Candlelight vigil postponed

Saturday December 22, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR: The candlelight vigil organised by Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA, planned tonight, will not take place.

GMI said the event has been postponed to Jan 5.

Its secretary E. Nalini, when contacted, confirmed the postponement, and said this was because there was shortage of lawyers to defend them should they be arrested.

"Most of the lawyers who volunteered to help us are out of town because of the holidays," she said.

Nalini said the police have asked it to re-apply for the new date.

The vigil was supposed to have been held at 8pm at Dataran Merdeka on Saturday.

Two Hindraf leaders file habeas corpus applications

Friday December 21, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR: Two leaders of Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), who are detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA), have filed their habeas corpus (wrongful detention) application at the High Court here for their release.

Lawyer Karpal Singh filed the application on behalf of Hindraf legal adviser P. Uthayakumar and its co-ordinator K. Vasantha Kumar. He filed at the High Court (criminal) registry at about noon Friday.

They named the Internal Security Minister and the Kamunting Detention Centre’s superintendent as respondents

In the affidavit, P. Waytha Nayagi, who affirmed the document to support the application for her brother Uthayakumar, said his arrest in Bangsar last Thursday and continued detention was unconstitutional and unlawful.

Waytha Nayagi, 41, said there had been contravention of the provisions of the Federal Constitution and non-compliance with the provisions of rules of Internal Security (Advisory Board Procedure) Rules 1972.

She said the allegations against her brother were groundless and asked the court to declare the detention order null and void.

She applied for him to be brought to the court and released forthwith.

In a notice of motion Waytha Nayagi also asked for any order deemed fit by the court.

In the other habeas corpus application, K. Vickneswary, wife of Vasantha Kumar, affirmed an affidavit for the purpose.

Vickneswary, 35, said her husband's arrest in Brickfields last Thursday was not in accordance with law and illegal.

She said the minister had acted mechanically and prematurely and that the allegations of fact against her husband were baseless and that his continued detention was unconstitutional and unlawful.

She applied for him to be brought to the court and be set at free as well as any further order deemed proper by the court.

Speaking to reporters later, Karpal Singh said:

"We are serving the papers of four applicants (lawyers M. Manoharan, V. Ganabatirau, Uthayakumar and former senior executive Vasantha Kumar) to the minister so that they will be ready for the hearing at High Court on Wednesday before Judicial Commissioner Zainal Azman Abdul Aziz," he added.

Lawyers march to PM’s office

Wednesday September 26, 2007
MYT 5:07:14 PM

PUTRAJAYA: A group of about 1,000 lawyers gathered at the steps of the Palace of Justice here to march to the Prime Minister’s office.

The march, organised by the Bar Council, was to hand over a memorandum to the Prime Minister's office, calling for a royal commission to investigate the authenticity of a video clip showing a senior lawyer purportedly brokering the appointment of judges with a senior judge.

Several buses ferrying lawyers from Kuala Lumpur turned up for the march. Members of NGOs and others also joined the lawyers in the march.

After the peaceful march, the Bar Council handed over the memorandum to the PM's Office at 1.05pm.

Nazri: No need for lawyers to march to PM’s Office

Tuesday September 25, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Bar Council should not behave like the opposition by marching to the Prime Minister’s Office to hand over a memorandum calling for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the judiciary, Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz said.

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said there were other proper ways for the memorandum to be submitted to the Prime Minister.

“They can set up an appointment and send a delegation to meet the Prime Minister,” he said.

He was commenting on the Bar Council’s plan to march from the Palace of Justice to the Prime Minister’s Office to submit the memorandum tomorrow.

The plan was made at the council’s emergency meeting last Saturday to discuss the controversial video clip of a lawyer supposedly talking to a senior judge over the brokering of the judge appointments.

Nazri however said the lawyers were free to hold the march as long as it was a peaceful one.

“That is entirely up to them but they should consider the stature of lawyers who are officers of court.

“Unless they want to show their hostility, why should they stoop so low by behaving like Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), DAP and PAS?” he said.

Bar Council president Ambiga Sreneevasan said the call arose out of the council’s belief that the independence of the judiciary was the highest ideal that it must “cherish and be prepared to stand up for.”

“In any event, how can the call for strengthening of the Judiciary be only the position of opposition parties when surely it must be the Government’s stand too,” she said.

PM: Riots not the Malaysian way

The STAR 17 September 2007

By IAN MCINTYRE

TANAH MERAH: Malaysia does not condone riots or street mobs as it is not the country’s way of life or culture, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Furthermore, most religious teachings did not call on their followers to incite violence as a way of resolving anything, he said.

For their welfare: Abdullah presenting aid to single mothers and the poor in Pasir Mas yesterday. With him is Annuar (second from right). — Bernama

“I don't condone any street mob and I will not accept it as a reason to cause hurt.

“Malaysians must be grateful that we are living in a peaceful country especially in the holy Ramadan month,” Abdullah said when addressing some 10,000 people at a meet-the-people session in SMK Tanah Merah I.

Also present were his wife Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah, state Umno head Datuk Seri Annuar Musa and his deputy Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussin, state Umno secretary Datuk Ramzi Ab Rahman, Higher Education Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed and Tanah Merah Umno division head Datuk Hashim Safin.

Abdullah also said that a total of RM378mil under the Ninth Malaysia Plan had been allocated for the district and it involved seven projects.

He said that to realise the benefits of development, the cooperation of everyone, from politicians to senior government officers to the people, is required, he added.

Noting the presence of non-Muslims during the breaking of fast, he said it was a good tradition and hoped that it would continue in this multi-racial and multi-religious country.

Earlier, when presenting aid to 3,000 single mothers and the poor in constituencies under the Pasir Mas and Rantau Panjang parliamentary areas, Abdullah stressed he did not want any Malaysian to cite poverty as a reason for not sending a child to school or not sitting for a required public examination.

He said this was the main aim of abolishing school fees announced in the recent 2008 Budget.

He also urged everyone not to forget their parents and remember the sacrifices they had made.

“Many Kelantanese in Kuala Lumpur are successful but many of them came from poor homes. So please care for your parents when you go home for this festive season,” he said.

He also asked Malaysians to donate generously to Indonesians affected by the recent earthquake.