Friday, November 30, 2007

NSTP & 3 others vs Jeff Ooi

One year's walk. When the High Court decides on this case of a newspaper suing a blogger on 22 Jan 2008, it would be exactly a year since the unprecedented suit was filed in January this year.
NSTP, with 4 Others, filed a defamation suit against me about the same time. In Jeff Ooi's case, the newspaper obtained an ex-parte injunction to stop the blogger from writing anything about plaintiffs. In my case, though, the plaintiffs failed to get the injunction. NSTP & the Four also failed in its application to cite me for contempt of court recently ["Rocky ambushed ... but survived"].

Jeff and I have survived thus far, thanks to the support of many. I don't know how long this walk is going to be, but it does look like we are Still in preliminaries.

Come on, baby, light my fire

In support of ALL underprivileged Malaysians. Blogging lawyer Haris Ibrahim has proposed a Saffron Sunday that people from Perlis to Johor and from Sabah to Selangor light up candles to support all causes for Malaysians in need.
There'll be some candles burning in Singapore, where I'll be this Sunday.

There will also be a gathering among friends, probably at the Blog House, to mark the event. Peace and quiet. Visit The People's Parliament for details.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Pahang pays RM48 K for MB's plate no

CCC 9. Pahang Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob does not see anything wrong with it.
“The question of wasting money does not arise as the money is paid by the (state) government to the JPJ. In turn, the JPJ will use the money to pay salaries.
“Where got waste? The money goes from government to government. It's not for Adnan Yaakob (but) for the government."

Blogger Polytikus calls Adnan's logic "a load of bull". Read Pahangites take note! :"This is the kind of nonsense that is quietly going about in the country. A lot of it goes unreported. We don’t know about it, we don’t hear about it."

I am reminded of last week's news item Pahang's deficit to balloon to RM50 million (Star, Nov 17).

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Seapark Police Station Report No: 8602/07

"The three lawyers told me that I must never revealed to my wife that I was told by them to put up an act that I was mentally unstable with suicidal tendency...." - Balan
A thousand times more damning than ... Thirunama Karasu a/l K. Vellupillai, also known as Balan, spent 6 hours with the police over his latest report against V.K. Lingam, the lawyer at the centre of the judge-fixing scandal undermining Pak Lah's administration.
Balan's report focuses on some alleged hanky-panky related to ACA investigations into Perwaja a decade ago. The people named in the report were - and some still are - big-wigs in the judiciary, the police and the government.

Wee Choo Keong, the recently-vindicated lawyer, who is assisting Balan in his crusade against his brother, has demanded that police take immediate action with regards to Balan's report. "The police called in Raja Petra Kamaruddin immediately after Umno lodged a police report against him. Balan's report is a thousand times more damning. The cops should call in all the people mentioned in the report for questioning immediately".

Click here to read the full report.

Kidnap in Shah Alam!


update 30/11
As D0ra is safe and back with her family, I've agreed to bring down her picture so that she can move on.
I believe that putting up her picture as an "urgent alert" the day she was abducted helped keep members of the public alert and on the look-out for her. It might even have saved her. - Rocky's Bru

update 29/11

Dora Goh has been released. Thank God.
Some quarters told me it was
wrong for bloggers to publish her picture and publicize the abduction as it could have forced the abductors to "do something stupid".
I think that's a strange logic, but I have asked an expert's view on that. Wait for a posting on that.
Right now, I am just happy that she's safe. Thanks to all who helped with the Alert effort.


original posting
Dora Goh,
25, was reportedly abducted by 3 persons in Shah Alam this morning. The abductors were seen driving off in a silver Toyata Camry bearing plate no 7641.
Anyone with info on the whereabout of Dora or the car, please alert the Police asap!

"The people want ISA"

Really, Mr Prime Minister?
PETALING JAYA, Nov 27 (Bernama) -- The Government will invoke the Internal Security Act (ISA) to handle street demonstrations when the situation warrants for such action to be taken, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Tuesday.
Commenting on calls from the people urging the Government to invoke the ISA to tackle street demonstrations, the Prime Minister said: "I am very surprised that the people want the ISA. I thought they never wanted the ISA".- Govt will impose ISA when situation warrants, says Pak Lah, Bernama 27 Nov 2007.
Now, this is not good.
Civil society wants to walk peacefully - for ALL races, for Bangsa Malaysia, for human rights - on 9 December 2007. The Bar Council holds this walk every year to mark December 10, celebrated globally to mark Human Rights Day.
And he is talking about ISA. Because somebody told him that the people wanted ISA.

People,
Please tell the Prime Minister that we do not want the ISA.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Why I didn't walk yesterday?

I won't walk for someone's narrow, racist political agenda.
I was out of KL. But if I wasn't, I wouldn't have walked. I would have covered it as a blogger and a journalist. I posted earlier that Hindraf supporters should be allowed to walk and protest and I stand by that, but I would not have joined hands with them.
Why?
Read Hindraf's memorandum to Gordon Brown, appealing to the British PM to refer Malaysia to the World Court and the International Criminal Court. After reading the memo, I realised that Mr P. Uthayakumar and Hindraf have misled many to support their own agenda.

I hope Mr Uthayakumar stays in the ring and not seek asylum again, as he did a few years ago, when the kitchen gets too hot.

Read it.

HINDRAF
Hindu Rights Action Force
No. 135-3-A, Jalan Toman 7,
Kemayan Square,
70200 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan
Malaysia. Tel : 06-7672995/6
Fax: 06-7672997 Email waytha@hotmail.com

15.11.2007
The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown
Prime Minister of the United Kindom
10 Downing Street, Fax: +442079250918
London, URGENT
SW1A 2AA

Dear Sirs,

RE: 1. COMMONWEALTH ETHNIC INDIAN PEACE LOVING SUBJECTS IN MALAYSIA PERSECUTED BY GOVERNMENT BACKED ISLAMIC EXTREMIST VIOLENT ARMED TERRORIST WHO LAUNCHED A PRE DAWN VIOLENT ARMED ATTACK AND DESTROYED THE KG JAWA MARIAMAN HINDU TEMPLE AT 4.00 A.M THIS MORNING (15.11.2007).

2. APPEAL FOR U.K TO MOVE EMERGENCY U.N RESOLUTION CONDEMNING “ETHNIC CLEANSING” IN MALAYSIA.

3. APPEAL TO REFER MALAYSIA TO THE WORLD COURT AND INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT FOR CRIMES AGAINST IT’S OWN ETHNIC MINORITY INDIANS.

We refer to the above critical matters in Malaysia but which generally gets the least attention locally even by the Opposition parties, NGO’s, the Malaysian Human Rights Commission and the media for this community is generally regarded as politically insignificant, do not draw local or international funding and are deemed not pressworthy. To the contrary the Malaysian government has successfully projected itself to the world as a modern Islamic thinking country which is not true.

The ethnic minority Indians in Malaysia were brought in to Malaysia by the British some 200 over years ago. Since independence in 1957 the Malaysian Indians have been permanently colonialised by the Islamic fundamentalist and Malay chauvinists UMNO led Malaysian government.

Among the recent atrocities committed by this government are as follows:-

1.100 over Indians were slashed and killed by the UMNO controlled Malaysian government in the Kampung Medan mini genocide. Despite numerous appeals, the Malaysian Human Rights Commission has refused to hold a Public Inquiry. The UMNO controlled Malaysian courts struck off a victim’s public interest civil suit for a Public Inquiry to be held without even the said UMNO controlled government having to file in their defence. The UMNO controlled Attorney General and the Inspector General of Police refused to investigate and / or initiate an inquest into the death of at least six Indians in this tragedy despite.

2. Every week one person at average is killed in a shot to kill policy and in every 2 weeks one person is killed in police custody. About 60% of these victims are Indians though they form only 8% of the Malaysian population.

3. In every three weeks one Hindu temple is demolished in Malaysia.

The latest being the demolishment of the Mariaman temple in Padang Jawa, Shah Alam, Selangor early this morning (15.11.2007) and the next being the (Mutaiya) Hindu temple in Sungai Petani scheduled for the 29.11.2007.

A violent armed pre down attack at 4.00a.m this morning was launched by the UMNO controlled Malaysian government backed by about 600 police, riot police, Islamic extremist and armed terrorists which completely destroyed this temple.

In an attack two weeks ago, uniformed police, riot police and city Council officers hurled rocks and attacked unarmed Hindu devotees with knives, sticks and iron rods.

At least 20 Hindu devotees were seriously injured and 19 arrested including 4 of their United Kingdom trained lawyers in direct violation of Article 5 (Right to life) Article 8 (Equality) Article 11 (Freedom of Religion) Section 295 (defiling a place of worship), Section 296 (disturbing a religious assembly), 298A(causing racial disharmony) and Section 441(criminal trespass) of the Malaysian Penal Code.

These authorities are plagued by an above the law mindset and in fact liberally take the law into their own hands. These atrocities however does not happen to almost all Islamic places of worship. Please visit www.policewatchmalaysia.com for further and better particulars.

4. State sponsored direct discrimination against the Indians in Public University intakes, Indian (Tamil) Schools, skills training institutes, civil service and private sector job opportunities, business and license opportunities and in almost all other aspects of daily life.

Despite our hundreds of letters, appeals and pleas to the Malaysian King and Sultans, the Prime Minister, Attorney General, Inspector General of Police, Ministers, Chief Ministers and the latest being our letters to the Prime Minister dated 29.10.2007 and 30.10.2007 and to the Attorney General dated 1.11.2007 the Malaysian authorities are only proceeding with greater ferocity and with impunity with very little regard for the Federal Constitution and laws of Malaysia. So please help us.

CONCLUSION

We fear that this peace loving Indian community of Tamil origin having been pushed to the corner and the persecution getting worse by the day may be forced to into terrorism in a matter of time as what has happened to the Sri Lankan Tamils.

APPEAL

On our part we are committed to a peaceful and lawful struggle and pray and appeal that the Government of the United Kingdom:-

1. Moves an emergency United Nations resolution condemning these state sponsored atrocities and persecutions of Malaysian Indians in Malaysia.

2. Refers Malaysia to the World Court and the International Criminal Court for Crimes against it’s own ethnic minority Indians

Thank You,

Yours Faithfully

P.Uthayakumar
Legal Adviser


Lost in Translation
Meanwhile, Uthayakumar and gang have been discharged due to the absence of a translation of what they were supposed to have seditiously said. [read here]. I tried calling him and I have sms-ed him to get a clarification on the tone and content of the memorandum above. He has not responded.

Read Haris Ibrahim's Sorry, I was wrong to ...

Guest Blogger #1 - Amir Hafizi

The Malay Male. Journalist Amir Hafizi's urgent need to explain his sudden disappearance from the blogosphere last August to his faithful readers prompted me to start this Guest Blogger "column". I had the pleasure of being his editor when Amir was a reporter at The Malay Mail. I think it was in 2004 when someone drew my attention to his blog and suggested that I should tell Amir to pull his blog down. The nature and content of The Malay Male, someone further suggested, was giving the Malay Mail (The Paper That Cares) a bad name.
Thanks, Amir.

Bros and sis, I give you The Malay Male:



"Fucking hell, man.

Ever since I shut down my site, most people don’t give a shit. Which is good. But some people have been asking me questions and shit.
Usually, they are of these variety:

  1. Did you get spooked by the spooks?
  2. Did the Government order you to shut down your blog?
  3. Did you stop blogging because of you new job?
  4. Will you fuck me in the ass?

And so on and so forth.
Well, I used to tell them the truth. I told them, “Nah. I just got bored.”

And then, a week later ...."
[Bru: click here for the rest of Amir's piece]

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Hindraf's Sunday

"Don't abuse the freedom that has been given to you." - Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, speaking from Kampala last night after being told that protesters attacked riot police and tore town temple gate at Batu Caves. Full story here.


Updates, midnight

Just after 8am, I was on the way to pick up a friend in Ulu Ampang. Exited at Jln Jelatek from the ring road and was sandwiched by a police roadblock that stopped you from accessing Ampang and another that stopped you from going to the opposite side of Ampang. Hundreds were milling around the latter roadblock and I was told to take a detour.
I was away from where the action was. The first message from Malik Imtiaz, alerting me that the cops were using teargas and water canons on the marchers. "Haris (Ibrahim) is on the ground, he's there ....". He posted this (The Personal dignity of Hindraf supporters) even as the event was developing.

Later, Stephen Francis told me his posting was up. There are more than a dozen pictures which he took (and some courtesy of Reuters) on his blog, here. "I was just a few feet away from Uthayakumar ... No, they (the police) didn't go for him," Stephen said.

Click here for Al-Jazeera's video clip on You Tube.

Original posting
Why I will walk this Sunday, by Nathaniel Tan
Why I will not walk this Sunday (and why the walk must not proceed), by Haris Ibrahim.

Peace. My hope is that the Police would exercise restraint and not resort to force against people who decide to march in support of Hindraf and its struggle. I also hope the marchers will walk in peace.
We have had two big walks -- the Penguin March and the Yellow March -- and we have shown the world that contrary to what some in the government have claimed, Malaysians do know how express themselves in the most democratic ways.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

RM400 m Istana is now RM650 million

And growing? No open tender for the new Istana project was reported. When the Press first carried the story last year, we were told it would cost RM400 million and that the project had been given to a Sendirian Berhad.

In just a year, the price tag has gone up to RM650 million!

CTSB, one of the earliest to blog about this last year, has been keeping an eye on it. Click here to see his latest posting, Maya maju the project by RM250 million last Friday. My earliest take on the istana established that Maya Maju Sdn Bhd, the lucky company, is Not Khairy's Maya.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Balan's Video on Brother Lingam

On Malaysiakini. See the first part of this 3-parter and decide for yourself if this Balan, who has lodged police reports and gone to the ACA several times in the last 10 years, is nuts or, in big brother Lingam's words, "of unsound mind".








To view the original "Correct" blockbuster starring V.K. Lingam, click HERE.

Talk by former judge Syed Ahmad Idid


Controversial ex-judge speaks out.

PRCAM StraightTalk – Malaysian Judiciary Today
Speaker: Former High Court Judge Dato’ Syed Ahmad Idid

6.30pm-9.00pm Tuesday Nov 27 at Level 12, Wisma Bernama

The press statement describes him as a man who "has a reputation for probity and integrity". You probably know of him as the former High Court Judge who resigned about a decade ago after writing the so-called poison pen letter alleging corruption and abuse of power in the judiciary.

Members pay RM30 while non-members will need to pay RM45. Light dinner will be served. Book your seat by NOON, Monday, Nov 26!
Contact Priscilla at 03-22876700, fax 03-22876701 or prcamalaysia@gmail.com.

Uthayakumar nabbed

Sedition. They've started to play rough. This morning, lawyer P. Uthayakumar, the legal adviser for the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), was nabbed and taken to the Shah Alam court, where he was charged under the Seditions Act.

Hindraf is behind a class-action suit against Britain for bringing Indians to Malaysia as indentured labourers and exploiting them for 150 years. A total of US$4 trillion (RM14 trillion) is being sought, or US$2 million for every Indian residing in Malaysia. Uthayakumar is one of the planners of rally planned for this Sunday to support the action. Hindraf was hoping that 10,000 Indians will walk but the police, as usual, have banned the rally.

Uthayakumar, the Malay Mail and the underdogs
Uthayakumar was one of the personalities the Malay Mail used to prop up when I was editor of The Paper That Cares. He was a champion of the underdogs who used to take cases at random if they happen to involve downtrodden or seemingly downtrodden individuals and/or if he smelled police brutality, etc.
I lost a bit of respect for him, however, when he pulled off that stunt in 2005 (I have to check the year later) by going into "hiding" in the UK and seeking asylum there. We ran a couple of front-page stories then, challenging him to come home and "fight in the ring".
The Malay Mail was a champion of the underdogs, too, and we did not care for such antics. [I believe Uthayakumar filed a suit against the Malay Mail for those stories].
I don't quite understand why Hindraf has decided to sue Her Majesty's government and how Uthayakumar came up with the RM2 million-per-head amount. I thought Hindraf shouldbe suing MIC and its president S. Samy Vellu for the Indian community's predicament.

But Uthayakumar is here this time, "fighting in the ring". He has my support for that. And they should just let the 10,000 walk in peace to express their displeasure with Britain.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

NSTP & 4 others vs Rocky - Contempt of Court

KL 21/11. NSTP, four others fail to get leave from the High Court to initiate committal proceedings against blogger Ahirudin Attan - BERNAMA
If you subscribe to Bernama's SMS service, you would have received the above news-in-brief around lunch yesterday. Unfortunately, Bernama's on-line Full News List does not include this brief or any kind of news pertaining to the case. [Here, the list at 3 am]. So if you are not a subscriber, you did not know what went on between my former friends at the NSTP and I at the Jalan Duta Courts.

My bro the Screenshots has more than Bernama:

Rocky ambushed... but survived

It's an ambush that even Rocky's lawyers weren't informed.
According to journalists who covered the Jalan Duta High Court circuit today, NSTP & Four Others failed to get leave from the Kuala Lumpur High Court to initiate committal proceedings against blogger Ahirudin Attan (Rocky).
There was, however, an alert in The Star, September 21, of an application for such committal proceedings (read: contempt of court) by the plaintiffs who sued Rocky for defamation alongside this blogger.
Apart from this, I have no further details to report at the moment.

Me, I can't wait to see the NST's report today. Call it professional curiosity.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Royal Commission: Who should not be appointed

NOT WANTED. Prominent lawyer Malik Imtiaz, who is president of the National Human Rights Society (Hakam), has called for comprehensive mandate be given to the Royal Commission of Enquiry that will look into the V.K Lingam's video clip.

Malik also spelt out the persons who SHOULD NOT be asked to be members the Commission:
  • Any Chief Justice since Tun Abdul Hamid, including Tun Hamid himself;
  • Retired judges who served Tun Eusoff Chin, Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin and Tun Ahmad Fairuz;
  • Any judge currently serving as such;
  • Any person closely connected with the Government and/or who served the Mahathir Administration and/or the Badawi Administration or still serves. This would include former Attorney Generals; and/or
  • Any person who might be perceived to have grievances against the Government and/or the Judicial Administration in the period from 1988. This would include Tun Salleh Abbas and any of the members of the Judiciary penalized in the 1988 attack on the Judiciary.
Read his other thoughts on the Commission here.

If we lose, you know why ...

Malu. Did we really resort to an anonymous one-month old blog to fight the Pulau Batu Putih case at the Hague? I've read and re-read Jeff Ooi's entry Malaysia uses plagiarist's blog to claim Pedra Blanca at ICJ? on this national embarrassment.

I feel so malu I want to die, to borrow young journalist Meesh's angry posting Let's Play Shoot the Blogger, Shall we ..? in her blog.

Other than us using the plagiarist-anonymous blogger, 2 things on my mind with regards to this issue:

1) Why is our Deputy Prime Minister here when his counterpart from Singapore is in The Hague fighting his nation's case?
2) Why is the New Straits Times quiet on this issue? The (Singapore) Straits Times has been attacking us and belittling our reps in The Hague while NST is busy with trying to discredit the yellow marchers. With its experience dealing with the issue of plagiarism, I thought the newspaper would do some real national service here.

Ok, ok ... I've got a third thing on my mind.
3) Why is A-G Gani Patail's son in The Hague? Is he on the official Malaysian team?

Angkasawan 2 assaulted

Malaysia's second Cosmonaut is in hospital for a hand injury suffered in defence against two men who tried to rob him
The incident happend this afternoon in front of his home.
Our man has been admitted at Gleneagles. He is OK.

TELLing the story of Nurin Alert

Once in a while, a publisher comes up with a gem of a magazine cover. This latest issue of Tell, on the on-going Nurin Alert initiative, hits the stand this week, and may prove to be the biggest push for an initiative to make this country a safer place for our children. Kudos to Wahti the publisher and Nuraina A. Samad the group editor (yep, the blogger), and all the beautiful staff at Tell Magazine.

Nurin's killers, by the way, are still out there.

Click here to see the magazine's full cover.
Last Oct 9, Wahti chaired a roundtable discussion, attended by Minister Shahrizat, to discuss the Nurin Alert idea. Go to Nurin Alert Roundtable with Minister Shahrizat to view pictures from the pages of Tell.

Proton's woes continue

Updates, 6pm 21 Nov
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 21 (Bernama) -- Share prices of Proton Holdings hit a seven-year low at RM4.06 Wednesday since 2000 following the government's announcement yesterday that the national carmaker will operate on its own, without a foreign partner.
At 4 pm, Proton declined 17.81 percent or 88 sen to RM4.06 after opening 24 sen lower at RM4.70 from yesterday's closing of RM4.94. Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop yesterday said the turnaround seen at Proton in recent months was real and therefore, earlier assumptions that Proton needed a foreign partner to stay afloat were no longer applicable.

Original posting
So after all this while, we've decided to ditch VW and GM because (according to Khazanah), Proton's sales and exports have improved.

Hard to believe.

Harder to believe is some people's theory that VW and GM were not convinced about Proton's "Islamic car" plans, which would involve partners in Iran and Turkey. Read here.

What is a halal car, anyway?

7 hours

pictures by Malaysiakini
Balan meets ACA, again.
V.K. Lingam's brother spent 7 hours with the ACA from 11.20 am yesterday to go over his allegations of corruption against the controversial lawyer. V. Thirunama Karasu, also known as Balan, was accompanied by lawyer-politician Wee Choo Keong, who made public for the firs time last Sunday two police reports lodged against Lingam by Balan in March.

Balan had been through this before. In 1998, he went to the ACA with similar allegations against Lingam. In a press statement that ended his two-month "elegant silence" on Monday, Lingam said:
"I believe that the Anti Corruption Agency did not pursue any action on the allegations made by Balan as they and the Attorney-General's Chambers were aware of Balan's psychiatric condition."
My sources said Balan was asked about his "psychiatric condition" during the interview. Balan told the ACA officer that he had been forced "to fake it" by his brother in order to nullify whatever statement he had made to the ACA. Balan was also made to see a psychiatrist at GH, who was said to be a close friend of V.K Lingam.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

VK Lingam says brother delusional, brother says ...

"I'm going to sue him for that".

My brother Balan ... "is a psychiatric patient who sufers from hallucinations, strong suicidal tendencies, delusions and major depression ... is prone to violent conduct manifested by assaults upon his siblings, wife and children ... lost his job at Tenaga Nasional because he assaulted one of his colleagues."
See the full press statement by V. Kanagalingam here.

Supper with VK Lingam's brother
I was with Balan, or V. Thirunama Karasu, for supper last night. He told me that he isn't mad and that he is of sound mind. I was with him for about an hour.

Did he look delusional, of unsound mind, to me?

Not at all. Balan looks like your regular guy. Soft spoken, polite and couldn't wait to get home. "I'm worried about the kids."
I asked him what he was going to do with his brother's allegations that he was "tak betul". "I'm going to sue him for that."

Don't take my word for it. Read the papers tomorrow or sometime later this week.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Lowe blow for Sunday Column

Who the duck does he think he is ... Rob Lowe? [pic on the right is of a Rob Low lookalike]
Some of you may have read the Sunday Column by the Prime Minister's friend. I had to read it after reading the latest posting by blogger-activist Elizabeth Wong.

(For fear of getting sued for defamation, I'll quote Elizabeth Wong all the way if it's alright with you guys).

"It was an exemplary piece of unsophisticated schoolboy spin against BERSIH, after a marathon session of ‘West Wing’. The scent of desperation reeks from the newsprint. If there’s a course on column-writing, it should be held up as “how-not-to-write …”.

"If this is supposed to be the icing of 4th Floor’s damage-control, I’d dare say, Pak Lah would get trounced this coming General Elections, that is, if it’s free and fair.

"So kiddies, there are two morals to this post.
1. It is better to keep silent than to open one’s mouth and let everyone know the depth of one’s ignorance.
2. Stop watching ‘West Wing” and imagining you’re Rob Lowe."

Now go and read Elizabeth's TQ Kalimullah.

Blogging for Washington Post

This week, The Washington Post, the largest and one of oldest newspapers (est. 1877) in Washington, D.C., publishes my first piece for a column they're calling The Spider. This new feature, which appears in print and on-line, weaves together "the hottest stories on the Web" reported by bloggers around the globe.
I am only the first Malaysian blogger who will be featured; they have spoken to another one and, hopefully, more Malaysian bloggers will be included.
Go to the Outlook page of the www.washingtonpost.com/outlook for a read. You will need to register but it's quick and free. [Below: a print version of the Washington Post's Outlook].

Sunday, November 18, 2007

3 lodge police report against Jeff Ooi


update, after dinner on Sunday
Umno member lodges police report against RPK. It's a Sunday for police reports. The latest is against Raja Petra Kamarudin, who runs the hugely popular MalaysiaToday portal, by an Umno member from Shah Alam, Selangor.
According to this pro-Umno anonymous blogger, the report was over the article "What the eye does not see".

Original post
It is your right to lodge a police report and once that is done the police is obliged to investigate. But to say the interview by Jeff Ooi "not only tarnished the image of the country but was also seditious and cause racial tension" is stretching it. Unless you didn't watch it or didn't understand what was said.

I mean, just take what Nazri said on Al-Jazeera about the Press being "free to write anything". Do you lodge a police report over this misinformation? The newspapers did not report the whole truth about the 10-Eleven march; maybe we should ask the police to investigate the editors? We all winced at Zam's performance on Al-Jazeera but do we lodge a police report against the Information Minister for tarnishing the image of the country or causing us untold psychological stress?

My brother Dato V. Kanagalingam

Own brother lodges 2 police reports against VK Lingam. Electrician Thirunama Karasu a/l Kandar Velluppillai, 50, is the brother of V.K Lingam, the lawyer in the controversial video clip that Anwar Ibrahim showed the world in September.

In March, six months before the video, he had lodged two police reports with two police stations against his brother. The first report was lodged with the Kelana Jaya police station on 16 March 2007 and the second with the Brickfields police station three days later, on 19 March 2007.

Lawyer-politician Wee Choo Keong made public the police reports for the first time at a lunchtime media conference today. The revelation has thrown even more dirt on the country's beleaguered judiciary and is expected to pile on the pressure for sweeping reforms.

Juicy details contained in the two police reports include:
1) allegations of corruption involving Lingam and several judges, including former CJ Eusoff Chin, former AG Mohtar Abdullah, former IGP Rahim Noor, and judges Mohtar Sidin, Low Hop Bing, and K.L Rekraj.

2) a dinner hosted by Lingam at his home for some judges and their wives and children

3) gifts and cheques allegedly for some judges

4) the former IGP's phone bills

5) claims of huge transfers of money to accounts in London following a tip-off of an ACA raid

6) alleged visits to the former Chief Justice's home
Wee: "The allegations contained in the Kelana Jaya Police Report No: 002187/07 dated 19-03-2007 by Mr Karasu were extremely serious by any standard one would like to set. I am most surprised that almost 8 months have elapsed after the said police report has been lodged and there was no positive action taken ...."

He said he will be writing to the Police to ask about the status of investigation, if any, into the reports. He will also submit copies of the reports to the Bar Council and the Acting Chief of Justice.

Over 30 journalists and bloggers covered the media conference.

Read the police reports, in full:
Police Report No 1: He Ain't Heavy ...
Police Report No 2: He's My Brother.

A (real) blow to Press freedom


This picture shows a Guongming Daily photographer Koh Chun Sing, who was covering a briefing by an Opposition MP, taking a hard blow in the head, allegedly by an Umno member, according to Malaysiakini. The journalist has lodged a police report.
The National Union of Journalist or the National Press Club should speak up on this incident.

Story and more pictures at Violence against journalists ... Umno style.
The Second Blow (updated 2.30pm, Sunday 18 Nov 207)
Good of Norila Daud, the National Union of Journalists president, to issue a statement on the issue.
But Norila didn't say what needed to be said. The NUJ should condemn anyone who attacks a journalist who is carrying out his/her duties or who threatens bodily harm to the journalist. It does not matter if the perpetrator is Umno or DAP.
Instead, she said:
Those who invite the media to cover events must take responsibility for the safety and security of the journalists.
She also said:
The sponsor or host who invited the media to cover an event must also ensure they were not doing anything illegal that could risk the safety of the journalists.
So lame. Our journalists have gone to war-torn countries and covered street demonstrations (which are all illegal in the country), bloody riots, and party scuffles (where chairs and tables can fly). So if Shahanaz had been injured in Baghdad, for example, we blame Saddam?
Another blow to journalism. Read her comments here.



Saturday, November 17, 2007

Lingam tape "child play"?

"The (VK Lingam) video clip is child play compared to what is going to be revealed tomorrow." - Wee Choo Keong
Wee, the vindicated lawyer-politician, has called for a media conference (new and old media) tomorrow to reveal some shocking details with regards to the Lingam-Fairuz saga that has questioned the integrity of the country's judiciary.

Time: 11 am, Sunday, 18 Nov 2007
Place: No 60 2nd Floor
Jalan SS2/67
Petaling Jaya
(it's above Mahagony Music/Coffee Bean)

The Royal Commission that the Abdullah Administration has agreed to establish (after protests staged by the lawyers and the recommendation of the the 3-men inquiry panel) should have its work cut out for it with these new details.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Politics of the Palace

Read between the lines.
16/11 Yang diPertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin expressed regret over claims that the Palace approved and supported Saturday's rally / STAR
Surprised? Don't be, and don't lose sleep over this. BERSIH didn't ask the Agong to support the 10-eleven march. What we wanted was for the Palace to look into our grievances. And those who marched did so demanding reforms in the electoral reforms, NOT to drag the Agong into the mud of partisan politics.

Anyway, if you think about it, it is rather funny. If the Palace really was not supporting the rally ["Tuanku Mizan regrets claims he supports illegal rally" - Bernama], any of the three below would have happened, as Nuraina A. Samad has also suggested in her posting Titah Tuanku:

1/ The Palace would have told the organisers to leave it out of the march. The 10-Eleven was organised nearly two months before the event; there was a lot of time to let BERSIH know of the Istana's stand.
2/ The Palace representatives would not have received the BERSIH delegation and accepted the memorandum
3/ The Agong would have issued a statement last Saturday condemning the rally.

As we all know, none of the above took place.
As far as I am concerned, we, the people, have done our bit and the Agong has done his bit. History has been made on 10-eleven and cannot be unmade.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Khairy & Nazri vs Malik Imtiaz

updated at midnight
The Press is FREE!
Or that's what Nazri Aziz, the de facto Law Minister, said on Al Jazeera. The son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin, echoed Nazri's view.
"I got all the information (on the 10-eleven march) from the papers. They are free to report anything," Nazri said.

I don't know which newspapers Nazri and Khairy read last Sunday. Most of us know that the NST had a small piece Illegal gathering causes traffic chaos in city on page 4 of its Sunday edition and The Star had Teargas and water canons used on illegal assembly, 245 held.

The 30-minute 101 East basically pitted Khairy and Nazri against lawyer Malik Imtiaz on the Nov 10 March. Al Jazeera's footages of protesters shot with teargas and water laced with chemical were shown again. These images never made it to the mainstream papers.

"Obviously, the papers are controlled by the government," Malik said.


I have to agree with Malik. I know for a fact that some editors received calls on Friday (the day before the march) from a 4th floor somewhere in Putrajaya telling them what they can report and what they cannot.
And Nazri, Khairy ... the journalists among them are not happy about it.

Go to Sagaladooda for the video of the programme and his take.

1) Khairy said "The Prime Minister had said during the current UMNO General Assembly that in the near future media can regulate themselves".
[Sagaladoola: Yes, Khairy said that in the forum. My question is, can anybody confirm whether the Prime Minister REALLY said that? Get what I mean?
I have Questions, Is it true that the Media is not allowed to regulate themselves now? Hmmnnnn, then who is regulating the Media now? Dear me, I shouldn't have asked that.]

original post
Blogger takes on anti-bloggers.
Tune in to Al-Jazeera, 10.30pm, tonight. The channel is 513.

68 days later

Batu Buruk incident enquiry. Suhakam, in the news for the wrong reasons recently, has announced the setting up of a three-men panel to investigate the use of firearms and live bullets during a Sept 8 "illegal assembly" in Batu Buruk.
But over two months after the fact?
Asked why the inquiry was not conducted earlier, Suhakam Commissioner Shafee Abdullah said : "We depend on the police investigations and we allowed the legal process to go first, and since there is no inquiry focus on this issue, we decided to proceed with it."
The inquiry will not touch on the "illegal assembly that took place there that night but only on whether there was discharge of ammunition", says Bernama here.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Demo and us

Malaysia was built on street protests! The Malays took to the streets to protest against Malayan Union. Using Fahmi Reza's documentary, veteran journalist Maria Samad reminds Pak Lah of a past he might have forgotten in her latest posting A lesson in history for our leaders ... lest they forget.
Go to her blog for pictures and words.

Sandwiched between Khairy and Nazri

Malik Imtiaz vs Them. Teymoor Nabili, the host of 101 East, talks to Disquiet my lead counsel, the son-in-law and Nazri Pondan-Bodoh Aziz about the 10Eleven Yellow march.

Channel 513, Al Jazeera
10.30 pm
Thursday 15 Nov 2007

We're all journalists now?

Zam, read this book.
Journalism should be an endeavor and not just a job title. Journalism should be looked at as an activity rather than a profession.
The status quo has changed. The floodgate of news has been opened by bloggers and there is no way of stopping it ... Those who refuse to accept these facts would surely be swept away by the new wave.

The days of the mainstream media as the "voice of God" are over.

Go to Pak Idrus for a review.

Dec 9 Walk and Siva

People's Freedom Walk. The Bar Council is organising another walk on Dec 9, 2007 in conjunction with Human Rights Day. The walk will start at Sogo, go through Dataran Merdeka and end at Central Market in KL.
A multi-religious forum is also being organised.
Lawyer Edmund Bon, who is chairperson of the Bar's Human Rights Committee, said he hopes to get 1,000 people to walk on the 9th.
I think it'll be very difficult to get a thousand Malaysians to walk.
Human Rights Day is celebrated worldwide on Dec 10.

... and take a walk, Siva!
N. Siva Subramaniam, whose statement about last Saturday's yellow march incensed many, should quit Suhakam, says Bersih, the elections watchdog that organised what has been deemed as the largest peaceful anti-government gathering this century.
MalaysiaToday has the story, too - Siva should resign as Human Rights commissioner



Malaysia lives under a state of emergency

Rommel's parting shots. In June, Thierry Rommel defied diplomatic convention with his harsh criticism the New Economic Policy. For that the EU envoy to Malaysia was given a severe dressing down by DPM Najib Razak and later told the Press that hadn't meant to meddle in Malaysia's domestic issues.
Yesterday was his last day as the EU envoy to Malaysia.

Some things he said about this country:
"Today, Malaysia still lives under (a state of) emergency."
"It's not a secret that elections are not fair."
"The NEP allows the government to award state contracts to Malay businesses without clear, competitive tender procedures ... and it fosters corruption."

Read the entire Rommel's interview here. Reuters said the diplomat agreed to the interview on condition that his comments be published after his departure later yesterday. I wonder if all Belgians are as cautious as Rommel.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

He's back at work!

4 kg lighter. Dr M returns to his office at the Perdana Leadership Foundation for the first time since his bypass surgery that united a nation in prayers last September.
Journo-bloggers Kadir Jasin and Ahmad A. Talib met with the man this morning. Check our The Scribe to find out how the former the PM is doing.


1 flyover, 2 launches, 3 price tags

Miri gem. You've got to read blogger Clemfour's latest posting Late as Usual.
It's about a flyover that has been launched twice and has three price-tags - RM45 million, RM107 million and RM450 million!
And why you can tell your boss to take a hike if he's got a problem with you being just a few hours' late for work.

So, we painted London yellow, too ....

From London, with love. Obviously, it was a dry day in London. Go to malaysianminxinlondon for her words and more pictures.




Doing away with your 1 sen


Say goodbye to the 1 sen coin.Bank Negara is expected to announce today that it does not make sense to mint 1 sen coins anymore. What with rising inflation, our billion-ringgit mentality, and next year's crippling increase in petrol/diesel prices.
Expect an announcement on this later today.
With the move, businesses may be asked to round up their prices.

So instead o paying RM1.92 per litre for your petrol, you may be paying only RM1.90!
That's what they called a lull before the storm!

Monday, November 12, 2007

Kids and women hit, too

VX, a Yellow-marcher, left this comment under my Journalists, journalism hit posting this morning. He later e-mailed me some pictures.

Rock,
KIDS and WOMEN are hurt by tear gas too, if ur interested in the photos; i could email you.
10:45 AM

Rock,
A group of ppl rush into Guardian pharmacy to get away from the tear gas, thank God Guardian didn't lock up their shop like McDonald. There is a video footage whereby this tear gas was shoot into kaki-5 (and not the main street); which hit the public who was standing there.

According to NST, which blacked out the news on the Saturday march yesterday but tried to make up for this most unjournalistic conduct, 18 children were detained by the police. The youngest was 6 (six)! The kids were released after their statements were taken, according to the OCPD here.
I wonder what the 6-year old's statement read like!



More than 60,000 turned up!

Mother of all open houses. And we were bragging about getting 60,000 people to march to the Istana for free and fair elections?
Check out the Bernama story here and find out how happy Zakaria Deros was on Saturday. (In contrast, Minister Zulhasnan's open house on the same day, which was attended by the PM himself, drew only 10,000 people!)

Zakaria said he'll leave it to Pak Lah whether or not to retain him as a candidate at the next general election.


The Star's story here said thousands came to Z's mansion. Many waited from 5 pm outside the istana for the open house to start at 7.30pm! Among other things, 300,000 sticks of satay were served.



Sunday, November 11, 2007

Journalists, journalism hit

Malaysiakini reported of incidents where "a number of journalists" were attacked by riot police trying to disperse yesterday's Yellow rally, which it said was attended by some 40,000 people. The police has claimed ignorance.

Probe attack claim. As a journalist and the National Press Club adviser, I urge the IGP to view this report seriously and order an immediate investigation into the report.

Information Minister Zainudin Maidin has said that Malaysia is not like Myanmar or Pakistan. We don't beat up journalists in Malaysia. Or do we, now?

p.s. Journalists aren't the only ones hit yesterday. Malaysian journalism took a severe blow. People had to rely on foreign tv stations, blogs and wire news to know what happened at the rally. There was hardly any report in the government-controlled media.
Haris Ibrahim captured it here: you watch Al-Jazeera and then read the Star, and you'd think there were TWO rallies in KL yesterday.
The NST, by the way, totally blacked out the news.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Yellow Day!

Pictures by Rocky, Wee Choo Keong and Stephen
More pics at Kickdefella's



The Yellow March, in pictures. I managed to park at the National Press Club, walked to an empty Dataran Merdeka with Shanghai Fish, and found ourselves behind the police, firemen, and FRU lines.



The "teargas" truck moved out from there. We could hear commotion coming from Masjid Jamek way. Later, we heard of water canons and teargas being used on the peaceful marchers.


We joined thousands in the walk towards the Istana. Tens of thousands. People were walking from several directions as they could not assemble earlier at the Dataran Merdeka. The McDonalds at Central Market refused to open its doors.

There were as many women as men. Children, too. The rain did not dampen the spirit of the people who wanted a message sent to the Agong, and to the increasingly detached and arrogant leaders of this nation.

How big was the crowd?
Easily 30 times more than the Bar Council's "Walk for Justice", I'd say.