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?
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.
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?
Richard 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.
Well, most of you didn’t get it quite right with your prediction for Pas to win by a bigger majority. So what’s the reason for the reduced majority?
[poll id=”45″]
Okay, all you political pundits out there, let’s see what your prediction is for the outcome of the Manek Urai by-election in Kelantan today. So far, you have by and large accurately predicted the results of previous by-elections.
[poll id=”44″]
The Kampung Buah Pala land in Gelugor was once owned by David Brown, a wealthy spice plantation owner during the early British colonial era in Penang who died in 1825.
Title to the land eventually reached one of his descendants, Helen Margaret Brown. For more information on David Brown and his descendants, go here and here.
Check out this copy of the Straits Settlement “Grant of Land” bestowing title to Helen Margaret Brown in 1938:
A lot has been said about the High Chaparral residents being “squatters” (setinggan). Many of them are actually descendants of workers brought in by the Brown family, who allowed them to live on the land.
On the reverse side of the Grant of Land, we can see the “sub-divided Lot 691 acquired by Crown for housing Trust – vested in Crown on 12.4.(1954?)”.
Could this be the lifeline that could save Kampong Buah Pala from demolition on 2 Aug? This adds to the uncertainty faced by the developer. Check out this excerpt from a Sun report:
The Kampung Buah Pala saga took a twist today when the state government revealed a trump card in its bid to protect villagers from an impending demolition after the Aug 2 eviction deadline.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng showed reporters a provision under section 116 of the National Land Code that stipulates a building on alienated land cannot be demolished, altered or extended without prior consent in writing of the appropriate authority.
