Najib, Mahathir live on Al Jazeera next week - Malaysiakini

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad will be appearing separately live on Al Jazeera's Riz Khan show next week, according to Malaysiakini.

Both are expected to talk on the current political situation in Malaysia and the implications of the global economic crisis.

Najib will be making an appearance on 10 pm on Monday, Dec 1, while Mahathir is scheduled to be on air at the same time three days later on Thursday, Dec 4.

Those keen to participate can call in or email questions to Riz’ email (riz@aljazeera.net) or call in live to the show at +1 202 275 2360.

Riz will also be having blogger and ex-Internal Security Act detainee Raja Petra Kamarudin on the show to talk on the ISA, culture and politics. Playwrights Kee Thuan Chye and Jo Kukhatas will appear on the same panel.

This show will air in between the Najib and Mahathir interviews on Wednesday, Dec 3, with a repeat at 10 pm the next day. - Reports from Malaysiakini

Deputy education minister Razali dies - Malaysiakini

Deputy Education Minister Razali Ismail, 59, died today after collapsing while playing badminton at the teachers training college, Aminuddin Baki Institute, in Genting Highlands at about 6.30pm. Malaysiakini reports .

He was at the college for a Terengganu Umno retreat. His body was subsquently brought to Hospital Bentong. The deputy minister left behind his wife, Nooraini Lob Yusoff, and five children.

Razali, who was a two-term Kuala Terengganu parliamentarian for Umno, defeated PAS vice-president Mohamad Sabu and 89-year-old Maimun Yusuf in the March 8 general elections.

He won with a slim majority of 628 by bagging 32,562 votes against Mohamad’s 31,934 and Maimun’s 685.

Razali, a first-time deputy minister, was chairman of the Higher Education Fund (PTPTN).

The Election Commission is expected to call a by-election within 60 days.

Let this be the 'wake-up call' to employers - Irene Fernandez

Migrant workers' rights group Tenaganita has reiterated its call for a better protection of foreign domestic workers in the wake of a court decision against homemaker Yim Pek Ha.

Yim was sentenced to 18 years in jail after she was found guilty of grievously hurting her domestic helper Nirmala Bonat.

Tenaganita director Irene Fernandez said that the jail sentence imposed on Yim "must bring out a lot of soul searching in how domestic workers are treated and employed in the country".

"Will the 18 years imprisonment be a wake-up call to employers and to all of us?" asked Fernandez in a statement yesterday. (Read Malaysiakini here)

She said that it was time for everyone to critically address the conditions that enabled employers' such as Yim to systematically and continuously harm her domestic worker.

"The power of the employer to hold her domestic worker's passport; the non-recognition of Nirmala as a worker under the Employment Act: no off-day but work very long hours for seven days a week ; and kept in isolation gave Yim the confidence and the power to abuse and belief that Nirmala will never be able to seek redress.

"It is these conditions that must be addressed. Yim will pay through her jail sentence for the grievous hurt caused on Nirmala," she said.

However, she blamed the government too for being equally responsible because the conditions of work are not regulated.

There is neither a law nor a standardised contract to protect Nirmala and all other domestic workers.

"The government provided the condition of isolation by not giving a paid day off. And consequently, it opened the doors for abuse and exploitation," she said.

Fernandez said that while it could be an end for Nirmala's case, there were many more Nirmalas in the country who were in a vulnerable situation.

Irene who was acquitted on Monday on a charge of publishing false news on ill-treatment and abuse of migrant workers after a 13-year court battle, should know what she is talking.

Tenaganita has handled more than 188 cases of domestic workers who have been abused, raped and exploited with intense human rights violations.

According to her, the government must attack the root causes of such forms of abuse and exploitation. As a priority, it must immediately recognise the conditions under which these domestic workers were working.

"There is a need to give a paid day off to all domestic workers and a standardised contract that will clearly state the terms and conditions of employment," she added.

She also urged the Human Resources Ministry to stop being silent as it is part of the abuse and exploitation of domestic workers.

"The ministry must do justice to more than half a million women who are working as domestic workers in this country.

"It is only when domestic workers are recognised as workers and protected through an effective legislation that we can say justice is done to Nirmala and all domestic workers," she said.

Irene Fernandez acquitted - Malaysiakini

The High Court today freed Tenaganita Sdn Bhd director Irene Fernandez after quashing her conviction and 12-month jail sentence for publishing false news in 1995, Malaysiakini reports .

Judge Mohamad Apandi Ali had initially fixed Oct 28 to 30 to hear her appeal but this morning made his surprise decision to acquit Irene, an activist and a Parti Keadilan Supreme Council member, on a charge of publishing false news on ill-treatment and abuse of migrant workers after a 13-year court battle.

Read the rest of the story below:

The High Court judge made the decision after deputy public prosecutor Shamsul Sulaiman said that the prosecution had decided not to fight the appeal.

"In the light of the prosecution not opposing the appeal by the appellant, there is no necessity to deliberate on the appeal further," said Mohamad Apandi, drawing cheers and applause from Fernandez's family and friends who were gathered at the court as early as 9am.

"I hereby reverse the findings and sentence, and acquit and discharge the appellant. Conviction and sentence is hereby set aside," said the judge.

Prior to the judgment, the lawyers had met with justice Mohamad Apandi in chambers for about an hour. The court resumed open hearing at 11.30am and soon after announced the verdict.

Shamsul said that the prosecution had decided to not pursue the appeal as there were "recently discovered systemic error which are manifested in the notes of proceeding” as well as “the peculiar set of circumstances of this appeal".

DPP: AG decided to drop appeal

Shamsul added that the government’s decision to drop the appeal was made by attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail.

The Tenaganita executive director's was put off time and again after statements of important prosecution witnesses were found to be missing.

On Aug 5, the case was brought to a standstill when Fernandez was told a computer virus had wiped out a portion of a specific volume of notes required for the trial.

Two months later, Fernandez's lawyer M Puravalen said that the 8,988 pages of handwritten and typed notes amounting to a total of eight volumes of documents were "incomprehensible”.

Judge Mohamad Apandi had subsequently set today to hear arguments on the issue.

Fernandez’s 13-year ordeal began in 1995 when she exposed the poor conditions at immigration detention centres in a memorandum entitled 'Abuse, Torture and Dehumanised Conditions of Migrant Workers in Detention Centres'.

She alleged incidences of torture as well as deaths of illegal immigrants who were detained in the camps.

Fernandez was arrested and charged a year later under Section 8A (1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.

Her case, which became the longest-running criminal trial in Malaysian history, ended in 2003 with the court finding her guilty and slapped her with a 12-month imprisonment.

'Light at the end of the tunnel'

Met outside court, 62-year-old Fernandez appeared jubilant after the court decision, saying that she could at last see "light at the end of the tunnel".

"(I am) relieved that truth and justice had prevailed and the conviction has been set aside but it also tells us that the courts have to be more systematic in what they do so that the technical errors do not surface."Still, the main point is I am free now after 13 years of struggle...," said Fernandez, who vowed to continue her fight to support migrant workers.

Shahrizat: I was forced to accept June Transition plan

The verbal war between the top two Wanita leaders has begun with Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz firing (read here and here ) her first salvo a day after her deputy Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil announced her intention to challenge her in the coming party polls.

Rafidah hit out at Shahrizat for breaking the promise made earlier that she would not challenge her.

In her 11-page handwritten statement to the press yesterday, Rafidah said her deputy even said ‘My word is my honour’, that she would abide by the advice of the party’s top leaders and had accepted the (June) transition plan.

But Shahrizat disclosed - as many have suspected - that she had agreed to Wanita’s transition plan under duress.

“Can you imagine if I had declined the transition plan in front of 700 to 800 people, including the Prime Minister,” she told the Star.

According to Shahrizat, Rafidah had sprung the June 2009 plan on her at a Wanita function at the Putra World Trade Centre on the day it was announced (Aug 4), without any prior consultation with her or the executive council.

Shahrizat, who admits that she has always been a “yes man” to Rafidah said:

“I am always listening to Tan Sri. I have positioned myself as her deputy. It is not my habit to offer anything that I was not asked. This is something I have conditioned myself for over the years. I am a party person.

"She is my boss.”

The rest of the report below:

“Throughout the years, you never find me offering opinions, because Tan Sri is a very strong leader and she speaks her mind. I look at myself as a backbencher. This is to maintain peace,” she said.

Shahrizat said she took time to come to a decision because she had to consider the effect of her decision on the movement.

“But once I have made up my mind, I don’t turn back,” she said.

She said although she had called for divisions to respect the transition plan, the ground was volatile.

“The mood was that they don’t want top leaders to make decisions for them. They were resentful that we assume they will accept the plan. And I bore the brunt for a long time.

“The women wanted to be given a choice and felt that their right to exercise their right had been taken away. This was putting the Wanita structure in danger. The women were angry with me for agreeing (to the plan) because the Wanita chief will be acting and there would be no deputy.

“They wanted me to stand up and fight against it. But at that time, I did not have the strength to fight,” she said, adding that the straw that broke the camel’s back was the last Wanita exco
meeting, where she was not given a chance to express her views. The Star

Rafidah, who earned the nickname 'Iron Lady' while serving as Trade Minister for two decades before being dumped from the cabinet earlier this year, had hoped to remain as Wanita chief until June 2009.

"I will defend my post" - Rafidah

Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz announced on Friday that she will defend the Wanita Umno chief's post in the party's elections in March, Bernama reports.

Rafidah, 65, said she appreciated and respected the nominations she received from 117 divisions.

"I leave it to the delegates, who represent the grassroots, to determine their preferred leader for the 2009-2011 period," she said in an 11-page statement today.

On Thursday, Wanita Umno deputy chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, who received 73 nominations, announced that she would contest for the movement's top post.

The decision has effectively scuttled the movement's leadership transition plan in June 2009 as announced by Rafidah in August.

In the statement, Rafidah also expressed disappointment that the transition plan was being disputed and rejected three months after she made the announcement.

She added that Datuk Seri Shahrizat herself who had agreed to abide by the transition plan was willing to change her stand when she received enough nominations to contest for the top post.

Had the matter been brought up before the nomination process started, the Wanita Umno executive council would have scrapped the transition plan, said Rafidah.

"And there would be no hesitation on my part to allow the divisions to nominate whomever they want for the posts of Wanita chief and deputy chief," she said.

The objection, however, only came to light after sufficient nominations were obtained for the posts, she said.

"Only then they come out with all kinds of excuses to object the plan," she said. Read here to continue...

In August, Rafidah had agreed to step down in June next year to pave the way for Shahrizat to take over the movement's leadership, but the postponement of the party polls to March made many Wanita Umno leaders urge Rafidah to reconsider the transition plan.

Last weekend, the Wanita Umno exco reaffirmed its earlier decision for the top two posts in the wing not to be contested, but Kuala Kangsar Wanita chief, Datuk Kamilia Ibrahim, who has already qualified to run for No 2, insisted that the Wanita Umno exco had no right to decide on the movement's leadership.

Kamilia, who is also a Wanita Umno exco member, has won the No 2 post uncontested since Shahrizat has decided to go for the top post.

Rafidah: "We will meet 'di gelanggang' in March"...

"'It is not a question of whether or not I am accepting the challenge....there is a challenge and I will have to defend my post.

"We will meet di gelanggang in March," the incumbent Wanita chief, Rafidah Aziz, told Nuraina Samad of 3540 Jalan Sudin in response to her deputy's decision to challenge her for the post in the party elections in March.

Rafidah, in an interview with the blogger, said she was shocked by Shahrizat Jalil's "about-turn" - by going against her earlier pledge.

Shahrizat had assured her, the Wanita exco and the public that she had no intention of contesting the top post and had agreed to the transition plan to ensure a smooth transfer of leadership in June.

Yesterday, Shahrizat as expected - following recent development in the movement - announced her decision to challenge Rafidah.

Asked if she would hand over the leadership to Shahrizat in June if she wins in the March elections, Rafidah said:

"If I win, then I will have to lead the wing for another three years."- continue here.

Confirmed: Shahrizat to go for top Wanita post - Malaysiakini

Malaysiakini reports

Confirmed: Shahrizat to go for top post
Nov 20, 08 4:37pm

Wanita Umno deputy chief Datuk Shahrizat Abdul Jalil today announced that she will contest for the wing's top post next year.

Sharizat, who was appointed as a special adviser to the prime minister after the March 8 elections, made the announcement via a two-paragraph statement this afternoon.

"Wanita Umno must be united in strengthening the party as well as be bold in bringing about changes and renewal," she said.

The announcement ended speculations as to whether or not Shahrizat would accept the 73 nominations for her to contest against incumbent chief Rafidah Aziz, who received 117 nominations at the division level.

Previously, Rafidah had stated that she would defend her post and hand over the reins to Shahrizat in June.

Strong backing for Shahrizat

However, Wanita exco member Kamilia Ibrahim threw a spanner into the works by announcing that she would contest for the number two post.

She had received 55 nominations, which is more than the minimum number required to be a candidate for the contest.

Kamilia's announcement led to speculations that Shahrizat had been left with no hoice but to go against Rafidah for the number one slot.

Kamilia, on the other hand, is expected to win the deputy chief post uncontested.

Some of the divisions which had nominated Rafidah were also said to have switched their allegiance to Shahrizat.

The Bahasa Malaysia version below:

Shahrizat sah cabar Rafidah
Muda Mohd Noor Nov 20, 08 3:24pm

Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil hari ini mengumumkan akan bertanding jawatan ketua Wanita Umno.

Beliau mengumumkan demikian dalam satu kenyataan rasmi yang dikeluarkan petang ini.

Menurutnya, beliau menerima pencalonan dan sokongan untuk bertanding jawatan ketua Wanita Mac depan.

Shahrizat merupakan naib ketua Wanita dan penasihat hal ehwal pembangunan wanita dan sosial kepada Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Beliau akan berdepan dengan Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, tokoh ketua Wanita yang paling berkhidmat selama 21 tahun, sekiranya ahli parlimen Kuala Kangsar itu tetap mahu mempertahankan jawatan tersebut.

Pengumuman Shahrizat itu menjawab teka-teki selama ini sama ada beliau akan menerima pencalonan untuk bertanding jawatan tersebut.

Ini berikutan desakan supaya Rafidah supaya mempercepatkan peralihan kuasa dari Jun kepada Mac depan.

Bagaimanapun, mesyuarat exco Wanita baru-baru ini memutuskan supaya pelan peralihan kuasa kekal pada Jun tahun depan dan tiada pertandingan bagi jawatan ketua dan naib ketua.

Bagaimanapun seorang lagi calon yang layak bertanding jawatan naib ketua, Datuk Kamilia Ibrahim bertegas akan tetap bertanding jawatan tersebut.

Kamilia mendapat 55 pencalonan dan layak bertanding jawatan naib ketua.

Ekoran itu, timbul desas-desus yang mengatakan Shahrizat tiada pilihan kecuali bertanding menentang Rafidah bagi jawatan ketua Wanita.

Dalam kenyataan dua perenggan itu, Shahrizat menegaskan bahawa Wanita Umno mesti bersatu dalam mengukuhkan parti serta berani membawa perubahan dan pembaharuan.

Dengan itu, Kamilia dijangka menang tanpa bertanding bagi jawatan naib ketua.

Selepas 191 bahagian selesai mesyuarat awal bulan ini, Shahrizat memperolehi cukup pencalonan untuk bertanding jawatan ketua.

Penyandang jawatan tersebut Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz memperolehi 117 pencalonan, manakala Shahrizat mendapat 73 pencalonan.

Malah, sebahagian bahagian yang mencalonkan Rafidah pun kini beralih sokongan kepada Shahrizat.

Menurut exco pergerakan itu, Raja Ropiah Raja Abdullah, lebih 100 bahagian menyokong Shahrizat bertanding jawatan ketua Wanita Umno Mac ini.

Katanya, sekurang-kurangnya lima negeri memberi sokongan penuh kepada Shahrizat untuk mencabar penyandang Rafidah.

Razak Baginda: Najib not involved - Malaysiakini

Political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda said today that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had never met the Mongolian woman, Altantuya Shaariibuu, who was brutally murdered two years ago, according to a report by Malaysiakini

Speaking to the media for the first time since his acquittal from the case on Oct 31, Abdul Razak said that neither Najib nor his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, had met Altantuya.

"I know that Najib and his wife had never met the deceased Altantuya," Abdul Razak told a packed press conference at a hotel here and pleaded for the media and the public to stop spreading "lies about Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife."

So much 'fitnah' (lies) have been thrown towards the DPM and his wife. he said.

"Those who have spread such lies can never produce any authentic evidence because there are none."

Here's the rest of the report:

He also said that Altantuya was never involved in any arms deal as was mentioned by various quarters for the reason of her killing.

The former Najib aide said that the arms deal took place in 2002, and he met Altantuya two years after that.

He added that he could do nothing about the public perception on the matter, urging everyone to stop linking Najib and Rosmah to the murder.

Abdul Razak also said that Najib would make a good prime minister.

The political analyst was originally charged with abetting with two elite police officers to murder Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu in November 2006.

Surprise acquittal

He was however acquitted without having to enter defence on Oct 31. The other two will have their defence heard next year when the trial continues.

Abdul Razak's acquittal came as a shock to many observers as the prosecution had claimed to have a strong case against him.

Claims of alleged political interference in the case grew stronger when the prosecution did not appeal against the acquittal.

In his 50-minute long press conference held at Hotel Maya in Kuala Lumpur this morning, Abdul Razak blamed bloggers and opinion makers in creating a negative impression on the case.

He also said that he planned to finish his doctoral degree in international relations at Oxford University.

The press conference was also attended by his father and brother.

Both his wife and daughter were not there.Abdul Razak is a known confidante of Najib, having worked on government arms procurement projects while the latter was defence minister.

He was to have held a press conference on Nov 6 but it was cancelled at the last minute.