Police clamp down on HRP convoys, dozens arrested

At least 30 Human Rights Party (HRP) members in Selangor, Perakand Kuala Lumpur have been arrested as police came down hard on their nationwide convoys.

Six were arrested at Jelapang, Ipoh police station while five more were nabbed near Jalan Templer in Selangor, as police mounted roadblocks to stop the convoy to promote an upcoming anti-racism rally.

According to eyewitnesses, a convoy member in Selangor had her camera confiscated and was hit in the face, while police were “very harsh” towards HRP members in Perak.

“The police raised their fists and threatened to hit (the HRP members),” an eyewitness said when contacted.

The six in Perak who were detained - Perak HRP chief P Ramesh, his deputy N Subramaniam and four other Perak HRP members - were charged with obstructing police on duty.

They were released at about 3pm under police bail.

There are similar convoys in Johor,Negri Sembilanand Kedah.

According to HRP information chief S Jayathas, who was contacted moments before he was arrested along with Selangor party chief K Selvam and three others, police also mounted a roadblock in Rawang.

“They only stopped our cars, not other road users. We staged a small protest and they let us pass.

“We have the right to use the road. They can only check our road tax and drivers' licences,” said Jayathas, who is now held at the Selayang district police station.

Around 3pm, HRP activists in a convoy of three cars were taken into custody by police officers just after they alighted from their vehicles in Bangsar Utama, Kuala Lumpur.

Twenty activists had just arrived from Brickfields when police officers stopped them and took them into custody. They are currently in the Travers police station.

During a press conference later, Brickfields OCPD Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid said that 21 people were arrested and brought to the Travers police station because they were obstructing traffic and moving in a big group.

“As we know, Brickfields is a very busy area,” he told reporters at the station today.

He added that the 21 detainees will have their statements recorded and will be investigated under Section 27 of the Penal Code.

Those arrested were 15 men and five women aged above 40, and a boy aged 10.

“We hope to release them under police bail by today,” he said.

Also confiscated were 55 posters, ten flags and 200 leaflets.

“We will also return their cars when we release them,” he said.

There are reports, meanwhile, that arrests have also been made in Kedah, Negeri Sembilan and Johor.

This includes 32 HRP activists who were arrested in Seremban and brought to the district police station there. Negeri Sembilan HRP chief S Sivakumar was among those taken in by the police.

HRP had yesterday expressed its fears of a crackdown after Perak police warned them not to proceed with the convoy.

Private varsity 'squanders' RM100 mil gov't grant

Aidila Razak Feb 10, 11

EXCLUSIVE After having received a RM100 million grant from the government, a 'premier' private university has not met its enrolment targets and is left with barely enough money to last another year. In fact, said its chief executive Leong Choon Heng, the university is now down to "less than RM10 million" and is forced to take aggressive cost-cutting measures to keep afloat. He was responding to queries afterMalaysiakini received a tip-off on the situation. Founded in 2001 by senator and former cabinet minister Effendi Norwawi, the Malaysian University of Science and Technology (MUST) was supposed to be a premier postgraduate university in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The university had received the money in instalments between January 2001 and 2006, via the MUST Ehsan Foundation. Effendi has been a trustee of the foundation since 2001. But 10 years on, the university is far from even meeting its 2007 target of 500 students, with only 207 enrolled. Furthermore, most of these students are undergraduates who were enrolled to boost the numbers after an all-time low of 10 students in 2007. During the tenure of former chief executive Omar Abdul Rahman, who resigned in March and was once advisor of science and technology to then premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the university did not acquire much physical assets. The university has always been located in office lots in Kelana Square, as initial plans to build a campus through MUST Ehsan Development was shelved. MUST Ehsan Development - a subsidiary of the public-listed Encorp Group founded by Effendi - was supposed to develop the land surrounding the designated site of the campus in Shah Alam. The revenue from this was to be used to fund the construction of the campus and other university activities. MUST Ehsan Development has a portfolio of projects worth RM800 million, including the mixed-development project dubbed the Strand in Kota Damansara. However, it has nothing to do with the Foundation or MUST. Malaysiakini contacted Effendi about two weeks ago as a key representative of the previous management, but he has yet to respond to the issues raised. Where the money went Leong, who took over management about three months ago, said most of the grant was spent to finance the students and to recruit faculty members from leading universities abroad. “From 2002-2006, a sizeable amount of the grant was spent on scholarships and stipend for the pioneer batch of students. The majority needed more than three semesters to graduate, as the MIT curriculum was very demanding,” he said. To date 107 students have graduated under the MUST-MIT programme, which expired in 2004. This number, said Leong who is also a faculty member, is “a normal figure for post-graduate programmes, as with public universities of similar size over a similar time period”. The university has lab equipment, books and office equipment and three Proton Perdana cars - all of which once cost millions of ringgit but have now depreciated severely in value. Malaysiakini understands that MUST has been paying rental for about 30 rooms, which it had never used since opening its doors. It is understood that millions of ringgit have been spent on renovations to the premises. To cut costs and revive the university, the new management team is letting go of several of the four floors it has been renting. “We've let go of floors and rooms which we have never used and are in the midst of gradually moving to the Strand, which we feel will give us a better profile as there are other colleges located there,” said Leong. Letting go of these rooms is expected to return some RM60,000 to the university's bank account. The management will channel this to “aggressive marketing”, in the hope of attracting more students. Leong added that the rental for the new premises, owned by MUST Ehsan Development, is expected to be “the same or better” than the sum currently being paid. For now at least, the Higher Education Ministry is giving MUST another chance to turn things around, even though the university does not meet the minimum of RM20 million paid-up capital that is required of private universities. “MUST is undergoing a rebranding exercise under new management (and) is now also offering undergraduate degree and diploma courses,” explained Mohd Najib Masrom, the ministry's senior assistant director of the private higher education management sector, by email. The licence for MUST to run its foundation programme is pending renewal. The university licence will expire in 2012. It is understood that such permits are worth several million ringgit.

BMC residents lose 'brutality' suit against police!

The sessions court in Bandar Baru Bangi has dismissed a civil suit (with cost) against the federal government and the police force over alleged brutality in dispersing a gathering protesting the Grand Saga Highway in 2007.

Lawyer Lim Lip Eng, representing the three plaintiffs, said judge Mohammed Mokhzani Mokhtar gave three reasons in dismissing the case.

"He said this was an illegal assembly; that the protesters had failed to disperse when ordered; and that police had applied reasonable force to disperse and arrest those concerned," said Lim.

The finding was delivered in a two-minute oral judgment this morning. The judge also awarded costs to the respondents, but the quantum is yet to be decided.

While declining to comment directly on the ruling, Lim pointed out that no one had been charged with the purported 'illegal gathering'.

"I am disappointed that, despite video evidence being tendered showing the police brutally assaulting us, punching and kicking repeatedly, the judge still ruled in the government's favour," he said.

"We have one month to appeal. I shall discuss this with the plaintiffs and we will inform the press if we decide to appeal."

The civil suit, filed in May 2007, named the inspector-general of police, Kajang police chief Rosli Mohd Nizam, policeman Azman Atan, the government and others on duty as respondents.

In the incident on Jan 21, 2007, some 40 residents and activists had gathered to protest against the Grand Saga Highway concessionaire for blocking off a slip road into their community, thereby forcing residents to enter and exit the area by way of the new toll highway.

The plaintiffs alleged they had been injured in the melee that ensued when police rushed at them ahead of the time given for them to disperse.

'No regrets'

Mahkota Cheras Free Access Road Action Committee president Tan Boon Hwa, who is also a plaintiff, told a press conference at the court complex that the protesters had not been given enough time to disperse.

Another plaintiff, Ho Chee Loong, agreed: “I am disappointed with the decision, and I say citizens must continue to stand up for their rights.”

The third plaintiff was his brother, Chee Hui.

Lim said despite the court decision, his clients did not regret their action as their action had ensured that the slip road remained open up to today.

Police arrested 21 protesters in two places along the Grand Saga Highway, which links Kuala Lumpur with Kajang, during the incident.

The demonstration coincided with the third in a series of protests organised by Protes - a coalition of opposition parties, civil society groups, trade unions and student groups - against higher toll charges at five Klang Valley highways with effect from Jan 1 that year.

VIDEO | 5.09 mins

'Navy vessels costing 870 percent more'

'Navy vessels costing 870 percent more'

Yet another Defence Ministry purchase has come under the spotlight, with the whopping RM6 billion it is prepared to pay for six naval vessels said to be costing up to 870 percent more than what other countries paid for similar ships.

According to Petaling Jaya Utara parliamentarian Tony Pua, the offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) purchased by the Royal New Zealand Navy from "world-renowned global defence security company BAE Systems" last year had cost only NZ$90 million (RM210 million) each.

Israel, which is fighting wars on several fronts, paid US$260 million (RM791 million) for its OPVs, (or) RM219 million less than what the Defence Ministry is willing to pay.

"The Irish Roisin class will cost US$34 million (RM103 million), the Greek Super Vita US$108 million (RM329 million), the German Type 130 US$188 million (RM572 million) and the Israeli Saar V US$260 million (RM791 million) each.

"Even at the very top of the range, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics, two of the best and biggest military companies in the world, built the US Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) at a budget of less than US$300 million (RM913 million) in 2004," Pua (left) said in a statement today.

He questioned why the purchase was not made through competitive bidding, when even countries with the most advanced armed forces in the world, such as the United States, did so for their military requirements.

Boustead a bailed-out company?

On Saturday, Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announcedthat the government has agreed to allocate RM6 billion to purchase six OPVs from Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd.

Ahmad Zahid said the deal would give the local defence industry a boost as at least RM2 billion of the allocation would benefit the 632 vendor companies partnering with Boustead Naval Shipyard.

However, the minister added, the price has not been "finalised", much to the ire of Pua, who wonders "the point of making such announcements" before anything was set.

Another Boustead Holdings subsidiary, Boustead DCNS Naval Corporation Sdn Bhd, was previously awarded a contract worth RM1.3 billion for the maintenance of two Scorpene submarines in the service of the Royal Malaysian Navy.

Bousted, noted Bukit Bendera parliamentarian Liew Chin Tong, is the "bailed out and re-named PSCI, which had failed to deliver the previous order of OPVs".

Why take away subsidies to buy warships?

While he concedes the merits of building a domestic defence industry, Liew, who is a member of the Pakatan Rakyat parliamentary shadow defence committee, questioned if it was wise to do so at the expense of both quality and costs.

"In the instance where international open bidding offers half the price and better quality, are we still insistent in building this particular segment of local industry?" he asked in a statement.

Echoing his DAP colleagues, Klang MP Charles Santiago (right) also raised the issue of "prudent spending", saying that such a huge amount of RM6 billion could be better spent in addressing more urgent issues.

South Korea, he said, recently made a deal for "larger and newer" frigates at US$300 million each, but unlike Malaysia, that country was in a confrontation with its neighbour, which had one of the largest armies in the world.

"In light of the recent increase in food and commodity prices in the country as a result of 'subsidy rationalisation', the question that needs to be asked is if this counts as prudent spending?" Santiago asked in his statement.

The DAP has previously called for a parliamentary committee on defence to build bi-partisan consensus on defence decisions and to scrutinise deals above RM100 million.

Related News here!

When Rulers were bastards and gay!

When Rulers were bastards and gay

NO HOLDS BARRED

Thursday, 03 February 2011 Super Admin

With all this going on how could they allow the people to talk? And with 1,000 servants and courtiers hanging around the palace how does one prevent people from talking? So they had this thing called sedition laws so that anyone who talked could be punished.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The PKR Sri Muda state assemblyman, Shuhaimi Shafiei, is to be charged for sedition this Monday. At least 20 police reports have been lodged against Shuhaimi because of his blog posting while Perkasa and the pro-Umno people have demanded that he be hanged for inciting war on the Malay rulers.

To understand Malaysia’s Sedition Act you have to go back 1,000 years to the days when they did not want the people to whisper or talk bad about the Rulers. And to do this you have to read a bit of English history. Malaysia’s judicial system and laws are, after all, moulded after the British system and British laws.

Malaysia’s history books start from 1946, the year that Umno was born. Before that Malaysia had no history, or at least a distorted version of history -- like Malay warriors born in China being sent to Malaya’s shores as bodyguards for a Chinese princess who married a Malay Sultan and allegedly defended Malay rights by saying that Malays would never disappear from the face of the earth (a debate currently raging in Malaysia’s blogosphere).

Anyway, English history starts from 1066, and not 1946, at least when I read English history in the Alice Smith School in standard one. Before 1066 it does not count because Britain did not officially exist yet. What existed were Argyle and the Highlands where the Scottish barbarians lived, and Sussex where the West Saxons lived, and Northumbria and Cumbria and York and Carlisle and so on, where the Norsemen or Vikings lived.

Britain, at best, was a collection of many barbarian tribes and not yet a nation as such. It was not until 1066 that Britain became a nation and the many regions became united under one King. 1066, therefore, was significant to English history in that England finally saw order -- or more like organised chaos if you can regard rape, pillaging and plundering as order.

1066 was the year that William sailed to England with his great army. Contrary to what many believe, William, who conquered England and became known as William the Conqueror, was not even a King. He was the Duke of Normandy, a region that was a vassal of the King of France. And before he became known as William the Conqueror in 1066, he was known as William the Bastard.

Yes, that’s right, William was a bastard son of the Duke of Normandy. But how can they allow the Saxons he displaced from the throne in London (Lundene on the Temes river) spread the rumour that he is not of royal blood but of low birth -- and a bastard on top of that. So they passed a law that made it a crime to speak bad about the King -- and William the Bastard became William the Conqueror from thereon and no one dared correct this historical fact lest they get charged for sedition and lose their head in the process.

All through English history many bastard children succeeded the throne of England. There was also the added problem of many of the Kings and Princesses being gay, or at least bisexual. In fact, one King of England was even having a gay relationship with the King of France (any wonder they were expert sword fighters?). And though the Kings never visited their Queen’s bedchamber (they never slept in the same room and always slept in separate rooms) since their honeymoon, the Queen still managed to get pregnant and it was suspected that it was the Queen’s young, handsome advisers who were the real fathers of those children.

We must understand that marriage in those days was not for sex or out of love. It was to seal political alliances. If you married the sister or daughter of the King of another country then that country would not attack your country because you were now related -- either brother-in-law or son-in-law. So, after marrying your Queen, you locked her away and spent your time chasing other women -- or other men as the case may be.

The most notable 'bastard' Ruler of England was probably Elizabeth I, the daughter of Henry VIII from his second wife, Anne Boleyn. The church did not recognise Elizabeth because divorce was not allowed so Henry broke away from the church and formed his own church to legitimise his divorce from the Queen and his marriage to Anne (but Rome still regarded her as a bastard).

Because of this they wanted Mary, Henry’s granddaughter, to inherit the throne. But since she was Catholic (and French), and Catholics were put to death if they confessed to being Catholics, Elizabeth got the throne instead. Mary was later executed for her crime against God -- for being a Catholic. Mary was of course known as Mary Queen of Scots but it was the Scots who betrayed her and handed her to Elizabeth to be jailed for many years before she was executed. (The Scots have been betraying their Rulers since time immemorial).

Against this backdrop (and much more I have not mentioned) how can they allow people to talk? Kings, Queens and members of the Royal Family were bonking away and breeding like rabbits outside of marriage. Many preferred sex partners of their own gender or many partners at the same time in orgies where the gender of the sex partners were of little concern as long as they were bonkable.

To solve the succession problem, rightful heirs to the throne mysteriously died in their sleep so that those not eligible to succeed the throne could then take the throne. Courtiers got ahead and received titles, position and land at the pleasure of the King. And the King’s pleasure would be guaranteed if your wife got sent to the King’s bedchamber for the night where she would whisper in the King’s ear in between bonking sessions: what happened to my husband’s request…etc, etc.

With all this going on how could they allow the people to talk? And with 1,000 servants and courtiers hanging around the palace how does one prevent people from talking? So they had this thing called sedition laws so that anyone who talked could be punished.

And on 1st January 2010, Britain abolished the Sedition Act -- not because people no longer talked about their Monarchy or that the Monarchs of today are better behaved, but because with the Internet you can no longer catch those who talk anyway.

But Malaysia still has the Sedition Act, an old British law, and those who talk about the Monarchs (or even about the Deputy Prime Minister’s wife) will still be punished -- like they did in England 1,000 years go. And, this Monday, PKR Sri Muda state assemblyman, Shuhaimi Shafiei, is to be charged for sedition for allegedly insulting the Sultan of Selangor.

How we have progressed since the days of William the Bastard a.k.a. William the Conqueror of 1066.

Pregnant Women not spared as Home Minister does nothing!

Even a pregnant women is not spared from the police as Home Minister Hishammuddin does nothing to improve the image of the police in this Country!

(From Malaysiakini)

A pregnant woman was on Monday slapped and robbed by plainclothes police officers who broke into her shop in Sungai Buloh - and they then arrested her.

This morning, Segambut parliamentarian Lim Lip Eng received a distress call from 36-year-old Chow Soo Meng, who is eight months pregnant.

She told him the police had stolen about RM20,000 in cash and several other items.

"The police took several types of cigarettes, six bottles of hard liquor, mandarin oranges and three cartons of canned drinks," Chow (left) said in her report lodged at the Kepong police station.

She said the officers, from the Petaling Jaya Narcotics Department, also took 30 mobile SIM cards and removed the closed-circuit TV camera recorder from her shop.

None of the items have been returned.

She said when she asked for the return of the RM20,000, the officer who arrested her refused to do so and told her not to make an issue of it or risk being rearrested, Lim (right) told Malaysiakini when contacted.

The MP, who met with Chow this afternoon, said she had locked the grille door to her shop as she was alone from about 5pm on Monday, when about 10 men came about 6.30pm and demanded to be let in.

"When she refused to do so, they started yelling and cursing at her and they cut open the grille. They then handcuffed her and took her to the Damansara Utama police station," he said.

There, she was made to take a drug test before being taken to the Customs Department in Kelana Jaya and told that she had not paid the duties on the liquor and cigarettes.

"She was asked to return to the Customs Department office in Kelana Jaya on March 2," Lim added.

Chow said officers at the Kepong police station had also discouraged her from lodging her report, but relented when she insisted.

In her police report, Chow said the police had suspected that she was keeping narcotic drugs in her shop.

Investigations begin

Four officers from the Sungai Buloh station went to her shop this afternoon to begin investigations (top photo).

It is learnt that the matter has been passed to the Sungai Buloh station, since the incident took place in that police district.

Lim plans to visit the Damansara Utama police station on Friday morning to ask for Chow's complaint to be transferred to the Selangor contingent police headquarters.

He and Chow will also request that investigations be conducted by a team that is not from the Petaling Jaya police district, whose officers were allegedly responsible.

The investigating officer was not available for comment.