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Police Black Eyes

Anwar Ibrahim has been released on police bail this morning.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi promised that there will not be another “black eye” trauma for Anwar as happened ten years ago.

However, the police has received a “black eye” of its own making, in its highly-provocative, unprofessional and unjustifiable arrest of Anwar by police commandos in balaclava at 12.55 pm yesterday – when the former deputy prime minister had already promised to report to the police at 2 pm.

This is the second self-administered police black-eye within a week – the other being the completely unjustified three-day 1,600-personnel police operation to lock down the Federal Capital and the Klang Valley to thwart a massive demonstration in Parliament on Monday when there was not a single protestor – causing great and unnecessary inconvenience and hardships to hundreds of thousands of people, plunging public confidence in the efficiency, competence and professionalism of the police to an all-time low. Continue reading “Police Black Eyes”

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Another Trial for Malaysia

By Farish A. Noor

The trials and tribulations of Malaysia’s former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim continue, and history seems to be repeating itself time and again in the country. Ten years after the infamous trial where he was accused of sexual misconduct and abuse of power, Anwar Ibrahim is once again being investigated for charges of sexual misconduct with a man who was a member of his party, the People’s Justice Party (PKR) of Malaysia.

On 16th July Anwar was arrested just after he had given his testimony before the country’s Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA), and on his way to give yet another testimony at the Police Headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. A deadline had been set at 2.00 pm for him to show up at the police office, and though he was already on his way there he was apprehended near his home before the deadline had expired.

Anwar has since been arrested under the laws of section 377a of the Malaysian constitution that stipulates that ‘abnormal sex’ is a crime. Yet Malaysians have grown somewhat weary of the use of this law as the last time it was put to work was in 1998, when Anwar was also accused on ‘abnormal sex’. The trial that followed his arrest in 1998 was a shambolic affair that brought low the reputation of the Malaysian judiciary and security services; and the icing on the cake was the assault on Anwar that led to him being produced in court with bruises on his face and the infamous black eye that has been captured for posterity by the world’s media. Malaysia’s legal institutions suffered the biggest blow to their credibility as the court case that followed was scrutinised in detail by Malaysia-watchers the world over. Continue reading “Another Trial for Malaysia”

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University of Malaya medical student intake

Letters
by cat

A Background Introduction

Entering the Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur is still the prized aspiration of many doctor-wannabes. The medical degree conferred by UM is the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) which is the title awarded by universities in the United Kingdom and Australia. Other local public universities like University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) confer medical degrees in the acronym of MD which stands for doctor of medicine (Latin: Medicinæ Doctor).

Contrary to the common but erroneous perception among pre-university students, there is no difference between the MBBS and MD medical degrees.

Up till 2001, University Malaya along with other local universities practised an intake of medical students based on a quota system. Under the quota system, the ratio of medical students was in the order of 6:3:1 that is, 60% of places for bumiputeras, 30% for Chinese Malaysians and 10% for Indian Malaysian students. Bumiputera students comprised both Malays and the non-Malay bumiputeras from Sabah and Sarawak.

Continue reading “University of Malaya medical student intake”