THEY’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 […]
Anwar Ibrahim
Tough questions for Pakatan Rakyat
By Deborah LohCALLOUS as it sounds, Teoh Beng Hock‘s death is just what Pakatan Rakyat (PR) needs at the moment to re-galvanise public support at a time when the alliance has been experiencing interparty fighting. Teoh’s death at the Selangor Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters on 16 July 2009, after being interrogated in investigations of PR assemblypersons, […]
Teoh buried at Semenyih memorial park
ALOR GAJAH, 20 July 2009: More than 2,000 people, including several leaders from the Pakatan Rakyat, paid their last respects to the late Teoh Beng Hock at Taman Seri Kelemak here today. The crowd of mourners began arriving since morning to convey their condolences to Teoh’s family and later joined the funeral procession. The cortege […]
What happened to Teoh Beng Hock?
By Cindy Tham and Deborah Loh
WHAT happened to Teoh Beng Hock? How did he end up dead outside the Selangor Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office in Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam? These were some of the questions on many people’s minds as a crowd gathered in front of the building on the morning of 17 July 2009, a day after Teoh’s […]
Anwar gets documents but not Saiful’s specimen samples
KUALA LUMPUR, 16 July 2009: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim succeeded in his bid to obtain documents and evidence on his sodomy case at the High Court here today but failed to get a sample of the specimen taken from the complainant, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan. Justice Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah, in allowing Anwar’s application […]
Polling in Manik Urai
By Zedeck Siew
KUALA KRAI, 14 July 2009: Polling for the Manik Urai by-election began today at 8am at nine polling stations and would continue until 5pm. As of 1pm today, voter turnout was about 76%, or 9,359 of the 12,293 registered voters. As both PAS candidate Mohd Fauzi Abdullah and Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Tuan Aziz Tuan […]
Status quo in Manik Urai
By Zedeck SiewThe bridge connecting Manik Urai Lama with Manik Urai Baru. Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin would promise on 12 July to build a new bridge — on the condition that the Barisan Nasional was voted in ON 12 July 2009, after a final rally for the Manik Urai by-election campaign, PAS spiritual leader […]
PR’s strategy in Manik Urai
By Zedeck SiewDESPITE earlier indications that the Manik Urai contest would hinge on local, bread-and-butter issues, leaders on both sides of the political divide have been reminding constituents of the by-election’s wider significance. On 6 July 2009, Kelantan Umno chief Datuk Mustapa Mohamed told the residents of Laloh that the Manik Urai fight — should the Barisan […]
The BN’s doublespeak in Manik Urai
By Zedeck SiewView of BN flags on the ceiling IN George Orwell’s seminal work of dystopian fiction, Nineteen Eighty-Four, the totalitarian Ingsoc government employs, among its slogans, the phrase “Freedom is Slavery”. Orwell, who wrote at length about how “language can corrupt thought“, is credited with popularising the concept of “doublespeak”: language deliberately constructed to distort its […]
Counsel unwell, Anwar’s application adjourned to 8 July
KUALA LUMPUR, 3 July 2009: The hearing of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s application for documents from the prosecution relating to his sodomy trial was adjourned to 8 July by the High Court here today because his lead counsel was unwell. Counsel Sulaiman Abdullah informed the court that he had been feeling giddy since yesterday when […]
