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“Judges who accept bribes” – Ahmad Fairuz must take action or step down as Chief Justice

The Chief Justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim dropped a bombshell at the swearing-in ceremony of eight new judicial commissioners in Putrajaya on Thursday when he exposed gross judicial misconduct in the judiciary, including:

  • Judges who accept bribes;
  • Judges who were often seen socializing with lawyers, prosecutors and corporate figures while hearing their cases in court; and
  • Judges who were “constantly angry and foul-tempered”.

Ahmad Fairuz may have to step down as Chief Justice for tarnishing the image of the judiciary if he is not prepared to take action and substantiate his grave charges of judges accepting bribes or guilty of misconduct in acting unethically in socializing with parties while hearing their cases.

The Chief Justice had used the plural when he “hit out at judges who accept bribes”. Had he initiated action against “judges who accept bribes” under Article 124 of the Federal Constitution for the establishment of the judicial tribunal to remove these “rogue judges” or at least lodged police reports against them for full investigations to be started?

If Ahmad Fairuz had not initiated any action against “judges who accept bribes”, then the Chief Justice would be guilty of being a party to the commission of serious crimes which would not be compatible with his continued tenure as the highest judicial officer of the land. If he could not substantiate his allegation of judges accepting bribes, then he had made a most reckless and irresponsible statement seriously tarnishing the image of the judiciary.

Furthermore, what action had Ahmad Fairuz taken against judges for the judicial misconduct and unethical behaviour of “often seen socializing with lawyers, prosecutors and corporate figures” while hearing their cases in court or for “being constantly angry and bad-tempered”? Continue reading ““Judges who accept bribes” – Ahmad Fairuz must take action or step down as Chief Justice”

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Malaysian universities out of international radar – 4th year omitted in WR 3,000 Premier Universities ranking

Malaysian universities are still in the international backwaters with the country fighting a losing battle to enhance international competitiveness in the quest for academic excellence and university quality.

For the fourth year in succession, Malaysian universities have been omitted in the January 2007 Webometrics Ranking (WR) of 3,000 Premier Universities, based on their commitment to Web publication and to the Open Access initiatives.

The National University of Singapore tops the Asian universities in the WR, ranked No. 139 internationally, with the Nanyang Technological University ranked No. 18 among the top Asian universities. Chulalongkorn University of Thailand has again confirmed that it is recognised internationally as in various recent world universities rankings as of superior quality to all the 17 Malaysian universities.

The top 25 Asian universities in the latest WR are:

Top Asian Universities

Asia Rank University World Rank

1 National University Singapore 139
2. National Taiwan University 150
3 Keio University 152
4 University of Tokyo 157
5 Beijing University 190
6 Chinese University of Hong Kong 216
7 University of Hong Kong 218
8 Kyoto University 239
9 National Chiao Tung University 300
10 Tsinghua University China 336
11 Seoul National University 337
12 University of Tsukuba 338
13 HK Univ of Sc & Technology 362
14 Korea Adv. Inst of Sc & Tech 365
15 Nagoya University 367
16 Tokyo Institute of Technology 368
17 Tohoku University 376
18 Nanyang Techl Univ Spore 450
19 National Cheng Kung University 468
20 City University of Hong Kong 470
21 Chulalongkorn University 505
22 Hong Kong Polytechnic Univ 511
23 National Sun Yat Sen Univ 513
24 United Nations University 522
25. Zhejiang University 529

The country distribution of the top 500 WR Premier Universities are: Continue reading “Malaysian universities out of international radar – 4th year omitted in WR 3,000 Premier Universities ranking”

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Corruption allegations against ACA DG – AG and IGP should also appear before PSCI

Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) director-general Datuk Seri Zulkipli Mat Noor and former top ACA officer and “whistleblower”, Mohamad Ramli Manan’s full preparedness to appear before the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity (PSCI) on March 12 is most commendable.

Zulkipli told Bernama that he was ready to appear before the Parliamentary Select Committee on March 12 with detailed evidence against the serious corruption allegations made against him, declaring: “I have the confidence and courage to face the problem because I believe in God and only a person with guilt needs to be afraid.”

Ramli in his interview with the New Straits Times “vowed to tell all” to the Select Committee, declaring: “There is nothing to hide. I will be there.”

Zulkipli and Ramli should honour their public undertaking “to tell all” to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity as any refusal or reluctance by anyone of them to do so will immediately be an adverse reflection on his credibility and integrity.

The Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan and the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patil should also appear before the Select Committee to explain the reasons for the dilatory and unsatisfactory investigations into the serious corruption allegations against Zulkipli in the past ten years. Continue reading “Corruption allegations against ACA DG – AG and IGP should also appear before PSCI”

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Telecoms forcing new voice mail message service down your throat?

This is email from Heng:

Lately, many Telecoms Malaysia customers are forced down their throats to have a new voice mail message service without even the customers requesting for it. I believe this is part of a scheme to meet the so called KPI of the GLC’s. This service is a nuisance to many customers. The calling party shall be charged for futile calls and the receiving party shall be billed for retrieving the messages.

I hope as a YB, please look into this issue or if this is a minor issue to you as you have to handle other major national issues, please get someone to handle this issue for the benefits of Telecoms Malaysia customers.

What say you?

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Sack Zulkipli as ACA DG for telling lie that he had been cleared of serious corruption allegations

ACA Head - Zulkipli Mat Noor

The case of the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) Director-General, Datuk Seri Zulkipli Mat Noor is getting curiouser and curiouser – panning out even to raise serious questions about the efficiency, competence and credibility of the Police, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the Cabinet and the Prime Minister.

Firstly, the Sun today in its front-page headline story, “Papers with AG — Police resubmit investigation file on ACA chief to Attorney-General” reported the disclosure by the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan that Kuala Lumpur police investigated the complaints on sexual crimes and assault allegedly committed by Zulkipli against a housewife in 1997 and later submitted investigation papers to the AG’s Chambers.

However, as the AG had not reverted to the police on the next course of action, a fresh submission was made yesterday.

The New Straits Times in its front-page report “GRAFT AND SEXUAL ABUSE ALLEGATIONS – SPEED UP PROBE ON ACA CHIEF — Attorney-general tells IGP” tells quite a different story.

NST quoted the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail that Zulkipli was cleared years ago of a claim of sexually abusing a woman after a thorough investigation into the sexual assault allegation in July 1997. The police investigation papers (IP) were submitted to the AG’s chambers on Oct. 24, 1997, and the AG’s Chambers found there were no grounds to prosecute Zulkipli, and the case was filed as “No Further Action” (NFA) needed.

Secondly, on the serious corruption charges against Zulkipli, the IGP was conspicuously silent but the NST reported Gani as saying that he had told Musa “to speed up the investigations into these allegations”.

Gani said the investigations would include checks against the asset declaration made by Zulkipli — “We compare these asset declarations to how one pays or finances one’s properties”, which would include “checks on the financial position of one’s family members to ascertain their contribution to the household income”.

Here Zulkipli is caught “red-handed” telling a lie that he had been cleared of serious corruption charges made against him, as he told the NST in its report yesterday: “Zulkipli called the charges ‘baseless’ and said prior to his appointment as director-general, he had been vetted and cleared by both the ACA and police.” Continue reading “Sack Zulkipli as ACA DG for telling lie that he had been cleared of serious corruption allegations”

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PM’s CNY present – RM70 billion Bursa Saham losses by small investors

KLSE

The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had a special Chinese New Year message for Malaysians in the first two days on the Chinese New Year on February 18 and 19, 2006 — to enter the stock market to “ride on the momentum” of the good economic times.

This was his common theme at the Gerakan Chinese New Year open house in Kuala Lumpur on the first day of the Chinese New Year and at the open house of the Penang Chinese Chamber in Penang on the second day of the Chinese New Year.

Abdullah pointedly said that the Bursa Saham composite index, which was at the time at a high of more than 1,258 points, could surpass the 1,350-point level following positive indicators of the country’s economic growth — namely the trillion ringgit total trade last year, the increasing foreign and domestic investments and and the rising ringgit. (New Straits Times 21.2.07)

There had been widespread skepticism about the slew of “good economic news” which had been trotted out by the government in the previous two weeks, particularly about foreign direct investments which clearly conflicted with statistics released by the United Nations Conference Trade and Development (Unctad) — raising the question as to why there is a difference of between RM6.4 billion to RM9.8 billion in the statistics released by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and Unctad on 2006 FDIs into Malaysia.

However, when the Prime Minister openly urged Malaysians to enter the stock market “to ride on the momentum” in expectation of the KLSE rising above 1,350 points, small investors cast aside their doubts, reservations and skepticism and entered the stock market in a big way after the Chinese New Year holidays, lifting the KLCI to close at 1,283 points last Friday — with the Star yesterday carrying the screaming headline “KLCI poised to break record” for this week. Continue reading “PM’s CNY present – RM70 billion Bursa Saham losses by small investors”

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Blog kink with IE6 & 7 resolved

Internet Explorer 7

Thanks to Chengkhoon, the blog kink with IE6 & 7 has been resolved.

This is Chenkhoon’s solution:

“Line 38 of the css file (style.css) contains the following line:

“filter: Shadow(color:white, strength:0, direction:0);

“This is proprietary IE6 code. Removing the line will solve the problem.”

Many thanks Chengkhoon, on my part as on behalf of so many visitors who had faced problems of accessing the blog with IE6 or 7. Most appreciated. Also thanks to all who given their suggestions to resolve the problem.

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Anatomy of a traffic disaster

ANATOMY OF A TRAFFIC DISASTER
by Z. Ibrahim

The Federal Highway, first envisioned in 1965 following separation of Singapore from Malaysia, became the main artery to serve the entire Klang Valley conurbation when Malaysia decided to make Port Klang its premier port then.

Opened in 1967, the Highway itself has undergone multiple metamorphoses to cater for the ever increasing population and industries on either side of the highway.

There was a period in the 80s’ when traffic jams to KL used to start at the Berkeley Gardens and a significant portion of Klang residents who worked in KL had to be on the road by 5am. The original 4-lane highway soon outlived its purpose despite the building of multiple interchanges in Petaling Jaya.

In 1992 Plus Expressway Berhad upgraded the entire highway to a 6-lane highway with toll plazas at Batu Tiga and Sungai Rasa. The highway handles such great volumes of traffic at any time of the day that jams can be quite difficult to predict as even minor mishaps have known to cause traffic to back-up on either side of the highway for miles. Continue reading “Anatomy of a traffic disaster”

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“Neo-bumiputeraism” – clarification

Clarification on an idea called “neo-bumiputeraism”
(Follow-up to article “Let’s de-segregate our schools”)

– Azly Rahman

‘Bumiputera’ is a problematic word. A word that conveniently equates race and religion as inseparable. To say that a Malay is generally a Muslim and hence a ‘bumiputera’ and therefore have special rights and privileges is an imprecise way of explaining a concept. It is an old-school approach to defining that word.

We must find ways to enrich the concept better so that it will become inclusive. Who toils for the soil? Labour, more than language, seems to be more a more linguistically just way to look at the definition of bumiputera and how we will go about the peaceful evolution process.

We need a premise for this process though. Let’s begin with this phrase:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident and Divine-ly sanctioned that All Malaysians are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator the inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, happiness, justice and social equality… and we shall resoundingly declare that from now on we will be constructed as equal and be called ‘the new bumiputera’…” Continue reading ““Neo-bumiputeraism” – clarification”

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Zulkipli and Ramli’s date with Parliamentary Select Committee – March 12

Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) Director-General Datuk Seri Zulkipli Mat Noor has responded to very serious allegations of “being a very corrupt senior police officer who had amassed substantial property and assets through corrupt means” made against him by a former top ACA officer, Mohamad Ramli Manan while still in service in July last year before his retirement on December 8, 2006.

Zulkipli told New Straits Times: “Let the law take its course”.

He said that the allegations were “part and parcel of the agency’s operations”

He added:

“There are a lot of challenges in our line of work. Some (people) may be happy, some, of course, may not. The bottom line is justice must be done.

“In this context, certainly I do not want to get involved in matters, issues or allegations that have the tendency to belittle or tarnish the good image of an individual.”

Apart from the “Let the law take its course” statement, Zulkipli’s comments are not helpful at all in throwing light on the very serious corruption allegations which had been made against him by Ramli. The ACA head seems to have mastered the art of making statements which mean nothing at all.

While the law must undoubtedly be allowed to “take its course”, the immediate concern of all Malaysians serious about the pledge of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi when he became the fifth Prime Minister and during the 2004 general election campaign to give top priority to anti-corruption is whether Zulkipli can continue to helm the ACA with these serious corruption allegations hanging over his head. Or whether the ACA will be further incapacitated with such a person as its head. Continue reading “Zulkipli and Ramli’s date with Parliamentary Select Committee – March 12”

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Blog cannot be viewed from Internet Explorer 7

TJY emailed to say that this blog cannot be viewed from Internet Explorer 7. There have been other complaints which seem to zero down to the same cause, such as the following from Shirley of UK:

“Still unable to access your blog. Managed to access the main page but only part of it. Even then unable to read as only the top of page is visible.”

Later Shirley emailed: “Internet Explorer was the problem. Problem solved when switched to Mozilla Firefox.”

Anyone with any ideas as to how the problem can be resolved with Internet Explorer 7?

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Let’s de-segregate our schools

Let’s de-segregate our schools
Azly Rahman

“School is not preparation for life, but school is life,” wrote American pragmatist philosopher John Dewey.

We need to begin a national project of desegregating schools. I propose that all schools and educational institutions now catering to one particular race – be they Malay, Chinese, Tamil, Kadazan or Iban – must be integrated systematically and reorganised along the principles of multi-cultural education.

We must create a new breed of bumiputera – the neo-bumiputera class.

I do not see any other way we can become a truly multi-cultural nation and create an egalitarian society based on the way we currently organise our educational institutions. We may have a grand design that will take to the year 3000, but without a conscious effort to educate students to become critical, creative, ethical and futuristic radical human beings, we will drown in the wave of globalisation.

We may have a hardware worth RM23 billion and a software plan in hand, but without a mind-ware powerful enough to help develop governors of a future republic of virtue and social justice, our schools will continue to be better camps for totalitarianism.

However, as the great Brazilian educator Paulo Freire might say, there is a philosophy of hope, we can all explore.

I want to share the beauty of an effective philosophy of education that ought to now be experimented at a different level – true to our nation’s commitment to create a Bangsa Malaysia.

It is a system that has benefitted many and produced excellent individuals that are now the movers and shakers of our economy. We have great professors, politicians, scientists, lawyers, corporate figures, surgeons, entertainment gurus, and even rocket scientists from a system that has helped the poorest of the poor ‘bumiputeras’. I am talking about the Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) system. Continue reading “Let’s de-segregate our schools”

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ACA Zulkipli must establish his integrity or be removed immediately

The Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) director-general, Datuk Zulkipli Mat Noor should appear before the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity to clear all doubts that he is qualified to continue to helm the anti-corruption agency.

I will propose at today’s meeting of the Parliamentary Select Committee that Zulkipli be summoned to appear at an emergency meeting to respond to various serious allegations which had been made against him, ranging from corruption to sexual crimes, which must not remain unrebutted so as to salvage the credibility, legitimacy and authority of the ACA.

If Zulkipli is not prepared to appear before the Parliamentary Select Committee to establish his integrity in an emergency meeting, he must be removed as the ACA head. The Cabinet should put this item on the top of its agenda at its meeting tomorrow.

Malaysiakini yesterday reported these allegations which were filed last year by former ACA officer Mohamad Ramli Manan to the then inspector-general of police Mohd Bakri Omar.

In the July 4, 2006 report, Ramli named the ACA chief – who is a former top cop – and referred to him as ‘B1’.

“As you are aware, B1 was a member of your police force and his last appointment there was as Sarawak chief police officer. It has come to the knowledge of the ACA that B1 was a very corrupt senior police officer and had amassed substantial property and assets through corrupt practices,” he told Mohd Bakri in his report.

Ramli claimed that in 1997 – when Zulkipli was Johor police chief – the ACA had then learnt that he was “in possession of properties disproportionate to his known source of income” and had indulged in “immoral and criminal” activities.

Apart from this, Ramli also disclosed that the police had allegedly investigated Zulkipli in connection with a sexual crime following a report filed by a housewife with the Dang Wangi police station in Kuala Lumpur. Continue reading “ACA Zulkipli must establish his integrity or be removed immediately”

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Judicial accountability – will the Altantuny murder trial be brought forward from March 2008?

Last week, when making his controversial, ill-advised and ill-considered comment likening the proposal for an independent judicial commission on appointment and promotion of judges as akin to nudity rather than transparency, the Chief Justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim claimed that he was both an advocate and practitioner of judicial accountability and transparency.

Ahmad Fairuz said: “I started (as the Chief Justice) in 2003 with accountability and integrity. We have been transparent.”

I have three questions for Ahmad Fairuz concerning accountability and integrity of the Chief Justice.

Firstly, will the Altantunya Shaariibuu murder trial set for hearing in March 2008 be brought forward in line with the maxim that “justice delayed is justice denied” as well as his earlier statement that the March 2008 trial date is “too far off”?

The Star in a front-page headline of 6th January 2007 “March 7, 2008: Altantunya murder trial — TOO LONG A WAIT” quoted the Chief Justice:

“The date is too far off. But we are appointing 16 new judges. Hopefully the trial can be brought forward.”

Secondly, what has happened to his public undertaking on his appointment as Chief Justice some four years ago in 2003 to recast the Judges’ Code of Ethics to restore public confidence in judicial independence, impartiality and integrity. Continue reading “Judicial accountability – will the Altantuny murder trial be brought forward from March 2008?”

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How Samy Vellu can transform from Dracula to saint

Works Minister and MIC President, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu is both incensed and very hurt.

This came across powerfully in the exclusive interview he gave for New Sunday Times today, “‘Works Minister, still smarting over being accused of ‘going for blood’, says… ‘I’m no Dracula'”.

He showed his feelings in the very first question of the interview, when he was asked about his “outburst about not being ‘the bad boy’ of tolls”, as follows:

Q: Your outburst about not being “the bad boy” of tolls took many by surprise. All kinds of allegations have been levelled at you over the years regarding toll hikes, so why did you react that way?

A: There’s pressure being applied now by the opposition. They were trying to paint a picture that I make all these decisions to bring hardship to road users and the people, which is not true.

I had wanted to say it for a long time, so I did it on that day (Feb 11), because, the previous day, Lim Kit Siang (the Opposition leader) had used a word which was really hurtful.

Lim Kit Siang said I was going for blood. He was indirectly saying I’m a Dracula. Only a Dracula goes for blood. A man and politician of his age and experience should be more cultured when he talks about other people.

First, let me state that “Dracula” had never entered my mind when in my statement of 3rd February I had demanded to know why Samy Vellu was “suddenly so ‘bloodthirsty’ as to want four Opposition leaders, namely Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim and Tian Chua of PKR, Ronnie Liu of DAP and Dr. Hatta Ramli (PAS) jailed for at least a year under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) for revealing that the government had guaranteed profits to Litrak in the Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong (LDP) concession agreement?”

My statement continued:

What have the four done that they must be treated like ‘highway robbers’ and must be made to suffer the most severe form of punitive punishment, of being jailed for at least one year, if they are charged under the OSA and found guilty of unauthorized communication of an official secret?

Have they done anything akin to sabotage or imperil the national economy, subvert the national security or undermine national stability?

I do not believe that Samy Vellu, even in his most creative best, would be able to make out a prima facie case that the four Opposition leaders had done any of these terrible things in connection with the publication of the Litrak LDP concession agreement. Continue reading “How Samy Vellu can transform from Dracula to saint”

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Arsenal training at Brickendonbury — Did Najib lie?

After chairing the meeting of the Cabinet Committee for Sports on February 8, 2007 Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced a RM68.7 million “refurbishment” of the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre (TARRC) in Brickendonbury, London into a high-performance sports training centre to be fully operational in April.

Najib said agreement “in principle” had been reached with Arsenal to train the national under-16 football team, which will be the first to use the London centre.

The Weekend Mail, in its first issue after its suspension, carried a report raising the question whether Najib had lied.

This is the report, “TRAINING STINT FOR NATIONAL UNDER-16 FOOTBALL TEAM – Arsenal says it’s unaware of proposal” by Rizal Hashim:

THE proposed Malaysia-Arsenal joint-venture to equip the country’s young footballers with the necessary weaponry to raise their game has been thrown into doubt after it emerged that no formal discussion had been held between the two parties.

This was confirmed through an e-mail response from the communications department of Arsenal to Mailsport on Friday.

“I am afraid we are not able to provide you with answers to your questions or an official club comment, however, I can confirm that the club does not know about the proposed arrangement and furthermore, we have no involvement in any such project,” the statement said.

Upon further investigation, Mailsport discovered the only discussion on the subject was held at Arsenal’s state-of-the-art training centre in Hertfordshire, between a five-man recce team from Kuala Lumpur and the centre manager, Sean O’Connor, just before the Cabinet Committee on Sports Development’s announcement on the proposed stint on Feb 8. Continue reading “Arsenal training at Brickendonbury — Did Najib lie?”

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A kink to login to the blog

A regular poster emailed the following complaint:

It seems impossible to login into your blog (for posting of comments) by reason of technical difficulties ie the recurrent appearance of message : ‘Your session has expired.ERROR: Invalid Username – Username: xxx'”

I also had this problem at first when the temporary blogsite, English.limkitsiang.com was switched back to blog.limkitsiang.com two days ago.

I was advised to clean up the cache. If using Explorer browser, for instance, go to Tools, Internet Options, Delete Cookies, and Delete Files. The problem vanished.

I emailed back to the poster suggesting he try out the same method. This is his reply:

“Your suggestion to clean up the cache, via Tools, Internet Options, Delete Cookies, and Delete Files actually worked! I can’t believe or understand it.

“Now no more recurrent appearances of the message : ‘Your session has expired.ERROR: Invalid Username’ – Username, which paved the way for username and password to be log-in resulting in the ‘login’ window for postings for each thread to appear below it. Continue reading “A kink to login to the blog”

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Why the difference of RM6.4 billion or RM9.85 billion in MITI and UNCTAD figures for 2006 FDIs

For the past two weeks, Malaysians had been fed with the news that good economic times are back, with the country drawing a record RM20.2 billion in foreign investment in manufacturing, a record 2006 trade volume breaching RM1 trillion, rocketing share prices, a strong ringgit and rising foreign reserves.

The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had denied that an imminent general election is on the cards because of the slew of good economic news to generate a “feed good euphoria” reminiscent of the period before the 2004 general election.

Although the next general election will not be held in the next few months, everyone would expect the holding of early general elections in the next eight to 14 months before April 2008, when Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim would regain his civil liberties including the right to stand for elections at the end of his five-year disqualification from the date of his prison release.

But are the good economic times back for the people of Malaysia? If so, a little-noticed announcement on Chinese New Year’s Day has sent out a very different message.

On February 18, 2007, Bernama reported that the government had scrapped its earlier plan to extend the textbook loan scheme to all school students, both at primary and secondary level, from next year. Deputy Education Minister, Datuk Noh Omar was quoted as saying that the move was scrapped as the ministry would incur an extra sum of over RM100 million yearly.

When the government has to cancel the textbook loan scheme for all students because it cannot afford the additional expenditure of RM100 million, it strains credibility to believe that the government and the country is aflush with funds.

Malaysians have been told in the past fortnight that the country is back on the global investment map, in reversal of the gloomy news in the past few months that Malaysia is in danger of dropping out from the radar of foreign investors because of increasing lack of international competitiveness, whether in efficiency of public service, quality of education, good governance, transparency and integrity. Continue reading “Why the difference of RM6.4 billion or RM9.85 billion in MITI and UNCTAD figures for 2006 FDIs”

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14 RM70,000 Ops Sikap XII watchtowers worth only half or less?

Works Minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu has denied the allegation of the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan that five of the 14 traffic watchtowers are unsafe for use — with one each in Selangor, Penang, Perak, Malacca and Negri Sembilan.

Sin Chew Daily reported with photograph on Thursday that the watchtower built at Tampin-Gemas Road 16km was so fragile and unsafe that it had been abandoned for the safety of the traffic policemen on duty.

It was first reported on 12th February 2007 (with photograph) that 14 manned watchtowers will be built in accident-prone stretches of federal, state and municipal roads for use durings Ops Sikap 12.

Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy had announced that the Cabinet had approved close to RM1 million to build the first 14 watchtowers in Peninsular Malaysia on roads where nine out of every 10 fatal accidents occur, and that each tower is expected to cost the Public Works Department about RM70,000.

On the same day, I received the following SMS from someone from the construction industry:

“Today’s NST page 8 prime news says 14 watch towers to cost government RM70k each is grossly over-priced. “

When I SMSed back to ask what would be the proper price range for such watchtowers, back came the reply:

“25 — 30k with transport and installation costing 5k a piece.” Continue reading “14 RM70,000 Ops Sikap XII watchtowers worth only half or less?”

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Snoop squads – remove Rosol as Terengganu Exco and Islam Hadhari Committe Chairman

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi went out of his way during his visit to Indonesia to “shoot down” a move by the Terengganu state government to set up a “snoop squad” or “informers” who would be rewarded for reporting “immoral activities”.

Stating his disapproval of such moves by religious authorities, Abdullah told them to stop policing the morals of Muslims and concentrate on tacking various urgent issues facing them.

The issue at stake is not so much about Terengganu state government attempting to set up a moral “snoop squad” or “informers”, but the credibility and legitimacy of the Prime Minister’s authority.

Why there is yet another attempt at moral policing, and this time under the auspices of the Terengganu Islam Hadhari Committee, despite the previous attempts in Malacca and Selangor to have either volunteer “snoop squads” or Mat Skodeng which were disbanded after the federal government had made known its disapproval as well as the international furore following the scandalous khalwat raid of an elderly American couple in Langkawi in Kedah?

From the statements given by the Terengganu Islam Hadhari Committee chairman, Datuk Rosol Wahid in the past two days, it is clear that the Terengganu state government or at least Rosol is not very convinced by Abdullah’s directive or reasons. Continue reading “Snoop squads – remove Rosol as Terengganu Exco and Islam Hadhari Committe Chairman”