Hindraf sambut hari hak asasi manusia di Dataran Merdeka

'Home Ministry sec-gen also interferes with police'

Minister Says 'Probably Dozens' More Like Merah in France

A man arrested this week in connection with the March attacks by extremist gunman Mohamed Merah has been released without charge, a judicial source said on Friday.

The 38-year-old man was detained on Tuesday along with his ex-girlfriend, also 38, who was released earlier.

The man, described by police as a member of the traveler community who converted to Islam, was detained on suspicion of having provided aid to Merah in carrying out the March attacks that left seven people dead.

The nature of his potential involvement was unclear at the time of his arrest, but investigators have been searching for a suspected "third man" believed to have been with Merah and his brother Abdelkader during the theft of a scooter used in the attacks.

Merah, a self-described al-Qaida sympathizer, shot a rabbi, three Jewish schoolchildren and three French paratroopers before being shot dead in a police siege in Toulouse.

French authorities have stepped up efforts to fight homegrown extremists since the attacks, including with a series of arrests of alleged Islamist militants.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls has warned that there are "probably dozens" more potential extremists like Merah in France.

"The threat exists abroad but there is also a threat from inside," Valls told France 2 television this week.

Syrian Terrorists Execute Defenseless Civilians with Machete

A video released by the Syrian terrorists on their website showed them beheading loyalists to President
 Bashar al-Assad with machetes.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The Syrian website al-Haqiqa posted a video which is the most horrific of all videos released so far about the Syrian crisis.

The tragic incident has reportedly happened in an area located between Talbisiyeh and Rastan towns in the Western Homs province

The video shows a group of Takfiri armed rebels affiliated to the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) who call themselves Khaled bin Walid Battalion and use children for beheading abducted citizens.

The video showed the terrorists bringing down the heads of the people on a piece of stone and beheaded them by using a machete.

The video appeared on the facebook page of Khaled bin Walid which is run by Qassem Sadeddin, a defected Syrian Air Force colonel.

After the outbreak of the Syrian crisis in March 2011, some reactionary Arab states and their allies ushered in shameless efforts to strike a blow on the Middle East's resistance axis and topple the Damascus government.

Moreover, a new al-Qaeda was formed with the support of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the western countries, specially the US, in Syria.

The above countries recruit the Salafis from different countries such as Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Libya, Europe, even Afghanistan and some Central Asian countries, train them in Libya and Turkey, and eventually send them to Syria to fight President Bashar al-Assad's government.

Terrorists have tried hard in the last several days to make Syrian cities unsafe for citizens, but the army has purged them from most neighborhoods and districts, killed tens of them and arrested many others.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.

Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed, when some protest rallies turned into armed clashes.

The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.

End item/ 149

‘Fixed deposit remark insulting Indians’

Indian leaders say Najib's remark was demeaning to the community.

PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has insulted the Indian community by referring to them as Barisan Nasional’s fixed deposit.

Some Indian community leaders said that this was a most disrespectful term.

Najib said Indians were BN’s fixed deposit during the MIC’s 66th annual general meeting yesterday.

“In the 11th general election [2004], the BN had its fixed deposit in the Indian voters but in the 12th general election, the Indian fixed deposit moved from the BN bank to the opposition bank.

“Maybe our interest rates were not good in 2008 for the Indian fixed deposit votes, but over the last three years, I have raised the interest rates and they are making a comeback to the BN bank. The confidence on the BN government is back,” Najib said.

Bersih 2.0 co-chairman S Ambiga said she was stunned to hear the term, fixed deposit, in reference to the Indian community.

“I was stunned. As an Indian, it is demeaning to be a fixed deposit because it gives the impression that you don’t think. It is unacceptable,” she said.

Ambiga, who was a former Bar Council chairman, added that the politicians should be more sensible in their language.

“Sometimes they don’t realise that it is insulting,” she said.

Mark of desperation

Tamil Foundation adviser K Arumugam sees Najib’s remark as a mark of desperation on Najib’s part and the dividends were given out to bait for votes.

“If the poorest of the three ethnic groups is the fixed deposit for Najib, it is condescending, mocking and ridiculing and shows his desperation. The poor is getting poorer, and the Indians are worst affected because of discrimination and racism.

“Najib’s handouts as dividends are at best, pittance for fishing votes. Things like inflation, low wages, cost of education and housing are making Indians live in increasing debt,” he said.

Another civil society leader, A Jayanath, who is Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia (SABM) core group member, said that Najib had made a false assumption to regard Indian votes as BN’s fixed deposit.

“It is a false assumption. It is time we moved away from race-based politics and focus on ideology- based politics.

“The real issues are related to class, equity, marginalisation and poverty that affects all groups,” said Jayanath.

'PM lying on figure of stateless Indians'

PKR vice-president N Surendran has lambasted Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s claim that there are only 9,000 stateless Indians in Malaysia.

“The prime minister’s statement is a dishonest and disgraceful attempt to play down the number of stateless Malaysians of Indian descent; the tiny figure of 9,000 is baseless and illogical,” Surendran said in a statement.

Najib (right, in photo) had yesterday denied Pakatan Rakyat’s claim that there are 300,000 stateless Indians in the country, alleging the figure is significantly lower at 9,000, during the recently-concluded MIC general assembly.

The prime minister made the estimated based on the number of people that had approached the National Registration Department (NRD)’s counters, said Surendran, adding that the counters set up during the MyDaftar campaign can be “easily overlooked” as it was only held for a few weeks.

“The prime minister is mocking and lying to the Indian community,” lamented Surendran.

Surendran further condemned Najib for not taking any effort to solve the issue of stateless Indians to “end this great injustice”, saying that the solution to the problem is to reach out to the affected people throughout the country and register them systematically.

He said issue has become endemic among Indian Malaysians, in both urban and rural areas, claiming that the those affected are deprived of proper schooling, employment opportunities and basic amenities.

The PKR veep (right) cited examples from the case of B Reshina earlier this year, who was not allowed to sit for the SPM examinations as she did not have a MyKad despite the fact that she was born in Malaysia.

“Najib and his government have flagrantly breached the federal constitution by refusing to issue blue ICs to our stateless Malaysians.

“We call upon Najib and his government to stop denying the enormity of the problem and to end the long suffering of the stateless Malaysians immediately,” added Surendran.

Chua: Indians should no longer trust BN

Meanwhile, fellow PKR vice-president Chua Jui Meng said the issue should have been long resolved and the problem was “more than enough a reason for (the Indians) to change the federal government”.

“This problem should have been resolved long ago and therefore the Indian community in Malaysia cannot continue to trust the Umno-led Barisan Nasional federal government,” he said in a statement today.

Chua, a long-serving health minister under BN previously, questioned why the stateless Indians are still denied their application for citizenship despite having lived here for years and being able to speak fluent Bahasa Malaysia.

“Why must their application for citizenship be rejected or their files left in the cupboard to collect dust?

“Why were 600,000 Muslims from Indonesia and the Philippines in Sabah given citizenship and bumiputera status to vote in Malaysia?” he said, claiming that a great number of Filipino Malaysians in Sabah are unable to even speak the national language.

Chua (left), who is also the Johor PKR chief, urged the Indians to instead ensure Pakatan Rakyat wins the next election as PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has promise citizenship to all stateless, should the coalition form the federal government.

PKR declared earlier last month that they will be holding a rally this month at the NRD headquarters in Putrajaya to pressure the government into resolving the problem of stateless Indians in the country.

The rally, which was to be held on Dec 5, was later rescheduled to Dec 12 due to overwhelming support.

Stateless issue heads out of twilight zone

COMMENT Five years after the reverberating Hindraf protest of November 2007, the contest for the Indian vote at the 13th general election is headed for a decisive phase on a signal issue - the numbers of stateless residents and what’s to be done about their plight.

On Wednesday, a conjectural number of the stateless and their sympathisers will gather at the National Registration Department (NRD) to demonstrate their concerns and clamour for swift remedy.

Today, a prominent activist for the stateless, PKR vice-president and lawyer N Surendran (left), will file an application in the Kuala Lumpur High Court asking for a judicial review of the NRD’s refusal to issue a blue MyKad to Sarojini and Mala, two stateless residents of Kapar, in Selangor.

Sarojini, 32, and Mala, 34, neither of whom have been to school, have long been denizens of that twilight zone to which the stateless are consigned in Malaysia.

Surendran will be asking the court to grant an order of mandamus against the NRD and the government to compel them to issue the two with a blue MyKad and also an order of certiorari to quash the decision not to grant them a blue MyKad, in addition to seeking a declaration that their fundamental rights were breached and that this merited damages.

Neither Sarojini nor Mala has been to school because they don’t have a birth certificate and an identity card, the indispensable accoutrements of citizenship.

Sarojini and Mala are Indian Malaysians but their stateless situation is not exclusive to indigent members of the community.

Though there is no doubt that the overwhelming majority of the stateless are Indians, in recent months it has come to light that not inconsiderable numbers of Dayak and Kadazan are similarly afflicted.

Whether the statelessness of these people is due to bureaucratic neglect or their own destitution, the issue is a gauge of the extent of the prevalence of dire poverty among Malaysia’s 28 million people.

The stateless exist in a twilight zone. Without birth certificates or identity cards, they cannot go to school, hospitals or be gainfully employed.

They are the wretched of the country, to borrow from Third World liberationist Frantz Fanon’s luminous phrase, ‘The Wretched of The Earth’, which is the title of a book he wrote.
  
Urgent need of remedy

At present, three parties espouse the point that the situation of the stateless is in urgent need of remedy - three parties, that is, and one man.

The three parties are PKR, which claims that the problem is considerable in magnitude and demands surgical remedy; MIC, which says that PKR is grandstanding on the extent of the problem that, it claims, is well on the way to rectification; and DAP, which has highlighted the problem through national vice-chairperson M Kulasegaran (right), but has gone beyond verbal espousal to take a step towards alleviation of the problem.

This step was the hiring last month by the Penang government of five officers who have been commissioned to ferret out the stateless wherever they are - not just in Penang - and compile a register of their names and addresses to commence the task of legitimising their presence in the country.

The abovementioned one man who has shown some solicitude for the stateless is Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who to the Indian Malaysian community in recent times has sounded like a regular Dr Marcus Welby, famed from the American TV programme as a general practitioner with a fetching bedside manner.

Najib, benign dispenser in last two years of palliatives for the problems of entrenched poverty in sections of the Indian Malaysia community, struck a characteristic note at the MIC convention yesterday when he suggested that the numbers of the stateless were in the four-digit region, far from the “exaggerated” six-digit levels dramatised by PKR.

This drew an immediate riposte from Surendran who accused the PM of grossly underestimating the numbers, an effect, the PKR veep held, of the general trivialisation with which problems to do with the Indian Malaysian community are regarded by the BN.

Last week Surendran was called up by the OCPD in Putrajaya for questioning about the planned protest to be staged by stateless people and their supporters on Dec 12.

After being questioned, Surendran told the press that the police were being officious about the planned protest whereas the organisers of the demonstrators had made plain their intention to dramatise the plight of the stateless.

“It’s a human rights issue,” argued the counsel who has made a name for himself in human rights advocacy in the last decade.

“By operation of law, these people are supposed to have been citizens of this country. That they are not is a crying shame and a huge injustice.”

Dramatisation of the issue has resulted in Pakatan Rakyat supremo Anwar Ibrahim announcing last Thursday at a public rally in Padang Serai, Kedah, that once elected, a Pakatan Rakyat government will make the stateless citizens in a month, virtually by a stroke of a federal pen.

The Pakatan leader has opted for a panacea to the BN chairperson’s placebo.

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TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for close on four decades. He likes the occupation because it puts him in contact with the eminent without being under the necessity to admire them. It is the ideal occupation for a temperament that finds power fascinating and its exercise abhorrent.

‘Black knight’ Musa vs ‘White knight’ Ramli

The former IGP took a swipe at his critics for portraying him as the bad cop out to destroy the PDRM.

PETALING JAYA: Former Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan today lashed out at his critics, especially his former colleagues Ramli Yusuff and Mat Zain Ibrahim, suggesting that they have strong backing from powerful figures.

“I think this Ramli, he has strong influence with IGP [Ismail Omar] and the police,” he told a press conference here.

“From the outside, it seems like he’s the white knight, saviour of PDRM [Royal Malaysian Police]… while I’m the black knight who is destroying PDRM… the picture has been painted as such,” he said when asked about Ramli’s unending crusade against him.

Musa, the patron of the new anti-crime NGO MyWatch, said that he suspects that Ramli has the backing of certain powerful figures that he did not name.

“I just want to know who is behind him… who has given him this platform to attack me,” he said.

Musa maintained that he had no links with underworld figures, a claim that Ramli, retired Commercial Crimes Investigation Department (CCID) director, has repeated, and instead asked the latter himself to answer to the public.

“He should answer to the public… how he owns so much riches and wealth when he was still in service. Even I don’t have so much…”

Musa said despite the courts clearing Ramli of failing to declare some RM27 million worth of assets, for him, it was still an unresolved question.

How could a police officer only holding the post of CCID director amass such money? he asked.

Asked if he was implying Ramli was linked to “undesirable individuals”, Musa said: “It is hard for me to answer. Because those who have wealth of that nature will have some links somewhere.”

He also denied former KL CID chief Mat Zain’s claim that he (Musa) had fabricated evidence, relating to three reports on the injuries Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim received while in police custody in 1998.

Mat Zain had said: “I state, yet again, that I am willing to declare under oath in any judicial proceeding or before any judge that there was indeed an agreement between [Attorney-General Abdul] Gani [Pattail] and Musa to use Dr Abdul Rahman [Yusof] to fabricate the three so-called special reports on the injuries Anwar received while in police custody in 1998.”

Musa said he has no knowledge about any such reports, declaring that he has no power to order any doctor to do anything.

“He [Mat Zain] is the one who investigated the case. He should have the reports,” he said.

He said Mat Zain, along with Ramli, was trying to discredit him.

“They are plainly trying to stop me from speaking out. These people are back in operation. They have to say something. They know I can’t stand this kind of things, so this is a preemptive strike by them,” Musa said.

“Let me ask them now: who are the real kingpins? Why have there been no actions [taken]?”

Defamation suit

Musa also denied rumours that he is coming out now because his request to be made the Malaysian High Commissioner to Brunei was turned down, saying that he had in fact rejected the offer.

“I was [in fact] offered the post [but] I refused. I am a policeman,” he said.

Meanwhile, MyWatch chairman R Sri Sanjeevan said that his NGO was giving former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission adviser Robert Phang three days to apologise and retract comments he made about the organisation.

“He has mentioned in his statement that MyWatch is bankrolled by underworld syndicates. I will give him a grace period of three days to apologise for his statement, or we will initiate a defmation suit against him.”

“He has no clue about MyWatch. If he is defaming us, he is indirectly defaming Musa,” said Sri Sanjeevan.

Meanwhile, MyWatch adviser S Gobi Krishnan denied that the NGO was politically linked.

“MyWatch is an NGO… neutral. I can be a party member, but MyWatch doesn’t take instructions from anyone, or report to anyone.”

Hindraf urges Suhakam inquiry on estate workers

Commissioner Sha’ani supports a petition that ties Indian misery to the fragmentation of large plantations.

KUALA LUMPUR: Hindraf has asked Suhakam to conduct a public inquiry on the displacement of estate workers and its consequences on the Malaysian Indian community.

Estate workers were victims of the “largest single forced displacement in the region” and the world had yet to know anything about its “disastrous consequences”, Hindraf national advisor N Ganesan said today when presenting a petition to Suhakam commissioner Muhammad Sha’ani Abdullah.

Sha’ani said he supported the petition and would do his part to persuade Suhakam to hold the inquiry. He said he would try to meet Hindraf’s Dec 24 deadline for an answer from the human rights commission.

In an emotional speech during the presentation of the petition, Ganesan said at least 800,000 Indian estate workers were displaced between 1970 and 2000, causing massive structural changes within the community and thereby making the ethnic minority a vulnerable target for discrimination.

“They were pushed out from rural communities into alien urban centres in a short span. When they lost their jobs, they lost everything.”

He singled out the Malaysian government as the main culprit in the discrimination of Indians, saying it had been treating them “like cattle” with impunity.

Speaking to reporters after the presentation, he said the estate workers used to live in an ordered social system in large British-owned plantations, with their own schools, temples and burial grounds.

However, when the country achieved independence in 1957, the British scrambled to sell off the large estates, letting go of them in parcels.

“When you have a 1,000-acre estate, you can have an economy of scale,” Ganesan said. “But if you break it down for different owners, you reduce the economic scale.

“In time, the property became a land bank and was sold to third and fourth parties. And then you would have the problem of whether a school or a temple has a legal title.”

Ganesan referred to a report that economist and academic Ungku Aziz Abdul Hamid presented to Parliament in 1963, pointing out that it was against the fragmentation of the estates because that would create a class of absentee landlords and urban investors with no concern for the workers.

However, the government virtually ignored Ungku Aziz’s recommendation and took no action to control the subdivision process.

The Hindraf leader tied the displacement of estate workers to structural changes in the Malaysian economy, citing the influx of foreign workers, major property development projects and the takeover of major plantation companies by Perbadanan Nasional Berhad.

He said such changes were accompanied by government discrimination against Indians, manifested in land grabs and forced evictions. He cited the cases of Kampung Buah Pala in Penang, Bukit Jalil Estate in Kuala Lumpur and the Gatco Plantations in Negeri Sembilan.

He said the discrimination came in many forms, including the demolition of temples, the takeover of burial grounds, the denial of citizenship to Malaysia-born Indians and deaths in police custody.

‘I want my father’s grave back’

Claiming to have been ignored and belittled by the Negeri Sembilan menteri besar and state MIC, ex-civil servant K Batumalai now wants the prime minister to help him.

PETALING JAYA: A distraught retired civil servant whose father’s grave, along with 39 others, is now “inaccessible” is demanding that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak intervene and resolve the issue.

K Bathumalai’s father, an ex-policeman in the British army, died in 1998 and was buried in the Kuala Sawa cemetery.

The cemetery is now the Taman Zed housing estate near Rantau in Negeri Sembilan.

“My family and I cannot even do prayers for my father since his body has vanished in the name of development. We have six family members including my father buried there,” said Batumalai, adding that the Taman Zed developers had built houses on top of the graveyards without relocating the graves.

According to Batumalai, 65, before Taman Zed became a housing area, it was a cemetery belonging to Ulu Sawah Estate.

“It was an 100-year-old Hindu cemetery which was maintained by the Kuala Sawah Muniswaran temple.

“In 1988 the state government gazetted the 3.6-acre cemetery land.

“We were shocked when in 2004, the land was given to a private developer. We found out that the developer is an influential Umno man in Negeri Sembilan and that they built the houses on top of the graves.

“The bodies are still under the Taman Zed Indah houses,” he said, adding that he is seeking for the bodies to be relocated to another cemetery in nearby Rantau.

In 2004, he applied to file a case against the developer and the state government. But in 2010 his application was rejected on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence.

Batumalai today showed FMT several photographs of the cemetery in question.

He is now seeking Najib’s intervention in the matter after failing to receive any help from Menteri Besar Mohamad Hassan and the state MIC chairman T Rajagopalu and state executive councillor VS Mohan.

“We [temple committee] have approached the state government and MIC to relocate the 40 graves but had no success.

“During the meeting with Mohamad, he was arrogant with me and said Indians are troublemakers. He refused to discuss the cemetery matter and used derogatory words against me.

“Even Rajagopalu and Mohan were afraid to take up the issue. When I met Mohan, he told me he if he took up the issue he would lose his exco seat. Rajagopalu always flip-flopped with his answers,” Batumalai said.

‘Stateless’ Indians sue govt

Their lawyer and PKR vice-president N Surendran says the suit reflects Putrajaya's lack of political will to solve the issue.

KUALA LUMPUR: Three Malaysian “stateless Indians” have filed a suit against Putrajaya at the High Court here today in a move, which their lawyer said, signalled their despondency over the ruling coalition’s lack of political will to resolve the longstanding issue.

The three, represented by N Surendran who is also PKR vice-president, said they named the Home Ministry, the National Registration Department and the Malaysian government as defendants.

Speaking to reporters later, the human rights lawyer said S Letchumy, K Sarojini and K Mala were part of a larger problem facing thousands of Malaysian Indians allegedly denied citizenship.

“They are asking for a court order on the defendants to immediately issue a MyKad which they have unlawfully denied. They are also asking for a declaration that their fundamental rights have been violated and are claiming for damages,” he said.

The filing came just two days before the opposition bloc planned to hold a sit-in outside the NRD office to protest against the alleged systematic effort by the authorities to deprive the minority Indians of their basic rights.

Malaysian Indians, who form less than 10% of the country’s population, are among the poorest.

The majority of them have no basic education and Surendran said one of the major reasons was that their citizenship status, despite being born in Malaysia, remained unknown.

“Both Letchumy and Sarojini did not go to school because they have no IC (identification card),” he said.

Surendran claimed that there were currently 300,000 “stateless Indians”.

His colleague in PKR R Sivarasa said this was a conservative figure based on their calculation.

The Subang MP cited a report made in the 1970 by then chief statistician of Malaysia, R Chander, to show that the population growth for the Indians was below the projection, alleging that this meant the numbers of those left out by NRD could be more.

Putrajaya dismissed the accusation that it was intentionally victimising the Indians as baseless but admitted that the problem was real with Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak vowing to solve the problem.

Surendran said the suit would have a larger impact and force the government to respond.

“It’s a damning indictment on their failure to resolve the issue,” he said.

Musa: Good, honest men victimised

Ex-IGP speaks out against transfers, saying that crime syndicates are now operating freely with 'blessings from the top'.

PETALING JAYA: Good, honest, hardworking police officers are being transferred from their divisions for doing their work with integrity, claimed former Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan.

Musa suggested that these moves are now allowing more and more criminal syndicates to operate freely with “blessings from somebody on top” and also involved politicians at the highest levels.

Musa gave several examples of such transfers, and spoke out against the nationwide enbloc transfer of D7 officers in early 2011.

“After I left, there was an enbloc transfer of D7 officers, right? Not everybody is bad in the D7, why must you change the whole team?” he asked.

On rumours that the transfers were part of a exercise to facilitate syndicates changing hands, Musa said that was not the case, but said it was “because these officers are taking action, because they know a lot of things.”

“…. they were afraid that they couldn’t direct these people from D7,” he said, without explaining who “they” were.

Musa admitted that many of these people given transfers were those he had promoted at one point, but denied that they were part of his ‘camp’.

“I promoted people because of their capabilities and have done a good job…they were transferred out and not given any ranks.

“[During the D7 redeployment], the whole country, all the IPK contingents headquarters, some were transferred to the field force.”

“See… they were all good officers, when they were under me they arrested quite a number from the syndicates, but now there are no arrests anymore.

Musa said D7 is the division tasked with cracking down on vice, gambling, loansharks, prostitution and also to investigate syndicated crime.

“So they have all the intelligence about them, especially the bosses. These are the ones [D7 officers] who actually go after the [crime syndicate] top [guns].

‘Politicians involved in transfers’

FMT: Why such transfers under [current IGP] Ismail Omar’s time?

Musa: To make it easier for them to operate-lah, because when I was the IGP, most of them went away, they left the country.

When you say “they” you are referring to?

Musa: The syndicate bosses.

So are you then saying the current IGP is openly allowing syndicates to operate?

Musa: As I have said, this involves very top people, if not the IGP wouldn’t dare to do this. When I say top people, it means politicians lah. If not the IGP wouldn’t dare to do this?

You mean this is linked to politicians?

Musa: [Yes]. Very high level.

Ministerial level?

Musa: Most probably.

Do you know this for a fact or you are guessing?

Musa: I’m not guessing, well you see now they are very freely operating, if they are operating freely then that means they have the blessing of somebody from on top.

Musa also cited examples of a former deputy director in Bukit Aman, CID SAC Mohd Rodwan Mohd Yusof, who was recently transferred out to be the deputy CPO of Pahang.

“He was labeled as my man. Its not a demotion per se, but they wanted to humiliate him,” he said.

“Why? Just because he was the one who assisted me in the investigation of Sodomy I and the abuse of power case against Anwar Ibrahim, so now, they try to humiliate him by sending him to Pahang. He is the most senior SAC now, together with SAC Mazlan Mansor,” he said.

Pakistani immigrants have Sabah benefactors?

The recent murder of a teenager has brought the Pakistani scourge in Sabah into focus and its increasing threat to local native women and small businesses.

PENAMPANG: Racism is rife in Sabah and though chauvinism or xenophobia, if you will, has always existed here, it however seems to be gathering steam of late.

A mixture of politics, crime and other social problems related to demographic changes along with discussions and comments on the Internet has erupted into open simmering discontent between Sabahans and the newcomers.

The first to bear the brunt of discrimination and bigotry were the Filipino refugees streaming across the border from civil war-torn Southern Philippines and Indonesians. Now the focus is on Pakistani traders.

The unexplained death of Norikoh Saliwa, a 16-year-old student in Kota Marudu recently, and the subsequent detention of a shop manager of Pakistani origin have, however, stirred anger against immigrants in general and Pakistanis in particular.

Turn any corner in Sabah – even in the most unlikely and remote places in its poor northern reaches or the scrappy east coast of the state – one is bound to see a trader from the sub-continent happily attending to a small grocery store, clothing outlet or selling electrical items and cell phones.

Ask and many will cheerfully admit that they are from Peshawar or some area in the North-West Frontier Province, in northwestern Pakistan near the Khyber Pass on the border with Afghanistan.

They are quiet, polite, speak Malay fairly fluently and keep to themselves. Talk about cricket or any of the stars of the game and they become amiably animated.

All admit that they come from a hardscrabble background in their home country.

Sabah has been good to them and they have become wealthy beyond their dreams.

But questions are now being raised about how these immigrants from an impoverished background have had the funds to start businesses in the state.

Who has given them the money and the licences to operate? Do they have a benefactor at state and federal level?

Some of the shoplots they rent in strategic areas are not cheap. Rentals can be between RM2,500 and RM4,000, the wage of a middle income office worker.

Then there is the cost of the goods in the shop that can range from RM25,000 to over RM100,000.

Serious threat to locals

Where is that stake or seed money coming from?

Many say they have obtained loans but declined to reveal from who but, insist they can make ends meet and even turn a profit despite the interest on the loans.

With an eye on the general election around the corner and growing voter dissatisfaction over immigration, politicians have thrown caution to the winds and joined in the free-for-all immigrant-bashing.

The Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), a local opposition group, which is hoping to resurrect its fortunes on a Sabah-for-Sabahans agenda, expressed on Sunday its “grave concern over the increase in the number of Pakistani traders in the district over the years”.

Party information chief Chong Pit Fah warned that their increasing presence in the district, if left unchecked, could pose a serious threat to the socio-economic well-being of the local residents.

“The business of the local tuck shop operators has been badly affected since these Pakistani traders started to come in to Penampang district in the last few years to set up their tuck shops in almost every nook and corner of the district right up to the Putatan sub-district,” he said.

Speaking to reporters after lodging a police report at the district police station here yesterday, Chong who, is also SAPP Kepayan chief, claimed that a recent random survey carried out by its Kepayan Youth wing found that there were more than 20 tuck shops operated by the Pakistanis in the district.

The survey, he said, was prompted by public concern over the increasing number of Pakistani traders in the district, following the alleged murder of Saliwa.

“SAPP felt compelled to lodge a police report to urge the police as well as the Immigration Department to conduct a thorough check on these Pakistani traders who are operating the tuck shops in the Penampang district.

“We strongly believed they could be abusing their social visit pass, or even having secured their stay and permit to do business through such dubious means like marriages of convenience with the rural native women, some of whom are single mothers,” he said.

BN polls tactic?

Chong claimed to have received numerous reports that many of the Pakistanis coming to the state are targeting rural young native girls for marriages of convenience so that they could secure a longer stay in Sabah as well as to apply for trading licences.

According to sources, the preferred entry point into Sabah for Pakistan nationals and others is an indirect flight from Kuala Lumpur via Labuan.

“The major concern among the native community in Sabah now is that some of these Pakistani traders had returned to their wife and children back in Pakistan for good, thus leaving behind their native wife and children here,” Chong said.

He also claimed that the district of Kota Marudu has a large population of Pakistani nationals and has been dubbed “mini Karachi”.

Chong, who was a former deputy chairman of the Penampang district council, said that the increasing number of Pakistanis in the district could be a government-sanctioned tactic to alter the demographics of various “troublesome” districts in the state in order to produce a favourable outcome for the Barisan Nasional government in any election.

He said there seemed no other justifications for the relevant authorities to allow such a huge number of Pakistani nationals to continue to come into Sabah.

“We know for a fact that the Filipino and the Indonesian workers are here because they are needed by the plantation and construction industries.

“But as for the Pakistanis… what have they contributed to Sabah? To help increase the population of Sabah and to ensure a perpetual rule by the Barisan Nasional?” he asked.

Making the report with Chong at the police station were several SAPP district leaders.

Alter-ego demolished by challenge

S.Ramakrishnan, 10 Dec 2012

On 20th Nov some 30 officers from Sepang Municipal Council (MPS) trespassed into S. Gobikumar’s house and demolished an altar his family built for personal prayers. The altar was structurally ready but no statues were installed and no prayers had commenced. Looking at the altar size below outside the house but within the compound clearly shows that such a structure is in violation of the local council act.

I came to understand that the house owner S.Gobikumar was given 3 warnings within a 6 months period to tear it down by the Sepang municipal council. The council was challenged by S.Gobikumar to tear it down if they dare. I think some people are foolish enough to challenge knowing well that such structure is illegal. S.Gobikumar is a supporter of Thanendran the betrayer of makkal sakti movement and his other family members are MIC members. S.Gobikumar is known to go into trance and giving his consultation and this attracts some crowd to his house.

Selangor state government has a standing ruling that no temple can be destroyed since they took over the state in 2008. The municipal council heads in Selangor need to get state permission before bringing down any temple structure. I suppose in this case the council enforcement personnel made their own decision since this is not a temple but instead an illegal extension within the compound. Menteri Besar and state government seem to be caught off guard by this unilateral action of the Sepang municipal enforcement personnel.

MIC was rejected and still nursing the wounds of 2008 defeat saw it a timely opportunity to capitalize on this demolition of illegal alter structure outside the house. They think this issue will catapult them into political limelight by championing the demolition of this shrine. This action of MIC youth shows that they cannot champion any worthwhile cause for Indians. I only wish they show the same vigor and enthusiasm in the lack of job opportunities, discrimination of business opportunities, scholarships and places in higher education institutions. They are silent and indifferent and tacitly support the UMNO’s discriminative policies. But when it comes to scoring political points for UMNO/BN, MIC youth show a lot of drive and enthusiasm. They had summoned gangsters to join them in their protest at the state secretariat building on friday (7/12) against the demolition of this illegal extension.

If MIC youth still behavior as UMNO’s lapdogs and champion mundane and illegal activities of ignorant members of Indian community, are they doing any service and justice to the Indian community? Now they have promised to rebuild the illegal alter in S.Gobikumar’s house. This will strengthen others like S.Gobikumar to build more illegal extensions. By supporting such activities is MIC youth showing the community the right way forward? Indians in Malaysia have come a long way in political realization and are looking forward to change in government. But MIC is doing everything to keep Indians indulged in superstitious and devious so that they continue to have a political role.

PR Indian leaders too are caught in a difficult situation. As much as we don’t want council enforcement personnel to break our shrines, they too do not support challenging the enforcement officer to break an illegal extension. Indian politicians have a larger political agenda like our rights as citizens of this country, low enrolment in universities and difficulties in job opportunities and businesses. Therefore Instances such as breaking of this shrine outside the house are a distraction to the larger political struggle and must be avoided.

Musa Hassan tells Robert Phang: apologize, or I’ll sue you

(Malaysian Digest) - Malaysian Crime Watch Group (MyWatch) today demanded an apology from Tan Sri Robert Phang for alleging that the NGO was linked to criminal syndicates.

MyWatch patron, Tan Sri Musa Hassan has given Phang three days to do so before legal action is taken against him.

“It is a malicious statement.. MyWatch is only being linked to criminal syndicates because I am here (in MyWatch).

“If he has a vendetta against me, so be it. But leave the NGO out of it.

“I give him three days to apologize before we begin talks with lawyers and initiate legal proceedings against him,” he told a Press conference at the Hilton Hotel today.

Musa, who is former Inspector General of Police, also claimed that when he was the IGP from 2006 to 2010, Phang had met with him regularly to offer himself as an advisor.

Phang had questioned why he wasn’t selected as an advisor when he had previously served as advisor to the former IGP, Tun Hanif Omar. “I told him I didn’t need an advisor, I can think for myself. That is why I wasn’t too close to him,” he said.

Phang meanwhile, when contacted, said he does not wish to respond yet for fear that the media may have misinterpreted Musa. He instead asked for Musa to issue a press release, only after which he would respond to Musa’s statement.

In another development, Musa declined to offer any comment regarding a statement by former Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Ramli Yusuff, who had claimed that Musa had abused his power during his tenure as IGP.

In response, Musa questioned how Ramli had amassed his “wealth” and questioned who had ordered him to use the police platform to badmouth him.

“I would like to say something too. I want to know who is behind him until he is given a platform within the police force to slam me. “I think Ramli needs to answer to the public how he attained his wealth and riches while still in the police force,” he said.

Musa had previously been accused of having dealings with Pakatan Rakyat after he had made several exposes pertaining to Home Ministry interference in police matters when he was IGP.

Musa however, had admitted that Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, during his time as Deputy Prime Minister, had tried to instruct Musa to reveal the investigation report on the book, ’50 Reasons Why Anwar Ibrahim Cannot Be Prime Minister.”

Non-Muslims should be allowed to be indecent, says minister

(The Star) - Foreign tourists to Malaysia are worried over the recent action taken against non-Muslims for alleged indecent behaviour in Kelantan.

Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said tourists, especially those from China and Taiwan, had voiced their concern to the ministry over the matter.

“Such policy of issuing summonses on 'khalwat' should not be implemented on non-Muslims."

“Furthermore, what did they do wrong as they were together at the plane spotting area near Sultan Ismail Petra Airport, which is an open public area,” Dr Ng said after taking part in the Cuti-Cuti 1Malaysia (CC1M) Sunday bike ride event here yesterday.

Dr Ng said as a Kelantanese, she used to gather with friends and families at the spotting area near the airport in Pengkalan Chepa previously and there was no action taken on them for doing so.

She said the place was not a closed or covered area and it was by the roadside, where everybody could see what was going on at the spot.

Two men on a plane-spotting outing near the Sultan Ismail Petra Airport and a teenage couple in Tengku Anis Park were issued with summonses in October and last month respectively.

Dr Ng said the cases proved that the Islamic rules imposed by PAS were now affecting non-Muslims.

Earlier, on the Sunday Ride in Raub programme, Dr Ng said cycling activities should be self-sustainable by individuals or organisations by now.

She said the programmes had successfully achieved their targets of fostering relationship, economic activities generating, attracting tourists as well as promoting green and clean tourism.

Dr Ng said more states, including Sarawak and Sabah, had adapted the programme as selling points in the tourism industry and was seeing good economic returns.

She said other state tourism operators, too, had to play an active role in promoting the cycling programme further as it had the potential to be successful.

MB slammed by Pakatan MPs over 'non-handling' of altar issue

(NST) - Two Pakatan Rakyat MPs have hit out at the Selangor government over its handling of the demolition of a Hindu altar by the Sepang Municipal Council.

The person facing the brunt of their anger was none other than Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, who was chided for his hands-off approach in handling the issue.

Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo said it was unbecoming of Abdul Khalid to keep quiet despite the severity of the situation and wide condemnation from both sides of the political divide.

"Silence in situations like this by the menteri besar is, to my mind, clearly unacceptable," Gobind, who is also DAP national legal bureau secretary, was quoted as saying by a news portal yesterday.

Gobind demanded to know how the Sepang Municipal Council managed to demolish the shrine despite being aware of the state government's position on the matter.

"Why did they do it? Abdul Khalid should show he is serious and act against those who disobey," he said, adding that the menteri besar must put a stop to such acts and respond promptly in dealing with such cases.

Gobind said it was about time Abdul Khalid met with all the local council chiefs and officials from the land office and demanded that they follow orders.

Kapar MP S. Manikavasagam also took the Selangor government to task for their flip-flop stance over the issue of temple demolition.

He said it had become clear that Pakatan elected representatives were not keeping to their promise that places of worship in Pakatan-led states would not be touched.

"They claimed to champion the issue but have done little in terms of action."

Ezam urges Karpal to retract sodomy statements

(NST) - DAP chairman Karpal Singh has been urged to retract his statements made in Parliament in 1997, in which he claimed to have proof that de facto opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had committed sodomy.

Senator Ezam Mohd Nor said Karpal should apply to Parliament to have the statements struck from the Hansard if he was serious about appointing Anwar as a possible candidate for prime minister.

"Karpal should know that the Malay Muslim community in Malaysia would never lift an alleged sodomite or sodomy addict to the post of prime minister," Ezam said in a statement yesterday.

"He should take back his statements and apologise to the Muslim community."

Anwar was acquitted of sodomy charges in January.

slam dan Melayu gemilang di bawah Pakatan

Umno nyata telah gagal membela Islam dan orang Melayu. Jenayah Umno terhadap Islam dan Melayu terlalu banyak – gejala murtad, tanah tergadai, tulisan jawi, bahasa Melayu, ekonomi Melayu, keruntuhan akhlak generasi muda serta pelbagai lagi.

Budaya rasuah membarah menjadikan bangsa Melayu dilihat begitu rendah dan hina.

Umno telah menindas gerakan Islam dan dakwah sejak awal ditubuhkan. Pelbagai tuduhan nista dan fitnah dilemparkan. Ramai pemimpin Melayu dan gerakan dakwah ditangkap, didera dan di tahan ISA.

Bulan Dakwah dihentikan. Peruntukan sekolah Agama Rakyat dihapuskan. Kemuncaknya, pembunuhan pendakwah Ustaz Ibrahim Libya dalam peristiwa Memali.

Selepas 55 tahun Umno diamanahkan mengurus dan memimpin dengan segala kuasa ada di tangan, orang Melayu masih mendendangkan lagu ‘Anak Kecil Bermain Api’ dan mengalirkan air mata mengeluh pilu dan merintih mengenangkan nasib mereka sendiri.

UMNO sekarang ini, dijangkiti skizoprenia tahap parah – mengalami pelbagai ilusi dan halusinasi yang bukan-bukan.

Petanda jelasnya, para pemimpin mereka selalu dilihat berubah tingkahlaku tanpa dijangka. Mereka boleh berlaku tenang, suka, marah, sedih dan ketawa secara tiba-tiba.

Maka itu, budaya politik amuk dan samseng menjadi fenomena biasa sebagai pilihan. Debat politik intelektual dianggap asing dan bukan budaya kebanggaan.

Kepimpinan Umno hari ini nyata begitu lemah tidak berupaya lagi.

Justeru, terpaksa bergantung kepada budaya politik rasis dan keselamatan. Melayu dimomokkan dengan isu perpecahan dan risiko perubahan kepimpinan dan perpecahan.

Hakikatnya, orang Melayu tetap bersatu. Umno yang sentiasa berpecah dari dalam berterusan sejak dari awal penubuhannya. Begitu capeknya Umno, terpaksa memperalatkan sistem pilihanraya tempang sebagai ‘kerusi roda’ penyelamat.

Pakatan Rakyat telahpun membuktikan Agama Islam dan orang Islam nyata lebih terjamin dan lebih gemilang. Kedudukan Agama Islam, Bahasa Melayu dan hak Melayu dan Bumiputra telahpun diterima secara muafakat. Tiada siapa yang dapat menggugat.

Wadah ini telah berjaya menggembeling para pejuang Melayu dan Islam yang terbukti komited pada agama, jujur dan ikhlas membela rakyat.

Negeri-negeri ditadbir Pakatan Rakyat, nyata berjaya diurus tadbir secara telus dan memberi kesejahteraan kepada rakyat berbanding dulunya. Hakikatnya kini, jumlah ahli parlimen Melayu nyata lebih ramai berbanding sebelumnya.

Dalam dunia demokrasi dan bertamadun ini, seharusnya semua pemimpin Melayu bersedia menerima kepimpinan Melayu di dalam Pakatan Rakyat sebagai pengemudi pimpinan bangsa di masa depan.

Pakatan Rakyat terbukti berjaya melahirkan tokoh-tokoh Melayu muda yang ilmuan, dinamik,
intelektual, profesional dan berktrampilan. Paling utama, mereka terbukti bebas dari gejala rasuah, dan penyelewengan.

Daya fikir mereka melangkaui kerangka perkauman sempit dan kepentingan peribadi.

Mereka inilah bakal menjadi menyelamat seluruh rakyat Malaysia termasuk kedudukan Melayu dan Agama Islam.

Dunia masa depan pasti lebih mencabar berbanding sekarang. Kita memerlukan pemimpin muda yang berkeupayaan besar, demi menangani segala cabaran globalisasi segala bidang – agama, politik, budaya, ekonomi dan pendidikan.

Di era demikian, Islam dan Melayu pasti akan bangkit sebagai umat yang gemilang – nasional dan internasional. Untuk tujuan ini, hanya Pakatan Rakyat mampu melaksanakannya. InsyaAllah.

*Penulis adlah Ketua Biro Penerangan, Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

Next year will be a bad year for Malaysia’s TI CPI as UMNO/BN are set to spend billions to try to retain power in the 13GE – taking money politics to new depths in nation’s history

For the fourth consecutive year, the Najib premiership (2009-2012) has registered a lower ranking in the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2012 than under the two previous Prime Ministers, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah.

In the first year of TI CPI in 1995, Malaysia was ranked 23rd out of 41 countries, plunging to No. 37th placing in 2003 when Mahathir stepped down as Prime Minister at the end of the year.

Despite all the Abdullah boast of “Mr. Clean”, “Modern-Day Justice Bao”, “all-out war against corruption” and “impending arrest of 18 ‘big fishes’”, Malaysia’s TI CPI continued on a headlong plunge in Abdullah’s five-year premiership, falling to No. 47 position in 2008.

But the four years of Najib premiership saw Malaysia’s TI CPI plunging to even lower depths – No. 56 in 2009 and 2010, No. 60 in 2011 and No. 54 in 2012.

As a result, the Najib premiership has the dubious record of being even more corrupt than all the previous five premierships, as no one has ever suggested that corruption under the first three Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein were more serious than their successors.

Until the seventies, the biggest scandal in Parliament was the RM65 million Bank Rakyat scandal which I debated in Parliament in 1979.

Since the eighties, corruption and financial scandals increased by leaps and bounds from the RM2.5 billion Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF) scandal, the RM600 million Maminco tin-buying scandal and the RM1.5 billion Co-operatives Finance scandal in the 80s, to the RM30 billion Bank Negara foreign exchange scandal and RM11 billion Perwaja scandal in the 90s, and current multi-billion ringgit Scorpene and defence procurement scandals and the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone scandal.

With the change in methodology in the present TI CPI, it is not possible to compare the TI CPI 2012 with the previous series of TI CPI of the past 17 years from 1995-2011.

As a result, nobody can really claim that Malaysia has achieved any improvement on the anti-corruption front from the TI CPI 2012, although this is what UMNO/BN leaders are doing.

However, as analysed earlier, what is incontrovertible and undeniable is that corruption under Najib’s four-year premiership is worse than the 51 years under Malaysia’s first five Prime Ministers.

What must be a matter of grave concern to all Malaysians is that Malaysia is set for a bad year for TI CPI next year as UMNO/BN would spend billions to try to retain power in the 13GE – taking money politics to new depths in the nation’s history.

I understand that the 2012 CPI covered data gathered between December 2011 and September 2012, which would mean Malaysia would have more adverse TI CPI ranking and score if the corruption exposes in October and November 2012 had been taken into account – especially the scandal of the RM40 million “political donation to Sabah UMNO” implicating Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman and Sabah timber trader Michael Chia as well as the Bruno Manser foundation’s expose of unusual extraordinary wealth amounting to RM64 billion for the family of Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Taib Mahmud (and RM46 billion for himself alone) after 30 years as Sarawak Chief Minister.

At the recent UMNO General Assembly, some Sabah UMNO delegates had told online news portals that although they full support Musa Aman, they were in the dark about the RM40 million “political donation” to Sabah UMNO and they wanted Musa to personally explain the issue.

In the five-day UMNO General Assembly, Musa succeeded in evading the media and he has not yet given any satisfactory explanation to date about the RM40 million “political donation to Sabah UMNO”.

However, there were also Sabah UMNO delegates who dismissed the controversy on the ground that the RM40 million donation was pittance compared to the millions UMNO dished out during elections – with one Sabah UMNO delegate revealing that in the Putatan constituency in his home state, UMNO would have to spend up to RM6 million during the polls.

With 26 parliamentary constituencies in Sabah (and Labuan) and at the average of RM6 million per constituency, the total election expenses would exceed RM150 million at the parliamentary level – which would more than doubled when the election expenses in the state assembly constituencies are taken into account.

With UMNO/BN spending at least RM300 million in Sabah, another RM300 million in Sarawak, and similar election expenditures for the 165 Parliamentary seats and 441 State Assembly seats in the eleven states in Peninsular Malaysia, we are looking at the UMNO/BN coalition spending billions of ringgit to retain power and recapture two-thirds parliamentary majority at the federal level, recapture the four Pakatan Rakyat states of Penang, Kelantan, Selangor and Kedah, keep its unconstitutional rule in Perak, and retain power in the other states.

The billions of ringgit spent by UMNO/BN in the 13GE will the root cause of rampant corruption for the next five years after the 13GE if UMNO/BN remains ensconced in Putrajaya, as those who contributed to the billions of UMNO/BN election expenditures would expect to be amply rewarded, tenfold if not hundred-fold, after the 13GE.

This is why I say that next year will be a bad year for Malaysia’s TI CPI.

No wonder the Najib government is not prepared to celebrate the International Anti-Corruption Day yesterday, which had been designated by the United Nations General Assembly for the past nine years!

PAS mulls legal action over ‘khalwat’ report

The Malaysian Insider 
by Md Izwan and Ida Lim

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 — PAS has denied four non-Muslims were caught for khalwat in Kelantan, saying that the state government is considering legal action against The Star for carrying the unsubstantiated report and creating fear among those outside the Islamic faith.

The Islamist party also said the MCA-owned paper is carrying such reports for its political masters as the general election is due next year.

PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali bluntly described the report in The Star yesterday as “vile” and an “outright lie”, claiming that the paper was trying to serve the interests of its political masters.

“Without any proof or evidence, The Star has concocted a vile report, and I believe it provides strong ground for the Kelantan state government to consider legal action against the paper,” Mustafa told PAS news portal Harakah Daily.

He explained that khalwat is an offence “which comes under the purview of Islamic enforcement officers and which must go through the Syariah court before any punishment can be imposed”, saying that the report of fines being imposed on non-Muslims for khalwat shows the editors’ “ignorance” of the country’s laws.

The English-language daily reported that four non-Muslims — two men on a plane-spotting outing and a non-Muslim couple in Kelantan — were nabbed for “khalwat” (close proximity), a crime under Syariah law.

PAS has also said it does not condone bribery as was allegedly solicited by Kelantan enforcement officers, saying that those found guilty of corrupt practices should be punished.

PAS MP Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad described Kelantan MCA Youth chief Gan Han Chuan’s remarks yesterday that these were attempts to impose Islamic laws on non-Muslims as an “irresponsible accusation”.

“This is a first in history where non-Muslims have been issued summonses for khalwat,” Gan was reported as saying by The Star yesterday.

“That move is very rude and an attempt to confuse non-Muslims towards Islam,” Dzulkefly said.

“The summons was because of indecent behaviour and not because of khalwat, the question now is why MCA wants to link it with Islamic laws?” the Kuala Selangor MP asked.

His PAS colleague Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud shared his view, saying, “This is an attempt to instil fear into non-Muslims that Syariah laws will affect them.”

She explained that the offence of indecent behaviour is enforceable on all by the local councils, while khalwat is only enforceable on Muslims by the religious authorities.

“Indecent behaviour is enforceable by local council by-laws. Even Western countries have this rule. This is universal.

“Please check on all local council laws in Malaysia. All have this clause on indecent behaviour.

“Khalwat is a term used for Muslims and enforced by Jabatan Agama,” the Kota Raja MP told The Malaysian Insider yesterday in a text message, referring to the state religious affairs department.

“But don’t frighten the non-Muslims by using the term khalwat as this is a term used in the Syariah laws for Muslims. Don’t confuse public by using a term that is not applicable to them,” she said.

According to The Star, two of the four individuals who were fined had complained that enforcement officers had demanded RM500 from them “to settle the matter”.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng (right) urged PAS yesterday to take urgent action on the errant enforcement officers to show that the Kelantan government it leads is not corrupt.

Dzulkefly said the issuing of such summonses is well within the powers of local authorities under the law, but said that it would be wrong for enforcement officers to ask for bribes.

“It is wrong when the enforcer takes advantage by asking for money.

“So to ensure justice for both sides, an investigation has to be carried out.

“If the enforcer is guilty, punishment must be carried out. And if the individual that was summoned is guilty, they also have to be punished,” he told The Malaysian Insider when contacted yesterday.

Recently, non-Muslim hairdressers in Kelantan were reported to have also been slapped with fines for having customers of the opposite gender, breaching a local council by-law that bars women hairstylists from working on men and vice versa — sparking a storm over the position of Islamic laws.

Malaysia practises a dual-track court system but Syariah laws can only be enforced on Muslims; non-Muslims are exempt.

As the 13th general election draws near, the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition has increasingly tried to scare non-Muslim voters from voting for PR by saying that PAS would implement the Islamic penal code, hudud, and create an Islamic state.

Non-muslims nabbed for 'khalwat' in Kelantan

The Star
by SYED AZHAR

KOTA BARU: Four non-Muslims two men on a plane spotting outing and a couple in a park have been issued with summonses for khalwat, a first in the country.

The summonses were for “indecent behaviour” but the four have denied any wrongdoing, claiming instead that the municipal council's enforcement officers “were merely abusing their position”.

State MCA Youth chief Gan Han Chuan said the officers “have gone crazy”, trying to enforce hudud laws on non-Muslims.

“This is a first in history where non-Muslims have been issued summonses for khalwat,” he said.

“It is unbelievable! What they do with their by-laws is now affecting the lives of even the non-Muslims,” Gan said of the two cases which occurred recently.

The incidents came in the wake of a nationwide uproar over the fines imposed on salon operators who allowed their stylists to cut the hair of a customer of a different gender regardless of whether they were Muslims or not.

Most, if not all, of the salons affected were owned by non-Muslims.

In the latest incident, the two men in their 30s were in a car parked beside the Sultan Ismail Petra Airport, watching aeroplanes land in the night, when they were issued with the summonses. The duo claimed that they were not doing anything indecent.

The other two were a 17-year-old male and a 15-year-old girl. They were at the Tengku Anis park in the town centre in the middle of the day when enforcement officers approached them and issued them with summonses for indecent behaviour.

The two incidents have riled up even the National PAS Supporters Congress chairman Hu Pang Chaw. Hu said the male victims had complained to him that the officers had even sought RM500 from the duo “to settle the matter”.

“As far as I know, the council has no right to issue summonses to non-Muslims for close contact with their girlfriends in the dark or out in the open,” he said.

“I believe this by-law only applies to Muslims. And, I cannot understand why the four were issued the summonses,” Hu said, adding that the council cannot impose “khalwat” laws on non-Muslims.

The men have written a letter to council president Fauzi Mat.

Hu said: “This is a serious allegations that needs immediate attention.”

Umno Members Reminded To Avoid Internal Conflicts

SEREMBAN, Dec 10 (Bernama) -- Umno members are reminded to avoid creating internal conflicts especially in facing the coming general election.

Negeri Sembilan Wanita Umno head Datuk Norhayati Omar said that they should instead enhance efforts to strengthen the party and solidarity among the members in the near future.

"Our main objective is to ensure victory for Barisan Nasional (BN) in the general election. As such, we should reduce or minimise internal problems.

"What is important is that we should not create problems. We can have differing opinions, but we must achieve our main objective of ensuring victory to the BN in the general election," she told Bernama, here today.

Lynas Must Comply With Condition To Remove Residue From Malaysia, Say Ministers

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10 (Bernama) -- Lynas has been called to comply with the condition upon which it had been issued a Temporary Operating License (TOL), which is to remove from Malaysia all the residue generated by the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) including all products made from the residue.

The TOL was granted to the company with this specific condition, said four ministers directly responsible for the portfolio related to the Lynas project in a joint ministerial statement here Monday.

They were Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Maximus Johnity Ongkili, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Datuk Seri Douglas Unggah Embas and Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

The Cabinet had also endorsed this condition, they said.

The statement was issued in response to recent inaccurate media reports regarding the removal of the residue generated by LAMP.

"The obligation imposed on Lynas in this matter is very clear. The Government will not compromise the health and safety of the rakyat and the environment in dealing with the issue of Lynas."

They also reiterated that if Lynas failed to comply with the condition, the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) had the power under section 22 of the Atomic Energy Licensing Act 1984 (Act 304) to suspend or revoke the TOL and order Lynas to immediately cease operation.

"As ministers responsible for portfolios directly associated with the Lynas project, we reiterate that public health and safety continue to be our utmost priority."