Bukit Aman urged to re-open Altantuya death probe

PKR Youth yesterday filed a request with the police for the authorities to re-open the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case, following the revelations of lawyer Americk Sidhu at last week' Bar Council annual general meeting on private eye P Balasubramaniam's second statutory declaration.

Its chief Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin (right), who filed it at the Dang Wangi police station, also urged the police to call on prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, Americk and carpet businessman Deepak Jaikishian and senior lawyer Cecil Abraham to give their evidence.

"I will sent a memorandum to Cecil seeking an explanation from him on what were Najib's directives to him.
"I urge the police to re-open the police investigation papers. They can re-open investigations based on Americk's revelation during the 66th Bar AGM.

Americk had revealed that Cecil acted on Najib's orders to prepare the second SD for the late Balasubramaniam.

In a related development, a NGO submitted a memorandum to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) also urging the latter to re-open the Mongolian translator's murder investigations in 2006, because of  the latest revelations.

Jihad for Justice, led by its chairperson Thasleem Mohamed Ibrahim, handed over the memorandum to DSP Anuwal Ab Wahab at the Bukit Aman police headquarters yesterday evening.

No follow-up by IGP

Thasleem (second from left in photo) said that the memorandum was a follow up to a letter to the IGP on Feb 21 on the same matter, which he claimed did not receive any response.

He said that he had met Balasubramaniam at a forum in Kuala Lumpur shortly after the latter's return from self-imposed exile in India, and was convinced that the detective was telling the truth about his first statutory declaration on Altantuya's death which implicated Najib.

"Bala's untimely death was a shock to the whole nation and I was quite badly shaken by it," Thasleem said.
He said that he had hoped that Najib would take court action against either Balasubramaniam or Deepak who had made similar allegations implicating him in the murder case.

"When that was not forthcoming, I was even more convinced that the files must be reopened," Thasleem said.

There must be a final closure on this matter and all those including police officers who covered up (on this issue) must be identified, he added.

PKR vice-president R Sivarasa and PKR's Human Rights and Legal bureau deputy chairperson S Jayathas were also present when the memorandum was submitted.

Altantuya was killed on the night of October 18, 2006.

Bersih to ‘name and shame’ candidates

Bersih says it will 'name and shame' candidates who condone political violence.

KUALA LUMPUR: Election reform watchdog Bersih today announced that it would “name and shame” politicians and election candidates who do not support its campaign against political violence.

“We’ll name and shame them. Silence is not an option. Vote against the MPs who encourage political violence and those who are silent about it.

“We will tell the public not to vote for them,” Bersih co-chairman, S Ambiga, said at the launching of Bersih’s “Reject political violence” campaign today.

The campaign kicked off with Bersih co-chairman A Samad Said sending SMSes to PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu, Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad (PAS), Batu MP Tian Chua (PKR), Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim and Ipoh Timor MP Lim Kit Siang.

Besides the SMS, Bersih hopes to use the social media and by word of mouth to spread the message.

Ambiga also said that Bersih would accept any invitation to any political ceramah and also to speak up against political violence.

She listed nine instances of political violence that have occurred since January this year.

The election reform watchdog also announced that it would be releasing a code of conduct for candidates and rules of a caretaker government next week.

On another issue, Ambiga criticised Election Commission deputy chairman, Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, for saying that the election would take place before the conclusion of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Sabah, and that the EC was powerless to act as the RCI has not ended.

He is also reported to have said that the EC could not do anything about the irregularities in the Sabah electoral list even though many immigrants have received identification cards.

Ambiga said that based on the Likas case in 1999, the EC is duty-bound to conduct a public inquiry on the matter.

(In that case, the Kota Kinabalu High Court ruled that the electoral roll for the Likas constituency was illegal and accordingly declared the polls null and void. As a result, former Sabah chief Minister Yong Teck Lee had to vacate the seat. But despite the ruling, the EC did not act to clean up the roll.)

“I do not accept what the deputy chairman of EC is saying. It is unacceptable that the EC can’t do anything until the RCI is over. The EC’s failure to maintain a [clean] electoral roll makes the electoral roll illegal,” she said.

Ambiga also condemned the violence against blogger Papagomo yesterday.

“We condemn any form of violence as we condemn his [Papagomo's] type of politics,” she said.

The blogger, whose real name is Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris, was beaten up by two unknown assailants and sustained minor head injuries yesterday afternoon.

He is known for publishing anti-Anwar Ibrahim materials on his blog. Anwar, who is PKR adviser and Permatang Pauh MP, filed a RM 100 million defamation suit against Papagomo on Thursday.

We’re only passing priority for political elites

Hindraf chairman P Waythamoorthy pens his political thoughts while on his 13th day of hunger strike.
COMMENT

By P Waythamoorthy

This is the 13th day of my hunger viratham (hunger strike). The visitors are streaming in and it is becoming more difficult to stay focused on my writing. It has somewhat slowed down my writing.

Still, therere is no let up in my resolve to achieve our goals of obtaining binding endorsement and commitment to implement Hindraf’s proposals and I continue with my hunger viratham.

More people are beginning to ask just where the Barisan Nasional and the Pakatan Rakyat political leaders are. Do they not care?

Well, I will let them answer the people.

For today I will discuss the question of the costs of implementation of Hindraf’s 5-year Blueprint proposals.

The politicians in power go to great lengths to propose, promote and implement mega project like the MRT, the High Speed Rail Link between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore and the Undersea Tunnel linking Penang to the mainland. These projects can cost from RM10 billion to RM80 billion.

The politicians will tell you that these are infrastructure projects that improve quality of life and which anyway has a multiplier effect on the economy. But what they will not tell you is how this also plentifully fills the pockets of the elites.

In these projects, there is abundant opportunity for rentier commissions, for bribes, for project super profit, for operational super profits, for high interests on low risk loans.

All these significant financial benefits just flow in the large part to the elites. They say it creates wealth for the country. That is great, watch the GDP numbers.

On the other hand spending on making the lives of the people at the bottom end of society becomes only a passing priority for the political elites.

The nation at large may benefit, but if the benefit is to be shared more equitably with the people, it becomes sacrilege – distribution of wealth cannot be a driver of policy.

Creation of wealth can be the only driver of policy. This is conventional wisdom with the elite. If it cannot be justified on the basis of returns on investment or on what is considered a pressing need by the elite, then the investment becomes a low priority project or a no priority project.

Projects on the backburner

RM4.5 billion, the annual budgetary need for five years for Hindraf’s blueprint proposals, is spread out on several key socio-economic projects which we say addresses a pressing need of our society.

We say there are significant returns in these investments for the nation as a whole. But it meets with significant resistance from the elite because it does not meet the resource allocation criteria of the elite.

The real issue is that the benefits from the projects are spread over too many people and becomes too thin. That does not serve the interest of the elite – they do not stand to gain from such allocations.

So it cannot be a good investment or allocation. Unfortunately for the nation, it is the elites who decide this. They have total control over national policy. So they try every argument in the book to put such projects on the backburner. And they succeed most of the time.

Look at it another way. The annual budget of the government is about RM250 billion. RM4.5 billion is only 1.8 % of that. That still leaves RM245.5 billion for everything else, while a critical problem of our society gets resolved.

In the last 47 years, RM1,155 billion have been spent on socio- economic development. If the Indian poor had got even 10%, that would be RM115 billion.

We surely would not be having the problem we have today had that expenditure been made. But it was not made. We have a problem today as a result and we need to solve it.

If that takes 20% of the allocation that should have been made, can that be considered excessive? It all depends on how you want to look at it.

To kill off the request, the elites do not look at it this way. They just play up the size of the absolute number without looking at it in all these other related ways.

National resources belong to the people

In the final analysis, allocation of the national resources all comes down to national priorities. Today these priorities are determined by the elites.

So, the system will continue to behave the way it does unless the decision makers change, The true representatives of the people or the people themselves have to become the decision makers for the national resources to be allocated more in the interest of the people.

The Hindraf blueprint is a bottom up document and an attempt to make the people the decision makers for the allocation of the resources needed to open up new life opportunities, by the members of a segment of society. This is a first of its kind. Others will soon follow suit, if this attempt is successful.

This is also a major worry of the elites and an oft repeated argument that if we do this for one minority or marginalized community, then the others will also start making similar demands.

How can we deal with that? Simple, allocate resources truly on the basis of need – do not just say it, do it. But that will not happen.

The elites will say it, but they will not do it. In my opinion there is nothing wrong with all such segments making such demands.

We just have to plan the demands in and allocate the resources appropriately. The people are the true owners of the resources of the nation. They have every right to make these demands.

RM 4.5 billion for the resolution of the socio-economic woes of the impoverished Indian community cannot be excessive. It is an important allocation and has significant positive implications for our society.

All those who block it or argue against it are doing it because of faulty and self serving economic logic.

It is not as if they are right and we are wrong. They are wrong and they are deceitful.

P Waythamoorthy is the Hindraf chairperson. He has been on his hunger strike since March 10.

DAY 13: Waytha ‘physically weak but mentally strong’

After 13 days, P Waythamoorthy is still determined to carry on with the hunger fast.

PETALING JAYA: As he enters his 13th day of hunger strike, Hindraf chairman P Waythamoorthy remains firm in his cause for the Hindraf blueprint to be endorsed.

Hindraf deputy chairman and spokesperson for Waythamoorthy, W Sambulingam, however, admitted that the former is getting weaker by the day.

“Physically, he’s getting weaker by the day, but mentally, he’s still strong. He has no plans on giving up.

“Right now he is on drips and has lost 5kg.

“This morning, there was a surge in his pressure, now we are waiting for the doctors to come in,” said Sambulingam.

When asked how long will Waythamoorthy continue with his hunger strike, he said that Hindraf members will be with him until the end.

“It was a firm decision made by him to continue with the hunger strike for as long as his body can take it,” said Sambulingam.

Waythamoorthy’s hunger strike which started on March 10 is taking place at the Arulmigu Agora Veerabathrar Sanggili Karuppar Temple in Rawang.

He is undergoing the hunger strike in the hope that the Hindraf blueprint will be endorsed by the Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat faction.

Waythamoorthy’s demands include endorsing his organisation’s policies which will benefit the Indian community.

He has been visited by several Pakatan Rakyat leaders, such as Selayang MP William Leong, Kuala Selangor MP Dzulkefly Ahmad and Kapar MP P Manikavasagam.

“People have been coming from all over the country supporting the cause. And yesterday, Kota Raja MP Siti Mariah Mahmud came to visit.

“However, politicians just coming and going is not going to help. The end-result should be that the Hindraf blueprint gets endorsed,” said Sambulingam.