Archive for January 7th, 2009

Special Parliament on Gaza on Monday

Just received notice from Parliament of a special meeting of Parliament on Monday on the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

Parliament will meet on Monday, January 12, 2008 at 2.30 p.m. and not the usual beginning of 10 am.

This is the result of the joint memorandum submitted by Pakatan Rakyat leaders to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in Putrajaya last Monday (5th January) for a special Parliament meeting on Gaza.

The latest atrocity in Gaza is the killing of at least 40 Palestinians when Israeli forces struck a school run by the United Nations.

The world is faced with a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, whose water and sewage systems are on the verge of collapse because of power shortages – with more than 530,000 people among Gaza’s population of 1.4 million completely cut off from running water and the rest receive water only every few days.

The death toll in Gaza has exceeded 600 since the start of the Israeli offensive last month.

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8,787 Chinese voters – “kingmakers” in a historic mission in KT by-election

With the 88% Malay voters in the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary by-election in a very tight contest, the 8,787 Chinese voters representing 11.4% of the Kuala Terengganu electorate have emerged as the “kingmakers” in the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary by-election on January 17, 2009.

They will decide which candidate wins the Kuala Terengganu by-election.

Last night after the morning nomination, I attended a 10,000-peope mammoth PAS ceramah at Astaka, Tanjong as well as a close-to-a-thousand-people dinner ceramah organized by Kuala Terengganu DAP within 24 hours.

Mammoth PAS ceramahs are not unusual in Terengganu but what was unprecedented and most encouraging was the very enthusiastic support at the dinner ceramah, not only by the some 500 people at the dinner but also by the 300-400 people who stood outside the restaurant to follow the four hours of speeches.

Was this a sign that the Chinese in Kuala Terengganu have woken up and are standing up, not only for their rights as voters in the state but as citizens of Malaysia? Read the rest of this entry »

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MCA man jailed for offering bribe to Singapore cop

MCA man jailed for offering bribe to Singapore cop
The Malaysian Insider7.01.09

SINGAPORE, Jan 7 — A Malaysian community leader initially fined S$15,000 (RM36,000) for offering a bribe to a traffic policeman was yesterday sentenced to jail for six weeks following an appeal by the prosecution.

Justice V. K. Rajah, handing down the jail term at the appeal hearing, stressed that the courts should take a firm, no-nonsense approach towards attempts at graft.

Any attempt to bribe a police officer will bring on a jail term, and if the bribe is accepted, both parties can expect “uncompromisingly stiff custodial sentences”, he said.

It is the way to go if the integrity of the police force as a pillar of society is to be upheld.

Rajah added that the jail term meted out to Lim Teck Choon, 56, took into account mitigating factors raised by his lawyer. He would otherwise have been jailed two to three months.

Lim, who has business interests on both sides of the Causeway, is a member of the MCA and the party’s deputy chairman in the town of Kampong Jawa in Johor. A philanthropist, he regularly donates money to temples and an orphanage; in 1988, he donated a building for a school. Read the rest of this entry »

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