Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has brushed aside opposition calls for Election Commission chairperson Abdul Aziz Yusof and its deputy Wan Ahmad Wan Omar to step down because they are  Umno members . "In the government, there are also PAS members. They are not active because the government does not allow them to be active," he riposted at a press conference today. "So what is so wrong with some government servants saying they are party members but they are not active?" He was speaking after launching the Malay version of his memoir 'Doctor in the House: The Memoirs of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad'. Mahathir was responding to PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution's claim that the duo were Umno members. Saifuddin ( left ) had said that by being aligned to a political party, Aziz and Wan Omar had failed to be i! ndepende nt within the EC. Aziz had  admitted  to being an Umno member, saying he registered in the 1970s - but stressed that he was i

April 30, 2012 Reuters: Najib Razak may still call elections as early as June by Stuart Grudgings & Siva Sithraputhran, Reuters Prime Minister Abdul Najib Razak appeared today to have weathered the weekend's violent electoral reform protest and may still call elections as early as June. Running battles between protesters and Police in Kuala Lumpur highlighted growing tensions in the South-East Asian nation as it prepares for close elections that could threaten the ruling coalition's 55-year grip on power. Najib has been seen as leaning towards an election in June – well before his mandate expires next March – but his appeal to middle-class voters may suffer if accusations of Police brutality against  250,000 protesters gain traction. However, any political fallout appeared to be limited because protesters were at least partly to blame for the violence, which resulted in hundreds of arrests. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim (right) gave a speech at the rally

KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 — The prime minister is obligated to follow the law and investigate the Election Commission (EC) chairman and deputy chairman over possible deception about their membership in Umno, said Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim today. The statement by the retired former city Criminal Investigation Department chief comes on top of criticisms by the electoral reform movement Bersih over the impartiality of the head of the commission in charge of overseeing the country's polls and is another test of Datuk Seri Najib Razak's commitment to reforms ahead of the upcoming general election. Mat Zain said that the position of EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof  (picture)  and his deputy Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar had become untenable since it was revealed that they were members of the ruling party, urging Najib to form a tribunal to establish whether they had insulted the royal institution by not disclosing their political ties before being appointed. "Whether they quit

2 days after Bersih 3.0, and after viewing many videos and photos in the internet, I would like to pose a few questions to the authority, specifically the Prime Minister, who missed a golden chance to walk his talk (and claim to be a reformist) 1.  When was the decision to fire tear gas made? was it a spur of the moment decision or was it made much earlier? 2. Why was the phone scrambler being used at about 2pm ( around which time, all of us at Masjid Jamek area were unable to send out messages and make calls) when the whole rally was still peaceful and look more like a carnival? Did the authority already know by then that there would be violence and  the use of phone scrambler was to prevent any pictures and videos being sent out? Was the failure for part of the crowd to disperse due to the fact that Datuk Ambiga's urge to disperse failed to reach those who were in other parts of the rally and who could not receive messages/calls on their phones? 3. Who were those who

SHARE AND DISCUSS WASHINGTON: In an incident which appears be a perfect plot for any reality-based fiction work, an American college dropout after being brutally attacked by a group of street robbers has turned a mathematics genius. It happened after 41-year-old Jason Padgett's brain was damaged in a brutal attack by muggers . He was left concussed after being ambushed outside a karaoke club and repeatedly kicked in the head, the Daily Mail said. Now, wherever Padegtt looks, he sees mathematical formulae and turns them into stunning, intricate diagrams he can draw by hand. He is the only person in the world known to the skill, which experts say, was caused by his head injury. They believe the damage to Padgett's brain has left him with a "remarkable gift" for figures. To understand how Padgett's brain works, neuroscientist and philosophy professor Berit Brogaard and her team flew Padgett to Finland to run a seri

Note one thing: Malaysia imposes rule by law, not rule of law. Hence laws can be passed to curtail your civil rights and fundamental liberties and make illegal what is legal. Against this backdrop, the Bersih rally, march, walk, sit-down, sit-in, protest, demonstration, or whatever, is an illegal assembly according to the laws of Malaysia. There are no two ways about it. NO HOLDS BARRED Raja Petra Kamarudin For 14 years since 1998 it is the same old story. The organisers and the government would call each other liars. The organisers would claim that the protest demonstration was a roaring success and that as many as 50,000 people or 100,000 people or 200,000 people turned out.  The government would claim that the demonstration was a failure and that only 10% of that figure turned out. The government would claim that the demonstration is an illegal assembly and that the organisers and participants broke the law. Th e organisers would claim that they are just exercising their democrat

SHARE AND DISCUSS LONDON, A nearly 80-year-old man in Britain is all set to undergo a sex change with a 13,500 pounds (about $ 21,960) National Health Service operation. Ruth Rose , a former Royal Air Force (RAF) officer and grandad of four who used to be called James, will become the oldest person in Britain to have the procedure, The Sun reported. He dreamt of being a woman from the age of nine. But it is only now - nearly 70 years on and after a successful flying career - that he plans to go ahead to fulfill the long cherished dream. Rose, of Newhaven, East Sussex, said: "It's gorgeous to be who I am at long last. "My life has blossomed beyond all recognition since I made the decision." The dad of three decided to live fully as a woman in public two years ago. Despite his age, doctors have scheduled the surgery for October next year - after he turns 80 - at London's Charing Cross Hospital. He tur

(Bernama) - Malaysian United Indian Party president Senator Datuk S. Nallakaruppan has to respond to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's RM100mil libel suit by May 15. High Court Judicial Commissioner Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera has given Nallakaruppan until May 15, to file his statement of defence. He also fixed the same day for case management. Earlier, Nallakaruppan's counsel, Datuk Seri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, had asked the court for a 14-day extension of time to file the defence as they needed to carry out some investigation into Anwar's suit. On March 26, Anwar filed the suit against Nallakaruppan, Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Bhd and the newspaper's group chief editor, Datuk Abdul Aziz Ishak, over his (Nallakaruppan's) derogatory remarks in a statement published on the front page of the Utusan Malaysia newspaper dated March 20. The other two defendants, Utusan Melayu and Abdul Aziz, should also file their defence by May 15. Monday was the last date for the defendants to f

KUALA LUMPUR:  Perdana Menteri, Datuk Sri Najib Razak nyata paling tertekan dengan keganasan polis kepada peserta Bersih 3.0 dan pihak media terutamanya enam hari menjelang hari kebebasan media sedunia. Demikian analisa anggota Parlimen Kuala Selangor yang juga Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif Pusat Penyelidikan PAS, Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad. "Kali ini rasanya paling parah mereka (petugas media) yang kena. Mereka ditahan, ditumbuk, dibelasah, kamera dimusnahkan semua ini berlaku 6 hari sebelum Hari Kebebasan Media Sedunia..World Press Freedom," Bagi beliau, Najib tidak dapat elakkan diri kalau media barat menggambarkan PDRM sebagai 'gangster berlesen'. Ini kerana, yang terkena termasuk petugas media dari Al-Jazeera, Channel News Asia dan media tempatan termasuk The Malay Mail, The Sun, Malaysiakini, Makkal Osai, Guan Ming Daily dan juga Harakah. Sebelum ini, Reuters sebuah agensi media antarabangsa meramalkan Najib akan menangguhkan pilihan raya umum ke 13 ekoran trg

The company says it reported 21 violations of the Banking and Financial Institutions Act. KUALA LUMPUR: National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) chairman Mohamad Salleh Ismail has provided Bank Negara with details of violations of the Banking and Financial Institutions Act (BAFIA) that he accuses PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli of committing. According to a NFCorp statement today, Salleh also complained to the central bank that Public Bank Bhd provided Rafizi with the credit rating and banking details of NFCorp, its related companies, and its directors and shareholders. Salleh reported 21 counts of violations arising from Rafizi's distribution of documents at a press conference on March 7. "Rafizi, being a highly trained accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales as well as the Malaysian Institute of Accountants, should have been familiar with the laws that prohibit public distribution of private and confidential banking documents

Joint Statement by Journalists, 30 April 2012 Joint statement condemning intimidation and violence against journalists We, members of the journalism fraternity of Malaysia, appalled by the attacks on journalists covering the mass public rally on the streets of Kuala Lumpur on Saturday April 28, and by restrictions imposed on media coverage of the rally, CONDEMN the use of intimidation and violence against journalists, CONDEMN all actions preventing journalists and the media from providing full, fair and accurate coverage of events that are of concern to Malaysians, CONDEMN the action of media organisations in withholding reports or being complicit in a news blackout of attacks on journalists, CALL FOR immediate and firm action by the government of Malaysia, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Royal Malaysia Police against all those involved in these acts of violence and intimidation to prevent journalists from carrying out their duty and depriving Malaysian citizens o

Reminiscent of the videos police provided after Bersih 2.0 last year, missing were footages of police assaulting protesters. FMT ALERT KUALA LUMPUR: Bukit Aman police today aired a compilation of videos representing the "official version" of "what really happened" during the Bersih 3.0 rally on Saturday. Reminiscent of the video presentation that the police gave after the Bersih 2.0 rally last year, noticeably missing were footages of police assaulting protesters. Also missing were any videoclips of the alleged assault on policemen by protesters. The video, which played for about seven minutes, showed various scenes where protesters were seen to be aggressive and the police seemingly displaying restraint. In one scene, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and PKR's Badrul Hisham Shaharin and Azmin Ali were shown gesturing to each other while a protester nodded and started to charge at the police barricade at Dataran Merdeka. MORE TO FOLLOW Read More @ Source