Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Kangaroo meat ‘halal,’ Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate says
“Islamic scholars agree that ‘halal’ animals that are not mentioned in the Quran and in the hadith [the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad] are those that don’t eat feces and carcasses, and which are therefore neither wild nor coarse,” the Diyanet’s High Committee of Religious Affairs said in response to a citizen’s question.
As such, the fatwa continues, kangaroo is classified in the same category with other “grass eating, clean animals like deer, gazelle and antelope.” Grasshopper is also categorized as “halal” because “there is a special provision in the Sunnah,” it adds, referring to the way of life prescribed as normative for Muslims on the basis of the teachings and practices of Prophet Muhammad.
The fatwa describes badgers, martens, weasels, beavers and sea otters as “naturally wild.” Although there are differing views among Islamic scholars related to these animals, the fatwa argues, “As these animals are wild and carnivorous, it’s not appropriate to eat their meat.”
Phones of MH370 passengers ringing, online accounts active, claim relatives
4
Relatives
of passengers on missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 watching
television news for the latest updates in a waiting lounge at the Lido
Hotel in Beijing, yesterday. – AFP pic, March 11, 2014.
Relatives of passengers aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 claimed that they were able to call cell phones of their loves ones, according to media reports.
The
Washington Post said that the families of some of the 239 people
onboard the missing Boeing 777 claimed to have heard the mobile
ringtones."In some cases, the relatives could see them active online through a local Chinese networking site called QQ," the Post reported.
One man told the Washington Post that his brother-in-law's QQ account indicated that he was online.
Frustratingly for those desperate for some news or sign, messages have gone unanswered and calls were not picked up.
Search and rescue (SAR) operation involving 10 countries has so far failed to find any trace of the missing airliner.
Britain's Daily Mail reported that the phantom phone calls and online presence had set off a new level of hysteria among relatives and next-of-kin, most of whom have spent three days cooped up at a Beijing Hotel waiting for news on the missing plane.
MAS officials in Beijing have been told repeatedly about the QQ accounts and ringing telephone calls, and relatives are hoping that SAR forces will be able to triangulate the GPS signals of the phones to locate their loved ones.
Bian Liangwei, sister of one of the passengers aboard MH370, claimed that she was able to reach her elder brother's phone.
"This morning, around 11:40am, I called my older brother's number twice, and I got the ringing tone," she told the International Business Times.
At 2pm, Bian called again and again heard its ring tone.
"If I could get through, the police could locate the position, and there is a chance he could still be alive," she said.
However, at a press conference in Beijing, MAS spokesman Ignatius Ong said one of the numbers provided to the airline's head office in Kuala Lumpur had failed to get through.
"I myself have called the number five times while the airline's command centre also called the number. We got no answering tone," Ong said.
Search for the missing plane has now moved to the Straits of Malacca, some 100 miles away from where it was last recorded by electronic monitoring devices.
The dramatic shift raises the possibility that it flew undetected, crossing mainland Malaysia, before ditching into the sea.
MAS said Malaysia's western coast near the Straits of Malacca was now the focus of the hunt.
Civil aviation chief Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, however, said the statement didn't imply authorities believed the plane was off the western coast.
"The search is on both sides," he said.
The plane was carrying 239 people when it vanished off radar screens early Saturday morning en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, triggering a massive international search effort.
Authorities have expanded their search to include areas where the plane could have in theory ended up given the amount of fuel it had on board.
On Sunday, Malaysia's air force chief said military radar indicated that the jet might have turned back before disappearing. – March 11, 2014.
MH370 detected above Malacca Straits at 2.40am
A Berita Harian report today quoted the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) as saying the plane may have reversed course further than expected while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Air Force chief Rodzali Daud (left)
is quoted as saying that based on military radar readings from its
station in Butterworth, MH370 may have turned west after Kota Bahru and
flown past the east coast and Kedah."The last time the plane was detected was near Pulau Perak, in the Straits of Malacca, at 2.40am," Berita Harian quoted Rodzali as saying.
This contradicts earlier reports that the aircraft had disappeared from radar screens 120 nautical miles off Kota Bharu and over the South China Sea, at 1.30am on March 8.
The Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) had previously said the search for the Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, which is missing for the fourth day, had been focused around the waters between the east coast and Vietnam.
Berita Harian also said that military radar noted that the plane was flying about 1,000 metres lower than its original altitude of 10,000 metres after the turnaround.
There
are 227 passengers, including two infants, and 12 crew members on board
the plane. Of these, 152 are Chinese nationals, 38 are Malaysians and
the rest are from 12 other countries.Utusan Malaysia reported that 20,000 fishermen nationwide have been roped in to help in the search-and-rescue operation.
The newspaper quoted Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob as saying that this would involve 1,788 fishing boats around the waters off Kelantan, Terengganu, Perlis, Perak and Penang.
IGP contradicts DCA on MH370 passengers
Police chief Khalid Abu Bakar says only one person cancelled her ticket because she had mistook the date of the flight.
UPDATED
PETALING JAYA: Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar today refuted claims by the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) that several passengers who had checked in did not board the fateful Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
In a press conference today, Khalid revealed that only one person had missed the flight.
“Only one person missed the flight, and it was a lady. She had called Malaysia Airlines to cancel the ticket because she had mistook the date,” said Khalid.
His statement contradicted DCA director-general Azharuddin Abdul Rahman’s previous statement that five people had purchased the plane tickets and had even checked in their baggage but did not make the flight.
Azharuddin had then confirmed that MAS had removed the passengers’ baggage after the national carrier learned that the five people did not board the place.
However when asked by reporters today, Khalid stressed that no such incident had occurred.
“There is no such thing as five person who did not board the plane. There is no such thing,” said the police chief.
“You take it from me, there were no such thing.”
“Nobody booked the ticket that did not board.”
Four areas
Khalid said that four areas were being looked into, namely, possible hijacking, sabotage, the psychological problem as well as personal problem of passengers and crew members.
Explaining further, he said a passenger might have bought a huge sum of insurance and wanted family members to gain from it.
Khalid added that the police were working with counterparts from 14 other countries and are exchanging information with them.
A discussion was also held with a team of officers from China’s public security office.
“We have been supplied with photographs of 150 Chinese passengers. We are currently going through the profiles of all the passengers,” he said.
When asked on whether there were possible leads of the plane being hijacked, he said: “We are looking into all angles.”
“Give us some time to go through everything,” he said, admitting that the police do not have prior intelligence on activities of terrorists in particular.
Flight MH370, carrying 227 passengers, including two infants, and 12 crew, went missing enroute from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing about an hour after taking off from KLIA at 12.41am on Saturday.
It should have landed at 6.30 am.
UPDATED
PETALING JAYA: Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar today refuted claims by the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) that several passengers who had checked in did not board the fateful Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.In a press conference today, Khalid revealed that only one person had missed the flight.
“Only one person missed the flight, and it was a lady. She had called Malaysia Airlines to cancel the ticket because she had mistook the date,” said Khalid.
His statement contradicted DCA director-general Azharuddin Abdul Rahman’s previous statement that five people had purchased the plane tickets and had even checked in their baggage but did not make the flight.
Azharuddin had then confirmed that MAS had removed the passengers’ baggage after the national carrier learned that the five people did not board the place.
However when asked by reporters today, Khalid stressed that no such incident had occurred.
“There is no such thing as five person who did not board the plane. There is no such thing,” said the police chief.
“You take it from me, there were no such thing.”
“Nobody booked the ticket that did not board.”
Four areas
Khalid said that four areas were being looked into, namely, possible hijacking, sabotage, the psychological problem as well as personal problem of passengers and crew members.
Explaining further, he said a passenger might have bought a huge sum of insurance and wanted family members to gain from it.
Khalid added that the police were working with counterparts from 14 other countries and are exchanging information with them.
A discussion was also held with a team of officers from China’s public security office.
“We have been supplied with photographs of 150 Chinese passengers. We are currently going through the profiles of all the passengers,” he said.
When asked on whether there were possible leads of the plane being hijacked, he said: “We are looking into all angles.”
“Give us some time to go through everything,” he said, admitting that the police do not have prior intelligence on activities of terrorists in particular.
Flight MH370, carrying 227 passengers, including two infants, and 12 crew, went missing enroute from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing about an hour after taking off from KLIA at 12.41am on Saturday.
It should have landed at 6.30 am.
Karpal Singh fined RM4,000 for sedition
Karpal Singh's remark was made at the height of the Perak political crisis in 2009.
VIDEO INSIDE
KUALA LUMPUR: The Kuala Lumpur High Court today sentenced lawyer and DAP chairman Karpal Singh to a fine of RM4,000 for sedition.
On Feb 21, the same court had found him guilty of sedition for questioning the Sultan of Perak’s action in removing Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as the menteri besar of Perak in 2009.
Trial judge Azman Abdullah delivered the sentence today after hearing mitigation from Karpal Singh’s lawyers Ram Karpal Singh, Sanjeet Kaur and Gobind Singh Deo, and from the prosecution.
Justice Azman however did not allow the Bar Council and Lawasia to make submissions for Karpal Singh.
The RM4,000 fine means Karpal Singh can be disqualified as the Bukit Gelugor MP if he fails in his appeal to either overturn the conviction, or to reduce the fine to be below RM2,000.
Karpal Singh later told reporters that that he would file an appeal in the Court of Appeal.
“In my 35 years (of political activism), I fought… and I will keep fighting. It’s no problem. As an MP we have to take risks,” he said.
Wheelchair-bound Karpal Singh, 74, was found guilty of having said at his legal firm in Jalan Pudu
Lama on Feb 6, 2009, that the removal of Mohammad Nizar and the appointment of Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir as the new menteri besar by the sultan could be questioned in court.
The charge, under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act 1948, provides for a maximum jail term of three years and a fine of RM5,000, or both, upon conviction.
The High Court had, on June 11, 2010, acquitted and discharged Karpal Singh without calling for his defence but, following an appeal by the prosecution, the Court of Appeal, on Jan 20, 2012, ordered him to make his defence.
The court today was filled with Pakatan Rakyat leaders and supporters.
Shouts of ‘zalim’
Earlier, in mitigation, Karpal Singh’s defence team argued that the politician merely offered a legal opinion and the charge leveled at him was done in bad faith.
Also present at the court today was Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang, Pas deputy president Mohamad Sabu, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar.
Hundreds of Pakatan Rakyat supporters gathered at the court as early as 8am. However the situation remained calm throughout except for one instance when the crowd shouted “zalim” (cruel) when the prosecution sought jail sentence for Karpal Singh.
The court’s decision has since received heavy criticism from lawyers and pro human rights group.
The group expressed shock over the conviction as they strongly believed that it was not a crime to make critical comments.
Lawyer Syahredzan Johan also pointed out that what Karpal Singh had said in regards to Sultan Azlan Shah’s decision to remove Nizar Jamaluddin as the Perak Menteri Besar in 2009 was merely an opinion from a legal expert.
On related matter, Lawyer for Liberty executive director Eric Paulsen was shocked at the sentence meted out against Karpal.
“Making political or critical statement is not a crime, especially in Karpal’s case. The MP merely gave a legal opinion on the Perak crisis and it cannot be described as being seditious,” he said.
Paulsen added that Karpal conviction and PKR leader Tian Chua’s one month imprisonment show that government was embarking on political persecution and underhanded tactics to undermine its political adversaries.
“The Sedition Act Sedition is an outdated law designed by our former British coloniser to protect the minority white rule.
“It has no place in Malaysia, and most modern democratic states have repealed the legislation,” said Paulsen
Meanwhile, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said in a press statement that Karpal Singh’s conviction sent a message that lawyers in Malaysia were not free to express their opinion on legal issues before condemning the conviction saying it was inconsistent with international law.
VIDEO INSIDE
KUALA LUMPUR: The Kuala Lumpur High Court today sentenced lawyer and DAP chairman Karpal Singh to a fine of RM4,000 for sedition.On Feb 21, the same court had found him guilty of sedition for questioning the Sultan of Perak’s action in removing Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as the menteri besar of Perak in 2009.
Trial judge Azman Abdullah delivered the sentence today after hearing mitigation from Karpal Singh’s lawyers Ram Karpal Singh, Sanjeet Kaur and Gobind Singh Deo, and from the prosecution.
Justice Azman however did not allow the Bar Council and Lawasia to make submissions for Karpal Singh.
The RM4,000 fine means Karpal Singh can be disqualified as the Bukit Gelugor MP if he fails in his appeal to either overturn the conviction, or to reduce the fine to be below RM2,000.
Karpal Singh later told reporters that that he would file an appeal in the Court of Appeal.
“In my 35 years (of political activism), I fought… and I will keep fighting. It’s no problem. As an MP we have to take risks,” he said.
Wheelchair-bound Karpal Singh, 74, was found guilty of having said at his legal firm in Jalan Pudu
Lama on Feb 6, 2009, that the removal of Mohammad Nizar and the appointment of Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir as the new menteri besar by the sultan could be questioned in court.The charge, under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act 1948, provides for a maximum jail term of three years and a fine of RM5,000, or both, upon conviction.
The High Court had, on June 11, 2010, acquitted and discharged Karpal Singh without calling for his defence but, following an appeal by the prosecution, the Court of Appeal, on Jan 20, 2012, ordered him to make his defence.
The court today was filled with Pakatan Rakyat leaders and supporters.
Shouts of ‘zalim’
Earlier, in mitigation, Karpal Singh’s defence team argued that the politician merely offered a legal opinion and the charge leveled at him was done in bad faith.Also present at the court today was Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang, Pas deputy president Mohamad Sabu, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar.
Hundreds of Pakatan Rakyat supporters gathered at the court as early as 8am. However the situation remained calm throughout except for one instance when the crowd shouted “zalim” (cruel) when the prosecution sought jail sentence for Karpal Singh.
The court’s decision has since received heavy criticism from lawyers and pro human rights group.
The group expressed shock over the conviction as they strongly believed that it was not a crime to make critical comments.
Lawyer Syahredzan Johan also pointed out that what Karpal Singh had said in regards to Sultan Azlan Shah’s decision to remove Nizar Jamaluddin as the Perak Menteri Besar in 2009 was merely an opinion from a legal expert.
On related matter, Lawyer for Liberty executive director Eric Paulsen was shocked at the sentence meted out against Karpal.
“Making political or critical statement is not a crime, especially in Karpal’s case. The MP merely gave a legal opinion on the Perak crisis and it cannot be described as being seditious,” he said.
Paulsen added that Karpal conviction and PKR leader Tian Chua’s one month imprisonment show that government was embarking on political persecution and underhanded tactics to undermine its political adversaries.
“The Sedition Act Sedition is an outdated law designed by our former British coloniser to protect the minority white rule.
“It has no place in Malaysia, and most modern democratic states have repealed the legislation,” said Paulsen
Meanwhile, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said in a press statement that Karpal Singh’s conviction sent a message that lawyers in Malaysia were not free to express their opinion on legal issues before condemning the conviction saying it was inconsistent with international law.
Straight fight in Kajang: Azizah vs Chew
PKR president will take on MCA vice president Chew Mei Fun in a straight fight for the Kajang state assembly seat
KAJANG: PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail will take on MCA vice-president Chew Mei Fun for the Kajang state assembly seat by-election on March 23.
Only the two candidates filed their nomination papers when nominations opened for the seat here this morning.
Returning Officer Hassan Nawawi Abdul Rahman announced that nominations closed at 10am and the two were the only contestants for the seat.
Wan Azizah arrived at Kajang Municipal Council Sports Complex, accompanied by her husband, PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim and other Pakatan leaders and supporters.
Her nomination papers was filed at around 9am.
Chew also filed her nomination papers at about the same time. She was accompanied by top BN component party leaders, along with some 5,000 supporters.
There was heavy police presence surrounding the sports complex, especially at the route and entry point for Pakatan supporters. Federal Reserve Unit members were also deployed.
On the BN’s side they were playing their party anthem. Pakatan supporters were chanting “Reformasi” and “Allahu Akhbar”.
Despite nomination day being held on a weekday, there was a huge crowd of supporters running into several thousands on both side of the camps.
PKR de facto leader Anwar arrived at the nomination centre with Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim at 9.30am. Both were wearing light blue Baju Melayu – PKR colours.
The Kajang state seat fell vacant following the resignation of incumbent assemblymen Lee Chin Cheh of PKR on Jan 27. The Election Commission fixed March 23 for polling. Early polling would be held on March 19.
The state seat comprises 39,728 registered voters. At the last general election in May 2013, the seat saw a voter turnout of 87.9% with 541 spoilt votes.
In the 2013 general election PKR’s Lee garnered 19,571 votes with a 6824 majority votes. BN-MCA’s Lee Ban Seng received 12,747 votes and Mohamad Ismail (Berjasa) 1,014 votes.
The three independent candidates who contested the seat are Mohd Iwan Jefrey Abdul Majib (249 votes), Ong Yan Foo (85 votes) and Mohd Khalid Kassim (83 votes).
Aside from the two Lees, the rest of the candidates lost their election deposits.
Kajang, famous for its satay, is located in the eastern part of Selangor is one of the three state constituency in the Hulu Langat parliament constituency. It has a 342,657 population, consisting 60.4% Malays, 19.3% Chinese, 9.7% Indians, and 10.6% other ethnic groups.
Thousands at nomination centre
Meanwhile, thousands of supporters from both sides of the political divide gathered at Kompleks Sukan Majlis Perbandaran Kajang as early as 7am today, to show their support for their candidates in the by-election.
The Barisan Nasional was backed by some 5,000 diehards, while Pakatan Rakyat supporters numbering slightly more were singing and dancing to the tunes of their respective battle cry songs. No untoward incidents were reported.
BN supporters are spotted wearing T-shirts printed with words ‘Elakkan Anwar di Kajang’ ( Stop Anwar in Kajang) performing the Haka dance (Maori battle dance) made famous by the New Zealand rugby team.
The police have deployed several officers from the Unit Tindakan Khas (UTK) and 30 Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) trucks to maintain law and order during the nomination.
KAJANG: PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail will take on MCA vice-president Chew Mei Fun for the Kajang state assembly seat by-election on March 23.Only the two candidates filed their nomination papers when nominations opened for the seat here this morning.
Returning Officer Hassan Nawawi Abdul Rahman announced that nominations closed at 10am and the two were the only contestants for the seat.
Wan Azizah arrived at Kajang Municipal Council Sports Complex, accompanied by her husband, PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim and other Pakatan leaders and supporters.
Her nomination papers was filed at around 9am.
Chew also filed her nomination papers at about the same time. She was accompanied by top BN component party leaders, along with some 5,000 supporters.
There was heavy police presence surrounding the sports complex, especially at the route and entry point for Pakatan supporters. Federal Reserve Unit members were also deployed.
On the BN’s side they were playing their party anthem. Pakatan supporters were chanting “Reformasi” and “Allahu Akhbar”.
Despite nomination day being held on a weekday, there was a huge crowd of supporters running into several thousands on both side of the camps.
PKR de facto leader Anwar arrived at the nomination centre with Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim at 9.30am. Both were wearing light blue Baju Melayu – PKR colours.
The Kajang state seat fell vacant following the resignation of incumbent assemblymen Lee Chin Cheh of PKR on Jan 27. The Election Commission fixed March 23 for polling. Early polling would be held on March 19.
The state seat comprises 39,728 registered voters. At the last general election in May 2013, the seat saw a voter turnout of 87.9% with 541 spoilt votes.
In the 2013 general election PKR’s Lee garnered 19,571 votes with a 6824 majority votes. BN-MCA’s Lee Ban Seng received 12,747 votes and Mohamad Ismail (Berjasa) 1,014 votes.
The three independent candidates who contested the seat are Mohd Iwan Jefrey Abdul Majib (249 votes), Ong Yan Foo (85 votes) and Mohd Khalid Kassim (83 votes).
Aside from the two Lees, the rest of the candidates lost their election deposits.
Kajang, famous for its satay, is located in the eastern part of Selangor is one of the three state constituency in the Hulu Langat parliament constituency. It has a 342,657 population, consisting 60.4% Malays, 19.3% Chinese, 9.7% Indians, and 10.6% other ethnic groups.
Thousands at nomination centre
Meanwhile, thousands of supporters from both sides of the political divide gathered at Kompleks Sukan Majlis Perbandaran Kajang as early as 7am today, to show their support for their candidates in the by-election.
The Barisan Nasional was backed by some 5,000 diehards, while Pakatan Rakyat supporters numbering slightly more were singing and dancing to the tunes of their respective battle cry songs. No untoward incidents were reported.
BN supporters are spotted wearing T-shirts printed with words ‘Elakkan Anwar di Kajang’ ( Stop Anwar in Kajang) performing the Haka dance (Maori battle dance) made famous by the New Zealand rugby team.
The police have deployed several officers from the Unit Tindakan Khas (UTK) and 30 Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) trucks to maintain law and order during the nomination.
Mahathir Behind Rush to Justice in Anwar’s Case?
Political sources in Kuala Lumpur say former premier engineered pushing appellate decision forward
The decision to push forward last Friday’s appellate verdict declaring Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim guilty of sodomy represents the final return to power – if from behind the scenes – of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, sources in Kuala Lumpur say.
Several Kuala Lumpur sources told Asia Sentinel that Mahathir and Daim Zainuddin, his longtime ally and former finance minister, basically pushed Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak aside to dragoon the court into moving up the action against Anwar, although there is no evidence that the two engineered the actual decision.
Having been in power for 22 years until he retired in 2002, the 88-year-old Mahathir has never seemed quite comfortable out of power. In 2008, he engineered the ouster of his successor, former Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, following an electoral debacle.
The former premier was largely silent during Najib’s first five-year term, in a major way because Najib's father, Tun Abdul Razak rescued Mahathir from banishment because of politics that at the time were considered too radical for UMNO. But in the past few months he and his forces have since basically taken over as a kingmakers in the wake of the 2013 election debacle in which the ruling Barisan Nasional lost the popular vote for the first time in 44 years although it held its parliamentary majority through its first-past-the-post voting system and gerrymandering.
Although he lost a bid to make his son, Mukhriz, a party vice president last October, Mahathir has since manipulated the levers of power inside the United Malays National Organization to make life uncomfortable for Najib in the past year, rousing Malay nationalists while deploying a legion of bloggers to criticize Najib, which intensified last August. He and his allies have forced Najib to discard a series of reforms of affirmative action programs for ethnic Malays that economists say have slowed economic progress for the country.
At the same time he has continued his pursuit of his old nemesis, Anwar, whose 1998 prison sentence for sodomy and corruption he allegedly engineered after he fired Anwar as Finance Minister, although he has repeatedly denied it. Both cases against Anwar have been criticized internationally as politically motivated to destroy the opposition leader as a political force.
The Malaysian Bar Council and others have charged that the Court of Appeal hearing, which ended last Friday, was pushed forward by more than a month in what appeared to be a move to thwart Anwar from an almost certain by-election victory that would have in effect made him the chief minister of Selangor, the country’s most powerful and prosperous state and given him a potent platform from which to criticize UMNO and Najib.
Although Anwar remains free on appeal to the Federal Court, the decision, opening the 66-year-old opposition leader to a five-year prison sentence, means he is disqualified from running for the seat in Kajang, a Kuala Lumpur suburb. His wife, Wan Aziza Wan Ismail, registered to run for the seat instead.
The March 7 appellate decision against Anwar and another finding Democratic Action Party Chairman Karpal Singh guilty of sedition on March 11 has led to widespread calls for US President Barack Obama to cancel an April visit to meet with Najib. Failing that, opposition groups and NGOs are calling for the Obama to refrain from praising the country as a democracy and to meet with opposition leaders as well.
A high court declared Karpal, Malaysia’s most prominent opposition lawyer, guilty of sedition for saying a decision of the Sultan of Perak to remove Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as the Perak chief minister in 2009, shortly after the opposition won the state, could be questioned in court. Karpal was fined RM4,000 and, if the decision stands on appeal, would be disqualified from serving in Parliament for five years.
As with Anwar, a high court had declared Karpal not guilty in 2010. The prosecution appealed the case and an appellate court sent it back to the high court for a new trial, which ruled Tuesday that the 73-year-old attorney was guilty.
Because nominations for the Kajang seat were to be submitted March 11, it appeared that pushing forward the appellate decision, which disbarred Anwar from running for the seat, had more political than judicial overtones. For one thing, instead of Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail arguing the case before the three-person Court of Appeal, Mohd Shafie Abdullah, a private attorney and ally of the former prime minister, was brought in to do so, which rarely happens in appellate cases.
Daim in particular has made several public statements that Anwar must not be allowed to become Selangor chief minister. Bloggers aligned with Mahathir have said the same thing repeatedly.
The Bar Council protested the decision against Anwar, citing the haste with which the appeal – which had been pending since July of last year – was taken up. The defense was given only a week to prepare, although in most appeals the defense is given weeks or even months to prepare.
The case was taken up despite the fact that Anwar’s counsel told the court he was unavailable on the dates set. Invariably appellate courts grant delays in such situations. Also, the Bar Council said, the registry of the Court of Appeal had told Anwar’s lawyer to reserve April 7-10 as the proposed hearing dates, but suddenly moved them up to last week.
Normally judgment is reserved for a few days, or even months. But the appellate court insisted on delivering the guilty verdict against Anwar on the same day, insisting on proceeding with sentencing into the early evening despite the fact that in most cases the court adjourns at 5 pm.
“These matters raise many questions, cause much speculation, and lend to the perception that justice may have been hijacked,” according to a bar council statement, signed by Christopher Leong, the Malaysian Bar President. “The questions to be answered, in the mind of the public, are thus: ‘Was the cause of justice best served by the manner and timing in which this appeal was handled’?” and, ‘Was the administration of justice compromised or interfered with’?”
Legal limbo hampers probe into missing MAS jet
Malaysiakini
Investigators trying to solve the disappearance without trace of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner face an extremely rare challenge that could hinder their efforts: they lack the powers of a formal air safety investigation.
Four days after Flight MH370 went missing in mid-air with 239 people on board, no nation has stepped forward to initiate and lead an official probe, leaving a formal leadership vacuum that industry experts say appears unprecedented.
Malaysian officials are conducting their own informal investigations, in cooperation with other governments and foreign agencies, but they lack the legal powers that would come with a formal international probe under UN-sanctioned rules.
Those powers include the legal rights to take testimony from all witnesses and other parties, the right to have exclusive control over the release of information and the ability to centralise a vast amount of fragmentary evidence.
A senior official familiar with the preliminary Malaysian probe said Malaysian authorities could not yet convene a formal investigation due to a lack of evidence on where – namely, in which national jurisdiction – the Boeing 777-200ER jet crashed.
He said this was not hampering their work, that preliminary investigations had begun and that they were working with their neighbours, US officials and the jet’s maker Boeing.
The Malaysians have begun collecting information from neighbouring countries without any problems, including air-traffic control communications and radar data, he said. “There have been no issues in getting that information.”
But Southeast Asian waters are rife with territorial disputes, and any decision by Malaysia to unilaterally open a formal investigation under UN rules could be seen as a subtle assertion of sovereignty if the crash site turns out to be inside another country’s territory.
Without a formal investigative process being convened quickly under rules set out by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a UN agency, there is a risk that crucial early detective work could be hampered, and potential clues and records lost, air accident experts said.
Witnesses such as cargo handlers, mechanics and company officials might be reluctant to speak to Malaysian investigators who were operating outside a formal ICAO-sanctioned probe which could offer them some protection from law suits, experts said.
“The sole objective of an accident investigation is to prevent future accidents and not to apportion blame or liability,” said aviation lawyer Simon Phippard of international legal firm Bird & Bird.
“The international standards attempt to provide a degree of protection, for example from criminal prosecution, for individuals who give statements to the enquiry.”
The lack of a formal investigation also means Malaysia does not have exclusive control over the release of information or the ability to centralize fragmentary evidence such as wreckage parts and witness accounts, effectively relying for cooperation on other parties’ good-will, the experts said.
Under a formal investigation, a board is set up to designate parties to the investigation, including the plane maker, engine maker, unions, the airline and aviation safety regulatory agency of the country where the airline is based.
Each of these parties typically has a representative on each of the working groups.
“If they haven’t even decided what country is in charge of the investigation, then whatever is being done at this point is probably suffering from a severe lack of top-down control and coordination,” said Ted Ellett, an aviation lawyer at Hogan Lovells in Washington and a former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief counsel.
US investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), FAA and Boeing arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Monday and, according to the official familiar with the Malaysian probe, have been talking with the Malaysian investigators.
An NTSB-led team, including the FAA and Boeing officials, is “standing by for when the aircraft is located and they are in touch with Malaysian officials and have offered our assistance and support for anything they may need,” NTSB spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said.
Boeing and FAA declined to comment.
Lacking formal powers
A lack of clarity over the investigation already appears to be a source of tension between Malaysia and China, which had up to 154 citizens on the Beijing-bound flight and is pushing for a significant role in the investigation. China’s Foreign Ministry urged Malaysia on Monday to step up its search efforts and start an investigation “as soon as possible and correctly”.
The deputy head of China’s civil aviation authority urged Malaysia to help a team of investigators it has said is ready to fly to the Southeast Asian nation to help with the probe.
Governments usually step forward quickly after an accident to claim leadership of the investigation, based primarily on the territory where the plane crashed.
That crucial information remains unknown in this case, as navies, military aircraft, coastguard and civilian ships from 10 nations scour a huge swathe of the sea from the South China Sea to the Strait of Malacca.
The official familiar with the preliminary Malaysian investigation said the Malaysian government could not launch a formal probe until the crash site had been found, and that it planned to work closely with US authorities and Australia.
“If we wait, we will lose precious time. We know that. That is why our guys have been gathering all of the records and data,” the official said.
Under UN rules, if a plane crashes in international waters, the country where the aircraft is registered – in this case, Malaysia – is in charge of the investigation.
So, for example, Air France quickly took control of the official investigation when its passenger jet crashed in waters far out into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009, even though no wreckage had yet been found.
Legal protection
Vietnam would have jurisdiction if the plane crashed in its territory, but it does not have the resources to lead an investigation and would likely have to get outside help, two regional aviation officials said.
Under rules governed by ICAO, setting up an investigation grants “unhampered access” to all relevant materials including wreckage and data and “unrestricted control” over the evidence and public communications.
“Parties don’t relish the idea of their officials or employees being queried or formally interviewed in these accident investigations,” Ellett said.
“If there’s any question about who has the authority to do it, the parties involved could say we’re not going to participate until we know who’s really in charge.”
With lawsuits potentially swirling, the investigation is meant to encourage witnesses to speak freely about the incident in the interests of airline safety.
Investigators will typically “freeze” documents and records, especially the maintenance records of the aircraft, and acquire radar images and air traffic control recordings. Groups specialising in operations, maintenance and sometimes human factors are set up to sift through each scrap of evidence.
“I can’t remember anything like this. Usually it is pretty clear who is responsible for the investigation and they get to work straight away,” said one European air safety official, who asked not to be identified.
“It is very important to get all the factual information as soon as possible.”
- Reuters
Investigators trying to solve the disappearance without trace of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner face an extremely rare challenge that could hinder their efforts: they lack the powers of a formal air safety investigation.
Four days after Flight MH370 went missing in mid-air with 239 people on board, no nation has stepped forward to initiate and lead an official probe, leaving a formal leadership vacuum that industry experts say appears unprecedented.
Malaysian officials are conducting their own informal investigations, in cooperation with other governments and foreign agencies, but they lack the legal powers that would come with a formal international probe under UN-sanctioned rules.
Those powers include the legal rights to take testimony from all witnesses and other parties, the right to have exclusive control over the release of information and the ability to centralise a vast amount of fragmentary evidence.
A senior official familiar with the preliminary Malaysian probe said Malaysian authorities could not yet convene a formal investigation due to a lack of evidence on where – namely, in which national jurisdiction – the Boeing 777-200ER jet crashed.
He said this was not hampering their work, that preliminary investigations had begun and that they were working with their neighbours, US officials and the jet’s maker Boeing.
The Malaysians have begun collecting information from neighbouring countries without any problems, including air-traffic control communications and radar data, he said. “There have been no issues in getting that information.”
But Southeast Asian waters are rife with territorial disputes, and any decision by Malaysia to unilaterally open a formal investigation under UN rules could be seen as a subtle assertion of sovereignty if the crash site turns out to be inside another country’s territory.
Without a formal investigative process being convened quickly under rules set out by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a UN agency, there is a risk that crucial early detective work could be hampered, and potential clues and records lost, air accident experts said.
Witnesses such as cargo handlers, mechanics and company officials might be reluctant to speak to Malaysian investigators who were operating outside a formal ICAO-sanctioned probe which could offer them some protection from law suits, experts said.
“The sole objective of an accident investigation is to prevent future accidents and not to apportion blame or liability,” said aviation lawyer Simon Phippard of international legal firm Bird & Bird.
“The international standards attempt to provide a degree of protection, for example from criminal prosecution, for individuals who give statements to the enquiry.”
The lack of a formal investigation also means Malaysia does not have exclusive control over the release of information or the ability to centralize fragmentary evidence such as wreckage parts and witness accounts, effectively relying for cooperation on other parties’ good-will, the experts said.
Under a formal investigation, a board is set up to designate parties to the investigation, including the plane maker, engine maker, unions, the airline and aviation safety regulatory agency of the country where the airline is based.
Each of these parties typically has a representative on each of the working groups.
“If they haven’t even decided what country is in charge of the investigation, then whatever is being done at this point is probably suffering from a severe lack of top-down control and coordination,” said Ted Ellett, an aviation lawyer at Hogan Lovells in Washington and a former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief counsel.
US investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), FAA and Boeing arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Monday and, according to the official familiar with the Malaysian probe, have been talking with the Malaysian investigators.
An NTSB-led team, including the FAA and Boeing officials, is “standing by for when the aircraft is located and they are in touch with Malaysian officials and have offered our assistance and support for anything they may need,” NTSB spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said.
Boeing and FAA declined to comment.
Lacking formal powers
A lack of clarity over the investigation already appears to be a source of tension between Malaysia and China, which had up to 154 citizens on the Beijing-bound flight and is pushing for a significant role in the investigation. China’s Foreign Ministry urged Malaysia on Monday to step up its search efforts and start an investigation “as soon as possible and correctly”.
The deputy head of China’s civil aviation authority urged Malaysia to help a team of investigators it has said is ready to fly to the Southeast Asian nation to help with the probe.
Governments usually step forward quickly after an accident to claim leadership of the investigation, based primarily on the territory where the plane crashed.
That crucial information remains unknown in this case, as navies, military aircraft, coastguard and civilian ships from 10 nations scour a huge swathe of the sea from the South China Sea to the Strait of Malacca.
The official familiar with the preliminary Malaysian investigation said the Malaysian government could not launch a formal probe until the crash site had been found, and that it planned to work closely with US authorities and Australia.
“If we wait, we will lose precious time. We know that. That is why our guys have been gathering all of the records and data,” the official said.
Under UN rules, if a plane crashes in international waters, the country where the aircraft is registered – in this case, Malaysia – is in charge of the investigation.
So, for example, Air France quickly took control of the official investigation when its passenger jet crashed in waters far out into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009, even though no wreckage had yet been found.
Legal protection
Vietnam would have jurisdiction if the plane crashed in its territory, but it does not have the resources to lead an investigation and would likely have to get outside help, two regional aviation officials said.
Under rules governed by ICAO, setting up an investigation grants “unhampered access” to all relevant materials including wreckage and data and “unrestricted control” over the evidence and public communications.
“Parties don’t relish the idea of their officials or employees being queried or formally interviewed in these accident investigations,” Ellett said.
“If there’s any question about who has the authority to do it, the parties involved could say we’re not going to participate until we know who’s really in charge.”
With lawsuits potentially swirling, the investigation is meant to encourage witnesses to speak freely about the incident in the interests of airline safety.
Investigators will typically “freeze” documents and records, especially the maintenance records of the aircraft, and acquire radar images and air traffic control recordings. Groups specialising in operations, maintenance and sometimes human factors are set up to sift through each scrap of evidence.
“I can’t remember anything like this. Usually it is pretty clear who is responsible for the investigation and they get to work straight away,” said one European air safety official, who asked not to be identified.
“It is very important to get all the factual information as soon as possible.”
- Reuters
MH370: Stolen Passports Not In Interpol's 'Suspect List'
KAJANG, March 11 (Bernama) -- The stolen passports used by two mysterious men to board the Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines (MAS)
MH370 which went missing last March 8 were not in the International
Criminal Police Organisation's (Interpol) 'suspect list' (SL).Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said it was because of that the two men were able to pass through the check at the Immigration counter.
"If Interpol had marked 'SL' for the missing passports, all the Immigration counters nationwide would be on the alert.
"(Therefore) I am confident with the capability of the Immigration officers who were at the check-point counter before the incident," he told reporters at Taman Kota here.
Earlier today, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the police had identified an Iranian, Pouria Nour Mohd Mehdad, 19, as one of the mysterious passengers who boarded the aircraft with the stolen passports.
The Iranian had used a passport belonging to an Austrian, Christian Kozel, who had reported it missing in Thailand.
As for the other passport, which belonged to Italian Luigi Maraldi, Interpol confirmed that it was used by Delavar Seyed Mohammad Redza, 29, also an Iranian.
Interpol secretary-general Ronald K. Noble, at a press conference in Lyon, France, that the two men travelled to Malaysia on their Iranian passports, then apparently switched to the stolen Austrian and Italian documents.
MAS Flight MH370, carrying 227 passengers, including two infants, and 12 crew, went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing about an hour after taking off from the KL International Airport at 12.41am Saturday. It should have landed in Beijing at 6.30am the same day.
The aircraft was carrying passengers of 14 nationalities, with most of them from China and Malaysia.
On the negative reports by the Chinese media on the handling of the missing aircraft by the Malaysian government, Ahmad Zahid said they should exercise patience as Malaysia was doing its best.
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