Wan Azizah as alternative to Rosmah

PKR is moving full steam forward with its Demi Rakyat campaign and
its president Dr Wan Azizah is being presented as a role model to Malaysian
women.

PETALING JAYA: PKR today unveiled its party president, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, as an alternative role model to self-declared first lady, Rosmah Mansor.

PKR Wanita chief, Zuraida Kamaruddin, launched a six-part series of stories entitled “Cerita Kak Wan” as part of the opposition’s new campaign strategy ahead of the upcoming general election.

The stories chronicle the life and career path of a housewife who took on the role of parliamentary member and raised six children while her husband languished in prison.

Zuraida told a media conference today that the stories were meant to expose Malaysian women to an alternative and better role model than “the one we have right now”.

The first print run will consist of 35,000 copies which will be personally distributed by the PKR women’s wing nationwide.

“We will especially target women in the rural areas who don’t have access to stories on Wan Azizah and PKR,” Zuraida said.

“We want these women to know that Wan Azizah is an ordinary woman who has also faced a bittersweet life. That she isn’t like other women who can spend millions of ringgit on a ring, handbags and shoes.”

This was a thinly veiled dig at Rosmah who recently made headlines for allegedly purchasing a RM72 million diamond ring from luxury jeweller, Jacob & Co. Rosmah and husband Najib Tun Razak both denied the allegation.

Zuraida however clarified that the Kak Wan stories were not intended to counter Rosmah’s image but to divert attention away from her.

“Lately there have been lots of debates and discussions revolving around Wan Azizah and Rosmah,” she said. “But there is a vast contrast between the two and we want Malaysian women to know that.”

Election strategy

The Ampang MP added that the stories and exclusive interviews can also be downloaded on Wan Azizah’s personal website.

“Cerita Kak Wan’ is just the tip of PKR’s new election campaign strategy which party communications director, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, said is aimed at changing the manner of electioneering.

The campaign, dubbed “Demi Raykat” will reach out to voters through fewer ceramahs and more internative video presentations.

Two DVDs have already been screened as part of the trial run which Nik Nazmi deemed a success. The DVDs’ contents cover a wide range of national issues including the rising price of essential goods and police violence.

“We have always been at a disadvantage compared to BN as they have access to national TV and we only had ceramahs,” he said. “But now our online videos have been viewed by over ten thousand people.”

PKR strategic director, Rafizi Ramli, stated that PKR is now leading in national issues which has put BN on the defensive.

“Our central theme is to have a contrasting message to that of BN,” he said. “And we’re confident that once we get this message across the people will subscribe to it.”

Each PKR branch now has a Demi Rakyat director and is required to have a big screen and projector to run the DVDs.

According to Zuraida, BN and Umno with their outdated tactics are now having a hard time catcing up to PKR.

“We are ready for the general election no matter when it is held,” she said. “Our young leaders are taking the party forward and we will keep BN and Umno breathless.”

Taken from Free Malaysia Today

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Doc: I was shocked about ‘sodomy’ revelation

The first doctor to examine Saiful said he was 'very shocked' when the 

latter revealed he was sodomised by a VIP.

KUALA LUMPUR: The first medical person who examined Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan maintained today that his patient told him a plastic instrument was used to assault him, denying an accusation that he was instructed to include that in his medical report.

Hospital Pusrawi’s Dr Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid, who is being called to the stand for the first time as a defence witness in the Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy II trial, told the High Court here that he was “very shocked” when Saiful revealed that he was sodomised by a VIP.

“At first he told me that he had pain in the anus when passing motion for one week. I examined him and I didn’t see any injury or anything… that was when he told me about the sodomy,” said Osman.

During examination-in-chief by Anwar’s lead counsel Karpal Singh, Osman said Saiful informed him during the examination on July 28, 2008, that he had been assaulted by having a piece of plastic inserted into his anus.

Osman added that he then noted this down on his medical report.

Previously, Saiful had accused Osman of lying about the plastic, testifying that he never mentioned this to the doctor.

During cross-examination by lead prosecutor Solicitor-General II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden, Osman denied that Saiful did not tell him about the “plastic instrument” assault.

He admitted that Saiful did not know that he had noted down what he (Saiful) said (about the assault) as he (Osman) did not tell him.

He also admitted that he initially did not ask Saiful what caused the pain in the anus as he thought it was probably constipation or piles.

Yusof ticked off Osman after the latter admitted he had prepared a report at the request of a doctor who was not his superior and whose position he was unclear of; and he had also signed a statutory declaration at the advice of a lawyer whose exact name and position he was also unsure of.

“You’re a very gullible man, you believe everything people say, and you’d do anything for anybody, without asking?” asked Yusof, to which Osman said “no”.

Yesterday, Anwar denied the charge of sodomy against him, saying that he never had any sexual relations with Saiful. Giving evidence from the dock, Anwar called Saiful’s allegation a “blatant and vicious lie” and a “vile and despicable attempt at character assassination”.

On May 16, Zabidin ordered Anwar to enter his defence after ruling that the prosecution had established a prima facie case against the latter.

He ruled that Saiful was a “credible” and “truthful” witness whose testimony was corroborated by the evidence of expert witnesses, including doctors and chemists.

In 2008, Anwar was charged with having sodomised Saiful, his former aide, then 22, the same year. The incident allegedly occurred at a Desa Damansara condominium unit in Bukit Damansara between 3.10pm and 4.30pm on June 26.

If convicted under section 377B of the Penal Code, Anwar could face up to a maximum of 20 years in prison and whipping.

This is the second time the PKR de facto leader has been charged with sodomy, the first being in 1998 alongside charges of corruption. The Permatang Pauh MP has consistently denied the charges, saying they were a political conspiracy hatched to destroy his politcal career.

Taken from Free Malaysia Today

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Where has Malay Nationalism gone to?

It is moving away from immovable UMNO.

The doleful and almost pleading wish of UMNO people generally is for all the nightmares affecting their political future will go away. As a self-reassuring measure, they tell themselves, things will be all right. The people will come back to UMNO because UMNO fights for Malays. So, UMNO leaders everywhere say, things will be ok. Zahid Hamidi says, UMNO will win back the Malay ground and it will do so overwhelmingly.

Where is UMNO’s main appeal? It appeals to the Malay ground that adopts the cruder form of Malay nationalism, the sledgehammer variety so enthusiastically expounded by organizations like Perkasa. But that variety of base and crude nationalism is dying. The new generation of Malay voters adopt different values and have different expectations.

You can see what form of nationalism they subscribed to- making out the case that Bersih march for example was masterminded by Malaysian Indians out to topple the Malay government. They thought that would turn the Malay ground xenophobic until they discovered the majority of the marchers were Malays.  You get disappointed that you can no longer reduce the issue to a simple Malay- non Malay clash.

What’s the other important thing to the Malays? Their religion- comes the answer. So UMNO leaders came out accusing homely Ambiga as a threat to Islam. Still no go as that would assume the Malay faith in their religion is so fragile that even the appearance of Ambiga who is probably remotely interested in another person’s religious denomination, is sufficient to shake the religious fiber of the Malay ground. Still no one buys that argument as it died out as quickly as it was raised.  

Hmm, let’s try communism, that godless creed. The Malay’s hatred for communism seemed to be a possible source to limit empathy from the Malay ground. So pictures of Shamsiah Fakeh a member of the Malay communist regiment of the 1940s were resurrected and given prominence. The idea was to say that Bersih marchers were communism inspired.

The feeble attempt was non impactful because the attempted association with communism goes against mainstream logic; no one country in the world is sticking around communism. Even China has gone free market. Why would a band of marchers, marched in the cause of communism?

Face it. UMNO can’t appeal any longer to the cruder form of xenophobic nationalism or group pride.

Let’s ask calmly, where has Malay nationalism migrated to? The answer to me is it hasn’t migrated anywhere. But Malay nationalism has mutated into the finer form of nationalism which finds expression in variegated forms of universal causes. Example. The abhorrence for corruption is one reconstituted form of the previously crude form of nationalism. Revulsion towards other races has tuned to a more universal revulsion for corruption for example. Because corruption cuts across and affects the interest no longer of distinct groups, but the whole country. It undermines the moral fiber of the whole nation.

Wasn’t the principal idea of the original nationalism was to inculcate one’s love for the country and one’s love for the country finds expression in a more universal desire to protect the country’s interest as a whole? The crude form of nationalism which is essentially irrational chauvinism exist as an insignificant subset to the wider and more universal nationalism. It exists among the inhabitants of the lunatic underworld.

Revulsion towards economic thievery and corporate pillaging is another example. The Malays despise their own kind for doing a sting on the country with equal vehemence as if economic con jobs are inflicted on them. I have in mind of course the lightning fast deal between MAS and Air Asia. I am left with the bitter after thought that all these so called Malay corporate chieftains should be sent to reeducation schools to be taught the meaning of nationalism. Where is that sense of overriding concern to put things right as a matter of probity and correctness without doing corporate shenanigans to profit from the man-made miseries of MAS?

MAS belongs to the nation as a whole, the pride of Malaysians. Appreciation of that alone is sufficient to preclude it being treated as a pawn in an elaborate corporate board game. More disturbing and unsettling, is the more malignant inference that the government is playing along with the game the business elite plays.

Therefore if UMNO continues to peddle the cruder form of nationalism, while the Malay ground has shifted forward, how will UMNO justify its relevance? UMNO will go the Goklkar and LDP way not because some prominent bloggers will be masterminding cyber-attacks on its leaders. UMNO will be rendered irrelevant because it refuses to change its ideological format. You need to reformat or even reboot your,  raison d'être

Taken from Sakmongkol 47

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‘MAS-AirAsia share swap spells doom’

PKR's Rafizi Ramli calls the deal a “short-sighted” and “haphazard” endeavour
that will see the airline industry suffering dire consequences.

PETALING JAYA: PKR has predicted that the recently announced share swap deal between Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and AirAsia will spawn a bleak future for the country’s airline industry.

The rival carriers will swap shares in a partnership that will see Tune Air taking a 20.5% stake in MAS while state investment arm Khazanah Nasional will own 10% in AirAsia.

The new alliance will also see MAS focusing on the premium market and leaving domestic routes to the budget carrier.

However, PKR views this development as short-sighted and a prelude to even bigger problems in the future.

According to the party’s strategic director Mohd Rafizi Ramli, the first sign of bad news is the indication that Government Linked Companies (GLC’s) transformation programmes are failing.

He pointed out that this is the third business turnaround plan heaped on MAS and is tantamount to an admission by Khazanah and the government that the previous two have failed.

“Is this an early premonition that the GLC transformation programmes are also failing since MAS’ turnaround is considered a key indicator of its deliverables?” he asked.

“Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s administration has increasingly turned to GLCs to funnel public funds for massive projects.

“In fact, 77% of investment in the Economic Transformation Plan (ETP) is being funded by GLCs thus the latest ongoings in MAS is the clearest sign that this much touted economic transformation has also failed,” he added.

Air transport policy needed

Rafizi pointed out that the only reason such a questionable deal has been allowed to transpire is due to the absence of an air transport policy in Malaysia.

And that, he added, has led to the country’s air transport industry continuing to operate on the basis of right connections with the political elite.

“The only way that Tony Fernandes managed to take over AirAsia in 2001 was to knock on (former premier) Dr Mahathir (Mohamad’s) door,” he said.

“If any company wants to launch a new airline today, it will not find any processes or procedures to guide it,” he added.

“In the absence of a specific and holistic national air transport policy it is unlikely that a new player can enter the market to challenge AirAsia’s dictates of the industry. Unless it offers something to politicians in power or if it has direct connections with the prime minister.

“So this is not an issue of MAS’ incompetency or AirAsia’s good business model but a question of an urgently needed national air transport policy,” he stressed.

Predicament for MAHB

Rafizi then highlighted the predicament that this share swap has created for Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad (MAHB) which he noted has a “less than cordial” relationship with AirAsia.

“With AirAsia being the single domestic player means MAHB only has one customer and the leverage has shifted to the airlines.

“AirAsia now has the power to renegotiate and compel MAHB to accept terms that might be unfavourable to the latter and the public,” he said.

Furthermore, Rafizi added, MAS’ new board of directors will include AirAsia founders, Fernandes and Kamarudin Meranun, which will almost certainly pose a conflict of interest.

“Fernandes and Kamarudin cannot say they wear different hats and that their decisions on MAS are 100% independent of AirAsia’s interests.

“The two airlines are bitter rivals and any decision would to a certain extent be at the expense of MAS and to the advantage of AirAsia,” he said.

“In most countries, this sort of deal would never have stood the scrutiny of corporate governance. What MAS urgently requires now is a strong leadership with depth of knowledge in the air transport industry,” he added.

Taken from Free Malaysia Today

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Japan PM says ministers to resign on August 30

TOKYO Aug 23 — Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan told his cabinet ministers today that they are likely to resign on August 30 Japanese Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano said today The unpopular prime minister s comments effectively confirmed his intention to resign in coming days clearing the way for Japan to select its sixth prime minister since Junichiro Koizumi ended a rare five-year term in 2006 The ruling Democratic Party of Japan is planning to pick a new leader on August 29 setting the stage for parliamentary confirmation of a new premier and the selection of a new cabinet Yosano also told a news conference that the government needs to devise steps to cope with the negative effects of the yen rise in the coming third supplementary budget for this fiscal year — Reuters

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Malaysian economy slows to 4% growth in Q2

KUALA LUMPUR : Malaysia 's economy grew 4.0 per cent in the second quarter, its slowest pace in nearly two years, on softening global export demand, the central bank said on Wednesday.

The worsening outlook prompted Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz to temper Malaysia 's earlier official estimate for full-year growth of between 5 and 6 per cent, saying it would likely come in at the low end of that range.

"The economic activity was affected by weaker external conditions" and a moderation in public sector spending, the central bank governor said, adding that domestic demand had helped prevent a further deceleration.

The performance is down slightly from a 4.6 per cent first-quarter expansion but markedly lower than the 8.9 per cent growth achieved in the second quarter of last year.

Gross domestic product growth for the first half of this year was 4.4 per cent.

Malaysia 's economy had rebounded strongly to log 7.2 per cent full-year growth in 2010 after suffering a 1.7 per cent contraction in 2009 due to the global slowdown.

But the world economy has again been unsettled by the March earthquake and tsunami crisis in Japan, the ongoing Eurozone debt problem, and the US credit crisis - and Malaysia 's export-dependent economy has felt the impact of a resulting slowdown in global demand.

"Right now, based on our assessment we can achieve growth of at least 5.0 per cent," Zeti said, adding that the target could slip further if the US or European economic woes deepen.

In March, the government forecast 5-6 per cent full-year growth, spurred largely by domestic demand.

While the economy has slowed, inflation has not, averaging 3.3 per cent in the first half of the year largely on increases in food prices, according to central bank data.

July's 3.4 per cent inflation was the highest since March 2009.

Zeti said she expects full-year inflation of 3.5 per cent.

The central bank has raised interest rates four times since March 2010 to contain inflation, which registered just 1.7 per cent for all of last year.

However, the second quarter performance was "commendable" amid the global challenges, said Yeah Kim Leng, chief economist with research firm RAM Holdings.

"More efforts will be needed to ensure continuous consumer spending and investment by the public and private sectors in the second half of 2011 in order to offset the weak demand from the US and Europe," he added.

Prime Minister Najib Razak has unveiled a programme of major infrastructure projects and financial market reforms aimed at jump-starting the economy and attracting much-needed foreign investment, but critics say the results have been limited.

- AFP/ms

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Biometrics – The cash flow for Umno elections

The Umno elections might be more than a year away but those who want to go to the top need to make their money from last year. Otherwise, how to be number 1.

Let’s face it. Jibby Razak is out of the picture. He can’t get two-thirds majority in the next general election without whole-scale cheating. He’s not used to fighting or cheating because he doesn’t need to fight.

Have you ever seen him fight for a post? Not for Umno Youth. Also not in the 1993 Umno elections when he was part of the Wawasan Team led by Anwar “Mat Leather King” Ibrahim.

But others have to fight. And they all need money to fight, to buy votes, to guarantee loyalty among the Umno voters and delegates. Lots of money lah.

That’s where biometrics comes in. Create a system that no one needs and make money off the migrants, the workers, the illegals and anyone else looking to use cheap labour.

After all, what is RM300 per illegal? Cheap what. Multiply with the 2 million illegals and plus re-registering those who are legal? Money in the bag lah.

Who’s in on it? The question to ask is, who isn’t in on it? It’s the biggest racket that involves Umno’s senior politicians who want to take over from Najib.

Let’s name them. Mahyuddin Yassin, whose family controls the biometrics supplier. Hishammuddin “Awwwww” Hussein, the minister who regulates the system.

Funnily enough, one more name. Jibby’s right-hand man, The Malay Mail owner and SMIDEC chairman Al Amin Majid.

Taken from Biometricscandal

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Why should BN step down?

It is not necessary to be in the government to understand what the government have been doing. Measuring our economy performance will give us a better idea about the efficiency of the current government. Malaysia external debt raised from $67.4 billion on dec 2009 to $72.6 billion on dec 2010. On the other hand, GDP on 2009 was $381.1 billion but decline in 2010 to USD 247.781 billion.. If the debt and GDP growth momentum was to be maintain, the amount of debt will equal to the country GDP. This means Malaysia will be declared bankrupt and turn into another Greece


We are living in "PROSPECTIVE Zimbabweeeeeeee" caused by najib and bn governments after more than 25 years since mahathir.

In Zimbabwe, each person had to be a "billionaire" in order to meet all his basic living requirements such as food, clothings and shelter!

We will be like Zimbabwe if these people are to remain in power -
1. the approaching RM400 BILLION national debt will increase tremendously over the next few years

2. based on more than 10 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS BUDGET DEFICITS

3. creating more and more with ever inflated unnecessary mega projects such as the from RM400 million that increased to more than RM800 MILLION Istana construction;

4. the supposed to be less than RM 2 BILLION Port Klang Free Trade Zone project causing us at the moment more than RM 6 BILLION and if not settled quickly will eventually cost us more than RM 10 BILLION;

5. the RM 8 BILLION MAS FIASCO;

6. the RM 2 BILLION Computer Lab for schools Fiasco;

7. the RM 6.7 BILLION NAVAL PATROL VESSEL CONSTRUCTION that needed to be rescued when najib was minister of defence;

8. the unaccounted loss of >RM 3 BILLION during the time najib was the minister of rural development;

9. the extremely unreasonable allocation of >RM 5 BILLION to a problematic company, Value Cap, the moment najib was appointed minister of finance by sleepy head pak lah;

10. the RM46 BILLION 2011 BUDGET DEFICIT which is by far the GREATEST OF ALL BUDGET DEFICIT so far;

11. and even under these conditions, the unnecessary spending in improving najib's more than RM200 MILLION istana at Putrajaya at a cost of RM65 MILLION (equivalent to the cost of building 1,300 low cost houses of RM50,000 each) when a few years ago pak lah had already spent more than RM 15 MILLION on improving it + another RM 15 MILLION on improving the security systems and

this istana is much bigger than the 10 Downing Street, London the official resident of Prime Minister of Britain whose government is the fifth richest government in the world and

bigger than the White House whose government is the richest government in the world!

And the cost of maintaining the istana was as of 2008 more than RM15,000 PER DAY as per handsard of Parliament!

ALMOST ALL the democratic institutions have been criminalized and whose only major aims are to cover up all those scandals, crimes, incompetency, massive abuses etc.

12. Look at Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC): the case of the DEATH OF THEO BENG HOCK; the case of former bn MB of Kedah offering MILLIONS OF RM to a PR (Pakatan Rakyat – People’s Allaiance Party) legislator captured by a video camera set up by a MACC officer himself which eventually resulted in the officer being moved somewhere alse and no action taken after more than 2 years + so many other evidence of its criminalization

13. The Police Dept and Attorney General’s office when the current attorney general and the former Inspector General of Police were both implicated with FABRICATION OF EVIDENCE in the case of the very famous BLACK EYE and injuries to Anwar Ibrahim in 1998;

14. The Election Commission whose main aims seem to be to ensure bn (the national front party) to remain perpetually in power through the rampant presence of huge number of PHANTOM VOTERS –

a. When many DEAD VOTERS coming back to lives to cast their votes, including His Right Honorable AZMIN Ali’s dead FATHER and from the addresses of some of the voters, he was said to have “CHINESE” siblings somehow – AZMIN ALI’s family is truly 1Malaysia family when some of his brothers/sisters were Chinese only during the 2004 GE – if you don’t believe me go and ask him about this;

b. When there were cases of citizens who had never registered as voters found out that their names had been registered in places they had never been before as in a case of Klang lawyer who found out that her name had been registered in Kelantan when she herself had never been to Kelantan;

c. ILLEGAL VOTERS to the tune of more 400 THOUSANDS in the State of Sabah alone where illegal immigrants are given Malaysian Identity Cards so that they could cast their votes;

d. 230 THOUSANDS REGISTERED VOTERS in Selangor could not vote in the 2004 GE when they did not have “Saluran Mengundi” (“voting channels”) so as to prevent them from casting their votes even though they were registered voters, and this constituted nearly 20 PERCENT of voters who cast their votes in Selangor that GE;

e. The cancellation of the use of INDELIBLE INK in GE 12 in 2008 to multiple votings if were to be used would have resulted in the opposition gaining victory then; and myriad of other cases;

15. And MOST DAMAGING of all to our country, the CRIMINALIZATION of our very own JUDICIARY as depicted by the VK LINGAM VIDEO CLIP SCANDAL, THE ALTANTUYA MURDER COURT CASE, THE SECOND SODOMY CASE OF ANWAR IBRAHIM and so many others.
and MOST of all most of these democratic institutions’ main purposes were and still are to enable these culprits to PERPETUALLY REMAIN IN POWER and to continue to commit those crimes
Just as we cannot afford to have robbers and criminals to roam in the streets when the most each of them could rob is a few millions RM here and there,

we cannot afford to have najib our pm when he personally had caused us TENS OF BILLIONS OF PUBLIC FUNDS even before he became pm.

Just as we have to bring those little robbers and criminals to justice in order enable our streets to remain peaceful and prosperous, we must bring najib and the other culprits to justice and punish him to commensurate with those scandals and destructions he and those other culprits had caused and make them for pay all these damages.

There is and will be no peace and prosperity WITHOUT JUSTICE.

The only way to do the above is to have a completely new government, of course through democratic processes in which elections are just one of these,

reform ALL THE DEMOCRATIC INSTUTIONS.


Abu Huzaifah Bidin

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Malaysian Money

BBMB bailout , a total of 4 times - RM10.4 billion.
Perwaja Steel - RM10 billion.
Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) - RM200 million.
Konsortium Perkapalan Berhad - RM1.7 billion.
Hicom (Proton) losses over the years- RM1 billion.
MAS bailout from over repayment above market value of shares - over RM1 billion
KWSP, for Danaharta and Khazanah buyout of Timedotcom shares not taken - RM3.3 billion.
Bailout of LRT PUTRA and STAR - RM6 billion.
Bailout of Renong/UEM - RM12 billion.
Bakun Dam, settlement - RM 1 billion
InventQjaya - RM228 million
Crooked bridge, settlement - RM257 million
Broga Incinerator settlement- RM500 million
Agusta loss- RM510 million
Port Klang Free Zone 'extravaganza' - RM4.6 bilion
Offshore Petrol Vehicle scandal(PSC-NDSB) - RM6.75 bilion
Blok L dan M - RM 380 billion
Sime Darby - RM 1.6 billion AND COUNTING !
Pos Malaysia - RM 546 million
Felda - RM 8 Billion
'Additional', miscellaneous from Khazanah - dunno just yet !

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Defence ministry's multi-billion deal involving Sapura questioned

Aug 19:  Parti Keadilan Rakyat today questioned a deal between the Defence ministry and private telecomunication firm Sapura Secured Technologies worth billions of ringgit to improve the armed forces' NCO programme, saying a similar system was already in place.

PKR communication director Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said the NCO programme, meant to integrate applications, control systems as well as weaponry would cost RM2 billion in the course of several years.

“We understand that ATM already has a similar system in place developed a few years back. Furthermore, the project had drawn flak from the entire ATM officers themselves, and their concern has been ignored by those who instructed the project to be continued," he stated.

Adding to the worry is the fact that the contract was being negotiated directly with Sapura, said Nik Nazmi, who added that Sapura did not possess the technical expertise to implement the project.

“Their ability to fulfill this project should rightly be questioned,” he said.

He said until a full inquiry is established to determine the need for a new system, any such negotiation with Sapura should be stopped.

“If the NCO programme is proven as a necessity for ATM, the Defence Ministry must choose the most qualified party to implement the project through open tender,” said Nik Nazmi.

Sapura Secured Technologies, an amalgamation of six Sapura subsidiaries which includes Sapura Defence, Sapura Research, Sapura-LTAT Communications Technologies, Sapura Transmission, Sapura Advanced Systems and Sapura Thales Electronics, is headed by Rodzlan Akib Abu Bakar.

In 2007, the company denied that it was in discussion to supply 3,000 surveillance cameras to the government in a contract said to be worth RM1 billion.

Taken from Harakah

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‘MCMC officers behaved like thugs’

LFL lawyer is outraged over MCMC's insinuation that it is above the law.

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) today questioned a journalist over a picture she had taken during the Bersih 2.0 rally.

But according to Lawyers For Liberty (LFL) coordinator, Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, the officials had behaved like thugs in their intimidation and harassment of both her and her client.

Fadiah had accompanied her client, Yusriah Yusof, a photographer with opposition mouthpiece Suara Keadilan, to the MCMC headquarters earlier this afternoon.

Yusriah was being questioned over her picture of Anwar Ibrahim’s bodyguard, Fayyadh Afiq Albakqry, taken after he was hit in the face with a tear gas canister while shielding Anwar.

The picture of his bloodied face were among the many circulated online in the aftermath of the rally as evidence of police brutality.

When the investigating officer (IO) met them at the entrance, Fadiah introduced herself and said that she was accompanying her client into the investigation room. The IO denied her entry and an argument ensued.

“He said that lawyers were not allowed to be present during the questioning,” she told FMT. “I told him that under the Federal Constitution my client had the right to have her lawyer present and asked him what his basis was in disallowing that right.”

“I even asked him why she was being questioned and whether there was a report made against her. The IO said of course there is a report but he wasn’t going to divulge it to me.”

When Fadiah pointed out that even the police released reports to lawyers, the IO apparently shot back, “That is the police, we are MCMC.”

Shouting match

He, however, eventually reluctantly allowed Fadiah into the investigation room but then told her that he wanted to take her statement too.

“I refused and told him that I am merely accompanying my client and I’m not the party under investigation,” she said. “We continued arguing until he shouted ‘you’re a Malay, right? you’re a Muslim, right?… stop asking questions!’”

“I told him not to bring religion into this and to respect the law. He shouted back that if I wanted to talk about the law then I should go to the court because this was his office and he didn’t want to talk about it.”

Before a stunned Fadiah could respond, two more officers entered the room and shouted to her to leave. While she argued with them, the IO began taking Yusriah’s statement, disregarding the photographer’s obvious distress.

“I turned my back on the two and focus on my client,” Fadiah said. “These men were in the baju Melayu complete with the sampin and they were behaving like thugs. They were talking like the law didn’t apply to them.”

“I am shocked by MCMC’s arrogance and ignorance. Even when they called my client in for questioning they never sent her an official notice. Just a casual phone call.”

The two officers threatened to lodge a police report against her, but when she she asked for their names in return, they replied that she had no right to know as she was in their office.

Fadiah added that the line of questioning was to determine the authenticity of the picture and if copies had been distributed to other publications.

“It was obvious that they want to send out a warning that the public and journalists who take and distribute such pictures will be hauled in for quesitioning,” she said.

“It is pure harassment of journalists, particularly my client because they couldn’t even tell her the basis of the investigation or what law she had breached.”

Yusriah is the first journalist to be questioned over this picture. The Suara Keadilan editor is expected to be called in next as are the other media that have published the image.

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