Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Wrong conviction?
- Nervous time for Pakatan ‘candidates’ in Sabah
- Whistle-blowing NGO in Malaysia to be Charged
| Posted: 10 Sep 2012 07:55 PM PDT  Lim Mun Fah, Sin Chew Daily 27 years ago, on this side of the Johor Causeway, a bunch of MCA members shouted boisterous slogans, urging the Malaysian government to sever water supply to Singapore. Despite the passing years, the emotional outburst of 1985 still comes back to me vividly. Indeed, those people were protesting the arrest of then MCA president Tan Koon Swan by the Singapore authorities. In the infamous Pan El incident, Tan, exalted by many as the saviour of the local Chinese community, was slapped with 15 charges of fraud, cheating, stock market manipulation and abetment of criminal breach of trust. Tan was convicted the following year and had to spend his next two years in a jail in the island state. Many MCA leaders and members were unconvinced by the Singapore court's verdict, crying foul that the sentence had been politically motivated and not merely on commercial grounds. Although this incident has slowly faded from the memories of many, Singapore's chief prosecutor back then Glenn Jeyasingam Knight has revealed in his book Glenn Knight The Prosecutor published just three weeks ago, that he admitted of wrongly convicting Tan back in 1986. According to Knight, when Singapore's chief justice Yong Pung How was presiding over a similar CBT case in the court in 1996, ten years after Tan's verdict was passed, he said Tan was wrongly charged. In other words, Tan was wrongly charged and convicted and was technically an innocent man. Knight said he had to come to terms with his "mistake." although he did not elaborate why he apologised to Tan only as recently as in 2010, or nine years after he learned of his grave mistake, and revealed this 'secret" only now. Did that have anything to do with his conviction of corruption charges years later during his tenure as the director of the republic's Commercial Affairs Department? We cannot imagine the feelings of Tan Koon Swan after he was informed of the wrong conviction that resulted in him spending 18 months in jail. We also cannot imagine how emotionally charged Tan was on learning of this, as Knight has depicted in his memoir. From Knight's accounts, Tan already knew of the fact that he had been wrongly convicted two years ago, but why did he keep mum over the past two years instead of seeking justice for himself? I have to admit that I am a complete layman where law is concerned. I could not fathom out why in such a major case like the Pan El -- which endured a lengthy hearing process with the chief prosecutor, defending lawyers, judge, evidences, defences and court verdict all in place -- the chief prosecutor would make an abrupt public revelation only after two decades that he had indeed wrongly charged the defendant? Does it imply that everyone is equal under the law is not an absolute truth? Or is it real that deficiencies do xist in law, which could be defiled, dark, selective, and even inequitable? Today, we might lament this misstep, and wonder whether the MCA history would be rewritten, whether the Malaysian politics would take on a different course of development, or whether the cooperative scandal could be averted, in the absence of this whole thing. That said, there is no way we could turn back time. And again, there is no "if" in history. All that we can say is that if Knight's confession has been true, no apologises nor remorse could make good the agony and loss Tan Koon Swan has been forced to swallow.
|
| Nervous time for Pakatan ‘candidates’ in Sabah Posted: 10 Sep 2012 04:17 PM PDT The recent defections of BN leaders to the opposition camp have created friction between the old and new opposition supporters. Joseph Bingkasan, FMT KOTA KINABALU: The opposition in Sabah is gaining confidence that the game is up for Barisan Nasional (BN) politicians in the coming 13th general election, but its would-be candidates are getting edgy. The entry of recently-defected senior Barisan Nasional leaders into the opposition camp has thrown up a lot of dust in the Pakatan Rakyat camp. In the poverty-stricken rural district of Kota Marudu north of here, friction between the old and the new opposition supporters is being felt. Federal Minister Maximus Ongkili, the Kota Marudu MP, is among those on shaky ground for sure if he stands for re-election in the same constituency, according to Pakatan. Pakatan has been working hard since its unexpected showing in Peninsular Malaysia in the last general election. It believes its candidates in Sabah will be capable of wresting several BN-held constituencies due to the failures by the Umno-led government to live up to its promises. Among the front-running candidates for the Kota Marudu seat is PKR old hand Anthony Mandiau, the party's division head there. Also in the list of potential candidates for the state seats of Matunggong and Tandek are local leaders. Mandiau himself is optimistic that he will be able to unseat Ongkili, the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) deputy president. It will be the third time the two will face off if Ongkili defends the seat again, with Mandiau losing in the 2004 and 2008 elections. Former United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) vice-president Senator Maijol Mahap's defection from the ruling coalition to support Pakatan has added a new dimension to the contest. All's not well with BN While there was a big crowd at Maijol's house when he made the announcement of his support for the opposition in the presence of Pakatan leader Anwar Ibrahim, Mandiau, who was also present, played down its significance. He claimed he was responsible for getting PKR supporters to the function which they would have otherwise ignored. "I did this out of respect for Anwar… I had to organise a big crowd to come. The response from the people would had been less if it was the senator who invited the rakyat to come. In fact, there was also a big crowd from outside Kota Marudu," Mandiau said. Although Maijol resigned from BN to support Pakatan, he has not applied to officially join any of the Pakatan parties nor has he indicated he will do so any time soon. He has stated that should he contest, he will choose one of the Pakatan parties (PAS, DAP or PKR). There have been indications that all is not well for the BN in Kota Marudu for some time now. In fact, after Maijol's resignation from the BN, local leaders aligned to him have started a campaign to get him on the list of Pakatan candidates for the coming election. The campaign by his supporters is understood to be continuing despite Mandiau announcing that he had had "discussions" with Maijol on the issue of candidacy for the Kota Marudu seat. Mandiau and other local PKR leaders have insisted that the opposition candidate is not an independent. "We will make sure that candidates for the parliamentary and state seats will be from PKR," Mandiau said. The party fielded candidates for the state seats of Matunggong and Tandek in 2008 but lost to BN. Full-time politics Ongkili, who is Federal Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, has been MP since he won the seat for PBS, then the opposition in 1995. He defeated his uncle, Jeffery Kitingan, who was the BN candidate. Ongkili polled 10,716 while Jeffrey got 5,851 votes. Ongkili, a former assemblyman for Langkon (1994-2008), retained the seat as an opposition PBS candidate in 1999 when he obtained 8,465 votes against 6,781 votes polled by BN's Maijol. He went on to retain the seat in the 2004 election with 10,457 to 7,268 votes managed by independent Mandiau. They contested against each other again in 2008 when Mandiau garnered 7,890 to Ongkili's 10,457 votes.
|
| Whistle-blowing NGO in Malaysia to be Charged Posted: 10 Sep 2012 09:09 AM PDT
The Chinese probably hold the record for jailing those who point out corruption, violation of environmental laws and other shortcomings. But Malaysia could be catching up. John Berthelsen, Asia Sentinel When the going gets tough, UMNO jails the whistleblowers Suaram, the human rights NGO that hired French lawyers to investigate bribes and kickbacks surrounding Malaysia's controversial purchase of French submarines, will be charged for violations of the country's Companies Act sometime during the next two weeks, Domestic Trade and Consumerism Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said Saturday, according to the state-owned Bernama news service. Read more at: http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4809&Itemid=178
|
| 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