It was PNP chief, Director General Alan Purisima (right) who requested for the request of President Aquino, Brillantes said.MALAYSIA HEADING TOWARDS CLOSEST EVER POLL
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - When Azrul Azwar Ahmad
Tajudin (photo) told his audience at an academic conference in Singapore that
there was a chance Malaysia's opposition would take power in this year's
elections, he had no idea that his analysis would trigger such a furore
back home.
Azrul, chief economist with Malaysia's Bank Islam, outlined three
possible scenarios for the parliamentary polls likely to be held in
March, almost at the end of the current government's five year term.
There was a "high probability", his research suggested, that Pakatan
Rakyat, a coalition of opposition parties led by Anwar Ibrahim (photo), would
win a tiny majority - an outcome that would mean a change in government
for the first time since Malaysia gained its independence five decades
ago.
A few days later, Azrul found himself suspended from his job at the bank.
- "It seems I'm in hot soup," Azrul told Al Jazeera by phone. "Politics may have an impact on the economy in general, right? I had three parts to my report and the third was on the political outlook. I don't understand the reaction."
- Azrul said that he believed his bosses may have come under political pressure.
- The United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) has dominated Malaysia's politics since independence, but is still working out how to adapt to a rapidly changing country a decade after the retirement of long-time Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Mahathir centralised power and cracked down on those who opposed him - even within his own party.Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has since been trying to make Malaysia more open and democratic, but his attempts at political and economic reform - including a bold move to repeal repressive colonial-era laws - have largely failed to excite a new generation of younger, internet-savvy Malaysians, who doubt that the party shares its leader's enthusiasm for change.
Source: Al Jazeera
FORMER MALAYSIAN PM ADMITS GIVEN OUT CITIZENSHIPS TO FOREIGNERS?
SHAH ALAM, Malaysia – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today admitted that citizenship were given to foreigners in Sabah, but stressed that it was
“within the law”.
The former prime minister was asked to comment on the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Sabah’s illegal immigrants issue.
“When I was prime minister, I was in power to determine the implementation of government policies.
“The government received foreigners to be citizens if (they)
fulfilled certain conditions, furthermore many of those who are in Sabah
are there not one, two days but already 20 to 30 years and they speak
in Bahasa Melayu, they have the right to be Malaysians,” Dr Mahathir
(picture) said at a press conference here.
“So the problem is when there are people who are tidak senang
(unhappy) when there are some who become Malaysians although those
individuals have already resided in Malaysia, that is what causes
problems.”
“Why we want to reject them? They work. If they commit crimes, they
are exposed to our country’s laws too. But they are needed by Sabah,” he
later added.
Throughout the press conference, he repeatedly stressed that the giving of citizenships to foreigners was “within the law”.
“I never deny it were given. What I deny is that I did something against the law, that I will deny.”
When asked if he was saying that the Project IC was lawful, he said: “Yes, it is lawful.”
Earlier in the press conference, Dr Mahathir was asked if the handing
out of citizenships to foreigners was politically-motivated and to
enable Umno to take over Sabah.
He replied: “I mean that is their right. Once they become citizens,
whether they support Umno, Barisan Nasional, that is their business.”
- “We know for a fact that not all of them are supporters of Barisan Nasional,” he added.
- He also reminded reporters of the country’s first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, claiming that he gave out citizenships to those who were unqualified to receive it.
- “One should also look back and remember that Tunku Abdul Rahman was worse than me, he gave one million citizenships to people who are not qualified and were not even tested.”
- “Why is it when he does it, it is not wrong, and when I do it, it’s wrong?” he asked.
- Dr Mahathir, the country’s longest serving prime minister who was in power from 1981 to 2003, has been accused of spearheading the so-called “Project IC”, in which citizenships were allegedly given to immigrants in exchange for their votes.
- But former Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Harris Salleh, who administered the state from 1976 to 1985, denied on Tuesday the existence of “Project IC”.
The late former deputy home affairs minister Tan Sri Megat
Junid Megat Ayub was accused of ordering the National Registration
Department (NRD)’s Sabah branch to issue temporary documents to allow
immigrants to vote in a 1994 state election.
Dr Mahathir was today also asked if he had knowledge of Megat Junid’s
alleged order just two weeks before the 1994 state election.
“... (But) that is either coincidental or deliberate, I wouldn’t
know. But that is within the law. That it happened before elections
doesn’t mean it is against the law,” he said.
Source: The Malaysian Insider
FILIPINO REFUGEE GOT MALAYSIAN IC WITHOUT APPLYING FOR IT?
KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia Borneo — A Filipino refugee told the
Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants here today that
he had received a blue identity card without applying for it.
Ismail Balaka said he fled to Sabah in 1975 to escape the civil war in the Philippines.
“Did you obtain your identity card without going to the National
Registration Department (NRD)?” asked conducting officer Jamil Aripin at
the RCI here today.
He added that he also registered as a voter and has voted five times in Sabah.
Ismail, a shipbuilding worker, said he is now staying at the Kinarut
settlement in Sabah with his second Filipino wife and their four
children, who all have blue identity cards too.
- He added that his first wife, who is also from the Philippines, was taking care of their five children.
- Ismail said he and some others were called one day to gather at their village hall, but did not specify when.
- Some people, whom Ismail said he could not identify, told him and the other villagers to sign a form, give their fingerprints and have their picture taken.
- “I heard that we would be given Malaysian identity cards. After three or five months, I received a blue identity card,” said Ismail, according to his statement to the police that Jamil read out.
Source: The Malaysian Insider...More news...
MALIAN REBELS VOW TO ‘OPEN GATES TO HELL?
TIMBUKTU, Mali - As Islamists in northern Mali threatened to "open the gates of
hell," the United States is navigating one tricky quandary: how does it
help in the battle against the militants without violating its own policy?
U.S. policy prohibits direct military aid to Mali
because the fledgling government is a result of a coup.
No support can go to the Malian military directly
until leaders are elected through an election, said Victoria Nuland, the State
Department spokeswoman.
- "We are not in a position to train the Malian military until we have democracy restored," she said this week.
- The international community is concerned that the militants will create a terrorist haven in the desert region, which analysts say has the potential to become the next Afghanistan.
- Though Islamist militant groups affiliated with al Qaeda, such as Ansar Dine, are rampant in the north, they co-exist with other anti-government opportunists, complicating U.S. involvement in an offensive touted as anti-terror.
Source: CNN
MORE THAN 80 KILLED BY SYRIAN UNIVERSITY BLAST
ALEPPO, Syria - More than 80 people have been killed by two blasts in the
northern Syrian city of Aleppo, activists and officials say.
The explosions reportedly struck an area between the University of Aleppo's
halls of residence and the architecture faculty on the first day of exams.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 83, and
Aleppo's governor said 82 people had died.
State TV said "terrorists" had launched rockets at the campus, but
activists blamed missiles fired by warplanes.
In almost two years of fighting in Syria, Aleppo has been the scene of
intense conflict between government and opposition forces.
However, neither side has been able to force the other to retreat for good,
says the BBC's James Reynolds in neighbouring Turkey.
Source: BBC...More...
PHILIPPINES AQUINO EXEMPTED FROM GUN BAN FOR TWO WEAPONS
MANILA, Philippines - President Benigno Aquino was allowed
to carry two guns as the Commission on Elections (Comelec) initiated a
nationwide gun ban ahead of the local and congressional elections in May
this year, sources said.
Since the commander in chief
of the Armed Forces (AFP) and the head of the Philippine National Police
(PNP) were exempted from gun ban which began on Sunday, so is the
president of the country, said Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes.
It was PNP chief, Director General Alan Purisima (right) who requested for the request of President Aquino, Brillantes said.
It was PNP chief, Director General Alan Purisima (right) who requested for the request of President Aquino, Brillantes said.
Earlier, Brillantes said there was no need for Aquino to request for exemption from Comelec’s gun ban.
Comelec Commission Elias Yusoph said that Aquino wanted exemption from Comelec’s gun ban to be able to carry his pistol/glock caliber .40 and HPRFL/SIGSR caliber 666, a long firearm. Aquino is a target shooter. Comelec’s gun ban would end June 13.
Comelec Commission Elias Yusoph said that Aquino wanted exemption from Comelec’s gun ban to be able to carry his pistol/glock caliber .40 and HPRFL/SIGSR caliber 666, a long firearm. Aquino is a target shooter. Comelec’s gun ban would end June 13.
- Aquino’s request was made despite ongoing debate for a total gun ban, strict regulation on gun ownership, due to a series of shooting that killed two during New Year’s celebration; seven others, during a shooting rampage by a drug addict in suburban Cavite; and 13 passengers in two sports utility vehicles were killed at two check points in Atimonan, Quezon, southern Luzon on January 6.
- The gun ban is meant to stop clashes between political families, many of which have their respective private armies while in power.
Source: Agency
ANOTHER BRUTAL GANG RAPE OF A WOMAN BUS PASANGGER REPORTED IN INDIA?
NEW DELHI, India - Six men have been arrested over the
rape of a woman on a coach in northern India in an attack which has
disturbing echoes of the gang-rape and murder of a student on a New
Delhi bus just weeks ago.
The
victim was travelling to her in-laws' home in Punjab on Friday when she
was allegedly snatched 
and driven to a district bordering Amritsar, the
Sikh holy city.
and driven to a district bordering Amritsar, the
Sikh holy city.
Five men
joined the driver and conductor, who had taken her by motorbike to an
unknown address, and took turns to rape the 29-year-old.
A seventh suspect is still on the run from the police, he added.'The lady, after being kidnapped, was raped brutally throughout the night by the seven accused,' he said.
'After
raping the victim throughout the night, one of the accused dropped her
near her in-laws' house the next morning where she narrated the whole
incident to her two sisters-in-law.'Source: CBS
THOUSANDS MALAYSIAN GATHER RALLY AS POLLS LOOM
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia ― The city opened its eyes to a hive of
activity Saturday as thousands of people decked in a rainbow of colours
began streaming in for Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat (KL112), a mammoth rally backed by
Pakatan Rakyat (PR) that will mark the start of early campaigning before the
13th general election. 
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim (right) urged voters to oust the country's
long-ruling government as tens of thousands of supporters gathered Saturday in
a show of force ahead of coming elections.
At least 80,000 people crowded into an iconic stadium in the capital Kuala
Lumpur where independence was declared in 1957 
and tens of thousands more
thronged surrounding areas as the opposition effectively kicked off its
campaign.
and tens of thousands more
thronged surrounding areas as the opposition effectively kicked off its
campaign.
"We plead for you to give us a chance so that the people's voices will
become the voices of the leaders of this nation," Anwar told the crowds as
he denounced what he called the government's misrule and corruption.
- "The time has come to bury the unfairness of this government," Anwar declared.
- The Barisan Nasional coalition has controlled Malaysia since independence from Britain and was never seriously threatened until Anwar's opposition alliance handed the ruling bloc its worst election showing ever in 2008.
Premier Najib Razak (right) must face elections no later than June in a contest that
is shaping up as the nation's most intriguing yet, with the opposition seeking
to harness the winds of change that powered the "Arab Spring" in the
Middle East.There was no hint Saturday of the violence that marred the country's last major anti-government rally in April.
The Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat rally went on smoothly and peacefully
with police maintaining a minimal but effective presence to ensure
safety and order.Using a new method of rally management, police
deployed only about 200 personnel members none of them from the Federal
Reserve Unit and did not mount any roadblock in the city.Police set up 40 beat points within a 1km radius of Stadium Merdeka to facilitate movement of people and vehicles to minimise traffic congestion.
- Source: Agency
AUSTRALIANS FACE TRAUMA OF RETURNING TO RAZED HOMES
SYDNEY: Australians who fled for their lives from raging bushfires
faced the trauma on Friday of returning to see if they still had homes,
as firefighters battled worsening conditions to douse about 100 blazes.
After two days of cooler weather, heat and high winds returned to much
of the country as fire crews tackled the infernos that have been burning
for a week, 20 
of them out of control in the most populous state of New
South Wales.
of them out of control in the most populous state of New
South Wales.
The southern island state of Tasmania has been hardest hit, with more
than 100 homes razed, most in the fishing village of Dunalley which was
cut off by the fires, forcing some residents to make dramatic escapes by
boat.
The worst-affected areas have been in virtual lockdown since the
fast-moving flames wreaked devastation a week ago, and townspeople are
only now making the harrowing journey to inspect the damage.
Many have no idea whether their houses are still standing and with smoke
still billowing overhead, police warned fires remained active in the
area as emergency crews worked to clear roads and restore electricity
supplies.
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