China student cries foul over 8 days in lockup
A Chinese national is crying foul over profiling of foreign women by the authorities, following her eight-day detention by the Subang Jaya district police. http://malaysiakini.com/new…
Top 10 news of 2009 from Malaysiakini
Despite the euphoria of the 2008 general election having died a little, politics remains a hot issue with the country seeing a new prime minister in the hot seat.
Counting down, we take you through the best and the worst of 2009. Here are the top 10 headline grabbers of the year as seen by Malaysiakini.
The prince and the teen model
Tales of foreign workers being abused have become routine in Malaysia. This year has been no different. But one particular case ignited indignation in Jakarta, partly because the alleged abuser was from royal circles.
The apparently fairy tale marriage of Indonesian teen model Manohara Odelia Pinot with Kelantan prince Tengku Muhammad Fakhry Petra ended with an eruption of warts early this year and excited the feeding frenzy of the media with her sensational allegations of torture, kidnapping and rape.
With her mother’s help, the 17-year-old socialite made a dramatic escape from her husband while visiting the ailing Kelantan sultan who is seeking treatment in Singapore.
In TV soap opera-style, Muhammmad Fakhry Petra, 31, the youngest of three princes, has since sued his wife and his mother-in-law – both of whom are now residing in Jakarta – to seek her return and RM1.1 million “loan”. He won the case after the duo failed to turn up in court.
The messy affair is believed to have played a role in the prince being knocked out from the Kelantan succession council in September. This month Muhammmad Fakhry Petra sued his elder brother, the acting Kelantan sultan, for his removal from the succession.
WHAT’S NEXT: Expect more drama from Malaysia’s royal families in the year to come, especially following the role the Perak sultan played in the Perak coup as well as their sometimes questionable business activities. And don’t expect the tales of foreign workers abuse to stop anytime soon either.
Flip-flop education policy
After years of hemming and hawing, the government decided to bite the bullet and reversed the policy of teaching science and mathematics in English, six years after it was introduced by then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Beginning 2012 the teaching of both subjects in primary schools will revert to Bahasa Malaysia for national schools, and Chinese and Tamil in vernacular schools.
The controversial policy provoked widespread opposition from both academics and language activists, arguing that the policy had failed to benefit school children and was unfair to the rural population.
The anti-English campaign saw the striking up of an unlikely alliance between Gapena (Gabungan Penulis Nasional) and Chinese educationists.
At a demonstration organised by the Abolish PPSMI Movement in Kuala Lumpur on March 7, the police used chemical-laced water and tear gas to disperse thousands of protesters.
The pressure on ruling party Umno was so great that Prime Minister Najib Razak had to make an abrupt U-turn on the policy.
WHAT’S NEXT: Mahathir, the man who advocated the policy, did not appear to take this lightly, and we are likely to see the former strongman firing all guns at those who had ‘betrayed’ him in the coming year.
Cops: Killers or protectors?
Some things never change. Police abuse was No 7 in our top 10 news of the year for both 2003 and 2004. It made a reappearance this year.
Year 2009 kicked off with yet another death in custody – A Kugan, whose post-mortem report suggested that he was ’starved and beaten’ while being detained at a police station in January.
After an intense campaign by civil society groups, a police officer was eventually charged 10 months later for causing “grievous hurt” while trying to extract a confession.
Kugan’s death reinvigorated the campaign against custodial death – the other being R Gunesegaran’s which is the subject of an inquest – as well as the deaths of illegal immigrants in detention camps.
Currently, attention is also focused on the police’s wild west style tendencies. Six were shot dead in Kulim, Kedah in February followed by the another high-profile gunning down of five youths in Klang, Selangor.
The Klang incident caused widespread outcry because the sister of one victim later committed suicide by consuming paraquat. However, her four children who also ingested the toxic weed killer survived.
WHAT’S NEXT: Whether the sole police officer who was charged for Kugan’s murder would eventually be punished no longer matters for many Malaysians. For them, two words describe the tragedy – scapegoat and cover-up.
Bloody protest in Shah Alam
It was a small protest numbering about 50 odd people but it grabbed headlines and was widely viewed as a shocking display of religious insensitivity.
On Aug 28, a group of demonstrators paraded a severed cow’s head and placed it at the gates of the state secretariat of Pakatan Rakyat-led Selangor government over the relocation of a Hindu temple to their Shah Alam residential area.
The cow is considered a sacred animal in Hinduism, and this stirred up a public outcry, prompting Home Minister Hishamuddin Hussein to intervene.
However, the Umno minister poured fuel on the fire by defending the protestors and Malaysiakini was blamed for uploading a video of the controversial event.
The Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) was ordered to probe Malaysiakini, leading to a dozen of the online daily’s journalists, editors and technical staff being interrogated.
Meanwhile, the 12 cow-head protestors were brought to the court and charged under the Sedition Act and for hold an illegal assembly. This was one of the few occasions when Umno symphatisers had been charged for sedition.
WHAT’S NEXT: The MCMC would be bull-headed should it take action against Malaysiakini and it remains to be seen whether the protesters, all of whom remain unrepentant, will really face punishment.
Death in MACC: Murder or suicide?
On July 16, the death of a young man demolished whatever little credibility was left in the barely one-year-old Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
Teoh Beng Hock became a household name when he was found dead outside the Selangor MACC headquarters in Plaza Masalam. He was said to have plunged from the 14th floor of the tower block housing the state office of the anti-corruption commission.
Teoh, who was political secretary to Selangor exco member Ean Yong Hian Wah, was being questioned as a witness over alleged misappropriation of state constituency allocations before he was found dead.
His death sparked so much public outrage that PM Najib was forced to meet with Teoh’s grieving family and subsequently agreed to an inquest on his death as well as a royal commission to examine MACC’s investigation procedures.
Two months into the inquest, however, renowned Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand dropped a bombshell – she claimed there was 80 percent probability that Teoh’s death was homicide and 20 percent chance of suicide.
This shocking revelation triggered the exhumation of Teoh’s body and a second autopsy was conducted by the Sungai Buloh Hospital forensics department chief Dr Shahidan Md Noor, assisted by Pornthip and British forensic expert Prof Peter Vanezis, who was appointed by the MACC.
However, the result of the autopsy has yet to be revealed and the inquest has been put off to next year.
WHAT’S NEXT: All will be known early next year when the inquest deliberates on the second autopsy report. There is a possibility that no consensus will be reached on how Teoh died with the inquest returning an open verdict, and Teoh’s death will forever remain a mystery.
The year of by-elections
There were nine by-elections this year and the 2008 political tsunami continues to stalk the BN. The ruling coalition failed to regain ground in six of the contests.
As expected, BN retained its two state seats – Batang Ai (Sabah) and Bagan Pinang (Negeri Sembilan), but lost its stronghold – the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat – to PAS.
With the exception of the Manek Urai state seat, the opposition won with increased majority in Bukit Selambau, Bukit Gantang and Permatang Pauh.
The BN nevertheless had put up an unexpected performance in Manek Urai, slashing the PAS majority from 1,352 (in 2008) to only 65 votes. But its celebration was cut short by another defeat in the Permatang Pasir by-election.
The ruling coalition opted not to contest in Penanti, with PKR fending off challenges from two independent candidates to retain the seat, also with a bigger majority.
Parliamentary seats: Kuala Terengganu (won by PAS), Bukit Gantang (PAS) and Permatang Pauh (PKR). State seats: Bukit Selambau (PKR), Batang Ai (PRS), Penanti (PKR), Manek Urai (PAS), Permatang Pasir (PAS), and Bagan Pinang (Umno).
WHAT’S NEXT: Will the BN be able to regain its coveted two-thirds majority in Parliament and recapture the states now under the Pakatan’s control? Or is the final tsunami yet to come? Nothing is impossible in politics as both coalitions gird their loins for the Sarawak state election .
The mother of all scandals
They called it the mother of all scandals. The entire project could cost taxpayers up to RM12.5 billion and the fate of a number of once powerful politicians hangs in a balance.
PKFZ began as a RM1.96 billion project in 1999 to transform Port Klang into a regional transhipment hub. In 2007, irregularities and problems in the project forced the government to provide a RM4.6 billion bailout.
It was only after the BN was hit by the disastrous results of the 2008 general election and the appointment of Ong Tee Keat as transport minister that an internal investigation was initiated into PKFZ.
With his election as MCA president after a tough fight, Ong sought to revive his party’s image and his own credibility by putting the PKFZ probe on the front-burner.
Various independent committees were formed and their shocking findings which fingered politicians and senior government servants put enforcement authorities in the pressure cooker to do the necessary.
The investigation was then passed from the Transport Ministry to a super task force comprising various ministries.
Finally, two years after the scandal was exposed, four non-politicians were brought to book. However, they have been dismissed as ’small fries’. The attorney-general has promised that more will be brought to book in the new year.
WHAT’S NEXT: Speculation is rife that Bintulu MP-cum-tycoon Tiong King Sing and former transport minister Chan Kong Choy could be next the face the music. Surely, a scandal of such magnitude will not stop with them. The question is: Are they going to sing?
MCA power struggle: No end in sight
MCA’s 60-year history has been littered with never-ending power struggles, but the latest infighting is living proof of the validity of the sayings “Politics is the art of the possible” and “There are no permanent enemies in politics”.
The seed of the factional war was planted when two equally outspoken leaders, Ong Tee Keat and Chua Soi Lek, won the party polls last year. Although Chua made a stunning comeback as the MCA deputy president, his DVD sex scandal continues to dog him.
Ong, threatened by his rival, reopened the investigation into Chua’s sex scandal and threw him out of the party. Although the punishment was later reduced to the suspension of Chua’s party membership, it failed to stop his supporters from calling for an EGM.
But party delegates dealt a blow to both the feuding leaders at the EGM where a vote of no confidence against Ong was passed while Chua failed to retain his party post. Talks of a secret third force at work were rife.
In yet another twist, Ong and Chua – who was reinstated by the powerful Registrar of Societies as the MCA deputy leader – hatched a peace deal which received PM Najib’s blessing.
However, it failed to bring an end to the dispute as the marginalised Liow Tiong Lai faction demanded a second EGM to push for a fresh leadership poll.
This forced Najib and his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin to intervene. After a series of meetings, vice-president Liow finally agreed to cancel the EGM under the impression that the three warring factions had reached a consensus for fresh polls.
However, Ong and Chua remain uncommitted over the date, forcing Liow and 12 members of his faction to submit their resignations. But he is not likely to get the necessary resignations to automatically trigger new elections. And thus, the stalemate continues.
WHAT’S NEXT: Najib is hoping for a quick end to the MCA crisis so that the second biggest BN component party can begin work to win back support from the Chinese minority. But the problems within MCA involving head-strong personalities may be just a little too hot for Najib to handle.
From prime minister to ‘prime sinister’
While not actually hailed as saviour, Najib’s ascension to the throne of prime minister was a blast of fresh air after six drowsy years under Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. But it was not long before public perception of him changed from prime mover to ‘prime sinister’.
Far from a triumphant parade, Najib’s rise was marked by an open rebellion within the ranks of Umno warlords objecting to Abdullah’s rule.
The Machiavellian gambit, spearheaded by the now well-rewarded Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin, proved instrumental in paving the way for Najib’s saunter into Seri Perdana.
However, Najib’s succession was marred by his alleged complicity in the Altantuya murder and accusations of him being the ‘dalang’ behind the BN coup in Perak in collusion with the state’s (in the eyes of the rakyat) royal family.
Eager to win over a suspicion ridden public, Najib inaugurated his reign with the release of the 13 ISA detainees, most prominent of whom were the leaders of the outlawed Hindraf. He also promised to reform the draconian act.
Kicking off his first few months in office with great fanfare, especially with his own 1Malaysia theme, Najib has had a rather short honeymoon and is facing the difficult task of bringing the country out of recession as well as meeting the heightened expectation of Malaysia’s minority groups while at the same time ensuring continued support from the Malays.
As the year comes to a close, Najib was served with yet another major headache – the two stolen RM100 million fighter jet engines, which went missing under his watch when he was defence minister.
WHAT’S NEXT: Najib became prime minister accompanied by quite a number of skeletons in his cupboard. He will have to ensure these do not slip out to haunt him later as he tries to put Malaysia back on its growth trajectory. Failing which, his predecessor’s fate awaits him.
Seeing double in the Silver State
Without a doubt, the biggest news story of the year was the political coup in the Silver State.
Perak became the epicentre of the political and legal battle of the decade following the Barisan Nasional putsch of the Pakatan Rakyat government, triggered by defections of three of the latter’s state legislative assemblypersons.
The incident had far reaching legal implications as subsequent court rulings – largely in favour of BN – rewrote long-held understanding of the powers of the sultan, assembly speaker, Election Commission and the menteri besar.
On the ground, there was turmoil as Perakians started seeing double – two sets of governments, two speakers, two menteris besar and at one point, even parallel state assembly sittings in the same chambers.
The BN has refused demands for fresh polls because it holds administrative power in Perak, albeit precariously as the Pakatan’s suit to challenge their legitimacy will be decided by the Federal Court.
WHAT’S NEXT: All eyes are on the long-awaited Federal Court’s decision on who is the legitimate MB. But whatever its decision, the result will be temporary – the real king makers will be Perak’s electorate in the next polls.
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