Jilted woman hires goons to rape lover's wife for three days

An Egyptian woman whose marriage proposals were constantly turned down by her lover, devised a malicious plan to avenge him.

She allegedly hired goons, had them kidnap his wife and ordered them to rape her in front of her as she sat looking. After three days, she asked the men to dump her naked on the road in front of her lover's house. She then called her lover and told him where he could find his wife, reported 'Al Youm Al Sabea'.
The man, a trader, allegedly had an illicit relationship with the woman. He visited her at her apartment in Helwan suburb in Cairo more than once for sex, the report added.

Apparently the woman had been sending the trader threatening SMS after he refused to marry her. She even had warned him that she would take revenge if he did not make her his wife. But he did not agree.

Angry at being dumped, she hired four men who kidnapped his wife under the threat of knives. They sedated her and held her captive in an apartment in Helwan area for three days where they continuously raped the woman before her. After a couple of days, she called her lover and told him that his wife was with her and was being raped. She also threatened to kill his wife if he informed police. He pleaded with her to have his wife back and agreed to marry her.

The trader told police that he found his wife lying naked and tired on the road. He rushed her to a hospital first before filing a police complaint.

BN & PR there is no differences........ Hindraf

Minimum wage to be more than RM740

Neither the Human Resource Ministry nor its minister Dr S Subramaniam are involved in the final decision on the minimum wage policy.
INTERVIEW

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s minimum wage policy, which is scheduled for announcement before Dec 31, will most likely see starting salaries fixed at between RM740 and RM1,200.

Human Resources Minister Dr S Subramaniam said that this was the range he was expecting the National Wage Advisory Council (NWAC) to come up with.

He added that the NWAC was in its final stages of deliberation.

“We have given the council till the end of the year. Definitely it will be above RM740 which is the poverty line.

“The World Bank and other studies has cautioned us that any figure above RM1,200 could have some challenging impacts on our economy.

“So the final figure could be anywhere between these two,” Subramaniam told FMT in a recent interview.

He also said that certain economic advisors had cautioned against a minimum wage set from RM1,100 and beyond that.

“They say as you move from RM1,100 and above, the risk of unemployment, the risk of being non-competitive and risk of inflation becomes higher,” he said.

Subramaniam, however stressed that the final decision on the minimum wage figure was not up to him or the ministry.

“The NWAC will decide. It is for the council to look at this figures and decide which level of risk we want to take,” he said.

‘I am not involved’

The NWAC, which has been deliberating on the minimum wage for the past couple of months, is “completely free from government interference”, said Subramaniam.

“I’m not involved, I’m not a member of the council. There is no politician, or anybody, involved.

“It is a fairly independent council consisting of workers, employers and some independent people,” he said.

While he said there are government officials within the council, their task was mainly to look at policy issues and national economic goals.

“Otherwise, to a great extent the decision is made between employers and workers, based on data given to them. It is up to them to make the most appropriate decision,” said Subramaniam.

He hoped that NWAC would come to a conclusion quickly, as the ministry has given the council up to the end of the year to come up with recommendations.

Applauding the introduction of the minimum wage, Subramaniam said it took awhile to convince those who were unhappy with such “radical changes”.

He said minimum wages were needed when the government was confronted with figures that showed nearly 33% of Malaysian workers were earning less than RM700 a month.

Pakatan’s RM1,100 recommendation

The council, established on Sept 15, is currently studying the rate and coverage of minimum wage according to sector, job type, area and territory.

This also includes taking into consideration other factors such as the current socio-economic situation, expenditure, inflation rate and comparing wage structures in other countries.

The council is an independent entity consisting of 23 members from workers and employers unions, government and non-governmental organization (NGO) and is chaired by former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Steve Shim Lip Kiong.

Recently, before Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak announced the national budget, Pakatan Rakyat’s alternative budget, announced by Anwar Ibrahim recently, stated that the opposition coalition intended to have minimum wage at RM1,100.

Below are excerpts from an exclusive interview with Dr S Subramaniam:

There were rumours that when the Prime Minister offered you the post, you were at first hesitant and rejected it. Is this true?

When I was appointed in 2008, Pak Lah (Abdullah Badawi) was the Prime Minister. The ministry that MIC held before was the Works Ministry, so of course the then president S Samy Vellu had actually requested that there should be continuity there. But when that was not given, there was a lot of rumours it could be any other ministry. Frankly, neither the party nor me were aware it could be the Human Resources Ministry. So when the prime minister clarified the reasons (for his decision), he said he felt that the issues of the Indian community in terms of skills, employment, training, and other issues – because they were mainly a working class – can be addressed by the ministry. To some extent that might have been right. It has some direct connection to some core issues pertaining to the Indian community, so whatever it is, the (appointment was a) prerogative of the Prime Minister. The rumours that I rejected it initially is untrue.

How was your transition from being a dermatologist to a minister?

Initially in 2004 I was appointed as parliamentary secretary to Housing and Local Government Ministry. I was a practicing medical specialist, and I felt that I wanted the experience of being a backbencher initially. It so happened that in that particular election, MIC won all the nine seats and the Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi gave posts for seven of us. That was the highest amount of government post MIC had in history. One minister, three deputy ministers and two parliamentary secretaries. So at the time I had some hesitations, because (it was a) sudden transition.

From then on?

I became the party secretary, (was) elected as vice-president (and then after the 2008 general election) I was elected as MIC minister, because among three people who won, I got the highest votes. There were people who were more senior to me who lost – the president, the deputy president, and the vice-president who contested, they all lost. I was the secretary-general. I was nominated as the representative of the party as a minister, that’s how it happened. So 2008 was a shock to us, I could not believe how many of us lost, none of us expected this. Pursuant to that, we’ve accepted the lost. That dented the party very badly. And for that last few years, we’re seeing the dent slowly getting better. The image of the party is getting better.

As a first time minister in the Human Resources Ministry, what were the challenges that you faced?

This is a very important ministry because 1) it provides for the harmony of industrial relations in this country; 2) It has to ensure and regulate the manpower requirements of the country.

Based on these two clear objectives, in the last three years, we’ve actually made quite a lot of changes to the nature and future of workers, in line with concept of harmony. Many (of these) changes (had) never (been) done before.

Some of the radical changes include introducing minimum wage for Malaysia, which is something that is met with a lot of opposing views and ideas and we managed to actually push it across and convince those who are not supportive of it to accept it.

You have mentioned that another issue the ministry is looking closely at is the retirement age, what is being done so far?

We’re now in the middle of drafting a bill to actually fix a retirement age for the private sector. Now it is currently left to individuals. The employer and employee determine (the age as) it is now stated. By and large a lot of employers use 55 years of age (as the time of retirement).

(But) the government has changed, they have improved initially from 55 to 58 and now (have) announced 60 (years). We’re now telling the private sector, look here you cannot be sticking to 55 and you have to change. To impose that, we need legal power. That’s the reason why we’re creating a law to look into this.

Why is there a need to increase the retirement age in the private sector?

The same reason why government decided to do it. Because the lifespan of Malaysians has increased. Age 55 was fixed when our lifespan was between 55 to 65 of years of age, many years ago. (Better) health facilities and improvement of lifestyles have improved our longevity. So people at 55 are still very young, are still able to contribute and now live for a longer period of time.

If you ask them to retire, and be economically non-productive for a long time, its going to be challenging for them. Because the savings which they have probably wouldn’t be sufficient to carry them for a long time. Assuming they retire at 55, and live another 20-30, they wouldn’t have enough savings to cater to all their needs.

So because of that, we needed to increase the productive age group. So this will shorten the period post-retirement, and increase the amount of savings. It’s a global issue and most parts of the world has responded to it, we haven’t.

Of course, with any new proposal, there are proponents and opponents. So that’s why in our ministry, everything we discuss with stakeholders, we don’t impose decisions (made) by ourselves. So we are now having discussions.

Some concerns that have been raised by the workers group, and we’ll see how we can address them so at the end when it is implemented everybody would be able to accept it.

When will the new retirement age to be implemented?

We wanted to do it in this parliament seating itself, but because of these issues (raised by workers), we are still continuing discussions. Once those problems (which were) highlighted have been addressed we will go ahead. We are now aiming for the next parliament session.

These aside, what are some of the other changes you’ve brought about in the ministry since assuming office in 2008?

We’ve recently also passed a regulations on part-time jobs last year. This is to provide for greater flexibility for workers, particularly ladies,to contribute to the labour force. It allows someone who wants to work but has other obligations, to work part-time and at the same time manage their families.

We hope that management and enterprises will create jobs that are of this nature. It is actually in their interest, because there is a lot of skills outside which can be utilized, if they allow people to come in to work 4-5 hours and go home. Rather than having such a stereotyped mind that a worker must come in the morning and stay until late evening and go back.

(Another change is in) the area of sexual harassment in work place. This has been addressed by amendments in Employment Act. We are in the process of addressing the abuses in the contract labour system and hope to come out with suitable guidelines in addressing this issue.

Another (change) is the processing of applications and approvals in Perkeso (also known as Socso). This has been streamlined and the time taken shortened tremendously. Perkeso’s offices are opened in weekends to ensure greater accessibility.

A Return To Work Program has been started under Perkeso to ensure optimal rehabilitation of injured workers and to ensure their early Return To Work. A rehabilitation center is being built in Malacca to provide modern and up-to-date facilities in the field of rehabilitation.

We are reviewing present Perkeso benefits and how the processes can be improved and greater benefits be given to the workers.

Human Resource Development Center has been started under the PSMB and will contribute towards better and more modern management of human resources in SME’s and lead to increased productivity.

We feel modernization of human resources management will lead to better management and increase productivity amongst the SME’s.

In the area of Skill Training; we have setup a council to provide a better coordination, rationalization and optimization of resources amongst the various skill training providers in the country. From being supply driven, we are transforming skill training to be demand driven.

Greater involvement of the industry in skill training will ensure the skill sets will meet the present and future demands of the industry. Additional funds have been given to provide training for unemployed graduates, school-leavers and dropouts.

A new program has been introduced to allow greater opportunities for Malaysian workers to upgrade and update their skills.

Also, the time taken for resolutions of industrial relations disputes has been reduced tremendously. We are having serious discussion with the stakeholders to reduce the time taken to resolve the disputes,including the time taken to refer cases to the industrial court.

Report lodged against Thanendran, ROS

Malaysian Makkal Sakthi Party members want MACC to investigate its president and the ROS for fraud.

SHAH ALAM: Embattled Malaysian Makkal Sakthi Party (MMSP) members today lodged a report against party president RS Thanendran with the MACC here at Shah Alam, Selangor.

They were led by the party’s incumbent acting president A Vathamoorthy, R Kannan (secretary-general) and Youth wing chief N Ramu.

In their report, they alleged that Thanendran colluded with the Register of Societies (ROS), who they also named in the report, of fraudulently amending the party’s constitution.

Also present were former Hindraf ISA detainee VGanapathy Rao and PKR Puchong divison chief S Murali.

“MMSP was formed by 10 key Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) members to uplift the Indian community and strive to meet their aspirations,” said Kannan.

Just three months into the party’s official launch by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak in mid-2009, MMSP was split into three rival camps.

One was led by Thanendran, and the other two by former deputy chief (and a claimant to the top post now) Vathamoorthy and Kannan respectively.

Kannan and Vathamoorthy collectively accused Thanendran of misleading members and also misusing party funds.

According to Kannan, Thanendran and his brother RS Ramesh, a former vice president, spent an estimated RM500,000 on the party’s official launch.

When the MMSP central committee urged Thanendran to reveal the accounts, the latter refused to disclose details of the expenditure.

“When the committee was about pass a vote of no confidence against Thanedran, it also found out that he had colluded with the ROS to amend the party constitution,” said Kannan.

He added that the new constitution amended between Dec 19, 2009 and Jan 4, 2010 gave the party president absolute power to sack and increase the central committee members.

Kannan also accused Thanendran of forging the former’s signature to support the ammendments to the constitution.

“We believe that ROS also played a major role in this matter when it approved the new constitution without referring it to member at the party’s AGM,” said Kannan.

‘Unexplained new-found wealth’

“The ROS also kept mum and did not intervene to resolve the matter,” he added.

Kannan who claimed to represent 12,000 party members said that MACC should move to take action against Thanendran (photo) and the ROS.

Meanwhile, Youth chief Ramu also lodged a separate report against Thanendran over the latter’s alleged ‘new-found’ wealth.

“How did Thanendran, a former Hindraf national coordinator, who was once an odd-job worker become a multi-millionaire within a short period of time?” he asked.

During the Thaipusam festival in Sungai Petani, Kedah earlier this year, thousands of leaflets with details of Thanendran’s alleged wealth surfaced.

His detractors are also claiming that the federal government had awarded hefty contracts to Thanendran for throwing his support behind Barisan Nasional and Najib.

“We want MACC to investigate Thanendran immediately and allow him the chance clear his name,” Ramu told FMT.

Thanendran could not be reached for comments.

Umno man claims his speech twisted

Musa Sheikh Fadzir says he did not suggest abandoning BN partners in Penang.

GEORGE TOWN: Penang Umno’s deputy chairman, Musa Sheikh Fadzir, has threatened to sue two Chinese newspapers for what he said was false and “mischievous reporting” of his speech at the recent Umno general assembly.

He denied that he called on Umno to abandon its Barisan Nasional partners and go solo in Penang in the coming general election, saying he was “shocked by such misreporting” by Kwong Wah Yit Poh and Guang Ming Daily.

He demanded that the two papers retract their articles, publish corrections and apologise within a week. “Or else I will take the necessary legal action.”

He told a press conference here that he had a video recording of his entire speech.

Musa, who heads Umno’s Bukit Mertajam division, said the speech was mostly about the problems Penang Umno was facing.

He also said Umno was now working closely with all BN allies to ensure the coalition’s victory in the state in the coming polls. “We have developed strong solidarity and cooperation among all BN allies. Umno had never and would never abandon its allies.”

He claimed that in 1990, when Umno was the biggest winner in Penang, the party did not insist on the Chief Minister’s post for one of its own, but gave way to Gerakan.

He said he wasswarmed with phone calls from friends and political colleagues following the reports in the two dailies.

“I think the mischievous reporting by both Chinese dailies was to pit me against my BN colleagues,” he added.

SPR mesti laksana 7 lagi tuntutan Bersih – Maria Chin

(Oleh: Masdar Wahid)
KUALA LUMPUR 7 Dis: Gabungan Pilihan Raya Bersih dan Adil (Bersih), menggesa Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya Malaysia (SPR) melaksanakan tujuh lagi tuntutan gabungan itu, kata Ahli Jawatankuasa Pemandunya, Maria Chin Abdullah.
Sambil mengalukan pengumuman SPR melaksanakan dakwat kekal, Maria berkata, kesemua lapan tuntutan tersebut perlu dilaksanakan sebelum pilihan raya umum (PRU) akan datang.
“Jika kelapan-lapan tuntutan Bersih tidak dilaksana sebelum PRU-13, pandangan rakyat dan masyarakat antarabangsa mengenai perjalanan sistem pilihan raya di Malaysia tetap kotor, penuh manipulasi dan berpihak untuk memenangkan Umno BN,” katanya dihubungi Keadilandaily.com hari ini.
Tujuh lagi tuntutan itu ialah membersihkan daftar pemilih, mereformasikan undi pos, kempen minima 21 hari, akses media yang adil untuk semua parti politik bertanding, mengukuhkan institusi awam serta menghentikan politik kotor dan rasuah.
Beliau juga mengulas kenyataan Timbalan Pengerusi SPR, Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar yang memberi alasan bahawa agensi kerajaan itu akan menemui Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan bagi meminta pandangan.
“Ini hanyalah alasan politik SPR yang dikitar semula sejak 2008, walhal Majlis Fatwa sudahpun memutuskan tiada masalah jika dakwat kekal diguna dalam pilihan raya,” tegas Maria.
Menjelang PRU-12, SPR bersetuju melaksana dakwat kekal, namun membatalkannya disaat akhir pengundian dengan alasan memudaratkan ketenteraman awam.
Pada PRU itu, buat pertama kali, Umno BN hilang dua pertiga kerusi di Parlimen selain tumbang di lima negeri.

Has Barisan Nasional Done Enough To Battle It Out In Selangor?

By Alan Ting

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 7 (Bernama) -- As it stands, Selangor remains the toughest state for either side of the political divide to wrest control in the next general election.

For that reason, the race for Selangor has begun in earnest with Barisan Nasional (BN) embarking on various strategies. Its latest campaign, 'Sayangi Selangor, Yakini BN' (Love Selangor, Have Confidence in BN), enters the final push for the state with weekly programmes in various constituencies.

Prime Minister and BN chairman Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who is also Selangor BN liaison chief, has openly stated that he wants BN to win back the country's most developed state.

While the recently-concluded Umno General Assembly seems to put the fighting spirit back into the largest BN component party, especially its members having a better sense of purpose about wresting back Selangor, some political observers are wondering whether BN components are doing enough to get the voters' support.

Selangor's electorate is said to be the most sophisticated and discerning in the country, as reflected by the relatively high Internet penetration and well-educated population.

Of the 56 state seats in Selangor, an estimated 60 per cent are solidly Malay-majority constituencies while the rest are either Chinese-majority or mixed seats. BN currently has 20 seats and it needs only nine more to regain power.

Of the seats up for grabs, 35 are for Umno to contest, 14 for MCA, four for Gerakan and three for MIC.

In the 2008 general election, Umno won 18 of the 35 seats it contested while Gerakan and MIC, contesting four and three seats, respectively, failed to capture even one.

MCA secured only two of the 14 state seats and one of the seven parliamentary seats it contested.

State Umno leaders have hinted that there are signs in many places that the Malay ground has begun to turn in Umno's favour. However, of concern are areas where Chinese voters account for a substantial number. The Chinese make up about 34 per cent of voters in Selangor while Malays account for 49 per cent and Indians, about 14 per cent.

Some questions beg to be answered. What have Umno's counterparts done to make up for lost ground since the last general election? Have MCA, Gerakan and MIC made good progress since then?

An internal survey in BN indicates a significant swing to BN by Malay and Indian voters although the Chinese are still taking a 'wait-and-see' attitude.

Given this situation, it is incumbent upon MCA and Gerakan to do more. Have they?

A divisional leader from one of the BN component parties claimed that MCA and Gerakan members do not seem to be working hard enough while MIC members have at least, been doing something to reach out to Indian voters.

Selangor BN information chief Datuk Yap Pian Hon said the reason for such a misconception was that there was not much publicity in the mainstream English or Malay language newspapers.

"But you can see our programmes in the Chinese newspapers, sometimes even politicians from both sides (MCA and Gerakan) appear at the same function," he said.

"When one doesn't see the news in the Malay or English language newspapers, there is a tendency to believe that other parties, besides Umno, are not doing anything when actually, we (MCA) have been carrying out a lot of activities with the (Chinese) community," he said.

Yap said that another reason for MCA programmes not attracting media coverage was that they included small group activities like dialogues with the community.

For Selangor MCA secretary Wong Koon Moon, he believes the lack of effective fund distribution to BN component parties has hampered efforts to reach out to more people.

"If you have a good coordinator, then the funding will be equally distributed among all the components," he said, explaining the need for fair and effective distribution of funds.

"I give you an example. When a Chinese organisation invites you for a fund-raising dinner, obviously it is asking for contributions. Even if you can't give much, at least, some amount will do. However, without such allocations, how are you going to contribute at all?," asked the Kuala Kubu Baharu state assemblyman.

Some BN component leaders in the state also shared similar opinions.

They claimed that in some of the constituencies where the BN had been defeated, there were meagre allocations or none at all.

To make matters worse, there were also allegations that some politicians from other component parties had asked their political colleagues to make way and give up their seats since their chances were considered "slim".

"If such is the mentality, how do you want those in the grassroots to reach out to the voters?," asked a BN component leader at a divisional level, who declined to be identified.

In addition, some state BN insiders have conceded that some state leaders had not been doing much to win back the hearts of the voters, especially in areas which had fallen to the Opposition.

Even MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek was reported to have publicly expressed that some MCA leaders in Selangor were "lazy" and were not performing up to expectations.

As the general election draws near, some political pundits feel there is still room to make up for lost time.