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• Najib new Finance Minister as part of transition deal
  
• He faces challenge of global financial markets in panic
  
• Abdullah goes to defence, may leave earlier
• PM describes Anwar as “threat to security”
  
• Over 30 MPs to back habeas corpus application for Teresa Kok
• Anwar will succeed, says Nik Aziz
• Khairy, Khir Toyo gunning for Umno Youth’s top post
  
• 300 attend DAP candle-light vigil in Penang last night
  
• Mahathir “persuaded” to rejoin Umno
• ACA begins investigations into “cross-over” offers
  
• Three leading Muslim NGOs condemn ISA arrests
  

2056: Zorro Unmasked carries an account by Marina Lee of her impression of Raja Petra after visiting him yesterday.

He has lost weight and his sugar level has dived from 8 to 4. I urged him to eat and to drink a lot of water. In fact we brought him his favorites: a 6-pack coke, chocolates, fresh plums, shepherd’s pie and caramel custard. Raja Petra asked us to take them back. He said that those interrogating him would try to use these food items as inducements to get him to co-operate. RPK said he did not want to be beholden to them. They will use favours they grudgingly grant and use these as trade offs.

He complained that the food supplied is such that our two cats will not even eat. But I encouraged him that despite that, he has to eat. He replied that he has no appetite and that most of the time he is tired as they are interrogating him incessantly. They come to his cell (8X8 concrete box without windows) and harass him at all hours of the day and night taking hourly turns having a video camera at all times.  Full text here.

2045: Three prominent Muslim groups have so far condemned the ISA arrests: Jim, Abim and Muslim Professionals Forum.

Says Abim in its press statement:

At no time should a person be detained without undergoing due process of law, in which the right to fair hearing is of utmost importance, and criminal prosecution initiated for unreasonable purposes. Such an action, regardless of the initiating party, goes against the principles of natural justice and the Syari’ah which mandates impartiality, justice and fairness.

We strongly condemn the detentions of blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok under the draconian law of the Internal Security Act (ISA). ISA is a draconian instrument that goes against all tenets of fairness, justice and demoting the rule of law. It promotes cruelty and injustice by denying its detainees the right to be heard and a fair trial. In addition, the ISA is also prone to political abuse and there have been instances where the detainees have been mistreated.

2008: Blogger Rocky reports on his last conversation with Kickdefella:

Sheih told me last night he was told the police were looking for him. “Someone who claimed to be a cop came to the office. I missed them by a whisker”.

He said he was not going to run from the law. “If they ask me to go to the police station, I will go.”

In a blog posting on 13 September, Kickdefella wrote:

My fellow Malaysian,

This country is indeed still in distress, politically and economically. Yet, I beg all of you, please let us not tarnish this beautiful Ramadan with violent actions. Let us just do this changes via a whisper. Let us not shout for change but let us beg for one.

1951: Kelantan deputy police chief SAC II Amir Hamzah Ibrahim said he could not confirm blogger Kickdefella’s detention for sedition as the Kelantan police were not informed about it, reports The Star online. The blogger’s wife, however, was informed that he was being arrested for sedition.

1932: Blog reader Sewel tells us:

Anwar, as the leader of the Opposition, is within his rights to invite members of the Government to join his party and form a government. There is no law against it.

So in essence if Anwar has the numbers he just needs to advise the Speaker of the House and the PM and seek an audience with the Agung. The Agung then notifies the Speaker to undertake a head count of members for and against the Government and the PM either survives the motion or a new PM and cabinet is elected. It’s that simple.

1913: More than 30 MPs have agreed to put forward a harbeas corpus application to cancel the ISA detention of Teresa Kok, reports Suara Keadilan. Among those present at the media conference in Parliament were Khalid Ibrahim, Guan Eng, Hatta Ramli, Karpal – and Zaid Ibrahim. “This is the first time that the nation has detained a woman MP using the ISA,” observed Kit Siang, who lamented the absence of BN MPs at the caucus. Meanwhile, Teresa has lodged a police report against Utusan Melayu, columnist Zaini Hassan and Khir Toyo for criminal defamation.

1911: Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy is going for Umno Youth’s top post.

1849: Kickdefella’s wife believes that he was arrested for sedition, reports Malaysiakini.

Abdullah’s description of Anwar as a “threat to the country’s economy as well as a possible threat to (national) security” now sounds ominous.

1820: Rocky’s Bru has revealed that blogger Kickdefella was picked up by police. He was detained in Kota Baru at 5.00pm today.

1815: The ACA has begun investigations into claims by BN MPs that they are being offered money by Pakatan Rakyat to cross over, reports The Star.

1811: Sapp has come up with an 8-point declaration:

• Good governance and non-racial politics,
• Autonomy for Sabah,
• 20% oil royalties,
• Return of Labuan,
• Review of unfair laws and detrimental departments,
• Borneonisation of the federal civil service,
• Solution to the illegal immigrants issue, and
• Redress economic and social imbalances.

1804: Sapp president Yong Teck Lee explains why his party has pulled out of the BN:

The BN has lost its “BN spirit”. It was not that the people who did not want the BN, it was the BN who abandoned the people. In spite of repeated appeals from some BN members to other BN leaders to be more sensitive to the peoples’ feelings, these leaders continue to treat the people with contempt. Perhaps, after 50 years of uninterrupted government, some BN leaders have got it in their heads that they have a divine right to rule.
Full statement here.