Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Matlamat menghalalkan cara
- Women of class and taste: name the women contest
- Ahmad Sarbani’s death: the lies and deceptions by the MACC (part 4)
- Ahmad Sarbani’s death: the lies and deceptions by the MACC (part 3)
- Something that never happened and never can happen
- Ahmad Sarbani’s death: the lies and deceptions by the MACC (part 2)
- Ahmad Sarbani’s death: the lies and deceptions by the MACC (part 1)
- Syed Hassan Ali’s education versus Andreas Panayiotou’s no education
- Signs of panic
- What the PAS party elections means to me
| Posted: 10 Jun 2011 05:33 PM PDT Today you no longer know who are the people behind these fitnah campaigns. Don't always assume that the 'other side' is the culprit behind these campaigns. You might be shocked to know that it is the 'same side' doing it. It could be the opposition people slandering their own opposition comrades. Then again it could be Umno people doing it, knowing very well that it will backfire on Umno and become a political liability to Najib. NO HOLDS BARREDRaja Petra Kamarudin Matlamat menghalalkan cara means the end justifies the means. Basically, halal becomes haram and haram becomes halal -- the permitted becomes forbidden and the forbidden becomes permitted. Considering that most Malaysians believe in God -- whether they are Muslims, Christians, Buddhists or Hindus -- this makes it extremely surprising, if not shocking. Take Islam as an example. The Quran specifically mentions that we may not forbid what God has permitted and vice versa. Yet this is the very thing that those who profess the religion of Islam do, in total violation of the Quran. The Quran also tells Muslims that they should not alter the word of God. Yet the do exactly that -- they alter the word of God by forbidding what is permitted and permitting what is forbidden. For example, Islam makes it mandatory for all Muslims to practice amar makruf, nahi munkar. This means you must uphold good (or the truth) and oppose evil. But try doing this in Malaysia and see what happens. If you were to uphold the truth (by criticising the government) you would get arrested and charged in court or you would be detained without trial under the Internal Security Act. And Islam is supposed to be the official religion of the Federation of Malaysia, mind you. Podah! Malaysia is no better than Russia, China or Israel. Well, that is because we have a bad government, you might say. But then this 'Islamic culture' not only applies to criticising the government. If you criticise the opposition or opposition leaders, they can't arrest and charge you or detain you under the ISA, but they would certainly spread stories that you have been bought off by Umno. So the opposition is no better when it comes to not honouring amar makruf, nahi munkar. It is just that they have no power to arrest or detain you so they slander you instead. Would the opposition allow amar makruf, nahi munkar if it becomes the federal government? Maybe if Lim Guan Eng or Nik Aziz Nik Mat becomes the Prime Minister they would but I am not sure about the rest of the Pakatan Rakyat leaders. They are saying that I started criticising the opposition since the fallout between Zaid Ibrahim and Anwar Ibrahim soon after the Hulu Selangor by-election. They attribute this to me being pro-Zaid. Therefore, since Zaid is now anti-Anwar, I too have become anti-Anwar. This is not about being pro-anyone or anti-anyone. It is about being anti-dirty tactics. I am not pro-Zaid even though he is my friend (I have refused to join his party although I still socialise with him). I am also in that same spirit not anti-Anwar (I still support him as opposition leader although he no longer talks to me or contacts me). It is just that I am anti-internal sabotage and I don't like what some PKR leaders or party insiders did during the Hulu Selangor by-election. If you can remember, at that time I wrote an article whacking Umno for the doctored photograph of Zaid and the beer bottle. I accused Umno of fitnah (slander) for distributing that fake photograph of Zaid with the beer bottle in his hand. Then, to my shock, I discovered that it was not Umno who did this foul deed but someone high up in PKR. When I found out about this I just kept quiet (which is not quite the Islamic thing to do and opposed to amar makruf, nahi munkar). I decided to not shake the tree lest something falls out of the tree. I did not want to name the person even though I know who he is. Now some unknown people are distributing the Mat Sabu sex scandal VCDs. I heard the next campaign is to spread the story that Mat Sabu is a closet Shiah follower and anti-Hadith as well. That will of course hurt Mat Sabu pretty bad and may affect Muslim support for PAS. I hope Umno is behind this next Mat Sabu slander campaign because if they are then they are very stupid indeed. It is going to backfire terribly. The Datuk T drama backfired terribly. It was a move that hurt Umno more than it hurt Anwar. And this Mat Sabu slander exercise is going to hurt Umno again. But is it really Umno that is behind the Mat Sabu sex scandal VCD and the Shiah-anti-Hadith campaign that they are about to launch? My Deep Throats in Umno say it is not their people who are doing this and the Umno people too are puzzled as to who is behind it. According to the Umno people they suspect that someone in the opposition is doing this. If this is true then these people are very clever. The Mat Sabu sex scandal VCD and the Shiah-anti-Hadith exercise are going to backfire badly on Umno. And the 'beautiful' thing is even Ummo is puzzled about what is going on and is being caught with their pants down. Or is it really someone from Umno who is doing this and they are doing it knowing that it will backfire on Umno and will therefore be a huge problem for Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak? Yes, that is another possibility. The 3M team of Mahathir-Muhyiddin-Mukhriz knows that by sabotaging Mat Sabu with the sex scandal VCD and the Shiah-anti-Hadith story it is going to hurt Najib. So you see, all is not what it appears to be. This is just like Hitler burning the Reichstag building in Berlin on 27th February 1933. And wasn't Hitler one of the greatest propaganda strategists of his time? What is halal and what is haram? It no longer matters. What matters is that the end justifies the means -- and never mind if the means is halal or haram. If you were to bring a bottle of wine to the home of a Muslim he or she would get very upset. Wine is haram and they do not want it in their home. But if you were to bring a 'red packet' containing thousands of ringgit to the home of a Muslim that is not a problem. A bottle of wine cannot. Haram! Bribes can. Not haram. How does the mind of these Muslims work? The majority of those accepting bribes are government officers and Umno politicians who are supposed to be Muslims. They get very upset if you bring a bottle of wine to their homes but they would welcome, in fact, insist, on bribes. And they would gleefully fitnah another Muslim and distribute sex VCDs of other Muslims for the purpose of political power. Haram becomes halal for the sake of gaining political power. Today you no longer know who are the people behind these fitnah campaigns. Don't always assume that the 'other side' is the culprit behind these campaigns. You might be shocked to know that it is the 'same side' doing it. It could be the opposition people slandering their own opposition comrades. Then again it could be Umno people doing it, knowing very well that it will backfire on Umno and become a political liability to Najib. In fact, there are some in Malaysia's intelligence agencies who don't trust Shazryl Eskay Abdullah, one of the three members of the Datuk T gang. The 'official' story going around is that Eskay was once a close friend of Anwar who has since sold him out. Some in Malaysia's intelligence agencies do not think so. They think that Eskay is still close to Anwar and that he is involved in the porn video exercise to hurt Umno. And it has, in fact, hurt Umno badly, in particular Najib. Najib may now have to delay the next general election. Initially it was supposed to be in July. And then they said it would most likely be in November (11-11-11) after the budget. The latest I heard is it may be delayed further, to next year, because Umno is worried that all these 'scandals' may have backfired on Umno. Yes, it is getting very confusing indeed. We are hearing all sort of things and we are hearing that so and so is behind all these. But all is not what it appears and those alleged to be behind all these things are equally confused. Nevertheless, it just proves that Malaysian politics is getting more complicated by the day. You think you can read what is happening but that is no longer true. They aim at a certain target but the real target is another one altogether. Rahim Thambi Chik is Dr Mahathir's man. Could it be that Datuk T's real target is not Anwar but Najib, as what some suspect? Considering the Anwar porn video has backfired on Najib this could be true. Or was Rahim tricked by Eskay, who is still Anwar's comrade? I really no longer know. But one thing I do know is that Malaysia's politics is not as simple as you may think. It is very complicating. The targets are not that identifiable any more. They hit Anwar and Mat Sabu but their real target could actually be Najib. |
| Women of class and taste: name the women contest Posted: 08 Jun 2011 05:37 PM PDT The Birkin bag is a handmade purse by Hermès and named after actress and singer Jane Birkin. The bag is a symbol of wealth due to its high price and elusiveness to the public. Its prices range from US$9,000 to US$150,000. Costs escalate according to the type of materials. The bags are distributed to Hermès boutiques on unpredictable schedules and in limited quantities, creating scarcity and, intended or unintended, exclusivity. It is highly coveted and, for several years, was reputed for having a waiting list of up to 6 years; the longest wait for any bag in history. (read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkin_bag) NO HOLDS BARREDRaja Petra Kamarudin
AND THE PRESENTS FROM ROBIN TAN, VINCENT TAN'S SON, TO MALAYSIA'S FIRST LADY, AT USD120,000 PER BAG AND PAID FOR BY SPORTS TOTO
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| Ahmad Sarbani’s death: the lies and deceptions by the MACC (part 4) Posted: 08 Jun 2011 01:00 AM PDT The MACC I.O.s have since been directed to get the 'cooperation' of the Customs officers who have not been able to explain the money in their bank accounts. They were told that if they point their fingers at the late Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed, the MACC will ease up on them and will not prosecute them and may even turn them into 'prosecution witnesses'. NO HOLDS BARREDRaja Petra Kamarudin Police officers removing Ahmad Sarbani's body from MACC KL Office This is the final episode of the late Customs Deputy Director Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed 'suicide' story. Note that what we have written in the four episodes of this story is based on the testimony of our Deep Throats in the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) and Malaysian Customs Department (Jabatan Kastam). The Police and Customs officers no longer trust their own government. They would rather trust Malaysia Today in seeing justice done. And that is why they have requested Malaysia Today to reveal what really happened to Ahmad Sarbani. To my friends in the Police Force who have taken great pains to keep me safe from harm, I thank you. Without you I would not have escaped…well, you know what. And to my friends in the Customs Department who are always in touch with me to ask about my health, I also thank you. I trust Malaysia Today has been of service to you by revealing the true story behind Ahmad Sarbani's death. A grief stricken Marziah, Ahmad Sarbani's wife Okay, let the story continue. So far what our Deep Throats in the Police Force and the Customs Department have revealed is that Ahmad Sarbani did not kill himself. He did not ride his bike all the way to MACC's office in Jalan Cockrane in Kuala Lumpur just to commit suicide by jumping out of the window like what they allege Teoh Beng Hock also did. It appears like the Police investigating officer (I.O.) has also come to the conclusion that Ahmad Sarbani is not a corrupt Customs officer who became scared and committed suicide. And the Attorney-General is not happy with this conclusion. That is why this slime-ball and scumbag of an AG sent the Police investigation report back to the Police THREE TIMES. The AG insists that by hook or by crook they must come out with a verdict of suicide. So, while the AG continues to bonk his Director, the Police have been instructed to 'bonk' the 'witnesses' and force them to implicate the deceased in corruption and conclude that he committed suicide because of it. What puzzled PDRM I.O. ASP Zuhairi Mohamed was that the CCTV conveniently did not show any of these incidents -- suggesting that the attempt at a cover-up involved the MACC's top leadership and that Dato' Mustafar Ali had lied in his press statement. What was more disturbing was that immediately after Wan Zainal gave his third and last statement to the police, Yusof Akope and Mohd Fauzi immediately directed S.I.O. Abdul Ghani to pick up Wan Zainal to be brought to the MACC's office for interrogation. The focus of the MACC interrogation was to find out what Wan Zainal had told ASP Zuhairi and what documents were given to the police. This showed an intention to circumvent the police investigation. Wan Zainal was interrogated from 3.00pm to 11.00pm. The MACC tried to intimidate Wan Zainal and two of his other colleagues, Maggie and Eddie, in marathon interrogation sessions in the weeks that followed. They were threatened that if they refuse to 'cooperate', the MACC will now target them and their companies in follow-up investigations on the corruption allegations. In other words, help the MACC fix up Ahmad Sarbani or else the MACC will fix them up instead. Having failed to get the cooperation of these freight forwarders, Yusof Akope and Mohd Fauzi changed tactics. The MACC I.O.s have since been directed to get the 'cooperation' of the Customs officers who have not been able to explain the money in their bank accounts. These Customs officers were told that if they point their fingers at the late Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed, the MACC will ease up on them and will not prosecute them and may even turn them into 'prosecution witnesses'. All they needed to do was to say that all the unexplained money in their bank accounts actually belongs to Ahmad Sarbani. Therefore, if they agree to fix up Ahmad Sarbani then the MACC will let them go free and may even allow them to keep the money in their bank accounts that they can't explain where it came from. Killing an innocent man is one thing, but putting the blame on a dead man who cannot defend himself is just a bit too much and even corrupted government officers draw the line on this one. So they refused to accept the 'deal'. That is how far the MACC top leadership is prepared to go to cover up their evil deeds. They need to explain how Ahmad Sarbani died and they want to convince us that he killed himself because he was corrupted and he was scared to face the music. The Malays call this kambing jaga sireh or, as the English say, the fox in charge of the hen house. The agency tasked with fighting corruption is rapidly turning into a most corrupt agency, prepared to commit murder even. Since the suicide story would be plausible only if Ahmad Sarbani owned unusual and extraordinary wealth, they wanted the other Customs officers to say that all their unexplained wealth actually belongs to the deceased. And the MACC is prepared to give immunity to corrupt Customs officers if they agree to do this. They need to nail Ahmad Sarbani real bad and they will go to great lengths in achieving this. And note that these are Muslims who pray five times a day, fast during the month of Ramadhan and go to Mekah, mind you! Yet they would not hesitate to do a deed most foul -- framing a dead man. But the Police and Customs officers are fighting back. They are not going to allow the MACC to frame Ahmad Sarbani. They want the world to know he is clean and that he did not commit suicide. And they want us to know how the MACC is tying to suggest otherwise. And to do that they have enlisted the help of Malaysia Today. In the next part, part 5, we will disclose who killed Ahmad Sarbani -- but only if we need to. We will hold back part 5 pending the official statement by the government as to how Ahmad Sarbani died. Since the AG has announced that there will be an Inquest, let us give the Police an opportunity to reveal the real evidence at this Inquest and let us hope that they get it right this time. If the MACC, AG Gani Patail and the Police repeat what they did in trying to cover up Teoh Beng Hock's death, then Malaysia Today will reveal the full investigation report on who killed Ahmad Sarbani. And if they want to call our bluff and play poker, thinking that we will not do it, then they do not know Malaysia Today well enough yet. We just love challenges and will rise to any challenge. So don't force us to do this. But we will if we have to just to clear the name of an innocent dead man who did not commit suicide but was murdered. So, till next time, part 5, if circumstances force us to come out with a part 5, take care and keep the fight for change going. Ahmad Sarbani's death: the lies and deceptions by the MACC (part 1) Ahmad Sarbani's death: the lies and deceptions by the MACC (part 2) Ahmad Sarbani's death: the lies and deceptions by the MACC (part 3)
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| Ahmad Sarbani’s death: the lies and deceptions by the MACC (part 3) Posted: 07 Jun 2011 01:00 AM PDT The mention of the AG's name did not intimidate Wan Zainal who insisted to ASP Zuhairi that "saya takkan fitnahkan orang yang dah meninggal" (he would not defame a dead man) just for convenience. ASP Zuhairi also discovered that the background of Wan Zainal is not consistent with someone who would give bribes. NO HOLDS BARREDRaja Petra Kamarudin Ahmad Sarbani – maligned in his death We continue the story behind the mysterious death of Customs Deputy Director Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed. Ahmad Sarbani was the second person to 'commit suicide' while under the custody and while being interrogated by the MACC, the first being Teoh Beng Hock.Although the government is trying to suggest that Beng Hock committed suicide, most Malaysians believe that this is not true and that Beng Hock was either murdered or was accidentally killed by the MACC officers who were forcibly trying to extract a confession from him. Ahmad Sarbani's death appears to meet this pattern and because of this Malaysians are even more convinced that he did not commit suicide. In fact, Ahmad Sarbani's death reinforces the belief even more that Beng Hock did not also commit suicide. Whatever the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry may be with regards to these two deaths, Malaysians have already decided that the two deaths are not suicides and that the government is trying to cover up this evil deed by fabricating reports and evidences. However you look at it, these two incidences are going to have a negative impact on the government come the next general election. Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) Investigating Officer (I.O.) ASP Zuhairi Mohamed did a thorough check on the late Customs Department Deputy Director Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed's assets and found that there was no unusual or extraordinary wealth. He had only three modest cars -- a Perodua Kancil, a second-hand Honda CRV and a Proton Persona -- and a Modenas Kriss bike, which he rode to the MACC office on that unfortunate morning of 6th April, the day of his death. He owned an apartment in Bukit Tinggi, Klang (RM65,872), an apartment in Puncak Alam (RM68,988), a Semi-D cluster house in Saujana Impian in Sungai Buloh (RM230,000) and RM35,000 in savings in Amanah Saham Bumiputra. All these were duly accounted for. The only significant asset, which was the Semi-D house, was bought via a government loan drawn from his wife's savings with the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), which she had withdrawn when she turned 50. ASP Zuhairi then interviewed Wan Zainal Abidin and found out something more perplexing. MACC Senior Investigating Officer (S.I.O.) Abdul Ghani had said that Ahmad Sarbani had implicated Wan Zainal and that he was the last person whom Ahmad Sarbani and Abdul Ghani had called just before his death. This meant that Ahmad Sarbani was already in MACC's custody when he died. And this shows that Dato' Mustafar Ali had lied in his press statement. In all, Wan Zainal gave three statements to ASP Zuhairi because AG Gani Patail was not satisfied when this man had steadfastly denied being involved in any bribery each and every time. The reason for these three statements is because AG Gani Patail and Abu Kassim wanted the police to 'wrap up' this 'suicide' case by pointing to Wan Zainal as the cause of the fear and the resulting death of Ahmad Sarbani. They were bent of coming out with a verdict of 'suicide' so they needed the 'cause' but failed. The mention of the AG's name did not intimidate Wan Zainal who insisted to ASP Zuhairi that "saya takkan fitnahkan orang yang dah meninggal" (I will not defame a dead man) just for convenience. ASP Zuhairi also discovered that the background of Wan Zainal is not consistent with someone who would give bribes. Wan Zainal is a God-fearing man and the Imam Jenazah of his surau. His salary and allowances are very modest. He voluntarily gave his last three years bank statements to DSP Shafie, which showed there was hardly any money for him to survive monthly, what more to bribe Ahmad Sarbani or any other Customs officer for that matter to the tune of billions of ringgit. Wan Zainal also told ASP Zuhairi that on the eve of 4th April, he had met Ahmad Sarbani who apologised to him because he was forced by S.I.O. Abdul Ghani to implicate Wan Zainal. Since Wan Zainal worked for one of the largest forwarding companies in the country as well as globally it would be believable that this company would pay the biggest bribes to clear goods. Upon realising that he had been tricked to implicate his innocent friends, Ahmad Sarbani told Wan Zainal that he would put things right. On the morning of 6th April at about 9.50 am, S.I.O. Abdul Ghani had asked Ahmad Sarbani to summon Wan Zainal to the MACC office. By the time Wan Zainal arrived at around noon, Ahmad Sarbani had been killed. At 2.00pm, S.I.O. Abdul Ghani met Wan Zainal and asked him to assist in giving a story to the police that would support the MACC's spin that Ahmad Sarbani committed suicide because he was under pressure. Wan Zainal was also asked to coordinate the timing of certain calls and events to corroborate the MACC's diary. To absolve himself, S.I.O. Abdul Ghani also told a close friend that on the morning of 6th April, another MACC I.O. by the name of Shaikh had tried to upstage his leadership of the investigation by reporting to Mohd Fauzi that Ahmad Sarbani would not agree to be 'cooperative'. This caused Mohd Fauzi to go ballistic who directed Shaikh and another officer, Kamal, to apply pressure on Ahmad Sarbani. S.I.O. Abdul Ghani felt slighted that Shaikh was trying to gain prominence over him in this 'big case'. Abdul Ghani also confided that he saw Ahmad Sarbani with Shaikh and Kamal who were applying 'pressure techniques' and was making Ahmad Sarbani sign the acknowledgement form for the seizure of his telephone when Ahmad Sarbani was killed. To pacify the Malaysian public, I.O. Shaikh and I.O. Kamal have been suspended indefinitely and this created a lot of enmity within the Selangor MACC, especially because S.I.O. Abdul Ghani was being protected by Yusof Akope and Mohd Fauzi. Part 4 will follow tomorrow where we will reveal a massive cover-up and lying exercise aimed at hiding the fact that Ahmad Sarbani did not commit suicide but was murdered. Ahmad Sarbani's death: the lies and deceptions by the MACC (part 1) Ahmad Sarbani's death: the lies and deceptions by the MACC (part 2)
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| Something that never happened and never can happen Posted: 06 Jun 2011 08:55 PM PDT This article is an imaginary situation. This incident never happened and never can happen in a country like Malaysia. Nevertheless, let us break away from the reality of our miserable lives and allow our imagination to run wild just for once and fantasize just like in a Hollywood movie. NO HOLDS BARRED Your Honour, Article 5(3) of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia says: Where a person is arrested he shall be informed as soon as may be of the grounds of his arrest and shall be allowed to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice. My client may be regarded as a Muslim, Your Honour, and I stress the word 'regarded', as we shall come to that again later, and I am a self-professed atheist, but as Your Honour can clearly see, the Constitution stipulates that my client is allowed to be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice. Your Honour can't forbid me from representing my client on the basis of my religion, or in this case my rejection of religion. To do so would be a violation of the Constitution and therefore a breach of my client's fundamental liberties and civil rights. This court cannot impose any other laws and rules on my client, religious or otherwise, as Article 4(1) of the Constitution says: This Constitution is the supreme law of the Federation and any law passed after Merdeka Day which is inconsistent with this Constitution shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void. This means, Your Honour, the Constitution reigns supreme and overrides all other laws, especially if those laws were passed after 31st August 1957 and are opposed to and inconsistent with the Constitution. In this case, Your Honour, this court cannot forbid me from acting for my client based on my religion or non-religion as the Constitution says that my client can be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice and there is no stipulation in the Constitution as to the religion of that practitioner. Your Honour, Article 5(1) of the Constitution says: No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty save in accordance with law. This means, Your Honour, the proper laws must be applied and these laws must be consistent with and in compliance to the Constitution and any laws passed after 31st August 1957 that are in violation of the Constitution are void. In other words, Your Honour, this court cannot move the goalposts, so to speak. Your Honour, Article 6(1) of the Constitution says: No person shall be held in slavery. Your Honour, we shall be calling expert witnesses who will testify that religion is a form of slavery and therefore to impose religion on my client is to subject my client to slavery. Our expert witnesses are renowned psychologists with no less than 40 years experience and who have lectured and written numerous books on the matter. They have also conducted intensive studies to determine that since time immemorial the ruling elite has been using religion to control and imprison the minds of the populace and subject them to mental slavery, which is more effective and dangerous than physical slavery. Your Honour, Article 8(1) of the Constitution says: All persons are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law. Now, my client is being denied this right, Your Honour. He is being brought before this court because he is regarded as a Muslim and has openly professed that he is an atheist who does not believe in the existence of God. However, if he were not regarded as a Muslim he would not have been subjected to this trial. This means, Your Honour, my client is being prosecuted because of his faith, or in this case his rejection of faith, which also means he is not being treated equal before the law or being given equal protection of the law. Would someone who is not regarded as a Muslim be subjected to what my client is being subjected to? Would a non-Muslim who rejects his faith be here today? The answer, Your Honour, is no! So this is a violation of Article 8(1) of the Constitution. If Your Honour were to look at Article 8(2) of the Constitution, it says: Except as expressly authorized by this Constitution, there shall be no discrimination against citizens on the ground only of religion, race, descent or place of birth in any law relating to the acquisition, holding or disposition of property or the establishing or carrying on of any trade, business, profession, vocation or employment. Your Honour, my client is being discriminated against because of his religion, or rejection of it, and this, again, is a violation of the Constitution. Your Honour, Article 11(1) of the Constitution says: Every person has the right to profess and practice his religion and, subject to Clause (4), to propagate it. This means, Your Honour, this court cannot take away the right of my client to believe in whatever he wants to believe in or not believe in whatever he chooses to not believe. This court may argue that Article 11(4) of the Constitution overrides Article 11(1). Article 11(4) says: State law and in respect of the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Labuan, federal law may control or restrict the propagation of any religious doctrine or belief among persons professing the religion of Islam. This Article merely talks about propagation, not belief. My client is not propagating anything, especially to persons professing the religion of Islam. Now, Your Honour, let us go to the laws of Islam, in this case the Quran, the only true guidance for those who profess the religion of Islam. Chapter 2, verse 256 of the Quran says: Let there be no compulsion in religion. Your Honour, the Quranic passage, la ikraha fi d-dini, or there is no compulsion in religion, is generally understood to mean that no one should use compulsion against another in matters of faith. As it is understood here, Your Honour, this statement represents a principle of religious tolerance. Historically, the People of the Book, that is, the members of the older religions, particularly the Jews and the Christians, were in principle never compelled to accept Islam. They were obliged, while residing in any territory under Islamic domination, only to recognise the supremacy of Muslims and, at the same time, as an external indication of this recognition, to pay a separate tax. In all other matters they could maintain their inherited beliefs and perform their practices as usual. They were even allowed to establish their own internal administration. The situation, however, was different for members of the pre-Islamic pagan Arab society. After Islam became established and had extended its power over the whole of Arabia, the pagan Arabs were forcefully compelled to accept Islam. To state it more accurately, they had to choose either to accept Islam or face death in battle against the Muslims. This regulation was later sanctioned in Islamic law that came long after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. However, Your Honour, all this stands in open contradiction to the meaning of the Quranic statement: la ikraha fi d-dini. The non-Muslims at that time were clearly compelled to accept Islam unless they preferred to die. In view of these circumstances we must return to the real meaning of la ikraha fi d-dini. And this, Your Honour, becomes clearer in chapter 10, verse 100 of the Quran, which says: And if thy Lord willed, all who are in the earth would believe together. Wouldst thou compel men until they are believers? In other words, Your Honour, the Quran says that God could have made all people of the same faith had He wanted to but He purposely did not. And the Quran questions us: Wouldst thou compel men until they are believers? That means the Quran is asking us whether we are trying to do what God Himself does not do. Your Honour, in the contemporary world of Islam, the acknowledgement of religious tolerance is well established. And it is made clearer in the Quranic statement: la ikraha fi d-dini. Your Honour, we must always keep in mind that in many ways the circumstances governing early Islam differed from those of today and that the presuppositions for a general and complete religious tolerance were not given at that time. And that brings us to my client's case, Your Honour. Is this court empowered to try my client and impose upon him not only what the Constitution forbids but what the Quran also clearly does not propagate or allow? Is this court playing God and doing the job of God when the Quran clearly states that God could have made everyone of the same faith if He had wanted to but intentionally did not? This, Your Honour, will be what the Defence will be raising if this court persists in continuing with this trial and refuses to withdraw the charge of apostasy against my client.
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| Ahmad Sarbani’s death: the lies and deceptions by the MACC (part 2) Posted: 06 Jun 2011 01:00 AM PDT The first thing that ASP Zuhairi did was to interview Ahmad Sarbani's colleagues and he discovered a totally different picture of this much-maligned dead man. ASP Zuhairi obtained witness statements that Ahmad Sarbani was a responsible and hardworking officer who was ever so helpful to everyone who dealt with the Export & Import Section of Port Klang Customs Dept. NO HOLDS BARREDRaja Petra Kamarudin Dato Seri Abu Kassim was the Deputy Chief Commissioner of the MACC when Teoh Beng Hock died in custody in 2009. When news first broke about what they are trying to mislead us and classify as 'suicide', the then Selangor MACC Director, Hishamudin Hashim, panicked and ran to Abu Kassim to get 'further instructions'. Teoh Beng Hock in happier times The Teoh Beng Hock Royal Commission of Inquiry (TBH RCI) has since found damning evidence of lies and manipulation of facts by the MACC to cover up what had transpired at that time -- including the revelation that MACC officers have the habit of watching pornography in the office. To divert public attention from this damning evidence, on 1st April 2011, Abu Kassim, who by now was the MACC Chief Commissioner, launched a nationwide blitz against the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (Jabatan Kastam) by sensationalising the 'news' that Customs officers had colluded with hundreds of freight forwarders to fleece the government of RM108 billion in tax revenues. Things went terribly wrong for the MACC when, on 6th April at about 11.00am, Customs Deputy Director Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed was found dead, thrown out of the third floor of the brand new MACC office building at Jalan Cochrane in Kuala Lumpur. Police officers removing Ahmad Sarbani's body from MACC's KL Office The MACC Director of Investigations, Datuk Mustafar Ali, gave an immediate press statement that evening that Ahmad Sarbani had come to the MACC office voluntarily and without an appointment. MACC Investigations Director Dato' Mutafar Ali justifying the Customs officer's death at the MACC office Malaysia Today has now received a report from 'Deep Throats' within the MACC as well as within the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) that Datuk Mustafar's statement was a lie and calculated to deny the fact that Ahmad Sarbani died in MACC's custody, just like what happened to Teoh Beng Hock. This is what Malaysia Today's Deep Throat in the MACC said: "The MACC's leadership cannot be trusted. They lied and tried to cover up Teoh Beng Hock's death. And now they are doing the same again in Ahmad Sarbani's death." The MACC needed something sensational that can overshadow its battered reputation in the TBH RCI. They lied to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak by saying that widespread corruption by the Royal Malaysian Customs had caused the government to suffer tax losses of RM108 billion. That got Najib excited. You see, Malaysia is going broke and Najib needed that revenue very badly and he thought that this was one way for the country to 'earn money'. The Selangor part of the investigation is coordinated by its Director, Yusof Akope, and his deputy, Mohd Fauzi. The Senior Investigating Officer (S.I.O.) for this case is Abdul Ghani. However, instead of conducting fair and unbiased investigations and telling the truth, these three concocted unverified intelligence to support the MACC HQ's plan to make the allegations of the loss of RM108 billion believable. They must have learned this from the CIA, which had fabricated false intelligence reports on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in order to support President Bush's plan to invade Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Now the whole world knows that Saddam never had any WMDs. But the end had justified the means -- Saddam has been hung dead. The Malaysian government-owned mainstream media was roped in to sensationalise the raids and arrests of 62 Customs officers in Penang, Johor, Selangor and Pahang by a special task force, which purportedly comprised the MACC, the Inland Revenue Board, Bank Negara and the Customs Department. The subsequent reaction of the Customs Department D-G, Dato' Mohamed Khalid Yusuf, who expressed shock and unhappiness over the exaggerated tax losses and the death is very telling. In fact, the top leadership of the Customs Department was actually in the dark over the MACC plans and did not know anything about what was going on -- contrary to what we were told. Customs D-G Dato' Khalid (centre) clarifying the MACC's erroneous allegations with FMM President Tan Sri Mustafa Mansur and FMM Customs Committee vice-chairman Datuk Tan Kwong Jin The targets did not require much intelligence to identify. Going by the theory that the revenue losses were from import and export activities, they simply zoomed in on the custom entry points and presumed that all the officers in these divisions were corrupted. That was how the MACC led these raids. There were no prior investigations. All the MACC had to work on are hunches. But they didn't care because the objective was to divert public attention from the TBH RCI. That was what the disbanded APCO Public Relations firm had taught them -- it is all about managing public perception. In the days that followed the sensational raids, the mainstream media kept playing up the story leaked by the MACC itself about one officer who purportedly had several million ringgit in his bank account while another had almost RM1 million. Two others were alleged to have more than RM500,000 each. Stories of the sweeping raids recovering gold bars and more than RM600,000 in cash stored in several bags were played up to the maximum. With such strong 'evidence', you would imagine that these officers would have been charged by now. It has been two months since the raids and arrests, yet not one officer has been charged! In the meantime, Yusof Akope, Mohd Fauzi and Abdul Ghani continued to smear the name of the dead Ahmad Sarbani as a very corrupted officer and painted him as the mastermind of the multi-billion ringgit Customs Department scam. They told the Police I.O., ASP Zuhairi Mohamed, that Ahmad Sarbani jumped off the MACC building and committed suicide because he was afraid that the MACC investigations would show the billions of cash that he had stashed away. They even dubbed the case as the 3B case (RM3 billion). See how fast it came down from RM108 billion to a mere RM3 billion! They also told ASP Zuhairi and DSP Shafie that Ahmad Sarbani had admitted that he received bribes from Ah Seng of Top Mark Freightforwarding and Wan Zainal Abidin of Schenker Logistics. The first thing that ASP Zuhairi did was to interview Ahmad Sarbani's colleagues and he discovered a totally different picture of this much-maligned dead man. ASP Zuhairi obtained witness statements that Ahmad Sarbani was a responsible and hardworking officer who was ever so helpful to everyone who dealt with the Export & Import Section of Port Klang Customs Department. ASP Zuhairi found out that stories of Ahmad Sarbani being stressed out were also untrue. On 4th April, during Zuhur prayers at the Customs surau in Port Klang, Ahmad Sarbani was seen hugging and consoling fellow officer Basharuddin who had just been released from MACC remand. According to Basharuddin, Ahmad Sarbani had told him to have faith in God and not to be afraid, as the truth will prevail. Apparently, Ahmad Sarbani was also an Imam Zuhur of that surau and was a pious Muslim. To ASP Zuhairi, all these are not consistent with the conduct of a stressed-out, corrupted officer who committed suicide. And tomorrow we shall continue this story with part 3, so stay tuned. Ahmad Sarbani's death: the lies and deceptions by the MACC (part 1)
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| Ahmad Sarbani’s death: the lies and deceptions by the MACC (part 1) Posted: 05 Jun 2011 07:11 PM PDT And so it is with regards to the MACC. Those in the Royal Malaysian Customs Department have no one to turn to. They don't trust the PDRM. They don't trust the MACC. But they trust Malaysia Today. So they have asked Malaysia Today to let truth be told. And that is what we are going to do. NO HOLDS BARREDRaja Petra Kamarudin We from the civil society movements are extremely unhappy about the rampant corruption in Malaysia that threatens to reduce the country to the status of a failed state. But what can we do about it other than lament and reveal what we know? Not that anything is going to be done about what we reveal. Hey, we even revealed that the Attorney-General is bonking one of his Directors. And know what? Not only has nothing been done about it but he is still bonking her until today in spite of everyone knowing about it. "So why bother?" many may ask. Well, our job is just to reveal the truth whether anything is done about it or not. We even reveal the misconduct of the opposition although we get vilified and are called traitors and are accused of being bought off. It is what we do -- never mind how unpopular that makes us. And if you don't like it, tough! That's your problem, not mine. Talking about corruption, I still remember back in the 1980s when I spoke to the Deputy IGP, Tun Haniff Omar's number two, about corruption in the police force and he said that if they want to eradicate corruption they would have to sack 97% of the police force. I did not ask Tan Sri Amin whether he is in the 3% or the 97%. I also remember back in the 1990s when the Director of ACA Terengganu named Zainal launched corruption investigations against senior government officers and Umno leaders. It appeared like 100% of these people, Menteri Besar Wan Mokhtar Ahmad included, were going to be sent to jail. Wan Mokhtar called Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Zainal was transferred within 24 hours. So, yes, there are some good and dedicated Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA, now called MACC) officers. But then if they were to do the job they have been entrusted to do they would suffer persecution, 24-hour transfers, sent into 'cold storage' and whatnot. So it is not worth doing your job. Better, as one Member of Parliament said: you 'close one eye'. Closing two eyes plus your mouth and ears as well may be even better. Then you would go far. So whom do people turn to when they are unhappy and distrust the very institutions that are supposed to be the trustees of the public? To the police? Pleeeeeez! To the MACC? What? And get thrown out of the window? Luckily lawyer Rosli Dahlan was detained overnight in the MACC lockup in Putrajaya, which is underground. If not he would have also been found dead on the ground floor. Can you imagine the newspaper headlines the next day if Rosli had died? "Lawyer Rosli Dahlan was found dead on the ground floor of the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya. Rosli was suspected to have jumped out of MACC's underground lockup and landed on the ground floor." Yes, as in the movie 'Ghost Buster', whom do you call? The Police? MACC? No, you call the Ghost Busters! You contact Malaysia Today. You come to Malaysia Today to ask that the truth be told. And so it is with regards to the MACC. Those in the Royal Malaysian Customs Department have no one to turn to. They don't trust the PDRM. They don't trust the MACC. But they trust Malaysia Today. So they have asked Malaysia Today to let truth be told. And that is what we are going to do. So stay tuned and tomorrow we shall tell you part two of the story "Ahmad Sarbani's death: the lies and deceptions by the MACC", a story that will shock you. Just when you thought it is safe to go into the water, as they said in the movie 'Jaws'. That's right, there are many sharks in Malaysia. But not all sharks swim in the water. Many sharks walk on two feet. And many sharks wear uniforms. And many sharks are under the protection of Umno. In fact, many of these sharks are actually instruments of those who walk in the corridors of power. They are instruments to take down those critical of the government. They are tools used to silence dissent. And what worries those who walk in the corridors of power is that many who work for the government no longer trust the government but trust Malaysia Today more. And that is why they come to Malaysia Today to tell their story. And this is why they want Malaysia Today to reveal what they told us. Now, hold on for part two where we reveal what our Deep Throat in the Customs Department told us. |
| Syed Hassan Ali’s education versus Andreas Panayiotou’s no education Posted: 05 Jun 2011 01:15 AM PDT
Syed Hassan Ali is educated. But he wants the government to continue giving the Malays handouts so that they can remain on crutches. Andreas Panayiotou is a school dropout. But he is worth more than RM3.5 billion and did not need to make it with government handouts. NO HOLDS BARRED Raja Petra Kamarudin
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| Posted: 04 Jun 2011 01:38 AM PDT
How do you detect signs of panic? It's simple, really. As an example read PERKASA's and UMNO's kneejerk response to the Islamic Party of Malaysia's party elections on Friday. These are what you can call signs of panic. And guess why they are panicking. If I have to tell you then you don't deserve to live. NO HOLDS BARRED Raja Petra Kamarudin Ibrahim Ali calls new PAS leadership 'Anwar's voice' ******************************
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| What the PAS party elections means to me Posted: 03 Jun 2011 07:41 PM PDT
This is how I interpret yesterday's Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) party elections. Of course, it is still too early to bring out the wine, halal or otherwise -- as they say, we should not count our chickens before they hatch. However, from the number of eggs (and I counted at least a dozen), we can sort of already tell. NO HOLDS BARRED Raja Petra Kamarudin 1. PAS will move more towards the centre from presently the right. 2. DAP will reciprocate by also moving more towards the centre from presently the left. 3. PKR, which is presently in the 'centre' and used to play the very crucial 'middleman' role to balance the leftist and rightist parties (DAP and PAS respectively), will see its relevance much reduced. 4. DAP and PAS will build up a better working relationship through the new 'liberal' leaders. 5. Pakatan Rakyat would be less dependent on PKR and if anything were to happen to Anwar Ibrahim or PKR the opposition coalition would not suffer too much with PAS poised to take over the role of PKR as the 'liberal Malay-based party'. 6. PAS, like DAP (and as DAP would wish), will focus less on theological issues as its party's thrust and will instead concentrate on universal issues and the economic and social welfare of Malaysians (which was what the New Economic Policy or NEP was actually all about in the first place). 7. PAS will field non-Muslims in the coming general election while DAP will field Malay candidates as part of its 'moving towards the centre' exercise. 8. PAS will see a better balance between the perceived 'ulamak' and 'secular' leaders from what used to be a purely ulamak leadership. 9. Mat Sabu, the new number two in the party, who is seen as more 'modern thinking', will complement the number one, who is seen as more 'old school'. 10. The non-Muslims will become more comfortable with the new PAS leadership line-up -- many who are seen as less 'extreme', 'orthodox' or 'fundamental'. 11. It will be more difficult for Ummo to continue talking about 'Malay unity' and to entice PAS to work with Umno for the sake of the 'Malay cause' seeing that PAS will now be perceived as the 'new and better Umno'. 12. PAS will be able to replace Umno as a 'Malay party' seeing that PAS is becoming more 'Malay' while at the same time retaining its 'Islamic' identity -- something which Umno would have a problem duplicating. 13. Liberal Malays who hang on to Umno and/or PKR as their hope for the future would begin to see PAS as a viable alternative. |
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