“I don’t see anything wrong in allowing Ahmad to come back and serve the party. “Even Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Lim Guan Eng have served jail sentences before returning to contest and being elected as member of parliament and chief minister respectively. “Ahmad has been penalised and the party felt that his suspension should […]
Ding Jo-Ann
Examining Kelantan’s oil royalty woes
By Ding Jo-AnnTHE tussle over whether Kelantan should be paid oil royalty is yet another example of politicians’ partisan childishness in their public discussion of issues. Instead of laying out the facts and law objectively and comprehensively, our politicians seem more focused on outdoing each other, leaving the public in a haze of rhetoric and factional discourse. […]
“Just leave out skin”
By Ding Jo-AnnHANDS Percussion drumming group co-founder Eric Ch’ng, 33, has loved the sound of drums even as a young boy. “During Chinese New Year, once my brother and I hear the lion dance drums, we would run and run to follow the troupe and watch the show. My dad even bought us a lion head and […]
Why Fatine can’t come home
By Ding Jo-AnnTHE Malaysian authorities are being discriminatory and ignorant in their treatment of transsexual woman Fatine, who is facing visa problems in the United Kingdom. Instead of assisting Fatine in negotiating with the UK authorities, the Immigration director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman has instead threatened her with stern action for overstaying in the UK. Abdul Rahman […]
Keeping secrets over Bukit Antarabangsa
By Ding Jo-Ann“We hope the Bukit Antarabangsa residents will know the truth now that the full report has been released.” Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim announcing that the Public Works Department (JKR)’s investigation report on the Bukit Antarabangsa landslide would be declassified by the Selangor government. The report was released to the Ampang Jaya Municipal […]
Efforts to curb HIV spread thwarted
By Ding Jo-AnnNeedle and syringe exchange kit used as part of a programme aimed at drug users, who comprise about 75% of those detected with HIV/AIDS in Malaysia TWENTY-three years after the first HIV infection was detected in Malaysia and 11,400 deaths from AIDS later, health workers are still facing obstacles from the authorities in preventing the […]
Malaysia, the faithless lover
By Ding Jo-AnnWHEN it comes to international human rights obligations, the Malaysian government has behaved like a faithless lover: making promises to the world it never intended to keep. The banning of Sisters in Islam (SIS)’s book Muslim Women and the Challenge of Islamic Extremism, which is now being judicially reviewed in court, is a demonstration of […]
Dismantling divisive barriers
By Ding Jo-AnnDATUK Karam Chand Vohrah, better known as KC Vohrah, almost didn’t study law. “I was supposed to have been a medical student,” the respected former Court of Appeal judge says. “I won an award to study medicine in India but when I arrived there, I was rejected because I had problems with one eye. They […]
Celebrating children’s rights
Compiled by Ding Jo-Ann
ALTHOUGH Malaysia’s education indicators such as literacy rates and school enrolment ratios are comparable to industrialised countries, there are still pockets of children who do not have proper access to education. The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) says the children at greatest risk in Malaysia are non-Malaysian children born in Malaysia. These include refugee children […]
Kota Siputeh: Testing the courts
By Ding Jo-AnnEC chairperson Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof THE nationwide constitutional law tutorial continues with the latest Kota Siputeh case. The court has had to intervene once again to arbitrate between the speaker of a legislative assembly and the Election Commission (EC). This time, the 16 Nov 2009 High Court decision ruled that the EC […]
