(Malaysiakini) While news reports had it that French prosecution papers disclosed that Altantuya Shaariibuu had never entered France, none mentioned that a witness had claimed that a Malta company paid…
Thursday, 28 June 2012
Do you believe in Pakistan? Pak takes a u-turn, says Surjeet not Sarabjit to be released.
Sarabjit Singh not to be released from Pakistan prison: Reports
Islamabad | Jun 27, 2012 | IBN Live :: Hours after reports emerged that Pakistan was to free Indian death…
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Islamabad | Jun 27, 2012 | IBN Live :: Hours after reports emerged that Pakistan was to free Indian death…
Sarabjit Singh not to be released from Pakistan prison: Reports
Islamabad | Jun 27, 2012 | IBN Live :: Hours after reports emerged that Pakistan was to free Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh, the presidential spokesman on Tuesday night clarified that authorities had taken steps for the release of another Indian prisoner named Surjeet Singh who has been jailed for three decades.
“I think there is some confusion. First, it is not a case of pardon. More importantly, it is not Sarabjit. It is Surjeet Singh, son of Sucha Singh. His death sentence was commuted in 1989 by President (Ghulam) Ishaq (Khan) on the advice of (then premier) Benazir Bhutto,” presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar told PTI.
Law Minister Farooq Naek on Tuesday conveyed to the Interior Ministry that Surjeet Singh had completed his life term in jail and ought to be released and sent back to India, Babar said. Read here details.
Earlier Reports as came from Islamabad | NDTV | June 26, 2012 : Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari has commuted the death sentence for Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh.
He is likely to be allowed to return to Punjab soon. He has spent 21 years on death row and is currently in a prison in Lahore. This May, he filed his fifth petition for clemency.
India’s Minister for External Affairs SM Krishna thanked Mr Zardari for commuting Sarabjit’s sentence.
Sarabjit Singh’s daughter Swapandeep said she would go to the border with her mother and sister to receive her father.
“We always had faith in God and we knew our efforts to get him back would be successful,” said Swapandeep, emotional and often breaking down as she spoke.
Sarabjit Singh was convicted for blasts in Lahore and Multan in 1990. At least 10 people were killed in those attacks. He has argued that he is innocent, and that he is a farmer from Tarn-Taran who crossed the border by mistake.
Sarabjit was first given the death sentence by a Pakistani judge in 1991. Several appeals were rejected by different courts including the Supreme Court. Former Pakistani President had rejected his mercy petition.
His family has campaigned relentlessly for his release.
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Last month, Pakistani prisoner, Dr Khalil Chishty, who was in the Ajmer jail for 20 years, returned to his country. The 80-year-old virologist was in jail in a 1992 murder case.
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Islamabad | Jun 27, 2012 | IBN Live :: Hours after reports emerged that Pakistan was to free Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh, the presidential spokesman on Tuesday night clarified that authorities had taken steps for the release of another Indian prisoner named Surjeet Singh who has been jailed for three decades.
“I think there is some confusion. First, it is not a case of pardon. More importantly, it is not Sarabjit. It is Surjeet Singh, son of Sucha Singh. His death sentence was commuted in 1989 by President (Ghulam) Ishaq (Khan) on the advice of (then premier) Benazir Bhutto,” presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar told PTI.
Law Minister Farooq Naek on Tuesday conveyed to the Interior Ministry that Surjeet Singh had completed his life term in jail and ought to be released and sent back to India, Babar said. Read here details.
Earlier Reports as came from Islamabad | NDTV | June 26, 2012 : Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari has commuted the death sentence for Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh.He is likely to be allowed to return to Punjab soon. He has spent 21 years on death row and is currently in a prison in Lahore. This May, he filed his fifth petition for clemency.
India’s Minister for External Affairs SM Krishna thanked Mr Zardari for commuting Sarabjit’s sentence.
Sarabjit Singh’s daughter Swapandeep said she would go to the border with her mother and sister to receive her father.
“We always had faith in God and we knew our efforts to get him back would be successful,” said Swapandeep, emotional and often breaking down as she spoke.
Sarabjit Singh was convicted for blasts in Lahore and Multan in 1990. At least 10 people were killed in those attacks. He has argued that he is innocent, and that he is a farmer from Tarn-Taran who crossed the border by mistake.
Sarabjit was first given the death sentence by a Pakistani judge in 1991. Several appeals were rejected by different courts including the Supreme Court. Former Pakistani President had rejected his mercy petition.
His family has campaigned relentlessly for his release.
???????
Last month, Pakistani prisoner, Dr Khalil Chishty, who was in the Ajmer jail for 20 years, returned to his country. The 80-year-old virologist was in jail in a 1992 murder case.
Labels:
Hindu
Domestic violence: Tortured ‘for not conceiving a child’
" She has 12 wounds
on her body. She has
also been burned
with cigarettes. We
will keep her under
observation for
three days,"
Burewala THQ hospital
medical superintendent
Dr…
" She has 12 wounds
on her body. She has
also been burned
with cigarettes. We
will keep her under
observation for
three days,"
Burewala THQ hospital
medical superintendent
Dr Nasir Dilshad. PHOTO:FILE
However, the police have yet to register an FIR in the matter. SHO Mirza Jameel told The Express Tribune that the injuries suffered by the woman, 22, were too insignificant to require prosecution of the suspect. He said there were six categories of injuries and the ones the woman had suffered were the minor ones.
He said the woman was also mentally unfit so the police could not rely on her statements alone.
The SHO said he would still keep the suspect, Muhammad Asghar, in custody until a written complaint was received from the woman’s family that they don’t want to press charges against him.
Muhammad Hussain, father of the woman, said he did not plan to pardon the suspect. He said he had filed an application with the Sahuka police for the registration of an FIR.
The SHO, however, denied having received any complaint from him.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Burewala tehsil headquarters (THQ) hospital medical superintendent Dr Nasir Dilshad said the woman had 12 burn wounds on her body. He said she had also been burned with cigarettes. He said he had sent the medico-legal report to the police. “They should now decide whether or not to prosecute,” he said.
The MS rejected the police’s claim about the mental state of the woman. He said she was in a state of trauma but otherwise her mental abilities were intact.
He said she would remain under observation at the hospital for another three days.
Talking to The Tribune at the hospital, the woman said she was tricked by her husband into accompanying him to work on Sunday night to his landlord’s farm house in a neighbouring village where he tied her up and burned her with iron rods.
She was later dumped in a field where one of her relatives found her on Monday morning and took her to the Burewala THQ hospital.
She said her husband had said he was torturing her because she had failed to conceive a child in three years of their marriage.
Published In The Express Tribune, June 27th, 2012.
Labels:
Islam Discrimination
French probe did unearth Scorpene links to Altantuya
(Malaysiakini) While news reports had it that French prosecution papers disclosed that Altantuya Shaariibuu had never entered France, none mentioned that a witness had claimed that a Malta company paid…
(Malaysiakini) While news reports had it that French prosecution papers disclosed that Altantuya Shaariibuu had never entered France, none mentioned that a witness had claimed that a Malta company paid for her travels with political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda.
During
an interview between Paris-based submarine maker DCNS former financial
director Gérard-Philippe Menayas and French police, it was revealed that
Gifen paid Razak's travel expenses with his interpreter "Madam
Altantuya Sharibuu".According to Menayas, a Mr Jean-Marie Boivin from Thales International told him that a Mr Souvageot from Armaris asked him to take charge of Razak's expenses via Gifen as his firm could not do it.
According to news reports, Boivin set up Gifen in Malta - or such companies were established in different countries - to dodge Organization for Economic and Social Development (OECD) rules that made such transactions a crime.
"I asked for confirmation from Christian de Bearegard, the person-in-charge of the management of marketing companies at DCNI but he told me that he didn't know of such a request," Menayas told French police.
"Mr. Boivin confided in me in 2005-2006 or about 3 years after the event, during our frequent meetings," he added.
These details were revealed in the French police investigation papers document 136 (pages 8-11) of 153 which have been translated into English and released online by the Asia Sentinel.
How funds were channeled
Gifen was allegedly one of the companies which transferred funds up to Euro800 mil (RM3194 mil) to Perimekar Sdn Bhd (€550 million (RM2,195mil ) and Terasasi (€150 million (RM599 mil ).
Thales and Amaris were subsidiaries of DCNS which dealt with the Malaysian counterpart on the sales of the submarines.
The
two Malaysian companies based in Hong Kong are owned by Razak and his
family, who have close links to Prime Minister Najib Razak.Razak (left) was charged with Altantuya's murder in 2006 but acquitted without his defense being called while two of Najib's former bodyguards are facing the hangman's noose for her causing death.
Najib was then deputy prime minister and defence minister overseeing the purchase of the two scorpene class submarines in a RM7.3 billion deal with DCNS inked in 2002.
Meanwhile, Suaram director Cynthia Gabriel responded to an article on Free Malaysia Today (FMT) headlined " French probe: Altantuya never entered France".
Gabriel said that while FMT took information from document 54, the news portal did not report another important piece of information from the same document, which read:
"Noting in particular that a person by the name of SHAARIYBUU Bayasgalan born on 26 February 1979 in Mongolia was issued a temporary residency card on the French territory valid from 27 August 2004 to 26 November 2004. The address declared was 18 rue Houdon in Paris 18."
Altantuya very much involved
Gabriel (right) said it has become very likely that Atantuya has travelled under a different name, saying that Suaram finds the report on FMT "misleading and insincere".She added that document 136 also quoted Menayas as saying that Boivin mentioned the Malta company as paying for Razak and Altantuya's travels.
"So it has become quite clear that Altantuya was very much involved in the Scorpene Scandal, and has even supporting facts to show that she was indeed in France," said Gabriel.
"The question that begs to be answered now is what was her real role in the entire negotiations?" she asked.
Gabriel urged the government to stop the "denial game" and provide proper answers to the questions that have been piling up from the latest revelations of the Scorpene inquiry.
Suaram has filed a court case in France against DCNS for allegedly paying illegal commissions to top Malaysian officials involved in the submarine sales.
Labels:
Altantunya
Mongolian working team to retrace Altantuya's murder
Officers
from the country's Justice and Home…Officers
from the country's Justice and Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs and
Trade ministries will be making the trip to look into detail
controversies surrounding the case, Kelana Jaya PKR parliamentarian Loh
Gwo-Burne (left) told reporters at the Parliament lobby today. Citing a Mongolian news report quoting its Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry's consular director G Gankhuyag, Loh said the team also intended to "sign an agreement" to ensure cooperation between the enforcement units of both nations.
"The consular directorate of the Foreign Affairs and Trade as well as the Justice and Home Affairs ministries, NGOs and the family members of the deceased have attended the trials," said Loh, reading out from a translated copy of the news report.
"The government of Mongolia allocated the necessary funds. Also, the consular officer in Thailand has made working trips to Malaysia on this matter.
"Unfortunately, we see sluggishness from the Malaysian side. They don't inform what is going on in the courtroom."
'Give them full cooperation'
Loh urged the Malaysian government to give full cooperation to the Mongolian government officers as it involved the country's image and bilateral relationship.
On Oct 31, 2008, Shah Alam High Court judge Mohd Zaki Md Yasin acquitted political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, who had been accused of abetment in the murder of Altantuya, without calling for his defence.
The judge ruled that the prosecution had not proven a prima facie case, as the sworn affidavit filed by Abdul Razak, a close ally of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, had not been rebutted.
However, two Special Action Force members - Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar - were later found guilty of the murder and sentenced to death.
The two, former bodyguards of Najib, have filed separate appeals against conviction, which are due to be heard in August.
Azilah and Sirul Azhar were found guilty of murdering Altantuya, who was then 28, at Lot 12843 and Lot 16735 Mukim Bukit Raja in Shah Alam, Selangor, between 10pm on Oct 19 and 1am on Oct 20, 2006.
Labels:
Altantunya
Umno MP withdraws ‘hang Ambiga’ remark
KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 — Umno MP Datuk Mohamad Aziz today withdrew his remarks asking if Datuk Ambiga Sreenavasan should be hanged for treason after he was ordered to do…KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 — Umno MP Datuk Mohamad Aziz today withdrew his remarks asking if Datuk Ambiga Sreenavasan should be hanged for treason after he was ordered to do so by Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Jaafar.“Yang dipertua, yang dipertua, yang dipertua. I am a disciplined citizen,” Mohamad (picture) said, sounding emotional and out of breath.
“[But] if my remarks hurt my friends, the Indians, MIC, PPP, and affect the spirit of understanding in Barisan Nasional (BN), I withdraw what I said on June 26.”
But before agreeing to retract his words, the Sri Gading MP first launched into a biting attack against the DAP, calling the party “racist” and accusing DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng of spinning his words out of context.
“In this case about Ambiga, DAP clearly turned it into a racial issue because they are racists.
“I never intended to be racist. I never mentioned Indian or Hindu but DAP did... for the purpose of political gain.
“They are experts at spinning things, they want to destroy my relationship with others,” the angry parliamentarian shouted.
Mohamad also continued to stand by his explanation that his remarks about Ambiga were meant to be a question, and not a statement as alleged by Lim.
Lim had earlier cited Standing Order 36(4), 36(7) and 36(10) against Mohamad, saying the lawmaker had used offensive language in the House.
“They do not understand Bahasa Malaysia. It was not a question,” the Umno MP said.
According to Hansard, the Umno leader had on Tuesday night said in the House: “Apakah Ambiga tidak boleh kita anggap penderhaka kepada Duli Yang Maha Mulia Yang di-Pertuan Agong dan hukum gantung pada dia?”
[Translation: Can we not consider Ambiga a traitor to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and sentence her to be hanged?]
According to Hansard, the Umno leader had said: "Kita masih ingat apabila al-Maunnah menderhaka kepada Yand di-Pertuan Agong, kita hukum gantung dia. Ingat cerita itu beberapa tahun yang lalu?"
“Apakah Ambiga tidak boleh kita anggap penderhaka kepada Duli Yang Maha Mulia Yang di-Pertuan Agong dan hukum gantung pada dia?”
(Translation: We still remember when al-Ma'unah committed treason against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, we hanged them. Remember that incident several years ago?
Can we not consider Ambiga a traitor to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and sentence her to hang?)
At the time, Mohamad was speaking in reference to the April 28 rally for free and fair elections organised by Bersih 2.0, the coalition of non-governmental organisations that Ambiga co-chairs with Malay literary icon Datuk A. Samad Said.
The Al-Ma'unah group had stolen weapons from an army camp in July 2000 in their attempt to overthrow the government before finally being cornered and forced to surrender in Sauk, Perak.
Mohamed Amin Mohamed Razali, who led the band of 29 men, was eventually hanged six years later, followed by three other leaders of the terrorist group. They were the first to be convicted for "waging war against the King".
Mohamad's words had upset many across the political divide and even drew flak from MIC president Datuk G. Palanivel who yesterday urged intervention from Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
In condemning Mohamad yesterday DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the remarks were racist and extremist, accusing the former of targeting Ambiga as she is a woman, Hindu and Indian.
But Mohamad retorted today that it was Lim and his party DAP that are racists, pointing out that at no point in his statement had he mentioned race or gender.
"I was talking in the context of the nation’s safety, not race, religion or gender - my speech was in the context of the nation’s security... that those the rallied on April 28, that can be considered treason towards the Yang di-Pertuan Agong," he said.
"It is clear I have no bad intention. Many of my friends are Hindus and I respect them."
But Mohamad maintained that Ambiga was an "agent" of foreign powers, alleging that the presence of diplomats and foreign parliamentarians during the Bersih rally was proof of this.
"I was speaking in the context of national security," he repeated.
Mohamad accused the DAP of trying to become heroes of the Indian community by using his remarks as fodder for their "narrow politics".
"DAP lives on racial issues. DAP will be buried if Malaysians reject this narrow and dirty political culture," he said.
The April 28 rally that saw tens of thousands gather at six different locations before heading to Dataran Merdeka was peaceful until about 2.30pm when Ambiga asked the crowd to disperse.
But her announcement was not heard by most of the crowd who persisted to linger around the historic square which the court had already barred to the public over the weekend.
Just before 3pm, some protestors breached the barricade surrounding the landmark, leading police to disperse the crowd with tear gas and water cannons.
Police then continued to pursue rally-goers down several streets amid chaotic scenes which saw violence from both sides over the next four hours.
Several dozen demonstrators have claimed that they were assaulted by groups of over 10 policemen at a time and visual evidence appears to back their claim but police also point to violence from rally-goers who attacked a police car.
Major Blow to Nesa Conspirators
| The Traveler, Wednesday, The Nesa gang’s conspiracy to oust K P Samy and other Subramaniam supporters received a major blow today when the Malaysia Co-operative Societies Commission (SKM) ordered… |
| The Traveler, Wednesday, The Nesa gang’s conspiracy to oust K P Samy and other Subramaniam supporters received a major blow today when the Malaysia Co-operative Societies Commission (SKM) ordered Nesa Board to abort the election of three directors previously appointed by the President and also ordered them to accept Nadarajan’s nomination which the board rejected on technical grounds.  Thus, the Annual General Meeting this Saturday will only elect four directors and will be a straight fight between the two factions. K P Samy, MIC Central Working Committee member, has already declared his alliance with Nadarajan, Subramaniam’s younger brother, and two other candidates. Three days ago, Traveler reported the imminent fireworks at Nesa cooperative, founded by Manikavasagm, later passed to S Subramaniam who is in coma state since November 2011. And you can see the fireworks now. Malaysia Nanban reported today that two factions are clashing to take control of Nesa due to S Subramaniam’s illness. The daily, also, listed the names of those aligned to each of the two factions. Saraswathi Kandasamy on her part responded to the alleged plot in Thinakkural Tamil daily and FMT (see below). |
 |
Thiagarajan cannot be NESA chief, says panel lawyer
B Nantha Kumar, | June 27, 2012, FMT
Cooperative's constitution dictates that only
those not on the board of directors are eligible to be appointed as
vice president or president.
 KUALA
LUMPUR: NESA cooperative’s panel lawyer K Saraswathy today dismissed
speculation that ‘Oms’ Thiagarajan has his sights on ‘hijacking’ the
cooperative from MIC to PKR.“NESA is a cooperative set up to upgrade the living standard of its members and it will not take sides with any political movement. Thiagarajan, a businessman from Klang and a close ally of PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, is said to be eyeing a director’s seat at NESA’s annual delegates conference on June 30. It was reported that Thiagarajan is keen to convert NESA into an economic vehicle for PKR’s Indians with the support of the Pakatan-led Selangor government. N Ratha Krishnan, NESA’s internal auditor and vice president of PKR Kuala Langat, and M Periasamy, the general manager of Tamil daily, Makkal Osai are also eyeing a seat on NESA’s board of directors. Saraswathy said the news report in FMT recently gave the impression that there was a mischievous plot to undermine ‘Oms’ Thiagarajan’s reputation by suggesting that he wants to eventually head NESA. “First of all, Thiagarajan has no necessity to hijack the cooperative from MIC to PKR since the current vice president V Nadarajan is a PKR member,” said Saraswathy. Nadarajan, who was with People Progressive Party (PPP), joined PKR in 2009 along with 2,000 PPP members during the Bukit Selambau by-election. “Hence, we cannot see the rationale behind the article which claimed Thiagarajan is attempting to hijack NESA from MIC to PKR,” said Saraswathy. She also pointed that there is no room for Thiagarajan to be appointed as a vice president if he is elected as a director. “According to NESA constitution only those not on the board of directors are eligible to be appointed as vice president or president.” Sources earlier said Thiagarajan was expected to be appointed as the vice president of NESA, replacing Nadarajan, and to eventually put him in a position to take over as president. “The news report is clear evidence that there is a group of people out to mislead NESA members with inaccurate information and to sideline Thiagarajan,” said Sarawathy. ‘MIC has done nothing’ She also shot down the view that NESA was groomed by MIC. “No, there is no such thing,” she said. She said NESA has been functioning under capable individuals after incumbent president S Subramaniam was taken ill. “Yes, most of the shareholders are MIC members but the former MIC chief S Samy Vellu and the current party top leadership did not contribute anything for the betterment of NESA.” Worse still, she added, that the MIC leadership had on many occasions attempted to destroy the cooperative and in the process NESA lost millions of dollars and properties. “NESA is a cooperative to help out the Indian community. It is not here to serve the interest of any political party,” said. She also said that she aware of the people behind the news report and will reveal their names at the NESA annual conference. Contacted later, Thiagarajan said that he will come out with a statement in two days’ time. A plot in place Meanwhile, NESA board of director KP Samy said that there was a plot to reduce the power of the cooperative president Subramaniam.  “They are working very hard to get rid of the president in order to ‘dominate’ NESA,” he told reporters here this evening.He said this was the first time NESA decided to have an election for all the seven board of directors. Previously only four out of seven seats were contested while the remaining three positions were appointed by the president. “It is learnt that there is a move to amend the constitution so that all directors would be elected,” said Samy. But he said the new amendment would not go down well with the delegates as it would restrain the president’s power. “For the last 30 years the president had the ultimate power to appoint three board of directors. But, it is seems like they are taking advantage to hijack NESA from Subramaniam who still sick. Samy also dismissed allegations that he would try to bring MIC president G Palanivel as the NESA new president. “I am a MIC member for the last 40 years. And all the while I had thrown my support to Subramaniam and his camp,” said. “It is a baseless allegation to tarnish my name and reputation in NESA,” he added. S Nadarajan, the younger brother of Subramaniam, meanwhile accused NESA chief executive officer R Rajannan as the man behind all the internal problems faced by the cooperative. He said Rajannan was the ‘culprit’ who rejected his nomination form when he wanted to contest for a director’s post. “I submitted the application on June 19, keen to contest for a board of director seat. Once, my nomination was accepted, NESA told me that they will forward the application to Registrar of Societies (ROS) in order to get a ‘clearance’ letter. The letter is compulsory to compete in the election”. “However, on June 22 which is the closing date for nomination, NESA officers called and asked me to get the letter of clearance from ROS,” he added. Nadarajan said he only managed to get the letter on June 25 after the closing date as June 23 and 24th were the weekend. “I was shocked when Rajannan rejected my application, saying that the application was sent after the closing date,” said Nadarajan. NESA is one of the largest Indian-based cooperatives in the country with about 40,000 members. |
Melayu dan bukan Melayu mudah lupa
Do you think all these PKR people are saints? Do you think that they are now going into ‘confession mode’ because, as they claim, they are people of principle who…Do you think all these PKR people are saints? Do you think that they are now going into ‘confession mode’ because, as they claim, they are people of principle who cannot be bought? Come on! These people refused the RM5 million offer, that is true, but they refused the RM5 million offer because Hee was paid RM25 million. So why are they being offered only RM5 million? Why not RM25 million like Hee?NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
what really interesting is the 360 degree turn by monsieur rpk as compare to few years back.. it can confirmed now that monsieur is a tool of BN to win back the heart and soul of your supporters to back the BN government and show the evil political vendetta play by the opposition to discredit the PM. I used to respect and admire your courage to fight corruption and abuses but now you are aiming your gun towards the opposition. The power lies with the government of the day and most of the abuses and the wrongdoing are from them. What are RPK is going soft toward the government. He knows better than us his motive behind this curtain of corridor of power. Care to explain your reader?.....comment by sword of samurai in the article Inspector Clouseau, where are you?
***********************************
Dear ‘sword of samurai’, first of all, I owe no one any explanation for what I am doing, not you, not any other reader. What I do is my business. In 2007 and 2008 when I criss-crossed Malaysia to talk in opposition organised ceramah why was this question not posed? Are you posing this question only because you perceive, as you said, I have done a 360-degree turn? Hence no one needs to be questioned as to his or her motive if he or she is seen as supporting the opposition? This person only needs to be questioned if he or she is perceived as supporting the government?
Can you see the hypocrisy and double standards of opposition supporters? If you support the opposition it is because you are a noble person who is doing God’s work and is destined for heaven. If you support the government it is because you are a crook who has been bought off and are destined for hell. It is absolutely impossible that you support the government for noble reasons and you support the opposition because you have been paid money.
This is exactly the way religionists work as well. Either you are with me or you are the enemy. If you follow me you will go to heaven. If you don’t follow me you will go to hell. I am right. All others are wrong. Mine is the true religion. All others are false religions. Go talk to religionists, in particular those from the Abrahamic faiths, and see what they say. Even within each religion there are various sub-groups or sects. And each sub-group or sect will say theirs is correct and all others are wrong. Only they will go to heaven. All others will go to hell.
Yes, that is how humankind thinks. And you too think no differently.
There is actually no such thing as a 360-degree turn. 360 degrees is the first and last point on the compass. Hence, if you turn 360 degrees that would mean you have not turned anywhere. You are still going in the same direction that you were originally going. You need to do a 180-degree turn to move in the opposite direction that you were originally going. Hence, are you trying to say I turned nowhere? Or are you merely ignorant about the points on a compass?
As I said, there are 360 points on a compass, from one to 360 degrees. Then you have the 0.5 points. Hence there would be 720 points if the 0.5 degrees were taken into consideration. But why do you only talk in terms of about-turns (U-turns), which should actually be a 180-degree turn and not a 360-degree turn? What about a 90-degree turn (which means you now head east) or a 270-degree turn (which means you now head west)? Then there are north-east, north-west, south-east, south-west, north-north-east, north-north-west, south-south-east, south-south-west, and many, many more directions on the compass, 720 directions in all if the 0.5 points are included.
Can you now see, ‘sword of samurai’, how your mind works? Either you are with me or you are my enemy. Either you go to heaven or you go to hell. Either you follow the true religion or you follow the false religion. Either you go north (360 degrees) or you go south (180 degrees). You either choose black or you choose white (no grey, yellow, red, green, blue, etc.).
It is the mind of a person who can only perceive one or the other. It is not a well-developed mind that can count higher than two. Everything comes in twos. It is either male or female. Man of woman. There is no possibility that someone can be neither man nor woman but something in-between. Hence all those ‘something-in-betweens’ need to be ostracised and treated like pariahs.
Okay, let’s move on. First read the news report below:
PKR Indera Makhota MP Azan Ismail reveals that there was an attempt to entice him and other PKR MPs in 2010.
A PKR leader claimed today that there was an attempt in 2010 to buy over several PKR MPs by a “respected figure” who “used to hold a high station in government”. Indera Makhota MP Azan Ismail told a press conference that he was offered more than RM5 million at a meeting in a five-star hotel in Kuala Lumpur on Jan 27 that year. But he said he had enough integrity to reject the offer. Azan refused to divulge more details about the person and the meeting.
It is now 2012. More than three years ago, back in early 2009, when I was still in Malaysia, I revealed that there was a plan to buy over Pakatan Rakyat wakil rakyat (Members of Parliament and State Assemblypersons). That was when the Umno State Assemblyman, Nasarudin Hashim, crossed over to Pakatan Rakyat. Then, less than a week later, two PKR State Assemblymen, Jamaluddin Mat Radzi and Mohd Osman Jailu, crossed over to Umno, as did Nasarudin Hashim. This was followed by DAP’s Hee Yit Foong less than a week after that. And that was the end of the Pakatan Rakyat Perak state government.
The thing is, I had already warned Anwar Ibrahim earlier that this was going to happen. I also told Anwar, and I wrote about it as well, that Umno is shopping for many more Pakatan Rakyat wakil rakyat and sums of RM5 million to RM25 million is being offered. I revealed that Hee was offered RM25 million and I also revealed who was paying her, Vincent Tan. In spite of this early warning, nothing was done and it still happened anyway.
I spoke out against this and even told Nizar Jamaluddin to oppose the Sultan of Perak if necessary. This call to defy the Sultan of Perak incurred the displeasure of the Sultan of Selangor who summoned my uncles and aunty to the palace to be informed of this displeasure. My aunty then sent me an e-mail to tell me that the family wants me to apologise to the Sultan or else the family was going to insert an advertisement in the mainstream newspapers to announce that they are distancing themselves from me, which tantamount to my family disowning me.
I wrote about this and even published the e-mail from my aunty. My response, which I also published, was to banish myself from Selangor and spare the need for my family to disown me or for the Sultan to banish me from Selangor, which Sultans can do and have been known to have done.
This all happened in January and February of 2009. Now we have the PAS MP for Shah Alam, Khalid Samad, and the PKR MP, Azan Ismail, coming out to reveal that back in 2010 Umno tried to buy off PKR wakil rakyat. And the figure of RM5 million each person is mentioned, the same figure I mentioned back in January 2009, long before it happened and while Perak was still under Pakatan Rakyat.
Who is the one who made this offer? Who are all the PKR wakil rakyat that they tried to buy off? They refuse to tell us. It is still a secret. This was supposed to have happened in early 2010. It is now mid-2012. Why did they keep this a secret for more than two years? Is it because all these people wanted to keep their options open in case they still needed to accept the offer of RM5 million to jump? Or is it because RM5 million is too low an offer? Since Hee was paid RM25 million then why offer them only RM5 million? Why not they too be offered RM25 million, just like Hee? So is it they did not want to reveal the offer of RM5 million because they were trying to negotiate for a higher price, say RM25 million just like Hee?
I was told Umno is no longer interested in buying these people. Why spend RM5 million or RM10 million or RM25 million in buying PKR wakil rakyat when the next general election is about to be called? If the general election is called in September then there is only three months to go. Is not RM25 million per head too much for just three months? Better Umno just wait until the next general election. Chances are Umno is going to be swept back into power. And even if Umno wins with a less than two-thirds majority they can always make another offer after the next GE. And it is not sure yet who are the candidates who will be contesting and whether they are going to win or not.
Anwar is aware of these people who Umno tried to buy off. But all these people kept quiet. Hence they may be dropped as candidates in the next general election. So now they come out, more than two years later and three months before the next general election, and confess that Umno tried to buy them off. They then declare that they refused to accept the offer because they are people of principles who cannot be bought. So there is no excuse to drop them now. They should still be chosen as candidate for the next general election.
Why did all these people not immediately, on the same day back in 2009 or 2010 when Umno first approached them to make the offer, come out to confess that Umno tried to buy them off? Why keep meeting Umno a few more times to negotiate a higher price and only now, when Umno is no longer interested in buying them off, come out to reveal what happened so long ago? And why refuse to reveal the entire list of PKR people who were given offers? And why not reveal details of when, where and who? Why still so many secrets?
Do you think all these PKR people are saints? Do you think that they are now going into ‘confession mode’ because, as they claim, they are people of principle who cannot be bought? Come on! These people refused the RM5 million offer, that is true, but they refused the RM5 million offer because Hee was paid RM25 million. So why are they being offered only RM5 million? Why not RM25 million like Hee? And now that Umno is no longer interested in buying them off they go into confession mode and pretend that they are people of principles who cannot be bought.
Back in 2008 I told Ronnie Liu that Badrul is the wrong candidate for Port Kelang. Ronnie just shrugged his shoulders and told me that it is not his decision. That is PKR’s decision since Badul is a PKR candidate who is close to Anwar Ibrahim. Ronnie then told me to help campaign for Badrul because he is a very weak candidate and needs a lot of help to win. I did and Badrul won. Then, as I feared, Badul left and joined Umno. I kept quiet and campaigned for Badrul when I should instead have raised hell and demanded that he be dropped and replaced with another candidate. Will screaming about it now help? Can it change anything? Or should I have screamed about it back in 2008 before the March general election?
So, yes, as Rais Yatim said, I have changed my mode. I have changed from being a blind follower of PKR to being someone who is critical of PKR when criticism is due. And criticism is certainly due when it comes to some of the PKR people. But just like I am not a blind follower of religion, I am not also a blind follower of PKR.
Do you know that Islam has never abolished slavery? Talk to any ulama’ (scholar) and he or she will tell you that slavery is legal in Islam. And if they tell you otherwise then they are lying through their teeth. But I am opposed to slavery, slavery of any kind, even economic slavery and slavery of the mind. So I will speak out against slavery even if Islam does not classify slavery as illegal. Do you expect me to support slavery just because I happen to have been born a Muslim? Am I not allowed my own views? Must I become a mental slave and blindly follow what I consider as immoral although it may not be illegal?
Homosexuality is both illegal and immoral from society’s and religion’s point of view. But you know my views on gay rights. I have written about this subject many times and it is no secret that I respect the rights of gays. But homosexuality is against the law and is condemned by religion. Should I therefore not also condemn gays and demand that they be put to death? What stand should I take? Do I follow what society and religion demands or do I have a right to my own views? Did God really create just two species of humankind, man and woman, with nothing in between? What about those born with two sex organs, male and female? Did not God also create these people? These people are called hermaphrodites.
Opposition supporters like ‘sword of samurai’ only see and take issue of the criticism I have made against Pakatan Rakyat. They conveniently forget and forget too easily all the criticism and exposes I have made and am still making against the government. This is called selective memory.
Pakatan Rakyat is banging away on the Tan Kay Hock-George Kent issue. This is the latest ‘hot issue’ since the NFC matter has died down a bit. But Malaysia Today revealed this much earlier, even before George Kent was awarded the project. And we already revealed even earlier the relationship between Tan Kay Hock and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.
Where do you think Pakatan Rakyat got all their information from? And why wait so late before jumping onto the bandwagon and make it appear like this is an exclusive Pakatan Rakyat expose? Even as recent as 11 days ago Malaysia Today had already revealed this in an article called Well, Najib, what do you have to say about this?. Did anyone talk about it? Did Pakatan Rakyat take up the issue? Now they scream and hold press conferences and issue media statements on a matter that, months ago, Malaysia Today had already revealed. Then some of you say that Malaysia Today is not revealing the wrongdoings of those in government.
Then there was the RM2 billion Kidex issue. AG’s links to Ho Hup and Vincent Lye. Saiful Bukhari Azlan’s amorous relationship with one of the prosecutors in Anwar’s Sodomy 2 trial. The meeting Saiful had with the police in the hotel room in the Kuala Lumpur Concorde. The AG’s sex scandal with one of his Directors. The ex-IGP’s links to the Chinese underworld syndicate. The RM8 billion MAS scandal and the link to the RM30 billion Forex scandal. And much, much more. Did not Malaysia Today break all these stories and is Malaysia Today still not doing so even as recent as last week?
So, yes, amongst all those scandals that Malaysia Today exposed and it sill doing so, we also expose wrongdoings by the opposition. And when we do that we have turned, have been bought, are now working for Barisan Nasional, and whatnot.
Well, let me tell you this. You who think like this are amongst the 30% diehard Pakatan Rakyat supporters. To you, Anwar Ibrahim’s fart smells sweet. To prove that I am a diehard opposition supporter I must suck Anwar’s dick and lick his arse. Then, on the other side, we have the 30% Barisan Nasional diehard supporters. Again, to these people, Najib’s fart smells sweet. And to prove that we are loyal Malays and supporters of Barisan Nasional we much suck Najib’s dick and lick his arse.
These two groups are a lost cause. Never mind what I say and do, these two groups will never budge or see reason. They have closed their minds to all reasoning. My target is the 40% uncommitted, the atas pagar or fence sitters. This is the thinking group. And, most importantly, this is the group that is going to be the kingmaker.
The next election is going to be a photo finish. It is not clear cut either way. If it is then Najib would have held the elections last March, when the ‘window’ was still open. Now it is getting dicey for both sides. A 5% swing either way is going to decide the winner. So a 40% fence-sitting group is very crucial to this 5% swing.
Over a 30-day period, Malaysia Today receives 600,000-700,000 unique readers. In any article, at most 100 or 200 of you post comments. And the majority of these comments curse and swear at the government, curse and swear at me, curse and swear at the Malays, curse and swear at Islam, and whatnot. That is all, 100-200 of you. And just because the 100-200 of you sing the same cursing and swearing tune you think that his represents the majority view of the 600,000-700,000 unique visitors.
Think again!
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No Holds No Barred
The presumption of publication
The recent amendment to the Evidence Act 1950 to introduce section 114A has not been without controversy. The Center for Independent Journalism launched an online petition against the section last…The recent amendment to the Evidence Act 1950 to introduce section 114A has not been without controversy. The Center for Independent Journalism launched an online petition against the section last month. Its basis is the concern that by virtue of the section presuming publication, and as such responsibility for publications, on the part of internet intermediaries and by impeding anonymous expression of thought, free expression on the internet would be undermined. This has particular resonance for Malaysia in light of the way in which the media is regulated.Though at first glance the argument advanced by CIJ, and other like minded organisations and individuals is attractive for its championing of free expression, the subject behooves deeper consideration.
Let me state several obvious features of the matter. The media is highly regulated in Malaysia, to an extent that the so-called mainstream media (MSM) is no longer of great relevance to a significant number of Malaysians. As a consequence, Malaysians seek information and opinions on-line from on-line news sites, blogs and the social media. Needless to say in this unregulated sphere expression is robust, unguarded and perhaps in some cases truer. The value of social media to disseminate opinion and information is undoubted and, in light of how things are in Malaysia, it has become a primary means to influencing opinions. Regrettably though it has also resulted in a plethora of anonymous blogs and twitter timelines that routinely publish highly offensive and defamatory content.
Over the years we have seen bloggers and twitter users taken to court for defamation. In the course of my dealings as a lawyer I have had occasion to represent some litigants in such cases. The misperception that many social media users have is that by virtue of the Government’s assurance that the internet would not be censored, people are free to write what they wish without being held to account for the same.
This puts into focus the first of several key features of discussion. Throughout the common law jurisdictions persons who publish defamatory material can be held liable for their having done so. Publishing on the internet is no different from publishing elsewhere in this regard and the same responsibility rests on the author and publisher (if they are different persons) of the offending publication.
The question therefore arises as to whether a person should be entitled to take advantage of technology to publish anonymously and avoid liability. From a strictly legal perspective, I do not see why this should be the case. By this I mean that if there were means to discover who it was that a particular anonymous blogger, and their identity could be ascertained, then that particular person could be made liable.
A second feature then becomes apparent. It centres on the question of whether legislature is permitted to enact presumptions of fact. The short answer is that such presumptions are not as a matter of course repugnant to the law. The statute books are replete with such presumptions. They are in themselves not unconstitutional. The operative presumption here does not in itself undermine the right to expression.
A question may arise as to why it is there is a need for a presumption of publication in light of there being powers in the hands of the authorities, the Multimedia Commission for instance, to determine the identity of anonymous bloggers and so forth. Private litigants do not have access to the powers and resources of the State and for that reason are too often at a disadvantage. For instance, over the years we have seen how public figures have been made the subject of vicious smear campaigns, and how these persons have been powerless to deal with these vile attacks. Seen in this light, the practical benefit of a section in the Evidence Act that sets up a presumption of publication cannot be denied. It should not be overlooked that presumptions can be rebutted. The CIJ is concerned that hacking may lead to the wrong persons being found culpable. From a strictly legal perspective, if the hacking can be established then one would have an obvious defence.
If I have a reservation, then it is the ambit of the provision. At a recent CIJ forum on the subject, Jeff Sandhu, one of the panelists expressed a concerned that the section may include within its ambit persons who provide free WIFI, as DBKL now requires. He may have a point. The breadth of the section is cause for concern not only for the fact that it may lead to innocent persons being found to be liable but also for the practical impact it will have on commerce and trade, in particular, as A Asohan pointed out at the same forum, the thriving internet business scene. The Government may wish to reconsider the scope of the section by reference to the declared intention underlying the section. It is possible that while the aim of the section is not unconstitutional, the breadth of the provision may lead it to being so.
In fairness, it appears that it is the ambiguity of the underlying intention that is fueling many of the concerns. The socio-political considerations are vastly different from the strictly legal ones I have attempted to highlight. The fact remains that a good many Malaysians do not have much faith in the “system” and think of the institutions of the State as having been politicised. The social media has become the principal means of spearheading meaningful reform, as it has in many other parts of the world. Understandably, civil society is concerned that there may be a collateral purpose to the amendment, one aimed at stifling a burgeoning awareness of rights discourse.
Frankly, it is a concern that cannot be dismissed outright having regard to the state of things in the country. The last thing that Malaysia needs right now is the stifling of political consciousness.
MIS
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Media
GOVERNMENT
2. Several countries of Europe are actually going bankrupt. Greece is bankrupt. Now Spain is practically in recession. Reports indicate that Portugal and Italy are also in deep financial trouble. Even the UK and France are in trouble.
3. Where did they go wrong? It is important to know the reasons for their decline because we who are fond of copying the Europeans might be going the same way.
4. I am not an economist of course. Neither am I a financial expert. But as a layman I noticed certain things which may have a bearing on the decline of Western nations and the United States of America.
5. Simply put the decline is due largely to living beyond their means. In other words they are spending more money than they actually have or earn.
6. Younger people may not be aware of it but there was a time when all the white goods, machinery and motor vehicles that we bought were from Europe and America. Today you hardly see any of them. We now buy everything from Japan, Korea and China. The products of Europe and America are too expensive and often of poorer quality that we just don’t buy them.
7. Their high cost is due to their paying their workers wages many times higher than what they should be paid for the productivity level they achieve. They also reduce working hours per day, lesser number of working days per week. They give long holidays to their workers, high overtime allowance, generous pensions and medical care etc.
8. Even then their workers are not satisfied. They go on strike, which actually increases the cost of production. They may be given what they demanded even if their employers could not afford. The price of their products or services had to be raised again even though they were already too high and uncompetitive.
9. Rapidly they lost the market. Unemployment increased and unemployment benefits had to be paid out by the Government just when revenue decreased due to decreasing sales of their products.
10. Countries like Germany may be able to sustain the high cost of production while maintaining high living standards. This is because Germans work hard and are productive. But the poorer countries of Europe such as Greece, which tries to live like the rich, cannot. So they borrowed money.
11. We can borrow if we can invest for greater return in order to repay. When we borrow in order to just spend, we will never be able to repay. What can happen to individuals who borrow in order to spend can also happen to countries. They go bankrupt.
12. Is there a lesson in this for Malaysia? I think there is. We in Malaysia like to live well. If we cannot pay for it then we can ask the Government to pay. We believe the Government has unlimited amounts of money to pay for everything.
13. At the same time we want tax rates to be reduced. As for the tolls they should be abolished. We seem unaware that when we reduce or abolish tolls, the Government has to compensate the operators. What this means is that Government expenditure would increase just when revenue decreases. Abolishing toll does not mean we don’t pay. Through the Government we will be paying indirectly. The sad thing is that people who do not use the expressways will also pay. With tolls, only the users pay.
14. The opposition is promising increases from 5% to 20% of gross profit to be paid to the states where oil is produced. At 5% these states are already getting more than what other states get from the Federal revenue. Imagine the amount at 20%. The fact is that the oil is found in Malaysia and all Malaysians must benefit from it.
15. Then the opposition parties demand for higher education to be free for everyone. Do away with PTPTN. As far as I know only Germany, the richest country in Europe provides free tertiary education.
16. Taking all Ministries together, Malaysia spends almost 25% of its budget on education. No other country in the world developed and developing, allocate this much. Of this a very substantial portion has always been for scholarships.
17. But such is the demand for education in Malaysia that there are not enough scholarships for the deserving. Government had to launch a new scheme involving loans to cater for those who are qualified but cannot afford. The terms are very generous as the interest rate and repayment scheme permit repayment after they begin to earn an income. The loans are greatly subsidised by the Government.
18. The opposition can promise to remove all payments by the people, but all the expressways, education service and the amenities/infrastructure will have to be paid by someone. We think of the Government as some sugar daddy with unlimited funds. It is not. Government money is in fact our money acquired through taxes of all kinds. Reducing tax will mean the Government has less money, and forcing the Government to pay for all our needs will lead us to bankruptcy. That is what happens to Greece and the other European countries.
19. We are a democratic country whatever our detractors may say. The people have the power to choose their Government. Power corrupts and the right to choose who should govern the country is also a potent kind of power.
20. That power can be used to threaten the parties wishing to contest in elections. The incumbent Government is most exposed to this threat. Under threat it may forget prudence in the management of our finances. It can lead to the Grecian problem.
21. The opposition doesn’t care. For them winning the election is the only objective. Beside when they form the Government they can forget promises.
22. Remember how President Obama of the “greatest democracy in the world”, promised to close down Guantanamo detention camp two days after his installation as President. Well Guantanamo is still there.
23. The opposition will certainly forget much more easily than Mr Obama.
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Tun.Mahathir
Altantuya in Paris
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Although French officials have said they had no record that a murdered Mongolian woman…
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Although French officials have said they had no record that a murdered Mongolian woman connected to Malaysia’s long-running submarine scandal ever entered France, the one man who knew she did was Abdul Razak Baginda, who accompanied her there in 2005.
The political analyst was absolved of ordering her murder in October of 2006.
In a sworn affidaviit recorded on Oct. 31, 2006, and read to the High Court in Kuala Lumpur by Razak Baginda’s lawyer, Wong Kian Kheong on Jan. 19, 2007, the political analyst said he had carried on a romance with Altantuya Shaariibuu, who died at age 28. The couple went from Hong Kong to China to Singapore, Malaysia – and France – from the end of 2004 to sometime in August of 2005, when he dumped her. At least one of those sojourns was to Macau, according to the records, and was paid for by mystery man Jean Marie Boivin, the former chief international finance officer of the French company DCN/
Documents in a trove of 133 official French court records made public by Asia Sentinel in the sub case show that investigators had no record that Altantuya had ever entered France, and no record that she had anything to do with the case. As Asia Sentinel reported on June 25, the investigators are pursuing allegations of bribes, kickbacks and other corruption against officials of the French defense company DCN and its subsidiaries as well as both French and Malaysian authorities.
Questions over whether Altantuya had ever been in France have become a sideshow in the wider scandal of the two-decade campaign by DCN and its subsidiaries to sell submarines to the Malaysian Ministry of Defense. The matter has resulted in a long tangle of allegations of blackmail, bribery, influence peddling, misuse of corporate assets and concealment, among others. Malaysia’s mainstream media, owned by the country’s major ruling political parties, have trumpeted erroneous stories over whether she had visited the country, and pro-government blogs have featured it prominently.
On Dec. 5, 2007, Asia Sentinel published 10 pictures of Altantuya in a variety of poses on a variety of locations in Paris including in front of Louis Vuitton’s iconic store as well as the Eiffel Tower, the Cathedral de Notre Dame, the Place de Concorde and other locations. At least one blogger questioned whether the pictures were faked. They were transmitted to Asia Sentinel by the Mongolian Honorary Consul to Malaysia, who would hardly have been suspected of faking them.
Altantuya was murdered between 10 pm on Oct 19 and 1 am on Oct 20 of that year, police said. Her body was found in a patch of jungle near the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Shah Alam after she had been shot twice in the head and torn apart with C4 explosives. Two bodyguards of then Defense Minister Najib Tun Razak were convicted of the slaying for hire and remain on death row.
Although Razak Baginda acknowledged in his affidavit that he had asked the two defendants to “do something” about the woman, who was harassing him for a US$500,000 payment, he was absolved of the slaying without having to put on a defense.
Altantuya was described as a freelance translator in stories at the time. According to a letter left behind after her death, she said she had been offered the payment by Razak Baginda. The letter was made public after her death, saying she regretted she was attempting to “blackmail” the married Razak Baginda although she did not say what she was blackmailing him for.
In his affidavit, Razak Baginda said Altantuya had demanded money from him and blackmailed him
as a result of "the relationship". Sometime in April 2006, according to the document, Razak Baginda said he told Altantuya that he would not bow to her threat because he was not afraid of an expose.
Defense Chief: No News
In a related matter, any expectation that Malaysian Defense Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi would provide a government explanation of the submarine case, it disappeared when Ahmad Zahid told Parliament in a brief five-minute address that his ministry knows nothing about allegations that state secrets had been sold to foreign countries by a company wholly owned by Razak Baginda, according to the Malaysian news website Malaysiakini.
The Hong Kong-based Terasasi HK Ltd., whose only two officers are Razak Baginda and his father, is alleged to have received €36 million from DCNS for among others, the ‘sale' of a highly confidential report comprising the Malaysian Navy's evaluation for the order of the submarines.
"As far as the ministry knows, to date there has been no detection of information being leaked out of Malaysia," he said in his adjournment speech to Parliament about 10 minutes before midnight.
"The ministry also does not have any information about claims that Terasasi received periodical payments from Thint Asia," he said. His comments were the first official response given to Parliament close to a month after the alleged sales of Malaysian defense secrets was revealed by human rights group Suaram in Bangkok.
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Altantunya
Treason? No! T’reason why she has stepped forward to lead BERSIH is to selflessly serve the people
By Haris Ibrahim, I had a chat over coffee with Ambiga last week.
In the course of our conversation, I asked her if, during the Walk for Justice in September…
By Haris Ibrahim, I had a chat over coffee with Ambiga last week.
In the course of our conversation, I asked her if, during the Walk for Justice in September 2007 where about 3,000 others and I joined her in Putrajaya to walk from the Palace of Justice to the PM’s department to demand a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the VK Lingam video scandal, she had for even a moment thought she would, 5 years on, lead a quarter of a million citizens on the streets of Kuala Lumpur to demand for free and fair elections?
She looked at me, her eyebrows arched, and then she broke into a big smile, burst out laughing and exclaimed, “You must be mad, Haris! I never saw this coming”.
We both laughed, and then a short moment of silence followed.
Holding back tears, I told her that I had served in the Bersih steering committee under her stewardship in the run up to the BERSIH 2.0 rally and was in constant contact with her in the run up to BERSIH 3.0. On both occasions, despite pressure from loved ones and from the authorities, she never wavered from the responsibility thrust upon her to lead in the pursuit of justice. She had answered, and answered with such grace, a divine call to selflessly serve the people.
I told Ambiga I had bad news for her. Her task was not at an end. Her leadership was still very much needed and, as she had done thus far, she would rise to the occasion again.
I write this now as a response to Sri Gading’s infamous Abdul Aziz’s categorisation of Ambiga’s lead in the BERSIH 3.0 rally on 28th April as ‘treasonous’. Malaysianinsider has the story HERE.
Najib and so many others in BN, too, have taken to making these vile and scurrilous allegations.
I am not at all surprised.
Freedom fighters throughout time have been called the same, or worse, when they stood up to bullies, tyrants and false democrats.
Malaysiakini reports that the government is upset that Najib has been categorised as a false democrat.
False democrats, according to the author of the article that appeared in the The Globe and Mail, Mark Mackinnon, “hold elections but have no intention of giving up power” and their “serious political rivals are jailed and their parties are outlawed on legal technicalities”.
Najib, UMNO, BN, take a bow! You are being spotlighted!
All that we are witnessing of late are the birth pangs of a new era about to be ushered into this nation.
Mahathir’s veiled threats of violence and incessant efforts to resurrect the ghost of 13th May.
PERKASA’s constant efforts to contrive and conjure a perception of a Malay community under siege, so that UMNO may continue its race-based divide and rule unabated.
What we are witnessing is an old and badly wounded tiger, reacting in horror as it sees before it, a young and vibrant cub reaching the end of its gestation period and waiting to be delivered and to then inflict the fatal blow to end the days of the old one.
See the attacks against the person of Ambiga as just one more act of desperation by that old, wounded tiger.
But Ambiga is not alone in this.
Many Malaysians have answered the divine call to rise and to selflessly serve the people.
Hang Ambiga?
Hang us all then.
And for each of us hanged, another 100 will arise.
Come that day, the young cub would have been delivered.
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Bersih
SPRM siasat Rafizi isu PM campur tangan tender
Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) menyoal siasat pengarah strategi PKR Rafizi Ramli malam ini susulan pendedahannya berhubung dakwaan campur tangan perdana menteri dalam projek sambungan LRT Ampang bernilai RM1 bilion.…
Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) menyoal siasat pengarah strategi PKR Rafizi Ramli malam ini susulan pendedahannya berhubung dakwaan campur tangan perdana menteri dalam projek sambungan LRT Ampang bernilai RM1 bilion.
Menurut peguamnya N Surendran, empat pegawai suruhanjaya itu mengambil keterangan Rafizi selama 15 minit di ibu pejabat PKR di Tropicana kira-kira jam 8 malam.
Peguam itu berkata, siasatan berkenaan bertujuan memastikan satu laporan Malaysiakini yang mengutip kenyataan Rafizi di sidang medianya pagi ini.
Rafizi mendakwa Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak mengutamakan sebuah syarikat yang membida dengan harga lebih tinggi.
Rafizi dalam pendedahannya mendakwa, pada mulanya Kementerian Kewangan menganugerahkan kontrak itu kepada Konsortium Balfour Beatty-Invensys, berdasarkan keputusan mesyuarat Jawatankuasa Perolehan Menteri Kewangan (JPMK).
Sedangkan, dakwa Rafizi, Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak minggu lepas melahirkan hasrat menganugerahkannya kepada Konsortium George Kent, seperti dilaporkan media.
Keputusan itu didakwa bertentangan dengan keputusan JPMK - jawatankuasa tertinggi Kementerian Kewangan dan dipengerusikan sendiri oleh Najib - yang bersidang pada 25 Januari 2012.
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MACC
The Malay middle ground: Pakatan has most to gain
Liew Chin Tong - The Malaysian Insider
JUNE 27 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is writing Barisan Nasional’s political obituary by focusing on micro electoral targets while refusing…
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JUNE 27 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is writing Barisan Nasional’s political obituary by focusing on micro electoral targets while refusing…
Liew Chin Tong - The Malaysian Insider
JUNE 27 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is writing Barisan Nasional’s political obituary by focusing on micro electoral targets while refusing to confront macro policy matters.
The window to call election before the month of Ramadan has come and gone. The next possible window, which starts from September, is small and very much constrained by the Hari Raya Haji celebration on October 26, Deepavali festival on November 14, and the subsequent annual year-end floods.
Having sounded the war drums for at least two years since 2010 and making it very loud since late last year, Najib was visibly scared to pull the trigger at last, to the chagrin of many Umno leaders who want to get over it and done with.
As Najib calibrates his perfect moments, which I believe have long gone and will never return again, the nation was left in a lurch with numerous policy paralyses, flip-flops, and stalemates.
Lately, we were told that a consolidated intelligence report shown that Barisan Nasional has 80 seats in the bag and was close to winning another 50 seats, giving it 130 seats or a majority of 18 seats.
The police’s Special Branch, we were told, puts the figure at 118, which is a bare six-seat majority. To form the federal government, 112 out of the lower house’s 222 seats are required.
The numbers have clearly spooked the ruling party, especially Najib’s inner circle. For the rest of Umno, as long as Barisan Nasional remains in power, their high society lives go on.
But for Najib, a victory is not enough. He has set for himself a high bar — to win with a two-thirds majority or at least to win back the state of Selangor for Barisan Nasional; preferably both.
He doesn’t want to be remembered as the worst-performing PM — a record held by his predecessor Tun Abdullah Badawi, who lost Barisan Nasional’s two-thirds majority in Parliament and five states to Pakatan Rakyat.
It is, hence, amusing to see Najib talking about “14–0″ — that Barisan Nasional would win all 13 states plus the majority of Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.
Najib is obsessed with micro electoral targets to the extent of trying to keep “winnable” retirees such as Abdullah Badawi and former MCA Presidents Ong Ka Ting from retirement.
He visits each and every one of the swing seats in an attempt to rub some of his perceived popularity onto BN candidates there.
And all government resources are channelled to buy favours from voters of various “swing” segments of the population. But he is just seeing the trees and missing the beautiful Malaysian rainforest altogether.
Malaysia is a multiethnic nation. Any coalition that fails to take the centrist posture to convince sufficient number of non-Malay and non-Muslim voters would face defeat.
Allowing Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Utusan Malaysia, Perkasa as well as other instantly-formed racist groups a free hand to set the agenda and hold the government hostage will only alienate more voters, including moderate Malays.
Failure to deal with the aspirations of Malaysians to see a more open, fairer and democratic society will dissipate middle class urban supports. The tear gas and water cannon at Bersih 2.0 and 3.0 are turning passive concerned citizens into frontline activists against Barisan Nasional.
Finally, it is clear that in most of the opinion polls over the past three years, 60 per cent of the Malays are aware of how corrupt Umno is, but only around 45 per cent are ready to vote for Pakatan Rakyat.
If only the mass media stops behaving like the Soviet-style propaganda machine.
There exists at least a 15 per cent middle ground among the Malays that will either be pushed to Pakatan Rakyat if Umno is seen as totally hopeless in reforming itself or be pulled by Pakatan Rakyat if it comes up with credible alternatives.
Those are fundamental issues determining the next election but Najib’s obsession for his personal legacy somehow misses them completely. — The Rocket
▲
JUNE 27 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is writing Barisan Nasional’s political obituary by focusing on micro electoral targets while refusing to confront macro policy matters.
The window to call election before the month of Ramadan has come and gone. The next possible window, which starts from September, is small and very much constrained by the Hari Raya Haji celebration on October 26, Deepavali festival on November 14, and the subsequent annual year-end floods.
Having sounded the war drums for at least two years since 2010 and making it very loud since late last year, Najib was visibly scared to pull the trigger at last, to the chagrin of many Umno leaders who want to get over it and done with.
As Najib calibrates his perfect moments, which I believe have long gone and will never return again, the nation was left in a lurch with numerous policy paralyses, flip-flops, and stalemates.
Lately, we were told that a consolidated intelligence report shown that Barisan Nasional has 80 seats in the bag and was close to winning another 50 seats, giving it 130 seats or a majority of 18 seats.
The police’s Special Branch, we were told, puts the figure at 118, which is a bare six-seat majority. To form the federal government, 112 out of the lower house’s 222 seats are required.
The numbers have clearly spooked the ruling party, especially Najib’s inner circle. For the rest of Umno, as long as Barisan Nasional remains in power, their high society lives go on.
But for Najib, a victory is not enough. He has set for himself a high bar — to win with a two-thirds majority or at least to win back the state of Selangor for Barisan Nasional; preferably both.
He doesn’t want to be remembered as the worst-performing PM — a record held by his predecessor Tun Abdullah Badawi, who lost Barisan Nasional’s two-thirds majority in Parliament and five states to Pakatan Rakyat.
It is, hence, amusing to see Najib talking about “14–0″ — that Barisan Nasional would win all 13 states plus the majority of Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.
Najib is obsessed with micro electoral targets to the extent of trying to keep “winnable” retirees such as Abdullah Badawi and former MCA Presidents Ong Ka Ting from retirement.
He visits each and every one of the swing seats in an attempt to rub some of his perceived popularity onto BN candidates there.
And all government resources are channelled to buy favours from voters of various “swing” segments of the population. But he is just seeing the trees and missing the beautiful Malaysian rainforest altogether.
Malaysia is a multiethnic nation. Any coalition that fails to take the centrist posture to convince sufficient number of non-Malay and non-Muslim voters would face defeat.
Allowing Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Utusan Malaysia, Perkasa as well as other instantly-formed racist groups a free hand to set the agenda and hold the government hostage will only alienate more voters, including moderate Malays.
Failure to deal with the aspirations of Malaysians to see a more open, fairer and democratic society will dissipate middle class urban supports. The tear gas and water cannon at Bersih 2.0 and 3.0 are turning passive concerned citizens into frontline activists against Barisan Nasional.
Finally, it is clear that in most of the opinion polls over the past three years, 60 per cent of the Malays are aware of how corrupt Umno is, but only around 45 per cent are ready to vote for Pakatan Rakyat.
If only the mass media stops behaving like the Soviet-style propaganda machine.
There exists at least a 15 per cent middle ground among the Malays that will either be pushed to Pakatan Rakyat if Umno is seen as totally hopeless in reforming itself or be pulled by Pakatan Rakyat if it comes up with credible alternatives.
Those are fundamental issues determining the next election but Najib’s obsession for his personal legacy somehow misses them completely. — The Rocket
Labels:
PR
MACC trio to face disciplinary action
The Sun
by Hemananthani Sivanandam
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by Hemananthani Sivanandam
KUALA
LUMPUR (June 27, 2012): Almost a year after a royal commission of
inquiry implicated three of its officers in the death of political…
The Sun
by Hemananthani Sivanandam
▲
by Hemananthani Sivanandam
KUALA
LUMPUR (June 27, 2012): Almost a year after a royal commission of
inquiry implicated three of its officers in the death of political aide
Teoh Beng Hock, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has
finally decided on the disciplinary action to take against them.
MACC
chief commissioner Datuk Seri Abu Kassim Mohamed said the commission
would first make its recommendations to its complaints committee before
announcing the action.
The
three officers are the then Selangor MACC deputy director Hishamuddin
Hashim (now Negri Sembilan MACC director), as well as enforcement
officers Mohd Anuar Ismail and Mohd Ashraf Yunus.
“We
have decided what disciplinary action to take. We will inform the
(complaints committee) in its next meeting,” said Abu Kassim in a press
conference after handing over the commission’s annual report to members
of the Special Committee on Corruption in Parliament today.
Asked
when the complaints committee will be meeting next, Abu Kassim said
that he has to check as it is an independent committee.
“Let us finalise this at the complaints committee first. We will inform them first, then we will announce,” he said.
The
MACC’s decision comes almost three years after the death of Teoh, 30,
whose body was found on the landing of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam, the
MACC’s headquarters at the time, the day after he was interrogated
overnight on July 16, 2009.
A
17-month-long inquest into the political aide’s death returned an open
verdict, while a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) concluded in its
report on July 21 last year that Teoh was not murdered but had committed
suicide due to the aggressive interrogation tactics by three MACC
officers.
The
trio were suspended from their duties last year after being named in
the RCI report, but Abu Kassim in April confirmed that they had been
transferred out of the Selangor MACC office.
Minister
in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz had in March
reportedly said that the three officers had been cleared of any criminal
wrongdoing by the Attorney-General’s Chambers.
Nazri
said this was done after the AG’s Chambers examined the outcome of
evidence from the police who investigated the three, based on evidence
adduced during the inquest and RCI set up to investigate Teoh’s death in
2009.
Labels:
MACC
Audit Project To Enhance Proficiency Of Bahasa Malaysia In Public Service
KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 (Bernama) -- The Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP)
will carry out a pilot Bahasa Malaysia audit project in July and August
with the aim of enhancing…
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KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 (Bernama) -- The Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP)
will carry out a pilot Bahasa Malaysia audit project in July and August
with the aim of enhancing the use of the national language in coherent,
correct and courteous manner in the public service, said Tan Sri
Muhyiddin Yassin.
The deputy prime minister said the Public Service Department (PSD) would follow suit by carrying out its own Bahasa Malaysia audit to gauge the proficiency of the Malay language among civil servants from December.
He said the government was firm in upholding Bahasa Malaysia as the national language and would ensure that it would become the language of communication, knowledge and administration in an effort to build a resilient and united nation.
For this purpose, he said the PSD had issued many circulars, including the most recent one, the Circular No. 09/2011 on the use of the national language in the civil service.
"The circular states that the national language shall be used for all official business in the country, including correspondence, agreements, meetings and official functions involving the presence Malaysian citizens, advertising job vacancies, counter service and dealing with the media," he said when opening a seminar on the Malay literature and culture in education here today.
Muhyiddin, who is also education minister, said the circular also entrusted public officials and members of the administration with the responsibility of using the national language coherently and correctly while safeguarding and monitoring its usage in all ministries and government agencies.
In addition, he said the government would create a star rating system on the use of the national language to appreciate efforts of local authorities in upholding its usage in public places.
In this regard, he said the DBP, the local government and state governments would cooperate to develop and implement a star rating system as a pilot project next year.
"I hope all Malaysians regardless of racial background can speak the national language coherently and correctly, and to respect its usage in government departments, the private sector and public places," he said.
Muhyidin said he believed that the country's education system had a major role to play in strengthening the national language and fostering national unity.
"The use of Bahasa Malaysia as the main medium of instruction in the education system will not only enable the people to master the national language, but also appreciate the values of solidarity and national identity being assimilated," he added.
Muhyiddin said the government had set up the National Language Implementation Committee which would ensure that status and position of Bahasa Malaysia as the national language is protected and monitor its usage in various ministries, departments and agencies as well as the private sector.
"The committee, chaired by me, has implemented several initiatives to promote the use of the national language in the public and private sectors, including by publishing a guideline on its usage in mass communication, the national language promotion programme in six Chinese new villages and a seminar on the implementation of the national language in the trade and consumer affairs sector," he said.
Muhyiddin later launched a literature and heritage magazine published by Gapena and approved an allocation of RM500,000 for Gapena to finance linguistic and literary activities.
Thirty-two non-governmental organisation officials submitted a memorandum to Muhyiddin, urging the government to maintain the Malay language as the medium of instruction.
Present were Gapena leader one Prof Datuk Wira Dr Abdul Latiff Abu Bakar, Melaka State Assembly speaker Datuk Wira Othman Muhammad and DBP vice-chairman Prof Datuk Dr Md Salleh Yaapar.
▲
The deputy prime minister said the Public Service Department (PSD) would follow suit by carrying out its own Bahasa Malaysia audit to gauge the proficiency of the Malay language among civil servants from December.
He said the government was firm in upholding Bahasa Malaysia as the national language and would ensure that it would become the language of communication, knowledge and administration in an effort to build a resilient and united nation.
For this purpose, he said the PSD had issued many circulars, including the most recent one, the Circular No. 09/2011 on the use of the national language in the civil service.
"The circular states that the national language shall be used for all official business in the country, including correspondence, agreements, meetings and official functions involving the presence Malaysian citizens, advertising job vacancies, counter service and dealing with the media," he said when opening a seminar on the Malay literature and culture in education here today.
Muhyiddin, who is also education minister, said the circular also entrusted public officials and members of the administration with the responsibility of using the national language coherently and correctly while safeguarding and monitoring its usage in all ministries and government agencies.
In addition, he said the government would create a star rating system on the use of the national language to appreciate efforts of local authorities in upholding its usage in public places.
In this regard, he said the DBP, the local government and state governments would cooperate to develop and implement a star rating system as a pilot project next year.
"I hope all Malaysians regardless of racial background can speak the national language coherently and correctly, and to respect its usage in government departments, the private sector and public places," he said.
Muhyidin said he believed that the country's education system had a major role to play in strengthening the national language and fostering national unity.
"The use of Bahasa Malaysia as the main medium of instruction in the education system will not only enable the people to master the national language, but also appreciate the values of solidarity and national identity being assimilated," he added.
Muhyiddin said the government had set up the National Language Implementation Committee which would ensure that status and position of Bahasa Malaysia as the national language is protected and monitor its usage in various ministries, departments and agencies as well as the private sector.
"The committee, chaired by me, has implemented several initiatives to promote the use of the national language in the public and private sectors, including by publishing a guideline on its usage in mass communication, the national language promotion programme in six Chinese new villages and a seminar on the implementation of the national language in the trade and consumer affairs sector," he said.
Muhyiddin later launched a literature and heritage magazine published by Gapena and approved an allocation of RM500,000 for Gapena to finance linguistic and literary activities.
Thirty-two non-governmental organisation officials submitted a memorandum to Muhyiddin, urging the government to maintain the Malay language as the medium of instruction.
Present were Gapena leader one Prof Datuk Wira Dr Abdul Latiff Abu Bakar, Melaka State Assembly speaker Datuk Wira Othman Muhammad and DBP vice-chairman Prof Datuk Dr Md Salleh Yaapar.
Labels:
Dewan Bahasa
Protesters call for release of ISA detainees
Activists and family members of ISA detainees turned up
outside Parliament this morning to call for the release of all the
detainees.
Some of the ISA detainees are…
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Photograph: Suaram
Activists and family members of ISA detainees turned up
outside Parliament this morning to call for the release of all the
detainees.
Some of the ISA detainees are believed to have been on a hunger-strike for the last eight days.
Only a Pakatan MP, Mahfuz Omar of Pas, turned up to accept the protesters’ memo.
▲
Photograph: Suaram
Only a Pakatan MP, Mahfuz Omar of Pas, turned up to accept the protesters’ memo.
Labels:
ISA
Dr M: GE13 will be about race
Dr Mahathir says the country has become racist more than ever. — File pic
Dr Mahathir says the country has become racist more than ever. — File pic
The influential former prime minister told a forum on business and politics that Barisan Nasional’s (BN) weakness, after losing its customary two-thirds majority in Parliament in the March 2008 election, has forced the coalition to cater to various racial demands.
“In this country, we are very racist, even more than before. The next election is going to be about race. Who gives what, who gets what based on race. When the government is weak, it caters to demands which are not going to be good for the country in the long run,” he said.
Dr Mahathir, who led the country for 22 years before retiring in 2003, later told reporters “the current government is inherited from the previous administration which didn’t do so well. As a result, we have a weak government.
“The old leader was replaced with a new leader who is trying hard but it is not easy. He is being pressure from all sides. If he concedes to one group, other groups are unhappy. In the end the minority prevails,” he said.
Datuk Seri Najib Razak took power in April 2009, a year after Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi led the ruling BN to its worst-ever electoral performance, ceding 82 federal seats and five state governments.
In March, Abdullah, who was handpicked by Dr Mahathir to succeed him, also said race will be the main issue for the 13th general election.
“We are always concerned about race. Because there is a tendency for certain parties to make use of these issues, as a way of getting support for them and creating problems for us,” the Kepala Batas MP said in a video interview with Bloomberg.
However, he told the business wire “the lesson we can learn is, and some people may not agree, but the fact we didn’t have two-thirds did not mean that we became weak.”
Najib took over from Abdullah ostensibly to improve on BN’s performance in the next general election.
Observers believe he requires an improvement on the 140 federal seats won and to regain some of the states lost to be assured of remaining in power.
Labels:
General Election 13th,
Tun.Mahathir
MIC, PPP, IPF and Makkal Sakti if they really have dignity as Indians, then they should resign en bloc from BN
consider quitting the Umno presidency over the “hang Ambiga” controversy.
He said Sri Gading…
consider quitting the Umno presidency over the “hang Ambiga” controversy.
He said Sri Gading MP Mohamad Aziz’s audacity in calling for the execution of the Bersih leader was proof that Najib had no control over Umno members.
“If he can’t control his own men, then it’s better for him to step down as Umno president,” the outspoken PKR leader said last night in a press statement.
Ravi was one of the latest to join the chorus of condemnation against Mohamad, who uttered the controversial remark in a speech in Parliament.
“If he said that Ambiga should be hanged for organising and participating in Bersih 3.0, then Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang and Bersih 3.0 co-chairman A Samad Said also should be hanged as they too were involved in the rally,” he said.
“If participating in Bersih 3.0 is an offence punishable by hanging, then the 250,000 Malaysians who participated in the rally, including me, should be hanged as well.
“Mohamad’s remark proves that the prime minister is unable to control his own people.”
Ravi also demanded that Mohamad apologise not only to Ambiga, but also all Malaysian Indians, and he called on Indian-based BN parties to make the same demand.
He said the MP’s speech clearly showed up his prejudice against Indians.
“MIC, PPP, IPF and Makkal Sakti are Indian-based BN component parties. In fact, MIC has claimed that they are the guardians of the Indians. All these parties should pressure Mohamad to apologise to Ambiga and Indians,” the statement said.
“If all these four BN components parties and their leaders fail to do so and if they really have dignity as Indians, then they should resign en bloc from BN.”
Senawang state assemblyman P Gunasekaran of DAP has also accused Mohamad of harbouring prejudice against Malaysian Indians.
He said yesterday that Mohamad and other Umno members should be reminded that Ambiga was instrumental in fighting for justice for former Lord President Salleh
Abas and five other judges, who were controversially dismissed from their positions in 1988. That proved, he said, that the Bersih leader’s passion for justice had nothing to do with race. In 2008, the government made ex-gratia payments totalling RM10.5 million to Salleh and the other five other judges.
Zefry Dahalan – FMT
Friday, 15 June 2012
German police launch major crackdown on Salafist Muslims
Salafist supporters
pray as they counter-protest against a demonstration by right-wing pro
NRW supporters outside the new Central Mosque (Zentralmoschee) in
Ehrenfeld district, on May 8, 2012 in Cologne, Germany.…
Salafist supporters
pray as they counter-protest against a demonstration by right-wing pro
NRW supporters outside the new Central Mosque (Zentralmoschee) in
Ehrenfeld district, on May 8, 2012 in Cologne, Germany. (Mathis
Wienand/AFP/Getty Images)
Police in Germany raided scores of homes, mosques and meeting halls across the country on Thursday as part of a major national crackdown on radical Islamic Salafists.
LONDON, UK – Police in Germany raided scores of homes, mosques and meeting halls across the country on Thursday as part of a major national crackdown on radical Islamic Salafists, whom the authorities accuses of plotting against the state.
German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich also announced that he was banning the Millatu Ibrahim organization, which he said has been inciting Muslims to fight against the “constitutional order” in Germany, the Associated Press reported.
The minister said that a “comprehensive collection of evidence” had been found during Thursday’s raids, which saw laptops, cellphones and other items seized by 850 police officers in seven German states – including Berlin and Bavaria – according to the news agency.
More from GlobalPost: Germany’s Salafists clash with the radical right
The raids come a month after Salafists clashed with police guarding an anti-Islam rally staged by the far-right “Pro NRW” party in the city of Bonn, which led to the hospitalization of two police and the arrest of about 110 Salafists, GlobalPost reported.
The German authorities fear that the Salafists – who number about 4,000, out of a total Muslim population in Germany of around 4 million – are exploiting socially excluded young Muslims in the country and inciting them to militancy, Reuters reported.
The Salafists trace their roots to the ultra-conservative Islamic practices of Saudi Arabia and aim to bring about the establishment of Sharia law in Europe. According to the BBC, items were seized from the Cologne home of Salafist preacher Ibrahim Abu Nagie in one of the police raids.
Labels:
Islam
Johor sultan says he is angry with Nizar's comments
The Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar, said he was angry with former Perak menteri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin for his recent comments on the ‘WWW1' licence…
The Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar, said he was angry with former Perak menteri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin for his recent comments on the ‘WWW1' licence plate issue, adding that it was not necessary for the ruler to publicise all he did for charity.
In addressing the opening of the Johor state legislative assembly at Nusajaya, the sultan was quoted by The Star Online as saying that people like Nizar should not comment on things he does not know about.
“Has he forgotten our Malay customs or is he indeed ignorant and shallow-minded,” the ruler asked, adding that Nizar should not act smart when he has no knowledge over what was happening.
Nizar, who is being investigated for sedition for his alleged Twitter remarks, said he had sought an audience with the Johor ruler to apologise.
He claimed Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd had been playing up the licence plate issue since early April.
Quoting Utusan Malaysia’s sister paper Kosmo!, the former Perak MB said the daily has been following up on the number-plate bid and in one of its reports on May 25, there were infographics stating that the RM520,000 could have been used to purchase a three-storey house in Bangi, Selangor, or a BMW, or a shoplot in a business district in Shah Alam or 2.777kg of 916-certified gold.
“My tweets were misrepresented as criticism of the sultan when the tweets were not directed to anyone in particular,” said Nizar.
It was reported that the Johor ruler had successfully bid for the WWW1 plate and that the Johor sultan had in a rally over the weekend asked Nizar to apologise to the people of Johor.
Labels:
Rulers of Malaysia
Ambiga rela dipenjara demi Bersih
KUALA LUMPUR, 14 Jun – Pengerusi Bersama Bersih, Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan sedia dipenjara demi mempertahankan perjuangannya menuntut pilihan raya yang adil dan bersih di negara ini.Kenyataan itu dikeluarkan bekas…
KUALA LUMPUR, 14 Jun – Pengerusi Bersama Bersih, Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan sedia dipenjara demi mempertahankan perjuangannya menuntut pilihan raya yang adil dan bersih di negara ini.Kenyataan itu dikeluarkan bekas Pengerusi Majlis Peguam itu sewaktu sesi “chat secara online” di laman Yahoo Malaysia hari ini sewaktu menjawab pertanyaan salah seorang pengunjung ruangan chat tersebut.
Antara soalan pengunjung itu adalah, “Adakah anda rela dipenjarakan kerana tindakan anda?” (Are you willing to be jailed for your cause?); dan Ambiga kemudiannya menjawab,”Ya”.
Kebanyakan pengunjung yang bertanyakan soalan di ruangan chat yang bermula jam tiga petang itu memberikan fokus terhadap perhimpunan duduk bantah Bersih 3.0 di Dataran Merdeka pada 28 April lalu.
Selain itu, Ambiga juga menolak untuk menjadikan Bersih sebagai parti politik, dan beliau juga tidak bercadang untuk menjadi menteri.
“Adakah anda berminat untuk menjadi menteri?” soal seorang pengunjung yang hanya dikenali sebagai Baskaran, dan Ambiga kemudiannya membalasnya dengan “Tidak, tidak sama sekali!”(No, absolutely not!).
Pengunjung lain, Howard Klein pula bertanya sama ada pemimpin perhimpunan menuntut pilihan raya adil dan bersih itu turut bercadang untuk bertanding dalam pilihan raya.
‘‘Ambiga, adakah anda berminat untuk bertanding dalam pilihan raya umum?”, Ambiga turut menjawab,”Sekali lagi, tidak!” (Again, no!)
Sesi berkenaan yang tamat sekitar jam 4.15 petang itu turut menyaksikan sebahagian peserta ruangan chat tersebut yang bertanyakan soalan yang dilihat seperti tidak bersetuju dengan penganjuran Bersih 3.0 penghujung April lalu.
“Anda seorang peguam... tetapi tindak-tanduk anda bersama BERSIH boleh disifatkan sebagai tidak menghormati undang-undang. Demontrasi jalanan hanya menyusahkan sebahagian rakyat Malaysia.. TQ,” tanya seorang peserta yang bernama Awang.
Ambiga kemudiannya menjelaskan, “Demonstrasi jalanan merupakan antara hak asasi rakyat Malaysia di bawah Perlembagaan Persekutuan Malaysia.”
Beliau juga turut menolak perhimpuan Bersih adalah salah dari segi undang-undang.
“Saya percaya anda telah tersalah lihat Akta Perhimpunan Aman, namun, anda perlu melihat pula kepada Perlembagaan, yang memberikan hak untuk berhimpun. Ia adalah undang-undang tertinggi yang kita pegang,” katanya menjawab soalan Elsie, yang bertanyakan berkenaan undang-undang hanya membenarkan perhimpunan aman dan bukannya demonstrasi.
Sesi perbualan itu turut membolehkan peserta bertanyakan soalan bukan sahaja menggunakan bahasa Inggeris, tetapi juga turut menggunakan bahasa Melayu.
Ambiga turut menjawab soalan berkenaan insiden demonstrasi yang dilakukan di perkarangan kediamannya dan menyifatkan ianya berbeza dengan perhimpunan Bersih walaupun Perlembagaan mengiktiraf kebebasan berhimpun.
“Ada perbezaan mengadakan demonstrasi di hadapan rumah seseorang dan kawasan umum. Apa gunanya Akta Perhimpunan Aman dan Perlembagaan apabila perhimpunan tidak boleh dilakukan di kawasan umum?
“Bagaimanapun, protes di rumah saya adalah tindakan mengugut dan satu ganguan,” katanya.
Perhimpuan Bersih 3.0 pada 28 April di dataran Merdeka telah menyaksikan 250,000 peserta yang mana berlangsung dengan aman, kemudiannya bertukar ganas apabila perusuh mula merempuh kawasan dataran bersejarah dan merobohkan halangan yang didirikan pihak berkuasa.
Ekoran insiden keganasan tersebut, polis kemudiannya melepaskan gas pemediah mata dan meriam air ke arah perusuh untuk menyuraikan keadaan, yang mana Menteri Dalam Negeri Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein semalam menjelaskan, polis telah melepaskan 967 butir gas pemedih mata ketika perhimpunan Bersih 3.0.
Jumlah itu lebih tiga kali ganda berbanding dalam perhimpunan Bersih 2.0, iaitu sebanyak 262 butir.
Tembakan yang dilepaskan dalam Bersih 3.0 itu termasuk 909 butir ‘shell tear smoke’ dan 58 butir ‘grenade tear smoke’.
Hishammuddin turut menjelaskan, kerajaan telah menanggung kos keseluruhan sebanyak RM1.8 juta akibat daripada penganjuran perhimpunan itu.
Labels:
Ambiga
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