Day: October 18, 2016

Violence worsening, Putrajaya told after death threats against Bersih chief’s sons

Coordinator

Source: The Malay Mail Online

Bersih 2.0’s chairman Maria Chin Abdullah and her three sons are among those who have received death threats and JAG is calling for the authorities to take action. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng, taken from Malay Mail Online.

Bersih 2.0’s chairman Maria Chin Abdullah and her three sons are among those who have received death threats and JAG is calling for the authorities to take action. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng, taken from Malay Mail Online.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 — The authorities must take a firm stand on the death threats against civil rights activists that have also widened to include their families if it doesn’t want to be seen as tolerating extremism, a human rights coalition said today.

The Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) said it was outraged at the death threats against prominent activist Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, Bersih 2.0’s chairman Maria Chin Abdullah and her three sons, and the electoral watchdog’s committee member Mandeep Karpall, stressing the need for impartial action to be taken.

“JAG calls on the Malaysian government, the Royal Malaysian Police Force, and other agencies to do their duty with conscientiousness and impartiality.

“Members of the Cabinet and political leaders from all parties, regardless of ideology, need to unequivocally condemn the violence and death threats,” the coalition said in statement.

According to JAG, the death threats were spread through a chat application in the form of digitally-altered photos, which depicted a black-clad masked man standing and holding a knife to the throats of six kneeling individuals. Read more →

Kenyataan Media: Pengerusi, Pengurus dan Mantan Pengerusi BERSIH membuat laporan polis ekoran ugutan bunuh yang diterima oleh ISIS Malaysia

Coordinator

Press Statement released by Bersih 2.0

 

KENYATAAN MEDIA

18 OKTOBER 2016

PENGERUSI, PENGURUS DAN MANTAN PENGERUSI BERSIH MEMBUAT LAPORAN POLIS EKORAN UGUTAN BUNUH YANG DITERIMA OLEH ISIS MALAYSIA

Semalam, Pengerusi BERSIH, Maria Chin Abdullah menerima sebuah ugutan bunuh melalui Whatsapp. Ugutan itu dibuat terhadap Maria dan keluarga beliau dan didakwa dikeluarkan oleh Islamic State Malaysia.

Mesej tersebut berbunyi:

“HOI MARIA..AKU TAK MAU BAGI SALAM KT KO SBB AKU TAK TAU KO NI ISLAM BETUL KE TAK..KO DGR SINI BAIK2..AKU TAK MO CKP BNYK KALI. AKU NK BAGI LAST WARNING KT KO JANGAN TERUSKAN NIAT BODOH KO UNTUK ANJUR HIMPUNAN BERSIH YANG MENATANG APA TU..KO JANGAN CUBA NAK BANGKITKAN KEMARAHAN ORG2 MELAYU..

KO JANGAN HERET ORG MELAYU BERSEKONGKOL DENGAN CINA DAN KELING KAPIR HARBI TU..AKU TAK KAN TERAGAK-AGAK UNTUK BALUN SAMPAI LUMAT DAN JUGA SANGGUP SEMBELIH KO DAN KUNCU-KUNCU ANJING KO SEMUA TU MACAM AMBIGA PANDIKUTTY DAN ANAK HARAM SI MANDEEP.

DEMI ALLAH DAN KESUCIAN PERJUANGAN ISLAM DI MALAYSIA, KALAU KO NAK HILANG KEPALA MCM KT SYRIA, TERUSKAN KEJE BODOH KO TU. AKU POTONG KEPALA KO AKU RAKAM DAN AKAN AKU SEBAR DLM U TUBE…AKU KENAL SAPE KO, AKU TAU KT MANA KO TINGGAL DAN AKU JUGAK TAU SAPE FMLY DAN ANAK-ANAK KO……

AKU AKAN TENTANG ABIS2AN KEJE BODOH KAU..INGAT!!!!! TAKDE AMARAN LAGI!!!!

INI AMARAN DARI ISLAMIC STATE MALAYSIA…”

Penghantar atau kumpulan yang menghantar mesej tersebut memberi amaran supaya perhimpunan Bersih 5 tidak diteruskan dan mengugut untuk “sembelih” dan “potong kepala” Maria dan “kuncu-kuncu anjing” beliau.

Ugutan tersebut turut melampirkan gambar tiga orang anak Maria. Perbuatan terhina ini menunjukkan kekejian dan betapa terdesaknya dalang-dalang yang terlibat ini. Yang lebih teruk lagi adalah tindakan ini menggunakan nama agama Islam untuk menabur fitnah dan mengugut Maria, Ambiga, Mandeep, dan anak-anak Maria.

Ugutan bunuh ini juga bertujuan menakutkan gerakan aman BERSIH. Konvoi BERSIH yang sedang berlangsung telah berjaya menyebarkan mesej perubahan institusi di bandar-bandar dan kampung-kampung di seluruh Malaysia. Ini telah meningkatkan banyak kesedaran di kalangan rakyat dan menggugat mereka yang menentang BERSIH.

Sejak Konvoi Bersih dan perhimpunan BERSIH5 diumumkan, pelbagai kenyataan berbaur perkauman, ugutan, perbohongan berunsurkan keagamaan, and keganasan telah diajukan terhadap BERSIH.

Read more →

Ambiga: Death threats ‘act of terrorism’

Coordinator

Source: The Malay Mail Online

 

Ambiga said that she, Chin, and Mandeep will be lodging a police report this evening. — Picture by Choo Choy May, taken from the Malay Mail Online.

Ambiga said that she, Chin, and Mandeep will be lodging a police report this evening. — Picture by Choo Choy May, taken from the Malay Mail Online.

SHAH ALAM, Oct 18 — Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan today described the death threats against her and other activists as “an act of terrorism” and called for an immediate investigation.

It is understood that unknown individuals made death threats against the president of the National Human Rights Society (Hakam), Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah, her three children and committee member Mandeep Singh.

The threat was in the form of a picture depicting victims who were beheaded by the Islamic State (IS), whose heads were photoshopped and replaced with Ambiga’s, Chin’s and Mandeep’s faces.

“It is appalling, they’ve crossed the line. It is an act of terrorism. It is a clear threat, the police need to act on this immediately,” Ambiga told reporters. Read more →

Azmin: EC redelineation threatens Selangor’s multiculturalism

Coordinator

Source: The Malay Mail Online

SHAH ALAM, Oct 18 — The Selangor government will file an application for judicial review against the Election Commission’s (EC) redelineation exercise, claiming it will disrupt the peace between the state’s multiracial voters.

At a press conference, Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali said the state government wants the EC’s proposal to be stopped until the matter is heard in court, as it “demonstrated” instances of gerrymandering and malapportionment.

“Selangor is a multicultural and multireligious society. The EC is trying to break this by pushing one race to one particular area and to push other races to another area.

“As chief minister, me and my excos believe that the exercise taken by EC has violated the multiculturalism in Selangor,” he told reporters. Read more →

EC ignores guidelines in redrawing electoral boundaries

Coordinator

Source: FMT News

Bar Council slams EC for insufficient information on voter shifting and redrawing of seats. Pic taken from FMT News.

Bar Council slams EC for insufficient information on voter shifting and redrawing of seats. Pic taken from FMT News.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Election Commission (EC) has failed to comply with the guidelines set in the Federal Constitution to hold fair elections even before “the game has started”, a forum was told.

Speakers said the current exercise to redraw electoral boundaries was designed to help the Barisan Nasional win the 14th general election after its poor performance in the last two polls.

Bar Council constitutional law committee chairman Roger Chan Weng Keng said the EC had provided insufficient information to the public on the shifting of voters to another polling station or the unreasonable redrawing of boundaries.

“The EC must explain, but instead it broke the law even before the game has started,” he said. Read more →

Reclaiming our country through Bersih 5

Coordinator

Source: The Malay Mail Online

By Zairil Khir Johari

OCTOBER 18 — One of the peculiarities of our country is the longevity of the ruling regime, which has never lost a single general election since independence six decades ago. However, this sterling record has little to do with performance or popularity than it has to do with the uncanny ability of the government to continually ensure that the rules of the game are stacked in their favour.

Nowhere is this more obvious than in the constituency re-delineation exercises that have been undertaken throughout the years. As has been admitted personally by a former chairman of the Election Commission (EC), electoral boundary reviews have often been conducted with the objective of ensuring political outcomes that favour the ruling coalition.

In the last general election, Barisan Nasional (BN) ended up with 60 per cent of parliamentary seats despite winning only 47 per cent of popular votes, leaving the opposition with 40 per cent of seats with 51 per cent of votes. Clearly, the wishes of the electorate were not reflected in the outcome. With the new re-delineation proposals, it has become clear that the voters’ wishes are the least of the EC’s concerns, as malapportionment looks set to be exacerbated. Read more →

Selangor to take EC to court over redelineation exercise

Coordinator

Source: FMT News

SHAH ALAM: The Selangor State Government is set to file a judicial review petition against the proposed redelineation exercise by the Election Commission (EC), Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali said Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference, Azmin said, based on research by experts, it was found that the EC had violated Section 2(a), 2(b), 2(c) and 2(d) of the 13th Schedule of the Federal Constitution

He said the experts found there was malapportionment and serious gerrymandering, which were against the Constitution.

Azmin said the judicial review petition would be filed at the Appellate and Special Powers Court in KL by the State’s legal team, which includes Human Rights Society of Malaysia President Ambiga Sreenevasan.

“We will urge the court to issue an order to prohibit the EC’s inquiry process until the case is heard in court.

“According to our experts, we have a strong case and we are confident that the court will give our application a fair hearing.”

The Gombak MP said more details regarding their application could not be revealed at the moment.

“But once it’s filed in court, you will have access to the details of our application.”

Azmin reminded that Selangor was a multicultural society and slammed the EC’s latest redelineation exercise as it threatened the State’s multicultural nature.

“It violates the multiculturalism in Selangor. For many years, we have enjoyed harmonious interracial relationships in Selangor. But now, the EC is coming in and trying to segregate races into difference areas. This is not healthy for Selangor.”

Last week, Bersih 2.0 Chairman Maria Chin Abdullah filed a judicial review petition against the EC to stop the on-going redelineation exercise in the peninsula.

Chin is also seeking a declaration from the High Court that the exercise, which began last month, was null and void.

She is also asking the court to order the EC to provide information on land mass in each of the parliamentary and state constituencies in the peninsula, adding that she and Petaling Jaya Utara voters were interested parties who were entitled to receive information as a matter of constitutional right.