NGO calls for panel to tackle stateless woes

Proham suggests that an independent board be set up before the general election.

PETALING JAYA: A human rights organisation has urged the government to establish an independent panel to help stateless people acquire proper documentation.

“This must be a priority,” said the Association for the Promotion of Human Rights (Proham) in a media statement today. It suggested that the panel be set up before the 13th general election.

The statement also said the panel must include representatives of federal agencies and civil society organisations that are working on documentation concerns and must “review all current laws, procedures and forms used to ensure all these are consistent with the Federal Constitution and human rights.”

It suggested that the panel review the role of the National Registration Department (NRD) “to ensure it reflects the PM’s 1Malaysia and People First agenda.”

“The issue of documentation is not an ethnic issue which is peculiar to one community, but a national concern requiring urgent attention by the federal government,” the statement said.

“Proham recognises that a single common denominator among the undocumented people is poverty and being in a situation of being disadvantaged and ignorant of public policies and requirements, including their difficulties to access public sector services.”

The statement came after a roundtable meeting on the issue of statelessness. Other organisations represented at the meeting were Suhakam, UNHCR, UNICEF, World Vision, Jewel, Malaysian Indian Business Association (MIBA) and Voice of Children (VOC).

Proham also urged the government to give its attention to human rights violations against undocumented and stateless persons.

It said many of these people, in attempting to acquire documentation, had been cheated by middlemen, some of whom were community leaders.

It asked the government to determine the extent of the problem, noting that there was confusion with regard to numbers because political parties were trying to outdo each other in highlighting the issue.

“The figures being highlighted range from about 9,000 to as high as 300,000,” it said.

It called on the government to muster the political will to resolve the problem, but praised it for the My Daftar campaign, noting that it had resulted in 6,590 successful applications for identification documents from Malaysian Indians.

Second campaign

“Proham recommends that a second My Daftar campaign be launched in early 2013 in order to address the needs and concerns of many others who were not able to participate in the first campaign,” it said.

“The setting up of mobile units and a more pro-active approach is also recommended in partnership and cooperation with civil society and community and religious groups.”

It said 4,856 of the 14,385 Malaysian Indians registered under My Daftar were unable to apply for citizenship documents because they lacked supporting documents and another 2,939 had their applications rejected.

It said one issue in dealing with stateless people was the red tape involved.

“Some participants indicated that many demands were unreasonable and inconsistent with the Federal Constitution, amounting to a denial of fundamental human rights,” it said.

“Proham calls for an in-depth legal review of all the forms, procedures and requirements to ensure that they are consistent with the spirit and direction of the Federal Constitution and human rights standards.

“In addition, the mono ethnic representation of the NRD and KDN (Home Ministry) as a whole is not reflective of the PM’s 1Malaysia commitments.

“In this context, Proham recommends a more people-friendly approach to assist the applicants as well as ensuring a fair ethnic, cultural and linguistic mix among the NRD officers to be better reflective of Malaysian society.”

Proham also noted that while Malaysia was a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Malaysian government had imposed a reservation to Article 7, which ensures the right to every child below 18 to a name, nationality and not being categorised as stateless.

FMT journalist quizzed by cops

A journalist was questioned under Section 233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998 for allegedly implicating a former minister with trafficking.

PETALING JAYA: Online journalist Teoh El Sen was today questioned under Section 233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998 for allegedly slandering former home minister Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad by implicating him in human trafficking.

Section 233 disallows improper use of network facilities or network service. If found guilty Teoh is liable to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand ringgit or a one year jail term or both.

Teoh, who is with FreeMalaysiaToday news portal, was questioned for 90 minutes by Inspector Nasrul Md Isa of the Commercial Crime Investigation Department in Bukit Perdana, Kuala Lumpur in connection with an article he wrote on Nov 23.

In the article, FMT revealed that Radzi is a director of a company – SNT Universal Corporation Sdn Bhd – that was being investigated by police for human trafficking related offences.

According to the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) records show that Radzi became a director of SNT on May 17, 2011.

But Radzi, when contacted, denied that he was involved in human trafficking.

SNT is a government-appointed agent in the 6P amnesty programme. SNT is among more than 300 companies which were appointed by the government to handle the registration of illegal foreign workers in a bid to either legalise them or deported without punishment.

Police intimidation

Meanwhile the decision to investigate Teoh did not go down well with anti-human trafficking activists.

Selangor Anti-Human Trafficking Council (Mapmas) member Abdul Aziz Ismail expressed disgust with the police action.

“This is a clear cut case of 6P human re-trafficking. Bukit Aman should go after the perpetrators, not after the whistleblowers.

“(They should) investigate the case itself, but instead they are intimidating the people providing information.

“Do the enforcement agencies even understand what is human trafficking?

“The things that they are doing right now is so little and it’s because they are doing it for the sole reason of pacifying the international civil society community,” he said.

Gatco settlers sue Thamarai and liquidator

They claim the sale of the 4,700-acre land in 2004 was illegal.

PETALING JAYA: Settlers on an expanse of land in Negeri Sembilan are seeking a court declaration that the current claimant to the property, Thamarai Holdings Sdn Bhd, and liquidator K Jayapalasingam are, like them, mere trustees of it.

Jayapalasingam represents Great Alonioners Trading Corporation Bhd (Gatco) and the settlers are commonly referred to as Gatco settlers.

The issue has been raging since 1977, when 400 former plantation workers paid deposits for their plots on the 4,700 acres then owned by Gatco, which subsequently went bankrupt.

The 140 settlers in the suit are also seeking a declaration that Gatco’s sale of the land sale to Thamarai for RM16 million in 2004 is null and void.

Lawyer R Kengadharan, who filed a writ on their behalf at the Kuala Lumpur High Court last Wednesday. John Cantious who is one of the plaintiff said the sale was illegal because Gatco was a dormant company without financial resources.

The settlers are also seeking a permanent injunction from that would restrain both defendants from dealing with the land and an order for the Registrar of Titles to place a caveat on the land.

They are also seeking monetary compensation for breach of trust and 2% interest in the event of default on payments and other forms of relief.

The suit alleges that Thamarai and Gatco, as their trustees, had failed to protect the settlers’ rights and interests.

The Gatco settlement, currently known as Kampung Serampang Indah, is about 25 km from Bahau.

The suit is now fixed for case management on Jan 14.

In 1977, the Negeri Sembilan Economic Development Corporation leased the land in question to the National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW) for a period of 66 years. In the same year, NUPW incorporated Gatco as a vehicle to undertake the planting of sugar on the land, but it decided later to plant rubber instead.

Gatco was wound up in 1996, having failed to settle debts amounting to RM135,000.

Gatco offered to sell the land in 2004 for RM16 million. A total of 214 settlers took up the offer, but Gatco rejected it and sold the land to Thamarai instead.

Those settlers filed a suit against Gatco, but their originating summons was dismissed. None of the 214 is involved in the current case.

Perak Speaker Ganesan: I am not involved in any sex scandal

Ganesan speaks to reporters denying any involvement in a sex scandal outside the state assembly on Friday.

(The Star) - Perak Assembly Speaker Datuk R. Ganesan has denied any involvement in a sex scandal and will lodge a police report on the claim.

"I will ask the police to investigate the claim. I'm not shocked because they are only made-up stories," he told reporters here on Friday.

"I am also extremely sad that my family has to face such allegations," he said, adding that he viewed this as an Opposition tactic to attack him.

He was commenting on the envelopes which Opposition assemblymen V.Sivakumar and A. Sivasubramaniam received outside the assembly earlier in the day.

The envelopes contained a printed online article and a compact disc (CD) with a lewd picture, Ganesan's portrait and a woman's portrait on the cover.

Sivakumar said he would be lodging a police report on the matter.

Malaysian Carpet Dealer Names a New Figure in Scandal

So far Cecil hasn't said yea or nay

Deepak Jaikishan names well connected lawyer in murder cover-up

Perhaps the most crucial – and quoted – document seeking to tie Najib Tun Razak, the current prime minister of Malaysia, to a murdered Mongolian beauty named Altantuya Shaariibuu was a sworn declaration filed on July 1, 2008 by a Kuala Lumpur-based private detective named Perumal Balasubramaniam.

That document, which detailed allegations of an affair between Najib, the then-defense minister and the 28-year-old woman, lasted just three days before it was dramatically reversed. Police allegedly picked up Balasubramaniam and took him to a Kuala Lumpur police station where he was told his family was in serious danger if he didn't reverse his statement.

The private detective was then taken to a room at the Hilton Hotel in the middle of Kuala Lumpur, where accordingly, on July 4, he signed a new six-page sworn statement in which he said, among other things, that "I wish to retract the entire contents of my Statutory Declaration dated 1July 2008. I was compelled to affirm the said Statutory Declaration dated 1July 2008 under duress."

Balasubramaniam now says he didn't write that statement. He never saw it, he said, until it was presented to him in the Hilton.

Four and a half years later, the name of the person who wrote the reversal is believed to be that of Cecil Abraham, a senior partner with the law firm of Zul Rafique & Partners of Kuala Lumpur, one of the country's most prominent law firms and one that is a major beneficiary of government-related legal business. It is also a firm with considerable experience in defamation cases.

Abraham's name surfaced last week with another explosive revelation by Kuala Lumpur-based businessman Deepak Jaikishan, who told the Parti Islam se-Malaysia party newspaper Harakah that the attorney had written the document along with his son, and that the son had brought it to Balasubramaniam and the people who were holding him at the Hilton. According to Balasubramiam's lawyer, Americk Sidhu, Deepak was present in the hotel room when his brother, Dinesh, brought the declaration for Bala to sign. Bala wasn't allowed access to his own lawyer.

Since late November, Deepak has met with a string of opposition and independent websites to give progressively more damaging details about Najib's involvement in suppressing Balasbramaniam's original declaration, bringing Najib's wife Rosmah Mansor and his brother into the matter. With naming Abraham as the man who wrote the reversal of the declaration, he now takes it further into the United Malays National Organization power structure.

Abraham is both a datuk and a tan sri, honorific titles conferred on politically or socially prominent individuals by Malaysia's sultan. As an indication of his influence, no opposition publication was willing to print his name for days, including Harakah, only referring to him in various ways as an important figure. Abraham is considered one of the quietly most politically powerful figures in the country, a friend of the top members of UMNO including Hishamuddin Hussein, the Home Affairs minister, as well as Najib. He sits on a wide range of boards and committees including one that determines which cases are refused or initiated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Committee.

If indeed Abraham did write Bala's repudiation document, the besieged private detective never saw him – or the document – until it was given to him to sign. However, the Commissioner for Oaths who visited Bala in the room in which he was being held in at the Hilton to attest that it was his signature on the document was Zainal Abidin Muryat, a commissioner of oaths from Abraham's law firm, Zul Rafique & Partners.

"Let me make it very clear that my client does not know the identity of the lawyer(s) who drafted this 2nd statutory declaration," said Americk Sidhu. "He had not instructed any lawyer to do so. This is because the contents of his first statutory declaration were true to the best of his knowledge and belief. Therefore there was never any necessity to alter the contents of his first one. However, Bala was forced to sign a second one because of a threat to the safety of his wife and children."

After Balasubramaniam fled for Chennai, reportedly accompanied by his family a promise from Nazim Razak, the prime minister's brother, of RM5 million to keep his mouth shut, he held multiple press conferences to say he had been intimidated into reversing himself, and called repeatedly for an investigation of his charges by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Abraham also sits on the Operation Review Panel of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, which had the responsibility to examine Balasubramaniam's charges. The MACC has repeatedly turned him down. An MACC spokesman denied that Abraham had any say in declining an investigation.

Particularly since Deepak Jaikishan start issuing his spectacular charges in late November, the question of Balasubramaniam's first statutory declaration has assumed increasing relevance to the case. Altantuya was murdered on Oct. 19, 2006 by two of Najib's bodyguards. One of Najib's best friends, Abdul Razak Baginda, was initially charged with the crime. He had been Altantuya's lover, but jilted her.

In his first declaration, Bala said that he had been hired to keep Altantuya away from Razak Baginda. In conversations with the former highly-placed think tank analyst, Abdul Razak Baginda as Altantuya continued to harass him, Razak Baginda told him that:

"1) He had been introduced to Aminah {eds: his nickname for Altantuya} by Najib Razak at a diamond exhibition in Singapore.

"2) Najib Razak informed Abdul Razak Baginda that he had a sexual relationship with Aminah and that she was susceptible to anal intercourse.

"3) Najib Razak wanted Abdul Razak Baginda to look after Aminah as he did not want her to harass him since he was now the deputy prime minister.

"4) Najib Razak, Abdul Razak Baginda and Aminah had all been together at a dinner in Paris.

"5) Aminah wanted money from him as she felt she was entitled to a US$500,000 commission on a submarine deal she assisted with in Paris."

That submarine deal has since blown up into one of the longest-running scandals in recent Malaysian history, involving allegations that the French armaments giant DCN and its subsidiaries had paid €114 million in bribes that was channeled through a firm wholly owned by Razak Baginda to the United Malays National Organization with the full knowledge of then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad an French Minister Alain Juppe, and that it was facilitated by Najib Tun Razak when he was defence minister.

That case is currently under investigation in Paris by authorities on allegations the "commission" paid to Razak Baginda's company was a violation of the OECD statute on bribery, which France signed onto in 2002.

Najib, the vacillator, facing election defeat

Ali Rustam, the chief minister of Malaysia’s small state of Malacca, is one of the most creepy, corrupt and boring politicians I have ever interviewed.

Between a dead slug and Ali Rustam, I’ll take the dead slug any day.

But lo and behold, the man made headlines last week by inviting 130,000 people to a lavish bash for his son’s wedding, which he claims cost “only” US$200,000, but others say set him back more than $500,000.

Either way, with his political boss, Prime Minister Najib Razak, poised to call a national election premised on prudent economic management, it was an act of astonishing naivety.

It did, however, illustrate how Najib’s United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) has descended to a vessel for Ali Rustam-like wallflowers who are afraid to say boo to a goose, let alone espouse bold new ideas.

The outrage provoked by the matrimonial extravagance made things more difficult for Najib as he agonises over an election date.

The PM’s natural inclination is to take as much time as possible before making any decision – or before avoiding making a decision.

Faced with a tough choice, he prefers to let others jump first and then gauge how they fare before he takes the plunge.

Forget loyalty and principles, Najib’s credo is survival at all costs.

Back in 1987, when UMNO faced a divisive leadership crisis, young Najib waited till the last minute before spurning his mentor Razaleigh Hamzah and backing then PM Mahathir Mohamad.

It was a betrayal, but thanks to Najib’s support, Mahathir narrowly defeated Razaleigh and later rewarded Najib handsomely.

Five years on, when, against Mahathir’s wishes, Anwar Ibrahim made a precocious bid for the party’s No 2 slot, Najib belatedly joined Anwar’s Dream Team and won a top party post for himself.

Then, in 1998, when DPM Anwar challenged Mahathir, Najib initially cowered in the shadows like a desperado waiting for a train, before he finally sided with the PM and let the wolves devour Anwar.

Now Najib himself has become PM, inheriting the post after Mahathir’s successor, the lamentable Abdullah Badawi, led the National Front coalition to its worst electoral showing in history four years ago.

With the circle completed, Najib now faces a resurgent Anwar, whose opposition People’s Alliance threatens to capture yet more of the 222 seats up for grabs in the coming election.

It must be called within six months, so the clock is running out for Najib. And this time, he cannot wait for others to jump first; it is his call alone.

Facing taunts that he is running scared, Najib’s leadership is already being questioned within UMNO, as well as throughout the country.

Many in the minority Chinese and Indian communities have lost faith in him due to his pandering to the Malay majority and his one step forward, two steps back reforms.

If the Front does not fare better than it did in 2008, Najib is sure to face strong pressure to step down and make way for a bolder, more decisive leader.

Right now, his chances look rather slim, particularly in the key state of Selangor, which surrounds Kuala Lumpur and is the political and economic hub of the nation.

He rashly promised to lead it back into the Front fold after it was stunningly won by the Anwar-led Alliance four years ago, but few analysts think there is much chance of that happening.

In fact, the opposition has performed well there, as it has in Penang. And it has a rock solid grip on Kelantan and may even retake Perak.

Meanwhile, over in East Malaysia, traditionally neglected by the Front, the Chinese opposition party looks sure to pick up seats, particularly in Sarawak.

So, whether Najib vacillates to the very end or goes to the polls after the Hajj ends next month, it is an even bet whether he will be PM this time next year.

Najib’s proposal to source English teachers from India is “crossing of the Rubicon” marking the failure of the Malaysian education system to reverse declining standards and to prepare the new generation of Malaysians for the challenges of the 21st century

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s proposal in New Delhi yesterday to source English teachers for Malaysian schools from India in a bid to help alleviate the shortage of teachers in English and to improve proficiency of the language in Malaysia marks the crossing of the Rubicon for the Malaysian national education system – as it is a sad admission of the failure of the Malaysian education system over the decades to arrest and reverse declining educational standards and to prepare the new Malaysian generation for the challenges of the 21st century.

In the recent past, Malaysia had been sourcing English-language teachers from the United Kingdom and the United States, ignoring the rich reservoir of available local talents to teach the English language. Now the Prime Minister is proposing to source them from India. Will Malaysia next source English teachers from the African continent?

This is undeniably a grievous psychological blow to the nation which had rightly prided itself as a country with high international standards and attainments in English language when it achieved Merdeka in 1957, and should now be sending Malaysians as English-language teachers all over the world, including India, as one of our precious international assets.

Instead, Malaysia has degenerated to become an importing nation for English-language teachers from foreign countries. What a national shame!

The deplorable state of affairs with regard to the proficiency of the English language in Malaysia after half a century of nationhood is exemplified by the shocking admission by a top Education Ministry official recently that two-thirds of the 70,000 English language teachers in the country failed to reach a proficient English level while a test carried out by the Education Ministry based on the comparison of the students’ results in SPM English and Cambridge 1119 Standards showed that two in three students failed to meet the basics in English proficiency.

Why has the Malaysian national education system degenerated to such a pass – where two-thirds of 70,000 English language teachers not proficient in English have produced a generation of students two-thirds of whom are not proficient in English?

One reason for this malady of the Malaysian education system is because the country has a series of Education Ministers who regard their portfolios as stepping-stones to higher political office – even the Prime Ministership – and not really interested in their responsibility to establish an educational system for an innovative, creative, competitive and prosperous Malaysia for the future.

This was illustrated by the poor Malaysian results in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Survey (TIMSS) 2011 announced on Dec 11, with total indifference by the Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who has refused to say a single word despite the importance of the results in a subject which comes directly under his responsibility.

This is further proof why the time has come for a change of Federal Government in Putrajaya in the 13GE as the Umno/BN Government after 55 years have become too rotten and out of tune with the national needs and challenges of the 21st century.

Malaysia Deserves Praise for Accepting Stranded Asylum Seekers

20 December 2012

The Malaysian Government deserves commendation for its decision to accept 40 asylum seekers who were rescued at sea, the Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) said today.

RCOA CEO Paul Power said Malaysia’s intervention was in stark contrast to the mean-spirited behaviour of Singapore which last week refused entry to the Vietnamese-registered cargo ship that had rescued the asylum seekers, believed to be Rohingya people fleeing persecution in Burma’s Rakhine state.

“In light of the difficulties faced by many people seeking refuge in the Asia-Pacific region, we are encouraged by Malaysia’s actions,” Mr Power said. “UNHCR has described the Malaysian decision to allow the asylum seekers to disembark as ‘a vital and a genuine humanitarian gesture’ – and we agree.

“A step such as this by Malaysia is exactly what is required to shift the political focus in the region, from a focus on criminalising the movement of people who are fleeing in fear to one in which protection is provided to people who clearly need it.”

Mr Power said the plight of the Rohingya people highlighted the Asia-Pacific region’s failure to offer adequate protection to people who are persecuted.

“Rohingya people are rejected in Burma, being told that they have no right to be in their own country of birth and denied citizenship,” Mr Power said. “Earlier this year the world saw Bangladesh turning away Rohingya people who were trying to flee at a time of heightened violence in Rakhine state.

“Increasingly, Rohingya people are taking to boats to head towards South-East Asia. No one knows how many hundreds of refugees have died on the Bay of Bengal. Their deaths go largely unremarked and result in no effective political action.”

Mr Power said Singapore’s refusal had highlighted that nation’s heartless disregard for people in distress and allowed the world to see that Malaysia had higher humanitarian standards than its neighbour.

“Malaysia’s actions provide encouragement, at the end of a year in which there were few signs of hope for refugees in the Asia-Pacific region,” Mr Power said. “In the Middle East and Africa this year, nations have provided hospitality to around 900,000 people displaced by the crises in Syria, Mali and the Horn of Africa but in our region that same spirit of welcome to refugees has been largely missing.

“However, Malaysia’s humanitarian response to the desperate asylum seekers on the MV Nosco Victory is a significant step and, if other governments are prepared to act in the same spirit, this action could encourage more serious thought about how the region could work together to protect highly vulnerable people who have been displaced.

“We encourage Malaysia, Australia and other governments in the region to use the planned regional roundtable on irregular movement by sea, to be held in Bali in March, as a forum to search for better answers for the needs of people who are forced to flee persecution and violence in the Asia Pacific region.”

Media contact: Andrew Williams 0488 035 535

Suite 4A6, 410 Elizabeth Street

Surry Hills NSW 2010 Australia 

Phone: (02) 9211 9333 ● Fax: (02) 9211 9288 

info@refugeecouncil.org.au ● Web: www.refugeecouncil.org.au 

Incorporated in ACT ● ABN 87 956 673 083 

The Refugee Council of Australia represents non-government organisations and individuals working with and for refugees in Australia and around the world

India Offers Great Opportunity For Malaysian Businesses, Says Najib

By Saraswathi Muniappan

NEW DELHI, Dec 21 (Bernama) -- India with its population of 1.2 billion people offers a great opportunity for Malaysian businesses, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.

This is more so with the conclusion of the agreement on services and investment between Asean and India, he said.

"We can see India as a country whose economic growth rate has been so rapid. They also exepect their growth rate can be raised further with the creation of a middle class with high purchasing power.

"So they will definitely look to Malaysia for tourism, education and medical tourism. It is certainly a bigger market for us," Najib told Malaysian journalists at the end of the Asean-India Commemorative Summit 2012 here Friday.

India's economy is expected to grow by 7.3 per cent next year, higher than the 6.5 per cent forecast for 2012.

Indian companies can also be invited to invest in Malaysia in sectors where they have the capability, such as pharmaceuticals, bio-technology and manufacturing, he said.

To date, Malaysia has approved 110 manufacturing projects with Indian investors involving US$1.19 billion in total investments.

Between January to October 2012, a total of 10 manufacturing projects with Indian participants were approved with investments worth US$259.8 million.

"We can still promote all these further. So I am optimistic and confident we can expand and enhance our relationship further in all aspects with India," he said.

Since 1998, India has been Malaysia's largest export destination in the South Asia region.

Bilateral trade between Malaysia and India for the 2002-2011 period has increased more then six-fold, he said, adding that the implementation of the Malaysia-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement on July 1, 2011 has further boosted bilateral trade between the two countries.

Last year, total trade increased 32.7 per cent over 2010 to reach US$12.54 billion. Malaysia's exports rose 34.6 per cent from US$6.5 billion in 2010 to US$9.2 billion.

Malaysia's major exports to India in 2011 were electrical and electronic products, chemicals and chemical products, manufactures of metal and palm oil, while Malaysia's main imports from India were chemicals and chemical products, manufactures of meal and meat.

From January to October 2012, Malaysia's exports to India totalled US$7.7 billion, while imports were US$3.3 billion.

Asked if the Asean-India agreement on services and investment should be hastened, he said: "I think that is the intention. Hopefully when we prepare the legal document it won't take too long. The important thing is the spirit and the principle that we want to settle.

"We should move on and make it implementable by the fourth quarter of next year."

Asean-India represents a huge market of 1.8 billion people with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of US$3.8 trillion.

Trade between Asean and India rose by 43 per cent compared with 2010 to reach US$74.9 billion in 2011. The target is to push to US$100 billion by 2015.

Anwar wants Bank Negara to discuss illicit outflows

Identity of Deepak's 'backer' is secondary, says Anwar

Salafist video threatens to take German hostages

A militant Salafist group has released a video calling on followers to take German hostages to free Murat K., the Islamist currently serving a six-year prison sentence for stabbing two policemen in Bonn in May.

The three-minute video, posted on an Islamist page, praises the "lion Murat K." and promises, "We will not rest until we have freed you from captivity."

"Everyone who offends the Prophet will be slaughtered, whether near or far," a man says in German with a foreign accent. "And know, brother, the Germans are near enough to reach. We will take them prisoners, until you are free for your noble deed."

Der Spiegel magazine reported on Thursday that the man speaking the voice is former Berlin rapper Denis Cuspert alias Deso Dogg. He is thought to have fled to Egypt earlier this year to re-establish the militant organization Millatu Ibrahim, which is banned in Germany, and whose logo appears in the video.

German security forces are taking the video seriously and investigating its source. "Such videos could spur on Salafists prepared for violence," said North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Minister Ralf Jäger. "That is why the authorities are keeping the protagonists of this scene in their sights."

A spokesman for the federal state prosecutors said they were aware of the video and analyzing it.

A Bonn court convicted Murat K. of grievous bodily harm, breaching the peace, and resisting arrest in October. He stabbed the two policemen when a demonstration turned violent after members of the far-right group Pro-NRW publicly displayed cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad.

Murat K. defended his actions in court, saying that, "Those who insult the Prophet deserve the death penalty." He added that since the state had allowed the cartoons to be displayed, he was justified in attacking the officers.

Federal prosecutors said last week they believed Islamist extremists were behind a botched bomb attack at Bonn train station. The federal prosecutor said in a statement that there was enough evidence to suggest the incident was "an attempted explosives attack by a terrorist organisation with a radical Islamist bent."

The Local/DPA/bk

Militants hunt Buddhists in Narathiwat

Photo by Post Today

NARATHIWAT - A gang of Islamic militants burned down the Bacho Tambon Administration Organisation
office on Thursday, after failing to find any Buddhist employees to kill.

Seven armed men stormed into the offices of the Bacho TAO in Bacho district shortly after noon.

Abdulwaha Dulayapinij, the office’s chief administrator, told the police he and seven other employees were just leaving for lunch.

''One of them fired a gun into the air and ordered everyone to stay put in Yawi [a Malay dialect spoken by Muslims in the South] and then asked if there were any Buddhist Thais working here,” Mr Abdulwaha said.

“I told him there were none, and the outlaw was upset and said I had lied to him.”

Mr Abdulwaha then explained there was a female Buddhist Thai civil servant identified as Suchada sae Li working at the TAO as a community development officer, level 3, but she was on leave.

Upset with the answer, two of the gunmen emptied a five-litre container of gasoline into the archive and equipment storage rooms, set fire to it, and then fled the scene.

Staff, villagers and a local disaster relief team tried to put out the fire, but the blaze spread quickly and destroyed the whole building.

Mr Abdulwaha said it appeared the assailants wanted to kill Ms Suchada who was the only Buddhist official at the Bacho TAO, and had planned to use the gasoline to burn her body.

He said the attack left him and the other staff in fear for their own safety and it was likely they would not return to work until the office was rebuilt.

Anwar hits out at Najib for ‘illicit outflow’

Pakatan Rakyat is planning to hold a roundtable meeting on the matter. Apart from the PM, Bank Negara and GFI reps will also be invited.
VIDEO INSIDE

PETALING JAYA: Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim today said Pakatan Rakyat will organise a roundtable meeting and invite Finance Minister Najib Tun Razak to discuss the latest report by Global Financial Integrity [GFI] on illicit financial outflows.

The GFI report had revealed that nearly RM200 billion in “dirty money” had been siphoned out of Malaysia in 2010, making it the second worst worldwide.

Anwar described the amount of money that had gone out between 2001 and 2010, at RM 871.4 billion, as “very alarming”.

The opposition leader said he would be writing to Bank Negara Governor Zeti Akhtar, GFI and the chief ministers of the Pakatan Rakyat-governed states to attend the roundtable talk planned for January 2013.

He added that he would also be inviting the banking sector as well.

Anwar criticised Najib for remaining silent on the issue and concluded that the prime minister had failed to manage the economy and stem corruption.

“My Pakatan colleagues and I are ready to take the initiative to bring all parties to a roundtable to pursue this issue and come up with a strong action plan,” he told a press conference here.

“This is a form of robbery that is affecting the state of the economy and of course will adversely impact the masses.

“It is only proper for the government and Bank Negara to explain and for us in Pakatan to also assure that we will give all cooperation to discuss what will be done, because what has been done in the past has failed miserably, because the amount has increased so much,” he said.

Washington-based financial watchdog GFI yesterday found that in 2010, Malaysia was the world’s number two when it came to illegal capital flight, second only to China.

The report further revealed that Malaysia ranked number three globally over 10 years from 2001 to 2010 with US$285 billion (RM871.4 billion) of illicit outflow.

The year 2010 also saw the highest level of illicit outflow in Malaysia in the previous 10 years; in 2009, Malaysia’s capital flight was US$30.41 billion (RM93 billion), and that figure leaped to US$64.38 billion (RM196.8 billion) in the following year – an increase of 112%.

Bank Negara under fire

Anwar said that from next week onwards, he would be holding weekly press conferences while awaiting the 13th general election and the focus would be on this “crucial matter”.

He said such roundtable discussions have been done in India where it (illegal financial outflow) had become a major issue, and even described as “the great Indian robbery” in the media there.

Anwar said that effective measures must be taken as the opposition does not have confidence that the Treasury can resolve it independently.

“GFI monitors the outflow of illicit money by employing globally accepted economic methodologies and its reports set the global benchmark on this matter. As such, its appraisal and analysis of Malaysia’s dire situation should be taken seriously by all parties,” he said, stressing that such leakages will “ultimately harm the people of Malaysia”.

Anwar noted that GFI explained in its report that “macroeconomic issues and the perception of widespread corruption and bribery; size of the illegal economy, namely criminal activities, illegal gambling; and weak law enforcement on matters of public and economic governance” can cause the flow of illicit money out of the counntry.

He also criticised Bank Negara for failing to monitor such huge sums of money going out of the country illegally, citing the RM40 million “political donation” matter in Hong Kong as one example.

“That is just one specific instance, and even then only after it was exposed. Can Bank Negara safely say that it is the only amount going out? How is it the central bank is unable to monitor these things? Tell us how it has gone unnoticed and no action taken.”

“I believe the country needs a united stand to address this problem. Immediate steps should be taken to finalise an action plan for implementation. The prime minister cannot lead the nation by avoiding the issue,” he said.

‘Show details, Palani’

The MIC president must come clean on the special allocation meant for Tamil schools, says PKR.

PETALING JAYA: MIC president G Palanivel has been challenged to reveal details of the RM100 million special allocation for Tamil schools, announced by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak when he tabled the 2012 Budget in September 2011.

Malacca PKR vice-president G Rajendran said while the Education Ministry had recently said that it dispensed RM10 million out of the RM100 million, the remainder of RM90 million remained a “mystery”.

He said the failure of the Tamil schools to utilise the fund before December, 2012 would result in the money “going back” to the Finance Ministry.

Rajendran said Palanivel, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, who has been entrusted to handle the special allocation for Tamil schools, should come clean on the matter and not stay silent without giving any explanation.

“Palanivel should take the blame since nobody in the MIC has any knowledge and clue as to what had happened to the allocation… he has been handling this [allocation] without even informing his party leaders where the money was going,” he told FMT.

It was reported in February that the Cabinet had agreed to channel the funds through Surya Cooperative, set up by the party in October, last year.

The RM100 million allocation was meant for 369 partially-aided Tamil schools nationwide for three categories, namely maintenance and upgrade, building additional blocks and building new schools.

However, it is learnt that the 369 partially-aided Tamil schools in the list were reduced to 224 by Palanivel.

Rajendran said the problem was further compounded after Surya Cooperative director D Ravindran disagreed with Palanivel’s plan to reduce the number of schools meant to receive the aid.

“And the ego battle may see Palanivel handing the money back to the Education Ministry,” he said.

A ‘stupid’ move

FMT also learnt that two MIC leaders, namely S Veerasingham and MM Samy, had raised questions on the RM100 million at a party central working committee (CWC) meeting recently.

“Palanivel told them [CWC members] that he will tell them details of the fund soon… but until now nothing has been made public,” said a CWC member when contacted.

Rajendran said the money should be fully utilised as sending back the unused money to the ministry would be “a stupid” move.

“Once the money is sent back, they [MIC] have to start the whole process again if there are Tamil schools wanting assistance and this would take time. Even if the money is rolled back and added to the other RM100 million announced in the 2013 Budget, the process of applying for funds would be long and tedious,” said the opposition grassroots leader.

The idea of special allocation to schools nationwide was mooted by Najib in a move to upgrade the condition of partially-aided schools.

In 2012, Najib announced RM500 million for national schools and RM100 million each to Chinese, Tamil and religious schools respectively.

He also promised an additional RM100 million for Tamil schools in the 2013 Budget.

Palanivel could not be reached for comment as he is abroad and is only expected to return to work in early next month.

Seeking justice or vendetta?

The truth, as bitter as it is, remains that carpet trader Deepak is livid at how ‘ungrateful’ both Najib and Rosmah have been to him.
COMMENT

A wealthy carpet trader has after four years decided to “clear his conscience” and hopes the real perpetrator/s behind the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu will not go unpunished.

Deepak Jaikishan, whose carpets once adorned the residence of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, is now crying foul, implicating the premier in the Mongolian interpreter’s death.

In 2008, Deepak was said to have paid private investigator P Balasubramaniam (Bala) RM5 million for the latter to retract his first statutory declaration which directly linked Najib to Altantuya’s death.

But on Nov 12, 2009, Bala via YouTube disclaimed the second SD, saying he was paid by Deepak to withdraw the first SD. Deepak, meanwhile, said he did so at the behest of a “female friend” who later turned out to be Rosmah Mansor.

The “I want to clear my conscience drama” came about after Deepak lost millions in government contracts. He had a 20-year contract to build 16 1Malaysia Mara hostels abroad worth RM2 billion but the deal was suspended.

Deepak claimed subsequent to his involvement in 2008, he has been pressured by the “powers that be” to be silent. And between 2010 and 2011, his home and his offices had been raided by various agencies sent by the government to intimidate and silence him.

Deepak is now considering legal action against the government, including Najib.

The “Deepak-Rosmah/Najib” drama unfolded after whistleblower Raja Petra Kamarudin revived the matter in April 2011.

Now Deepak decided to reveal all. But then was it really a case of wanting to “clear his conscience and seek justice for Altantuya” or is it all about vendetta for the billions lost in government contracts?

For Deepak’s sake, one hopes it is all about giving conscience a priority. Nevertheless, this businessman is angry for having been taken for granted by both Najib and Rosmah, the latter whom Deepak regarded as his “elder sister”.

What’s Deepak up to, really?

It is unfortunate that Deepak got himself entangled with the “crooks”, but then did he not know from day one just whom he was dealing with? Was Deepak that naïve that he had no idea of the machinations of Rosmah and Najib?

Where was Deepak’s conscience when he “rewarded” Bala with RM5 million to tell a lie and save both Najib’s skin and his political career?

The truth, as bitter as it is, remains that Deepak is livid at how “ungrateful” both Najib and Rosmah have been to him, especially after he agreed to help the couple escape blame for Altantuya’s gruesome murder in the jungle of Puncak Alam, Shah Alam, in October 2006.

Two members of an elite police unit were later convicted and sentenced to death for the crime. What was Deepak thinking when Rosmah asked him to look for Bala the very day when the PI’s SD was made public?

Is it wrong to deduce that Deepak willingly jumped in to help when everyone else Rosmah contacted turned her down because he was hoping for a “quid pro quo”?

He played accomplice to crooks and suffered in the process. What would be unacceptable is for Deepak to use “conscience” as an excuse to seek revenge against Rosmah and Najib.

The fact is that Deepak’s ties with Rosmah turned sour following a land dispute involving him and Umno senator Raja Roopiah Abdullah. Deepak claimed that his company, Asta Canggih Sdn Bhd, was the nominee company or third party vehicle in the acquisition of 223 acres of land after he struck an agreement with Raja Roopiah.

Under the agreement, he was supposed to get all but 23 acres of the land, which would be returned to Raja Roopiah. Deepak claimed that Najib had bypassed the Cabinet in deciding to pull back the land from him.

Hoping for a miracle?

The dirt uncovered by Deepak is not shocking, not when Najib’s reputation precedes him. Besides the Altantuya murder, the country’s sixth prime minister is implicated in kickbacks worth millions through the purchase of the Scorpene submarines when he served as defence minister a decade ago.

Still, if Deepak is hoping for miracles, he may just end up disappointed, knowing fully well the travesty of justice that continues to plague the nation.

Deepak’s lament that the MACC is more interested in covering up the secret dealings following the 2006 murder of Altantuya is also nothing out of the ordinary, going by the agency’s battered image as one that has no “power” to fight for the truth.

While MACC had recorded Deepak’s statement over his role, it left matters at that, giving the impression of a cover-up. However, the opposition DAP said it would lodge a police report over Deepak’s revelation that Najib and Rosmah were involved in Altantuya’s murder.

DAP chairman Karpal Singh said while it was wrong for Deepak to hide the truth for the past two years, it was more important that Altantuya’s murderer be brought to justice. Indeed, it is justice and not vindictiveness that should truly be Deepak’s concern.

Jeswan Kaur is a freelance writer and a FMT columnist.

Talks going on well with SAPP, says Anwar

Anwar Ibrahim today played down talks of tension between the 'original' Sabah PKR members and allies of Wilfred Bumburing and Lajim Ukin.

PETALING JAYA: Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim today dismissed reports that talks were not going well with former Sabah chief minister Yong Teck Lee’s Sabah Progressive People’s (SAPP) party.

He said Pakatan Rakyat, which he leads, has been “more successful with SAPP” as there has been a more active process of negotiations and “they have been attending our joint meetings”.

Anwar’s comments contradict a report on Tuesday quoting a SAPP insider who claimed that Yong had implied that SAPP could well be on a collision course with its “allies” PKR and DAP (Pakatan members) in many seats.

Speaking to FMT after SAPP’s supreme council meeting on Monday, the insider said Yong told his comrades that SAPP must stick to its “principle” that a local-based party must take the majority of the State Legislative Assembly seats.

But Anwar insisted that talks were going smoothly and that seat negotiations in Sabah were underway.

Anwar said that the opposition allies are more inclined towards a one-to-one fight against Barisan Nasional parties.

“We have taken a clear position that we are moving towards that direction, that’s it’s one-to-one,” Anwar said in a press conference at the PKR headquarters today.

When asked about Jeffrey Kitingan-led State Reform Party (STAR), Anwar said that Tuaran MP Wilfred Bumburing, who helms Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS), had been appointed to negotiate seats with Jeffrey in Sabah.

“We think we have a problem with the STAR because STAR says it is opposed to all Peninsula-based parties while we say that we are opposed to all corrupt leaders irrespective of whether peninsula or state-based. There is a difference there.

“Notwithstanding that, we have assigned Wilfred (Bumburing) to proceed with the negotiations, including with the STAR,” said Anwar.

‘We want to kill Umno’

Asked if peninsula-based Pakatan was focusing its efforts on only parliamentary seats and leaving the state to the locals to fight out, Anwar said: “There is no way we are only fighting in the parliamentary seats and giving the state to Musa [Aman]. We want to kill Umno.”

He also touched on reports that Sabah PKR was dysfunctional following Anwar’s ready acceptance of BN defectors Bumburing and Beaufort MP Lajim Ukin.

Both declared their alliance to PKR-Pakatan but declined to become members of the coalition. Lajim has set up his own platform Pakatan Perubahan Sabah which is Pakatan-friendly.

FMT had last month reported tension within Sabah PKR between the “PKR ori”[original] or “PKR photocopy”, the former referring to genuine members of the party while “photocopy” addresses those with APS and PPS who “refused” to be members of PKR but have declared support for Anwar.

But Anwar played down such allegations, saying that it was not an accurate assessment of the current situation.

“Not really, of course; there are questions raised, for example: ‘why do you consider this candidate… we think another candidate is better’. Things like that. We’ve had sessions, [PKR] state leader Ahmad Tamrin will be present in all the other meetings, similar with Wilfred and Lajim.”

“It is not about new or old, [former health minister and MCA leader] Chua Jui Meng came in later but he is still the head of Johor and doing similarly well national. I don’t think that is quite correct.”

When asked about the details of the “deal” with the newcomers, Anwar merely said that the collaboration with Lajim and Bumburing was going “smoothly”.

“They come in as partners in Pakatan. They are committed to the Pakatan agenda. We are working very well. In fact, next week I am going to [meet] Wilfred and Lajim as part of the campaign programme. I don’t have a problem, seriously.”

“There will be questions. Particularly now with people clamouring for seats or lobbying for seats; it is something which is quite normal. But we have to draw the line, you know.”

Seat talks smooth

Meanwhile, when asked about seat allocations nationwide, Anwar said that in the peninsula there has been much more progress.

“It is ongoing, in Selangor it is finished. In Penang there is one, Kedah one, Perlis one; I was told, Perak two state seats. So it is 95% resolved,” he said.

Anwar said that he told the committee working on seats, PKR’s Azmin Ali, PAS’s Mustafa Ali and DAP’s Tan Kok Wai to conclude the talks, but he was informed that there is a bit more to be done, especially in Sabah and Sarawak as it involves SAPP and STAR.

Charge Sepang protesters, says Hindraf

It takes offence at a call for the destruction of Hindu temples.

KUALA LUMPUR: Hindraf today urged the authorities to punish the participants of last Tuesday’s demonstration against the rebuilding of a Hindu shrine in Sepang.

In a report lodged at the Travers police station, Hindraf youth chief S Thiagarajan said the demonstrators had incited racial and religious hatred.

Thiagarajan referred to a placard displayed at the protest, which read “Robohkan Kuil Haram” (Demolish Illegal Temples), saying it represented a “blatant act” of bullying against a “vulnerable minority”.

Tuesday’s demonstration was carried out by a group calling itself Taman Seroja Residents Association. It was in reaction to a proposal to rebuild a Hindu altar that the Sepang municipal council had demolished. The altar was located on the porch of a private home.

Referring to the offending placard, Thiagarajan said: “There are no such things as illegal Hindu temples or licences for the same as there are no such things as illegal mosques or suraus, churches, Chinese temples, gurudwaras, etc, or licences for the same.

“All these places of worship exist and co-exist by virtue of Article 11 of the Federal Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion.”

The report also called for the prosecution of the municipal officers who demolished the altar.

It also urged the government to “seriously promote” racial and religious co-existence as opposed to mere tolerance.

Speaking to FMT, Thiagarajan proposed that state governments earmark a site for a Hindu temple for every 1,000 Hindus.

He questioned the authorities’ failure to act against Tuesday’s demonstrators, contrasting this with the swift action taken against Seputeh MP Teresa Kok a couple years ago over her call for mosque loudspeakers to be lowered in volume at dawn.

36 ditahan terlibat kes gaduh di Sg Petani

Ketua Polis Kedah juga berkata pihaknya tidak akan berkompromi dengan sesiapa yang menyebarkan maklumat palsu.

ALOR SETAR: Polis Kedah menahan 36 orang yang dipercayai terlibat dalam insiden pergaduhan di Sungai Petani bagi membantu siasatan, kata Ketua Polis Kedah Datuk Ahmad Ibrahim.

Katanya semua tahanan yang berumur antara 18 hingga 30-an itu kini ditahan di Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah (IPD) Kuala Muda, di Sungai Petani.

Beliau berkata tangkapan terakhir dibuat pada 4.30 pagi tadi di sekitar Sungai Petani dan akan menahan beberapa lagi suspek berdasarkan maklumat yang diperoleh menerusi soal siasat ke atas tahanan.

“Kita tangkap semua yang terlibat. Polis tak akan berkompromi dengan sesiapa yang melakukan provokasi sehingga mencetuskan keadaan hura-hara,” katanya pada sidang media di Ibu Pejabat Polis Kontinjen (IPK) Kedah di sini hari ini.

Mengenai pihak yang menyebarkan maklumat palsu menerusi media sosial, blog dan khidmat pesanan ringkas (SMS) bahawa berlakunya rusuhan di daerah Kuala Muda terutama Sungai Petani, Ahmad berkata Jabatan Siasatan Jenayah Komersial (JSJK) negeri akan menyiasat dan mengambil tindakan ke atas pihak yang menyebarkan maklumat yang tidak benar berkaitan situasi di daerah berkenaan.

Katanya polis turut mengambil tindakan terhadap mereka yang bertanggungjawab menyebar maklumat palsu dan mencetuskan keadaan yang kurang menyenangkan.

Ahmad berkata semalam pihaknya mengadakan pertemuan dengan ketua-ketua agama, pemimpin politik dan wakil rakyat daerah Kuala Muda di IPD Kuala Muda bagi menerangkan situasi sebenar supaya mereka boleh menyampaikan maklumat yang betul kepada masyarakat setempat.

Katanya apa yang berlaku hanyalah pergaduhan kecil antara kumpulan anak muda dan bukannya rusuhan seperti yang digambarkan dalam blog dan media sosial.

Beliau juga menegaskan kepada golongan muda agar tidak melakukan sesuatu yang melanggar undang-undang kerana perkara tersebut membabitkan soal keselamatan.

“Kita mampu untuk tenteramkan keadaan tersebut jika masyarakat memberi kerjasama untuk mengharmonikan situasi ini. Kita juga sebarkan maklumat tepat dalam laman sosial Facebook kepada masyarakat dan kita tak sembunyikan apa-apa fakta,” katanya.

Ahmad turut memberi amaran keras kepada penyebar maklumat palsu agar segera menghentikan perbuatan itu kerana katanya maklumat yang berbentuk provokasi dan sensasi berupaya untuk mencetuskan masalah perkauman sekali gus mengugat ketenteraman awam.

Katanya dakwaan kematian akibat pergaduhan antara kaum juga tidak wujud seperti yang digambarkan dalam berita di laman sosial dan pihak polis kini giat melakukan kawalan di daerah itu.

“Saya dah pantau keadaan di Sungai Petani dan saya lihat keadaan normal, masyarakat melakukan aktiviti harian dan kedai buka macam biasa. Tak ada kuil atau rumah ibadah lain terbakar seperti yang dilapor oleh blogger,” kata Ahmad.

Bernama

‘Sabah Umno reps only servicing Muslims’

Disgruntled Sabah Upko members are fed up with Umno YBs and want a special programme to re-educate them on their responsibilities to the electorate.

LAHAD DATU: The strained relationship between two Barisan Nasional components here has emerged into the open over the preferential treatment given to Muslim Bumiputera at the expense of the non-Muslims.

The United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) which is embarrassed that it has not been able to provide the same level of social assistance that Umno provides its supporters, this week accused the dominant BN party of granting assistance based on religious beliefs rather than on needs and creating a split where none existed before.

Silam Upko division chairman, Basari Sarkun, charged that the Silam Umno elected representatives were neglecting the wellbeing of the non-Muslim Bumiputera and ignoring the sacrifices of BN component parties and their supporters that ensured the coalition’s victory in the last election.

Basari, who is also district councillor, said Umno seemed to be only interested in helping the Muslim community, especially its party members first and then the community.

“Let me remind you all that the victory of Silam is the victory of all the component parties in BN, and not solely Umno or the YBs themselves. They should fulfil their election pledge to the people after they had won,” he said.

He suggested that the BN conduct a special programme to educate its elected representatives to understand their duty to all citizens as well as Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s unity drive which they had taken to mean as an exercise of merely putting up their finger and shouting “1 Malaysia” during a function or a photo opportunity.

“I have requested for the YBs special fund to repair churches, roads, village community halls in non-Muslim Bumiputera majority villages. I also requested 1Malaysia computer, zinc sheets, water tanks and other such items for our communities, but sadly the YBs were not forthcoming,” he said.

A highly emotional Basari, who cried at various points of his speech to some 600 party members during a division meeting, said that even government poverty eradication programmes were discriminatory in nature including the supply of electricity and water in rural areas.

‘There’s still hope’

In attendance were Upko president Bernard Dompok, who is also federal Plantation and Commodity Minister, his deputy Ewon Ebin, who is State Rural Development Minister, State Cultural Board chairman Wences Anggang and central committee members Madius Tanggau and Markus Mojigoh (Putatan MP).

Dompok urged his party members to be calm and voice their grievances through the proper party channels.

He said the acceptance by Najib to set up Royal Commission of Inquiry on illegal immigrants was “a good indication” of the willingness of the current BN government to resolve the long-standing Sabahan problems.

“There is still hope in BN… it is willing to listen and find ways to improve the situation. Of course, we can’t resolve everything overnight, but when the right times come, it will be resolved,” he told disgruntled members and party supporters.

MACC panel: Cecil Abraham not involved in closing case

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) operations review panel clarified today that senior lawyer Cecil Abraham, who was allegedly linked to private eye P Balasubramaniam's second statutory declaration (SD), had no hand in the panel’s decision to stop the investigation against the latter.

“The operations review panel would like to state that one of the panel members, Cecil Abraham, was not present nor involved in the meeting,” panel chairperson Hadenan Abdul Jalil said in a statement today.

He said the case related to Balasubramaniam’s second SD was discussed during the panel’s meeting on Nov 8, 2012, and the panel had agreed with the deputy public prosecutor’s decision to stop the investigation on grounds that the testimonies given by major witnesses were not supported by other witnesses, and the credibility of the major witnesses was disputable.
Since last week, Malaysiakini has attempted to contact Cecil, who is a senior partner of the legal firm of Zul Rafique and Partners, through telephone, writing, facsimile and email, but has yet to receive any response. 
Hadenan (right) was responding to articles published in the online media related to MACC’s investigation on Balasubramaniam’s second SD.

The issue arose last month when Deepak Jaikishan, who has claimed to be personally involved in the ‘flipping’ of Balasubramaniam, made a series of explosive revelations, including the allegation that two lawyers - a senior lawyer and his son - were involved in drafting the second SD.

In the first SD, Balasubramaniam linked Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu who was murdered by two police officers in 2006, but he signed a second SD the next day to deny Najib’s involvement.

Check-and-balance mechanism

In an interview with PAS organ Harakah last week, Deepak had related how the senior lawyer had drafted and prepared the document along with the latter’s son, though only his son came to see the other parties involved at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, where Balasubramaniam was allegedly “kept”.

The lawyer’s name was supposedly mentioned by Deepak in the interview that has been posted on YouTube, with the name edited out.

In the statement today, Hadenan stressed that the panel functions as a check-and-balance mechanism in the MACC, where all investigations done by the commission will be submitted to the panel members for their feedback.

“The panel members consist of those with expertise and who represent professional bodies, and they make decisions without interference from any party.

“Hence any statement that doubts the transparency and independence of the operations review panel is much regretted,” he said, adding that the MACC would reopen investigations if there were new and relevant statements.

however, Hadenan’s statement does not mention whether Cecil was involved in Balasubramaniam’s second SD.

Americk: Cecil is a lawyer of the highest integrity...

The following is the press release in full by Americk Singh Sidhu, who is the lawyer for former private eye P Balasubramaniam.
There has been much speculation in the press recently over the identity of a “Tan Sri lawyer and his son” who were both supposedly involved in the preparation of my client’s 2nd statutory declaration (SD), the contents of which were specifically designed to withdraw the allegations made in his earlier statutory declaration and to state that my client, Bala, was ‘compelled’ to make those allegations ‘under duress’.

The reasons for this alleged ‘compulsion’ leading to the alleged ‘duress’ were never explained in the 2nd SD.

As far as I am concerned, the 1st SD was transcribed, produced and eventually affirmed by my client over a period of two months during which time every detail was painstakingly checked and cross-checked to ensure the highest accuracy. There was never any reason for my client to withdraw those contents unless he had been forced to, which is now apparent.

Let me make it very clear that my client does not know the identity of the lawyer(s) who drafted this 2nd statutory declaration. He had not instructed any lawyer to do so. This is because the contents of his 1st statutory declaration were true to the best of his knowledge and belief. Therefore there was never any necessity to alter the contents of his 1st SD. However, Bala was forced to sign a 2nd SD because of a threat to the safety of his wife and children.

My client was presented with this 2nd SD when he was being held in a room at the Hilton Hotel, KL Sentral, on the morning of July 4, 2008. In the hotel room with him at that time were Deepak Jaikishan (left), his brother Dinesh and one ASP Suresh.

At about 8am Deepak received a phone call from the reception desk informing him that some documents had just been delivered to the hotel. Dinesh went to retrieve them and brought them back to the room.

A few minutes later an elderly Malay gentleman turned up at this room. His name was Zainal Abidin bin Muhayat. He introduced himself as a commissioner for oaths and proceeded to attest Bala’s signature on the 2nd SD. Bala had not read the contents of this 2nd SD. He was merely requested to sign it. This commissioner for oaths then placed his stamp over his own signature.

The address on this stamp is Suite 17.01, 17th Floor, Menara Pan Global, Lorong P Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur. It has been pointed out that this address is the same as that of the law firm of Zul Rafique & Partners in 2008. I presume this commissioner for oaths must have been working from this office, unless of course a false address had been used.

The commissioner for oaths then informed Deepak to make sure he showed my client where his office was situated whilst Deepak was driving Bala to the Prince Court Hotel for a press conference scheduled to take place later that morning.

Concern of the commissioner of oaths

This commissioner for oaths was concerned that Bala would know exactly where his office was as a commissioner for oaths is only supposed to attest signatures at the premises at which he is registered. He wanted to ensure Bala knew where his office was situated in the event he was asked. Deepak however, did not show Bala where this office was.

At the Prince Court Hotel, Bala was held in an area above the main lobby where he was introduced to a lawyer named Arunampalam, whose presence at the hotel had been organised by Deepak. This lawyer informed Bala that he was not to say anything to the press, who were waiting in the main lobby, as he, Arunampalam, would do all the talking.

Bala had never met this lawyer Arunampalam before that and neither had Bala engaged him to represent him in the scheduled press conference.

At the conference that followed, Arunampalam handed out copies of the 2nd SD to all the journalists present and informed them that Bala had been forced to sign the 1st SD under duress. This, of course, is totally untrue.

The only duress Bala had been under was when he was forced to sign the 2nd SD as threats had unequivocally been made to the wellbeing of his wife and children by both Deepak and Nazim Tun Razak. These threats have been documented in earlier revelations Bala has made and are in the public domain. Both Deepak and Nazim Tun Razak have not denied these allegations.

It is pertinent to note that whilst this press conference was being held at the Prince Court Hotel, Bala’s wife and children were at the immigration department at Pusat Bandar Damansara with Deepak’s secretary, a Miss Wong, having their passports hastily processed for the intended flight from Malaysia, due to take place that very afternoon.

This was one of the conditions imposed by Deepak and the parties behind him as a guarantee for the safety of Bala’s wife and children….that they immediately leave the country until such time that Najib Tun Razak became prime minister.

Having laid out the circumstances in which Bala was made to sign that 2nd SD, I would now wish to comment on the speculation surrounding the lawyers involved in preparing that second SD.

The Bar Council president, Lim Chee Wee, has made a statement to the effect that the Bar Council would no doubt urge the Advocates & Solicitors Disciplinary Board to investigate this matter should a complaint be lodged against the lawyers who prepared this second SD.

I wish to clarify the position at present.

Bala is unable to lodge a complaint with this Disciplinary Board for the simple reason he is unable to identify the lawyer(s) who attended to the drafting of that 2nd SD, as this was done in his absence and without his permission.

All he is able to do at this point in time is to confirm that he had not instructed any lawyer to prepare that 2nd SD, nor was he present before a lawyer when it was being prepared. The contents of that 2nd SD are also totally false.

Deepak has gone on record to say that the lawyers involved in the preparation of that 2nd SD were in fact a ‘Tan Sri and his son who is also a lawyer’.

This statement has, in the circumstances, publically perpetrated, by insinuation and deduction, the identification of Tan Sri Cecil Abraham (left) and his son Sunil as the possible culprits due to a strange series of coincidences, which in themselves are indeed unfortunate.

I wish to place on record that I find these allegations extremely surprising as I know Cecil personally. He is a barrister of the highest integrity with at least 40 years of impeccable service to the Malaysian Bar and is held in high esteem by all those who have had the privilege of making his acquaintance, both personally and professionally.
Bar Council president must act 
It is therefore unthinkable that someone who possesses such an ingrained sense of dignity,  integrity and professionalism and who has dedicated over 40 years of his life in upholding all that is sacrosanct to the honour of being a member of an historically noble profession, would in any way so blatantly compromise those ideals by partaking in something as undignified and as irresponsible as knowingly formulating a false statement to be sworn by someone he had never met, under circumstances of obvious duress and coercion, knowing at all times that I was representing Bala.

It is for this reason Bala will not, at this point in time, be lodging a complaint with the Advocates & Solicitors Disciplinary Board for the simple reason he is unable to identify the lawyer (or lawyers) concerned who were involved in preparing a knowingly false statutory declaration without any instructions from him to do so.
As this is a rather serious matter, may I suggest that the president of the Bar Council organise a simple email to be sent to all members of the Malaysian Bar requesting that the member(s) responsible for drafting that 2nd SD do the right thing and make themselves known, as it appears innocent parties may be publicly falling victim to the blame game and finger pointing which has emerged since Deepak’s revelations, to which I certainly do not subscribe.

Americk Singh Sidhu

Identity of Deepak's 'backer' is secondary, says PKR

The identities of the purported backers of Deepak Jaikishan are secondary to the message that he is bringing, says PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim.

At a press conference today, Anwar said Deepak had provided new evidence into the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu and also provided evidence of corruption and suppression of evidence by the authorities.

“These are all criminal acts. You do not say that somebody is behind it. If you say we will investigate it is all right, but you do not cover-up a crime.

“That is the central issue,” Anwar said, adding that he was not surprised with the allegations made by Umno bloggers that he was behind the expose.

“But you have to look at who is making this expose. It is Deepak, who is said to be a close family friend of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Rosmah (Mansor). Deal with it. They (Najib and Rosmah) have to respond,” he said.

Anwar added that the system does not allow people to cast aspersions as Deepak had done.

"If you (the media) take the same position as Umno - (by focussing on) who is behind it, (it is not good). Look at the revelations that have been made.

"I for one do not condone smearing of people (without proof) and if what Deepak alleges (is true or untrue) he should be held responsible and accountable," said Anwar, who is the Permatang Pauh MP and opposition leader.

Anwar has been implicated by pro-Umno bloggers as the mastermind behind the series of revelations by Deepak that had put Najib in bad light.

Deepak had told several news organisations that he had been roped in by Najib to help convince private investigator P Balasubramaniam to retract his statutory declaration.

‘If Deepak alleges Anwar...’

Anwar then went on to attack the mainstream media, saying that if Deepak had said something about Anwar, it would appear in the front pages of all these newspapers.

“If such allegations are made against me, they will appear in The Star, New Straits Times and Utusan Malaysia for the next 30 days. But here you have the specific allegations and some of you (the media) have privy to the facts as there are specific allegations.

“There are accounts or payments made, and (these allegations) are serious, but the news had been completely submerged.

“That is why the submarines have been a big political issue in this country,” Anwar added, referring to the Scorpene submarine scandal that started the whole affair of the retracted statutory declaration.

PAS shows Indians the door

"You scratch my back, I'll claw you back". That's PAS's gratitude for you.

Mohan Dass

Indians who form the bulk of the non-Muslim supporters of PAS have been shown the door by the party hierarchy. They should therefore walk out of PAS.

It's time Indians should realize this: You are there to look after PAS interests, but PAS is not there to look after your interests.

In effect PAS is saying to you "You scratch my back, I'll claw you back". That's PAS's gratitude for you.

Just look at the unfolding events. PAS is accusing its non-Muslim supporters of undermining the party's Islamic stand. How so? The National PAS Supporters Congress had merely defended non-Muslim rights when PAS took action against non-Muslims for alleged indecent behaviour. Now, the PAS Assistant Secretary-general and State Executive Councillor Datuk Takuyuddin Hassan claims that the congress has bad intentions and must not question what the party decides.

Wake up Indians. Don’t turn a blind eye to the problems of your community. Know which side of your bread is buttered.

• Where was PAS when Indians highlighted the plight of stateless persons within the community?

• Where was PAS when temples were being demolished in Selangor with impunity?

• Where was PAS when you protested the proposed condominium near Batu Caves that would threaten the caves and the Murugan

statue?

There is no Nambikei with PAS. Know where to place your trust!!

NAJIB "COMPLICIT" in Malaysia's "mind-boggling" DIRTY MONEY CONSPIRACY - Anwar

 UPDATE 2 Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim held Prime Minister Najib Razak accountable for the huge jump in "dirty money" siphoned out of Malaysia, accusing him of blocking investigations and failing to make public the results of a central bank probe.

"He is complicit in this. We raised the matter two years ago but not only has nothing been done, the amount of illicit outflows has more than doubled in 2010 compared to 2009. He has not been transparent to the people and has blocked investigations," Anwar told a press conference on Thursday.

Expressing a lack of confidence in Najib to come clean on the scandal or to come up with an action plan to stop the outflows, Anwar said his Pakatan Rakyat coalition would be initiating a roundtable in January 2013 to get the Malaysian government, the central bank to thrash out the issue with the Global Financial Integrity.

The Opposition Leader was responding to a report released earlier this week by the Washington-based financial watchdog that sent shock waves around the world.

GFI, which tracks capital flight, is run by top financial experts including former senior IMF researchers. It said in its latest report that RM 197 billion of 'dirty money' had been siphoned out of Malaysia in 2010 compared to RM 93 billion in 2009, an increase of 112 %. This gives Malaysia the rather shameful record of being the No.2 country in the world after China of having the highest illicit outflows in 2010.

GFI warned that capital flight in Malaysia is "at a scale seen in few Asian countries". For the 10 years from 2001 to 2010, Malaysia was ranked No. 3 globally with the cumulative amount of 'dirty money' siphoned out amounting to US$285 billion (RM871.4 billion), after China's US$2,740 billion and Mexico's US$476 billion.

Explain, Zeti & Najib: Don't 'blackout' the news

Anwar also challenged Bank Negara to explain "how it can fail to detect such a large sum as RM197billion" leaving the country in 2010 alone when the existing financial system was "transparent."

Anwar also slammed BN Members of Parliament for failing in their duty to the people and demanding for an explanation from the government.

"We are talking about mind-boggling crime... This is the same situation as in the Great Indian Robbery where US$500 billion was spirited out of the coutry over a period of 6 decades. But not a single BN MP has stood up to question what is happening here," said Anwar.

"The Opposition raised the matter in Parliament and we were told by the Deputy Minister of Finance that the probe carried out by Bank Negara found the amount was exaggerated. But now we find that a year later, the amount of illegal outflows has jumped even more.

"The Bank Negara report was never made public. Why? I will be writing to Zeti Akhtar Aziz, the BNM governor, GFI officials, representatives of the government and state governments to come together in a meeting in 2013 to sort out what is behind these huge numbers. We also welcome Datuk Najib to attend."

A former deputy prime minister, Anwar also lamented the media "blackout" on the news and did not discount the possibility that Bank Negara may have come under political pressure to "keep silent".

Malaysia Chronicle

Latest GFI report on RM196.8 billion dirty money siphoned out of Malaysia in 2010 is the third warning of adverse international reports in the last month of the year that “something is rotten in the state of Denmark” as far as Malaysia is concerned

The latest Global Financial Integrity (GFI) report on the astronomical RM196.8 billion in dirty money siphoned out of Malaysia in 2010, resulting in a mind-boggling total of RM871 billion in illegal capital flight from the country over the last 10 years (2001-2010), is the third warning of adverse international reports in the last month of the year that “something is rotten in the state of Denmark” as far as Malaysia is concerned.

The GFI report marks a trio of adverse international reports about Malaysia in the last month of this year to warn Malaysians why the time has come for a change of Federal government in Putrajaya in the forthcoming 13th General Elections.

There are still 11 days before the end of the month of December for the year 2012. Will there be another adverse international report about Malaysia to make it a quartet of adverse international reports in the last month of this year?

The other two adverse international reports for Malaysia which were published this month are:

• Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2012 – Despite a change of methodology for the TI CPI score and ranking, the ineluctable fact is that corruption under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak from 2009-2012 is even worse than corruption under the previous five Prime Ministers, including Tun Abdullah and Tun Mahathir;

• Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011 which showed that Malaysia is losing out in the battle for the future, as the results highlight that Malaysia is suffering a twin educational crisis, with the Malaysian education system providing an increasingly inferior education over the years as well as Malaysian students losing out to their peers in other countries in the key critical subjects of mathematics and science which will determine whether Malaysia could succeed to transform itself into a competitive, innovative and high-income developed nation in the international arena.

The year 2012 is ending very poorly both for the country and the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

There are not only this trio of adverse international reports for Malaysia in the last month of December 2012, but the country is increasingly haunted by the ghosts of past decades of corrupt, undemocratic and unjust governance.

Recently, former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir made the unforgettable quote that it is better for the people to elect the devil they know rather than the angel whom they may not know.

What Mahathir had not reckoned with is that the ghosts of the past are increasingly taking centre-stage in Malaysian politics – not only the ghosts of the murdered Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu; Teoh Beng Hock, the victim of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) and the countless who were “murdered” while under police custody in police lockups like A. Kugan crying out for justice, but other “ghosts” of the past as well.

The recent explosive “confessions” by the carpet trader, Deepak Jaikishan on the Atantunya murder case; the public exchanges between the former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan and the former Criminal Crime Investigation Department Director Datuk Ramli Yusof about the wrongs and abuses of power committed by the other; the public allegations of corruption and abuses of power made against the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, are only some of the “skeletons” rattling in the national cupboard but nobody expects the UMNO/BN administrations to get to the bottom to uncover their truths.

Only a change of Federal Government in Putrajaya in the 13GE in the next 100 days can resolve and appease all the “ghosts” of the UMNO/BN administrations, particularly of the past three decades – including who was responsible for the murder of auditor Jalil Ibrahim in Hong Kong in the first mega-scandal of the Mahathir era, the RM2.5 billion Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF) scandal in the eighties.

India To Award Two Highway Projects To Malaysian Firms, Says Najib

By Saraswathi Muniappan

NEW DELHI, Dec 20 (Bernama) -- The Indian government will award two highway projects in Tamil Nadu, South India, to Malaysian firms under a government-to- government arrangement, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.

Malaysia and India signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in 2010 on highway management and development.

"I informed them that we've already enforced the first phase of the MoU, but the project delivery under the second phase has not materialise yet," he said after a bilateral meeting with India's Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

He said Manmohan Singh has given his commitment and was prepared to take positive steps to realise the MoU's second phase by offering the opportunity to Malaysian firms to undertake the two highway projects in Tamil Nadu.

Asked where would be the highways in Tamil Nadu, Najib said: "Identification of the highways and the concession companies will be done later. Details will be announced later once the projects have been formally confirmed."

"Apart from that, we also agreed to expand our collaborations with India, a very strategic partner to Malaysia.

"Given the warm and cordial bilateral relations with India, Malaysia is a natural gateway to Indian companies to penetrate the more open Asean market," said Najib, who is also Finance Minister.

On Malaysia-India CEO Forum, Najib said that it was one of the most active CEO forums.

"The forum serves as a platform for the private sector to share their experience on how to operate in India," he said.

"Overall, Malaysian companies have displayed their performance which has earned high appreciation and India has high regard for the capabilities of our companies.

"Projects such as the monorail in Mumbai and the highways that we've built were of the quality that we can be proud of and they also have high regard for our achievements," he added.

Poet Cecil Rajendra opens reading room in Penang

Human rights lawyer and renowned poet Cecil Rajendra has converted his former law office in George Town into a reading room for the public.

Cecil Rajendra at the opening of his reading room in Penang

The By, In, For & About Penang (BIFAP) Reading Room provides a quiet haven for senior citizens to read books and newspapers or for children to cultivate the reading habit or do their homework while their parents are in town.
Many of the books are about Penang written by Penang-based authors, said Cecil, a frequent contributor to Aliran. His work has also been published by Amnesty International and other international publishers.

Joining Cecil at the launch was Penang-based black-and-white photographer par excellence Ismail Hashim, an Aliran founder member

The reading room is open from 10.00am to 6.00pm on weekdays. It is located at 2 Che Em Lane, the entrance to which is just opposite the CIMB Bank along Beach Street.