Day: August 15, 2017

Fish farmers seek Suhakam help to solve land crisis

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Source: FMT News

KUALA LUMPUR: Several fish farmers today sought the help of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) to ensure that the Perak state government will conduct an investigation into the sale of the land used as fish farms.

The fish farmers, with the aid of Parti Socialis Malaysia (PSM) today, urged that Suhakam investigate the plight of the 39 fish farmers who are at risk of losing their livelihood.

PSM deputy chairperson M Sarasvathy said that the farmers have been in this business for more than 30 years, where their farms initially spanned across 162 acres of land.

“They found out that 137 acres of the land belonged to the state government, whereas the balance of 25 acres was owned by 15 other owners, who now want their land back,” she said at Suhakam headquarters earlier today. Read more →

Amended POCA more effective in combating crime, DPM says

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Source: The Malay Mail Online

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 15 ― The Prevention of Crime Act (POCA) 1959 has gone through a series of amendments for improvement to make it more effective in combating crime, especially organised crime and crime by syndicates using force and violence, and to be in tandem with current developments.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also Home Minister, said POCA was enforced in 1959 in Peninsular Malaysia to control and prevent organised crime by criminals, members of secret societies and other undesirable individuals who threatened national security.

He said it was “refreshed” through the POCA (Amendment and Extension) 2014, which was more effective in combating violent acts of crime and in balancing the law with human rights, and also in line with the maintenance of national security and peace. Read more →

Transparency: Corporate Malaysia doing better than government — Terence Fernandez

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Source: The Malay Mail Online

BY TERENCE FERNANDEZ

AUGUST 15 ― On August 8, the Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance (MICG) launched its inaugural report on transparency in corporate reporting among Malaysia’s top 100 public listed companies (PLCs).

As expected, and feared, many companies fell short of the three areas in which they were assessed: anti-corruption programmes (40 per cent); organisational transparency (30 per cent); and sustainability practices (30 per cent).

Out of a possible score of 10, the average company score was a mere 4.6.

But to be fair, some of these companies had already put in place or were in the process of putting in place the desired standards which were not taken into account and included in the final report.

But the results, nonetheless, were not surprising and generally represented the perception of public listed companies having some ways to go in areas of transparent processes including tender procedures and anti-corruption measures where only two companies had cohesive anti-graft training for staff and directors. Read more →