Thursday, December 31, 2009

Umno man says ‘Allah’ judgment will stir racial tension -


Herald's editor, Father Lawrence makes his way into the High Court today

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A jubilant Father Lawrence holds up an Arabic version of the Holy Bible, said to contain the word Allah



One of Umno’s known hawks, Pasir Salak MP Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman, lambasted the High Court judgment on the ‘Allah’ case today, saying that it would not solve anything but only ignite racial and religious tension.

The High Court today lifted the home minister’s ban against the Catholic church from publishing the word “Allah” to refer to the Christian God in its weekly paper, Herald.

The landmark decision may be of joy for some 850,000 Catholics in the country but for Tajuddin, the suit itself, filed by Herald’s lawyers, is an act of provocation.

“What is their motive (for the suit) ? Why all of a sudden they want to use the word Allah when all this while they have been using the term God?

“This is definitely provocation, they are just using all this human rights, religious rights as excuses. This is sensitive to the Muslims and this will create racial and religious tension,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

The controversy over the word “Allah” has stirred huge debate among Christians and Muslims alike in Malaysia and attracted international attention as well.

The Home Minister, who controls giving the annual mandatory publishing permits in the country, had banned the church from using the word “Allah” outside the Muslim context.

But some have questioned if there can be a copyright over the word “Allah”, which Muslim representatives here say is a special word reserved to refer to the Muslim God, meaning “the one and only Almighty”.

The act of questioning the exclusivity of the word “Allah” for Muslims said Tajuddin is a clear indicator that “certain quarters” have become “bolder”.

“They have dared to do these things because the Muslims have been soft..but if you put some one in a corner, they will bounce back,” lamented the Pasir Salak MP.

“What the High Court thinks is right, may not necessarily be right outside (the court),” he added.

Meanwhile PAS vice-president Datuk Mahfuz Omar said Muslims must respect the decision of the High Court and remain calm.

“We must not be hasty and jump to conclusions. We should let the religious authorities to decide on its next course of action,” he said.

Asked if he agreed with the decision, Mahfuz ignored the question and reiterated that the country’s Muslims must respect the High Court decision and allow the religious authority to decide on its next course of action.

Though it is unclear if the Home Minister will seek to reverse the decision through the Appellate Court but he is likely to do so given the sensitivity of the issue.

Caution celebration over Allah Judgement.

However, despite the optimism, people are still wary as some fear that this may not be the end of it all, as the Home Ministry may still bring the matter to the Court of Appeal.

“We welcome the decision of the High Court because it affirms the constitutional rights guaranteed to religious communities under Article 11 of the Federal Constitution,” said Reverend Herman Shastri, who is the general-secretary for the Council of Churches.

Shastri, in a phone interview with The Malaysian Insider, affirmed that for many centuries Muslims and Christians had been living together in peace in Malaysia, and that the use of the word “Allah” has never been an issue of contention. With the decision, he hopes that Christians in the country may continue with their religious practices because the term itself is embedded in their daily worship as well as bible classes in the country.

“We hope that now that the matter has been solved, Muslims and Christians throughout the country can now focus on bringing peace and goodwill with one another, and contribute to the well-being of our nation.”

Non-governmental organisatios (NGOs) such as Penang-based Aliran who have long fought for liberal ideas of justice and equality lauded the court’s decision, but at the same time chose to inculcate a sense of ‘wary optimism’ as it looks at the decision made today.

“Aliran says InsyaAllah. The High Court has restored sanity to the issue by lifting the ban on the use of the word “Allah” among Christians, which to begin with was an insane ruling in the first place.

“Imagine, if in the past various communities had claimed exclusiveness to their words and prohibited the use of their words, we would be in a ridiculous situation,” said P Ramakrishnan, president of Aliran.

Ramakrisnan, in spite of the happy news, exercised caution in the ruling as he hoped that the matter would not be dragged on any further and be put to rest.

Aliran hopes that this matter will be left to rest in pieces. It should not be a case of winning round 1 and losing round 2,” quipped the Aliran man alluding to the possibility that the decision of the court may not auger well with the Home Ministry.

Meanwhile, DAP Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua remained somewhat sceptical of the matter, although he initially expressed joy upon receiving the news.

“I am happy but two things need to be asked. I hope that the Home Ministry will not appeal the decision and not alter the freedom of religion to be practiced, and that the High Court judge who made the decision, I hope he would not be transferred to another court.”

Pua attested that the decision made showed a “strong community within the judges of the high court in exerting their influences.”

That being said, the PJ Utara MP feared that should the case be brought to the Court of Appeal, the Home Ministry would have a strong chance of winning as the “Appeal Court at many times functioned to serve the government of the day.”

The government had said that the ban was necessary to avoid confusing the majority Muslims in the country. Islam is the official religion in Malaysia.

But the church claimed the ban violates its constitutional rights to practice its religion freely.

According to Father Lawrence Andrew who edits Herald, the term “Allah” has been used by Christians in the region to refer to their God since four hundred years ago. He added that it is still actively used today.

Lawrence explained that “Allah” in the Christian context is used to refer to the trinitarian concept of “God the Father” which is different from the Muslim use of the verse to refer to the “one and only God”.

Herald’s editor claims the use of the word has not died out and is still being used in church worship among indigenous East Malaysians, who form a substantial number of the Christian faithful in the country.

The church first took the government to court last year after the home ministry threatened to revoke its annual publishing permit for Herald, Malaysia’s only Catholic paper.

It was forced to refresh its suit again this year after its 2008 permit expired without any decision from the court.

Banning Christians from using the word "Allah" unconsitution,court told.

The Catholic Church finally had its day in open court to defend its right to the use of the word “Allah”, arguing today banning its usage to refer to the Christian God was unconstitutional.

Months of legal arguments in the judges chambers and frequent disruptions by major Muslim groups had held back today’s proceedings from happening sooner.

Counsel for the Catholic Church, which publishes a weekly paper called Herald, argued that the Home Minister had gone against the Federal Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, when he introduced new conditions banning the use of the word “Allah” to mean any God other than the Muslim God.

Under section 12 of the Printing Presses and Publications Act, the Home Minister, who has full discretion in issuing a publishing licence and may place certain conditions to prevent abuse, had overstepped his power.

The team of five lawyers, led by Porres Royan, highlighted that the Federal Constitution protects the fundamental rights of religious minorities in Malaysia to carry out their worship freely.

In Article 3(1) of the Federal Constititution, Islam is acknowledged to be the official religion of the country, but at the same time, other religions can be practised in peace and harmony, said Porres.

The senior lawyer added that other parts of the Federal Constitution support the law equally, namely Article 11(3)(a) which states that every religion has the right to manage its own affairs, Article 10(1)(a) which guarantees freedom of speech and Article 8(1) which notes that every citizen is equal in the eyes of the law and entitled to equal protection under law.

Porres also noted that Christianity pre-dates Islam and made references to several early English-Malay versions of the Bible, including one by renowned Malay scholar Munsyi Abdullah who in 1852 filled in the word for God in the Christian sense as “Allah”.

Porres said several states had passed a law to “control or restrict the propagation of any religious doctrine among persons professing the religion of Islam” but had been misread to “criminalise” the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims.

“Even if section 9 is valid, the use of the word 'Allah' by one non-Muslim or by a person professing a non-Islamic religion to another cannot by any stretch of the imagination amount to the propagation of a religious belief or doctrine among persons professing the religion of Islam,” he said.

“In the case of the Herald, Herald is a propagation of the Catholic Church meant for Christians and is not meant for persons professing the religion of Islam. In fact, the second condition imposed by the minister, that is endorsing the word 'Terhad' and that only distribution is in churches.

“It must mean there is no propagation among persons professing Islam,” the lawyer stressed.

The Home Minister's decision seems to turn guidelines for getting a publishing permit into a rule by which it may shut down and shut out bodies which publish dissenting views.

Influential Muslim groups, such as the state Islamic councils for the Federal Territory, Selangor and Penang among four others and the Chinese-Muslim association, which had been kicked out of the fight between the Herald and the Home Minister by the High Court previously, returned today in another bid to stop the suit.

They put in a fresh application to be made parties jointly with the lawyers for the home minister before High Court judge Datuk Lau Bee Lan in her chambers this morning, which delayed the hearing from taking place in open court for almost two hours.

According to the church's counsel, the judge said she would reserve judgment on the Muslim groups for later.

Hearing will resume with submissions from senior federal counsel for the Home Minister after the lunch break.

Senior federal counsel from the Attorney General's Chambers, Datuk Kamaludin Md Said, argued that the church has no right to sue the home minister after it had applied for and received a publishing permit when it knew fully there were conditions attached.

“Condition is part and parcel of the permit, which is in Form B. Permit without condition is not a permit,” Kamaludin said.

He added that the home minister also has the right to add on or change the conditions at any time and permit-holders are forced to accept those new terms and conditions wholesale.

Pointing to Section 13(a)(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act, he told the court it was an “ouster clause” which protects the home minister's decisions from being challenged in court.

“You cannot challenge the condition. You can only challenge if the minister refuse to grant permit,” the government lawyer said.

“If minister refuses to grant permit upon application or subsequently revokes or suspends permit, then there is issue, meaning it can be challenged,” Kamaludin said.

He also claimed that the Printing Presses and Publications Act was among several laws provided for by the Federal Constititution to control the amount of “freedom” stipulated under Article 10, when countering the church's argument that the minister had acted unconstitutionally.

On the same score, the court must reject the church's claim that the state propagation enactments were “unconstitutional”.

“You cannot come to court and happily say Section 9 of state enactments is unfortunate. There must be some reasons for why such laws were enacted,” Kamaludin said.

The anti-propagation law was meant to “avoid creating confusion and misunderstanding” among the majority Muslim Malaysians who have grown up knowing the term “Allah” to be exclusive to their community.

He noted that Muslims all over the world – regardless of their language background – used the term “Allah” as a “special name” to refer to “the one and only God” and described the church's argument as “perverse” because in Islam, unlike Christianity, there is no alternative name.

“The applicant's submission that 'Allah' is 'God' and 'Tuhan' is 'Lord' is perverse,” the senior federal counsel said.

Kamaludin dismissed the church's stress on the historical significance of Christians in the country and region using the word “Allah” long before Muslims did as “not relevant” and added that there was no proof today the word was still being used in its original context among Malaysian Christians.

But he may have gone too far when he tried to counter the widespread use of Arab Christians who also use the word “Allah” to refer to their God.

Kamaludin claimed that Arab Christians believed that God was one, unlike Malaysian Christians who subscribe to the “trinity” concept of “God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost”.

Lawyers for the church appeared so stunned speechless by Kamaludin's claim, they could only shake their heads in disbelief.

Hearing will resume tomorrow morning with further submissions from Kamaludin's colleague, Mahamad Naser Disa.


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Court says ‘yes’ to Allah for Christians -Catholic Herald free to use ‘Allah’- Has been using for last 400 years.

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Father Lawrence Andrew editor for Catholic Herald magazine. Catholic version of Allah is Trinity God,the father ,the son and the holy Ghost.It's different for the Islam version which is the one and only God.The church claimed the ban violates its constititutional rights to practice its religion freely

It will be a glorious new year for some 850,000 Catholics in Malaysia.

In a landmark ruling today, the High Court here lifted the home minister’s ban against the Catholic church publishing the word “Allah” to refer to the Christian God in its weekly paper, Herald.

Counsel for the Herald, Porres Royan, told reporters outside the crowded court, “The court has granted the declaration that the applicant has the Constitutional right to use the word Allah. I believe the ministry is bound by the court’s decision.”

Senior Federal counsel Datuk Kamaludin Md Said said, “I was made to understand the ministry has already issued the permit for 2010.” The publishing permit for the Herald expires today.

He added that he will consult the ministry for new instruction, when asked about his next course of action.

The government had said that the ban was necessary to avoid confusing the majority Muslims in the country. Islam is the official religion in Malaysia.

But the church claimed the ban violates its constititutional rights to practice its religion freely.

According to Father Lawrence Andrew (picture) who edits Herald, the term “Allah” has been used by Christians in the region to refer to their God since four hundred years ago. He added that it is still actively used today.

Lawrence explained that “Allah” in the Christian context is used to refer to the trinitarian concept of “God the Father” which is different from the Muslim use of the verse to refer to the “one and only God”.

Herald’s editor claims the use of the word has not died out and is still being used in church worship among indigenous East Malaysians, who form a substantial number of the Christian faithful in the country.

The church first took the government to court last year after the home ministry threatened to revoke its annual publishing permit for Herald, Malaysia’s only Catholic paper.

It was forced to refresh its suit again this year after its 2008 permit expired without any decision from the court.

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Chinese MBA student detain for 8 days by Subang Jaya police.

A Chinese national is crying foul over profiling of foreign women by the authorities, following her eight-day detention by the Subang Jaya district police



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Bank Guard accidentally fired gun hit bank clerk+Death baby inside toilet bowl.

Pump gun accidentally misfire.Bank Clerk hurt.Guard shocked fainted.

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-The guard being wheeled out on a stretcher after he fainted when he was about to be taken to the police station. He accidentally fired a shot from his pump gun inside the bank premises.


Police detained a 35-year-old security guard after he accidentally fired a shot from his pump gun inside the Maybank premises in Jelutong yesterday.
The incident, which happened at 5pm, also slightly injured a female clerk's shoulder.

The guard caused a commotion when he fainted as he was about to be handcuffed and taken to the police station.

Acting district police chief Superintendent Gan Kong Meng confirmed the incident.

Dead 1 month old baby found stuffed inside toilet bowl.

In another incident, the body of an abandoned new-born baby girl was found stuffed inside a toilet bowl yesterday.

Southwest district police chief Superintendent Hatta Mohd Zain said a woman cleaner of a factory in Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone spotted the body at 2.30pm.

"The cleaner sensed something amiss in a toilet cubicle when she found the flush system jammed.

"She was shocked at seeing a pair of legs jutting out from the bottom of the toilet bowl." Hatta said.

He said the cleaner attempted to pull out the baby with her hands but the body was stuck.

Hatta said the cleaner then reported the incident to her supervisor and they alerted the Fire and Rescue Department. Firemen took nearly four hours to remove the dead baby from the toilet bowl.

"The firemen had to break the bowl with a sledgehammer to remove the body."

He said the baby girl was about a month old.

Hatta also said the police had arrested a 20-year-oldIndonesian factory worker whom they believed to be the baby's mother.

He said police were also on the trail of her accomplice, a compatriot of the suspect.

Hindraf's Waytha seeks RM100m for libel .Sue 10 people for money again.Last time was British.



The tussle between two Hindraf factions has escalated into a legal battle with the filing of a RM100 million suit by the movement's chairperson-in-exile P Waytha Moorthy against four individuals and six news organisations.


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In his statement of claim, Waytha Moorthy said the six news organisations carried statements of the four individuals who had alleged that he misappropriated public donations for Hindraf.

The four individuals are Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy, Sungkai state assemblyperson A Sivanesan, and two former ISA detainees V Ganabatirau and K Vasantha Kumar.

The six news organisations named as defendants are English daily The Star, online news portals Malaysiakini and The Malaysian Insider, and three Tamil dailies Makkal Osai, Tamil Nesan and Malaysia Nanban.

Exiled self-proclaimed Hindraf leader P. Waytha Moorthy has filed lawsuits totalling RM100 million against 10 people and organisations over claims that he mismanaged the outlawed organisation’s funds.

His brother, lawyer P. Uthayakumar, filed the suit on his behalf against Penang Deputy Chief Minister II Dr Ramasamy Palanisamy, Sungkai assemblyman Sivanesan Achalingam, Ganabatirau Veraman, ASP Vasantha Kumar Krishnan and six media organisation.

The media organisations are Makkal Osai, Tamil Nesan, Malaysia Nanban, Star Publications, M.Kini.Com (Malaysiakini) and The Malaysian Insider.

Uthayakumar explained that the suit was based on false allegations on the financial mismanagement in Hindraf published by the six media defendants.

“The media when they report, they cannot simply go around and report everything because it causes damage with far reaching consequences. So this is also a message to the press, just because somebody makes a statement you cannot go around publishing whatever you want,” he told reporters at the High Court here.

Uthayakumar also stressed that all 10 defendants cannot repeat the statement on the mishandling of funds by Waytha.

“They cannot publish or repeat the libellous statement because a civil suit has been filed specifically with regards to the plaintiff allegedly cheated and misused money collected from the Indian community,” he added.

Dr Ramasamy, Sivanesan, Ganabatirau and Vasantha are being sued for allegedly making false and incriminating accusation against the plantiff through the the six media organisation.

In his statement of claim, he said that Dr Ramasamy had written and published an article with false information defaming him in the Makkal Osai newspaper dated Aug 11, headlined Di mana wang RM700,000 yang telah dikutip, tunjukkan akaunnya, Dr Ramasamy mencabar Waytha Moorthy (“Where is the RM700,000 collected, show us the accounts, Dr Ramasamy challenges Waytha Moorthy”).

He also claimed that Sivanesan, Ganabatiau and Vasantha Kumar defamed him in several articles published in the Makkal Osai, The Star, Malaysia Nanban, Tamil Nesan and news portals The Malaysian Insider and Malaysiakini in July and August.

The four had used the six media to defame and tarnish his good name as the Hindraf (Hindu Rights Action Force) chairman, he said.

He added that the alleged defamatory words gave the meaning that he was a Hindraf leader without integrity and had cheated the Indian community of its money for the purpose of filing a civil suit agaisnt the British government in London.

He is seeking RM10mil in damages from each defendant, aggravated and exemplary damages and an injunction to restrain them from continuing to publish similar demafatory articles against him.

He also seeks several other court orders, including an injunction to restrain the four individuals from making any press statement on Hindraf


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WHO SAID IT WAS GUAN ENG'S OFFICE?RTM director wrote in blog someone in Guan Eng office now deny threat comes from CM Penang office.



Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) director-general Datuk Ibrahim Yahya (pic) is baffled by the decision to lodge a police report against him.

Ibrahim, also known as Tiger, told The Malay Mail this morning that he had not accused anyone of threatening him.

"It was never my intention to defame anyone from the first day I started blogging," he said.

Ibrahim reiterated that he had never claimed that the 'threat' had come from someone claiming to be from Lim Guan Eng's office.

The former Berita Harian chief news editor was responding to the Penang Chief Minister's political secretary lodging a police report against him yesterday afternoon concerning his Dec 26 blog posting.

In the post, Ibrahim had posted a comment left to him by a reader who claimed to be working at Lim's office.

The reader had allegedly threatened to send him to prison for the rest of his natural life because of the comments he wrote about DAP in his blog.

It is believed that the threat came as a reaction to two recent postings, 'Kerana Mulut Badan Binasa', posted on Christmas Day about Guan Eng's claim that Teoh Beng Hock had been murdered, and, 'DAP Semakin Galak Serang Melayu', a day earlier.

"Someone had asked me to lodge a police report on this but I'll just leave it on my blog.

"I don't know who sent that comment. There's no reason for them to lodge a report against me if it isn't anyone from their office because I never made accusations as to where it originated from," he said.

"The blog is where I put up my views. Not everything I write is to attack certain groups. I am just sharing my opinions as to how we can make the country more peaceful and stable. Not many people read my blog as compared with a politician's."

The Malay Mail had reported that Lim's political secretary, Ng Wei Aik, had lodged police report on the matter at 12.30pm yesterday at the Jalan Patani police station in Penang.

In his police report, Ng wrote that the allegations made by Ibrahim were libelous and without basis.

The report further added that they were lies created to fan the flames of racial dissent.

Ng also said nobody from Lim's office could have planned any action against Ibrahim when they were not even aware of the postings Ibrahim had made on his blog.


Meanwhile Information Communication and Culture Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said today the Director-General of Broadcasting Datuk Ibrahim Yahya would not be left alone to face any legal action from the Penang state government.

He said the ministry would use its experience and all broadcasting justifications in defending anyone associated with the broadcasting body.

In fact, he said, he himself would scrutinise the details and points of argument should the officer be sued.

“We will not leave him to fend for himself,” he told reporters after the launch of the Creative Industry Fund, here.

Dr Rais said that based on the system of government, when a minister, secretary-general, director-general or a member of the administration is sued in his official capacity, the government would give appropriate advice and guidance, especially in the legal aspect.

However, he said, if the officers were sued for offences outside of their official capacity, the ministry would not be responsible.

“For example, if an individual is sued for khalwat (close proximity), we cannot interfere,” he added.

On Tuesday, the Penang government lodged a police report against Ibrahim for an alleged libellous entry entitled “Somebody Wants to Jail Me” on his blog, http://duniatiger.blogspot.com, recently.

Ng Wei Aik, the political secretary to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, had lodged the report




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Police will not launch an investigation into the threat against Radio Television Malaysia's (RTM) director-general Datuk Ibrahim Yahya until the latter lodges a report on the matter.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan (pic) said this when asked if police would conduct a probe following a police report by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's political secretary, Ng Wei Aik, against Ibrahim on Tuesday.

It was made to compel Ibrahim to prove that someone from the Lim's office had threatened him with imprisonment over his blog postings.

"He (Ibrahim) is the victim and the threat has been laid on him. We will investigate if he lodges a report," said Musa at his office in Bukit Aman this morning.

Ng had, in an email sent to The Malay Mail, questioned how the Penang CM's office could have possibly planned any action against Ibrahim if they were not even aware of the two previous postings.

This was in response to the question whether an unnamed person from the CM's office had threatened Ibrahim with imprisonment for his postings on his blog, Dunia Tiger, in which he commented on DAP.

Ng wrote that the CM's office did not know about this until they were contacted by The Malay Mail.

Following the revelation, Ng wrote that he was instructed to lodge a police report on the matter at 12.30pm at the Jalan Patani police station.

In his police report, Ng wrote that the allegations made by Ibrahim were libelous and without basis, adding that they were lies created to fan the flames of racial dissent.

According to Ng, nobody in the CM's office are aware that Ibrahim had been issued such a threat.

Ng also wrote that Ibrahim should not be spreading lies and "portray himself to be a hero of the Malays who is willing to go as far as going to jail".

When asked why the CM's office is taking the stand to lodge a police report against a blogger when the component party of Pakatan Rakyat had always advocated freedom of speech, Ng's reply was: "We respect the right to blog and freedom of expression, but not the right to lie."


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Cops to haul up Teoh’s ex-boss for intimidation -Penang CM said Beng Hock is murdered-faces Police charges.


Selangor Council of Justices of the Peace (JPs) urges Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to step forward and provide proof that political aide Teoh Beng Hock was murdered.

Seri Kembangan state assemblyman Ean Yong Hian Wah is to be called up by the police over a statement he had made, which allegedly intimidated the police.

Selangor police chief Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said today Hian Wah’s statement in the media directing the police to cease their investigation of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng seemed like an attempt to intimidate the police.

“I wish to stress that the Honourable Member should not try to intimidate us by directing us to cease the investigation of Guan Eng,” he told reporters at a gathering between the people and the police, here.

He said Yong would be called up soon to have a statement recorded to help in an investigation under Section 506 of the Penal Code and the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

Khalid had said earlier that the Penang chief minister would be questioned for claiming, at the Pakatan Rakyat convention in Shah Alam on Dec 19, that Selangor political aide Teoh Beng Hock, who died after a fall at the Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam, was murdered.


DAP MP raps cops for ‘intimidating’ critics



DAP Bukit Bendera MP Liew Chin Tong today lambasted the police for using laws such as the Sedition Act and the Communications and Multimedia Act in an effort to quell dissenting views expressed by the public.

Citing DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng's recent case where he is being investigated under the Sedition Act as an example, Liew (picture) said the police action was "deplorable".

"Police investigations of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng over his statement on the death of Teoh Beng Hock and the subsequent police action to interrogate DAP Selangor chairman and Selangor government exco Ean Yong Hian Wah over his statement on the probe on Guan Eng are most deplorable," said the Bukit Bendera MP in a statement.

The police invoked the controversial Sedition Act to launch an investigation on Lim for claiming, at the Pakatan Rakyat’s inaugural convention on Dec 19 in Shah Alam, that Teoh was killed.

Thai forensic pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunan, after studying the autopsy report, photographs and X-rays made available to her by the authorities, testified in the Shah Alam coroner’s court last October that Teoh's death could be “80 per cent homicide”.

Besides the Penang CM, Liew also cited Ean Yong’s case where the police are currently in the process of investigating him.

Ean Yong is said to have “intimidated” the police by calling for the police to cease the probe on Lim and is to be investigated under section 506 of the Penal Code and the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

"Since when have the police gained such clout that their actions are beyond public scrutiny and criticism? By investigating Ean Yong for his criticism on police action erstwhile, the police are clearly ‘intimidating’ their critics.

"It is the most regrettable that the police have decided on such a harsh and draconian course to quell views expressed in the public sphere. It is a sad end to a sad year for human rights and democracy in Malaysia, as well as a distressing closing of a decade full of instances of abuses of power by the police," said Liew.

The DAP man added that people want to know whether the police action was part of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s National Key Result Areas (NKRA) approach, among other things, to reduce the crime rate.


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Related Posts

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Girl suffer pain when surgeon left nut near spine after surgery.


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Victim Tan Khai Yien 29 and Datuk Michael Chong showing the x-ray during
the press conference at Michael Chong office this morning.

Tan Khai Yien has had to live with a nut at her spinal area for a year after a doctor at a private hospital in Kuala Lumpur accidentally dropped it during surgery following a car accident.


A private hospital here left a nut in a woman’s body during spine surgery with metal implants using nuts and bolts last year.

"I am disappointed with the negligence and irresponsibility of the doctor in treating my injury," Tan Khai Yien, 29, told a press conference at the MCA Public Complaints Department today.

Relating her experience, Tan said she underwent surgery to treat a spine injury in October 2008 after she was involved in a car accident.

"After the surgery, the orthopaedic surgeon informed me that a nut had accidentally fallen into the operated area, very close to my spine where the metal implant was placed," she said.

"However, the surgeon assured me that the nut is not harmful and can be removed together with the fixture of the metal implant a year later without complications," she said, showing her x-rays and CT scan to reporters.

In October, a day before Tan’s scheduled surgery to remove the metal implant, the surgeon claimed that the fallen nut, which has shifted from its original position, could not be removed as it is located very close to a blood vessel.

Only the metal implant was removed while the fallen nut remained in around her spine.

"The doctor told us there was nothing else he could do. When my family and I said it was his mistake and he had given an assurance to remove it, he refused to do so," Tan said.

"When we said we could take legal action against him and the hospital, the doctor said we could go ahead and sue him but we will only be wasting our time."

Dissatisfied with the orthopaedic surgeon’s response, Tan sought a second opinion at Gleneagles Hospital here and was advised to undergo surgery to remove the nut.

"The doctor, who asked me to do a CT scan, said the nut is only 1cm away from my blood vessel and since it is moving in that area, it may very harmful to me later on," she said.

"We did not know who to turn to after the surgeon washed his hands over the case, so we sought MCA’s help and spoke to Datuk Michael Chong," she added.

Chong said Tan’s family is considering legal action against the doctor and the hospital but a decision can only be made after Tan’s operation, scheduled tomorrow, to remove the nut.

He added that he will raise the matter with the health minister.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Mystery surrounds the murder of a young girl found half naked in retention pond.Is this kidnap case goes deadly wrong ?

Mystery surrounds the murder of a young girl found half naked in retention pond.

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GRUESOME FIND: The exact point where the body was discovered

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SHOCKING DISCOVERY: Bangladeshi worker Sher Bahadur pointing at the site where the body was found

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Thorough probe: City deputy CID chief Asst Comm Khairi Ahrasa (centre) answering questions during a press conference at the Sentul police headquarters, Kuala Lumpur, Thursday.


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Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Wira Mohammad Sabtu Osman said the report was lodged yesterday morning at the Dang Wangi police station and police were investigating the case.
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Mystery surrounds the murder of a young girl, believed to be sexually assaulted as well, whose body was found floating in a flood retention pond along Lorong Gurney, off Jalan Semarak here, on Tuesday.

Police believe she could be from outside the State, or a foreigner.

Kuala Lumpur deputy CID chief ACP Khairi Ahrasa, said police had not received any report of a missing person 24 hours before or after the body was found.

"There is no missing person report and nobody has come forward to claim the body," Khairi said.

Sentul district police chief ACP Zakaria Pagan, said: "The girl is believed to be about 12 years old and has slightly dark complexion. She could be an Indian or a Rohingya from Myanmar."

The deceased is about 4ft (122cm) tall, plump, with black hair and clad in a blue polka dot chemise with a teddy bear design.

He said the post-mortem conducted at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital yesterday revealed the girl died from strangulation with a piece of cloth around her neck.

The Malay Mail understands she had been sexually assaulted before being killed and thrown into the pond. Sentul police have issued an all-points bulletin throughout the country in an effort to trace her next-of-kin.

Sources said police would also be checking with their counterparts in other districts if there were any missing children report lodged this week or at least for the past 48 hours to assist them in identifying the victim.

Initial police investigation revealed that the girl, who is aged between 11 to 13, is believed to have been murdered and dumped into the pond 12 hours before the body was found by three Kuala Lumpur City Hall workers about 11.30am.There were no other visible injuries on the body.

According to sources, the girl was found with her top on and she could have been sexually assaulted by her murderer.
Zakaria called on those who have had any of their family members missing recently to come forward and assist the police.

"We need help to identify the victim and in our investigations," he said.

He also hit out at certain medias for linking the case with two other tragic cases, saying this was "an isolated one" and had no link with the abduction and murder of Nurul Jazlin Jazimin in 2007 or that of Sharlinie Mohd Nashar last year.

"Every time there is such a case, the media likes to link it with similar cases. Let us carry out our investigations first," he said.

Those with information about the girl can contact investigation officer ASP Che Aziz Mat Isa of the Jalan Tun Razak police station at 012-9280024 or the nearest police station.








Missing girl report fit the dead corpse found in retention pond.


A woman has lodged a missing person report which fits the description of a 12-year-old girl whose body was found floating in a flood mitigation pond in Kampung Boyan, Lorong Gurney, Jalan Semarak, last Tuesday.

Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Wira Mohammad Sabtu Osman said the report was lodged yesterday morning at the Dang Wangi police station and police were investigating the case

He said the woman reported that her 12-year-old daughter went missing two days ago, the same day the half-naked body of a 12-year-old girl, with a piece of cloth tightened around her neck, was found floating in the pond.

"We are doing our level best to investigate and settle this case as soon as possible but I hope that people will stop speculating and making assumption that this case is related to the brutal killing of eight-year-old Nurin Jazlin Jazimin on Sept 16, 2007, and five-year-old Sharlinie Mohd Nashar who went missing on Jan 9, 2008," he told reporters at his office here.

The body of the girl, who was yet to be identified, was found by three Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) workers who were cleaning the pond at about 11.30am.

Two detained in connection with girl's death include women who made missing report.

A construction worker and a woman have been detained in connection with the death of a girl whose body was found floating in a flood retention pond in Kampung Boyan, Lorong Gurney, off Jalan Semarak, on Tuesday.
Kuala Lumpur CID deputy chief, ACP Khairi Ahrasa said the woman was arrested after she lodged a missing person report which fit the description of the dead girl yesterday.

"Her statement led police to summon the 34-year-old man, who is also her friend, to come to Sentul police station at 4pm today for investigation," he told Bernama here.

Police, however, declined to say whether the two suspects were related to the dead girl.

Both suspects will be remanded for six days from today to facilitate the investigation.

Khairi said the result of the DNA test on the girl was expected to be known in two weeks.
Earlier, Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Wira Mohammad Sabtu Osman said the 34-year-old woman had lodged a report yesterday morning that her 12-year-old daughter went missing two days ago, the same day the half-naked body of a 12-year-old girl, with a piece of cloth tightened around her neck, was found in the pond.

"We are doing our level best to complete the investigation into this case as soon as possible.

"But I hope that people will stop speculating and making assumption that this case is related to the brutal killing of eight-year-old Nurin Jazlin Jazimin on Sept 16, 2007, and the disappearance of five-year-old Sharlinie Mohd Nashar since Jan 9, 2008," he said.

The body of the 12-year-old girl was found by three Kuala Lumpur City Hall workers who were cleaning the pond at about 11.30am

Mom is loner claim neightbour.

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THE SITE: The house where the woman lived with her child in Jalan Loke Yew

Neighbours of a woman claiming to be the mother of nine-year-old Venusha Rita, whose body was found in a retention pond in Lorong Gurney, off Jalan Semarak, on Dec 22 said she always kept to herself.

Nobody in the area knew anything about her background, even if she was single or married. A neighbour said the woman had been renting the partitioned rear portion of a house on Jalan Loke Yew for the past 15 years.

“She lived there with her mother and her older sister, besides the young girl.” The sister and mother moved to Puchong a few years ago.

“I often saw the girl playing with other children in front of the house. The last time I saw her was about a week ago,” said the neighbour.

She said she never suspected it could be the child next door when she read the news about a girl's body being found in a pond.

“I did not suspect anything amiss, not until we saw police come to the house that we heard it was related to the body found in the pond.”

The neighbour said she often heard people quarrelling in the house, and that often, there were different men in the house.

“I am not sure if she works or what she does because she rarely speaks to us.”

The 34-year-old woman was detained after she lodged a report at the Dang Wangi police station last Wednesday, a day after the body was discovered, that her daughter was missing.

She allegedly appeared to be drunk when she lodged the report.

The woman, in her report, claimed that her daughter was kidnapped by an unknown man on a motorcycle when she went out to a nearby shop with a friend on Monday.

In her report, she said the man had earlier appeared at her house in Jalan Loke Yew, asking for a glass of water.

After drinking the water, the man allegedly kidnapped the girl and sped off on his motorcycle.

The kidnapper called the next day, demanding a RM2,000 ransom, the woman claimed, adding that she paid him the money the same day at an undisclosed location in Jalan Ipoh.

He took the money and asked her to wait for 10 minutes but did not return.

She claimed he called her again on Wednesday, demanding another RM2,000 and threatening to kill the girl if the ransom was not paid.

She said in the report that her daughter had been abducted by a man who demanded RM2,000 for her release.

She claimed she paid him the money the same day at an undisclosed location in Jalan Ipoh. The man is said to have taken the money and asked her to wait for 10 minutes, but he did not return.

The woman claimed he called her again on Wednesday, demanding another RM2,000 and threatened to kill the girl if the money was not paid.

Unable to pay the ransom, she decided to seek help from the police. By then, the body had been found and the woman has since identified it as that of her daughter Venusha.

Police then detained the woman, and last Friday, arrested her 34-year-old boyfriend. Both have been remanded for a week.

The case has been classified as murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

Police have taken DNA samples from the suspects to ascertain if the woman is indeed Venusha’s mother.

The post-mortem report, which will show whether the girl had been raped and sodomised, is expected to be out in two weeks.


KTM Users' lives at risk if worn-out rail track parts are not replaced soon .From vandalism to mismatch rail parts KTM woes.

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Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) faces losses running into millions of ringgit if some of its railway track parts are not changed soon.

Worse still, the lives of passengers could be at risk as further deterioration of the parts could cause derailment, among other things.

A probe by The Malay Mail the last two months revealed that the railway fasteners, particularly the Fastclip designed by UK-based company Pandrol, showed signs of deterioration.

Railway fasteners are heavy-duty clips used to fasten rails to the base plate (or ‘sleeper’) to secure the tracks in place and keep them parallel.
Each set of the Pandrol Fastclip comprises four components: a toe insulator, a clip, a shoulder, and a side post insulator. The fastener is installed on top of a rail pad made out of rubber (see graphic).

In Malaysia, the Fastclip was first installed on the Tanjung Pelepas Port (PTP) line in Johor in 2002. The project was a turnkey project worth RM470 million.

According to Pandrol, the Fastclip is supposed to have a lifespan of 15 years. However, after only seven years on the PTP line, some of the components have deteriorated so much that it has been deemed unsafe for use.

A source familiar with KTMB matters said the ‘degrading’ part of the fastener was the toe insulator, which is made of plastic.

“The toe insulator facilitates loading of the rail clip and resists movement of the clip or the rail during use. A slight crack in the toe insulator may still be okay but if it is damaged extensively, it may cause track-derailment.

“The toe insulators also work to send electricity signals from the train tracks to the stations. If the insulator breaks, the signals sent would be distorted. We can’t afford to have distorted signals in our railroad communication as everything is supposed to be automated and scheduled.”

When The Malay Mail visited the PTP line in Gelang Patah recently, we discovered many of the toe insulators were in poor condition.

We observed the toe insulators were made out of plastic, though not the ordinary type.

We also observed that the degraded toe insulators were only those that had been installed in open areas and exposed to the sun. Those installed in the shade, such as under bridges and elevated highways, were still in mint condition (see pic above).

A KTMB staff from its Permanent Way Division, who declined to be named, said: “The material used to make the plastic is unique in terms of its chemical composition. The material is supposed to be solid enough to withstand normal wear and tear for 15 years, but we learned the hard way that the Malaysian weather had proven to be too much for it.”

The second railway line in the country to be installed with the Fastclip was the Ipoh-Rawang Electrification Double-Tracking System in 2004.

Our recent checks there revealed that some of the toe insulators have begun to show signs of degrading as well, despite being installed for only four years.

It was learnt that there is another popular brand of railway fasteners installed along KTMB lines, the German-made Vossloh W14, which has proven to be less problematic than the Pandrol Fastclip.

Asked why the Fastclip was used rather than standardising the usage with Vossloh throughout the country, the staff claimed there were "political interests" in the decision-making process.

“Different contractors want to push different brands based on who their suppliers are. And there are different political figures behind these contractors.

“At the time of installation, the Pandrol Fastclip was one of the most modern technologies, so we agreed to use them for our tracks.

"We didn’t know the material would be unsuitable for our weather. The Fastclip installed in cooler climate countries do not have this problem.

“For KTMB, as long as the parts fit our technical requirements, we are okay with any brand,” said the staff, without elaborating further.

The staff said to have a standard set of railway fasteners throughout the country would be fantastic, but that decision was not up to KTMB, which comes under the purview of the Transport Ministry.

PANDROL TO WORK ON NEW MATERIAL.

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After being informed of the problem with the Pandrol Fastclip toe insulators, the company sent a technical expert from Britain to Tanjung Pelepas Port in Gelang Patah, Johor, last month to carry out an inspection of the rail tracks.

A KTMB staff with the Permanent Way Division told The Malay Mail that during the inspection, the expert said the problem with the toe insulators resulted from incorrect installation.

“That is, of course, untrue. We are not stupid.... we know how to install railway fasteners correctly. We’ve been doing it for decades!" he said.

“After considering our conclusion that the problem was in the material used to make the toe insulators, the expert agreed to return to Britain and come up with a material of different chemical composition, one that could withstand the heat of the Malaysian sun.”

The staff said the expert also agreed to allow KTMB to test the new material here before making the decision to replace all degraded toe insulators with the new ones.

The staff claimed the two parties also agreed that Pandrol would bear the full cost of the replacement.

“If Pandrol can’t fix this problem, then we won’t be taking anymore of their devices for our future projects.”

The Malay Mail sent several emails to Pandrol in Britain to seek clarification on the matter. However, our efforts to date have proved futile.

VANDALISM WOES FOR PORT LINE


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Deteriorating components are not the only problem Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) faces on its Tanjung Pelepas Port (PTP) railway line.

A recent visit by The Malay Mail revealed that the line faces several other problems, the most common being vandalism.

A spokesman for KTMB in Gelang Patah said this was an age-old issue, on which they had pretty much given up trying to combat.

The 35km track is located within industrial surroundings on rural roads. We observed that the line is not fenced off and the sides of the track are wide enough for motorcycles and even four-wheelers to pass through.

“The vandals will steal whatever they can get their hands on – steel, metal and fibre, railway fasteners, circuit cables... even one of our point machines was carried away.

"Many of our lamp signals are also gone. The only thing they can't carry away is the concrete lamp post,” said the spokesman.

He said for railway fasteners, the UK Pandrol Fastclip had been proven easier to steal than the German-made Vossloh W14.

“The Fastclip is installed in such a way that one can just knock the fastener out of its socket with a sledgehammer.

“But for Vossloh, the fastener is screwed into the ground; therefore it takes more effort and a longer time to dislodge.” (see pic above)

At one point during our visit, we saw KTMB workers having to change a track course manually. The designated point machine that was supposed to change the track direction automatically "disappeared" months ago, we
were told.

To change the course of the track for trains to pass through, KTMB staff had to ride the line in a small trolley to the designated spot where two tracks are joined, unlock the clip locks with a key and turn the crank manually to change the track direction from one line to another.

After a train had passed, the staff would then have to change the track back to its original course. The entire process takes 15 to 20 minutes each time and is carried out by at least three people.

If previously the PTP staff were able to know of an oncoming train from another station via communication signals sent from the tracks, they now rely on telephones and walkie-talkies to communicate with one another on train movements.

As if that was not enough unnecessary work, the staff would also ride the lines daily to check for rocks and pebbles that vandals would neatly arrange on the tracks.


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