E&O shareholders reject nomination of ECM Libras nominees

KUALA LUMPUR: Eastern & Oriental Bhd (E&O) shareholders today rejected ECM Libra Financial Group Bhds nominees Mahadzir Azizan and Leong Kam Weng to the companys board of directors.

About 75% of the shareholders who attended the property developers annual general meeting (AGM) here, voted against ECM Libras request, E&O deputy managing director Eric Chan Kok Leong told reporters.

Mahadzir is currently a director of ECM Libra, Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd, ECM Libra Investment Bank Bhd, Libra Invest Bhd and several other companies, and is a member of the investment committee of Amanah Raya REITS.

Leong sits on the board of directors and audit committee of TA Enterprise Bhd and TA Global Bhd.

As of Sept 22, ECM Libra holds 6.3% of E&O, making it the second largest shareholder after Sime Darby Bhd which owns 30% equity interest.

Sime Darby acquired its stakes from E&O managing director Terry Tham (12.2%), Wan Azmi Hamzah (9.1%) and GK Goh Holdings of Singapore (9.5%) on Sept 9 for RM766 million or RM2.30 per share.

After the sale, Tham still has 5.1% while Wan Azmi and GK Goh hold 2.9% and 3.5% respectively.

Chan said about 60% of the shareholders of E&O attended the AGM which lasted about four hours.

He said between 90% and 95% of the shareholders voted for the reappointment of E&O chairman Azizan Abdul Rahman, managing director Tham and two other directors Henry Chin Poy Wu and Vijayaratnam Thamotharam.

We received overwhelming support from the shareholders. The energy is high. They (shareholders) have more questions than usual, he said after the AGM.

Chan also said E&O would hold its first meeting with Sime Darby in October to identify areas that both parties could work together.

Weve signed a collaborative agreement with Sime Darby. Well call for the first meeting next month in accordance with the agreement, he said.

E&O and Sime Darby signed the three-year collaborative agreement on the sa! me day s hare sale deal was concluded.

Chan said the group was now focusing on promoting E&Os unique brand proposition as a true lifestyle developer.

He added that the strategic corporate recognition attained by the group from its sales and marketing collaboration with Mitsui Fudosan Co Ltd the joint venture with subsidiaries of Khazanah Nasional Bhd and Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd to develop an iconic wellness township in Iskandar Malaysia as well as the entry of Sime Darby would provide vital impetus for the group to move forward with its growth strategy.

- Bernama

ISA to be repealed in March

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said today the Internal Security Act (ISA) will be repealed in March after the two replacement laws have been drafted.

ISA will be done in March as we need to draft two new laws, said Najib after chairing the Umno supreme council meeting here this evening.

Najib said the implementation of his reform packages will start with the repeal of the Banishment and Restricted Residence Act when Parliament reconvenes on Monday.

This will follow with the amendments to the Police Act to allow for freedom of assembly other than street protests in November, added the premier.

Najib had announced the repeal of the ISA, a law often described as Barisan Nasionals political tool that allows detention without trial, on the eve of Malaysia Day.

The announcement came with a slew of other reforms including the lifting of three states of emergency in his Malaysia Day address, and vowed to improve civil liberties in Malaysian.

The move was seen as a desperate attempt to regain the moderate votes after his disastrous handling of the Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9. The march had called for a free and fair election.

Along with a parliamentary select committee on electoral reforms, the repeal of the ISA appear to be key concessions by Najib in a drastic move to win back middle Malaysia as BN prepares for the 13th general election.

The premier is expected to hold elections within six months and Putrajayas reform packages is seen an last election push amid Najibs dipping approval rating.

But observers and opposition leaders have cast doubt over his ability to carry on the reforms following opposition from the hawks in his own party and influential Malay rights! group l ike Perkasa.

No end in sight to transport woes

PETALING JAYA: Malaysians will have to live with traffic congestion for some time yet, as the public transport masterplan has been put on hold.

The Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) confirmed that the plan was still being looked at by government agencies.

The masterplan is currently being shared with government agencies for feedback. This process has to be completed before it is made public, a SPAD spokesman told FMT.

The spokesman added that the plan would still need to go through Prime Minister Najib Tun Razaks eyes before it was released to the public.

He also said that the plan, which was originally slated for a September 2011 release, was not given any new deadline.

The public transport masterplan has been touted as a series of guidelines aimed at solving Malaysias burgeoning congestion problem.

It was first announced in June last year, a few weeks after SPAD was set up as a commission, replacing the Commercial Vehicular Licensing Board (CVLB) in West Malaysia.

Malaysia has never adopted a national policy addressing public transport. This masterplan, would have been the first.

FMT previously reported that the masterplan was to take a backseat to the My Rapid Transit (MRT), as the latter was part of the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).

Little else is known about the masterplans actual details, with politicians, transport operators and NGOs being left out of the loop.

Pan Malaysian Bus Operators Association (PMBOA) president Mohamad Ashfar Ali said that neither he, nor any of his colleagues were consulted on the plan.

He added that aside from the PMBOA handing over two memorandums to SPAD in February and May this year, the commission did not consult them in the dra! fting of the plan.

We assume that since we briefed them on what our problems were that was it. Weve heard nothing in these few months (since the memorandums were given), Ashfar said.

He also worried that SPAD would release the plan as a final version, and not listen to any objections.

(Before), the CVLB would decide policies on their own give it out via circulars and then tell us to take it or leave it, Ashfar said.

Misplaced priorities

He said that the government should at least give bus operators, as well as the public, enough time to go through the plan before it was set in stone.

PKR-Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar slammed SPAD for not involving the public in the drafting of the plan.

She said that commission had misplaced priorities, with its approval of the billion-ringgit MRT project even though the plan was not released.

A masterplan is such a crucial part of any country (so that) you dont end up creating projects not in line with the plan.

This is especially with our horrible track record with approvals being given to operators (managing) different LRT (Light Rail Transit) systems, she said.

Nurul also asked why the government was taking so long to come up with the plan, adding that numerous transit briefings with national transport company Prasarana and Pemandu (Performance Management & Delivery Unit) labs have been conducted in the past 12 months.

Public money is being used to fund SPAD. They need to be more transparent in updating the public, its the least they could do, she added.

Association for the Improvement of Mass Transit (TRANSIT) spokesperson Rajiv Rishyakaran said that the government needed to announce a new deadline, instead of keeping it to themselves.

Since there has been a delay, they should come clean with a new deadline. Dont just give excuses. They missed the first boat with this whats the new deadline?

He also wondered why SPAD had not informed the public about th! e plans delay.

They should have talked about this, not just wait until the last day. Its a shame that no press statement has been issued, Rajiv added.

Cease the hudud debate, says Bar Council

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Bar Council has called for a stop to all rhetoric concerning hudud, saying its implementation is impossible under Malaysias current legal system.

In a media statement issued today, Bar Council chairman Lim Chee Wee said debate on the matter had caused confusion and divisions among Malaysians.

In explaining how the hudud provisions could not fit into the current system, he said:

The Federal Constitution only allows the states to enact laws creating offences by persons professing the religion of Islam against the precepts of Islam, and the respective punishments for such offences.

With respect to the nature of such offences, these offences cannot include matters within the legislative powers of the federal government.

Therefore, there can be no replication of any of the offences within any federal law with a different degree of punishment only for Muslims.

He said federal law and its principles determined the scope of punishment for offences against the precepts of Islam.

He pointed out that the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 clearly listed the punishments to be meted out and that these existing punishments did not contain elements of hudud.

Quoting from the 1965 act, he said syariah courts could not exercise jurisdiction in respect of any offence punishable with imprisonment for a term exceeding three years or with any fine exceeding RM5,000 or with whipping exceeding six strokes or with any combination thereof.

He also quoted from the Ninth Schedule of the Federal Constitution, which places criminal law and procedure, internal security and public order under the federal list.

Hudud mainly concerns penal laws. It would therefore fall und! er feder al jurisdiction, not the state, Lim said.

He referred to the 1988 case of Che Omar bin Che Soh v Public Prosecutor, where the Supreme Court held that laws in Malaysia do not have to conform to Islamic principles and that Malaysia was indeed a secular state.

Taking this principle, if hudud were brought into the criminal justice system, it would result in the importation of Islamic penal laws into laws that are secular, which is wrong in law, he said.

He also said that imposing hudud only on Muslims would go against the principal of equality that Article 8 of the Federal Constitution refers to.

A Muslim person would also be exposed to two separate prosecutions or convictions: one under hudud and one under the Penal Code, he said, noting that Article 7 (2) of the Federal Constitution prohibits repeated trials.

The Malaysian Bar calls upon all parties to uphold the Federal Constitution as the supreme law of the land and to cease all rhetoric regarding the implementation of hudud, which has inevitably caused confusion and divisions within society, he added.

India may face Olympic ban over hockey row

NEW DELHI: Field hockeys world governing body has warned India it could miss the London Olympics even if it qualifies due to an ongoing tussle over who runs the sport in the country.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) said it was not in favour of a settlement brokered by the Indian sports ministry that would see rival bodies Hockey India (HI) and the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) jointly run the game.

In a letter to the sports ministry, FIH president Leandro Negre said his federation only recognised Hockey India as the governing body for the sport which had exclusive authority to enter national teams in international events.

The FIH wants the government of India to advise HI and IHF not to proceed with the implementation of their broad arrangement, Negre wrote in the letter dated Sept 27, a copy of which is with AFP.

The FIH also wants the Indian government to settle the money owed to it for organising the World Cup in New Delhi in March last year.

If the above is achieved there will be no more concerns about the participation of Indian hockey team in FIH-sanctioned competitions such as London 2012 Olympic Games, Negre wrote.

The FIH had earlier this month taken away the elite eight-nation Champions Trophy from India and awarded the hosting rights to New Zealand over the same governance issues.

Sports ministry official Rahul Bhatnagar told reporters the ministry would soon meet Indian Olympic Association and hockey officials to finalise a reply to the FIH.

India failed to get direct entry for next years London Olympics after finishing third at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, and will now play in a qualifying event.

The eight-time Olympic champions missed out on the 2008 Beijing Olympics after losing in the qualifying tournament.

- AFP

Lawak Jumaat

ARTiculations

"But while one man standing in the road is a nuisance, a mere distraction, 10 men standing together are far harder to ignore. And if those 10 become 100, a thousand, a million, a billion even, they become a force so big, so strong and so united in their common cause that those who espouse hatred will face a very simple choice." : Prime Minister Najib Razak's Oxford speech - 17th May 2011

Loyal Followers

Friday, September 30, 201! 1

Lawak Jumaat

Perkasa is of the view that security cannot be compromised. Security must override human rights, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. (as reported in a Malaysiakini report on 29th September 2011).

I just have one little question.

How can anybody feel safe or secured if his or her human rights can be taken away by the State, anytime, anywhere and anyhow?

Aku tak paham. Probably because the statement is too dalam.

Posted byart harunat 11:43

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Labels:Constitution,Human Rights

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8comments:

megahypersaid...: I think their member should consider moving to North Korea or Myanmar.

Their national security override human rights, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

In fact, they only have a single agenda for national policy and that is security above everything else.

Great destination for Perkasa member.; 30 September 2011 12:23
ystsaid...: perkasa...bodoh macam tulur...; 30 September 2011 12:34
C++said...: Bhai Art...

Security is about warning people, harass people and "belasah" other people... hahaha... That's what PERKASA has in mind... hahaha; 30 September 2011 12:47
Richard Lohsaid...: And surprisingly look who is sitting next to him....Hmmm; 30 September 2011 13:06
! Al Tugauwsaid...: How is it that they think that only they have the right to freedom of speech and assembly? Surely the general population will not feel very secure with these type of people around.; 30 September 2011 13:31
JohorMalisaid...: Ok,lah, Art, you so obsess with human right issues. Now I want you to be the pacifier of two neighbours, one a Chinese who can't stand tthe smell of the curry cooked by his immediate Indian neighbour. So how would you handle this case? ( This is a real story happened in Singapore ); 30 September 2011 13:40
Anonymoussaid...: deep indeed.ahaks

a.jones; 30 September 2011 14:05
Anonymoussaid...: "security", especially "national security" is overrated, to the extent of abusive. period.

"a human being has a brain to always think otherwise" statement in the other hand, is unfortunately underrated.

cheers.
Hazzri; 30 September 2011 14:05

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Art Harun believes that he is a failed government experiment, abandoned and left alone to roam the streets after all remedial efforts yielded no positive result. He calls himself a non-governmental organism, practices law for a living and tries very hard to play guitar, sing, race cars and write some stuffs to stay alive.

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