Archive for May 9th, 2009

Remove restrictive ISA release conditions, lift ban on Hindraf and appoint Uthayakumar as member of Royal Commission of Inquiry into marginalisation of Malaysian Indians

I am calling this media conference on the release of the three Hindraf leaders, P. Uthayakumar, DAP Selangor Assemblyman for Kota Alam Shah M. Manoharan and K. Vasanthakumar from Kamunting Detention Centre under the Internal Security Act (ISA) two hours ago.

The formation of Hindraf, the arbitrary, undemocratic and unjust detention of the five Hindraf leaders in December and the Makkal Sakti phenomenon were important factors resulting in the March 8 “political tsunami” in last year’s general election.

The time has come for the Barisan Nasional government not just to release the three remaining Hindraf leaders under the ISA today but to come to terms and address the root causes for the alienation and marginalisation of the Indian community in the country after half-a-century of nationhood.

Neither the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak nor the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein should entertain any notion that the Malaysian Indians should “membalas budi” for the release of the Hindraf leaders, as they should not be detained without trial under the ISA in the first place.

To realistically and boldly address the root causes of the Hindraf and Makkal
Sakti phenomena, I call on Najib to implement three measures: Read the rest of this entry »

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Hishammuddin more incompetent than Hamid Albar as Home Minister, requring longer time to release 13 ISA detainees?

Is the current Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein more incompetent than Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar that the former must take a longer time than his predecessor to release 13 Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees?

When Datuk Seri Najib Razak was sworn in as the sixth Prime Minister on Friday, 3rd April 2009, he announced in his maiden address to the nation telecast live at 8 pm the same night the release “with immediate effect” of 13 ISA detainees, including two Hindraf leaders Ganapathi Rao and R. Kenghadharan.

I had at the time expected the 13 ISA detainees to be released from Kamunting Detention Centre latest by the next day, Saturday, 4th April 2009.

This was not to be and Ganabatirau and Kenghadharan’s families were made victims of a cruel police game of “cat and mouse” lasting some 46 hours, as both of them were only released to their homes in Selangor at about 6 p.m. on Sunday 5th April 2009 – despite Najib’s “immediate release” announcement on Friday night and the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan’s undertaking on Saturday midday that the 13 ISA detainees would be allowed to leave Kamunting Detention Centre on Sunday morning.

Now, is Hishammuddin going to take longer than 46 hours to release another 13 ISA detainees, including the remaining three Hindraf leaders under the ISA, P. Uthayakumar, DAP Selangor State Assemblyman for Kota Alam Shah, M. Manoharan and K. Vasantha Kumar? Read the rest of this entry »

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OTK – resign as Transport Minister if cannot honour pledge to “tell all” and release PwC report on PKFZ scandal

MCA President Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat should resign as Transport Minister if he cannot honour his pledge to “tell all” and immediately release the PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) Report on the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal to explain whether and why it had ballooned from a RM1.8 billion scandal when Datuk Seri Dr. Ling Liong Sik was the Transport Minister, to RM4.6 billion under Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy and now the outrageous RM12 billion under Ong!

On Tuesday 28th April 2009, I called on the Cabinet at its meeting the next day to overrule Ong’s “passing-the-buck” game and direct the immediate and full publication of the PKFZ scandal in view of reports that the PKFZ scandal had escalated four-fold from the original cost of RM1.8 billion to RM8 billion.

The next day, Ong announced that the PwC audit report on the PKFZ scandal was ready and that the Port Klang Authority (PKA) had been given one week to make it public.

The one-week deadline expired two days ago, and the PwC report has still not seen the light of day! Read the rest of this entry »

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