Hishamuddin Hussein Onn's BROTHER, Haris Hussein Onn, Hired by Australian Firm to Gain Influence and Access to Malaysia's Top Politicians

Read here for more in The Age

Malaysian' POLITICAL ROYAL FAMILY
(INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS DEALINGS WITH HIGH LEVEL POLITICS)

(High Flying Businessman)


(LEFT) The Brother, Hishamuddin Hussein Onn, (Home Minister)
(RIGHT) The Cousin, Najib Razak, the Prime Minister


"Securency" Money Trail nudges Malaysia's Political Royalty (ie Najib and Hishamuddin)

by

Richard Baker and Nick McKenzie

June 06 2011

THE Reserve Bank firm Securency hired a company owned by a close relative of Malaysia's Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister - the two men with whom the Gillard government is negotiating to swap asylum seekers - to help win banknote contracts.

The revelation comes amid growing sensitivity within the federal government about the Australian Federal Police investigation of Securency and the potential for Australia's international relations to be harmed if foreign officials allegedly linked to the RBA firm's bribes are named.

The Age has learned that Securency signed Kuala Lumpur firm Liberal Technology as its Malaysian age! nt in 20 09.

The biggest individual shareholder in Liberal Technology is businessman Haris Onn Hussein. Haris Onn Hussein is well connected - his cousin is the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak, and his brother is Home Affairs Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, who is expected in Canberra soon to sign the deal under which Australia will transfer 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia and accept 4000 refugees in return.

Securency hired Haris Onn Hussein in the hope he would offer it access to, and influence over, Malaysia's top politicians.

It is a common in parts of Asia for the relatives of politicians to be hired by foreign companies as agents.

The Age understands that some officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and other agencies are keen for the AFP not to identify certain foreign dignitaries or their relatives who are alleged to be linked to Securency in order to protect Australia's broader overseas interests.

Securency, half-owned and supervised by the Reserve Bank, has for two years been investigated by the AFP and the British Serious Fraud Office for allegedly bribing public officials in Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Nigeria to win banknote supply contracts.

Under Australian law, it is a criminal offence for a company or individual to pay, or offer a benefit to, a foreign government official or their close relatives to obtain a business advantage.

Australia is yet to prosecute a foreign bribery case, but Securency - which has four RBA-appointed directors on its board - may be the first, given the two-year AFP investigation and the arrest and questioning of some employees and agents last year. No charges have yet been laid.

Haris Onn Hussein and Hishammuddin Tun Hussein are political royalty in Malaysia.

Their father, the late Tun Hussein Onn, was Malaysia's prime minister bet! ween 197 6 and 1981. He was succeeded as prime minister by Mahathir Mohamad. Their grandfather, Dato Onn Jaafar, was the founder of Malaysia's ruling United Malays National Organisation political party.

Hishammuddin Tun Hussein is vice president of UMNO.

Haris Onn Hussein owns shares in or sits on the board of several companies that have benefited from Malaysian government concessions.

In 2006, the Malaysian finance ministry told cigarette and alcohol manufacturers that they would need to buy security labels provided by Haris Onn Husseins Liberal Technology to legally sell their products. Haris Onn Hussein is also associated with a company given a 34-year concession to operate a major Malaysian toll road.

Under Securencys corporate structure, its board should have been informed and approved of Mr Haris Onns company being signed as an agent.

The Age can also reveal Securency engaged Malaysian state MP and a former UMNO branch treasurer, Dato Abdullah Hasnan Kamaruddin, as another agent. Mr Kamaruddin was the UNMO party treasurer in Dr Mahatirs home state of Kedah, a position that gave him substantial influence.

Despite engaging the extremely well-connected Liberal Technology as agent in 2009, Securency is believed not to have won any further banknote supply contracts.

The company won its last major Malaysian contract in 2004. At that time, Mr Razak was the countrys defence minister and Hishammuddin Tun Hussein the education minister. It also won a smaller contract in 1998.

The Age is not suggesting Mr Razak nor Hishammuddin Tun Hussein were involved in Securencys deals.

The companys 1998 and 2004 contracts involved another Malaysian agent, businessman, arms broker and former UMNO official, Abdul Kayum Syed Ahmad.

He has since been arrested and questioned by Malaysias Anti-Corruption Commission over the Securency deals and his use of commissions paid by the RBA firms.

The AFP began investigating Securency in May 2! 009 afte r The Age revealed its payment of tens-of-millions-of-dollars in commissions to politically connected middlemen to win contracts in Nigeria, Vietnam and India.

The company wired millions of dollars into tax haven bank accounts in an effort to conceal the beneficiaries of its payments in an apparent breach of the RBAs rules.

The AFP and Britain's Serious Fraud Office have conducted several raids on the offices of Securency and its British half-owner, Innovia Films. Properties owned by serving and former executives and agents have been raided and several arrests made. No charges have been laid yet.

Securencys managing director, Myles Curtis, and chief financial officer, John Ellery, were forced out of the company in March last year. Securencys deputy chairman, English businessman Bill Lowther, resigned in October following his arrest by the Serious Fraud Office.

RBA governor Glenn Stevens has defended his banks appointees who have chaired and sat on the Securency board since 1996, telling a federal parliamentary committee in November that he had not seen any evidence to suggest they had acted inappropriately.

The RBA plans to sell Securency.

Utusan bohong lagi, DAP tak campur tangan masjid

MalaysiaKini : GEORGETOWN, 6 JUN Pembohongan terbaru Utusan Malaysia cuba mengaitkan DAP dengan cadangan mengadakan pemilihan bagi jawatankuasa masjid di Pulau Pinang.

Laporan berita Utusan mendakwa kononnya pemilihan itu dilihat bakal menjerumuskan institusi masjid ke kancah politik kepartian.

Berita Utusan itu menambah, jika dilaksanakan sepenuhnya, pilihan raya masjid itu yang dijangka bermula pertengahan bulan ini akan menjadikan Pulau Pinang sebagai satu-satunya negeri yang pernah melaksanakan kaedah pemilihan seumpama itu.

Setiausaha Politik kepada Setiausaha Agung DAP Zairil Khir Johari berkata DAP tidak terlibat sama sekali dengan soal pengurusan masjid di Pulau Pinang yang berada di bawah pentadbiran Majlis Agama Islam Pulau Pinang.

DAP tidak ada wakil yang menduduki MAIPP. Jika MAIPP sendiri yang berpendapat langkah itu sesuai, ia terpulang kepada MAIPP dan umat Islam di Pulau Pinang. DAP tidak ada sebarang penglibatan dalam usaha itu, katanya kepada Roketkini.

Sebaliknya, beliau menjelaskan, kerajaan negeri Pakatan Rakyat di Pulau Pinang yang dipimpin oleh Ketua Menteri Lim Guan Eng telah sedaya upaya mengangkat martabat Islam sebagai agama Persekutuan dengan memberi lebih peruntukan kewangan berbanding dengan pentadbiran Barisan Nasional dahulu.

Menurutnya, peruntukan bagi hal-ehwal agama Islam telah berganda dan kian meningkat setiap tahun sejak pentadbiran Pakatan Rakyat mengambil alih negeri pada 2008.

Perbandingan peruntukan Kerajaan Negeri untuk hal-ehwal agama Islam

2008 (BN)RM 12.5 juta
2009 (PR)RM20.5 juta
2010 (PR)RM 24.3 juta
2011 (PR)RM 33.3 3 juta

Sekolah agama rakyat dan sekolah tahfiz juga diberi peruntukan tahunan di mana kerajaan BN dahulu tidak begitu bersungguh-sungguh melaksanakannya. Di samping itu, kerajaan negeri Pakatan juga memperuntukkan elaun tambahan sebanyak RM100,000 setahun kepada guru-guru KAFA, tambah beliau.

Menurutnya, laporan Utusan itu hanya mencerminkan sikap tuan mereka UMNO yang terus mencari jalan untuk membangkitkan kemarahan orang Islam dengan mengaitkan DAP yang dituduh mereka sebagaii cauvinis Cina, mahu campur tangan dalam hal-ehwal masjid.

Sebelum ini Guan Eng telah dituduh mengeluarkan nama Yang di-Pertuan Agong dari khutbah jumaat, menyembelih lembu Hari Raya Korban dan mengharamkan perarakan Maulidur Rasul. Semua tuduhan itu dibuktikan palsu.

Zairil berkata orang ramai terutamanya umat Islam supaya tidak mudah percaya dengan dakyah Utusan yang sanggup bermain dengan fitnah demi kepentingan politik UMNO.

Sikap bijak dan berani yang ditunjukkan oleh pemimpin dan ahli PAS yang tidak percaya kepada Utusan yang cuba campur tangan dalam pemilihan parti itu baru-baru ini patut menjadi contoh kepada semua rakyat khususnya orang Melayu, tambahnya. Roketkini.com

Politicians in academic guise

PETALING JAYA: Historian Khoo Kay Kim has made a stinging criticism of the authors of current history textbooks, calling them politicians masquerading as scholars.

The writers of the 2002 edition textbooks are politicians by the way they speak, he said. No academic speaks up like that. And politics is the art of deception.

Khoo, who is the chancellor of Kolej Damansara Utama, was speaking last night at a forum on the teaching of history in Malaysian secondary schools.

The history syllabus for SPM has lately been mired in controversy, with critics complaining that it is Malay- and Islamic-centric and underplays the contributions of other races to national development.

One of the more colourful episodes in the controversy has been an open spat between veteran historian Ranjit Singh Malhi and Universiti Teknologi Maras Dean of Administrative Science and Policy Studies, Ramlah Adam, over the historical stature of Yap Ah Loy, who began the development of Kuala Lumpur as a centre of commerce.

Ramlah is also an official of Perkasa, the Malay rights group widely reviled as extremist.

Last month, the education ministry announced the appointment of a 10-member committee to review the SPM history syllabus while ensuring that it keeps to its nation-building agenda. Both Ramlah and Khoo are on the committee, which is headed by Omar Hashim, chairman of the Malaysian Historical Society.

During last nights talk, Khoo said the committee had not yet made any significant decision. Asked why the committee was emphasising patriotism in the syllabus, Khoos response was wry: They believe that learning history is for patriotism.

Another speaker at las! t nights forum, M Thambirajah, said the current textbooks were good for achieving myopic goals, which, to us, is propaganda.

Ranjit Singh was also among the speakers. He pointed out several factual errors in the current set of textbooks.

The forum, held at Universiti Malaya, was organised by MIC Youth. The movements secretary, C Sivarajah, said the findings would be submitted to Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin next week.

Woman jailed for cheque forgery amounting to $1.2m

Samantha Chiam Hwee Theng, 30, forged the signature of her former boss on nine cheques amounting to $1.2 million and was jailed for four years and 11 months on Monday. -- ST PHOTO: LIM CHIN PING

MalaysiaKini : A WOMAN who forged the signature of her former boss on nine cheques amounting to $1.2 million was jailed for four years and 11 months on Monday.

Samantha Chiam Hwee Theng, 30, spent the money on branded goods, holiday with family members and household expenses.

Following her guilty plea to nine charges in March, the court had remanded the former personal secretary for psychiatric evaluation. The psychiatrist was asked specifically to comment on whether there was any causal link between any mental disorder that she might be suffering from, and her offences.

The defence had submitted a psychiatirc report by Dr Y.C. Lim from Raffles Hospital that Chiam was suffering from a compulsive and impulsive, or 'shopaholic', disorder.

But Dr Jerome Goh from Institute of Mental Health disagreed with Dr Lim's diagnosis.

Instead, he said she had no mental illness and clearly, there was no causal link between the impulse control disorder that Chiam might have been suffering from and her offences.

Background:

The court was told that between 2008 and 2009, Chiam forged the signature of her then boss, Mr Wu Chin Wei, 39, a director of Triple Electronic, on cheques and exchanged the US dollar-denominated cheques for Singapore dollars with a company dealing in foreign exchange.

Mr Wu found out that US$500,000 (S$615,400) had been withdrawn from! the ban k account in July 2009, and confronted Chiam, who admitted that she had forged his signature on cheques and cashed out the money.

Police recovered an assortment of items such as jewellery, branded handbags and luxury watches worth about $449,468. She paid back $100,000 to the complainant in August 2009.

Chiam, who had 24 other charges taken into consideration, could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined on each charge.

Pemilihan PAS: Doa Tulang Besi di Arafah dan Kaabah Dimakbul Allah

Syukur alhamdulillah. Doa Tulang Besi sewaktu di Arafah di waktu Wuquf baru2 ini dimakbul Allah SWT. Kumpulan Perpaduang hampir dibersihkan dalam AJK PAS Pusat.

Begitu juga doa Tulang Besi di hadapan Kaabah sebanyak beberapa kali, termasuk sekali Tulang Besi mencium kaabah sambil berdoa.

Tulang Besi telah mendoakan kepimpinan PAS Pusat bersih dari pengaruh serta cengkaman puak2 pro perpaduang bersama UMNO. Syukur alhamdulillah. Doa Tulang Besi dimakbul Allah SWT.

Inshalaah, bukan setakat itu sahaja yang didoakan Tulang Besi. Ada lagi banyak lagi yang didoakan Tulang Besi sewaktu di tanah haram.

Antara doa Tulang Besi adalah supaya Allah SWT menurunkan bala pada blogger2 UMNO yang giat menyebarkan fitnah dan kata-kata kotor berkaitan kepimpinan PAS dan Pakatan Rakyat.

Inshaalah, Tulang Besi yakin doa Tulang Besi yang lain akan dimakbulkan Allah SWT

Tulang Besi

Hisham: I don't know what my brother's up to....

Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein denied today a report that his brother was paid to help win contracts for an Australian banknote supply firm.
I am not just denying it, it is not true, the home minister said at a press conference here.

Australian daily The Age reported that Securency International, half-owned by Australias central bank, signed on Liberal Technology as its Malaysian agent in 2009 with the expectation that its biggest shareholder, Datuk Haris Onn Hussein, would offer it access to, and influence over, Malaysias top politicians.

Haris, also chairman of Liberal Technology, is Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razaks cousin and brother to Hishammuddin, who will head to Canberra soon to sign a deal which will see Australia transfer 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia and accept 4,000 refugees in return.

My brother? One, I tell you the truth, I dont know what my brother is doing. Secondly, I dont think Australia would do it. Thirdly, there is no link at all to what Im doing with Australia, simple as that, the Umno vice president added.

However, Securency is not believed to have won any further banknote supply contracts from the Malaysian government despite engaging Haris, who owns shares in or sits on the board of several companies that have benefited from government concessions like mandatory security labels for cigarette and alcohol manufacturers, and toll highways. The Age also stressed that it was not suggesting that either Najib or Hishammuddin were involved in Securencys dealings here.

The company last won a major contract here in 2004 and a smaller one in 1998 with the help of arms broker and former Umno official Abdul Kayum Syed Ahmad. He has since ! been arr ested and questioned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over the deals and his use of commissions paid by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) firm.

Securency, a leading global supplier of plastic banknotes, has been investigated for two years by the Australian Federal Police and the British Serious Fraud Office for allegedly bribing public officials in Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Nigeria to win supply contracts. Under Australian law, it is a criminal offence for a company or individual to pay, or offer a benefit to, foreign government officials or their close relatives to obtain a business advantage.

Australia has yet to prosecute a foreign bribery case, but Securency which has four RBA-appointed directors on its board may be the first following a two-year federal investigation and the arrest and questioning of some employees and agents last year. RBA governor Glenn Stevens told an Australian federal parliamentary committee in November that he had not seen any evidence to suggest the banks appointees to the Securency board had acted inappropriately.

The central bank plans to sell its stake in Securency.

Btw, Dato' Haris Onn Bin Tun Hussein is also a Director of Scomi Berhad

The Age reports...

'Securency money trail nudges Malaysia's political royalty'

source:malaysian insider.

cheers.

Sodomy 2 - Prejudge, bias-no respect for the rule of law...

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has cried foul that the court is allegedly not giving him a fair trial, citing police preventing his lawyers from interviewing potential defence witnesses and the court pre-judging him in ruling complainant Saiful Bukhari a truthful and credible witness even before hearing his testimony.

Anwar (left) also denied that his unsuccessful attempt to recuse trial judge justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah, his third, was a delay tactic by his team.

"All I want is a fair trial which I am entitled to, but so far it has not been accorded to me," he said.

"The judge has pre-judged against me in ruling the complainant as a truthful and credible witness. This is despite the court having yet to witness what I have to say in my defence," he said.

Anwar, who is Permatang Pauh MP, said these legal issues were fundamental in any legal system worldwide.

"This is a blatant disregard of the law for which I am entitled to, that is a fair trial," he said.

Cops only facilitated 5 witnesses

Anwar said throughout the three week break since the judge's decision to call his defence, his team of lawyers had applied to interview 25 witnesses from the prosecution's list, of which they only managed to interview five.

He said one cannot expect him to take the stand without having all these witnesses interviewed first. The defence had applied for prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor to be among the defence witnesses.

The prosecution had given the defence a list of 71 witnesses to choose from, of which lead counsel Karpal Singh and lawyer Sankara Nair said they had wanted to call 25. The list included the 27 witnesses whom the prosecution had called in the first portion of the trial.

The police, who was supposed to facilitate their meeting with the requested witnesses, only supplied them with five, none of whom were material witnesses, said Karpal.

source:malaysiakini

cheers.

Persidangan perwakilan SUPP lebih awal dari Disember

MalaysiaKini - KUALA LUMPUR: Persidangan perwakilan tiga tahun sekali (TDC) Parti Rakyat Bersatu Sarawak (SUPP) mungkin diadakan lebih awal daripada yang dirancang pada Disember tahun ini, kata Presidennya Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam.

Beliau berkata persidangan itu mungkin diadakan secepat mungkin sama ada pada September atau Oktober tetapi semua itu hanya boleh dilakukan jika ia diluluskan Jawatankuasa Kerja Pusat (CWC) yang sebelum ini memutuskan ia diadakan pada Disember.

Semuanya bergantung pada CWC. Bagaimanapun, bagi saya, saya mahu menghentikan semua dakwaan yang tidak berasas terhadap saya dan pemimpin parti yang lain, katanya ketika dihubungi.

Chan, yang mengambil alih jawatan presiden parti pada 1996 telah mengemukakan surat perletakan jawatan sehari sebelum pilihan raya negeri 16 April yang menyaksikan parti itu tewas 13 daripada 19 kerusi yang ditandingi di bawah Barisan Nasional.

Chan, yang merupakan bekas timbalan ketua menteri hilang kerusi Dewan Undangan Negeri kawasan Piasau kepada calon DAP Ling Sie Kiong pada pilihan raya itu tetapi perletakan jawatannya ditolak CWC yang meminta beliau menangguhkannya sehingga persidangan itu pada akhir tahun ini.

Bagaimanapun, gerak isyarat beliau untuk melepaskan jawatan presiden pada persidangan itu dipersoalkan oleh sesetengah anggota parti menyebabkan beliau dukacita terutama kerana integriti politiknya dipersoalkan.

Selain dipersoalkan sesetengah anggota parti, Chan juga menghadapi kemungkinan disoal di mahkamah bagi menjawab berhubung kegagalan CWC mengadakan satu mesyuarat tergempar jawatankuasa pusat (CC).

Sekumpulan 58 anggota CC, yang mendesak mesyuarat tergempar itu, telah mendapatkan khidmat sebuah firma guaman memi! nta Chan menjawab berhubung kegagalannya mengadakan mesyuarat tergempar atau menghadapi tindakan
undang-undang kerana mereka mahu mesyuarat tergempar itu diadakan secepat mungkin bagi memilih presiden baru dan anggota CWC yang lain.

Kumpulan itu tidak berpuas hati kerana pada 27 Mei, CWC telah menolak untuk mengadakan mesyuarat tergempar CC bagi membincangkan isu berhubung pelan peralihan kepimpinan.

Bagaimanapun, CWC mempertahankan bahawa persidangan itu merupakan satu-satunya badan tunggal yang sah untuk memilih presiden baru dan anggota CWC parti.

- Bernama

Accept it! English IS the lingua franca for science and technology

FMT LETTER

From Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, via e-mail

The Government will allocate a huge budget to facilitate the translation of science and technology-based reference materials to Bahasa Malaysia (BM). Muhyiddin Yassin, July 11, 2009

The government is about to award contracts for the import of 960 native speakers of English with the salary of RM15,000 under the ministrys plan to give equal emphasis on BM and English (MBMMBI).- Muhyiddin Yassin, June 11, 2010

To position itself as a knowledge-based economy, Malaysia is looking to India to tap scientific expertise, ranging from nanotechnology to life sciences.- Maximus Ongkili, Feb 23, 2011

Almost 12,000 teachers teaching English had attended the special training programme held last year, and this year the ministry targets another 10,000 teachers to undergo the English training for MBMMBI.- Muhyiddin Yassin, April 25, 2011

Whilst the government tackles the issue of subsidies, there may be substantial savings that can be made from education. As much as the government would like to provide as large a budget as possible for education, there must be clear outcomes and a time frame for its achievement.

In seeking foreign assistance, an outflow of funds can be an expensive affair, but the need to ensure its effectiveness, benefits and need must be analysed thoroughly.

It is apparent that English is the way forward in as far as science and technology is concerned. Bahasa Malaysia is still an understudy for the language of science and technology.

Most words are modified from the English language. To advance in science and technology, one must be innovative and lead with cutting edge technology. But if one is busy playing catch up, can it ever lead? Let us be honest, build on the competitive advantage we already have in English.

We must be sensible, pragmatic and be able to exploit the right tool in our app! roach to reach our aspiration. The sooner we can accept that English without a doubt will get us there faster and more effectively, the better it is for the nation to focus onbuilding an ecosystem that promotes the pervasive use of ICT in all aspects of the economy to create communities connected globally and interacting in real-time

Thus, this will be a thrust for the nation to be elevated from the middle income trap, faster, better and seamlessly. We need to also seriously look into building the pool of teachers for tomorrow, today.

This matter is urgent to avoid the problem we face today in the near future. We would not have to depend on hiring skilled native English speakers or bringing back retired teachers and skilled foreign scientists to teach our students had we fully benefited from the quality education that was due to us in the past.

The start of the deterioration in education began in the 1970s with the abolition of the English-medium schools.Let us take a step back and ponder for a moment. Let us not be wasteful. It is a bitter pill to swallow but it will take several generations to make Bahasa Malaysia a lingua franca of science and technology. Accept it.

The writer is chairman of Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) Malaysia

Malaysia's Anwar loses third bid to remove judge

MALAYSIAKINI : KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIAN opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim failed again on Monday in his third bid to remove the trial judge in his drawn-out sodomy case.

The 63-year-old is on trial over allegations that he sodomised a 25-year-old former aide at an upmarket apartment in June 2008. He says the accusations are politically motivated.

'I find that the application by the defence to be without any merit and therefore I hereby reject the application,' High Court judge Zabidin Mohamed Diah told a packed courtroom, dealing a further setback to Anwar.

In seeking the judge's removal, Anwar's counsel Mr Karpal Singh told the court that Judge Zabidin was biased and had effectively convicted Anwar before the opposition leader had given his defence.

Mr Karpal said the prosecution was also delaying the trial by allowing Anwar's lawyers to interview only five of the 25 witnesses it had promised, including Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife. They met Mohamad Saiful Bukhari, the man allegedly sodomised by father-of-six Anwar, after the purported incident.

But government prosecutor Mohamad Yusof Zainal Abiden argued that there had been 'no prejudgement and there is no bias' because the judge had done his job in evaluating the evidence and concluded the evidence was strong enough to establish a case against Anwar. -- AFP

Shouldn't a third party decides on whether the judge is fit to be on this case....

It took just 40 minutes for the Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah to decide to dismiss Anwar Ibrahim"s application to recuse him.

This came after the court had earlier spent one-and-a-half hours to listen to the submissions from senior lawyer Karpal Singh and solicitor-general II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden.

In arriving at his decision, Justice Zabidin wrote just two lines: "The application (by Anwar) has no merits and hence this application is dismissed."

After earlier hesitations, Justice Zabidin allowed the defence application for a stay of hearing pending a decision on an appeal against his ruling open the recuse application. "Following this, the court fixes July 13 for the case to be mentioned," he said.

The defence gave an undertaking that it would file the notice of appeal by this afternoon.

This is the third unsuccessful bid by Anwar to have Justice Zabidin disqualified from hearing his sodomy case.

This follows the judge's order to Anwar to make his defence, after finding that the complainant, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, was a "credible and truthful witness".

source:malaysiakini

Aku bukanlah pelajar,peminat atau pakar undang2.

Aku rasa heran sikit apakah seorang hakim itu boleh menarik diri daripada mendengar sesuatu kes setelah keputusan telah dibuatnya atau lebih2 lagi terbalikkan penghakimannya? Pelik tapi benar.

Bukankah, lebih wajar kalau adalah pihak ke-3 yang akan tentukan sama ada hakim ini cukup kewarasannya untuk terus mendengar kes tersebut tanpa perasaan berat sebelah dan prejudis..! . .

cheers.

PAS nak balun UMNO dari Utara,Selatan,Timur dan Barat...

Naib Presiden baru Parti Islam Semalaysia (PAS), Datuk Husam Musa, semalam berkata pihaknya akan merangka satu pelan kemenangan ke arah mempersiapkan parti itu dalam menghadapi Pilihan Raya Umum Malaysia ke-13.

Ia adalah antara beberapa rangka merealisasikan tema muktamar PAS, 'Membangun Negara Berkebajikan', yang baru tamat, lapor laman berita rasmi PAS, semalam.

Ketika ditemui sejurus selepas diumumkan menang jawatan naib presiden itu, Datuk Husam dipetik oleh laporan laman berita Harakah Daily sebagai berkata bahawa perkara tersebut akan diperincikan di peringkat semua dewan yang sesuai dengan peranan masing-masing.

'Kita akan adakan pelan kemenangan, iaitu setiap dewan akan diberikan peranan dan tugas masing-masing seperti Dewan Pemuda, yang dicadangkan agar lebih fokus kepada daftar pemilih pengundi muda secara berstrategi,' katanya di Kolej Universiti Zulkifli Muhamad, Taman Melewar, Gombak, dekat sini, baru-baru ini.

Mengulas kemenangannya pada pemilihan pemimpin PAS kali ini, beliau menganggap ia sebagai satu kemenangan yang bersifat kolektif.

'Kemenangan ini turut memperlihatkan bahawa tidak timbul isu ulama terhakis kerana dalam PAS tidak berlaku perbezaan dan kami tidak merasakan ada keganjilan. Isu ini sengaja diada-adakan pihak luar yang ada agenda,' jelasnya.

Datuk Husam, yang juga exco kanan kerajaan Negeri Kelantan, menyifatkan saf kepimpinan baru ini sebagai satu pasukan yang baru muncul untuk membantu Presiden PAS.

'Kami semua adalah satu pasukan yang mahu bersama Presiden kerana kelebihan dan kekuatan pasukan ini adalah performance atau prestasi mereka sebelum ini. Mahfuz (Omar) dari Utara, Salehudin (Ayub) dari Selatan dan saya dari Timur.

'Kami perlukan pembetulan kerana PAS mempunyai tanggung jawab yang besar dan ia satu pasukan yang boleh diterima - saya berharap kami mempunyai kesempatan berbincang di semua peringkat bagi membantu kemenangan,' katanya lagi.

Beliau turut menekankan peranan dan kemampuan media dalam memastikan pelan kemenangan itu terlaksana.

source:harakahdaily

cheers.

SIAPA KATA KELANTAN TIADA PEMBANGUNAN???!

baca mengenai
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Anwar's 3rd recusal attempt fails...

After a three week break, the Anwar Ibrahim sodomy trial resumes today with the defence making a fresh application to have Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah to be disqualified from hearing the case and for the trial to start afresh. Initially, today was fixed for the first day of Anwar's defence after Justice Zabidin decided the prosecution has a case against the Opposition leader to answer. This comes after the court found complainant Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan as a truthful and credible witness and that the doctors and chemist witnesses' testimonies corroborate with the findings.

The latest recusal attempt will be heard first today. This is the third attempt by Anwar to have Justice Zabidin recuse himself after earlier bids - over the judge's failure to take action against Utusan Malaysia and his threat to cite Karpal Singh for contempt - ended in failure. Karpal will submit the application first and this will follow with solicitor-general II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden's reply. It remains to be seen whether Justice Zabidin will decide on the application today or fix another day.

9.16am: Court begins with Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah presiding.

9.20am: Karpal Singh submits that the maximum evaluation at the end of the prosecution is prima facie, not beyond reasonable doubt.

9.26am: Karpal says the court held PW1 (Saiful's testimony) as if it were irrebuttable and thus has pre-judged Anwar.

9.28am: Hence, Karpal submits that Anwar is not getting a fair trial. There is a real danger of bias with the court accepting Saiful's evidence ! as irre buttable.

9.30am: Karpal says the burden of proof which should be adopted at the end of defence is beyond reasonable doubt. "The court must consider all evidence and it must apply the beyond reasonable doubt test at the conclusion of the trial." Anwar, Karpal adds, has the right to a fair hearing.

9.33am: Karpal says his client is being pre-judged in this case and reiterates the presence of a "real threat of bias". He ends the submission calling for prayers of judge's recusal be allowed and asks Justice Zabidin to take time to consider the argument.

9.33am: Now solicitor-general II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden submits, pointing out that this is the third attempt by Anwar's defence to have the judge recuse himself, and is unprecedented.

9.38am: Yusof cites the basis of the application (for recusal) is based on one paragraph out of 68 pages in the judgment. The words complained about is with regards to the word 'embellishment' as stated in Anwar's affidavit in support. Was there a bias? asks Mohd Yusof. "This can be looked at the final paragraph which notes (that) the evidence by Saiful is corroborated with other expert witness(es).

"A prima facie case (is) as defined under Section 180 of the Criminal Procedure Code, and the accused is called for defence."

9.43am: Yusof says the judgment notes the burden of proof set out in the prosecution case is a prima facie case. "PW1 evidence is accepted, that there is penile penetration to prove sexual intercourse," he says. What follows, he adds, is the defence counsel's attempt to tarnish PW 1's credibility on the argument that Saiful could have had ample opportunity to run. "There are 21 paragraphs in the judgment devoted to the defence' argument," he said.

9.50am: Yusof says despite attempts by the defence to a lengthy cross-examination, Saiful's testimony had remained consistent. ! "The ju dgment states (that) the court found Saiful's statement to remain intact." Yusof says the court had subjected Saiful's testimony to the maximum evaluation following the cross-examination.

9.56am: Yusof says a maximum evaluation test has to be done to determine the credibility of the witness. "That is what Yang Arif had done, (which was to) subject the witness to (the) maximum evaluation test to determine the witness' credibility," he says.

9.59am: Yusof says a prima facie case is where the 'beyond reasonable doubt' evidence has been adduced while the defence is given a chance to create doubts in the prosecution case. "The court will rely on the same evidence to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt. You must have 'beyond reasonable doubt' to call for a prima facie case, and that (sic) if the defence adduce their evidence, the court will then decide whether it is sufficient to affect the prosecution's case," says Yusof.

10.06am: Yusof cites former Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram in a certain Arunpragasam case. He said the standard of proof at the end of prosecution's case is to prove beyond reasonable doubt, but this only after all the evidence is adduced. "The court in previous judgment is playing the words by describing it as "beyond reasonable doubt".

"The standard set is high at the end of the prosecution"s case... beyond reasonable doubt evidence (at the end of the prosecution's case) that the facts had been produced."

10.12am: The burden for the defence is to raise reasonable doubt against the prosecution's case to show that their client is not guilty. "If the defence raises reasonable doubt as to the truth of the version by the prosecution, then the court should acquit the accused," he adds.

10.16am: Yusof says at no time did Justice Zabidin's judgment that Saiful's evidence is the (complete) truth and that is the end of it. "! What you said is, a prima facie case has been made against you (the defence), that is all," he said. Yusof is now submitting on the issue of bias.

10.19am: Yusof asks whether there is anything to show the fact that Zabidin has shown any biasness. "What is so wrong with your finding that the defence alleges (shows) there is pre-judged (on your part)?. "It is corroborated by independent witnesses, one of whom is Anwar's chief of staff (Ibrahim Yaacob) who testified."

10.30am: Yusof says the application for the judge's recusal is made without merit and is directed to delay and derail the trial. He applies for the application be dismissed.

10.31am: Karpal, in reply to the prosecution, asks: Who is delaying the trial when 25 witnesses were offered to the defence to be produced in court, but so far not many have come forward? "It is not this application which is delaying the trial. The prosecution has not produced the PM (Najib Abdul Razak) and his wife (Rosmah Mansor) to get defence ready (sic)," he said. "Only five witnesses have been interviewed and these are not material witnesses.

"Anwar is not afraid to go to the box, but what he is concerned (about) is that (whether) he is getting a fair trial," he said.

10.35am: Karpal says the judge has found PW1 (Saiful) as a truthful witness, and the defence has gone to great lengths to (assert) several propositions (which the court has ignored).

10.38am: Karpal says the beyond reasonable doubt test is to be applied at the conclusion of the case.

10.45am: He contends further that his lordship had shut out the defence' arguments by saying Saiful is a witness of truth. "This shows Yang Arif is biased, (and) inclined, and this is obvious. Your lordship acted beyond what is required by law," he said, adding that the prayers by the defence should be allowed. < /strong>

10.49am: Judge asks for a short break, after which he may possibly deliver his decision.

11.35am: Court resumes.

11.36am: Justice Zabidin says he finds there is no merit for the application and it is dismissed.

Karpal applies for a stay of the trial.

source:malaysiakini

Liwat II: Anwar gagal kali ketiga dalam cubaan lucutkan hakim.

Takkanlah si hakim ini nak 'koner baring' penghakimannya,dah tentu dia akan tolak...

cheers.

India can do it so can we

Support BERSIH march.

All the Boleh Drain found in Malaysia

The kacang puteh seller and the GLC CEO

The political blooper of this decade must have been this. The minister of this ministry says- we can't do anything to reveal the details of the IPP agreement.

I think this reaction is shared by many people in Malaysia. We almost fell off our chairs in disbelief. The government has no power to reveal the details of IPP contracts. If the government cannot declassify, who can?

I hope this minister will not be selected as a cabinet member the next time around IF the BN retains power.

Two, this absent mindedness is increased further by the equally bizarre statement by the TNB CEO. By the way, he takes home a RM 1.2 million pay packet per year and we paid him to come out with this kind of statement.

Profitability depends on being able to increase a take it or leave it price. You no pay you no electricity. He was thankful; the government has agreed to raise tariffs. TNB made RM 4 billion on revenue of RM 30 billion he's thankful, rising costs will not eat into the profitability. Yet he was practically crying throughout 2010 urging the government to review this and that.

He ensures profits by raising tariffs but not by tackling the costs centers. Where is the source of much increase in costs? Do they come from increasing wages of its employees or payments to IPPs? Or business misadventures in Indonesia.
! < /p>

The price hike of TNB tariffs is a reprieve for TNB. Pray tell us then, where is the qualitative difference between a TNB CEO and a kacang puteh seller if both depend on a price INCREASE to be profitable? The answer none- because both their profitability is the result of raising prices. Anyone can increase profit by raising prices.

This isn't what we expect from a CEO who earns maybe close to RM 100 k a month. We expect him to be profitable because of efficiency, because of cost cutting measures, because of streamlining operations and because of far sighted procurement policies. So the TNB of now that he helms, hasn't moved qualitatively from the TNB he started to lead. A few years ago, he justified the massive losses in coal purchasing deals that went awry as being not worrying because TNB's earnings are humongous. TNB earns billions each year.

So, because you earn a lot, its ok to lose a few billions of public money.

We therefore hope his contract as CEO will not be renewed. Nothing personal, just business.

As a first start to cost cutting measures, we suggest therefore the top TNB bosses volunteer to have the pay cut and that portion be distributed as wages to lower income staff members. Why? Because TNB staff is some of the lowest paid workers in the country.

The big chiefs in TNB whose only managerial prowess nowadays seem to pressure the government to raise tariffs are shocking. Che Khalib Mohamad Noh earns RM1.8 million a year in total. TNB's second executive director, Azwan Mohd, who was appointed in April 2010, received a total remuneration of RM755, 320.22, including his basic salary of RM457, 440.

What of the TNB 'Indians'? While paying the big chiefs the above amount, in the same year, TNB kept its minimum w! age at R M750 a month, only slightly higher than POS Malaysia's RM635.

The wage difference is scandalous. Che Khalib has been responsible for some heavy losses and he has presided over some bad deals over the purchases of coal fields in Indonesia. He should have his salary reduced or even relieved from his post. But as usual, government linked companies (GLCs) which tended to be top-heavy pay their CEOs huge salaries seemingly to reflect their managerial talent.

It's time for the government to cap salaries for the bosses so that wealth could

be spread towards the bottom through better wage schemes.

Sakmongkol

*************************************************************************

Brain drain, money drain, sex drain, prostitute drain, race drain, religion drain,election drain, AG drain, Police drain, Army drain, Bank Negara drain, Royalty drain, MIC drain, MCA drain, Gerakan drain and UMNO drain.

Answer to Friday's Question

Earth Water Wind Fire

Greed Aversion Delusion

M I N D

Physical Mental

Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #68

Chapter 8: Culture, Institutions, and Leadership

The Blight of Broken Families

I am appalled and saddened at the statistics on the family, especially among Malays. The number of teenage marriages is truly obscene. These young girls are not ready for motherhood. Think of the potential for personal growth thwarted by such early marriages. Malaysia must enact a minimum age of at least 18 for marriage. The divorce rates too are horrifying. These are actual divorces and do not include such cases of de facto divorces, that is, when Malay husbands simply abandon their wives or take on multiple wives. When one examines the structure and dynamics of such abandoned families, they are no different from divorced households. The children of families of multiple wives are just as neglected as if the father had divorced their mother.

I am baffled and horrified that these Malays think that they can take care of their many children in absentia. There was a case in Johore where a man sired literally dozens of children through multiple wives. How can he be an effective father to his brood? Muhyiddin Yassin, a current federal cabinet minister and an UMNO senior vice president, has 48 siblings! His father, a respected ulama, had four wives. What kind of an example was he trying to set? If he wanted to emulate our holy prophet, why did he choose this particular trait? How could he have bonded with his multitude of children? The notorious terrorist Osama bin Ladin came from a family of 54 children! His father had numerous wives. No telling how many more children his old man would have had he lived to a ripe old age! Totally irresponsible! He made a mockery of the institution of marriage and family. I doubt he could even remember his childrens names, much less their birthdays and favorite toys. It is no surprise that Osama, like his father, also has multiple wives, an anecdotal affirmation of my earlier statement.

A rapidly emerging and pernicious influence on th! e Malays ian family scene is the widespread practice of delegating child rearing to maids. Every year the country imports thousands of illiterate women from poor neighboring countries to be domestic help. The dangers here are twofold. One, young Malaysians are fast turning into spoiled brats with their whims taken care of immediately by these maids. Two, these maids may unconsciously impart an alien value system on the young. It is one thing to have maids do the household chores so mothers could have some quality time to spend with their children, it is quite another to leave child rearing to foreigners.

If Malaysia were to import foreign workers, I would prefer them to be skillful programmers, creative musicians, and talented scientists. At least they would then impart their special talents onto locals. All these unskilled maids do is to make Malaysians feel smugly superior. It seems that the new status symbol in Malaysia is the number of household maids. The Australians have a per capita income considerably higher than Malaysians, yet they do not feel the need to import maids. The Australians have a totally different cultural value on child rearing.

I have only three children yet my wife and I had a tough time coping with their homework plus all the problems of growing up. Many Malays blithely take on many wives on the stupid pretext that because our prophet had multiple wives, Muslims too should do likewise. Why, of all the many sterling qualities of our holy prophet (pbuh), present day Malays choose to imitate this particular trait? They forgot that when Mohammad (pbuh) had multiple wives it was an expression of his charity, to take care of widows and orphans during times of social stress as in war, a far cry from the priapic propensities of todays Malays.

The Chinese culture too has its own version of broken families: the habit of taking on concubines. With modern laws recognizing the children of such unions as legitimate heirs, such practices are now declining. The only rede! eming as pect of communism in China is that it got rid of the concubinage.

Malaysia should emulate Turkey and Tunisia and ban polygamy, or if that raises the ire of fundamentalist Muslims, place strong disincentives. I suggest that before anyone takes on another wife, he must have a trust fund of RM 100,000 for the benefit of each child he already has. There are just too many irresponsible fathers even among the educated class. And divorced fathers must pay child support. In America, through court order, the paychecks of errant fathers are garnished to benefit their abandoned children.

Sadly, the Sharia court system that has jurisdiction over family affairs of Muslims is a misogynist institution. Its record in protecting children and abandoned wives is abominable. One solution would be to give Muslim couples and families the option of choosing the civil court system if any one party requests it. Were this to happen, the monopoly of the Sharia would be broken and then we would know how much faith people have in it. That would also serve as a stimulus for much-needed reforms of the system.

One critical area in need of great reform is divorce laws. The era when Muslim husbands could abandon their wives by simply declaring, I divorce thee three times (talak), makes a mockery of the sanctity of marriage. It takes a lot to get married in the first place, and divorce should not be undertaken lightly. Even more degrading to the institution of the family is the acceptance by the Sharia of divorce pronouncements made by husbands on their cellular phones! The divorce provisions of the Sharia must be reformed to reflect present day norms of gender equality.

Strengthen the family. This is not a womens issue; it concerns everyone. Besides, it is the right thing to do. A stable family is the foundation of a strong society. Malaysia spends billions in trying to correct its myriad social pathologies, and is losing much more because of the lost potential of her blighted citizens. M! ore reso urces must be diverted to strengthening the institution of the family. I am truly gratified that many Malaysian leaders beginning with Tun Razak had exemplary family lives. Both Mahathir and his present chosen successor, Abdullah Badawi, have not only carried on this fine tradition but they are also one of the few Malays who choose not to have multiple wives or large families.

There is in America today a growing appreciation that the failure of many minority groups to advance, despite affirmative actions and civil rights legislations, is attributable to the decline of the family in that subculture. Today, a Black child born into an intact family, that is one with a father and mother, is a definite rarity. Unfortunately there is no respite from this tragic trend. This sad reality is finally dawning on enlightened Black leaders. They are now desperately trying to reverse this trend by strengthening the family. Lest anyone would ascribe ugly racial undertones to these observations, this same negative trend is also seen among Whites. And as so wisely pointed out by Moynihan, at the turn of the 19th Century the same social pathologies seen in Blacks and Hispanics today were also seen among Irish immigrants. At that time it was the abrupt transition from country to city life compressed within a generation that was so immensely disruptive. Such a social milieu gave rise to the wild Irish slums of Boston and New York with their drunkenness, corruption, family disorganization, juvenile delinquency, truancy, and other social pathologies.

Malays today are undergoing a similar disrupting transition from a tranquil rural kampong life to a hectic urban one; all compressed within a generation. Such rapid changes take their toll on traditional institutions like the family. Thus it should not be a surprise that Malays are experiencing such social turmoil as reflected by the alarming rates of truancy, school dropouts, and divorce rates.

Despite a generation of affirmative actions and other sp! ecial se t-aside programs in America, Blacks and other minorities still lag behind. Well meaning legislations cannot undo or reverse the damage done by the disintegration of the family. Similarly in Malaysia, after more than a generation of ever increasing and more generous special privileges, Malays are still lagging. Sadly, many Malay leaders are falling back on the same old stereotype and clichs to explain this failure. I suggest that Malays still lag despite preferential treatment because the institution of the Malay family is being severely stressed and threatened. Unless the institution of the family is strengthened, no amount of special programs will help. There is simply no substitute for a strong, stable, and intact family.

Next:Leadership

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Recusal application to heard before Anwar testifies...

The Anwar Ibrahim sodomy II trial enters the next stage with the opposition leader scheduled to offer his defence. However, before Anwar takes the stand, his application to have Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah recuse himself and a fresh trial is called, will be heard first today.

Anwar contends that Justice Zabidin had gone overboard to prejudge him and demonstrated bias in his ruling that the prosecution had made a prima facie case against him. This ruling, Anwar's lawyers had complained, had denied the politician a fair trial, which is guaranteed by article 5(1) of the federal constitution.

In his verdict last month, Justice Zabidin found the complainant Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, to be a "credible and truthful witness".

"He had truthfully and without embellishment or exaggeration in his evidence narrated in minute detail how he was sodomised by the accused on the date and at the place stated in the charge. I find him to be a truthful witness and his evidence is reliable and if accepted would establish all the facts required to prove the charge against the accused," Justice Zabidin had ruled.

Karpal in filing the application on Thursday said the ruling showed the judge had made a prejudgment before the trial concluded, thus nullifying the calling of the defence.
"We want a new trial because a fair trial is not shown under these circumstances," he said.

Anwar, in his latest recusal application which will be heard this morning, cited several case laws stating that the court shall consider all the evidence adduced before it and decide whether the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt at th! e conclu sion of the trial.

"Your honour had made a prejudgment in accepting the testimony of SP1 (Saiful) who is the prosecution's main witness as 'truthful' testimony without listening to my testimony which had been revealed as an alibi during cross-examination of SP1," read the application.

He added that the prejudgment had made the calling for the defence an "empty formality".

Anwar had maintained an alibi during the allege sodomy incident where it was said the politician had been meeting with corporate and economic figures. Among them were Malaysian Institute of Economic Research chairperson Professor Dr Mohd Ariff Abdul Karim, former PKR Kelantan liason chief Nik Mahmood Nik Hassan, former Bursa Malaysia chief operating officer Omar Malik Ali Merican, deputy president of Uniphonex Nik Mohd Sidek and a top official from Deutsch Bank.

Third attempt to disqualify judge

This is the third time Anwar has made the application to have Justice Zabidin withdraw himself as the presiding judge. The first was over the judge rejecting any action to be taken against Utusan Malaysia following alleged danger of biasness in his decision early last year.

The second followed senior cousel Karpal Singh claim that Justice Zabidin did not follow the precedent set in the Supreme Court ruling in not allowing an expert witness supply documents which was used during a medical examination of the sodomy complainant. Another reason Anwar is making the application is because Zabidin had made a threat of contempt against Karpal, although the judge subsequently withdrew it.

Today will see Karpal making his submissions first to disqualify Zabidin. This will be followed with solicitor-general II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden making his reply, and Karpal will then reply.

Justice Zabidin will then have to make a decision either today itself or another day, on the latest attempt to disqualify him to preside the trial.! S hould Justice Zabidin dismiss the application as what had been done previously, Anwar is expected to take the stand.

Rosmah and Najib yet to make appearance

Although Anwar has three options in making his defence - testifying from the witness stand, choosing to remain silent or testifying from the accused dock without being subject to cross-examination, the politician is expected to testify from the witness stand.

Anwar's defence team had already managed to interview five out of 25 intended defence witnesses throughout the three weeks break in between the trial.

This does not include Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor whom Anwar had blamed this sodomy charge is the latest in a round of political conspiracy against him.

They have so far interviewed Pusrawi doctor Dr Mohd Othman Abdul Hamid, the first physician who examined Saiful.

Others include former national athlete Mumtaz Jaafar, to whom Saiful related the alleged sodomy and said to be a close confidante of Rosmah, former special officer to the deputy prime minister Khairil Annas Jusoh, who had met with Saiful; a medical officer at Hospital Kuala Lumpur identified only as 'Dr Daniel'; and Saiful's sister Saidati.

source:malaysiakini

Peguam Anwar: Tangan kami terikat

Every intention to deny Anwar a fair trial

cheers.

Mat Sabu: Surely Umno is dying...

Newly elected PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu told Malays to learn from the Chinese community and be proactive in defending their civil rights.

Mohamad, popularly known as Mat Sabu, said the Malays have been passive and not willing to help each other.

The Tionghua are always concerned about their rights and will fight for justice like in the case of Teong Beng Hock. Even the case has died; they will revive it again until justice is found.

However something similar happened to Sarbani, our people did not do anything. They only said what can we do? He has already died, he told the delegates today during PAS general assembly. Customs assistant director Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed was found dead on the badminton court on the first floor at the MACC office in Jalan Cochrane on April 6 this year.

Teoh, an aide to Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam after giving a statement to the anti-graft body on July 16, 2009.

Mohamad said that the Malays must wake up from their slumber as the country will be facing its 13th general assembly. He also reiterated that the party cannot win Putrajaya based on the votes its members alone and must work hard to gain public support.

We must get support from the general public. The party must get support from non-Pas members, Chinese, Indians and Kadazans.

We must be together with the president and get the support so that we can deliver the votes to Pakatan Rakyat, he said.

Mohamad also said that Umno was already on its deathbed as MCA and MIC has become irrelevant.

MIC and MCA are like crutches to Umno and without them, they will be destroyed. The Chinese and Indian communities are beginning to show their support for PAS. Surely Umno is dying, he said.

Mohamad won the party deputy presidency with 420 votes in Fridays election, leading a group of progressive leaders to counter conservatives who prefer to link up with Umno.

The Penang-born Mohamad defeated incumbent Nahsarudin Mat Isa who received only 224 votes and vice-president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man who came second with 399 votes. A total of 1,100 delegates voted in this years party elections.

Mohamad was contesting the post for the second straight time against the three-term deputy president, who together with Tuan Ibrahim, are seen as leaders from the ulama or scholars group.

source:Malaysian Insider

cheers.