AZIZ BARI, The Federal Constitution and the Sultan!

COMMENT:

The Malaysian public is still negotiating with the university authorities and government, about what is 'Freedom of Speech', and 'Peaceful Assembling' (Freedom of Gathering), which are guaranteed by the Federal Constitution of Malaysia (when Malaysia was first formed on Merdeka Day on 31 August 1957), after 54 years (2011 - 1957 = 54) of independence!

Article 10: Freedom of speech, assembly and association

(a) every citizen has the right to freedom of speech and expression;

(b) all citizens have the right to assemble peaceably and without arms;

(c) all citizens have the right to form associations.

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http://bm.harakahdaily.net/index.php/berita-utama/6242-ugutan-bunuh-sidang-media-aziz-bari-esok (29 OKT 2011)

Ugutan bunuh: Sidang media Aziz Bari esok

Harakahdaily

KUALA LUMPUR, 29 Okt: Pensyarah undang-undang Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA), Prof Dr Abdul Aziz Bari akan mengadakan sidang media petang ekoran menerima ugutan bunuh, pagi tadi.

Nota ugutan bunuh yang disertai peluru kosong dihantar ke rumahnya di Bandar Baru Selayang kira-kira jam 11.45 pagi tadi.

“Saya menerima sampil surat dengan sebutir peluru, dengan nota berkata ‘jangan kurang ajar dengan Sultan, maut nanti’,” kata Aziz kepada portal berita, The Malaysian Insider.

Aziz berkata beliau akan berhubung dengan peguamnya untuk tindakan susulan termasuk membuat laporan polis.

“Saya ada majlis di Ipoh, saya akan membuat laporan polis nanti... anda boleh menghubungi peguam saya untuk maklumat lanjut,” kata beliau yang disiasat oleh pengurusan UIA, polis dan Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia (SKMM) berhubung kenyataannya tentangt titah Sultan Selangor awal bulan ini.

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http://bm.harakahdaily.net/index.php/berita-utama/6098-aziz-bari-timbalan-menteri-turut-sedih

(21 Oct 2011)

KUALA LUMPUR, 20 Okt: Timbalan Menteri Pengajian Tinggi, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah berkata, berasa terganggu dan sedih dengan tindakan Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA) yang menggantung pensyarah Fakulti Undang-Undangnya, Prof Dr Abdul Aziz Bari.

Mengulas melalui laman Twitternya, Saifudin berkata beliau telah mengarahkan UIA memberi laporan bertulis kepada beliau. "Saya terganggu dan sedih. Saya sudah meminta UIA memberikan laporan bertulis," katanya.

Sementara itu, sekumpulan mahasiswa yang tidak berpuas hati dengan tindakan UIA terhadap Aziz Bari akan mengadakan demonstrasi esok.

Pengerusi Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia (SMM), Syukri Abdul Razab yang dipetik FMT berkata, demonstrasi itu akan diadakan dihadapan pintu masuk utama UIA pada pukul 9 pagi esok, selain bercadang menghantar memorandum kepada Rektor UIA, Prof Datuk Dr Zaleha Kamarudin menggesa agar penggantungan itu ditarik semula.

Menyifatkan tindakan itu sebagai tidak bertanggungjawab kerana membelakangkan prinsip ‘kebebasan akademik’, UIA sebagai institusi pendidikan tinggi seharusnya mempertahankan Aziz Bari atas dasar kebebasan berpendapat.

“Sebaliknya mereka tunduk kepada tekanan dan terus menghukumnya. Keadaan ini bukan sahaja memberi kesan kepada Aziz Bari sahaja tetapi semua pengamal akademik,” katanya.

Selain SMM, demonstrasi itu akan turut disertai kumpulan mahasiswa lain termasuk Persatuan Kebangsaan Pelajar Islam Malaysia (PKPIM), Gabungan Mahasiwa Islam Se-Malaysia (GAMIS), Pro-Mahasiswa (Pro-M), Gerakan Demokratik Belia dan Pelajar Malaysia (DEMA), serta Persatuan Mahasiswa Universiti Malaya.

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http://bm.harakahdaily.net/index.php/berita-utama/6087-hentikan-penindasan-terhadap-aziz-bari (20 Oct 2011)

Hentikan penindasan terhadap Aziz Bari

Harakahdaily

PETALING JAYA, 20 Okt: Tindakan keras kerajaan Umno Barisan Nasional dan pihak berkuasa Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA) terhadap pakar undang-undang, Prof Dr Abdul Aziz Bari membuktikan bahawa ruang kebebasan akademik di Malaysia semakin sempit dan kian tertutup.

Setiausaha Publisiti DAP Kebangsaan, Tony Pua berkata kerajaan dan UIA perlu menghentikan tekanan dan intimidasi terhadap para ilmuan Malaysia yang berbeza pendapat dengan pihak pemerintah, lapor Roketkini.

Katanya, walau pun DAP tidak semestinya bersetuju dengan pendapat Dr Aziz pada setiap masa, ia adalah hak setiap rakyat di Malaysia untuk mengemukakan pandangan tentang apa-apa perkara berkaitan dengan Perlembagaan Persekutuan, apatah lagi dari sudut pemikiran pakar-pakar dalam bidang berkenaan.

“Amat membimbangkan apabila Prof Dr Aziz Bari dikenakan tekanan yang teruk daripada Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia (MCMC), Polis Diraja Malaysia dan UIA.

“Semua tindakan keras itu hanya berpunca daripada Dr Aziz memberikan pendapat dalam bidang yang menjadi kepakarannya iaitu Perlembagaan Malaysia dan undang-undang yang berkaitannya dengannya,” katanya dalam satu kenyataan hari ini.

Laman web berita Malaysiakini pada tengah hari tadi melaporkan bahawa Dr Aziz bukan sahaja diberi surat tunjuk sebab oleh UIA tetapi juga telah digantung tugasnya sebagai pensyarah undang-undang di universiti itu.

Dr Aziz adalah pakar Perlembagaan Persekutuan yang telah menulis banyak buku termasuk Perlembagaan Malaysia: Asas dan Masalah, Majlis Raja-Raja: Kedudukan dan Peranan dalam Perlembagaan, Islam dalam Perlembagaan Malaysia, Politik Perlembagaan, Constitution of Malaysia: Text and Commentary, Malaysian Constitution: A Critical Introduction, dan Cabinet Principles in Malaysia: The Law and Practice.

Pua yang juga Ahli Parlimen Petaling Jaya Utara berkta, tindakan kerajaan UMNO-BN dan pihak UIA juga membuktikan Akta Universiti dan Kolej Universiti (AUKU) yang sememangnya zalim telah sekali lagi digunakan untuk menutup mulut dan kebebasan ahli akademik serta pelajar untuk menyuarakan pandangan.

Beliau menjelaskan bahawa laporan terbaru Times Higher Education (THE) 400 Top World University Ranking 2011/12 yang mencatatkan tidak ada satu pun universiti dari Malaysia yang berjaya menduduki tangga 400 universiti terbaik dunia, sebagai bukti keruncingan masalah institut pengajian tinggi di negara ini.

Katanya, ia adalah sesuatu yang memalukan kerana 60 universiti dari negara-negara Asia telah berjaya menduduki ranking THE, iaitu 16 dari Jepun, 10 dari China, lapan dari Taiwan, tujuh dari Korea Selatan, enam dari Hong Kong, dua dari Singapura, dan masing-masing satu dari India dan Thailand.

“Mutu rendah universitu kita adalah hasil yang jelas bahawa pakar-pakar akademik Malaysia sudah meluat dengan cara universiti kita ditadbirkan, dan biasanya mereka lebih suka berhijrah ke luar negara dan diterima oleh university-universiti berwibawa di sana.

“Kesannya, pelajar-pelajar universiti Malaysia mengalami masalah berganda, iaitu bukan sahaja terpaksa menerima tenaga pengajar yang lemah sebagai pensyarah dan tutor tetapi mereka juga dilarang daripada mengamalkan pemikiran kritis dan beranalisis kerana dikekang oleh AUKU,” ujarnya. – Roketkini.com

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http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/litee/sideviews/article/paying-the-price-of-1988-old-constitutional-chickens-now-come-home-to-roost-clive-kessler/

Paying the price of 1988: Old constitutional chickens now come home to roost

[Clive Kessler, October 21, 2011]

OCT 21 — The International Islamic University has decided to suspend Prof Aziz Bari for seeking to make a point, as an expert scholar, on a point of constitutional law.

At stake in that instance was Aziz Bari’s view of the nature and exercise of a state Ruler’s royal powers in matters involving Islam.

Not long before these latest developments, on October 19, The Malaysian Insider republished from Utusan Malaysia a column authored by a different scholar in the Faculty of Law at the Islamic University.

Entitled “Hormati Perlembagaan Negara”, that comment was written by Prof Saodah Abd Rahman, an associate professor in that university’s department of Usuluddin and Comparative Religion.

Secular Constitution, Islamic State?

Not uniquely but as part of a now accelerating trend, that article called upon all Malaysians to acknowledge and respect the constitutionally entrenched standing of Malaysia as an Islamic state or Negara Islam.

Of course, as all serious students of the Federal Constitution know, Malaysia is no such thing, and never was.

On the contrary, the “Merdeka negotiations” were based upon precisely the opposite view.

The major political parties whose co-operation and mutual consent made national independence possible in 1957 on the basis that it was then achieved and established, were agreed upon, considered themselves bound by, and by common agreement intended to implement precisely that opposite view.

Their joint position in the “Merdeka negotiations” was namely that in substance — though the matter would not be spelled out fully and explicitly — the new independent Federation of Malaya was to be a secular state, though one whose international personality would be symbolised by the designation of Islam as the formal and official, or “emblematic”, religion of the new nation.

By means of this largely emblematic display of Islam as an identifier of the new state’s public personality, this constitutional approach would maintain some important historical continuity with the cultural heritage of the independent nation’s regional setting and with the role of the traditional rulers of the Malay states.

In this way the deep importance of Islam to all levels of peninsular Malay society, as a matter of faith and cultural identity as well as political heritage, was acknowledged and formally recognised.

But this recognition, the agreements then reached were intended to guarantee, was to be underwritten and inscribed in such a way that the new constitutional arrangements would not, and should never, impose any impediment to the political form and structure of the new nation ultimately becoming anything other than that of a state, equally, of all of its citizens, whatever their cultural or religious background.

Constitutional Revisionism, Doctrinal Expansion

Yet now we have politicians, and populist Malay rights activists and vigilante groups, and even legal academics seeking to suggest, and even insist upon, exactly the opposite view of the nation’s character and founding constitutional charter.

They maintain, and adamantly insist, that the country is, and by its founding definition was constitutionally intended immediately to be — or else launched on an irresistible trajectory towards becoming — an Islamic state, a Negara Islam.

How, one is driven to ask, has such a situation become possible? How have such developments been allowed and how have they managed to proceed unhampered by any effective constitutional consideration and restraint?

The sad truth is all too evident.

Assertions that Malaysia is, and was — and is by the original historical circumstances of its quest for independence destined to be — an Islamic state now carry the day.

They are routinely asserted, widely repeated, and go largely uncontested.

And as they do, that largely revisionist view increasingly becomes, or is ever more likely to become, the effective, operative political truth of the situation — regardless of the historical facts, and regardless of the historical background and substantive provisions of the Constitution itself.

Of course, those who promote these revisionist views are not simply mistaken or ill-informed.

Stupid they are not.

That kind of naivété is not characteristic of the constitutional revisionists and their public campaigning. Nor should it be displayed by those who wish to criticize these new developments and those who assiduously promote them.

The Situation Today

It is the absence of this kind of authoritative judicial exploration of fundamental constitutional issues — in the gap that was made possible in 1988 and has continued to grow with accelerating momentum in recent years — that has made various recent developments possible.

That is the background, and those are the ultimately “enabling conditions”, of both Aziz Bari’s current predicament and of the new, and now ubiquitous, politically driven, ethnopopulist constitutional revisionism alike.

* Clive S. Kessler is Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at The University of New South Wales, Sydney.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.

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http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/um-academics-back-aziz-bari-want-end-to-probe-and-suspension

UM academics back Aziz Bari, want end to probe and suspension

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal October 20, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 — Academics from Malaysia’s oldest university threw their support today behind Professor Dr Abdul Aziz Bari, urging an end to the “gross violation” of academic freedom.

Police investigations as well as Universiti Islam Antarabangsa’s (UIA) suspension of Abdul Aziz should immediately be dropped, the Universiti Malaya Academic Staff Union (PKAUM) said in a strongly-worded statement today.

It also defended Abdul Aziz’s recent remarks critiquing the Selangor Sultan, saying that “a criticism of a Ruler is valid if it is intended to constructively show that the Ruler has erred.”

Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah had decreed recently that the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) had found evidence of proselytisation by non-Muslims during a dinner held at the DUMC on August 3 but said it was insufficient for further legal action.

Following Abdul Aziz’s (picture) statement that the intervention was “unusual and inconsistent” and should have been done in line with Islamic teachings, it caused a furore in Parliament among Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs who urged action to be taken against the IIUM law lecturer.

Although a police report has been lodged against him, the outspoken academician has decided against apologising for his remarks, insisting he had not meant to challenge the Sultan.

“In the case of Professor Aziz, what he has done is merely to suggest that a Ruler has acted beyond his Constitutional bounds. This is a legitimate comment with no statement, direct or implied, made to incite hatred against the Ruler,” PKAUM president Azmi Sharom said today.

The law academic said the action taken by the police and UIA in probing Abdul Aziz and suspending him of his duties will only “instil fear” in the academic community and halt any development in the country’s intellectual capacity.

Azmi also said that the Sedition Act ought not to have been used in the first place and that it should be repealed “due to the vast potential of abuse against fundamental freedoms of expression that it carries.”

UIA has suspended Prof Dr Abdul Aziz Bari pending investigations into his remarks on the Selangor Sultan’s recent decree.

The suspension order was issued in the show-cause letter sent to the law professor yesterday. When contacted by The Malaysian Insider today, Aziz said he would leave the matter in the hands of his lawyer.

His lawyer Dr Dzulkarnain Lukman confirmed the suspension includes Aziz being barred from campus to meet with its staff or any person of position within the university.

“According to the show-cause letter, these criteria will be in place until the conclusion of the inquiry,” he said, adding that Aziz has been given until 4pm on October 25 to respond to the letter.

Dzulkarnain also confirmed that Aziz is facing action under Article 15(1) of the university’s disciplinary orders for his statement published on Malaysiakini, which is said to have tarnished UIA’s image.

“I was made to understand this is the third time that Professor Aziz Bari has been issued a show-cause letter,” said Dzulkarnain, adding he was unaware of the reasons or contents of the previous two letters.

It is believed, however, this is the first time the law professor has been barred from entering the university. Police opened investigations into Aziz’s statement under the Sedition Act yesterday, following a report lodged by Umno Senator Ezam Mohd Nor on October 1.

It is believed that at least five police reports have been lodged against the professor.

On Monday, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) had also questioned Aziz.

Muammar Gaddafi is DEAD !

http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/10618010/kadhafi-killed-as-hometown-falls/

WHO KILLED GADDAFI?

[GADDAFI IS DEAD / Muammar Gaddafi Hiding in the Drain, Later Shot Dead !]

Yahoo!7 and Agencies

October 21, 2011, 4:02 pm

SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) - Disturbing images of a blood-stained and shaken Muammar Gaddafi being dragged around by angry fighters quickly circulated around the world after the Libyan dictator's dramatic death near his home town of Sirte.

The exact circumstances of his demise are still unclear with conflicting accounts of his death. But the footage of the last chaotic moments of Gaddafi's life offered some clues into what happened.

Gaddafi was still alive when he was captured near Sirte. In the video, filmed by a bystander in the crowd and later aired on television, Gaddafi is shown dazed and wounded being dragged off a vehicle's bonnet and pulled to the ground by his hair.

"Keep him alive, keep him alive!" someone shouts. Gaddafi then goes out of view and gunshots ring out.

"They captured him alive and while he was being taken away, they beat him and then they killed him," one senior source in the NTC told Reuters. "He might have been resisting."

In what appeared to contradict the events depicted in the video, Libya's ruling National Transitional Council said Gaddafi was killed when a gunfight broke out after his capture between his supporters and government fighters. He died from a bullet wound to the head, the prime minister said.

The NTC said no order had been given to kill him.

Gaddafi called the rebels who rose up against his 42 years of one-man rule "rats," but in the end it appeared that it was he who was captured cowering in a drainage pipe full of rubbish and filth.

"He called us rats, but look where we found him," said Ahmed Al Sahati, a 27-year-old government fighter, standing next to two stinking drainage pipes under a six-lane highway near Sirte. On the ground, government fighters described scenes of carnage as they told stories of Gaddafi's final hours.

Shortly before dawn prayers, Gaddafi, surrounded by a few dozen loyal bodyguards and accompanied by the head of his now non-existent army Abu Bakr Younis Jabr, broke out of the two-month siege of Sirte and made a break for the west. They did not get far.

Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, covered in blood, is pulled from a truck by NTC fighters in Sirte.

France said its aircraft struck military vehicles belonging to Gaddafi forces near Sirte at about 8:30 a.m. (0630 GMT), but said it was unsure whether the strikes had killed Gaddafi.

A NATO official said the convoy was hit either by a French plane or a U.S. Predator drone.

Two miles (3 km) west of Sirte, 15 pick-up trucks mounted with machine guns lay burnt out, smashed and smouldering next to an electricity substation 20 metres from the main road.

They had clearly been hit by a force far beyond anything the motley army the former rebels has assembled during eight months of revolt to overthrow the once feared leader.

Inside the trucks still in their seats sat the charred skeletal remains of drivers and passengers killed instantly by the strike. Other bodies lay mutilated and contorted strewn across the grass. Some 50 bodies in all.

Mansour Daou, leader of Gaddafi's personal bodyguards, was with the former strongman shortly before his end. He told al Arabiya television that after the air strike the survivors had "split into groups and each group went its own way."

"I was with Gaddafi and Abu Bakr Younis Jabr and about four volunteer soldiers." Daou said he had not witnessed his leader's death because he had fallen unconscious after being wounded in the back by a shell explosion.

The future for Libya:

Muammar Gaddafi’s bloodied, half naked body with trademark long curls hanging limp around a rarely seen bald spot, was delivered, a prize of war, to Misrata, the city west of Sirte whose siege and months of suffering at the hands of Gaddafi's artillery and snipers made it a symbol of the rebel cause.

A quick and secret burial was due later on Friday.

"It's time to start a new Libya, a united Libya," Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril declared. "One people, one future."

A formal announcement of Libya's liberation, which will set the clock ticking on a timeline to elections, would be made on Saturday, Libyan officials said.

Two months after Western-backed rebels ended 42 years of eccentric one-man rule by capturing the capital Tripoli, his death ended a nervous hiatus for the new interim government.

U.S. President Barack Obama, in a veiled dig at the Syrian and other leaders resisting the democrats of the Arab Spring, declared "the rule of an iron fist inevitably comes to an end."

Gaddafi killed, rebels rejoice:

The demise of the hated dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, who ruled his oil-rich North African nation with an iron rod for close on 42 years, sparked a spontaneous outpouring of joy and celebratory gunfire in streets across Libya.

"We announce to the world that Gaddafi has died in the custody of the revolution," National Transitional Council (NTC) spokesman Abdel Hafez Ghoga said in the eastern city of Benghazi.

"It is an historic moment. It is the end of tyranny and dictatorship. Gaddafi has met his fate," he added.

In Tripoli, interim premier Mahmud Jibril said NTC leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil was to declare by Friday that the country has been liberated, paving the way for the formation of an interim government ahead of elections.

As Libyans danced for joy in the streets, world leaders welcomed Gaddafi's demise as the end of despotism, tyranny, dictatorship and ultimately war in Libya.

Colonel Kadhafi, whose whereabouts were unknown since NTC fighters overran the capital in August, was captured in a sewage pipe waving a golden gun near Sirte, Libyan fighters said.

"Gaddafi was in a jeep when rebels opened fire on it. He got out and tried to flee, taking shelter in a sewage pipe," an NTC field commander, Mohammed Leith, told AFP.

Gaddafi "looked left and right and asked what was happening. Rebels opened fire again, wounding his leg and shoulder. He died after that," according to Leith.

But according to Jibril, Gaddafi was shot in the head "in crossfire" between his supporters and new regime fighters after his capture.

"When he was found, he was in good health, carrying a gun," Jibril told a press conference in Tripoli. Kadhafi was transferred from the sewage pipe to a pickup truck, at which point he was shot in the right hand.

"When the vehicle started moving, it was caught in crossfire between Gaddafi fighters and the revolutionaries, and he was shot in the head," according to Jibril.

"He was alive up to last moment, until he arrived at hospital" in the town of Misrata.

French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet revealed that a French Mirage-2000 fired a warning shot at a column of up to 80 vehicles trying to flee Sirte early Thursday.

Libyan fighters then intervened, destroying the vehicles, from which "they took out Colonel Gaddafi," he added.

Longuet told reporters in Paris that the convoy "was stopped from progressing as it sought to flee Sirte but was not destroyed by the French intervention."

A videotape aired on Arab satellite channels showed a bloodied Gaddafi alive and walking as he was being manhandled by Libya's new regime fighters after his capture.

NTC fighters circled the 69-year-old ousted strongman, who was bloodied in the head, face and shoulders, as he apparently tried to cry out.

Leith, the NTC commander, said one of Gaddafi's sons, Mutassim, was also killed in Sirte. "We found him dead. We put his body and that of (ex-defence minister) Abu Bakr Yunis Jabar in an ambulance to take them to Misrata."

The NTC's Jibril said that Gaddafi's most prominent son and one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, was believed to be pinned down in a village near Sirte.

Witnesses said they saw the bodies of both Gaddafi and Mutassim in Misrata late on Thursday. "I saw his body, he had a wound on his head," said one witness, Hakim al-Farjani.

"There was a lot of blood on his body. He had a bandage on his stomach," he said. "The body came in an ambulance. Then the crowd became bigger and bigger so they took the body away."

An AFP photographer also saw Mutassim's body after it had been transferred to Misrata.

News of Gaddafi's death came as new regime troops overran the last redoubt of his loyalists in Sirte, bringing to an end a two-month siege.

Fighters moving in from east and west overcame the last resistance in the city's Number Two residential neighbourhood where his diehard supporters had been holed up.

"Sirte has been liberated, and with the confirmation that Gaddafi is dead," Libya has been completely liberated, a top NTC military official, Khalifa Haftar, told AFP in Tripoli.

Fighters who had fought in the bloody eight-month conflict that toppled the despot at a cost of more than 25,000 lives, erupted in jubilation, firing volleys of gunfire into the sky and chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest).

Pick-up trucks blaring out patriotic music criss-crossed the streets of Sirte as fighters flashed V for victory signs and chanted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest).

"We did it! We did it!" chanted the fighters overcome with emotion, exchanging well-wishes, hugs and handshakes against a backdrop of intense celebratory gunfire.

World leaders react:

World leaders began to weigh in on the death of the man who had ruled the oil-rich nation.

US President Barack Obama said Gaddafi's death ended a long, painful chapter for Libyans and warned "iron fist" regimes in the rest of the Arab world they would inevitably fall.

Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, Obama said Gaddafi's demise vindicated the collective military action of the West and said Libyans now had a chance to build a "democratic" and "tolerant nation."

British Prime Minister David Cameron said the death was an occasion to remember his victims, while hailing it as a chance for a "democratic future" for Libya.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy also hailed the end of Gaddafi and urged the country's new regime to pursue democratic reforms.

French and British forces spearheaded the air campaign against Gaddafi's military by the NATO military alliance, which has launched nearly 1,000 strike sorties since March 31.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance will begin Friday winding up its six-month mission in Libya.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi he hoped the death of Gaddafi would "turn the page off tyranny."

Arabi urged Libyans to "overcome the wounds of the past and to look to the future with no grudges or sentiments of revenge, warding off all that could disrupt national unity and peace."

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said it ushered in a "historic transition" for Libya.

"The road ahead for Libya and its people will be difficult and full of challenges. Now is the time for all Libyans to come together," he said at the UN headquarters.

Medics said at least three NTC fighters were killed and 30 wounded in Thursday's fighting in Sirte, after 18 were killed and around 180 wounded over the previous two days.

Fifty pro-Gaddafi fighters were killed and 150 taken prisoner, including three women, said NTC commander Leith. There was no independent confirmation of the toll.

Dadah dalam 'cappucino', 'coffeemix' dirampas !

http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2011&dt=1005&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Jenayah&pg=je_02.htm (5 Oct 2011)

Dadah dalam 'cappucino', 'coffeemix' dirampas

M. Govinden bersama pegawainya menunjukkan sebahagian dari peket 'Super Coffeemix' dan 'Good Day Cappucino' mengandungi syabu pada sidang akhbar di Kompleks Jabatan Kastam Diraja Malaysia KLIA di Sepang, semalam.

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SEPANG 4 Okt. - Pelbagai taktik terbaru digunakan oleh sindiket dadah antarabangsa untuk membawa masuk barang larangan tersebut ke negara ini namun ia berjaya dibanteras oleh Jabatan Kastam Diraja Malaysia (JKDM).

Terbaru, JKDM Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Kuala Lumpur (KLIA) berjaya menggagalkan cubaan menyeludup 1.9 kilogram dadah jenis syabu bernilai RM475,000 yang disorokkan dalam paket kecil 'cappucino' dan 'coffeemix'.

Sekali lagi, warga Iran dikenal pasti terlibat sebagai dalang membawa masuk bekalan dadah itu ke negara ini dan ia seperti sudah menjadi satu trend.

Pengarahnya, Datuk M. Govinden berkata, tangkapan itu berhasil selepas membuat pemantauan terhadap para penumpang yang tiba di negara ini melalui penerbangan Royal Jordanian dari Amman, Jordan.

Menurutnya, hasil pemeriksaan, JKDM menahan seorang pelancong wanita warga Iran kira-kira pukul 1 pagi Khamis lalu selepas curiga dengan barangan yang dibawa dalam dua buah beg berisi makanan ringan termasuk 'cappucino' dan 'coffeemix'.

"Imbasan awal mendapati tiada barangan yang mencurigakan ditemui dalam beg tersebut.

"Bagaimanapun selepas penumpang tersebut diarah membuka salah sebuah beg yang dimuatkan dengan makanan ringan seperti coklat, candy, cappucino, coffeemix, ia telah menimbulkan keraguan pegawai bertugas, lalu pelancong tersebut diarahkan untuk pemeriksaan rapi," katanya pada sidang akhbar di sini hari ini.

Ini merupakan kes kelima melibatkan warga Iran yang ditahan kerana cuba menyeludup masuk dadah ke negara ini sejak Ogos lalu.

Menurut Govinden, suspek berusia 24 tahun memasukkan 27 bungkusan kecil syabu dalam setiap paket cappucino daripada jenama Good Day Cappucino dan 36 peket lagi dalam satu pek Super Coffeemix.

"Kes ini diserahkan kepada Bahagian Penguatkuasaan JKDM KLIA untuk siasatan lanjut di bawah Seksyen 39B Akta Dadah Berbahaya 1952, yang mana jika disabitkan kesalahan boleh dikenakan hukuman mati mandatori.

"Suspek ketika ini ditahan reman selama tujuh hari bagi membantu siasatan," katanya.

Govinden memberitahu, bermula Januari sehingga 1 Oktober lalu, JKDM berjaya menggagalkan 21 kes dengan rampasan 80 kilogram dadah daripada pelbagai jenis bernilai hampir RM8 juta.

Ramai rakyat Malaysia Menjadi Mangsa Penipuan Kad Kredit di Vietnam

http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2011&dt=0929&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Dalam_Negeri&pg=dn_04.htm

(29 Sept 2011)

Mangsa kad kredit palsu dibebaskan

HO CHI MINH, Vietnam 28 Sept. - "Perkara pertama yang akan saya lakukan sebaik sahaja memijak bumi Malaysia adalah melakukan sujud syukur," kata Normazawati Wong Abdullah, rakyat Malaysia yang dibebaskan selepas dipenjarakan hampir tujuh tahun di Penjara Ham Tan K4 di Vietnam.

Menurut ibu tunggal berusia 49 tahun itu, dia akan mencari lima anaknya dan menyatukan mereka di bawah satu bumbung.

Normazawati dijangka tiba di Terminal Penerbangan Tambang Murah (LCCT) Sepang, pukul 10 pagi esok selepas semua proses berkaitan seperti penyediaan dokumen pembebasannya diuruskan Setiausaha Agung Kelab Putera 1Malaysia (KP1M), Abdul Khalid Chairul di sini, hari ini.

Turut sama menyertai program membawa pulang wanita itu ialah Exco Wanita UMNO, Datuk Norhayati Onn.

Kata Normazawati, keperitan ketika berada dalam tahanan dan menjadi banduan tidak akan dilupakan sepanjang hayat dan jika boleh dia tidak mahu lagi menjejakkan kaki ke Vietnam.

Menurutnya, tempoh enam tahun 11 bulan menanggung azab sebagai banduan di Penjara Ham Tan K4 selain ditahan 17 bulan sementara menunggu perbicaraan adalah satu tempoh yang terlalu lama sehingga dia langsung tidak mahu mengingati detik itu.

Kisah hidupnya sebagai tahanan di Vietnam bermula selepas dia menerima pelawaan seorang rakan sepejabat untuk menyertai 'lawatan' ke negara itu April 2004.

Katanya, menerusi 'lawatan' itu, dia bersama tiga lelaki warga tempatan disambut oleh dua lelaki sebaik tiba di Vietnam dan dibawa ke sebuah hotel.

"Keesokannya, saya diminta oleh salah seorang daripada mereka untuk membeli barang menggunakan kad kredit milik orang lain. Saya turut diberi pasport milik individu itu tetapi dilekatkan dengan gambar saya.

"Saya enggan berbuat demikian, tetapi mereka mengugut untuk mencederakan anak serta ahli keluarga di Malaysia jika tidak mengikut arahan," katanya.

Normazawati berkata, dia cuba melarikan diri malam itu juga, tetapi bilik hotelnya dikawal oleh beberapa lelaki menyebabkannya mengambil keputusan untuk mengikut arahan individu terbabit.

Katanya, dia kemudian dibawa ke sebuah kompleks membeli-belah dan diminta membeli pelbagai barang, antaranya kamera video, kamera dan jam tangan yang tidak diketahui jumlahnya menggunakan kad kredit itu sambil diekori oleh seorang lelaki.

"Sehari sebelum saya sepatutnya pulang, mereka juga minta saya mengeluarkan wang tunai kira-kira AS$5,000 (RM15,000) dan melakukan 'tugas' terakhir untuk membeli barang di kompleks yang sama.

"Saya melakukan perkara itu, tetapi kali ini ditahan oleh pengawal keselamatan sebelum sempat menaiki teksi. Lelaki yang menyuruh saya melakukan perkara itu melarikan diri. Saya cuba meminta pertolongan di sebuah bank, tetapi pengurusnya tidak dapat membantu dan saya diserahkan kepada polis," ujarnya.

Dua bulan selepas itu katanya, dia dihadapkan ke mahkamah dan dijatuhkan hukuman penjara 10 tahun atas dakwaan menggunakan kad kredit palsu.

Dia yang sepatutnya dibebaskan Februari lalu terpaksa menanti lebih lama kerana perlu membayar denda VND373,965,810 (RM60,208.50) atas kesalahan itu.

Bagaimanapun, dengan bantuan Kelab Putera 1Malaysia, wang tersebut berjaya dikumpulkan dan diserahkan kepada Konsul Muda Malaysia di Vietnam, Nor Azme Salleh pada Jumaat lalu.

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http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2011&dt=0929&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Dalam_Negeri&pg=dn_03.htm

(29 Sept 2011)

Ramai rakyat Malaysia (Menjadi Mangsa Penipuan Kad Kredit) di Vietnam

Daripada SHARILFUDDIN SAARI

pengarang@utusan.com.my

HO CHIN MINH, Vietnam 28 Sept. – Kedutaan Malaysia di Vietnam bimbang peningkatan kes penipuan kad kredit membabitkan rakyat Malaysia dengan tujuh kes dilaporkan di negara itu sejak 2010.

Timbalan Konsul, Nor Azme Salleh berkata, kesemua kes itu kini sedang menunggu untuk dibicarakan di mahkamah negara ini dan mereka yang terbabit terpaksa meringkuk dalam pusat tahanan.

“Kita bimbang jika tiada langkah diambil semakin ramai akan menjadi mangsa (penipuan kad kredit),” katanya ketika ditemui di pejabatnya di sini, hari ini.

Menurut Nor Azme, pihaknya mendapati sindiket itu melibatkan rakyat Malaysia yang menggunakan bantuan orang tengah warga Vietnam (samseng orang Vietnam).

Katanya, ahli sindiket di Malaysia akan mengenal pasti mangsa dan membawanya ke Vietnam untuk dipergunakan.

“Mangsa biasanya individu yang kurang pengetahuan dalam kegiatan penipuan dan mudah terpedaya kerana dijanjikan pelbagai tawaran seperti melancong dan sebagainya.

“Mangsa kemudian akan diberi kad kredit dan pasport palsu sebelum diarahkan membeli pelbagai barangan di Vietnam. Jika mangsa ditangkap orang tengah itu akan melarikan diri,” ujarnya.

Beliau berkata, dalam kes-kes itu, pihaknya tidak mampu berbuat apa-apa kerana terikat dengan undang-undang di Vietnam.

Katanya, kes rakyat Malaysia yang menjadi ‘keldai dadah’ di negara itu dilaporkan hanya dua orang dengan yang terbaru berlaku awal bulan ini.

POLIS Koperal Jenain di Penjara 5 Tahun !

Komen:

Masa jadi polis dulu syok sampai ke langit, syok pegang pistol hidup, lebih malang lagi tembak budak berusia 15 tahun, apakah kesalahan budak itu, sampai kena tembak di kepala? Apakah salahnya jikalau ditembak di kaki atau badan dahulu. Lesen memegang pistol, bukanya bererti boleh menembak sesiapa yang disukai atau tidak disukai.

Hakim hanya beri hukuman 5 tahun sahaja, itu pun masih hendak berdolak dalik lagi ?! Apa sudah jadi ?!

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http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2011&dt=0920&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Mahkamah&pg=ma_05.htm

(20 Sept 2011)

Jenain fail rayuan ketepi hukuman

SHAH ALAM 19 Sept. - Anggota polis, Koperal Jenain Subi yang dihukum penjara lima tahun bagi kesalahan menyebabkan kematian remaja berusia 15 tahun, Aminulrasyid Amzah, hari ini memfailkan rayuan bagi mengetepikan sabitan dan hukuman tersebut.

Permohonan itu difailkan dua peguamnya, Salim Bashir dan Halim Ashgar Mohd. Hilmi di Kaunter Pendaftaran Jenayah, Kompleks Mahkamah di sini, pada 12.45 tengah hari ini.

Jenain yang tidak terus menjalani hukuman selepas permohonan penangguhan pelaksanaan hukuman penjara tersebut dibenarkan hadir semasa rayuan berkenaan difailkan.

Pihak pendakwaan yang diwakili Timbalan Pendakwa Raya, Mohd. Dusuki Mokhtar turut memfailkan rayuan pada hari ini kerana tidak berpuas hati dengan hukuman tersebut.

Pada 15 September lalu, Jenain dihukum penjara lima tahun oleh Mahkamah Sesyen selepas didapati bersalah atas tuduhan menyebabkan kematian Aminulrasyid yang ditembak di kepala pada April tahun lalu.

Dia dibicarakan mengikut Seksyen 304(a) Kanun Keseksaan yang memperuntukkan hukuman penjara maksimum 30 tahun dan boleh dikenakan denda.

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Source:

http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/Policeconstableorderedtoenterdefenceforshootingwife/Article/ (20 Sept 2011)

KUALA LUMPUR: The Sessions Court here today ordered a police constable to enter his defence for shooting his wife last year. Judge Mohamad Sekeri Mamat made the decision after finding that the prosecution had succeeded in establishing a prima facie case against T. Ravindran, 31, at the end of the prosecution case.

"The sixth prosecution witness, who is also the victim in the case, G. Prema,25, in her testimony said that the accused came to her house on March 2, 2010, to discuss the status of their marriage with her father, A. Ganason, who is the seventh prosecution witness.

"When she went to her room to take her jewellery and return them to Ravindran, he followed her into the room, pushed her down on the floor and shot her. "Based on her testimony, which was supported by the testimonies given by her father and brother G. Davendran, the prosecution had managed to establish a prima facie case against the accused, therefore I call upon the accused to enter his defence," he said.

Ravindran was charged with shooting Prema using a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver, which could cause the death of the victim, at Blok D-10-09, Program Perumahan Rakyat Kerinchi, Pantai Dalam, Brickfields, at 9.40pm on March 2 last year.

The charge under Section 307 of the Penal Code carries a maximum jail term of 20 years.

Deputy public prosecutor Lokman Kasim prosecuted. -- BERNAMA

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http://www.hmetro.com.my/myMetro/articles/Dibelasahkeranategurpolis/Article/index_html

(27 SEPT 2011)

Dibelasah kerana tegur polis

JITRA: Hanya kerana menegur perbuatan seorang anggota polis membuang sampah di luar tong sampah, seorang pekerja syarikat pembersihan sisa pepejal menanggung padah apabila mendakwa dibelasah anggota itu dan lima rakannya serta diugut ditembak di Taman Bahagia, Kodiang, dekat sini, Sabtu lalu.

Dalam kejadian jam 11.20 pagi itu, Mohd Ridzuan Mohd Noor, 23, dari Jalan Sanglang, dekat Kodiang, turut digari sebelum dimasukkan ke lokap di Balai Polis Kodiang.

Mohd Ridzuan berkata, dia menjalankan tugas harian mengangkut sampah di situ sebelum seorang lelaki berusia 40-an membuang sampah di luar tong sampah.

Katanya, dia yang kecewa dengan sikap lelaki itu menegur perbuatannya supaya membuang sampah itu ke dalam tong disediakan.

“Dia berang dan mempersoalkan tindakan saya, malah bertambah berang apabila melihat saya tidak tahu dia adalah polis. “Dia yang berpakaian preman turut mengugut menembak saya jika membawa pistolnya bersama,” katanya ketika ditemui di rumahnya di Jalan Sanglang, Kodiang, semalam.

Katanya, selepas bertengkar, anggota terbabit meninggalkan kawasan itu sambil memberi amaran kepadanya supaya berhati-hati dan sekali lagi mengugut untuk menembaknya.

Menurutnya, setengah jam kemudian lelaki itu datang semula bersama lima rakannya dipercayai polis berpakaian preman berusia 30-an.

“Tanpa usul periksa, mereka menendang saya sehingga terjatuh. Selepas itu, muka, tangan dan perut saya disepak sebelum digari dan dibawa ke Balai Polis Kodiang dengan motosikal,” katanya.

Menurutnya, kejadian disaksikan orang ramai tetapi tidak boleh berbuat apa-apa kerana menyangka polis menangkap penjenayah.

Menurutnya, sebaik tiba di balai polis berkenaan, dia dibawa ke dalam sebuah bilik sebelum dipukul dengan rotan, selain ditendang sehingga tidak bermaya.

"Lelaki yang bertengkar dengan saya itu turut menendang bahagian muka saya dan dia sekali lagi mengugut akan menembak saya," katanya.

Mohd Ridzuan kemudian dimasukkan ke dalam lokap sebelum dibebaskan setengah jam kemudian.

Katanya, dia mendapatkan rawatan di Hospital Jitra dan doktor memaklumkan terdapat kesan lebam pada pipi kiri, rusuk kiri dan bahu. Mohd Ridzuan mendakwa pergelangan tangannya turut luka dan masih sakit akibat digari.

Mohd Ridzuan kemudian membuat laporan di Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah (IPD) Kubang Pasu, di sini, pada jam 1.40 pagi Ahad lalu.

Sementara itu, Ketua Polis Daerah Kubang Pasu, Superintendan Ibrahim Mohamed Yusoff mengesahkan menerima laporan kejadian itu

Garuda Breast Examination !

Comment:

Young girls who are desperate to look for job opportunity, and they would do almost anything, but the question the government authorities should ask 'IS it really necessary and/or life endangering to the passengers or themselves?'

That the so-called 'breast examination' be conducted (by GARUDA and/or other airlines)? The so-called 'Breast Examination' is at best termed 'sexual harassment made legal' ...when it could be done by a female doctor, and also the issue of 'Is it really necessary?' ... I mean does GARUDA do really think that the 'fake breasts' (implant) would possibly 'EXPLODE' in mid-air, and cause injuries to the passengers???? Come on, where are the local authorities and NGOs??

Also how about the passengers with 'breast implant'... should they also be 'checked' and not allow to broad the plane?

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http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/ANN/Story/STIStory_705492.html

(25 Aug 2011)

Indonesian airline Garuda under fire for near-naked interview

Published on Aug 25, 2011

(THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - An Indonesian airline came under fire after having female job applicants get almost naked during an interview. Garuda Indonesia has recently interviewed applicants to pick 18 Korean crew members for its new flight service.

The women were ordered to take off all their clothes except their underpants for a 'health examination'. A male doctor touched their breasts to check whether they have implants, which the company said would endanger them when flying.

The company said it conducted the same examination when picking stewardesses in all countries, including Japan and Australia.

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Airline Breast Exam Angers Flight Attendants, 25 Aug 2011

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/25/airline-breast-check-ups-_n_936095.html

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Garuda Denies Breast Check Allegations

Elisabeth Oktofani & AFP | August 24, 2011

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/garuda-denies-breast-check-allegations/461497

Gaddafi Flee Libya !

http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2011&dt=0828&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Terkini&pg=bt_03.htm (28 Aug 2011)

Britain sumbang 3 juta Euro kepada Libya

28/08/2011 2:16am

LONDON 28 Ogos - Negara Britain menyumbang 3 juta Euro (RM 12.9 juta) kepada Persatuan Bulan Sabit Merah Antarabangsa untuk bantuan kemanusiaan segera di Libya, semalam.

Menurut Menteri dalam Jabatan Pembangunan Antarabangsa (DFID), Andrew Mitchell berkata pakej bantuan tersebut akan menolong menyediakan perkhidmatan-perkhidmatan asas seperti memberi makanan untuk hampir 700,000 orang dan bantuan perubatan kepada 5000 mangsa yang tercedera akibat pertempuran itu.

"Kami telah melihat kejadian yang dashyat itu dari hospital Tripoli dan kami sedang bergerak pantas untuk menghulurkan bantuan kepada Persatuan Bulan Sabit Merah Antarabangsa dalam menangani isu itu,” katanya kepada saluran televisyen BBC. – AFP

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http://www.straitstimes.com/The-Big-Story/The-Big-Story-3/Story/STIStory_705788.html

(25th Aug 2011)

Rebels hunt Gaddafi relatives, supporters in Tripoli

Published on Aug 25, 2011

TRIPOLI (REUTERS) - Rebels fought gun battles in Tripoli with loyalists of Muammar Gaddafi on Wednesday as they hunted for his relatives and supporters, Reuters witnesses and an Arab television station said.

A Reuters correspondent said bursts of gunfire rang out near the Corinthia Hotel in central Tripoli late on Wednesday and a column of smoke rose from the area. The shooting came after a group of heavily armed rebels arrived at the hotel demanding to search room after they had heard that one of Gaddafi's sons, Saadi, was inside.

A Reuters reporter saw about half a dozen rebels arrive in the hotel forecourt in a truck mounted with an anti-aircraft gun. The men ran into the hotel and blocked off access to the elevators as they prepared to search the building room by room.

Foreign journalists who had been trapped for days in the Rixos hotel in the capital had been taken to the Corinthia after their release on Wednesday.

In a separate incident, a rebel spokesman told Al Arabiya Television that gunmen fought a fierce battle with Gaddafi's top military commander, General Abdul Rahman Al Syd, at his farm in Tripoli on Wednesday, but it was not clear whether he had been captured.

'He (Syd) is leading the battle with the rebels and he is still inside the farm,' the spokesman, Abdel Salam Abu Zaakouk, told the Dubai-based channel without giving further details.

Abu Zaakouk also said that rebels had found Gaddafi's office director, Bashir Saleh, and his four children at a family farm in Tripoli. The spokesman said Mr Saleh had tried to conceal his identity by wearing Sudanese garb.

A Reuters television crew filmed heavy clashes on Wednesday afternoon on the edge of Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound, which was ransacked by rebels on Tuesday.

The crew said rebels were seen stepping over the bodies of pro-Gaddafi soldiers as they moved from one building to another trying to clear the area.

The rebels pulled back at sundown, saying they did not want to hurt civilians they believed were caught in the cross fire inside some of the buildings. The rebels vowed to return to fight again in the morning.

Rebels stormed Gaddafi's headquarters on Tuesday, a day after they first entered the Libyan capital following a six-month insurgency.

Gaddafi has fled and Libyan rebels are offering a US$1.3 million (S$1.6 million) bounty for his capture alive or dead.