Day: November 20, 2015

Addendum to Statement on Abolishment of Death Sentence

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pdfADDENDUM TO STATEMENT DATED 19 NOVEMBER 2015
ON ABOLISHMENT OF THE DEATH SENTENCE 

ADDENDUM DATED 20 NOVEMBER 2015

capital punishmentFollowing HAKAM’s statement calling for a moratorium of all 1,022 executions while the government looks into abolishing the mandatory death sentence in Malaysia, HAKAM also urges the government to explore all diplomatic channels to persuade the Singapore government to grant clemency to Kho Jabing, the Sarawakian who is on death row in Singapore. HAKAM acknowledges Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem’s statement that he will write to appeal to the Singapore government to grant clemency to Jabing.

This is indeed an urgent call for the government to defend one of her citizens on death row. The Malaysian government must view this as a serious case. Kho Jabing was sentenced to death in 2008 and in 2013, Singapore amended its law concerning the mandatory death sentence. This resulted in a resentencing hearing for Kho Jabing. Read more →

Pardon for foreigners must go through Malaysian legal system, says Zahid

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Source: The Malaysian Insider

Death Penalty

Death Penalty

The pardon for foreigners who are given the death penalty in Malaysia must go through several procedures specified by the country’s legal system, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

“In making the appeal for a decision made by the court, those people concerned can do so to the Court of Appeal or can take it straight away to the Federal Court subsequently,” he told a media conference after receiving at his office in Putrajaya today by Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, the Indonesian coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs.

He said the Indonesian government had submitted 36 appeals for its nationals who had been sentenced to death by hanging to the Pardons Board through the appointed lawyers. Read more →

Perjanjian TPPA berimbang, baik untuk semua, kata Obama

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Sumber: The Malay Mail Online

tppa_graphic_bahasa_101015KUALA LUMPUR, 20 Nov — Perjanjian Perkongsian Trans-Pasifik (TPPA), yang kini dalam proses untuk diluluskan oleh setiap 12 negara peserta, merupakan perjanjian yang seimbang, yang mengambil kira manfaat setiap orang, kata Presiden Amerika Syarikat (AS) Barack Obama.

Menjawab kebimbangan beberapa pihak mengenai TPPA, beliau berkata dokumen persetujuan itu sudah dimuat naik dalam laman web, dan setiap orang memperoleh akses untuk membaca setiap bab sebelum ia disahkan, tertakluk kepada penerimaan atau ditolak oleh setiap parlimen negara yang terlibat.

“Perkara yang saya katanya ialah secara umumnya, dalam persekitaran baharu global, perubahan berlaku setiap masa dan sudah menjadi prinsip dan nilai saya bahawa kami akan memastikan perubahan itu baik untuk rakyat biasa.

“(Selain itu), ia baik untuk peladang, penuntut yang masih muda, baik untuk wanita, baik untuk negara membangun, dan saya tidak percaya bahawa kita perlu berhenti untuk berubah,” katanya menjawap soalan yang dikemukakan pada sesi townhall bersama alumni Inisiatif Pemimpin Muda Asia Tenggara Asia (YSEALI) di kampus Taylor’s University Lakeside, di sini hari ini. Read more →

Obama defends TPPA, says drug prices will come down

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Source: The Malaysian Insider

US President Barack Obama says there must be protection for certain drugs as no one would invent new products without intellectual property protection. – Reuters pic, November 20, 2015.

US President Barack Obama defended his Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) against accusations that it is an elitist deal by a young Malaysian participant at the town hall session today.

He said from a drug pricing perspective, the deal was done in such a way as to ensure that it protected the need for generic drugs for lower income people.

Obama said it was understandable that people had expressed concerns over the drugs patents, given that the US pharmaceutical industry was prominent across the world.

However, he said there needed to be some protection for certain drugs because without intellectual property protection, nobody was going to invent new drugs. Read more →

A-G drops sedition charge against Teresa Kok

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Source: The Malaysian Insider

The Attorney-General’s Chambers today withdrew the sedition charge against DAP lawmaker Teresa Kok for her “Onederful Malaysia CNY 2014” satire last year.

Kok expressed her gratitude to Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali, but added that from the outset, she should not have been charged at all as there was no justifiable basis.

Kok said her right to freedom of speech was violated when she was charged in May last year.

“It is also crystal clear that the video was a satire and was innocuous and harmed no one, or any section of our community in Malaysia and hence it was not seditious,” she said in a statement. Read more →

Should the Rest of Southeast Asia Join the TPP? – Lili Yang

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Source: The Diplomat

BY LILI YANG

Those countries that are not yet members should look very carefully at the fine print.

Image Credit: The White House; drawn from The Diplomat portal.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free trade agreement among 12 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, was concluded in October 2015. Southeast Asia is represented in the agreement by Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. Now that the TPP negotiations have successfully concluded – something that many did not expect – the other nations of Southeast Asian must consider their options. The Philippines and Thailand have shown an interest in becoming part of the TPP, while Indonesia has officially declared its intention to join.

Should they rush to join?

The Trans-Pacific Partnership consists of 30 chapters, with coverage that is extensive by the standards of trade agreements. The TPP covers not only trade in goods, services and investment, but also areas ranging from investment to dispute settlement, and from labor to the environment. Read more →

Pahang Government To Give Land Title For House Lot To Orang Asli

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Source: Bernama

KUANTAN, Nov 20 (Bernama) — The Pahang government has agreed to issue land title for house lot to the Orang Asli in the state with each household expected to be allotted 0.1 hectare, said Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob.

He said the decision was made as part of the state government’s initiatives to resolve land ownership problem facing the Orang Asli.

“At the same time, the state government will consider using the share scheme approach for the Orang Asli reserve land to avoid the community from selling the land to other people,” he added. Read more →

Manek Urai school preparing pupils for floods

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Source: The Star Online

KUALA KRAI: He’s just nine, but Irfan Aiman Abdul Rahman is already learning how to prepare for possible floods next month.

On the last day of school yesterday, he and his schoolmates at SK Manek Urai, along with their tea­chers carried the tables, chairs and other furniture from the ground floor to the second floor.

“We are doing this because there may be floods again this year,” said a shy Irfan while moving a table upstairs with another pupil.

Last year’s December floods were so severe in Manek Urai that the water level at the school, which is used as an evacuation centre, reached the third floor.

The school lost most of its furniture to the flood. Even the staff room at the second floor and their computers were not spared.

So the new principal Muzli Mustapha decided this year that they would not be taking any chances. Read more →

As Obama heads to Malaysia, human trafficking stance questioned

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Source: The Malaysian Insider

Rohingya people being transported in an immigration truck. There have been concerns by US State Department experts that people who already suffered at the hands of human smugglers and traffickers faced more problems and abuse at Malaysia’s immigration detention facilities. – Reuters pic, November 20, 2015.

Inus Abul Baser, an 18-year-old from Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority, believed he had escaped the worst when he managed to buy his freedom from human traffickers in Thailand and enter Malaysia in search of security and work.

But within weeks, he was cooped up in a filthy, overcrowded detention centre near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, squatting or sleeping on the floor in a hall with scores of other men.

During his fourth month, wardens ordered them not to move or talk, he says, and beat them with belts if they did.

“There was no rest. You couldn’t sit or lie down without touching someone else,” he said, pointing to a welt on his forearm that he says he received when a guard beat him for arguing with another detainee over space. Read more →