Video: Slim River Tamil school parents and activist disappointments

Slim River Tamil school parents fear for their children’s safety

Parents of SRJK (T) Slim River school students are incredibly dissapointed by authorities lack of urgency to fix the schools termite problem that had been reported in 2011.

The Malaysia Times (TMT) today spoke to some of the concern parents outside the school, where they voiced their concern over their children’s safety.

Jayshree, 40, said that it has been five years since a complaint was made and four years since the Public Works Department (JKR) has reported that the building is not safe to be used.

“My son is now nine years old and still in danger, how long do they expect us to sit and wait,” Jayshree told TMT.

Meanwhile, Pooveneswary, 33, vented: “Are they waiting for something bad to happen to one of the children before they start doing their job.”

She said that even though the kindergarten children have been moved to the library, everyone still has to use the canteen, so they are all still in danger.

Arulmany, 38, said that the school had made the reports initially but after a couple of years had become less aggressive to get the building rebuilt.

S. Jeevaratnam said that he has personally funded the school as well to fix their minor things, but said that as this is a government building it can’t be demolished and rebuilt by just anyone.

“It’s worrying when things are out of your hands and your child’s safety is corn , it is very worrying,” he said.

“I have a cousin whom studied in the school almost 16 years ago and she said that the canteen is the same since she started studying,” said Arulmany.

The kindergarten and canteen building in the school has been labeled as unfit as it is infested by termites by the Public Works Department (JKR) in 2012,and that the building should be demolished.

200 student and 35 kindergarten students and several other teachers and staff currently accommodate the school.

Chinese make up 90% of those who gave up citizenship

ALMOST 90% of the 56,576 Malaysians who renounced their citi­zenship over the past decade were Chinese.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi revealed that 49,864 Malaysian Chinese gave up their citizenship from 2006 to April this year.

In a written reply to Ramkarpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor), Dr Ahmad Zahid also said in that pe­­riod, 834 Malays, 1,833 Indians and 4,044 others had done the same.

On a separate question by Kasthu­riraani Patto (DAP-Batu Kawan), Dr Ahmad Zahid said 43,453 foreigners were granted citizenship since 2006.

“The largest numbers were from Indonesia, India and Thailand,” he said.

Court: Hindu mum ‘can question validity of children’s conversion’

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has allowed Hindu mother M. Indira Gandhi to question if her children’s unilateral conversion to Islam is valid.

Panel chairman Chief Judge of Malaya Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin granted leave for appeal, allowing three questions to be posed by Indira Gandhi’s lawyers.

Her counsel K. Shanmuga had originally posed eight questions, while Senior Federal Counsel (SFC) Shamsul Bolhassan agreed with two of those questions.

The two questions were whether the Civil court has jurisdiction to review the Registrar of Muallafs’ actions; and whether a minor must recite the affirmation of faith in order to have their conversion registered.

The third question allowed was whether both parents of a child must consent before a certificate of conversion can be issued.

The three-man panel, which also included Justices Abu Samah Nordin and Aziah Ali, refunded the deposit though they did not set a date for the full hearing.

Indira Gandhi was supported by a team of lawyers which included Shanmuga, M. Kula Segaran, Aston Paiva and Fahri Azzat, while SFC Shamsul acted for the Federal Government and lawyer Hatim Musa acted for Indira’s ex-husband Muhammad Riduan Abdullah.

On Dec 30, 2015, the Court of Appeal reversed the quashing of Indira Gandhi’s children Prasana and Karan Dinesh’s conversion certificates but made no ruling as to Tevi Darshiny, as she was now above 18 years of age.

In a 2-1 majority decision, the panel ruled that the children’s conversion was under the jurisdiction of Syariah Court.

On July 25, 2013, the Ipoh High Court quashed the three children’s certificates of conversion, declaring it null and void.

The legal saga began in April 2009, when Riduan took their youngest child, Prasana, then 11 months old, and converted the three children to Islam.

The two older children – Tevi, then 12, and Karan, then 11 – remained with their mother.

On Oct 29 the same year, Riduan obtained a Syariah Court order that awarded him custody of the children.

In a custody battle that ensued, the Ipoh High Court granted Indira Gandhi full custody of all three children and on March 11, 2010, the father was ordered to return Prasana to Indira.

On April 29 this year, a different Federal Court panel affirmed that Riduan should be arrested for not returning Prasana, though the police were not obliged to recover the child.

Dharmendran’s family sues IGP, government over custodial death

The wife of N. Dharmendran today filed a civil suit against the Malaysian government, the Inspector-General of Police and several police officers over the “unlawful death” of her husband who was purportedly beaten to death by several police officers. 

- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/dharmendrans-family-sues-igp-government-over-custodial-death#sthash.C4U0yjHD.dpuf

Widow sues police, govt for husband’s death

The Court of Appeal has ordered four cops implicated in the murder of N. Dharmendran to face charges in the High Court.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: Widow Marry Mariay Susay, whose husband N. Dharmendran died in police custody in 2013, sued the police and government on Friday over his death.

Housewife Marry, 29, is suing for damages over assault, battery, breach of duty, negligence, false imprisonment and conspiracies.

She is also seeking a declaration that the police and government had acted recklessly, unlawfully and in bad faith and were in breach of Dharmendran’s fundamental rights.

The suit was filed at the High Court.

Marry’s lawyer N. Surendran expressed the hope that the lawsuit will send a message to the authorities that changes need to be made.

“After the EAIC (Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission) report last month found that Dharmendran died because of acts of violence, there was not even a statement promising action by the government and police,” he said.

Surendran, who is also Padang Serai MP, said he had asked for statistics on the number of deaths in custody in this Parliament session.
“I hope to get it next week,” he said.

Marry, who was present with her son Santosh and family members, hope “for the best” outcome from the civil suit.

“I am happy the EAIC report confirmed my husband did not die because of any disease. The Commission proved police beat him up,” she said.

On February 26, four policemen who were freed of the murder of Dharmendran, were ordered by the Court of Appeal to enter their defence.

The appeals court set aside the High Court’s decision in acquitting Inspector S. Hare Krishnan, Sargent Jaffri Jaafar, Coporals Mohd Nahar Abd Rahman, and Haswadi Zamri Shaari, on charges of allegedly murdering Dharmendran.

The panel ordered Hare and three others to be remanded till the disposal of the case in the High Court.

On December 12 last year, the High Court freed Hare, Jaffri, Nahar, and Haswadi for the death of Dharmendran in custody at the end of the prosecution case. It ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove the motive in the case.

The four cops were charged with murdering Dharmendran at the Kuala Lumpur Police Headquarters interrogation room on May 21, 2013.

Leave King out of Zakir Naik controversy

The Teluk Bahang assemblyman who is demanding P Ramasamy apologise to the King for calling Zakir Naik "satan" is only engaging in a cheap publicity stunt to gain political mileage for himself.

I write in response to a news article titled “Apologise to King over Zakir Naik insult, Ramasamy told” published on May 18 by FMT.

It was reported that Teluk Bahang assemblyman, Shah Headan bin Ayoob Hussain Shah, in his motion of thanks to the Yang di-Pertua Negeri, had demanded Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang, P Ramasamy, to apologise to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for calling Dr Zakir Naik “satan.”
Shah Headen was of the view that insulting a person who has received an award from the King is tantamount to insulting the King himself.

First of all, let there be no confusion that Ramasamy used the word “satan” as a figure of speech. Certainly, he was not testifying that Zakir is Satan.

The controversies surrounding Zakir are not unknown to the public. According to a news article published on Dec 10, 2012 by Hindustan Times, the globally renowned Islamic seminary, Darul Uloom Deoband in India, slammed the religious views of Zakir in a fatwa and at the same time urged Muslims there to ignore his teachings.

The same fatwa also states that Zakir is a “ghair muqallidin”, a term used to describe those whose teachings are not directly based on any one of the four accepted schools of Sunni Islamic thought.

Last year, Mangalore City Police issued a prohibitory order banning Zakir from entering the city in Karnataka, India due to his radical thoughts and disparaging remarks on other religions.

The president of Vishwa Hindu Parishat, MB Puranik, argued: ‘Dr. Naik has been making derogatory speeches by mocking Hindu gods. He has been speaking against Hindu religious practices including idol worship. Moreover, he has shown disrespect to an Indian patriotic song ‘Vande Mataram’ and called upon the Muslims in India not to sing it.”

If a person is ignored and not welcomed by the religious and legal authorities of his own country, then there is certainly no reason for that person to be invited into ours. It is for this very purpose that Ramasamy opposed Zakir’s public talks in Malaysia.

Now, whether or not Ramasamy has any right to insult Zakir is beside the point. The point is, however, by no stretch of the imagination can we conclude that calling Zakir “satan” is equal to having gone, in the words of Shah Headen, “against the spirit of the Federal Constitution and affected the credibility of the King.”

If the above is a possibility, then what about the shameless incident of doing butt-exercises in front of Ambiga Sreenevasan’s house? Is not that also an insult to the Perak royalty since Ambiga was conferred a datukship by the Sultan of Perak?

Ramasamy categorically said in his press release dated April 12 that his Facebook posting was not against Islam or Muslims in general but against Zakir specifically.

Before making frivolous demands and wild accusations, Shah Headen should have taken note of the facts that Ramasamy fought for the Muslims in the troubled Aceh in the early 2000s and further acted as an adviser during the signing of the Helsinki MoU between the Indonesian government and Free Aceh Movement.

Consequently, Aceh was bestowed with a special territory status while Ramasamy’s contract as a professor of political science at UKM was sadly not renewed. He paid the price for advocating a noble cause.

Therefore, I see no reason for Ramasamy, with all due respect, to apologise to the King for what he said about Zakir.

On the contrary, I call upon Shah Headen to apologise to all Malaysians for using the King’s name to earn political mileage for himself through the use of cheap publicity stunts, like the one mentioned here.

Shamsher Singh Thind is legal adviser to P Ramasamy and publicity secretary to DAP Chai Leng Park Branch.

With a firm belief in freedom of expression and without prejudice, FMT tries its best to share reliable content from third parties. Such articles are strictly the writer’s personal opinion. FMT does not necessarily endorse the views or opinions given by any third party content provider.

A confused Muslim, yet again

A heated debate on the alleged extremism Islam promotes, gets Fa wondering if being a self-professed moderate but willing to tolerate "nonsense" makes her just as bad as an extremist.

I found myself sucked into a debate while having breakfast at a mamak restaurant recently. It all started with a friendly chat about the call by Penang Opposition Leader, Jahara Hamid to remove a Taoist shrine from Armenian Park in Georgetown.

“You are a Muslim. Tell me why Muslims do this?” asked an uncle who joined me for my morning nasi lemak.

“Apparently they are confused,” I replied with a chuckle.

“I don’t think so. This is something they are doing on purpose. You should know – you are a Muslim.”

Getting somewhat defensive, I blurted, “Not all Muslims are the same.”

“So you don’t practice your religion?” the uncle shot back.

Realising the conversation had taken a serious turn, I tried explaining: “I do practice my religion to the best of my ability. But that is not what we are talking about here.”

“It is precisely what we are talking about. The lady who wanted the shrine to be removed; the man who wanted ‘No Pork’ signs to be banned, the group who wanted the cross taken down – you all have the same faith. You all read the same Holy Book…”

“I disagree. You can’t judge everyone based on the conduct of a small group of Muslims. I do not go around persecuting people. I do not go around telling people how to live their lives. I support freedom and human rights. I am no extremist. Most Muslims are not extremists.” I was clearly upset by now.

“Girl, you follow your Holy Book and so does the confused Muslims and the extreme Muslims. If all Muslims accept the one and only Holy Book and live by it, they are no different from one another. They are all extremists – including you.”

“I disagree. I do not condone discrimination, violence and terrorism. Islam is not a religion of violence. Islam is a religion of peace,” I argued, as the uncle had gotten on my nerves with his blanket judgements.

“Your Holy Book promotes violence. There is even a verse saying: ‘Go and kill.’ Now how can a religion which promotes killings be a peaceful religion?”

“There are more than six thousand verses in our Holy Book – why emphasise on the negatives? Why aren’t you talking about the messages of kindness, love and compassion in most of the verses?” I countered, not realising that I had raised my voice in the process.

The uncle laughed, “Girl, religion is not like a plate of mee goreng you order at a mamak shop. You don’t get to tambah pedas or kurang pedas; tambah taugeh or takdak taugeh; tambah telur or tambah ayam. You can’t be selective of which content suits you and drop those you disagree with.”

The uncle got me thinking. If a good Muslim accepts every single verse in the Holy Book without any argument, does that make me, a cherry-picking liberal Muslim and a moderate, a bad Muslim?

I went home that day, quite confused.

There are approximately 30 million people in Malaysia, 60% of whom are Muslims. If a mere 1% of Malaysia’s 18 million Muslims are extremists, why is it that we haven’t witnessed violence or crime perpetrated by some 180,000 extremists?

Clearly, that could mean only one thing – extreme Malaysian Muslims don’t even make up 1% of our Muslim population. That makes me wonder – why then did the uncle get so worked up over a tiny number of people?

More importantly, if 99% of Malaysian Muslims are non-extremists, why haven’t we seen even 1% of the 17,820,000 non-extremists fighting against extremism in our country?

Maybe that’s what makes us – the non-extreme, moderate ones – bad Muslims. We do not fight injustice and cruelty. We are after all, moderates – in thinking and behaviour. We can talk for hours about Arabisation, Islamaphobia, Zakir Naik, Zionist and Shariah law.

But when it comes to fighting extremism and terrorism, we hide behind our moderate robe. That’s the problem with being a moderate Muslim. We tolerate nonsense.

Perhaps that is also why we moderates like to insist that Islam is a peaceful religion – it allows us to justify our laid back attitude. In response to any extreme movement, we, the moderates peacefully make a peaceful statement, clarifying how peaceful Islam is, so we can get back to our peaceful lives, sipping kopi O at Kedai Kopi Ahmad.

In conclusion, although I do not agree with the uncle on most counts, I believe he got one thing right – we are not good Muslims. As long as we tolerate nonsense, the moderates are equally as bad as the extremists.

Lankan Tamils commemorate death anniversary of civil war victims

Sri Lanka's Tamil-dominated Northern province on Wednesday commemorated the civilians who died during the civil war between the LTTE and the army. The ceremony was held on the 7th anniversary of the end of the three-decade long brutal conflict, with chief minister CV Wigneswaran asserting that "not everyone who died during the war was a terrorist."

Addressing a ceremony held at Vellamullivaikkal, in the northeastern Mullaitivu district, Wigneswaran said, "We are here to commemorate the civilians. It is necessary to seek out what happened to these people, since a lot of civilians lost their lives due to the war."

Wigneswaran said that those in the South of the country interpreted the commemoration ceremony as a "tribute to the terrorists", who were killed during the conflict.

A five-minute silence was observed in memory of the victims as well as religious observances.

A similar commemoration was also held at Jaffna University.

The government has banned the commemoration of the fallen LTTE cadres in the conflict and it remains a banned terrorist organisation in Sri Lanka.

Government forces killed the Tamil Tiger rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on 18 May 2009, after a brutal military crackdown, and put an end to the 37-year conflict, which claimed at least 1,00,000 lives.

President Maithripala Sirisena took power in January 2015 promising reconciliation and a reduction in the military's involvement in public life and pledging that those guilty of war crimes would be held accountable.

The new government has abandoned a controversial military "victory" parade and has instead gone in for a more sombre remembrance ceremony to mark the day.

Earlier, parades celebrated the victory of the Sinhalese military over the minority Tamils, who were banned from remembering their dead as commemoration of fallen rebels was thought anti-state.

EgyptAir jet missing after mid-air plunge, Greeks find life vests

Greek rescue workers found lifevests and bits of plastic floating in the Mediterranean after an EgyptAir jet carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo disappeared from radar in what Egypt said could have been a terrorist attack.

The Egyptian civil aviation ministry said Greek authorities had found "floating material" and life jackets likely to be from the plane. Greek defense sources told Reuters they had found pieces of plastic and two lifevests in the sea 230 miles (370 km) south of the island of Crete.

"All I will say is that our embassy in Athens told us that it was contacted by Greek authorities, who signaled that they found white and blue debris corresponding to EgyptAir's colors," Egyptian ambassador to France Ehab Badawy told France's BFM television. However, Greek sources told Reuters the material they had found so far was not blue and white.

If confirmed as material from the plane, the discovery could help provide clues to its fate. Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said it was too early to rule out any explanation for the crash, including an attack like the one blamed for bringing down a Russian airliner over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula last year.

The country's aviation minister said a terrorist attack was more likely than a technical failure.

Greece had deployed aircraft and a frigate to search for the missing Airbus. Egypt said it would lead the investigation and France would participate. Paris said three investigators would arrive in Egypt on Thursday evening.

In Washington, President Barack Obama received a briefing on the disappearance from his adviser for homeland security and counter-terrorism, the White House said. A White House spokesman said it was too early to know the cause of the crash and offered condolences to the victims.

Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said the Airbus swerved 90 degrees to the left, spun through 360 degrees to the right and plunged from 37,000 feet to 15,000 before vanishing from Greek radar screens.

According to Greece's civil aviation chief, calls from Greek air traffic controllers to flight MS804 went unanswered just before it left Greek airspace, and it disappeared from radar screens soon afterwards.

There was no official indication of a possible cause, whether technical failure, human error or sabotage. Ultra-hardline Islamists have targeted airports, airliners and tourist sites in Europe, Egypt, Tunisia and other Middle Eastern countries over the past few years.

The aircraft was carrying 56 passengers - with one child and two infants among them - and 10 crew, EgyptAir said. They included 30 Egyptian and 15 French nationals, along with citizens of 10 other countries.

Asked if he could rule terrorist involvement, Prime Minister Ismail told reporters: "We cannot exclude anything at this time or confirm anything. All the search operations must be concluded so we can know the cause."

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-egyptair-airplane-idUSKCN0YA08W

Fewer child marriage cases now, says ministry

KUALA LUMPUR: There were 9,061 child marriages recorded over the last five years, the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry said.

However, its deputy minister Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun said the trend has been going down over the last three years.

She said 6,286 Muslim youths - below 18 for males and 16 for females - tied the knot between 2010 and 2015 following approval by the syariah courts.

"A total of 2,775 underage non-Muslim marriages were recorded by the National Registration Department in the same period," she said when replying to a question by Datuk Sapawi Ahmad Wasali (BN-Sipitang) in the Dewan Rakyat Thursday.

Although the legal age of marriage for non-Muslims is 18, those below 16 can still get married with the approval of the chief ministers or under customary laws of Sabah and Sarawak.

Based on syariah court records, she said there had been an increase in Muslim child marriages between 2010 and 2012 - from 891 cases in 2010 to 1,045 in 2011 and 1,095 cases in 2012.

"However, the number decreased to 1,090 in 2013, 1,032 in 2014 and 1,025 last year," she said.

Azizah said the same trend was noted for non-Muslim child marriages in the same period.

Although amendments to the Child Act were made last year, Azizah said there are no provisions on child marriages because the matter is governed under family law.

However, she said the ministry is taking measures to address the issue through reproductive health education, awareness programmes and counselling.

Indira’s lawyer to ask IGP for progress on manhunt for fugitive ex-husband

PUTRAJAYA, May 19 — M. Indira Gandhi’s lawyer today said he will request the Inspector-General of Police to provide updates on the outstanding arrest warrant for her ex-husband, Muhammad Riduan Abdullah.

Lawyer M. Kulasegaran reminded Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar of the Federal Court’s decision last month that said the Ipoh High Court will monitor the progress of the police’s execution of the arrest warrant.

“So we will now write to the IGP, ask him what are the actions he has taken… If not, we will go to courts and enforce against him,” he told reporters here, without giving a timeframe to do so.

Kulasegaran said Muhammad Riduan’s lawyer, Hatim Musa, had received instructions from the latter’s client for a court matter today, but declined to say if he had asked Hatim of Muhammad Riduan’s whereabouts.

Indira, an Ipoh-based kindergarten teacher, said she hoped the IGP was also taking action to find her youngest child Prasana Diksa, who was snatched away by Muhammad Riduan seven years ago.

The Ipoh High Court granted custody of all three children to Indira and ordered Muhammad Riduan in 2014 to return the youngest child, but he did not comply.

The Ipoh High Court then ordered Muhammad Riduan’s arrest for contempt of court, later issuing a mandamus order the same year to compel the police to arrest him and return Prasana Diksa to Indira.

On April 29, the Federal Court said the Ipoh High Court should not have asked the police to recover the youngest child due to conflicting child custody orders from both the civil courts and Shariah courts.

Indira Gandhi wins leave to challenge children’s unilateral conversion

PUPUTRAJAYA, May 19 — The Federal Court today allowed Hindu mother M. Indira Gandhi to go ahead with her challenge against the validity of the unilateral conversion of her three children by her Muslim convert ex-husband.

The Federal Court gave its order after senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan said the federal government was not objecting to two of the eight questions of law previously posed by Indira.

“Application is allowed in terms of question one, five and the additional question submitted,” Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin said.

The two other judges on today’s panel are Tan Sri Abu Samah Nordin and Datuk Aziah Ali.

Today’s decision means the Federal Court will consider three questions of law in its hearing of Indira’s appeal.

They are:

― Whether the civil High Court has exclusive jurisdiction to review the actions of the Registrar of Muallafs (converts) or his delegates as public authorities exercising statutory powers vested by the Administration of the Religion of Islam (Perak) Enactment 2004;

― Whether a child of a civil marriage that has yet to turn 18 must comply with both Sections 96(1) and 106(b) of the Perak Enactment or similar provisions under other state laws before the Registrar of Muallafs may register the child’s conversion to Islam;

― Whether the mother and the father (if both are still surviving) of a child of a civil marriage must consent before a certificate of conversion to Islam can be issued in respect of that child.

The last was submitted today by Indira’s lawyer K. Shanmuga as an alternative to two earlier questions.

Shanmuga had also asked the Federal Court to consider an initial eighth question of law: whether the Malaysian government’s ratification of international conventions on children and women gave rise to a legitimate expectation that the Perak state government would act according to these conventions.

But Zulkefli said Indira’s appeal bid has “nothing to do with international conventions”.

Perak state legal adviser Datuk Rohana Abd Malek and Hatim Musa represented the state government and Indira’s ex-husband respectively.

Lawyers Andrew Khoo and Goh Siu Lin held watching briefs for the Bar Council and 10 women groups respectively.

Outside the courtroom, Indira’s lawyer M. Kulasegaran later said he hopes that a “full Bench” will hear his client’s appeal instead of the typical five-man panel at the Federal Court.

“The only thing we are hoping is for early trial and a full Bench to sit on this matter because it is fundamentally important,” he said, noting that there could be as many as nine judges on a full panel.

Indira had applied for leave to appeal the Court of Appeal’s 2-1 ruling last December, where it said only the Shariah courts have the jurisdiction to decide on the validity of a person’s conversion.

The Court of Appeal had set aside the Ipoh High Court’s 2013 judgement, which found that the three children had not been validly converted to Islam and declared their conversion certificates null and void.

In her legal challenge against the children’s unilateral conversion, Indira had named the Perak Islamic Religious Department (JAIPk) director, the Registrar of Muallaf, the Perak state government, the Education Ministry, the government of Malaysia and Indira’s ex-husband K. Pathmanathan as respondents.

After converting to Islam on March 11, 2009, Pathmanathan — now Muhammad Riduan Abdullah — left the house almost three weeks later with their youngest child.

On April 2, 2009, he then converted all three children to Islam without their knowledge and presence, and without Indira’s consent, before going to the Shariah courts several days later to obtain custody over them.

Indira’s eldest daughter Tevi Darsiny is now an adult at 19 while her brother Karan Dinish turns 18 in October; both will be old enough to decide their own faiths. Eight-year-old Prasana Diksa’s location remains unknown after being snatched by Muhammad Riduan seven years ago.

I never treated Umno as private property, Mahathir returns fire

Indulging in crude potshots, Dr Mahathir Mohamad accused Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of turning Umno into his private property.

On two occasions, the former premier referred to how Umno has been turned into "Najis (filth)".

He was responding to the prime minister who accused him of biting the hand that fed him, claiming that Mahathir and his family reaped enormous benefits from Umno and BN.

This was after the former premier urged the opposition to be united to defeat BN in the upcoming by-elections.

"He also gained a lot from Umno,” said Mahathir. "But I never treated it (the party) as my private property."

"He's now changed Umno to 'Najis (filth), I mean Najib," he told reporters in Subang Jaya.

He had uttered the same crude remark during a question and answer session earlier.

"In my heart I am still an Umno man. But now Umno is a 'parti Najis' (filthy party)... Najib," he had said, to roaring laughter from the crowd.

Mahathir is spearheading a campaign to oust Najib, dubbed the Citizens' Declaration, which has allegedly amassed more than one million signatures.

The former premier accuses the prime minister of corruption and putting the country at great financial risk over the 1MDB scandal.

He has even called on voters to ensure that BN loses in the upcoming twin by-elections in Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar to teach Najib a lesson.

Najib has denied all accusations against him.

Dr M yet to get audience with Agong, claims 'house arrest'

Dr Mahathir Mohamad has revealed that he is unable to secure an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to submit the more than one million signatures collected for the Citizens' Declaration.

Following this, the former prime minister made a startling remark that he believes the rulers are under house arrest.

"We have got 1.4 million signatures, and we've been trying to show them to the Agong.

"But as of now I've not been able to meet the Agong because it's likely that he's under house arrest.

"The rulers may be confined to their palaces," Mahathir said at an event in Subang Jaya.

He said this while lamenting that critics of the government would be barred from leaving the country.

"So I'm going to Japan and Korea, and I'm going to praise Najib's character.

"He can be higher than the sky, even as high as Mars.

"This is a great leader. We are free to say what we like about what is good about him," he quipped.

It has been revealed that the Immigration Department was blacklisting those who make disparaging remarks about the government.

'If Taib's wife can be citizen, M'sian-born stateless kids can, too'

The government must give citizenship to stateless children if it can easily do the same for Sarawak governor Abdul Taib Mahmud's wife in six years, DAP's Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching said.

She said between 2008 and 2015, a total of 47,232 foreigners married to Malaysians were granted citizenship.

This includes those from Indonesia (19,935), India (5,228) and Cambodia (2,387).

However, between 2011 and April 2016, a total of 131,810 children in Malaysia were recorded as 'non-citizens'.

Most could not be registered as Malaysians because their Malaysian fathers did not register their marriage to a foreign spouse before the children were born, she said.

This despite the children being born in Malaysia, she said.

The federal constitution states anyone born in the federation, whose parents at the time of the birth were citizens or permanent residents of the federation, are citizens of Malaysia.

She said the federal constitution did not require the children's parents to register their marriage prior to the birth, for the children to be registered as Malaysians.

However, because of the administrative ruling, the children are considered non-citizens and have to pay full fees at public hospitals, nor are they entitled to free textbooks in school or enrol in public primary and secondary schools.

Neither will they enjoy subsidised fees at public universities, apply for student loans through the National Higher Education Loan Scheme (PTPTN) or obtain a passport.

"With all these challenges, the children will have great difficulties to excel in life and they will also have a problem to get a job," she said in a statement.

"Children should not be made victims due to their parents' carelessness.

"If we can give citizenship to foreigners, including those from Indonesia, India and Cambodia, why can't we grant citizenship to the children of our own Malaysian citizens based on humanitarian grounds?" she asked.

Yesterday, DAP's Batu Kawan MP Kashturi Patto questioned how Ragad Taib can obtain a citizenship in a relatively short six years after marrying the governor.