Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- All’s quiet at Tamil school with only two pupils
- Taiwanese gamblers bet on cancer patients
- Muslims urged to be brave and firm in defending Islam
- DAP covering up ‘schoolboy error’
- DAP: Election fiasco an embarrassment
- No permit yet for Pakatan rally
- EC slams NGOs for revealing info on discussions
- Tear gas decision at Bersih called for, says top cop
| All’s quiet at Tamil school with only two pupils Posted: 04 Jan 2013 04:45 PM PST
Three's company: (From left) S. Kishare Kumar teaching his students Sharvin and Shavatha at SJK (T) Sungai Papan in Pengerang. (The Star) - PENGERANG: The start of a new year is usually the busiest and noisiest for any school but in SJK (T) Ladang Sungai Papan, there is only silence in its hall. Its Parent-Teacher Association chairman L. Krishnasamy is now pinning his hopes on the Petronas Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project to boost the school's fortune. The school, located in the middle of an oil palm plantation, currently has only two pupils in Year Six, outnumbered by the school staff comprising a principal, two teachers, two security guards and two gardeners. Its Parent-Teacher Association chairman L. Krishnasamy, who runs a sundry shop in the estate, said student numbers had been dwindling since the other estate workers started migrating to the bigger towns of Ulu Tiram and Pasir Gudang. "For the past few years, there has been no new student enrolled for Year One," he said, adding that the school was equipped with classrooms, an office and even a resource centre. Fretting about the school's future by year-end when it would no longer have any pupil, Krishnasamy, who has been the PTA chairman for the past decade, said there used to be over a hundred Indian families living there in the 1960s and 1970s. "Now, only a dozen people are left and most of the rubber has been replaced with oil palm. Most of the workers here are also Indonesians," he said, adding that the nearest Tamil school was 45km away in Kota Tinggi. However, Krishnasamy is upbeat that the opening of the RAPID project here over the next few year will see pupils trickling in. "There will surely be many people who will move here. We can be an option for those who intend to send their children to Tamil schools," he said. As for pupils Sharvin Raj and N. Shavatha, they do not mind being the only ones studying in the school. "We enjoy each other's company," said Sharvin, whose father, R. Ravichandran, is the school principal for the past two years.
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| Taiwanese gamblers bet on cancer patients Posted: 04 Jan 2013 04:36 PM PST
(The Star) - PUNTERS in Taiwan are wagering on a macabre game to predict the date when terminally ill cancer patients die, reported China Press. The punters, with bets running up to NT$100mil (RM10mil), included the patients' family members and even the doctors. Those who wished to participate in the game had to pay a membership fee of NT$2,000 (RM200) to the bookies, who would visit hospitals to seek permission from the patients' family. The bookies would then take the gamblers to the hospital on their next visit to observe the patients. According to the rules, the bookies win if the cancer patients die within a month. However, if they die between one and six months after the bets were placed, the gamblers would be paid three times their wager. It was reported that more than 10 gaming houses, set up by senior citizens' clubs, had mushroomed in Taizhong city.
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| Muslims urged to be brave and firm in defending Islam Posted: 04 Jan 2013 04:30 PM PST
(Bernama) - Muslims in the country must be brave, firm and strong in facing challenges from parties which endeavour to interfere with the position of Islam as the official religion. Dewan Negara president Tan Sri Abu Zahar Ujang (picture) said the threats and attempts to weaken Islam in Malaysia had never subsided including the attempt of late to deny Islam as the religion of the federation by those with vested interest. "Recently, there are those in Malaysian society who refute Islam's position as enshrined in Article 3 of the Federal Constitution. "They only regard Islam as an official religion, and its position that is lower than the constitution. This thinking has spread, and, if not corrected, will become a big problem for our country," he said in his speech when opening a seminar "Upholding Islam, The National Religion" (Semaian) at Pusat Islam here today. He said Muslims in the country must realise that the threat towards Islam came in many forms, including the latest, the demand to use the term Allah, which was raised again in the Malay version of the Bible, was a clear effort to weaken Islam in the country. DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng in his Christmas message on his blog recently urged the Federal Government headed by Barisan Nasional to allow the use of the term Allah in the Malay version of the Bible.
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| DAP covering up ‘schoolboy error’ Posted: 04 Jan 2013 04:13 PM PST
The party says the recount of the party elections was a schoolboy error and was a technical glitch. Athi Shankar, FMT It looks like the DAP is practicing double standard. They screwed up in the counting of the Dec 15 party elections. But they just brushed it aside as a technical glitch. If this had happened to a Barisan Nasional party , DAP would have been screaming 'election fraud and money politics' As far as DAP is concerned this 'technical glitch' does not affect the party's credibility or integrity. Nor does it undermine secretary general and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's CAT slogan – competency, accountability and transparency. Due to this technical "schoolboy" error, candidate Zairil Khir Johari who initially received 305 votes, had suddenly garnered 803 votes. Now the latest vote count puts Zairil in 20th elected position of CEC. Vincent Wu Him Ven, who was initially elected to CEC with 1,202 votes, has now only 669 votes and is in 26th position. But he has been re-appointed into the CEC as a co-opted member. Zairil, fast emerging parachute Malay politician in the DAP, is Lim's political secretary and state-sponsored research body, Penang Institute, chief executive officer. In its Thursday report, portal RoketKini.com played down the issue claiming that the "schoolboy" error would not affect many of 20 elected positions of CEC. Some grassroots members are not happy with the recount and say the party had allegedly violated the law by amending the election results to accommodate Zairil. They are now plan to submit a resolution to the CEC to declare the party polls as null and void, and hold fresh election for office bearers. Members also want to know why it took so long to admit that the counting was flawed as the secretary general knew about the mistake the very next day.
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| DAP: Election fiasco an embarrassment Posted: 04 Jan 2013 04:03 PM PST
Party chairman Karpal Singh dismissed talk that the technical glitch was a way to bring in a elected Malay CEC member. Athi Shankar, FMT National chairman Karpal Singh was frank that the technical glitch that caused miscalculations of party election results at the 16th DAP National Congress in Penang on Dec 15 was a "bona fide error." He said such electoral technical glitch was unprecedented in DAP's history and expressed hopes it would not recur in future. He however, dismissed criticisms that the fiasco had undermined the party credibility and that DAP was no longer qualified to criticise the Election Commission. "It was unwarranted criticisms … party credibility is intact.It was a bona fide error, an honest mistake. "But of course I admit it was a political embarrassment to us.We accept it," Karpal told reporters at his office. Despite mounting criticisms against the party over the fiasco, Karpal said the public would eventually understand that the DAP had "made right the wrong" and was open about it. "The CEC unanimously supported the decision to reveal the issue publicly.No CEC members objected and no one wanted to keep it away from the public eye," said the Bukit Gelugor MP. Due to the technical "schoolboy" error, candidate Zairil Khir Johari who initially received 305 votes in the contest for 20 elected positions in the central executive committee (CEC) has now garnered 803 votes. The latest count put him in the automatic 20th elected position of CEC, the DAP's supreme decision-making body. Vincent Wu Him Ven, who was initially elected to CEC at joint 5th position with 1,202 votes, has now only 669 votes and is in 26th position. But he has been re-appointed into the CEC as a co-opted member. Zairil is party secretary general and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's political secretary. He is also the state-sponsored research body, Penang Institute, chief executive officer. Karpal dismissed cynical views that the the "technical glitch" was a leadership manipulation to bring in Zairil as an elected Malay CEC member. "There was no sinister motive attributed to the error.It's not a way to bring in an elected Malay member into the CEC … not the reason," clarified Karpal.
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| No permit yet for Pakatan rally Posted: 04 Jan 2013 04:00 PM PST
Pakatan Youth wants to hold the rally at Stadium Merdeka but so far the stadium management have not responded Leven Woon, FMT The management of Stadium Merdeka has yet to give permission for Pakatan Rakyat's Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat rally. The rally is scheduled to be held at the stadium on Jan 12. PAS Youth chief Nasrudin Hassan Tantawai said they have filed an application with the stadium authority but have not received an answer so far. "Hence, the Pakatan Secretariat would submit a memorandum to the stadium authority on Monday to press for the permit," he said at a press conference after the Pakatan Youth meeting today. He said the government had before this criticised them for staging street demonstrations and asked them to move to stadium. "Now we are requesting for stadium, and if they failed to give us the permit, they lied," he said. Nasrudin also said the Pakatan Youth has yet to draft a back up plan because they want the rally to be held at the stadium. The rally was to show the peoples dissatisfaction over clean and fair elections, anti-rare earths and listing of Felda Global Ventures Berhad. Spearheaded by PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu, the rally is scheduled to begin at 2pm on Saturday. Nasrudin said the Pakatan Youth hopes to attract 100,000 youths to the rally and would conduct a nationwide pre-rally road shows beginning next Tuesday. The entourage would travel to Kluang, Johor on Tuesday, followed by Larut, Perak (Jan 9), Gombak, Selangor (Jan 10) and Petaling Jaya, Selangor (Jan 11). Meanwhile, the Pakatan Youth would also stage a mass gathering of youths on Feb 2. Nasrudin said the opposition pact would touch on economics, politics, social and cultural and education. |
| EC slams NGOs for revealing info on discussions Posted: 04 Jan 2013 11:28 AM PST
(The Star) - The Election Commission (EC) has blasted certain non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for providing a political party with information on their discussions. Its deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar described this as unethical and a clear breach of the confidentality that both the EC and the NGOs, which would be monitoring the general election, had agreed on. "We have met three times and the representatives agreed with the stipulated conditions. If they did not agree with the conditions, why not raise the matter during the meetings? "Why must they go behind us and run to a political party to voice their dissatisfaction?" he told The Star yesterday. Informing a political party on issues raised during these meetings, said Wan Ahmad, showed that the NGOs were not impartial – a vital "must have" criterion if they wanted to be objective in monitoring the elections. "The NGOs can be perceived as a political informer. This is clearly a breach of confidentiality that each of the NGOs involved is aware of. The EC had impressed on them many times that the discussions were confidential. "They are being unethical. We also want to find out who among them is the one with a 'big mouth'," said an upset Wan Ahmad. The EC, he clarified, had identified 16 NGOs to be given observer status during the elections but they were yet to be accredited. "The plan was for the commission to have a ceremony to hand over the accreditations and allow the NGOs to tell the press their work plan," he said. PKR secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail had earlier been quoted in an online portal as saying that the EC's conditions for bodies monitoring the elections did not reflect transparency and fairness as they included barring observers from the counting of ballots. Dismissing this claim, Wan Ahmad insisted that observers would be allowed in the counting area but that their number would have to be capped due to space constraints. He added that this was in line with international standard operating procedure. "Ballot counting is an important election process. How can we not allow them to observe this? But we cannot allow too many of them because of space. "Agents of candidates will also be present to closely monitor this," said Wan Ahmad. "I do not know whether the NGOs involved do not understand us or that the political party has twisted the issue." |
| Tear gas decision at Bersih called for, says top cop Posted: 04 Jan 2013 11:27 AM PST
(The Star) - City police chief DCP Datuk Mohmad Salleh said the decision to release tear gas during the Bersih rally last year was the right course of action but admitted his officers could have exercised more care. "Although I did not give the instructions to fire tear gas on the day, I stand by the decision. It was the right thing to do, given that the situation was turning ugly. "However, looking at the injuries some participants allegedly sustained from the canisters, I think the officers could have been more careful when firing," he said yesterday during Suhakam's inquiry into the Bersih 3.0 rally on April 28. Mohmad was the last of 49 witnesses who testified in front of the panel comprising Suhakam vice-chairman Datuk Dr Khaw Lake Tee and commissioner Detta Samen. He also explained that while he was in charge, he had been based at the operations centre in the KL police contingent headquarters. "My team monitored the situation via real-time video feed, and had kept in touch with officers on the ground through walkie-talkies. "I did not interfere with the instructions they were receiving until the commotion, after which I issued an order via walkie-talkie to all officers to retreat immediately," he said. Mohmad added that most of the instructions on the day had come from then Dang Wangi OCPD Asst Comm Zulkarnain Abdul Rahman, including the order to fire the tear gas. On a related matter, Mohmad told the panel that some changes had been made in police training after Bersih. "In accordance with the spirit of the Peaceful Assembly Act, we are training police officers to understand the difference between a riot and an assembly and how to act based on the situation." The panel will hear submissions from the inquiry's observers on Jan 10, before listing its recommendations.
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