Dr Salim then addressed the contention by certain quarters that Bahasa Malaysia can be a unifying factor, first noting that language can also be divisive, and then made the following all-important observation :
If Dr Salim’s right, and I think he is, where did Mahathir go wrong with his Vision 2020 such that he failed to put in place all that was necessary to establish “a united Malaysian nationwith asense of common and shared destiny” ?
In my view, Mahathir did not pay heed to his own observation in that famous Vision 2020 speech of his that this united Malaysian nation that he urged us to forge “cannot be in place so long as there is the identification of race with economic function, and the identification of economic backwardness with race”.
Mahathir did nothing to undo the years of race-based divide-and-rule.
What did he do?
Responding to Part 1 by way of comment, Paul Warren remarked :
“Haven’t you heard of such a thing as “shiok sendiri rhetoric?” Mahathir was full of it for a long time. Epitomised by such things as all his megalomaniac building programmes such as starting with Daya Bumi and ending up with the Twin Towers!!”
I don’t know about the ’shiok sendiri’ part but, yes, if you take cognisance of Mahathir’s megalomaniac building programme, then you begin to get a sense of the old man’s Vision 2020.
Malaysia attaining developed nation status by 2020 meant putting in place all the outward trappings ordinarily associated with such a nation.
And the heightened consumerism which ordinarily accompanies a growing middle class.
As an oil-producing nation, we certainly had the resources to build, build and build.
And build Mahathir did.
Bakun.
KLIA.
Putrajaya.
We had the resources, so why did not the Mahathir regime build universities in every state and make education free at every level, set up more dialysis and cardiac centres throughout the country and make such treatment accessible to all at no charge?
As Farish Noor put it in his ‘My ideal politician’,‘Rather than more bridges crooked or otherwise — built by crooks or otherwise — airports, shopping malls and monuments, we need to build some Malaysians first’.
Why was not the salary scale of those involved in the teaching profession at all levels significantly upgraded so that our children would be taught by the very best that money can buy?
Just one reason.
The jiwa of the man behind Vision 2020 was not in sync with that of the ordinary Malaysians who struggle to make ends meet.
And so, I ask again, what is the difference between Mahathir’s Vision 2020 and Najib’s 1Malaysia?
Is there such a difference between Mahathir and Najib that we should be encouraged to believe that, whilst Mahathiir had little impact in taking us anywhere near the Bangsa Malaysia he spoke of, with Najib, it will be otherwise ?
KUALA LUMPUR (July 1, 2009) : Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) wants parliament to convene an emergency sitting to pass amendments to the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 not relating to Islam.
He said the announcement of Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz on Tuesday that laws on conversion would be indefinitely put on hold pending a decision of the Conference of Rulers was a great disappointment and setback in the resolution of such a “burning issue”.
“I call on the cabinet on Friday to take a bold decision on matters arising from unilateral conversions … these must be resolved without any delay,” Lim said.
“The Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act has nothing to do with Islam, and I call on the cabinet to make a decision so that parliament can convene an emergency sitting in July or August, specially to deal with this problem which has become so polarising and dividing,” he said at the parliament lobby.
Lim said that when parliament adjourns tomorrow, it would sit again only three and a half months later, and “I would not know how many conversions will take place in three and a half months and create family pain, children’s agony and national disunity”.
On the issue of the eviction of residents of Kampung Buah Pala in Penang to make way for development, Lim said former chief minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon should speak up on whether he would make amends for his decisions in relation to the village by securing a federal government grant to enable the Penang government to resolve the issue.
“The state government is now caught in a vice created by Koh’s (now minister in the Prime Minister Department) administration, although it had prevented the eviction of the residents since the middle of last year,” Lim said.
He demanded Koh explain why the former state government had approved the sale of the land to Koperasi Pegawai-Pegawai Kerajaan Pulau Pinang at the low premium of RM6.42 million and later halved this to RM3.21 million.
Lim said Koh must state why the former state government had not consulted the residents before alienating the 2.6ha of land, on which a 14-storey luxury condominium is now to be built.
“It had been said that Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng could res-olve the issue with ‘the stroke of a pen’. Yes, it can be resolved, but it will involve compensation for the RM150 million project.
“Can the state government afford such compensation?”
On the withholding of a RM660 million payment to the Port Klang Free Zone’s turnkey developer, Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd, by the Port Klang Authority (PKA), Lim said: “I welcome the decision, but if Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat claims credit for it, he must be prepared to take responsibility for all the other decisions of the PKA board.”
He reminded Ong that he (Ong) still had a day before parliament adjourned to get motions passed to refer all concerned to the Privileges Committee to determine who had actually misled the House.
KUALA LUMPUR, 2 July 2009: A small riot broke out at the Semenyih immigration camp near Kajang about 8pm last night involving 30 Bangladeshi, Indonesian and Myanmarese detainees.
In the incident, the illegal immigrants broke the walls of their rooms.
Kajang police district chief ACP Shakarudin Che Mood, when contacted, said swift action by Immigration Department personnel contained the situation.
He said no one was injured and early investigation revealed that the riot stemmed from the detainees' dissatisfaction at being transferred to another camp.
He added that investigation papers in the case will be handed over to the Immigration Department to determine the actual cause of the riot and probe allegations that detainees had escaped.
There was a truck load of Federal Reserve Unit personnel and four empty trucks at the scene last night. — Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR, 2 July 2009: Academician Oh Ei Sun, who is a highly-sought international speaker-trainer-motivator, consultant and entrepreneur, has been appointed political secretary to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
An official from the Prime Minister's Office said the appointment was effective 16 June 2009.
The 35-year-old Sabahan, trained in law, management and engineering, has extensive experience serving various international bodies under the United Nations (UN).
Oh holds a degree each in aeronautical and mechanical engineering, and another in German language, apart from a double masters in science and international management. He also has a Juris Doctor in Law (JD) obtained from the University of California.
His working experience includes serving with international organisations such as the International Telecommunication Union and the Working Group on Emergency Telecommunications, both located in Geneva, Switzerland.
Fluent in five languages - Bahasa Malaysia, English, Chinese, German and
French - Oh has conducted various consulting works for multinational and international corporations, as well as advising diverse small-and-medium enterprises on legal and business start-up issues.
Not limited to the corporate sector, he has also rendered his expertise in strategic, technical and legal advice to various international organisations, governments and agencies, political parties, non-governmental organisations, as well as professional, civic and cultural bodies.
Oh once served as a UN expert consultant, advising various governments on emergency communications. He has also worked closely with various UN partner agencies, including the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, World Food Programme, International Civil Aviation Organisation, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and UN Development Programme.
He has also served as chief executive officer for a telecommunications company based in Hong Kong, and been involved in mobile multi-channel share-trading services in China.
Oh had his share of expertise in training managerial-level professionals, and has delivered more than 500 modules to more than 20,000 corporate directors where he recently expanded his expertise in the field of financial management and education.
"I am honoured to be able to serve the country and the people at this critical juncture, both politically and economically," he told Bernama today.
Asked what his first mission would be after being appointed, Oh said he would like to promote the concept of 1Malaysia and engage in dialogue with more people from various backgrounds and communities.
"There is one element in 1Malaysia that I feel most deeply about. It is about integrity, both in the public sector and the private endeavour. I would like to see more emphasis on this as we continue to promote 1Malaysia," he said.
This former student of the Kian Kok Middle School in Kota Kinabalu is also an adjunct professor with Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
INCREDULOUS. That's how a journalist feels when a senior civil servant responds to a request for information with a flat refusal to answer.
Following the commentary on the need for a Freedom of Information Act, it is timely to relate another story about failed attempts to get answers on matters of public interest from the government.
On 15 June 2009, The Nut Graph published a story on how Members of Parliament (MPs) are funded. We highlighted allegations of discrimination and selective approvals that were experienced by MPs on both sides of the political divide.
The funding in question was a special development fund for all parliamentary constituencies called Peruntukan Khas Perdana Menteri. This is an annual allocation. The maximum amount an MP can apply for varies from year to year.
MPs apply for funds on behalf of projects in their constituencies, but they don't receive the actual funds themselves. Instead, upon approval by the government, the funds are channelled to the state and district level at the constituency for projects to be implemented.
The agency that approves MPs' applications, and directs disbursement of the funds, is the Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) under the Prime Minister's Department.
In the course of writing the story, The NutGraph compiled the MPs experiences, explained the situation in brief, and posed some questions in an email to the ICU director-general, and the agency's public relations officer. Follow-up with the public relations officer over the next few days revealed that the director-general had received the questions and had tasked his special officer to draft the replies.
Finally, however, the public relations officer told The Nut Graph that the director-general would not reply. Not "could not" reply, but a wilful "would not" reply.
Incredulous. That the head of the said agency, a civil servant entrusted to manage taxpayers' money with regards to how it is used to support the work of MPs elected by the people, would not answer. That on a matter which was totally under his jurisdiction, he would not reply.
What gives?
On one hand, this reaction wasn't too surprising because from past experience, it is not uncommon for civil servants to decline comment or speak off the record, since it is the practice to leave comments on policy to ministers. At the very least, the ICU director-general could have conveyed that to the public relations officer instead of issuing a blanket refusal without explanation.
(brick wall texture by Lars Sundström / sxc.hu)
The ICU's response to a legitimate question also betrays a lack of awareness about what good public relations really is. Ever tried talking to a wall? Doesn't take too much to imagine what that feels like. Plus, didn't it occur to the ICU that it could be embarrassing not to answer a question, especially when the information should be public to begin with? Does the ICU not care about its public image as a government agency under the Barisan Nasional administration?
Additionally, the information The Nut Graph asked for should surely exist in some form of policy statement or minutes of meetings. Why not cut and paste? And if the replies do not exist in some documented form already, then we should be really concerned about whether certain policies are decided ad hoc and arbitrarily.
Turning to the minister
We, of course, didn't give up just because the ICU director-general refused to answer our questions.
The questions for Nor Mohamed were the same as those sent to the ICU director-general. A week after sending the queries by e-mail to his aide, there was still no reply.
To be fair, his aide did respond to reminders throughout the week to explain that the minister was busy in meetings. The minister was preparing for the government's announcement on scrapping the 30% bumiputra quota on equity for companies seeking listing on the stock market. Other major changes to liberalise Malaysia's capital markets were also made.
These are indeed momentous adjustments which understandably would keep any minister busy. But that begs the question about the way government is run. Is there to be a bottleneck of queries every time the minister in charge is occupied? Are other issues to be put on the back burner until he or she is available? What is a whole department of government officers hired for? Why are we paying taxes to the government to finance the salaries of civil servants if not even one of them can draft answers for the minister to approve and release to the media, and by extension, the public?
If nothing else, this experience with a federal department and a federal minister lends weight to the argument that our public sector is too politicised. Civil servants, the people who turn the wheels of government administration, hide behind politicians who are left to decide on "sensitive" matters. In the case of funding MPs, what seems "sensitive" and hence unanswerable are how requests by opposition MPs or for non-Muslims houses of worship are handled.
And if policies don't exist in black and white to which they can be referred for speedy responses to queries, we have to wonder how these policies are decided, who determines them and in whose interest, with the use of tax payers money, they are implemented.
Consider the admission by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz in The Nut Graph's report about funding for MPs. In response to questions about the MPs' complaints, Nazri said that "it is easier" for BN MPs to obtain approvals.
It won't go away
The ICU director-general and Nor Mohamed's office are not the only ones guilty of trying to evade public accountability.
When, in a rare article on the subject, the New Straits Times broached the allegation that racism and ethnic segregation were taught in Biro Tatanegara (BTN) orientation courses under the guise of patriotism, guess who kept silent?
Almost unsurprisingly, it was the BTN director-general who declined to comment even though he was in the best position to set the picture straight.
One wonders if the current administration believes that not answering a question will make it go away, or that people will eventually forget.
Pledges and efforts made to improve efficiency and delivery, and to make the public sector more service-orientated, will come to naught if partisan and ethnocentric politics are not taken out of the civil service.
Kecoh kononya Kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat ini zalim menindas penduduk dengan mengangkat setinggi mungkin kes Kampung Buah Pala, Pulau Pinang. Tanpa menidakkan kes dan hak serta kebajikan penduduk Kampung Buah Pala, che'GuBard juga pernah menulis mengenai seharusnya tindakan lebih tegas dilakukan oleh Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang bagi menangani permasalahan tersebut.
Menyentuh mengenai isu Kampung Buah Pala, Pulau Pinang, che'GuBard mendesak kerajaan Pulau Pinang menggunakan kuasa yang ada untuk mempertahankan hak rakyat.
Kerajaan Pulau Pinang perlu menghentikan dulu semua proses pencerobohan kampung tersebut. Kemudian mula meneliti semua aspek undang - undang yang ada demi mempertahankan hak rakyat bukan mempertahankan hak syarikat (kapitalis) yang mendapat hak mereka semasa kerajaan negeri di bawah regim Bn yang lalu. Laing penting Kerajaan Negeri harus mengumpulkan peguam 'progresif' yang berjiwa rakyat untuk meneilit kes ini dan bukan sekadar mendengar pandangan Penasihat Undang - Undang Negeri (lantikan Regim Bn) yang pemikiran mereka berpaksikan pemikiran Bn iaitu merampas hak rakyat mempertahankan hak kaum pemodal.
Jika kerajaan Pulau Pinang gagal menangani isu ini dikhuatiri ia akan memberikan imej buruk dan menghancurkan 'hati - hati' rakyat yang mengharapkan perubahan. sila klik sini untuk membaca lanjut
Namun di Pulau Pinang penduduk Kampung Buah Pala masih bernasib baik kerana kerajaan negeri masih respon dan cuba mencari jalan terbaik menyelesaikan.
Namun di Negeri Sembilan dalam kes Tanah adat Rembau, kerajaan Regim Umno Bn di Negeri Sembilan pula memilih untuk bertindak pekak, buta dan bisu dalam isu rampasan tanah adat. Penduduk di sini bukan setinggan mereka punya geran tanah. Tanah mereka tanah rizab Melayu, Tanah Adat sebaliknya mereka dilayan lebih parah dari setinggan.
Wartawan yang menulis berita mengenai kampung ini diberi amaran oleh wakil rakyat (ADUN) Chembong agar berhenti dan jangan menulis lagi isu ini. Surat kepada kerajaan negeri termasuk ADUN tidak dilayan langsung.
Beberapa minggu lalu che'GuBard turun bertemu penduduk di situ namun dibawah arahan ADUN Chembong dan Timbalan Ketua Bahagian Umno telah menghubungi Ketua Kampung dan Siak surau di kampung tersebut supaya menyerbu tempat pertemuan kami di sebuah surau yang bakal dirobohkan dalam masa terdekat. Kami dihalau dengan hina, hampir wujud pergaduhan 'fizikal' antara Ketua Kampung, Siak dan penduduk kampung yang tanahnya bakal dirampas.
Media terus 'black out' isu ini. sila klik sini untuk baca surat terbuka kepada Menteri Besar dalam isu ini. Penduduk Kampung sudah pun membentuk Jawatankuasa Bertindak dan mereka telah menghantar petisyen kepada Perdana Menteri dan Ketua Pembangkang memohon campur tangan menyelamatkan tanah Adat Melayu.
atau klik tajuk dibawah untuk baca lanjut mengenai tanah adat rembau
Beberapa perkara perlu diberikan perhatian dalam isu memastikan kelansungan kekuatan Pakatan Rakyat.
Pimpinan DAP Pusat seharusnya mengambil tindakan terhadap pimpinan DAP Kedah yang terlibat membuat kenyataan terbuka di media tanpa perbincangan yang sempurna dalam Majlis Pakatan Rakyat. Semua tindakan yang melibatkan dasar harus dibuat diperingkat pusat.
Tindakan Ketua Pemuda PAS membuat pertemuan 'rasmi' dan 'terbuka' dengan Pemuda Umno dilihat sebagai usaha terkebelakang dalam memastikan kekuatan pakatan.
Nampaknya ada kalangan pimpinan PAS seolah tidak memahami isyarat keputusan Pilihanraya Umum lalu. Mereka juga terus menerus melakukan tindakan memberikan 'talian hayat' kepada Umno - Bn yang makin melemah.
Ini mungkin berlaku kerana banyak alasan, namun alasan - alasan tersebut ialah alasan dangkal yang ingin menghalalkan tindakan mereka semata - mata demi kepentingan kelompok tertentu sahaja.
Jika dakwaan ini salah sila jawab apa yang berlaku apabila rakyat menolak Bn di Selangor tetapi sebaliknya ada pimpinan PAS yang duduk berbincang dengan Bn dengan membawa kemungkinan membentuk kerajaan campuran PAS-Umno di Selangor, tetapi akhirnya gagal kerana dua - dua pihak berkeras hendak jadi Menteri Besar..... Sila jawab dakwaan terbuka Tuan Guru Ust. Hj Ahmad Awang yang menyatakan ada pimpinan PAS Pusat yang menghubungi beliau meminta pertimbangan semula agar diadakan pakatan Umno - Pas dalam membentuk kerajaan Perak.
che'GuBard dengan ini selaku anak muda yang bergelumang dengan aktivis 'bawahan' dan melihat derita rakyat dizalimi dan ditinds regim serta mepelajari sejarah bahawa regim ini pewaris penjajah negara, maka dengan ini mengecam tindakan Dewan Pemuda Pas yang masih terhegeh-hegeh memberikan talian hayat kepada Umno.
Selaku anak muda che'GuBard mengisytiharkan memboikot semua program melibatkan Dewan Demuda PAS termasuk jemputan yang telah disahkan hadir.
Tindakan ini bukan mewakili parti tetapi mewakili kekecewaan aktivis 'bawahan' yang tidak diendahkan suara mereka. Apa yang kita dapat hari ini bukan atas kekuatan parti kita semata - mata tetapi atas penolakan kuat rakyat terhadap Bn dan harapan sedikit yang ada terhadap gabungan kita. Bila ada sikit kuasa kita lupa dan nak lebih dengan ajak entiti yang ditolak rakyat untuk duduk semeja....percayalah teruskanlah perkara ini rakyat akan terus mencampak kita dalam longkang dalam PRU yang akan datang.....
Wahai Yb atau sesiapa yang mendapat apa juga tempat hasil PRU lepas, ketahuilah keputusan itu bukan dicipta begitu sahaja dalam sehari pada 8 Mac yang lepas ia merupakan hasil perjuangan panjang...... sanggupkah kita kianati semua sejarah perjuangan panjang tersebut.
I refer to the Statement of Penang Chief Minister on Malaysiakini today throwing various wild allegations against Hindraf .
I wish to reply as follows:
He has lied and mislead the Malaysian public that Hindraf had "lied"that acquiring Kg.Buah Pala would cost the State Government RM 30 Million.
He further misleads in his statement implying that Hindraf had represented that the State Government could acquire the Kg below the market value.
The above statements by Lim Guan Eng is an absolute and blatant lie deliberately calculated to mislead the Malaysian public and divert from the real issue staring at him.
It was his own Political Secretary that had issued a statement yesterday (malaysiakini) that it would cost the state RM30 million to compensate the developers.
However we are aware of his posting on a blog and widely circulated in the emails that it costs more than tens of millions to do so.
My point is simple- where did Guan Eng get this ridiculus sum from? Why is he putting the cart before the horse? Perhaps he is not getting proper advise from his State Legal Adviser or perhaps his arrogance has cloded his mind. The necessary procedures which are lenghty and elaborate are clearly provided for in Section 18-35 Land Acquisation Act. The amount of compensation to be paid are to be assessed by the Land administrator after valuations and survey. If the amount of compensation awarded by the Land administor is not acceptable by the Developer then he would have to rely on provisions of Section 36-51 of the Land Acquisation Act where the Court would determine the appropriate compensation with the assistance of assessors.
So why is he now blaming HINDRAF for his ignorance of the Law. He has to justify how his Political Secretary came up with RM30 million or even his own Statement that it would cost more than "tens of Millions". Instead he is trying to divert from the real issue.
He further states " the forcible acquisation of Kg Buah Pala involving developed land would be of frightening magnitute and the State Government did not have the financial capability to do so".
Guan Eng is definately a liar and hoodwinking the public. Kg Buah Pala is not a developed land in the first place. I may be thousands of miles away but i will vouch it is a yet to be developed land and the developers had done nothing on the piece of land as yet. So WHAT IS HE FRIGHTENED ABOUT. The villagers have been occupying the land for 200 years and the land is developed in this modern day as a cultural village by the poor and defenceless people of Penang with their own sweat and blood. If the land is worth hundreds of millions of Ringgit because it is developed then the compensation should be to the owners as they are the real developers of the land at the present moment.
Guan Eng claims that the land which is believed to be transfered under dubious manner by the previous BN Government is the fault of the previous Government. But he must remember that the actual transfer of the said land had occured during his tenure as the Chief Minister.
If the previous Government had made a fraudulent deal then he is part of the fraudulent transaction for having sanctioned the transfer after he became the Chief Minister.
The need of a roof over one's head is a basic neccessity just like food and clothing. These poor people have been there with a little space/compound (for their children to play) and a safe roof for 200 years in a piece of land given to them on trust by the Brown family. So why now rob them of the basic necessity? Guan Eng had also lied that the people was offered compensation of RM200,000 and that many had accepted the offer and moved.But in actual fact they were offered RM90,000 by developers far below market value and which is insuffient for them to buy a new property in any part of Penang and the actual number of houseowners who accepted the shortchanged deal were 7 and not many as claimed by Guan Eng ( 5 Malay families and 2 Indian families). As far as i am concerned he is a heartless man for lying and colluding with the developers in uprooting these people with a peanut offer of RM90,000. The villagers had clearly stated that it is not an issue of compensation but a matter of preserving their peaceful existence in their hereditary cultural living over a safe roof. The basic need of a safe roof is a fundamental Human Right. As a responsible Chief Minister and a man who claims to lead the Democratic Party he should be the first to protect and preserve their homes but instead robbing them of thier basic necessity and Human dignity. HINDRAF would vigourously resist any attempt to take away this fundamental right and dignity even if it means ending our friendship with DAP.
Yes I agree HINDRAF has been infiltrated by BN stooges and Police Special Branch which is trying hard to break the Movement. But i will not sit idle and see him destroy the fundamental right in the name of development of not only Indian Community but of any community for the matter.
HINDRAF calls upon other Pakatan Coalition leaders to advice this heartless Chief Minister.
While Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) is fully aware that the previous Government under Barisan National (BN) is to be blamed for the current problems in Kampung Buah Pala, Penang; yet the DAP led Pakatan Rakyat Government cannot just wash its hands off yet and blame the previous Government all the way.
In fact it puts to test or rather gives Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng a chance to prove that his government is pro people against being pro capitalist. For the time being it looks like peoples power has succeeded in postponing the forced eviction of the Kampung Pala settlers this Thursday.
PSM having the experience in fighting and championing many urban poor settlement sees that the biggest conflict surrounding land disputes are not the questions of ethnicity or heritage but rather it is the question of class. In most cases, the capitalist class using its financial muscle obtains land by buying over the State Government and its politicians. The poor settlers who have spent decades developing the land is left in a lurch and shown the exit door. The legal argument is standard – they are illegals, squatters and trespassers. They have been adequately compensated or these people are anti-development.
We have heard these same mantras over and over. These mantras have been used to evict the orang asli, the plantation workers, the farmers and the urban settlers over the years. In most cases the State and the legal system is with the rich and the developers. In cases where the people have triumphed, it is because of the resistance and struggle they put forward. It is very seldom, where the law has sided with the poor.
The current conflict puts a challenge to the Pakatan Government on the question of political will and political alliance. It is a question of class which the State Government needs to address. Everything else is technical and secondary. The State Government needs to choose if it wants to be with the many or just be comfortable living in its oasis.
PSM calls upon the State Government to use its political mandate and will to side with the settlers of Kampung Buah Pala. We call for all forced evictions in the State of Penang to be immediately halted. We call for a dialogue and the settlers of kampong Buah Pala be treated as partners in these development in their area.
Kampung Buah Pala villagers in Penang have made clear their displeasure with Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng by urging him to resign over his failure to help them.
"If he can't acquire this land from the developer and preserve this village, he might as well resign from his post," said village residents' association assistant secretary C Tharmaraj.
Speaking to reporters at the village today, Tharmaraj accused Lim of being more keen in protecting the company's interest rather than that of the people's.
He said villagers are not blaming Lim as the cause of their predicament.
He said they only want the current state government to correct the malpractices of the past government.
"Is it too much to ask? If Lim can't do this for the people who voted for his government, he should just resign and go back to his home state of Malacca," he added.
He also questioned why Lim is afraid to use legal means to solve the problem.
The villagers are facing imminent eviction as the land has been sold to a company to be developed into a high-end residential estate.
Yesterday Lim defended his government by stating that it has never consented to or approved the demolition of Kampung Buah Pala.
The chief minster said Kampung Buah Pala is still standing today because of the intervention of his state government.
He had said any action taken against the residents has been initiated by the developer after obtaining a court order.
'Stop diverting blame'
Tharmaraj hit out at Lim for trying to divert blame to the previous BN government for the controversy and Hindraf for 'sensationalising' the issue.
"Lim should stop blaming others and turning it into a communal issue," he said, noting that issue is about the rights of citizens.
He said the controversy erupted because the past and current state governments have failed to recognise the people's rightful ownership to the land.
"Lim should be honest and sincere enough to admit that he had failed to exercise his executive powers to save our village.
"He has simply ignored and neglected us for past 15 months ... did not even bother to visit our village and talk to us."
Tharmaraj also slammed Lim for listening too much to his legal adviser Faiza Zulkifli and other senior civil servants in making decisions over the controversy.
He said Lim should have considered second legal opinions expressed by other lawyers such as Hindraf leader P Waythamoorthy, the village legal adviser Cecil Rajendra and even Balik Pulau parliamentarian Yusmadi Yusoff (left).
"His legal adviser is giving the wrong advice, maybe she has a conflict of interests ... who knows," he alleged.
He asked whether Lim feared a backlash from government officers if the state government were to re-acquire the land from its landowner, Koperasi Pegawai-Pegawai Kanan Kerajaan Pulau Pinang.
Tharmaraj also blasted the federal court judgment, which favoured the landowner and developer Nusmetro Venture (P) Sdn Bhd, pointing out that the three-member bench "got it all wrong" when it declared the villagers have no locus standi to bring up the matter.
Land appropriated 'by deception'
He recalled that the villagers' ancestors were brought to this place about 200 years ago as indentured labourers from South India to work in colonial estates.
He said the ancestors were given this land on free ownership by the Brown Estate Housing Trust before the Umno-dominated Malayan government turned it into a temporary occupation licence (TOL) settlement after Independence in 1957.
He said senior villagers would recall that their parents, mostly illiterate, were hoodwinked into signing documents about 50 years ago by government officers on the pretext of providing water and electricity supply to the village.
He said the villagers only now realised that their forefathers were duped by their own government to terminate their land ownership and turn the land into a TOL village.
In 2005, the state land office stopped TOL collections from the villagers, alienated the land under state ownership and subsequently sold it to the cooperative.
"Our very own government appropriated our land by deception.
"We have lived here for five generations, but the judges are saying we are tresspassers and squatters. Is this social justice? Is this the rule of law claimed by the chief minister?
"He can easily correct all the past wrongdoings by a single stroke of his pen. Lim should walk his talk," said Tharmaraj, who broke into tears at the end of the press conference.
Tuan Manikavasagam a/l Sundaram [Kapar] minta Menteri Dalam Negeri menyatakan sebab-sebab Kerajaan mengharamkan pergerakan Hindraf.Apakah kewujudan bukti-bukti yang mengaitkan pergerakan tersebut dengan kumpulan penganas luar Negara.
Tuan Yang Pertua,
Untuk makluman Yang Berhormat, Hindraf adalah sebuah pertubuhan haram yang tidak berdaftar. Kumpulan ini telah diisytiharkan sebagai sebuah kumpulan haram pada 14 Oktober 2008 mengikut peruntukan Seksten 8(1) Akta Pendaftaran Pertubuhan 1966 (Akta 335). Tindakan penahanan lima (5) orang pemimpin Kumpulan Haram Hindraf (KHH) di bawah seksyen 8(1) AKDN 1960 adalah kerana tindak tanduk mereka menganjurkan aktiviti-aktiviti yang jelas mebangkitkan sentiment perkauman dan agama yang serius yang boleh mencetuskan konflik antara kaum dan seterusnya memudaratkan kententeraman awam dan keselamatan Negara. Mereka juga telah menganjurkan perhimpunan-perhimpunan yang membangkitan sentiment sehingga mencetuskan tindakan-tindakan yang berunsur keagamaan.
Maklumat perisikan telah mendedahkan terdapat usaha-usaha oleh Kumpulan Haram Hindraf (KHH) untuk mendapatkan bantuan dan sokongan dari Negara luar. Maklumat perisikan juga melaporakan bahawa lawatan Waytha Moorthy a/l Ponnusamy , Pengerusi kumpulan ini ke luar Negara pada 28 November 2007 adalah diantara lainnya, untuk mendapatkan sokongan antarabangsa termasuk usaha mengadakan perjumpaan dengan pemimpin LTTE.
The Court of Appeal will decide Thursday whether Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trial would be heard at the Kuala Lumpur High Court or be transferred back to the Sessions Court.
Anwar was disputing the transfer certificate issued by Attorney-General (AG) Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail under Section 418a of the Criminal Procedure Code on grounds that there was legitimate expectation that the latter would not participate in the sodomy case.
A three-member bench comprising Court of Appeal judges Datuk Abdull Hamid Embong, Datuk Abu Samah Nordin and Datuk Jeffrey Tan today heard submissions on the transfer certificate issued by the AG for the trial be moved from the Sessions Court to the High Court.
Anwar's lead counsel Sulaiman Abdullah submitted that there was legitimate expectations by Anwar and the public that Abdul Gani would not partake in the case following public assurance by the former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Sulaiman said Anwar had levelled various allegations against Abdul Gani, including the concealing and fabricating of evidence, in relation to Anwar's assault case in 1998.
Abdul Gani had not made any public denial of the accusations nor filed any affidavit rebutting Anwar's claims, Sulaiman told the court.
Sulaiman also submitted that there was the issue of perceived bias on the part of the AG.
"The AG should also be automatically disqualified on grounds of conflict of interest," Sulaiman said.
According to Sulaiman, there were other legal avenues available to the public prosecutor to transfer the sodomy trial without necessitating the involvement of the AG.
Meanwhile, Solicitor-General II Datuk Mohd Yusof Zainal Abidin sought to defend the Kuala Lumpur High Court decision to transfer the case, saying that the Sessions Court had no jurisdiction to rule on whether the transfer certificate was valid.
On March 5, High Court Judge Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah revised Sessions Court Judge SM Komathy Suppiah's Nov 7, 2008 decision to hear Anwar’s sodomy case.
Mohd Yusof also submitted that Abdullah's promise was not binding on the AG.
"The Prime Minister cannot be seen to make a promise to the public or individuals expecting the AG to disregard his functions as provided by law," Mohd Yusof said.
On arguments of perceived bias by Abdul Gani, Mohd Yusof said the issue "has no relevance" as it would only apply on judicial functions in matters involving two parties.
However, Sulaiman rebutted, saying: "Natural justice principles must encompass the rule against bias."
Sulaiman also said there were no special reasons given for the sodomy trial's transfer from the Sessions Court to the High Court, which are both housed on different floors of the Jalan Duta Court Complex.
The reasons stated include better crowd control for Anwar's supporters attending the hearing, that the case attracts great international attention and that Anwar was the opposition leader as well as member of parliament for Permatang Pauh.
Meanwhile, during a separate mention earlier today, the Kuala Lumpur High Court postponed to Friday the hearing of Anwar's application for prosecution to furnish him with evidence and documents ahead of the sodomy trial.
The High Court on July 8 first will hear Anwar's application to strike out the sodomy charge.
Meanwhile, the trial proper was scheduled from July 8 to 24 depending on the outcome of the strike-out request.
The former deputy prime minister pleaded not guilty when charged with sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan in Bukit Damansara on June 26 last year.
I am tired of writing about social, political, economic and religious issues. I mean: the problem is never going to go away whatever I may say. So today I am just going to address health issues and publish what the doctor said would be considered a healthy lifestyle. But I did not write this piece though. Someone sent it to me and I don’t know who wrote it.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Q: Doctor, I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true?
A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it. Don't waste it on exercise.
Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer. That's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster.
Want to live longer? Take a nap.
Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?
A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn!
And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken.
Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable).
And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.
Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?
A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine. That means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up!
Anyway, 1% of traffic accidents are caused by drunk drivers. So people who don’t drink are very dangerous because they cause 99% of traffic accidents.
Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one.
If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.
Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?
A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain ... Good!
Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?
A: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!!! .... Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil.
In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?
Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?
A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger.
You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.
Q: Is chocolate bad for me?
A: Are you crazy? HELLO … Cocoa beans! Another vegetable!!!
It's the best feel-good food around!
Q: Is swimming good for your figure?
A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.
Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?
A: Hey! 'Round' is a shape!
Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.
And remember: 'Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand, chocolate in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming, 'WOO HOO, what a Ride!'
AND.....
For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.
1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
5. The Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
CONCLUSION
1. Eat and drink what you like.
2. Speaking American English is apparently what kills you.
3. 'Today’ is a gift. That is why it is called ‘The Present’.
JULY 1 — These days we often hear the accusation that someone or another is doing something nasty by interpreting a book or text out of context.
The common refrain that follows goes something like this: “Who are you to interpret our holy book on your own without the guidance of our supreme religious elders who are so knowledgeable in scriptural knowledge that your own petty knowledge is like that of a gnat’s in comparison?”
From this bombastic salvo there usually follows the same train of accusations and slander, which include the following: Muslim/Christian/Buddhist/Hindu feminists are simply reading and re-reading the holy scriptures with their own agendas in mind; that they are engaged in wilful and unregulated interpretation that goes against orthodoxy, etc.
Before we deal with the political nature and consequences of such accusations, let us return to the original premise and deconstruct it a bit.
Interpretation, of any text, is necessarily a subjective, historically-determined and culturally-contextualised endeavour. Every act of reading is necessarily subjective and therefore contingent and we cannot escape from the possibility of error, misinterpretation and misappropriation.
This is true of reading a holy scripture as it is true about reading the menu of a restaurant, for the fact is that reading is necessarily a risk-laden enterprise and this has more to do with the nature of language as a social phenomena than anything else.
Going back to the genesis of all the major religious belief-systems in the world, we see that the foundational movement of such religions entailed the act of reading and interpretation. From the very outset of revelation itself, the possibility of error and misunderstanding has always been there.
This is simply because communication – even in the case of divine communication with mortal beings – carries with it the risk that the message may get lost.
With the passing of time however, religious texts in particular gain a certain degree of consistency in meaning because of the way that the reading, interpretation and dissemination of such texts is left in the hands of a few, who in turn are elevated to the status of experts.
In the history of the Jewish faith, for instance, the interpretation of Jewish scripture was monopolised by the Rabbinical classes; until the advent of Jesus who was the first to challenge the hegemonic grip of Rabbinical authority. Likewise in Hinduism, the interpretation of Vedantic texts was left in the hands of the Brahminical classes, and only challenged by the likes of the Buddha who trespassed the norms of the discursive economy with his emphasis on the emotional-spiritual (as opposed to ritualistic) development of the individual.
In the Islamic tradition, the monopoly over religious textual interpretation was guarded by the Ulama classes, but often challenged by independent lay scholars who opened up and expanded the space of Muslim religious discourse and praxis.
It is therefore ironic that today Muslim women’s groups like Malaysia’s Sisters in Islam are deemed to have gone beyond the pale of religious normativity by allegedly interpreting the Quran in a manner that goes against tradition or the sanction of the religious scholars.
But hasn’t this been the case with so many other Muslim intellectuals who were in fact pioneers in the process of modernising the Muslim mind?
If groups like Sisters in Islam are deemed guilty of ‘freely interpreting’ religious scripture, then what would we have to say about men like Jamaluddin al-Afghani, Muhammad Abduh, and Sir Syed Ahmad Khan? Syed Ahmad Khan – who founded the Aligarh Muslim University – was one of the first who claimed that unless and until Islamic thought could be measured and judged by the standards of modern science it would not survive the modern age.
For his efforts to modernise our understanding of Islam, he was deemed a materialist and secular thinker; yet he was the one who built the first modern Islamic university in the world, that proudly stands until today at Aligarh, India.
Likewise Abul Alaa Maudoodi and Sayyid Qutb were also Muslim thinkers well ahead of their time who broke from sedimented traditions and who offered radically new and modern interpretations of Islam in their time.
And when we look at their profiles, they were certainly nottraditional ulama by any stretch of the imagination: Maudoodi was trained as a journalist and worked as a pamphleteer and propagandist for his cause. Qutb, on the other hand, was even accused of desecrating the Quran by offering an activist-oriented exegesis of the text that went against customary practice then. But today, does anyone doubt the impact that both Maudoodi and Qutb have had on contemporary Muslim thought and praxis?
Closer to Southeast Asia we have thinkers like Syed Sheikh al-Hady and Sheikh Tahir Jalaluddin who were modern thinkers who wanted to adapt the Muslim mindset to the needs of the modern age. Syed Sheikh al-Hady even wrote the Hikayat Faridah Hanum, which remains as the first modern feminist novel in vernacular Malay literature. For his pioneering efforts to emancipate Muslim women from patriarchal tyranny, he too was deemed a secularist and modernist by the conservatives among his peers. But do we doubt or deny his achievements, or the achievements of any of these modernist thinkers today? Certainly not.
So let us clear the decks and understand some simple truths about textual analysis and exegesis: Reading anything – be it a novel or a holy book – is necessarily a subjective process that is always going to be particular, historically specific and necessarily contingent. No text can escape this, for the reason that reading involves an inter-subjective process of engagement with an author that is not present. We can try our best to remain true to the intended meaning of the text, but we cannot ever claim to have complete knowledge of it.
On that basis, no group can claim to have a monopoly over truth value, and no group can claim to be right simply because they have settled on an agreed consensus. Traditional conservative scholars who live, work and interact only among themselves and their closed circle of confidants and acolytes may think that they have closed off the process of interpretation simply because they have engineered a consensus among themselves; but this does not mean that the process of reading and interpretation is over and closed for good. Furthermore consensus does not guarantee truth value, for even if the whole planet thinks that the earth is flat it does not make it so.
For the sake of keeping religious texts and scriptures alive and relevant to the needs of our times, alternative readings are required time and again. That was the intention of scholars like Maudoodi, Qutb, Ahmad Khan, Abduh and Sheikh al-Hady. And interestingly, that too happens to be the intention of religious activists like Sisters in Islam and other Muslim, Christian, Hindu and Buddhists activists today. — www.othermalaysia.org
* (This article was originally titled “You Are Not Qualified To Interpret my Religious Text”: How to Respond to Attempts to Close the Public Domain- Part 3 and appeared in www.othermalaysia.org on June 26, 2009)
The former Penang Chief Minister and now Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon should speak up as to whether he would make amends for his decisions as Penang Chief Minister in the Kampung Buah Pala, Penang controversy by securing a Federal Government grant to Penang State Government to resolve the issue with “a stroke of the pen”?
The Penang Pakatan Rakyat government is now caught in a vice created by Koh’s administration although it had prevented the eviction of the residents in the area since the middle of last year.
Firstly, Koh must explain why as Chief Minister, his Executive Council had approved the state government land of Kampung Buah Pala to Koperasi Pegawai Kerajaan Pulau Pinang, first time on 18th August 2004 and second time on 8th June 2005 at a very low premium of RM6.42 million or RM20 per square feet.
Secondly, why Koh and his Exco subsequently halved the premium to RM3.21 million or only RM10 psf on the recommendation of the Umno Deputy Chief Minister – far below the market price of the prime land.
Thirdly, why Koh and the Penang State Government had not consulted the residents concerned before alienating the land which is now to be developed into the 14-storey luxury-living Oasis project with a Gross Development Value of RM150 million, comprising 490 condominium units (priced from RM240,000 to RM290,000) on the 2.6 hectare site.
It has been said that the Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng can resolve the Kampung Buah Pala issue with “a stroke of the pen”. Yes, it can be resolved with “a stroke of the pen” but involving compensation for the RM150 million Oasis project.
Can the Penang State Government afford such a compensation?
Is Koh prepared to raise in Friday’s Cabinet meeting that the Federal Government make a grant to the Penang State Government for the amount needed to resolve Kampung Buah Pala issue with “a stroke of the pen” by the Penang Chief Minister?
Time has come for Koh to speak up or he will be failing his own KPI although he is the Cabinet monitor to oversee the KPIs of all Ministers.
PENANG, 1 July 2009: The Kampung Buah Pala Residents Association in Bukit Gelugor here today urged Lim Guan Eng to step down as Penang chief minister for having failed to serve and help the people in the state.
Its spokesperson, C Tharmaraj, said the association also felt that Lim, who is DAP secretary-general, was not able to discharge his duties and keep his promise.
"He is a big liar and always makes contradicting statements. He doesn't know anything about Penang because he is from Melaka.
"The promise he made to us during the last general election to return our rights on the land was never fulfilled. I think it's better if he resigns," he told reporters here today.
The residents have been in a tussle over recent years to save their cattle-rearing village, dubbed Penang's High Chaparral, from being demolished to make way for development projects.
Thomas Chan, the director of Nusmetro Ventures (P) Sdn Bhd, said that as the project developer, the company had suffered a loss of RM6 million annually due to the postponement of the project, which should have kicked off early last year.
"Ten families have been compensated to vacate the land so far, but 22 others still won't budge," he said, adding that the company would convene a meeting with the state government within this month to solve the problem.
He said like it or not, the residents had to vacate their homes as the Federal Court on 24 June had maintained the Court of Appeal's decision ordering the residents to vacate their homes.
"If they fail to do so by 2 Aug, action can be taken against them for contempt of court," Chan said.
Meanwhile, MIC Youth chief T Mohan also called on the federal government to help solve the problem faced by the Kampung Buah Pala residents.
"We are concerned that if prolonged, it would create racial problem in the country," he said in a statement here.
He said the silence and uncaring attitude showed by the opposition-led state government only proved that they were not ready to face the problem, let alone to take on the challenge to solve it.
Mohan said the village, which comprised 41 homes with over 300 residents, was the only Indian Malaysian settlement of over 100 years of age in the state.
Hence, he said the MIC Youth hoped that the issue would not be politicised. — Bernama
SHAH ALAM, 1 July 2009: The High Court will decide which court has jurisdiction to hear competing claims over the body of Mohan Singh al/l Janot Singh on Monday, 6 July 2009.
High Court judge Rosnaini Saub announced this today after the final round of arguments on the matter was made in court today.
Both Mohan's Sikh family and the Islamic authorities of Selangor are claiming the right to Mohan's body.
In today's final submissions, Mohan's certificate of conversion to Islam, produced by the Selangor Islamic Council (Mais), was disputed.
Rosnaini gave Mais which is contending that Mohan converted and died a Muslim, till the end of this week to file the original certificate with the court or obtain a clearer copy. Mohan's lawyers have said the current copy tendered is illegible.
Lawyer Rajesh Kumar, who is representing Mohan's family, earlier submitted to the court that such a certificate of conversion did not exist. The family contends that Mohan never converted to Islam, and died a Sikh.
Rajesh said that till today, Mais has not produced the original certificate of Mohan's alleged conversion on 11 Aug 1992.
Rajesh said that the photocopy of the certificate bore the chop of "Pulau Pinang", where Mohan had supposedly converted. But, his family contend that Mohan never lived there.
Rajesh also told the court that the law governing Penang Islamic affairs in 1992 — which was the Penang Administration of Muslim Law Enactment 1959 — contained no provisions to enable the register of new converts to be accepted as conclusive proof that they had embraced Islam.
Although the enactment was amended in 1993 to allow for conclusive evidence, Rajesh said the newer law did not apply to Mohan as his alleged conversion was a year earlier.
Lawyer K Shanmuga, who is also counsel for Mohan's family, said that there was no evidence than Mohan was registered as a Muslim.
Shanmuga"The certificate of conversion is not confirmation that his conversion has been registered. There is a letter from the Islamic Affairs Department stating his conversion, but it doesn't state that he has been registered."
Shanmuga also noted that the form which a convert fills before receiving a certificate — the Borang Butiran Maklumat Diri Saudara Baru — only contained the first half of his name, Mohan Singh, and not that he was the son of Janot Singh.
Shanmuga said that the family was also disputing the authenticity of Mohan's signature on the form.
Lifestyle factor
Mohan's family is challenging the Sungai Buloh Hospital's decision not to release his body to them for cremation according to Sikh rites, and to let Mais determine if Mohan was Muslim at his time of death.
Mohan, 41, died of a heart attack on 25 May 2009 and his body has been kept at the hospital mortuary pending an outcome of the dispute.
The family contends that after the date of his purported conversion, Mohan married a non-Muslim woman, and they had a child who was given a Sikh name. He also continued to perform Sikh prayers and observe religious festivals, as well as perform Sikh funeral rites at his mother's death.
Referring to case law on Ng Wan Chan v Majlis Ugama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan & Anor in 1991, Rajesh told the court that the judge in that case held that evidence on whether a person behaved like a Muslim was relevant.
The judge then, Tun Mohd Eusoff Chin, had said that even if a person converted, and then behaved as if he or she were not a Muslim, the religious authorities had to show evidence that he or she repented before dying.
Rajesh also said that a copy of Mohan's conversion certificate must not have been given to the National Registration Department (NRD), as his Sikh name was still maintained on his identity card and marriage certificate.
In reply, Mais's lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdulla said there was no need to give a copy of the certificate to the NRD as a name change was not requisite for new Muslims.
"It's a stretch to say that just because he didn't change his name, that he was not a Muslim," Haniff said.
He also told the court that in a similar and more recent case involving the body of Mount Everest climber M Moorthy, the judge had said that evidence of a deceased convert's lifestyle was irrelevant as the matter concerned Islamic law.
Hanif (left) and Rajesh
Locus standi
Another member of Mohan's family's legal team, Fahri Azzat, rounded up submissions on the family's right to be a party to the dispute for the body.
Fahri was replying to Haniff's earlier argument that the non-Muslim family members could not be a party to the dispute because the core issue was religious status, which only the syariah court could decide.
Fahri said the Ng Wan Chan case, in which a wife challenged the religious council for her Buddhist husband's body, was precedent that the civil courts could determine a person's religious status.
"It shows that the civil court can make a finding of fact on his religious status. It has happened before and can be done."
Fahri added that Mohan's family as next-of-kin were in the best position to give evidence on whether he practiced Islam, and that the only court they could appear in as non-Muslims was the civil court.
Fahri also cited the Federal Constitution's General Orders and the Malaysian Human Tissues Act 1974 which both held that the closest and surviving next-of-kin had a "natural interest" in a deceased person's remains.
Calling Mais a "stranger organisation", he said the council "just wants to do one thing — to bury it [the body]".
Fahri also told the judge that "no one would be prejudiced" if Mohan was not buried as a Muslim.
"It is my submission that howsoever a Muslim is buried is completely irrelevant to the authenticity of their faith or hereafter. Isn't a person judged on what they did when they are living, not after they are dead?" Fahri said.
ALOR STAR, 1 July 2009: After the conflict between the DAP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) in Penang, the Pakatan Rakyat government may be facing yet another challenge in Kedah.
Kedah DAP chairperson Thomas Su Keong Siong has threatened that the party no longer found it necessary to be in the Pakatan Rakyat government in the state as many decisions made by the state government did not take heed of the other component parties.
He said the latest case involving the demolition of a pig abattoir by the Alor Star Municipal Council showed the weakness of Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak in resolving problems.
He said the abattoir operator had appealed to the state government for time to shut down, but the appeal was not entertained.
"The state government should have settled the problem wisely, taking into account the interests of the Tiong Hwa community in the area as all they wanted was some time to get a more appropriate site. But the council demolished the abattoir," Su told reporters here today.
A team of council enforcers demolished the abattoir in Taman Berjaya following complaints from residents of a nearby housing area.
Su also cited the earlier 50% bumiputera quota for housing policy, imposed by Azizan, that did not take into account the views of component parties.
He said these issues had been discussed in a special party meeting recently, adding that the DAP would not hesitate to leave the coalition.
Su expressed disappointment with the PAS-led state government, charging that it was not capable of resolving various problems of the people.
The developer for the Oasis project, Nusmetro, says the High Chaparral villagers have until 2 Aug to leave the land, according to a media source. The developer is drawing a firm line in the sand.
The uncertainty over the fate of the Oasis project appears to have unnerved those interested in the condos. Check out their latest comments on this property :-
The Oasis condominium located at Gelugor, off Jalan Yeap Choy Ee in a residential neighbourhood with easy accessibility to Bayan Lepas, the mainland and Georgetown.
The development is well-served by numerous retail stores including Tesco and Queensbay, as well as hospitals, clinics, schools and University Sains Malaysia (USM). Nearby neighborhoods include Minden Heights, Taman Gelugor, Taman Brown, Taman Pekaka and University Place.
Location : Gelugor Type : Condominium Tenure : Leasehold Built-up Area : approx. 1,041 to 1,183 sq.ft. Developer : NUSMETRO VENTURE (P) SDN BHD
The Bar Council on 30 June 2009 submitted a revision application pursuant to Section 35 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 in respect of the sentence imposed on Muhammmad Syafiq Abd Wahab, to YA Dato’ Mohamad Zabidin bin Mohd Diah, the High Court Judge in the Criminal Division of the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
It was reported in the Star newspaper on 26 June 2009 that the Sessions Court judge had sentenced Mohammad Syafiq to be whipped and that the judge would carry out the whipping himself. The Bar Council was concerned on the issue of separation of powers and the conflict between the duty of a judge and that of an executioner arising from the sentence.
Muhammad Syafiq was convicted of armed robbery, and Judge Zainal Abidin Kamaruddin imposed the sentence pursuant to Section 293(1)(c) of the Criminal Procedure Code. He also ordered Muhammad Syafiq to carry out 200 hours of community service.
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who faces trial this month on sodomy charges, said his Pakatan Rakyat alliance would survive even if he is convicted and jailed.
Anwar has rejected the allegations levelled by a 23-year-old former aide as a conspiracy to derail his plan to topple the government.
He was found guilty of separate sodomy and corruption charges a decade ago in a case widely seen as politically motivated. In 2004 the sodomy conviction was overturned, allowing Anwar to go free after six years in jail.
“There is no question of the Pakatan Rakyat continuing, surviving. It will continue to defend the rights of the people and challenge the government, gaining strength from any conviction made against me,” Anwar told AFP.
“In fact I think a conviction against me will enrage a lot of people,” he said after a political rally late Tuesday.
“I am ready for all eventualities and prepared to face attacks — expect the best and prepare for the worst.”
Anwar addressed a crowd of more than 2,000 supporters in a stadium outside the capital in a three-hour rally organised by his opposition alliance to show their solidarity for him.
Anwar’s Keadilan party has joined forces with the conservative Islamic party PAS and the Chinese-based Democratic Action Party in an alliance which gained unprecedented ground against the ruling coalition in national polls a year ago.
After seizing control of a third of seats in parliament, it is now vowing to unseat the Barisan Nasional coalition — which has ruled Malaysia for half a century — in the next general elections.
However, Anwar’s political success story has faced a formidable challenge with fresh sodomy allegations that could see him jailed for 20 years.
The sex act, even between consenting adults, is illegal in predominantly Muslim Malaysia. Anwar’s trial will begin on July 8 and he has already said he fears he will not get fair treatment.
Anwar served as deputy prime minister for the Barisan Nasional until he was sacked in 1998 and jailed for sodomy and corruption.
IPOH: Police maintain there was no foul play behind the death of drug suspect Choong Soy Soy at the Bercham police station lockup on June 27.
Ipoh OCPD Asst Comm Azisman Alias said his investigation officers have recorded statements from the inmates saying that Choong had indeed slipped and fallen in the toilet between 9am and 10am that day.
ACP Azisman said the inmates heard a loud noise and found Choong on the floor.
“The suspect was still conscious and was able to talk when we found him after the accident,” ACP Azisman said on Wednesday.
“He also declined to go to the hospital and said he was alright,” he said.
Choong was sent to the hospital after policemen noticed that he was bleeding from the nose, said ACP Azisman.
Choong fell into a coma two days after being admitted to the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital where he died on Tuesday morning, he said.
ACP Azisman said the case was investigated as sudden death and a post-mortem report would be submitted by the hospital to the police soon.
Slipped and fell in the toilet.
Statements taken from other inmates. Who probably witnessed what really happened to Choong.
Slipped and fell………….
>:(
This is getting to be a trend. Let’s see how the government responds.
THE appointment of Fox Com-munications as the Royal Police Force (PDRM) public relations consultant was through ‘open quotation’, said the Home Ministry.
Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, in his written reply to Wee Choo Keong (PKR - Wangsa Maju), said the appointment was for six months with a monthly fee of RM33,250.
On the rationale of acquiring the consultant service, Hisham-muddin said public relations between the force and public had to be developed in a more comprehensive and synergised manner.
“It is very critical to fix the negative perception from the people and baseless criticism from the media against the force,” he said.
Wow. That’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard in a while. And as you can probably imagine, I hear a lot of stupid things.
So. PRDM.. I’m sorry, PDRM - with all these deaths in detention amongst other things - has an image problem. What do we do?
Hire PR consultants to fix it :| For RM 200,000 :|
The bad image of the police does not arise from PR ignorance or lousy media relations.
It arises from the section of the force that is corrupt, abuse their powers, cause and allow death in custody, fail to provide public safety, make fun of crime victims who show up to report crimes, and so on. Fix that, then - and only then - do you fix the image problem.
To me, this epitomises the BN mindset. When they find shit (please pardon my French) on their hands, they completely ignore the option of cleaning the shit up.
Instead, they throw hundreds of thousands of ringgit at cronies (I think we all know the ex-NSTP connections of Fox Communications) to try and persuade the world that what is on their hands is not in fact shit, but roses.
Shit, my friends, cannot pass for roses.
So, what will we have at the end of this Musa/ng-led PR exercise?
Shit will still be shit, no one will believe it to be roses, the rakyat will be out RM 200,000 and some BN cronies will be RM 200,000 richer.
Ah, business as usual in BN bolehland.
The government should keep that money and get more patrol cars, hire more personnel, and invest in ways to make sure that cops don’t take bribes, or beat up helpless prisoners. *That* will go some way into turning shit into roses, not throwing money at Fox bleeding Communications.
PR consultants indeed. For my money, I think you should get the other PR (Pakatan) to run the show instead :P
KUALA KRAI, July 1 (Bernama) -- For the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the Manik Urai state assembly seat by-election this July 14, Tuan Aziz Tuan Mat, 39, going down to ground to listen to villagers' problems is not an alien matter.
This is because such activity was always carried out by him when he served as South Kelantan Development Authority (Kesedar) project monitoring division manager in Gua Musang.
He felt no difficulty interacting with the various levels of people including the elderly while going house to house in Kampung Lata Rek and Kampung Laloh, here Wednesday.
"For both the villages, the main problem was difficulty in getting clean water supply and disruption in supply," he told reporters after the visit.
Tuan Aziz promised to solve the problem if the BN was given the mandate in the by-election. The by-election is being held following the death of Ismail Yaakob, 60, of Pas on May 22 due to a heart attack.
PAS is fielding fish wholesaler, Mohd Fauzi Abdullah, 50, who is also the Kuala Krai Pas division treasurer.
A group of 20 Hindraf supporters gathered staged a peaceful protest in front of the Perak DAP headquarters at Medan Istana at 4.30pm. More update on timely basis available at
June 15, MCA-owned newspaper The Star quoted a statement on www.pkfznews.com.my and reported that Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat had agreed to provide every Member of Parliament a copy of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Position Review on PKFZ, including the appendices.
Reportedly, 300 copies of the report were to have been sent to the Parliament by June 15, following a request on June 12 from the Parliament Secretary.
June 22, Minister Ong reiterated that the 300 copies of the PwC report had been sent to the Parliament, and it was up to the Secretariat to distribute it to the MPs.
The current Parliament session will end tomorrow. But the said report has not been to us MPs.
SUMMON TO TESTIFY. Meanwhile, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), an instrument of the Parliament, will summon four personalities involved in the PKFZ scandal to testify in an investigation within the next two weeks.
The foursome are Ling Liong Sik, Chan Kong Choy, Ong Tee Keat -- all are MCA presidents at some point in time -- and Tiong King Sing, the CEO of Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB) and Barisan Nasional Backbenchers club chairman.
However, one woman was missed out in the PAC summon for testimony.
OC Phang, the chairman of PKFZ cum Port Klang Authority (PKA) general manager who served the said three Transport Ministers (read: MCA Presidents) throughout the material time PKFZ was being cooked, was not called.
We really want to know through OC Phang if it was Ling, or Kong Choy, who had signed away the government's rights by issuing letters of support, or letters of guarantee, to underwrite risks of the project falling through.
Will Tee Keat hang his two ex-Presidents to dry in order to save MCA from the quandary?
They are not doing this with East- timor delegates but it is just piece of low class mentality that they want to show other. This country will appear as Pakistan , Sudan and Somalia one day.
Speaking to reporters at the village today, Tharmaraj accused Lim of being more keen in protecting the company's interest rather than that of the people's.
He said Lim should have considered second legal opinions expressed by other lawyers such as Hindraf leader P Waythamoorthy, the village legal adviser Cecil Rajendra and even Balik Pulau parliamentarian Yusmadi Yusoff (left).
He said the villagers only now realised that their forefathers were duped by their own government to terminate their land ownership and turn the land into a TOL village.
