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Give the Ipoh “dare-devils” a dressing-down but don’t treat them as criminals and definitely don’t throw criminal charges at them

Yes, give the Ipoh “dare-devils” a dressing-down, but don’t treat them as criminals and definitely don’t throw criminal charges at them.

The eight thrill-seeking youths, five men and three women aged between 20 and 24, were foolish in the extreme in their death-defying stunts on the “Ipoh” sign, and their pictures and videos went viral.

They thought they were “brave” did not fully realise that they were toying with their lives, as the “Ipoh” sign structure could have collapsed and cost them their limbs and lives and irreplaceable sorrow to their loved-ones. Continue reading “Give the Ipoh “dare-devils” a dressing-down but don’t treat them as criminals and definitely don’t throw criminal charges at them”

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The real reason for the sacking of Gani Patail as Attorney-General in July 2015 is one of the truths Sabahans and Malaysians have a right to know

During Christmas, the Sabah Council of Churches prayed for truth to prevail in Malaysia, especially among those in power.

Council president Rev Jerry Dusing said, among others, truth must be established on the issues concerning 1MDB and the “hudud bill”.

Another issue which Sabahans and Malaysians have a right to know is the real reason for the sacking of Tan Sri Gani Patail, a Sabahan, as Attorney-General in July 2015.

Health was given as the reason by Putrajaya for the termination of Gani’s position as Attorney-General three months before his retirement.

But Gani looked very “fit and healthy” when he was called to the Bar in the Kuala Lumpur High Court last Friday.

In fact, Gani was so “fit and healthy” that he has opened his own legal firm, Gani Patail Chambers at Kuala Lumpur Sentral to start a new career. Continue reading “The real reason for the sacking of Gani Patail as Attorney-General in July 2015 is one of the truths Sabahans and Malaysians have a right to know”

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Admission speech for Abdul Gani Patail — Christopher Leong

The Malay Mail Online
December 23, 2016

DECEMBER 23 — Dengan izin Yang Arif,

Saya, Christopher Leong hadir bagi pihak Pempetisyen, Abdul Gani Patail.

Rakan-rakan yang bijaksana saya Rozielawaty Ab Ghani mewakili pihak Peguam Negara Malaysia, Hendon Mohamed, 20th President of Malaysia Bar, mewakili pihak Majlis Peguam Malaysia dan Lim Chee Wee, 29th President of Malaysian Bar, mewakili pihak Jawatankuasa Peguam Kuala Lumpur.

Yang Arif, saya dengan rendah diri memohon kebenaran untuk berhujah berkenaan Pempetisyen dalam Bahasa Inggeris.

My Lord,

As the days count down towards the end of what has been a challenging year for some of us and as the sun sets on 2016, we may look back to a few momentous or memorable events. I would include this morning’s proceedings as one of them.

It is my pleasure to rise this morning to move this petition for call to the Bar of my friend Abdul Gani Patail. As is the etiquette and long standing convention, we stand before the court shorn of titles, honourific and adornments save for the sombre attire reflective of the formal business at hand.

The Petitioner is no stranger to most of us. He has been a member of the legal fraternity in another life in another guise, in a manner of speaking. I will have more to say on this and will come back to it shortly.

Please permit me to present the Petitioner as a fit and proper person for admission and enrolment by saying a few words on his background. Continue reading “Admission speech for Abdul Gani Patail — Christopher Leong”

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Futile to talk about double standards

By TK Chua
Free Malaysia Today
July 1, 2016

To be free from blemishes is not an option for any Opposition politician but an obligation to set the bar higher.

COMMENT

What is there to argue about on whether Lim Guan Eng should resign, take a leave of absence or continue doing his job as the chief minister of Penang?

To me there is really no answer to this argument. The choice really depends on which side of the political divide the individual in question is on – whether he is a supporter or adversary. This is what partisan politics has done to most of us. We have become blind and adamant in our struggle, regardless of the rights and wrongs involved.

This is the nature of our “legal system” – we cannot argue why someone is charged while others are not, even though they may have committed similar or even graver offences. We cannot argue why a person is charged even though the evidence is flimsy or probably ridiculous while others are let go even though the proof is substantial.

The system says the power to prosecute is discretionary. When it is discretionary, it could also mean arbitrary or selective. Seriously, which parts of these predicaments are we Malaysians still unable to understand? Continue reading “Futile to talk about double standards”

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I will be charged under the Sedition Act in the new repression against dissent

Just now, the DAP “giant killer” in the 1969 general election, 84-year-old Chan Fu King, who as bus-conductor defeated the MCA Health Minister, Dr. Ng Kam Poh, told us how during his term as MP for Teluk Anson (1969 -1974), MCA leaders including the then MCA Youth leader Lee San Choon (who went on to become the MCA President) tried to induce and seduce him to defect from the DAP to the MCA.

I am reminded of DAP’s darkest days after the DAP won 13 parliamentary and 31 State Assembly seats in DAP’s first general election outing in 1969, a result we had not expected as we only sought a modest breakthrough in Parliament and various State Assemblies to gird ourselves for a battle for next two to three decades to create a more democratic, just and better Malaysia for all Malaysians.

DAP’s unexpected electoral success was made use of by some irresponsible politicians to create the May 13, 1969 riots in Kuala Lumpur, and I myself was detained for the first time under the Internal Security Act when I returned to Subang from Kota Kinabalu, where I had gone over on May 13, 1969 itself to campaign for independent candidates in Sabah as polling in Sabah was scheduled to be held two weeks after the Peninsular Malaysia elections of May 10, 1969.
I remember vividly the prediction of the then Deputy Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Ismail, in 1972 that the DAP was “one foot in the grave”, forecasting an early end for the DAP.

Tun Ismail was not indulging in idle prediction, for looking back, it was clear that he was privy to a high-powered campaign to crush the DAP by a double pincer strategy to seduce DAP MPs and State Assemblymen to defect from DAP to MCA and Barisan Nasional, from a combination of money politics or intimation and politics of fear to use all the repressive powers at the command of the government.

As a result, during the first term of DAP in Parliament and the various State Assemblies after 1969, we suffered the worst attrition rate with some 30 to 40 per cent of DAP MPs and State Assemblymen finally succumbing either to the temptation of monetary and material inducements or the pressures of politics of fear and intimidation. Continue reading “I will be charged under the Sedition Act in the new repression against dissent”

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Bersih 4 t-shirt ban underestimates people’s wisdom

Khoo Ying Hooi
The Malaysian Insider
22 February 2016

Last week, the Shah Alam High Court upheld the government’s decision to ban Bersih 4 t-shirts and related printed materials. The decision comes after Bersih 4 organisers filed a judicial review against the government’s ban on the yellow Bersih 4 t-shirts.

In his judgment, Judge Datuk Mohd Yazid Mustafa said that the order by Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was valid, as the minister had the discretion to make such decisions on the basis of preserving the peace in a multi-racial country like Malaysia.

I quote, “The minister has taken the relevant consideration in making the said order. I take judicial notice that Malaysia is multi-racial and multi-religious, thus puts a heavy responsibility to the minister to maintain and preserve peace, notwithstanding the Federal Constitution confers rights of assembly (and) freedom of expression.

“However, the national interest needs to be jealously guarded. Indeed, the prime consideration to safeguard the public order, security and peaceful, are at the hands of the executive.”

This decision is disappointing for one reason – how could we possibly reach the stage where wearing a t-shirt with the label of Bersih 4 is considered illegal with the potential to cause public disorder? Continue reading “Bersih 4 t-shirt ban underestimates people’s wisdom”

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Malaysia murder sets off explosion of intrigue

by Amanda Hodge
The Australian
FEBRUARY 20, 2016

Ten years ago the murder of a glamorous Mongolian translator with links to Malaysia’s highest political office set off a chain of events that is now reverberating uncomfortably through Australia’s halls of power.

On October 19, 2006, Altan­tuya Shaaribuu, a translator and 28-year-old mother of two, was abducted by two Malaysian police commandos from outside the Kuala Lumpur home of her former lover, Razak Abdul Bag­inda, a close confidante of then defence minister Najib Razak and a key mediator in a multi-billion-dollar submarine defence deal.

Sirul Azhar Umar and Azilah Hadri, both bodyguards with an elite protection force for Malaysia’s top leaders, drove Shaaribuu to the Shah Alam forest on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, where she was shot twice in the head and her body blown apart with C4 ­explosives.

At his trial in Malaysia, Sirul — who is now being held in Sydney’s Villawood Immigration ­Detention Centre after fleeing to Australia — insisted he had no personal ­motive for wanting Shaaribuu dead and was acting under orders. “I am a black sheep who has to be sacrificed to protect unnamed people,” he tearfully told the court.

Shaaribuu’s murder has ­become one of Malaysia’s most notorious crimes thanks to the political intrigue and murky networks of patronage and corruption it has always threatened to expose. Continue reading “Malaysia murder sets off explosion of intrigue”

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Withdrawal of sedition charge against Azmi Sharom only silver lining in gathering of dark clouds following Apandi’s appointment – call for dropping of all sedition charges

The only good news in the past six months is the withdrawal of the sedition charge against Universiti Malaya law professor Azmi Sharom, following on the earlier withdrawal of the sedition charge against DAP MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok over a Chinese New Year video “’Onederful’ Malaysia CNY 2014”.

The withdrawal of sedition charge against Azmi, and the earlier withdrawal of the sedition charge against Teresa Kok, are the only silver lining in the gathering of dark clouds following the sudden and shocking sacking of Tan Sri Gani Patail as Attorney-General and the appointment of Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali as the Public Prosecutor of the land six months ago.

But this is not adequate, as both Teresa and Azmin should not have been charged in the first place.
I fully agree with Azmi that Malaysians are relieved that common sense had prevailed, but this must apply not only in the two cases of Azmi and Teresa, but also in all the other cases where the Sedition Act been used to stifle legitimate dissent and criticism.

For this reason, I call on Apandi to drop all charges under the Sedition Act against Opposition MPs, civil society activists, lawyers and cartoonist including Zunar. Continue reading “Withdrawal of sedition charge against Azmi Sharom only silver lining in gathering of dark clouds following Apandi’s appointment – call for dropping of all sedition charges”

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Dissipating Malaysia’s ‘big risks’

by Gurdial Singh Nijar
The Malaysian Insider
7 January 2016

As we usher in the New Year, it is time to reflect on the state of the nation – our hopes and our disappointments. We have much to be thankful for. After all, our nation is certainly not a seething cauldron of instability.

But at the same time there are disturbing trends, which if left to run their course makes for deep concern.

In this context I was reflecting on a piece by the conservative UK-based Economist magazine (“Stick-in-the-mud”, December 5, 2015). Continue reading “Dissipating Malaysia’s ‘big risks’”

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National Security Council (NSC) Bill greatest security disservice to Malaysia as instead of uniting Parliament and nation with a single-minded purpose to defeat the threat of ISIS terrorists, it has divided the country with an unprecedented unconstitutional grab for power

The National Security Council (NSC) Bill is the greatest security disservice to Malaysia by the Najib premiership, as instead of uniting Parliament and the nation with a single-minded purpose to defeat the threat of ISIS terrorists, it has divided the country with an unprecedented unconstitutional grab for power by the Prime Minister.

After the shot-gun passage of the NSC Bill in the Dewan Rakyat on Dec. 3 as if “a thief in the night” without proper prior notice or consultation with MPs and the civil society, the country was assured that the NSC bill is aimed primarily at fighting terrorism particularly the threat posed by ISIS, and not intended to usurp the constitutional powers of the Yang di Pertuan Agong in declaring a state of emergency for country.

If the NSC Bill was designed primarily to deal with the threat of terrorism posed by ISIS, the logical thing to do is to park the proposed National Security Council under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) instead of creating a new executive body which is even more powerful than the Cabinet with far-reaching and new-fangled powers. Continue reading “National Security Council (NSC) Bill greatest security disservice to Malaysia as instead of uniting Parliament and nation with a single-minded purpose to defeat the threat of ISIS terrorists, it has divided the country with an unprecedented unconstitutional grab for power”

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What parliamentary charade!

What parliamentary charade!

What I had feared most has indeed come to pass – and what happened in Senate yesterday invokes Shakespeare’s immortal lines in Macbeth: “It is a tale, Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.””

Also come to pass was my warning yesterday, viz:

“BN Senators who have won new respect from Malaysians for daring to speak up to oppose the weaknesses, flaws and dangers of the NSC (National Security Council) Bill will forfeit their new-found public respect and admiration in a matter of 24 hours if they are not prepared to act on their conviction and vote for reference of the Bill for further study and amendment, as the NSC Bill in its present form is a blight on constitutional democracy in Malaysia.

“Which is better, to speak boldly against the weaknesses, flaws and dangers of the NSC Bill but to submissively vote in favour of the NSC Bill in the Senate; or to act like the BN MPs in the Dewan Rakyat, to keep their silence for the elected BN MPs know from the very beginning that they have finally to vote obediently for the NSC Bill, whatever their inner reservations and objections to the draconian Bill?”

I have to qualify my statement yesterday as the elected Barisan Nasional MPs in Dewan Rakyat need only be ”very envious and even jealous that their counterparts in Dewan Negara are allowed to speak up about their objections and reservations about the NSC Bill which they were not allowed to do when the NSC Bill was debated in the Dewan Rakyat on Dec. 3” only for 24 hours, as the Senate has been quickly reduced to its original form as no more than a rubber stamp after the parliamentary charade in the NSC Bill debate in the last two days. Continue reading “What parliamentary charade!”

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Let’s not have a parliamentary charade where BN Senators are allowed to criticize the NSC Bill but forced to vote for it at the end of the debate

Three cheers for the Dewan Negara.

For the first time in 58-year Malaysian history, the appointed UMNO/BN MPs in Dewan Negara have put the elected UMNO/BN MPs in Dewan Rakyat to shame not only for speaking up for the people, but even more important, for daring to speak the truth in accordance with the dictates of their own conscience.

The BN Senator who stole the limelight was none other than the Malaysian Senators Council (MSM) President Abdul Rahim Abdul Rahman who expressed concern that the NSC Bill may be unconstitutional and contravene other laws in terms of the extensive power given to the director appointed to a security area.

He called for amendments to the Bill so that it will not contravene the Federal Constitution.

Abdul Rahman hit the nail on the head for the pernicious and monstrous NSC Bill is unconstitutional on multiple fronts, not only in usurping the constitutional powers of the Yang di Pertuan Agong, the Cabinet, the Sarawak and Sabah Governments with regard to the autonomy powers conferred on them by the 1963 Malaysia Agreement and the 11 State Governments in Peninsular Malaysia, but also the many guarantees and fundamental liberties entrenched in the Constitution.

The Rukunegara principles on the Supremacy of the Constitution and Upholding the Rule of Law are blatantly flouted by the NSC Bill which grants protection to the authorities from legal proceeding and judicial review.

Abdul Rahman further questioned the power granted to the security forces to relocate people, as well as acquire land and properties, which clearly contravene Article 9 on Prohibition of Banishment and Freedom of Movement and Article 13 on Rights to Property of the Constitution.

But despite these trenchant and potent arguments against the NSC Bill, will Abdul Rahim vote for the NSC Bill at the second and third readings when the time for voting in Dewan Negara comes later today? Continue reading “Let’s not have a parliamentary charade where BN Senators are allowed to criticize the NSC Bill but forced to vote for it at the end of the debate”

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If NSC Bill is aimed primarily at fighting terrorism, the National Security Council should be parked under POTA and not be created by another statute which empowers the PM to usurp the constitutional powers of the YDPA, the Cabinet and the 13 State Governments

The Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed has defended the National Security Council (NSC) Bill on the ground that it is part of Putrajaya’s bid to act more proactively in the fight against terrorism and not intended to usurp the constitutional powers of the Yang di Pertuan Agong in declaring a state of emergency for the country.

Nobody is really convinced by Nur Jazlan’s claim, but giving the Deputy Home Minister all the benefit of the doubt that the NSC Bill is not a dangerous grap for power by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak which will pave the way for a dictatorial regime, let Nur Jazlan explain why the National Security Council is not parked under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) instead of being created by another statute with such far-reaching powers, including the usurpation of the constitutional powers of the Yang di Pertuan Agong, the Cabinet and the 13 State Governments?

Furthermore, if terrorism is the real target of the NSC Bill, can Nur Jazlan explain why there was not a single reference to the threat of terrorism or terrorist attacks in the monstrous NSC Bill passed by the Dewan Rakyat which defined “national security” in so wide and catch-all a fashion that it could be interpreted to cover all situations, even those which would not normally be associated with national security issues arising from political, economic and nation-building factors and circumstances? Continue reading “If NSC Bill is aimed primarily at fighting terrorism, the National Security Council should be parked under POTA and not be created by another statute which empowers the PM to usurp the constitutional powers of the YDPA, the Cabinet and the 13 State Governments”

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Amend the National Security Council (NSC) Bill to alter it to National Anti-Terrorism Council (NATC) Bill and remove the four usurpations of power and draconian provisions, DAP is prepared to support such a NATC Bill

In his pre-UMNO General Assembly interview with Media Prima and Utusan groups, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak defended the newly-passed National Security Council (NSC) bill, suggesting that it was enacted to keep the country safe from terrorist attacks.

If the NSC Bill was in fact intended to deal with terrorist attacks and armed insurrection ala-Islamic State or the Sulu intrusion in Lahad Datuk two years ago, then the drafters of the NSC Bill should be sacked for their gross incompetence and inefficiency in drafting such an atrocious Bill and the 107 Barisan Nasional Ministers and Members of Parliament deplored for voting for such a Bill, which went far beyond the intention to empower the state with the resources and capability to deal with modern terrorist threats.

In actual fact, there was not a single reference to the threat of terrorism or terrorist attacks in the monstrous NSC Bill passed by the Dewan Rakyat which defined “national security” in so wide and catch-all a fashion that it could be interpreted to cover all situations, even those which would not normally be associated with national security issues arising from political, economic and nation-building factors and circumstances. Continue reading “Amend the National Security Council (NSC) Bill to alter it to National Anti-Terrorism Council (NATC) Bill and remove the four usurpations of power and draconian provisions, DAP is prepared to support such a NATC Bill”

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Why the NSC Bill should scare the living daylights out of you

Khairie Hisyam Aliman
Malay Mail Online
Thursday December 3, 2015

DECEMBER 3 ― On Tuesday, minister Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kassim dropped a bombshell by way of the National Security Bill 2015 ― furore immediately erupted over the allegedly excessive powers this Bill seeks to confer to a sitting prime minister if it is passed into law.

But what are these powers exactly and what implications do they bring to us? On Wednesday, a copy of the Bill became available for download on the Parliament website, so I indulged my curiosity (because I have an unnatural reading preference).

In simple terms, the Bill seeks to set up a National Security Council with eight members, namely the sitting prime minister as chairman; the deputy prime minister as deputy chairman; the ministers in charge of defence, home affairs and communication/multimedia respectively; the chief secretary to the government; the chief of the armed forces; and the Inspector General of Police.

The council’s powers under the Bill can be summarised into two broad areas: to control and co-ordinate government entities on operations concerning national security as well as to issue directives to any government entity on matters concerning national security.

But that’s where the problem begins, because…. Continue reading “Why the NSC Bill should scare the living daylights out of you”

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Malaysia Vainly Seeks to Keep Lid on Scandal

By John Berthelsen
Asia Sentinel
November 30, 2015

Latest involves attempt to intimidate prominent KL lawyer

The lengths Malaysian authorities are willing to go in the effort to keep a lid on continuing financial scandals involving Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, has taken a new turn with a threat to arrest a prominent lawyer for assisting a US businessman in making a sworn statement on his brother’s reported involvement into the stalled probe.

Police are demanding that Americk Sidhu, who assisted in writing the sworn statement by Atlanta-based businessman Charles Morais of his murdered brother’s reported involvement in the stalled Najib investigation, come in for questioning. Khalid Abu Bakar, Malaysia’s Inspector-General of Police, told local media on Nov. 30 that “we are giving Americk two days to step forward and have his statement recorded.”

On Nov. 26, Morais read a sworn statement to a press conference in Kuala Lumpur that his brother Anthony Kevin Morais, a Malaysian deputy prosecutor whose body was found in a cement-filled oil drum that had been dumped in a river, had said he was assisting in the investigation of Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, before he disappeared. Morais said he had also received a USB drive from his dead brother, to be kept for safekeeping. But he gave no details about what was on the USB drive. Almost immediately after holding the press conference, Charles Morais left the country to go back to the US. Continue reading “Malaysia Vainly Seeks to Keep Lid on Scandal”

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A response to the Attorney-General

— G25
Malay Mail Online
November 15, 2015

NOVEMBER 15 — We, members of G25, wish to refer to the interview that the Malaysian Insider had with the Attorney-General as published in the Malaysian Insider on 14 November 2015 under the heading ‘Why the snub, Apandi asks Bar Council’.

We wish to make the following comments.

Firstly, we are perturbed to note that the Attorney-General is reported to have said —

‘G25 consists of those have-been government servants, isn’t it? Have-beens.’

With respect to the learned Attorney-General we consider it arrogant, crude and unnecessarily offensive for him to have referred to us as “Have-beens’.

Secondly, Tan Sri Apandi appears to be under the delusion that since we have retired from Government service therefore we could no longer contribute constructive ideas for the good governance of our country. Continue reading “A response to the Attorney-General”