Author: Evan Quick

PAS leaders only good for felling trees, says Perkasa

Evan Quick

Source: FMT News

Ibrahim Ali - Pic from FMT News

Ibrahim Ali – Pic from FMT News

By Aedi Asri

KUALA LUMPUR: Though Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali is supportive of PAS’ efforts to empower the shariah courts, he is critical of the way the PAS-led Kelantan government has handled the issue of logging in Gua Musang.

“Good that PAS has Islam in its name but it has stupid leaders who only know how to chop down trees.

“I’m not pointing at any PAS leader in particular, but I’m disappointed,” he said in a press conference at the Perkasa headquarters here yesterday.

Ibrahim was referring to the Kelantan government’s logging activities in Gua Musang which had led to a standoff with the Orang Asli, who claimed their way of life and their livelihoods were increasingly threatened by deforestation.

Since September last year, the Orang Asli have built illegal barricades around the Balah permanent forest reserve to prevent transportation of timber. Read more →

Volunteers not allowed to visit refugee camp due to low safety level

Evan Quick

Source: The Malay Mail Online

Malaysian Islamic Organisations Consultative Council (MAPIM) president Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid (left) handing items to representatives of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society at Chittagong port February 14, 2017. — Bernama pic

Malaysian Islamic Organisations Consultative Council (MAPIM) president Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid (left) handing items to representatives of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society at Chittagong port February 14, 2017. — Bernama pic

CHITTAGONG (Bangladesh), Feb 14 — The low level of safety was the main reason the Bangladesh Government only allowed 25 volunteers of the Food Flotilla For Myanmar to visit the country’s refugee camp.

Humanitarian Mission head Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim said the Bangladesh authorities were worried that they would not be able to control the situation if all the 182 volunteers went to the refugee camp.

“The safety of the volunteers is not guaranteed because they have found firearms at the refugee camp, that is why only 25 people were allowed to disembark.

“The Government of Bangladesh suggested that we come back in 15 days if we want to see the distribution of food supplies,” he told reporters after handing over 2,000 tonnes of foodstuff to the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society and International Organisation for Migration (IOM) at Chittagong Port here today. Read more →

Sold into marriage: How Rohingya girls become child brides in Malaysia

Evan Quick

Source: Reuters via The Malay Mail Online

Under Islamic law, Muslim girls under 16 can marry with permission from the Shariah court, though in the case of the Rohingya marriages in Malaysia there is no court involvement. — Reuters pic

Under Islamic law, Muslim girls under 16 can marry with permission from the Shariah court, though in the case of the Rohingya marriages in Malaysia there is no court involvement. — Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 15 — The slight girl in a turquoise headscarf held back tears as she recalled what happened when she fled to Malaysia from Myanmar’s violence-hit Rakhine state. Just 12-years-old at the time, she was forced to wed a man she did not know, and who was more than a decade older than her.

The teenager, who is not being named by Reuters because she is still only 13, is like hundreds of Rohingya girls escaping persecution, violence and apartheid-like conditions in Rakhine, only to be sold into marriage to Rohingya men in neighbouring Malaysia, migrant groups and community members said.

Separated from her family while escaping to Malaysia, she said she was caught by traffickers and held for weeks in a filthy and brutal jungle camp near the Thai-Malaysian border with dozens of others. Her captors told her a Rohingya man was willing to give her freedom if she agreed to marry him.

“The (trafficking) agent said I had been sold to a man and I asked, how could do they do that?… My heart was heavy and I was scared,” the girl said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur. Read more →

EAIC: Revised police lock-up rules ignored

Evan Quick

Source: The Star Online

PETALING JAYA: Police lock-up rules were revised in 2014 to prevent custodial deaths but the rank and file are oblivious to them, says EAIC chairman Datuk Yaacob Md Sam.

EAIC is the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission which monitors misconduct allegations against enforcement agencies.

The commission’s inspections following the two custodial deaths this year found those manning lock-ups were still relying on old procedures, said Yaacob.

The inspections were done at the Bera (Pahang) and Klang (North) district police headquarters.

 When asked which of the rules policemen were unaware of, he said “all”. Read more →

Injured inmate: Finish probe first, says Ramasamy

Evan Quick

Source: FMT News

P Ramasamy - Pic from FMT News

P Ramasamy – Pic from FMT News

PETALING JAYA: Penang police have jumped the gun by claiming the injuries sustained by prisoner Chandran Muniandy are due to a fall, said P Ramasamy.

The Penang deputy chief minister II said police should complete their investigations first before attempting to explain to the public what they believed had happened to 42-year-old Chandran.

It is for this reason too that Ramasamy refused to accept the “simple and premature” explanation they provided, adding that he would “discuss with his lawyers to make sure the family got the truth”.

“Some things the police said did not make sense,” he told FMT.

“For example, police said that Chandran’s missing toenails were removed because he had a skin disease. But I spoke to his mother and she said he didn’t have any disease.” Read more →

Let God deal with LGBT, Jakim told

Evan Quick

Source: FMT News

Siti Kasim - Pic from FMT News

Siti Kasim – Pic from FMT News

PETALING JAYA: Human rights activist Siti Kasim has criticised Jakim for suggesting a person’s sexual orientation can be changed with extensive religious training. She said it was trying to play God.

“I don’t understand these people,” she told FMT. “They should keep their religious or moral beliefs to themselves and just shut up. If people in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community are wrong, then let God punish them.”

Jakim recently released a three-minute video comparing sexual orientation with horse riding, saying that when a person realises he has a “different” sexual orientation and wishes to make a change, he should be given extensive training and guidance.

Siti said such an assumption was not backed by scientific evidence and therefore nonsensical. Read more →

Cops nab 19-year-old for making offensive remark against Tunku Ismail

Evan Quick

Source: The Malay Mail Online

Johor police chief Datuk Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd said the suspect was arrested yesterday following a police report that he used WhatsApp to make an offensive remark. — AFP pic

Johor police chief Datuk Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd said the suspect was arrested yesterday following a police report that he used WhatsApp to make an offensive remark. — AFP pic

JOHOR BARU, Feb 13 — Police have arrested a 19 year-old male for allegedly making an offensive remark against the Tunku Mahkota of Johor, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim.

Johor police chief Datuk Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd said the suspect was arrested in this city at 3.25 pm yesterday following a police report that he used WhatsApp to make an offensive remark.
Read more →

BEBAS petition MPs to vote against Hadi’s Bill

Evan Quick

Source: The Malay Mail Online

BEBAS will hold a counter-rally against Himpunan 355 at Taman Jaya park (pic) in Petaling Jaya on February 18, 2017. — Google pic

BEBAS will hold a counter-rally against Himpunan 355 at Taman Jaya park (pic) in Petaling Jaya on February 18, 2017. — Google pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 13 — A secular activist group has submitted a petition to all MPs today to reject a private member’s Bill to enhance the Shariah courts, should it be tabled in the coming Dewan Rakyat sitting.

The group calling itself BEBAS listed three reasons as to why the Bill should be opposed, which among others claimed that the law would exacerbate the unequal treatment of Muslims and non-Muslims; invalid concrete evidence to prove that the proposed law would be effective; and the possible abuse of the law if it was passed.

“Those who support the proposed amendment to Act 355 seem to refuse to acknowledge the grave weaknesses in the protection of the accused under the current system. Any move to enhance Shariah punishments will only make things worse. Read more →

DAP Sabah calls on EC to explain voter registration anomaly

Evan Quick

Source: The Borneo Post

KOTA KINABALU: DAP Sabah organising secretary Henry Shim has urged the Election Commission (EC) to provide an explanation over a recent complaint on voters registration that went viral on Facebook.

The said complaint arose when a resident by the name of Achmadi bin Abdul Libad found that his name was duplicated in the EC website when checking on his electoral voter status. The duplicated name, however, was registered through a police ID and not a normal IC, and the duplicated names were registered at different constituencies, but with the same date of birth.

“This is ridiculous! If the said registrations are proven to be from the same person, how could the same person appears to be in two different constituencies? If such system error appears to be within the EC’s voters registration system, how many such similar cases are already within the community of Malaysians? This has again raised the question that must be answered by the EC to the public, was it an administration snafu, or was there a conspiracy behind this?” he asked

Read more →

Bersih’s Maria Chin withdraws suit against EC

Evan Quick

Source: The Star Online

Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah - Pic from The Star Online

Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah – Pic from The Star Online

PETALING JAYA: Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah has withdrawn her appeal against the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision to refuse her leave for a judicial review to challenge the Election Commission’s redelineation exercise.

Bersih 2.0 said that if it proceeded with the appeal, the “outcome would not be favourable” as it may lead to a precedent that would have adverse affects on pending and future redelineation lawsuits.

“We regret that our leave was not granted in the High Court and now circumstances have also led us to stop our pursuit in the Court of Appeal,” it said in a statement Monday.

The electoral watchdog said that although it has withdrawn its lawsuit, it believed that Maria Chin’s legal challenge has helped draw public attention to the issue.

In November last year, Judicial Commissioner Azizul Azmi Adnan dismissed the case, saying he found that Maria Chin did not have an arguable case. Read more →