PRM has not confirmed on creating Third Force with NGOs, says President

(Malaysian Digest) - Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) President Dr Rohana Ariffin today said that the party has not confirmed any move to join forces with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to offer itself as the 'third force' for the next general election.

Referring to a statement made by PRM's vice-president Koh Swe Yong in the Sun Daily yesterday, Dr Rohana said it was a statement made in his own capacity, and not a statement by PRM's central administration.
"Not a statement made by the party... it's a statement made by Koh's own capacity.

"The authenticity of PRM comes from statements made by the party's three leaders – president, deputy president and the secretary-general," she said when contacted by Malaysian Digest today.

She said, as far as the party is concerned, the decision to work with other groups is still in the process of discussion. She added that the same goes for the decision on the three parliamentary seats in Balik Pulau, Selayang and Petaling Jaya Selatan as to whether it is just a suggestion or an open negotiation because the party wishes to avoid three-cornered fights.

"We are still in the process of negotiation and have not confirmed anything yet... We are still working it out," she said when asked to comment on the possibility of the party working together with NGOs and contesting in the three parliamentary seats.

Nevertheless, Dr Rohana said other parties should not misconstrue the party's suggestion to contest in the general election.

However, she said for now PRM is planning to reestablish the party again by reactivating the branches in few states of the country.

"But for now our main focus is to rebuild the party by activating its branches in various states including Kedah, Penang, Pahang and Johor," she said.

Yesterday, the Sun Daily reported a statement from Koh that PRM is planning to join forces with more than 10 NGOs to offer themselves as the third force in the next general election.

However, according to a report in China Press on Dec 5, the third force’s (parties not under Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat) candidates will be contesting under the PRM banner, and the party has identified three parliamentary seats in the Klang Valley to contest in.

Apabila Sistem Kehakiman Rapuh: Di Mana Keadilannya?

Saya tidak mengetahui apa yang sebenarnya berlaku, saya juga tidak tahu sejauh mana kebenaran pihak yang mendakwa mahupun kebenaran pihak yang membela DSAI. Tetapi saya beriman yang Allah Maha Mengetahui, Maha Berkuasa dan Maha Pemutus. Saya beriman yang banyak perkara di dalam hidupan dunia yang kebenarannya bersifat nisbi; kecuali kebenaran mutlak yang menyelamatkan , ianya berpunca dari perkhabaran Allah dan Rasul-Nya.

Bagaimanapun ketika membaca al-Quran dalam usaha mengkhatam al-Quran dalam bulan Ramadan yang mulia ini pada minggu yang telah berlalu, ayat ke 71 Surah Yunus terlekat di ingatan saya sehingga kini, ketika membacanya saya terlintas "apakah terdapat persamaan antara message terkandung di dalam ayat ini dengan keadaan yang dihadapi oleh DSAI?" - "Apakah sehinggakan perkara semasa sebeginipun, begitu jelas persamaannya dengan message di dalam al-Quran?" - "Atau kerana kecenderungan tertentu, maka saya pun sengaja mahu melihat dari sudut yang melegakan lantas mengiyakan perhitungan saya?" -
واتل عليهم نبأ نوح أذ قال لقومه ياقوم أن كبر عليكم مقامى وتذكيرى بئايات الله فعلى الله توكلت فأجمعوا أمركم وشركاءكم ثم لا يكن أمركم غمة ثم اقضوا ألى ولا تنظرون

"Dan bacalah (ya Muhammad) ke atas mereka (kaum kafir Makkah) berita tentang Nuh. Ketika dia berkata kepada kaumnya: "wahai kaumku, jikalaulah menjadi keberatan (ancaman) besar ke atas kamu dengan kehadiran (kedudukan) aku (di kalangan kamu) serta peringatan yang aku beri dari ayat-ayat Allah, maka kepada Allah lah aku bertawakkal. Maka (oleh itu) sepakatkan keputusan di kalangan kamu serta sekutu-sekutu kamu (untuk memusnahkan aku), kemudian janganlah jadikan perkara kamu itu kabur (terselindung; berterus terang sahaja lah tentang tujuan kamu ), kemudian laksanakan atas aku (apa-apa yang telah kamu putuskan itu) dan jangan kamu bertanggung-tangguh lagi".

Perkara yang sama juga telah dinyatakan oleh tukang-tukang seher di zaman Saiyyidina Musa, apabila mereka sudah tahu maksud perbicaraan yang mereka akan lalui, ugutan siksaan yang dikenakan atas mereka oleh Firaun. Mereka mengungkapkan dengan penuh keimanan dan ketegasan, kenyataan itu telah diabadikan oleh al-Quran dalam ayat 71-72 Surah Taha :

قالوا لن نؤثرك على ما جاءنا من البينات والذى فطرنا فاقض ما أنت قاض أنما تقىضى هذه الحيوة الدنيا أنا ءامنا بربنا ليغفر لنا خطايانا وما أكرهتنا عليه من السحر والله خير وأبقى

Mereka (tukang-tukang sihir yang kemudiannya telah memeluk Islam ) berkata: Kami sekali-kali tidak akan melebihkan (ugutan) engkau atas bukti-bukti yang nyata (tentang kebenaran Saiyyidina Musa) yang telah datang kepada kami dan daripada (Allah) yang menjadikan kami; maka berhukumlah dengan keputusan yang telah engkau putuskan, sesungguhnya engkau hanya berhukum pada kehidupan di dunia ini (sahaja; kerana kelak kamu juga akan menerima hukuman) . Sesungguhnya kami telah beriman kepada Tuhan kami, semoga Dia mengampuni kami bagi kesalahan-kesalahan kami dan apa yang engkau paksa ke atas kami dalam melakukan sihir, sesungguhynya Allah lebih baik (balasan -Nya) dan lebih kekal (siksaan-Nya)
Allah juga merakamkan kenyataan Saiyyidina Hud yang dimusuhi oleh orang kafir kerana mereka mengatakan baginda menghina sembahan-sembahan mereka, Saiyyidina Hud menyatakan dalam ayat 55-56 Surah Hud:

قال أنى أشهد الله واشهدوا أنى برىء مما تشركون من دونه فكيدونى جميعا ثم لا تنظرون أنى توكلتو على الله ربى وربكم ما من دابة ألا هو ءاخذ بناصيتها أن ربى على صراط مستقم


Saiyyidina Hud berkata: "sesungguhnya aku bersaksi kepada Allah dan bersaksilah oleh kamu sekelian bahawa sesungguhnya aku berlepas diri dari apa yang kamu syirikkan selain daripada-Nya, oleh itu laksanakan tipu daya sekelian kamu ke atas aku, janganlah kamu bertangguh lagi (laksanakan segera perancangan kamu), sesungguhnya aku telah bertawakkal kepada Allah Tuhanku dan Tuhan sekelian kamu, Tiada suatu binatangpun yang melata kecuali Allah yang memegang ubun-ubunnya, sesungguhnya Tuhanku di atas Jalan Yang Lurus.


Dalam rakaman kenyataan-kenyataan di atas , kita dapat perhatikan gambaran menyeluruh tentang suasana apabila sistem kehakiman (pemutus hukum) tidak lagi bersikap objektif; sudah ada hukuman yang telah sedia dirancang untuk dihukum tanpa mengira kekuatan hujjah bagi pihak yang dituduh. Kemungkinan juga pihak penguat-kuasa peraturan dan beberapa pihak lain bersekutu dan berserongkol dalam menentukan yang dituduh akan tetap dihukum dengan hukuman yang telah diputuskan sebelum perbicaraan. Maka ketika itu apa lagi maknanya penghujjahan dan segala pembuktian, kerana hukuman bukan lagi bergantung atas hujjah tetapi mengikut pihak yang berkuasa.


Dalam keadaan itulah Rasul dan orang yang teguh imannya meminta pihak yang sedemikian agar tidak bertangguh-tangguh lagi, berselindung di sebalik 'procedures', bahkan segerakanlah laksanakan hukuman yang mereka telah rancangkan itu. Mereka tidak merasa terancam kerana mereka telah sandarkan keyakinan mereka yang utuh kepada Allah. Mereka melihat hukuman yang akan dikenakan ke atas mereka oleh pihak penguasa yang zalim itu tiada tara berbanding dengan ganjaran pahala menegakkan Tauhid, kebenaran serta memperteguhkan kesabaran serta siksaan kerana kesyirikan, kemaksiatan dan kezaliman. Kalau tidakapun apa lagi ada pilihannya?

Ya Allah selamatkan kami dari bala yang dahsyat seumpama ini, atau sekiranya kami ditakdirkan menghadapinya maka Engkau perteguhkan iman kami, Engkau tinggatkan tawakkal kami kepada Engkau serta Engkau tariklah ubun-ubun kami ke arah keselamatan.

Ya Allah selamatkan pihak penguasa kami, tanahair kami dari bencana seumpama ini, Ya Allah suburkan keimanan, kebajikan dn keadilan di tanahair kami serta Engkau peliharalah penguasa kami daripada melakukan kezaliman dan kemaksiatan kepada Engkau. Y a Allah jadikan kami hidup mengikut Syariat Engkau dan di atas Sunnah Nabi-Mu, Saiyyidina Muhammad.

* Semoga saya masih memelihara pesan guru-guru saya agar mengelak diri dari menceburi politik, semoga catitan ini akan membawa manafaat kepada saya dan saudara-saudara seagama tanpa prejudice politik kepartian. Amin

Malaysia: new Bill threatens right to peaceful assembly with arbitrary and disproportional restrictions

GENEVA (7 December 2011) – A group of United Nations independent experts warned that a new Peaceful Assembly Bill in Malaysia may “arbitrarily and disproportionately restrict the right to assemble peacefully.” The restrictions range from a ban on street protests and a prohibition on non-citizens and citizens under 21 years of age to assemble peacefully, to conditional access for media to public gatherings.

“Many of these restrictions are not justifiable under international law,” said the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, expressing his deep regret that “neither the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM), nor civil society was meaningfully consulted in the drafting of this Bill.”

According to the proposed legislation, which contains a vague definition of assembly, there would also be broad restrictions and conditions on gatherings and a restrictive notification procedure. The Bill gives excessive authority and power to law enforcement officials and the Minister in charge of home affairs on matters related to assemblies, as well as full discretion to the police to make any form of recording of assemblies.

“The right to assemble and protest peacefully is an essential safeguard for the defence of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any pluralistic society,” said the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya. “I am particularly alarmed by the provision prohibiting citizens under 21 years of age to assemble. Political and social participation through peaceful protests are not only an educational experience for children, youth and students but also an investment for society as a whole.”

The Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of expression, Frank La Rue, urged the Government of Malaysia to seriously reconsider the adoption of the bill, which would contravene international human rights standards. “The ability of all individuals to express themselves freely, including in the form of peaceful assemblies, is a litmus test for the level of democracy in any country,” he said recalling a previous call of concern on the Government’s response to the Bersih 2.0 demonstrations in November.* 

“Under international human rights law, ‘everyone’ has the right to freedom of assembly and association, without distinction of any kind, including nationality,” said the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau. “I am deeply concerned at the provision of the draft law which prohibits non-citizens to organize or participate in a peaceful assembly. I appeal to the Government of Malaysia to urgently review the Bill to ensure its compliance with fundamental human rights.”

The group of UN independent experts warned that “with this legislation, people in Malaysia may not be able to express their dissent in public spaces without fear of being detained or sanctioned.”

(*) “Malaysia: Government risks undermining democratic progress, say UN experts” 

ENDS 

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Sabah MIC To Ensure Indian Votes Go To BN

KOTA KINABALU, Dec 8 (Bernama) -- Sabah MIC tonight pledged to ensure that Indian votes in the state will go to the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the next general election.

Its chairman, Datuk V. Jothi, said the state MIC would hold a meeting on Sunday to discuss the matter, particularly updates from the divisions and branches on the preparation for the election.

"Although the Indian community is a minority in Sabah, the State MIC recognises that every vote counts in the next election and we will make sure that their votes will go to the BN," he said in his remarks at a function to hand over a RM50,000 grant to the Sri Subramaniyar Temple in Lok Kawi near here.

Jothi said the MIC would work closely with the other BN component parties to secure maximum support from the people in Sabah, dubbed as the "fixed deposit" of the BN.

"Sabah MIC has been regularly going down to the ground to touch base with our members and the Indian community in general," he said.

Jothi said the RM50,000 grant was part of the RM400,000 special federal allocation approved by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin during the State MIC Deepavali open house here on Oct 30 this year.

Jilted woman hires goons to rape lover's wife for three days

An Egyptian woman whose marriage proposals were constantly turned down by her lover, devised a malicious plan to avenge him.

She allegedly hired goons, had them kidnap his wife and ordered them to rape her in front of her as she sat looking. After three days, she asked the men to dump her naked on the road in front of her lover's house. She then called her lover and told him where he could find his wife, reported 'Al Youm Al Sabea'.
The man, a trader, allegedly had an illicit relationship with the woman. He visited her at her apartment in Helwan suburb in Cairo more than once for sex, the report added.

Apparently the woman had been sending the trader threatening SMS after he refused to marry her. She even had warned him that she would take revenge if he did not make her his wife. But he did not agree.

Angry at being dumped, she hired four men who kidnapped his wife under the threat of knives. They sedated her and held her captive in an apartment in Helwan area for three days where they continuously raped the woman before her. After a couple of days, she called her lover and told him that his wife was with her and was being raped. She also threatened to kill his wife if he informed police. He pleaded with her to have his wife back and agreed to marry her.

The trader told police that he found his wife lying naked and tired on the road. He rushed her to a hospital first before filing a police complaint.

BN & PR there is no differences........ Hindraf

Minimum wage to be more than RM740

Neither the Human Resource Ministry nor its minister Dr S Subramaniam are involved in the final decision on the minimum wage policy.
INTERVIEW

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s minimum wage policy, which is scheduled for announcement before Dec 31, will most likely see starting salaries fixed at between RM740 and RM1,200.

Human Resources Minister Dr S Subramaniam said that this was the range he was expecting the National Wage Advisory Council (NWAC) to come up with.

He added that the NWAC was in its final stages of deliberation.

“We have given the council till the end of the year. Definitely it will be above RM740 which is the poverty line.

“The World Bank and other studies has cautioned us that any figure above RM1,200 could have some challenging impacts on our economy.

“So the final figure could be anywhere between these two,” Subramaniam told FMT in a recent interview.

He also said that certain economic advisors had cautioned against a minimum wage set from RM1,100 and beyond that.

“They say as you move from RM1,100 and above, the risk of unemployment, the risk of being non-competitive and risk of inflation becomes higher,” he said.

Subramaniam, however stressed that the final decision on the minimum wage figure was not up to him or the ministry.

“The NWAC will decide. It is for the council to look at this figures and decide which level of risk we want to take,” he said.

‘I am not involved’

The NWAC, which has been deliberating on the minimum wage for the past couple of months, is “completely free from government interference”, said Subramaniam.

“I’m not involved, I’m not a member of the council. There is no politician, or anybody, involved.

“It is a fairly independent council consisting of workers, employers and some independent people,” he said.

While he said there are government officials within the council, their task was mainly to look at policy issues and national economic goals.

“Otherwise, to a great extent the decision is made between employers and workers, based on data given to them. It is up to them to make the most appropriate decision,” said Subramaniam.

He hoped that NWAC would come to a conclusion quickly, as the ministry has given the council up to the end of the year to come up with recommendations.

Applauding the introduction of the minimum wage, Subramaniam said it took awhile to convince those who were unhappy with such “radical changes”.

He said minimum wages were needed when the government was confronted with figures that showed nearly 33% of Malaysian workers were earning less than RM700 a month.

Pakatan’s RM1,100 recommendation

The council, established on Sept 15, is currently studying the rate and coverage of minimum wage according to sector, job type, area and territory.

This also includes taking into consideration other factors such as the current socio-economic situation, expenditure, inflation rate and comparing wage structures in other countries.

The council is an independent entity consisting of 23 members from workers and employers unions, government and non-governmental organization (NGO) and is chaired by former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Steve Shim Lip Kiong.

Recently, before Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak announced the national budget, Pakatan Rakyat’s alternative budget, announced by Anwar Ibrahim recently, stated that the opposition coalition intended to have minimum wage at RM1,100.

Below are excerpts from an exclusive interview with Dr S Subramaniam:

There were rumours that when the Prime Minister offered you the post, you were at first hesitant and rejected it. Is this true?

When I was appointed in 2008, Pak Lah (Abdullah Badawi) was the Prime Minister. The ministry that MIC held before was the Works Ministry, so of course the then president S Samy Vellu had actually requested that there should be continuity there. But when that was not given, there was a lot of rumours it could be any other ministry. Frankly, neither the party nor me were aware it could be the Human Resources Ministry. So when the prime minister clarified the reasons (for his decision), he said he felt that the issues of the Indian community in terms of skills, employment, training, and other issues – because they were mainly a working class – can be addressed by the ministry. To some extent that might have been right. It has some direct connection to some core issues pertaining to the Indian community, so whatever it is, the (appointment was a) prerogative of the Prime Minister. The rumours that I rejected it initially is untrue.

How was your transition from being a dermatologist to a minister?

Initially in 2004 I was appointed as parliamentary secretary to Housing and Local Government Ministry. I was a practicing medical specialist, and I felt that I wanted the experience of being a backbencher initially. It so happened that in that particular election, MIC won all the nine seats and the Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi gave posts for seven of us. That was the highest amount of government post MIC had in history. One minister, three deputy ministers and two parliamentary secretaries. So at the time I had some hesitations, because (it was a) sudden transition.

From then on?

I became the party secretary, (was) elected as vice-president (and then after the 2008 general election) I was elected as MIC minister, because among three people who won, I got the highest votes. There were people who were more senior to me who lost – the president, the deputy president, and the vice-president who contested, they all lost. I was the secretary-general. I was nominated as the representative of the party as a minister, that’s how it happened. So 2008 was a shock to us, I could not believe how many of us lost, none of us expected this. Pursuant to that, we’ve accepted the lost. That dented the party very badly. And for that last few years, we’re seeing the dent slowly getting better. The image of the party is getting better.

As a first time minister in the Human Resources Ministry, what were the challenges that you faced?

This is a very important ministry because 1) it provides for the harmony of industrial relations in this country; 2) It has to ensure and regulate the manpower requirements of the country.

Based on these two clear objectives, in the last three years, we’ve actually made quite a lot of changes to the nature and future of workers, in line with concept of harmony. Many (of these) changes (had) never (been) done before.

Some of the radical changes include introducing minimum wage for Malaysia, which is something that is met with a lot of opposing views and ideas and we managed to actually push it across and convince those who are not supportive of it to accept it.

You have mentioned that another issue the ministry is looking closely at is the retirement age, what is being done so far?

We’re now in the middle of drafting a bill to actually fix a retirement age for the private sector. Now it is currently left to individuals. The employer and employee determine (the age as) it is now stated. By and large a lot of employers use 55 years of age (as the time of retirement).

(But) the government has changed, they have improved initially from 55 to 58 and now (have) announced 60 (years). We’re now telling the private sector, look here you cannot be sticking to 55 and you have to change. To impose that, we need legal power. That’s the reason why we’re creating a law to look into this.

Why is there a need to increase the retirement age in the private sector?

The same reason why government decided to do it. Because the lifespan of Malaysians has increased. Age 55 was fixed when our lifespan was between 55 to 65 of years of age, many years ago. (Better) health facilities and improvement of lifestyles have improved our longevity. So people at 55 are still very young, are still able to contribute and now live for a longer period of time.

If you ask them to retire, and be economically non-productive for a long time, its going to be challenging for them. Because the savings which they have probably wouldn’t be sufficient to carry them for a long time. Assuming they retire at 55, and live another 20-30, they wouldn’t have enough savings to cater to all their needs.

So because of that, we needed to increase the productive age group. So this will shorten the period post-retirement, and increase the amount of savings. It’s a global issue and most parts of the world has responded to it, we haven’t.

Of course, with any new proposal, there are proponents and opponents. So that’s why in our ministry, everything we discuss with stakeholders, we don’t impose decisions (made) by ourselves. So we are now having discussions.

Some concerns that have been raised by the workers group, and we’ll see how we can address them so at the end when it is implemented everybody would be able to accept it.

When will the new retirement age to be implemented?

We wanted to do it in this parliament seating itself, but because of these issues (raised by workers), we are still continuing discussions. Once those problems (which were) highlighted have been addressed we will go ahead. We are now aiming for the next parliament session.

These aside, what are some of the other changes you’ve brought about in the ministry since assuming office in 2008?

We’ve recently also passed a regulations on part-time jobs last year. This is to provide for greater flexibility for workers, particularly ladies,to contribute to the labour force. It allows someone who wants to work but has other obligations, to work part-time and at the same time manage their families.

We hope that management and enterprises will create jobs that are of this nature. It is actually in their interest, because there is a lot of skills outside which can be utilized, if they allow people to come in to work 4-5 hours and go home. Rather than having such a stereotyped mind that a worker must come in the morning and stay until late evening and go back.

(Another change is in) the area of sexual harassment in work place. This has been addressed by amendments in Employment Act. We are in the process of addressing the abuses in the contract labour system and hope to come out with suitable guidelines in addressing this issue.

Another (change) is the processing of applications and approvals in Perkeso (also known as Socso). This has been streamlined and the time taken shortened tremendously. Perkeso’s offices are opened in weekends to ensure greater accessibility.

A Return To Work Program has been started under Perkeso to ensure optimal rehabilitation of injured workers and to ensure their early Return To Work. A rehabilitation center is being built in Malacca to provide modern and up-to-date facilities in the field of rehabilitation.

We are reviewing present Perkeso benefits and how the processes can be improved and greater benefits be given to the workers.

Human Resource Development Center has been started under the PSMB and will contribute towards better and more modern management of human resources in SME’s and lead to increased productivity.

We feel modernization of human resources management will lead to better management and increase productivity amongst the SME’s.

In the area of Skill Training; we have setup a council to provide a better coordination, rationalization and optimization of resources amongst the various skill training providers in the country. From being supply driven, we are transforming skill training to be demand driven.

Greater involvement of the industry in skill training will ensure the skill sets will meet the present and future demands of the industry. Additional funds have been given to provide training for unemployed graduates, school-leavers and dropouts.

A new program has been introduced to allow greater opportunities for Malaysian workers to upgrade and update their skills.

Also, the time taken for resolutions of industrial relations disputes has been reduced tremendously. We are having serious discussion with the stakeholders to reduce the time taken to resolve the disputes,including the time taken to refer cases to the industrial court.

Report lodged against Thanendran, ROS

Malaysian Makkal Sakthi Party members want MACC to investigate its president and the ROS for fraud.

SHAH ALAM: Embattled Malaysian Makkal Sakthi Party (MMSP) members today lodged a report against party president RS Thanendran with the MACC here at Shah Alam, Selangor.

They were led by the party’s incumbent acting president A Vathamoorthy, R Kannan (secretary-general) and Youth wing chief N Ramu.

In their report, they alleged that Thanendran colluded with the Register of Societies (ROS), who they also named in the report, of fraudulently amending the party’s constitution.

Also present were former Hindraf ISA detainee VGanapathy Rao and PKR Puchong divison chief S Murali.

“MMSP was formed by 10 key Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) members to uplift the Indian community and strive to meet their aspirations,” said Kannan.

Just three months into the party’s official launch by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak in mid-2009, MMSP was split into three rival camps.

One was led by Thanendran, and the other two by former deputy chief (and a claimant to the top post now) Vathamoorthy and Kannan respectively.

Kannan and Vathamoorthy collectively accused Thanendran of misleading members and also misusing party funds.

According to Kannan, Thanendran and his brother RS Ramesh, a former vice president, spent an estimated RM500,000 on the party’s official launch.

When the MMSP central committee urged Thanendran to reveal the accounts, the latter refused to disclose details of the expenditure.

“When the committee was about pass a vote of no confidence against Thanedran, it also found out that he had colluded with the ROS to amend the party constitution,” said Kannan.

He added that the new constitution amended between Dec 19, 2009 and Jan 4, 2010 gave the party president absolute power to sack and increase the central committee members.

Kannan also accused Thanendran of forging the former’s signature to support the ammendments to the constitution.

“We believe that ROS also played a major role in this matter when it approved the new constitution without referring it to member at the party’s AGM,” said Kannan.

‘Unexplained new-found wealth’

“The ROS also kept mum and did not intervene to resolve the matter,” he added.

Kannan who claimed to represent 12,000 party members said that MACC should move to take action against Thanendran (photo) and the ROS.

Meanwhile, Youth chief Ramu also lodged a separate report against Thanendran over the latter’s alleged ‘new-found’ wealth.

“How did Thanendran, a former Hindraf national coordinator, who was once an odd-job worker become a multi-millionaire within a short period of time?” he asked.

During the Thaipusam festival in Sungai Petani, Kedah earlier this year, thousands of leaflets with details of Thanendran’s alleged wealth surfaced.

His detractors are also claiming that the federal government had awarded hefty contracts to Thanendran for throwing his support behind Barisan Nasional and Najib.

“We want MACC to investigate Thanendran immediately and allow him the chance clear his name,” Ramu told FMT.

Thanendran could not be reached for comments.

Umno man claims his speech twisted

Musa Sheikh Fadzir says he did not suggest abandoning BN partners in Penang.

GEORGE TOWN: Penang Umno’s deputy chairman, Musa Sheikh Fadzir, has threatened to sue two Chinese newspapers for what he said was false and “mischievous reporting” of his speech at the recent Umno general assembly.

He denied that he called on Umno to abandon its Barisan Nasional partners and go solo in Penang in the coming general election, saying he was “shocked by such misreporting” by Kwong Wah Yit Poh and Guang Ming Daily.

He demanded that the two papers retract their articles, publish corrections and apologise within a week. “Or else I will take the necessary legal action.”

He told a press conference here that he had a video recording of his entire speech.

Musa, who heads Umno’s Bukit Mertajam division, said the speech was mostly about the problems Penang Umno was facing.

He also said Umno was now working closely with all BN allies to ensure the coalition’s victory in the state in the coming polls. “We have developed strong solidarity and cooperation among all BN allies. Umno had never and would never abandon its allies.”

He claimed that in 1990, when Umno was the biggest winner in Penang, the party did not insist on the Chief Minister’s post for one of its own, but gave way to Gerakan.

He said he wasswarmed with phone calls from friends and political colleagues following the reports in the two dailies.

“I think the mischievous reporting by both Chinese dailies was to pit me against my BN colleagues,” he added.

SPR mesti laksana 7 lagi tuntutan Bersih – Maria Chin

(Oleh: Masdar Wahid)
KUALA LUMPUR 7 Dis: Gabungan Pilihan Raya Bersih dan Adil (Bersih), menggesa Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya Malaysia (SPR) melaksanakan tujuh lagi tuntutan gabungan itu, kata Ahli Jawatankuasa Pemandunya, Maria Chin Abdullah.
Sambil mengalukan pengumuman SPR melaksanakan dakwat kekal, Maria berkata, kesemua lapan tuntutan tersebut perlu dilaksanakan sebelum pilihan raya umum (PRU) akan datang.
“Jika kelapan-lapan tuntutan Bersih tidak dilaksana sebelum PRU-13, pandangan rakyat dan masyarakat antarabangsa mengenai perjalanan sistem pilihan raya di Malaysia tetap kotor, penuh manipulasi dan berpihak untuk memenangkan Umno BN,” katanya dihubungi Keadilandaily.com hari ini.
Tujuh lagi tuntutan itu ialah membersihkan daftar pemilih, mereformasikan undi pos, kempen minima 21 hari, akses media yang adil untuk semua parti politik bertanding, mengukuhkan institusi awam serta menghentikan politik kotor dan rasuah.
Beliau juga mengulas kenyataan Timbalan Pengerusi SPR, Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar yang memberi alasan bahawa agensi kerajaan itu akan menemui Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan bagi meminta pandangan.
“Ini hanyalah alasan politik SPR yang dikitar semula sejak 2008, walhal Majlis Fatwa sudahpun memutuskan tiada masalah jika dakwat kekal diguna dalam pilihan raya,” tegas Maria.
Menjelang PRU-12, SPR bersetuju melaksana dakwat kekal, namun membatalkannya disaat akhir pengundian dengan alasan memudaratkan ketenteraman awam.
Pada PRU itu, buat pertama kali, Umno BN hilang dua pertiga kerusi di Parlimen selain tumbang di lima negeri.

Has Barisan Nasional Done Enough To Battle It Out In Selangor?

By Alan Ting

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 7 (Bernama) -- As it stands, Selangor remains the toughest state for either side of the political divide to wrest control in the next general election.

For that reason, the race for Selangor has begun in earnest with Barisan Nasional (BN) embarking on various strategies. Its latest campaign, 'Sayangi Selangor, Yakini BN' (Love Selangor, Have Confidence in BN), enters the final push for the state with weekly programmes in various constituencies.

Prime Minister and BN chairman Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who is also Selangor BN liaison chief, has openly stated that he wants BN to win back the country's most developed state.

While the recently-concluded Umno General Assembly seems to put the fighting spirit back into the largest BN component party, especially its members having a better sense of purpose about wresting back Selangor, some political observers are wondering whether BN components are doing enough to get the voters' support.

Selangor's electorate is said to be the most sophisticated and discerning in the country, as reflected by the relatively high Internet penetration and well-educated population.

Of the 56 state seats in Selangor, an estimated 60 per cent are solidly Malay-majority constituencies while the rest are either Chinese-majority or mixed seats. BN currently has 20 seats and it needs only nine more to regain power.

Of the seats up for grabs, 35 are for Umno to contest, 14 for MCA, four for Gerakan and three for MIC.

In the 2008 general election, Umno won 18 of the 35 seats it contested while Gerakan and MIC, contesting four and three seats, respectively, failed to capture even one.

MCA secured only two of the 14 state seats and one of the seven parliamentary seats it contested.

State Umno leaders have hinted that there are signs in many places that the Malay ground has begun to turn in Umno's favour. However, of concern are areas where Chinese voters account for a substantial number. The Chinese make up about 34 per cent of voters in Selangor while Malays account for 49 per cent and Indians, about 14 per cent.

Some questions beg to be answered. What have Umno's counterparts done to make up for lost ground since the last general election? Have MCA, Gerakan and MIC made good progress since then?

An internal survey in BN indicates a significant swing to BN by Malay and Indian voters although the Chinese are still taking a 'wait-and-see' attitude.

Given this situation, it is incumbent upon MCA and Gerakan to do more. Have they?

A divisional leader from one of the BN component parties claimed that MCA and Gerakan members do not seem to be working hard enough while MIC members have at least, been doing something to reach out to Indian voters.

Selangor BN information chief Datuk Yap Pian Hon said the reason for such a misconception was that there was not much publicity in the mainstream English or Malay language newspapers.

"But you can see our programmes in the Chinese newspapers, sometimes even politicians from both sides (MCA and Gerakan) appear at the same function," he said.

"When one doesn't see the news in the Malay or English language newspapers, there is a tendency to believe that other parties, besides Umno, are not doing anything when actually, we (MCA) have been carrying out a lot of activities with the (Chinese) community," he said.

Yap said that another reason for MCA programmes not attracting media coverage was that they included small group activities like dialogues with the community.

For Selangor MCA secretary Wong Koon Moon, he believes the lack of effective fund distribution to BN component parties has hampered efforts to reach out to more people.

"If you have a good coordinator, then the funding will be equally distributed among all the components," he said, explaining the need for fair and effective distribution of funds.

"I give you an example. When a Chinese organisation invites you for a fund-raising dinner, obviously it is asking for contributions. Even if you can't give much, at least, some amount will do. However, without such allocations, how are you going to contribute at all?," asked the Kuala Kubu Baharu state assemblyman.

Some BN component leaders in the state also shared similar opinions.

They claimed that in some of the constituencies where the BN had been defeated, there were meagre allocations or none at all.

To make matters worse, there were also allegations that some politicians from other component parties had asked their political colleagues to make way and give up their seats since their chances were considered "slim".

"If such is the mentality, how do you want those in the grassroots to reach out to the voters?," asked a BN component leader at a divisional level, who declined to be identified.

In addition, some state BN insiders have conceded that some state leaders had not been doing much to win back the hearts of the voters, especially in areas which had fallen to the Opposition.

Even MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek was reported to have publicly expressed that some MCA leaders in Selangor were "lazy" and were not performing up to expectations.

As the general election draws near, some political pundits feel there is still room to make up for lost time.

Respect elders, ‘newcomer’ Rama told

A DAP division in Penang is peeved with the deputy chief minister for branding party veterans as godfathers and demands a clarification.

BUTTERWORTH: The Bagan DAP division has launched a broadside against Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy for describing party elders as “godfathers”.
According to the division, this is a mark of disrespect and called on the academic-turned-politician to clarify who he was referring to.
The division also urged the leadership to take stern disciplinary action against the “newcomer”.
“Never before has a DAP elected representative criticised party elders as godfathers. Its ‘un-DAP-like’,” said division deputy chairman and Bagan Dalam assemblyman A Tanasekharan.
He said party elders, like national chairman Karpal Singh and Ipoh Timur MP Lim Kit Siang, have been the pillars of strength for DAP over the years.
“They have sacrificed so much and been the backbone of the party, we must respect them. As a newcomer, Ramasamy should not be disrespectful towards the party veterans. He should not act like a warlord,” Tanasekharan told FMT in the presence of the division’s liaison committee members.
Ramasamy, the Penang DAP deputy chairman, told an online media that DAP should get rid of not only warlords but godfathers as well.
He was responding to Karpal’s warning to certain party leaders against becoming political warlords by circumventing the leadership to promise and announce seats for their cronies.
Karpal also cautioned against using the term godfathers to describe veteran leaders, stating that the latter are also needed for the party’s progress.
The row was caused by Ramasamy’s announcement in Tamil newspaper Makkal Osai on Nov 28 that the party will field three Indian women – D Kamachi, P Kasturi (daughter of the late DAP stalwart P Patto), and an unknown lawyer from Penang, K Mangaleswari.
Ramasamy was also quoted as saying that parliamentarians M Kulasegaran (Ipoh Barat), Gobind Singh Deo (Puchong), Charles Santiago (Klang) and M Manogaran, and assemblymen A Sivanesan (Sungkai), A Sivasubramaniam (Buntong), V Sivakumar (Tronoh) and P Gunasekaren (Senawang) were certain of contesting in the coming general election.
According to the article, Ramasamy also announced that he will re-contest both his Prai state and Batu Kawan federal seats, which is against the imminent party’s “one man – one seat” policy.
Although he denied stating it, the Makkal Osai article, sub-titled the report as Ramasamy’s announcement.
Why deny it now?

The unprecedented announcement was described by the Bagan division as running foul of “DAP’s political culture amounting to usurpation of the Central Executive Committee’s (CEC) powers.”
Tanasekharan said the majority of division leaders and members backed Karpal on this matter.
He also questioned why Ramasamy denied making such an announcement only after Karpal’s outburst.
“Instead of accusing the reporters and media of twisting (his remarks), he should have denied the report a week ago,” he added.
Bagan division head and Penang DAP vice-chairman Lim Hock Seng clarified that the CEC is the party’s highest decision-making body to finalise and announce the candidatures.
Under the party selection process, each parliamentary division, in which DAP contests, will submit five fresh names, apart from the incumbents, for the state election committees to consider as candidates.
All incumbents are automatically considered as candidates.
The state election committee will then submit names of shortlisted candidates to the state committee for another vetting.
Finally the CEC will conduct a perusal and has the final say on candidates shortlisted and recommended by the state committees.
Lim said even top national leaders and state chairmen will not be certain of their candidacy until the CEC’s eleventh hour announcement.
Penang DAP chairman Chow Kon Yeow, Ramasamy, Lim, vice chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo and secretary Ng Wei Aik make up the current five-man state election committee.
Lim said the relevant DAP divisions have submitted their candidature proposals for seven parliamentary and 19 state seats to the Penang election committee.
“The committee has not met until today,” he confirmed.
Meanwhile, Tanasekharan said the Bagan division is upset with Ramasamy for doing a (former MIC president S) Samy Vellu by projecting himself as the “DAP Indian leader.”
“DAP never projected anyone as a particular community leader,” he noted.
Ramasamy’s announcement in Makkal Osai is set to take centre stage during the Penang DAP delegates’ conference on Dec 11.

Suhakam probes Cambodian maid’s death

Cambodia's opposition MP says this is the first case filed and accepted officially in Malaysia.

PETALING JAYA: Suhakam has accepted for the first time a complaint from Cambodia over the death of a ninth Cambodian domestic worker in Malaysia.

Pov Nich, 18, arrived in Malaysia on Aug 28. Two months later, her mother was informed by the recruitment agency in Phnom Penh of her daughter’s sudden death.

The agency claimed that Pov Nich collapsed after taking the wrong medicine and died following further complications at the hospital.

On Monday, prominent Cambodian opposition MP Mu Sochua (photo) wrote to Suhakam commissioner, Muhammad Sha’ani Abdullah urging for investigations into the vague circumstances of Pov Nich’s death and employment.

Sochua yesterday received an email from Suhakam confirming receipt of her complaint and informing her that a file has been opened over the matter.

The email was signed by the human rights commission’s Principal Assistant Secretary of the Complaints and Inquiry Division, Ameer Iznayif Hamzah.

“The swift response from the commissioner is very encouraging,” Sochua said. “This is the first case filed and accepted officially and I will be filing similar complaints for all nine deaths of Cambodian domestic workers in Malaysia.”

In her letter to Sha’ani, she also implored for the retrieval and release of information on the reported deaths of Cambodian domestic workers in Malaysia.

“Despite these deaths being officially recognised by the Malaysian authorities, the names and details surrounding the circumstances of these deaths and the agencies involved remain shrouded in secrecy,” she stated.

Suhakam’s acceptance and response of Pov Nich’s case is a significant step forward in Sochua’s fight against the abuse of Cambodian domestic workers in Malaysia as her previous attempts to contact Malaysian authorities have largely been ignored.

Cambodian domestic workers streamed into Malaysia following a three-year freeze on recruitment of their Indonesian counterparts.

Of the 50,000 Cambodian domestic workers currently in Malaysia, 30,000 arrived this year alone.

Tenaganita has rescued 41 of them to date with 56% having suffered physical abuse, 26% sexually abused, 25% malnourished and 42% forced to work double jobs.

However following complaints of abuse, the Cambodian government banned sending their domestic workers to Malaysia in November.

Shias targeted in deadly Afghan shrine blasts

Two bomb blasts apparently targeting Shia Muslim shrines as hundreds of people gathered to mark the day of Ashoura have killed at least 60 people and injured scores more, according to Afghan police and media reports.

At least 56 people were killed by a suicide bomber who detonated explosives at the gate of the Abu-Ul Fazil shrine in the capital Kabul on Tuesday, many of them children, the AFP news agency reported.

Al Jazeera's Jennifer Glasse, reporting from the blast site in Kabul, said police had confirmed the death toll. The ministry off health said that more than 100 people had also been injured.

Ambulances rushed to the scene to take the wounded to hospital while some berated police for allowing the attack to occur on a major religious holiday, our correspondent said.

'Huge explosion'

"I was there watching people mourning when there was suddenly a huge explosion," witness Ahmad Fawad said.

"Some people around me fell down injurefd. I wasn't hurt, so I got up and started running. It was horrible," he said.

In a separate attack, a bicycle bomb near a mosque in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif killed four worshippers, a district police chief said.

A Taliban statement said the group had not been behind either incident.

The Taliban condemned the bomb attacks in Kabul and the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif as the brutal work of "enemies", a spokesperson for the armed group said.

"Very sadly we heard that there were explosions in Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif, where people were killed by the enemy's un-Islamic and inhuman activity," Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement published on their website.

Ahmad Shuja, an Afghan blogger and commentator, based in Washington, told Al Jazeera "there isn't a strong likelihood of sustained violence" as a result of these two bombings.

"We may see a scuffle or two in the streets like, what has happened in [Afghanistan's western city of] Herat in the past but there are a few reasons why it won't lead to sustained sectarian violence," he said.

"No Shia group has the arms, organisation or experience to indulge in sectarian violence based on suicide attacks. They have been disarmed by the Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration (DDR) process and Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) in Afghanistan [as a result they] have been fairly successful of stripping every one of their arms.

"It's important to consider that Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia have in the past supported various Shia and Sunni sectarian groups and could potentially fill that void now."

Karzai flies home

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has cancelled a visit to the UK to return to Afghanistan after the deadly attacks.

Karzai was in Germany on Tuesday evening after attending the international conference on the future of Afghanistan after NATO troops pull out at the end of 2014, in the German city of Bonn, and was later due to travel to the UK.

Earlier he spoke of the unprecedented nature of the attack, saying it was "the first time that, on such an important religious day in Afghanistan, terrorism of that horrible nature is taking place".

Karzai also appealed to Afghanistan's neighbour Pakistan, which boycotted the Bonn meeting, saying it had "a very important role to play in the peace process in Afghanistan".

At Monday's conference, delegates pledged sustained support for Afghanistan for another decade, in exchange for clear progress on good governance.

Pakistan and the Taliban - both seen as pivotal to any end to the fighting in Afghanistan - decided to not attend the talks, undermining already modest hopes for real progress.

Kabul has been targeted by a series of bold attacks in recent months; include assaults on the US embassy, a major hotel and the offices of the British Council.

The blasts occurred as Shias gathered to carry out religious rituals to mark one of the most significant days in their calendar.

Ashoura, a public holiday in Afghanistan, is marked by Muslims as a whole, but for Shia Muslims it is a major religious festival which commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

Shias were banned from marking Ashoura in public under the Taliban. This year, there are more Ashoura monuments around the city than in recent years, including black shrines and flags.

Meanwhile, a bomb placed in a motorcycle exploded in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Tuesday afternoon, injuring three civilians, a spokesmfan for the provincial governor said.

The site of the Kandahar blast was not near any mosque or shrine.

Outcry in The Hague over ‘pedo imam’

Labour Party MP Ahmed Marcouch wants to bar imam Mohamed al-Maghraoui from entering the Netherlands.

The controversial Moroccan imam has been invited to attend a conference in the As Sunnah mosque in The Hague.

Al Maghraoui caused an uproar in Morocco in 2008 when he issued a fatwa approving a marriage with a nine-year-old girl. The fatwa has since been nullified by the Moroccan religious authorities and the controversial imam fled to Saudi Arabia to avoid prosecution. He reportedly repeated his fatwa when he returned to Morocco in 2011.

Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders has also said the imam should not be allowed to visit the Netherlands.
The As Sunnah mosque has repeatedly been the subject of controversy. Earlier, the Salafist As Sunnah Imam Sheikh Fawaz Jneid called on his followers not to integrate into Dutch society.

The mosque has declined to comment on the planned visit by the controversial Moroccan imam.

(gsh/rk) © Radio Netherlands Worldwide

MIC prepared to be colour blind if…

Party deputy president Dr S Subramaniam says MIC is prepared to move in the direction of becoming a multi-ethnic entity if Umno, being the backbone of BN, leads the way.

PETALING JAYA: MIC is ready to evolve from being an Indian-centric party towards one that is multi-ethnic.

Expressing this, MIC deputy president Dr S Subramaniam said political parties in Malaysia must transform in line with the feelings and expectations of the majority.

“The present feeling among the younger generation about multiracial representation has to be respected. And we must allow such a healthy evolution,” he told FMT.

The human resources minister said as far as MIC is concerned, if other parties in Barisan Nasional coalition are willing to do so, then MIC will have “no qualms” going forward in that direction.

However, Subramaniam stressed that Umno, as the biggest coalition partner in BN, has to take the lead.

Last month, MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek said his party is hoping to expand itself beyond being an ethnic-based entity. “We no longer want to be a party which looks at an issue from a Malay, Chinese or Indian perspective,” he had said.

MCA previously proposed a “New Deal” for the country, with Chua saying that a paradigm shift is needed for Malaysians to break out of their “superficial and race-centric cocoon”.

Echoing Chua’s sentiments, Subramaniam said: “I think in the long term, ethnic thinking is not good for the country.”

In the end, he said, the political structures of the country should depend on what the people want at that point of time.

“Our current political structures were determined by the requirements of that particular time in history. We were created more than 60 years ago, even before Independence and communities thought there was a need for them to be represented, MIC came, then MCA,” he added.

Najib is heading that way

Since then, Subramaniam said politics has evolved and now a sizeable number of youths, particularly from the middle class, feel that there must be more “trans-ethnic thinking”.

“There is a greater need to think in terms of national causes that go beyond racial lines,” he said.

Subramaniam said Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is trying to move in that direction with his 1Malaysia concept.

“I think the thinking now is that it has to evolve towards that stage, that is why recently BN introduced clubs, such as the friends of BN, affiliate members, to allow for a greater openness and more people of all races to be involved.

“For a start, more activities and programmes should be allowed under the BN banner to push this evolution, ” he said.

Subramaniam said other component parties should be able to accept such changes, especially Umno leaders at all levels should be convinced.

When asked, the MIC deputy president denied that the current BN system has failed or remains Umno-domninant.

Instead, he said it has been a fair and open system.

“I think nobody in BN can complain that you have never had the opportunity to express yourself. The BN concept is a compensatory mechanism, allowing multiple ethnic-based parties to work within a common national agenda,” he added.

Umno beating the drums for another May 13

What is new and unexpected is the vitriol and venom directed openly and without inhibition at opposition parties and their leaders.
COMMENT

The Umno general assembly has come and gone. Most political observers had expected it to be the usual rah-rah event aimed at rallying Umno members ahead of the coming elections and in support of the leadership of Najib Tun Razak, the party president. They were right.

The public were subject to yet another spectacle of sound and fury on how important the party is to the future of Malays, albeit with the occasional reminder of how indispensable the party is to the well being of all the citizens of the country.

Optimistic observers who had hoped that the party would live up to its rhetoric of being a mature and transformed party of moderation – at least for the duration of this publicly viewed occasion – were disappointed.

The collective breast beating led by the party president and deputy president – on the greatness and goodness of the party compared with the weaknesses and evilness of the opposition – was quite unprecedented in the history of the party’s general assemblies.

The attacks against PAS, PKR and especially the DAP during the meeting have only just begun.

Can we expect it to continue with greater viciousness and spitefulness as Umno leaders fan out into the grassroots to campaign in the next few months leading to the elections?

What should be of concern is not just the running down and bad mouthing of the opposition. This has been the norm in past assemblies, especially those leading up to the elections.

What is new and unexpected is the vitriol and venom directed openly and without inhibition at opposition parties and their leaders.

In many speeches made at the assembly, there appears a concerted attempt at inciting racial and religious emotions and issues and exploiting Malay insecurities with imagined and wildly exaggerated threats of the looming new dawn of non-Malay and Christian dominance for Malaysia should the party fail to win the coming elections.

The many socio-economic and political challenges facing the community and nation – many arising from bad governance, abuse of power, and corrupt practices practiced or condoned by the party and its coalition partners during the decades of Barisan rule – received little mention or attention.

Umno’s ultimate game changer

The question which arises now is whether the party is laying the ground work – deliberately or inadvertently – for the game-changing political development sought after by hard line Umno leaders in case the coming election results do not go Umno’s way.

This game changer is a repetition of the May 13, 1969 racial riots.

In his opening address to the assembly, it is notable that amongst the developments listed by the Prime Minister Najib as influencing the party he referred to the 1969 racial riots as one of the party’s eleven game changers in its past and current history.

What is regrettable is the way in which he appears to condone the racial violence that resulted in authoritarian rule and the suspension of Parliament, and pins the blame for this darkest event in our history squarely on the opposition.

“Let us never be negligent because there are some among the opposition leaders who are stoking flames and slogans to belittle the Malays so that there will be a May 13”.

The PM as the responsible leader of our nation must clarify this statement and allay the anxieties and fears of our citizenry and voters on the possible recurrence of racial violence.

He and his deputy president must never give the impression to Malaysians and to Umno supporters especially that they are seeking to fan or are condoning extremist sentiments in any way whatsoever.

The oblique warning by the prime minister that there is a possibility of another recurrence of racial violence may not have been apparent to political analysts, drowned by the assembly proceedings and verbiage.

However, that this potential game changing option is being contemplated in high circles is beyond doubt.

May 13 was sparked off as a result of election results in which the opposition parties denied the Umno-led Alliance their customary two-thirds majority in Parliament.

Should the coming election fail to deliver the expected victory for Umno, are we to expect hard-line Umno leaders to resist the handing over of power peacefully and to agitate for power by other means?

Opposition made the scapegoat

Ominously, the scapegoat for any new outbreak of racial and religious violence has already been identified – not Umno extremists but those on the other side of the political fence.

Besides being alerted to Umno’s and the BN’s efforts to cling to power through well honed electoral manipulation (especially through massive gerrymandering and mal-apportionment in constituency electoral numbers) and using a combination of divide and rule racial and religious strategies as well as the buying up and harassment of the political opposition, it is important that the public – Malays and non-Malays – pay attention to – but are not intimidated by or co-opted into any attempted deployment of this ultimate game changing solution to the loss of political power.

Neither should the public be confused or taken in by the spinning on who are the patriots and who are disloyal to the country.

Fascistic elements in Umno (as well as various support elite groups in key institutions) will push the line that the best way to deal with the political challenges confronting the party and failure to win the coming elections is to declare emergency rule and to suspend the democratic process.

A return to authoritarian rule a-la the period immediately after the May 13 racial unrest can then be justified in terms of preserving national unity, security and harmony and the thwarting of the enemies of the Malays and Islam.

In reality, it will amount to an Umno led coup and a major setback in the country’s evolution to a normal democratic system.

It is hoped that wise and responsible leadership will prevail in the campaigning during the coming elections. All of us will be losers if the irrational logic and ferocity of the Umno meeting is unleashed on the country in the next few months.

Lim Teck Ghee is the director of the Centre for Policy Initiatives. This article first appeared at the CPI website.

Ramasamy says he is innocent

Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy says Karpal Singh was not targeting him when he said certain DAP leaders had stepped out of line.

PETALING JAYA: Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy dismissed claims that he had announced DAP candidates and seats for the general election.

“It is the prerogative of the party’s central executive committee (CEC) to decide who stands as a candidate. I never promised seats to anyone,” said Ramasamy.

He also denied DAP national chairman Karpal Singh was lashing out at him.

“I still believe that Karpal made a general statement. I will be talking to Karpal on it.

“The news report was twisted to include me,” said Ramasamy, who contacted FMT to respond to a FMT report entitled, “Karpal hits out at DAP warlords”.

The news report published yesterday had Karpal commenting on vernacular press reports about party warlords announcing candidacy and seats.

In particular, Karpal noted that the vernacular newspaper article quoted Ramasamy, a CEC member, as saying that the party had decided to field three Indian women – D Kamachi, P Kasturi, and an unknown lawyer from Penang, Mangleswari.

The article also had allegedly quoted Ramasamy as saying that parliamentarians M Kulasegaran (Ipoh Barat), Charles Santiago (Klang) and M Manogaran, and assemblyman A Sivanesan (Sungkai) were virtually certain of contesting in the coming general election.

According to the article, Ramasamy, the Penang DAP deputy chief, has also claimed that he would re-contest both his Prai state and Batu Kawan federal seats.

On the issue of the three Indian women, Ramasamy said: “I merely stated that they would be considered.”

Ramasamy, who is also DAP’s national deputy secretary-general, denied making statements regarding the four Indian representatives’ chances of re-contesting.

On allegations that he would be contesting both Prai state and the Batu Kawan parliamentary seats, he said:

“The state can nominate but it is the CEC that decides.”

He added that the vernacular press has been speculating on his candidacy for a long time now.

Zaid Ibrahim’s KITA opts out of polls, to back Pakatan

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 6 — KITA, a party founded by former Umno-turned-PKR politician Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, announced today it will not be contesting in the coming polls and promised to offer its “unconditional support” to the federal opposition.

In a statement posted on its website today, the party said it had decided to reverse its earlier decision to contest in the polls as it wanted to maintain solidarity with the opposition and not jeopardise its chances.

“Whilst we disagree with some of the opposition’s policies, we believe that despite these shortcomings the opposition will not destroy racial harmony in Malaysia ... unity demands that smaller parties, such as ourselves, give way to larger political parties to ensure optimum results in the election,” it said.

The party also came out in defence of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) amid the ongoing barrage of Umno-led attacks against DAP as a “racist” party.

During the just-concluded Umno annual general meeting (AGM), delegates took turns to warn against DAP’s purported dominance in PR, claiming if the pact claims Putrajaya, the Malays would lose power to the Chinese.

Calling the accusations “dangerous and irresponsible”, KITA said the statements would only widen current divisions in society.

The Dubious Trial of Anwar Ibrahim

Anwar: Back to prison?

Two years later, the government’s case still looks manufactured
After nearly two years of conflicting and often suspect testimony, the so-called Sodomy II trial of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is scheduled to finish this week in a Kuala Lumpur High Court, with final summations by both sides.

It is a trial that has been condemned internationally by legal scholars and human rights activists as designed to take Anwar out of Malaysia’s political equation.

Political sources in Malaysia have been building several different scenarios. Given the tone of the trial so far, it appears likely that Anwar, the opposition leader of the three-party Pakatan Rakyat, will be convicted despite a vast number of prosecutorial missteps. That would probably make him a martyr in Malaysia because his followers – and many others – believe he is being railroaded into jail on false charges.

Under another scenario, the judge, acting under orders from the government, would declare him not guilty, which would be followed immediately by a prosecutorial appeal, which would keep Anwar embroiled in more months of legal entrapment that diverts time and energy away from leading the three-party Pakatan Rakyat opposition. It would also give the Malaysian judiciary a thin tissue of respectability.

A then-24-year-old aide, Mohamad Bukyairy Azlan Saiful, made the charge on June 29, 2008, shortly after Anwar had led Pakatan Rakyat coalition to a historic sweep of five Malaysian states, winning 82 parliamentary seats in 2008 national elections and breaking the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition's two-thirds majority hold on parliament. He was arrested at his home on July 16 of that year, by a contingent of 10 carloads of police commandos and was locked up overnight in a Kuala Lumpur jail.

The trial, which began in February 2010, has been marred by what appear to be egregious prosecutorial errors and a long series of prejudicial rulings by High Court Judge Mohamad Zabidin Mohamad Diah. Critics say the proceedings appear certain to once again tarnish Malaysia’s reputation in international circles and play a role in destroying whatever confidence there was in the country’s legal system. The case has been condemned by the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union, 60 members of the Australian parliament, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and prominent leaders from Commonwealth nations including Paul Martin of Canada and others.

From the very beginning, when Saiful sought to get doctors to certify that he had been sodomized, doubts began to surface. Saiful first went to a private hospital, where a doctor found no evidence of penetration and told him to go to a government hospital. At the first government hospital, doctors also told him they had found no evidence of tearing or scarring that would have indicated his anus had been penetrated. He was forced to go to a third government hospital where he finally found a physician willing to say the act had taken place.

In the intervening months, as the trial has droned on, an array other doubtful factors have made the case look like it was manufactured to rid the Malaysian political scene of one of its most charismatic figures, and that the country’s court system, never regarded as independent since former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad fired the Supreme Court in the 1980s, was bending over backwards to do the government’s bidding.

Gordon Trowell, in a report for the Inter-Parliamentary Union, pointed out that the charges had been levied just as Anwar was making a spectacular return to the political scene from a long period in the political wilderness following his first sodomy trial in 1999, when he was jailed for six years on charges that have been universally condemned as rigged.

Mistakes made over DNA samples call into question whether the evidence could survive in a rational court of law. Police officials have testified that Saiful didn’t offer to be tested for DNA samples until 56 hours after the alleged incident, and he said he hadn’t defecated during those two days, which could have corrupted the sample.

Other testimony indicated that the samples taken from Saiful were kept unguarded in a police office for 43 hours without refrigeration before they were turned over to the laboratory for analysis. Chemists testified that as many as 10 different DNA samples had been found in Saiful’s rear, making the whole analysis process suspect.

That any samples could be taken from Anwar is also questionable. Under Malaysian law at the time, suspects could refuse to give DNA samples. However, the Dewan Rakyat, Malaysia’s parliament, passed a law repealing the consent requirement after Anwar’s arrest. In most courts, law cannot be applied retroactively.

Although Anwar refused to give a DNA sample, items issued to him during his overnight stay in jail were analyzed and a sample was found. Zabidin in March handed Anwar a major victory by throwing out the purported DNA evidence because it had been taken without his permission. However, a week later, after the prosecution demanded it, Zabidin reversed himself and said the evidence could after all be entered into the court despite the retroactive nature of the law.

Then there is the series of meetings that Saiful has acknowledged in court, at the home of then-Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, on June 24, 2008, two days before the alleged sodomy took place and others with Rosmah's close confidant, the former track star Mumtaz Jaafar, as well.

Saiful also acknowledged meeting secretly twice with Rodwan Mohd Yusof, a senior assistant police commissioner, before the alleged offence took place. Rodwan became famous, or infamous, in Anwar's 1998 Sodomy I trial when he illegally removed Anwar's DNA samples from forensic custody and planted them on a mattress allegedly used by Anwar for a homosexual dalliance. To protect the integrity of the prosecution's case, the presiding judge, Augustine Paul, expunged the entire DNA evidence at the time.

There is also the question of entrapment. Saiful testified that on the day in question he had taken lubricant with him to Anwar’s condominium – hardly the act of an innocent aide who had no idea that the then 63-year-old Anwar was about to jump him for unnatural sex. Surveillance cameras in filmed the former aide in a lift in the building but Anwar said he was having a meeting with a group of economists at the time Saiful allegedly showed up.

But the fact that Saiful went to the condo with lubricant in his pocket, whether he got in or not, is ample indication that he intended to try to lure the opposition leader into a compromising position. It would be questionable whether he tried to do that on his own, and it would dovetail rather smoothly with his meetings with Najib, Rosmah, and the law enforcement officials who put Anwar in jail in 1999.

Trowell in his report called pointed out a flock of other discrepancies. Abdul Gani Patail, the main prosecutor in the 1998 sodomy proceedings that were thoroughly discredited, has been involved in the present case at a time when he was being investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency following allegations of fabricating evidence.

There was an “almost systematic rejection of all defense applications for disclosure of prosecution evidence, which it would need in order to mount the defense,”

There was also the fact that Saiful was having a sexual liaison with Farah Azlina Latif, a female member of the prosecution team, which should have further disqualified him as a complaining witness.

The defense and prosecution have both finished presenting evidence and the opposing sides are scheduled to submit their oral summaries on Dec. 8 and 9. After that the judge will probably take a month or so to deliver his decision. If convicted, Anwar is certain to appeal. Whether he will be allowed bail will again remains to be seen. The process will thus probably go on for an indefinite period.

Unfortunately, what the evidence has shown most clearly is not that Anwar was guilty or not guilty of having what the government termed “unnatural consensual sex” with his former aide. It is rather that the trial was skewed so badly in the government’s favor that the opposition leader demonstrably did not get a fair trial.

Chua: Be clear on hudud

The Star
WANI MUTHIAH, FLORENCE A . SAMY and JOSEPH KAOS Jr at the ‘Hudud and its Implications on Non-Muslims in Malaysia’ forum in Kuala Lumpur

MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek has challenged Pakatan Rakyat to include its stand on hudud and its implementation in its general election manifesto and common agenda.

Pakatan, especially PAS, he said, should be transparent in its stand.

“Right now, there are conflicting signals from Pakatan leaders. Hudud should be in their common agenda since they always never do anything without consulting their partners.

“If the rakyat votes for PAS, DAP or PKR knowing full well that they will implement hudud law, then we should respect it as it is the voters' choice,” he said at a forum entitled “Hudud and its Implications on Non-Muslims in Malaysia” yesterday.

Dr Chua lambasted DAP for its contradictory stand and for misleading the Chinese community, especially with its “agreeing to disagree” statement.

“On one hand, DAP says it opposes hudud. On the other hand, in the last general election and subsequent by-elections, DAP campaigned vigorously to ensure the PAS candidate won,” he said at the forum organised by MCA's Institute of Strategic Analysis and Policy Research.

The forum was moderated by Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee.

Dr Chua reiterated MCA's opposition to hudud and its implementation, adding that hudud law would adversely affect both Muslims and non-Muslims.

“It is a lie that it will not affect us. We have the right to talk about it as it does affect us.

“We do not accept hudud and its implementation in a multi-racial country,” he said.

Explaining the ramifications, Dr Chua said that the implementation of hudud law would affect the country's foreign direct investment, revenue as well as rights of non-Muslims, including gambling and drinking activities.

He dismissed claims by Pakatan that hudud law could not be implemented even if it came into power but did not have two-thirds majority.

He said Muslim MPs from both sides of the divide would be forced to support the Bill although they might not agree with the implementation as hudud was part of Islam.

Dr Chua pointed out that hudud law could not be implemented without amending the Federal Constitution.

“How then can the rights and freedom of non-Muslims be safeguarded? Which court will have jurisdiction which involves both Muslims and non-Muslims as hudud law cannot exist without the existence of Islamic law?'' he asked.

In his closing address, Dr Chua urged non-Muslims to reject the implementation of hudud law because it had great implications on them.

“We also heard the panellists say that the PAS version of hudud does not represent the true essence of Islam.

“Malaysians must make a choice of either choosing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's vision of a high-income nation by 2020 or a failed state run under hudud law,” he added.

On Saturday, Dr Chua had said in Malacca that he had no problem having a public debate on hudud with Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng provided the latter answered two questions first.

He said Lim must first explain to the people if he could ensure the implementation of hudud law would not affect the non-Muslims.

Second, he said Lim must explain if the implementation of hudud law would affect the norms and life- style in Malaysia, especially the economic, education and social system aspects.

Bar Council, Suhakam say A-G glossed over street protest ban

The Malaysian Insider
by Debra Chong

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 — Putrajaya’s speed in passing a new law that bans street demonstrations has stunned the Bar Council and the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) who revealed they were given a far different account of its contents at the draft stage.

The two statutory bodies disclosed too that Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail had sought their views over the controversial Peaceful Assembly Bill but failed to provide them with written copies of the draft before its tabling in Parliament last November 22.

“The Bar Council was not given a copy of the Peaceful Assembly Bill during the consultation stage,” its president Lim Chee Wee told The Malaysian Insider when contacted over the weekend.

He said there were good reasons why the copy was not provided, but could not disclose these because they had sworn to keep it confidential.

It was read out to us, and even then there were differences between the two versions, during consultation and what was tabled in Parliament. Notably, during consultation we were told assemblies in motion were allowed,” he said.

Assemblies in motion, better known as street demonstrations, are barred under the new law to replace section 27 of the Police Act.

It is one of the most controversial aspects of the new law, which was hastened after Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s government was globally panned for its harsh treatment of thousands of demonstrators in the Bersih 2.0 street rally seeking to pressure the prime minister for cleaner and more honest elections.

Lawyer Syahredzan Johan, who also attended the consultation meeting, clarified that the A-G had “glossed over” some aspects in explaining the new law.

The A-G, who prohibited street protests but told the Bar Council he was referring to “riots”, created a more positive impression of the new law, said Syahredzan.

“A riot is not a peaceful assembly, so we could understand why it was prohibited,” said Syahredzan, who helms the Bar’s constitutional law committee.

He added his Bar Council colleagues did not push the government for a black-and-white because they were given the impression there would be further meetings held to “fine tune” the draft.

“We didn’t think it would be tabled so soon. The meeting was two to three weeks; definitely less than one month before the tabling,” he said.

The Bar Council, which represents some 12,000 practising lawyers in the private sector, was taken aback at the government’s haste in pushing the Bill through in the Dewan Rakyat on November 29, just a week after it was tabled.

Lim, who led a lawyers’ march to protest the Bill on the day it was tabled, has urged the government against bulldozing through the plan and urged the Najib administration to set up a parliamentary panel to seek further public consultation.

His proposal has also been picked up by other groups, including Suhakam, whose chief Tan Sri Hasmy Agam has been very critical of the new law.

“Having perused the provisions of the Bill, the Commission is of the considered opinion that amendments to some of the provisions of the Bill must be made to ensure that the right of the people to express themselves through peaceful public assemblies is protected and can be expressed in a manner that meaningly reflects the essence of that right,” he said to The Malaysian Insider in an email.

Hasmy said Suhakam commissioners had two brief meetings with the A-G at the latter’s insistence.

He said it was during the second meeting there were exchanges of views on “elements” of the draft Bill (with the A-G reading portions of but without giving us the text of the draft Bill) during which Suhakam, in its responses, had made it very clear that the provisions of the Bill must be in conformity with universally accepted standards and principles on the concept of "freedom of assembly".

 “Clearly, much of what the Commission had stressed during those two meetings were not taken on board in the final drafting of the Bill,” he said.

The assembly law proposal passed from the Dewan Rakyat to the Dewan Negara on November 29 by the BN votes after the entire Pakatan Rakyat pact staged a walkout.

EC Pledge To Have Most Up-To-Date Electoral Rolls

KUALA TERENGGANU, Dec 6 (Bernama) -- The Election Commission (EC) today pledged to make available a most up-to-date electoral rolls for the next general election.

Its deputy chairman, Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, said the EC was working with the National Registration Department to remove from the rolls the names of people who have died.

"The EC has all along given serious attention to cleaning up the electoral rolls," he told reporters after a briefing session for returning officers, assistant returning officers and election assistants in Terengganu, here.

"The process of cleaning up the rolls is a daily process," he said.

Wan Ahmad said the number of registered voters for the whole country now was about 12.4 million.

He advised people who have yet to register as voters to do so now so that they will get to exercise their right in the next general election.

He said that for the next general election, the EC would set up 342 polling centres in Terengganu, 332 of them in school buildings.

He also said that the EC would set up 1,145 polling streams and appoint more than 9,000 election workers, the majority of them teachers who have had the experience of serving in past elections.

Wan Ahmad said the election budget for Terengganu would be RM6.5 million from the total national budget of RM300 million for the next general election.