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On first anniversary of 13GE, Malaysians torn by grave disillusionment with Najib for a year of failed policies and the dire prospect of a break-up of Pakatan Rakyat over hudud law

Tomorrow is the first anniversary of the 13th General Elections where Malaysians had hoped to see a change of federal government in Putrajaya for the first time in the 56-year history of the nation.

Unfortunately, although Pakatan Rakyat secured the support of the majority of the national electorate, with 52% of the national voters voting for PR, Barisan Nasional continued to occupy the citadels of power in Putrajaya because of unfair electoral practices, gerrymandering and unfair redelineation of electoral constituencies.

The past one year has brought greater disillusionment to the people who wanted to see political change to bring Malaysia back to the pursuit of the Malaysian Dream for all Malaysians by bringing the country back to the tracks of justice, the rule of law, democracy, good governance, excellence and prosperity which Malaysia had strayed from for more than 40 years.

The latest global survey on the average broadband speed is another index to highlight the continued regression and retrogression of Malaysia instead of progress way ahead in the forefront in th world in various aspects of national achievements. Continue reading “On first anniversary of 13GE, Malaysians torn by grave disillusionment with Najib for a year of failed policies and the dire prospect of a break-up of Pakatan Rakyat over hudud law”

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Malaysia on US watch list for limitations on religious freedom

BY ELIZABETH ZACHARIAH
The Malaysian Insider
May 03, 2014

Malaysia has been placed on a watch list by an advisory body of the United States government over concerns about its limitation on freedom of religion, putting it on a par with countries like Afghanistan, Cuba, Indonesia, Laos, Russia and Turkey.

In its 2014 annual report, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) placed Malaysia on Tier 2, one level down from Tier 1 (countries of particular concern) which lists countries like Myanmar, China, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Sudan, among others.

“USCIRF found that the intertwining of religion, ethnicity, and politics in Malaysia complicate religious freedom protections for religious minorities and non-Sunni Muslims,” the commission said in the report.

USCIRF is an independent US government advisory body that monitors religious freedom worldwide and makes policy recommendations to the American president, the secretary of state and Congress. Continue reading “Malaysia on US watch list for limitations on religious freedom”

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In MH370 search, incompetence, lost time

By Bill Palmer
CNN
May 2, 2014

(CNN) — If we were hoping that the finally released — but month-old — preliminary report on the March 8 disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 would help explain what happened, we were mostly disappointed.

But the report, issued Thursday and dated April 9, does add new insights on snafus in crucial communication between air traffic control centers and Malaysia Airlines on the morning Flight 370 disappeared. They are disturbing — and put the competence of the airline’s operations center in question.

Indeed the brevity of the report (five pages) seems to show a Malaysian Ministry of Transport still interested in sharing as little information as possible, especially when compared with the extensive detail in preliminary reports from other accidents, such as the loss of Air France Flight 447 in June 2009.

What we do learn from this new report is that the airline told controllers — who were already looking for Flight 370 — that everything was normal, delaying the realization that the plane was many hundreds of miles from where it was thought to be, and any attempts at finding it.

In fact, it would be three hours and 52 minutes between the time that the controller in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, reported to air traffic control in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that Flight 370 had not contacted him as instructed, and the time that the Kuala Lumpur rescue center was activated. Continue reading “In MH370 search, incompetence, lost time”

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Hudud’s practical problems: The non-Muslim witness, state boundaries and the Constitution

by Boo Su-Lyn and Joseph Sipalan
The Malay Mail Online
MAY 4, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 — Even if PAS wins Parliament’s nod for its hudud bid, lawyers say the Islamist party will face even greater hurdles when the controversial law is implemented in Kelantan.

They said not only does the Islamic penal code run contrary to the Federal Constitution, it would also have limited reach in that it could not prescribe punishment on criminals who flee the state’s borders.

To complicate things further, the Shariah Court cannot compel a non-Muslim witness to testify before it and cannot cite them for perjury or contempt of court as its jurisdiction only covers Muslims, they said.

“It’s unworkable because non-Muslims will not be subject to those provisions, which means your witnesses, your accomplices who are non-Muslims, will not appear in those cases,” Malaysian Bar president Christopher Leong told The Malay Mail Online.

“It’s non-compellable. I don’t have to answer your questions, let alone attend court,” he added. Continue reading “Hudud’s practical problems: The non-Muslim witness, state boundaries and the Constitution”

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Malaysia gets ‘D’, South Korea ‘A-’ in handling of tragedies, says Bloomberg columnist

The Malaysian Insider
MAY 02, 2014

Putrajaya was once again slammed by a Bloomberg columnist who compared Malaysia’s handling of the MH370 saga with South Korea’s response to the recent Sewol ferry tragedy.

In a scathing attack, columnist William Pesek said he would give top marks to South Korea for their handling of the ferry tragedy but found Malaysia sorely lacking in handling the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

He said the incidents could be described as tests for the two governments, if not of Malaysian and South Korean societies.

“The grades so far? I’d give Korea an A-, Malaysia a D,” he said in his Bloomberg column titled “One missing jet, one sunken ferry, two responses”.
Continue reading “Malaysia gets ‘D’, South Korea ‘A-’ in handling of tragedies, says Bloomberg columnist”

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Irregularities in MH370 audio recordings indicate possible editing, say experts

The Malaysian Insider
MAY 03, 2014

Audio forensic experts spotted several irregularities in audio recordings from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 which suggested they may have been edited, a United States news network reported.

According to NBC News, the experts said at least two different audio sources recorded the tapes, wherein one of those recordings may have been a digital recorder held up to a speaker.

The Malaysian Transport Ministry on Thursday released a 5-page preliminary report on the missing plane along with the audio recording.

Analysts who listened to the recordings also told NBC that they noticed four clear breaks in the audio that indicated edits, NBC reported. Continue reading “Irregularities in MH370 audio recordings indicate possible editing, say experts”