Opinion: Anwar imprisoned, Malaysia rights in free fall
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim on Friday, 20 February 2015, 9:09 am
Phil Robertson, Special for CNN
February 16, 2015
(CNN)—Watching from the observers’ gallery last week, I could see Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim moving from hope, to exasperation and then finally to anger as the country’s highest court dismissed his defense team’s arguments against his sodomy conviction.
After his appeal was denied on all counts, the sentencing hearing started — and Anwar took the gloves off, declaring the incident was a “complete fabrication” and a “political conspiracy” and attacking the five Federal Court judges for becoming “partners in the crime for the murder of judicial independence and integrity.”
The judges weren’t having any of that, and abruptly stood up and walked out of the courtroom to deliberate in chambers on Anwar’s fate, leaving a stunned courtroom behind them.
Anwar now faces five years in prison to contemplate the question that is on the minds of many Malaysians, which is how could a government get away with prosecuting a former deputy prime minister and the head of the opposition not once, but twice, for violating an archaic British colonial law against sodomy that has been invoked a total of only seven times since 1938?
Has the Malaysian government so clearly lost the plot that even outside observers would recognize that the trial was blatantly political from day one? Read the rest of this entry »
‘Zahid broke OSA in writing FBI letter’
By Zakiah Koya & Kamles Kumar
Malaysiakini
Feb 19, 2015
EXCLUSIVE A former top cop has accused Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi of breaking the Official Secrets Act (OSA) by writing the letter to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to clear gambling kingpin Paul Phua Wei Seng.
This is because the information contained in the police investigation files is classified under the OSA, unless it has been declassified, former Kuala Lumpur CID chief Mat Zain Ibrahim said.
The Official Secrets Act 1972 (Act 88), or OSA, is a federal law in Malaysia that prohibits the dissemination of information classified as an “official secret”.
Mat Zain said Zahid disbursed ‘secret’ information to unauthorised parties, such as the FBI and to the lawyers for Phua, Shafee Abdullah in Malaysia and Messrs Chesnoff & Schonfeld in the US.
In an email to Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail on Jan 19, Mat Zain said Zahid had broken the law in writing the letter and stating that Phua is not a member of the 14K triad.
The email, as seen by Malaysiakini, is titled “Detailing the crime of Zahid and Shafee under the Penal Code and OSA”. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Boob job’ posters banned for trivialising cosmetic surgery
By Dugald Baird
Wednesday 18 February 2015 11.47 GMT
The Guardian
The advertising watchdog has banned a poster campaign for “trivialising” cosmetic surgery.
Posters were placed in toilets in motorway service stations and shopping centres by the Malaysian-based Medical Tourism Association stating “Did you know… ‘Boob job’ is the most popular cosmetic procedure for women”.
They added: “Malaysia is proud to be amongst one of the only countries within the region where medical tourism is promoted by the government. Hence medical tourists can have the assurance of quality care and be guided by the regulation, safety standards and the governing laws within this industry.
“Our private hospitals bagged three out of nine awards at the international Medical Travel Awards 2014.” Read the rest of this entry »
Is Najib’s statement on Sirul’s claim that he acted under orders exculpatory or incriminating?
Posted by Kit in Crime, Najib Razak on Thursday, 19 February 2015, 3:26 pm
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, has made a most rash and imprudent outburst at the MCA Chinese New Year open house today, when he said that former police commando Sirul Azhar Umar’s claim that he acted under orders to murder Altantuya Shaariibuu was “utter rubbish” and “total rubbish”.
Was the Prime Minister’s outburst exculpatory or incriminating?
It would be exculpatory if he is asserting that Sirul was talking “utter” or “total rubbish” that he murdered the Altantuya in 2006 together with Chief Inspector Azila Hadri under orders as there were no such orders to the two former police commandos to murder Altantuya.
The question that immediately arises is how Najib knows that the two convicted police commandos had not received any such orders from their superior to kill Altantunya and destroy evidence by blowing up her body using C4 explosives?
He can say there was no such “order” from him, but how could he say that there were no such “order” from other people? How can he be so sure? Read the rest of this entry »
Why have the police, the Attorney-General and the judiciary ignored the “elephant in the room” in Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case – that Sirul and Azilah could not have killed the Mongolian whom they did not know without a motive and a mastermind?
The Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case is the second case in Malaysia to kick up an international storm after the Federal Court’s 5-0 conviction of Anwar Ibrahim on Sodomy II and five-year jail sentence.
Although the Federal Court decision on the Altantuya murder case was made on Jan 13 finding the two former police commandos Sirul Azhar Umar and Azilah Hadri guilty of the murder of the Mongolian in 2006, the Altantuya case did not become an international storm until after Anwar’s Federal Court decision when Sirul, seeking refuge in Australia, announced that he was thinking of “telling all” about the murder of Altantuya.
Sirul said: “If I die today, I would not find peace. I did what I was told and this is what I get in return.”
I believe the entire Malaysian population can share Sirul’s sense of injustice if he has to pay for the murder of Altantuya, but the mastermind who had the motive and ordered the killing is able to get away scotfree. Read the rest of this entry »
Law don grills Shafee’s ethics after Anwar attack
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim on Thursday, 19 February 2015, 8:34 am
By Gurdial Singh Nijar
Malaysiakini
February 16, 2015
COMMENT Several interviews in national daily newspapers given by the lawyer engaged as a prosecutor, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, have reignited issues surrounding the conviction of Anwar Ibrahim.
In a rather brutal attack on Anwar, whom he helped put away for a five-year jail term, Shafee implied that the accused would have been torn to shreds if he had testified, instead of giving his ‘evidence’ from the dock. He labelled Anwar a ‘coward with something to hide’.
I do not recall any such condemnatory remarks being ever made publicly by the former lawyers from the Attorney-General’s Chambers who conducted the prosecution at the earlier two judicial tiers – the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
Such statements seem to be at odds with established ethical standards – as applicable to lawyers appearing as defence counsel or for the prosecution. Read the rest of this entry »
What could Sirul tell us?
– Nawawi Mohamad
The Malaysian Insider
19 February 2015
The order to kill the Mongolian beauty Altantuya Shaariibuu must have been cascaded down the line of command from someone above. Ultimately Sirul Azhar Umar was the one who had to do all the dirty work and take all the blame when things went wrong.
Thus when any person along the line of command is removed, the others will be insulated and will not collapse like a domino.
Therefore allowing Sirul to slip off to Australia could be part of the plan. Sirul may be allowed some freedom and may also tell his story, but he could only put the blame on his immediate superior.
Sirul telling his story also acts like a pressure release valve, since the Altantuya murder case has heated up like the pressure in a volcano that increases from time to time.
In court, Sirul mentioned that it was Azilah Hadri who instructed him to ensure that Altantuya was really dead. Sirul may not know firsthand on who actually gave the order.
The one who gave the order must have been wise enough to insulate himself or herself from the crime through the line of command. Thus whatever Sirul will say, he cannot say for sure say that such and such person instructed them to kill. Read the rest of this entry »
1MDB-PetroSaudi deal includes repaying US$700 million debt, says whistleblower site
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals on Thursday, 19 February 2015, 7:17 am
The Malaysian Insider
18 February 2015
Online news portal Sarawak Report has published a 26-page document, revealing sovereign fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) had paid US$1 billion of public funds into a shady venture with Petrosaudi International, despite its lack of a tangible track record.
“What the document reveals is that the prime minister and his advisors at 1MDB paid USD1 billion of borrowed public money into a venture that already carried a USD700 million debt in the form of a loan from PetroSaudi’s parent company to the subsidiary that was entering into the joint venture, PetroSaudi Holdings (Caymans) Limited,” it said in its report.
“Crucially, under the terms of the joint venture, agreed to by 1MDB, the Malaysian development fund had committed to pay back this whopping great loan to the parent company, PetroSaudi International, on day one of the joint venture!,” it added. Read the rest of this entry »
Reveal Shafee’s fees as it’s from public funds
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Court on Wednesday, 18 February 2015, 6:25 pm
By Mohamed Hanipa Maidin
Malaysiakini
Feb 17, 2015
MP SPEAKS When government opted to appoint Muhammad Shafee Abdullah as lead prosecutor in handling Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s appeal, it implied that Anwar’s case was too big and too serious that the Attorney-General and his team was not confident enough to conduct the appeal.
Maybe, in the eyes of the AG, the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu murder was less significant than Anwar’s ‘crime’ so much so that he did not consider fit and proper to engage a private lawyer to secure conviction for political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda (left) so that Razak could have been served with a death warrant.
Razak was acquitted by the High Court but the AG did not lodge an appeal against such a decision. On the other hand, when Anwar was released by the High Court, the AG proceeded with the appeal and used public funds to engage a lawyer who is well known to charge exorbitant legal fees for his services.
Both Razak and Anwar are linked to the Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.
Razak was Najib’s close associate and Anwar is his political enemy. His associate is now in London and his political rival landed in Sungai Buloh’s prison. Read the rest of this entry »
In the court of public opinion, is Putrajaya or Umno fighting Anwar?
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Judiciary on Wednesday, 18 February 2015, 6:07 pm
COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
18 February 2015
There is a very fine line, between defending one’s party and excoriating political opponents in the battle for the hearts and minds of the electorate. And all the more so when it comes to a criminal case.
Sixteen years ago, the prosecution led by then Attorney-General, Tan Sri Mokhtar Abdullah and aided by Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, presented the state’s evidence against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and got him convicted and jailed for sodomy and abuse of power.
Umno and specifically then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was blamed for that episode. It cost the ruling Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) Terengganu in the 1999 general election.
But there was no roadshows to debunk political conspiracy theories by Anwar’s supporters. None. The prosecutors did their job and that was that, no matter the international outrage, public opprobrium and the weekend public protests.
Last week, the Federal Court upheld the Court of Appeal’s verdict to convict and jail Anwar for five years in another sodomy case. Again, Anwar said it was a political ploy to keep him and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) from capturing Putrajaya.
Again, there was international outrage, public opprobrium but not much public protests as most vented their spleen online and got back to their ordinary lives.
But this time, it was Umno lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah who led the prosecution at both the Court of Appeal and Federal Court levels. And this time, Umno decided to take Shafee on a roadshow to explain the verdict. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib should make a ministerial statement when Parliament reconvenes on March 10 on the actual status, job specification and remuneration paid to former APCO Malaysia boss Paul Stadlen to mastermind the Prime Minister’s communications
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Judiciary, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 18 February 2015, 2:39 pm
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should make a ministerial statement when Parliament reconvenes on March 10 on the actual status, job specification and remuneration paid to former APCO Malaysia boss Paul Stadlen to mastermind the Prime Minister’s communications operations.
I have also sent in a specific oral question to the Prime Minister asking him to confirm the veracity of a report in the Sarawak Report website that Paul Stadlen is being paid millions of ringgit to mastermind his communications policy, and whether the Paul Stadlen outfit was responsible of the infamous 109-word three-paragraph statement in the name of the Prime Minister’s Office that was issued of February 10 praising the Federal Court’s decision dismissing Anwar Ibrahim’s appeal in Sodomy II, not only within minutes of the two-hour delivery of the judgment by the Chief Justice, Tun Arifin Zakaria but before the sentence was passed!
Many questions cry out for answer.
Firstly, are there no local public relations and communications experts who could be entrusted with the responsibility of masterminding Najib’s communications policy, especially as it has been reported that Stadlen’s firm was retained by the PMO at a minimum of RM3 million a year and was also commissioned for a 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)-related project worth another RM1.5 million? Read the rest of this entry »
Anwar will not be forgotten
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday, 18 February 2015, 12:09 pm
– P. Ramakrishnan
The Malaysian Insider
18 February 2015
We are here to send a clear message that opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will not be forgotten. What he stood for and fought for will not be forgotten. The injustice and abuse that was inflicted on him will not be forgotten.
If anything, all this will be remembered and kept alive. And someone will pay for it. There is no doubt about it.
Whether inside or outside prison, Anwar is a force to be reckoned with. Charismatic and effective leaders will not disappear from the consciousness of the nation or from the memory of grateful citizens.
They locked up Gandhi and Martin Luther King many times. But they could not stifle what they stood for; they could not prevent their ideas and struggle from perpetuating on their own steam.
You can imprison a man but you cannot imprison his spirit; you cannot imprison his ideas; you cannot imprison the ideals he stands for.
So it will be with Anwar! No force or power can halt this determined struggle to bring about a change in government. Read the rest of this entry »
Controversial Malaysian Investment Fund’s Computer Records Wiped Off
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, IT on Wednesday, 18 February 2015, 10:37 am
By Our Correspondent
Asia Sentinel
February 15, 2015
All computers and servers at 1Malaysia Development Bhd, the troubled investment fund backed by Malaysia’s Ministry of Finance, were called in and wiped clean just before the end of last year, the investigative blog Sarawak Report reported on Feb. 13.
1MDB employees told the blog that all computers and records at the fund were called in and cleaned, including personal computers and mainframe servers, supposedly because the fund’s system was hacked.
The chief economic advisor of the fund, which was started in 2009, is Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. It reportedly faces RMB43 billion (US$12.01 billion) in debt and has been unable to meet loan payment dates several times. It was forced to go to Bank Negara, the country’s central bank, to ask for an extension in the payment dates, raising concern that its financial problems could threaten the entire Malaysian banking system. The bulk of the loans were made by the government-linked Malayan Banking Bhd or Maybank, and RHB Bank.
Sources confirmed the story to Asia Sentinel but the reason for the action appears unclear. It may stem from the fact that Sarawak Report, which is published by Clare Rewcastle Brown, announced last September that she had access to the fund’s emails. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s retreat from modernity
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 18 February 2015, 10:21 am
Rakyat Times/The Australian
18 February 2015
While Malaysia’s charismatic opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was being jailed for five years for sodomy on Tuesday last week, the country’s Prime Minister, Najib Razak, was participating in the nearby launch of an index to assess levels of compliance to sharia law.
Najib said he hoped the government’s own sharia observance would become “a culture of collective practice”.
Two years ago he became the first non-Arab government head to visit Gaza. At a joint press conference with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Najib said he came “to express my solidarity with the Palestinian people”.
A few weeks earlier, he had told a New York audience: “The problem in today’s world is not between Christians, Muslims or Jews but it’s really between the extremists and democracy.”
He said “moderation is, you know, based on certain principles and very sound values, like justice. It calls for us to be bold enough to occupy the centre stage and the moral high ground.”
He responded in part to the recent Charlie Hebdo slayings: “If you criticise other religions because of freedom, it will have severe repercussions.”
Anwar’s jailing – widely condemned by foreign governments including Australia and the US, and by legal and human rights organisations – raises questions about which is the real Najib, the real Malaysia, about how moderate, democratic and ultimately modern the country truly is. Read the rest of this entry »
Sodomy II is not Saiful v Anwar
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, UMNO on Wednesday, 18 February 2015, 9:41 am
– Nawawi Mohamad
The Malaysian Insider
18 February 2015
To everyone who thought that Sodomy II is the case of opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim versus his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan – you got it wrong.
Sodomy II is Umno versus Anwar. Saiful is just the pawn who played his part and after the first stage of the plan to jail Anwar was accomplished, the next stage and the rest of the stages were taken care of by Umno.
Everyone in the team against Anwar – the police, doctors, chemist and judges – are government servants appointed by the arms of the Umno-Barisan Nasional (BN) government. Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah was also under the government’s payroll. So could they really be fair and independent?
We have witnessed a concerted effort during the trial of the Altantuya murder case that no one asked the duo Sirul Azhar Umar and Azilah Hadri who gave the order to kill and get the motive of the murder despite knowing that they were paid to kill.
Similarly the whole exercise in the Sodomy II trial, everyone wanted to make sure that every event, evidence, person and witness involved, no matter what, must lead to the jailing of Anwar. Read the rest of this entry »
Nik Aziz dianggap liberal dalam usaha pecah tembok perkauman, kata pemimpin PAS
The Malaysian Insider
18 February 2015
Sebelum sebahagian pemimpin dilabelkan sebagai liberal dan mengamalkan pluralisme agama, Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, mursyidul am PAS yang meninggal dunia Khamis lepas, terlebih dahulu menerima label sedemikian, kata Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
Pengarah Pusat Penyelidikan PAS itu berkata, golongan agamawan, sama ada dari luar mahupun dalam parti PAS sendiri, tidak memahami strategi siasah dan pendekatan dakwah Nik Aziz dalam memecahkan tembok perkauman dan agama di negara ini.
“Hanya dengan ilmu yang mengizinkan Tok Guru meneroka dan merentas keluasan siasah dan dakwah serta faham batas-batasnya,” kata Dr Dzulkefly dalam satu tulisan sempena mengingati pemergian Nik Aziz, yang juga dikenali dengan panggilan Tok Guru, pada usia 84 tahun minggu lalu.
Label itu katanya, diterima Nik Aziz kerana orang tidak memahami pendekatannya yang luar biasa dalam menangani masyarakat plural dan pelbagai agama dan kaum di negara ini. Read the rest of this entry »
Public corruption in China: Then and now
Posted by Kit in Corruption on Wednesday, 18 February 2015, 7:45 am
Richard Wong
South China Morning Post
17 February, 2015
China has waged a campaign against public corruption for the past two years and there is no sign of abatement. At first, there was speculation it was a cover for a power struggle and therefore would be short-lived. Increasingly, it appears to be a means of forging a new social contract for the post-Deng era.
The social contract forged by Deng Xiaoping traded market-driven economic growth for political stability. Some individuals and families amassed huge fortunes in the process. Many were private entrepreneurs whose gains were made through fair market competition, but others were public officials who captured economic benefits through the exercise of political influence. The rise of this public corruption has incensed the public.
Some commentators allege that corruption might be inherent to Chinese culture because, for over two thousand years, the traditional Chinese economy was quite corrupt despite failing to grow.
But the public corruption that existed in traditional China is fundamentally different in nature from that which has appeared in a modernising China. Read the rest of this entry »
DAP’s SSS (Support Sympathy Solidarity) Anwar Ceramah has 3SAVE objectives – to save Anwar from prison, to save Pakatan Rakyat from disintegration and to save Malaysia from becoming a “failed state”
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Kelantan, Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat on Wednesday, 18 February 2015, 5:58 am
This is the third DAP SSS (Support Sympathy Solidarity) Anwar Ibrahim Ceramah, the first in Taman Cheras Jaya in Selangor on Sunday and the second at the Han Chiang School Hall in Penang last night.
DAP proposes to organize hundreds of SSS Anwar ceramahs, vigils, gatherings and events throughout the country in the next three years before the 14th General Elections with 3Save objectives – firstly, to save Anwar from prison, secondly to save Pakatan Rakyat from disintegration and thirdly, to save Malaysia from becoming a “failed state”.
Anwar has exhausted the judicial process and lost out when the Federal Court returned a shocking 5-0 unanimous decision to dismiss Anwar’s appeal, as even the most pessimistic about Anwar’s chances believing that he would lose in the Federal Court appeal had expected either a 3-2 verdict or at worst a 4-1 decision.
Everybody was floored by the unanimous 5-0 decision. There were not only no dissenting judgment, there was no other judgment from the five-member Federal Court quorum, apart from the single judgment by the Chief Justice, Tun Arifin Zakaria!
Anwar may have lost in the courts of the Malaysian judiciary, but he has won two battles in the first week of his five-year jail sentence – firstly, the court of public opinion in Malaysia and secondly, the court of international opinion, as it will not be easy to find another Federal Court judgment in the past two decades which had met with such instant universal condemnation, not only inside the country but also outside. Read the rest of this entry »
From Sodomy I to Sodomy II – Malaysia regressing to the darkness and repression 17 years ago when the country should be moving forward to greater freedom, justice, prosperity and confidence after the passage of almost two decades
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Corruption, Court, Economics, Mahathir, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, Religion, Sarawak on Tuesday, 17 February 2015, 4:46 pm
Wishing all Malaysian Chinese as well as Malaysians, regardless of race or religion, a Happy Chinese New Year as it is now a festivity celebrated by all Malaysians regardless of race and religion.
Chinese New Year, which begins on the second new moon after the winter solstice, has been described as the most important holiday for Chinese people worldwide.
In China, it is marked by the world’s largest annual human migrations with 2.8 billion trips made across the country in the mass exodus of students, migrant labourers, factory workers and office employees making their long journeys home to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
Chinese New Year in Malaysia has become a very Malaysian affair, despite its ethnic origins and associations.
In Malaysia, the Chinese New Year is also marked by major human migrations, but not confined to the Chinese as it affects other ethnic groups as well.
Many issues will jostle for top attention among Malaysians during the Chinese New Year. Read the rest of this entry »
Wong Chen: Why you should sign the petition!
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, TPPA on Tuesday, 17 February 2015, 4:35 pm
By Martin Jalleh
