Anwar Ibrahim |
- Firma Media ‘Diam-Diam’ Protes Putrajaya Bentuk Majlis Perundingan Media
- Malaysia’s Political Awakening: A Call For US Leadership
- Waran Tangkap 13 Individu, Termasuk Anwar Tidak Sah Tanpa Notis- Surendran
- Bad News For Najib: French Police Have Found “Crucial” Scorpene Documents
- Malaysia’s PM Establishes Diplomatic Relations With Vatican, Despite Religious Turmoil
| Firma Media ‘Diam-Diam’ Protes Putrajaya Bentuk Majlis Perundingan Media Posted: 21 Jul 2011 05:13 PM PDT Beberapa ketua organisasi media dijangka membantah cadangan Putrajaya yang mahu membentuk Majlis Perundingan Media (MCC) dengan tidak mempedulikan satu pertemuan bagi membincangkan terma rujukannya minggu depan. Kementerian Penerangan, Komunikasi dan Kebudayaan telah menghantar surat kepada pelbagai organisasi, menjemput mereka hadir mesyuarat pertama di bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad di sini, Isnin ini. Bagaimanapun satu sumber memberitahu The Malaysian Insider bahawa daripada mereka sendiri menghadiri pertemuan itu, beberapa ketua media telah bersetuju untuk memperlihatkan protes dengan menghantar editor-editor junior sebagai wakil. Difahamkan ketua-ketua berkenaan termasuk dari organisasi media yang dikawal oleh Barisan Nasional, bimbang majlis seumpama itu hanya akan mengenakan lebih banyak halangan ke atas kebebasan akhbar di Malaysia. Menurut surat kementerian itu, MCC yang disyorkan akan dipengerusikan bersama oleh Menteri Penerangan, Komunikasi dan Kebudayaan Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim (gambar) dan Menteri Dalam Negeri Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein. Anggotanya termasuklah wakil dari kerajaan, media cetak, elektronik dan media baru serta pertubuhan-pertubuhan bukan kerajaan. Antara yang dijemput agensi berita Bernama, Kumpulan Utusan, Astro TV, stesen Media Prima seperti TV3, NTV7, TV8, TV9, Hot FM, Fly FM dan One FM, AMP Radio Network, AlHijrah Media Corporation, Suara Johor, Star RFM, Husa Network, kesemua akhbar di bawah Kumpulan NSTP, Kumpulan Media Karangkraf, Star Publications (M) Berhad, The Sun, The Edge, Malay Mail, Makkal Osai, Tamil Nesan, Sin Chew Daily, Malaysia Nanban, Kwong Wah Yit Poh Press Berhad, China Press, Nanyang Siang Pau, Sarawak Press Sdn Bhd, See Hua Daily dan United Daily News. Kesemua akhbar perlu mendapatkan permit penerbitan tahunan manakala stesen siaran elektronik dikawal oleh Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia (SKMM). Blog House Malaysia telah dipilih sebagai wakil tunggal media baru manakala pertubuhan bukan kerajaan terdiri daripada Institur Akhbar Malaysia, Kesatuan Wartawan Malaysia dan Persatuan Penerbit Majalah. Portal berita atas talian seperti The Malaysian Insider, Malaysiakini, Free Malaysia Today, Malaysia Today atau Merdeka Review sendiri tidak dijemput meskipun mereka mempunyai kad tauliah media dikeluarkan Jabatan Penerangan. Surat jemputan kementerian itu juga disertakan dengan kertas cadangan penubuhan MCC, yang memperincikan terma rujukan untuk dibincangkan pada pertemuan Isnin ini termasuk peranan, objektif, fungsi, keanggotaan dan aktivitinya. Kertas cadangan itu menggariskan lima fungsi MCC, antara lain memperbaiki pengurusan dan perkongksian maklumat mengenai dasar-dasar kerajaan, program dan aktiviti komuniti dan membincangkan isu-isu semasa dan merangka pelan komunikasi untuk menangani mereka secara bersepadu dan teratur. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Malaysia’s Political Awakening: A Call For US Leadership Posted: 21 Jul 2011 05:08 PM PDT Malaysia Chronicle A Malaysian recently wrote to me, "Most Americans don't know or even care where Malaysia is." Even among the so-called foreign policy elite, little attention is paid to Malaysia. There are few American academics who specialize in domestic Malaysian politics, and except for hosting visits by senior Malaysian leaders, think tanks and universities hold few Malaysia-themed programs. US newspaper and magazine reports are few, with most articles focusing on tourism and the delights of Malaysian cuisine. As a result, there is a tendency among Americans to hold an idealized (and outdated) image of Malaysia as a successful multi-racial and multi-religious paradise, an Asian economic dynamo, and a stable and moderate Muslim democracy. As a result of this deficit of informed analysis of Malaysia, there has been a failure to notice the internal political and economic changes unfolding within Malaysia over the past few years. The reality today, as one Australian expert puts it, is that the situation is the "most fluid and dangerous" in Malaysia's history. The Events of July 9 – A Date for the History Books Because of this attention shortfall, the events of July 9, 2011 came as a surprise. On that day, tens of thousands of Malaysians—who have been ranked on Hofstede's Power Distance Index as the most submissive to authority of any people in the world—chose to defy their government and join a "Walk for Democracy." They heeded the call of Bersih 2.0, a coalition of 62 non-governmental organizations that calls for free and fair elections. In the days before the rally, the Malaysian government cracked down. It rounded up 200 leaders associated with the movement, claiming that they were "waging war against the King" and planning to overthrow the government. It declared both the Bersih coalition and the planned rally illegal, and in a truly bizarre action, it declared the color yellow—Bersih's signature color—illegal. Malaysian citizens were arrested for possessing Bersih literature or wearing yellow T-shirts. The police established roadblocks around the city and banned 91 Bersih and opposition leaders from entering the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. By the morning of July 9, the city was in total lockdown. Then something remarkable happened. As Ambiga Sreenevasan, the distinguished attorney who leads Bersih put it, the Malaysian people showed that they no longer would be intimidated by their government. They chose to march, knowing that they would be met by tear gas, chemical-laced water cannon, and police batons. Even after Bersih's leadership was arrested, Malaysians of all ages, races and religions continued their "Walk for Democracy" through the streets of Kuala Lumpur. They locked arms, they sang their national anthem and "We Shall Overcome," they blew bubbles and carried flowers. They were peaceful. The only muscle seen that day was the heavy hand of the police. Human Rights Watch later called the use of force excessive, the 1,670 arrests unwarranted, and the police attacks on marchers unprovoked. This repression by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and his government drew international condemnation, and it also put a lie to Najib's two-year effort to portray himself as a modern, liberal-minded leader. More importantly, and of greater concern to Najib and his United Malays National Organization (UMNO) party—the main party that has ruled Malaysia continuously since independence in 1957—is that it awakened a new generation of Malaysians. It is too soon to know whether the movement for electoral reform and the establishment of true democracy in Malaysia will be sustained. If it is, then July 9 will be remembered as a turning point in Malaysia's history. Just How Free and Democratic is Malaysia? Why should a government be so afraid of a call for fair elections? Like his predecessors, Najib claims that demonstrations will lead to chaos, even though the right of assembly is guaranteed by the nation's constitution and is commonplace in any true democracy. As for free and fair elections, Najib says that Malaysia already has them; if not, then opposition parties would not have achieved the gains they made in the 2008 elections, when they received 47% of the popular vote and took control of five states. Opposition parties counter that if elections truly were fair and free, they would form the government and not the UMNO-led coalition. Political rhetoric aside, Malaysia's electoral system has been analyzed by academics in Australia, Malaysia, the United States, and elsewhere. In addition, the state of Malaysia's political freedom has been assessed by many international groups. The Economist Intelligence Unit, for example, labels Malaysia a "flawed democracy" in its Democracy Index. Freedom House says that Malaysia is only "partly free." Reporters Without Borders places Malaysia 141st out of the 178 countries in its Press Freedom Index. On elections, the US Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices declares that Malaysian opposition parties are unable to compete on equal terms with the governing UMNO-dominated coalition because of restrictions on campaigning and freedom of assembly and association. "News of the opposition," the report says, is "tightly restricted and reported in a biased fashion." Academics point to the Election Commission's gerrymandering, which creates highly imbalanced districts that favor the ruling party, where the number of voters per electoral district can range from 7,000 to over 100,000. Over the years there have been numerous credible reports of the use of phantom voters, stuffed ballot boxes, vote-buying, and abuse of government resources to attract votes. In Sarawak's state elections this past April, Prime Minister Najib was caught on video, blatantly telling a village gathering that his government would give them US$1.5 million for a local project, but only if they elected his candidate. What Should Be Done? Malaysia's government may assert otherwise, but the evidence is overwhelmingly on Bersih's side. Malaysia is not a full democracy, and its elections are neither free nor fair. Malaysian citizens have awakened to that fact. Now the world's democracies need to stand on the right side of Malaysia's future. The United States has a multitude of interests in Malaysia, one of which is to help strengthen democracy and the rule of law. Human rights groups have condemned what they call the US Government's "lukewarm" response to the events of July 9. This is a moment when the United States, which named Bersih's leader Ambiga Sreenevasan an International Woman of Courage in 2009, can show the same courage and make a difference in the life of a nation. - John R. Malott was the US Ambassador to Malaysia, 1995-1998, and continues to follow developments in that country closely. - The article was published on July 21 by the East-West Center, a think tank established by the US Congress in 1960. The article was published in the Center's Asia Pacific Bulletin, which is delivered directly to over 1,500 leaders of the US foreign policy community, including Members of Congress and their staffs; officials in the White House, US State Department, and US Defense Department; and influence leaders in US think tanks, university research centers, and the media. |
| Waran Tangkap 13 Individu, Termasuk Anwar Tidak Sah Tanpa Notis- Surendran Posted: 21 Jul 2011 03:08 AM PDT Naib Presiden KEADILAN, N.Surendran berkata, waran tangkap yang dikeluarkan kepada 13 individu termasuk Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim tidak sah kerana mereka tidak pernah menerima sebarang notis sebelum ini. Ketua Polis Negara, Tan Sri Ismail Omar hari ini berkata pihak berkuasa itu mengeluarkan waran tangkap ke atas individu penting tersebut kerana pembabitan mereka dalam perhimpunan Bersih 2.0, 9 Julai lalu. Ismail berkata waran itu dikeluar ekoran mereka gagal memberi keterangan pada 11 Julai lalu selepas diarah berbuat demikian bagi membantu siasatan polis. Namun Surendran mempersoalkan mengapa waran itu dikeluarkan tanpa sebarang pemberian notis di bawah Seksyen 111 Kanun Acara Jenayah. "Kita dapat tahu tidak seorang pun antara mereka diberitahu atau mendapat mana-mana notis daripada polis," "Kita tidak faham kenapa waran tangkap boleh dikeluarkan walaupun tiada notis. Walaupun kita tahu polis berat sebelah, tetapi jika dipanggil beri keterangan (dengan notis), kami tetap hadir," kata Surendran, yang juga seorang peguam kepada Keadilandaily. Justeru itu katanya, beliau menuntut Ketua Polis Negara, Tan Sri Ismail Omar supaya bukan sahaja memberikan penjelasan berhubung perkara itu, malah meminta maaf kepada semua individu tersebut. "Ketua Polis Negara perlu beri penjelasan dan meminta maaf kepada 13 individu tersebut. "Ini salah dari segi undang-undang, langsung tidak ada sebab untuk mereka hadir (beri keterangan)," katanya sambil menyifatkan polis mempunyai niat jahat terhadap pemimpin Pakatan Rakyat dan Bersih 2.0. Berita Harian hari ini melaporkan polis akan mendapatkan waran tangkap ke atas 13 individu, termasuk Ketua Pembangkang, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, berhubung penganjuran himpunan Bersih yang lalu. Selain Anwar, mereka yang lain adalah Sasterawan Negara Datuk A Samad Said, Naib Presiden PAS Datuk Husam Musa, Timbalan Pengerusi DAP Perak V Sivakumar, aktivis Bersih 2.0 Wong Chin Huat, pengendali blog Haris Ibrahim, peguam Latheefa Koya dan aktivis Badrul Hisham Shaharin. Sementara anggota parlimen Pakatan Rakyat pula yang termasuk dalam senarai itu R Sivarasa (Subang), Nurul Izzah Anwar (Lembah Pantai) dan Dr Hatta Ramli (Kuala Krai). Husam Musa dan Dr Hatta dalam laporan Malaysiakini hari ini menyatakan mereka tidak dihubungi oleh polis berhubung perkara itu. |
| Bad News For Najib: French Police Have Found “Crucial” Scorpene Documents Posted: 20 Jul 2011 09:35 PM PDT French police have obtained “quite crucial documents” in the Scorpene submarines probe on whether French arms giant DCN had paid kickbacks to Malaysian officials, including Prime Minister Najib Razak, to secure the deal. The 58-year old Najib had been the Defense minister sanctioning the acquisition in 2002. Even then, there had been much public unhappiness over the price which was seen as too expensive, and furthernore, the high-tech submarines considered as unsuitable for patrolling the country’s shallow coastline. Right now, both ships are docked in Sabah and hardly used. There have also been reports of system malfunctions due to the unsuitability of the territorial waters. “It is likely that in September we should have access to the first police conclusions from all the investigations that have taken place over the last 18 months. We know that the police seem to have obtained quite crucial documents,” Asia Sentinel reported Paris-based lawyer William Bourdon assaying. VIP personality William is one of the French lawyers appointed by Malaysian NGO Suaram, which lodged a complaint on behalf of taxpayers against DCN for corruptly sealing the contract. It is illegal in France to offer bribes to secure a deal and if found guilty, DCN may have to pay compensation to Malaysian taxpayers for overcharging on the final price paid by the Malaysian government.
It is also believed that French investigators have managed to pin down a very important personality, who travelled with submarines negotiator Razak Baginda and murdered Mongolian translator, Altantuya Shaariibuu, to Macau as part of the complex negotiations. There is red-hot speculation that this person is Najib himself. If true, it will blow away the PM’s previous denials he never knew Altantuya, who is believed to have been his lover before he “passed” her onto Razak, who was his confidante and representative. Such evidence paves the way for the re-opening of her murder trial, which had ended with two of Najib’s former bodyguards being sentenced to hang for her 2006 killing. However, the ‘mastermind’ is believed to be still at large. Lesser personalities involved in the sprawling deal have also been traced and their identities likely to be revealed as well. William is also expected to drop a new bombshell – previously unknown commissions that have just been uncovered by the investigators. This will add to the growing list of murky details shrouding the shady acquisition engineereed and pushed for by Najib years ago, when he was the Defense minister directly in charge of key military procurements. No more secret places left for Najib It looks like unless the French government is willing to help him out and muzzle the case, Najib may have run out of hiding places. Whatever time that he can buy will not last long either.
In fact, not even his UMNO party can save him. With the Scorpenes trial expected to be heard in the French open court in August or September, many of the party warlords are already gearing up to push him out and slam the door on his administration, which has been scarred by non-achievement, gutter politics and extensive corruption. It does not help that in recent months, Najib has felt the pressure and added to his own discomfort by making several disastrous decisions. The most recent was ordering a violent crackdown on a citizens rally for free and fair elections two weeks ago. His fast-fading popularity and plunging credibility makes him an easy target now. Rightfully, the BN government should have immediately lodged a compliant with the French authorities when news reports about the huge Scorpene kickbacks first came to light. However due to Najib’s influence, no one in the Malaysian government has dared to call for a public probe so far. Even a suspicious 114 million euros (RM570 million) side-deal granted to Baginda’s firm, Perimekar, has been whitewashed in Parliament as a “services” and “maintenance” contract, when it is obvious that the obscure firm has no experience or track-record in such a high-tech industry.
Seamy details in a sordid deal Numerous questions are likely to be asked by those attending the Suaram-organised sessions with William on 21, 22 and 23rd Jruly. Apart from the status of the case, the latest ‘dirt’ dug out so far, the greatest interest will surely centre around the beautiful but tragic Altantuya, who acted as translator for Baginda. Uppermost on Malaysian minds are exactly what sort of relationship Najib had with her. Not that they are voyeurs and wish to nose out all the seamy details of the love affair the two allegedly had, but because they want to know how much and to what extent their PM – who was then the DPM – was willing to lie and may have lied just to become prime minister. “If you want to know all these details, you have to come for the dinner, listen and ask,” Suaram director Cynthia Gabriel told Malaysia Chronicle. |
| Malaysia’s PM Establishes Diplomatic Relations With Vatican, Despite Religious Turmoil Posted: 20 Jul 2011 09:14 PM PDT The Washington Post Prime Minister Najib Razak met with Pope Benedict XVI on 18 July, and it was announced that the Vatican and Malaysia agreed to establish diplomatic relations. Malaysia, where Muslims make up 60 percent of the population, has long been cited as an example and model of a progressive multiracial and multiracial Muslim country. However, its peaceful coexistence has been strained by interreligious tensions and conflicts between the Malay majority and the ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities who are mostly Christians, Buddhists and Hindus. Decisions taken by the prime minister’s Department Religious Affairs have exacerbated the situation. A leading example is the ruling that Christians stop using “Allah, the Malay term for God, despite the fact that this has been an accepted practice in Malaysia as it is in Indonesia and the Middle East. Malaysia’s Home Ministry prohibited Catholics from using the word in their Malay-language publications since 2007. Customs officials seized 15,000 Bibles from Indonesia because they used the word “Allah” as a translation for God. However, Malaysia’s High Court overturned a government ban, ruling that the word Allah is not exclusive to Muslims and that others, including Catholics, who had been prohibited by the Home Ministry from using the word in the Malay-language edition of the Catholic monthly the Herald, can now use the term. Incensed by the decision, militants attacked several churches and pledged to prevent Christians from using the word “Allah.” In the aftermath of the attacks, the Malaysian High Court in response to a government appeals granted a stay order on Jan. 7; the government appealed to the higher Court of Appeal to overturn the ruling. News reports of the eeting between the Prime Minister and the pope have emphasized the importance of the visit in terms of domestic Malaysian politics. The New York Times noted that analysts say the visit "is intended to signal a wish to mend ties with the country's Christians" and BBC reported that it is "intended to reassure Christians in his country, who have long complained of discrimination." Most reports also note some of the current tensions, giving as an example the attempt to prohibit Christians from using the word "Allah" when referring to God in the Malay language. This example highlights one of the ironies of Prime Minister Najib's meeting with the pope, because the ban on the use of the word "Allah" by Malaysian Christians is in fact an action initiated by the Najib government. As noted above, when the Kuala Lumpur High Court overturned the government ban, the Najib government appealed the decision. Currently the government is involved in a case dealing with the Home Ministry's confiscation of Christian CDs using the word "Allah." This government policy has been opposed by major opposition leaders including those leading Muslim organizations who are viewed as more explicitly Islamic in their policy orientation. Anwar Ibrahim, former Deputy Prime Minister and a leader of the Malaysian opposition, for example, put it simply: "Muslims have no monopoly over 'Allah'." (Wall Street Journal, 15 January 2010). If Prime Minister Najib wants to assure Malaysian Christians of his desire for a united Malaysia, the solution would seem simple. Rather than going all the way to Rome to talk with the pope, his government could bring to an end its support for policies like banning the use of the word "Allah." The recent rough suppression of opposition demonstrations, which included Christian demonstrators, does not help to create a sense of security for Malaysian religious minorities. |
The French lawyer is due to arrive on Thursday, where he will speak to a Penang audience and brief them on the latest developments in the case. Suaram has already hinted that William will touch on the identities of several ‘new’ personalities involved in the kickbacks.| You are subscribed to email updates from Anwar Ibrahim To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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