Archive for February 21st, 2016

Malaysia murder sets off explosion of intrigue

by Amanda Hodge
The Australian
FEBRUARY 20, 2016

Ten years ago the murder of a glamorous Mongolian translator with links to Malaysia’s highest political office set off a chain of events that is now reverberating uncomfortably through Australia’s halls of power.

On October 19, 2006, Altan­tuya Shaaribuu, a translator and 28-year-old mother of two, was abducted by two Malaysian police commandos from outside the Kuala Lumpur home of her former lover, Razak Abdul Bag­inda, a close confidante of then defence minister Najib Razak and a key mediator in a multi-billion-dollar submarine defence deal.

Sirul Azhar Umar and Azilah Hadri, both bodyguards with an elite protection force for Malaysia’s top leaders, drove Shaaribuu to the Shah Alam forest on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, where she was shot twice in the head and her body blown apart with C4 ­explosives.

At his trial in Malaysia, Sirul — who is now being held in Sydney’s Villawood Immigration ­Detention Centre after fleeing to Australia — insisted he had no personal ­motive for wanting Shaaribuu dead and was acting under orders. “I am a black sheep who has to be sacrificed to protect unnamed people,” he tearfully told the court.

Shaaribuu’s murder has ­become one of Malaysia’s most notorious crimes thanks to the political intrigue and murky networks of patronage and corruption it has always threatened to expose. Read the rest of this entry »

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Ola Bola! Ola Malaysia?

– TF Lee
The Malaysian Insider
21 February 2016

I watched Ola Bola and true to its reviews, it was heart warming.

I would recommend it to all Malaysians (including overseas Malaysians).

This film has set the standard for future local films with a message of unity and patriotism. Read the rest of this entry »

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From greatest hope to scandal-ridden, a look at Najib’s 40 years in active politics

by Sheridan Mahavera
The Malaysian Insider
21 February 2016

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak commemorates 40 years in politics today but the milestone comes at the toughest period in a career, which has seen him go from being the hope of Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) to one now besieged with allegations of financial scandals.

Besides a growing rebellion among ordinary Umno members demanding he resign, the party’s sixth president is running a country where in the last general election, 52% of voters rejected the coalition he leads.

Najib’s own ambitions of being a reformer or “transformer” is in tatters after becoming embroiled in two financial scandals – 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and the US$681 million (RM2.6 billion) “political donation” that flowed into his personal accounts. Read the rest of this entry »

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Class of ’59, High School, Batu Pahat grieves the loss of another classmate with the passing Dr. Hee Tien Lai in Penang early this morning after attending my 75th birthday reunion last night

(Condolence Message at the death of former Deputy Speaker (MP for Ayer Itam), Datuk Dr. Hee Tien Lai at Lam Wah Ee Hospital on Sunday, 21st February 2016)

The Class of ’59, High School, Batu Pahat grieves the loss of another classmate Datuk Dr.Hee Tien Lai from heart attack in Penang early this morning, after attending my 75th birthday reunion last night.

Tien Lai was former Deputy Speaker of Malaysian Parliament in 1982 and three-term Barisan Nasional MP for Ayer Hitam in Johore.

The Class of ’59 produced three Members of Parliament, Tien Lai, Datuk Mustapha Mohamad former Minister, Ambassador and MP for Sri Gading and myself. Read the rest of this entry »

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