Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Protesters storm building in Cairo, Egypt death toll reaches 525
- Opposition rubbishes Najib’s soared support after GE
- Merdeka Centre: Our analysis solid
- DAP gave in to avoid RoS abuse, says Pua
- Nazri: No need to demolish surau used by Buddhists
- EO return ‘out of the question’, says minister
- DAP to accept re-election directive
- MIC says Merdeka Centre analysis a ‘blatant lie’
- Stop threatening politicians with Sedition laws, says PKR’s Latheefa
- Biometric system scrapped, indelible ink stays
- Malaysia’s crime wave clouding investors’ perception
- DAP appoints Kok to head anti-crime task force
- Protecting our borders
- Tread carefully on religious matters, says Ikram sec-gen
| Protesters storm building in Cairo, Egypt death toll reaches 525 Posted: 14 Aug 2013 11:36 PM PDT
(Reuters) - Hundreds of supporters of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood stormed a government building in Cairo on Thursday and set it ablaze, as fury over a security crackdown on the Islamist movement that killed hundreds of people spilled on to the streets. In Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city, hundreds marched to protest against Wednesday's violent breakup of Brotherhood sit-ins in the capital, prompting nationwide violence in which at least 525 people died and thousands were wounded. "We will come back again for the sake of our martyrs!" the protesters chanted. They demanded the reinstatement of former President Mohamed Mursi, who was deposed by the army six weeks ago after mass demonstrations against him, and whose ouster triggered a crisis that has polarised the most populous Arab nation. Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad told Reuters that anger within the movement, which has millions of supporters, was "beyond control". "After the blows and arrests and killings that we are facing, emotions are too high to be guided by anyone," he said. The Brotherhood has called on followers to march in Cairo later on Thursday, while funeral processions for those who died provide further potential flashpoints over the coming days. On Wednesday, protesters clashed with police and troops who used bulldozers, teargas and live ammunition to clear two Cairo sit-ins that had become a hub of resistance to the military. The clashes spread quickly to Alexandria and numerous towns and cities around the mostly Muslim nation of 84 million. A Reuters witness counted 228 bodies, most of them wrapped in white shrouds, arranged in rows on the floor of the Al-Imam mosque in northeast Cairo, close to the worst of the violence. Some men pulled back the shrouds to reveal badly charred corpses with smashed skulls. Women knelt and wept beside one body. Two men embraced each other and shed tears by another. ISLAMISTS IN SHOCK In the aftermath of the bloodshed, and with the death toll expected to rise further, Mursi supporters were left dazed by a crackdown that was more swift and brutal than most expected. Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi removed Mursi from power on July 3 in the wake of huge protests by people frustrated at the lack of progress on economic reform and wary of what they saw as a creeping Islamist power grab. But the subsequent crackdown points to a bleak future for the Brotherhood, which was suppressed for decades under autocrat Hosni Mubarak before he was toppled in a 2011 uprising. "It's not about Mursi anymore. Are we going to accept a new military tyranny in Egypt or not?" Haddad said. Despite shocking scenes in Cairo and beyond, including television footage of unarmed protesters dropping to the ground as security forces opened fire, many Egyptians support the crackdown, underlining how deeply divided society has become. "The Brotherhood would never agree to a political deal," said Ismail Khaled, 31-year-old manager in a private company. "They are terrorists and violent, and what happened was the only logical way to end their sit-ins, which did have weapons and ... violent people. Thank God the police ended them. I wish they had done so sooner." Cairo and other areas were largely calm overnight, after the army-installed government declared a month-long state of emergency and imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the capital and 10 other provinces. A military source said that while sit-ins like the main one outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in Cairo would no longer be tolerated, marches may be in spite of the state of emergency. The decision to forcibly clear sit-ins defied Western appeals for a negotiated settlement to the crisis, amid concerns that the country which has signed a peace treaty with Israel and straddles the strategic Suez Canal could spiral out of control. French President Francois Hollande summoned the Egyptian ambassador to demand an immediate halt to the crackdown. "The head of state asserted that everything must be done to avoid civil war," the Elysee Palace said in a statement. In Ankara, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called for the U.N. Security Council to convene quickly and act after what he described as a massacre in Egypt. "I am calling on Western countries. You remained silent in Gaza, you remained silent in Syria ... You are still silent on Egypt. So how come you talk about democracy, freedom, global values and human rights?" he told a news conference. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called on all sides to "step back from the brink of disaster". Pillay, a former U.N. war crimes judge, said the death toll pointed to "an excessive, even extreme use of force against demonstrators". But the United Arab Emirates, one of several Gulf Arab states unsettled by Mursi's victory in a 2012 election, expressed support for the crackdown, saying the Egyptian government had "exercised maximum self-control". BLOODSHED "DEPLORABLE" The Muslim Brotherhood said the true death toll was far higher, with a spokesman saying 3,000 people had been killed in a "massacre". It was impossible to verify the figures independently given the extent of the violence. The state of emergency and curfew restored to the army powers of arrest and indefinite detention it held for decades under Mubarak. The army insists it does not seek power, and it has installed an interim government to implement plans for fresh elections in around six months. But efforts to restore democracy have been overshadowed by the crisis, and the Brotherhood suspects the military is effectively running the country. Egypt's interim president named at least 18 new provincial governors earlier this week, half of them retired generals, in a shake-up that pushed out Brotherhood members and restored the influence of men from army and police backgrounds. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the bloodshed in Egypt "deplorable" - a word U.S. diplomats rarely use - and urged all sides to seek a political solution. A U.S. official told Reuters that Washington was considering cancelling a major joint military exercise with Egypt, due this year, after the latest violence, in what would be a direct snub to the Egyptian armed forces. After Mursi's ouster, Gulf Arab states pledged $12 billion (7 billion pounds) in aid to Egypt, bolstering its coffers after reserves of foreign currency and food stocks had run dangerously low. But in the first sign of adverse economic impact from the bloodshed, home appliances maker Electrolux said it halted all output in Egypt, where it has around 7,000 employees, and would review its decision on Saturday.
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| Opposition rubbishes Najib’s soared support after GE Posted: 14 Aug 2013 08:07 PM PDT
Najib has failed to discharge his duty to lead the country post 13th General Election, a DAP parliamentarian points out. Leven Woon, FMT Opposition members today rebutted that the popularity of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has soared after the 13th General Election, pointing out that Najib has in fact shown no style in his leadership since May. Parit Buntar MP Mujahid Rawa Yusof and Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong shared the view that Najib has failed to respond promptly and lay out solutions when the country underwent several crisis. "For examples, he is not prepared to deal with the surging crime rate, and he allows people to talk about re-introducing the Emergency Ordinance," Liew said, in reference to the repealed law that permits detention without trial. "He is supposed to find new ways of dealing with things, but he is just hanging around. "Governing is something you cannot hide. If you don't govern, things wouldn't be right," he said. Sabah speaker Salleh Said Keruak yesterday told national news agency Bernama that Najib's popularity continued to rise after he led Umno in increasing the number of parliamentary seats. This was evident by the increase in the number of parliamentary seats won by the party from 79 in the 12th General Election in 2008 to 88 seats in the 13th GE. "Compared to the opposition's 89 seats, Umno as a single party alone could match the combined number of seats garnered by the three opposition parties (DAP, PKR and PAS)," he has said. Commenting on this, Mujahid said a recent study done by pollster Merdeka Center has revealed that BN indeed won the elections purely on advanced and postal votes. "Lip service" The Merdeka Centre study indicated that advance and postal votes alone contributed to BN's victory in 22 parliamentary seats. Without these 22 seats, BN would have tied with opposition, Pakatan at 111 seats. It also claimed that two MIC ministers – S.Subramaniam and G. Palanivel – would have lost their parliamentary seats in Segamat and Cameron Highlands respectively without the advance and postal votes.
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| Merdeka Centre: Our analysis solid Posted: 14 Aug 2013 06:15 PM PDT
(FMT) - Merdeka Centre today refuted MIC deputy president Dr S Subramanian's claim that it had conducted a 'flawed' analysis of the 13th general election. Ibrahim Suffian, the research firm's director, said their analysis was established on solid findings. "We welcome his comment on the matter as it applies to his constituency of P140 Segamat. But our analysis was done professionally without fear or favour. "We do not dispute the results of the election nor do we intend to cast any aspersions on the conduct of the election or parties which had contested," said Ibrahim. Merdeka Centre's study showed that two MIC cabinet ministers, Subramaniam and party president G Palanivel, would have lost their parliamentary seats without the advance and postal voting. The report also said that several seats in Johor and the Federal Territory would have also fallen to Pakatan Rakyat and BN won 22 parliamentary seats with the help of additional postal and early voters. Ibrahim explained that in Segamat, 39,899 voters cast their vote in the constituency and only 799 were advanced and postal voters. The remainder 39,096 were ordinary voters. "Four-hundered and seventy-four were postal voters made up of SPR workers, members of the media or any applicable security personnel "There was an additional 325 advance voters comprising security personnel in the area, which means 799 were advanced and postal voters. The rest (39,096) were all ordinary voters," he said. Different voting patterns He added that based on the detailed results, BN enjoyed a slim majority of 658 votes among ordinary voters and the remainder 1,217 majority won was made up of votes from advanced and postal voters. "From the table, we can clearly see that BN enjoyed a slim majority among ordinary voters which coincidentally is also smaller than the number of spoilt ordinary voters' ballots," said Ibrahim. "From another perspective BN gained 49.71% of the votes cast among ordinary voters," he added. Meanwhile, Ibrahim said that the voting pattern of the advanced and postal voters showed a vastly different voting pattern when compared to ordinary voters. "When ordinary voters were evenly split between BN and PKR candidates, the results show that nearly all of the advanced voters and nearly 7 out of 10 postal ballots went in favor of the BN candidates." Ibrahim added that the report simply examined the election results in search of patterns that describe a wider trend among voters. "(The report) is part of an exercise to understand how Malaysians made their choices during the 13th general election," he said. Read more here: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/08/15/merdeka-centre-our-analysis-solid/
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| DAP gave in to avoid RoS abuse, says Pua Posted: 14 Aug 2013 06:09 PM PDT
The DAP yielded to orders for fresh elections as it feared the Registrar of Societies (RoS) would otherwise "abuse" its powers to deregister the party, national publicity secretary Tony Pua said today. Based on previous conduct, Pua alleged that the RoS could not be trusted to act professionally in resolving the dispute over the validity of party elections for posts on its central executive committee (CEC). "Under normal and routine circumstances, the DAP would not have hesitated to strike out the RoS order in the court of law. The party's lawyers have confirmed that the RoS has absolutely no power to 'punish' a party with fresh leadership elections. "But where an insidious and wicked political agenda from the ruling political party is involved, these are certainly not normal and routine circumstances. The PJ Utara rep (picture) said since the RoS had refused to entertain previous requests for it to justify the instructions for DAP to hold another round of party elections, it was likely to de-register the party the moment the issue is raised in court - regardless of whether or not the governing body has legal grounds to do so. "If the RoS can abuse its non-existent powers to demand that DAP hold fresh elections, then certain (sic) it will not hesitate to abuse the powers which it has - that is to de-register a political party - if the powers that be deem it politically expedient and necessary," Pua said in a statement. Earlier, DAP chairman Karpal Singh sent out a statement to say the party was giving in to the RoS's insistence that it hold the election following a CEC meeting yesterday. In a subsequent statement, Pua accused Umno and particularly Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi of political interference in the RoS handling of DAP's case. Pua said such interference was clear in the way the RoS had "unjustifiably failed" to provide reasons as to why fresh polls are necessary, only hinging their argument on the claim that "some members were not satisfied" with the recent party polls. "The DAP CEC has last evening in an emergency meeting decided that we have exhausted all avenues barring a recourse to the courts to seek justification for, or to reverse the RoS decision. "We have also contemplated that any attempts to defy the unlawful RoS order via a judicial review will give 'justification' to, and pretext for the RoS to de-register DAP. "The party is fully aware that the BN and RoS are certainly not beneath such unscrupulous actions, despite what the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak might want to say about his 'political transformation programme'," Pua said. On January 4, Lim revealed that an internal audit showed errors in the tabulation of votes from the December 15, 2012 party elections that he said were caused by a technical glitch when the results were transferred to a computer using the Microsoft Excel programme. The amendments resulted in Lim's political secretary, Zairil Khir Johari, moving up from 39th position to 20th ― the last elected position in the party's CEC. The party had until today refused to comply with the RoS directive, saying it did not justify its order beyond saying it was "dissatisfied" with the party's explanations. - See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/dap-gave-in-to-avoid-ros-abuse-says-pua#sthash.Qlbr8SSR.dpuf(The Malay Mail) - The DAP yielded to orders for fresh elections as it feared the Registrar of Societies (RoS) would otherwise "abuse" its powers to deregister the party, national publicity secretary Tony Pua said today. Based on previous conduct, Pua alleged that the RoS could not be trusted to act professionally in resolving the dispute over the validity of party elections for posts on its central executive committee (CEC). "Under normal and routine circumstances, the DAP would not have hesitated to strike out the RoS order in the court of law. The party's lawyers have confirmed that the RoS has absolutely no power to 'punish' a party with fresh leadership elections. "But where an insidious and wicked political agenda from the ruling political party is involved, these are certainly not normal and routine circumstances. The PJ Utara rep said since the RoS had refused to entertain previous requests for it to justify the instructions for DAP to hold another round of party elections, it was likely to de-register the party the moment the issue is raised in court - regardless of whether or not the governing body has legal grounds to do so. "If the RoS can abuse its non-existent powers to demand that DAP hold fresh elections, then certain (sic) it will not hesitate to abuse the powers which it has - that is to de-register a political party - if the powers that be deem it politically expedient and necessary," Pua said in a statement. Earlier, DAP chairman Karpal Singh sent out a statement to say the party was giving in to the RoS's insistence that it hold the election following a CEC meeting yesterday. In a subsequent statement, Pua accused Umno and particularly Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi of political interference in the RoS handling of DAP's case. Pua said such interference was clear in the way the RoS had "unjustifiably failed" to provide reasons as to why fresh polls are necessary, only hinging their argument on the claim that "some members were not satisfied" with the recent party polls. "The DAP CEC has last evening in an emergency meeting decided that we have exhausted all avenues barring a recourse to the courts to seek justification for, or to reverse the RoS decision. "We have also contemplated that any attempts to defy the unlawful RoS order via a judicial review will give 'justification' to, and pretext for the RoS to de-register DAP. "The party is fully aware that the BN and RoS are certainly not beneath such unscrupulous actions, despite what the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak might want to say about his 'political transformation programme'," Pua said. Read more here: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/dap-gave-in-to-avoid-ros-abuse-says-pua#sthash.Qlbr8SSR.dpuf
The DAP yielded to orders for fresh elections as it feared the Registrar of Societies (RoS) would otherwise "abuse" its powers to deregister the party, national publicity secretary Tony Pua said today. Based on previous conduct, Pua alleged that the RoS could not be trusted to act professionally in resolving the dispute over the validity of party elections for posts on its central executive committee (CEC). "Under normal and routine circumstances, the DAP would not have hesitated to strike out the RoS order in the court of law. The party's lawyers have confirmed that the RoS has absolutely no power to 'punish' a party with fresh leadership elections. "But where an insidious and wicked political agenda from the ruling political party is involved, these are certainly not normal and routine circumstances. The PJ Utara rep (picture) said since the RoS had refused to entertain previous requests for it to justify the instructions for DAP to hold another round of party elections, it was likely to de-register the party the moment the issue is raised in court - regardless of whether or not the governing body has legal grounds to do so. "If the RoS can abuse its non-existent powers to demand that DAP hold fresh elections, then certain (sic) it will not hesitate to abuse the powers which it has - that is to de-register a political party - if the powers that be deem it politically expedient and necessary," Pua said in a statement. Earlier, DAP chairman Karpal Singh sent out a statement to say the party was giving in to the RoS's insistence that it hold the election following a CEC meeting yesterday. In a subsequent statement, Pua accused Umno and particularly Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi of political interference in the RoS handling of DAP's case. Pua said such interference was clear in the way the RoS had "unjustifiably failed" to provide reasons as to why fresh polls are necessary, only hinging their argument on the claim that "some members were not satisfied" with the recent party polls. "The DAP CEC has last evening in an emergency meeting decided that we have exhausted all avenues barring a recourse to the courts to seek justification for, or to reverse the RoS decision. "We have also contemplated that any attempts to defy the unlawful RoS order via a judicial review will give 'justification' to, and pretext for the RoS to de-register DAP. "The party is fully aware that the BN and RoS are certainly not beneath such unscrupulous actions, despite what the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak might want to say about his 'political transformation programme'," Pua said. On January 4, Lim revealed that an internal audit showed errors in the tabulation of votes from the December 15, 2012 party elections that he said were caused by a technical glitch when the results were transferred to a computer using the Microsoft Excel programme. The amendments resulted in Lim's political secretary, Zairil Khir Johari, moving up from 39th position to 20th ― the last elected position in the party's CEC. The party had until today refused to comply with the RoS directive, saying it did not justify its order beyond saying it was "dissatisfied" with the party's explanations. - See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/dap-gave-in-to-avoid-ros-abuse-says-pua#sthash.Qlbr8SSR.dpuf |
| Nazri: No need to demolish surau used by Buddhists Posted: 14 Aug 2013 04:38 PM PDT
(MM) - A Cabinet minister today questioned the need to tear down Muslim prayer room in Johor that was used by Buddhist tourists, noting that the controversy was already resolved. Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz said the country should move on to other matters, observing that a group representing the Buddhists in Malaysia had already issued an apology.
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| EO return ‘out of the question’, says minister Posted: 14 Aug 2013 04:33 PM PDT
(MM) - Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz today shot down the possible return of the Emergency Ordinance to give the police preventive detention powers they want to tackle a rise in violent crime, despite acknowledging its effects on the tourism sector. The minister explained that news of the shooting incidents could not be contained and it was inevitable that the world would eventually learn of them.
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| DAP to accept re-election directive Posted: 14 Aug 2013 04:19 PM PDT
Karpal says the decision was reached last night in a CEC meeting to avert party de-registration. Leven Woon, FMT In an about turn, the DAP has decided to accept the Registrar of Societies' (ROS) directive for the party to conduct fresh party polls after two weeks of objections. DAP chairman Karpal Singh said the decision was reached in a central executive committee meeting last night. "Despite the strong legal position of the DAP that the directive of the ROS does not have the sanctity or authority of law, to avert deregistration of party, the CEC resolved last night to hold fresh CEC elections," he said in a statement issued this afternoon. He said that the party had made every effort to receive from the ROS the reasons for the directive and the law upon which that directive had been based. He also said that DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, as recent as a few days ago, sought to meet up with the ROS to discuss the position but the ROS declined to give him an appointment. He added that to compound the position, the party's repeated requests to the ROS to be supplied with the complaints made against the party have been futile. "Under the circumstances, it is with regret, that as directed by the ROS, the CEC of term 2008-2011 will meet up next Thursday to make the necessary preparations for the fresh CEC elections," he said.
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| MIC says Merdeka Centre analysis a ‘blatant lie’ Posted: 14 Aug 2013 04:09 PM PDT
The study showed that MIC cabinet ministers, Dr S Subramaniam and G Palanivel would have lost their parliamentary seats without the advance and postal votes. (Bernama) - MIC has slammed an opinion research firm here for its 'flawed' analysis on the voting pattern of the voters in the recent general election. Party deputy president, Dr S Subramaniam, said the study undertaken by Merdeka Centre was aimed at creating a wrong impression to the general public. He said even PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli appeared to have bought the 'flawed' findings. "The recent analysis carried out by Merdeka Centre, which first appeared on a news portal is a blatant lie," he said in a statement here yesterday. The Merdeka Centre study showed that two MIC cabinet ministers, Dr Subramaniam (Segamat, Johor) and party president G Palanivel (Cameron Highlands, Pahang) would have lost their parliamentary seats without the advance and postal voting. Dr Subramaniam and Palanivel are the Health and Natural Resources and Environment Ministers, respectively. The report also highlighted that several seats in Johor and the Federal Territory would have also fallen to Pakatan Rakyat, and BN won 22 parliamentary seats with the help of additional postal and early votes. To this, Dr Subramaniam responded that the total registered voters in the Segamat parliamentary constituency for the 13th General Election (GE13) were 47,009. He said voter turnout was one of the highest in the history, with 39,807 (84.9 per cent) casting their votes in Segamat. He said he garnered 20,037 votes, a majority of 1,217 votes against PKR's Chua Jui Meng. "Ordinary votes represent for 99.26 per cent of my total votes and the remaining of 0.74 per cent or 347 votes were postal and advanced vote combined. "So, with 1,217 majority votes, do your math. It is crystal clear that BN won Segamat with comfortable majority with ordinary voters, and not because of early voters or advance voters as claimed by the Merdeka Centre," he said. As a research centre, Dr Subramaniam hoped the Merdeka Centre would be more careful in not publishing 'wishy washy' figures, just to hoodwink the people.
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| Stop threatening politicians with Sedition laws, says PKR’s Latheefa Posted: 14 Aug 2013 01:16 PM PDT
(TMI) - Barisan Nasional has been urged to stop abusing the Sedition Act just to silence opposition politicians who criticised the government. The call came from Parti Keadilan Rakyat's head of legal and human rights bureau Latheefa Koya (pic) in reference to Khairy Jamaluddin's police report against Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen over the latter's statement that the escalating crime rate was BN's drama to re-introduce preventive detention laws."This is a serious allegation which must be addressed by the government and cannot be dismissed as merely being seditious, especially since there is a sudden increase in violent crimes," Latheefa said in a statement. She said it is also "frightening" that there is also an increase in the number of calls for the reinstatement of preventive detention, and lack of other serious measures to deal with the escalating crime. Latheefa said Khairy, who is also BN Youth leader, must remember the basic requirement for the application of sedition laws in Malaysia - that no matter how obnoxious, it cannot be applied for statements made against political parties including BN, regardless whether they are in the government or not. Khairy lodged a police report yesterday against Chong for the latter's statement in the Borneo Post that the rise in shooting cases in the country was part of the BN drama. Chong had alleged that murder cases involving firearms were allowed to spread so that the government can formulate and introduce a new law to replace the Emergency Ordinance (EO). On Sunday, Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told the Umno-owned media Mingguan Malaysia that the just-released 2,600 EO detainees were to be blamed for the recent spike in shooting cases. He had also said there were now some 260,000 criminals roaming the streets. He reached that figure after claiming that the 2,600 released detainees have at least 10 followers each and each follower would have their own set of right-hand men as well. |
| Biometric system scrapped, indelible ink stays Posted: 14 Aug 2013 01:12 PM PDT
(TMI) - "We hope there won't be any more issues cropping up about the indelible ink, there won't be people trying their hardest to wash away the ink like in GE13." The Election Commission (EC) will not go ahead with its proposal to use the biometric system instead of the indelible ink as long as the relevant laws were not amended.Its chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof (pic), noted that while there were some flaws with the indelible ink during the 13th general election, the EC managed to overcome the problem during the Kuala Besut by-election recently. |
| Malaysia’s crime wave clouding investors’ perception Posted: 14 Aug 2013 11:40 AM PDT
(TMI) - Investors regard the rule of law as one of the most important requirements of deciding on the destination of their investments and Malaysia has been a favourite spot since the 1970s. A spike in drive-by shootings and gangland killings in Malaysia has got foreign investors worried about the state of security in the nation in recent months.There have been at least 35 reported shootings nationwide since May which left 22 people dead. The high profile daylight killing of banker Ahmad Hussain Najadi last month attracted attention and sent a signal to the business community that all is not well in terms of safety. Canadian Business Council of Malaysia president Roger Poulin said the rise in violent crimes was a concern to investors. "We hope the government has a handle on it," Poulin told The Malaysian Insider in Kuala Lumpur this week. American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) past president Datuk Nicholas Zefferys (pic) said members were concerned but not to the extent of considering to pull out their investments from Malaysia yet. "As long as there are continuous measures to fight crime, I think the investors will be assuaged. "Things are bad but it has not boiled over," Zefferys told The Malaysian Insider in Kuala Lumpur this week. The British, German, Japanese and Korean Chambers of Commerce declined to comment on the matter. Businessmen from all four countries have a sizable investment and presence in Malaysia. One of the executive directors of these chambers of commerce said that she did not want to comment as her job was to promote investments into Malaysia and the hike in crime would ruffle the feathers of investors. Investors regard the rule of law as one of the most important requirements of deciding on the destination of their investments and Malaysia has been a favourite spot since the 1970s. |
| DAP appoints Kok to head anti-crime task force Posted: 14 Aug 2013 11:36 AM PDT
(The Star) - DAP has appointed Seputeh MP Teresa Kok to head the new crime action task force set up to help restore public safety. Party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, who announced Kok's appointment in a press statement yesterday, said the task force would work towards getting the police to increase the number of CID personnel.Presently only 10,150 or 9% of the total police force of 112,583 are in the CID. "The DAP want the numbers of CID officers to be increased to 56,000 or half the force, in order deal with the rise in violent crime. "The deteriorating crime situation is developing into a full-blown crisis in Malaysia, with adverse impact not only on personal security but also on tourism and the business climate," said Lim. He added that the Government could not attribute the spike in cases to the repeal of the Emergency Ordinance. He pointed out that the repeal of the law, which allowed for preventive detention, could not explain why firearms were now so readily available. "Only the omnipresence of the police can deter criminals and bring down the crime rate," he said. |
| Posted: 14 Aug 2013 11:30 AM PDT NST Editorial Border criminals are getting serious and so should we SMUGGLING is big business. If there ever was any doubt of that, the shooting of an army border patrolman mending a hole in the fence along a smuggler's route last Saturday and revelations that 20 out of 27 border surveillance cameras along the Perlis-Kedah stretch have been deliberately knocked out, ought to be a clear indication of how high the stakes are. Weapons, drugs, wildlife, humans, whatever is in demand is deliverable and anyone who gets in the way had better watch out. With the escalation of shooting incidents in the country, aided by what is believed to be a lucrative gun-running industry, Malaysia should be asking itself: are we doing enough to protect our borders?The United States Border Patrol, for instance, started out in 1924 as a means to keep out illegal immigrants, but has grown to cover the smuggling of arms, drugs and currency, and its priority mission now is "to prevent terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the United States". Its investment in tactical infrastructure, intelligence and patrols bears rich harvest. Last year, it apprehended 364,768 people and seized 1,043 tonnes of marijuana in 14,396 seizures. Over the years in Malaysia, there have been numerous reported cases of organised groups of poachers from neighbouring countries, coming in on social visit passes, and going into our protected forest reserves to harvest various endangered flora and fauna. Arrests by the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) in the reserves and near the border have turned up poachers armed with machetes, axes and guns. Some of these guns were home made, some were powerful enough to fell an adult elephant and many were of a higher calibre than that carried by rangers, whose sorry job it is to apprehend these criminals. Whether it be pangolins, tigers, agarwood, weapons, drugs or humans, and as long as it is illegal, these people will be armed. In 2009, then Terengganu Perhilitan director Rozidan Md Yassin said: "For villagers living on the fringes of the jungle, coming across illegal poachers from neighbouring countries with high-calibre weaponry, including M16s, is not an unusual occurrence." Where are these weapons coming from? It is just as well that there are now plans to build a concrete wall along parts of the Malaysia-Thai border, for chain link fences are hardly a deterrent. Ideally, the entire 96km stretch from Perlis to Kelantan should be walled up. In any case, the real battle in securing our borders rests with stepping up enforcement and alertness at border crossings, increasing Customs intelligence, and making sure that there are no "holes" at checkpoints. As an up-and-coming transit country for various contraband, Malaysia should waste no time in evolving with the challenges. |
| Tread carefully on religious matters, says Ikram sec-gen Posted: 14 Aug 2013 11:18 AM PDT
Astro removed the earlier disclaimer on the documentary on Pope Francis following complaints by viewers. — The Malay Mail pic (The Malay Mail) - He also advised the public to be sensible and hold people responsible for their own actions without generalising based on race or beliefs as this would focus and minimise issues. Recent allegations of insults against religions are causing unease among locals and could go down an ugly road if they are not dealt with tactfully.Activists say such cases would be better countered with knowledge instead of the authorities coming down hard on religious offenders. Muslim non-governmental organisation Pertubuhan Ikram Malaysia (Ikram) secretary-general Zaid Kamaruddin said education rather than punishment could be a good way out. "It is better to educate the public than stoke the fire. "A better understanding through education is preferable to enforcement. Laws should be the last resort." He said this did not just refer to religious tolerance and respect being taught in schools, but also through socialisation. "People are living apart and not engaging enough (with others of different backgrounds). "I hope in our mixed community, leaders should come together instead of taking sides," he said.  Zaid said people are living apart and not engaging enough. He also advised the public to be sensible and hold people responsible for their own actions without generalising based on race or beliefs as this would focus and minimise issues. "If you draw the trajectory, it looks like this (religious tension) is building up and it makes people uptight," he said. Zaid said one of the main causes leading to the recent trend was the speed by which information circulated. "It is almost instantaneous. This means anything that happens anywhere will get reactions, especially religious issues. "Thirty years ago, whatever people chatted about in coffee shops often wouldn't even leave the table," said Zaid. He said some issues touched on the raw nerves of Muslims, especially if taken without a pinch of salt. "A buka puasa with bak kut teh may have been meant as a joke," said Zaid, referring to the case of Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee who shared a Ramadan greeting featuring them eating a dish made of pork. However, he said Muslims were generally forgiving once a mistake was acknowledged but education was the best panacea. He said in the case of Tan and Lee, although the two were of a certain ethnicity or religion, only the two individuals should be held responsible. Regarding the surau in Johor being used by Buddhists, Zaid said it was good of the Buddhist high priest to come forward and apologise even though he should not be held responsible. "The Buddhist group asked for permission and was given permission. How did they know if it was against Islam?" he asked. Muslim NGO Sisters in Islam said a different picture would be painted if the authorities practised selective prosecution along with excessive use of power. Civil liberties lawyer Shahredzan Johan told The Malay Mail Online yesterday that the crackdown by religious authorities was going to create a climate of fear in which "people would not want to say what they want to say." He even painted a possible future scenario where non-Muslims find themselves thinking twice before inviting a Muslim into their homes, fearing that even this would upset them. They also quoted Centre for Policy Initiatives (CPI) director Dr Lim Teck Ghee who said non-Muslims were alarmed at the "growing trend of religious fundamentalism" and noted that businesses would become more wary of Muslim sensitivities The Malay Mail Online had on Monday highlighted a letter by a viewer Patricia Anne Martinez who complained of a visual warning displayed repeatedly during a documentary on Pope Francis, the head of the global Catholic Church. Shown four times during the documentary, the message read: "This program portrays depiction of religious figures and represents views other than Muslims'. Viewer discretion is advised." Martinez, who is Roman Catholic, labelled the warning as "insulting" and "insensitive", saying it was akin to portraying a show on the head of one of the world's largest religions as similar to pornography. She questioned "how threatening or offensive to Muslims' views could a biography of such a man of God and peace," noting that Pope Francis was the first head of the Roman Catholic Church to personally greet Muslims for Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Many echoed her sentiments and following the uproar Astro reworded the disclaimer at noon yesterday during a rerun of the documentary. The new disclaimer read: "The following programme may contain religious views, statements or scenes that may require viewer discretion." Several people, approached by The Malay Mail yesterday, were reluctant to comment over the matter for fear of a reprisal. |
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