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Malaysiakini :: Berita

Posted: 22 Sep 2011 09:31 PM PDT

Ketika mayat Lawrence Selvananthan masih menjadi rebutan antara jabatan agama Islam dan keluarga Kristiannya, rakan-rakan si mati dikatakan mengambil tindakan sendiri dengan menyempurnakan mayatnya tengah hari semalam.

Difahamkan bahawa rakan si mati, yang membawa mayatnya ke gereja di Seremban untuk upacara kematian, memutuskan membakarnya dan meyimpan abunya di Segamat.

Situasi itu bagaimanapun memungkinan mereka menghadapi tindakan undang-undang oleh Jabatan Agama Islam Negeri Sembilan (JHEAINS), menurut anggota Dewan Undangan Negeri (ADUN) Port Dickson Ravi Munusamy yang bertindak sebagai orang tengah.

Ravi berkata, pegawai polis muncul di kediaman keluarga Lawrence di Lukut sekitar waktu tengah malam untuk menyerahkan arahan mahkamah syariah, memaklumkan tindakan akan dikenakan pada mereka.

Status agama Lawrence yang baru meninggal dunia mencetuskan kekeliruan pada keluarganya apabila JHEINS datang ke rumah menuntut mayatnya semalam atas alasan si mati memeluk Islam tiga hari sebelumnya.

Situasi itu menimbulkan ketegangan antara keluarga dan kira-kira 30 pegawai pihak berkuasa agama dan pegawai polis.

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Balu dakwa peguam SPRM fitnah Sarbaini

Posted: 22 Sep 2011 09:11 PM PDT

Balu kepada Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamed hari ini mendakwa peguam Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia dalam prosiding inkues telah memfitnah Allahyarham suaminya melalui satu kenyataan.

Maziah Manap berkata beliau kesal dengan tindakan oleh peguam SPRM, Datuk Seri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah yang mendakwa Penolong Pengarah Kastam Selangor itu meninggal dunia ketika cuba melarikan diri untuk berjumpa seorang rakan.

"Kenyataan (hujah peguambela) SPRM tersebut tidak disokong oleh sebarang keterangan semasa inkues dan merupakan satu tohmahan dan spekulasi oleh SPRM sehingga membabitkan nama pihak ketiga," kata Maziah dalam satu kenyataan.

Muhammad Shafee melalui satu kenyataan hujah peguambela pada 12 September lalu mendakwa, Ahmad Sarbaini berniat melarikan diri untuk bertemu seorang kakitangan syarikat pengangkutan Schenker Logistics (M) Sdn Bhd, Wan Zainalabidin Wan Zaki.

"Kenyataan akhbar tersebut dihebahkan secara meluas seolah-olah ianya satu fakta hakiki.

"Saya sangat dukacita dan sedih dengan kenyataan akhbar SPRM tersebut yang merupakan satu lagi tohmahan yang sangat zalim terhadap Allahyarham dan keluarga saya," kata Maziah dalam satu kenyataan.

Maziah mendakwa, Shafee membuat kenyataan tersebut supaya kenyataan yang diberikan oleh Allahyarham Ahmad Sarbaini dan Wan Zainalabidin kepada SPRM sebelum ini "dapat diselaraskan."

Sedangkan, katanya, hujah yang dikemukakan oleh peguam Wan Zainalabidin telahpun menyatakan bahawa:

Tidak terdapat sebarang bukti bahawa Allahyarham terbabit dengan salah laku rasuah.
Tidak terdapat sebarang sebab untuk Allahyarham takut dan cuba melarikan diri.
Tiada asas kepada teori SPRM bahawa Allahyarham cuba melarikan diri untuk memberikan amaran kepada Wan Zainalabidin demi memastikan pernyataan mereka menjadi konsisten.
Pengakuan Allahyarham yang kononnya telah diperolehi, adalah secara muslihat, perdayaan dan paksaan dan amat bercanggah dengan pernyataan awalnya di mana Allahyarham secara tegaas menafikan sebarang perlakuan rasuah
Pemadaman rakaman CCTV pada waktu kejadian selama tempoh lebih 22 jam seperti disahkan oleh pegawai forensik, ASP Fauziah Che Mat, menunjukkan usaha SPRM untuk menyembunyikan kejadian sebenar.

Katanya lagi, beliau menjawab kenyataan berkenaan kerana tidak sanggup lagi mendengar cemuhan yang dibuat "semata-mata untuk melepaskan SPRM daripada dipertanggungjawabkan ke atas kematian suami saya."

Beliau juga mahu pihak yang menyebabkan kematian suaminya itu dipertanggungjawabkan supaya maksud "keadilan" membawa erti kepada keluarga mereka.

Inkues berhubung kematian Ahmad Sarbaini dijadualkan akan diputuskan pada Isnin depan.

Kredit: www.malaysiakini.com

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Malaysiakini :: Letters

Palestinians must register their claim for statehood

Posted: 22 Sep 2011 02:55 AM PDT

The last time I rechecked the United Nations did not belong to the United States, neither to those countries with veto power like China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom.

In fact the United Nations (UN) is an international organisation whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace.

And the UN was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace the League of Nations, to stop wars between countries, and to provide a platform for dialogue.

It contains multiple subsidiary organisations to carry out its missions.

So why is the U.S. President Barack Obama telling the United Nations on Wednesday there was no short cut to Middle East peace and urging the Palestinians to stop trying to get statehood from the Security Council in their application tomorrow?

That is not all. The Washington Hawks are furiously scrambling to head off a UN showdown when it is clear that the US is warning world leaders that trying to create a Palestinian nation by simple decree is unwise!

For that matter again why amid frantic efforts to avert a diplomatic disaster, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is urging the United Nations to grant the Palestinians the status of observer state, like the Vatican, while outlining a one-year roadmap to peace?

The irony remains that both Presidents who are having major domestic problems and challenge to their presidency, are offering different solutions to defuse the diplomatic crisis!

Obama need not preach to us either that 'peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the United Nations'.

The world already knows that and you do not have to be a rocket scientist or a professor of law at Harvard to know that with the vulgar Jewish lobby, the presence of the Washington Hawks, the pressures of the US right wing and US's veto, this will not be possible as the US will do everything possible to protect the rights, interests and obsessions of that mischievous bully and misbehaved nation called Israel!

I am happy to learn from my friends among the Palestinians that they will go ahead with their proposal and will not be intimidated by any quarter!

I am also encouraged by the words of Palestinian senior aide Saeb Erekat who stated that the pursuit of full UN membership would not be slowed and that they will not allows any political maneuvering on this issue!

This is important for President Abbas who has to save face and prevent an embarrassing defeat that might empower his Fatah party's rival faction, the alleged militant Islamic group Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group by Israel and the United States from gaining ultimate power!

We are all aware that at the 15-member Security Council, approval of a resolution requires nine 'yes' votes and no veto by a permanent member - the US, Russia, China, Britain and France.

If the resolution gets fewer than nine votes, it would be defeated without the US having to use its veto.

And that will be the worse case scenario for the US and President Barrack Obama in the wake of the Arab reawakening and the Arab Spring.

The Palestinians could also seek a lesser form of recognition by the larger UN General Assembly, where they have overwhelming support.

This is the least they could do after failed peace talks, bickering and sporadic outbreaks of violence, genocide, war crimes, and the imprisonment of a population robbed of their peace, land, statehood, independence, human dignity and life itself.

On one hand, it is about a homeland, human dignity and the right to statehood for a community of people who have endured suffering, genocide, war crimes, theft of land and property and the other, the awful reality of the Jewish lobby, Israel's cannibalism, bullying and a powerful punishing US veto!

Gosh, what a situation!

Can separation of powers in M'sia become reality?

Posted: 22 Sep 2011 01:51 AM PDT

The recent announcement by the Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak of pending political reforms is an important step in the right direction for the country.

These reforms are needed to complement the earlier economic ones. The prime minister's boldness in enacting these reforms has been applauded by all quarters, except for Malay supremacist groups such as Perkasa who have been agitating for the harsher use of punitive laws against groups opposed to their notion of Malay rights and who are against any liberalisation of the status quo.

However, critics and cynics have questioned whether the reforms are being undertaken by the government to gain popularity and to counter the increasing potency of these civil liberty issues in the coming general elections.

Concern has also been expressed on whether the new laws to deter terrorism may be misused by the authorities and may have the same effect of stifling legitimate dissent.

Also the proposed decision to abolish annual licencing for the print media under the Printing Presses and Publications Act is really a minor improvement since the home minister's decision not to renew a licence is final and cannot be disputed in any court of law.

At the same time, there also appears to be no move to rescind or amend the Sedition Act and the Official Secrets Act which have been used to muzzle legitimate political dissent.

For now though, Malaysians should comfort themselves that the proposed new laws will - if truly implemented - take some powers away from the Home Ministry and return them to the judiciary.

This makes the role of the judiciary even more important to ensure that there is no abuse of power by the executive.

Restore the independence of judiciary

Separation of power of the main branches of the state is a core characteristic of all democratic systems. Adherence to this key concept is also critical to the protection of constitutional rights and the attainment of Vision 2020's lofty goals.

The drafters of our constitution had laid the groundwork for this by specifying "the supremacy of the law and the power and duty of the Courts to annul any attempt to subvert any of the fundamental rights [contained in the constitution] whether by legislative or administrative action or otherwise" (Reid Commission Report, para 161).

Since 1988 however, the independence of the judiciary has been compromised by numerous actions which have undermined its powers and circumscribed its responsibility to defend the constitution from legislative and other pressures.

If the prime minister is really serious about his "commitment to making Malaysia a modern, progressive democracy that can be proud to take its place at the top table of international leadership", the restoration of the independence and integrity of the judiciary must be his next reform.

Among the necessary steps for this reform process to take place are the following:

Establish an independent judicial commission to ensure transparency and objectivity in the appointment and promotion of judges and to protect judicial integrity.
Ensure the judiciary has the exclusive authority to decide whether an issue submitted for its decision is within its competence as defined by law.
Require all executive decisions to be subject to judicial review.

The prime minister must realise that a manipulated and dependent judiciary can only lead to a weakened democracy.

The public's impression of a compromised judiciary was very much at the heart of the recent Perak state government coup d'etat which saw the ousting of the Pakatan Rakyat government and its replacement by what many Perakians - including myself - regard as the illegitimate government of the BN in February 2009.

At that time, I had made the appeal to the Sultan of Perak in my open letter in the following manner: "To the letter of the law a government must be answerable, and the one standing above politics must be accountable as well.

In my humble opinion, Perak will regain its shine and the people's trust when the sultan accedes to the dissolution of the state assembly."

According to US diplomats in a leaked WikiLeaks cable, the BN victory in Perak was a "successful political power play both in terms of brute and refined power".

The diplomats also commented that "(This) reminds us that of the two coalitions, only the BN has the clout, money, and ability to manipulate the government system (Election Commission, Courts) to muscle its way to power,"
.
Until the separation of powers is fully established and respected, we can expect more such anti-democratic power plays and for the "modern and progressive democracy" that the prime minister aspires towards to remain a distant goal.

Kredit: www.malaysiakini.com

Khamis, 22 September 2011