Day: June 22, 2018

Abu Talib: Probe on 1MDB almost complete

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Source: Malay Mail

Former attorney general Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman arrives at Ilham Tower, Kuala Lumpur June 7, 2018. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon

Former attorney general Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman arrives at Ilham Tower, Kuala Lumpur June 7, 2018. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon

KUALA LUMPUR, June 22 — 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) special committee chairman Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman said the multiple investigations into the troubled state-owned investment fund are almost complete.

He told reporters, after meeting Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdull and his predecessor Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed, that the 1MDB taskforce had briefed him on the latest developments.

“Investigations are progressing well and almost ready to be submitted to the Attorney General Chambers for its attention,” he said as he was leaving Ilham Tower here, where the meeting took place. Read more →

Give us back our NCR lands, Sarawak natives tell state

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Source: Malay Mail

SCRIPTS chairman Michael Jok (right) and legal adviser Henry Joseph (left) after handing over the Native Customary Rights Land Declaration to the deputy chief minister’s office in Kuching June 22, 2018. — Picture by Sulok Tawie

SCRIPTS chairman Michael Jok (right) and legal adviser Henry Joseph (left) after handing over the Native Customary Rights Land Declaration to the deputy chief minister’s office in Kuching June 22, 2018. — Picture by Sulok Tawie

KUCHING, June 22 — A group of indigenous Sarawakians today handed their demand to Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah’s office, asking the state government to revoke provisional leases (PL) issued to plantation and logging companies involving their native customary rights (NCR) lands.

Sarawak Society for the Protection of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights (SCRIPTS) chairman Michael Jok said all of the leases were issued to companies linked to current Governor Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud when he was chief minister for 33 years.

“For example, virtually the whole of Baram interior has been issued with PLs when Taib was the chief minister,” Jok told reporters after handing the Native Customary Rights Land Declaration to Uggah’s office.

“Based on the submissions from 54 communities in Baram interior which we have received thus far, about 2.8 million hectares of their NCR lands have been leased out by the state government to logging and oil palm companies,” Jok said. Read more →

AGC won’t represent EC in election petitions

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Source: Malay Mail

Attorney-General Tommy Thomas — Picture by Mukhriz Hazim

KUALA LUMPUR, June 22 — The Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) said today it will not represent the Election Commission (EC) or any parties in election petitions to avoid a conflict of interest.

Attorney General (AG) Tommy Thomas told the EC to recruit its own lawyers instead from the Malaysian Bar.

“As a neutral arbiter in the running of elections, SPR should not be represented by officers from the Chambers because there is a possibility of conflict of interest and the perception that justice must be seen to be done,” Thomas said in a statement, using the Malay initials for the EC. Read more →

Kit Siang: Make first day of 14th Parliament a watershed with voting reforms

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Source: Malay Mail

KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 — Lim Kit Siang pressed the country’s federal lawmakers to make history in the first parliamentary session of this term by lowering the voting age to open up the ballot to greater swathes of society.

Seizing on Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s remarks supporting the call to open voting to Malaysians aged 18 and over, the DAP parliamentary leader said he has pushed for such reforms for nearly five decades.

He also noted that Malaysia was part of only a handful of holdouts including Singapore that still insist on retaining a voting age of 21 and over.

“Youths at 18 ought to have the right to vote and to have a say about the way in which their lives are governed and the country is being run, as society expects them to assume adult social responsibilities whether conscription when there is war or national emergency, even to die in the defence of the country,” he said. Read more →