Thousands of Indian residents of Kapar, Selangor have reportedly been receiving cash handouts from MIC over several weekends last month in an alleged attempt to canvass support for the BN in the coming general election. However, MIC Kapar division that was behind the exercise, has strongly denied that it was a vote-buying exercise, insisting the money was for MIC branch members only. Kapar chief T Ganesan, when asked about reports of residents in Taman Sentosa, Kapar, receiving envelopes containing RM20, told  Malaysiakini  that residents only "goods" were distributed to them, not cash. The RM20 handouts were "allowance" for local MIC members, not meant for the public, he said. Explaining that as the exercise had been held in a public space, it was unavoidable that some members of the public who also happened to be ! there ma y have gotten hold of "a few the envelopes". "We can't just say 'don't take it'," he said, adding...

(Wall Street Journal)  - Hoping to impart a sense of shame among officials and other individuals who have been convicted of corruption, Indonesian activists and journalists recently launched a website publicizing their names and crimes. Indonesia regularly ranks as one of the most corrupt countries in Transparency International's closely watched Corruption Perception Index, and critics say graft remains rampant even though the fall of dictator Suharto in 1998 ushered in an era of wide-ranging reforms. Now,  Korupedia.org  aims to be an online encyclopedia of corruption through which anyone can access details about corruption cases and individuals found guilty by courts, said Ratna Dasahasta, the web site's chief editor. Not all convictions make it to the news, and few people have access to court documents, she said, which means residents need an easily accessible clearinghouse of who did what and when. "We are concerned that many people convicted ...

WASTE.... Edward showing the quarry waste on the road shoulder. A PUBLIC complaint was received by the Sabah DAP vice chairman Edward Ewol Mujie over the query why large pieces of stone mixed with the quarry waste were placed on the road shoulders which are believed to be intended to be use in the upgrading and leveling of the road shoulders along the Tuaran road from Inanam to Menggatal. The people said this quarry waste containing large pieces of stone is not suitable for the repairing of the road shoulders because of it size and eventually will cause damages to vehicles. They said why use the quarry waste instead of crusher-run which is of uniform sizes not more that 2 inches. The common standard of repairing road shoulders are using crusher-run only to be compacted to a smooth leveled surface for the car to run on. In this case of using the big stone, we wonder how can this be compacted and leveled to a flat surface. According t...

MISSING....Kassim and members of SAPP inspecting the bridges with missing wooden planks at Kg Sembulan. This bridge may be invisible during BN leader visit. SAPP Sembulan Selatan Branch, Kassim Busok lamented that the authority should not turn a blind eye on the problems faced by the residents living in Kampung Sembulan. Kassim said the people have to put up with the hips of rubbish, bad odour and the worse is risk falling into the sea when plying the broken bridges. Kassim pointed out certain section of the bridge was completely without wood planks and it seems ridiculous and senseless that the authority should allow these to happen for such a long time. "The government had recently spent RM24 to beautify the Sembulan River Park much for the sake of the tourists put not paying attention to the living conditions of the people in the same area, this is absolutely unfair," said Kassim. "The 800 meters length Sem...

KUALA LUMPUR : Malaysia Airlines' first Airbus A380 aircraft touched down at the KL International Airport (KLIA) Friday. Commanded by Captain Norshid Ali, Flight MH5439 from Toulouse had 91 guests and selected MAS staff on board. They included MAS Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, Malaysia Airports CEO Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad, Department of Civil Aviation Director-General Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman and senior Ministry of Finance officials, a MAS statement said. The aircraft received a traditional water cannon salute as it taxied towards the airport's A380-equipped terminal. Speaking at the welcoming ceremony, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha said he was pleased to note that despite the mounting continuous challenges in the global commercial aviation industry, MAS has met its obligation to fulfil the corporate objectives required by the government. "The arrival of the A380 toda...

Three days ago, a reporter friend forwarded a text message to this columnist which says that the doctor has taken over Umno and right now the grassroots reports are being forwarded to him. But the big news is that the doctor is planning to have the polls held in September. This is because it seems that the doctor has got tired of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak's feet-dragging and lack of confidence. Therefore he now enters the fray in order to have things up and running according to his way. Whether there is any truth or not in the text message is one thing but looking at it logically, it could be true. Najib has been dragging on the polls date for far too long after initiating it as a guessing game about two years ago. Before the submarine scandal surfaces to sink the whole of BN, the doctor has made a firm decision to take control of Umno in order to steer the party to safety at the most crucial point in the party's history. One must remember that during...

Confirmed! Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has out-flip flopped his predecessor Tun Abdullah Badawi. The window for July for the 13th General Election has closed as Najib's earlier plans for June or July to get his own mandate as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia has been completely scuttled by the disastrous government misjudgment and mishandling of the Bersih 3.0 rally on April 28. In fact, public alienation over the government's misjudgment and mishandling of the Bersih 3.0 had intensified and aggravated over time with the series of irresponsible and insensitive developments post-Bersih 3.0, including: Najib's wild and baseless allegation that the Bersih 3.0 rally was an opposition coup attempt to topple the government; the ridiculous and unacceptable establishment of a purported "independent advisory panel" headed by former Inspector-General of Police Tun Hanif Omar who had publicly expressed his prejudicial views to fi...

In an apparent move to appease simmering tension over controversial remarks by a BN parliamentarian, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today advised members to thread with caution. "We would like to remind our members to not issue any statements that touch on sentiments of any race or anything that can cause problems between BN component parties," said Najib after chairing the BN supreme council meeting last night, without making any specific reference. Sri Gading Umno MP Mohamad Aziz ( left ) had courted controversy when he said the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) co-chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan should be "hanged". During the committee stage debate on the Supplementary Supply Bill in the House on Tuesday, Mohamad described  Ambiga as a "traitor" and said she should be sent to the gallows for the "treasonous act" of organising the Bersih 3.0 rally on April 28. Mohamad had also likened Ambiga to the leaders of the Al-Ma'...

A copy of the Parliament  Hansard  detailing Sri Gading MP Mohamad Aziz's 'hang Ambiga' faux pas circulated online by a DAP leader has generated fresh criticisms against the controversial Umno politician. A  snapshot  from a page of the  Hansard , originally posted by Rasah MP Anthony Loke and later shared 400 times, has generated a furore of discussion among netizens.   The netizens were outraged by Mohamad Aziz's exhortations not to let "pendatang asing" (foreign migrants) and "awang hitam" (colloquial expression used to refer to Africans and dark-skinned migrants) run riot in our country. This remark was made immediately after the Umno MP insinuated that Bersih co-coordinator Ambiga Sreenevasan should be hanged for her role in organising a mass rally in Kuala Lumpur two months ago. Loke's photo was also picked up by DAP Penang which  reposted   it on its Facebook page, throwing in a question: "And why was pendatang asing , '...

Nizar said his decision to forego the Johor constituency was not linked to his recent run-in with the state palace. — File pic KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 — Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin will not defend his parliamentary seat in the next general election, saying today he will instead focus on winning back Perak from Barisan Nasional (BN). The outspoken PAS vice-president, currently Bukit Gantang MP and Pasir Panjang state assemblyman, was appointed as Perak mentri besar when Pakatan Rakyat (PR) won 31 out of the 59 seats in the state assembly back in 2008. A spate of defections later saw BN taking over Perak, with Umno's Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir sworn in as mentri besar on February 6, 2009. "After serving for four years, I thought that I must concentrate my efforts on winning the state. All this time, my efforts and time have been divided between my state and parliamentary seat," Nizar told  The Malaysian Insider. "If you look at it, Bukit Ga...

Lajim had been expected to defect from BN earlier this month. — File pic KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 — Beaufort MP Datuk Seri Lajim Ukin has confirmed his resignation as  Kerambai Kebatu Umno branch chief earlier this month but maintained he was not leaving the party to join the opposition, the Borneo Post reported today. The vocal Umno supreme council member has been repeatedly rumoured to be part of a Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) crossover to PKR earlier this month, having said "nothing is impossible in politics" and adding that he will make a switch if such was desired by his constituents. "So far, I have no intention (of leaving Umno) but what we want are changes and improvements especially in the state leadership," the Sabah paper quoted Lajim as saying. He stressed that his decision to quit did not mean he was leaving the party, but to make way for "younger and more active candidates with potentials to become a leader at division level....