Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- PKR facing eviction from HQ
- MCA wants review of PSD scholarship quota
- Anwar is lying, says SNAP
- PAS Needs More Warriors If It Wants To Replace Umno
- ‘Cops beat me, told me to die’
- Villagers cry foul over fraudulent logging deal
- Government says to review subsidies if oil rises to US$110
- Bleeding bus companies honk for aid
- Malaysia's use of cane raised in refugee swap debate
- Of crusaders, clowns and kooks
- The Malaysian Solution - refugees caged and caned in world of pain
| Posted: 26 May 2011 01:40 AM PDT Since the landlord has failed to service the bank loan, the opposition party finds itself in a lurch. (Free Malaysia Today) - Facing possible eviction from their party headquarters in Merchant Square Tropicana here because the landlord failed to service the bank loan, PKR is now planning to buy the premises when the bank auctions it next month. If that fails, the opposition party would seek to rent it from the new owners. But even if that did not work out, then PKR might have to find itself another office. Party treasurer-general William Leong said this was the contingency plan. "We are only a tenant, we plan to bid in the coming June 9 auction and buy the building. We have an idea in mind of how much we will like to bid. "If that is not successful we can talk to the new buyers if they wish to continue with the tenancy. If the new owner is not agreeable then of course we will move," he told FMT. The Selayang MP stressed that the problem was not with the party but with the landlord. "It is the landlord, the banks are going after them. A lot of people have the wrong notion that we are the owners. We are just the tenant and not responsible for the loan. We have never failed to pay the monthly rental," he said. It is learnt that PKR was paying close to RM20,000 monthly to a company called Ainb-Tech Sdn Bhd to rent the premises. The PKR headquarters takes up eight floors. Leong said it was inevitable that the issue would be exploited by certain parties. "This has nothing to do with the party and we are not in trouble but the nature of politics is such… look at the ROS (Registrar of Societies) wanting to de-register us. "We have got (party vice-president) Tian Chua being fined and possibly losing his (Batu) parliament seat. Every chance they have, Barisan Nasional will exploit it," he added. Asked who forked out the money for the rental, Leong said that PKR was dependent on friends and contributors. "We are of course dependent on people to help us, but there is no such thing as one person coming out and bailing us out. We welcome anyone to assist us, either in funding the office or looking for another," he said. Meanwhile, PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said the party was cognisant of being up against various apparatuses of the state. "We are operating in a hostile environment. The date of the ROS hearing and auction is the same (June 9) but I don't want to speculate on that. We are doing all we can to fulfill our obligations (to the people). Certainly our political enemies will exploit this issue," she said.
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| MCA wants review of PSD scholarship quota Posted: 26 May 2011 01:38 AM PDT MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek urges the government to take a second look at the race-based quota. (Free Malaysia Today) - MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek today urged the government to review the racial quotas for Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships for overseas courses. However, he said that MCA supports quotas for the socially disadvantaged groups, students in Sabah and Sarawak and those based on merit. "We support the quota for socially disadvantaged groups and students in Sabah and Sarawak. That's only fair because school facilities in Sabah and Sarawak are not of the same standards as those in Kuala Lumpur or even Ipoh. But he suggested that the 60% racial quotas should be reviewed. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Aziz, who is in charge of the PSD scholarships, said that the government had allocated 1,500 overseas scholarships to top students. Of this, only 300 or 20% of the total were given based entirely on merit to students who score straight 9A+. The rest of the scholarships are divided under the categories of Sabah and Sarawak (10%), the socially disadvantaged (10%), and race-based (60%). "We fully support the 60% quota but there is a need to review it," Chua said.
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| Posted: 25 May 2011 07:14 PM PDT There was no written agreement with PKR or Pakatan Rakyat on seat allocations 'few months' before the April 16 Sarawak elections, says Sarawak Nasional Party. (Free Malaysia Today) - Sarawak Nasional Party (SNAP) has strongly rebutted PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim's claims that it had signed an agreement with the party, to contest only in three seats a few months before the recent Sarawak election. SNAP Youth chief Dayrell Enterie said Anwar's statement was "totally incorrect". "This statement of his (Anwar) is totally incorrect as neither SNAP nor its president (who was erroneously named Stanley Jugol in the Malaysiakini article) had entered into any written agreement whatsoever on seat allocations with PKR. "SNAP wishes to reiterate that it is not a push-over party for any West Malaysian entity nor is SNAP a Pakatan stooge," he said in a statement mailed to FMT. Dayrell was responding to Anwar who had reportedly said that "there was an agreement in writing, where SNAP only agreed to contest three seats, and then they asked us if it is possible to have another three". "It was signed a few months before the election by (SNAP president) Stanley (Jugol)," Anwar had said. Anwar had also said that Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian and his "Dayak boys had strong issues against SNAP". "It was not just about being from a different party… (it was also about) whether or not this group of people (from SNAP) can be trusted," Anwar said. Inherent right Expressing SNAP's frustration, Dayrell said the party was fed up with the insinuations and allegations PKR has slapped it with. "As a Sarawak-based Party, SNAP has an inherent right to decide its own direction. Being a local party, it has the legitimate obligation to care for Sarawakians. "SNAP is fed up with the allegations by a Pakatan party that it is Umno-funded, and an agent for BN. "We left because SNAP was not accorded any respect," he said, adding that in view of PKR's treatment of SNAP in the last state election, there is now a strong desire for SNAP to be unencumbered by any political collaboration. This, however, did not mean that SNAP will not collaborate with anyone.
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| PAS Needs More Warriors If It Wants To Replace Umno Posted: 25 May 2011 06:49 PM PDT (Bernama) -- PAS needs more "warriors" than religious leaders if it wants to unseat Umno in the 13th general election. Political analyst Prof Dr A. Aziz Bari said that PAS led by its president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang needed to undertake more transformation in the party by bringing forth more "warriors".
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| ‘Cops beat me, told me to die’ Posted: 25 May 2011 06:29 PM PDT
A 20-year-old student claims that he was assaulted and verbally berated after knocking into a policeman's motorcycle. (Free Malaysia Today) - "The policemen kept beating me and called me 'keling'. They also shouted at me, saying I should just die so that they can close the case." A 20-year-old student was allegedly beaten up and verbally berated when he knocked into a policeman's motorcycle at a roadblock in Rembau, Negri Sembilan, during the wee hours of the morning. After the Monday incident, S Ganesan was also warned against lodging a complaint before he was put into an ambulance and sent to the Tuanku Jaafar Hospital. However, Ganesan summed up the courage to lodge a report with the Chembong police station on the same day. In the report, he stated: "I want the authorities to take action against the errant policemen. I don't understand why they treated me like an animal although I repeatedly apologised for the accident." Ganesan said that he fell to the ground when his motorcyle collided with the policeman's bike, and an officer identified only as Hisham allegedly started raining blows on him. "Soon, several other officers joined him to beat me up," he added. Ganesan claimed that he was kicked in his stomach, arms and back. The policemen, who also used a helmet to assault him, then allegedly tore his shirt, threw him into a drain and stomped on him. Apart from the beating, the student claimed that the policemen had also hurled racial insults, among others, calling him "keling" (a derogatory term used on Indians). "They also said I should just die so that they can close the case," he alleged. Despite several attempts, FMT failed to reach Negeri Sembilan CID chief ACP Hamdan Majid for comments.
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| Villagers cry foul over fraudulent logging deal Posted: 25 May 2011 04:04 PM PDT By Joseph Tawie, Free Malaysia Today KUCHING: Bidayuh landowners from four villages in the Lundu district – Kampung Stum Muda, Kampung Stungkor Baru, Kampung Stungkor Lama and Kampung . Bokiah – have claimed that a Miri-based timber company has cheated them through an 'undated, unsealed and improperly attested agreement'. They claimed the agreement also had not been stamped with the term 'hasil'. On May 3, the villagers lodged a report, at the Lundu police station, against Bagos Anak Gaok and Kampung Stim Muda village chief Labob Anak Sindeh for allegedly selling their forest in their native customary rights (NCR) land to the timber company, Malaystar Sdn Bhd. Villagers Jemat Anak Tikek and Manis Anak Nundod of Kampung Stungkor Lama, lodged the report on behalf of the residents from the four villages. They told the police that various species of timber in their NCR land near Gunong Undan have been felled. "We found that an illegal agreement had been made between the timber company with Ketua kampong (village chief) Stum Muda, Laboh Anak Sindeh without the agreement of AJK (Development Action Committee) of the four villages. "We made this report for information and action to be taken by the Lundu District Council, Forest Department, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the police and other relevant authorities," Jemat said. Jemat believed that illegal loggings are being carried out on 1,000 acres of their NCR land at Gunong Undan that belonged to the communities of the four villages. "The majority of the people in these villages are opposed to the illegal loggings carried out by the loggers who were given consent to do so by a village chief of Kampung Stum Muda . "He has not been given the mandate by the people," Jemat said. False documents Jemat alleged that the village chief could have based his authority on two points; i) an undated, unsealed and improperly attested agreement without stamp of the phrase 'hasil' and (ii) a written prior demand from the villagers which is attested by the agent of the loggers and not by any of the village elders. "Upon perusal of these documents we found them to be false, void, and invalid by misrepresentation, and contravened laws governing NCR lands," Jemat said.
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| Government says to review subsidies if oil rises to US$110 Posted: 25 May 2011 04:03 PM PDT (The Malaysian Insider) - KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 — Malaysia will review fuel prices if the price of oil is at US$110-120 per barrel, Deputy Finance Minister Donald Lim said today. He did not specify the brand of crude but the government had said yesterday it would keep fuel prices unchanged for now, taking into consideration the people's interests. Brent crude held steady around US$115 a barrel today due to a softer dollar and as an unexpected drop in US distillate stocks overshadowed gains in gasoline and crude inventories. US crude for July delivery rose 38 cents to US$101.70 this morning, adding to a US$1.73 gain yesterday. Investment research firm AmResearch recently estimated Putrajaya is now subsidising at least 90 sen per litre of RON95 versus the intended 30 sen per litre after global crude oil prices surged to US$99 per barrel from US$79 per barrel last year, matching the US$100 per barrel recorded in 2008. Petrol subsidies will push the government's fiscal deficit over the projected 5.4 per cent of GDP towards six per cent if RON95 is kept at the current price of RM1.90 per litre for the rest of the year, AmResearch noted. Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has said the government expects the subsidy burden to double from RM10.32 billion to RM20.58 billion this year. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak also said fuel subsidies were "like opium" to the Malaysian economy and would have to be gradually slashed as the initial bill of RM11 billion had soared to RM18 billion for the year due to escalating crude oil prices. The government also announced today that the National Economic Council will decide tomorrow on any revision to the electricity tariff. Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin said the Cabinet had directed the council to deliberate the matter and make a decision on a new tariff. "We know at this juncture, a lot of other things have also increased, including food prices and housing. So the government decided not to increase (fuel prices)," Lim told reporters today after a function here. |
| Bleeding bus companies honk for aid Posted: 25 May 2011 03:55 PM PDT Bus operators are pleading with the government for monetary aid. They warn that if no help comes forth, their services will grind to a halt. (Free Malaysia Today) - Private bus operators are pleading with the government to disburse the RM4 billion stored under the Public Transportation Fund. Pan-Malaysian Bus Operators Association (PMBOA) president Mohamad Ashfar Ali said the financial aid would give the companies a new lease of life. "We have problems applying for loans because the banks look at our accounts and see our losses. "We would like to ask the government, who collected this fund under (former premier) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to disburse it to us," he told FMT after meeting with Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) officials yesterday. In March 2006, Abdullah said that the RM4.4 billion gleaned from oil subsidy reductions would be placed in a Public Transportation Fund. At the time, the premier said that the fund would be used to improve public transport in all states. However, it was not clear if this fund had been used so far. Solutions to their problems Meanwhile, Ashfar said that PMBOA members also suggested other options to SPAD officials during their meeting. These included a further reduction on their partial diesel subsidy from RM1.48 to RM1.00 per litre, and for the option to use buses that were older than 15 years. Failing that, the operators also requested a cost-per-kilometre measure, where the government would subsidise buses according to the routes they took. But as far as PMBOA was concerned, these solutions were still short-term remedies, and pleaded for the government to buy them out, lock, stock and barrel. Even so, yesterday's meeting did not appear to be fruitful. Although listening to their cries for help, SPAD chairman Syed Hamid Albar allegedly told the bus operators that the commission could only make recommendations. The final decision, Ashfar said, rested in the hands of the Cabinet. Companies in dire straits Ashfar said that bus companies across Malaysia were in dire straits. "We are shutting down slowly. It's not going to be like a television channel where we just turn off, but it's going to be like a domino effect," he added. He said that bus services in many rural and small towns were slashing their schedules or shutting down altogether. Negeri Sembilan Bus Operators Association president Hardev Singh Gill said the Seremban Town Service (STS) company, which had 25 buses running a few years ago only had four left now. He added that operators servicing other towns in the state such as Port Dickson and Nilai had closed down completely.
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| Malaysia's use of cane raised in refugee swap debate Posted: 25 May 2011 03:46 PM PDT By Jeremy Thompson, ABC News The Federal Government is facing more criticism of its Malaysian asylum seeker swap deal, with Opposition, Greens and independent MPs questioning Malaysia's human rights record. A press report today quotes Amnesty International saying 6,000 detainees in Malaysia each year suffer the rattan cane, which "shreds the victim's naked skin and turns tissue into pulp". Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison says Immigration Minister Chris Bowen cannot give a rock-solid undertaking that 800 asylum seekers Australia plans to send to Malaysia will not be caned. "I would have thought this is a fairly fundamental, basic check-off in terms of the human rights issues that will need to be squared away if you were going to conclude this sort of deal," Mr Morrison said. Liberal Senator Eric Abetz says the Government should restore the so-called Pacific Solution. "If you have offended against the law of Nauru or Malaysia, where would you prefer to be? It's quite clear the Howard government's Nauruan solution, the Pacific solution, worked, and what's more, was more humane," Senator Abetz said. "All the people we sent to Nauru, none of them were submitted to caning." Greens MP Adam Bandt says sending asylum seekers to a country that has not agreed to abide by international law is not something his party can support. And independent Senator Nick Xenophon says he cannot understand why the Government will not send asylum seekers to Nauru because it has not signed the UN Refugee Convention, but will send them to Malaysia which is not a signatory either. He says Malaysia has a history in relation to human rights issues that is "less than exemplary". "I think the Government needs to get assurances, because it's not going to be a good look that we send people who have sought asylum back to a country where they are subject to inhumane punishment," Senator Xenophon said. |
| Of crusaders, clowns and kooks Posted: 25 May 2011 11:02 AM PDT By M Veera Pandiyan, The Star Rabble-rousers will only end up enjoying influence way beyond their merits if we take them too seriously or give too much attention to their grandstanding. WHAT politicians say or do tend to invoke a whole range of emotions – from anger and disgust to fear and surprise, and in rare exceptions, even joy. In Malaysia, there's one player whose antics have been perpetually confounding. When it comes to Perkasa head Datuk Seri Ibrahim Ali, one is often left wondering whether to laugh or to cry. The latest being his threat to wage a jihad (not a crusade, in this context) against Christians, if, in his own words, they continued to challenge Islam's position in the country. The source of the grossly implausible story, published by a newspaper on page one recently, is now under police investigation. The newspaper cited two blog sites which claimed that a meeting attended by Christian and DAP leaders to make Christianity the official religion had taken place in Penang. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has since met Christian and Muslim leaders on the issue while the Home Ministry has sent a letter of caution to the newspaper. At the meeting with Najib, besides strongly denying involvement in any such conspiracy, Christian leaders – except one bishop, who turned up his nose at the event and described the delegation as lambs being led to slaughter – reiterated their upholding the spirit of the Federal Constitution and the status of Islam as the religion of the federation. They also gave their commitment to work with the Government to sustain peace and harmony and seek amicable solutions to various outstanding inter-religious issues. Despite this, the Pasir Mas MP has been going round the country accusing Christians of "challenging the sovereignty and dignity of Malays and Muslims" and challenging the authorities to take action. It's tragic that this is happening when Najib is urging moderates of all religions to come together in his current trip abroad. But it is no secret that just as in mosques and suraus, preachers in churches, too, have abused the pulpits to preach highly-political sermons. We certainly don't need this, especially with the country already having too many demagogues enjoying influence way beyond their merits. They have proven time and again that reason and common sense is no match for rabid rhetoric, especially when it comes to issues of race or religion. Most of the seeds of intolerance and distrust were sown more than two decades ago but how many fanatical cyber-utopians of today will bother to go that far back to trace the planters? Ironically, some of the disingenuous politicians are now portraying themselves as champions of unity and religious harmony when they have never sought to find common ground in the name of seeking solutions, even when they had the power to do so. As for DAP and those who have been denouncing Ibrahim's actions as the worst kind of grandstanding, they are only fanning the flames. The Home Minister has been accused of being soft on Ibrahim but he does have a point about not giving the Perkasa leader too much attention. It's really up to right-thinking Malaysians to evaluate him. It is up to us to see him as a crusader or as a clown. Aren't his antics comparable to Benteng Demokrasi Rakyat (Bendera) – the group of Indonesians armed with "samurai swords and black magic" who planned to invade Malaysia two years ago as revenge for stealing their country's cultural heritage? Ibrahim certainly does not represent the majority of Malays and Muslims in the country and neither does he have any real support to wage any kind of war. But thanks to the increasing lack of civility in our political discourse, and with key players still focused on scoring points, this unnecessary anger is allowed to fester. Life is too short for one to be taken in by serial rabble-rousers or to take them too seriously. It could well be very, very short indeed – as in 153 days from this Saturday – according to a kooky group of Christians led by Family Radio Worldwide's founder Harold Camping, 88. The preacher, an engineer by training, has predicted that the Bible-prophesied Rapture and Judgment Day will take place on May 21. Unlike predictions based on the Mayan calendar, which ends next year, and the Hollywood apocalypse movie 2012, Camping, who has believers stretching from the United States to China, is convinced that the date is correct. His followers, who claim to be God's true believers, are expecting to be lifted into heaven and be saved, along with some 200 million more of the faithful. They say that those left behind will have to suffer ghastly torment until Oct 21 – Camping's date for end of the world. But we shouldn't be too worried, I guess. The preacher, who claims he has studied the Bible for 70 years, has got it all wrong before. On Sept 6, 1994, the date he had promised for two years, believers gathered awaiting the Rapture by holding their Bibles open-faced towards heaven. But, the world just moved on – with no shortage of kooks, crusaders and clowns continuing to sell their gullible believers all sorts of promises, theories and beliefs. |
| The Malaysian Solution - refugees caged and caned in world of pain Posted: 25 May 2011 10:50 AM PDT By Gemma Jones, The Daily Telegraph ASYLUM seekers shipped overseas under the proposed "Malaysian Solution" face the prospect of caning if they step out of line in detention. Living conditions at refugee camps in Malaysia have also been condemned as crowded and unhygienic, with some inmates reported to have died from disease spread by rats. According to Amnesty International, Malaysia flogs up to 6000 detainees a year, using a rattan cane that causes visible injuries and scarring. The law allows guards to punish children. "Across Malaysia, government officials regularly tear into the flesh of prisoners with rattan canes travelling up to 160km/h. The cane shreds the victim's naked skin, turns the fatty tissue into pulp and leaves permanent scars that extend all the way to muscle fibres," an Amnesty report into caning says. Graphic video of caning in Malaysia - warning, some readers may find this disturbing
UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay, who is visiting Australia, claimed yesterday the Gillard government risked breaching international laws with the proposed swap of 800 boat arrivals for 4000 refugees from Malaysia. While Immigration Minister Chris Bowen insists the deal complies with the UN Refugee Convention, that document does not cover torture, cruel punishment or conditions in detention centres that are dealt with under other international covenants and UN guidelines.
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