Category: Foreign

By Simon Tisdall | 13 December 2011
The Guardian

The portents do not look good for Malaysia’s opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, whose trial on highly dubious sodomy charges draws to a close this week. If Anwar is found guilty – and the trial judge seems to have made up his mind already – he will not be the only or even the most important victim of an egregious, politically suspect injustice. Malaysia’s democratic reputation will have been critically wounded, and for that outrage, Malaysians will have their prime minister, Najib Razak, to thank.

The plodding Najib’s overriding objective is winning the general election expected next year, possibly within a few months. The son of Malaysia’s second prime minister, the nephew of its third, president of the dominant United Malays National Organisation (Umno), and a former defence minister, Najib was born to power and is accustomed to wielding it. As the charismatic leader of the opposition coalition, Anwar represents the biggest challenge to his continuing ascendancy.

It hardly seems coincidental that the sodomy charges were levelled at Anwar shortly after the opposition inflicted unprecedented defeats on Umno and its allies in the 2008 elections. Anwar’s main campaign plank – combating the official, institutionalised discrimination that favours ethnic Malays over the country’s large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities – threatened the post-colonial order that has kept Umno and its National Front coalition on top since 1957.
Continue reading “Najib risks Malaysia’s reputation in his treatment of Anwar Ibrahim”

By Mariam Mokhtar | Dec 12, 2011
Malaysiakini

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received the brunt of the wrath of former KGB spy and ex-president Vladimir Putin, when he blamed her for encouraging Russian street protests.

When BN cranks up its dirty tricks, will Clinton risk the fragile relationship of trade and investment with the Malaysian government by telling its people to take to the streets, as she did in Russia?

Premier Putin’s desire to return to power as president next year, with the United Russia party ‘winning’ the elections, reminds us of Umno wanting to prolong its 54 years of power. The parallels between Malaysia and Russia are too many to ignore.

With reports of ballot box-stuffing and ‘carousel voting’ fueling their anger, Russians took to the streets to protest. Carousel voting is when people are driven from polling-station to polling-station to vote time and time again.
Continue reading “Parallels between Russia and M’sia”

Commentary by Dr. Lim Teck Ghee

The statement by the Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein that the presence of more illegal workers compared to the legal ones is a cause of concern and could undermine national unity reveals either an ignoramus or an idiot. Did he expect many less illegals given the super-efficiency of his Ministry and the other government agencies sharing responsibility on this vital matter of securing our borders against unauthorized intrusion and stay in the country?
According to the current ongoing exercise, as of Friday, a total of 2,088,358 foreign workers had been registered, of whom 1,135,499 were illegals. Probably everyone else in the country knows that this number is an under-estimate and that a very large number are still waiting processing or are avoiding being included in the count altogether.

Since his appointment in 2009 as the Minister in charge of this portfolio, Hishammuddin has been lurching from one self inflicted debacle to another. From bending over backwards to defend the indefensible conduct of demonstrators in the infamous cow head incident to his most recent use of repressive force against the Bersih rally, he has shown a standard of leadership of this important Ministry which must be plumbing new lows or matching those lows attained by Dr. Mahathir.
Continue reading “Resisting Any Witch Hunt Aimed at Blaming the Illegals”

By Luke Hunt
The Diplomat
July 19, 2011

Marrying the demands of international diplomacy with the political realities of home is a tough ask for most countries and their foreign ministries. The two can be a difficult fit, as Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has found out all too well.

Some back home seem determined to provide an unwanted backdrop for his whistle-stop European tour designed to shore-up his country’s vastly improving relations with the West and bring in some much needed foreign investment.

However, echoes of the Bersih movement and their demands for electoral reform have dogged Najib and his entourage from London to Rome, while the prime minister’s own supporters have provided the nastiest thorn in his political side with wild and unsubstantiated claims of unwanted foreign meddling in domestic affairs. Continue reading “Najib, the Queen and the Pope”

He calls police action “quite mild”
By Martin Jalleh

It appears that the Prime Minister has suffered a mild “brain attack” whilst on an official visit to UK.

He experienced sudden trouble speaking or understanding speech, dizziness, lightheadedness loss of “balance or coordination”, “spinning” sensations, and “brain seizures”.

It happened when Najib was telling CNN in an interview conducted in London that police action on those who took part in the Bersih 2.0 march on July 9, was “quite mild”.

There was no “undue use of force”. It was of course not as mild as his initial response when he even initially claimed there was “no physical contact between police and protesters”!
Continue reading “Najib suffers from a “mild stroke” in UK”

By Marina Kamenev/SYDNEY Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Time

Between 2003 and 2004, Marion Le, a Canberra-based lawyer, made regular trips to the remote island of Nauru in the South Pacific. But she wasn’t going for a beach holiday. At the time, Nauru was part of the so-called Pacific Solution, Australia’s policy of processing and detaining asylum seekers arriving by boat in offshore detention facilities.

From 2001 to 2007, thousands of asylum seekers were in offshore detention centers while Australian immigration officials decided their fate. Le, who helped many migrants file successful asylum claims to Australia, was among the Pacific Solution’s many critics in Australia and abroad, saying the system was both a human rights violation and a breach of international law. After former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd came into office in 2007 and closed the centers on Nauru, Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island and the Australian territory of Christmas Island, Le recalls feeling “relief” that the government was finally listening to the plight of those that had been confined. (Watch a video about asylum seekers in South Africa.)
Continue reading “Why Does Australia Want to Send Refugees to Malaysia?”

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
June 14, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 — The federal government should cancel invitations to Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for an international economic forum here, the DAP has said.

The two presidents are scheduled to attend a forum to be held in Putrajaya from June 19-21.

Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran said today that both leaders had an alleged track record in their respective countries of purported human rights violations, and charged that by inviting them, Malaysia would be seen as “indifferent” to the plight of the citizens of these countries. Continue reading “Cancel invites to Mugabe, Bashir, DAP tells Putrajaya”

The Malaysian Insider | May 24, 2011

SYDNEY, May 24 — The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has slammed the Australian government’s asylum seeker deal with Malaysia as illegal, the Australian Associated Press reported today.

Navi Pillay, who is scheduled to meet Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard in Canberra today, reportedly told a forum in Sydney that asylum seekers are not adequately protected in Malaysia.
Continue reading “Top UN official says ‘Malaysia solution’ illegal”

By Graham Thom | May 20, 2011
The Malaysian Insider

MAY 20 — As I stepped into Malaysia’s Lenggeng detention centre, I saw rows and rows of emaciated men crammed into a cage smaller than a tennis court. Nearby, women and children were also being held in a tiny cell, 24 hours a day, no bedding, nothing.

Standing there amid the stench of poor sanitation and steamy tropical heat, I could never have imagined that within months these centres would be hailed as the new “humane and safe” solution to Australia’s so-called asylum-seeker crisis.
Continue reading “Half-baked Malaysian scheme is no solution”

Sarawak Report | May 12th, 2011

In a fullsome letter to the Swiss-based NGO, the Bruno Manser Foundation, the President of the Swiss Federation Micheline Calmy-Rey has revealed that she has forwarded information about Taib Mahmud’s assets in Switzerland to the regulatory body FINMA (the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority) for investigation.

Calmy-Rey (pictured left at the Davos World Economic Forum, which is hosted annually in Switzerland) is the country’s Head of State.

The letter, sent on April 8th, is revealingly entitled: “Freezing of possible assets of Abdul Taib Mahmud, head of government of the Malaysian state of Sarawak, in Switzerland”.

In the letter the Swiss President makes clear that the country’s authorities take extremely seriously the concerns that have been raised internationally about Taib’s profiteering from timber corruption and are unhappy that such assets may have been invested in Switzerland.
Continue reading “Swiss President Orders an Investigation into Taib’s Assets! – Exclusive”

Malaysiakini

Former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo reiterated that the People’s Action Party (PAP) must transform to respond to the significant developments in Singapore’s political landscape, stressing it would determine the island-nation’s fate in the 21st century.

In a statement today following his remarkable defeat on home turf Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC), which he has held since 1988, Yeo (right) admitted that he had felt the need to voice the ruling party’s need to transform, well before the campaign for the 2011 Singapore general election began.

“It was not something I felt I could say when the campaign started.

“As we ended our campaign on May 5, I talked about the importance of transforming the PAP. This is a belief I’ve held for some time,” said the two-decade politician.
Continue reading “Defeated PAP leader: Party must transform”

Statement by Lawyers for Liberty
May 9, 2011

On 7.5.2011, Australia and Malaysia announced a bilateral agreement which sought to transfer up to 800 asylum seekers who have arrived in Australia by sea to Malaysia while their asylum claims are being processed by the UNHCR. In return, Australia will resettle 4,000 refugees currently residing in Malaysia over a period of four years.

While Australia’s agreement to accept more refugees for resettlement is commendable, Lawyers for Liberty is however extremely shocked and concerned with Australia’s plan to forcefully deport asylum seekers and “outsource” its international obligation to protect refugees as defined under international law including the 1951 Refugee Convention which Australia is a party to.

Let there be no doubt: Malaysia has a horrendous track record – infamous for its ill and brutal treatment of refugees and other undocumented migrants and has been consistently ranked as one of the world’s worst place for refugees to be in.
Continue reading “Australia must call off asylum seeker “outsourcing” deal with Malaysia”

What impression have we given to Chinese Premier Wen Jiaboa in his short visit to the country?

That we have a government crazed with sex scandals than with enhancing multi-racial national unity or Malaysia’s international competiveness?

The largest English-language circulation newspaper in the country, the MCA-owned Star, put the Carcosa sex scandal on its front page – headlined: “Part 2 out – Another video clip on YouTube, Anwar’s family says it’s not him” while Wen’s historic visit to University of Malaya is relegated to Page 2!

The official visit of the leader of the most important nation in the world also fought a losing battle with “Sex video Part 2 on YouTube” even for front-page mention, whether its News Straits Times, Berita Harian or even the “1Melayu” Utusan Malaysia.

What a national shame and disgrace!

Wen Jiaboa would have been completely horrified if during his short visit to Malaysia, he had sighted the 8pm TV3 Prime News last night, which caused me to post five tweets in 30 minutes after I had been informed by incensed parents who were shocked and surprised by the “transformation” of TV3 into a porn channel: viz:
Continue reading “What impression have we given to Chinese Premier Wen Jiaboa – a government crazed with sex scandals than with enhancing Malaysia’s multi-racial national unity or international competitiveness?”

In view of the worsening nuclear crisis situation in Japan, the Malaysian government should take proactive steps in ensuring the safety of Malaysians in Japan.

The Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili, said today that the situation does not warrant an immediate evacuation of Malaysians living there, as readings taken in Tokyo, Miyagi and Ibaraki yesterday afternoon averaged about 0.17uSv/hr (microsieverts per hour), which was lower than the maximum allowed radiation dosage of 0.5uSv/hr for the Malaysian public.

In contrast to the minister’s calm response, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the overall situation was “very serious” though did not appear to be deteriorating. The chief US nuclear regulatory official said radiation levels around the fuel ponds were extremely high and “potentially lethal” near the reactors. Explaining the decision to deploy helicopters on Thursday, Toshimi Kitazawa, the defence minister, said conditions at the reactors had reached a critical point.

IAEA also reported that in some locations at around 30 km from the Fukushima plant, the dose rates rose significantly in the last 24 hours (in one location from 80 to 170 microsievert per hour and in another from 26 to 95 microsievert per hour). Dose rates to the north-west of the nuclear power plants, were observed in the range 3 to 170 microsievert per hour. Dose rates in other directions are in the 1 to 5 microsievert per hour range.
Continue reading “Speedy action by Malaysian Government in evacuating Malaysians in Japan needed”

The last six days has been the hardest moments for Japan as a nation as they are faced with an earthquake of a magnitude of 9.0, followed by the nuclear explosions at the Fukushima nuclear plants with a radiation contamination threat.

Malaysians extend their greatest sympathies to Japan for the earthquake that has struck in such unexpected fashion. Indeed, the people of Japan had shown great courage in face of the national tribulation which has been described as the worst disaster of the nation after World War II.

The incident had revealed the inconvenient truth for the proponent of nuclear power that it is a high-risk gamble. Officials in Japan have said that the nuclear reactor was built to withstand disasters. Yet the accident which occurred has caused such detrimental result.
Continue reading “Malaysia should learn the lessons from the Japan Nuclear Catastrophe”

It is said “All Roads Lead to Rome”. In the past two days, the road from Rome leads to Kuala Lumpur and I want to add to the voices of welcome expressed yesterday by the hosts to the distinguished foreign guests and participants to this consultation, and hope that you are fully enjoying the Malaysian hospitality imbibing the Malaysian sights, sounds and smells!

This however had been a long road from Rome to Kuala Lumpur – not only in distance but in time.

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was adopted on 17th July 1998 at a conference attended by 160 states, 33 international organisations and a total of 236 NGOs – with 120 votes cast in favour, only seven against, with 21 abstentions.

In order to enter into force, the Rome Statute had to be ratified by 60 states. This target was achieved in a relatively short period of some three years between the first ratification (Senegal, 2nd February 1999) and the last (Cambodia, Mongolia, Bulgaria, Romania, Ireland, Niger, Jordan and Slovakia on 11th April 2002).

When the world’s first permanent criminal court started work in The Hague on 1st July 2002 with authority over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, the number of countries which had ratified the Rome Statute had reached 74.

On that historic day for human rigthts, international justice and the rule of law, I had issued a statement calling on the Malaysian government to ratify the Rome Statute and like-minded Malaysians have been working on this cause until we are here today some nine years later for the present consultation. Continue reading “Call for action plan by ASEAN MPs to secure ratification of Rome Statute by majority of ASEAN nations on 10th anniversary of ICC on July 2, 2012”

by Goh Keat Peng

In the news this week, we are numbed by reports of the death of hundreds of human beings not unlike ourselves. Some of these our fellow human beings were going about quietly in their everyday life in a city that is not only beautiful in myriads of ways but also ordinary like many other cities of the world. At 12.51 pm on February 21, 2011 an earthquake struck and to date, 147 have being confirmed dead, with still 200 people missing.

What do we, can we, say? For all these many years, that city like so many others in the human world was functioning normally with few if any extraordinary event ever happening. Then this thing happens and loved ones, colleagues and neighbours are taken from this life in a twinkle of an eye leaving behind heartache, anguish and bewilderment. Even those who are left without loss of loved ones face months if not years of rubble- physical and emotional- to cope with. Normalcy and routine as one resumes one’s life under these circumstances is not possible for a while. Continue reading “Dying in two different ways”

Malaysia should play a leading active role in ASEAN to promote peace, democratization and national reconciliation in Myanmar as Malaysia, under the then Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, was responsible for Myanmar’s entry into ASEAN in 1997 despite ASEAN reservations and international criticisms on the ground that a policy of “constructive engagement” approach would pave the way for democratization and national reconciliation in Myanmar and security and stability in the region.

Thirteen years have elapsed but none of these objectives had been achieved.

Nine days ago, on 13th November, 2010, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Burmese democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi was released after spending 15 of 21 years in detention under the Myanmese military junta, a release which was long overdue as the series of incarceration against the Nobel Peace Prize Laureatte should not have occurred in the first place.

With over 2,200 political prisoners still in detention in Burma, is Suu Kyi’s release a sign that the Myanmese military junta is ready seriously to address the challenges of democratization and national reconciliation in Burma?
Continue reading “Malaysia and ASEAN should support Aung San Suu Kyi’s call for a second multi-ethnic Panglong Conference to create a federal democracy in Burma to foster democratization and national reconciliation”

By Dr. Chen Man Hin, DAP life advisor

International deluge of criticisms from the conspiracy to convict Anwar of sodomy 2

Suddenly there appears to be a deluge of international personalities criticising the Malaysian government for persecuting Anwar on trumped up charge of sodomy 2.

It started with ex US vice president Gore, and IMF chief Stiglitz, followed by Barry Wain former AWSJ correspondent as well as a former US ambassador to Malaysia John Croft

All of them unanimously condemned the conspiracy to paint Anwar as a sodomist and therefore not fit to be the Opposition Leader.

These are all distinguished members of the international community who are shocked in unison by this serious transgression of justice, democracy and the rule of law by the Malaysian government. UMNO, the power behind the prime minister, intends to perpetuate their power by trying Anwar on trumped up charges of sodomy, to convict and imprison him, thus denying him the opportunity to be the next Prime Minister.
Continue reading “International deluge of criticisms on persecution of Anwar”

By Tunku Abdul Aziz

If media reports on the meeting in Kota Kinabalu between our Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah and his Indonesian counterpart Dr. Marty Natalegawa are accurate, then I am afraid we ended, as usual when dealing with international issues, drawing the “short straw.” The Malaysian Foreign Minister in his anxiety to show his newly minted diplomatic template, designed on the trot, totally missed the point about the need to drive home to the Indons, in the strongest possible terms, the increasing difficulty of our trying to contain and control the anger of our people.

How much longer can we be expected to continue to stand by and watch the flag we ran up, so proudly for the first time 53 years ago, trampled and desecrated by one ugly and uncivilised mob after another? The official Indonesian response borders on the moronic arrogance of a people sustained by delusions of moral and cultural superiority. I am always amused listening to countries such as Indonesia parading their democratic credentials, including the freedom to participate in aggressively violent demonstrations, and looking down on us for our poor democracy record by comparison. My one liner rejoinder which puts the cat among the pigeons, as I am wont to do in such a situation, and which always works is, “What use is your democracy on an empty stomach?”
Continue reading “INDONESIA: We Are NOT, I Repeat, Your Whipping Boy”