Day: August 19, 2008

I had wanted to ask the Foreign Minister, Datuk Dr. Rais Yatim the following supplementary question in Parliament this morning:

“Are you aware that by taking Anwar’s Sodomy II selective prosecution to the United Nations by way of a letter of protest to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at American interference in Malaysian domestic affairs as well as organising a series of ‘information sessions’ overseas, you are only internationalising Malaysia’s ‘misrule of law’ which you had so eloquently and devastatingly criticised in your book ‘Freedom under Executive Power’, exposing the nation to greater mockery in the global arena as we will only be able to depend on rogue states like Myanmar, Zimbabwe and Sudan for sympathy and support for the following reasons:

(i) deterioration of the rule of law in the past decade since the publication of the book, as evident from disturbing developments in the system of justice in the country, such as

(a) the selective prosecution of Anwar on Sodomy II under Section 377B of the Penal Code on consensual sodomy when the complainant Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan had alleged that he had been raped, which should have come under Section 377C on sodomy rape;

(b) why Saiful was not similarly charged under Section 377B on consensual sodomy;
and

© the insistence by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that Anwar should also swear on the Quran like Saiful, making Malaysia an international laughing stock as to whether we have a Prime Minister who understands and upholds the system of justice in the country; Continue reading “Anwar Sodomy II – internationalising Malaysia’s Misrule of Law?”

After dropping a bombshell proposing that Gerakan quit the Barisan Nasional as UMNO had not learnt from the lessons of the March 8 “political tsunami” in continuing with its racist and communal politicking, Gerakan Wanita chief and deputy information minister Datuk Tan Lian Ho has done a somersault.

She was front-page Chinese newspaper headline banner news yesterday but within hours, she backtracked and clarified that the “quit BN’ call was not her suggestion but that of some Gerakan delegates.

Never mind that she had said yesterday that she was prepared to risk her post as deputy minister for speaking up, the question is why the somersault?

Backing her call yesterday, Gerakan national vice chairman and Perak Gerakan chief Datuk Chan Ko Youn said 80 per cent of the Gerakan delegates in Perak support the “quit BN’ call.

Gerakan Youth leaders have also told the press that at least half of the Gerakan Youth members support the party leaving the Barisan Nasional. Continue reading “Gerakan somersault and Tsu Koon in sackcloth”

by Dr. Chen Man Hin

AN OPEN LETTER TO UiTM VICE CHANCELLOR , DATUK SERI PROF IBRAHIM ABU SHAH

UiTM VICE CHANCELLOR SHOULD THANK MB KHALID FOR GIVING HONEST, SINCERE ADVICE TO IMPROVE STANDARDS.

The whole country is aware that the standards of institutions of higher studies are quite low when compared to international universities in developed countries.

Thousands graduate every year, but not all can find jobs because prospective employers are not impressed by the quality of the graduates, and they are passed over. Not many have the qualification to go for post-graduate studies.

If it is any comfort to UiTM vice chancellor, well established universities like Universiti Malaya, UKM, USM have also been found wanting by world ranking bodies like the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

In an examination of the world ranking of Malaysian universities by Times Higher Education Supplement Top Universities 2007, Universiti Malaya was ranked 246 and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) ranked 364.

In the academic ranking of World Universities 2008 by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, not a single Malaysian university achieved ranking among the survey of 503 universities. Continue reading “An Open Letter to UiTM Vice Chancellor”