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LIVE: Cops order crowd outside Ipoh DAP to disperse

Photos by an eye-witness in Ipoh

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Teoh Beng Hock with fiancee Soh Cher Wei on his 29th birthday in April 2008 – Photo courtesy of Justice for Beng Hock

2209: The cops move in after 30 minutes or so, and the crowd gradually disperses. “It was a very solemn gathering, ” says the eye-witness at the scene. “The cops didn’t really seem in the mood to make arrests although a ‘Black Maria’ arrived at the scene.” A few left early as they were not taking any chances…

2126: Some 300 people are now gathered outside Wisma DAP in Ipoh, according to an eye-witness at the scene. Among those present is Kit Siang, who addresses the crowd, followed by Ngeh Koo Ham and a few others.

About 30 police personnel are there as well and they have given the crowd 20 minutes to disperse. The cops are being ‘generous’ today; usually it’s more like three minutes!

Prasarana taking over Rapid Penang and ferries?

Soon after the Pakatan-led Penang state government said it wanted to take over the ferry service, we now see the feds moving in, indicating their desire to take over the ferries through Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd. Prasarana, wholly owned by the Finance Ministry, is the asset owner of the bus services operated by Rapid KL and Rapid Penang.

This is reminiscent of how the feds moved in soon after the BN-led Penang government under Koh Tsu Koon indicated it wanted to set up its own state-owned bus service following numerous complaints about the privatised “cowboy”-style bus service. The Penang government’s plan to set up a state bus corporation was thwarted when the feds set up Rapid Penang, a subsidiary of Rangkaian Pengangkutan Integrasi Deras Sdn Bhd (Rapid KL), also wholly-owned by the Finance Ministry.

Teoh was in pantry at 6.00am: Councillor

I thought this snippet from a Malaysiakini report was interesting. It quotes Kajang Municipal Councillor Tan Boon Hwa, who was also being questioned by the MACC, as saying he saw Teoh in the pantry:

Tan said the MACC raided his house on Wednesday evening without a warrant. He was then taken to the Selangor MACC headquarters at about 9pm.

When asked, Tan said he did not know that Teoh was in the same building when he was brought there. The duo met only when Tan woke up at about 6am the following day while on the way to the toilet.

More vigils tonight in memory of Teoh Beng Hock

2157: Some 150 people gathered outside the MACC office in Penang for a vigil. Speeches were made and flowers were placed in memory of the late Teoh Beng Hock, according to a contact at the scene.

The police were present but allowed the gathering to carry on unhindered.

Protests and vigils outside MACC offices

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The scene at the vigil outside the MACC office in Selangor last night – Photo by MS

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A DAP protest outside the Penang office of the MACC this morning – Photo by PD

Protests and vigils have been held outside the Selangor and Penang offices of the MACC since the death of Teoh Beng Hock last night.

Last night, some 200 people turned up outside the Selangor office of the MACC for a vigil. This morning, about a hundred demonstrators showed up. Seven of the demonstrators were reportedly arrested including Kapar MP S Manikavasagam and Selangor state exco member Dr Xavier Jayakumar.

Over in Penang, some 30 DAP leaders and supporters clad in black, surrounded by a throng of journalists, gathered outside the MACC office for about 20 minutes after 11.00am.

High Court allows PRM to continue

Parti Rakyat Malaysia has won a decision at the High Court in Jalan Duta today against its dissolution.

Eight former PRM members who are now PKR leaders were seeking to dissolve the party.

In the end, the judge ruled in PRM’s favour.

A death at the MACC

2128: A candlelight vigil attended by 200 people is now in progress outside the MACC building.  My contact at the scene tells me that police have just arrived and apparently, the FRU are said to be on the way.

I am still trying to digest the horrible news of the death of Teoh Beng Hock, who was the political secretary to a Selangor exco member from the DAP.

A few simple questions keep bugging me: if he was just a witness, as the MACC claims, why the need to question him overnight until 4.00am?

Sin Chew cites obscure website criticising Mkini

mysinchew.com has carried a report citing an obscure website malaysiafreenews.com, which apparently accused Malaysiakini of breaching journalistic ethics. Malaysiakini had carried a critical report on timber tycoon Tiong Hiew King under the title “Campaign to strip timber tycoon’s knighthood”.

Tiong, the founder of logging group Rimbunan Hijau, had reportedly received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II.

“Be a true Malaysian… and join Yayasan 1Malaysia”?

I don’t know about you… but yesterday I received a couple of text messages from unknown sources urging me to “be a true Malaysian and join Yayasan 1Malaysia!”

My knee-jerk reaction was, you mean I can’t be “a true Malaysian” without joining Yayasan 1Malaysia?

The question on my mind was, who exactly is behind this Foundation?

Remembering Richard de Zoysa, journalist, author, activist

200px-YuganthayafilmRichard de Zoysa was a well-known Sri Lankan journalist, author, rights activist and actor, who was kidnapped and murdered on 18 February 1990. He was the nephew of the Malaysian political scientist Dr Johan Saravanamuttu.

Richard’s death, widely believed to have been carried out by a death squad linked to elements within the Sri Lankan government, sparked outrage across the country.