Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Salahuddin: Foreign consultants can't turn a frog into prince
- Paid to shine Najib’s government, UK firm goes under
- Proxy war in the battle of three PMs
- Yen Yen denies overpaying RM270m
- Don’t legalize discrimination at work place
- Beng Hock’s family demands criminal charges against MACC trio
- Tsu Koon and Taib Mahmud: Too Selfish to Step Down
- Court discharges PSM 6 from subversion, illegal assembly case
- Curb ‘fascist’ Perkasa, Rahim Noor, Pakatan MPs tell Najib
- 'Expose culprits delaying indelible ink rule'
- Kenneth Eswaran behind new pay-TV venture
| Salahuddin: Foreign consultants can't turn a frog into prince Posted: 28 Oct 2011 01:04 AM PDT (Harakah Daily) - Prime minister Najib Razak's obsession with foreign consultants to boost his image is a waste of money, according to PAS vice president Salahuddin Ayub. Reacting to a claim by the website Sarawak Report that Najib had recently engaged Alastair Campbell, who once worked as public relations head for Britain's Tony Blair, Salahuddin said if the report was true, Najib would be guilty of using public funds to boost his image.
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| Paid to shine Najib’s government, UK firm goes under Posted: 27 Oct 2011 07:46 PM PDT (The Malaysian Insider) - TV company FBC Media, at the centre of the Malaysia news-fixing scandal facing broadcasters BBC and CNBC, is facing collapse, The Independent newspaper reported in London today. The British daily said the London-based firm and its parent company FBC Group had gone into administration — a legal term that allows a company facing bankruptcy to carry on business — following reports it accepted £17million (RM85 million) from Putrajaya to burnish the Najib administration's image on global broadcast networks. The newspaper said FBC Media called in administrators last Monday, days before the BBC Trust was to review a BBC Executive report on a series of programmes the production company made for broadcast on the British corporation's international news and current affairs channel. FBC is also being investigated by the UK's communications industry regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), and US broadcaster CNBC, for which it produced content on the latter's flagship programme called World Business. The show has been dropped. CNBC has suspended all shows produced by FBC, which has been exposed to have also doubled up as a publicity firm for the Najib government and was paid millions of pounds to conduct a "Global Strategic Communications Campaign". FBC was set up in 1998 by award-winning US journalist Alan Friedman and other prominent media individuals who built a network of blue-chip clients that included the governments of Greece, Italy and Zambia, with contracts to promote tourism in Malaysia, Indonesia and Hungary. But Putrajaya has ended its RM96 million contract with FBC which started in 2009 after it was revealed Malaysian government leaders regularly appeared in paid-for-TV programmes. The Malaysian Insider has reported Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has been contracting a series of public relations strategists, including APCO Worldwide, to shine his personal image and his government's locally and worldwide. APCO's time in Malaysia was marked by controversy after the opposition alleged the public relations firm was linked to Israel.
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| Proxy war in the battle of three PMs Posted: 27 Oct 2011 07:08 PM PDT Lim Kit Siang says that Najib's credibility rests on his human rights stand at CHOGM. (Free Malaysia Today) - DAP adviser, Lim Kit Siang, today questioned whether the twin warnings by former Inspector-General of Police, Rahim Noor, and former premier, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, on human rights in Malaysia was in fact "an open proxy shot in a battle of three prime ministers". Rahim had likened the rise of human rights movements to communism during Perkasa's general assembly on Wednesday. His statement sparked outrage among various human rights groups but won endorsement from Mahathir who warned that human rights was being used for political benefit by the opposition. In his latest blog post, Lim noted the uncanny timing of both warnings with the opening of the CHOGM today, which will consider a report of an 11-member Eminent Persons Group (EPG). The report contains reform proposals to end its organisational "decay" and avoid the Commonwealth being condemned as "hypocritical" for allowing rogue member states to violate human rights and democratic conventions. Lim said that the EPG report includes 106 recommendations including the appointment of an independent Commonwealth Commissioner for Democracy, the Rule of Law and Human Rights commissioner empowered to monitor violations and propose action against rogue states. "And heading the EPG is none other than our fifth prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi," he pointed out. "Were the warnings by Mahathir and Rahim a warning to Najib not to support Abdullah's EPG proposals in improving the Commonwealth's response to human rights violations?" Poor analysis The Ipoh Timur MP further queried whether Najib would now endorse Abdullah and the EPG proposals or buckle under pressure by Mahathir and Rahim to shield rogue Commonwealth countries from scrutiny and censure. "The stand Najib takes in Perth will be a clear indication as to whether his promises of democratisation and political transformation have any credibility," he said. The EPG report had also warned that it was time for the Perth CHOGM to authorise the urgent reform it recommends and to mandate a concrete implementation plan.
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| Yen Yen denies overpaying RM270m Posted: 27 Oct 2011 07:06 PM PDT The prices paid for the advertisements are never above the market price, says the tourism minister. (Free Malaysia Today) - Tourism Minister Dr Ng Yen Yen denied today that her ministry had overpaid close to RM270 million worth of advertisements as reported in the 2010 Auditor-General's (AG) Report, which is a breach of Treasury rules. "The ministry did not overspend, did not spend more… The report says that the amount of direct buy is more but not the total amount of promotion is more, there's a difference," Ng, who is MCA vice-president, told reporters today after launching the 2011 Art Expo Malaysia here. In the report, the AG had reported that the ministry had overpaid in advertising fees when it tendered out its contracts directly. Ng failed to reply to this but merely said direct negotiations were permitted and maintained that the prices paid were not above market rates. "With direct negotiation, you deal directly with the media, you do away with intermediary. The prices we paid are never above the market price". Ng has been implicated in a similar financial controversy in the past. Her ministry was accused of blatant abuse of power when opposition leaders revealed the payment fee of close to RM2 million to start up the ministry's Facebook page. She denied any wrongdoing and justified the payment of the fees. Report true, says Ng Ng admitted today that the report is "true" but again denied that her ministry had overspent, pointing out that her ministry had obtained a "Sijil Bersih (Clean Certificate) in the Auditor-General's Report. "We admit that the report is true, but we did not overspend. In fact, our promotion budget was the lowest in 2009 and 2010, but the amount of direct negotiations was higher because we wanted to go right on and get as much value for money as possible," she said
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| Don’t legalize discrimination at work place Posted: 27 Oct 2011 07:04 PM PDT Civil rights groups here and overseas want the Malaysian government to withdraw 'unjust' amendments to the Employment Act 1955 (Free Malaysia Today) - More than a 100 civil society groups locally and abroad have called for the government to withdraw 'unjust' amendments to the Employment Act 1955, ahead of a nationwide Malaysian Trade Union Congress(MTUC) picket on the same issue next week. In a joint press statement 107 civil society groups expressed concern over the government's actions to "speedily" table and passed the the Employment (Amendment) Bill 2011 on Oct 6 at the Dewan Rakyat, despite protests from various groups against it. "The proposed changes to the Employment Act would be most detrimental to worker rights, trade unions and the existing just direct two-party employment relationship between worker and end-user (the principal)," said the group, which included the International Trade Union A spokesman for the group Charles Hector said: "Malaysia's action goes contrary to justice. "In many countries employers have been wrongly trying to avoid/disguise employment relationships by way of contracts/agreements and triangular relationships, and Malaysia rather than fighting against this negative trend is now trying to legalize it, hence showing itself to be anti-worker anti-unions." The groups noted that the amendments went against the Federal Constitution, which guaranteed equality of persons, as it would result in "discrimination at the workplace". "Workers doing the same work at the factory, would be treated differently in terms of wages, work benefits and even rights by reason of the fact that their employers are different," said the statement. The statement stressed that workers in the same workplace should be treated equality— in terms of wages, work benefits, rights, union rights, and so on. 'Destroying' ties The civil groups also said the proposed amendments would also "destroy" direct employment relationships between owner-operator of workplaces. "A just employment relationship dictates that all workers should be employees of the owner-operator employer not some other third party labour supplier, whether they be known as 'contractor for labour', outsourcing agent or by any other name." It stressed that such a "relationship" must be a direct relationship, and should exclude all third parties. "The availability of short-term employment contracts is another reason why there is no need to legalize triangular or other employment relationships in Malaysia through the creation of the 'contractor for labour' (system)," it added. If the amendments become law, then workers would also lose their rights to form or be members of the trade union at the workplace. This will subsequently affect their right to directly and effectively negotiate with the principal who effectively controls the work place, working conditions and benefits. 'Union busting' policy This would also weaken existing workers and unions, by reducing their negotiating power, and in turn make workers' struggle better rights wll become "almost impossible". "This proposed amendment is a 'union busting' exercises and allows employers to utilize 'divide and rule' tactics to counter legitimate demands of their workers and avoid employer obligations and responsibilities," said the groups. The groups also said the amendments further made unjustifiable changes to delay in overtime payment and work on rest days, as well as issues regarding sexual harrassment. "With regard to sexual harassment, the new provision provides only for inquiry by an employer even when the alleged perpetrator is a member of the management, a partner, shareholder and/or director of the employer's business, and provides no clear right of appeal to the
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| Beng Hock’s family demands criminal charges against MACC trio Posted: 27 Oct 2011 04:42 PM PDT By Melissa Chi, The Malaysian Insider
Teoh Beng Hock's family today demanded that the police investigate the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers named in the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into Teoh's death for contributing to the DAP aide's death. The family accused the Najib administration yesterday of "taking grieving family members for a ride" by not pushing for criminal charges against three national graftbusters despite a royal investigation panel finding the trio contributed to the political aide's death two years ago. Today, the family lodged a police report in the hope of initiating a criminal probe. "It's not that we do not have patience. We have been so patient but it has been taken advantage of. "We've waited long enough and there is still no serious action from the government," Beng Hock's sister Lee Lan told reporters outside the Tun H.S. Lee police station here. The Teohs had said the government's inaction casts serious doubt not only on the credibility of the RCI the prime minister foisted on the family, but its chairman, Federal Court judge Tan Sri James Foong Cheng Yuen. The still-grieving family was responding to de facto law minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz's statement four days ago that the government would not be prosecuting the three officers from the MACC despite being named in the RCI report released three months ago because no one had filed a police report to do so. Today, Lee Lan, accompanied by lawyer and Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo and Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching, lodged a police report. Teo pointed out that the police could have lodged a report and started an investigation, just as they did with Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, when he claimed that Beng Hock was murdered. The Teohs said they found it incredulous the government remained suspicious and sceptical of the RCI report and left it to the MACC to head another "special task force investigating their own officers". They pointed out the RCI had incriminated the MACC trio — Mohd Anuar Isamil (named in the report as "the bully"), Mohd Ashraf Mohd Yunus ("the abuser") and Hishammuddin Hashim ("the arrogant leader") — in its report for using inappropriate violence to draw information out of Beng Hock who was only a witness.
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| Tsu Koon and Taib Mahmud: Too Selfish to Step Down Posted: 27 Oct 2011 03:56 PM PDT By Aidil Syukri, Malaysian Digest Those who had openly criticized him were the party's Woman Chief, Datuk Seri Tan Lian Hoe who suggested that he should not contest in the next elections. Previously, most of the criticisms that were hurled at Koh mostly came from those outside the party such as former AMK Chief Ezam Md Nor as well as Independent MPs Tan Tee Beng (Nibong Tebal) and Datuk Seri Zahrain Hashim (Bayan Baru). In 2008 General Election, Penang BN only managed to defend 11 seats while 29 seats fell to Pakatan Rakyat. Koh himself lost in the election to the DAP candidate, Prof Dr P Ramasamy in the Batu Kawan parliamentary seat with a majority of 9,485 votes. However, despite this embarrassing defeat, nobody suggested for Koh to resign at that time. These sentiments went public only recently. In fact, Koh was not the only chairman from a BN component party who faced this sort of situation. There were other BN leaders that face similar pressure such as former MIC President, Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu and PBB President who's also Sarawak Chief Minister, Tan Sri Taib Mahmud. In the case of these two veterans, Samy, who lost his Sungai Siput seat to PSM's Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, bowed to the pressure and passed his leadership on to his deputy, while Taib still remains as chief of his party, Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB). Actually, there are pros and cons regarding to this issue. One might suggest that based on the situation that hit BN on the last elections, new leadership might help in 'rebranding' the party's image, like what we can see in Umno and MCA. However, in case of MIC, honestly I can say that the new leadership has not brought any changes to the party, let alone the Indian community. It's also very noticeable that the party's current president, G Palanivel, who himself lost his Hulu Selangor seat to the late Datuk Dr Zainal Abidin in the last election, is less popular than a junior by the likes of P Kamalanathan (the present Hulu Selangor MP). This is obvious from the fact that Kamalanathan was chosen over the then MIC deputy president as a candidate to contest for the Hulu Selangor constituency, denying Palanivel the chance to redeem himself by taking a crack at reclaiming the seat he lost. Not only was newbie Kamalanathan favored by BN's big bosses, as a matter of fact, the then PKR opponent he overcame in the Hulu Selangor by-election last year was a former law minister, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim.
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| Court discharges PSM 6 from subversion, illegal assembly case Posted: 27 Oct 2011 03:09 PM PDT By Debra Chong, The Malaysian Insider Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar and five other Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) members were today given a discharge not amounting to acquittal for allegedly owning subversive papers and gathering illegally ahead of the Bersih rally that took place on July 9. Dr Jeyakumar told reporters of his relief over the Sessions Court ruling in Butterworth. He said the PSM 6 would try to meet with the Home Ministry for an explanation over the offences which they allegedly committed before the July 9 Bersih 2.0 rally. On September 19, police dropped all charges against 30 PSM activists arrested for waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, including the six who were also detained under the Emergency Ordinance (EO). This came just days after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced reforms to security and press laws, including the repeal of the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the lifting of three Emergency Declarations. In place of the ISA, Najib had announced the drafting of two new laws to curb terrorism in the country, much like the Patriot Act in the US, which was enacted after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
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| Curb ‘fascist’ Perkasa, Rahim Noor, Pakatan MPs tell Najib Posted: 27 Oct 2011 01:09 PM PDT By Shannon Teoh, The Malaysian Insider KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 — The federal opposition has called Perkasa and Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Noor "fascist monsters" after the former top cop likened the rise of human rights movements to communism during the Malay rights group's general assembly on Wednesday. Pakatan Rayat (PR) lawmakers said today that Datuk Seri Najib Razak "must immediately put a stop to this fascism movement and openly condemn the former IGP and Perkasa... if he is sincere about his political transformation programme."
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| 'Expose culprits delaying indelible ink rule' Posted: 27 Oct 2011 11:20 AM PDT (Harakah Daily) - The former Election Commission chief's criticism of the body's latest about-turn on the use of indelible ink in the next general election has raised questions over who is delaying its implementation. "So, who's the real culprit delaying the use of indelible ink?" asked Youth's Democracy Restoration and Mobilisation bureau chairman Suhaizan Kaiat. |
| Kenneth Eswaran behind new pay-TV venture Posted: 27 Oct 2011 09:05 AM PDT (The Malaysian Insider) - Businessman Datuk K.K. Eswaran, who has close ties with Datuk Seri Najib Razak's family, is behind the new cable television venture Nilamas Corporation Sdn Bhd, which is to start service as early as the first half of next year, say industry sources. The Malaysian Insider understands that the company, which expects to spend RM2 billion to challenge satellite TV operator Astro for a share of the local market, has now been renamed Asian Broadcasting Network Sdn Bhd. The new brand will be launched next month.
"Datuk Kenneth Eswaran (picture) is behind this venture and his ties with the first family have ensured he got fast approval for the required licences," an industry source told The Malaysian Insider, referring to the Indian businessman's preferred name. Those close to the venture confirmed Eswaran's interest, pointing out that Nilamas shares two common directors with the businessman's main corporate vehicle, Pinehill Pacific Berhad. The two are former top civil servants Tan Sri Mohamad Noor Abdul Rahim and Datuk Nik Mohd Amin Nik Abu Bakar. "Eswaran is politically connected. It's no surprise he got quick approvals but he now has to launch it," another industry source said, confirming the new brand name launch is slated for next month. Eswaran is the deputy executive chairman of Pinehill Pacific, where he is a substantial shareholder. The company has made a few name changes from its original Benta Plantations to Best World Land Bhd in 1995, a year after Eswaran came in, and then renamed Multi Vest Resources Bhd in 2000. It took its present name last January. The businessman was elected president of the Malaysian Associated Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MAICCI) in June 2008 and was linked to Najib's family by popular blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, who edits the Malaysia-Today news portal. The Star daily reported last week that Nilamas had secured all the requisite licences to offer digital cable TV in the country, and will compete in the pay-TV space with Astro All Asia Networks plc (Astro) and several IPTV providers including Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM). The set-up cost for the cable network offering is expected to be more than RM2 billion over a five-year period and Nilamas, according to sources, is looking at a 40:60 equity-debt combination to fund its venture. Retired navy chief and former armed forces chief Admiral (Ret) Tan Sri Mohd Anwar Mohd Nor is one of the directors of the company, which has invested in a building in Puchong for its broadcasting centre. The newspaper also said the new station plans to offer entertainment and educational programmes with an interactive focus. Nilamas secured the requisite licences to offer subscription broadcasting in the country from the industry regulator, Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission, on August 11 and with this licence it is allowed to offer broadcasting services for a fee. The company also has network facilities licences that will allow it to build up a network and also a network service provider licence. The licences are valid for five years.
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