Gani Patail should explain why the sedition blitz has stepped up in pace and intensity after his Sept. 9 pledge to review the slew of sedition prosecutions
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Crime, Najib Razak on Thursday, 2 October 2014, 3:58 pm
The Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail should explain why the sedition blitz to invoke a climate of fear and repression has stepped up in pace and intensity in the past three weeks since his pledge to review the slew of sedition prosecutions.
Gani had said on Sept. 9 that those charged under the Sedition Act, including law professor Dr. Azmi Sharom, were “currently having their cases reviewed”, and he described the review “a normal procedure”.
Is Gani also implying that the intensification of malicious and selective sedition prosecutions and investigations against Opposition leaders and activists during the tenure of such a review is also “a normal procedure”?
Gani said on Sept. 9 that the final decision on the review of sedition prosecutions will be made “soon”.
Can Gani explain how soon is his “soon”? Could it be as long as months and even years, until he steps down as Attorney-General?
Read the rest of this entry »
Why Indonesia banned ISIS
Posted by Kit in Islamic state on Thursday, 2 October 2014, 11:58 am
— Dominic Berger
The Malay Mail Online
October 1, 2014
OCTOBER 1 — Like in all democracies, the proscription of terrorist groups in Indonesia is a politically delicate and legally ambiguous process.
It requires the government to articulate convincing justifications for a ban, as well as provide adequate legal mechanisms for its implementation.
An examination of both suggests that when Indonesia banned ISIS in August 2014, it did so for much more complex reasons than fear of violent terrorism.
When ISIS captured large swathes of territory in Syria and northern Iraq and images of shocking violence made news around the world, the Indonesian public, and the government, remained largely pre-occupied with its most fiercely contested presidential election campaign in a decade. Despite signs throughout the first half of 2014 that Indonesia would eventually be forced to address the ISIS threat, the government and the public remained relatively uninterested. Back in March, even a public demonstration by ISIS supporters at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout in central Jakarta drew neither the media’s nor the government’s attention. It took the appearance of a video on YouTube, titled Join the Ranks, in which an Indonesian ISIS fighter in Syria urged fellow Indonesians to join ISIS, to sharply focus the government’s attention on the growing ISIS-threat to Indonesia. Read the rest of this entry »
After two court victories, Mkini still denied permit
Malaysiakini
Oct 2, 2014
The government has yet again rejected Malaysiakini’s application for a publication permit for a daily newspaper despite the courts twice ruling that the independent news portal has the right to publish.
In a letter received by Malaysiakini chief executive officer Premesh Chandran last week, the Home Ministry said the rejection was because the news portal “often causes controversy” by publishing news that could “distress” the people.
Home Ministry’s Publications Control and Al-Quran Text Division head Hashimah Nik Jaafar also stressed that the reports “could cause hatred towards national leaders”.
“The ministry had decided not to approve the application for a publication permit on the basis that the news published by Malaysiakini’s online portal often causes controversy and is not neutral…
“Such news, if published in the print format, will cause shock and distress among the public. Sensitive issues are also published in the form of news, commentary, opinions and readers’ comments which could cause hatred towards national leaders,” she said. Read the rest of this entry »
Latest rebuttals to the DPM and PM’s boasts of Malaysia as “world’s best democracy” and “world’s best education system”
Posted by Kit in Crime, Education, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak, university on Wednesday, 1 October 2014, 1:49 pm
Malaysians woke up this morning to further and latest rebuttals to the Deputy Prime Minister and the Prime Minister’s boasts of Malaysia as the “one of the world’s best education system” and “world’s best democracy”.
Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s boast that Malaysia has “one of the world’s best education system” was given a bloody nose by the report that Malaysian universities again failed to make the cut to this year’s Times Higher Education (THE) top 200 global rankings while Singapore’s National University (which shared the same beginnings with University of Malaya) leapt into the top 25 universities list.
The Malay Mail Online in its report “Malaysian universities not in top 200 global rankings, Singapore’s improves” said the latest index shows a significant drop for Malaysian universities from last year’s ranking.
Muhyiddin has been Education Minister for more than five years since 2009.
He should make a Ministerial statement when Parliament resumes next Tuesday on Oct. 7 why all efforts during year tenure as Education Minister for over five years have failed to restore Malaysia’s high international standing in university academic repute and excellence in the fifties and sixties – to the extent that for five consecutive years, none of the Malaysian universities had been able to be ranked among the THE Top 200 University Rankings. Read the rest of this entry »
We are the weeds with fire
Posted by Kit in Human Rights, Malaysian Dream on Tuesday, 30 September 2014, 8:53 pm
By Sharon Chin
Malaysiakini
Sep 30, 2014
COMMENT I’ve wondered what it was like to be grown-up during Operasi Lalang. I was seven that year – truly a child of former premier Mahathir Mohamad, who came to power in 1981, and ordered the government crackdown on political dissidents and activists in 1987. Over a hundred people were arrested under the Internal Security Act, and many of them got sent to jail.
People who lived through that time are calling this recent spate of arrests and convictions under the Sedition Act ‘Ops Lalang 2′. DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang blogged about a “…climate of fear in the country, as if we are in the midst of a ‘white terror’…” Former Bersih co-chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan declared to rousing applause at a forum: “…We are no ‘lalang’ (weed). We’re going to stand up today.”
Perhaps the confusion and fear in 1987 was the same as ours is now. Maybe parents chided in lowered voices about being careful what you write or say, at least until “this blows over. You never know”.
The same but not the same. Read the rest of this entry »
DAP’s newest recruit in niqab sparks vitriol from critics
The Malay Mail Online
September 30, 2014
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 30 — Dressed in a niqab — the veil which covers her face leaving only her eyes visible — 22-year-old Jamila Rahim makes an unlikely face for the DAP, a secular political party that is mostly Chinese.
So much so that her public announcement and appearance as the DAP’s latest recruit has sparked a huge storm on the Internet, with a pro-Umno blog telling the young novelist and activist that she would be better off being a “whore” than joining the opposition party.
But Jamila, popularly known as Melati, is unfazed.
“I think the voice of the activists is quite the minority. Not everyone wants to listen to the voice of activists,” Melati told the DAP’s news portal Roketkini in an interview published today.
“If party members are not with them, who else will be? At least those who join political parties can deliver their voices,” she added.
The University of Selangor graduate said she joined the party to represent the activist community, which she said was marginalised during her four years of activism. Read the rest of this entry »
Melati Move – Langkah ‘ninja’
Wawancara
Roketkini
30 September 2014
Langkah novelis Pelacur Kelas Pertama Melati Rahim menyertai DAP secara senyap-senyap hampir sahaja mengabsahkan perawakan separa ninja yang dibawanya. Ya, Melati gadis berpurdah. Tutup semua, sehingga yang kelihatan hanyalah dua biji matanya.
Langkah ninja Melati disusun melalui cerpennya di Roketkini, yang menyelitkan di hujung tulisan bahawa Melati ini ahli DAP. Dengan harapan, ada mana-mana media yang mengutip maklumat tersebut. Ternyata ada, boleh baca di sini.
Gadis Melayu berpurdah masuk DAP bukan perkara biasa. Malah ada yang di dalam DAP sendiri masih terkejut dengan “Melati Move” ini. Sebenarnya, Roketkini sudah dudukkan Melati dan bertanyakan tujuan menyertai DAP secara bertentang mata.
Adakah sebab banyak orang menghalang-halang Melayu dari mendekat dengan DAP maka kau pun macam ‘ahhh.. aku nak masuk DAP lah’
Tak tak tak.. Aku masuk DAP bukan sebab tu. Aku tengok Perlembagaan DAP dan aku perhatikan sikap beberapa orang wakil rakyat DAP. Aku pergi rumah mereka ni… rumah mereka sangat biasa. Membuatkan aku rasa ‘alahai normal betul’.
Ada yang cakap pada aku ‘Kalau nak masuk parti, jangan fikir nak jadi YB. Kita kena fikirkan perjuangan dan perjuangan kita adalah untuk rakyat’. Benda ini aku tak nampak pada parti lain. Read the rest of this entry »
Sedition rampage continues but Zahid has not honoured his oath that police will commence investigations “within 24 hours” on any sedition report as 120 hours have passed but still no police investigations against Najib and Mahathir
Posted by Kit in Islamic state, Mahathir, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 30 September 2014, 1:27 pm
Another university lecturer is the latest victim in the lengthening list of the sedition crackdown intensified by the Najib government in the fortnight before the 57th Merdeka Day celebrations – Dr. Abdul Aziz Bari of the Universiti Selangor, who will be investigated by the police tomorrow under the Sedition Act after almost 100 reports were lodged against him for allegedly insulting the Sultan of Selangor for his views on the Selangor Mentri Besar constitutional crisis.
The sedition rampage continues, as hardly a day passes in the past month without someone being investigated or charged for sedition as if Malaysians have suddenly become the most “seditious” and anti-nationhal people in the world.
However, the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi has not honoured his oath that police will commence investigations “within 24 hours” on any sedition report as 120 hours have passed but still no police investigations had been commenced against the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir.
The DAP MP for Segambut Lim Lip Eng lodged police reports 120 hours ago last Wednesday against Najib and Mahathir respectively for having committed the sedition offence, but police investigations on both of them had not commenced although Mahathir had given the police a blank cheque to arrest him if he had broken the law. Read the rest of this entry »
Earth lost 50% of its wildlife in the past 40 years, says WWF
Posted by Kit in environment on Tuesday, 30 September 2014, 9:10 am
Damian Carrington
The Guardian
29 September 2014
Species across land, rivers and seas decimated as humans kill for food in unsustainable numbers and destroy habitats
The number of wild animals on Earth has halved in the past 40 years, according to a new analysis. Creatures across land, rivers and the seas are being decimated as humans kill them for food in unsustainable numbers, while polluting or destroying their habitats, the research by scientists at WWF and the Zoological Society of London found.
“If half the animals died in London zoo next week it would be front page news,” said Professor Ken Norris, ZSL’s director of science. “But that is happening in the great outdoors. This damage is not inevitable but a consequence of the way we choose to live.” He said nature, which provides food and clean water and air, was essential for human wellbeing.
“We have lost one half of the animal population and knowing this is driven by human consumption, this is clearly a call to arms and we must act now,” said Mike Barratt, director of science and policy at WWF. He said more of the Earth must be protected from development and deforestation, while food and energy had to be produced sustainably.
The steep decline of animal, fish and bird numbers was calculated by analysing 10,000 different populations, covering 3,000 species in total. This data was then, for the first time, used to create a representative “Living Planet Index” (LPI), reflecting the state of all 45,000 known vertebrates. Read the rest of this entry »
ISIS+Al-Nusra Front? Islamists reportedly join forces, new threat against West issued
Posted by Kit in International, Islamic state on Tuesday, 30 September 2014, 9:00 am
RT
September 29, 2014
Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front has issued a new threatening audio message featuring its leader warning the West “will pay the heaviest price” for its actions. The Syrian group is reportedly now joining up with the estranged Islamic State militants.
The leader of Syria’s most prominent terrorist group, Abu Mohamad al-Golani, in denouncing the US-led air strike campaign, has urged Westerners everywhere to do the same “by standing against the decisions of your rulers,” otherwise bloodshed would be brought to their soil.
“Muslims will not watch while their sons are bombed. Your leaders will not be the only ones who would pay the price of the war. You will pay the heaviest price,” Reuters cited him as saying. He threatened viewers that the fight would be brought “to the hearts of your homes.”
The US-led coalition has been involved in airstrikes against what until lately it thought was the most dangerous group in the Middle East – the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). Read the rest of this entry »
In tale of ‘Rainbow Loom’ maker, racial quota rears its head again
Posted by Kit in Brain drain on Tuesday, 30 September 2014, 8:31 am
The Malay Mail Online
SEPTEMBER 27, 2014
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 27 — “Rainbow Loom” creator Ng Cheong Choon’s story of how he came to invent the toy fad begins much like that of former Malaysians who head for greener pastures after being allegedly deprived by racial quotas here.
Writing of his experience in British daily The Guardian, the creator of the colourful rubber bracelets said he and his brother were forced to head to the US for their education in 1991, despite barely being able to speak any English.
“After school, I dreamed of becoming an engineer, but I could not get into my local university, because Malaysia’s race-based quota system limits the number of ethnically Chinese students.
“Like many of my friends, I had to leave Malaysia to go to university,” Ng wrote in his article for The Guardian. Read the rest of this entry »
US admits there is a much scarier terrorist group than ISIS
Posted by Kit in International on Monday, 29 September 2014, 9:08 pm
RT
September 21, 2014
New intelligence has emerged warning Washington that its upcoming confrontation with the Islamic State may leave it blind to a more sinister and direct threat from a much lesser known terrorist group that has arisen from the ashes of the Syrian war.
Very little information is being released at the moment by anyone within American intelligence circles, but the group calling itself Khorasan is said by officials to have concrete plans for striking targets in the United States and Europe as a chosen modus operandi – more so than the Islamic State (IS), formerly known as ISIS.
The first ever mention of the group occurred on Thursday at an intelligence gathering in Washington DC, when National Intelligence Director James Clapper admitted that “in terms of threat to the homeland, Khorasan may pose as much of a danger as the Islamic State.”
According to the New York Times, some US officials have gone as far as saying that, while the Islamic State is undoubtedly more prominent in its show of force in the Middle East, it is Khorasan who’s intent on oversees campaigns in a way Al Qaeda usually is.
In this sense, the US air strike campaign and the coming actions by the anti-IS coalition might just be what coaxes the IS into larger-scale attacks on American and European soil – what Khorasan is essentially all about. Read the rest of this entry »
Armed with cell phones, Hong Kong’s young protesters ‘increasingly not scared’
Posted by Kit in International on Monday, 29 September 2014, 8:43 pm
By Wilfred Chan, CNN
September 29, 2014
Hong Kong (CNN) — It was 10 PM on Sunday and 22-year-old Michelle Li, a dancer, was supposed to be in her room doing homework.
But when she saw Facebook updates of police tear gassing pro-democracy protesters in downtown Hong Kong, she was too agitated to study. Within minutes, she followed online postings to the protest site itself — and soon had tear gas fired at her as well.
Only then did she peel her eyes from her mobile device. “While we were waging battle, we screamed out news to each other,” she tells CNN. “But before and after, I’d update people on the internet.”
It’s a high-tech response to a high-stress situation. Read the rest of this entry »
Reaffirmation of common policy framework and the consensus principle are the two prerequisites to restore public confidence in Pakatan Rakyat and save it from the fate of being a one general-election wonder
Posted by Kit in Elections, Pakatan Rakyat on Monday, 29 September 2014, 11:51 am
Pakatan Rakyat has emerged from its worst crisis in its six-year history.
Pessimists, whether inside the coalition or outside, have grave doubts about the continued viability of Pakatan Rakyat while optimists are a distinct minority.
Meanwhile UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders and strategists are working overtime to sow dissension and fan division in Pakatan Rakyat.
Yesterday, for instance, the UMNO mouthpiece Mingguan Malaysia carried a special article entitled “Nasib Pas selepas muktamar” alleging that PAS was being “bullied” by DAP while elsewhere in the non-Malay media, MCA and Gerakan leaders continue with their propaganda that DAP was being bullied by PAS.
Both allegations are equally preposterous and untrue, but the UMNO/Barisan Nasional propagandists are not interested in upholding the truth but in disseminating lies and falsehoods to sow dissension and conflict within the Pakatan Rakyat.
It will be a bonus to these UMNO/BN propagandists if they could get a few in PAS to believe that the PAS is being bullied by DAP and a few in DAP to believe that DAP is bullied by PAS in Pakatan Rakyat, for this will aggravate tensions and conflict in the Pakatan Rakyat. Read the rest of this entry »
Second of Three Parts: Molding Our Students
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa on Monday, 29 September 2014, 8:53 am
A Modest Proposal for the Champions of Ketuanan Melayu
by M. Bakri Musa
[In Part One I suggested that our current obsession with the presumed deficiencies of our race and our undisguised resentment over the successes of others are but expressions of frus (frustration) and fury for our own lack of competitiveness and productivity. We should focus instead on remedying both, and begin with our young, especially those promising ones at our SBPs.]
It may seem obvious but needs to be stated explicitly: We must prepare these students for top universities the moment they step foot at a SBP. That’s how they do it elsewhere. American students aspiring to top universities begin their preparation upon entering high school, or even earlier. The courses they take, their extra-curricular programs as well as their summer activities are all geared towards this central mission.
My grandchildren who are in an American school in Singapore have assigned reading lists for the summer, and they are still in primary school! Likewise, SBP students must have mandatory reading lists and writing assignments during their long holidays. The purpose is two-fold. One is to prevent attrition of knowledge and study skills during the long hiatus, and the other, to inculcate the habit of reading and writing. It impresses upon them that those skills are not just for examinations.
Once when I took my family on an overseas trip, my son’s teacher asked him to keep a journal to be shared with his class while my daughter was assigned to study a Malay folk tale. In high school my son was invited to spend his summer break at Ames Research Center.
I speak with some experience. When my daughter entered Harvard Law School over 15 years ago, she was the first Malaysian to enroll there. There has not been another since. One of my sons works for an agency that prepares students for selective universities. Read the rest of this entry »
Eat. Pray. Jihad. Malaysians fighting for IS in Syria say Prophet demands it
The Malay Mail Online
September 29, 2014
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 ― Ahmad Salman Abdul Rahim chose to leave his job at a Malaysian construction company to fight alongside jihadists in Syria for a reason he says is 1,400 years old: The Prophet Muhammad demands it.
Muhammad, the founder of Islam, once advised a companion to fight in the area that makes up modern-day Syria and predicted that Allah would send an “army of mujahideen” to the region, Ahmad said. He said he’s there to avenge Muslims tortured and killed by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
“We are portrayed as terrorists but I don’t care as this affair is between me and God,” UK-educated Ahmad, 38, said via Facebook messages from near Kfar Zeta in Syria’s Hama region. “Many of the end-of-times battles will happen around Syria. That’s among the reasons why I am here.”
As nations around the world grapple with the threat of Islamic State, the Southeast Asians fighting in the Middle East pose a risk in several ways, security analysts say. They could return and breathe new life into militant groups in a region with a history of extremism and occasional large-scale terror attacks, and they could radicalize friends and family at home via social media, aided by slick Islamic State promotional videos.
“It is not IS per se that might pose a danger to the region but rather its extreme militant ideology as well as the skills, battleground experience and international networks that Southeast Asian jihadists got from Syria and Iraq,” said Navhat Nuraniyah, an associate research fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies who looks at terrorism and radicalization. Read the rest of this entry »
A dangerous precedent in Selangor
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Selangor on Sunday, 28 September 2014, 5:36 pm
By P Gunasegaram
Malaysiakini
Sep 24, 2014
QUESTION TIME Most legal authorities and previous judgments on such issues are clear on one thing – the sultan/governor/Agong must choose the candidate who is most likely to command the support of the majority of the state assembly or Parliament for the post of menteri besar/chief minister/prime minister.
And where it is clear that a single candidate commands that majority support, there is no need for the titular head of state to ask for any other names to be nominated but he has to follow the constitutional duty of endorsing the candidate who legally commands the majority support.
This is what a constitutional monarchy is about, where the the head of state lies above politics, does not interfere in the administration of the state, and whose only role here is an important, non-partisan one of ensuring the person who commands the support of the majority of the assembly is the chosen one.
That is the essence of Parliamentary democracy and this must not be allowed to be played around with by any party as the will of the people is reflected through elections in the composition of the state assembly and Parliament. The role of the monarch is to ensure that the will prevails no matter what. Read the rest of this entry »
Kit Siang warns BN may retake Kelantan
Posted by Kit in Kelantan, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, Selangor on Sunday, 28 September 2014, 1:58 pm
By Nigel Aw
Malaysiakini
1:00PM Sep 28, 2014
Amid a backlash against PAS over its teetering in the Selangor crisis, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang has warned that PAS-led Kelantan government may fall into the hands of BN.
Lim said this would be the case if the 4.5 percent vote swing against PAS and by extension Pakatan Rakyat, is replicated in other constituencies in the state.
“If Pengkalan Kubor happens (in all of Kelantan), Pakatan will only get 20 seats and BN will capture 25 seats.
“That means the power to rule in Kelantan would be lost,” he told a DAP fundraising dinner in Petaling Jaya last night.
Lim’s warning comes a week after PAS Youth chief Suhaizan Kaiat warned that the Islamic party’s support among local Kelantanese had fallen below 50 percent, according to a post-mortem by the party’s central committee. Read the rest of this entry »
S’gor PAS duo gets heroes’ welcome by DAP
Posted by Kit in Pakatan Rakyat, Selangor on Sunday, 28 September 2014, 1:44 pm
By Nigel Aw
Malaysiakini
8:52AM Sep 28, 2014
Branded traitors by PAS, Selangor assemblypersons Saari Sungib and Hasnul Baharuddin who defied their party to stand with Pakatan Rakyat in the Selangor crisis received a heroes’ welcome from Chinese supporters at a DAP fundraising dinner last night.
The duo, who were seated beside DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang, received a standing ovation from the largely Chinese audience as several DAP leaders described them as “saviours of Pakatan Rakyat”.
“Thank you Saari and Hasnul, that we still have a Pakatan government. You are not traitors, you are the rakyat’s heroes,” declared former Selangor exco Ronnie Liu at the 70-table dinner in Petaling Jaya last night. Read the rest of this entry »
Jayalalithaa’s conviction shows that the law prevails
Posted by Kit in Corruption on Sunday, 28 September 2014, 8:23 am
Mail Online India
27 September 2014
In a society submerged in corruption, a serving chief minister being stripped of her job for amassing wealth beyond her valid sources of income, brings a reassuring hope the law – despite being painfully slow – does apply to everyone.
Thanks to the court order, Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalitha will be the first elected chief minister to lose her post, as a result of which, she will not be able to contest elections.
Jayalalitha now joins powerful politicians like Lalu Prasad and Om Prakash Chautala to be imprisoned in a corruption case after being convicted by court. Read the rest of this entry »
