Balak: K'jaan Pahang diperintah bayar RM60 juta

by Malaysiakini

Kerajaan Pahang hari ini diperintahkan membayar RM60 juta kepada sebuah syarikat pembalakan selepas gagal dalam usaha terakhirnya di Mahkamah Persekutuan bagi mendapatkan kebenaran untuk merayu.

Hakim Besar Sabah dan Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum yang bersidang bersama Hakim-Hakim Mahkamah Persekutuan, Datuk Nik Hashim Nik Ab Rahman dan Datuk Abdul Aziz Mohamed sebulat suara menolak permohonan kebenaran untuk merayu oleh kerajaan negeri dan Pengarah Perhutanan Negeri Pahang.

Hakim Malanjum berkata persoalan undang-undang yang dikemukakan oleh kerajaan Pahang, yang diwakili Penasihat Undang-undang Datuk Mat Zara'ai Alias, "bukanlah satu persoalan yang wajar dan ia dibangkitkan di Mahkamah Rayuan."

Kerajaan negeri Pahang dan pengarah perhutanan negeri telah memohon kebenaran untuk merayu terhadap keputusan Mahkamah Rayuan pada 3 Ogos lalu yang menolak rayuan mereka untuk melanjutkan masa bagi memfailkan notis rayuan, demikian dilaporkan oleh Bernama.

Notis rayuan itu adalah terhadap keputusan Mahkamah Tinggi Kuantan pada 25 Mei 2007 yang memerintahkan mereka membayar RM37,127,471.60 kepada Seruan Gemilang Makmur Sdn Bhd dengan faedah pada kadar 8 peratus setahun mulai 31 Disember 2000 sehingga selesai pembayaran.

Mahkamah Tinggi memerintahkan mereka membayar jumlah itu kepada Seruan Gemilang setelah berpuas hati bahawa pengarah perhutanan negeri telah bertindak secara cuai apabila enggan mengguna pakai pelan terkini yang dikemukakan oleh Seruan Gemilang yang telah diluluskan oleh Majlis Mesyuarat Kerajaan Negeri (exco) pada 5 April 2000, sebaliknya mengarahkan pelan asal yang diluluskan oleh exco pada 7 Januari 1998, diguna pakai.

Atas tanah Umno

Pada 9 Disember 2002, Seruan Gemilang memfailkan saman terhadap Kerajaan negeri Pahang dan pengarah perhutanan negeri bagi memohon ganti rugi RM31 juta kerana didakwa melanggar perjanjian kontrak konsesi pembalakan berhubung pengeluaran kayu balak di atas tanah milik Umno di Mukim Bebar, Daerah Pekan seluas 4,000 hektar.

Seruan Gemilang menamakan kerajaan negeri Pahang sebagai defendan pertama dan pengarah perhutanan negeri, defendan kedua.

Dalam pernyataan tuntutan, Seruan Gemilang mendakwa pada 31 Julai 2000, defendan kedua telah memberi kelulusan kepadanya bagi mengeluarkan kayu balak dari mukim itu bagi kawasan seluas 3,200 hektar.

Pada 13 Mei 2002, defendan kedua telah memberi kelulusan kepada Seruan Gemilang bagi mengeluarkan kayu balak dari baki kawasan seluas 800 hektar di tanah yang sama. Ini bermakna Seruan Gemilang telah diberi kelulusan untuk mengeluarkan kayu balak dari kawasan seluas 4,000 hektar.

Bagaimanapun defendan kedua hanya membenarkan Seruan Gemilang mengeluarkan kayu balak dari kawasan seluas 2,800 hektar sahaja manakala baki selebihnya telah diberikan kepada beberapa pihak ketiga untuk mengeluarkan kayu balak dari tanah tersebut.

Kedua-dua defendan dalam pernyataan pembelaan mereka menyatakan bahawa Seruan Gemilang hanya diberi lesen untuk menjalankan kerja pembalakan secara pemindahan bagi kawasan seluas 2,800 hektar sahaja manakala bagi baki 1,200 kektar itu pula, defendan mendapati Seruan Gemilang tidak berminat untuk menjalankan kerja pembalakan di situ.

ISA kejam, Islam bukan agama yang bacul - Mufti Perlis

by klpos

MUFTI Perlis, Dr Muhd Asri Zainul Abidin, kelmarin mengkritik penahanan tiga orang di bawah Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) sambil berkata orang yang tertuduh harus diberi peluang menjelaskan kesalahan mereka.
Beliau berkata Islam tidak memerlukan ISA untuk mempertahankan kemurnian agama itu, sambil menambah bahawa Al-Quran dan hadis harus digunakan sebagai panduan untuk menyiasat jika seseorang didakwa menghina Islam.

'Jadi tidak ada alasan menahan orang dengan tidak memberi peluang membela diri. Ini adalah satu tindakan yang salah. Sekiranya orang itu bersalah dari segi hukum agama, buktikan dari segi dalil-dalil agama,' kata Dr Asri.

'Cara kita tangkap orang guna ISA atas kesalahan agama tidak akan menghilangkan salahfaham terhadap Islam. Seharusnya diperjelaskan dulu apa kesalahan itu.

Kalau misalnya orang itu menghina Islam atau menyeleweng, buktikan dulu berdasarkan Quran dan hadis,' jelasnya lagi.

Menurutnya, Islam 'bukan agama yang bacul' tetapi tindakan ISA itu atas kesalahan yang berkaitan dengan agama tersebut 'seolah-olah menggambarkan orang Islam tidak mampu berhujah, terus tangkap orang'.

Sambil mengingatkan bahayanya tindakan ISA itu, Dr Asri berkata adalah 'kejam' menahan seseorang selama dua tahun tanpa menjalani proses kehakiman terdahulu dan menggesa Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (Jakim) memainkan peranan lebih aktif dalam memberi penjelasan mengenai Islam. / The Star

SAPP pulls out of BN

by Malaysia Insider

The Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) has pulled out of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition and will become an independent party.

The decision was announced in a statement today following the party's supreme council meeting in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah today.

The pullout comes three months after SAPP declared it had lost confidence in the leadership of the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi, sparking speculation that it would join Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's Pakatan Rakyat (PR) alliance.

Today's decision deals a minor blow to BN's parliamentary majority as there are two SAPP MPs under the coalition.

But it also comes as a disappointment to the opposition because the party has decided to remain independent.

By leaving BN, SAPP leaders are taking a political gamble that it will be a popular move in light of strong anti-federal sentiment in the state.

As such the party is hoping it can be a springboard towards the possibility of capturing power at the next state elections.

In its statement, the SAPP accused the BN of losing the "BN spirit", and said it was "not that the people who did not want BN, it was the BN who abandoned the people".

The statement added that BN had refused to learn any lesson from the results of the March elections, citing what it said was a ruthless increase in oil prices, the failure in tackling inflation, and the abuse of the Internal Security Act (ISA).

The BN backbenchers' recent trip to Taiwan and what the party said was the instigation of racial animosities had contributed to the collapse of confidence in BN.

"SAPP hereby proudly disassociates ourselves from these shameful wrongdoings of the BN government.

"SAPP further believes that the BN is not capable of practising good governance and non-racial politics."

The statement also asserted the party's belief that BN had no intention in granting autonomy to Sabah or to review unfair policies.

With today's decision, the party says all of its lawmakers will relinquish any government positions.

The party has four Sabah state assemblyman and two MPs.

The state lawmakers are Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Raymond Tan, Assistant Sabah Finance Minister Melanie Chia, Elopura assemblyman Au Kam Wah and Likas assemblyman Datuk Liew Teck Chan.

Tan, who is also the party's deputy chief, said today he would resign his state government posts within the next 24 hours but he had not decided yet to quit the party.

He had walked out of today's supreme council meeting. Tan said Au would be quitting the party.

SAPP's two MPs are Datuk Eric Enchin Majimbun and Datuk Dr Chua Soon Bui.

Opposition MPs bemused by BN portfolio switch

by Malaysian Insider

Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers were bemused when they heard the lunch time news that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi had swapped portfolios with his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

The PM is now the defence minister and the DPM is the minister of finance.

"The switch in mid-term appears very odd," DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang said in response to today's announcement.

In spite of that, he noted that the change of portfolios may prove a good thing and urged the "new" finance minister to take the opportunity to present a new and updated Budget proposal that would take into account the many international and domestic economic changes that have been and are still occuring in the weeks before Parliament reconvenes on Oct 13.

"We are in a very fast changing economic situation...locally and internationally. Najib should seriously consider presenting a new 2009 Budget," he said.

"What's the point in debating an obsolete Budget?" he told reporters after chairing the newly established parliamentary caucus to free Teresa Kok and abolish the Internal Security Act (ISA).

Like his father, Guan Eng (DAP-Bagan) who is also the chief minister of Penang, questioned the reason behind the switch.

"What can be achieved at this transition?" he asked aloud in front of reporters in Parliament today.

He opined that the switch "may hasten Najib's prospects at becoming prime minister".

Guan Eng noted that if that were the case, then there was no harm in the prime minister meeting opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, which the Pakatan Rakyat leaders have been rooting for, to ensure a "peaceful transition of power", arguing that they have managed to obtain the popular support of a majority of MPs from the ruling Barisan Nasional government.

"He should talk to Anwar or let the people decide," Guan Eng said.

Pas treasurer Dr Hatta Ramli said that the transfer of portfolios between the nation's top two administrators held no significance "except to reflect their individual failures in their portfolios".

"The PM is not capable of handling finances in the country. The DPM is not capable of handling' defence in the country," said the Kuala Krai MP.

"All these are like a threat. I don't feel the country needs any more threats,- he added.

Malaysia’s Anwar Raises the Temperature

by Jed Yoong, Asia Sentinel

The opposition leader increases the pressure on Prime Minister Badawi, who faces more trouble in his own party

Going back on his public assertions that he would become Malaysia’s premier by September 16, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim held a press conference to announce what he has already announced repeatedly – that at least 31 federal lawmakers from the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition would cross over to his side.

The onetime deputy prime minister and finance minister's unrelenting quest to become prime minister has pushed political stability in Malaysia to a boiling point, critics say. Prime Minister Ahmad Abdullah Badawi immediately dismissed Anwar's claims as "preposterous" and challenged him to reveal the names of potential defectors. Anwar says he is unwilling to do so for fear that Barisan may harass and intimidate the leapfrogging lawmakers.

Whether Anwar becomes prime minister may be less significant than whether Badawi remains one. Anwar's assiduous assault has in part galvanized anti-Badawi forces within the Barisan, especially in the flailing United Malays National Organisation, the country's largest ethnic party, which leads the coalition.

The UMNO Supreme Council is to meet Thursday and could possibly push out the embattled Badawi. The former premier Mahathir Mohamad has thrown his support behind his longtime foe, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, in the contest in December party polls for the UMNO presidency and by default, the country's top job. Muhyiddin Yassin, an UMNO vice-president and Minister of International Trade and Industry, invited Mahathir back into the party last week and openly challenged Badawi's stated "transition plan” to hand over the reins to Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2010. In response, the scandal-scarred Najib, who is viewed with open suspicion in the party because of allegations of his connection to the 2006 execution murder of a Mongolian woman, made a U-turn on his earlier commitment to the plan and now says it must be endorsed by the grassroots at branch and division elections.

Another major defector is Zaid Ibrahim, who was brought into the government by Badawi after disastrous March 8 national elections as a reformer to clean up the country’s judicial system. Zaid who resigned when the government cracked down on journalists last week, using the colonial-era Internal Security Act, which provides for virtually unlimited detention without warrant or habeas corpus. Although he is rumored to be joining Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat, Abdullah Badawi refused to accept his resignation, and his status is unclear.

The Barisan, which has ruled for over half a century, appears to be taking Anwar's claims seriously. On Sept 8, it packed 41 backbenchers to Taiwan, ostensibly to study agriculture although they've been put up at an agriculture leisure park and repeatedly spotted toting golf clubs. Pakatan, the coalition led by Anwar, in turn sent a team from Parti Keadilan Rakyat, Anwar's party and the largest parliamentary opposition, in hot pursuit to woo the Barisan lawmakers.

"While we have time, we will be enjoying coffee and breakfast with them to talk about how to change Malaysia," Tian Chua, Keadilan information chief and lawmaker, told a local blog September 12. Barisan lawmakers have reportedly denied meeting the Pakatan delegation.

There are also reports that the government is planning to send Malaysia’s current Agong, or king, the Sultan of Terengganu, to Saudi Arabia to perform religious duties during Ramadan. If Anwar were to lure the requisite number of lawmakers to his side, he would need to present the letters of resignation from the Barisan to the Agong. Everybody is due to come back Saturday, however. It remains to be seen what will happen.

Racial and religious sentiments are also boiling up as parties like the ethnic Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP) and the fundamentalist Parti Se-Islam Malaysia (PAS) have greater parliamentary representation and clout as members of Pakatan. Previously-sensitive issues are being bandied about with little concern about the multi-cultural population, which includes about 60 percent Muslim Malays, 25 percent Chinese and about 8 percent Indians. The remainder are indigenous peoples and others.

Reportedly insensitive handling of the Muslim community's feelings and interests have landed Teresa Kok, a DAP federal and state lawmaker and state councillor, in jail under the ISA along with two journalists. Shortly after Pakatan took over the Selangor state government after the March 8 general election, Kok announced that the government had approved a high-tech pig farm in the state, although eating pork is anathema to Muslims. She has also been accused of seeking to replace Jawi, the traditional Malay script, on road signs with Chinese characters and Tamil script, and complaining that the Azan, the Muslim call to prayer, was too loud. She has denied the allegations and says she is being targeted by UMNO.

Raja Petra Kamarudin, the prolific editor of the political news site Malaysia Today and Anwar's high school friend, has also been detained under the ISA for articles that allegedly insulted Islam and Muslims. Raja Petra, known for his constant assault on the administration and UMNO, has been sued for defamation countless times and charged with several counts of sedition and criminal defamation.

The crackdown on the media indicates that Badawi is losing his grip on power, if he ever truly had any to start with. A female reporter with the largest Chinese-language daily, Sin Chew, was also detained under the ISA for 18 hours – a record short period -- over a report that she wrote about a minor UMNO politician calling the Chinese "squatters" in a rally. The politician says he was merely stating a historical fact that earlier Chinese immigrants came with the goal of making as much money as possible to return to China. He has refused to apologize, although Vice Premier Najib did, however.