Zaki for CJ?

Top contender. I've been told that Zaki Azmi, the Umno lawyer who was controversially made Federal Court early last month, is Choice No 1 for the Chief of Justice post.

If that happens, the crisis faced by the Judiciary is expected to deepen. Zaki's ascension to the Federal Court defied convention as no one had ever been promoted to the Federal Court without first serving the High Court and the Appeal Court [Umno lawyer promoted to Federal Court, Sept 5].

Zaki's name has cropped up after Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim failed today to get his term as the CJ extended amid the VK Lingam tape scandal. See Screenshots' "Power to the Rulers, Power to the People" and SKThew's "Power to the Rulers. Power to the Rakyat".

New blood (for old media)

Move over Joceline Tan (the Star), here comes Aniza Damis (NST).
For my previous postings on Joceline Tan, click here. On Aniza, visit Zorro.

Does anything go down these days?

CI up, RM up. Well, I don't buy the Prime Minister's reasoning for why the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index went up to 1,411.19 points on Monday (even higher today), a record high for Bursa Malaysia. He said:

"...(the ECER) has to be among the reasons (for the CI's rise) as the east coast economic development corridor has become a reality now. This is what the market analysts are saying in their comments, whether in print or in television ... that the development of east coast economic corridor is something that has been waited for." [Read the full story here]

The fact remains, however, that the CI did go up.
So did the ringgit, which recorded a 10-year high at 3.338 against the dollar yesterday.
So did the price of steel, which is going to cost taxpayers more to build Penang's Second Bridge, here.
So did the price of oil, which has surpassed US$92 per barrel.
And the number of illegal and legal migrants in the country.
The number of Cabinet committees this Administration has set up.
The number of empty corridors Malaysia has created.
Crime.
And prices for essential items.
Now, even the number of people expected to turn up at the Dataran Merdeka on Nov 10 for the Rakyat Rally has gone up to 100,000 (form 10,000).

Does anything fall or come down anymore?

27 million ringgit cop speaks out

"ACA has wronged me". Ramli Yusof, the Commercial Crime director and alleged RM27 million man, told a press conference today that he did not have that kind of money or asset, and that the Anti-Corruption Agency had flouted the law by making public the details of their investigation into his case.

m-Star has the story here.
Ramli Yusof's full text, "Disturbing Events in the force", courtesy of Malaysiakini, via Malaysia Today.

Joker

Ah, Nazri Aziz. My old friend has made a fool of himself again.

Miss Aniza Damis was just being a good journalist - she asked questions and wouldn't take a simple no (or simple yes) for answers.

The de facto Law Minister started self-destructing from the very first question.

Really He should turn down future interviews, at least with the English-language newspapers, but knowing him ...

Anyway, read the interview, with add-on comments from lawyer Malik Imtiaz, here.

At least I know now that Nazri does not read blogs. The only blog he read was "the few pieces that people print for me and they are rubbish". He probably does not know what a blog looks like on a computer screen but based on those few pieces he sums up:

"I’d rather spend my time to do things that are constructive; that go down directly to the people who are really in need of the help of the government. Our bloggers are really not up to standard. When they put up something, it’s not something that they want to discuss in a very intellectual way. It’s more because of their anger - the language they use. Why should I read all this rubbish? When the standard of our bloggers is upgraded, then probably I will look at what is written. But anyway, they are a minority. My concern is for the majority."

LOL. Bugger makes me laugh.

Indonesia announces National Bloggers Day

27 Oct. Indonesia has declared this day as the republic's National Bloggers Day ("It's National Bloggers Day in Indonesia Today", Unspun, 27 Okt).

I would like to congratulate bloggers in Indonesia and their government for creating this landmark, and join the blogger Unspun in marveling at the contrast in relationships between Government and bloggers in Indonesia and Malaysia. "If only the Malaysia Government could learn how to engage this vocal segment of the population ..."

Quoted in the Jakarta Post today:

"Blogs can be educational, empowering and enlightening. That's why I can guarantee you curbing blogs will never happen in this country." - Communications and Information Minister, Muhammad Nuh.

NURIN Alert, update, 28/10/2007

Working group meeting, Nov 10. Some of us met yesterday to discuss the next course of action and have agreed to invite about a dozen or so individuals to a Working Group on the Nurin Alert initiative.
These individuals will include representatives of the police, the media houses, corporations (telcos, newspaper companies, television stations, etc), non-governmental organisations, and the government.
Those interested to chip in please visit http://nurinalert.org and send us a mail from there.

By the way, did you know that Nurin Alert was the topic for last Tuesday's Wanita Hari Ini? The half-hour programme featured the movers of the initiative - Nuraina A. Samad, Jasni Jalil and Kamal Hashim. Blogger Penarik Beca did a posting on the programme Nurin di TV3.
Syabas TV3!

3 cops died in the line of duty and the PM says ...

"These were brave men. Men who risked their lives to make this country of ours safer. I have told the IGP that his men must not rest until the cop killers are found and sent to the gallows. This country will not be threatend by the bullets of these drug syndicates. We will not let these three heroes died in vain!"

Well, actually, the PM didn't say that. I made it up. What Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said was that he was disappointed with the police ambush strategy. Not the best of PR lines in a time like this but, well, read here.

"... the approach (used last night) was not right. If they had done it differently, including asking other squads to provide back-up, then they could have surrounded the suspects properly and used loud-hailers to instruct them to come out. Then only the police could say that they were prepared (for the operation)."

Earlier, the IGP said the police will investigate to establish if the raid was done according to procedures. Gosh. Shouldn't he be saying that he will not leave any stone unturned until the killers who gunned down his men are brought in.
Read what he said here.

A tale of 2 defamation suits

Suit 1. Irene Fernandez vs Utusan Malaysia. Iron Fernandez of Tenaganita today won her suit against Utusan Malaysia over an article published 12 years ago. Justice Tee Ah Seng awarded her RM200,000 and ruled that the newspaper article was "not fair and honest" and "not a piece of responsible journalism".
The Sept 20, 1995 article had accused Fernandez of having failed to cooperate with police investigations into allegations based on a memorandum on alleged torture and deaths in Malaysian detention camps for illegal immigrants. She had revealed details of the document during a press conference a month earlier.
Fernandez claimed that the article was written with malice and that its meaning was that she was deliberately evading the police, was insincere and lacked integrity.
Read articles here and here.

Suit 2. NSTP & 4 Others vs Ahirudin Attan. In this unprecedented suit by a newspaper company against a blogger, the Senior Assistant Registrar yesterday set November 5, 2007 for a decision on this blogger's application to strike out the suit filed against him in January this year.

Ah, Maria!

The gutsy lady blogs! You've probably heard of the bloggers' mi rebus session somewhere in Kelana Jaya. Well, Maria is the woman behind the Mi Rebus Tuesday. And she's officially become a blogger.

But if think you are getting free recipes to make your mi rebus from Tok Mommy, go fly off to space in a Soyuz. The papers didn't call Maria "the Gutsy Grandma" for her mi rebus, and the man who was sent to prison for trying to rob a couple of years back can tell you that (he was lucky; his accomplice didn't make it in the incident). Tok Mommy has promised to tell the story soon, so I'll save the gory details.

Maria was already an accomplished journalist at the Star when I joined the tabloid in 1985. She was the political reporter during one of the most politically-charged periods in our history.

So don't expect the usual granny stuff from this lady's blog. And don't say I didn't warn you.

Who really wins when Malaysia Airlines loses?

AIR ASIA WINS, FOR NOW. The Cabinet has agreed to let Air Asia fly to Singapore but Tony Fernandes' victory may cost us dearly. Our national carrier Malaysia Airlines will be the biggest loser, of course. Air travelers can expect cheaper fares, perhaps.

But the real winner, ladies and gentlemen, is ...



The Republic of Singapore.

Really.

The (Malaysian) Cabinet's decision to let Air Asia fly Singapore ["Air Asia can now fly to Singapore", Bernama] nmeans that Tiger Airways, the Best Budget Carrier of 2006, will get a go at the lucrative market as well. Tiger and Air Asia will fight it out.

While some say Singapore's national carrier SIA will also lose out (the lucrative KL-Singapore sector, which is one of the busiest routes in Asia, has been dominated by SIA and Malaysia Airlines for years), it must be remembered that SIA and Tiger Airways complement each other.

SIA has a 49 per cent share in Tiger.

Malaysia Airlines has none in - and no love lost with - with Air Asia. Malaysia Airlines has been seen by Air Asia as a competitor, at times, and an obstacle, at other times.

So, if Singapore is the winner, what will that make Malaysia?

Bangsa Malaysia goes to Penang

ONE PEOPLE, ONE NATION. As promised, the Bangsa Malaysia movement, which was born during the Merdeka month at the Blog House in Kuala Lumpur, will journey to Penang. The event is part of the organisers' plan to take the Bangsa Malaysia movement nationwide.

Event: Malam Bangsa Malaysia
Date & Time: Nov 3, 2007 from 8pm
Venue: Dewan Sri Pinang (Room A), Pulau Pinang.

The forum is limited to 200 persons, who must be invited and who will each pay RM10 (Ringgit Sepuloh Sahaja). Speakers include prominent lawyers Malik Imtiaz and Haris Ibrahim, political analyst Khoo Kay Peng, and Lim Chong Keat.

Want to know how to get invited? Click here.

10 Nov, Dataran Merdeka, 3pm

MELLOW YELLOW. The rally at Dataran Merdeka on the afternoon of November 10 will be a mellow affair.
Cos we'll be wearing yellow.

And no, Ma, they won't shoot us. That was Batu Burok.

Click here for more.

Malik on Malik, Hishamudin and Ah Kiow

YOU ARE WRONG, FAK THE POLITICIAN. Foo Ah Kiow, the deputy minister, said the landmark decision in the Malik Hussein suit against the Government for his wrongful detention and torture under the ISA shows that the judiciary was independent (read Decision shows independent judiciary).

Malik Imtiaz says Fak's wrong, that "the judgment is a testament to the independence and integrity of Mr Justice Hishamudin Yunus, and his unwavering commitment to the rule of law."

Read Imtiaz's posting here.

Walk for Justice Part 2

THE WALK IS OVER, NOW IT'S TIME TO TALK. The KL Bar Young Lawyers Committee is holding a forum to press for the Government to act on the Lingam tape controversy. The forum is a follow-up to the now famous Walk for Justice that was held by the Bar Council, attended by over 2000 lawyers and supporters, in Putrajaya on Sept 26.

Forum: Walk for Justice Part 2 - The Walk is Over, Now it's time to Talk
Venue: Bar Council Auditorium
Date: 23 October 2007, Tuesday
Time: 6 pm

"The recent furore over THE video recording continues to plague the Judiciary with no adequate resolution to the matter in sight ... the current state of the Judiciary is most unacceptable," said Dipendra Harshad Rai, the deputy chairman of the KL Bar Young Lawyers Association.

As if to help underline Dipendra's statement, the ACA has said [report in Utusan Malaysia here] it won't be able to determine the authenticity of the said video clip as it had been edited. The agency said if anyone can come up with the uncut video clip, it can send it to Hong Kong for authenticity test.
A stupid question: Why not just send the edited clip to Hong Kong and test it for authenticity, since the ACA is no expert to decide if it is authentic or not in the first place, eh?

Nurin Alert - The next step

Nationwide Urgent Response Information Network. Nurin's death remains unsolved and the beasts are still at large but those who feared that she has faded away would sleep better if they've read the article in the Star today [Uncle comes up with Nurin Alert].

Yes, a group of ordinary citizens have been meeting to make this initiative a reality in the hope that we could turn a national tragedy into a coodinated effort to empower society to fight back and make Malaysia a safer place for our kids.

The working group is being expanded to include sympathetic NGO people and my bro, the crime analyst Kamal Hashim, who lost many nights' sleep before he came up with the acronym for N.U.R.I.N Alert (see heading).

These citizens will meet during the first week of next month to carry the Nurin Alert initiative to the next step.

Read Ena's latest posting Citizens for Nurin Alert and Kamal's Are we lonely, people? and rest assured that there are people who won't let Nurin die in vain.
They'll be needing your support.

Former MP takes 4

pix by Jeff Ooi

The four:
1. The lawyer Kanagalingam
2. The CJ Ahmad Fairuz
3. The Minister Nazri Aziz and
4. The Malaysian Government.

Today, 11 am, Suhakam office. Former MP for Bukit Bintang Wee Choo Keong, whose name was mentioned by lawyer Lingam in a 2002 videotaped phone conversation (allegedly with the now-Chief of Justice), is striking back.

Around eleven this morning, the lawyer-politician is expected to lodge a formal complaint with the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) against the four above-mentioned parties for alleged infringement of his human rights. In the complaint, Wee will quote several Articles in the Federal Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the United Nations Charter.

In 1995 Wee was disqualified as an Member of Parliament by the Election Judge, Dato' Sri Ahmad Fairuz bin Dato' Shekh Abdul Halim, as the CJ then was. Fairuz subsequently appointed the loser of the election as the MP for Bukit Bintang.

Wee has called for the setting up of a Royal Commission by the Government to investigate into the contents of the video clip and has made publis his unhappiness with the terms of reference of the three-men Investigative Committee set up to probe the Lingam tape.

Malaysia's Press Freedom Index at its lowest

In search of rock bottom. The Reporters Sans Frontiers' 6th annual Press Freedom Index has relegated Malaysia to 124th placing, the worst ever position that we have scored in terms of our precious press freedom.
We were 110th in 2002, 104th in 2003, 122nd in 2004, 113th in 2005 and 92nd in 2006. This year's result for Malaysia is a sheer 32-rung drop, a rare occurrence in RSF's annual exercise.

And some spin-doctors at Jalan Riong said Malaysia never had a freer Press than under this present administration!

The Internet is occupying more and more space in the breakdown of press freedom violations. Several countries fell in the ranking this year because of serious, repeated violations of the free flow of online news and information.

In Malaysia (124th), Thailand (135th), Vietnam (162nd) and Egypt (146th), for example, bloggers were arrested and news websites were closed or made inaccessible. “We are concerned about the increase in cases of online censorship,” Reporters Without Borders said. “More and more governments have realised that the Internet can play a key role in the fight for democracy and they are establishing new methods of censoring it. The governments of repressive countries are now targeting bloggers and online journalists as forcefully as journalists in the traditional media.”

Check out RSF's findings and comments here.
Indonesia on the up and up where Press Freedom is concerned, by Unspun.

Atok Siber

Blogging program on 9. A blogger made that rare appearance on Malaysian tv yesterday, thanks to TV9*.

Pak Idrus, 68, who has been blogging since 2004, appeared in the hour-long Live Program called "Atuk Siber" or "Cyber Grandpa". Together with his grandson, Pak Idrus spoke about the digital divide and the generation gap, "and of course on blogging, a subject which is close to my heart". (Go to Pak Idrus' In passing - Malaysian to read more about the program.)

Kudos to TV9, for making this important step to try and bridge a divide.

* TV9 is part of Media Prima, which owns 43 per cent of NSTP (which is probably the only newspaper company in the world that has resorted to suing bloggers for defamation).

Recoda, Malaysia's Fourth Corridor

Welcome to Corridor Country. Googled it and found only 1 entry for Recoda, and that's in the news item just issued by Bernama minutes ago, PM to launch Recoda in December.

This is the 4th economic development corridor that PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would have launched in give and take 18 months!
(He launched the Johor South Corridor in July 2006 (many will remember his "this is my idea" statement then) and, exactly a year later, in July 2007, the North Corridor Economic Region. The East Coast Economic Corridor is scheduled to be launched on Oct 29.).

I am not sure if Fox Media, run by former editors of NST and the Star said to be close to the PM's aides, will again be given the lucrative job of doing the spinning and standing by for crisis management for ECER and Recorda corridors (Fox handles both Iskandar and the Nothern Corridor) or if other, more hungry, PR agencies will finally get a piece of the corridor pie.

In a related development, the Iskandar seems to have made headlines for another reason in Bernama's land scam piece. Conmen masquerading as IDR officials are buying land cheap from villagers and making huge profits for themselves. Land in some parts of Iskandar is said to be going for RM500,000 an acre.

p.s. I hear that Joan Lau, one of the journalists who joined NST in the last year or so, has left the paper to join Fox Media. Expansion plans, perhaps.

Why M. Bakri Musa can't come back

For the good doc's own safety. I knew of M. Bakri Musa as a Malaysian surgeon in California, and probably the most celebrated Minangkabau blogger outside Malaysia.
In a mail he posted today in response to one "Johan" who claims to be neither an "orang suruhan Umno" nor a Malaysian, Bakri tells all of us more about himself, of what he's been trying to do for his Malaysia from where he is and why he can't return to Malaysia (or contest in the election to respond to this Johan's challenge). Excerpt:

"Since Abdullah Badawi came into power, I had been warned from the highest level of the police force not to return. The warning came not as a threat but simply a message conveyed by someone from within the force concerned about my personal safety. Just to add substance to that threat, my friends in Malaysia have told me that the Special Branch had interviewed them! Fortunately thus far, it has just been an interview." [Read the whole posting here]

I guess when the government said it wanted to lure Malaysians abroad to come home, it didn't have people like Bakri in mind.

He was sailing

Did Pak Lah go sailing Down Under during the Johor floods? Remember how the PM came and went in a blink during the worst floods in Johor last December? Datuk Seri (correct) Jean Todt may have let slip something very damning in his interview with the Star recently. Screenshots put two and two together and, Ahem ..., he wrote.

We certainly don't want to accuse the Prime Minister of having abandoned the people in Johor in pursuit of such untimely worldly pleasures. We know of his love for yachts but certainly ...

To Kamal Khalid and the 4th floor boys and girls:
I've said this before after we learned about Abdullah's discreet visit to Turky last year: you guys need to let the people know of the PM's whereabouts and activities at all times. He is not just your Prime Minister, he is all Malaysians' PM. So we Malaysians who pay his salaries (and yours, too!) have the right to know. Otherwise, you'll have the truth coming out in bits and pieces like this Datuk Seri (correct!) Jean Todt's interview, which is not going to be good for your boss!

For example, if his son buys the Prime Minister a new Learjet (not the RM200 million aircraft which the Government did not buy), Malaysians ought to be told. No, no, no .... I am not confirming that Kamal has bought his dad a new toy that can fly but if he did, then we all should be told.

Just Bir

This is beery good news, no? My bro the Screenshots tells us there is a 3rd brewery for Malaysia that will produce Jaz Beer. Whoa. Wait a minute, YB Jeff Ooi. You sure it's not non-alcoholic beer?

Istana Zakaria

60,000 for Hari Raya open mansion. The name Zakaria Md Derus is starting to become synonymous with mansions. These Star and Sin Chew's pictures show his new new "istana" in Klang which boasts of 16 bedrooms and 21 bathrooms (with jacuzzi).



The Star's news article here did not say what happened to his old illegally-extended mansion. But it did mention the man's mansion-sized generosity. Last Tuesday, it seems, he feted 500 orphans for a buka puasa at the mansion; about 100 of these orphans spent the night at the istana. Zakaria said he wanted to honour the children and allow allow them a taste of luxury.

"When and where else will they get such a chance?" he said [here].

[I can imagine the conversation between the reporter and Zakaria after the interview:
Reporter: You are so very the generous, Datuk. On behalf of the orphans and all Malaysians, I would like to thank you.
Zakaria: Oh, please, please ... don't mansion it.]

Zakaria will hold a Hari Raya Open House at the mansion on Nov 10. He expects 60,000 people to turn up. In comparison, the Umno President's Open House tomorrow is expected to draw 200,000 people.

In the meantime, former PM Dr Mahathir, in his Hari Raya message, apologised for not being able to hold a Open House this year. He will spend his Eid at the IJN.
But check out his pictures in baju raya at Rantings by MM!

Maaf Zahir Batin

Selamat Hari Raya. It would have been a splendid Ramadan: we sent the first Malaysian to space, Dr Mahathir is recovering well from two surgeries at IJN, and a brave girl ended her long wait for a heart transplant.

But it hasn't been a splendid Ramadan.

I will remember this Ramadan for how we failed little Nurin. How we let her wait for a whole month only to die a most brutal death, because we did not do enough to prevent it from happening. "We could have saved her," Kamal Effendi Hashim, the crime analyst, told me. I believe him.

Selamat Hari Raya, nonetheless. But do take care of your kids. Me, I'll hold my little ones' hands tight, and watch them play with the bunga api tonight. Tomorrow, I'll help them count the ang pow money. I will share in their happiness for their happiness is mine.

But it will be a short Raya holiday. A small group of Malaysians met the other night and started what we will call the Citizens for Nurin Alert initiative. We have agreed to meet again soon after Raya.
We said we won't let Nurin die in vain

If I am being hard on myself, I'm not alone. Kamal, the photojournalist-turned-cop-turned-crime analyst has started www.kamalfndhashim.blogspot to deal with his demons and help his conscience, in the hope that he will not fail another kid again.

Read his debut posting In Memory of my sisters, dedicated to nurin, nursafira liyana bte jaafar, nurul huda abdul ghani, audrey mellisa, nurul hanis kamil, nur syakila ram choo, farah deeba rustam, haserawati saridi, canny ong, siti nadira budah, amd nur shazwani dahalan, among others.

p.s. I'll keep you posted on the Citizens for Nurin Alert initiative.

In the meantime, Selamat Hari Raya. Maaf zahir & batin.

Pro-Corruption Agency ll

Lingam tape deadline for PKR duo. The ACA said it will throw PKR vice president R. Sivarasa and party worker Tse Zin in jail for refusing to blow the cover of the whistle-blowers in the Lingam tape.
The deadline given to the duo expires today.

Let's see what the ACA is really made of.
Screenshots has more, including the ACA's letter of threat, here.

First Malaysian in Space

Baikunor, Oct 10, 2007, 9.21 pm. Soyuz carrying Sheikh Muszaphar, 35, lifted off smoothly from this desert town in Kazakhstan for a 10-day space mission on the International Space Station (ISS).

The programme to send a Malaysian to space was conceived in 2003 when Russia agreed to send a Malaysian to the ISS as part of Malaysia's RM3.4 billion purchase of 18 Russian-made Sukhoi jet fighters.

Some of us were watching the lift-off "live" on Astro from the National Press Club.

There've been a lot of verbal fights about the decision to send a Malaysian up there. But to quote this person sitting across the table enjoying his glass of wine: "Call him an Angkasawan, a Cosmonaut, a Space Participant, or whatever you like ... that's the first Malaysian in space there!"

Read Soyuz rocket lifts off, carrying three to ISS
Follow the Soyuz on the Angkasawan's official website here.

updates, The day after:


Little Aishah's wish to meet the Angkasawan, here.
Pictures and story of Dr M watching the launch from IJN, here.
The 3 experiments our Cosmonaut will conduct in space, here.
They forgot to credit Dr M!
and in What Next?, this blogger asks: "Or has the scheming started already?"

Azalina eyeing Wanita Umno top post?

Round 2? News that former Puteri Umno chief and alleged party Cybertrooper boss Azalina taking on the formidable Rafidah Aziz should get men, women and those in between throbbing with anticipation.
The first time the two fought it out was when Azalina wanted to form the Puteri movement. She had the backing of the then Umno president and prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Whose backing does she have now?
Check out Kuda Ranggi's latest posting, here.

Goblok government

"It's the government, not the Malaysian people". After the "latest act of stupidity", Unspun, a Malaysian in Jakarta, is malu (ashamed) of the "very goblok" Malaysian government.
Read the IHT's full article here.

Where this is all coming from, is there more?

Beasts among us

update 7.30pm: Nurin's uncle Jasni, who runs a blog In Memory of Nurin, has confirmed receiving four pictures and has been told there are more. He said the family is expected to lodge a police report on this tonight.
original post
Who'd post Nurin's post-mortem pics on the Net? Whoever it was, it's the other beast the police needs to nab.

From Pahit Manis's Who spread pictures of Nurin on the Net?:
The pictures show various injuries the little girl suffered. I assume they are meant only for medical record. But today, they are spread over the Internet in what can only be described as a dastardly and an inhumane act of violation on a dead person.
How could this happen? Who is responsible for this? Where is the right of the dead to privacy? Where is respect for the dead? Isn't there any trace of human decency at all by those who did this? What kind of action can be taken against the petpetrator/s? How many more of such acts of indecent exposure?

When an English-language tabloid splashed the picture of a dead girl (its editors didn't know she was Nurin then) on its front page last month, it must have sold more copies.
Spreading the post-mortem pics of the poor girl on the Net is a heinous act. But what the editors of that tabloid did was not decent, either.

Nazri's Act 2

Q: Have you got ONE word for this man? If you do, deposit it here.
And Eli's 5 corrects.

Original posting
Wan Azizah's right, the Witness Protection Act does not exist. Our de facto Law Minister Nazri Aziz has admitted there is, indeed, no such Act. The Act is being formulated and what he actually meant to say was that we have a mechanism whereby a witness can receive protection from the Police. Nonetheless, Nazri said he propose to this Wednesday's Cabinet that the Government expedite the tabling of a Witness Protection Bill in Parliament.

The m-Star has the story here.

Nazri's Act (or is it Bill)?

Minister guarantees safety under Act but does such Act exist in the first place? Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, an MP and head of the PKR, says she is mystified there is no such Witness Protection Act.

I am mystified when I read the statement by (Nazri) who claimed there was a "Witness Protection Bill" tabled in Parliament recently.
There is no evidence of such a crucial bill being tabled in Parliament, and my office had confirmed this fact with the Legal Division of the Parliament, that no such bill had been tabled for a First Reading in the Lower House.
The only bill which was tabled, debated and passed by the Lower House two sessions ago owas the Evidence of Child Witness Bill 2007. - Wan Azizah

Wassup, Nazri? Read the Bernama's article, Source of Video Recording will be protected as Witness, on his guarantee that Lingam video's witness will "not only be protected by the government but will also be given a new identity and a new face through cosmetic surgery."
[The Bernama story quoted Nazri as referring to the Witness Protection Act, no longer just a Bill].

p.s. Cosmetic surgery? Was he trying to be funny?
Read also E-Woon's Liar Nazri!

Out of ICU!

update 2.15pm
Daughter Marina has a new posting, with the latest pics from IJN! Click here to go there.

oringal post
Walking again! The Tun continues to make great progress. The latest IJN statement says he has been transferred to the Bunga Raya ward and doctors are happy with his progress.
Dr Mahathir has even started walking unaided, the statement adds.
Check out daughter Marina's blog now and then (she's having problems with connectivity right now) for a "surprise" about her dad.

Citizens for Nurin Alert

We need another policy, Shahrizat? A group of parents have been getting in touch with each other and are expected to start an initiative modeled after Amber Alert in the US. Since its introduction, Amber Alert is believed to have saved hundreds of children from their abductors.

Journo-blogger Nuraina A. Samad wrote an e-mail to Shahrizat Abdul Jalil last week with regards to this initiative. Understandably, she's been let down by the decision taken by the Minister's think-tank last Friday to come up with a Child Protection Policy (read here).

I agree: Shahrizat can do more - a lot more - than what she's done so far. We don't need more rhetorics, we need a specific plan of action. Let's not forget, Nurin Jazlin's abduction, torture and murder is NOT about parenting; it is about abduction, torture and murder.

We need a plan of action to guide all of us - the parents, the police, the community, the media, the bloggers, the kids, the teachers, the politicians - on what each of us need to do to ensure that the next time a child is abducted, we will be empowered to tell the abductors that they'll be wise to let the child go, unharmed.

A policy (to be tabled at the Cabinet after the Happy Hari Raya season) is not going to scare these abductors and killers.

p.s. Please watch this space for more on the citizens' initiative, with or without the relevant ministry's help.

Have a heart

Praying for a miracle. I join Kerp and other Malaysians in their multi-faith doa that 15-year-old Tee Hui Yi (pic) will have her prayers answered following a second heart transplant. Two brave young organ donors have given her - and all of us - a glimmer of hope for a miracle to happen.

You can be a donor, too. You can help save a lives by donating your blood. There will be a special blood donation campaign at:

Venue: The grounds of Masjid Jamek Kampung Baru, KL
Date: Monday, Oct 8
Time: From 7.30 pm.

Non-Muslims are welcomed, too. [This campaign is being held to help the blood bank handle a rise in demand that is expected during the Eid period.]

Pro-Corruption Agency?

What's eating the ACA? The Anti-Corruption Agency has threatened to jail two Opposition leaders if they won't surrender the whistle-blowers behind the infamous Lingam tape [ACA goes after PKR whistle-blowers].
This is the second time in recent weeks that the ACA has gotten wrong kinds of headlines with regards to the way it deals with whistle-blowers. See here.

PKR, the Opposition party involved, tells the ACA to take a hike:

Press Release
05 October 2007

(FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE)

Whistleblower will surface only at a Royal Commission of Inquiry

(Kuala Lumpur) President of the People's Justice Party (KeADILan), Datin Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail today chided the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) in its attempt to charge two members of her party – vice-president and senior human rights lawyer R. Sivarasa and party staff, Sim Tze Tsim – for refusing to reveal the source of the videotape that has scandalised the nation.

The videotape shows a conversation between lawyer VK Lingam and purportedly, the current Chief Justice, Tan Sri Ahmad Fairuz, where the fixing of judges sympathetic to the government was said to have occurred.

"The ACA should be after the offenders in the videotape, and not the messengers or the whistleblower.

"Unfortunately, this latest action allows the ACA to be perceived as yet another tool of the government, protecting those who are corrupt instead of victims of corruption," she said.

Dr. Wan Azizah, who is also the Member of Parliament for Permatang Pauh, stressed that her party will go out of its way to protect, not just the two party members, but any member of public who has information on corruption and the misuse of powers.

"We will stand by these two men and the source of the videotape, and my party will never compromise any source with information on corruption to the authorities, until immunity is guarantee for the whistleblowers.

"In this case of the 'Lingam tape', the source will only surface at a Royal Commission of Inquiry," she added.

Dr. Wan Azizah also said KeADILan will be initiate discussions with other political parties and civil society, to come out with a Whistleblowers Act in Malaysia.

"We have been talking about having Whistleblowers Act for many years now, but this has been cast aside by the government who claims whistleblowers will be protected.

"It is clear that this is not true, and the time has come for us to begin work on this crucial piece of legislation." (END)

What I like/admire/love about the Indonesians ...

Satu Rumpun. The Rasa Sayange row between Malaysians and Indonesians shows how much we have drifted apart as neighbours. There may be 2, 3 or 4 million Indonesians working in our country and our homes, but as people we are two strangers ever ready to wring one another's necks at the slightest of provocation.
Unspun, the Malaysian blogger who lives and works in Jakarta for the last decade, wants to bridge the gap. He's asking Indonesian and Malaysian readers to state the one thing they love about one another.

It's all very easy to criticize but can we praise also? Just to kick things off Unspun, as a Malaysian who enjoys and prefers living in Indonesia, will wear two hats and tell you what I admire of each country. There are many things, naturally, but here's just one from each hat:
As a Malaysian I admire the self confidence of Indonesians. They are happy and contented to live in their own skins. They are all different orang (as in Sunda, Java, Maluku, Manado, Bali, Tionghua, India, Arab ...) but they all view and respect each other equally as Indonesians.
If I were to use my decade of living here to think as an Indonesia, I'd admire Malaysia's ability to build great infrastructure like its great highways and modern buildings that are clean, functional and not breaking down after six months.

Click here for the rest of Unspun's posting and add to his comment box.

What I like/love about Indonesia/Indonesians?
Samsons. Broery. Widyawati. Ratno Timoer. D'Lloyds.

What about you? Surely there's something you love about Indonesia. Spill it out.

p.s. I still think Rasa Sayange is a Singaporean song. It has the breezy, racy quality as other classics from the island such as Geylang si paku Geylang and Tanjung Katong (Airnye Biru). Indonesia's traditional songs tend to be sombre-souding and slow-tempo (Bengawan Solo, Terang Bulan).

Libre!

Give Peace (in Myanmar) a chance.
Read a Malaysian's adventure in Yangon and his search for a RM20 Sity Nurhaliza in a junta meathouse.

Wow-Wee, the RM40 million man

Damages for wrongful ex-parte injunction. Lawyer-politician Wee Choo Keong, who in April won a 14-year appeal against an ex-parte injunction wrongly obtained by MBf Holdings Bhd and MBf Finance Bhd (now known as Ambank Bhd) against him, has filed for damages amounting to RM40 million against Ambank Bhd.

Wee filed the affidavit yesterday and the court accepted it today and has fixed 23-11-07 for cross-examination, if need be. MBf Holding Bhd and Ambank must file their affidavit two weeks before 23-11-07. The case today was heard before Senior Assistant Registrar, Puan Nor Hayati.

Read previous postings here.

p.s. Wee joined the lawyers for the walk for justice last week. His name also cropped up in the Lingam tape. Jeff Ooi had the pic and story here.

Rasa not-so Sayang

Update: Rais says Jakarta's suit threat "unrealistic".
He said "Rasa Sayange", like other folk songs such as "Jauh Di Mata", "Burung Pungguk" and "Terang Bulan", were songs of the Malay archipelago inherited by the people from their ancestors.
"I think Indonesia or other parties will not be able to prove who was the composer of the song."

Original posting:
Indonesia to sue us for using song in campaign. The issue has been brought to Indonesia's Parliament and the MPs there want their government to take action.

From Malaysian blogger in Jakarta called Unspun (who also has a posting on Beyonce Malaysia Boleh):

The House on Monday urged an immediate response from the government to Malaysia’s use of the traditional Indonesian song Rasa Sayange in its “Truly Asia” tourism campaign.

House of Representatives member Hakam Naja of the National Mandate Party (PAN) said if the government could prove the song belonged to Indonesia, Indonesia should sue the Malaysian government.

“The government needs to check on its origins, whether it’s from Indonesia or not,” the deputy chairman of House Commission X overseeing education and tourism was quoted as saying by detik.com newsportal.

Rasa Sayange is believed to have originated in Maluku, where it has been sung for generations by people to express their love for the environment. (rst of story here)

Bernama has filed a story Indonesia lawmaker accuses Malaysia of heritage theft.

Hey, have you signed up?

We need 5000 names. Haris Ibrahim said as of last night, the People's Parliament had 885 names.
Read the petition here.
And send your name and ID here.

Lingam tape: The correct, correct way to go

The ONLY way to go. Malik Imtiaz Sarwar explains in very simple terms (I have a feeling it's more for Nazri's benefit than ours) why a Royal Commission - and not the Investigative Panel set up by the Government - is the ONLY way to go to resolve the judiciary crisis.

1. A Royal Commission has powers conferred on it by law to take all necessary fact finding steps in order to achieve its purpose. This is important as the Commission would have to otherwise depend on the largesse of parties concerned.

2. The special Investigative Panel has no powers in law to compel the surrendering of documents, the attendance of witnesses and so on. The Investigative Panel is appointed by the Government. The Government is implicated and CANNOT be involved in the investigation.

"It is not enough that the Government declares that the Investigative Panel will be left to do what it has to do. The mere fact of an association with the Government already undermines the process. The aim is to restore public confidence in the Judiciary. The public will not be confident if the Government is involved."

Read the lawyer's latest posting Why a Royal Commission is the ONLY way to go to understand the issue and get a grasp on what's at stake for our future.

Making profits from our rising crime rate?

A letter to the Blogger: Who needs this billion-ringgit e-Cop system?

Click here to read the entire article.

Dear Rocky,
I'm Tehsin Begum Mukhtar Ahamd, just a work- from- home mum/translator. I'm getting increasingly sickened with the state of our country and the people who run it like their own private fiefdom/khazanah to loot and plunder.

Today's headlines set me off really bad. The Top Cop, Musa Hassan, announcing the billion-dollar e-system for policing. Who is going to profit from the increasing crime rate and increasing lawlessness, and the rakyat's misery??? "Them" again.

Do we really need this billion-dollar system??? Or do we need the money spent on proper training of our cops, increased salaries and benefits to reduce corruption risks and an increased police force commensurate with our population numbers??? Don't we need to deal with the massive corruption within our police forces too?

Please highlight this question in your blog as it is read by many. Make people question and question and push for sanity and reason and proper governance!

Our armed forces personnel die /suffer for days before being found, and someone's solution is new contracts for helicopters (to benefit a few), and not basic GPS equipment requirements.

Our rakyat die on speeding buses aka coffins, and someone benefits from some overpriced e-system, which was highlighted recently.

The ones in power KEEP benefiting blatantly from our misery.

We must put a stop to this!!!

You can quote me, I want those in power to make note. My name is TEHSIN BEGUM MUKHTAR AHMAD. STOP PLUNDERING MY COUNTRY AND MALAYSIANS....PLEASE WAKE UP AND FIGHT FOR OUR NATION BEFORE ITS TOTAL COLLAPSE!!!!

WASSALAM,

Tehsin