End State-Sponsored Violence!

Malaysia paints an image of being a wealthy, developed and advanced nation to the rest of the world.

But behind that facade lies a sick, convoluted sense of authority. One that has no sense of right and wrong. A self-imposed authority to treat its citizens brutally, to the extent of killing them.

The good people of this nation have finally decided that this must stop.

Thirty NGOs have now formed a coalition called the Gerakan Hentikan Keganasan Kerajaan or also known as the End State Violence coalition and they are going to organise a huge rally in December to make their point.

The launch of this rally will be held as follows:

Time: 8pm
Date: Nov 6, 2012 (Tuesday)
Place: Auditorium Bar Council KL

Go HERE for more details.

Scorpene Never Dies

It sounds like a Bond movie.

Aside, Tomorrow Never Dies starred Michelle Yeoh, and Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond.

But the truth is, no Bond movie could potentially be as scandalous and licentious as the Scorpene story of Malaysia.

The Scorpene story involves plenty of sex, sharing of women between at least two high profile men, corruption of a monumental scale, the sale of highly confidential naval information to the French, the dramatically explosive (no pun intended) murder of a Mongolian woman.

Like I said, no Bond movie could come close to that sort of filth, and Bond movies are generally not known for child-friendly scenes.

Along came SUARAM, who hired French lawyer Joseph Breham to unearth the facts. He came up with a lot of worms. Read a summary of it HERE.

Now the Malaysian officials involved, namely the BN government, are livid with rage as this will no doubt affect the way people vote when they hit the polling booths soon.

The best way to get rid of this mess is to silence SUARAM. And what better way than to harass, intimidate and bully SUARAM with bogus probes.

There was a time when Malaysians could easily be intimidated. A time when the rule was not to rock the boat as long as the economy was going fine.

Times have changed. The “Scorpene Never Dies” Action Team is determined to help SUARAM keep the Scorpene issue afloat and to get the Najib administration to stop its obviously politically-motivated investigation against SUARAM.

A candlelight vigil is on:

Date: 25 Sept 2012 (Tuesday)
Time: 8:00PM
Venue: Dataran Merdeka

As usual, the authorities will deem it illegal.

As if anyone cares. Malaysians who care about their country will be there.

Jailing The Whistleblowers

When the going gets tough, UMNO jails the whistleblowers

Suaram, the human rights NGO that hired French lawyers to investigate bribes and kickbacks surrounding Malaysia’s controversial purchase of French submarines, will be charged for violations of the country’s Companies Act sometime during the next two weeks, Domestic Trade and Consumerism Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said Saturday, according to the state-owned Bernama news service.

Some 66 Malaysia-based NGOs are expected to give a press conference tomorrow at 11 am expressing their support for Suaram, an acronym for Suara Rakyat Malaysia, or Voice of the Malaysian People.

Suaram in 2009 asked a French investigative law firm headed by William Bourdon in 2009 to look into what appeared to be huge bribes and kickbacks paid to Malaysian politicians by the French state-owned defense company DCN and its subsidiaries for the 2002 purchase of two submarines and the lease of a third.

The probe resulted in a raid on DCN’s headquarters and other company offices that exposed nearly 150 million euros in questionable funds paid to a close friend of then-defense minister Najib Tun Razak, now Malaysia’s prime minister. The documents indicated that the bribes had been paid with the full knowledge of Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, Mahathir Mohamad, then the prime minister of Malaysia, and Najib, who had negotiated the purchase. The evidence detailed a host of other sleazy dealings.

Some 133 documents listing the alleged criminal dealings were obtained independently by Asia Sentinel and posted here on June 25 on the Internet. Two Asia Sentinel stories detailed the allegations against French and Malaysian officials.

Suaram, accused of being “Anwar’s NGO” because of the presence of opposition members of its board of directors, has come under unprecedented attack by pro-government bloggers, party-owned newspaper and UMNO lawmakers who questioned its status as an NGO rather than a company and accused it of receiving foreign funds.

“Yes, they are going to try to charge us,” Suaram Director Cynthia Gabriel said in a telephone interview Sunday. We have no details yet, the first charge will probably be in a couple of days, we will see what happens.”

Gabriel said the first charge apparently involves allegations of money-laundering, although she said the NGO had voluntarily opened its books to investigators and that she felt there had been no wrongdoing.

Malaysia’s government-owned newspapers have blared headlines that Suaram received funds from the German government, and indicated that that the German ambassador would be called in and asked for an explanation.

The Chinese probably hold the record for jailing those who point out corruption, violation of environmental laws and other shortcomings. But Malaysia could be catching up. The Barisan Nasional has a considerable history of going after whistle-blowers who expose wrongdoing by government officials, and particularly of leaders of the United Malays National Organization.

Read the rest HERE

God Bless Germany!

SUARAM got funding from the Germans for a workshop on migration.

And so the Malaysian government is angry :-)

From the Washington Post:

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysian authorities have summoned the German ambassador to explain why his country provided funds for a project linked to a Kuala Lumpur-based human rights group.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman says the funding could be “seen as interference in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state” because the Malaysian government considers rights group Suaram to be politically biased.

Suaram often criticizes government policies on issues such as detention without trial.

A German Embassy official said the ambassador was meeting with Malaysian foreign ministry representatives Friday.

The official said German authorities approved a “small amount” of money two years ago to support a workshop on migration that involved participants including Suaram.

He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make public statements.

The Malaysian government considers anything that doesn't brown-nose up to them as being politically biased.

Say What????

Scorpene probe not a serious matter, says foreign minister

Ahmad Fadli KC
4:09PM Jun 11, 2012

The probe by French prosecutors into the alleged corruption over the purchase of the two Scorpene submarines is not a serious issue that Malaysia should now focus on, said Foreign Minister Anifah Aman.

"This is not a serious matter that we need to follow, and it is being played up by certain parties," he told reporters after attending a luncheon with representatives of Asean nations in Kuala Lumpur today.

He was asked about Malaysia's preparations to face the case currently being investigated in Paris.

Anifah said that Malaysia will make the necessary preparations to face the trial when they are needed.

"So far we have not received any information from the (French) embassy. But if necessary, we are ready to defend ourselves," Anifah added.

Local human rights NGO Suaram had filed a suit over alleged kickbacks from French defence contractor DCNS to Malaysian parties in the two submarine purchases.

Suaram's lawyer Joseph Breham recently revealed that French prosecutors found that a company closely-linked to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had sold confidential documents to DCNS for 36 million euro (RM142 million).

The company, Hong Kong-based Terasasi Ltd, belongs to Najib's associate Abdul Razak Baginda and the latter's father Abdul Malim Baginda.

Suaram had also revealed that French investigators found fax correspondence which indicate that Najib could have asked for US$1 billion for another company owned by Abdul Razak, Perimekar, for the duration of the company's stay in France.

This was allegedly in exchange for a meeting with Najib.

Najib has been silent on the matter while the Navy and Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, too, had declined comment.

Najib, Abdul Razak and Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid have been named in the list of seven witnesses proposed by Suaram, which was accepted by French investigating judge Roger Le Loire.

However, this does not mean that all seven witnesses will be subpoenaed by the inquiry.

Protest Over MACC Custodial Death

The protest organized by SUARAM was to be held at 10am in the MACC office in front of Hotel Grand Blue Wave in Shah Alam over the death of the customs officer.

However, the police have cordoned off the road. As usual.

There were some pro-BN freaks with banners telling PR to get lost. Word is, they were arrested.

The crowd should have subsided by now, but keep it mind if you’re heading out to lunch in the area.

SUARAM Activist Under ISA

Pinky and the Brain (or lack thereof) are at it again.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - One Is An Idiot, The Other's Insane

I suppose they've lost all credibility among the educated Malaysians that nothing matters anymore, except for votes from the sampah masyarakat of Malaysia.

So they make more arrests in the name of internal security.

A 26-year-old activist has been arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) tonight following a report she made accusing the police of abuse of power in yesterday’s controversial eviction of a squatter colony in Johor.

Cheng Lee Whee, a self-employed programmer who is a volunteer for human rights group Suaram, lodged the police report at the Permas Jaya police station in Johor Bharu at about 3pm yesterday.

The report was made in response to the forced eviction of squatters in Kampung Baru Plentong Tengah - a predominantly Malay village akin to Kuala Lumpur’s Kampung Baru - and the arrest of 27 individuals for attempting to stop the demolition of the settlement.

Cheng was summoned by inspector Azman Mustafa to the state police headquarters in Seri Alam at around 8pm so that her statement could be taken relating to her police report.

Four of her friends accompanied her to the police station, among them were Suaram Johor Bahru coordinator Nyam Kee Han, Parti Socialis Malaysia central committee member Choo Shinn Chei and Suaram volunteer See Siew Min. The three were arrested yesterday at the forced eviction.

At around 10.45pm, after Cheng had her statement recorded by the police, she was informed by Criminal Investigation Department chief DSP Mohd Nor Rasid that she had been arrested under section 28 of the ISA for "spreading false information".

Section 28 of the ISA involves the dissemination of false reports.

According to the section, "Any person who, by word of mouth or in writing or in any newspaper, periodical, book, circular or other printed publication or by any other means spreads false reports or makes false statements likely to cause public alarm, shall be guilty of an offence."

According to lawyers, section 28 does not empower the police to detain a suspect without trial. The suspect must be brought to court within 24 hours either to be charged or be further remanded to facilitate police investigation.

Of course, I'm wondering if the Brain (or lack thereof) will explain it all away as being for her own protection. It's entirely possible he could get original - and more ludicrous.