Day: February 15, 2017

Court orders second post mortem in custodial death case

Coordinator

Source: FMT News

S Balamurugan's remains will be sent to Hospital KL from Klang hospital, where first post mortem results stated he died due to a heart problem. Pic form FMT News.

S Balamurugan’s remains will be sent to Hospital KL from Klang hospital, where first post mortem results stated he died due to a heart problem. Pic form FMT News.

SHAH ALAM: The High Court here today ordered a second post mortem to be conducted on S Balamurugan, who died in police custody on Feb 8.

Justice Azman Husin allowed the application by Balamurugan’s younger brother, Balraj, to have the second post mortem carried out on the remains.

Deputy public prosecutor Fakhizaa Abu Bakar did not object to the application.

With the court order, Balamurugan’s remains will now be transferred from Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah, Klang to Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) for the second post mortem, as per the application by Balraj. Read more →

Family sends memo to cops over Bala’s death

Evan Quick

Source: The Star Online

KUALA LUMPUR: There was a little drama when the family of S. Bala Murugan showed up at Bukit Aman with several Opposition politicians.

The group showed up at around 11.20am yesterday to hand over a memorandum to the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar to seek justice for Bala who died in police custody last week.

However, they were unhappy that only an inspector was there to meet them. While Bala’s wife and daughter stood silent, Klang MP Charles Santiago, Subang MP R. Sivarasa, Batu MP Tian Chua and former Kapar MP S. Manikavasagam demanded to see a senior officer. Read more →

Sarawak PKR will keep opposing Hadi’s bill

Evan Quick

Source: FMT News

Baru Bian - Pic from FMT News

Baru Bian – Pic from FMT News

By Richard T.W.

KUCHING: Sarawak PKR has vowed to oppose the bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, no matter what the national leaders of the party decide.

“Sarawak PKR is always consistent in the matter, notwithstanding the decision of the PKR leadership.

“Should the national leadership go against our stand, we will not budge,” state PKR leader Baru Bian told reporters today.

Last May, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang moved a private member’s bill to amend the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 or Act 355.

Last Friday, PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said she recognised Hadi’s right as an MP to submit the bill and despite her reservations, she would hear Hadi’s explanation during the tabling of the bill next month. Read more →

Court will hear Pua’s bid to strike out Najib suit on April 3

Alissa Lee

Source: FMT News

The Petaling Jaya MP maintains that as public official, Prime Minister Najib Razak has no legal standing to bring an action on a public interest issue.

The Petaling Jaya MP maintains that as public official, Prime Minister Najib Razak has no legal standing to bring an action on a public interest issue.

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court will hear on April 3 an application by Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua to strike out Prime Minister Najib Razak’s defamation suit over remarks the DAP lawmaker had allegedly made on the 1MDB issue.

Pua’s lawyer Aliff Benjamin Suhaimi said judicial commissioner Roslan Abu Bakar has also fixed three days from Sept 18 to hear the merits of the suit.

“Our case is that as a public official, Najib has no locus to bring the suit against our client on a public interest issue,” Benjamin told reporters after the case management before the judge in chambers. Lawyer Nor Azira Abu Haiyan appeared for Najib.

 

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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 →

Mahkamah tidak boleh paksa peguam negara, kata hakim

Coordinator

Source: FMT News

Hakim Hanipah Farikullah memutuskan demikian dalam penghakiman bertulis mengenai permohonan semakan kehakiman melibatkan 1MDB. Pic dari FMT News.

Hakim Hanipah Farikullah memutuskan demikian dalam penghakiman bertulis mengenai permohonan semakan kehakiman melibatkan 1MDB. Pic dari FMT News.

KUALA LUMPUR: Mahkamah tidak boleh memaksa peguam negara untuk memulakan apa-apa prosiding jenayah terhadap seseorang individu.

Hakim Mahkamah Tinggi Datuk Hanipah Farikullah memutuskan demikian dalam penghakiman bertulis setebal 41 muka surat mengenai permohonan semakan kehakiman melibatkan 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) yang diedarkan kepada media hari ini.

“Ini kerana berdasarkan Perkara 145(3) Perlembagaan Persekutuan, peguam negara mempunyai budi bicara yang luas berhubung kawalan dan arahan bagi semua pendakwaan jenayah.

“Bukan sahaja beliau memulakan dan menjalankan apa-apa prosiding bagi sesuatu kesalahan, beliau juga boleh memberhentikan prosiding jenayah yang beliau telah mulakan.

“Mahkamah tidak boleh memaksa beliau untuk memulakan apa-apa prosiding jenayah yang beliau tidak mahu mulakan atau meneruskan apa-apa prosiding jenayah yang beliau telah putuskan untuk tidak teruskan,” katanya. Read more →

Royalty should renounce privileges to contest public posts, lawyer says

Alissa Lee

Source: The Malay Mail Online

Tunku_Ismail_Sultan_Ibrahim_20150723

Several people have been arrested over the past months for posting offensive remarks about Tunku Ismail on social media, with most of them investigated under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 15 — Privileges and immunities enjoyed by members of the royalty vying for or holding public positions could discourage open discussions about their performance, according to a lawyer.

Fahri Azzat, who was commenting on Johor crown prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim contesting the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) presidency against Kelantan Football Association (KAFA) adviser Tan Sri Annuar Musa, said it would be difficult for comments to be made against public officials when they have protections unique to their position as royalty.

“For example, if TMJ is FAM president and FAM’s performance during his tenure is poor, criticism about FAM can be easily, if not readily, inferred as being against TMJ. Any criticism against royalty and matters affiliated to them is potentially seditious,” Fahri told Malay Mail Online, referring to the Johor crown prince using the acronym for the position in Malay.

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