Archive for November 1st, 2008
NEP cannot be equated with Article 153
Posted by Kit in Parliament on Saturday, 1 November 2008
A call for the review of NEP is not a call for the review of Article 153 or attack on Malay special rights. This is because NEP cannot be equated with Article 153.
This argument on the differences between Article 153 and the NEP surfaced in Parliament on Wednesday, October 29th October 2008 in exchanges during the winding-up debate on the 2009 Budget involving two Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Abdullah and Senator Datuk Amirsham Aziz, as illustrated by the videos here.
Even more imperative Najib submit himself to RCI to clear him of all allegations from murder to corruption
Posted by Kit in Crime, Judiciary, Najib Razak on Saturday, 1 November 2008
Shah Alam High Court judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin yesterday acquitted political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda of the charge of abetment in the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu on October 19, 2006 on the ground that no evidence was adduced by the prosecution to contradict or challenge the exculpatory parts of Razak’s affidavit in his earlier unsuccessful bail application.
The judge said: “In the absence of the rebuttal evidence against the statements, coupled with the fact that there is no legal onus for Razak to rebut any statutory presumptions, there is clearly no reason for the statements to be ignored and rejected”.
Most Malaysians are baffled by the very technical reason for the acquittal.
While it would not be right for anyone to prejudge the guilt or innocence of any person in the murder of Altantuya, the fact of the abominable and heinous murder of the Mongolian translator, shot twice in the head in a jungle clearing in Shah Alam and blown up with C4 explosives available only to the military, setting off political, diplomatic and international reverberations that have not subsided , is a fact that cannot be extinguished. Read the rest of this entry »
Eurocopter inquiry – PAC should summon Najib
Posted by Kit in Defence, Parliament on Saturday, 1 November 2008
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should summon Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to its Eurocopter hearing and not just call up civil servants as he is the Defence Minister at the time of the critical decision-making before the ministerial swap with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Sept. 17 and who must bear final responsibility to Parliament for the Eurocopter deal.
The PAC postponed its second-day inquiry into the Eurcopter deal on Thursday because the Finance Ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Dr. Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah did not turn up to testify.
The PAC is right in demanding that the highest-ranking officer from the Finance Ministry should appear before it to testify, and Wan Abdul Aziz is setting a bad example of civil service leadership and guilty of contempt of Parliament in claiming that he was “busy with other duties”!
What is the nature of Wan Abdul Aziz’s “busy with other duties” that he is prepared to commit parliamentary contempt by not appearing before the PAC when summoned?
However, why is the PAC not summoning Najib to testify and justify the extraordinary billion-ringgit 12 Cougar EC725 Eurocopters procurement – as in other “first-world Commonwealth Parliaments”, the appearance of the Minister concerned would have been the first item of such PAC inquiry?! Read the rest of this entry »
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