekara ini boleh berlaku akibat Tun telah diberikan maklumat atau taklimat yang telah dimanipulasikan dan mengelirukan,” tulisnya lagi.

Mat Zain telah terlibat secara langsung dalam isu-isu mengenai pendakwaan Anwar pada tahun 1998.

“Sebagai seorang yang terlibat secara langsung menangani isu-isu berkenaan serta mempunyai pengalaman bersemuka dan berinteraksi dengan semua 'pemain-pemain utama' perkara dalam persoalan ini, terutamanya Dr Mahathir sendiri, Gani Patail, Musa Hassan, Anwar Ibrahim, selain daripada Pesuruhjaya-Pesuruhjaya Suruhanjaya Di-Raja siasatan mata-lebam dan juga PM Najib, maka saya mampu menegaskan, bahawa segala pendedahan fakta yang saya buat dalam surat keluaran ini dan juga dalam beberapa banyak surat terbuka saya sebelum ini,tidak pernah lari sedikitpun daripada landasan kebenaran,” katanya.

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Freeing the Malays and Muslims from religious mind control — Pak Sako

SEPT 12 — There appears to be a Malay-Islamic Inquisition in Malaysia.

It does not involve burnings at the stake.

It comes as ostracism at school, the workplace and in…

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SEPT 12 — There appears to be a Malay-Islamic Inquisition in Malaysia.

It does not involve burnings at the stake.

It comes as ostracism at school, the workplace and in the community for failing to comply with rigid parameters. Not wearing a headscarf is frowned upon. Transgenders are institutional pariahs.

Religious arrogance and zealotry are norms. Muslim leaders can assuredly rebuff equal partnership on inter-religious discussion panels. The Islamic moral police is free to raid churches and insult the Malay person’s dignity and autonomy.

Refusal to play along with another community’s passion for its customs is condemned as chauvinistic or unconstitutional — the fate of elected representatives in Sarawak who chose the customary suit and tie over expensive uniforms and songkoks for a state assembly opening.

Closing the gap with South Korea or Singapore at the top of quality-of-life indicators such as the UN Human Development Index is a minor national concern.

We are prouder to have been ranked by the Pew Forum’s Government Restriction Index alongside Saudi Arabia and Iran as world champions in constricting religious freedoms and other civil rights.

The time has come to face the facts. “Moderate Malaysia” and “moderate Islam” are as good as dead. If our interest is to revive moderateness, we do not flog dead hypes. We must address the causes of death.

The problem

Two pervasive mentalities stand out among the chief culprits. They are racial and religious supremacy.

Racial supremacy expects non-Malay citizens to be eternally grateful to the Malay race for granting their forefathers citizenship at Independence. It demands from the non-Malays unquestionable deference to the Malays, their culture and arbitrary declarations of Malay rights or privileges.

Religious supremacy is the conviction that the Islamic belief is superior to all other beliefs and that it is the only path to true spirituality. Its adherents must not compromise on officially stipulated Islamic ideas and practices and cannot opt-out of the religion. Non-believers are fodder for conversion.

A set of underlying reasons drive these mentalities. Political motives aside, there is a historical fear of disenfranchisement; a concept of entitlement as an exclusive birthright; envy; low self-esteem; a craving for a source of self-pride; a fear of the new or alien; meekness; and narrow-mindedness.

Supremacism is sold as the cure-all. But it only adds to the problem.

The projection of cultural or religious might becomes a pretext for the powerful to impose conformity and thereby control upon a majority. Behind the false security of religious dogma or ethnic nationalism, it is spiritually and psychologically defeating. It turns what should be a happy bazaar of exchange between cultures into a cautious tightrope walk. It sabotages nation-building, whatever the unifying slogan or initiative devised.

Consider how this plays out in Malay-non-Malay relations.

The ordinary Malay in Malaysia is kept at a near constant state of anxiety by the tirade about the non-Malays seeking to usurp Malay political and economic rights. The Malays are repeatedly called on to be united in the name of race and religion to fend off this imagined strike. To alleviate his insecurities the Malay is offered:

• A political guarantee that national policy will be dictated by the Malays (or Muslims) and economic concessions in the form of government jobs for the unemployable etc. These are promised in exchange for support for certain political parties and obedience to hierarchy;

• Supposed spiritual salvation by thorough religious submission. This is codified in law, taught in religious education, enforced by religious bodies and reinforced by social and peer pressure; and

• Financial incentives such as easy loans and credit for material intoxication by retail therapy and a temporary relative wealth effect vis-à-vis the non-Malays.

There is no commensurate effort to unleash the Malay mind and encourage the Malay person to seize the day, excel, question, take charge, propose or dissent. Political leaders and the religious bureaucracy do not favour this; an empowered people puts at stake their political influence and economic privilege.

The outcome is a large class of Malays that is averse to thinking, recoils from taking responsibility and content with following instructions. Ennui, the deep weariness and dissatisfaction stemming from mindless satiety and boredom, is a common affliction.

It is to this oppressive vacuity that the non-Malays are portrayed as “threats”. It is also implied that the non-Malay cultures and attitudes can weaken Malay religiosity or morals (see, for example, Jakim’s “Guidelines for Muslims celebrating religious festivals of non-Muslims”).

The Malays, for their part, are seen by the non-Malays as being exclusive and hegemonic with their loudspeakers and educational and economic quotas.

The result is isolation between the communities, the straining of social ties under the slightest provocation and the successful thwarting of real solidarity between the races.

The usual prescription is for the non-Malays to toe the line, to adapt without protest, or— told more gently by a prominent Malay DAP member— to be “responsive” to the Malays’ “primordial sentiments of culture and religion”.

This misguided paradigm must go.

A proposal

Since the primary point of attack is the Malay psyche, the remedy must as a matter of course focus on the Malays. Liberating the Malays from mind control is key to improving the Malay lot and normalising race relations.

There is however a limited window of opportunity for action. This window is closing with the increasing Islamisation of Malaysia. A new way of seeing and doing is therefore urgent.

It must culminate in new rules of engagement that redefine the attitudes of the Malays and non-Malays, the relations between these communities and the institutional setup encompassing these.

A blueprint would read as follows:

1. For the Malay individual:

(a) To do what is necessary to be confident. Self-esteem must arise primarily from character and ability, not from external sources such as racial and religious hubris.

(b) To be outgoing and socially inclusive. To expand one’s company beyond just one racial or religious community in as many settings as possible.

(c) To take action instead of simply reacting. To not restrict oneself to old activities or ways of doing.

(d) To be able to evaluate and decide a personal response to matters of custom and religion. To not capitulate under coercion and social pressure to conform to a fixed way or idea.

(e) To be receptive to new information, ideas and values. To be able to reflect on them critically, and fairly (to give equal consideration to the pros and cons).

(f) To be able to be critical of one’s own cherished ideas and beliefs. To be able to accept outside criticisms and see them as opportunities for learning and improvement, not as a call to war.

(g) To be above viewing the world purely in black and white. To acquire the vantage that enables one to see that a diversity of ideas and beliefs can and do co-exist, and that this is natural and not wrong.

2. For the Malay community:

(a) To boldly review customs and belief systems that might function to enslave or disadvantage the community or its members. This would involve beliefs and practices that condone blind faith in an idea or decree and blind allegiance in a leader or a scholar.

(b) To cultivate amongst its members the habit of questioning norms and authority. To not accept rules or statements out of fear or mere confidence in an authority. To be able to verify the rationales behind rules and remarks and judge whether they are just or not.

(c) To accept the individual’s right to consider his practice of customs and religion as a personal matter; that advice or guidance may be provided by religious bodies for a community, but that these beliefs and practices should not be forced upon any member of the community. To encourage individuals to evaluate religious precepts and advice by reference to their intellect and own sense of what is right or wrong.

3. For both the Malay and non-Malay communities:

(a) The non-Malays must treat the Malays as fellow brothers and sisters, with dignity, understanding and compassion. Effort should be made to communicate and interact with, not shun, the Malay community.

(b) The Malays must reciprocate. In addition, the Malays must rightfully regard their non-Malay brothers and sisters as equal citizens.

(c) To overcome cultural hypersensitivity. To be tactful in making suggestions or be gracious in receiving suggestions pertaining to the so-called “sensitive issues” (for example, matters relating to places of worship).

(d) To cease to see the preferences or cultural particulars of another community as slights or threats. To cultivate instead an appreciation for the value of diversity. To be able to partake in the festivities of any community without excessive anxieties or scruples.

4. For the progressive and liberal Malays:

(a) To inspire their fellow Malays to break out of restrictive thinking and habits.

(b) To take the initiative to speak out against policies, laws and actions which inhibit their people’s material and mental progress.

(c) To support Malay or Islamic organisations and movements that are progressive.

5. For political leaders, institutions and other authorities:

(a) To refrain from speech and action that sow suspicion and division between the Malays and non-Malays or cause a community to feel excluded.

(b) Religious bodies and leaders in particular may educate the public but should never engage in actions that humiliate their targets or compel them to do what is not in their hearts.

(c) To ensure that religious laws and regulations do not discriminate against people by gender, sexual orientation or religious denomination. To disapprove biased interpretations of these laws and regulations.

6. For political parties:

(a) To resolutely uphold and espouse progressive living and thinking. To favour inclusive values and ideologies over narrow and exclusive ones.

(b) To cease from propagating or condoning any form of religious chauvinism (the act of putting one religion ahead of or above all others) because of the political expediency of securing votes.

7. The social environment:

(a) To create an environment that allows cultural, intellectual and physical interaction between the races that is free from fear, prejudice and other obstructions.

The foregoing is by no means complete, but it indicates the general spirit that any such “social contract” must have.

It must in essence motivate the Malays to take control of the wheels of their destiny. The immediate implications are for the Malays to free themselves from religious programming and assert their authority from the grassroots upward.

The prospect may be scary. But the old way of being led by the nose is destructive. The Malays should no longer remain as feudalistic subjects of the political and religious elite. The elite owe the Malays that dignity. — cpiasia.net

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.

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