Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Singapore Armed Forces Conducts Readiness Exercise
- Ex-EO detainee: My 34 days of solitude
- Najib and Co spent millions for PR
| Singapore Armed Forces Conducts Readiness Exercise Posted: 01 Aug 2011 09:20 PM PDT
MINDEF SINGAPORE The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) conducted a readiness exercise on 2 August 2011. The exercise involved troops from 1st Guards Battalion conducting a battalion coastal hook, supported by elements from the Army, the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) and the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN). The exercise featured the recapture of an offshore island that had been occupied by an enemy force. Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen was present to witness the exercise today at Pulau Sudong. This was the first time Dr Ng visited an SAF exercise since he took over the defence portfolio in May 2011. The exercise demonstrated the integration and operational readiness of the SAF. Dr Ng first observed SAF troops and M113 Armoured Personnel Carriers disembarking from the RSN fast crafts to secure the beach area with support from the RSAF F-16 fighter aircraft and Apache AH-64 helicopters. The troops then proceeded to advance inland supported by Light Strike Vehicles to capture the airstrip located in the centre of the island. After the airstrip had been secured, Dr Ng saw a Super Puma helicopter deliver additional logistics supplies to the troops and evacuated simulated casualties. After viewing the exercise, Dr Ng spoke about the SAF's readiness and capability to execute a complex exercise involving elements of the three services, as well as the confidence of our soldiers. He said, "They (the soldiers) must have confidence in the machines that we buy, the equipment that they have, their ability to execute these operations. I would say that at a professional level, it is not easy to do. It is tri-service which means that it involves elements of the Navy, the Air Force, and the Army. And your command and control systems need to be up to scratch. Your coordination and your ability to execute real time. It is complex." Dr Ng was accompanied by Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant-General Neo Kian Hong and Chief of Army Major-General Ravinder Singh.
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| Ex-EO detainee: My 34 days of solitude Posted: 01 Aug 2011 07:21 PM PDT
PSM's Choo Chon Kai shares his thoughts and feelings when he was detained under the Emergency Ordinance and placed under solitary confinement. "There were times, at night, when the loneliness was unbearable because there's not a single person to talk to. When I meet my interrogators in the morning, I was then able to assure myself of reality, that I'm still alive and conscious and not crazy," he said. Teoh El San, Free Malaysia Today He was kept in solitary confinement for 34 days, every detail of his life was brushed with a finetooth comb and he had to endure hours of daily interrogation. But Emergency Ordinance (EO) detainee Choo Chon Kai has not been cowed by his ordeal. Instead, it has strengthened his resolve to be a more dedicated social activist. The forced isolation has also brought out the humourous side of the 33-year-old Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) central committee member. "They were asking me so many details of my life, perhaps they want to help me write my autobiography," he said. Choo said he used his days and hours of solitude as a retreat and to reflect on life. He even said that he looked forward to meet his Special Branch interrogators. "There were times, at night, when the loneliness was unbearable because there's not a single person to talk to. When I meet my interrogators in the morning, I was then able to assure myself of reality, that I'm still alive and conscious and not crazy," he said. Choo was among the six PSM members who were re-arrested and detained under the Emergency Ordinance 1969 without trial when their 24 comrades were released on July 2. All 30 of them were first arrested in Penang on June 25 on suspicion of "waging war against the King". The police had justified the EO detention by saying the six were involved in "foreign elements" and "had subversive tendencies". The six EO detainees were released last Friday after languishing in solitary confinement for 34 days – six days in police remand when first arrested, followed by 28 days under the EO. "They gave me everything, except my freedom," said Choo when asked to summarise his experience. He said the cops were actually quite soft in their approach, adding that the police on the street should be more polite like that. War against the King? Initially he was worried when accused of "waging war against the King". "I was shocked when told of the first charge under Section 122. Then when they used the Emergency Ordinance, I told myself 'Okay, so they're finally using the EO now'. "Then after thinking to myself about how they don't have anything against us, I relaxed and kept calm all the time, I didn't fight back. Just cooperate, I thought," he said. Choo said he mentally prepared himself for the worst case scenario: two years in Kamunting; so he was pleasantly surprised when he was released last week. Choo was first held in Penang in a small confined cell which he described as "very warm" and said the rooms during EO detention were actually slightly better. He said during the detention in Penang, he was questioned by three or four officers from the special branch division as well as the criminal investigation department. "They kept asking about Bersih: are we going, how are we campaigning, what was our plan, and why were there communism t-shirts. But we were not really the Bersih organisers, they got the wrong people," he said. Choo said he had nothing to hide and even told the police that he fully supported Bersih and would be there if he wasn't detained. "They just kept saying 'Bersih is a threat to public order we cannot let people get in'," he said. Choo said there was drama when they were released and re-arrested on July 2 by plainclothes policemen but all he was worried about was the Bersih rally. "At that time, when they used the EO, I worried it was going to be a major crackdown on Bersih rally supporters and leaders. I was worried that it (Bersih rally) won't happen. But before I was re-arrested, I managed to tell my friends who saw me that they have to be there," he said. Choo said that he believed the police were simply using all sorts of "scare tactics" but these tactics didn't work on the PSM EO6, as they are now known. "We are not wrong. If you say that we are against BN government means we're against the King…then that's an insult against the King," he said. Choo, who only got to meet his detained PSM colleagues when they changed clothes or were brought out blindfolded, said the EO detention was much better than the police detention in Penang as they had soap and toothbrushes and two sets of lock-up clothes "During the first detention, I didn't brush my teeth for a week!" he said. Choo said a normal lunch consisted of rice with fried fish, curry chicken and vegetables. On the types of questions they asked , Choo said it covered almost every minute detail of his life. "At first it was very tense questioning. There was a team of interrogators, four of them, and they asked me about my involvement in my university days, my involvement in Suaram and PSM ideologies. At that point, they asked very little about Bersih," said Choo. Choo, who was born and raised in Penang, is a Universiti Sains Malaysia chemical science graduate and has been in student activism since his university days. A one-semester suspension from studies when he was found wearing and selling anti-ISA badges in 2001 spurred him to further his activism instead of deterring him from politics. The former Suaram Penang coordinator is also involved in helping local communities, especially plantation workers. He joined PSM in 2005 and worked for Dr Michael D Jeyakumar as his assistant in 2008.
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| Najib and Co spent millions for PR Posted: 01 Aug 2011 03:50 PM PDT
Why are Malaysians paying for Najib and BN leaders' global public relations campaign? Huge sums of money, RM57 million over the past two years, have been paid out to a UK media company FBC Media as fees for a "Global Strategic Communications" campaign. Clare Rewcastle Brown, Free Malaysia Today Some months ago we noticed that the once secretive Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud was suddenly being featured in international TV news programmes. Alongside this was also a number of positive reports about Sarawak's development and the benefits of palm oil. These reports were being featured in some of the major global news networks, without mentioning any of the state's dire environmental, human rights and economic problems. Our team at Sarawak Report decided to investigate what was going on and where the funding for all this lay. Following hard on the heels of the current revelations on phone and computer hacking by some UK newspapers, we have exposed a disgraceful scam selling slots on TV news shows to the highest bidder. We can also reveal that Barisan Nasional's top leaders in Malaysia have been at the heart of the corruption, using taxpayers' money to promote themselves on business shows and documentaries. The evidence for these expenses has been written into the Malaysian government's own budget records. Huge sums of money, RM57 million over the past two years, have been paid out to a UK media company FBC Media as fees for a "Global Strategic Communications" campaign. RM57 million for air slots PKR general-secretary Saifuddin Nasution had in fact queried the amount in Parliament last year. Well, in the absence of any answers from BN, we can now supply him with the reason. FBC Media is not only a public relations company offering image-building advice to anyone rich enough to afford them but they also double up as a TV production company. The company focuses on producing business and sports news programmes, as well as current affairs documentaries for some of the World's top TV companies such as CNBC, CNN and BBC World. Among its distinguished Malaysian clients are current Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, his predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Sime Darby chairman Musa Hitam. Taib has also now joined FBC Media's stable of clients. All these leaders have been corruptly buying, through FBC Media, airtime slots to promote themselves on these networks and channels. Several top TV executives in the UK and the US and their company bosses are now going to have to answer some highly embarrassing questions from their licencing authorities. How could these companies possibly commission such dodgy programmes from a PR company all these years? The reason, of course, has been the scramble for cheap programming. With too many competing TV channels chasing after diminishing advertising revenues, it is now a clients' market and slots go to the highest bidder.
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