Day: February 6, 2017

Putrajaya resists death row convicts’ attempt to drag it to court

Coordinator

Source: FMT News

KUALA LUMPUR: Putrajaya has given notice that it wants to quash two lawsuits filed here by Malaysians on death row in Singapore after they were found guilty of trafficking drugs.

Lawyer N Surendran said this was made known by government lawyer Umar Saifuddin Jaafar who appeared before High Court judge Hanipah Farikullah today.

It is unclear the basis for Putrajaya's objection and court has fixed March 7 to hear the matter, says lawyer N Surendran. Pic from FMT News.

It is unclear the basis for Putrajaya’s objection and court has fixed March 7 to hear the matter, says lawyer N Surendran. Pic from FMT News.

“We do not know the basis for the objection,” Surendran told reporters after a case management in chambers.

Surendran said the government had been instructed to file its objection by Feb 20 and his clients would reply by Feb 27.

Hanipah fixed March 7 to hear the objection and also hear whether to grant leave for the judicial review applications by the two men.

Surendran, together with counsel Raul Lee Baskaran, represented S Prabagaran and K Datchinamurthy while Saifuddin was assisted by Federal Counsel Nadia Hanim.

Prabagaran filed his leave application for judicial review on Jan 16 while Datchinamurthy submitted his legal papers last Friday. Read more →

Former AG: Putrajaya can acquire state territories by law

Coordinator

Source: FMT News

Abu Talib Othman says that provisions in the constitution however must be met, including getting the consent of the affected state government. Pic from FMT News.

Abu Talib Othman says that provisions in the constitution however must be met, including getting the consent of the affected state government. Pic from FMT News.

PETALING JAYA: Putrajaya can acquire any part of Malaysia provided provisions in the Federal Constitution are complied with, former attorney-general Abu Talib Othman says.

He said, for a start, the affected state must consent to surrender its territory by passing an enactment in its legislature.

However, Talib said, any acquisition of state territories could be blocked now as the Barisan Nasional (BN) central government did not have the two-thirds majority in Parliament to amend the constitution.

“Also, the affected state governments through their state legislatures must pass a law with a simple majority to surrender part of their territories,” he told FMT. Read more →

Penang a federal territory? Impossible, says constitution expert

Coordinator

Source: FMT News

No provision for Putrajaya to declare a whole state as FT, let alone make any changes to boundaries, as states have full jurisdiction over their land, says lawyer. Pic from FMT News.

No provision for Putrajaya to declare a whole state as FT, let alone make any changes to boundaries, as states have full jurisdiction over their land, says lawyer. Pic from FMT News.

GEORGE TOWN: It is impossible to make Penang a federal territory given what is stated in the Federal Constitution, a law expert said.

“Actually, you can’t,” constitution expert Gurdial Singh Nijar said in reference to the recent furore over an idea from Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Mansor about making Penang, Langkawi and parts of Malacca new federal territories.

Article 1(2) states that Penang is one of the 13 states in the federation, and Article 2 states that even merely altering the boundaries of any state requires consent of that particular state and the Conference of Rulers.

While the federal government can possibly carve out some territory within a state to be ceded and made a federal territory, as in the case of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, which were part of Selangor, and Labuan island that used to belong to Sabah, it cannot take an entire state. Read more →

Bauxite mines are now death traps

Coordinator

Source: The Star Online

PETALING JAYA: They dot Kuantan and its outskirts – giant holes at places where bauxite was once mined. With the rainy season, the deep, gaping holes near housing areas and schools have become death traps for unsuspecting children who go there to play.

There are few fences and signages, if any, and these places are a “child magnet”, accor­ding to Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh. What’s worse is: nobody even knows just how many such pools there are in the Kuantan area.

On Friday, three children drowned in one such pool in Taman Sungai Karang Jaya, leading to even the Pahang Regent Tengku Mahkota Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, stepping in.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar has also ordered the Minerals and Geoscience Department – an agency of the ministry – to find out the number of such pools there are. Read more →