Ringing Bell in Temple stopped by Muslims in India. Muslims are snatching every right from Hindus in Muslim majority areas in India.

Every where in Muslim Populated areas in India, Hindus are discarded from their Religious rights.

Congress Govt. agrees ‘Aurangzebi Fatwa’ to STOP RINGING BELL IN TEMPLE in Bhagyanagar through its Muslim allies in Majalis Ittehadul Muslimin.

Bhagyanagar (Hyderabad) : 25th January : HE News Desk Hyderabad ~ late script ||

Anti-Hindu Congress Government in Andhra Pradesh has banned ringing of bell in Sri Bhagyalakshmi Temple in Char Minar area in Bhagyanagar. The Government has also imposed ban on performing ‘Maha-aarti’ and has deployed police force to implement the ban. Akbaruddin Owaisi a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) of ‘MIM (Majalis Ittehadul Muslimin)’, a Muslim Political Party being the alliance with State Congress Party of Andhra Pradesh, a southern state in India, has demanded to impose ban on processions taken out on Hindu festivals viz. ‘Ram-Navami’ and ‘Hanuman-Jayanti’. Hindu organizations are angered due to such demand by Owaisi. In a country where Hindus are in majority, a Muslim MLA, demanding ban on processions taken out during Hindu festivals, indicates that Hindus are staying in Pakistan and not in India. Muslims are now demanding ban on Hindu processions; tomorrow, they will demand for demolition of Hindu temples and will, later, demand that Hindus should become either Muslims or leave their womenfolk behind.


Unfortunately, Muslims are considered as a very lucrative vote bank for all the political parties in India and they are giving every concessions to the Muslims including special educational felicity in Madrasha, establishing Mosques and Muslim grave yards, reservation quota in services and jobs, special loans and arrangements for their business, felicities in personal laws under Shariyat, subsidy in Haj pilgrimage and many thing more.

Actually, lack of unity among Hindus is responsible for such situation and there is no alternative for Hindus to establish a Hindu Nation in Bharat to change this situation. It is now established that Congress Govt. is trampling sentiments of Hindus only to appease Muslims. Today, there is ban on ‘aarti’, ban on ringing bells in temple; tomorrow, these Hindu-hater rulers of Congress will issue a ‘fatwa’ that Hindus should adopt Islam; cows will be slaughtered in front of Hindu temples; Hindu women folk will be enjoyed by them by their choice; Hindus will be considered as ’Jimmi’ or otherwise to be slit on neck as being Kaffir and a Muslimstan will be established in India as Pakistan. How long are Hindus going to tolerate such Congress rulers with Jehadi force, who are making them experience how living in Pakistan would be. Now at least Hindus should unite and undertake a strong agitation, in a lawful manner, against those imposing curb on their religious rights and save Hindu Existence in India i.e. Bharat!

Islington girls forced into marriage at the age of nine

TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION: Imam condemns ordeal of youngsters still in primary school amid alarming number of abuse cases

Published: January 27, 2012
by PAVAN AMARA
AN alarming number of under-age girls – some as young as nine – are being forced into marriage in Islington, according to a leading campaign group.
The Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO) claim that at least 30 girls in the borough  were forced into marriage in 2010.
The practice was condemned by the Imam of Finsbury Park Mosque, who said such marriages were against Islam and “unacceptable”.
He pledged to invalidate any marriage which he said were carried out by “back-street Imams”.
IKWRO, which made headlines last month when they revealed there had been almost 3,000 “honour-based” violence cases in 2010, has shown the Tribune records which revealed at least three 11-year-old girls and two nine-year-olds had been forced into marriage with older men within Islington. The oldest girls involved were 16.
They have warned that hundreds of Islington girls could be suffering sexual, emotional and physical scars as a result of the child marriages every year and are calling for teachers, social workers and police to be better trained to spot and manage the abuse.
Information from the Ministry of Justice, following a Freedom of Information request, revealed that 32 Forced Marriage Protection Order applications were made for children under 16 in Britain last year.
Six of these were made for under-16s within Islington at the Royal Courts of Justice, although these were not necessarily made for Islington residents.
At the Islington court, “five or fewer” orders were made to protect children between the ages of 9-11.
The orders are a form of injunction that threaten legal punishment if marriage takes place due to emotional or physical force.
In most cases, the children fear they will be killed if they reveal the truth to anybody, while others believe they will be separated from their families and taken into social services’ care.
Dianna Nammi, director of IKWRO, explained that the girls are married in a mosque’s sharia court. This means they are not legally married according to British law, rendering the Home Office unable to recognise or prove the abuse.
“They are still expected to carry out their wifely duties, though, and that includes sleeping with their husband,” she said.
“They have to cook for them, wash their clothes, everything. They are still attending schools in Islington, struggling to do their primary school homework, and at the same time being practically raped by a middle-aged man regularly and being abused by their families. So they are a wife, but in a primary school uniform.
“The reason it doesn’t get out is because they are too terrified to speak out, and also the control their families have over them is impossible to imagine if you’re not going through it. The way it is covered up is so precise, almost unspeakable.”
Ms Nammi said that one 13-year-old had to sneak out of a maths lesson to contact the group, because she was being monitored so closely by her family.
“Her teacher didn’t notice because she said she’d gone to the toilet, but when she got home that day she was beaten,” she said.
“Her father knew she hadn’t been in maths because he had sent an uncle to spy on who she was talking to through the classroom window.”
Ms Nammi said that the girls are married off to family friends or family members to stop them from losing their virginity to anyone not chosen by their father.
However, the incentive is also often financial.
“The girl automatically becomes her husband’s property, so he takes financial responsibility for her,” said Ms Nammi.
“In fact, often the husband has to start contributing to the girl’s family, so it becomes a way of bringing in another salary.
“Who are girls going to tell? Often they feel like teachers at school won’t understand what their families are like. They will think they’re like Western families, and won’t understand that if they pass on anything at all that they’ve been told to the family, then the girl will be killed. So they just chose not to tell at all.”
IKWRO offers counselling and support to the children, but does not force them to take any action until they are ready. Often, that involves being placed in social services’ care.
Finsbury Park Mosque imam Ahmed Saad said he was glad the issue was being highlighted, and stressed that it was not an Islamic problem, but a cultural one.
“This is down to ignorance, and ignorant people who will use any excuse they can to do this to their children,” he said.
“It is the practice in their home countries and they don’t want to stop that here, so they will say it’s in the Koran, when it is not. According to Islam, it is entirely unacceptable.
“My own grandmother was married at the age of 11, but that was in 1907 in Egypt when lifespans were much shorter.
“I have heard of this happening in Islington by back-street imams. They are imams who have little knowledge of Islam – they are not educated, and they simply lead prayers, and yes they will do this and it is very quietly kept a secret with no one admitting to it.
“Islam says both parties must truly consent in their hearts, and if the girl was forced into it in any way then she can invalidate her Sharia marriage with or without the husband’s permission.
“I will personally do that for anyone who comes to me. This is simply child abuse, as a child does not know what they are doing.
“My heart goes out to the girls.”
Imam Saad explained that Sharia law stated an individual can marry when they begin puberty, with the most important stipulation being that they are “rushd”, or mature enough to understand marriage.
A spokesman for the Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) said he was “unsure” whether the lack of legal status of the marriages affected whether the they could intervene or not, but directed the Tribune to government practice guidelines on dealing with forced marriage.
The spokesman added that due to the lack of legal status the marriages may be a “criminal matter that only the police can deal with”, but admitted to it being "”a very grey area”.
The FMU guidelines state: “It is probable that children’s social care will play a key role in protecting the interests of the child or young person. This can be achieved not only by arranging practical help such as accommodation and financial support, but also by co-operating and working with other agencies such as police, health and education professionals.”
Sibel Balci-Saner, a Turkish and Farsi speaking adviser at IKWRO, said while that the Islington Police’s domestic violence co-ordinators were “brilliant” at dealing with the cases, front-line officers “can make things worse by not being sensitive because they don’t really understand what’s going on”.
“When they try and speak to the child’s parents they often have a language barrier,” she said.
“Too often they don’t bother to call an interpreter so they don’t talk to the parents at all about what they’re doing, until it goes to court much later. A common complaint we have is that it depends on who you are, too – some women say that when they’re from poorer families the police don’t take them as seriously.”

Bride at 12 – ‘I have to be a wife to him...’

ROJIN – this is not her real name – told a Tribune reporter how she had been forcibly married at the age of 12 to a 32 year-old man. She said she grew up in Finsbury Park where she lived with her parents from the Middle East.
After her “marriage” she said she was placed in care and then allowed to live with friends.
“I was forced by my dad,” she said. “He didn’t beat me or anything, he told me I was useless, no one would ever accept me anyway so I’d better just marry while someone wanted me because it wouldn’t happen again.
“I thought that if I didn’t do it I would just be taken away and married anyway, so it was better to co-operate and at least get to stay in England.
“Also, if I co-operated then if my husband treated me badly at least my family would support me against him. But if I said no, they’d say I was bringing shame on the family and wouldn’t support me no matter what he did, because I would have made them angry.
“My parents sorted out an imam to marry us quite quickly. The first one they approached said no, the next one said yes, and this was in Islington. I met my husband three days before my wedding, which only my close family was invited to.
“We were married in my parents’ house.
“He was a 37-year-old man from Birmingham [the Tribune understands he had come from the Middle East]. I told my parents that I had fallen in love with him and I was doing it for myself because my mum felt bad about what they were doing to me. That night I had to go to his flat and sleep with him because that’s what marriage is.
“But I didn’t want to. After that I told my husband I didn’t want to look at him or talk to him. I didn’t want him sitting next to me, standing next to me, nothing. He got frustrated and said that I had to sleep with him because I was his wife, but I said if he forced himself on me then I would call the police and tell them everything.
“After my mum died I was taken into care. I told my social worker about everything, but I missed out the bit about sleeping with him.
“Social services have no understanding of Islam, and they don’t know that for me, as a Muslim, I am still his wife because we were married by an imam and we have not divorced. So I still text him and want to go to see him because I have to as a wife.
“This is more of a marriage to me than a legal one because it’s by Allah. In my mind I know I have to still be a wife to him till he finally divorces me or I feel something bad will happen to me, or my mum, who is now dead, will have shame on her name.
“He refuses to divorce me, though. Friends have said they’d be happy to come with me to the mosque for a divorce to say yes to it.
“I live with friends so I don’t have to sleep with him, cook for him, nothing like that. He can’t beat me, and no one can kill me here, but I am trapped as his wife.
“Even when I am an adult and leave, I’ll have to go back to him as his wife until one day he finally grants me a divorce.”
The Tribune has been unable to authenticate what this girl told us.
We have seen a record kept by the Women’s Rights body (IKWRO) stating she had been placed in care but there did not appear to be independent evidence that this had taken place.
We stress this is the story of a 12-year-old girl as told to this newspaper.

Manglish or Bahasa rojak. How can?

The inexcusable translation in our government departments is not just a question of lack of professionalism and education but, more importantly, of attitude, especially of those at the top.

Throughout Malaysia’s arms spending history, the government has forked out billions on defence procurement while millions more have allegedly been used for commissions and backhanders.

And yet the defence ministry does not see fit to apportion a tiny fraction of its massive budget on the services of a translator.

It cannot be a lack of funds or a scarcity of translators. Is it an aversion which started after one high-profile translator connected to a particular defence purchase met an untimely end?

When the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) posted its error-riddled translation on its English website to describe the dress code appropriate for staff, it received extraordinary attention on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

The translations ranged from the painful sounding “Clothes that poke eye” to the more serious safety connotation of the “Malaysian Government take drastic measures to increase the level of any national security threat”.

Defence Minister Zahid Hamidi admitted that his ministry had utilised the free Google online translator. He subsequently ordered the site to be removed temporarily. It is easy to blame Google.

The buck should stop with him, the minister. Was he being penny-wise, pound-foolish or is this merely lack of attention to detail? Military budgets are not just about buying the big toys. What use is the equipment if no one can translate the repair manuals for our service engineers?

It is not sufficient for Zahid to confirm that future translations will be done manually. Shouldn’t the Cabinet be looking to overhaul the whole education system and specifically the manner in which students treat their education and the learning of English? Nationalist sentiments should not override global aspirations.

Malaysia’s seemingly bottomless military budget has been spent on armaments and other defence hardware including the purchase of two Scorpene submarines at RM7.3 billion. The Scorpene deal allegedly included RM570 million on “coordination and support” services, a euphemism for “commission”, to a little-known company called Perimekar.

In the Scorpene scandal, which is now being fought in the French courts, a Mongolian model-cum- translator, Altantuya Shaaribuu, who was said to be fluent in Russian, English, Chinese and French, was later found murdered in a jungle in Shah Alam.

What about training and repair manuals?

Are the problems in Mindef the tip of the iceberg? Can Zahid reassure us that none of his men have used the free online Google translator to translate defence training or repair manuals from some foreign language to Bahasa?

The frequent waste of military hardware from crashing planes to defective equipment, has resulted in heavy loss of lives and expensive machines. The wide array of armaments from different countries, contribute towards complications in maintenance, poor operational effectiveness, stocking issues and compatibility between different systems. Could the translated manuals have posed a problem, too?

One former member of the armed forces confided, “The MiG manuals were translated from Hindi to BM. We bought the jets from Russia. MiG jets are built under licence in India for the Indian air force. The Russians must have found it easier to get the Hindi version translated instead.”

It isn’t just cyberspace where government bodies are maligned. Perak enters the New Year with the much-touted Visit Perak Year (VPY) 2012.

In 2011, the patience of hoteliers, travel agents and ordinary Perakians including politicians was tested when many claimed that very few people knew what VPY 2012 involved.

The state is hoping to receive in excess of three million visitors, both foreign and local tourists. Despite that, many tourist sites were not prepared for VPY 2012.

The ‘Ipoh Tree’ saga

In October 2011, a local Ipoh community paper, highlighted the glaring problems in the proficiency of English of the staff working at the Perak Tourist Information Centre (Pusat Pelancongan Perak) near the Ipoh Padang.

According to the paper, the Perak Tourism Information Centre, which is an extension of the Ipoh City Council’s tourism department, had an embarrassing description of the Ipoh Tree, emblazoned beneath a photograph of the tree, on display at the centre.

The full text which the paper reportedly found at the centre is reproduced here:

“The words ‘Ipoh’ makes us memorize to Ipoh Tree. Epu or Upas Tree (Antiaris Toxicarial). It can be found in many areas surrounding Ipoh City old time ago. Introduction about Ipoh tree as a place can get it from “Perak And The Malays” book author by J.F. Mcnair in 1979.

“This tree is grouping under ‘nettle’ species and can growth up until hundred feet’s tall. The primitive using the Ipoh Tree’s liquid to make a poison dart to use in their weapon. This tree also can be found in Borneo Sumatera, India and Philippine. Now days Ipoh Tree can be founded at Railway Station and D.R. Seenivasagam Park.”

Even primary school students will consider the above description, which is littered with errors, to be gibberish.

If people think that it does not matter that such things happen in a provincial city like Ipoh, then how about the gaffe which occurred when Chinese premier Wen Jiabao and his entourage visited Putrajaya? The banner flying at the welcoming ceremony was printed in inaccurate Chinese.

Or how about the court interpreter, Ting Chin Kin, who translated Teoh Beng Hock’s supposed suicide note using Google Translate?

Just like in the Mindef mess, the inexcusable translation in our government departments is not just a question of lack of professionalism and education but, more importantly, of the attitude, especially of those at the top. Incompetent officials appear to hold sway in the Malaysian civil service and Cabinet.

The top echelons should dispense with their “tidak-apa” attitude, and lead by example. If they demanded good results and accuracy, then perhaps, people might feel less inclined to say that the two important languages in Malaysia are Manglish and Malay.

AIM fund won’t help Indians, says PKR

Najib is urged to remodel the micro credit scheme.

KUALA LUMPUR: A PKR leader today called for a remodelling of Budget 2012’s micro credit scheme for poor Indians, saying the fund, as currently managed by Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM), had no way of meeting its objective.

“What can one do with RM3,000?” said PKR Malacca vice-chairman G Rajendran in reference to the maximum amount a participant in the scheme can borrow.

He suggested that the amount be increased to RM30,000 and the credit, instead of being restricted to women, be offered to youths as well.

The budget allocates RM100 million for the scheme.

Rajendran said his call was a challenge to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to lend some credibility to his claim that he cared about the plight of poor Indians.

It would be a chance for him to prove that the scheme was more than just an election gimmick, he added.

He said RM3,000 was not even enough to set up a business premises. “At the most, one could probably set up a stall selling garlands, or vending nuts and other titbits or taking orders to tailor clothes.

“I can imagine that if 3,000 women in Malacca get the maximum credit, then we will have 1,000 flower stalls, 1,000 nut vendors and 1,000 seamstresses. The competition will be so stiff that no one will make any profit.”

He accused Najib of trying to buy votes through the scheme and said he was insulting the Indians by assuming that their support was cheap.

“If they give RM3,000 per person, then more than 33,000 people will get the loan. That means 33,000 families will be forced to vote for BN.”

He said many young Indians were interested in starting businesses of their own but could not get loans from banks and government-linked bodies because these institutions would entertain only those applicants with at least two years of business experience.

The scheme should not exclude them, whatever their gender, he added.

Umno To Act Tough Against Saboteurs Before General Election

UALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 (Bernama) -- Umno may activate its disciplinary committee to monitor members who are involved in acts of sabotage before the next general election.

Its president, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said this was an unprecedented move as the committee was normally set in motion once the general election was over to take action against members who violated party's rules and ethics.

"Problems cropped up in every election, especially in a big party. This is nothing new.

"There may be unbecoming behaviour. There may be disgruntled candidates, even supporters could act to the detriment of the party. So it is better that we take actions beforehand to maintain party discipline," he told reporters after chairing the Umno Supreme Council meeting here Friday night.

Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and party secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor were present.

The prime minister said the disciplinary committee was authorised to take action against any misconduct in the party.

"We do not want any untoward things to happen after the election is over as they will be detrimental to the party. So it is better to be proactive.

"We have this mechanism. If there is any violation, the committee will take action and the action taken will be fair. Any complaints will be brought to the committee," he said.

On preparations for the next general election, he said the party's machinery was in a state of readiness, but efforts should be intensified to ensure that the tasks and instructions given were fully implemented to ensure victory.

Meanwhile, Najib said the meeting also discussed on the effectiveness of the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) with Supreme Council members asserting the need to ensure that all eligible households get the assistance.

He said the meeting also concurred with the government's decision to review the implementation of the Public Service New Remuneration Scheme (SBPA) to avoid dissatisfaction among civil servants.

ABU bukan organisasi dan tidak ada ketua, ABU bukan sokongan bersifat cek kosong

Kenyataan Terbuka

27 Januari 2012

ABU MILIK RAKYAT

Seminggu ini ABU atau Asalkan Bukan Umno telah menjadi perhatian. Bermula dengan insiden serangan bersifat perkauman terhadap Ceramah ABU di Dewan MBSA, Seksyen 30, Kg Jalan Kebun, Shah Alam sehinggalah kenyataan terbuka oleh S.Jayathas yang selepas itu diketahui bertindak atas arahan P. Utayakumar yang merupakan pimpinan Hindraf yang telah menubuhkan sebuah parti politik yang dikenali sebagai Parti Hak Asasi Manusia Malaysia.

Ditegaskan sejak awal ABU bukan sebuah organisasi atau jauh lagi sebagai sebuah pertubuhan bukan kerajaan. ABU ialah mewakili sentimen rakyat yang kecewa dan sedar dengan hakikat banyak masalah negara ini berpunca dari sebuah parti yang dicipta oleh penjajah iaitu United Malay National organisation (Umno). Seingat kami sentimen ABU ini mula wujud sekitar tahun 1998 selepas pemecatan DSAI dan kemudian diporpularkan oleh Hishamuddin Rais melalui blog Tukar Tiubnya.

Namun bermula beberapa bulan lepas beberapa organisasi seperti SAMM, SABM, PSM, PRM dan banyak lagi juga tidak ketinggalan beberapa organisasi mahasiswa serta aktivis-aktivis masyarakat yang bergerak sendirian telah bergabung dan bersetuju menghidupkan kempen ABU untuk menjadikan ia sentimen nasional dalam menyatukan kekuatan rakyat demi menumbangkan Umno dan Barisan nasional khususnya dalam PRU akan datang.

Kempen ABU ini menggariskan 3 perkara kenapa perlu rakyat menolak Umno iaitu

• Isu sentimen perkauman melampau yang dibawa oleh Umno telah menggagalkan penyatuan rakyat juga sebagai senjata untuk mengalihkan isu apabila satu isu besar muncul dalam negara.
• Isu Lynas diangkat kerana isu ini menunjukkan ketidak pedulian Umno terhadap suara rakyat sanggup memperjudikan nyawa rakyat demi projek menguntungkan pihak tertentu. Isu ini juga berkait rapat dengan pembaziran, rasuah yang menghilangkan hasil petroleum negara sehingga negara terpaksa mencari industri tenaga baru bagi menggantikan petroleum.
• Isu harga barang yang melampau dan jelas regim gagal mengawal

Isu - isu ini diangkat kerana ia isu yang dekat dan mudah difahami oleh rakyat. Isu ini juga bersifat fundimental dan dikongsi oleh semua gerakan progresif. Maka dengan isu ini diharapkan dapat menyatukan semua gerakan progresif dan secara tidak lansung mengenepikan isu perbezaan yang tidak menguntungkan gerakan. Selain itu isu seperti keadilan asas dan sistem perundangan juga menjadi tumpuan.

Telah dipersetujui ABU tidak akan punya struktur tetapi hanya penggerak terdiri dari organisasi atau individu sekutu yang bersama dengan sentimen ABU. Maka tidak ada ketua cuma yang ada kemungkinan penyelaras berdasarkan keperluan program.ABU tidak ada hak cipta semua orang boleh bergerak atas ABu tetapi jika bersekutu bersama impaknya akan lebih berkesan.

Semua orang boleh buat t-shirt ABu atau apa sahaja bahan mempromosi ABU tanpa izin sesiapa. ABU milik rakyat.

Menyentuh mengenai Hindraf yang kononya menarik sokongan dari ABU dan kemudian dinafikan oleh Penyelaras Kebangsaannya Sambulinggam dan pimpinan dalam buangannya Waythamoorthy yang menyatakan Hindraf terus bersama ABU dan semua pihak yang menentang Umno dan Barisan Nasional. Menurut mereka kenyataan tidak bersama ABU itu cuma pendapat peribadi Uthayakumar.

Bagi SAMM yang menjadi sekutu bersama ABU kami tidak berminat dengan apa yang jadi dalam mana - mana organisasi. Tanpa atau bersama Hindraf, sentimen ABU akan terus bergerak dan terlekat dihati rakyat. Namun kami amat mengalukan Hindraf atau mana - mana organisasi atau individu yang berkongsi sentimen ini dan bergerak bersama kerana penyatuan kekuatan merupakan kelebihan dalam gerakan menumbangkan regim yang ditunjangi Umno.

Terbaru juga komen Wan Farel, Penyelaras Segmentasi Mahasiswa dalam isu melibatkan KUIN di Kedah yang sedikit dilihat menyerang Menteri Besar PR Kedah yang kemungkinan dilihat agak kontradik dengan kempen ABU yang didokong SAMM. SAMM secara penuh menyokong kenyataan Wan Farel dan menganggap ia pendirian SAMM secara rasmi.

Perlu ditegaskan dokongan SAMM terhadap ABU bukan 'cek kosong' kepada yang melawan Umno. Sokongan dan sentimen ABU berdasarkan prinsip. ABU ialah sentimen kesedaran rakyat yang ingin melihat Umno tumbang kerana keangkuhan mereka dipuncak kuasa. Namun jika mana - mana pihak khususnya yang baru berkuasa sedikit melakukan perkara yang sama maka sewajarnya ditolak.

ABu ialah milik rakyat. ABU bukan cerita siapa nak jadi YB tetapi penyatuan kuasa rakyat melawan Umno. ABU ialah menefestasi dalam PRU akan datang Umno bukan sekadar berdepan dengan Pakatan Rakyat sebagai lawan politik tetapi akan berdepan sentimen rakyat ; Asalkan Bukan Umno.

Road show ABU dan program - program berimej ABU akan terus diperhebatkan dan akan diumumkan dari masa ke semasa.

Program yang terdekat ialah Ceramah Umum memperkenalkan ABU di NS, 28 Januari 2012, 8.45 malam di Taman Seremban Selatan akan menampilkan pemimpin politik, pemimpin NGO dan aktivis masyarakat. Semua dijemput hadir.

che'GuBard
Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia

Breast implant maker's founder arrested, police say

Paris (CNN) -- The founder of a French company that makes breast implants linked to a health scare was arrested Thursday, the French national police said.

Jean-Claude Mas, founder of Poly Implant Protheses, or PIP, was detained in Six-Fours-les-Plages, near Toulon in southern France, police said.

PIP Director Claude Couty was arrested around the same time in nearby La Seyne-sur-Mer, and investigators searched his home, according to CNN affiliate France 2.

Mas was arrested in connection with an investigation into manslaughter and involuntary harm following the cancer death of a French woman with PIP implants in 2010, police in Marseille said.

Prosecutors opened the probe in December in Marseille.

Marseille police and and public health officials are conducting the investigation, police said.

PIP implants have sparked health scares in Europe and South America.

A French attorney representing women with implants welcomed the arrest of Mas, though he said it could have come sooner.

"I don't expect much from his hearing as we have already heard his lack of respect with regard to all of the victims," said the lawyer, Philippe Courtois.

"He will undoubtedly say there was no problem with the gel, but that is not his decision to make," Courtois added.

An estimated 300,000 women in 65 countries received breast implants from the company. The implants were banned in 2010, and the company went bankrupt later that year.

The implants are not approved for use in the United States.

French authorities announced last month that the government would pay for the removal of the bankrupt company's implants, which a British medical group says were made from "nonmedical grade silicone believed by the manufacturers to be made for mattresses."

German medical groups recommended this month that women seek removal of PIP breast implants, saying they need not hurry but the devices could pose eventual health problems.

Authorities in France and England have dismissed fears of cancer from the implants but have said the devices are prone to rupture and could cause inflammation, scarring and fibrosis.

More than 500 French women have had the implants removed since last year, according to the French government agency that evaluates the safety of medical products. Since then, more than 1,000 implants have ruptured, the agency said.

The British government says there is still no statistical data to show that PIP implants are either toxic or more prone to rupturing than others.

"Our advice remains the same that there is not sufficient evidence to recommend routine removal. We have always recommended that women who are concerned should speak to their surgeon or GP," British Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said in a statement.

"The (National Health Service) will support removal of PIP implants if, after this consultation, the patient still has concerns and with her doctor she decides that it is right to do so," he said.

"We believe that private health care providers have a moral duty to offer the same service to their patients that we will offer to NHS patients -- free information, consultations, scans and removal if necessary."

Radical Tunisian Imam in Paris Faces Possible Deportation

Tunisian imam Mohammed Hammami

Mohamed Hammami, a Tunisian imam, is accused of giving anti-semitic sermons and advocating the killing of adulterous women. The French Interior Minister, Claude Gueant, initiated eviction charges against Hammami for “violent anti-semitic utterances.” A “deportation committee” will deliver its verdict on Hammami’s deporatation on February 7th.
Hammami is the imam of Tabligh Omar mosque on Jean-Pierre Timbaud Street, located in the 11th district of Paris, France.
Hammami is believed to have delivered an anti-semitic sermon in which he said, “The money of those who are faithful should not be placed in banks, since that would benefit the Jews.” He is also believed to have said that adulterous woman should be punished by getting “whipped to death.”
The Tabligh Omar mosque was founded by Hammami and belongs to the Tabligh Jamaat movement – a Muslim missionary movement that aims to revive the faith of Muslims through a literal interpretation of the Qur’an. The movement is accused of promoting terrorism. Several French jihadists are thought to attend Hammami’s mosque.
Hammami was born in 1935 and moved to France in the 1960s. He may soon become the 35th imam to get expelled from French territories in the last 10 years.  Since September 11, 2001, French authorities have put imams’ sermons under closer surveillance.
Source: Le Figaro (French newspaper)

'First Lady of Shopping' reported to MACC

Instruct police to speed up NFCorp probe, ex-top cop tells Najib

The NFCorp scandal has been linked to Shahrizat and her family. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak should use his powers as prime minister to expedite the probe into the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp), a former senior police officer said today.

Former city CID chief Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim said Najib could instruct the police, graftbusters and the Attorney-General’s Chambers to finish investigating the scandal-hit livestock company within a fortnight.

“Straightforward criminal breach of trust cases like [NFCorp] need at most two weeks,” he said in a statement.

“If the PM says he can’t interfere in the investigation or decision to prosecute, that’s just a weak and childish excuse.”

Mat Zain pointed out that in 1998, then-Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had ordered him to quickly wrap up the high-profile investigation into Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s black eye, failing which a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) would be set up to look into the police force.

He noted that Dr Mahathir formed the RCI on January 27, 1999 as promised when the results of the investigation were allegedly stalled by the Attorney-General.

“Based on existing precedent, Najib has no reason to draw out this NFC issue beyond two weeks,” Mat Zain stressed, saying that Putrajaya’s move to appoint an auditor to look into NFCorp’s books was a delaying tactic.

He added that the appointment of the auditor would waste more taxpayers’ money and was a slight to the integrity of the Auditor-General, who had been appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

“It is very unfair to the people if Najib is willing to destroy the credibility of royal institutions like the Auditor-General just to protect Shahrizat,” he said.

NFCorp hit the headlines following last year’s Auditor-General’s Report, and has continued to hog the limelight after it was linked to federal minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil’s family.

The publicly funded company is headed by her husband, Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail. Their three children also hold executive posts in the company.

PKR has since made several revelations relating to the scandal, including NFCorp’s purchase of two luxury condominium units in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, and the alleged use of project funds to pay for Shahrizat and her family’s personal expenses.

The opposition party has also alleged that Shahrizat’s family used nearly RM600,000 from NFCorp’s funds to settle their credit card bills in 2009.

But the management of NFCorp has maintained that the credit card expenses were solely for business purposes.

It has also denied allegations that funds from the RM250 million government loan were channelled into its accounts before the loan agreement was signed.

Shahrizat applied for three weeks’ leave from her duties earlier this month after new allegations of bribery surfaced.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced last week Putrajaya would appoint an auditor to scrutinise NFCorp’s books in light of accusations made against the company.

Brother: It’s Uthayakumar’s personal view

P Waythamoorthy clarifies that it is his brother's personal view not to back the 'Anything But Umno' movement. Hindraf's stand, he adds, is different.

GEORGE TOWN: P Uthayakumar’s statement that Hindraf Makkal Sakti has withdrawn its support for the Anything But Umno (ABU) movement is his personal stand, said his brother.

According to Hindraf Makkal Sakti chairman Waythamoorthy, the movement respected Uthayakumar’s view, but had reached a collective stand to the contrary.

He said Hindraf’s official stand was to fully support and cooperate with ABU because “ousting Umno from Putrajaya is a common goal for all.”

“We in Hindraf respect his views though collectively we differ from his personal opinions. Hindraf’s voice is a mix of its grassroots supporters, not based on an individual,” he added.

Yesterday, Human Rights Party (HRP), Hindraf’s political offshoot, information chief S Jayathas issued a statement that a five-member Hindraf supreme council had decided to pull out from ABU.

The statement advised supporters not to attend any future ABU forums, in light of the violent attack on Hindraf activists in Jalan Kebun, Shah Alam on Jan 21.

The statement also listed Uthayakumar as Hindraf’s de facto leader.

However, when contacted this morning, Jayathas failed to clarify who appointed Uthayakumar to this post and when was it done.

Asked why Uthayakumar had previously declared Waythamoorthy as Hindraf’s leader and that he was only a legal advisor, Jayathas said it was to stop certain quarters from manipulating the issue.

A few minutes later, Jayathas uploaded a 2007 Wikipedia posting on the HRP website which referred to Uthayakumar as “Hindraf de facto leader.”

On the five-man supreme council, Jayathas claimed that it was formed well before Hindraf’s mammoth street protest on Nov 25, 2007 and its members were P Karuna, P Siva, K Waran, besides Uthayakumar and himself.

Asked why the supreme council was never publicised before, he said: “We laid low. But now, we want to be active.”

‘We can’t do it alone’

Meanwhile, Waythamoorthy stressed that Hindraf’s collective official stand was to support any third force from the Peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak to “dethrone Umno and its mandores from Putrajaya”.

He said Hindraf would continue to work in tandem and move forward with any force that had a similar agenda to ABU’s.

“We will work with anyone to end Umno and their mandores’ atrocities against society, especially the poor and marginalised communities,” the London-based activist told FMT.

Hindraf’s decision to adopt a multi-pronged strategy and engage with any third party forces to oust Umno was made at the movement’s second annual convention held on Dec 4, 2011.

Uthayakumar did not attend the convention.

Waythamoorthy said Hindraf had consistently fought to end Umno’s rule but realised that it could not do this on its own.

He said Hindraf’s cooperation with third forces against Umno was solely based on a consensus that human rights and equality should be across the board starting with the poorest groups.

He said Hindraf coordinators unanimously agreed that a concerted effort from all parties irrespective of race, religion or creed was the best way to address the issue of the poor and marginalised Malaysian Indians and those in a similar position.

“Hindraf can never do it alone, without cooperating with others who have common goals,” he said.

Is Umno a racist party?

Based on the rule book, anyone can become a member of Umno, provided that the person is a Muslim, speaks Malay and practices the Malay culture.
COMMENT

In the days when FMT still allowed comments from readers, we often got to see lively colourful opinions penned (or typed) under each and every article.

Regardless of what the news might be, whether about a government policy, political squabbling, international relations, opinion pieces or even sports, there was always a barrage of angry comments that linked everything to Umno and that everything was screwed because Umno was a racist party.

In many of the talks and public forums, pseudo intellectuals who pretended to be neutral insisted that Umno was a racist party, an organisation of narrow-minded people, run by a bunch of “keris” wielding warlords waiting to bathe their daggers with the blood of the other races.

A racist by definition is someone who believes that one particular race is superior to the other and this was why the National Socialist Party (Nazi) operated on the premise of racial purity because of their belief in the superiority of the Aryan race and that only those of pure blood could be a member of the party.

Although Umno might not be that extreme, the perception towards the party was somewhat similar, by which people see that only Malays were allowed to be a member.

The ‘metallic black’ remark

Then one fine day Nga Kor Ming, DAP’s Perak state secretary, in a ceramah consisting of mostly Malay PAS supporters, uttered this infamous statement: “Di negeri Perak ‘darul takut’ ini, kita ada menteri besar ‘hitam metalik’ yang haram jadah itu.” [In Perak, state of the fearful, we have a metallic black chief minister who is a (insert insult)]”.

Nga was referring to Perak Chief Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir who happened to be dark skinned.

Since he was talking to a predominantly Malay crowd, many interpreted the remark as referring to the irony that Zambry, being dark skinned looked more Indian rather than Malay, and how come someone so dark was heading the state chapter of Umno.

Nga defended his remark with the usual political “tai chi”, saying that “Metallic Black” was a referrence to the power tussle that happened in the state a few years earlier. But based on the premise of which the statement was made, many concluded that it was clearly a racist remark.

This raised a significant question: If indeed Umno was a racist party, how could they elect a leader who seemed to be more of Indian blood than Malay in the first place?

This also begged the question that if hypothetically someone managed to prove that Zambry was of Indian descent would he be stripped of his party membership?

First, let us take a look at Umno’s constitution regarding membership:

FASAL 5 – Pendaftaran Keahlian (5.1): Tiap-tiap orang Melayu dan Bumiputera berhak mendaftar diri sebagai ahli Umno mengikut Perlembagaan dan peraturannya (Every Malay and Bumiputera has the right to register as an Umno member according to the constitution and laws).

Right. So far Umno seems to be a an exclusive party where only the Malays and Bumiputeras were allowed to join as members. But how does one define a Malay? Well it was written “mengikut perlembagaan” (following the constitution) hence we should be able to find it in the federal constitution.

Perlembagaan Persekutuan Malaysia Perkata 160 – Tafsiran: “Orang Melayu” ertinya seseorang yang menganuti agama Islam, lazim bercakap bahasa Melayu, menurut adat Melayu” (A Malay is someone who is a Muslim, speaks the Malay language and practices the Malay culture).

Now for a race-based party, surely it would appear ironic that there was no mention of ancestry or certain racial traits and profiling.

The reason why we generally despise racial politics is because we carry the notion that a man should be judged for who he is and not who his father was, we loathe at the prospect of defining a character via bloodlines, ancestry or skin colour. Indeed it was quite a revelation that this supposedly racist party did not endorse or made any mention of that.

Because if you look at the definition, a Malay was someone who was a Muslim, spoke Malay and followed the culture, that would mean, technically anyone could become a Malay. All you got to do was be a Muslim, be fluent in Malay and occasionally wear “baju melayu” (traditional attire) during Hari Raya while having a flair for “pantun” (poetry) would be considered a bonus.

National, not racial identity

The thing is, this is the way Umno, and to a certain extent the Malay community, see it – being Malay was more of a national identity rather than a racial identity. That the characteristics of being a Malay were not based on skin colour or ancestry,but rather upon the ideology of Islam that was intertwined with culture and language.

Of course one could argue that it was still an exclusive discriminatory political movement and that not everyone could be a member of the party, seeing that non-Muslims were excluded from it. But let’s look at it from this angle, could a democrat be a member of a Communist Party? Could a free market capitalist be a member of a socialist party? A communist is a person who endorses the teachings of Karl Marx just as much as a Malay endorses the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w). Whether you agree or disagree with that notion, it is how Umno sees it.

Back when opponents taunted former Umno president Dr Mahathir Mohamad of being more Indian than Malay, with stories of his ancestors having come from Kerala, it didn’t really have much of an effect on Umno members or the Malay community in general.

As far as Umno members were concerned, he was a Malay leader not because of who his grandfather was but for who he was, ideologically, linguistically and culturally.

So now we are back with the original predicament, a philosophical question you could say, is Umno really a racist party or are those who insist that Malay is a racial term the real racist? I shall leave it to you.

Zaidel Baharuddin is Mr Right, Mr Right Wing that is, electronics engineer by day writer by night, Frank Sinatra fanboy all day long, catch me at WirawanWeb.com, lipassepi.blogspot.com or follow me on twitter via @Sinatra_Z. He is a FMT columnist.

Kelab Taat Suami bikin kontroversi lagi?

Bila perkataan seks diketengahkan dan Rasulullah SAW dijadikan tokoh utama, pasti ada orang kata KTS buat kontroversi lagi atau cari publisiti lagi, kata Fauziah Ariffin.

PETALING JAYA: Kelab Taat Suami (KTS) yang pernah mencetuskan kontroversi dengan menyifatkan isteri ibarat pelacur kelas pertama dan menerbit buku panduan Seks Islam sebelum ini, kini melancarkan kempen ‘Rasulullah Tokoh Seks Suci Islam’, bersempena sambutan Maulidur Rasul pada 5 Februari ini.

Wakil KTS di Malaysia, Fauziah Ariffin berkata kempen itu mengajak umat Islam mencontohi Rasulullah SAW dalam semua aspek kehidupan.

Jelas beliau, kempen ini juga memberi kesedaran kepada semua bahawa Rasulullah SAW adalah contoh terbaik bagi seluruh umat manusia.

“Bila perkataan seks diketengahkan dan Rasulullah SAW dijadikan tokoh utama, pasti ada orang kata KTS buat kontroversi lagi atau cari publisiti lagi.

“Sebenarnya tidak. Perkataan seks itu sendiri sudah sangat dirosakkan oleh golongan tertentu dengan mengamalkan hubungan seks secara haram iaitu seks bebas, seks luar tabii dan sebagainya.

Contoh terbaik

“Bahkan dalam kehidupan dalam sesebuah rumah tangga pun semestinya kita menjadikan baginda sebagai model ikutan. Sebab Allah SWT pun menyebut di dalam Al Quran, yang antara maksudnya ‘pada diri Rasulullah itu terdapat contoh tauladan yang baik’,” katanya kepada FMT.

Ujar Fauziah, pihak KTS tidak akan memperkatakan sesuatu yang tidak setanding atau setaraf dengan kedudukan baginda, apatah lagi, jauh sekali dari mahu mencemar manusia paling mulia dan agung yang diciptakan oleh Allah itu.

Katanya, kerukunan dan keharmonian rumah tangga Rasulullah SAW sebagai suami dan pemimpin kepada 11 isterinya patut dicontohi, walaupun untuk umat Islam hanya dibenarkan beristeri empat.

“Sebenarnya seks suci yang berlandaskan perkahwinan yang sah disisi Islam adalah nikmat tertinggi yang dikurniakan Allah di dunia ini.

“Sudah tentu orang yang boleh menikmatinya adalah orang yang paling bertaqwa dan orang yang paling bertaqwa adalah Rasulullah sendiri,” ujar Fauziah.

Beliau menyoal, “kalau masyarakat berlurus hati kenapa tidak dapat menerimanya? Bukankah kehidupan berumah tangga atau dalam erti kata yang lain kehidupan seks itu sebahagian dari kehidupan normal manusia?.”

Semalam turut diadakan pelancaran kempen ‘Rasulullah Tokoh Seks Suci Islam’ di Pusat Perdagangan Pelangi, Damansara.

Kempen itu diadakan selama 12 hari bermula semalam sebagai menyambut hari keputeraan Nabi Muhammad SAW yang jatuh pada 5 Februari ini atau 12 Rabiul Awwal 1433H mengikut kalendar Islam.

How many MIC nominees are there in GLCs?

Branch leader demands full disclosure from party president.

PETALING JAYA: A local MIC leader today demanded that party president G Palanivel reveal the number of nominees placed by the party in government-linked companies (GLCs).

V Thiagarajen, chairman of MIC’s Taman Mujur branch, accused Palanivel of treating the party as his personal fiefdom and appointing his clansmen to positions in these GLCs.

He said party members were still in the dark over the number of party nominees in the GLCs and their roles in these GLCs, but he added that he had learnt from a veteran party leader that there were more than 100 places allocated for MIC.

All Barisan Nasional member parties are allowed to place their nominees in the GLCs.

“Until today, no one apart from the party president can say for sure how many positions are exactly connected to MIC,” he said.

“He must also reveal who the directors of these companies are.”

He also asked Palanivel to explain the benefits that the Indian community had derived from MIC’s association with the GLCs.

“Parties like Umno and MCA get contracts from GLCs, but where the MIC is concerned, members are still in the dark over their operations.

“MIC must live up to its corporate social responsibility and be transparent with members about it dealings with these GLCs.”

He called on Palanivel to put himself in line with the Najib administration’s avowed intention to govern with transparency and accountability.

P. Uthayakumar – you are not HINDRAF

Dear Mr P. Uhtayakumar, your criticism on the participation of HINDRAF with ABU may be well founded for your own reasons, but HINDRAF is not only about you, it is about me, and many like me.

R. Shan, Human Being

I think Mr P. Uthayakumar needs to get something right. HINDRAF is a mass movement of the grassroots poor not an individual agenda or an agenda for the kiasu Malaysians.

HINDRAF’s only identity is its masses’ consciousness to galvanize a movement of people from all walks of life. HINDRAF’s notion and objective from its inception may have been seen as an Indian agenda as this poverty strickened minority needed a voice for the voiceless. That was the situation then, but in all fairness, the Malaysian community did embrace them and understand their predicament. Changes are not going to happen overnight but it is high time, rather than running a narrow agenda, HINDRAF has to evolve and work with the rest of the community.

Nobody is taking the glory away from you. Uthayakumar and other comrades were detained under the ISA for the cause of the public but now, it takes guts and courage for HINDRAF to take baby steps to work with the rest of the community to move ahead like the initiative that had been done with ABU.

Nobody denies that the Malaysian Indians do face a protruded policy that had set the Malaysian Indians in such backward waters although they were in the forefront at least 30 years ago. Nobody also denies along with the Malaysian Indians, the rest of the Malaysian community had also been set aback with policies that promote cronyism, corruption and nepotism to stifle the growth of the nation.

All said and credit to HINDRAF, we see today various attempts by the ruling government and the opposition to appease the Malaysian Indians and those deprived like them, but this would only turn out to be short term benefits or shall I say a political gimmicks unless and until we as Malaysian Indians can work with other Malaysians to ensure that we will be the change that we want collectively.

Dear Mr P. Uhtayakumar, your criticism on the participation of HINDRAF with ABU may be well founded for your own reasons, but HINDRAF is not only about you, it is about me, and many like me. HINDRAF had provided the flexibility to exercise humanity and consciousness for the community on a collective basis not on a personal agenda even though it was initiated as a Malaysian Indian movement.

I am a supporter of HINDRAF not because it is a Malaysian Indian movement, but more so because it has a humane cause. Therefore, any humane cause like ABU and any other such organizations have my ears. And if HINDRAF can work with them, what is the problem?

Nothing personal, but just another voice of the true HINDRAF spirit for the betterment of all Malaysians.

Altantuya Killers' Appeal Up Soon

Sirul and Azilah come to court

Case reopens doubts about Malaysian justice system
The politically-charged appeal of two elite Malaysian police bodyguards who were sentenced to death two years and nine months ago for the 2006 murder-for-hire of Mongolian translator and party girl Altantuya Shaaribuu is due on Feb. 10 in Malaysia’s Court of Appeal.

The High Court trial, in which everything appeared to have been done ignore the question of who hired the two killers, stands in vivid contrast to the appeal filed by prosecutors on Jan. 19 in the case of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, in which everything appeared to have been done to bend the evidence to try to put the 64-year-old Anwar behind bars. As Judge Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah pointed out in his not-guilty verdict, “the court cannot be 100 percent certain that the DNA evidence against Anwar was not contaminated.”

The two bodyguards, Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, were to be paid RM50,000 to RM00,000 to kill Altantuya, according to a confession by Sirul which was never produced in court.

Although the three-judge court is expected to hear arguments, it is unsure when the verdict on the appeal by the two will be concluded on that date. Even if it is, according to criminal defense lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon, that is unlikely to be the end of the case. If the two are found guilty once more, they have the right of appeal to the Federal Court, Malaysia’s highest tribunal. That could take as long as another 2-1/2 years, Dhillon said in an interview.

Although the Malaysian court system has been working to shorten the length of time appeals take, delays remain. However, the length of time this particular case is taking is extraordinary, Dhillon said. Indeed, however, he said, the appeal in Anwar’s case could take a similar amount of time. As with the Sirul-Azilah case, Anwar’s appeal to the Federal Court could also take another two and a half years after the appellate verdict.

The murder case been linked to the fortunes of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. Azilah and Sirul served as bodyguards in an elite police unit supervised by Najib, then the country's deputy prime minister. It has continued to dog him as bloggers and journalists from France and other countries have continued to question his involvement. Also on trial with the two, but acquitted without having to put on a defense, was Altantuya's jilted lover and one of Najib's best friends, political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda.

From the start of the year-long trial, during which prosecutors and the judge were hurriedly switched without warning, to the end, when the verdict was delayed since February 2008 until after the United Malays National Organization convention that named Najib party leader and thus prime minister, the case has appeared more about suppressing evidence than determining the guilt or innocence of the accused.

Asked about the failure of investigative agencies to attempt to discover why no attempt had been made to ascertain who had hired the two to kill the woman, Dhillon responded: “Frankly, that is ridiculous. It clearly shows the intention of the investigative agency. If you are a hired killer, someone has hired you, and he is a far greater criminal, whoever it is. If I am the head of the investigative agency, I would want to know who the mastermind is. Everybody wants to sweep this under the carpet.”

The murder was one of the most gruesome in recent Malaysian memory. It is a tale worth repeating. By several accounts, the then-28 year-old woman, who was executed with two bullets to the head in a jungle clearing near the suburban city of Shah Alam and whose body was blown up with military explosives, was at the center of a massive scandal over the purchase by Malaysia of two French submarines and the lease of a third.

The sale of the submarines and other vessels by the French government-linked military contactor DCN to Malaysia, Pakistan, Taiwan. India and other countries have been investigated sporadically by prosecutors who have alleged it involves a string of murders and kickbacks paid to some of France’s top political figures.

Altantuya, then Razak Baginda's lover according to Razak Baginda’s testimony to police, reportedly was a translator in the purchase, which cost Malaysian taxpayers €1 billion (US$329.1 billion in current dollars). The purchase netted a company controlled by Razak Baginda €114 million in "commissions," according to testimony in Malaysia's parliament.

By Razak Baginda's own cautioned statement to the police, he grew tired of Altantuya and broke up with her after a year-long affair in which he gifted her thousands of dollars. However, she flew to Malaysia to demand as much as US$500,000, according a letter found after her death. Other reports alleged the payment was for her part in the purchase of the submarines.

As she stood in front of Razak Baginda's house, demanding that he come out, the two policemen, accompanied by a policewoman, swooped down on her, tossed her into the back of a car, and she was never seen alive again.

In a cautioned statement that was never introduced in court, Sirul testified that in her last moments, Altantuya begged for her life, saying she was pregnant. Sirul said he and Azilah had attached explosives to the woman's legs up to her abdomen and her head, raising questions why they had sought to destroy her abdomen rather, for instance, than her hands, which could identify the body. Presumably the explosives would have destroyed any DNA samples of whose baby was inside her, if any.

P. Balasubramaniam, a private detective hired by Razak Baginda to keep the woman away from him, swore in an intensively detailed statutory declaration that he was told by Razak Baginda that Altantuya had been the lover of Najib as well, that she liked anal sex, and that she had been passed on to the analyst because Najib intended to become prime minister and didn't want a sex scandal hanging over his head.

In the declaration, Balasubramaniam said he had seen text messages from Najib after Altantuya disappeared, telling him to "be cool" and that he would take care of the matter. After delivering his statutory declaration, Balasubramaniam was summoned to a Kuala Lumpur police station, where he was forced into a total recantation of the document. He and his entire family disappeared. There apparently was never an attempt made by the court trying the three men to find him and ask him to testify as to the accuracy of the statement.

Other questions remain. In Sirul's cautioned statement, the police constable said Azhar told him Najib's chief of staff, Musa Safri, had ordered them to pick up the young woman. Azhar first suggested going to the Hotel Malaya, where Altantuya and two friends were staying, to kill them all, but decided not to because of the presence of closed-circuit cameras. Neither of the two was ever asked in court about Musa's involvement in the matter, nor about their relationship to Najib.

Burmaa Oyunchimeg, Altantuya's cousin who accompanied her to Kuala Lumpur and one of the two women whom Sirul and Azhar presumably intended to kill in the hotel, testified in the trial that she had seen a picture of Najib together with Razak Baginda and Altantuya. Najib has sworn on the Quran that he had never met the woman.

Both the prosecution and the defense leapt to their feet and asked that her testimony be stricken and she was never asked about it again. She also testified that when she attempted to leave the country, there was no indication that she had ever arrived there, leading to questions of how her records had disappeared from the immigration department. No questions were ever asked about how that could have happened either.

When Razak Baginda was first brought into court in June of 2007, his wife, Mazlina, angrily shouted, asking why he was being brought to trial when he had no ambition to become prime minister, which could have been construed as a reference to the allegation of Najib's relationship to Altantuya that was described by Balasubramaniam. Mazlina has never been asked to explain her statement.

Nor has Najib, along with Musa Safri, ever been asked to appear in court or been questioned about the case. It appears unlikely that they ever will be.

ABU goes to Seremban on Saturday, 28th January, 2012

Click on the poster to see it in full size.
Hope to see you all there this Saturday.

New date for accused in Kugan case

The New Straits Times

PETALING JAYA: The Sessions Court yesterday fixed Feb 13 to mention the case of constable V. Navindran who was charged with causing hurt to detainee A. Kugan, who died while in custody three years ago.

V. Navindran, 29, was initially charged with two counts of causing grievous hurt and two alternative counts of causing hurt to Kugan.

Navindran was alleged to have committed the offences at the interrogation room of the Taipan police station at 7am and 4pm on Jan 16, 2009.

The accused claimed trial on Oct 1, 2009 and was acquitted without his defence being called.   The prosecution appealed and the Shah Alam High Court allowed the appeal last Thursday when it ordered Navindran to enter his defence on the two alternative charges.

The accused, who was represented by Datuk P.M. Nagarajan, was granted bail of RM10,000.

Judge Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz then fixed Feb 13 for mention before Judge Aslam Zainuddin at the Sessions Court in Shah Alam.

Anwar pulls in the crowds

Anwar continues to draw the crowds as he criss-crosses the country. This was the scene at Sabak Bernam last night.

Photograph: Mediarakyat

Egyptian Sheikh: Driving a Chevy is Haram

(Photo via Facebook.com)

"And I think to myself, what a wonderful world..."

A Salafi sheikh in Egypt has reportedly issued a fatwa that buying [or driving] a Chevrolet vehicle is haram because the American brand’s logo looks like the Christian cross.

In the video below, prominent Egyptian TV presenter Amr Adeeb takes the sheikh’s joke-of-a-fatwa to task, saying, “We’ve reached a really strange place with this.”

“The car’s been around [for a century] and only now did you notice there’s a cross on the car?”

Adeeb also notes that the car is not used or presented as a form of religious iconography: “Do we hold mass for it? Do we pray for it?” And his guest chimes in with a comment about the self-centered nature of the fatwa itself: “As if the people who came up with the logo were thinking that we want to put this special logo on the car just to piss us [Muslims] off?”



The TV presenter concludes, “With all of the problems in Egypt, you’re concerned about the cross?... We’re calling for unity [in the country] and then you come up with [fatwas] like this?”

By the way, there’s actually a few theories going around about the symbolism behind the Chevrolet logo. One common story is that General Motors co-founder William C. Durant copied the design off some wallpaper he saw in a Parisian Hotel. But historian Ken Kaufmann says the logo is actually based on iconography used by the Southern Compressed Coal Company ad for its “Coalettes” logo.
Either way, it’s usually referred to as a bowtie emblem, of which there are many examples in various corporate logos.

Knowledge is power, people. And I’m too annoyed to comment further.

ABU-Hindraf takes it to Suhakam - Part II

ABU-Hindraf takes it to Suhakam

Cops deny aiding ‘school kids’ to disrupt ABU ceramah

SHAH ALAM, Jan 25 — Police said today they could not have aided a group of locals to disrupt an Anything But Umno (ABU) ceramah here last Saturday as officers only arrived after the two groups had clashed.

Shah Alam police chief Zahedi Ayob told reporters “police were only told (of the ceramah) after the disturbance but calmed the situation down as soon as we arrived.”

“We were not informed of the event. Why did they not tell us? Only they know,” he said.

ABU said yesterday it would lodge a complaint with the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) claiming police had worked with a gang of men to disrupt the gathering in a hall on Jalan Kebun here.

Rembau PKR chief Badrul Hisham Shaharin alleged that the “attack” was witnessed by plainclothes policemen who failed to step in despite the danger posed to the crowd by the group.

But Zahedi said today “even if a plainclothes officer had arrived earlier, he would not have been able to take action as he would have been alone and likely would have been whacked.”

“Even if you had been there, you would have had to wait for uniformed personnel. But as I said earlier, we did not know about the event at all and only arrived after the incident,” he said.

He also said allegations that the ceramah was disrupted by “30 to 40 men in Umno shirts are not true and only stories.”

“All six whom we detained for investigations are between 16 and 19 years old. School kids. Are they party members? Unlikely,” he said.

Zahedi added the six were identified as intruders during the ceramah through video and photographic evidence which showed “nobody there was in an Umno uniform.”

The anti-Umno coalition had claimed that the ceramah was cancelled after men in Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) T-shirts, allegedly armed with steel rods, kicked over tables and chairs and asked the attendees to leave.

Police also said they did not find any weapons at the scene but admitted there were unused flagpoles strewn about the venue.

Zahedi said organisers of public events should inform the police of their occurence as “we don’t want to obstruct, we want to protect.”

“If you do it in the hornet’s nest, then we will tell you not to and suggest another place. But if you say you like to get stung, then we will let you proceed,” he added.

He also said the six detained were not remanded and released on police bail after their statements were taken.

Police also said they were waiting to interview a 27-year-old who sustained injuries to his shoulder, back and eye in the clash and was hospitalised.

Aussie designer clarifies Rosmah shopping reports

A screenshot of Carl Kapp's press release to The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25 — Sydney-based fashion designer Carl Kapp, drawn into controversial claims that Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor spent A$100,000 (RM325,000) on a shopping trip in Australia earlier this month, clarified today that he had never specified the amount spent in his store.

The South African-born Kapp acknowledged that the prime minister’s wife had visited his store in Paddington, Sydney as published recently in the Sydney Morning Herald.

“The party of Datin Sri (Seri) Rosmah came to our store in a sizeable group, and during their visit, members of the party, including friends and the Chairman and organiser of Islamic Fashion Festival (IFF) separately made various purchases,” he said in a statement to The Malaysian Insider today.

“I believe Datin Sri Rosmah is the patron for this Islamic Fashion Festival.

“The article also stated that I alluded to being ‘flown to Malaysia next month’ solely for the benefit of the Prime Minister’s wife.

“This is also inaccurate. Visits to various parts of Asia, including Malaysia, for the purposes of channel marketing for our merchandise and sourcing of materials for future products are a regular part of my work calendar and ordinary course of business.” He added that the newspaper article had unfairly given the impression that the Carl Kapp establishment was indiscreet and was willing to divulge personal and private information about clients.

“This is manifestly untrue, and we wish to state unequivocally that we value greatly the privacy of our

Carl Kapp, courtesy of Carlkapp.com

clientele and would never violate their confidence under any circumstance,” he said.

Rosmah had on Monday dismissed claims of extravagant spending during a recent holiday in Sydney.

Several bloggers picked up the Sydney Morning Herald report that Rosmah had allegedly dropped an estimated RM325,000 in fashion designer Carl Kapp’s boutique during a private holiday a little more than a fortnight ago.

The paper reported Kapp as telling its ‘Private Sydney’ section that Rosmah “was absolutely gracious and very easy to deal with”, adding that she was nothing like the woman often portrayed by the local media for her extravagant lifestyle.

It was said that Kapp, who became suspicious of the identity of his mystery VIP customer when his Oxford Street store received a flurry of calls requesting valet parking for her limousine, said he was being flown to Malaysia next month with a collection of “toiles” for Rosmah to try on before completing her massive order of 61 dresses, pants, and tops.

Sodomy appeal: Saiful may have to wait longer

Parties filing notices of appeal have to wait for written judgments first, says Anwar's lead counsel Karpal Singh.

KUALA LUMPUR: Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan may have to wait at least three months to know if the prosecution’s appeal against Anwar Ibrahim’s acquittal on a sodomy charge will be heard.

Anwar’s lead counsel Karpal Singh said today that under the Courts of Judicature Act, parties filing notices of appeal have to wait for written judgments first.

A standing order allows judges up to eight weeks to produce their written judgments.

“In Anwar’s case, the prosecution will then peruse the written judgment before deciding to file a petition of appeal.

“If the prosecution feels the grounds of the written judgment are favourable for an appeal, then they will file a petition, otherwise it’s the end of the matter,” said Karpal.

He also told reporters that it was the Attorney-General’s prerogative to appeal.

“Its nothing extraordinary. The other senior counsels and I have previously adviced our clients not to go ahead with an appeal after studying a written judgment.

Karpal was talking to reporters after meeting trial judge Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah’s secretary over the status of the written judgment on Anwar’s Sodomy II trial.

He said the judgment was still not ready and the secretary informed him that relevant parties will be notified as soon as it’s ready.

He explained that under Chief Justice’s practise directive, judges have eight weeks to come up with their written judgment from the filing day of notice of appeal.

Meanwhile, Mohamd Zabidin was back on duty today after having been on leave since delivering his judgment on Anwar’s case on Jan 9.

Last Friday, the AG’s Chambers filed notice of appeal which was signed by Solicitor-General Idrus Harun.

The chambers issued a statement that the decision to appeal was based on evidence and the law and was not swayed by emotion or sentiment.

Mohamad Zabidin acquitted and discharged Anwar after ruling that the court was not 100% certain that the integrity of the DNA samples had not been compromised.

He also ruled that the court was reluctant to convict a person solely on the uncorroborated evidence of complainant, Mohd Saiful.

‘Merit in Karpal’s one man-one seat proposal’

Some DAP leaders say the party should adopt the proposal and not cater to an elite few.

GEORGE TOWN: The DAP central executive committee must have the courage to adopt Karpal Singh’s one-man one seat proposal

The DAP chairman Karpal Singh made this proposal some time ago and the party is divided whether to take a stand on this for the coming election.

The Pahang DAP deputy chairman J Apalasamy and Bagan division assistant secretary G Asoghan feel adopting Karpal’s proposal is the only way forward for the party.

They said the one man – one seat policy would create more space for new talents to emerge.

Since many strongly supported Karpal’s proposal, they warned that some leaders and members will be frustrated if the party failed to adopt the proposal merely to satisfy a few.

Apalasamy and Asoghan were commenting on a recent statement by party deputy chairman Dr Tan Seng Giaw, who opposed Karpal’s proposal.

Tan was quoted as saying that the suggestion was not feasible and may not see the light of the day.

If adopted, the Kepong MP argued, the policy would cause a lot of dissatisfaction among current assemblymen and parliamentarians.

Apalasamy and Asoghan took Tan to task for seemingly suggesting that the ego and satisfaction of seven Peninsular-based double-seat representatives were far greater than wishes of thousands of grassroots leaders and members.

“Seng Giaw’s suggestion is a way backward, not forward,” said the duo.

If CEC failed to adopt the one man – one seat policy, Asoghan cautioned that majority members would perceive that the DAP leadership was using them to empower an elite few.

He said the party was not at all about seven double-seat holders, thus should uphold the rights of party grassroots and aspirations of the public.

“This is in line with the CAT theme of competency, accountability and transparency,” stressed Asoghan.

Bringing up fresh talents

Since the last general election, Apalasamy said many senior and new members have showed renewed enthusiasm to play active roles in the party.

He said the senior members, who have helped to build the party to its current strong political position, must be given due recognition.

“Hence, the seats must be distributed fairly and justly to accommodate these seniors and fresh talents,” he said.

Party supremo Karpal has proposed the one man – one seat policy with exceptions for candidates in Sabah and Sarawak, and Chief Minister of Penang, a post held by party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.

Lim is currently Air Putih assemblyman and Bagan MP.

The one man – one seat policy would affect double-seat holders in Penang such as state DAP chief Chow Kon Yeow (Padang Kota assemblyman and Tanjung MP) and Deputy Chief Minister II and party deputy secretary general P Ramasamy (Prai assemblyman and Batu Kawan MP).

Others who would be affected are Perak DAP chairman Ngeh Koo Ham (Sitiawan assemblyman and Beruas MP), Nga Kor Ming (Pantai Remis assemblyman and Taiping MP), DAP national organising secretary Teresa Kok (Kinrara assemblywoman and Seputeh MP) and national DAP Youth chief Anthony Loke Siew Fook (Lobak assemblyman and Rasah MP) who is also Negeri Sembilan Opposition.

Two more double-seat holders, DAP Sibu MP and Bukit Assek assemblyman Richard Wong Ho Leng, and Bandar Kuching MP and Bukit Sentosa assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen, would likely benefit from the exception to rule for now.

Suhakam: Polis tak nak bicara tapi terus hukum

Shaani berkata polis sepatutnya mendidik masyarakat supaya tidak mengambil tindakan yang bertentangan dengan undang -undang.

KUALA LUMPUR: Pesuruhjaya Suruhanjaya Hak Asasi Manusia (Suhakam) Shaani Abdullah

berpendapat institusi polis seolah-olah tidak faham dengan prinsip hak asasi manusia terutamanya dalam hal bertolak ansur semata-mata untuk melindungi kepentingan kumpulan tertentu.

Malah mereka menyalahgunakan kedudukan dengan mengurangkan kebebasan rakyat hanya untuk memudahkan kerja sendiri sedangkan tanggungjawab polis adalah untuk melindungi semua rakyat dan bukan untuk golongan majoriti, dakwa Shaani.

“Tak nak (guna) waran tapi mahu terus tangkap, tak nak bicara tapi mahu terus hukum,” tegurnya selepas mendengar aduan daripada wakil gerakan Asalkan Bukan Umno (ABU) Badrul Hisham Shaharin di pejabat Suhakam di sini hari ini.

Beliau berkata sedemikian ketika mengulas mengenai cara polis bertindak menangani serangan kumpulan samseng semasa program ceramah anjuran ABU dan Barisan Bertindak Hak Asasi Hindu (Hindraf) di Dewan Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam (MBSA) Seksyen 30, Jalan Kebun, Shah Alam pada malam 21 Januari lalu.

Shaani berkata polis sepatutnya mendidik masyarakat supaya tidak mengambil tindakan yang bertentangan dengan undang-undang dan bukannya menggunakan hukum sendiri dengan menyerang majlis ceramah tersebut.

“Majlis diadakan oleh badan yang sah, bukannya majlis anjuran kongsi gelap. Kalau rakyat marah, pergi buat aduan polis bukan guna hukum sendiri,” katanya.

Turut hadir mendengar aduan tersebut Pegawai Bahagian Aduan dan Siasatan Suhakam Yustina Ishak.

Polis disyaki bersubahat 

ABU dalam memorandumnya kepada Suhakam mendakwa salah seorang dari kumpulan penceroboh yang mengganggu ceramah itu adalah pegawai polis yang tidak mengenakan pakaian seragam dan mengesyaki polis bersubahat dengan kumpulan penyerang terbabit.

Badrul juga berkata polis pada malam kejadian tidak mengambil apa-apa tindakan walaupun penyerang masih ada di tempat kejadian, sebaliknya menyuruh penganjur memberhentikan ceramah.

Selain memorandum, turut dikemukakan bukti rakaman video serangan malam kejadian dan gambar penyerang yang dikenal pasti.

Beliau turut menafikan laporan akhbar Berita Harian bahawa seramai 1,000 penduduk yang tidak berpuas hati mengepung dewan berkenaan, sebaliknya mendakwa hanya kira-kira 10 pemuda dipercayai penyokong Barisan Nasional (BN) mengganggu dengan menjerit dengan kata-kata perkauman sambil mengugut orang ramai keluar dari dewan itu.

“Mereka kemudian mengejar dan menyerang hadirin berrketurunan India dengan kayu, topi keledar serta mencampak kerusi ke merata tempat.

“Berikutan itu, sorang lelaki India yang juga ahli Dewan Himpunan Penyokong PAS mengalami kecederaan dan sehingga hari ini masih ditahan dalam wad,” katanya.

Sehubungan itu, ABU menuntut supaya Suhakam menubuhkan jawatankuasa khas menyiasat kejadian itu dan mengumumkan laporan penyiasatan tersebut.

Gerakan itu juga mahu Suhakam memastikan penyerang terlibat dikenakan tindakan undang-undang selain mengeluarkan kenyataan mengutuk tindakan menggunakan kekerasan dan berbaur perkauman bagi menghalang hak orang awam berhimpun secara aman.

“Kami juga mahu Suhakam menyiasat sama ada polis bersubahat dengan penyerang yang terlibat,” katanya.
Sementara itu Shaani dalam responnya berkata pihaknya akan membawa perkara ini ke mesyuarat pesuruhjaya untuk tindakan selanjutnya.

Katanya dalam mesyuarat itu terpulang kepada keputusan Suhakan sama ada wajar suruhanjaya itu ditubuhkan atau mengadakan sesi pendengaran inkuiri awam.

Cops come under fire for their 'inaction'

Angkatan Warga Aman Malaysia (Warga Aman) has called for urgent police action against the "aggressors" who disrupted the Anything But Umno (ABU) ceramah in Shah Alam last Saturday.

The coalition of 20 Indian non-governmental groups has demanded to know why there is no action against those who gatecrashed the ceramah, and insisted that it be called off.

"Where and why is the Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussien and the inspector-general of police so quiet? Let’s see what action the police will take to bring the culprits to justice," said the coalition’s secretary-general S Barathidasan.

The 'End Umno/BN regime' ceramah organised by ABU and the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) at the Shah Alam City Council hall in Jalan Kebun was cancelled following the scuffle, that left one injured.

The ceramah organisers lodged a police report yesterday, suspecting that police were also in cahoots with the assailants.

According to those who witnessed the incident, a “rowdy mob” interrupted ABU’s ceramah and hurled racial slurs at the participants, ordering them to vacate the hall.

“Such gangsterism must be stoped. It is the duty and responsibility of the police to protect citizens exercising their constitutional right to assemble and speak.
                                  
“The police, however, have skirted around the matter contending that nobody was injured in the melee. The police are definitely in cohort with the gangsters for not taking any action immediately,” added Barathidasan.

He reminded that even if no one was assaulted, the authorities should investigate the incident nonetheless, “as (it’s) highly possible the incident will escalate into something serious”.