30,000 gather to listen to PR top guns
A large crowd has gathered in Seberang Jaya on mainland Penang tonight for a ceramah by Pakatan Rakyat leaders, according to a source.
Anwar and Guan Eng have been speaking. Among the hot topics are Najib as well as the issue of selective prosecution.
The ceramah comes on the eve of a scheduled protest against oil price hikes in KL. The speakers have been telling people to show up in KL. They are saying it’s the “last opportunity to tell AAB it’s time to wrap up and go,” says my source at the scene.
Bala – before and after “fish-head curry”
Photo credit: China Press
Bala (left) when making the first SD
Bala (right) when making the second SD
Remind me to avoid fish-head curry in Brickfields.
Bala and family have now gone missing and are out of contact, says his worried nephew, who has lodged a police report. Meanwhile, Najib has denied any involvement in Bala’s retraction of his first SD. “I have no knowledge of anything,” said the deputy premier.
Bala left for fish-head curry in Brickfields: Americk
He had friendly phone chat with ASP who wanted to congratulate him for first SD, says lawyer
(Press statements by Americk and Sivarasah)
At a press conference now going on at 5.30pm, P Balasubramaniam’s lawyer Americk Singh Sidhu has cast doubt on the private eye’s second statutory declaration.
After spending hours with Bala taking notes of his testimony previously and being familiar with his character, Americk said, “I am very sceptical that he has signed the second statutory declaration of his own free will and I am convinced he has been intimidated to do so by either threats or promises, as I can think of no other reason.”
He said Bala had signed the first declaration in front of a commissioner of oaths – someone whom Bala recognised as having grown up in the same Slim River neighbourhood as himself – on his own free will.
“I am therefore extremely surprised that Mr. Bala, in the space of 24 hours, has engaged the services of another lawyer and affirmed another statutory declaration swearing the first one was untrue and that he was forced to sign it,” said Americk.
The last Americk saw Bala was in Americk’s office after the press conference. Bala said the police were trying to contact him over the phone. Americk then told Bala to talk to them since they were trying to reach him.
Balasubramaniam retracts statutory declaration
Hmm… what is going on here?
The PI, Balasubramaniam, wants to retract his statutory declaration yesterday and has come up with a new one. The address of the commissioner of oaths who witnessed the new declaration is reportedly the same as that of a legal firm owned by the brother of the Federal Territory Minister.
“Malicious lies,” says Najib, as temperature rises
Was busy today rushing out an article for Asia Times (see below).
In the meantime, as Mustafa has pointed out here, the mainstream media online have been very… apa nama … “shy” in reporting Anwar’s and Balasubramaniam’s allegations – until Najib came out with his denial. Funny, they didn’t display the same reticence when reporting Saiful’s allegation on Sunday morning. I noticed on the front page of the Sunday Star that Anwar was said to be “fighting for his political credibility” in the wake of Saiful’s report. I wonder if they will say the same thing of Najib now.
Najib has now dismissed all the allegations as “malicious lies”. He maintains he has never met the woman and Anwar is trying to divert attention from the sodomy allegations. See the NST here. Najib seems keen to lob the “ball” back to the sodomy allegations.
Where is all this leading to? Taking a step back and looking at the larger picture, I believe this high-stakes “tennis match” (lob and counter-lob) symbolises the battle between the new political order and the old, the tsunami vs the hegemony. I don’t think it is a healthy development though, for politics to be so personalised. The tsunami movement for reforms and change is too broad-based to be focused on individuals at the apex slugging it out for their political survival – but there you go.
Anyway, here’s the article I wrote:
Anwar: Najib knew Altantuya, alleges former cop
The stakes have just got higher. No, they have shot through the roof!
In a sensational development, Anwar has revealed that a former cop has come up with a statutory declaration implicating Najib and others in the Altantuya case. Former police officer-turned private eye, P Balasubramaniam claimed that it was Najib who introduced Altantuya to Abdul Razak Baginda at a diamond exhibition in Singapore and that the Mongolian woman was promised US$500,000 as commission for a submarine deal in Paris. Balasubramaniam was engaged by Baginda as a private investigator.
Click here for Anwar’s statement in full.
Click here for Balasubramaniam’s statutory declaration.
Malaysia Today, Aliran websites attacked
The Malaysia Today website has been hacked and defaced. Now it’s simply not downloading as Raja Petra is having difficulty restoring it due to a poor Streamyx connection.
A couple of days ago, the Aliran website came under bombardment with close to 60,000 hits coming from two unknown IP addresses within the space of a few minutes. “The account was being attacked,” said the webhosting network security administrator. As a result, he temporarily disabled the website and and restored it hours later, after blocking those IPs.
On 19 June, Mahathir’s chedet.com website was “locked” because it was deemed to be a “suspected spam blog”. His webmaster was forced to change the domain name from www.chedet.com to test.chedet.com
Where has all the tsunami money gone?
Tanjung Bunga fisherfolk still waiting for proper homes
When the tsunami slammed into our shores, claiming scores of victims, many Malaysians donated generously in cash and in kind. But, four years later, a dozen fisherfolk in Tanjong Bunga, living in a “temporary” longhouse, are still waiting for alternative housing. Where has all the tsunami money gone, they wonder.
Why is Petronas delaying release of financial results?
It’s already 2 July, and still no sign of Petronas’ results for the financial year ended 31 March 2008.
I hope the government or top management are not waiting for the big 6 July oil price hike protest to be over first.
In previous years, Petronas announced its financial results to the media by the end of June.
TNB CEO’s monthly pay = 5 yrs’ pay for poor households
Do you know that 24 per cent of Malaysian households are struggling to make ends meet, earning less than RM1,500 a month? The figure would be higher if you define “low income” as households with a monthly income of below RM2,000. Check out this report in NST:
These are the households that are feeling the brunt of oil price and electricity tariff hikes. Contrast their household income with the remuneration of the Tenaga Nasional Bhd CEO, who earns over RM1 million per year:THE country’s poverty rate will increase from 3.7 per cent to 24.3 per cent if the poverty line is raised from the current RM800 to RM1,500 per household.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Amirsham A. Aziz said the definition of the poverty line was a household income sufficient for basic necessities. It does not include luxury items. The basics are food, clothes and other expenses like rental, utilities, transport and communication, health, education and recreation. “In short, the poverty line provides no room for luxuries like sending children to private schools or tuition classes, receiving treatment from private clinics or having their meals outside,” Amirsham said in reply to a question by Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim (PKR-Bandar Tun Razak). However, the poverty line would be updated from time to time, taking into account the prevailing inflation rate. The government had redefined the low-income group as people earning less than RM2,000 a month.
Basic salary RM600,000 Bonus RM302,000 EPF contribution RM113,280 Car allowance RM42,000 Flexible benefits RM50,000 Total RM1,107,280 Figures are from TNB’s 2007 Annual Report.
A crazy weekend in Kuala Lumpur
Anwar emerged from the Turkish embassy yesterday evening. I didn’t think he could stay in there for long, given that it would have created a major diplomatic stand-off between the two countries. Farish Noor was in KL over the weekend – and returned to Singapore feeling deeply concerned about events in the capital. This article was originally meant to go on the Aliran website, but the website has gone down due to a sudden surge around the same time Anwar walked out of the embassy. (Update: The website has now been restored. According to the webhosting service’s support, the website came under attack from two IP addresses, which bombarded the website with close to 60,000 hits in the space of a few minutes.) So here’s guest writer Farish making a special appearance on this blog with his take of events over the weekend:
A crazy weekend
By Farish A Noor
Its been a long time since I’ve had a weekend as crazy as the one that has just passed. Travelling back to KL by bus I was looking forward to a relaxed weekend with my significant other, and to giving the odd lecture or two in the process. What was meant to be a nice, relaxing break from my work after taking part in a strenuous conference on transnationalism and religion turned out to be a kafka-esque moment extended over 48 hours, from which I am reeling till now.
Anwar seeks firm assurance of security for self, family
1926: Opposition Leader Dr Wan Azizah has sent a letter to Prime Minister Abdullah asking him to personally guarantee Anwar’s safety. The letter was received by the Prime Minister’s Office at 3.15pm.
1834: Human rights lawyer Charles Hector has a slightly different take in his blog (see below). He says that Saiful too has rights that need to be protected. That makes sense to me – assuming you have an impartial AG, police force and judiciary. What do you think? Does he have a point?
The defamation suit allegedly being filed with regard a complaint to the police is a shameful act ….and that again is something that should never be done when someone makes a complaint to the police. So what now, will “Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan” now have to do – rush find some lawyer, and expend more money defending a defamation suit. This is VERY wrong and I am shocked if Anwar did indeed file a defamation suit JUST with regard that police report. If that Saiful came out and made some public statement about it, then you can file a defamation action. When it comes to a police report – no one can use the report as a basis for a defamation suit – I believe that is the law. If not, everytime someone files a police report against another, there will be a defamation suit against the complainant — and surely after that no poor person who is victim of a crime is even going to dare to make any police report….1701: Nat Tan makes a couple of interesting observations in his blog:
1645: Meanwhile, there is still no sign of Petronas’ financial results for the year ended 31 March 2008. The figures should be available now – so what’s the delay? Some quarters are predicting a record profit before tax in the region of RM80-110 billion. I wonder if such results will be released before the big oil hike protest on 6 July. 1611: A journalist now at PKR headquarters confirms that the libel suit against Anwar’s aide was lodged this morning. But the police report against the IGP and AG for their role in 1998-99 has been deferred, presumably for strategic reasons. “The PKR people are determined to nail (the lies behind) these allegations against Anwar,” he says. He also points out that Anwar’s denials came just three to four hours after the sodomy allegations were first made. This is in sharp contrast to the length of time it took – was it four or five days? – for those implicated in Raja Petra’s statutory declaration (re the Altantuya case) to come up with their respective denials. 1408: It’s that time of the year when you need to pick up some cool “house-keeping tips”. For some light relief, you gotta look up Mustafa’s blog here. 1210: The KLCI is down by 6 per cent points. 0930: The papers are full of the drama yesterday, but beyond the headlines, there’s little analysis of the implications of this new development. I guess no one really knows how it will all pan out. All attention will be on PKR’s planned gathering at Parliament at 1.00pm. Anwar’s lawyers are also expected to file a “saman berkenaan laporan polis berbau fitnah” at the High Court in Jalan Duta at 9.30 am, according to a notice on the PKR website. Meanwhile, here’s an update from Anwar, published on his blog, in which he says that he is seeking firm assurances of security for himself and his family:When questioned on the existence of a photograph of Saiful and his (Najib’s) special officer, taken at the office of the deputy prime minister, Najib said that the photo was taken when Saiful had come to his office to seek a government scholarship to pursue his studies.
Ah. Well. Note to all Malaysians: The doors to the Deputy Prime Minister’s office are now wide open to all Malaysians requiring government scholarships to pursue their studies. Please, stop by.
Saiful described himself as someone who liked to make friends, “regardless if they were ministers, opposition leaders, gangsters or even road sweepers.”
Gangsters?
LIVE: High-stakes drama as Anwar holes up at Turkish embassy
Anwar and Syed Husin at a hotel in Shah Alam earlier (Photo courtesy of Anwar’s blog)
Saiful with Minister Azalina (Photo courtesy of PKR)
2307: All quiet at the Turkish embassy at 118 Jalan U-Thant. An eye-witness passing by the embassy says he saw only about 20 reporters and police personnel, a police van and a police car. And no PKR supporters. Is Anwar really spending the night at the embassy? 2231: The police have confirmed that a medical examination has been carried out on Saiful, reports Harakah Daily this evening. “Jangan dengar khabar angin. Dengar cakap saya. Saya ketua CID,” Bakri Zinin is quoted as saying. 2154: The big question now is what happens next? Will they go in after Anwar? Or will they just bide their time? Has the mattress been detained?(!!) How long can Anwar remain in the embassy? He has got to come out at some point. What happens when he resurfaces? And has this whole affair overshadowed Raja Petra’s explosive allegations, the Sapp bombshell and the large oil price hike protest scheduled for 6 July? 2134: By now, the news has flashed all over the globe including, as one blog visitor notes, in the Turkish online media. Al Jazeera carries a phone interview with Anwar. “The stakes have just gone up a lot higher,” Farish Noor tells me over the phone. 2010: Abdullah Badawi appears on TV3 news. He looks haggard, the bags under his eyes more pronounced. He says the government is not involved. As far as he is concerned, a report has been lodged and the police are investigating. Those who are accused will naturally deny it, he adds. But the news is not good at all for the BN. The MIC Youth chief has stepped down now. 1933: The allegations against Anwar could be seen as an attempt to halt Pakatan Rakyat’s bid to take over the country, says Pas vice president Husam Musa in Harakah Daily. But he does not think it will succeed as the people are able to evaluate the situation for themselves. 1905: Blog reader Abdul sends in this comment about Anwar’s links with the Turkish leader:The Malaysian Insider is simply spinning it…. Anwar has got friends from all over the world. But what’s interesting is their temerity to say the opposition used AKP tactics. Which one? … Anwar is a good friend of Turkish Prime Minister, President and senior ministers just like he has close relations with Western and Muslim leaders across the globe. Anyway, Anwar-Erdogan relations are two decades old and not what the Malaysian Insider, the propaganda tool of the Dollah regime claims to be.
Organic rice and curry, please…
While all focus is on higher oil prices, not enough attention has been given to higher food prices. Now, it has been suggested that the higher prices of food (and fuel) are being driven by extraordinary speculation in commodities by index-linked speculators. These speculators are said to be exploiting a “swaps-loophole” in US banking regulations, which allow certain huge investment banks to act as intermediaries and dealers in entering into index-linked futures contracts, which are quite unlike the normal futures hedging, where positions are regularly unwound.
So how do we tackle higher food prices? Food security and self-sufficiency will help. There is no reason why each state in the federation cannot be self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables. We have fertile soil and a favourable climate. For instance, Penang once had thriving vegetable farms on the island; now a lot of our veg comes from Cameron Highlands. Penang still has fruit orchards in Balik Pulau and paddy fields on the mainland. These farmers need our support. The state could encourage more organic farming – even though agriculture might come under federal purview.
Petronas’ pricey foray, Bakun nightmare, bumi par value
Three issues I would like to raise:
Petronas hospital – undermining the public health care system
Why is Petronas setting up a private hospital – the Price Court Medical Centre? I don’t supposed they named it after its pricey price tag of RM544 million… In the first place, what expertise does Petronas have in health care? Why is it jumping on the health care and medical tourism bandwagon? Shouldn’t it be supporting our government hospitals, which are badly underfunded and understaffed? By setting up a new hospital, wouldn’t it be encouraging more doctors to leave the government hospitals?
New beginning for public transport – from the bottom up
More reactions from people regarding the federal government’s shelving of the mega transport projects for Penang. Obviously, the federal government doesn’t consider those projects as “people friendly”, which makes me wonder how they came up with those projects in the first place!
Not a few people here are now seeing the shelving – or is it the scrapping? – of the monorail and Porr as a golden opportunity for Penang to do some serious public transport planning from scratch and to come up with a sustainable transport masterplan for the whole state. Let’s show them what we can do – to bring about a sustainable, people-friendly, affordable and accessible public transport system!
Here’s a quick reaction from blog reader Moaz Yusuf Ahmad:
This news is great. Let’s hope that the Penang Government will use the opportunity to create a very effective public transport system for Penang, building it from the ground up. First, get SBPP (the state bus corp) started. The government can buy the buses and tender the operations contracts to various operators…and even operate the buses themselves. A few of the operators could be from other countries. How about some professional internationally-recognised operators like First PLC or Veolia or ComfortDelGro….
Who’s angry? I am celebrating!
Last night, I received a couple of text messages informing me of this. The report below says the scrapping of the Penang Outer Ring Road (Porr) and monorail projects is “likely to anger Penang”. But to me, this must be the best news all month. Thank you, Mr PM, thank you!
All those who cherish sustainable and cost-efficient public transport for Penang will be celebrating – even though the federal government may have had other reasons for shelving these mega crony-linked projects. Who cares what their reasons are… The important thing is that these projects have been shelved.
MalaysiakiniPenang’s Porr and monorail projects shelved
Jun 25, 08 8:36pm In a stunning move which is likely to anger Penang, the government has put off two major projects in the state – the RM2 billion monorail and RM1.5 billion Penang Outer Ring Road (Porr). MCPX According to evening edition of Chinese dailies, the government has slashed the two mega-projects as part of a major review to the Ninth Malaysia Plan.
Abdullah plugs leaking dyke – but how long can it hold?
Phew, it’s been an eventful week – but as they say, you ain’t seen nothing yet! The way I see it, Abdullah is fighting a rear-guard battle to save himself – and the ruling coalition.
Let’s see what his administration has been doing to try and keep the rakyat happy:
- dishing out rebates to ease pain of subsidy removal (the pain is still there-lah)
- approval for Parti Sosialis Malaysia’s application for registration (finally!)
- allowing Harakah to increase its frequency to twice a week (Take that, Mahathir! The former PM had cut it down to twice a month after doing badly in the 1999 general election.)
- planning to launch a crackdown on migrants in Sabah (uh-oh, more human rights abuses?)
- lifting restrictions on journalists in the parliamentary lobby (talk about the BN shooting itself in the foot, in the first place, by restricting its own media!)
- shutting down Kamunting Detention Camp (oh, sorry, not yet… just wishful thinking for now … akan datang…)
What is USM trying to do?
Who needs gold medals when you can be a serious global contender for a grand prize in gobbledygook….
Apparently, the Science University of Malaysia is planning to spend RM450 million to build a “science and arts innovation space”. USM had reportedly bought the 12.4ha plot of land in Bukit Jambul for RM59 million from IJM in March. (So much spare cash, huh? Or is it borrowed money? Or ultimately the rakyat’s money?) Looks as if USM is venturing into Big Business.
Today, in theSun, there was a four-page cover wrap-around ad (how much did that cost?) which featured this sains@usm thingy. It was full of gobbledygook and jargon.
Take this example from the V-C’s foreword:
The world of sains@usm will represent an innovative space that promotes highly integrated search and research with dedicated incubators and collaboratories as platforms to nurture transdisciplinarity as the way forward.Huh? Could someone translate that please…