Musa’s service as the IGP has been extended for another year until Sept 12, 2010.
“The Yang Di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin consented to Musa’s appointment following the advice of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak”, so the report goes.
Pak Lah did not have the courage to clean up PDRM and, it is clear now, neither does the current PM.
PENANG, Sept 3 (Bernama) -- After two failed attempts to demolish 23 houses in Kampung Buah Pala, developer Nusmetro Ventures (P) Sdn Bhd today succeeded in demolishing four houses.
Kampung Buah Pala villagers who were directed to vacate their houses on Sept 1 finally agreed to comply with the court order.
Nusmetro director Gary Ho said a ruckus caused by the villagers had prevented it from demolishing 12 houses as planned.
"Twelve house owners had agreed to our (Nusmetro) offer but the opposite thing happened Thursday.
"Villagers and several outside parties had formed a human barricade to stop the developer from demolishing the houses," he told reporters here today.
Ho who suffered bruises all over the body said due to the ruckus, the police had to be deployed to control the situation.
"I will seek medical treatment and then lodge a police report on the incident," he said.
Over 100 officers and men from the General Operations Force (PGA) and Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) gathered at the village as early as 7am.
A mobile police station was also placed at the village.
Ho was seen discussing with court bailiffs, the villagers' representatives and the police at 9.30am.
The situation became tense at 10.30am when several bulldozers and excavators moved in to demolish the houses.
However, attempts by demolition workers to enter the village at 10.30am and noon were prevented by villagers who formed a barricade across the road leading to the village.
The rain did not seemed to bother them who shouted 'hidup Kampung Buah Pala' and 'selamatkan kampung kami'.
The villagers also shouted the names of elected representatives from the Opposition who had promised to save their village.
Meanwhile, Kampung Buah Pala residents association chairman M Sugumaran said the villagers had accepted the court order.
"We are forced to agree as the state government is of no help. We are disappointed by the situation and are forced to accept the developer's offer," he said.
Meanwhile, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the state government was not involved in the demolition work and the villagers' eviction from the land.
"It has nothing to do with the state government. It is a matter for the developer, cooperative and involved a court order," he told a press conference here.
Kampung Buah Pala, dubbed the 'High Chapparal of Penang' sits on a 2.6 hectare land in George Town.
It is the only Indian traditional village in the city.
PENANG: Supporters wearing MIC Youth t-shirts are stopping bulldozers from entering the village.
The act has prompted the crowd to become rowdy.
Workers, armed with sledgehammers, have started demolishing the first house.
Police have called in the light strike force to be on stand-by at the village as situation remains tense.
Tenaga Nasional workers arriving at the village.
A scuffle breaks out between developer and villagers as demolition workers tried to enter the village to demolish two houses.
Nusmetro Ventures director Gary Ho claimed he was pushed.
Kampung Buah Pala supporters, mostly wearing orange MIC youth T-shirt have charged at Ho as they were involved in arguments.
Police had to intervene to break up the fight.
In an about turn, three houseowners in Kampung Buah Pala here have surrendered their keys to the developer.
Pressmen have been barred from entering the village while the developer, bailiffs, residents and their supporters visit the vacated houses.
The residents are negotiating to be allowed to demolish the houses themselves.
EARLIER REPORTS: The residents association has assured the demolition workers that they can move in to demolish the three houses.
However, negotiations between the developer and other residents are still on-going.
In anticipation of heavy machinery to flatten their village, Kampung Buah Pala residents, Hindraf and MIC members have formed a three-row human barricade leading to their houses.
The residents association confirmed that all families, including those who have accepted the developer's offer, have yet to leave the village.
They said they are not abandoning the village and will be together in defending the settlement, also known as High Chaparral.
Its chairman M. Sugumaran claimed that the developer only has the right to vacant possession, as given by the court, and not demolition.
********
The Star
Updated: Thursday September 3, 2009 MYT 10:58:32 AM
Kampung Buah Pala: One house demolished as owner agrees
10.36am: House 467 is believed to be demolished as sounds of house being broken can be heard by press members who are barred from entering the village.
10.31am: Police lead five contractors with sledgehammers into the village to house number 467 to demolish it.
10.20am: Police discuss with Sugumaran and resident association assistant secretary C. Tharmaraj and urged villagers to keep to their word given to the developer.
The police also asked MIC youth chief T. Mohan to stop party youth members from creating further fracas such as stopping the tractors.
10.15am: Gary Ho is rescued by the police.
10.10am: Tractors start to move in after several villagers agree for the developer to help in the demolition works.
However, due to ignorance about an agreement made to demolish the houses, some other villagers and supporters tried to stop the tractors.
Some also wanted to attack Gary Ho. The police light strike force steps in to maintain order.
10.07am: Villagers outside house number 467 come to an agreement with the police on the demolition.
Still unclear who will break the houses as the police ask reporters to leave the area.
9.55am: Nusmetro director Gary Ho arrives with house keys. He appeals to the residents not to delay the demolition process.
Residents and developer are still debating on who should conduct the demolition of the two houses.
9.30: Sugumaran said the villagers want to demolish the two houses themselves.
They marched to the houses. Villagers and supporters blocked the press entering the village and a scuffle breaks out.
9.20am: Kampung Buah Pala Residents Association chairman M. Sugumaran met Nusmetro Venture executive director Thomas Chan and later informed the press that two families had agreed for their homes to be demolished as they had accepted compensation and handed over their house keys to the developer.
8.30am: Two mobile police stations and three police vans arrive at Kampung Buah Pala.
Demolition of houses stated to take place today.
7.30 am: MIC youths and residents line-up to block entrance.
More than 20 contractors with hammers and crowbars ready to move into the village.
GEORGE TOWN: Residents of Kampung Buah Pala, due to be torn down on Sept 1, on Thursday stopped workers from carrying out demolition works.
The residents and members of MIC Youth have gathered to prevent the contractors from carrying out their duties.
Police have been called in to handle the situation.
On record ... Kampung Buah Pala boys at a nearby school in Aug 15, 1948. The photo was printed in the Windsun studio at 491 Penang Road.
JUST a few days before bulldozers showed up at Kampung Buah Pala last month, in what turned out to be a failed attempt to demolish the village, an emotional resident showed me an old crinkled photograph of her great grandmother, who had lived in the settlement about a hundred years back.
Little would the guileless young woman with a haunting expression in the picture have known that her descendants would one day have to fight a pitched battle to defend that very ancestral land that she had toiled on.
Much has been said about the Kampung Buah Pala crisis. But a problem in this whole affair is that it is swamped in a morass of political chest-thumping and technical legalese that it is difficult for the general public to appreciate, let alone understand, the intrinsic dilemma of the villagers.
Those who have witnessed the audacious stance the villagers put up to protect their homes may better perceive the impulse that drives these descendants of planters and cowherds to literally face death in such a manner.
Roots ... A young woman who lived in Brown Estate some 100 years ago. Her great grand-daughter, Mahadevi Muthu, 51, faces eviction from their ancestral village.
For the Kampung Buah Pala villagers are no squatters. The land they grew up is the only home they have known for at least five generations.
As is well documented, the villagers trace their ancestry to indentured labourers brought in by the East India Company to work for the Brown Estate in Penang more than 150 years ago. The land later became categorised as a vested crown for housing trust.
The idyllic life was, however, shaken in 2004 and 2005, when the previous Barisan Nasional Penang government approved the sale of the land to a cooperative for state government officers (Koperasi Pegawai Kerajaan Pulau Pinang).
What made the deal controversial was that the sale was passed at a discounted premium of RM3.2 million (or RM10 a sq ft). The land is estimated to cost about RM100 a sq ft.
Certainly, the BN is answerable as to why the fate of the land was decided on without any consultation with the villagers. The cooperative needs to account for why government servants who are entrusted to administer over people’s welfare should take away people’s land for themselves for private commercial profits.
But lost amid the headlines and verbal diatribes is a critical turning point – one which the state government under the Pakatan Rakyat itself failed to capitalise on to save the village.
In March 21 last year, just two weeks after Pakatan won the general election to take power of Penang, several villagers met newly-minted Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng at his office, getting assurances that he would help them.
Just a week later on March 28, the state land office issued the title for the land to the cooperative.
The move effectively put the villagers under the mercy of the new owner and its partner, Nusmetro Ventures (P) Sdn Bhd, the developer of a condominium project.
Lim has since insisted that the title had to be issued because of an “administrative procedure”.
But that now does not seem to be completely true. In fact, state opposition leader Datuk Azhar Ibrahim pointed out in the last assembly sitting that the premium’s final instalment had exceeded the time limit. Its validity had expired.
The maximum time given for the purchaser to settle the full amount was three months. The cooperative made its first payment of RM963,000 on March 22, 2007. But the next payment, of RM2.247 million, was collected a year later – after Pakatan took power – on March 14, 2008.
Section 81 of the National Land Code stipulates that “if any such sum is not so paid within the specified time, the approval of the state authority to the alienation shall thereupon lapse.”
In other words, the transaction would have already been null and void – had the government not agreed to collect the payment and revive the deal. That the land was taken away from the villagers after the premium had lapsed, that the villagers lost their homes after the transaction had already died, may well prove to be the most stinging human rights blunder of the Pakatan government to date.
Added to this is another key factor that has emboldened the residents, making them furiously indignant against any attempt to remove them from their homes – that the High Court had ruled in their favour in October last year. The Federal Court of Appeal, however, dismissed the villagers’ case on June 24, on grounds that they did not have legitimate standing or locus standi.
Lim has since arm-twisted Nusmetro to offer a double-storey link house to each household. What has put the residents off is that the offer would be cancelled if the proposed project is not approved by the authorities. They are also required to drop all legal actions filed against the cooperative, Nusmetro and relevant parties, and to refrain from filing any new suits.
Certainly, the issue is mired in many other complications. But the great tragedy of Kampung Buah Pala may just be how rhetoric and politics have distracted from a genuine threat to the human rights of a people, and to a sole remaining legacy of some of the early pioneers of our land.
AMPANG: The murder victim whose body was stuffed in a bag which was then discarded along the Karak Highway has been identified as businessman Khalid Abdullah.
District police chief Assistant Commissioner Abdul Jalil Hassan said the body was identified based on a tattoo which Khalid's workers had recognised.
Interpol meanwhile, had obtained a photograph of Khalid's wife, an Indian national, who is the prime suspect in the case.
"The woman is believed to have fled to her hometown in Chennai," he said.
Police investigations also revealed that the suspect was Khalid's second wife. His first wife and children are also residing in India. It is understood that police have obtained closed-circuit television camera images from the Immigration Department which showed Khalid's second wife leaving the country.
The woman was believed to have taken her eight-year-old child with her when she left Malaysia between Aug 25 and 30. On Tuesday, authorities conducted a post-mortem on the body at the Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital in Kuantan.
The body was found inside a medium sized, square bag with wheels. Police suspect that the woman had murdered her husband before stuffing the body into the bag.
She then told a friend that the bag contained a stolen golden statue which she wanted him to dispose. The friend, accompanied by the woman, drove towards Bentong and threw the bag into a secluded spot off the Karak Highway on Aug 22.
However, her friend decided to return to the place where he had dumped the travelling bag to get the statue, only to discover the body inside.
The Malaysian Bar is disappointed with Minister of Home Affairs Y.B. Dato' Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein’s response to the demonstration outside the Selangor Secretariat building last Friday. By not denouncing the offensive actions of some of the demonstrators and instead accepting their weak explanation, he has trivialised the seriousness of the incident.
It is also disquieting that a number of Federal Government leaders have made irresponsible statements – including blaming the Selangor state government – that have politicised and exacerbated the situation while not addressing the issues at hand.
The fact that this is a Muslim-majority area is immaterial and should not, in and of itself, be permitted to serve as an adequate basis for rejecting the establishment of a place of worship for any other faith. In a uniquely multi-ethnic and multi-faith society such as ours, we must uphold the right of every group to have access to, and build, places of worship, within the parameters provided in the Federal Constitution.
The Malaysian Bar firmly believes that individuals must be allowed to legitimately exercise their rights to assemble peaceably and to express their viewpoints, including dissenting opinions. However, we do not condone any acts that disrespect, insult, or incite intolerance towards others and their beliefs. We regret that a small group of individuals engaged in an act that, in the public perception, was deliberately calculated to inflame sentiments, offend and show contempt, and we commend all those who have spoken up to criticise that behaviour.
We have numerous examples of how our diverse and rich cultures and faiths have co-existed, and even flourished, peacefully. The location of a mosque, Hindu temple and Christian church in very close proximity in the vicinity of Pitt Street in Penang, and the presence of temples and large Buddhist statues in Muslim-majority Kelantan, are but two compelling examples.
This, then, is our cherished heritage, which we must strive to preserve.
We urge not only an attitude of openness and tolerance, but the practice of mutual respect and acceptance. The true test of a mature democracy and responsible government is how the rights of the people, including minority groups, are protected.
Things seem to be happening around me in something of a flurry right now, so begging your pardon if jelas is not so jelas for a while.
pre-script: I’ve recently been worried about Selangor. Since Pakatan has not been making much noise, I shall for now defer to their wisdom, and hope that there is no actual cause for concern. That said, I think it is good for us to reminder that Perak happened to us blitzkrieg style - if there is a takeover, it will happen in hours, not days. Thus, every warning sign should be taken with extreme seriousness, no matter how small (there are rumours of a list as well). I’ll leave it at that for now, but hope to goodness that Pakatan leaders are not making any mistakes they should be good at avoiding after Perak.
Anyway, as I am somewhat unable to sort out the loud noise flying around today just yet (maybe later), let me just comment on the arrival of Malaysia’s first submarine.
I’ll be honest, submarines fascinate me immensely. I love submarine movies, and I’ve just finished reading Jingo (and been meditating on Pratchett’s considerable wisdom).
That said, I’m not going to let my little boy fascination detract from the many reminders that arrive with this vessel.
Many feel that the submarine is as good as haunted, blood coursing through its fuel lines.
I won’t pretend to know for sure who is ultimately responsible for the death of Altantuya, but I do strongly suspect that if not for this submarine, she might be alive today.
PITAS, Sept 3 (Bernama) -- Barisan Nasional (BN) requires proper and transparent guidelines on the practice of power sharing especially at the district and constituency levels, said Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) deputy president Datuk Dr Maximus Johnity Ongkili.
He said this would further promote the spirit of cooperation and comradeship among the component parties, as well as strengthen the coalition.
"The absence of proper guidelines has resulted in inconsistent approaches in the allocation of funds and appointment of posts at the constituency level. Thus, there have been accusations and murmurings that one single party is monopolising," he said when opening the PBS Banggi division annual general meeting here on Thursday.
Dr Ongkili added that one approach proposed by Barisan Nasional supporters is for the assemblymen or MP of a constituency to be given full authority to decide on the appointments and distribution of projects, but keeping with the spirit of cooperation that has been the strength of the BN partnership.
The representatives, he added, should decide on appointments to political posts in the districts, including staff in the people's development leaders office, native and village chiefs, as well as chairmen of the village development and security committee (JKKK).
"PBS elected representatives have voiced their unhappiness that they have not been given a free hand in making such appointments in their constituencies.
"At the same time, PBS members have complained that they have been excluded from appointments at constituencies represented by other component parties. The guidelines will eliminate any accusation that one party is monopolising appointments," he said.
Dr Ongkili, who said the spirit of accommodation and compromise would only strengthen Barisan Nasional further, also called on PBS members to play their roles accordingly and adopt this practice.
Pagi ini Sejarah tercipta buat negara dengan ketibaan kapal selam pertama Tentera Laut Diraja Malaysia, KD Tunku Abdul Rahman, di pangkalan KD Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah, di Pulau Indah di Pelabuhan Kelang hari ini.
Ketibaannya disambut oleh Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin yang disertai Sultan Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah selaku Kapten Yang Dipertua TLDM, Raja Muda Selangor Tengku Amir Shah, Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, Timbalan Perdana Menteri Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin dan Menteri Pertahanan Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.Turut hadir ialah Panglima Angkatan Tentera Malaysia Jen Tan Sri Azizan Ariffin, Panglima TLDM Laksamana Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Jaafar dan Ketua Polis Negara Tan Sri Musa Hassan dan juga anggota keluarga anak kapal KD TAR.
Memang selaku rakyat kita berbangga kerana negara mempunyai kelengkapan perang. Alat pertahanan penting bagi sesebuah negara berdaulat seperti Malaysia. Nasib baik kita tidak diserang dalam tempoh 52 tahun lalu.
Kalau negara diserang sudah tentu kita kalah kerana kelengkapan seperti kapal selam itu belum ada.Ketibaan kapal selam jenis Scorpene itu akan dibuat liputan secara langsung menerusi rancangan Hello Malaysia di RTM mulai jam 7:50 pagi. Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Perdana Menteri, Menteri Pertahanan dan Ketua AKM akan menyambut ketibaan kapal selam berkenaan. Mereka akan mencucur air mawar dan menepung tawarkan kapal berkenaan. (tidak kah ada selepas ini mana - mana mufti mahu komen menyokong betapa amalan bertepung tawar ini amat sesuai dengan agama Islam)
Harganya ialah RM3.4 billion. Kapal ini dibeli atau mula dibina pada tahun 2000. Ia buat bersama oleh syarikat DCNS Peranchis dengan Navatia Sepanyol yang memang pakar dalam pembuatan kapal selam. Kapal ini dibanggai kerana berkeupayaan dapat mengawal perairan, dapat menyelam sejauh 100 hingga 200 meter.
KD TAR adalah antara dua kapal selam baru jenis Scorpene yang ditempah oleh kerajaan pada 2002 dengan kos pembelian berjumlah RM3.4 bilion. Ia dibina secara bersama oleh DCNS dari Perancis dan Navantia, syarikat pembuat kapal selam dariSepanyol.Sebuah lagi, yang dinamakan KD Tun Razak, akan ditauliahkan pada Oktober ini dan dijangka tiba di Malaysia pada Mac tahun depan.
Kapal inilah yang merupakan kapal selam terpakai yang dibeli oleh Kerajaan melalui syarikat Razak Baginda yang disebut dalam kes Altantuya. Sultan Mizan pernah rasmikan stadium yang setahun selepas itu runtah mungkin ketika menjadi Agong harapnya kapal selam yang dirasmikan tidak tenggelam terus selepas setahun......
Persoalanya ialah komisyen RM500 juta dan kematian Altantuya makin menjadi misteri 'rahsia terbuka' dengan ketibaan kapal selam ini......
=0925HRS - THE BAILIFF AND THE VILLAGERS ARE NEGOTIATING ON THE TERMS IN THE RULE OF COURT AND THE POSSIBLE WAY TO RESOLVE THE METTER.
- SOME SUPPORTERS AND THE VILLAGE COMMITTEE IS DISCUSSING ON THE IDEAS GIVEN.
0925HRS - THE BAILIFF AND THE VILLAGERS ARE NEGOTIATING ON THE TERMS IN THE RULE OF COURT AND THE POSSIBLE WAY TO RESOLVE THE MATTER. - SOME SUPPORTERS AND THE VILLAGE COMMITTEE MEMBERS ARE DISCUSSING ON THE IDEAS GIVEN.
0955HRS
- THE BAILIFF WANTS TO DEMOLISH THE HOUSE NO.467 BUT THE OWNER IS NOT AROUND. SO THE VILLAGERS ARE DISCUSSING ON THE NEXT STEP.
DEVELOPER THOMAS CHAN CLAIMS THAT THE OWNER MR.SARAVANAN HAS SHIFTED AND TAKEN MONEY FROM HIM AND ASKED HIM TO DEMOLISH THE HOUSE, THE KEY HAS BEEN PASSED TO HIM FOR DEMOLITION PURPOSE, CLAIMED THOMAS CHAN OF NUSMETRO.
- THE VILLAGERS HAS GIVEN THEM 2 OPTIONS, 1. TO DEMOLISH THE HOUSE BY THE OWNER THEMSELF.
- ONLY 3 DEVELOPERS WORKERS ARE ALLOWED TO ENTER THE PREMISES AND DEMOLISH THE HOUSE WITHOUT THE NUSMETRO GREEN UNIFORM.
- THE HOUSE OWNER WHO IS NO LONGER STAYING THERE LONG TIME AGO WAS LET TO BE DEMOLISHED BY THE DEVELOPER, ANYHOW NEWS IN STAR ONLINE STATED THAT THE OWNER HAS ACCEPTED THE COMPENSATION AND HANDED OVER THE KEYS IS MISLEADING, THE OWNER HAS DENIED THAT HE HAS RECEIVED THE COMPENSATION BUT HE HAS SOLD THE HOUSE TO SOMEONE ELSE.
*THE HOUSE HAS BEEN DEMOLISHED! DUE TO THE ZERO EFFECT TO THE VILLAGERS AND THE HOUSE IS NO LONGER SUITABLE FOR STAYING!
- POLICE HARRASSMENT IS STILL CLEARLY SEEN SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPER, I WAS ALMOST ATTACKED BY GARY HO BUT POLICE HAS DEFENDED HIM AND DRAGGED ME AWAY FROM HIM BY PULLING MY SHIRT AND DAMAGED MY CAMERA. THE POLICE OFFICER THAT DRAGGED ME WAS OCS JELUTONG CHIEF INSPECTOR JAMALUDDIN.
- ANOTHER VILLAGER BY THE NAME OF S.RAGUBALAN WAS INJURED IN RIGHT DUE TO HARASSMENT BY THE POLICE OFFICER TOO.
- PEMUDA MIC WILL BE FILING A CASE AGAINST ONE OF THE POLICE OFFICER BY THE NAME OF AZMAN BECAUSE HE CALLED THE VILLAGERS OF BUAH PALA AS ANAK HARAM(BASTARDS).
0903HRS - THE GANGSTERS ARE MORE THAN THE VILLAGERS AND SUPPORTERS, POLICE HAS SET UP ROAD BLOCK AT BOTH ENDS OF JLN KAKI BUKIT, SUPPORTERS CAN CONTACT ANY OF THE VILLAGERS FOR ALTERNATE ROUTE TO JOIN OUR STRUGGLE!
MR.SUGUMARAN AND MR.INDRAN THE REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE VILLAGERS ARE IN THE POLICE CABIN FOR A DISCUSSION(MATTER TO BE UPDATED SOON)
PLEASE COME NOW, LET YOUR CONTACTS KNOW ABOUT THIS HARRASSMENT AND ASK ALL OF THEM TO JOIN US! THE DEVELOPERS ARE EQUIPPED WITH PARANG(KNIFE) AND IRON RODS SUPPORTED BY THE POLICE... AGAIN.
BANGLADESHI ARE AMONG THE GANGSTER TEASING THE VILLAGERS!
HINDRAF is not surprised that the Home Minister is in full support of the group that paraded in public carrying a severed cow’s head and issuing seditious statements to incite and inflame racial discord.
The Home minister condones to the residents’ action and rather plays politics by passing the buck to the Selangor government for their inability to resolve this matter.
Quote “If we don't give them room to voice their opinions, they have no choice but to protest” he says.
HINDRAF have been voicing and sending thousands of memorandums to the UMNO led BN government for resolutions, yet when we conduct peaceful rallies carrying posters, flowers and candles, our supporters are assaulted, charged and even detained under ISA.
Such double standard and fascist attitude by the Home Minister only ascertains the fact that UMNO will never change its way or attempts to change for the betterment of the public but is rather more interested in maintaining its hegemony for those elite UMNO leaders and their “mandores” in their alliance against the public’s interest.
The continuous fascist attitude taken by the UMNO leaders as seen by the Home Minister’s endorsement of the inflammatory protest that took place on August 28, 2009 will only further aggravate and alienate the public further.
This kind of fascist act clearly will lead to an authoritarian government leaning towards a totalitarian state as oppose to the false democracy that is supposedly practiced in Malaysia.
HINDRAF urges MPs, their parties, NGO movements and the general public to come together and act in unity in ensuring that such provocative and inciting actions should not go undeterred for the fascist stand that the UMNO government had taken in this incident.
Those who believe Chua Soi Lek was expelled due to the sex DVD scandal also believe that Elvis is still alive and living out the remaining years of his life in Pangkor Laut Resort. No one, not even Ong Tee Kiat's inner circle, buy the idea. How could they? The sex scandal was just an inconvenient excuse Ong Tee Kiat had to fall back on to give his deputy the boot.
"Inconvenient" because OTK knew the sex scandal was not something the public would easily buy. Not the post-March 8 voters, who's emboldened by the tsunami in the last election, buoyed even further by the LDP's heavy losses in Japan. Voters have wisened up from Umno's excesses and now have low tolerance to even the mildest whiff of leaders trying to subvert democratic processes to prolong their own political lives. But not many people know that OTK had to bite the bullet, so to speak, because he knew real, live ones could end up in him.
It's no exaggeration - in fact, it's even an open secret - that the underworld has already put a price on Ong Tee Kiat's head. Bukit Aman knew this long ago and has dispatched another bodyguard to keep Ong out of harm's way. So, he has 2 persons guarding him now, which is unheard of for a Minister. And it's not any ordinary bodyguard. The Malay chap is from UTK - an elite squad that offers protection to the King, PM and the DPM. It is something Umno's mouthpiece, the NST has also reported in its September 3 issue (http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/17slin/Article/index_html).
To understand why CSL was sacked, let's go back to Oct 20, 2008, two days after the MCA election. The meeting took place in a hotel in Putrajaya. The former Health Minister wasted no time on niceties and went straight to the point: Make me a Minister.
He looked at his boss OTK in the eye, waiting for a response, but the newly-elected maverick president knew better. After all, the issue of vacancy did not arise as Najib had not taken over as PM yet and the issue of filling up a post did not arise. It was months later that OTK found out that CSL had worn a wire and secretly recorded the conversation that night in the hope of trapping the newly-minted president. (CSL had gotten quite close to Edward Chong, an expert on such matters from Puchong, after his tryst in Hotel Katerina was beamed to computers worldwide.)
Feeling somewhat let down with OTK's cold treatment, CSL hatched a sinister plan: call an EGM. That's the only way for him to kill off the president politically. He knew that at 62, time was not on his side, especially since the party's election, due in 2011, could be postponed in view of the 13th general election. And he knew OTK well enough to know that the strong-headed leader would ostracise him. Yes, CSL was planning an EGM when the Ong-Chua team was barely one week into their office.
Drawing from the 1980s Neo Yee Pan-Tan Koon Swan experience, he plotted an ambitious comeback - more ambitious than his election as deputy president following his fall from grace after being caught with his pants down literally. Hence, a covert operation has begun to harvest as many signatures as possible for the EGM to be called.
But CSL knew he could only "harvest" what he "sowed". That's when he went back to the only basics he knew: throw money - not just money, but lots of them - so much that you'd think he prints them behind his mansion at the super-elite Persiaran Mempari in Sierramas, Sg Buloh. The modus operandi worked well during the October 2008 party election. He upset the favourite, Ong Ka Chuan, who had the full backing of the then president Ka Ting, by 114 votes.
If it worked well then (to win the election), it should work well now (to get rid of OTK). The going rate was low at first (RM3,500 per signature). But as pressure built up, he hiked the rate to RM15,000 per signature. Can you imagine just signing a piece of stupid paper and being paid what to many delegates was probably three times their monthly income?
But therein lies a problem for CSL: his cash reserve amassed during his heydays in the Ministry of Health was drying up faster than he could get his thing up with the magical blue pill. This was in late March when it dawned on him that there was another person who hated OTK as much as he did. And that person is Kuala Dimensi's Tiong King Sing, who's made so much cash from PKFZ that he could hire Daim Zainuddin to be his gardener if he wanted to.
According to Special Branch intelligence, it took just three meetings, arranged by one "Umno Lim" in 1½ months and the deal was struck. Two meetings took place in Eastin Hotel, PJ and one in Corus Hotel (owned by CSL's close friend Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng). Tiong agreed to bankroll CSL to topple OTK. In return, CSL would cease all action against Kuala Dimensi when he becomes the MCA president. In no time, RM100 million was raised.
But OTK painted an inaccurate picture about the RM100 million to his party members during their closed-door briefings. It's not like TKS had given the money to CSL in cold hard cash. Unless you live in Fort Knox, nobody would want to keep that much cash at home. The money was to be given to CSL in phases to avoid easy detection. The one entrusted to handle the cash is Tee Siew Keong, his former political secretary in the Ministry of Health whose hands are soaked in blood because he ALWAYS dragged his feet whenever approached for help, especially cases involving aged parents of MCA grassroots who needed help to get into places like IJN.
The stage is set, the war chest replenished and CSL is ready for his Armageddon. But he hit a snag: delegates are shying away from signing his EGM requisition, no thanks to the sudden surge in OTK's popularity after he came out with guns blazing at "evil contractors" who milked PKFZ like a bottomless goldmine. By then, Tiong was angry he had not been able to "reap", what he had "sowed".
Besides, there was a tacit understanding that CSL would be able to get rid of OTK before the Minister of Transport made public the Pricewater House report, which opened the Pandora Box on Tiong like how the "correct, correct, correct... " video hit VK Lingam. That was the start of Tiong's nightmare, which could only end, possibly after 15 years in Sungai Buloh.
This was when Tiong decided to take matters into his own hands. He made use of his triads link. Everyone in Bintulu knew Tiong as the Godfather of the Hua Kiew Road Gang. Despite opposition from his party SPDP boss William Mawan, Tiong decided unilaterally to expand the party to the Peninsula. He needed a base for his machai to operate from to finish off OTK, and subsequently cover their tracks. Who would believe that a Sarawak-based party could ever find support in Peninsula, which is already saturated with BN component parties?
Tee Keat found out about Tiong's grand design and was not taking chances. One of Tee Keat's informers is his own deputy minister, Robert Lau who is from SUPP, which has always viewed SPDP with suspicion. When OTK shared this with his inner circle, they raised one concern which totally slipped the MCA president's mind: if one day he ended up like JFK, Chua Soi Lek will automatically be the president.
That's when MCA will be under the thumb of Umno, just as MCA was trying to break free from it after the March 8 election. The man, tainted by sex videos would be too indebted to speak up in BN meetings. Besides, several police reports had already been lodged over his oral sex crime and it would be something hanging over him each time he spoke up about getting rid of the 30 per cent quota or ask for more Chinese schools to be built. And if CSL attends international conferences as a Minister, he would be subject to cheeky giggles behind his back by the international community, who has seen him having sex - probably the only minister in the world.
No, Ong Tee Keat was not going to let that happen. He had worked too hard and risked too much to see his efforts, like in PKFZ, being unravelled. The party may not have fully recovered the support from the Chinese community but it's already heading in the right direction. MCA could not go back to the subservient days of Ling Liong Sik and Ong Kah Ting. He knew MCA would go down the treacherous route of self-destruction if the party's Father of Money Politics were to take over.
After several rounds of discussions with his inner circle, OTK made the painful decision: CSL had to be sacked. For the sake of MCA, he had no choice. For the sake of the Chinese community, he had no choice for Gerakan has already gone down the road of oblivion. OTK would not allow MCA to go down the same route - not even over his own dead body.
SHAH ALAM, Sept 3 — Selangor Pakatan Rakyat leader Xavier Jayakumar demanded Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to be sacked or step down from the Cabinet after the home minister appeared to favour those linked to last week’s cow-head protest.
Jeyakumar chided the Umno vice-president for interfering in police investigations by talking to those suspected of carrying out the bigoted Hindu temple protest, as cows are sacred in Hinduism.
“We ask for him to step down or be sacked as minister of internal affairs as he has broken the trust placed in him by Malaysians,” the Selangor state executive councillor said in a statement.
He noted that Hishammuddin had met with “a group who has no respect for other Malaysians and worse still, defends them, forgetting that he is the Minster of Internal Affairs of all Malaysians”.
Hisham’s (centre) overt support for the protesters in the cow-head protest has Selangor Pakatan leaders calling for his head. — Picture by Choo Choy May
“Can we now accept that anyone who is disrespectful of other Malaysians and is still under investigation, will be heard by the Minister himself,” the PKR man asked.
Other Pakatan Rakyat leaders have accused Umno of being behind the protest by Section 23 residents who are against the relocation of the 150-year-old Sri Mahamariamman temple from Section 19. The residents claim their area is a Malay-Muslim majority neighbourhood although the state says there is a significant presence of Hindus there.
In a sarcastic aside to the home minister, Jeyakumar said, “Hey — all you thieves, murderers, rapists, corrupt officials and whoever else can now turn to Hishammuddin before the Attorney-General decides what to do.”
He added that Hishammuddin had in the past “waved his keris inciting bloodshed, supported the arrest of lawyers who went to defend those detained by the police, arrested 580 people (this is a record) for standing up for their rights to protest against the ISA and now defends a group who is prepared to bring about racial unrest and bloodshed”.
“This shows that he has utter disrespect for the rule of law and uses his position and power for his own political gain,” he added.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday it was up to the Attorney-General and police to decide prosecution, brushing aside his cousin’s views of a possible solution that could prevent legal action.
Jeyakumar claims Hisham’s actions have eroded people’s faith in his as home minister. — Picture by Choo Choy May
GEORGE TOWN, Sept 3 — It’s become an all too familiar scene at Kampung Buah Pala: residents facing off with the demolition team sent to demolish the village.
More than 50 police personnel together with 30 demolition team members are standing by while 150 villagers have gathered, along with dozens of journalists.
Residents’ Association secretary J. Steven said, “They are here but we will resist them.”
Discussions were held between village heads, legal advisor, developer, and the court bailiff. The village heads have agreed with the developer to allow the demolition of three houses, whose occupants had already accepted compensation.
However, one of the three owners said he was not ready because his belongings were still in the house. It was then decided only two houses will be demolished today.
To preserve their dignity, the villagers are appealing to be allowed to dismantle the two houses themselves while the court bailiff later verifies the homes have been torn down.
A villager urged the media not to record the move as it was emotionally painful. The reporters present agreed.
Police were forced to intervene after a scuffle broke out between the developer and villagers, when demolition workers tried to enter the village to demolish the two houses.
MIC youth members who came to support the villagers were alleged to have pushed Nusmetro Ventures director Gary Ho during an argument.
By Haris Ibrahim “The vigil will help remind us, as Malaysians, that we are all equal to one another, no more, no less” – Waythamoorthy, as reported in Malaysiakini today.
Rajan had sent in a comment to this blog to ask if I would attend a Hindraf organised candle light vigil on 5th September.
I had responded to inquire which Hindraf was organising the vigil; the Hindraf for all marginalised anak Bangsa Malaysia or the Hindraf that only championed the cause of the marginalised anak Bangsa Malaysia of Indian origin?
I had then obviously not yet seen the Malaysiakini report, for if I had, I would not have posed the query.
I have been having frequent talks with Moorthy by phone and have been urging him to take a leap of faith and, as the leader of Hindraf, to join hands with other initiatives in civil society and collectively, fight for all marginalised anak Bangsa Malaysia.
I read Moorthy’s call as reported in Malaysiakini today as just that.
“Hindraf calls upon all peace-loving Malaysians, irrespective of colour, creed and race, and from all walks of life, to come together and join hands at the candlelight solidarity vigil…Let’s show the small groups of extremists everywhere that we are not cowed or intimidated by anyone…We, the majority, must not allow anyone to create a climate of fear and public insecurity. Our children and grandchildren are looking to us for leadership in these trying times.”
Moorthy, I hear your call and I thank you for the same.
Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein as Home Minister has done the equivalent of wielding the keris at the Umno Youth General Assembly for three consecutive years as Umno Youth leader which had been accepted by Barisan Nasional leaders as a major factor in the political tsunami of the March 8 general election last year!
It would appear that Hishammuddin is determined to make another unforgettable contribution which would ensure that the uncompleted political changes in the political tsunami of the March 8 general last year could be fully accomplished in the next general elections.
It is sad and tragic that in his obsession to defend the Umno role in the cow-head demonstration and to further the Umno/Barisan Nasional agenda to weaken and topple the Pakatan Rakyat Selangor State Government, Hishammuddin is oblivious that what he was discrediting Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia motto by aggravating the polarization of Malaysians along both race and religion lines.
This is because Hishammuddin is demonstrating that what we have in Malaysia is not 1Malaysia but 2Malaysia – where there is one law for Umno and their supporters and another law for the rest.
Would any Malaysian wonder what would have been Hishammuddin’s reaction, based on his truculent and aggressive responses to peaceful protests against arbitrary police arrests or for the repeal of the Internal Security Act, if the act of sacrilege had been against Islam?
Hishammuddin is doing a great disservice to his portfolio as Home Minister when he tried to champion those responsible for the cow-head demonstration and made them into heroes when they had given Malaysia a “black-eye” in international society with the adverse world media reporting on the outrage.
Hishammuddin’s defence and championing of their cause will give Malaysia another international “black-eye”.
Can the Cabinet rein in Hishammuddin from another major blow to Najib’s five-month-old 1Malaysia policy?
Are the MCA factions of Ong and Chua, the MIC factions as well as the Gerakan, capable of temporarily burying their hatchets to unite to convene a Barisan Nasional Supreme Council meeting to deplore Hishammuddin’s defence and justification of the cowhead demonstration and to demand that Umno politics must not be allowed to intrude and prevent the law from taking its rightful course or to discredit Najib’s 1Malaysia policy?
"MALAYSIAN society is faced with a collision of values," says new Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim) president Muhamad Razak Idris. "There are two elements in this conflict. First, the rise of commitment to living according to Islamic religious values. Second, the increasing influence of liberal ideas, due to globalisation."
Razak, a lecturer at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)'s Islamic Studies faculty, believes that Abim's role in Malaysia today is to be a mediator between these two sides. "We hope to begin a process of reconciliation between these two values," he explains.
Abim was founded in UKM in 1971. Out of its ranks have come numerous Malaysian leaders, most famous of which is Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. While it isn't the only significant Muslim organisation today — Jemaah Islah Malaysia (JIM) springs to mind — Abim is still in a position to affect the nation's direction.
Before the 28 Aug 2009 cow-head protest by a group of Muslim men in Shah Alam, The Nut Graph sat down with Razak on 19 Aug to find out Abim's stand on the bigger issues of Islam in a multi-cultural Malaysia. Razak also talks about why he's in Abim and what he means by "moderate Islam".
TNG: You have been involved with Islamic youth organisations for a while now; first, with Persatuan Kebangsaan Pelajar Islam Malaysia (PKPIM) when you were in university, and now with Abim. Why do you feel called to participate in Muslim and youth-oriented organisations?
Razak: I think that the place of Muslim youth in our nation is very important. Muslim youth are the majority in Malaysia. Today, this group is not only represented by Malay [Malaysians]. It also encompasses youth from Chinese and Indian [Malaysians], [and] the bumiputeras of Sabah and Sarawak, as well as the Orang Asli. That is the result of a long process of Islamic proselytising.
So [Muslim youths] are very influential. They are a pillar on which Malaysia's future direction rests. They are our future leaders. If we can instil strength in this group, they will be able to contribute to society.
This is one of the factors why I'm so active. And Abim is the most suitable avenue for me, personally, to participate [in].
You are Abim's new president. What role do you think it should play within Malaysia? What form of Islam would Abim represent?
Look at the history of Abim. It was founded on the effort to renew national systems in the framework of holistic Islam. We are moderates. Our roots are in the Al-Quran and Al-Sunnah, and our faith based on objective scholarship.
Abim believes that an understanding of Islam is capable of providing solutions to all aspects of life: society, the economy, politics. We don't see Islam as a personal thing: going to the mosque, and back. For Abim, a complete Muslim is someone who is active not only in the religious rituals, but also in improving society.
Islam is inclusive. Faith is one thing — but Islamic values, which are universal values, can be shared by everyone, including non-Muslims. Just take, for example, Islamic finance. Its benefits are not limited to Muslims.
A big concern, when it comes to values, is how these values get enforced. What are your thoughts on moral policing? Is it justifiable for the state to force its citizens to share [the same] moral standards?
The issue of moral policing must be seen holistically. It is an example of the clash between Islamic values and liberal values.
In a secular society, morals are individual; how you behave is part of your human rights, and so on. This attitude is growing today. But, for Islam, moral aspects are not only individual. They are also society's responsibility. Priority is given to "maslahah masyarakat" — social harmony. If there are any elements that can disturb this harmony, it is the responsibility of a society's authorities to correct it.
This is because, while an individual has personal rights, when you participate in society, you are part of society — and you must follow the rules and regulations of that society.
Take unrestricted mixing between the sexes, to the point that they contravene social norms — like kissing in public, or consuming alcohol. The public cannot accept such acts that go against their values.
So far, we are talking about actions in the public sphere. What about things like drinking or intimacy in private?
If it is in a private place, then this is one's personal right. However, even if that is the case, this doesn't mean we encourage such acts. Muslims should try to live by Islamic teaching, and Muslims in this country are bound by Islamic law that governs their behaviour.
So you would agree with empowering religious authorities to carry out raids into private spaces?
There are provisions in the religion that allow for preventive measures to be taken. Moral policing should be seen as a form of prevention.
The collision between Islam and other faiths in Malaysia is undeniable. This is best exemplified in the unilateral conversion of minors, as was seen in the Indira Gandhi case. What is Abim's stand on the issue?
Conversion is a legal matter that is quite convoluted. This problem has arisen because we inherited a legal system from colonial times. A way out has to be found.
As far as Abim is concerned, we are prepared to support any solution that is able to provide justice to all parties involved. That is the most important Islamic principle we need to fulfil.
You mention the legal aspects of Islam in Malaysia. We currently have two sets of laws: syariah law, under which Malaysian Muslims are bound, and civil law, which governs all Malaysians. Is this ideal?
It is time for one system of law. The source for this system should be syariah law, while still retaining the principles of civil law that do not conflict with syariah. The time has come, and there are signs that the process of harmonising the two has begun.
I want to emphasise that Abim believes that syariah law is inclusive, and capable of delivering justice to everyone, whether Muslim or non-Muslim.
What are your plans for Abim, moving forward?
We will continue our efforts in educating and training youths in moderate Islam. We will also involve ourselves in efforts to reinforce fair democratic systems, and step up our political programmes to do this. One of our focuses is the development of Muslim women, to become a force to be reckoned with.
Most important is that we address the problems and social ills affecting youth at all levels. Drugs, crises of identity, a lack of direction in life. All these put them at risk.
Abim needs to provide them with alternatives. We want to focus on Muslim youth development, so that they can be citizens who are able to contribute to the country.
KUALA LUMPUR: A police lawyer has questioned the power of Suhakam under the law to record statements from police witnesses.
Royal Malaysian Police counsel Supt R. Munusamy told a Suhakam public inquiry into the arrest of five lawyers at the Brickfields station that the power to compel such statements under the Suhakam Act was “vague, ambiguous and uncertain.”
He said the inquiry was the first time that police witnesses had been asked to record their statements before or during such a hearing.
Citing Subramaniam Vythilingam vs Suhakam and ORS (others), Munusamy said the investigation by Suhakam officers was referred to as an “interview”, which meant there was no requirement for authentication as this was done on a voluntary basis.
“When police witnesses in this public hearing stated that they would give their evidence to the commissioners in the inquiry or refuse to authenticate their interview, their refusals were within their rights and had not infringed any law or regulation,” he argued.
Munusamy said the commissioners should not consider these refusals as a challenge to Suhakam’s powers but as a guide to future inquiries.
However, the lawyers’ counsel M. Puravelan said the commission had the power to “procure and receive all such evidence” and examine all witnesses if it thought it was necessary or desirable for an inquiry.
His colleague Andrew Khoo then submitted that, under sub-section 16(2) of the Act, the commission might appoint “officers and servants” to assist it in the discharge of its functions.
“The commission may delegate to any officer any of its powers, and the officer then may exercise those powers subject to the commission’s direction,” he said, adding that the police witnesses could not refuse questions from Suhakam officers.
On Saturday, the inquiry was told that the witnesses had refused to have their statements taken before testifying despite being ordered by the commissioners to do so on Aug 14.
Commissioner Datuk Muhammad Shafee Abdullah adjourned the inquiry to next Friday to decide whether the commission could direct witnesses to have their statements recorded.
Kg.Buah Pala will be demolished no matter what, by the Developer Nusmetro Venture (P) Berhad.
They are threatening the villagers, that they will demolish the village no matter what it takes and they are not bothered about the consequences and the legal matters. We urge the supporters to be here in Kg.Buah Pala as early as 8.00am since there will be some distraction and roadblocks by Police at about 8.30 and above. The Villagers are still strong with and standing in the highest spirit to defend their heritage land!, from the legal point and humanitarian basis, we know that Kg.Buah Pala is a legal heritage site and the villagers are not given a chance to explain to the court in a full trial! Upto now they have not given a chance in the reason that they dont have locus standi! How can they have locus standi? The Land transaction was carried out during the application of the case in the court, and they loose locus standi there. I m putting it in the simple words. I am not bothered about the law and order and what the legal form says since there was nothing legally done, and full trial was not carried out in this case.
We are defending to the maximum and we are not allowing the Developer to even move one brick away from our house, no matter how much risk for us to face! According to the Developer and the state Government, there are about 11-13 of them has signed the agreement and they have agreed that they are receiving a compensation of RM8000.00 from DCM2 Ramasamy, but that news are a false, all the villagers are united and some of them signed that invalid document out of fear from the harrassment by the Developer's gangsters and the police.
We are a legal resident and we will not move out, we will fight for justice and will remain here until justice is served! We are not against anyone and we are not disturbing anybody, we just dont want to be disturbed and we dont want to be bullied by the Developer's gangster, the bangladeshis who work for the Developer's mastermind Thomas Chan and Gary Ho!
Who the hell are that Bangladeshis to come to malaysia to work as Labours and raped many women including school kids and now trying to be a gangsters and bullying the citizen of malaysia and our brother and sisters!
Last Indian Heritage Village to be demolished tommorow morning at 8.00am! Calling all the good hearted people, any race and any background or any political belief. Please come forward and show your support to the poor and harassed victims. Call all the Pakatan Rakyat Indian MPs and ADUNs to come forward and look at this discrimination! Invite them to listen to the crying voices and enjoy the tears of this poor villagers!
Please call or sms the PR Leaders not to support the Demolition of Kg.Buah Pala.
CM Lim Guan Eng 012-6823338- caused the sufferings
Kg.Buah Pala to be demolished tommorow according to the our importing source, the villagers are not shaken and they want to face the discrimination and would like to fight for their rights not matter what it takes. Police has their own agenda, they want to arrest the main committee members in the reasons of criminal records which does not exist! The exercise started since 29th and 30th Aug 2009, when Sugumaran, Stephen and Tamaraj was arrested to the offences they did not commit.
Today Ramasamy has told to some the villagers that they will be given RM8000 for moving out and the rest of the agreement to be discussed after the Demolition! Why Dont he show them the agreement and let them sign it before the demolition? No Agreements has been offered to the villagers except this offer letter : http://cryingvoices.webs.com/apps/blog/show/1617282-nusmetro-agreement-to-the-villagers-.
Whatever perception the public has on the Kg.Buah Pala issues are based on the political angle and not in the view of Justice and Humanitarian. We have did whatever we could to save the Village and our rights, the rest leave we leave it to God to judge! and we will strive to uphold justice, said Villagers!
Money and political power and authority plays an important role in the determining the future of the poor and minorities!
The Indonesians accuse Malaysia of stealing their song Terang Bulan and turning it into our national anthem, Negara Ku. The Indonesians are mistaken and should therefore apologise to Malaysia for pelting our embassy in Jakarta with rotten eggs. Malaysia actually stole the song from Hawaii, not Indonesia, and the original song is called Mamula Moon. It looks like the Indonesians also stole this song, just like Malaysia did.
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 – In just under a week, a grassroots campaign to remove Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat as president of MCA has gathered sufficient quorum as required by the party constitution to convene an extraordinary general meeting.
The campaign was launched last Thursday just hours after Ong’s former deputy and bitter rival, Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek was sacked from the party by the presidential council for tainting the party image via a sex DVD scandal that was exposed two years ago.
The campaign for the EGM is also seeking to overturn the presidential council decision to sack Chua.
In a posting on his blog this evening, Chua said that the campaign has already collected more than 800 signatures, surpassing the minimum signature threshold required, despite initial forecasts that it would take two to three weeks to canvass the nation.
MCA’s constitution requires that at least one third of the party’s roughly 2,400 delegates must back the petition for an EGM to be convened.
“I must say that the response is overwhelming. I wish to thank the grassroots leader who wants to see justice and fair play as well as democracy in the party,” he said.
With the apparent show of grassroots support, it is almost certain that Chua’s supporters will ignore a call from the party secretary general to combine their EGM with one that Ong had himself called on Monday.
“Since we started the idea of the EGM first, it would be a better idea if the President could incorporate his resolution into our resolution. Our resolution is the reflection of the aspiration of the grassroots. The resolution for the EGM initiated by the President is still unknown. The grassroots’ wishes need to be respected if we want to restore democracy in the party,” said Chua.
Ong exercised his power as president to call an EGM to seek the approval from the party’s 2,400 delegates over Chua’s sacking as well as Ong’s leadership and handling of the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.
With Chua’s supporters having the required number of signatures to convene their own EGM, the race is on to see who will be able to convene their EGM first.
Party secretary general Datuk Wong Foon Meng had yesterday tried to avert a two-EGM scenario, saying it would be a waste of the delegates time and headquarter resources, and gave Chua’s supporters till Friday to submit their agenda for incorporation into Ong’s EGM, which is scheduled to take place sometime before the end of the month.
When contacted, Datuk Theng Book, one of the leaders of the campaign to oust Ong, told The Malaysian Insider said that despite reaching the minimum number of signatures, the nationwide signature collection efforts will continue.
He also said that while he does not speak on Chua’s behalf, he does not plan to submit the EGM agenda to the party headquarters so that it can be incorporated into Ong’s EGM as directed by Wong.
“It’s not constitutional to impose a deadline on us,” he told The Malaysian Insider. “I advise him (Wong) not to confuse the members.”
Asked if he would still push for an EGM if Ong’s EGM goes ahead first, Theng said that they would.
“Even if they pass their resolutions, we can still overthrow it,” he said.
The two EGM scenario is symptomatic of a party split down the middle.
Chua evidently still commands significant grassroots support and has apparently won the backing of two ex-presidents as well as his former rival for deputy president, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan.
Ong, meanwhile, has the presidential council behind him and many of the central committee members as well.
Ong’s supporters say that Chua’s sacking was done in the best interest of the party while Chua’s supporters claim that Ong is being undemocratic for sacking a man who was voted deputy president by over 1,000 central delegates last year despite resigning from all party and government posts after his sex scandal was exposed.
Chua has also gone on the offensive and continued to attack Ong for allegedly politicising his ministry’s probe of the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.
While his EGM agenda has not been finalised, Ong is expected to seek the approval of delegates over his handling of the troubled transshipment hub and Chua today alleged that Ong is attempting to gain political mileage from the investigation efforts.
“If the agenda is to endorse the investigation of the PKFZ, then this will be unprecedented. This is the case where the Minister brings his ministerial work and function to the political party for endorsement. It is like using a political party to do a referendum on the Minister’s responsibilities.
“One can then postulate that the PM Najib can bring policy statements to Umno and get it endorsed in the Umno EGM and tell the rakyat that whatever he’s doing is backed by Umno,” said Chua.
“One should not hide under their political party in their discharge of ministerial duty. Therefore, the PKFZ issue should not be politicised. It is the duty of the Minister of Transport and it is his duty to investigate the port and the abuse of power and corruption, if there is any. The PM and the cabinet has endorsed the Ministry of Transport’s investigation of the PKFZ.
“Thus, the notion that only the (MCA) President dares to conduct an investigation of the PKFZ and that no one in BN is supporting him is misleading.”
By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani - The Malaysian Insdier
PUTRAJAYA, Sept 2 - Datuk Seri Najib Razak played down today anti-Malaysian protests the past few days by Indonesians in Jakarta, insisting the apparent strain would not affect ties between the two countries.
Yesterday, Indonesian television showed a group of students from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta protesting against the presence of Malaysian students and burning the Malaysian flag.
Today, Indonesian students reportedly pelted the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta with rotten eggs. They also tried to raise an Indonesian flag at the embassy gates.
The latest attack was sparked by apparent anger over a belief in Indonesia that Malaysia’s national anthem had been copied from an Indonesian song, Terang Bulan.
The protests come on the back of the recent controversy over a Balinese dance being used to promote a satellite television show about Malaysia.
“The president SBY (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono) has told me that he wants a close and friendly relationship between Malaysia and Indonesia. The president also calls me personally about any issues regarding the two countries,” Najib said today.
But, despite the prime minister’s remarks, it has been apparent that Indonesia-Malaysia ties have been strained in recent months, especially over the Ambalat issue.
Indonesia claimed that Malaysian warships had entered the Ambalat area in the Sulawesi sea in early June.
Soon after that, Indonesia also stopped allowing its citizens from being sent to work as maids in Malaysia after reports of abuse by Malaysian employers.
Hishammuddin ... why would we want to penalise anybody?
By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani- The Malaysian Insider
PUTRAJAYA, Sept 2 – The Home Minister today defended and justified last Friday's cow-head demonstration after meeting with Malay-Muslim representatives of Shah Alam's Section 23 at his office here today.
Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein pointed out that the residents felt victimized and had no intention to stir racial emotion.
“They are not getting off scot-free. They felt victimised and feel that there is another valid explanation on their part. There was no intention on their part to cause racial divide. They, the organisers, who are sitting left and right of me, didn’t even know that somebody was going to bring the head of the cow during that demonstration.” he said.
He added that the residents only wanted their voices to be heard but it was unfortunate that “the publicity they received was negative because it was linked with racial and religious sentiments.”
A group, claiming to be Muslim residents of Section 23 in Shah Alam, the new site of a Hindu temple, held a demonstration outside the Selangor state secretariat last Friday, dragging a severed cow-head, an animal sacred in Hinduism, which they stomped on and spat at under the gaze of the riot police.
The act was carried out by a group of 50 protestors who oppose the relocation of the Sri Mahamariamman Temple to Section 23 from Section 19, claiming the area is mainly occupied by Malay-Muslims.
The 150-year-old temple was built on a plantation which over the years was developed into housing estates by the Selangor Development Corporation (PKNS). No provisions were made to relocate the temple, which is now in the middle of a Muslim majority area.
Hishammuddin told reporters that the police allowed the demonstrators to proceed because the numbers of protestors were small.
“They said that they were very conscious and all that they wanted to do was to voice their unhappiness about the willingness of the state government to listen to their requests. I was told that even the Hindus there are not so passionate that it is built there (section 23),” he said.
Hishammuddin refuted claims that the protest was organised by Umno and said that the location allocated by the state government is not suitable because Section 23 is predominantly Malay.
However, a check last week showed the neighbourhood was multi-racial, with Indians making up more than a quarter of those who live there.
“If I wanted to use the issue to create chaos in Selangor, I can but we didn’t take such actions,” Hishammuddin said.
He tried to play down the cow-head incident by pointing out that there were previous incidents where a pig-head was used.
“I have it in my records to show there were cases where a pig-head was used by irresponsible parties including leaving the head in front of an Umno building covered by an Umno flag,” he said, but offered no details of such an act.
The Umno vice-president warned irresponsible parties not to provoke racial sentiments because it goes against the concept of 1 Malaysia.
Hishammuddin told reporters that the residents had met with Hindu Sangam two days ago and both parties will be releasing a media statement tomorrow.
“If it can be resolved quickly and can be done with both sides understanding each other ... why would we want to penalise anybody?” he said, suggesting he was not in favour of legal action to be taken against any of the protestors.
When Malaysiakini reported on 29th August that Mahyuddin Manaf, the chairperson of the Section 23 residents action committee, who organised the ‘cow head’ demo in Shah Alam last Friday, claimed that the appearance of the cow head at the demo was a complete mystery to the organisers, I thought that only an idiot would swallow this story.
Well both Malaysiakini and Malaysianinsider have it that the Home Minister not only bought into this story after meeting up with the residents, but he has come out in defence of the demonstrators.
Whilst I would not quarrel with anyone who insists that the Home Minister is idiotic enough to believe this yarn, I don’t believe for even one moment that story by Mahyuddin or that Hisham believes it.
Before I say anymore on this, let’s just note first that Malaysiakini today also reports that the Selangor CPO has confirmed that the police investigations into the ‘cow head’ incident has been completed and forwarded to the AG’s chambers and they are awaiting further instructions. In these circumstances, I think the Home Minister has no business making public statements justifying the actions of the demonstrators, as this may be seen as an attempt to influence the decision-making at the AG’s chambers.
In this regard his comment, as reported in Malaysianinsider that “If it can be resolved quickly and can be done with both sides understanding each other … why would we want to penalise anybody?”, is plainly mischievous and improper.
The Home Minister must know better.
More disconcerting, though, were his remarks as reported in Malaysianinsider, that “If I wanted to use the issue to create chaos in Selangor, I can but we didn’t take such actions”, the report adding that Hisham “tried to play down the cow-head incident by pointing out that there were previous incidents where a pig-head was used”.
“I have it in my records to show there were cases where a pig-head was used by irresponsible parties including leaving the head in front of an Umno building covered by an Umno flag”, Hisham is reported to have said.
Firstly, I’m convinced that certain quarters are using this latest incident together with several others that have occurred and still more waiting to happen, to create chaos in Selangor.
And its all about taking Selangor back into BN’s stable, whatever the cost.
This aside, someone must tell this idiot that citing the occurrences of past inflammatory acts or incidences cannot justify or water down what was done last Friday.
In any event, given the pigheadedness that prevails in UMNO, a few on the outside would go unnoticed.
PUTRAJAYA, Sept 2 (Bernama) -- The Indian Studies Department of Universiti Malaya, the nation's premier university, will not be re-named and would be headed by a qualified Malaysian Indian, the Cabinet decided Wednesday.
Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam, the sole Indian representative in the Cabinet, said the Cabinet was against the department's name change, as proposed by several quarters.
He said the Cabinet had also directed the higher education ministry to ensure that an eligible Malaysian Indian headed the department.
"These two important decisions, it is hoped, will put a stop to all speculation on the status of the department, and who would head it," he told reporters before meeting his ministry's training providers here Wednesday.
The issue surfaced early last month, when the university decided to appoint a non-Indian to head the department.
This was strongly criticised by the Malaysian Indian community and the MIC.
The university authorities were also mulling a name change to the department after several proposals.
"I hope the Cabinet decision on Wednesday would put an end to all sorts of speculation on the status of the department and its head. Too many things have been said, and enough is enough. We do not want this to spiral into a race issue," said Dr Subramaniam, who is also MIC secretary-general.
He said the Cabinet's decision also received the full backing of the higher education ministry.
On the Hari Raya bonus payment for civil servants, the minister said that Wednesday's Cabinet meeting discussed the matter but did not make a stand.
"Our economy is not good at this point in time. We have a deficit of four per cent. The nation has been hit badly by the economic crisis. Although we discussed the matter, we have to take into account the current economic situation of the country," he added.
On another note, Dr Subramaniam said, human resources officials from both the Malaysian and Indonesian governments were in the midst of several meetings to iron out various hurdles to re-admit Indonesian maids to work here.
"They had a meeting on Aug 20, and another has been planned for Sept 5 in Jakarta. We have to wait for the outcome of these meetings before any decision can be announced," he said, expressing confidence it could be sorted out soon.
About two months ago, Indonesia barred its maids from seeking employment in Malaysia after reports of several maid abuse cases were highlighted in the media.
Speaker Sivakumar tries to convene the Perak State Assembly near the Democracy Tree, but the Pakatan reps are blocked by police and later hold a session at the Heritage Hotel – Photos by Kinta Kid
Photo story:
The entrance to the State Secretariat building is solidly blocked.
The Democracy Tree is also out of bounds for the Pakatan reps.
Pakatan reps nonetheless proceed to the Perak State Assembly at the State Secretariat complex.
But they are blocked by the now familiar police officer, Glenn.
“Do not go any further”…
… unless you have a yellow T-shirt?
… like these guys.
… from this team.
Walking two by two is not allowed either.
Otherwise you face arrest – Ngeh was the first.
Keshvinder was next.
And then Chan Ming Kai, who is seen here being handcuffed.
At the Heritage Hotel, the Assembly begins at 11.40am.
The yellow-shirted guys gather outside the hotel…
… while inside, 24 of the Pakatan reps (excluding the three arrested reps) participate in the Assembly session
The unoccupied chairs are actually meant for the BN reps…
… the Pakatan reps on the left, the BN (absent) on the right, and the media personnel on the sidelines.
They are not doing this with East- timor delegates but it is just piece of low class mentality that they want to show other. This country will appear as Pakistan , Sudan and Somalia one day.
SHAH ALAM, Sept 3 — Selangor Pakatan Rakyat leader Xavier Jayakumar demanded Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to be sacked or step down from the Cabinet after the home minister appeared to favour those linked to last week’s cow-head protest.
