Archive for October, 2008

A missing star witness, a tell-all affidavit and clashing versions of statutory declarations plus miles and miles of court notes – finally the court has decided on round one of the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case. The Star Online reports :

Political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda walked out a free man from the High Court here after two years of standing trial for abetment in the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.

The first thing he did after the judge pronounced his freedom was to hug his daughter Rowena and wife Mazlinda Makhzan.

Justice Mohd Zaki Md Yasin ruled that the exculpatory statements in a tell-all affidavit made by Razak at the outset of the trial had cleared him of the abetment charge.

“In the absence of the rebuttal evidence against them, coupled with the fact that there is no legal onus for him to rebut any statutory presumptions, there is clearly no reason for the statements to be ignored and rejected.

“I agree with the counsel that the exculpatory parts which are corroborated in material particulars (by four witnesses) and other surrounding circumstances have clearly negated and nullified the act of abetment as alleged against the accused,’’ Zaki said while reading out his ruling.

The four witnesses were Razak’s private eye P. Balasubramaniam, Altantuya’s cousin Burmaa Oyunchimeg, an old flame of principal accused C/Insp Azilah Hadri, who is a Special Action Squad (UTK) operative – L/Kpl Rohaniza Roslan and Razak’s secretary Siti Aishah Mohd Azlan.

At the start of the trial, Abdul Razak filed an affidavit saying he had an affair with Altantuya after meeting her in 2004.

The tell-all affidavit said they had trysts in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and France, but broke up in 2005.

The judge’s ruling on Friday came after he had perused about 6,000 pages of notes of proceedings and written submissions.

Justice Zaki said once the essential elements of abetment of the murder was not proven on a prima facie basis, “any other inferences and doubts that may have arisen must be resolved, as is trite, in favour of the accused (Razak)”.

“It is not for the court to call for the defence merely to clear or clarify such doubts. I find there is no prima facie case for him to answer his charge. He is therefore acquitted and discharged forthwith,’’ he said.

The trial began in November 2006, during which 84 prosecution witnesses testified.

Also in the dock for the murder charge is another UTK operative Kpl Sirul Azhar Umar, 37.

Both C/Insp Azilah and Kpl Sirul Azhar were ordered to enter their defence on Friday against the charge of murdering Altantuya near Shah Alam, Selangor, between 10pm on Oct 19, 2006 and 1am the following day.

They chose to testify under oath. Trial has been set for Nov 10 onwards.

DAP has taken its Pakatan Rakyat coalition partner PAS to task, saying its outburst against the abolition of the 30% bumiputra requirement for public listed companies is misguided.

DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua said although the outburst was well-intentioned, taking steps instead to liberalise the financial markets was the way forward.

“As stated, bumiputras failing to achieve the 30% equity despite nearly 40 years of the New Economic Policy only proves that achieving equity through regulation will not achieve the objective of increasing their wealth in the shortest possible time,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Pua said the current 19% wealth ownership, if accurate, had remained stagnant since the 1990s.

“Secondly, for bumiputras to achieve not only 30% of the nation’s wealth, but also a meaningful 30%, it is critical for the capital markets to be liberalised to attract global capital,” he said.

Pua said liberalising the financial markets would allow for a more dynamic economy accompanied by greater wealth creation.

Though a third candidate has qualified – former Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo – he doesn’t seem to be in the firing line of the other two.

The first salvo came from Mr Khairy, otherwise known as PM Abdullah Badawi’s son-in-law.
Predictably, he took aim at his arch rival, Mr Mukhriz, a Jerlun MP and Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s son.
On Monday, he poured scorn on Mr Mukhriz, 44, who turned him down for a public debate.

Mr Khairy, the current Umno Youth deputy chief, told Bernama the debate was not for quarrelling.
He insisted it was to provide an avenue for those who qualified for the post to explain their vision.

Said the Rembau MP: ‘I am disappointed that Mukhriz is not interested in having an open debate.
‘He has made up his mind and there is no point talking about him now,’ he told New Straits Times.
‘The candidates will only be debating, not tearing each other down. We will debate like gentlemen on issues, facts and opinions. There will be no personal attacks.’

Only Dr Khir has agreed to participate.

It is understandable to see why this debate is important to Mr Khairy.

The one-time ‘most powerful 28-year-old’ became the underdog because by Sunday, Dr Khir who had been languishing in third place, had not only closed the gap between the top two, but had caught up with Mr Khairy, said The Star.

Daddy’s son must have been blessed by daddy in his new battle field

Said Mr Mukhriz: ‘Contesting posts in a party is an internal matter. This is like a family contest. It is not necessary to draw external attention.

Already, Malaysian newspapers have likened this battle to a verbal boxing match.

So aggressive is Mr Khairy in getting a debate going, you might be forgiven to think a real punch-up was about to take place.

For example, responding to a question of whether this debate would be taped or televised, he said: ‘I am open to anything. I just want to know the time, date and venue and I’ll come.’

Whatever the case, Mr Mukhriz should not be smiling yet. Some delegates fear the long campaign period to the March elections could be marred by money politics and dirty tactics – the end result could be vastly different.

What about Mr Khairy?

As far as PAS-owned Harakah newspaper is concerned, the end of PM Abdullah’s reign will weaken Mr Khairy’s influence.

His government is reprioritising its spending amid the global financial crisis. Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, the opposition said there were irregularities in the defence procurement. They also pressed for an emergency motion to discuss the US$470 million purchase, which they claimed was way above the market average. Lim Kit Siang, Opposition, Democratic Action Party (DAP), said: “It must be a shotgun deal because the letter of intent must have been issued early this month after the announcement by Pak Lah of approval and maybe in less than two weeks, you have this cancellation. Something seems to be very extraordinary.”

The opposition is holding Deputy Prime Minster Najib Razak responsible. The letter of intent to purchase the 12 cougar helicopters was issued to Eurocopter two days before he switched defence portfolio with the prime minister last month. But the public accounts committee, which began its investigation into alleged impropriety, said everything had been done in an orderly fashion. Azmi Khalid, chairman, Public Accounts Committee, said: “Up to now, the technicalities from what we saw were not professionally done, but I’m not going to comment.”

From Lim Kit Siang’s Blolg  http://www.blog.limkitsiang.com

Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusof was literally grilled in Parliament for over two hours over the billion-ringgit 12 Cougar EC725 Europter helicopters deal as he was totally at sea and unable to answer the most elementary of questions, such as

(i) Why three sets of different figures for the 12 Cougar helicopter deal – RM1.1 billion given by Defence Ministry Secretary-General Datuk Abu Bakar Abdullah; RM1.67 billion given by the Prime Minister-cum-Defence Minister; and RM1.604 billion stated by Abu Seman Yusof in Parliament today;

(ii) Why no physical evaluation or test flights for the short-listed helicopters; or as I said in Parlaiment, getting Malaysia into the Guinness Book of Records as probably the only government in the world to order sophisticated and expensive air-crafts without any test flight although such physical evaluation for the short-listed tenderers was one of the conditions specified in the tender document.

Abu Seman was dumbstruck when asked both questions and was unable to give any sensible reply. It was a most shameful episode in Parliament.

It has to be left to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister to try to immediately repair the damage created by the deputy Defence Minister by answering these two questions outside Parliament, as in the following report:

The Malaysian Insider
Thursday October 30 2008
PM admits price mistake, Najib says RMAF pilots tested Eurocopters at Lima

By Debra Chong

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi admitted he had made an error when he spoke of the package price of the much-disputed Eurocopter helicopter deal and which had caused an uproar among Opposition lawmakers in Parliament.

Abdullah who is also the Defence Minister said he was informed by officials in the Defence Ministry this morning on his slip.

The correct figure is RM1.604 billion, but he had thought it was RM1.67 billion and had rounded it up to RM1.7 billion.

“I apologise for my mistake,” he said.

Asked to respond to the opposition’s calls for him to explain the price discrepancy inside the Dewan Rakyat, Abdullah said it was unnecessary as he had already announced that the deal would be deferred to a later date.

He pointed out that the price would be renegotiated again as and when the government finally decides to purchase the helicopters.

“This is academic,” he said.

Speaking at the same press conference, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak also denied claims that no physical evaluation was conducted on Eurocopter aircraft.

Najib who until last month held the Minister of Defence portfolio emphasised that the Eurocopter EC725 Cougar was not a new or ‘experimental’ aircraft. He noted that many countries had tested it out, including in combat in Afghanistan.

He said that Royal Malaysian Air Force pilots had tested it in local flight at the Langkawi International Marine Aerospace (Lima) show previously.

Asked to comment on calls by the Opposition for an independent expert panel to evaluate the procurement process, Najib said: “They are making too much a big deal out of it.”

From Bernama

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Thursday announced an allocation of RM200 million for replanting 200,000 hectares of oil palm nationwide, saying the time when the price of palm oil was low was good to replace low-yielding, old palms.

He said the replanting would give rural smallholders the opportunity to maintain their yield and step up downstream industries.

“The rise in supply of palm oil will result in an increase in the downstream industries. This is important as the government regards the oil palm industry as strategic because the product is a national resource and the sector provides many job opportunities,” he told reporters after chairing a meeting of the Cabinet committee on the Competitiveness of the Oil Palm Sector, at Parliament House here.

“Palm oil is used not only to produce foodstuff but also in making cosmetics and medical-related items and may be used as fuel to meet our needs,” he said.

Abdullah said replanting could not be introduced earlier as the high price of palm oil was prohibitive for such an exercise.

Today’s meeting also decided on the use of biofuel — comprising five per cent methyl ester (palm oil) and diesel — for government vehicles from February 2009, he said.

The implementation, in stages, would be followed by the industrial sector and the transport sector after that, he said.

Asked whether biofuel would be implemented for public vehicles, Abdullah said it could be done once the government had developed the infrastructure for the purpose nationwide.

It is estimated that the production of biofuel with five per cent palm oil would require 500,000 tonnes of palm oil annually when fully implemented in early 2010, he said.

“This does not pose a problem as we have large reserves of palm oil. We produce 17.8 million tonnes of palm oil. As such, it is not difficult to use 500,000 tonnes of palm oil annually to produce biofuel and it will not hamper other ongoing activities such as production of food, medicines, food supplements, cosmetics and other uses,” he said.

Asked how the replanting exercise could boost the global price of palm oil, Abdullah said the government was trying to sustain the local production of palm oil in the future and produce high quality palm oil.

“A lot of palm oil trees must be chopped down, thus it cannot be sustainable. When the price is low, then the decision to begin replanting would be a good decision,” he said.

From The Star, By Loh Foon Fong

There is a popular saying that ‘If you don’t change, you’ll be changed!’

This popular saying is getting even more rampant after the 308 political Tsunami in Malaysia whereby the BN was reduced to only a simple majority in the Dewan Rakyat and lost control of 5 states to the opposition, the Pakatan Rakyat.

Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed (Che Det), the former Prime Minister, believed that the result of the last general election is only due to the protest votes, and the people in the rural areas, especially the Malay community, were not voting for freedom or human rights.

Dr. Mahathir, therefore, belonged to the conservative section of UMNO which only wants change of Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah) as UMNO’s and the nation’s leader. They asked for stability, more towards Mahathir’s model of ’strong- government’.

Che Det also questioned why there are so many demands nowadays, and he put the blame squarely on a weak government run by Pak Lah. He thus strongly advocated for stability and strong-arms politics.

If this school of thought prevails in UMNO, then it is very unlikely that there will be any substantial changes or ‘transformation’ as the current debate is about of UMNO, and the way the Malaysian government is run.

The BN components such as MCA, Gerakan and PPP appeared to have become more open to the concept of multi-racialism nowadays, certainly very much to do with the effects of 308 and the people’s power. They should be very worried of their own electoral chances of winning in the next general election, given that UMNO does not seem to be responsive to or bothered of the need of the modern age for change.

Even Pak Lah had realised the need for change, and thus he is chasing after time to complete his mini-reform programmes before his pre-mature retirement (some said he was forced to do so, as something similar to what Tun Hussein Onn had experienced before).

Datuk Seri Najib, the heir apparent to Pak Lah, is indeed mastering a good opportunity to become the next UMNO President by March 2009. Pundits even bet that he may even become thew Prime Minister by December this year, if there is sufficient support in UMNO for him to do so.

However, by promising to reveal his card on the new direction of our national economy only in November when he will take part to wind up the current debate in Parliament on 2009’s budget, whether there will be any substantial change to make life easier for all Malaysians is still something which left people to speculate about.

But one thing for sure, the Pakatan Rakyat under the leadership of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim have already unveiled an alternative budget which is down-to earth very pro-people and pro business, something which Datuk Seri Najib appears to be very competitive to what BN could offer and their leaders seem to have paid lip-service only so far. (see on my blog ‘Malaysia’s Anwar Proposes Alternative Budget’ on October 24th.)

So, better beware, ‘if you don’t change, you’ll be changed’, and this is not a joke!

From International Herald Tribune

KUALA LUMPUR: In a vast office at the top of one of the world’s tallest buildings, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad sits at a broad, glass-topped desk, scribbling his thoughts on a pad of unlined paper.

For 22 years Mahathir was the most powerful person in this land, and his thoughts were commands as he reshaped the country in his own grand image.
But he has become an irritant and a spoiler five years after stepping down, turning against his handpicked successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and he has fallen victim to the press controls he perfected as prime minister.

It is mainly a system of self-censorship in an atmosphere of pressure and intimidation that produces an obedient press and has seen the closure or banning of many publications.
“Where is the press freedom?” he exclaimed two years ago, apparently surprised to be suddenly ignored. “Broadcast what I have to say! What I say is not even accurately published in the press!”

Earlier this year, like many other inconvenient critics, he joined what seems to be a political wave of the future, creating his own acerbic blog – www.chedet.com – an online journal where he vents in both English and Malay several times a week.
Around the region, bloggers like him are becoming a fifth estate, challenging the government’s monopoly on information in Singapore, evading censors in Vietnam and influencing events in places like Thailand, Cambodia and China.

In March, political experts say, Malaysia’s bloggers helped tip the balance, contributing to the biggest upset the governing party, the United Malays National Organization, had suffered since independence in 1957. For the first time in decades, it fell below two-thirds of the seats in Parliament, and it lost control of 5 of 13 states.

Two months after that, in May, Mahathir went digital, cutting and thrusting with elan.
“It is time the so-called intellectuals realize they were being duped by the Master of Spin,” he wrote on Aug. 21, referring to his bitter enemy, Anwar Ibrahim, who was his deputy prime minister and now leads the opposition.

“The pious Muslim, who is also the bosom pal of Paul Wolfowitz, the neo-con Jew, the killer of Muslims,” he said, referring to the former U.S. deputy secretary of defense.
Blogging on Sept. 3, he offered a sort of mission statement.
Many people are with him as he harasses the government, he asserted. “But they are not prepared to say it openly. That was why I started my blog. About six million had visited my blog site and tens of thousands have commented and supported me.”

In case anyone doubts this, he posts the comments, by the dozens and hundreds, page after page, day after day. It turns out he has a lot of fans out there.
“Amazingly brilliant!” reads one comment. “I can’t stop laughing… you made my day Sir!”
“HAHAHAHA …This is your BEST posting so far, my dear Tun!!” reads another, referring to Mahathir by an honorific.

“Dearest Tun,” reads another, “You are sooooo right.. spot on.. bulls eye..”
And just to clear up any possible misunderstanding, another writes: “You, sir, are the most brilliant politician Malaysia has ever been blessed with.”
In the upheaval of the March election, several bloggers, following an opposite trajectory from that of Mahathir, used their online popularity to win seats in the national or state parliaments.
The most prominent was Jeff Ooi, 52, a former advertising copywriter who was one of Malaysia’s first political bloggers, in 2003, at http://www.jeffooi.com/.

“The government doesn’t have a clue how to handle bloggers,” he said in an interview. “If I were a dictator I would be despairing. What do you do against this?”
The government’s assault on Ooi – “very hostile,” he said – included threats of imprisonment without trial, attacks in the government-friendly press and defamation lawsuits, which are popular among leaders in Southeast Asia.

But that only seemed to make him a hero, and when he decided to run for Parliament with the opposition Democratic Action Party, he already had a big head start.
“As a person that has consistently faced threats as a blogger, I had a kind of iconism and imagery that this is someone you can trust, someone the government fears, someone you need to put into Parliament,” he said.

But he said it is much harder to blog from the inside. “The trade-off is that I have to write with measured words,” he said. “I am no longer my old self. I thought I had to take it to a higher level, and a lot of readers are getting disappointed. It isn’t the same blogger that they used to know.”

Earlier this year, Ooi said, he attended a public forum with Mahathir, and he claims that he is the one who persuaded the old war horse to get blogging.
“I threw him a challenge,” Ooi said. “A blogger shares a few prerequisites. One, he is strongly opinionated. Two, he could be controversial. And, thirdly, he is an agent provocateur on issues.
“I thought Mahathir fulfilled all three.”

The result, Ooi said, was “a miracle, he scored about 10 million visitors within months.”
Now, a convert to free speech, Mahathir is using his blog to champion the most recent victim of government censorship, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, the country’s highest-profile blogger, who posts his slash-and-burn commentary on his site, www.malaysia-today.net. The site has been blocked, but readers are redirected to another address, which continues to be updated.
The government has fallen back on the kind of tactics that Ooi said it threatened against him, charging Raja Petra with sedition and locking him up for two years without trial for comments he has posted.

Mahathir, the country’s former strongman, sounded almost like Che Guevara when he said in his blog that the arrest showed “a degree of oppressive arrogance worthy of a totalitarian state.”
Furthermore, locking people up is futile, he said in an interview in his sky-high office. There is no way the government can arrest all the bloggers, even if it wants to.
At least, he said, “I hope so. Otherwise I’ll be in, too.”

Dari PKR Bayan Baru

Deepavali adalah sambutan perayaan rakyat Malaysia, tidak hanya disambut oleh kaum masyarakat Hindu di negara ini.

Kesempatan itu turut diambil oleh Ahli Parlimen Bayan Baru, YB Dato Zahrain Mohamed Hashim mengucapkan Selamat Hari Deepavali untuk semua.

Beliau bersama YAB Ketua Menteri, Lim Guan Eng serta Exco Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang memulaan pembukaan sambutan Deepavali bersama-sama menyampaikan sumbangan kepada warga kurang upaya dan daif yang dianjurkan oleh Dato’ Arunasalam (Dato’ RA) di Butterworh petang tadi.

Beliau menjadikan pemberian sebegini setiap setiap tahun menjelang Deepavali malah ini adalah kali ke-29 Dato’ RA dan penyumbang-penyumbang meraikan golongan miskin sekitar Bagan dan Butterworth di Pulau Pinang.

Secara pribadi Dato’ RA begitu rapat dengan Setiausaha PKR Pulau Pinang, Mustafa Kamal dan banyak menyokong perjuangan Dato’ Seri Anwar dan PKR di Pulau Pinang.