'Looks like me' Lingam - Helah tak menjadi?
0 Comments Published by TasekPauh Blogspot on Tuesday, January 22, 2008 at 11:44 PM.
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 - It looks like me and it sounds like me, said Datuk V.K Lingam.
He denied that it was former Chief Justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim on the other side of the line.
“Irrespective of what others have said, it looks like me, it sounds like me. (more here)
Also Lingam: ‘I talk rubbish when I drink’Malaysia bukan negara polis - Pak Lah
0 Comments Published by TasekPauh Blogspot on Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 6:33 AM.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi raised the country`s expectations for reform when he took office in 2003He is not only weak, but..
Rakyat diajak segera ganti kerajaan tidak bertamadun
PutraJaya, Reuters, Dec 12 - Malaysia denied on Wednesday it was a police state, despite launching the biggest crackdown on anti-government activists in a decade.
Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told Reuters the government was merely trying to ensure public safety in enforcing a blanket ban on street protests that has prompted opposition groups to accuse it of political repression ahead of a possible early election.
"We have never been a police state," he said in an interview in his office in the sprawling the administrative capital of Putrajaya.
"To say Malaysia is heading into a police state is an untrue statement and is an exaggeration, especially under our current PM. He is very careful, open and transparent. I think there is a limit to everything."
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi raised the country's expectations for reform when he took office in 2003, vowing to fight corruption and usher in more transparent, open government.
Four years later, frustrations at the slow progress of his reform agenda, coupled with discontent over rising living costs, have boiled over into the biggest street protests in nine years.
More than 20,000 people defied riot police and took to the streets of the capital, Kuala Lumpur, in two separate protests over the past five weeks, on issues that chimed with the clamour for reform: fairer politics and more equal race relations.
The last major rally, staged by more than 10,000 ethnic Indians complaining of racial discrimination, drew world attention, particularly from India, whose prime minister voiced sympathy for the plight of the Indian diaspora in Malaysia.
Syed Hamid, who now has the job of explaining Malaysia's actions to the world, said the government tolerated criticism but street protests risked public security and stability.
"You have to distinguish between riotous behaviour and open and transparent discussion," he said. "There is no problem with open and transparent discussion."
RIOTOUS BEHAVIOUR
He also showed irritation at a media report that the U.S. State Department had also expressed criticism of the crackdown.
"If you look at every developed country, they don't tolerate riotous behaviour," he said, citing the large deployments of riot police in Western capitals during international summits such as the Asia Pacific Economic Forum and the World Trade Organisation.
"During APEC or WTO meetings, they close up roads in order not to allow demonstrators. We are (doing) nothing more than that."
Washington said Kuala Lumpur should allow freedom of expression and peaceful assemblies.
"We have repeatedly raised with Malaysian authorities our belief that citizens of any country should be allowed to peacefully assemble and express their views," Nancy Beck, U.S. State Department spokeswoman said in a remark originally reported by AFP.
"We also stated in our human rights report our belief that the Malaysian government places significant restrictions on the right to assemble peacefully."
Opposition parties and non-governmental bodies issued a joint statement on Wednesday seeking an urgent meeting with Abdullah to discuss the "recent crises" and press for national unity.
"We intend to purse the agenda of national unity and reconciliation ..., press on with our demands for free and fair elections, and work towards resolving the serious national problems we face," said de facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
The risk of street protests turning into riots is a real fear among many Malaysians, particularly those who lived through the last major eruption of racial violence in Kuala Lumpur in 1969.
Hundreds died in those riots between ethnic Malays, who make up most of the population, and ethnic Chinese. The current prime minister played a leading role in the immediate aftermath of that crisis to find a political solution to the racial troubles.
But the opposition accuses Abdullah now of using public order and the memory of 1969 as an excuse to stifle peaceful dissent.
In seeking to protect public security, police moved last weekend in the early morning to halt an annual human-rights march by just 60 people in the near-deserted streets of Kuala Lumpur.
Syed Hamid accused Anwar, sacked and jailed after he fell out with the then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1998, of instigating and organising the protests.
"When you start to instigate and you start to throw aspersion that can cause people to get emotional ... to organise demonstrations is not good. We have been very tolerant of him."
Labels: Bersih, Hindraf, Judiciary, Malaysia, Pak Lah, Polis
Program Festival of Rights dipindah sebagai protes
0 Comments Published by TasekPauh Blogspot on Thursday, December 06, 2007 at 10:28 PM.
Oleh SALHAN K. AHMAD
PETALING JAYA, mStarOnline, 6 Dis - Program 'Festival Of Rights' anjuran Majlis Peguam yang dijadualkan untuk diadakan di Pasar Seni pada Ahad ini, telah ditukar ke bangunan penganjur itu sendiri di Leboh Pasar Besar, Kuala Lumpur.
mStar Online difahamkan, pihak berkuasa telah memaklumkan Majlis Peguam bahawa program itu memerlukan permit, sepertimana perarakan sempena Hari Hak Asasi Manusia yang telah dibatalkan.
Pengerusi jawatankuasa hak asasi badan itu Edmund Bon berkata keputusan itu diambil sebagai satu tanda "protes" terhadap keperluan memohon permit dari pihak polis bagi mengadakan program kebudayaan itu.
"Kami telah memaklumkan polis mengenai program Festival of Rights. Kami telah diminta untuk memohon permit.
"Ia akan menjadi satu ironi dan sangat tidak adil kepada kami untuk membuat permohonan itu. Jadi kami dengan itu memindahkan perayaan kita (yang akan bermula pada 9 pagi) ke bangunan Majlis Peguam," katanya ketika dihubungi hari ini.
Katanya lagi, beliau kesal kerana pengajur terpaksa memprotes, sedangkan Hari Hak Asasi Manusia perlu dirayakan di seluruh dunia.
"Hak kebebasan bersuara secara praktikal hanyalah satu ilusi di Malaysia. Hak bersuara yang dilesenkan bukan satu suara. Kita perlu menukar (situasi) ini," katanya lagi.
Beliau juga turut menyeru masyarakat supaya memberi perhatian ke atas tekanan ke atas hak masyarakat di negara ini "terutama terhadap kawalan ke atas kebebasan bersuara dengan syarat perlesenan."
Program bertemakan "As I Believe: Freedom of Expression through Art, Music, Culture and Conscience" itu antara lain akan memuatkan acara membaca puisi, persembahan kebudayaan Orang Asli, serta diskusi antara agama daripada wakil-wakil badan keagamaan.
BN lantik bekas peguam parti sebagai hakim ke 2 tertingi
0 Comments Published by TasekPauh Blogspot on at 10:11 PM.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) Dec 06 - Malaysia's government has appointed a former ruling party lawyer as the No. 2 judge in the country, provoking sharp concerns among the Bar Council and the opposition at his meteoric rise through the ranks.
Zaki Azmi raised eyebrows when he became the first lawyer to be directly appointed as a judge in the Federal Court three months ago. He was named president of the Court of Appeal on Wednesday night by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
As president of the Court of Appeal, he is second only to the country's chief justice, a post he could assume next year.
Zaki's appointment was surprising, «given that there were other suitable candidates in terms of seniority and service in the judiciary,» Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan said in a statement late Wednesday.
His appointment comes amid questions about the integrity of Malaysia's judiciary, which many say has been compromised following allegations that top judicial appointments were manipulated.
The allegations surfaced after opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim released in September a 2002 video clip showing a prominent lawyer allegedly brokering judicial appointments while talking on the phone. The lawyer is heard identifying the person at the other end as Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, who later became the country's chief justice.
Ahmad Fairuz retired in November. His post was filled Wednesday by Abdul Hamid Mohamad, who is due to retire next year. Zaki is the front runner to replace Abdul Hamid.
Lim Kit Siang, head of the opposition Democratic Action Party, said Zaki's quick rise was a shock. "His appointment as Court of Appeal president has confirmed he is only half a beat away from the top post," he said.
Zaki previously served as the legal adviser to the United Malays National Organization, the dominant party in the ruling coalition. He also chaired the party's disciplinary committee, and was on the board of several companies.
"There are reservations given his very active role as UMNO lawyer in the past two decades, which may compromise the integrity and independence needed of judges," Lim said.
Ambiga, the Bar Council president, said concerns about Zaki's links must be dispelled by a display of integrity and exemplary performance on the bench.
"Society must be left with no doubt that the judiciary is free from any allegiances or alliances and that it is above reproach in all respects," she added.
In Malaysia, the prime minister recommends candidates for top judicial posts. The hereditary rulers of the country's nine states endorse the candidates, but they usually accept the government's list.
Video Lingam - Royal Commission?
0 Comments Published by TasekPauh Blogspot on Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 11:40 PM.
See also Rocky's Bru Lingam tape "child play"?
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) Nov 17 - Malaysia will set up a panel with wide powers to probe opposition claims that a senior lawyer used political connections to fix judicial appointments, the state news agency, Bernama, reported.The move follows recommendations for such an inquiry - which Malaysians call
a Royal Commission - by a three-member panel the government set up to decide the authenticity of a videotape released by the opposition in September to support the claim.
Malaysian lawyers and opposition parties have been pressing for a royal commission, saying the three-member independent panel did not have enough powers to do the job.
"We've agreed to set up the commission. Now we're deciding on the terms of reference, the tasks to be undertaken by the commission," Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told reporters, according to a Bernama report late on Friday.
The video has touched a nerve in the judiciary, whose reputation has been under question since the late 1980s, when the head of the Supreme Court was removed from office after a clash between then premier Mahathir Mohamad and the judiciary.
Mahathir also introduced constitutional changes in 1988 that limited judges' powers and, critics say, effectively ensured that government decisions could be protected from legal challenge. Malaysian opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said he could only offer a conditional welcome for the news, because he feared the terms of the inquiry would be too limited to resolve the crisis of confidence in the integrity and independence of the judiciary.
"There is a disturbing indication that it will be a very restricted and circumscribed inquiry," Lim, who heads the mainly ethnic Chinese Democratic Action Party, said in a statement.
Malaysia's Bar Council, which says it represents all of the country's roughly 12,000 lawyers, staged a rare march in September to press for a royal commission to investigate the charges aired in the videotape, said to have been made in 2002.
A royal commission of inquiry has wider powers to call witnesses and compel them to give evidence than the inquiry panel the government first set up.
Abdullah said three ministers asked to provide legal input on the panel's report would do so at a weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday, and the commission's members would be picked after the scope of its inquiry had been set, Bernama added.
Bekas Agong sedih dengan kehilangan kepercayaan terhadap hakim
0 Comments Published by TasekPauh Blogspot on Monday, October 29, 2007 at 11:35 PM.
Malaysia's former king grieves over public's loss of trust in judges
By SEAN YOONG, Associated Press
Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah, addressing a conference of lawyers, said there have been recent "disturbing events relating to the judiciary" - an apparent reference to a scandal involving a video tape that allegedly provides proof of judicial corruption.
"Sadly I must acknowledge there has been some disquiet about our judiciary," Azlan said. "I am driven nostalgically to look back to a time when our judiciary was the pride of our region, and our neighbors spoke admiringly of our legal system."
Azlan, the highly respected sultan of northern Perak state, stressed that "a judiciary loses its value and service to the community if there is no public confidence in its decision-making."
Azlan was king for five years through 1994. Each of Malaysia's nine hereditary state rulers take turns as the country's constitutional monarch under a unique rotational system. Their role is largely ceremonial, and the power to govern resides with Parliament and the prime minister.
The sultan's comments come after an opposition party last month released a video clip in which a prominent lawyer is allegedly taped brokering the appointment of top judges in 2002.
The government has set up an independent panel to probe the authenticity of the video, but says there is no need to overhaul the judiciary.
Perceptions that people have lost faith in judges are the "opinion of some people, not necessarily the majority," Malaysia's law minister, Nazri Aziz, said Monday.
"We respect the opinions. The government has (its) own perception, but we listen," he said.
Malaysia's Bar Council, which represents 12,000 lawyers, has said the video scandal illustrates the need to change the procedure for appointing judges.
Currently, senior judges are chosen and recommended for appointment by the prime minister, though the king formally appoints them. The Bar Council wants an impartial commission to evaluate candidates.
Bar Council President Ambiga Sreenevasan, in a speech to the same conference that the former king addressed, said that lawyers see increasing signs of a lack of trust in judges, such as contract clauses for arbitration outside judicial jurisdiction.
"In a nation like ours with aspirations to a first-world economy, the administration of justice is key," Ambiga said in a speech to the Bar Council's Malaysian Law Conference.
Pendedahan video klip VK Lingam oleh Anwar
0 Comments Published by TasekPauh Blogspot on Friday, September 21, 2007 at 12:09 AM.
Lagi dari blog Jeff Ooi:
Growing calls for CJ to step down
Lame-ass Press
PKR lodges ACA report over video clip on judiciary appointments
Llew-Ann Phang and Suresh Ram - Sun2Surf
Sivarasa told reporters the party had arranged for an appointment with FT ACA director Acting Senior Commissioner I Abu Zubir Mahfodz @ Hatmon to submit a written report on the eight-minute video recording which showed a prominent lawyer discussing judicial appointments over the telephone with a senior judge, an audio recording lasting less than a minute and a copy of the press release PKR issued at its press conference chaired by party adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim yesterday.
Anwar did not reveal the source of the video but said it was recorded in 2002 and showed that judicial appointments could be fixed.
"This is a follow-up action by the PKR after the expose yesterday of the video which was recorded in the lawyer’s home in Kelana Jaya," Sivarasa said.
The content of the video, he said, was a telephone conversation between the lawyer and the then Chief Judge of Malaya – the number three position in the judiciary – who was also the acting Court of Appeal president.
"We believe that the content of the conversation involves corruption among senior judges.
"The audio recording exposes the political conspiracy between the lawyer and a top level Umno official to sack Anwar from his position," he said.
Sivarasa added that PKR president Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail had announced in an earlier press conference that the party would seek an audience with the Conference of Rulers to present them with the material and with Perak’s Sultan Azlan Shah, who was once head of the judiciary.
When contacted later, an ACA spokesman confirmed receiving the report from PKR and said the agency will be investigating the case.
Meanwhile, the senior lawyer could not be reached for comment. A staff in his legal firm said he was abroad and would continue to be away at least until the end of the month.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz, who handles the law portfolio, said the case of various parties featured in the video clip and alleged conspiracy in judiciary appointments should go through the proper channel and the relevant authorities such as the police or the ACA.
He said if this was not done, the authorities would only treat the issue as nothing more than a media report.
"There needs to be a proper channel (for the video to be investigated and) for me to call for an explanation," he said, when contacted.
Nazri said he would wait for the ACA to complete its investigations before taking any further action on the matter.
"I would be able to say more … once the investigations are completed," he said.
Meanwhile, the Bar Council has postponed its meeting on the controversial video from today [Friday] to tomorrow [Saturday]. Its vice-president, Ragunath Kesavan, said the meeting would involve all the members of the Bar Council.
"We would be discussing the video in general," he said, when contacted.
Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang said in a statement he has written to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, calling on him to invoke Article 125 of the Federal Constitution to suspend the judge in question, as well as establish a judicial tribunal to investigate the matter.
Suara Rakyat Malaysia said the revelation would have serious consequences and affect public and international confidence in the judicial system in Malaysia.
