Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Umno Youth to gather on July 9, rival Bersih rally
- Hearing of RMAF Sergeant Tharmendran's case postponed to July 22
- Controversial DJ claims living in exile in UK
- Government firm on Sarbaini inquest
- Ahmad Maslan: Felda Will Be Bankrupt in the Hands of the Opposition
- Anwar: "Umno Leaders Planned the Sex Video Scandal"
- Yen Yen to face Cabinet over Facebook debacle, says DPM
- MCMC shrugs off Operation Malaysia, says ‘little impact’
- Anwar slams ‘ridiculous’ RM13b funds request
- SUPP facing ‘life and death’ struggle, says ex-chief
- Sudan’s Bashir cancels visit
- BN MPs: Our welfare state better than PAS’s
| Umno Youth to gather on July 9, rival Bersih rally Posted: 16 Jun 2011 01:21 AM PDT
(The Malaysian Insider) - Umno Youth will organise a gathering on July 9 to " strengthen the democratic system" and rival electoral reform group Bersih 2.0's rally on the same day. Its chief Khairy Jamaluddin said it won't join the Bersih rally, which is also facing a counter-protest by Malay rights group Perkasa. "Umno Youth will organise a gathering on July 9 to strengthen the democratic system. Won't join Bersih because they have opposition agenda," the Rembau MP wrote in his Twitter microblogging account. He had earlier chaired an Umno Youth council meeting today. Police have said it won't issue permits for any rally in the city on that day, when a rock concert featuring Sweet Charity and Blues Gang will be held later that night.
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| Hearing of RMAF Sergeant Tharmendran's case postponed to July 22 Posted: 16 Jun 2011 01:17 AM PDT
(Bernama) - The hearing of the case involving Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) Sergeant N. Tharmendran and businessman K. Rajandran Prasad on charges of conspiring to steal and disposing off two RMAF jet engines has been postponed to July 22 due to the appointment of a new counsel. Sessions Court judge Aslam Zainuddin set the date after lawyer V. Ravichandran informed the court that he was the new counsel appointed by Tharmendran, 43, and that he needed time to study the documents on the case. Ravichandran told the court that the previous counsel N. Surendran, had yet to handover the documents on the case to him. "I was informed by Surendran that he would give me all the documents the latest by next week," he added. The case was postponed to today after Tharmendran informed the court two days ago that his lawyer (Surendran) was withdrawing from the case. Meanwhile, at today's proceeding, lawyer Gobind Singh Deo , who represented Rajandran, 38, claimed that the charge against his client was flawed because the time when the alleged offence was committed was not clearly stated on the charge sheet. However, deputy public prosecutor Feisal Syed Amir said the point raised by the defence was not an important issue. Aslam said the matter would be raised should there be any witness who mentioned the time when the alleged incident took place. On Jan 6 last year, Tharmendran pleaded not guilty to conspiring with airman Mohamad Shukri Mohamad Yusop to stealing two J85-21 model of F5 jet engines from the Material Processing Shed MATRA 1, Sungai Besi RMAF base, here, on April 30, 2008. He was charged under Section 380 of the Penal Code which is punishable with imprisonment for up to 10 years and a fine upon conviction. Rajandran Prasad, the director of a supply company, also pleaded not guilty on the same date to the charge of intentionally disposing off the engines at 49, Jalan TS 6/6, Taman Industri Subang on April 30, 2008. Rajandran was charged under Section 414 of the Penal Code which is punishable with a jail term of up to seven years and a fine upon conviction. On Aug 20 last year, Tharmendran also pleaded not guilty to a charge of laundering a sum of RM62,000 while Rajandran pleaded not guilty to five such charges involving RM437,319.50.
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| Controversial DJ claims living in exile in UK Posted: 16 Jun 2011 01:07 AM PDT  (Borneo Post) - Controversial figure Peter John Jaban who used the pseudonym 'DJ Papa Orang Utan' over Radio Free Sarawak (RFS) has claimed that he is living in political exile in the UK. He said he did not dare to come back home to Sarawak because of what the Home Ministry had stated recently – that he was a potential subject under the Internal Security Act. When contacted yesterday, Peter said he was making a living as a deejay for RFS and that he reported to another controversial figure – Clare Rewcastle – who runs RFS and Sarawak Report blog. Rewcastle is the sister in-law of former British prime minister Gordon Brown. Peter said he also feared reprisal judging from the threats he received through SMS, emails and Facebook. He also rubbished talks that he was a 'radio mercenary' earning 6,000 pounds per month. He said he did what he was doing on his own free will, and not for the material gain. He also said that he was not affiliated to any political party in Malaysia, but said that there were good and bad people in both Pakatan Rakyat (BN) and Barisan Nasional (BN). He said he would not like to 'attack' the good ones in either PR or BN.
"If you care to observe carefully, I have never attacked the good people in either block," he said without elaborating what he meant by attacking people. He also dismissed claims that RFS was all out to run down the state government. Peter said he was also a member of another controversial group – the Raja Petra Kamaruddin-led Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement based in London whose members have declared themselves as a third force. As a social activist, he participated in several peaceful protests in London. "I would like to advise Malaysians to follow our style. Protest in peace, do not burn cars, shops, homes or government properties. Treat it as a picnic, bring along your guitars and sing along," he said. He also advised politicians not to use religious issues for political gain because the consequences would always be bad. "Sarawak is a multi racial state. The people live in racial harmony despite the many colours," he said when urging Sarawakians not to use religion to divide themselves.
Should people want to communicate with him they can do so through Facebook under the account of Papa Orang Utan Peter. Peter was formerly attached to the Land and Survey Department and was a Cats Radio deejay In February this year, Chief Political Secretary to Chief Minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said RFS was all out to run down the state government but admitted there was nothing they could do to stop them from telling lies. Karim, who is Asajaya assemblyman, also urged the police, Home Ministry and MCMC to take action against RFS if it breached the law or commit slander. "The best way to counter the radio now is to educate the public by telling them not to listen to RFS programmes and be critical when analysing their news. "There is nothing we can do to stop them (from spreading slander and lies). We just have to educate the public on what is true and what is real. On the other hand, if we do not stop them they will go all out to run down the government," he said.
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| Government firm on Sarbaini inquest Posted: 15 Jun 2011 05:47 PM PDT
(The Malaysian Insider) - The government has insisted an inquest must be held for the late Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed, despite growing clamour for a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to investigate his death. Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's department Datuk V.K Liew told Parliament that an inquiry was the first choice, and that there was a "procedure" which needed to be followed. "As a procedure of law, an inquest needs to be done first, after that only an inquiry (RCI)," he said today. In response, DAP's Lim Kit Siang reiterated that the government should override the decision by the police and Attorney-General to hold an inquest for the late Customs officer. "There have been precedents in the United Kingdom where an RCI can be held even though a decision has been made on an inquest," the Ipoh Timur MP told reporters at a news conference. The inquest, to be presided over by Coroner Aizatul Akmal Maharani, was set for July 4 to 15 at the magistrate's court. Yesterday, Lim said that the Cabinet should heed the call made by the late Custom officer's son, Shahril Ahmad, that the family preferred a royal commission of inquiry (RCI). Shahril earlier said it would be harder to determine the cause of Sarbaini's death through an inquest and that this would delay the pursuance of justice. Sarbaini, 56, was found dead on the badminton court of the MACC building at Jalan Cochrane around 10.20am on April 6, barely two hours after walking in. His death occurred when Teoh's RCI was still ongoing and delivered a huge blow to the anti-graft body's already-battered credibility. Prior to this, Sarbaini's family had also called on the police to explore the latest allegations made by blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin before calling for an inquest. Raja Petra, in a post on his Malaysia Today website on Monday, claimed the police had conducted a thorough check on Sarbaini's assets and found no unusual or extraordinary wealth. Raja Petra also accused MACC of trying to tarnish Sarbaini's name following his death.
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| Ahmad Maslan: Felda Will Be Bankrupt in the Hands of the Opposition Posted: 15 Jun 2011 05:09 PM PDT (Malaysian Digest) - Deputy in the Prime Minister Department Datuk Ahmad Maslan today said under the administration of the opposition, not only Felda will be bankrupt, but the country also will be ruined. He said, in terms of justice, the opposition's 'Buku Jingga' campaign that promises to give each the second and third generation of Felda settlers land is not fair at all.
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| Anwar: "Umno Leaders Planned the Sex Video Scandal" Posted: 15 Jun 2011 05:07 PM PDT (Malaysian Digest) - The opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today maintained his allegation that the sex video scandal involving him was planned by the top leadership of Umno. According to the Permatang Pauh MP, the action of the authorities to provide protection to the Datuk T trio (Shazryl Eskay, Rahim Tamby Chik and Shuib Lazim) is enough to show that his allegation is true.
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| Yen Yen to face Cabinet over Facebook debacle, says DPM Posted: 15 Jun 2011 05:00 PM PDT (The Malaysian Insider) - Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today that Cabinet would seek an explanation from Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen over the tourism ministry's RM1.8 million expenditure to develop six Facebook pages. Muhyiddin said that if the tourism minister's explanation was not satisfactory, the government might investigate the matter. "I think the Cabinet will ask for a complete report from the (tourism) minister tomorrow and she can explain the basis of the expenditure," he told reporters here today. "The explanation has already been given in Parliament but if people are unsatisfied then we can ask for a detailed (report). We have nothing to hide especially when it involves public expenditure." Yesterday Dr Ng appeared to have contradicted her ministry's detailed account of the cost for each page when she said that the Facebook pages were free. Her deputy, James Dawos Mamit, had told Parliament that each Facebook page had cost RM293,072. Dr Ng said the RM1.8 million would cover the cost of six different campaigns over seven months, and included the cost of contests and advertising on Google and Facebook. DAP Youth chief Anthony Loke had said that unless Dr Ng explained the reason behind the "exorbitant" costs for the "social media branding" exercise, he would lodge a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
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| MCMC shrugs off Operation Malaysia, says ‘little impact’ Posted: 15 Jun 2011 04:57 PM PDT (The Malaysian Insider) - The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) dismissed today the "little impact" caused by attacks on at least 51 government websites, which saw the official portal of the federal administration going down since early this morning. Confirming that 41 of the targeted sites were disrupted, the MCMC said that it does not expect "the overall recovery to these websites to take long as most websites have already recovered from the attack." "We gauge that there has been little impact on Malaysian users as a result of this attack," it said after monitoring the attacks which started at 11.30pm last night. Operation Malaysia, launched by the international hacker group known as Anonymous, succeeded in bringing down its main target, malaysia.gov.my, at about 4am this morning. While website recovered after 11.30am today, the attack announced earlier this week also spawned hacks on other sites, which saw Sabah's tourism website (sabahtourism.com) and the Tour Malaysia travel guide (tourmalaysia.com.my) being defaced. Hackers also claimed that details of more than 3,400 users were extracted from Sabah Tourism and posted the particulars of 392 accounts before the tourism agency regained control of the site. The attacks that began shortly after midnight have affected other government websites including those of the information ministry, the fire and emergency services department, and the land public transport commission. The MCMC added that its own site (skmm.gov.my) was targeted but said the attack was not successful.
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| Anwar slams ‘ridiculous’ RM13b funds request Posted: 15 Jun 2011 04:56 PM PDT (The Malaysian Insider) - The federal government's tabling of a RM13,186,713,000 supplementary supply bill for additional spending in the first half of this year was unprecedented and unnecessary, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today. The opposition leader then accused the Najib administration of mismanaging the country's finances, which, according to him, resulted in the government's need for such a large additional budget. "This kind of request, I have not seen even when I was finance minister. "It is ridiculous, unprecedented to request for a budge of that amount," he told reporters today. Anwar said Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders were currently studying details of the figures, and will bring up their arguments during the second reading of the bill. Out of the RM13 billion spent, the biggest amount was spent by the Treasury (RM6 billion). A total of RM1.5 billion was spent by the Education Ministry while the Health Ministry used up RM1 billion. Parliament was allocated RM11 million while the Attorney-General's Chambers was given the smallest allocation — RM1 million. The supplementary supply bill does not include the Budget 2011 as tabled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak last year, which was RM162,805,323,000. When added up, the government has spent a total of RM175,992,036,000.
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| SUPP facing ‘life and death’ struggle, says ex-chief Posted: 15 Jun 2011 04:51 PM PDT SUPP deputy secretary general Wong Soon Koh believes that asking him to explain why he joined the state Cabinet is an insufficent reason to convene a CC meeting. (Free Malaysia Today) - KUCHING: Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) is self-immolating and party president George Chan cannot seem to see the urgency in heeding members' call for him to step down. In the face of the deepening infighting among party leaders, former president Woon Soon Kai issued an "urgent" warning to Chan. He said Chan and the current leadership must resign en bloc now in order to pull the party out from its worst crisis. "They must resign en bloc… it's a matter of life and death for the party. "To save the party, they must think what is best for the party instead of fighting among themselves for the top posts. "Chan should fulfil his task and put the party in order before he quits. "They (leadership) must also convene its triennial delegates' conference as soon as possible to elect a new set of leaders," he said, adding that there was no reason for them to hold on to their positions in the party. Following SUPP's dismal perfromance in the April 16 state election and Chan's shocking defeat to a DAP greenhorn in Piasau, he had tendered his resignation. The party's central leadership, however, rejected his resignation and asked him to wait till the end of the year. Wong, who had himself resigned as president after he failed to win the Bukit Assek constituency in the 1996 state election, said Chan must resign immediately in order to save the party. Personal agenda Meanwhile, SUPP deputy secretary-general Wong Soon Koh has accused a "certain leader" of trying to topple him. Soon Koh, who declined to name the individual, said the "leader" considered him to be the "biggest obstacle" to him assuming the leadership of SUPP. "Plainly speaking, that person considers me the biggest obstacle. "He is trying every means to pull me down to achieve his personal agenda," he said in a letter addressed to the leaders of the party. A copy of the letter was made available to a number of reporters. "I believe that the series of events unfolding in the party is a plot by a certain individual to assume the leadership even at the expense of the party's survival," Soon Koh said. Many have speculated the "leader" to be SUPP treasurer-general David Teng.
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| Posted: 15 Jun 2011 02:11 PM PDT The Sudanese president has other 'pressing engagements', says Anifah Aman. (FMT) KUALA LUMPUR: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted for war crimes, will no longer attend a weekend summit in Malaysia, said authorities who had been under pressure to cancel the visit. Bashir has "pressing engagements" and will not make it to the economic conference of African and Asian leaders starting on Sunday in Putrajaya, Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said. Anifah told state television late yesterday that Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), would send Sudan's foreign minister to attend the gathering instead. Human rights groups had urged Malaysia to withdraw its invitation to Bashir, saying that although it is not a signatory to the ICC, it should arrest Bashir for genocide if he travelled to the Southeast Asian country. Malaysia on the weekend confirmed that Bashir and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe would be among several African leaders participating in the three-day forum held in the administrative capital Putrajaya. But Anifah said: "The latest information which I got before I came here was that the Sudanese president will not be able to make it because he has other pressing engagements." Deputy foreign minister Kohilan Pillay confirmed the comments today. "Yes, it is confirmed. He is not coming," he told AFP. "He will send his representative." Mugabe is still expected to attend the conference, Kohilan said. Read more at: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/06/16/sudans-bashir-cancels-visit/ |
| BN MPs: Our welfare state better than PAS’s Posted: 15 Jun 2011 02:07 PM PDT (TMI) Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs have agreed with the country's top two leaders that Malaysia is already run as a welfare state, but insisted their version of the concept was superior to PAS's. BN's welfare state, they said, was to empower the poor through granting them opportunities while PAS's, on the other hand, was more aimed at spoon-feeding the needy for life. However, the MPs also agreed that in their rush to divert the public's attention from its original Islamic state struggle to the welfare state, PAS leaders had failed to define the party's "reinvented" version of the concept. "It really depends on how PAS and DAP or Pakatan Rakyat (PR) view this welfare state concept. To me, the welfare state has always been BN's charter," Umno's Tangga Batu MP Datuk Idris Harun told The Malaysian Insider in Parliament lobby today.  Nazri said BN's welfare model was one of empowerment. — file pic PAS, he said, was attempting to "compartmentalise the minds of the people" and allowing them to think that they can always be "the hand that takes". Padang Rengas MP and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz agreed with his Umno colleague, saying that BN believes in empowering the poor to help them improve their living conditions. "Yes, there are handouts but there are opportunities to help them as well. And what about our high achieving students from rural families? How do they become doctors or engineers... if not because of the welfare state that we practise? We give them loans to study and so on," he said. Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/bn-mps-our-welfare-state-better-than-pass/ |
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