Friday 2 May 2014

There are attempts to jail me for 10 years - Anwar Ibrahim


KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim claimed that there are attempts to jail him for 10 years on accusation that he had sodomised his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukahri Azlan, six years ago.

He said he was also persuaded by an Islamic leader while in London recently as to not return to Malaysia.

“Many persuaded me to stay back in London, because they say if I come back I will be jailed,” he said in his speech at May 1 gathering at Jalan Raja Laut, Thursday.

He said they had told him to continue his fights and struggles from London but he had declined and chose to return home.

He said he chose to return to Malaysia although he knew he could be jailed for more than 10 years.

Anwar said several ministers are trying to put him behind bars as they felt the move can prevent the rise of the people against the government.

“To those ministers who are trying to send me to jail, do you think I am afraid? I have two strengths, one prayers from Allah and two the people,” he said.

Meanwhile, PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu in his speech said government want to implement the Good and Service Tax (GST) in April next year because of its failure in controlling corruption, wastage and abuse of power.

“Don’t suppress the people because of your failure in administration. The people are suffering,” he said.

Meanwhile, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) deputy president Azmin Ali in his speech told the government not to lay a finger on Anwar.

“Don’t touch Anwar Ibrahim. Malaysians will not allow him to be jailed, even for a second,” he said.

The May 1 gathering is organised by several non-governmental organisations (NGO) and the Pakatan Rakyat in protest of the GST.

Astro Awani 

In memorial, Irene Fernandez's fighting spirit lives on


PETALING JAYA: The late Irene Fernandez was immortalised in a moving tribute to her life as an activist who always stood up and never gave up the fight on Wednesday.

More than 200 people -- including family, friends, activists -- turned up at the Council of Churches here in a three-hour memorial which celebrated her 67 years on this earth, spent defending, at great cost to herself, the rights of others, the oppressed and marginalised.

Katrina Jose, Irene's youngest daughter, speaking to the crowd with her father and sister, gave thanks for the "beautiful tribute" which included eulogies, songs, poems and dance.

Katrina showed the last photograph taken of Irene: a 'thumbs up' given with a rosary in hand, even as the woman struggled with her illness in a hospital bed.

"This was last picture I took of mom. She was full of tubes, a pump in her heart. She couldn’t speak."

Katrina said the gesture embodied so much Irene's spirit to "make a point" and "would not be silenced" despite the odds against her.

"I was telling her, ma, you right now just need to rest, people are waiting for you, strangers are sending messages of encouragement, take your time, don't rush it. I also told her, activists around the world who are supporting you and we will keep on the fight. She then gave me a big thumbs up.

"She had tremendous faith in what was true and just, and principles of love," said Katrina.

Katrina said:"it has been an incredible privilege to be her kid. She was the embodiment of so much love. That was the biggest gift you can give anybody is to teach them how to love by teaching them to love openly."

Theresa Chan, Irene's former colleague at the Christian NGO YCW Malaysia, said Irene still lived among those who knew her.

"She taught me to 'see, judge and then act' ... also to make false teeth out of orange peel! She was all play when it came to play, all seriousness when it comes to workshops.”

Chan said to her, everything Irene did was "very real" and from the heart.

"She always told us: you wanna be somebody, if you wanna go somewhere: you better wake up and pay attention, " said Glorene Dass, deputy director of Tenaganita.

Glorene said sometimes she wanted to ask Irene to "stop and take a break" but those were words that were never in the indefatigable woman's vocabulary.

"That’s how and why we saved thousands of lives. Irene was my mentor. She IS my mentor, " she said, holding back tears.

“You are not there to run to… for advice… to brainstorm.. to shout at each other.. and simply sit and laugh...so difficult to do it (our work) without you. (But) you taught us, that.. nothing is impossible.
“We will not stop for one second, when it comes to saving lives, because you laid that strong foundation in us," said Glorene of her inspiration, the "Iron lady"


Speaking about her 12 year court trial after she highlighted conditions of detention camps, Steven Gan, editor of Malaysiakini, called Irene "Malaysia’s Joan of Arc of abused migrant workers."

“Indeed, like Joan of Arc, Irene fought insurmountable odds, in the face of overt oppression. She remained defiant and undefeated until the very end. Her task is not done, it is up to us all now to complete it.”

According to the lawyers who help fight Irene's case, hers was "perhaps" longest criminal court case in Malaysia."

Sivarasa Rasiah and M Puravelan said a total of 310 days was spent in court in a "political trial"

“She told us: fine! We’ll turn this trial into a campaign on free speech and .. speak for migrant workers. And that was what we did," said Sivarasa.

He said Irene "took a threat and turned it into an opportunity" and that was how Irene always was.

PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim recounted the days as youth leaders with Irene in Universiti Malaya. He said Irene, despite her strong nature, was "exceedingly kind", even when he was an UMNO minister in the 90s.

"When she was found guilty in court. I was looking forward to having working meetings with her in Sg Buloh prison, " Anwar joked.

Anwar said Irene always refused to talk about her own problems, the trials and tribulations."Pity on others yes, but never of herself”.

Ending with a poem, Anwar said Irene lives on in the hearts of those she loved.“Remember that, you never die Irene”

The memorial also included the sharing of those refugees and migrants she helped.

Rachel, who stayed at the Tenaganita shelter, said Irene helped her when she was "fearful and insecure"
"We have lost a great lady with a heart of gold. How much we miss her can never be told….Thank you so much for all you have done always.”

CARAM Asia director Mohammad Harun Al Rashid said Irene was the person who made him who he was today.

"The first question she asks me when we are eating “What do you want to be in your life”. I replied: want to be like you," he said, adding that Irene then guided him for years to be an activist.

In a video tribute to her called "Defender of People", Pusat KOMAS briefly went through the journey through her life, the organisations she help set up and the lives she touched.

There was also a dance by a Nepali man who expressed how he missed her and songs by a Myanmar group and a woman from the Philippines. The tribute ended with a favourite song of Irene's by Bob Marley "get up, stand up" while candles were lighted.

Irene passed away after succumbing to heart failure on the morning of March 31, 2014.

Astro Awani 

Perkhidmatan Pusat Bantuan Keluarga MH370 ditamatkan pada 7 Mei - MAS

Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Ahmad Jauhari Yahya. --Gambar fail


KUALA LUMPUR: Syarikat Penerbangan Malaysia Airlines (MAS) mengumumkan bahawa perkhidmatan Pusat Bantuan Keluarga untuk penumpang dan anak kapal pesawat MH370 ditutup pada 7 Mei.

Ahli keluarga penumpang yang ditempatkan di hotel-hotel terpilih telah dinasihatkan untuk pulang ke rumah masing-masing.

Namun begitu, Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Ahmad Jauhari Yahya berkata pihak MAS akan terus menyalurkan maklumat mengenai usaha pencarian MH370 kepada ahli keluarga melalui hubungan telefon, email, internet atau secara bersemuka.

“Bersama bantuan kerajaan Pusat Bantuan Keluarga ini akan diwujudkan di ibu negara dan juga Beijing.

Butiran mengenai rancangan tersebut akan dimaklumkan secara terus kepada ahli keluarga” kata Ahmad Jauhari dalam satu kenyataan media.

Selain itu, Ahmad Jauhari turut memaklumkan bahawa MAS akan membayar wang pampasan dengan segera kepada ahli keluarga yang telah dikenal pasti bagi memenuhi tuntutan ekonomi mereka.

“Wang pendahuluan tersebut tidak akan menjejaskan hak tuntutan wang pampasan mengikut undang-undang oleh pihak keluarga dan ia akan dikira sebagai sebahagian daripada wang pampasan akhir” katanya lagi.

Pihak MAS juga akan menghubungi ahli keluarga sebaik sahaja mereka tiba di kediaman masing-masing untuk memulakan proses pembayaran wang tersebut.

Sudah masuk 55 hari misi pencarian pesawat MH370 dilakukan dan misi tersebut telah disokong oleh lebih dari 20 buah negara yang melibatkan pelbagai pakar dan pesawat canggih.

Sebelum ini, Pusat Penyelarasan Agensi Bersama (JACC) Australia telah memaklumkan operasi pencarian di Selatan Lautan Hindi belum berakhir dan akan memasuki kepada fasa baru.

Di dalam fasa baru itu, kerajaan Malaysia bersama Australia, China serta rakan kongsi antarabangsa yang lain bercadang untuk mengukuhkan carian dasar laut dengan menggerakkan lebih banyak aset berteknologi tinggi ke kawasan zon carian.

Astro Awani 

MH370: Komunikasi dirakamkan antara 1.38 pagi dan 6.14 pagi 8 Mac


MH370: Komunikasi dirakamkan antara 1.38 pagi dan 6.14 pagi 8 Mac. --gambar hiasan.



KUALA LUMPUR: Berikut laporan mengenai komunikasi yang dirakamkan melalui talian terus, merumuskan urutan peristiwa berkaitan Penerbangan MH370 Malaysia Airlines (MAS) selepas kelipan pada radar padam sehinggalah Pusat Penyelarasan Menyelamat diaktifkan, yang dikeluarkan oleh Kementerian Pengangkutan.

Tindakan yang diambil antara 1.38 pagi dan 6.14 pagi pada Sabtu, 8 Mac.

1. 01:38:19 pagi : Ho Chi Minh (HCM) mula bertanya tentang MH370, maklum kepada KL-ATCC (Pusat Kawalan Trafik Udara Kuala Lumpur) bahawa komunikasi secara lisan tidak dapat dirakam dengan MH370 dan isyarat radar kali terakhir dikesan di BITOD.

2. 01:41:21 pagi: KL-ATCC memaklumkan kepada HCM bahawa selepas IGARI, MH370 tidak kembali kepada frekuensi Lumpur.

3. 01:46:46am : HCM sekali lagi bertanya mengenai MH370, menyatakan komunikasi melalui radar dibuat meliputi IGARI tetapi tiada komunikasi secara lisan. Ho Chi Minh memaklumkan bahawa kelipan pada radar padam di "waypoint BITOD."

4. 01:50:28 pagi: KL-ATCC bertanya HCM jika ada komunikasi dibuat dengan MH370. Jawapan HCM adalah "negatif".

5. 01:57:02 pagi: HCM maklum kepada KL-ATCC bahawa secara rasmi, tiada komunikasi dengan MH370 sehingga kini. Percubaan untuk berkomunikasi melalui beberapa frekuensi dan pesawat di persekitaran tidak mendapat respons daripada MH370.

6. 02:03:48am : KL-ATCC bertanya HCM mengenai status MH370. HCM mengesahkan bahawa tiada komunikasi radar pada masa ini dan tiada komunikasi lisan dibuat. KL-ATCC menyalurkan maklumat yang diterima daripada Malaysia Airlines OPS bahawa pesawat berada di ruang udara Kemboja.

7. 02:07:00 pagi: HCM bertanya bagi mendapatkan pengesahan bahawa MH370 berada di Phnom Penh FIR. KL-ATCC minta untuk menyelidiki lebih lanjut dengan penyelia.

8. 02:11:37 pagi : HCM bertanya mengenai status tetapi KL-ATCC tidak mempunyai maklumat terkini.

9. [02:15 pagi] [tiada rakaman suara] :(dipetik daripada Buku Log Watch Supervisor) KL-ATCC Watch Supervisor bertanya Malaysia Airlines OPS siapa yang maklumkan bahawa MH370 dapat berkomunikasi di ruang udara Kemboja.

10. 02:18:53 pagi: KL-ATCC bertanya jika rutin penerbangan MH370 sepatutnya memasuki ruang udara Kemboja. HCM mengesahkan bahawa laluan dirancang adalah melalui ruang udara Vietnam. HCM membuat semakan dan Kemboja memberitahu ia tidak mempunyai maklumat atau komunikasi dengan MH370.

HCM mengesahkan maklumat sebelumnya bahawa komunikasi melalui radar terputus selepas BITOD dan komunikasi melalui radio tidak pernah dibuat.

KL-ATCC tanya jika HCM mengambil tindakan Radio Failure tetapi pertanyaan itu nampaknya tidak difahami oleh kakitangan yang bertugas.

HCM mencadangkan supaya KL-ATCC menghubungi MAS OPS dan diberitahu bahawa ia telahpun dibuat.

11. 02:34:01: Watch Supervisor KL-ATCC bertanya kepada Pusat MAS OPS mengenai status komunikasi dengan MH370 tetapi kakitangan tidak pasti sama ada mesej sampai atau tidak.

12. 02:35:03: HCM tanya tentang status MH370 dan diberitahu bahawa Watch Supervisor sedang berhubung dengan syarikat ketika ini.

13. 02:35:5: Pusat MAS OPS maklumkan kepada KL-ATCC MH370 bahawa keadaan adalah normal berdasarkan isyarat yang dimuat turun dengan memberikan koordinat N14.90000 E109 15 00 pada jam 1833 UTC.

14. 02:37:36: KL-ATCC menyalurkan kepada HCM mengenai latitud dan longitud seperti dinasihatkan oleh Malaysian Airlines Operations.

15. 02:53:51: MH386 diminta oleh HCM supaya cuba berkomunikasi dengan MH370 melalui frekuensi radar Lumpur. KL-ATCC kemudian minta MH386 untuk cuba menggunakan frekuensi kecemasan.

16. [03:30] (tiada rakaman suara): (dipetik daripada Buku Log Watch Supervisor) Pusat MAS OPS maklumkan kepada KL-ATCC bahawa maklumat data penerbangan adalah berdasarkan ramalan penerbangan dan tidak dapat disahkan bagi lokasi pesawat.

17. 03:30:01: KL-ATCC tanya jika HCM telah menyemak dengan FIR Hainan.

18. 03:56:19: KL-ATCC tanya Malaysia Airlines OPS mengenai apa-apa maklumat terkini atau komunikasi dengan MH370.

19. 04:25:23: HCM tanya KL-ATCC mengenai kedudukan akhir MH370 dan sama ada dapat berkomunikasi dengan ATC. KL-ATCC tanya jika ada sebarang maklumat diterima daripada Hong Kong atau Beijing.

20. 05:09:18: Singapura tanya bagi mendapatkan maklumat mengenai MH370.

21. 05:20:17 :Kapt [name redacted] minta maklumat mengenai MH370. Beliau berpendapat bahawa berdasarkan maklumat yang diterima, "MH370 tidak pernah meninggalkan ruang udara Malaysia".

22. 05:30: Watch Supervisor mengaktifkan Pusat Penyelarasan Kuala Lumpur.

23. 05:41:21: HCM tanya mengenai apa-apa maklumat terkini.

24. 06:14:14: KL-ATCC tanya HCM sama ada SAR digerakkan.

- Bernama 

Tiada peserta perhimpunan cedera ditikam seperti didakwa


KUALA LUMPUR: Tiada peserta perhimpunan bantah Cukai Barang dan Perkhidmatan (CBP) cedera atau ditikam seperti didakwa di internet, kata Ketua Polis Daerah Dang Wangi ACP Zainuddin Ahmad.

Beliau berkata gambar yang didakwa dihantar oleh Twitter Papa Gomo menunjukkan seorang peserta terlantar atas pengusung akibat ditikam merupakan gambar lama.

Zainuddin memberitahu Bernama, dakwaan tersebut "tidak benar sama sekali."

Tentang laporan bahawa tiga jurukamera media cedera semasa membuat liputan perhimpunan itu, beliau berkata pihak polis belum menerima sebarang laporan mengenainya.

Zainuddin berkata perhimpunan yang bertumpu di kawasan sekitar Dataran Merdeka itu dianggarkan disertai kira-kira 15,000 orang.

Sementara itu, Ketua Polis Kuala Lumpur Datuk Seri Mohmad Salleh berkata keadaan di ibu kota terkawal pada pukul 5 petang Khamis, walaupun terdapat beberapa lokasi dipenuhi peserta perhimpunan CBP, dan pada pukul 5.30 petang, kesemua peserta beredar dari lokasi perhimpunan dan keadaan kembali normal.

"Ada berlaku insiden kecil seperti tolak-menolak antara peserta, namun keadaan masih terkawal," katanya.

Beliau berkata polis akan tetap melaksanakan kawalan keselamatan di lokasi-lokasi tertentu bagi memastikan keadaan selamat.

"Saya menasihatkan peserta perhimpunan supaya tidak menimbulkan kekecohan sehingga menganggu ketenteraman awam," katanya.

Mohmad turut mengucapkan terima kasih kepada orang ramai yang mengamalkan sikap toleransi dan bekerjasama demi mengekalkan keamanan serta kesejahteraan bandaraya Kuala Lumpur.

Bernama

Bantah atau tidak, kerajaan tetap laksanakan GST - Ahmad Maslan

Timbalan Menteri Kewangan Datuk Ahmad Maslan. --gambar fail


KUALA LUMPUR: Kerajaan akan tetap melaksanakan Cukai Barangan dan Perkhidmatan (GST) pada April 2015 meskipun mendapat bantahan dari sesetengah pihak, kata Timbalan Menteri Kewangan Datuk Ahmad Maslan.

Katanya, ini kerana kerajaan sudah hampir 30 tahun membuat persiapan bagi tujuan itu.

Sambil menyifatkan perhimpunan membantah CBP sebagai tidak wajar, Ahmad berkata penganjur perhimpunan seharusnya menggunakan pendekatan lebih baik untuk menyuarakan pendapat mereka.

"Mereka sepatutnya mengemukakan memorandum berhubung perkara itu, ini (bantahan) hanya bertujuan untuk mempolitikkan segala perkara baik yang kerajaan mahu laksanakan", katanya kepada pemberita di sini, Khamis.

CBP yang dikenakan pada kadar enam peratus menggantikan cukai jualan dan perkhidmatan dikecualikan ke atas barangan makanan asas seperti beras, gula, garam, tepung dan minyak masak.

Barangan dan perkhidmatan lain yang turut dikecualikan ialah perkhidmatan kerajaan seperti pengeluaran pasport, lesen dan perkhidmatan kesihatan.

Ahmad Maslan berkata CBP bukan perkara baharu, malah 90 peratus penduduk dunia berada dalam negara yang telah mengamalkannya.

Kadar CBP yang bakal dikenakan juga adalah antara yang terendah dalam dunia, katanya.

"Prinsip yang perlu semua fahami adalah cukai itu diproses daripada rakyat dan dikembalikan semula kepada rakyat untuk tujuan pembangunan sosial dan ekonomi mereka.

"Kerajaan tak simpan duit itu kerana kita akan kembalikan kepada rakyat melalui bajet tahunan", katanya.

Terdahulu Ahmad menyampaikan cek contoh bernilai RM750,000 oleh Bank Simpanan Malaysia (BSN) selaku penganjur utama Pesta Buku Antarabangsa Kuala Lumpur 2014 kepada Majlis Buku Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Bernama 

Lebih 20,000 peserta berhimpun Bantah GST



KUALA LUMPUR: Dianggarkan lebih 20,000 peserta yang hadir di dalam perhimpunan Bantah Cukai Barang dan Perkhidmatan (GST) yang diadakan di hadapan bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad dekat Dataran Merdeka hari ini.

Majlis bersurai sekitar jam 5 petang.

- Astro Awani