Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- DAP leadership to cede office if hudud law part of Pakatan agenda
- MACC officers facing robbery probe transferred to administrative division
- Guan Eng threatens to sue Bernama over Johor remarks
- Hudud has always been our aim, says PAS Youth head
- Perkasa mob disrupts PAS ceramah
- Hudud row: PKR, PAS move to contain damage
- 15 Chinese schools get RM15mil
- Najib eyes key Chinese vote with double visit to Penang
- Sex video allegations ‘cruel’, says Customs DG
- Pakatan will go Orange, not Green, says Guan Eng
| DAP leadership to cede office if hudud law part of Pakatan agenda Posted: 25 Sep 2011 06:56 AM PDT
(The Malaysian Insider) - DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng today threatened the resignation of his party's entire leadership if the implementation of hudud law is forced into Pakatan Rakyat's (PR) common policy framework. His statement comes ahead of plans by the PR leadership to address the longstanding issue during a meeting this Wednesday. According to Star Online, Lim pointed out that the tripartite PR pact comprising DAP, PAS and PKR was founded on common policies and understanding, particularly on issues like fighting corruption and upholding justice. Hudud law, he said, was never included in PR's common policy framework or its Buku Jingga and should therefore never be part of the pact's agenda. "If there is any mention that we want to implement hudud law in our common policy framework and Buku Jingga, the party's entire central committee will resign," Lim was quoted in Star Online as saying to reporters after officiating DAP's Federal Territories convention here. DAP and PAS has been at loggerheads over the Islamist's party's support for the controversial law which prescribes stoning, whipping and amputation as punishment for criminal offences. PAS has refused to back down from its plan, with its spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat reportedly saying recently that DAP could leave the coalition if it refused to offer support. Hudud is a prickly subject in multicultural Malaysia where race and religion are closely-linked. The country's 28-million population is also still haunted by the bloody racial riots of May 13, 1969. The issue is raised cyclically as political fodder as its divisive nature often causes conflicts to occur within otherwise-friendly circles, making it ideal to pit parties with opposing ideologies against one another. Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has also backed the introduction of hudud in Kelantan, saying it would not infringe upon non-Muslims' rights, further escalating the dispute.
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| MACC officers facing robbery probe transferred to administrative division Posted: 24 Sep 2011 07:29 PM PDT
(Bernama) - Three Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers, who allegedly robbed a moneychanger have been transferred to the commission's administrative division. This is to ensure that the trio will not carry out any MACC probes while they were being investigated by the police, said MACC deputy chief commissioner (management and professionalism) Datuk Zakaria Jaffar. "The MACC takes this case seriously and we will not protect any officers allegedly involved in crimes," he told reporters after officiating the handing over of the newly completed RM24.6 million Kelantan MACC Complex in Mukim Kenali here today. Three MACC officers were arrested for allegedly robbing a money-changer of US$300,000 (RM945,000) inside the satellite building at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang on Sept 15.
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| Guan Eng threatens to sue Bernama over Johor remarks Posted: 24 Sep 2011 07:00 PM PDT By Clara Chooi, The Malaysian Insider KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 — Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has threatened legal action against national news agency Bernama if it fails to apologise and retract an article claiming he had insulted Johor during an interview with an Australian radio station. Lim, though his press secretary Wong Kim Fei, wrote a letter to Bernama editor-in-chief Datuk Yoo Soo Heong yesterday, saying that the article published on Friday was "false, untrue and a pack of lies". In the article, Lim (picture) was quoted as saying, "Lim who is DAP Secretary-General, in an interview with an Australian radio station, was alleged to have said that Johor was not a safe state where the chance of being kidnapped was high, compared with Penang". But Wong denied this, saying that Lim had never mentioned Johor during his interview by Radio Australia on September 20. Instead, he said Lim had merely discussed the Malaysia Solution deal with Australia, the government's pledge to repeal the Internal Security Act (ISA) and Penang issues. "At no time did he even mention the word Johor and made any reference to the situation in other states in Malaysia during the Radio Australia interview," he said. He added that Lim was accompanied by two aides — Jeffrey Chew and Yap Soo Huey — both of whom could attest to the fact that the Chief Minister had not mentioned Johor. "Bernama should withdraw and apologise unconditionally to Lim immediately and publish this in Bernama, failing which the Penang Chief Minister will be compelled to commence legal proceedings against Bernama," Wong wrote in the letter.
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| Hudud has always been our aim, says PAS Youth head Posted: 24 Sep 2011 06:51 PM PDT
(The Star) - The debate on hudud rages on with PAS saying it will not back down from its avowed declaration that the law has been and always will be part of its Islamic state agenda. The party and its Pakatan Rakyat ally, the DAP, continue to be at loggerheads over the issue while Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has assured Malaysians that his government would not implement hudud laws in the country. The Prime Minister said hudud law cannot be implemented as lawmakers had to take into consideration the environment and the reality of the day. > PAS Youth chief Nasrudin Hassan Tantawi,objecting that the issue had been politicised,invited non-Muslims to learn about hudud laws at the party-run Kolej Universiti Islam Zulkifli Muhammad in Gombak, Selangor, where the law is being taught. > DAP national chairman Karpal Singh, however,said his party had never accepted hudud or the idea of setting up an Islamic state and neither had Pakatan Rakyat made an official stand supporting it.
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| Perkasa mob disrupts PAS ceramah Posted: 24 Sep 2011 05:21 PM PDT
About 100 Perkasa members caused a ruckus when they tried to storm a ceramah attended by Mat Sabu. (Free Malaysia Today) - A ceramah organised by PAS was briefly disrupted last night when about 100 Perkasa supporters tried to storm the site where party deputy president Mohamad Sabu was delivering his speech. One PAS supporter was hit in the head with a stone and another suffered a broken nose in the scuffle. Both were sent to a nearby clinic for treatment. The row started when Mat Sabu arrived at Ampangan here for the the ceramah to address a crowd of about 600 people. The Perkasa supporters started shouting "Anti-Mat Sabu" slogans while carrying banners that expressed their anger towards the PAS leader. When the crowd turned unruly, PAS security volunteers escorted Mat Sabu to another route to get to the ceramah site. As he was delivering his speech, a shouting match broke out between the protesters and PAS supporters near a main road. The Perkasa supporters then rushed across the road in their attempt to meet Mat Sabu but were quickly stopped by PAS supporters. A scuffle erupted and in the melee stones and mineral water bottles were thrown into the ceramah site, hitting one PAS supporter in the head. Another PAS member was punched in the nose by a Perkasa supporter when the former tried to restrain the Perkasa mob.
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| Hudud row: PKR, PAS move to contain damage Posted: 24 Sep 2011 05:09 PM PDT
The Pakatan Rakyat allies say their fight as a whole is to uphold the Federal Consitution. (Free Malaysia Today) - PKR and PAS have moved to contain the damage over the hudud debacle, saying both parties will continue to respect the agreement reached among the three Pakatan Rakyat component parties – that the implementation of the Islamic law was never part of its Common Policy Framework (CPF). PKR vice-president Chua Tian Chang said he believed PAS had the democratic right "to fight for its own causes", be it for the implementation of hudud or an Islamic state, but Pakatan as a whole has agreed that the fight remains strictly to upholding the current Federal Constitution. This means there was never an agreement by all the three allies to the idea of establishing an Islamic state or implementing hudud. "We have never shifted from our original position, that is, to respect the Federal Constitution," Chua told FMT. He was responding to a statement made by DAP chairman Karpal Singh yesterday. The Batu Gelugor MP, a staunch secularist, had called for a top-level emergency meeting to iron out the contentious issue of hudud and the Islamic state "once and for all". Any delay in addressing the matter would adversely affect public confidence in Pakatan, especially among the non-Muslim votes, Karpal said. He also said that PAS had not abandoned its goal of setting up an Islamic state and reportedly told the DAP to leave the coalition if it did not support the controversial law that prescribes stoning, whipping and amputation as punishment for criminal offences. Political fodder Karpal was the only Pakatan leader who has been vocal about the matter in the past. While Pakatan leaders were keen on avoiding the issue, Karpal told some 1,000 participants at the bloc's convention in Penang last year that it was best that the coalition thoroughly ironed out the hudud and Islamic state issues to make clear Pakatan's stand on the matter so as to avoid any manipulation by its political rivals. The issue has been raised cyclically as political fodder as its divisive nature often causes conflicts to occur within otherwise-friendly circles, making it ideal to pit parties with opposing ideologies against one another. PAS vice-president Mahfuz Omar said that to avoid further infighting on the issue, it was best that all parties refrain from making open statements to the press. "PAS has no problem with going to the discussion table to clear this out, but I urge all parties to refrain from going to the press," he told FMT in response to Karpal's call for an emergency meeting.
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| 15 Chinese schools get RM15mil Posted: 24 Sep 2011 02:19 PM PDT
(The Star) - GEORGE TOWN: Fifteen Chinese schools received RM15mil under the 1Malaysia Charity Ride for Education. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak handed over the cheques Sunday to SMJK Chung Ling Butterworth, SMJK Jit Sin, SMJK Chung Ling, SMJK Heng Ee, SMJK Phor Tay, SMJK Perempuan Cina, SMJK Union, SMJK Convent Dato Keramat, SMJK Chung Hwa Confucian, SMJK Sacred Heart, Chung Ling (Private) High School, Jit Sin Independent High School, Penang Chinese Girls High School (Private), Phor Tay (Private) High School and Han Chiang High School. The money came from the public and 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB). Najib, who cycled some 7km from Tanjung Tokong to Gurney Drive with Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and 3,000 other riders, took about 30 minutes to complete the ride. In his speech, Najib said praised the role of Chinese schools in education, and said he was committed to doing more for education in the country. Organised by Kwong Wah Yit Poh, the event was sponsored by 1MDB. 1MDB also presented 5,000 bicycles to schoolchildren who participated in the event.
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| Najib eyes key Chinese vote with double visit to Penang Posted: 24 Sep 2011 02:03 PM PDT By Jahabar Sadiq, The Malaysian Insider KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak will make a push for the crucial Chinese vote in Penang with two visits in a span of five days, in hopes of winning back the state from Pakatan Rakyat (PR). The Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman is due to take part in a cycling event today and coalition sources say the prime minister will give at least RM500,000 to each Chinese school in the state now run by PR Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
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| Sex video allegations ‘cruel’, says Customs DG Posted: 24 Sep 2011 01:48 PM PDT By Syed Mu'az Syed Putra, The Malaysian Insider KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 — Customs' chief said there was no proof its officer was in a sex video recently unveiled by pro-Umno bloggers, adding it's "cruel" to link it to Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamed's death. "Although the blog clearly showed sexual acts, until today there has been no further information over who was involved. As such, it cannot be conclusively said that it involved a Customs staff," Customs director-general Datuk Seri Mohamed Khalid Yusuf said in an SMS response to The Malaysian Insider. "Linking the sex act to Sarbaini's case, which I cannot even see the link, is a cruel act and an irresponsible one, if it seeks to humiliate a person who has died," he added. If there was proof, then Khalid said the evidence should be passed to the police, not revealed in public. Earlier this week, Umno-linked blogs released a video in an apparent attempt to tarnish the reputation of Customs officers ahead of Monday's verdict in the Sarbaini inquest. The video — which appears to have been secretly recorded — shows a Malay man engaging in sex with a Caucasian woman in what looks like a hotel room. Umno-linked blog theunspinners.blogspot.com was the first to release the video, claiming the man in the recording was a Customs officer while suggesting the woman was a Russian prostitute. The man in the video is not named, but the blogger links the recording, which is titled "Pegawai Kastam Yang Terlampau," to the senior Customs officer's death while in the custody of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) earlier this year. The blogger also echoes the position of the MACC and its lawyer Datuk Seri Shafee Muhamad Shafee Abdullah during the Ahmad Sarbaini inquest. Ahmad Sarbaini, the Selangor Customs assistant director, is believed to have fallen from the third-floor pantry of the MACC office in Jalan Cochrane here on April 6 and landed on the badminton court on the first floor.
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| Pakatan will go Orange, not Green, says Guan Eng Posted: 24 Sep 2011 01:38 PM PDT By Athi Shankar, FMT BATU KAWAN: Pakatan Rakyat is strongly committed to introducing its inaugural joint election manifesto based on the much-touted Orange Book or Buku Jingga agenda, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said. In a move to quash speculations that Pakatan allies may part ways due to PAS persistence on establishing an Islamic state, Lim allayed supporters' fears, saying the coalition would surely go Orange, not Green (PAS colours), in its first joint manifesto to face the 13th general election. Speaking at a state DAP grand dinner here last night, Lim said he had been given assurances by PAS and PKR leaders, including Anwar Ibrahim, that the joint manifesto would be based on the Orange Book. "I have just spoken to Anwar and he confirmed that Pakatan is committed to implementing the Orange Book," Lim told some 3,000 attending the party's election fundraising dinner themed "Change Now, Save Malaysia". Pakatan has claimed previously that the Orange Book would be the basis of its joint manifesto that would set out a social contract between the government and the people. Pakatan has been flogging the Orange Book as an alternative to Barisan Nasional's (BN) policies in an attempt to win over voters. Central to the Orange Book is the promise to implement sweeping reforms within the first 100 days of Pakatan seizing Putrajaya. These include subsidy restructuring, abolition of the Internal Security Act (ISA), raising teachers' pay and increasing royalties to oil-producing states. Lim, the Penang Chief Minister, said Barisan Nasional merely want to capitalise on the hudud issue to create problems among Pakatan allies. He said BN just wanted to create "a rift among us and falsely portray that Pakatan is breaking up". However, Lim cut short his clarification on whether PAS had dropped its idea of implementing hudud law in Kelantan, which it governs now. 'Who's going to settle these debts?' Kelantan Menteri Besar and PAS spiritual adviser Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat has triggered a controversy when he said that the Islamist party was committed to implementing hudud in the state. Anwar, the de facto PKR leader, which forms the backbone of Pakatan, said he believes that in principle, Islamic law could be implemented in Kelantan. Anwar then added that it was his personal opinion. DAP national chairman Karpal Singh has already called on Pakatan top brass to hold an urgent meeting to clarify PAS' Islamic agenda. Bukit Gelugor parliamentarian Karpal took a swipe at Pakatan Rakyat supremo Anwar by pointing out that leaders holding high positions did not have the luxury of expressing personal stands.
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