Updated on 24 Oct 2008 at 12.00pm PETALING JAYA, 23 Oct 2008: Eleven Hindraf supporters, including a six-year-old girl, were arrested when they tried to hand over a Deepavali invitation to the prime minister today. Kuala Lumpur chief police officer Deputy Comm Datuk Mohd Sabtu Osman confirmed that the supporters were arrested under Section 48 […]
Where’s Valuecap’s missing RM5 billion?
By Deborah LohKUALA LUMPUR, 23 Oct 2008: If Valuecap Sdn Bhd was launched in 2003 with RM10 billion in cash, why is the government now injecting another RM5 billion of taxpayers’ money to double its fund size? DAP’s parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang posed this question today, and said the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee should investigate and […]
Pakatan Rakyat unveils economic plan
By Deborah LohKUALA LUMPUR, 23 Oct 2008: The Pakatan Rakyat has proposed auctioning Approved Permits (APs), scrapping several mega-projects, and reducing government operation expenditure as ways to increase national revenue. The opposition coalition suggested these measures under a package of recommendations for the government’s 2009 Budget, which is currently being debated in Parliament. Announcing the recommendations today, […]
Nobel laureate banned after Iranian embassy protest
By Shanon ShahKUALA LUMPUR, 23 Oct 2008: The International Peace Foundation has never had its speakers banned from speaking in a country until the Malaysian government barred a Nobel laureate here. Shirin Ebadi (Courtesy of the International Peace Foundation) The foundation is behind the Bridges – Dialogues Towards a Culture of Peace programme here and in Thailand […]
In the dumps
By KW MakTHE saying goes that there’s money to be made from rubbish — about RM52 million a year, for removing waste from residents’ homes in Petaling Jaya. On the surface, the waste-management system is simple. Contractors move around collecting waste from urban areas and transport it to a landfill, far away from city folks. Once it […]
Face to face
By Cindy ThamTHIS is the message that greets you when you visit Dentyne’s website. It is part of the chewing gum company’s latest ad campaign called Make Face Time. While the ad campaign is in the US, the message may be relevant to any country where people spend a lot of time online. Conditions like internet addiction […]
The dilemma of moral policing
By Khairil AnharIT was a Saturday night, and the band NRG was just wrapping up the last number at The Pub in Holiday Inn Glenmarie in Shah Alam when they heard shouts. Suddenly, the smoky and half-lit pub interior was splashed with bright lights before a troop of officers from the Jabatan Agama Islam (JAIS) stormed in […]
Press freedom needs level playing field
By Gayathry VenkiteswaranTHANKS to Utusan Malaysia, discussions about press freedom in Malaysia have revived after a lull since the 8 March 2008 elections, when some vague commitments were made by the home ministry to review the licensing provision in the Printing Presses and Publications Act. The Utusan affair, particularly with regard to the defamation suit filed by […]
The social-contract/constitution equivalency
By Tricia YeohFirst Conference of Rulers in Kuala Kangsar, 1897 (Public domain) LAST week, the Conference of Rulers issued a much-publicised statement. The statement reiterated the special position of the Malay rulers, Islam, the Malay language, and the genuine interests of other communities as enshrined in the Federal Constitution. The rulers reminded Malaysians that it is not […]
The disconcerting trend of concert banning
By Zedeck Siew(Band graphic (© Gerald Senger/Dreamstime) EMOTIONS ran high during dangdut artist Inul Daratista’s 2008 Malaysian visit. Inul was first slated to perform in Stadium Larkin, Johor Baru on 19 July, but the concert was cancelled. Inul’s tears and near-fainting during a press conference after this announcement was widely publicised in the Malay-language press. A replacement […]
