Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Local tabloid marks Bieber as a country
- Role of Sabah and Sarawak in nation-building
- Will the Indian Muslim wish come true?
- Non-Muslims can use ‘Allah’, Mat Sabu insists
- Despite Raja Ropiaah’s land deal, Puspahanas not in sight
- Embassy confirms huge compensation paid to Malaysian govt
- B-D, the new G-D of 'Truth'
- Seeing things from the right perspective
- Musa Hassan zips lips in latest scorcher on Altantuya murder
- Deepak denies link to documents
- Pakatan plays down Allah issue
- Group demands jewellery expose probe, Rafizi wants to meet Deepak
- Dr M: Beware the one who hoodwinks
- Pakatan to decide on ‘Allah’ issue next week
- Musa: IGP, top brass avoided me
- ‘Jewellery documents are from Deepak’
| Local tabloid marks Bieber as a country Posted: 03 Jan 2013 12:16 PM PST
(MSN News) - A tabloid pullout called Mega from the local Malay newspaper Utusan even quoted Justin Bieber as the ninth biggest country in the world.
Reader Firdaus Hassan captured a snapshot of a column that ran in a tabloid pullout named Mega from local Malay newspaper Utusan, which carried a short write-up entitled 'Interesting facts about Justin Bieber'. The write-up was published today. The snapshot went viral on Facebook today as the column showcased eight 'facts' about Bieber, as a country. The first 'fact' read as Bieber was 'freed from the ruling of Communist Party of the Soviet Union on 16 December 1991', whilst the second 'fact' listed Bieber as 'the ninth biggest country in the world with a population of 16.6 million (as of the year 2011)'. Another 'fact' read as there were 130 ethnic groups in Bieber country, including Kazakh, Russia, German and Ukraine. Many users find the error as amusing, calling it an 'epic typo' and that the editor must have been a 'Belieber'. | ||||||||||||||
| Role of Sabah and Sarawak in nation-building Posted: 03 Jan 2013 12:08 PM PST
If Sabah and Sarawak did not contribute the 56 seats to the national parliament, would they receive the same treatment today? Would the BN withdraw its fixed deposits (special treatment) when Sabah and Sarawak could no longer offer better interest rates (electoral support)? Arnold Puyok, fz.com TO BUILD a nation is not easy. It took the Americans more than 200 years to finally find their identity. Hence, there surely is a lot of work to be done to transform Malaysia into a solid nation. It is indeed a work-in-progress. We must remember, Malaysia is just 49 years old (from its founding in 1963), way too young compared with major countries, such as the United States, China and India, just to name a few. In order to build a successful Malaysian nation, Malaysians must be willing to put aside their political and cultural differences. However, this will be an enormous challenge as not only are Malaysians divided politically and culturally, they are also divided regionally. A case in point is Sabahans and Sarawakians who are separated from their peninsular Malaysian counterparts by the South China Sea. The main challenge confronting the government of the day (and any government to come) is to bridge what I call the political and cultural gap in Malaysian society. This endeavour must start with the effort to truly integrate Sabah and Sarawak into the Federation of Malaysia. Since 2008, Sabah and Sarawak are considered by many as the ruling party Barisan Nasional's (BN) "fixed deposits". The label came after the East Malaysian states helped the BN return to power by contributing 56 parliamentary seats in the 2008 general election. These seats were crucial in ensuring the BN's slim electoral victory. Many analysts (including this writer) have predicted that the BN will return to power but not necessarily with Sabah and Sarawak as its fixed deposits anymore, depending on changes in the dynamics of local politics. Sabah and Sarawak's fixed deposits status has brought them to national prominence. Sabah, in particular, has been receiving numerous development assistances from the Federal Government. Under the Ninth Malaysia Plan Sabah received the largest financial allocation of more than RM16 billion. More Sabahans were also appointed to hold important positions in the federal cabinet. Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, for instance, was appointed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to helm the influential Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Afdal, the Ministry of Rural Development. These cabinet portfolios are normally reserved for key Umno leaders from peninsular Malaysia. Despite the special treatment given to Sabah and Sarawak, many are not happy with the fixed deposits label. They ask: if Sabah and Sarawak did not contribute the 56 seats to the national parliament, would they receive the same treatment today? Would the BN withdraw its fixed deposits (special treatment) when Sabah and Sarawak could no longer offer better interest rates (electoral support)? When the democratically elected PBS (Parti Bersatu Sabah) was in power, it was pushed into the political wilderness by the Mahathir administration simply because the party was championing state rights and autonomy. This caused Sabah to lag behind in terms of infrastructural development. Despite peninsular Malaysia's marked development progress, Sabah and Sarawak are still way behind. It is important for the government to set politics aside for the sake of nation-building. Sabah and Sarawak must not be regarded as fixed deposits anymore. Sabahans and Sarawakians have suffered a lot due to "bad politics" played by self-serving leaders. The Federal Government must not alienate Sabahans and Sarawakians just because they are politically and culturally different. Sabahans and Sarawakians are loyal Malaysian citizens who want to be treated equally as their fellow Malaysians in the peninsular Malaysia. If the government is serious about building a strong Malaysian nation, Sabahans and Sarawakians teach us that we all can live in peace and harmony if we are willing to accept each other's political and cultural differences. In Sabah and Sarawak, ethnic tolerance is high. There have never been any ethnic riots in Sabah and Sarawak throughout Malaysia's 49 years of history. Ethnic harmony is intact thanks to inter-ethnic marriages. Regional identity plays a more important role than do ethnicity and religion. It does not matter whether one is Kadazandusun, Bajau, Murut, Lundayeh or Bisaya, racial identity is not as strong as in peninsular Malaysia. While many of the indigenous people in Sabah and Sarawak have embraced either Islam or Christianity, they take pride in their cultural roots. That is why when the "Allah" issue came about, Sabahan Muslims came to defend the right of their Christian counterparts to use the word "Allah", including the Muslim chief minister. The same with Sarawak and its chief minister too. Read more at: http://fz.com/content/role-sabah-and-sarawak-nation-building | ||||||||||||||
| Will the Indian Muslim wish come true? Posted: 03 Jan 2013 11:59 AM PST
Since the inception of Malaysia, the Indian Muslim community has been in search of an identity that will associate it with BN and the Malay-Muslim community. Ali Cordoba, FMT The rumour mill is spinning fast in Kuala Lumpur, with the business circle among the Indian Muslim community gearing for a massive Barisan Nasional victory in an apparent late January polls. Will this 13th general election be the one that will grant the Indian Muslims, lost in Malaysia's political doldrums, their silent wishes? These rumours, which are spreading like wild fires in Masjid India, for example, put the Indian Muslim community in perspective while several of the community leaders are said to be campaigning in favour of BN. Pro-BN banners are seen along the overcrowded Masjid India street. Some of the leading business outlets in the area have showed their preference for BN, with large banners erected on some buildings. Since the inception of Malaysia, the Indian Muslim community has been in search of an identity that would associate it with BN and the Malay-Muslim community. The formation of the Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress (Kimma) in the mid-1970s – a group to represent the Indian Muslims in the political scene – had little impact in the community's quest for recognition. A recent flurry of activities by Kimma and its very recent association with BN did not altogether help the cause of the Indian Muslims. Although left in the lurch, a majority of the community would probably stick to the rule of supporting BN in order to maintain the favours and prevent a backlash against its businesses. With Kimma unable to press BN for the granting of the "Bumiputera" status to the Indian Muslims, the latter group is said to have fallen in a dilemma. From an Umno-BN point of view, not granting the demands of Kimma and sidelining the Indian Muslims as "others" in the Muslim community actually secures their blind support for the ruling coalition. The ruling government is aware that Kimma would never abandon BN or force the Indian Muslims to vote for Pakatan Rakyat. They would have too much to lose if they dropped BN for Pakatan at the last moment, thus the delaying tactics in the "talks" between Umno and Kimma on the fate of the "Mamak". Read more at: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2013/01/04/will-the-indian-muslim-wish-come-true/ | ||||||||||||||
| Non-Muslims can use ‘Allah’, Mat Sabu insists Posted: 03 Jan 2013 11:53 AM PST
(The Malaysian Insider) - PAS maintains that non-Muslims are allowed to use the word "Allah" to describe their gods, says PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu, in a bid to allay fears among the religious minority that the Islamist party may be reversing its president's stand ahead of polls. He insisted that the latest polemic over the use of "Allah" by non-Muslims was limited to peninsular Malaysia and was never an issue among Muslims and Christians in Sabah, Sarawak and the Middle East. "The PAS' president had issued the statement in 2010 to not forbid any religious adherent apart from Muslims to use the word 'Allah'. "PAS maintains that stand," the 58-year-old told The Malaysian Insider, weighing in on the religious row after the party information chief Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man issued a statement last month seemingly contradicting his president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang's previous remarks on the hot-button topic in mainly Muslim Malaysia. The leader popularly known as Mat Sabu (picture) noted that Abdul Hadi had already spoken out on the matter three years ago, when the debate first raged. Abdul Hadi, a respected Islamic scholar, had in a statement dated January 7, 2010 said: "In conclusion, we cannot forbid them from using the word 'Allah' among themselves, in their worship and practice, even though the meaning deviates from the original according to our language." Many Muslim Malaysians, who form 60 per cent of the 28 million population, argue that the Arabic word is a proper noun that refers exclusively to their god despite a December 31, 2009 High Court judgment saying otherwise, and ruled to allow the Catholic Church to publish the word to describe the Christian god in the Malay section of its weekly newspaper, Herald, which caters to its Bahasa Malaysia-reading congregation who mostly hail from Borneo. Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/non-muslims-can-use-allah-mat-sabu-insists/
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| Despite Raja Ropiaah’s land deal, Puspahanas not in sight Posted: 03 Jan 2013 11:44 AM PST
(The Malaysian Insider) - Senator Datuk Seri Raja Ropiaah Abdullah might have settled her legal suit and sold hotly-contested land to Boustead Holdings Bhd (BHB) but questions remain whether the Selangor Wanita Umno chief's firm has delivered a RM100 million defence education building to the government. The National Defence Education Centre or Puspahanas project ground breaking was done on November 21, 2008 but the exact location of the building is a mystery, with the only known point on a map shown to be a carpark near the Health and Higher Education ministries in Precinct 1 of Putrajaya. The unfinished Puspahanas is akin to an earlier scandal that engulfed Raja Ropiaah's Wanita Umno chief, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, when her family was accused of using a RM250 million government soft loan for personal investment instead of the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) project. There are no street signages in Putrajaya for the project, which her development company Awan Megah Sdn Bhd agreed to build in 2005 in exchange for some 80 hectares of land in Bukit Raja, Selangor and RM27 million. The other mystery is how BHB could buy the Bukit Raja land as the government had stipulated the land couldn't be sold by Awan Megah, which had earlier worked out a complicated deal with carpet dealer Deepak Jaikishan to finance the Puspahanas construction. The controversial businessman had taken Raja Ropiaah to court when the deal fell through and she instead went into a joint-venture development with a plasticware maker. His revelations before the civil suit, which was heard at the same time as the last Umno annual general assembly, later led to a settlement where his company, Astacanggih Sdn Bhd had its 80 per cent majority stake sold to a BHB unit for RM30 million. Astacanggih has also proposed to buy Raja Ropiaah's land for RM130 million, although the deal could not be secured earlier due to restrictions from the government, which had yet to receive the Puspahanas facility. BHB yesterday cited expanding its landbank as the reason to buy into Astacanggih, adding today it was purely a commercial decision. In a filing to Bursa Malaysia, BHB said economies of scale can be achieved by combining the land with the adjacent 283.28ha land held under Jendela Hikmat Sdn Bhd, which the Boustead Group and Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) jointly hold a 60 per cent equity interest. Based on its experience, BHB said it is confident the acquisition of the development land will be able to generate a return on development cost of 25 per cent from the RM160 million investment.
 An artist's impression of the Puspahanas project.
Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latif Ahmad declined to comment yesterday on the project, saying he did not have any information about the project that was first mooted in 1971. Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/despite-raja-ropiaahs-land-deal-puspahanas-not-in-sight/
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| Embassy confirms huge compensation paid to Malaysian govt Posted: 03 Jan 2013 11:38 AM PST qSdxYDRFmy0 (Harakah Daily) - The Embassy of Japan has today confirmed that it had paid money to the Malaysian government being compensation for families of victims of the so-called 'Death Railway' project in the 1940s.
Jejak, the PAS-backed secretariat led by Bukit Gantang member of parliament Nizar Jamaluddin, visited the embassy today in a bid to unravel truth over some RM207 billion in unpaid compensation. Also present were PAS Youth vice chief Raja Iskandar Al-Hiss and Jejak operation chief Safarizal Saleh. Or watch at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSdxYDRFmy0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Kedutaan Jepun sahkan serah wang pampasanKedutaan Jepun di Malaysia mengesahkan kerajaan negara itu telah menyerahkan sejumlah wang pampasan kepada kerajaan Malaysia untuk diserahkan kepada buruh paksa pembinaan landasan keretapi Thailand Myanmar.
(Rombongan bergambar di perkarangan kedutaan selepas berjumpa pegawai kedutaan)
Dalam kunjungan hari ini, Sekretariat Jejak juga meminta pihak negara Jepun memberi maklumat bila dan berapa jumlah pampasan kepada buruh binaan itu di hantar ke negara ini dan siapa yang mengesahkan penerimaan itu. Sejak didaftarkan secara rasmi pada 11 Januari 2011, persatuan terbabit telah memohon beberapa kali untuk mendapatkan wang pampasan dari kerajaan Malaysia tetapi hingga kini masih gagal.
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| Posted: 02 Jan 2013 08:30 PM PST
KTemoc Konsiders 'Tis the season of faith, but 'tis also the season for realizing that faith is not based on evidence or logic, and wherein, truth is subjective, which is precisely why religion requires faith. RPK tells us this in his guest column at Free Malaysia Today, in an article titled Standards of evidence. RPK wrote: Beliefs, in particular religious beliefs, are called faiths — religious faith. The reason they are called religious faiths is because you need to believe based on faith, not based on evidence. Faith, in a way, can be described as the word to explain lack of evidence. Hence, whenever you fail to prove your beliefs with supporting evidence you classify it under faith. And you can get away with whatever beliefs that lack evidence by calling it faith. It would be considered quite acceptable. [...] ... because faith does not need proof. And I will just have to take your word for it and believe that without question. And they tell me that slavery has been abolished. Actually religion is slavery.
Joining him on the topic of 'faith' but in a separate article has been Adelyn Yeoh, an undergraduate student in Mount Holyoke College, USA, who also writes for CEKU at http://www.ceku.org. Her article poignantly titled Leaving god informed us: Faith is the act of believing and religion is the institution through which faith sometimes operates through. Faith can operate without religion. [...] There were numerous things that did not sit right with me; things that did not seem just or fair, despite what religion claimed. Teachers would often use God as their trump card to get students to do their bidding. [...]
... Religion is used as an additional divisive tool, not just by politicians but also by the average Joe. Overeager evangelical actions carried out by the average person working in the name of faith, despite having good intentions, often upset other parties. The reason for this is often because the evangelist has a presupposed notion of superiority. I too posted my views more than a month ago in Faith & salvation, a kaytee special wakakaka on the subject of 'leaps of faith', those of gi-normous Grand Canyon-ish dimensions as required particularly by the Abrahamic religions and those of teeny weeny longkang-size lompat for Buddhist and Jainist beliefs, ...
... while the tricky Chinese (non Abrahamic) religionists have their even more trickier religions, tap-dancing around the issue of faith, wakakaka. From the above discussions, I think we have four words to consider in religions (except those tricky Chinese religions), faith, evidence, logic, truth - or indeed, the absence of the latter three. Whatever, if any blame needs to be apportioned, well, let's blame it on those ancient Egyptians. Note I stated 'ancient' Egyptians, not the current Egyptians who are Arabs. The ancient Egyptians were not Arabs. An aside, once I had toyed around with a series of posts questioning mainstream biblical narrations, titled 'who was Abrahim?'. I went up to 21 posts but wearied of the amount of reading and cross referencing I had to do, decided to switch to and focus on socio-politics in this blog. But if you like to read them, provided you won't be offended by the liberal discussions of Old Testament biblical characters, you will find all 21 posts filed in Back to Abraham soon! (which I may, that is, return to finish/complete the series)
Anyway, why should we blame those ancient Egyptians for the issue of faith versus evidence (proof), logic or truth in religions? That's because the Hebrews (supposedly the patriarch Abraham) started the Abrahamic religions, with the Hebrews-Israelites-Judeans-Jews inheriting from the ancient Egyptians four things (4 only since we're into stuff of 4 like the above-mentioned faith, evidence, logic, truth), which were: (a) circumcision - yes, the royalty in ancient Egypt started this, not the Hebrews;
(b) a matriarchal lineage - the Pharaoh's daughter inherits the throne of ancient Egypt which was why the royal brother incestuously married the royal sister in order to keep the kingdom under his rule, as did daddy Pharaoh. Whether they did you-know-what has never been specifically mentioned. The Hebrews,-Israelites-Judeans-Jews followed/follow the ancient Egyptian system, thus orthodox Judaism practises matrilineal descent for more than 2000 years, where anyone with a Jewish mother has irrevocable Jewish status, regardless of whether mum has converted to another religion. Despite it being under orthodox Judaism, the lineage was obviously more of a racial rather than a religious consideration. Some reforms occurred in the early 1980's to include patrilineal descent, but by 1986, the Conservative Movement's Rabbinical Assembly rejected patrilineal descent and even warned that any rabbi who does so would be expelled from the Rabbinical Assembly. Maybe one of the 'lost 10 tribes of Israel' migrated to and took up residence in Negeri Sembilan (or perhaps Padang)? wakakaka.
(c) monotheism - again yes, it was the heretic Pharaoh, Akhenaten (formerly Amenhotep IV) who was the first person to worship only one creator god, way way before the Hebrews knew about YVWH. Pharaoh Akhenaten was called 'heretic' because in polytheistic ancient Egypt, one was considered a heretic for crazily worshipping only one god, wakakaka;
(d) while the general scholarly position thus far has been that the Hebrew script came from the Phoenicians, some have asserted that it was from the ancient Egyptians, who possessed three types of scripts, namely hieroglyphs, hieratic and demotic. Whichever, the ancient Egyptian script doesn't have vowels which the Hebrew Torah (bible) seems to follow, where a striking example would be the Tetragrammaton YVWH.
The story has it that when Moses was instructed by his god to see the Pharaoh, he asked who should he say sent him? His god then revealed his name as Yahweh. But the Jews didn't want to take the name of their god in vain, so they refused to say aloud Yahweh, but instead Adonai (Lord). Subsequently when the Jews introduced vowels into their script, they used those from the Adonai word, a, o and again a, in YVWH, giving them Yahowah (Jehovah). The Torah remains vowel-less.
Thus the Hebraic vowel-less script for god sometimes is seen in English as G-D, probably the work of Hebrew wannabes.
... which brings us to my post title of B-D. Okay lah, I am t'ng k'oui (chong hei), meandering like a lazy willow & bamboo-lined Karnafuli* river across the Plains of Chitchat-tagong (no, not the one in Bangladesh), wakakaka. * polite mispronunciation, wakakaka Now, what does B-D stand for or tell us? Firstly, we may assume that the vowel-less letters has god-like qualities because of their resemblance to the Hebraical G-D. Please have a bit of faith here lah, wakakaka;
Secondly, remember that having faith obviates the need for evidence, proof, logic etc, including the truth, wakakaka; Thirdly, B-D has assumed a disproportionate significance in the politics of Malaysia right at this moment and we should pay heed to it; Fourthly (the final of our four thingy's), sceptical kaytee as usual wishes to examine the political evangelism that's promoting the new 'god' B-D, wakakaka. Okay, let's start off with the D of B-D where D, placed second, is more recent that B. D = Deepak or Deepak Jaikishan, the carpet bagger seller who was once a figure meeting up covertly and furtively with B = Balasubramaniam, and allegedly also doing various 'odd jobs' for Rosmah and Najib, and at times variously Rosmah's toy boy, godson, best friend, confidante, aide, Mr Fix-it, gifts giver, confidential-private majordomo, etc.
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| Seeing things from the right perspective Posted: 02 Jan 2013 07:42 PM PST
Actually I know who that third party is but I am not sure whether I should reveal his name. What happens if that person sues me? No one is going to help pay for my legal costs and if I lose the case no one is going to help pay for whatever damages the court awards to the person suing me. So I have to think carefully whether to help Rafizi out by revealing the name of the person. Since Rafizi has the party behind him maybe I should leave it to him to reveal the name of this third party -- although he also appears to be reluctant to do so. THE CORRIDORS OF POWER Raja Petra Kamarudin Over the last few days I have read a few comments calling Rafizi Ramli a liar and accusing him of politicising the Deepak Jaikishan issue. First of all, so what if Rafizi is politicising issues? Is that not what politicians are supposed to do? You mean all those others in Pakatan Rakyat are not also politicising issues? You mean all those Umno and Barisan Nasional people are not also politicising issues? Accusing Rafizi of politicising issues is so stupid. It is like accusing a fox that is hanging around the chicken run of trying to whack the chickens. That is why God made foxes, to whack chickens. Whacking chickens is in the job specification of foxes. Why else do you think God made foxes? Do you think God made foxes so that sugar daddies can buy a fox fur coat for their mistresses? Foxes were created so that they can whack chickens. And politicians were created so that they can politicise issues. And all this talk that politicians are the result of anal sex is utter bullshit and very unfair because you cannot get pregnant from anal sex and for sure no one can get born through the arsehole. Politicians are born just like you and me, the normal way, and politics is a career just like any other career. In fact, politics allows postmen and railway crossing guards attain career heights that postmen and railway crossing guards could never attain if they did not become politicians. It is like going to America, the land of opportunity. Where else can simple farmers or descendants of slaves become 'big people' if not in America? And if you can't migrate to America to become a 'big person' then you become a politician and get called Yang Berhormat or The Respected One. We must remember that everything in Malaysia is politicised. Even the Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnibenevolent, etc., God is politicised. Even with all that power that God possesses He cannot prevent his name from being politicised. And if the all-powerful God cannot stop his name from being politicised do you think Deepak Jaikishan can prevent his name from being politicised even if he imagines himself as a Sex God? Now, why do you say that Rafizi Ramli lied? What did he say that makes you come to a conclusion that he lied? Did Rafizi say he was there, say, when Deepak Jaikishan was alleged to have bought RM13 million worth of jewellery for First Lady Rosmah Mansor? Did Rafizi say he personally saw the jewellery and/or held them in his hand? He never said that. What he said was he has seen the documents and the documents were handed to him by someone he personally knows. He apparently trusts this person and probably has a relationship of sorts with this person. And this person handed him some documents that were supposed to be evidence that Deepak had bought RM13 million worth of jewellery for Rosmah. So, based on this, he held a press conference to reveal the existence of these documents and that these documents are evidence that Deepak had bought RM13 million worth of jewellery for Rosmah. And the purpose Rafizi held that press conference to reveal the existence of these documents is so that the MACC or PDRM can investigate the matter and find out whether all this is true or false. It could be true or it could be false. But Rafizi would not know whether it is true or false. He can only hold a press conference to reveal the existence of these documents and leave it to the authorities to authenticate the documents and tell us whether the allegations are true or not.
Some of you ask: why hold a press conference? Why not make a police report or sign a Statutory Declaration instead? If you are really sincere about seeing justice done then you should make a police report or sign a Statutory Declaration. Holding a press conference makes it appear like all you want to do is to politicise the issue. True, a police report or Statutory Declaration would be better than a press conference. A police report or Statutory Declaration looks less political than a press conference. But maybe you have forgotten that back in 1998 Anwar Ibrahim made a police report and he ended up getting arrested and was sent to jail for a long time. Ten years later, in 2008, I signed a Statutory Declaration and I too was arrested and charged for that. I was also detained without trial. So, do you really think a police report or Statutory Declaration is wise? So far no one has been arrested and sent to jail for holding a press conference. At worse you may be subjected to a civil suit. However, since the press conference is a party press conference, then when you get sued the party will come out with the money to pay for a lawyer to represent you in court. Can you remember that I was sued by many people -- UUM V.C. Nordin Kardi, Umno lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Lt Col Abdul Aziz Buyong and Lt Col Norhayati Hassan, etc. And I was sued because I made allegations against them. Now I have been declared bankrupt and yet still more civil suits are piling up against me. Has any Malaysian from 28 million Malaysians offered to help me out financially? When you write bad things about the government or about those who walk in the corridors of power everyone will clap and cheer you on. But when you get sued you have to carry that problem all by yourself. No one from all those people who clapped and cheered you on is going to come forward to volunteer to help you out financially. I am fortunate that I have some friends who are lawyers who volunteered to help represent me free of charge. In the Nordin Kardi case, however, no one came forward to help me out. So the court awarded him an uncontested win and I now have to pay Nordin Kardi RM2.5 million. But I do not have RM2.5 million and can't pay that amount. So I have to be declared a bankrupt, as I was in the earlier case involving an Umno Minister where the court asked me to pay RM1.3 million. Actually, it is now no longer worth anything to help me out unless you can afford to pay RM60 million, which is what I have hanging over my head -- and which is increasing every time I lose a case. Do you know I recently had to pay the government RM215,000 to get my house released? In the end, with tax and legal fees included, I had to pay about RM250,000 or else I would lose my house. And none of those people who clapped and cheered when I whacked the government came forward to help me settle that RM250,000. So my daughter had to go to the bank to borrow the money to help me out. Luckily I have a daughter who can qualify for a bank loan of RM250,000 or else my house would be gone. So you face a great risk when you whack the government. No doubt people will clap and cheer when you whack the government. But that is all you receive -- claps and cheers. If you make a police report, sign a Statutory Declaration, or write an article in your Blog, you will get arrested and will get sent to jail. And you not only get arrested but will get sued as well and then will be hit with millions in damages. Hence the safest thing to do would be to do what Rafizi Ramli did -- hold a press conference in the party's name. So I think you have to be a bit fair with Rafizi. He has no choice but to politicise the issues so that he can get the protection of the party when people sue him. If not Rafizi would end up like me if he does things outside the party. And he did not lie. He never said he was there or that he saw everything. What he said was that he was reliably informed, like what I said on my Statutory Declaration.
And I know it appears like Rafizi has done a U-turn. Yesterday he never said that the information or documents he received came from a third party. But now that Deepak has denied meeting him and/or denied giving him any documents, Rafizi turns around and says that the evidence came from a third party. Actually I know who that third party is but I am not sure whether I should reveal his name. What happens if that person sues me? No one is going to help pay for my legal costs and if I lose the case no one is going to help pay for whatever damages the court awards to the person suing me. So I have to think carefully whether to help Rafizi out by revealing the name of the person. Since Rafizi has the party behind him maybe I should leave it to him to reveal the name of this third party -- although he also appears to be reluctant to do so. Maybe Rafizi is worried that if he declares that he was not actually a witness but that the evidence was given to him by a third party then people will accuse him of doing a U-turn. Rafizi knows that that happened to me when I explained during my TV3 interview that I was not a witness but was informed about the matter by a third party. Everyone accused me of doing a U-turn even though I did not. Hence, understandably, Rafizi needs to be very careful here or else he will suffer the same fate that befell me. Rafizi is not only a product of the Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK). He is also a product of a UK university education. That makes him very clever. Most MCKK cum UK educated people are very clever. And, being very clever, he would most certainly be aware that most Malaysians are not very bright. In fact, some Malaysians -- those not from MCKK and a UK education -- can sometimes be downright stupid. Hence Rafizi has to be very careful with what he says. People will even accuse him of saying what he never said -- unless you are from MCKK and armed with a UK education (then you will not be stupid enough to accuse people of saying what they did not say). I am sorry if I sound like I am defending Rafizi. Even if I am defending Rafizi so what? Is it a crime to defend someone from your alma mater? Yes, I am defending Rafizi. I do not deny that and I am not apologetic or embarrassed about it. When someone deserves defending then you must defend that person. And if you are not happy with that then sue me. It is, after all, a free country. Anyone can sue anyone. Even the Christians are free to sue the government for not allowing them to use the name Allah in the Bahasa Malaysia Bible. And if Pakatan Rakyat comes out with a statement next week also agreeing that Christians should not use the name Allah in the Bahasa Malaysia Bible then the Christians should sue Pakatan Rakyat as well. But wait first until next week and see what Pakatan Rakyat has to say because they will be meeting only next week to make a decision as to whether Christians can use the name Allah in the Bahasa Malaysia Bible. And if Pakatan Rakyat were to agree with the government that Christians should not use the name Allah in the Bahasa Malaysia Bible only then sue them. But I am confident Pakatan Rakyat will not agree with the government. | ||||||||||||||
| Musa Hassan zips lips in latest scorcher on Altantuya murder Posted: 02 Jan 2013 04:47 PM PST Amin Iskandar, The Malaysian Insider Tan Sri Musa Hassan has refused to be drawn into the latest controversy over the 2006 murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu, following the publication of a book claiming the former Inspector-General of Police (IGP) has inside information. The retired policeman reiterated that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was uninvolved in the explosive case that had been linked to several politicians from the ruling Barsian Nasional (BN) and had resurfaced recently in the run-up to the 13th general election. "I have nothing to comment," he told The Malaysian Insider when contacted yesterday for a response on allegations he has knowledge of the events surrounding the death of the Mongolian translator, for which two elite police commandos have been convicted and are facing death sentences. "I have said it many times: Najib is not involved with the murder of Altantuya. This is (Abdul) Razak Baginda's work," he said, referring to the PM's former political advisor who once had an affair with the Mongolian. "I had briefed Pak Lah that Najib was not involved in this case," Musa said, referring to the then-PM, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. A 26-page book titled "The Black Rose ― Black Rose 1.0", which describes the tangled web of high-profile personalities purportedly involved in the murder conspiracy, has been circulating on the Internet over the past few days. Carpet dealer Deepak Jaikishan, who is at the centre of the controversy surrounding P. Balasubramaniam's conflicting sworn testimonies on the case, yesterday admitted to being the book's author. He also said he will release a sequel. Balasubramaniam, a former policeman-turned-private investigator who was at that time hired by Abdul Razak Baginda to keep an eye on Altantuya, is seen to be a key witness to the whole saga. Deepak recently revealed his involvement in getting Balasubramaniam to make the second statutory declaration (SD), reversing an earlier statement linking Najib to Altantuya's murder. The Bar Council was chided on Tuesday for dragging its feet in investigating the identity of the mystery lawyer behind Balasubramaniam's controversial second SD. Lawyer Americk Singh Sidhu, who is acting for the former private detective, said that the Bar Council should speed up its inquiry on the high-profile case that had previously been linked to several high-ranking government officials and resurfaced recently in the run-up to the 13th general election. The Bar Council has said it is investigating the possibility of misconduct in the drafting of Balasubramaniam's second SD, which contradicts his previous sworn statement made just a day earlier over the death of the Mongolian translator. A cloud of mystery has been hanging over the identity of the lawyer who had drawn up Balasubramaniam's second SD, dated a day after his first on July 3, 2008, regarding the Altantuya murder case. Last month, Musa accused politicians, including Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, of interfering with police work.
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| Deepak denies link to documents Posted: 02 Jan 2013 04:38 PM PST
He said he never met Rafizi and is uncomfortable with the way PKR has exposed the matter using his name to gain political mileage. (The Sun Daily) - Businessman Deepak Jaikishin has denied that he has anything to do with bank documents produced to the press by PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli that allegedly incriminates him. He said he never met Rafizi and is uncomfortable with the way PKR has exposed the matter using his name to gain political mileage. "The documents... are not my documents. I have never seen the documents. If he (Rafizi) said he got it from an intermediary, then who is he? "I would like him (Rafizi) to come forward and explain how he got the documents," he told a press conference at a hotel here yesterday. Deepak also called on PKR de facto chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to meet him to discuss the truth and not ask a 'third party' like Rafizi to politicise the matter. He said he is standing alone in the matter and is 'feeling the heat' following the expose he made recently. "If the truth matters, I invite Datuk Seri Anwar to come and present the facts of what they really are (with me). Deepak said he will consult his lawyers to give notice to Rafizi in order to know who disclosed the documents. In an immediate response, Rafizi told theSun that Deepak's denial is expected. He said that the documents were circulated by Deepak himself and as a company director he must be aware of the documents which are actually bank statements and receipts of his two companies. "We can prove that the documents come from Deepak. "He has to convince the public that the documents are not his. He gave the same documents to several people," he told theSun. Rafizi said Deepak is 'playing a game' and trying to put the media highlight onto himself for his "expose" which came on the eve of the Umno general assembly last month.
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| Pakatan plays down Allah issue Posted: 02 Jan 2013 04:29 PM PST
(The Star) - Pakatan Rakyat leaders have tried to play down the controversial use of the word "Allah" by Christians, with PAS saying that the matter has been closed. The leaders of the opposition parties have yet to meet to resolve the differing stand on the issue, although Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had proposed the meeting to resolve the matter. "There has been no discussion on the matter. We (PAS) feel that it has already been resolved as all that needs to be spoken about it has been spoken," said the Islamist party's secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali after attending a Pakatan secretariat meeting here yesterday. Asked if a decision had been reached by Pakatan partners over the issue, Mustafa replied that he did not want to add anything to the matter. Controversy over the "Allah" issue cropped up when Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng urged the Federal Government to allow Christians to use the word "Allah" in their Malay version of the Bible in his recent Christmas message. Lim's message caused an uproar among Muslims, while some Muslim NGOs held protests in front of his office in Komtar, Penang, last month. PAS also hit out at Lim, stating firmly that the word "Allah" should not be used by Christians to refer to God as it would only lead to confusion for both Muslims and Christians. On Dec 27, Anwar conceded that an urgent meeting to discuss the matter was needed to resolve the issue although discussions were held by the Pakatan leadership when the controversy surfaced in 2010. On a separate issue, Mustafa said PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang would decline the air-time offer by RTM to explain his "Amanat Haji Hadi" if no live coverage was given.
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| Group demands jewellery expose probe, Rafizi wants to meet Deepak Posted: 02 Jan 2013 04:03 PM PST The carpet dealer, however, has denied seeing the jewellery bills but Rafizi claimed today the documents were provided by Deepak himself through a third party linked to PKR By Boo Su-Lyn and Syed Jaymal Zahiid, The Malaysian Insider A journalists group wants an investigation of PKR's Rafizi Ramli revelations about carpet dealer Deepak Jaikishan's purported US$4 million (RM12.4 million) jewellery purchases for dignitaries although the controversial businessman has denied the documents. In turn, Rafizi is willing to meet the carpet dealer about the documents which were handed over to the PKR strategy director through a third party. "The Young Journalists Club of Malaysia (KWMM) is very worried about the trend of the federal opposition exposing private and confidential documents, whether owned by individuals or the government, for insidious purposes," club president Dzulkarnain Taib said in a statement today. "KWMM takes the irresponsible behaviour of an opposition leader like Rafizi (picture) very seriously, who has made baseless assumptions and allegations without strong evidence. This was done merely for political purposes and to get more votes, since the 13th general election will be held soon," he added, using the club's Bahasa Malaysia acronym. Rafizi was charged last August with violating the Banking and Financial Institutions Act (BAFIA) for allegedly exposing confidential banking details of NFCorp. The NFCorp runs the National Feedlot Centre (NFC), a RM250 million federal-funded cattle-farming project that has been at the centre of a major national scandal. Yesterday, Rafizi provided the media copies of transaction records, including one for a US$115,000 purchase of polished diamonds from Dehres Ltd, a fine jewellery supplier from Hong Kong. Another document detailed transactions worth US$3.9 million involving the purchases of rings, necklaces and earrings from Firestone Co Ltd, another Hong Kong-based fine jewellery supplier. Rafizi has said that Deepak was acting as a jewellery middleman for a local dignitary. The carpet dealer, however, has denied seeing the jewellery bills. Deepak also accused Rafizi of making the exposé for political mileage. But Rafizi claimed today the documents were provided by Deepak himself through a third party linked to PKR and suggested that the carpet dealer's outburst yesterday was caused by the party's initial refusal to "champion" the issue.
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| Dr M: Beware the one who hoodwinks Posted: 02 Jan 2013 03:53 PM PST The former premier warns Malaysians not to fall prey to Anwar Ibrahim as he once had in the past. RK Anand, FMT More than a decade ago, he was considered the protege of and heir apparent to Dr Mahathir Mohamad. But in 1998, the ties turned sour. And the rest, as they say, is history. In his latest blog posting, Mahathir claimed that he was once hoodwinked by the religious piety of Anwar Ibrahim and warned Malaysians not to fall prey as well. Now as his nemesis leads the opposition charge for the coming general election, where for the first time in more than five decades a change of government was considered possible, the former premier once again issued a dire warning. Targeting Anwar, he pointed out that the former deputy premier had not brought about positive changes during his tenure with the government. "Now as leader of the opposition, he is claiming to bring about changes. What good change did he introduce when he was in the government? "All he was interested in was getting up the leadership ladder of Umno in order to become prime minister. How he achieved his objective does not bear scrutiny," he added. Recalling the 1997-1998 financial crisis, Mahathir said Anwar, who was also finance minister then, had attempted the International Monetary Fund (IMF) solution without IMF loans. "Banks and companies were faced with the threat of bankruptcy from non-performing loans. Imports cost more. Cost of living shot up. "The track record of the minister of finance then was bad although there is a fondness of claiming success brought about by others as his success. PNB, UIA and Islamic banking were part of the claim," he added. Pakatan aping Obama Mahathir warned Malaysians that experimenting with change and placing federal power in the hands of Anwar and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang-led government would be perilous. "Many things can be destroyed in five years. We have some experience of this," he said, alluding to his handpicked successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, whose one term in power witnessed the opposition making significant gains in the 2008 polls. "Besides, the opposition as government will ensure that there will be no return for BN [Barisan Nasional]. Officers in the government will be used to 'gempar' [threaten] whoever tries to change the government. We know this has happened before," he said. "Already we see this person who claims to fight for free speech suing and resorting to the courts to shut the mouths of his critics. Other powers of the government will be similarly abused. Nepotism and cronyism will be employed as indeed they are in the party he now heads. "The record is there. Malaysians must not allow themselves to be hoodwinked as I was hoodwinked by the appearance of religious piety in the past," he added. Mahathir also accused Pakatan Rakyat of aping US President Barack Obama in terms of making unkept promises of change in the run-up to the elections. "Making promises during campaigns for elections is easy. Keeping them is a different matter. The best hope is that people's memory is short. They will normally forget the promises. "Give them a chance, they [Pakatan] say. BN has ruled this country for 55 years. It is time to change. They will change this into a welfare state. Everything will be free. No fees for education, no tolls, large subsidy for petrol, 20% royalty to oil-producing states etc..etc," he said.
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| Pakatan to decide on ‘Allah’ issue next week Posted: 02 Jan 2013 03:34 PM PST Anwar says the matter would be deliberated at the opposition pact's leadership council meeting scheduled for next Tuesday. G Vinod, FMT The Pakatan Rakyat leadership will be holding a meeting on Jan 8 to deliberate on use of the word "Allah" to represent God in Malay language Bibles, said PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim. "We have will be holding our leadership council meeting next week and I believe the matter will be raised. We will discuss this," said the former deputy prime minister. Last month, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng urged the government to allow Christians to use the word "Allah", to address God in the Malay language Bibles. However, his suggestion drew criticism from several Muslim-based NGOs which cautioned Lim not to provoke the Muslims. Lim was also rebuked by his ally within Pakatan when PAS information chief Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said that non-Muslims should abstain from using the word Allah in their holy books as reference to God. Meeting with Bank Negara confirmed "We have proposed to meet on Jan 17, which they have tentatively agreed. They promised to get back to us," said Anwar. The US-based financial watchdog reported that Malaysia ranked number two in terms of illicit outflow of funds in 2010, ranking second to China. The report indicated that Malaysia lost RM200 billion in that year alone. Between 2001 and 2010, Malaysia lost about RM871 billion in capital outflow. Describing it as "alarming", Anwar had since offered to meet Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz to offer solution to the matter.
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| Musa: IGP, top brass avoided me Posted: 02 Jan 2013 03:30 PM PST The ex-top cop defends his open criticism of the police force, saying that he had reached a dead end when trying to engage with the top brass and his successor the inspector general of police. Anisah Shukry and Teoh El Sen, FMT Each time Musa Hassan approached his successor Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ismail Omar, the latter would "walk away" from him, making all communication between the two impossible, the ex-IGP said. "I don't have the chance to talk to [Ismail] because whenever we meet even in public, he just walks away from me," said Musa in a recent interview with FMT. "I don't know [why]. Maybe they think I am no longer relevant," he said. Musa said this when asked if he had raised the issue of criminal elements and political interference in the police force with the IGP before announcing it to the public. Musa had dropped the bombshell two months ago during a press conference with crime watchdog MyWatch, which coincided with the opening of the Umno general assembly. His timing, as well as his new role as the patron of the NGO lead by PKR members, had led many to grill him on his motives. While the question on most people's lips is "why now?" (Musa's reply: the timing was a coincidence), others have expressed disgust at what they perceive as efforts that could destroy the police force's credibility. Musa's rival, former top cop Ramli Yusuff had slammed him for turning to the media instead of discussing the issues with Ismail in private. "You don't have to say these kind of things in the open. These are internal matters. Musa could have discussed it discreetly with Ismail, meet up with him, tell him nicely," the former commercial crimes investigation department (CCID) chief had told FMT last month. But Musa told FMT that not only did Ismail deliberately avoid him, but the top brass also refused to speak with him on the matter. "I have spoken to some police officers. But of course they are lower rung, they can't do anything about it. But the bosses, they refuse to talk to me," claimed Musa. When asked whether the current leadership of the police was open to discussing such issues head-on in a transparent manner, he said: "I don't think so." "I see Ismail [as] only a ceremonial IGP. He would only attend ceremonies," Musa remarked. He also dismissed claims by his detractors that his bombshells would destroy the credibility of the men in blue. Instead, Musa said, open criticism of the police force would encourage transparency and enhance its credibility. "I don't think so, [that making claims publicly would erode confidence in the institution]. You have to be open about this… "If you keep quiet and keep things this way… there will always be the perception of the public that you are not doing anything," Musa pointed out. "[Then] it would erode the credibility of the police and also the confidence of the people [towards the police]." 'People still want me to be involved' Ramli had also criticised Musa, now technically a civilian after having retired in 2010, for "disturbing" the police with his allegations. "When you have retired, your days are over. You don't disturb. Your successors have their own way of doing things. You are gone, so why do you want to disturb?" Ramli had said. But Musa told FMT that he still received text messages and even visits from people asking for his help in matters related to crime. He said that when people contacted him for advice or help, it meant that they still wanted him to be involved in crime-fighting. "The question mark is why people still give information to me even though I am retired, when they can give it straight to the police officer? "That's why I feel sometimes that something is wrong here. Why should people trust me? They should trust the police because I am already retired," stressed Musa. He said that despite being a civilian, he could not bring himself to deny them help as they would come to his house asking for advice.
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| ‘Jewellery documents are from Deepak’ Posted: 02 Jan 2013 03:25 PM PST The PKR leader claims that the documents showing purchases of expensive jewellery supposedly for Rosmah Mansor came from Deepak himself, through a third party. G Vinod, FMT PKR has claimed that the documents implicating businessman Deepak Jaikishan in the purchase of expensive jewellery was from the latter himself. "Few months back, Deepak himself gave the documents to some PKR leaders. The documents were later handed to me for further deliberation," said party strategic director Rafizi Ramli today. Yesterday, Rafizi produced several documents claiming that two carpet companies linked to Deepak had purchased 19 types of jewellery worth about RM13 million in 2009. The jewellery was said to be purchased on behalf of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak's wife, Rosmah Mansor. Deepak, however, was not pleased with Rafizi's exposé and said that the documents were not his. "I've never seen the documents Rafizi is producing. Those are not my documents. He has to come forward and tell us where he got these documents from," Deepak was reported as saying. However, the businessman did not rebut the allegations made by Rafizi, saying he would seek legal advice on the matter. Rafizi said that while Deepak could claim what he wanted, the latter should however explain why his company purchased the jewellery. "If he believes the documents produced are forged, I urge Deepak to lodge a report with the authorities," he added. However, Rafizi insisted that the documents came from Deepak and PKR leaders would lodge a report with the police and the MACC on the matter on Monday. "I will cooperate with the authorities on the matter. In fact, the individual who received the documents from Deepak has agreed to vouch that he received it from the businessman," he said. Rafizi also explained why he did not pursue the matter earlier, saying that at that point of time, it was not a matter of public interest. "But when the government announced that RM160 million from Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) would be used to purchase Deepak's company and a land belonging to Awan Megah Sdn Bhd, the whole situation changed," he said.
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Namun sehingga kini, tidak ada sebarang wang diberikan oleh kerajaan Malaysia kepada mangsa atau waris mereka.
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