KUALA LUMPUR, 24 July 2009: The government, through the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) and Tekun Nasional (Tekun), has approved a RM15 million loan for Indian Malaysian youths to expand their businesses this year. MIC President Datuk Seri S.Samy Vellu said the move showed the Barisan Nasional’s (BN) commitment towards catering the needs of the Indian […]
Access to legal representation a fundamental right
By George VarugheseON 17 July 2009, a group of Kampung Buah Pala residents hand-delivered a memorandum to the Bar Council expressing their concern, inter alia, that they have not been permitted to be accompanied by legal counsel of their choice in their negotiations with the Penang government over land issues. The right of access to legal representation […]
Controlling the media
By Jacqueline Ann Surin(TV pic by Frecuencia; remote control pic by Lusi; source: sxc.hu) JUST before Datuk Seri Najib Razak became Malaysia’s sixth prime minister on 3 April 2009, I was asked by a Malaysiakini reporter whether I thought there would be further media restrictions under his administration. Some sectors of society imagined, rightly or wrongly, that Najib […]
Rethinking Malaysia’s sodomy laws
By Claire BrownellTHEY’RE colonial relics, they’re rarely invoked, and other Asian countries have effectively taken them off the books. But because Malaysia’s sodomy laws are tangled up in politics and religion, they’re probably not going anywhere for a while. In 2007, Singapore modified their sodomy laws, expressed in Section 377a of the island-state’s Penal Code, to exclude […]
MIC offering RM3.2mil for Kg Buah Pala land
PENANG, 23 July 2009: The MIC is willing to offer RM3.2 million if the Penang government can get back the land in Kampung Buah Pala, Bukit Gelugor from the developer. MIC Youth chief T Mohan said the move was to enable the residents to continue living in the village. He was speaking to reporters after […]
MIC’s Mohan, nine others held for illegal assembly
PENANG, 23 July 2009: MIC Youth coordinator T Mohan and nine others were today detained by police for illegal assembly, after about 50 people gathered here to march to the Komtar building to hand over a memorandum to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng on the Kampung Buah Pala issue. The 10, aged between 18 and […]
Youth who killed teacher’s daughter to remain in jail
PUTRAJAYA, 23 July 2009: A teenager who was convicted of killing his tuition teacher’s daughter in 2002 has exhausted all avenues to declare his punishment unconstitutional, and will remain behind bars at the pleasure of the king. The youth, now 20 years old, had asked the Federal Court to restore the Court of Appeal decision […]
GMI hands over memo on ISA to palace
KUALA LUMPUR, 23 July 2009: The Movement for the Abolition of the ISA (GMI) today submitted to the Istana Negara a memorandum calling for the abolition of the Internal Security Act (ISA). GMI chairperson Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh handed over the memorandum to Istana Negara public relations officer Mohd Khairi Abdul Rahman at the security […]
Telling Malaysian stories
By Claire BrownellCorrected on 27 July 2009 at 11.25am BERNICE Chauly says her work as a poet, photographer, filmmaker and writer is all about telling stories. Her work often has themes of marginalisation and identity. She’s written a play about sex workers, taken pictures of refugees, and made documentaries about indigenous peoples and Kelantanese folk traditions. She […]
Total eclipse of the sun
By Cindy Tham(Pic by Luc Viatour / Wiki commons) A TOTAL eclipse of the sun cast a long shadow on Earth yesterday, 22 July 2009. Said to be the longest total solar eclipse in the 21st century, the shadow moved along a narrow corridor across parts of the Asia Pacific. The eclipse was partially perceivable in the […]
