Judge in Anwar’s case yet to give written judgment

KUALA LUMPUR: Staronline  -  Thursday 26 Jan 2012

The trial judge in the recently-concluded sodomy case of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has yet to give his written judgment on his grounds for acquitting the Oppo­sition Leader.

Anwar’s lead counsel Karpal Singh yesterday said he was informed by Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah’s secretary that the written judgment was still not ready.

Karpal was speaking to reporters after meeting the secretary to know the status of the written judgment at the Jalan Duta court complex.

Anwar was acquitted by the High Court on Jan 9 on the charge of sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan due to lack of corroborative evidence.

The prosecution filed a notice of appeal against the acquittal on Friday.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers filed the notice, signed by Solicitor-General Datuk Idrus Harun, at the Kuala Lumpur High Court criminal registry.

“Once (an) appeal is lodged, the (trial) judge is obliged to write (his) judgment.

“He must write the judgment within eight weeks from the date a notice of appeal is filed,” Karpal said.

Karpal also said the A-G had the power to not proceed with the appeal after perusing the grounds of the judgment by the trial judge.

He added that the Public Prose­cutor had the discretion to do so under the law.

Karpal said the Public Prosecutor had 10 days under the Rules of Court of Appeal 1994 to file a petition of appeal upon receiving a record of appeal which contains notes of proceedings, exhibits and the full written judgement.

....the Che Det Consensus!

We, who watched the news on TV3 yesterday, saw a beaming adviser to Proton. He has all the reasons to smile. Last week he stated Khazanah is not in position to retain its shares in Proton. A few of us already knew his game. He was merely paving the way for DRB HICOM to acquire those shares. We all know the end game of Mahathir. He wants to be the Malaysian ‘King’ Croesus. Croesus was a legendary king in a country known as Lydia in Asia Minor. He was fabulously rich it’s said that gold from the mines and sands filled up his coffers.

Allow me to tell a short story about King Croesus. You can Google about it but I am retelling in my own style. I hope he will suffer the same fate as the original King Croesus. When the Greek lawgiver Solon came to Lydia, Croesus displayed all his wealth and asked Solon to name 3 individuals who Solon regarded as happiest. Solon named 3 unknown persons and Croesus was expectedly angered and asked why he, with all his wealth wasn’t included in the 3. Solon answered how Croesus can be included as Croesus does not know what God has in store for him.

Shortly after the incident, Croesus consulted the Oracle of Delphi just as the Persian King Cirrus was embarking on his empire building. The oracle told Croesus that if he goes to war with Cirrus, he will cause the destruction of an empire. Croesus went to war and was defeated by Cirrus. The empire that was foretold was his own!

He is manipulating the business world, just as he is preparing the way for Ibrahim Ali to get into UMNO and contest in the next elections. It’s an open secret that Perkasa is backed by Mahathir, funded by Syed Mokhtar. And Najib is handling Perkasa sheepishly.

Full reading here : 

Do RPK and Perkasa-Umno share a patron?

FMT LETTER Jan 9, 2012: From Rama Ramanathan, via e-mail

After Raja Petra Kamarudin’s (RPK) interview in Mingguan, many distanced themselves from him. I suspect they did so primarily because of one dimension of the interview, a dimension which makes me fume.

I begin with a caveat: I do not follow RPK; I don’t know the progress of his thought and relationships. So I’m reacting to the single interview reported by Mingguan. RPK used that Malay four-letter word several times. Yes, I mean ‘Cina.’

RPK linked the Chinese in Malaysia to the Chinese in mainland China. He did this through a deft use of Deng Xiaoping’s oft-quoted remark: “I doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white, all that matters is that it catches the mice.”

RPK said Deng intended this to be understood as “prosperity has priority over forms of government, i.e. communism or democracy. RPK added: “That’s what the world’s largest race desires.” [Note: I suspect RPK meant to say Deng was alluding to capitalism, not democracy.]

RPK said all the Chinese care about is a strong economy, and government non-intervention in their businesses; he said “the Chinese” only care about projects, money, business. He said this is the reason why the Chinese in Selangor are not happy.

That is stereotyping of the worst kind. That’s akin to saying “he’s royalty, so he’s inbred and an imbecile.” That’s akin to saying “he’s Malay. He’s lazy.” That’s akin to saying “he’s Indian. He’s a drunkard.” The “Chinese” section of the interview reminded me of this passage from the pen of the patron saint of Perkasa:

“Races are differentiated not merely by ethnic origin, but also by many other characteristics. . . . The Jews for example are not merely hook-nosed, but understand money instinctively. The Europeans are not only fair-skinned, but have an insatiable curiosity.

The Malays are not merely brown, but are also easy-going and tolerant. And the Chinese are not just almond-eyed people, but are also inherently good businessmen.” -  Mahathir bin Mohamad, The Malay Dilemma (Petaling Jaya: Federal Publications, 1970), 84.

So, does RPK have the same patron saint as Perkasa (and Umno)? If so, has he added a patron saint, OR has he been hiding this patron saint all along? More importantly, does he have other patron saints as well, e.g. Che Guevara? This is the dilemma for those who care about the influence of RPK.

We could say that Malaysians are constantly being formed, deformed and reformed by our racial origins and leanings, knowingly and unknowingly. [I've borrowed a phrase from Walter Brueggemann.]

People like me didn’t choose to be born here. We are here because of world events which occurred during the lifetimes of our grandparents or even earlier: famines; political and economic instabilities in India and China; the unwillingness of Malays to work for the British colonists, and the decision of the colonists to encourage immigration to Malaya.

Our ancestors fought the British and gained independence for Malaya: Just look at who’s memorialised in Tugu Malaysia, our war monument in Kuala Lumpur. In the process, our ancestors gained citizenship rights for themselves and their descendants – us.

We have nowhere else to go; we have no desire to call anywhere else our home. Our ancestors died for this country, built the infrastructure, developed the commerce; we want to live together, to share common goals, to be good neighbours.

To many of us, “Race is so yesterday,” as an SABM (Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia) t-shirt puts it. This is not to say that we do not recognise ethnic realities. e recognise there is a need to put right wrongs which have been done in the name of race – a primary reason we are attracted to ABU, Anything But Umno.

We recognise that a country needs to be governed, and that progress needs to be guided through legislative and administrative acts. We recognise the historical factors at play and the economic imbalances which must be corrected. But race must not be used as a tool to dehumanise and demonise people.

We know it’s a hard journey, with many compromises en-route: because we’re all human and we need to keep moving, not remain in deadlock. We know politics is not a matter of black and white, everyone happy, always. We also know racial profiling is wrong.

When RPK broad-brushed the Chinese in his interview with Mingguan, did he speak from his heart? If he did, he’s plain wrong. There’s no two ways about it.

RPK either failed to notice or chose not to notice that many Chinese are active in NGO’s – with no commercial benefit to themselves, and much to the disappointment of their parents. He also failed to notice that many parents in Malaysia are challenged by their childrens’ non racial orientation – even the patron saint has this trouble.

I applaud those who have distanced themselves from the current version of RPK, without denigrating him. RPK has opportunity to recant; if he does, and proves to be sincere, I am sure his friends will return to him. I congratulate Malaysia for having come to this stage in political development; there really is civil society here!

Harris resigned as MCLM president

Posted on January 2, 2012

From the very first post in this blog to this day, my political viewpoint has been the same.

If we are to transform this into a nation of a single, united people, and to finally start to see a just distribution of the nation’s wealth, to offer equal educational and economic opportunities to all our children, and, most importantly, to restore vital institutions of state back to their role as servants of the people, UMNO and BN had to be removed from Putrajaya.

My faith, though, in seeing this realised, has been with an awakening people working with the non-BN political parties who are truly pro-rakyat.

This, too, remains unchanged.

On 30th October, 2010, whilst attending to guests at an SABM dinner, lecture, I received an sms from RPK informing that that very night, in London, at the inaugural meeting of the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement, I had been unanimously elected as president.

3 weeks later, I was in Manchester where, after much deliberation with RPK, I agreed to accept the position subject to our agreement on several issues.

I will only mention two here that I believe relevant to the difficult decision I have made today.

First, matters of policy and direction of MCLM were to be determined and made after mutual consultation and consensus between us.

Second, RPK would oversee the administrative affairs of MCLM, in his capacity as chairman, as well as look into all overseas matters. whilst I would drive our operations here at home.

In December, 2010, in London, RPK announced the launch of our Barisan Rakyat Independent Candidate Initiative.

In July, last year, MCLM announced the deployment of our first candidate, Dr Neduchelian, in the Kapar consitutuency.

In December, last year, after conferring with RPK, MCLM joined several other groups in issuing a warning to Najib that should he call snap elections without first carrying through the electoral reforms demanded by BERSIH 2.0, he should brace himself for street rallies that might culminate in his government being toppled. I wish to reiterate here that this was no idle threat.

Again, after conferring with RPK, MCLM had, last month, firmly aligned itself with the many NGOs and several political parties that hve given life to the Asalkan Bukan Umno / Anything But Umno (ABU) initiative.

Yesterday, the New Straits Times published an interview with RPK that was conducted in Singapore last week.

I had been informed by RPK whilst I was with him in Phuket over the Christmas holiday that this interview was to take place. I was not, however, fully appraised of all that was to be said in the course of the interview.

The matters spoken of by RPK have been quite wide-ranging.

I only propose to allude here to the two parts that have led me to the decision I have made today.

Under the heading “Rights group not a third force – RPK” that appeared in the NST and is reproduced in full on Malaysia Today, RPK is reported to have said that “MCLM had decided it would not field any candidates for the coming general  election”.

I can confirm now that no such decision has been made after due consultation.

And under the heading “RPK – Anwar may become irrelevant”, also reproduced in full on Malaysia Today, RPK is reported to have said that “the Egypt-style people’s revolution was not an answer for Malaysia due to the delicate racial balance. “They (Chinese voters) don’t want Tahrir Square type of change”.”

These comments just referred to greatly undermine efforts I am making, albeit through MLCM, in the ABU initiative.

It also saddens me that even as initiatives like SABM and so many others continue daily to undo the ill-effects of UMNO /BN’s 40 over years of race-based, divide-and-rule, my friend should continue to see us as Malays, Chinese, Indians, dll.

I remain committed to all efforts to see this a nation of a single people, all equal.

And I am fully committed to the cause of ABU.

In the circumstances, I find it impossible to continue to serve MCLM as its president.

The People's Parliament | Jan 2, 2012

KENYATAAN RASMI PMUKM

:KEZALIMAN TINDAKAN FRU MEMBELASAH MAHASISWA DALAM MENYURAIKAN “HIMPUNAN” DI UPSI.

Persatuan Mahasiswa Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (PMUKM) memandang serius akan tindakan yang diambil oleh Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) dalam menangani isu yang berlaku di Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) pada awal tahun baru 2012.

PMUKM menyelar sekeras-kerasnya tindakan FRU membelasah mahasiswa dalam menyuraikan perhimpunan di UPSI. Pengerusi BEBAS, Saudara Safwan Anang di laporkan kritikal dan beberapa mahasiswa lain yang turut tercedera dengan tindakan zalim pihak polis.

Ini merupakan satu tindakan yang tidak wajar kerana secara terang-terangan bertentangan dengan roh Perlembagaan Persekutuan yang sememangnya memberi hak kebebasan kepada rakyat untuk berhimpun dan menyuarakan pendapat.

Sekalipun himpunan ini dilihat sebagai satu perkara yang boleh mengganggu-gugat keselamatan awam, pihak polis tidak sewajarnya menggunakan kekerasan dalam menangani himpunan ini kerana mereka hanya berdepan dengan mahasiswa dan bukannya penjenayah bersenjata.

Tindakan yang diambil pada waktu kejadian seolah-oleh menggambarkan pihak polis terlalu terdesak seolah-olah tiada jalan lain dalam menangani himpunan tersebut. Ini sama sekali tidak sesuai di lakukan dalam negara yang mengamalkan demokrasi. 

Sikap “double standard” polis juga terlihat apabila sebelah pihak yang menyokong kerajaan membuat demostrasi di Putrajaya pada 21 Disember baru-baru ini tidak pula dikenakan apa-apa tindakan, sebaliknya kekerasaan diperlakukan kepada mahasiswa yang tidak sehaluan dengan kerajaan.

Seharusnya pihak polis menjadi badan yang bertanggungjawab dalam memastikan keharmonian, keadilan, dan kesaksamaan semua pihak khususnya rakyat jelata dan bukannya bertindak di luar peri kemanusiaan.

Oleh itu, PMUKM mendesak supaya Ketua Polis Negara, Tan Sri Ismail Omar Rabu supaya bertanggungjawab atas tindakan kejam pihak polis terhadap mahasiswa yang berhimpun di UPSI pada awal tahun baru 2012.

.

“Bersama Mahasiswa Merealisasi Varsiti”

“Mahasiswa Menjulang Kebebasan Akademik”

kenyataan penuh :