Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Jeyakumar, 30 PSM members arrested over Bersih rally
- Malays should know who Ambiga is, say analysts
- Have cops work with Bersih, Lim tells Hisham
- Muhyiddin insists Bersih political, threat to security
- Boycott Utusan, PAS tells Muslims
- Despite open day, public still find GLCs a mystery
- Fight against Interlok goes global
- ‘Clear proof of conspiracy to destroy Anwar’
- Police to act against rally-goers
- Police thwart Bersih’s first roadshow
- Malaysia No. 2 in Asia-Pacific for cargo theft
- Bar Council says ‘shocked’ with sex video screening in court
- Muslim body urges leaders, royalty to condemn death threats
| Jeyakumar, 30 PSM members arrested over Bersih rally Posted: 25 Jun 2011 12:38 AM PDT (The Malaysian Insder) - KUALA LUMPUR, June 24 — Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj was among 31 Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) members who were arrested today in relation to the July 9 Bersih rally. The group, which had been travelling on a bus from Kedah for a planned Bersih roadshow in Penang, were intercepted by police at the Sungai Dua toll plaza near Kepala Batas this afternoon. The 17 men and 14 women are presently being held at the Seberang Perai Utara police station, on suspicion of attempting to distribute "inflammatory" material such as T-shirts and flyers. Election watchdog Bersih 2.0 is planning a massive rally on July 9 to push for electoral reforms, with PAS aiming to galvanise all one million of its members to take part in the assembly.
|
| Malays should know who Ambiga is, say analysts Posted: 24 Jun 2011 07:45 PM PDT
Ambiga declared an enemy of Islam (Bernama) - Analysts are asking Malays to know who it is that is asking them to take part in an illegal assembly on July 9. They said that Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, the former Bar Council president planning to lead the demonstration, has a history of provoking Muslims.
|
| Have cops work with Bersih, Lim tells Hisham Posted: 24 Jun 2011 06:15 PM PDT
By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal, The Malaysian Insider KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 — Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein should direct the police to end its "hostile" stance towards the Bersih rally and work with its organisers instead, Lim Kit Siang said today. The DAP parliamentary leader said mutual co-operation between the two would ensure a peaceful assembly on June 9. "Hishammuddin should direct the police to end its hostile, combative, confrontational and repressive stance against the Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9 and to undergo a sea-change for the police to co-operate with the Bersih 2.0 organisers to ensure that the peaceful Bersih 2.0 rally is held successfully," said Lim in a statement today. The veteran politician pointed out that the police have begun arresting people for simply wearing the yellow Bersih t-shirts, reportedly the reason for deputy PKR Youth chief Khairul Anuar Ahmad Zainuddin's arrest last night. Police have, however, denied arresting him, saying they merely wanted to take down his statement. Lim also called on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to embrace the July 9 rally to show that Malaysia was mature enough to handle mass public gatherings. "The Malaysian prime minister at the time and other Umno leaders had praised these worldwide anti-war peaceful protests. "Why, then, are the Umno and [Barisan Nasional] leaders in the year 2011 so silent and not prepared to help to ensure the successful holding of a peaceful Bersih 2.0 rally for free, fair and clean elections, especially if it is to set a new record in Malaysia for crowd turnout?" Lim asked.
|
| Muhyiddin insists Bersih political, threat to security Posted: 24 Jun 2011 06:10 PM PDT
By Melissa Chi, The Malaysian Insider KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 — Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has deemed the July 9 Bersih rally as politically-motivated and a threat to national security as well as the country's reputation. Apart from calling in the organisers for questioning next week, police also insist they will not issue permits for at least three rallies planned on the day. "As far as the government is concerned, we have made a decision and we think that the assembly is illegal and if the purpose is to send out a message that there are disagreements, that there are suggestions that they want to make about the rules of elections to the SPR (Election Commission), there are process and procedures for that. "Because of that, we think the rationale given by Bersih to have the rally is not relevant. That's why we say this rally is politically-motivated," the deputy prime minister told reporters after touring the booths at the GLC Open Day here at the KL Convention Centre. Election watchdog Bersih 2.0 is planning a massive rally on the day in Kuala Lumpur to push for electoral reforms, with PAS aiming to galvanise all one million of its members to take part in the assembly.Umno Youth and right-wing group Perkasa have also promised to carry out separate rallies to rival Bersih's. Today, Muhyiddin defended the counter rallies and said it was "normal" to have counter groups to any movement. "Whether it is right or wrong, that is up to our interpretations, but we see this as something that can erupt situations that will not benefit the country, that will ruin the country's image internationally, in the context of our hard work to develop the nation, attract investors, build our image globally as a peaceful and developed country," he said. Muhyiddin acknowledged Umno Youth's pledge to rally but reiterated the prime minister's remarks that the authorities have the right to take actions against anyone who participates in the assembly that is deemed illegal. Police have repeatedly warned they will treat the rallies as illegal assemblies. "So we leave it to the wisdom of the Umno Youth and Barisan Nasional leaders to decide on whether that is the right move or what is the right action they should take," he said.Muhyiddin then claimed news coverage of the rally, if it proceeds, will be used to falsely depict Malaysia as being in a state of unrest. "We in Malaysia know that after decades, that is not our culture. So I know their trick. We are not stupid, we are also experts in politics and understand their bad intentions. "So this has bad intentions. They did it on purpose so the people will be in fear and there will be eruption of unwanted incidents and internationally, Malaysia will be seen as a country that is unsafe, tourists will stop coming, investors will not invest because of the unrest, that is their intention," he said. The first Bersih rally in 2007 saw up to 50,000 people take to the streets of Kuala Lumpur before they were dispersed by police armed with tear gas and water cannons.
|
| Boycott Utusan, PAS tells Muslims Posted: 24 Jun 2011 06:09 PM PDT
By Humayun Kabir, FMT IPOH Perak PAS held a demonstration against Umno Malay daily Utusan Malaysia for allegedly insulting Islam in two caricatures in its June 15 edition and called for a boycott of the paper. In one of the caricatures, a religious officer tells a rape victim that she must produce four witnesses as proof of the incident, while the other shows a police officer telling the same victim that she can lodge a police report without any conditions. About 200 PAS supporters, after attending Friday prayers at Masjid Negeri, gathered outside the mosque amidst heavy police presence to protest against Utusan's slight against Islam. State PAS chief Abu Bakar Hussain, information chief Mohd Akmal Kamarudin and party assistant secretary Safarizal Saleh took part in the demonstration which lasted 20 minutes. Safarizal said that there was no need to produce four witnesses under Islam in the case of a rape as witnesses were only required for zina (illicit intercourse). "It shows Utusan's lack of knowledge of Islamic law. It has insulted the religion," said Safarizal. Amidst shouts of 'Hancur Utusan! (destroy Utusan) and 'Boikot Utusan' (Boycott Utusan )', the protesters demanded Utusan apologise to Muslims. The crowd also set alight copies of the June 15 edition of Utusan.
|
| Despite open day, public still find GLCs a mystery Posted: 24 Jun 2011 01:54 PM PDT By Shannon Teoh, The Malaysian Insider But perhaps the biggest question is still whether GLCs are working in the interests of the public, or Barisan Nasional (BN).KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 — Stand in Maybank's bright yellow booth in the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in the city, and it will probably take all of ten seconds before someone notices you milling about. You'll be offered an Apple iPad if you open an account, asked if you would like a new credit card or some other banking product. However, if you were hoping to find out more about how Maybank functions as a government-linked company (GLC) at the GLC Open Day, you'll probably be disappointed. The event billed itself as "a showcase of five Government-linked Investment Companies (GLICs) and 18 GLCs which will share how they have contributed towards the development of the Malaysian economy, and in doing so, touched the lives of every Malaysian." But visitors who spoke to The Malaysian Insider found that aside from exhibits set up by the government to showcase its Economic and Government Transformation Plans, most other exhibitors seemed to think it was a trade fair to sell their products, rather than showcase their role according to the theme of "nation-building, touching lives." "They have a lot of props to show their good points, but none of the staff could really explain to me the things I was interested in," said Nor Alyshia Daud, a 20-year-old law student looking for scholarships. She came with Wan Nazrin Wan Anuar, 20, a recently trained pilot who said outright, "they're not doing a good job of meeting the event's objective." When launching the event, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had said that the real beneficiaries of GLCs are the people of Malaysia who are given "the opportunity to share in the wealth of the country." Besides two bankers who were pleased to have made possible business contacts - but still said that the open day was not really supportive of business-to-business linkups - others did not find out about their slice of the pie. "I see a lot of projects around Brickfields where I live, but I have no idea what they are and what they are for. Instead of open days, why not spend more time in public consultation?" said Rowena Ramachandran, who works in a legal firm in the city.
|
| Fight against Interlok goes global Posted: 24 Jun 2011 01:48 PM PDT By B Nantha Kumar, FMT PETALING JAYA: After being mired in controversy, the Interlok novel issue is expected to go global, with a PKR leader declaring that he would be meeting an Indian and Canadian member of Parliament with the hope that they would highlight the plight of the Indian community in the country in their respective parliaments. The local opposition party has also decided to handover a memorandum to the Indian and Canadian governments wanting them to pressure the Malaysian government to withdraw the novel from schools. "I will make a trip to India mid-next month to send the memorandum to one of the central ministers. We are presently trying to get an appointment to see him," PKR Malacca vice president G Rajendran told FMT. "Our motive is not to tarnish the name of Malaysia but to expose how the Barisan Nasional led government is practising blatant racism," he added. The Bahasa Malaysia novel Interlok kicked-up a storm after the Education Ministry decided to introduce it as a text book for Form Five. The book contains derogatory words, deemed as an insult to the Malaysian Indian community. Despite repeated calls by the community for the removal of the book from the school syllabus, the government, especially the Education Ministry, has refused to budge. The community wanted corrections to about 46 pages of factual errors in the book before it is used in schools. However, the Ministry only amended nine such mistakes. Rajendran said he had also prepared another memorandum to be sent to the Canadian parliament. "We have a Tamil parliamentarian (Rathika Sitsabaiesan) in Canada and hope she can press our government to remove the novel," he said. He said Pakatan Rakyat, the opposition coalition, would remove the book from the school syllabus if it came to power at the next general election.
|
| ‘Clear proof of conspiracy to destroy Anwar’ Posted: 24 Jun 2011 01:44 PM PDT
By G Vinod, FMT PETALING JAYA: PKR claimed that the court proceeding of the "Datuk T" trio yesterday was proof that there is high-level conspiracy to destroy Anwar Ibrahim's political career. Yesterday, the trio, former Malacca chief minister Rahim Thamby Chik, former Perkasa treasurer Shuib Lazim and businessman Shazryl Eskay Abdullah pleaded guilty at the Kuala Lumpur magistrate court to screening a sex video to the public. The trio screened a video allegedly showing the opposition leader engaged in illicit sex with a prostitute to several journalists at Carcosa Seri Negara in March. In the proceeding yesterday, one of their defense attorney, Muhamad Shafee Abdullah told the court that forensic analysts from the US confirmed the man in the video was likely to be Anwar. In a statement today, PKR vice president N Surendran said the alleged identity of the person in the video and it authenticity was completely irrelevant to the case yesterday. "And by not being a party to the proceedings, Anwar had no opportunity to defend himself against the allegation," said Surendran. The PKR leader then lashed out at the prosecution team for not reprimanding the trio's defense lawyer when the latter was smearing Anwar. Surendran added that it was also worrying that the courts have allowed itself to be used by certain quarters for unlawful and unjust purposes.
|
| Police to act against rally-goers Posted: 24 Jun 2011 01:33 PM PDT
(The Star) - KUALA LUMPUR: Police have warned that they would take appropriate and necessary action including preventing and obstructing anyone from participating in the Bersih 2.0 rally planned for July 9. Acting City Chief Police Officer Senior Asst Comm Amar Singh said police would take such action in the interest of public safety. "The rally is illegal as no one has applied for a permit. "Even if they did apply, we will not approve it in the interest of public order and safety. "Those intending to carry on or participate in the rally will be courting trouble and will have to face the music if caught," he stressed. SAC Amar said they were concerned as there were two other groups opposing the Bersih 2.0 rally and he feared things might get out of control, which could pose a security and public order situation. He said that besides traffic coming to a standstill, businesses in the city could be badly affected. "The situation in the city could be tense and we cannot allow that to happen. "I appeal and urge the organisers of the rally, including those opposing it, to heed police advice and to call off their plans," he added. SAC Amar said to date, police have received more than 800 reports nationwide demanding for police to act against those organising and planning to participate in the rally. In a related case, the Serdang MIC lodged a police report urging the Home Ministry to act against the organisers of the Bersih 2.0 rally as well as against Perkasa and the Umno youth. Its division chairman N. Rawisandran, who lodged the police report with the Kajang police yesterday, said every effort must be taken to prevent any untoward incident. In JOHOR BARU, police thwarted an attempt by members of the Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) to hold an illegal gathering and distribute flyers on the upcoming Bersih 2.0 rally in Kangkar Pulai. And, in shah alam, police confirmed that a man distributing leaflets at Shah Alam Uptown, identified as Khairul Anuar, was arrested.
|
| Police thwart Bersih’s first roadshow Posted: 24 Jun 2011 12:45 PM PDT
SHAH ALAM, June 25 — A Bersih 2.0 roadshow was cancelled last night after police mounted roadblocks here and arrested PKR Youth deputy chief Khairul Annuar at the electoral reform gathering here. Khairul, who wore a yellow Bersih T-shirt, was handcuffed when he approached an empty stage at Uptown in Section 24 here that was barricaded with police tape. Former Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud, who was the scheduled speaker at the event, did not turn up while no one else could be seen wearing Bersih T-shirts. Several businessmen at the Uptown market told The Malaysian Insider that their customers were not allowed in by police at the roadblock, which was located at the turn-off leading to Section 24. "The businessmen are unhappy. We should have been operating since 8pm, but no one is coming in," said Firdaus Zakaria last night, who sells men's wallets, bags and belts. "There are usually a lot of customers on Friday and Saturday nights," added the 28-year-old businessman, as other stall owners echoed his remarks. Acting Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Amar Singh Ishar Singh said earlier yesterday that authorities were planning to derail the July 9 Bersih rally and its two counter-protests scheduled for the same day. Election watchdog Bersih 2.0 is planning a massive rally on the day in Kuala Lumpur to push for electoral reforms, with PAS aiming to galvanise all one million of its members to take part in the assembly. Umno Youth and right-wing group Perkasa have also promised to carry out separate rallies to rival Bersih's.
|
| Malaysia No. 2 in Asia-Pacific for cargo theft Posted: 24 Jun 2011 12:42 PM PDT By Yow Hong Chieh, The Malaysian Insider KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 — Cargo theft in Malaysia is now the second highest in the Asia-Pacific by value and looks to increase as more cargo from Singapore, the world's busiest port, is routed overland through the Malay peninsula, the New York Times has reported. The US daily, quoting figures compiled by the Transported Asset Protection Association, said more than US$22.7 million (RM68.9 million) worth of goods was reported stolen from Malaysian ports, airports, warehouses and trucks from 2007 to 2010. Only Hong Kong reported higher losses, but the refusal of Malaysian police to share data with the association and the reluctance of companies to report losses that could impact insurance premiums mean that the total value of goods stolen here is likely higher. While transporting goods through Asia-Pacific countries is generally safer than other parts of the world like the Americas, Africa and Europe, "there's little question that cargo theft and supply chain risk have increased throughout Asia", the New York Times quoted FreightWatch International as saying. "Malaysia, which lies along a number of important trading routes, is a particular concern," the paper added. "The country is increasingly becoming a key thoroughfare, as more companies ship their goods to and from neighbouring Singapore... which is connected to much of the rest of Southeast Asia by road through Malaysia." FreightWatch International singled out Malaysia and the Philippines as countries in Asia that report frequent occurrences of in-transit cargo hijackings with violence or the threat of violence. Weapons used to hold up trucks include guns and knives.
|
| Bar Council says ‘shocked’ with sex video screening in court Posted: 24 Jun 2011 12:39 PM PDT By Syed Mu'az Syed Putra, The Malaysian Insider KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 — The magistrate's court should not have screened the sex video allegedly featuring Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim yesterday because the "Datuk T" trio had already pleaded guilty to the crime, says the Bar Council. Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee described that the court's decision in allowing the video to be shown as "shocking" and "extraordinary." He stressed that there was no reason to do since those accused of screening the video had readily admitted to the crime. "There is no need to because they have already pleaded guilty; I am surprised why the sex video was shown in court. "This is an extraordinary procedure, I am shocked as to why it happened... if a person has already pleaded guilty there is no need to (reveal the evidence)," Lim told The Malaysian Insider. The lawyer said the court's action was inconsistent with standard procedures in such cases, where evidence is only revealed during the course of a full trial and when the accused maintains his or her innocence. Former Malacca Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik, businessman Datuk Shazryl Eskay Abdullah and former Perkasa treasurer-general Datuk Shuib Lazim, all of whom make up the "Datuk T" trio, were fined yesterday for their involvement in the screening of the sex video at Carcosa Seri Negara Hotel here on March 21.
|
| Muslim body urges leaders, royalty to condemn death threats Posted: 24 Jun 2011 11:35 AM PDT (Harakah Daily) - KUALA LUMPUR, Jun 25: A body representing Muslim professionals in the country has expressed outrage over the death threats on leaders of electoral reform group Bersih, and calling on both political leaders and royalties to condemn such an act. "The silence of the national leaders in the face of this racist and deplorable death threat is also cause for concern. All Malaysians who love this country must unequivocally condemn this dastardly and cowardly act of extreme provocation," said a statement by Muslim Professionals Forum. "Regardless of one's feelings about the correctness or otherwise of the planned gathering on 9 July 2011, nobody other than the insane or racial supremacist will be in agreement with the obnoxious wave of highly coordinated text messages aimed at Dato' Ambiga and her like minded colleagues," it said. GETTING PERSONAL ... Two middleaged supporters of Perkasa showing leaflets condemning Ambiga [pic courtesy of The Malaysian Insider] UMNO's sister organisation Perkasa had earlier said it would gather its supporters on July 9 hoping to clash with the Bersih rally, which in 2007 attracted more than 50,000 people in the city. Earlier, several other Muslim scholars and groups have condemned Perkasa over its racist comments, and said the Bersih rally had noble aims in line with Islam.
|
| You are subscribed to email updates from Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan