Month: April 2007

BUSINESSMEN USING DOCS AS PROXIES TO OPEN CLINICS
by FDI
Shah Alam

I read with amusement the above article which was headlined in the mainstream media stating that only doctors are allowed to open clinics. Doesn’t the MOH have better things to do? Clearly this does not bear logic.

Large private hospitals in this country with all their various specialist clinics are owned by such corporations as KPJ which are public-listed, Sime Darby, Tabung Haji, Pantai Hospitals, Sunway, Gleneagles, are all owned by businessmen. They employ or contract out services to a large number of doctors. The Raffles Medical Group in Singapore is also owned by businessmen and runs a chain of 60 medical clinics in various parts of the island.

In fact it is to the advantage of doctors that businessmen are partners/owners in these ventures as it would bring in much needed investment capital and management expertise to upgrade services and also frees the doctor to focus on what he knows best — doctoring, and leave matters pertaining to customer service, marketing, accounts, IT, billing, credit control and banking to people who are well-versed and trained in these areas, unless of course the MOH would like to see our doctors become ruthless businessmen attending share market reviews instead of medical conferences.

If this rationale was applied to other industries, then buses must be owned by bus drivers or conductors, engineering companies be owned only by engineers or Genting should not own a power plant as they are only experts in gambling and Manchester United must necessarily be owned by Bobby Charlton or Ryan Giggs and not the Glazer brothers. We might as well dismantle the KLSE. Continue reading “Businessmen using docs as proxies to open clinics”

The reply by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datu Nazri Aziz in the final winding-up of the debate on the Royal Address yesterday is totally unsatisfactory and unacceptable, particularly on four public interest issues of national importance.

As Nazri’s reply blatantly disregarded the paramount principle in nation-building which had recently been enunciated by the Raja Muda of Perak, Raja Nazrin Shah, MCA Ministers are challenged to speak up in Cabinet to dissociate themselves from Nazri’s reply on four important public interest issues:

• Brain drain with migration overseas of one to two million of the best and brightest of Malaysian sons and daughters for over three decades;
• Education Minister and UMNO Youth leader, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein’s keris-wielding at the recent Umno Youth assembly in the context of rising chauvinist and extremist demands and pressures;
• Rejection of the Inter-Faith Council proposal;
• Worst corruption crisis in nation’s 50-year history.

Nazrin’s keynote address on “Prospects and Challenges of Nation-building” at the Young Malaysians’ Roundtable Discussion on National Unity and Development in Malaysia last week must be compulsory reading for Cabinet Ministers and all Barisan Nasional MPs — and they should be made to pass a test to ensure that they fully understand Nazrin’s speech and grasp the message of the Raja Muda of Perak.

The most important message of Nazrin’s keynote address is that Malaysia belongs to all Malaysians equally, and all have an equal right and responsibility to take ownership of their country and its future, as represented by this declaration: “Malaysians of all races, religions, and geographic locations need to believe beyond a shadow of doubt that they have a place under the Malaysian sun.”

Unfortunately, Nazrin’s message that all Malaysians must have an equal place under the Malaysian sun has not been understood by Nazri, Barisan Nasional Cabinet Ministers and MPs particularly from the MCA. Continue reading “Nazri’s reply in Parliament completely unsatisfactory and unacceptable”

Sports – the last frontier to unite Malaysians – is now used to divide Malaysians.

This is what I told the Sports and Youth Minister, Datuk Azalina binti Othman Said in Parliament during the winding-up of the Royal Address debate yesterday.

As proof, I gave three instances:

1. Newly-crowned All-England doubles champions Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong being “forced” by Deputy Sports and Youth Minister, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai to campaign for MCA and Barisan Nasional in the Machap by-election by making an appearance at the “Malaysia Love Badminton Campaign” in Machap on Sunday.

2. Sports Commissioners Tan Sri Elyas Omar approving and registering Malaysian Sepaktakraw Association as a “sports body” under Section 11 of the Sports Development Act 1997 although it violated the law with its very narrow and discriminatory provision in its by-laws.

Section 13.10 of the Malaysian Sepaktakraw Association Constitution stipulating that “Semua Ahli Majlis Tertinggi dan setiap Pegawai dalam Persatuan hendaklah terdiri dari Bumiptuera Warganegara Malaysia” violates Section 2 of Second Schedule of the Sports Development Act 1997 on “Constitution and Rules of Sports Bodies Acting as the Governing or Representative Body of its Sports at National Level” which reads:

“2. Its activities are conducted without discrimination as to sex, race, colour, religion, social origin, language, political inclination or any other opinion held by its members.” Continue reading “Sports – the last frontier to unite Malaysians – is now used to divide Malaysians”

Contract Award of West Coast Highway is a Sham
Richard Teo

It is disconcerting to learn that the West Coast Highway mooted in 1996 but put on hold because of the Asian financial crisis will be given to the original contractors awarded 11 years ago.

A project awarded 11 years ago certainly has no justification to be given to the same contractor unless the project was awarded in an open tender in 2007.

Cost of labour and price of material fluctuate over time and can bear no relationship after a period of 11 years. So on what basis was the Highway contract awarded to the same contractor?

How did the estimated cost of $3.12 billion been awarded to the contractor if there was no competitive bid for the project?

Surely a project of such magnitude would demand greater transparency and accountability. Continue reading “Contract award of West Coast Highway is a sham”

Two days after the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made the call for an “all-out war against crime”, Malaysians were shaken by the revelation that there had been a 40% surge in the crime rate in Kuala Lumpur, the Federal Capital this year.

Why did crime in Kuala Lumpur surge 40% in the first three months of this year when the Police had been talking about a “zero crime” objective for the Federal capital only last November?

Malaysians can still remember reading news reports in November last year of police boasts that “there are virtually no more cases of snatch theft and wayside robbery in several crime-prone areas in the city, including the golden triangle” in Kuala Lumpur — attributed to the presence of senior police officers in patrolling the streets.

Why is the effect of the new police strategy to reduce crimes not only so short-lived but clearly counter-productive as evident from the 40% increase in Kuala Lumpur’s crime rate in the first three months of year?

Have the senior police officers been pulled out of patrolling the streets, which had been given so much publicity as the new strategy to increase police presence to fight crime? Continue reading “Why 40% surge in crime after police talk of “zero crime” in KL only last November?”

Fuming emails by irate victims of the totally unnecessary 2 ½ hr Penang Bridge closure on Wednesday, not because of any bomb hoax but the unbelievable ineptitude of Penang Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon and Penang Works and Publ.ic Utilities Exco Koay Kar Huah.

This is one such fuming email:

The real cause?

Perhaps Datuk Dr Lim KY is going to regret when he had chosen a “coward”/soft/stupid/impotent leader!

Malaysia is not USA, where Tom Dick & Harry can b president. Their Executive System is strong enough for any stupid leader to order any emergency, crisis or war. Here our executive just push up without serious assessment and analysis of the case, they just like to let “boss”/leader to make decision and get rid of responsibility! So who is to be blamed when rakyat is the ultimate loser, many Chinese who went back to Penang for cheng beng were stranded and cannot get back to work in time, many missed their scheduled return trip, many were exhausted by the traffic jam and felt sick/fatigued. All in all just because somebody made an enquiry and the Police over reacted and CM making stupid decision without even using all available resources, brain, consideration to verify the case first.

This is very dangerous if in future he were to be subject to false alarm and declare state of emergency and ppl will take advantage of his weakness and then create chaos when they want to . And now we saw that Penang CM was fooled by another hoax call!! It is due to his richman’s son background making him not a good leader!? He cannot afford to take risk and verify first b4 making decision and promote a “fear”/kiasi/kiasu culture to Penangites to follow. Ppl R so easy to fictitiously create rumour and spread fear, they falsely accuse ppl breeding aedes, breeding snakes and evil, so they can then make use of MPPP mechanism to help clean house as well as “clean” his “eye sore” which he is jealous of but are the property of other ppl. Continue reading “Hoax of bomb hoax – 2 1/2 hr closure of Penang Bridge”

The Inland Revenue Board should suspend its income tax e-filing system if it is not safe and secure following complaint of security flaw of the system allowing access to the particulars of other taxpayers.

I have received an email from a taxpayer complaining such a security flaw, as follows:

As I was filing my tax returns via e-Filing I encountered something that made me worried. As I clicked the save & continue button but the page refreshed with some other person’s Tax No. as well as their PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL info!

I was shocked and can even see the bank info and account number… I print screen and hope to make it known to others the possible leak of P&C info.

I find this NOT amusing as leaking anyone’s financial info makes me lose trust in the system and LHDN. Imagine I got to view 2 other person’s data!

If anyone here has direct access to LHDN’s Head Officer please inform him/her as to this matter to rectify ASAP!

The complainant has also posted his complaint on his blog, WattaHack? Continue reading “Security flaw – suspend income tax e-filing system”

Looking For Some Jantans
M. Bakri Musa

Saddam Hussein did not by himself destroy Iraq; likewise Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe. These leaders did not become tyrants overnight. They became monsters only because of the inactions and silence of their followers. No one had the gumption to restrain them; there were no jantans (alpha males).

These leaders began with the best of intentions and noblest of motives. The seed of their (and consequently also their country’s) destruction was sown when their early strays were not corrected. The lack of jantans emboldened these leaders, enabling their suppressed evilness to surface. Once they morphed into monsters, they could no longer be restrained; they simply devoured everything in their path.

In apportioning blame for the evils perpetrated by these monsters, the culpability of those “enablers” must also be properly accounted for. They too must be held responsible even though many have already paid dearly with their life. Continue reading “Looking For Some Jantans”

The printed media yesterday carried screaming front-page headlines on the latest call of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi: viz: “FIGHT AGAINST CRIME: PRIME MINISTER DECLARES… ALL-OUT WAR” (New Straits Times), “Wage war on crime” (Star) and “ABDULLAH wants… All-out war on crime, terror” (The Sun).

Speaking at a special assembly at the Police Training Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Abdullah called on the police to battle crime and terrorism at all cost, in the same way their predecessors had successfully fought the communist threat in the past.

He said: “There will be no compromise in wiping out criminals and terrorists.

“We must battle them as aggressively as the police personnel who served in the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) during the communist era had fought to keep the peace and harmony of the country. There was no compromise by these policemen.”

As Abdullah’s call for an “all-out war against crime” came more than eight years after he was first appointed the Minister responsible for Police and more than three years as Prime Minister — the common response not only of ordinary Malaysians and MPs, but also the Police and Cabinet Ministers must be whether this is for real or just empty rhetoric?

Abdullah was first appointed Home Minister on 9th January 1999 by the then Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who relinquished the Home Affairs portfolio in a cabinet reshuffle forced by national and international furore over Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s “black-eye” outrage, paving the way for the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry which identified the then Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Rahim Noor as the perpetrator of the foul attack on Anwar in the Bukit Aman police lockup less than a month after being sacked as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister.

When he became Prime Minister on Oct. 31, 2003, Abdullah pledged that one of his top priorities would be to reduce crime to restore to Malaysians their fundamental right to be free from crime and the fear of crime, whether in the streets, public places or the privacy of their homes? Today, Malaysians feel even more unsafe from crime than when he became Prime Minister. Continue reading “Abdullah’s “all-out war against crime” – for real or just empty rhetoric?”

My invitation to The Oxford Roundtable
Azly Rahman

I received an invitation to be a member/participant of a roundtable on cultural diversity held at Britain’s oldest institution of higher education, Oxford University. I was nominated to be part of the group of selected 40 individuals from the American higher education system who will be discussing issues of race, ethnicity, poverty and religious intolerance in this hundreds of-years-old institution that has produced important Western scientists, philosophers, inventors and religious leaders.

I wish to thank that person/institution that nominated me. Through a series of notes I wish to share my thought on what I learned from the experience. I will also share visual data of what I will manage to capture. Here are some thoughts I will be bringing to the institution that symbolizes the intellectual epicenter of the British Empire.

Culture and transformation

I will be presenting thoughts on the idea of cultural change as it is impacted by globalisation and the rapidisation of technology. “Culture” has become an important debate in an age wherein boundaries continue to shift and peoples began to claim their rights as citizens of the country they are in, and the meaning of democracy is beginning to be understood. Culture, to me is not merely about the house we inhabit or merely the tools we use, but a combination of both and more than this, it is about the way we enrich the sense of humanism we embody.

I am reminded by what the Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset said, “Man does not have nature… what he has is history.” This seems to be a notion of humanity worth exploring if our belief about human evolution takes into consideration how human beings take what is available from nature and transform the resources into tools and institutions, and then turn institutions into tools that will transform human beings into classes of people who have the power to turn less powerful others into machines or automatons who have lost their soul to the spirit of the machine. Continue reading “My Invitation to the Oxford Roundtable”

The Higher Education Minister, Datuk Mustapha Mohamad should slash drastically participation of Malaysian public universities at the 35th Geneva International Exhibition on Inventions April 18-22 to end the obsession with commercial baubles which completely distracts from the search for international academic and research excellence.

I had in the past criticized public universities, particularly University of Malaya and Universiti Sains Malaysia, for their distorted sense of priorities in surrendering their prestigious slots in international best-university rankings and finding comfort instead in easy-to-get gold, silver and bronze medals in foreign exchibitions like the Geneva International Exhibition on Inventions, Products and Services.

Although the Barisan Nasional MP for Ayer Hitam, Dr. Wee Ka Siong, spoke up in Parliament last week against the millions forked out by public universities for these commercial medals with little academic merit, this issue had been blogged by Tony Pua, Economic Adviser to DAP Secretary-General, on 25th November 2005, where he wrote:

My concern is that there appears to be a very unhealthy trend to seek trade fairs glory amongst Malaysian universities and academics. Earlier this year, Universiti Malaya (UM) proudly announced it’s “fantastic” achievements at the 33rd International Exhibition of Inventions, New Techniques & Products in Geneva, securing 33 medals comprising of 19 Golds, 11 Silvers and 3 Bronzes.

My question is, are trade fairs the best places to “judge” the quality of a university or an academic’s research, publication or inventions? With all due respect to “trade fairs”, the objectives of such fairs are typically not to judge the quality of one’s works but to actually create a “meeting place” between the “inventors” and the potential buyers or investors.

As the world’s best 100 or 200 universities do not have to participate in the Geneva International Exhibition on Inventions, why are Malaysian public universities splashing millions of ringgit every year for these commercial baubles when the money should be better spent in the pursuit of academic and research quality and excellence? Continue reading “Public U – end obsession with commercial baubles at int. exhibitions”

A question many MPs, reporters and observers have been asking is why the Works Minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu went berserk in Parliament yesterday when there was no cause or provocation whatsoever.

In his answer during question time, Samy Vellu had lamented that his Ministry was only a “tool” of the Economic Planning Unit (EPU), which was the final decision-maker on tolls and concessions but his Ministry was made to be the scapegoat for all toll hikes.

In my supplementary question I had followed up logically on Samy Vellu’s complaint, saying that if the Works Ministry was a mere “tool” of the EPU and not the deciding authority on tolls and concessions, then the Minister in charge of EPU should be in Parliament to answer questions on the subject and not Samy Vellu — and that person would be the Prime Minister who has authority over EPU but who is absent from Parliament most of the time This is fully in accordance with the principles of Ministerial responsibility and parliamentary responsibility.

At this innocent and valid question, Samy Vellu blew his top, screaming that I had gone “150% out of topic”, that I was “playing political games” and being a very irresponsible Opposition, that he had never heard of a country where the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Ministers and Deputy Ministers had to attend Parliament sittings “from morning till night”!

I also have not heard of a country where the PM, DPM, ministers and deputy ministers have to attend Parliament “from morning till night”. This was just a red herring by Samy Vellu as I had never raised it as an issue.

Nobody is asking for a PM, DPM, Ministers and Deputy Ministers who are in Parliament “morning and night”, but we also do not want a PM, DPM, Ministers and Deputy Ministers who abdicate and abscond from their parliamentary responsibilities to answer and accountable to MPs for the policies and failures of their Ministries.

Samy Vellu had panicked somewhat for he had given an answer which had invited a supplementary question which had raised the issue of the poor parliamentary attendance record of the Prime Minister, who is shaping up to be the worst of all five Prime Ministers in attending to his parliamentary duties — becoming not only an absentee Prime Minister but also absentee Finance Minister and absentee Internal Security Minister during parliamentary meetings. Continue reading “Two reasons why Samy Vellu went berserk in Parliament yesterday”

I have today sent an urgent letter to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to personally reply in Parliament on Monday in the winding-up on the Royal Address debate on high-profile corruption allegations in his administration.

I also drew his attention to the Japan Times report last Thursday, which I described as “the latest instance of more and more adverse international reports about corruption in Malaysia, such as the adverse rankings given to the country by the corruption surveys of the Transparency International and the Political and Economic Risks Consultancy (PERC)” which warrant urgent action by Abdullah to salvage his reform agenda and pledge, in particular to make ant-corruption campaign the top priority of his administration.

The Japan Times report of March 29, 2007 referred to 1.1 billion yen (RM32 million) timber export kickbacks involving companies connected to Sarawak Chief Minister, Tan Sri Taib Mahmud and his family.

The Japan Times report is reproduced as follows:

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Wood carriers allegedly hid 1.1 billion yen income
Kyodo News

Nine Japanese shipping companies that transport lumber from Sarawak, Malaysia, allegedly failed to report some 1.1 billion yen of income in total during a period of up to seven years through last March, sources said Wednesday, alleging the money constituted kickbacks to Sarawak officials via a Hong Kong agent.

Such tax irregularities have occurred as the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau determined the companies’ remuneration payments to Regent Star, a Hong Kong agent, which has a connection with Chief Minister of Sarawak Taib Mahmud and his family, were rebates, not legitimate expenses, the sources said.

Although the Hong Kong agency did very little in the way of substantive work, the shipping companies are believed to have used rebates as a lubricant to facilitate their lumber trade, the sources added. Continue reading “Another high-profile corruption allegation – Sarawak CM re 1.1 billion yen timber export kickbacks”

The People of Machap Must vote for a change
by Richard Teo

The Machap by-election will be an important milestone for the chinese community.It will determine, after 50 years of BN rule whether the chinese community will opt for a change or remain and continue to be marginalised by the present govt.

The choice for the people of Machap is a simple one.After 50 years where do we go from here? The present govt seem to have lost its direction and no longer have the capabilty to lead this multi-culture, multi-race and multi-religious nation where its people of different origin can live in peace and harmony.

Instead of fostering goodwill among its people the govt has implemented divisive racial policies that have polarised the different races. Its affirmative race based policy has benefited only one community and discriminated the rest.

Even its race based affirmative policy has been hijacked to benefit only a few elite UMNO members. After 50 years the Malay rural heartland of kelantan, Trengganu, Pahang, Perlis,Kedah and Johore still remain impoverished.

Corruption has creeped into every level of our daily lives. Corrupt politicians and civil servants are so prevalent that the system is powerless to act on them. Our political masters are reluctant to bring the culprits to justice because they are just as tainted with corruption. Continue reading “The people of Machap must vote for a change”

Yesterday, I handed to the Deputy Internal Security Minister, Datuk Johari Baharun and the Deputy Speaker Datuk Lim Si Cheng a set four blogs on the problem of no police station in Johore willing to accept a police report because of the involvement of a member of the Johore royalty.

When Johari was winding up the debate on behalf of the Internal Security Ministry in the Royal Address debate on Wednesday, he had given assurance that the police would accept reports lodged by the public and act on them.

I pointed out that one of the blemishes of the police performance highlighted by the Royal Police Commission was the refusal of the police to accept reports from the public, often sending them off on a “wild goose chase” from one police station to another.

This problem was supposed to have been resolved once and for all, but it is clearly not the case — as there is not only the problem of police not acting on police reports, there is also the problem of the police refusing to accept reports.

New Straits Times on Monday had one such report: “9 police reports, no action: IGP wants answers”, where the Inspector-General of Police had vowed to ensure a thorough investigation into the allegation of forgery against a Malaysian Everest climber.

The problem of police refusing to accept reports was highlighted in the blogosphere, starting with mSTAR Online. No police station in Johore was prepared to accept the po9lice report because it involved a member of the Johore royalty — and the complainant was forced to lodge a report in Bukit Aman. Continue reading “Blogs on no police station in Johore willing to accept report involving royalty”

Received the following email on the despair and anger of a law-abiding and productive Malaysian professional:

I would like to relate an incident that happened to me and my family on the North-South Highway as we were driving back from Kuala Lumpur to Penang on Monday 2 April 2007. This incident had left me with a feeling of disbelief, anger and fear.

My wife, our 2-year old son and I had just completed an extended week-end trip to Kuala Lumpur. I was driving and we started our journey from Kuala Lumpur at about 7.40 pm. As we approached the Tapah rest area, there was a police roadblock, maybe about 100 metres before the exit to the rest area. This is now 10.15 pm.

I slowed down my car as we got closer, the highway had been partially closed to become a single lane. A policeman who was holding a clipboard or file or some papers appeared to look at it and then at my car. He then indicated to me to move to the roadside.

I duly moved forward and to the left of the highway. A few seconds later, another male policeman came to my car on my side. My car window had already been wound down. He asked for my driver’s license which I handed to him. He took it and appeared to copy down some particulars. I was still inside my car, I have no clue as to what he was actually doing, nor could I see his identification.

Police: Nak ke mana? [Where are you going?]
Me: Balik Penang. [Going back to Penang.]

Very soon after, he mumbled something. As I could not hear him clearly, I asked him to repeat.

Police: Nak selesai sekarang atau nak hantar? [Want to settle now or want it
(summon) sent?]
Me: Pasal apa? [What is it about?]
Police: Bawa laju, 123, Trolak. [Speeding, 123(kmph), Trolak]
Me: Tak mungkin. [Not possible.]

I was convinced, 100% sure and confident that I did not on the entire journey from Kuala Lumpur to Tapah exceed 110 kmph. I was absolutely alert and I had consciously driven conservatively that evening especially with a young child on board. Continue reading “Highway police extortion”

Why Public Malaysian Universities will Never Improve

by ex-researcher

I used to work in a Malaysian university holding a professorial post on contract. I could not be confirmed because I do not have a SPM (more later). I worked in research dealing with stem cells but left after 3 years despite the offer of renewal for another 2 years. I am a Malaysian Chinese who spent nearly 20 years overseas in some of the big name universities in Australia and the UK.

After observing the system from the inside I can tell you that Malaysian universities will never improve, and whatever improvement you see will not last. I will set out my reasons in a concise manner. Continue reading “Why public universities will never improve”

THE FLOODS OF TAMAN TTDI JAYA SHAH ALAM
by Z. IBRAHIM

For those who moved into the neighborhood of Taman TTDI Jaya in the “planned” city of Shah Alam 15 years ago, little did they realize that it would be a non-ending nightmare of recurrent flooding.

The trust they had in the developers and all those promises that the land had been adequately raised to sustain a 100-year rain forecast obviously in retrospect was nothing more then a “con” to entice innocent house buyers to part with their hard-earned money to buy these homes. Worse affected were the shop-owners who today have to face floods almost on a monthly basis. How is this possible?

Despite all the technical explanations by the developers, DID, MBSA and the Menteri Besar himself it appears plain to anyone with common sense that the area indeed is topographically the lowest point in the entire locality and water undoubtedly whether from the area itself or drainage upstream from KL would indeed overflow and stagnate at this Taman.

After the horrific floods of last year, the State government came up with an interim plan to raise the river bunds to prevent overflowing but the floods keep coming with even greater speed.

You see, despite knowing that this place is already flood prone, the area between TTDI Jaya, Bukit Jelutong and the TUDM air force base has been stripped bare to make way for industrial development.

The entire area does not possess proper drains and even a kid will tell you the massive run off during heavy rain will of course pool at this housing estate located beneath — Taman TTDI Jaya.

But this common sense appears to have slipped through the minds of authorities who allowed this massive land clearing without a thought to parents, the infirm, children, businesses and schools who occupy this housing estate. Continue reading “The floods of Taman TTDI Jaya Shah Alam”

Siti Fatimah was born in 1978 to an Indian Muslim couple. She was brought up by her grandmother who is a practising Hindu. She sees herself as a Hindu and declared herself as one on 21 Mar 2001 through a statutory declaration. She changed her name to Revathi Masoosai.

She is married to Suresh a/l Veerappan, a Malaysian Indian Hindu on 10 March 2004, against her family’s opposition. They could not register their marriage because of her religion.

She gave birth to a daughter on 19 December 2005 at the Malacca General Hospital. Two days later, just about when she was packing to go home, three men and a woman who introduced themselves as officials from Malacca Islamic Office came to ask her to hand over her daughter to them. She refused.

She was not able to register her daughter as a Hindu. In fact she had difficulty in getting her a birth certificate. She had to change her Muslim name to Hindu name in her identity card.

In January this year, Revathi was taken into custody and taken to Pusat Pemulihan Akidah di Ulu Yam, Selangor, for rehabilitation for 100 days. Her rehabilitation will be due by 18 April but her detention can be extended.

During her detention, Suresh and his mother took care of his daughter. On March 26, Suresh was told his daughter, now 15 months old, was taken away by a group of people which consisted of a policeman, a lawyer and Revathi’s mother. He lodged a police report the same day, stating that he had no knowledge of the whereabouts of his daughter. Continue reading “First his wife and then his daughter taken away…”

The “babi” invective by an UMNO MP in Parliament yesterday is a most sad and shocking reflection that 50 years after Merdeka, there are Umno political leaders who are still very deeply-ingrained in communal thinking and prejudices, making them poor models of a Bangsa Malaysia.

I admit that I had lost my cool when I was badgered and heckled the whole afternoon yesterday when I had sought clarifications during the Ministerial winding-up of the debate on the Royal Address.

The badgering from Barisan Nasional MPs had started when I sought clarification from the Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on integrity issues concerning the award of contracts in the national service training programme, the mega-commission scandals in defence purchases such as US$100 million for Sukhoi jets from Russia and US$120 million for submarine from France and it continued when I had sought clarification from the Deputy Internal Security Minister, Datuk Johari Baharun, whether on the serious corruption allegations which had been made against the Deputy Minister in the “freedom for sale” scandal, the most basic failure in police reform when police still refused to accept police reports or the issue of abuse of detention-without-trial powers under the Emergency Ordinance.

When BN MPs from Umno, MCA and Gerakan continued to try to drown out my attempts to seek clarification from Johari, I lost my patience and told BN MPs who did not want to listen to the clarifications which were public interest issues to “mampus” and leave the House. Continue reading ““Babi” invective in Parliament – sad reflection on failure of 50 yrs of nation-building”