Media Awareness Workshop - Penang

Media Awareness Workshop:

Media, Democracy and Human Rights
Sunway Hotel Georgetown,
Lorong Baru,
10450 Pulau Pinang,
Saturday,7th March 2009 from 8.30am -5.30pm,
sponsored by the Canadian High Commission.

The workshop is primarily for young people, from upper secondary schools and colleges and higher learning institutions, given that this is the generation that is most exposed to and influenced by the media in their daily lives.

The workshop aims to raise the level of awareness of participants in 3 areas
· the various aspects of the media industry in Malaysia ,
· the laws and other restrictions that affect the media industry and democracy,
· how to critically ‘read’ the media.
The workshop is structured in a manner which will allow for input from the speakers as well as active participation by the participants. There will be break-up sessions to encourage participants ‘read critically’ the content of the media. Comparisons will also be made between mainstream media and the Internet media

It is hoped that such ‘media awareness’ or ‘media literacy’ would empower young people as active citizens of a democracy to demand real changes in the way the news is reported.

As places are limited, registration prior to the workshop is required. The registration fee for the workshop is RM10/- only. This can be given as cash or in a cheque made out to Aliran and sent to Aliran at 103 Medan Penaga, Jelutong 11600, Penang by the 28th of February, 2009.

For further information please contact Evelyn at the Aliran office at 04-6585251.

Location Map of Sunway Hotel, Penang

(Click map to enlarge):

Location map of Sunway Hotel, zoom in:

MACC Chief practicing double standards

Malaysia badly need a thorough spring cleaning of its many institutions and agencies. The Malaysian Anti-corruption Commission have ever since it was formed reeks of bias and double standards and one can safely say now "reform my foot":

Rotting MACC Chief photo courtesy of Malaysiakini

Welcome ladies and gentlemen. I am Sankara Nair, the lawyer for Yang Berhormat the Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim. I have a press statement here. It is in respect of a statement by the MACC Chief today which was carried online. And I will read it from the text. As lawyer for Yang Berhomat Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, I deeply regret the release of the statement by the MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) Chief Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan today where he is quoted as saying in theStar Online, I am taking theStar Online as the reference here, that there was strong evidence to show that the Selangor Menteri Besar misused his powers over the maintenance of his personal car and the distribution of 46 cows. It has been the norm in MACC practice, either to, not to make statement indicating or stating the culpability, meaning that someone did it or didn't do it, of a person who is being investigated, or at the end of the investigation.

In this particular case, the MACC have chosen to depart from the time honored norm and as such it clearly reeks of double standards. Why was the MACC Chief was non-committal when he completed the investigations of Tan Sri Musa Hassan, the IGP (Inspector General of Police) and Tan Sri Ghani Patil before. He didn't say a word about anything, whether there was evidence or no evidence. So that should have been the way this time as well. It is as such quite disturbing that the MACC has in this instance in respect of my client, being an opposition politician, is being singled out to look guilty in the eyes of the public before, even before he is charged or being convicted in court. Why did the MACC Chief prejudged the matter of the culpability of my client at this stage. That is the question we will like to know.

Let me read through it that the protocol on the decision to prosecute places a heavy burden on the persecution, and the mere stating the technicalities without the essential elements of criminal intent that certainly does not the standard before we proceed with persecution. I therefore urge the MACC to act professionally at all time and not to appear to be discriminatory. Thank you.

Now YB Teresa Kok will give her version.

The statement of the Malaysian Anti-corruption Commission Chief on the ongoing investigation Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim appears to be politically motivated and smacks of double standards. The whole episode seem to be linked to the political situation in Perak where the Barisan Nasional is being frustrated by a political impasse of its own doing. The strong hints of action against Abdul Khalid also seemed to be linked to the revelation of Datuk Anwar Ibrahim who disclosed the unlawful tactics being used by the Barisan Nasional to coerce and induce the Pakatan Rakyat representatives to switch camp. The fact that the authorities concerned moved with such speed on what at most is a minor technical infraction leads one to wonder on the purported independence and fearlessness of the Malaysian Anti-corruption Commission.

I am sure Malaysians are outraged by this turn of events and join me in condemning the use of Government agencies and personnel for political vendetta.

Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim made a couple of police reports against them, and this was widely reported during the trial the sodomy case. There was clear indication even in the trial where we mentioned such report from me and we wanted swift and fast investigation. So that is what we were referring to. Allegations that the investigations when he was er er, where there was conspiracy that was allerged where Tan Sri Abdul Ghani and Musa Hassan conspired in the framing and the charges of Datuk Seri Anwar.

(in answer to reporter questions) earlier charges too.

Proof MACC not impartial double standards

MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission), Abdullah Badawi's weak answer to the world famous Hong Kong Anti-corruption agency ICAC, is not impartial. Proof is its tardiness in investigation reports of corruption committed by the Federal Government and its agencies, but amazing speed in investigating allegations of corruption by the opposition. Witness MACC tardiness in investigating Karpal Singh's report of corruption by the current Chief Justice Zaki Azmi, but was amazingly quick to investigate police reports against Karpal Sing. Witness too the recent report of MACC sayng there is "strong evidence" to show Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim had misused his powers over the purchase of 46 cows and maintenance of his own cars. Apparently, the MACC was super efficient and now it is reported that the investigation papers have been forwarded to the Attorney-General's Chambers. What else can it be except that MACC practices double standards.

Right to Redress Campaign Launch

Right to Redress Campaign Launch
Dewan Sri Pinang, Rooms A/B
10am-12pm, 28 February 2009

Programme
10.00am Opening statement: JUMP
10.05am Video presentation
10.15am Official Launch;
YB Prof. Ramasamy
Penang Deputy Chief Minister and State EXco
10.25am 4 short dramas highlighting the need for the Right to Redress
10.45am Discussion of joint actions
11.15am Refreshments

RSVP
Please confirm your attendance with
Eric 016-4865 854
Stanley 016-4455 678
email: jampot at gmail dot com

It would be helpful if you can give your name, organization, address and contact telephone and email. Thanks

All are welcome!

What is JUMP
JUMP is the Malay acronym for Jaringan Utara Migrasi dan Pelarian which means Northern Migration & Refugees Network. JUMP is a network of NGOs and individuals interested in issues affecting migrant workers and refugees. JUMP coordinates services (welfare and legal), organises training sessions, pursues advocacy initiatives and creat awareness about the situation facing all migrants.

Everyone of us is entitled to the protection and enhancement of our basic human rights.

This is a fundamental principle, enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Many other international convenants and declarations have further elaborated the human rights to which everyone of us, every member of our human race, is entitled.

One part of these fundamental rights is the right to redress.

This means that where a right is not recognised, or where there is abuse of human rights, there is an avenue where a complaint is speedily and impartially heard and justice can be done or a remedy obtained.

The 5 Rights to Redress

• The Right to be Heard


• The Right to Stay


• The Right to Work


• The Right to Timely Redress


• The Right to Enforceable Compensation

For migrants (who include migrant workers, refugees, victims of human trafficking and stateless persons), their basic human rights are often utterly abused, and their right to redress often non-existent.

That is why we are launching this campaign.

Location map of Dewan Sri Pinang

Click to enlarge:

Ruling Malaysia a game? Khairy Jamaluddin

From an interview of Khairy Jamaluddin by Jacqueline Ann Surin and Shannon Shah of The Nut Graph:

TNG: Did you feel a sense of disappointment, maybe, that he (PM Abdullah Badawi) had decided to give it up much quicker than expected?

KJ: I don't know if I'd categorise it as disappointment, you know? Regret? Not regret in [him] going per se. But maybe regret at what might have been if he had done things differently, or reformed quicker. Things like that.

But he's (PM Abdullah Badawi) always told me, especially when I joined politics, he said, and he always reminds me, "Don't ever take anything to heart, because this is just a game. And it's not about your life. This is not your life. Your life is your family, your life is your well-being. This is a game, a game that you're in because you want to do something for the country. And unfortunately, to help the country you have to be part of this game. You can stop whenever you want, and you can leave. Nobody is asking you to play this game. You are in it by your own volition, your own choice."

Shocking News from Perak's Palace sources... Could This BeTrue?!!

Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:49:21 +0800
Below are a mixture of what is claimed as fact plus conjecture.

NEWSBREAK

Here's a dramatic twist to the Perak Conundrum…

HRH SULTAN AZLAN SHAH DID NOT HAVE A CHOICE – IT WAS EITHER ACCEPT NAJIB OR LOSE THE THRONE OF PERAK IN A FEW MONTHS.
There was controversy when Azlan was elected as Raja Muda (Crown Regent) because his mother is a commoner and was therefore considered an outsider.(FACT) In fact it is believed that he lived outside the royal community when he was growing up.
It is now understood that hrh Sultan Azlan Shah was put to the throne by Mahathir since there were claims for the throne of Perak from the descendants of Sultan Idris, uncle of Sultan Azlan. Azlan is in other words not fully of royal blood since his mother was but a mere commoner.(FACT)
Further his wife, mother to Raja Nazrin, is a well known commoner (a former teacher at the Raja Perempuan School, Ipoh) and so by being half diluted by commoner's blood himself, his son Raja Nazrin is three-quarters diluted again.
The fact we're facing now is that Nazrin faces the risk of not being able to ascend to the state throne. (FACT) The inside story is that Najib held a gun (figuratively speaking, that is) to hrh Sultan Azlan Shah's head, saying, "either you follow what I say or I swear on the Quran that Raja Nazrin will never be the next monarch."
There is also the case of the recent murder of the princess that will likely implicate the royal household not to mention the sales of the datukship titles. Let us be clear that the Sultan had no choice – he was indeed blackmailed.

There was controversy when Azlan was made sultan and now if he chooses Pakatan's call for dissolution, his son Nazrin, will be the sacrificial lamb, facing the humiliation of losing the throne altogether. It will then be said that Nazrin is not 'Keramat' pure royal blood. And don't forget that UMNO is already incensed with Nazrin whom they widely regard as a 'big mouth' for talking about justice and the rule of law.
We understand that all these had come from within the palace grounds.

Missing Person: Tan Chin Kieu

Name of missing person: Tan Chin Kieu (aka Chin Wong Pin)

Age : 85

Height : 150 cm

Residence : Jalan Landasan, off Jln Bukit Kuda
Kampung Kuantan, Klang

Date reported missing : Mr Tan Chin Kieu left his house at around 2 o'clock on the afternoon of 11th Feb 2009 and has not been seen since. A police report has been made.

Clothes worn : long sleeved shirt, shorts and a white cap

Contact : Mr Tan (son) 016-281 3875

Mr Peter Tan (friend) 012-3322 999


Please help circulate

When is a Hee not a He? When she is a shee-Hee-it

When is a He not a He. When she is a She-Hee-it, or SHIT in short.

Photo of Hee Yit Foong courtesy of Malaysiakini

Background: Hee Yit Foong was a long time DAP member, Perak State Assemblywoman and Deputy Speaker who hankered for an exco (executive committee) post and for a CAMRY car but didn't get them. So she sulk and eventually turned Independent while throwing her support to the dastardly BN @ UMNO, handing the Perak state government to BN. She is now the most hated and despised person in Perak and possibly the whole of Malaysia.

Malaysia Police State Disappearing People

With Najib Abdul Razak soon assuming power, will Malaysia trend towards a police state? Why this question? Many people connected with the unsavory aspect of Najib seem to go missing - disappear. First there was Altantuya Shariibuu. Then private investigator Bala. Recently the Perak state assemblymen and that turncoat assemblywoman Hee Yit Foong. And now the Kedah (Bukit Selambau) assemblyman and state exco V. Arumugam

WHAT TO DO IF STOPPED BY MALAYSIAN POLICE

From an email forward:

WHAT TO DO IF STOPPED BY MALAYSIAN POLICE

This is is very useful information. Please pass it on to your friends and family.............especially the women folk!

The next time you are stopped by persons who claimed they are plain clothes police, you are under no obligation to answer their questions or follow their orders, lawyers said today.

'Policeman who is not wearing his uniform does not have the authority to stop anyone,' lawyer and human rights activist Sivarasa Rasiah said.

Procedures to follow in the event you are stopped by uniformed police Officers while driving:

1. Stop the car and wind down your window.
2. If the police officers ask for your documents, request to see their IDs first.
3. If you are satisfied about their identity, ask them if you are being summoned, and for what offence.
4. Produce your identity card and driver's license and wait to collect your summon ticket.

In the event that the police officers ask you to follow them to the police station:

1. Ask if you are under arrest and for what offence.
2. If you are not under arrest, you have the right to leave.

In the event you are flagged down by persons you believe could be plain clothes police:

1. Do not stop because plain clothes police officers do not have the authority to stop you.
2. Drive to the nearest police station and lodge a report. (The same procedure applies to pedestrians)

In the event the police come to your house:

1. Do not let them in before checking their IDs.
2. If you are not satisfied, phone the nearest police station and confirm if they had been sent to your house.
3. You are under no obligation to allow them into the house if they don't have a search warrant.
4. Do not go with them if you are not under arrest.

In the event persons who claimed to be plain clothes police come to your house:

1. Do not let him in because they do not have the authority to do so.
2. Lodge a report at the nearest police station.

Sivarasa was commenting on the alleged gang-rape of an 18-year-old Uni student by four men claiming to be police officers on New Year's Eve. The girl said that her car was stopped in Taman Tun Dr Ismail in Kuala Lumpur and were asked by the men to open the car bonnet. She was then told that she had committed an offence and ordered to follow the men to a police station. The girl was driven in her car along the North-South expressway to the Tapah-Cameron Highlands road before she was raped in an oil palm estate.

This incident, and many others, have sparked confusion over the procedures which motorists must follow when flagged down by the police. The most common problem is that most people take instructions without determining if the other person is really a cop,' lawyer Annie Santiago said.

However, if you are stopped by a uniformed policeman, then you are required to stop. But you need not get out of the car because you are not expected to do so, Santiago said. He other rule to follow is to provide your identity card only when you are asked to do so. 'Even then, you should get his ID first to confirm if he is a cop. There is no harm in calling the relevant police station to verify if he is supposed to be on duty that day,' Sivarasa said.

Both lawyers said that motorists should never follow an officer to the police station unless one is under arrest . 'If you are not sure, and your instincts tell you that something is wrong, then drive off to the nearest police station and lodge a report,' Sivarasa said.

In response to the alleged gang-rape of the 18-year-old, Women's Aid Organisation executive-secretary Ivy Josiah called on the police to launch an education program to teach the public about their rights to prevent them from being victimised by bogus police officers.

PLEASE PASS IT ON..........

Save Perak Government Assembly

Perhimpunan Selamatkan Kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat Perak Hari ini (5 Feb)

Perhimpunan 100 ribu rakyat akan diadakan hari ini (5 Feb) pada jam 7 malam di Kediaman Rasmi Menteri Besar Perak, bersama Ketua Pembangkang Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim dan semua Menteri Besar Negeri Pakatan Rakyat, bagi menyatakan sokongan terhadap kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat Negeri Perak dan menuntut agar hak rakyat dikembalikan.

Berikut adalah mesej khas dari Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim buat semua penyokong Pakatan Rakyat:

"Pertahankan Kuasa Rakyat - Saya bersama Menteri Besar dan Pakatan Rakyat esok Khamis 7:30 malam di Ipoh. Saya yakin, Insyallah rakyat yang menentukan."

Semua penyokong Pakatan Rakyat dan aktivis diminta hadir untuk memberi sokongan.

BIRO PENERANGAN PARTI KEADILAN RAKYAT

Election Commission’s decision ultra vires

Election Commission’s decision ultra virus
Aliran

The Election Commission has no inherent powers to decide whether a vacancy has occurred in a constituency. It has no discretionary authority to override the notification of the Speaker of the Perak State Assembly declaring that the state seats of Changkat Jering and Behrang have fallen vacant following the resignations of the incumbents of these seats.

The EC cannot plead that doubts exist because the incumbents have disputed the validity of their resignation letters.
It is completely unacceptable for the EC chairperson Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof to state, “As such, EC decided that it cannot establish that vacancies have occurred.” It is not for the EC to cast doubts on the notification of the Speaker declaring the vacancies in these two constituencies.

As a newly appointed Chairman, he may not be all that conversant with the rules governing elections. But he must heed the words of his predecessor, the former EC chairman Tan Sri Rashid Abdul Rahman who had served the EC for some 25 years. According to Rashid, the EC has no choice but to call for by-elections. Rashid was well aware of the present controversy surrounding these resignation letters when he gave his opinion.

Legally there exist no doubts as to the vacancies of these two seats but there are clearly doubts as to why the EC chose to take this decision which is without doubt ultra virus. The EC should have told the two disputing Assemblymen to take their matter to court and sort out their problems. This would have been the correct stand to take. The EC should never be seen to be part of their problem. In this manner, the EC would have established itself as an impartial institution to conduct free and fair elections. That perception is in serious doubt today.

The EC’s decision will perpetuate this problem of party hopping that is plaguing the Perak state government. With the serious economic problems that we are faced with, the government cannot be embroiled with unethical party hopping which seems to take up so much time and energy of the government to stay in power and that of the opposition bent on toppling a legitimately elected government.

As long as this razor-thin majority is in place, the uncertainties of governance will continue to exist to the detriment of the people and their welfare.

To overcome the present problem once and for all, Aliran would urge the Perak state government to seriously consider dissolving the state assembly and go back to the people as the ultimate arbitrators to solve this problem.

Aliran would also like to appeal to His Royal Highness, the Sultan of Perak, in all humility, to kindly consent to the dissolution of the state
assembly as a way to overcome this deadlock.

PLEASE Perak MB dissolve assembly and go for re-election

This is going to be OT (off topic) because I am not going to write about why I so desperately wants Perak MB to ask for audience with Sultan Azlan (highly respected former Chief Justice of Malaysia (or is it Lord President) to request for the Perak Assembly to be dissolved so that we can have a very exciting re-election in Perak. It is all in various blogs especially Raja Petra Kamarudin's Malaysia Today, a precious blog cum news aggregator (news portal), a very precious source of information. You get news that is so exciting that I hope I can sleep tonight. For all that plus what is going on in Perak, I leave it to you to go to blogs plus Malaysia Insider plus Malaysiakini (online newspaper worth every cent I paid for the subscription and more, and read it yourself. There is no way I can put it better than them. Don't bother about The Star, New Straits Times or the other MSM. Those are no newspaper. Those are wastepaper.

And last thing I leave with you before I go read the online news and blogs again. Who is that person with Najib, our future Prime Minister?



If you want to know, go to EITHER YOU ARE WITH ME, OR YOU DIE (from RPK's Malaysia Today, so great a news portal cum blog that if RPK wants to charge subscription, I would pay. Don't miss. It is free.