Sivarasa and Sankara on Anwar's Police Bail

Sivarasa and Sankara Nair on Anwar's Police Bail

Lt Jen Dato Mohd Salleh's Press Conference

Director of Military Intelligence of Malaysia, Lt Jen Dato Mohd Salleh Hj Ismail gave a press conference at the TM Multimedia College today. The PC was aimed in general at the Malaysian public in view of the recent political developments especially so that the Military Inteligencia was named in a Statutory Declaration recently. It did not help their case with Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim claiming that his life was in danger and cited 'Intelligence' sources for his claim.
Since the Bersih rally, rumours of the Military's involvement in one way or another has been cited in a few blogs. Right after the press conference, during a short 10 minute question and answer session, Lt Jen Dato Salleh also refuted claims that one armoured division was deployed to Kuala Lumpur in support of the mammoth gathering last November. The General admitted that though movement of armoured divisions were common in exercises, it has not been a practice that division commanders take orders directly from His Majesty The King or any Royal head of State.
He further stated that military movement are the responsibility of Division Commanders.

Below is the 8 point statement that the General released.

1. The week’s events are being seen in the light of political developments in the country and for many almost a repeat of 1998 that was a shocking breach in Malaysian political culture and something many never wish to revisit. Because of this, we are dealing with a similar set of issues: firstly, the disbelief and anger of the majority of Malaysians; secondly, executive interference with the judiciary, the police and Malaysia Armed Forces (MAF) specifically, the Military Intelligence; and thirdly, the personalities of the key players which are Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. Throughout the weekends, Malaysians were exposed to accusations by various parties which claim wrongdoing by others and this was compounded by various counter accusations to discredit and tarnish the reputation and image of opposing party.

2. This chain of events started with the allegations made by a well known blogger, Raja Petra Kamaruddin (PRK) through his statutory declaration on purported facts related to the murder of the Mongolian translator, Altantuya Shaariibuu in October 2006. Apart from naming the three individuals which he claimed that were present at the scene during the murder of the Mongolian translator in the document, he also accused the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Abdullah Badawi had received a military intelligence report about the murder. This later followed by the police report which made by Parti Keadilan Rakyat de facto leader, Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim (DSAI) assistant, which accused DSAI of sodomising him on 26 June 2008.

3. DSAI seek ‘safe haven’ at the Turkish Embassy when he was informed that his life is in danger and he claims received information from foreign military intelligence (neighbouring countries) and therefore he seek ‘help’ at the Turkish Embassy. DSAI ‘refuge’ at the Turkish Embassy has attracted much attention from the international community and this has complicated matters further. A day after he left the Turkish Embassy, DSAI made a police report alleging the tampering of evidence in the case where he was punched by the former Chief of Police. Yesterday, DSAI again made headlines when he presented a statutory declaration by a former Special Branch police officer in which he stated the DPM had relationship with Altantuya.

4. These developments point to a new trend in which Malaysian politics is embracing. It feeds on the rakyat’s sympathy by creating various stories/accusations which have not been confirmed. In addition, these developments have caused dilemmas in our society and can lead to a chaotic situation which can affect the nation’s security. This is not the Malaysian culture and the Malaysian way of life.

5. Malaysians are confused and tired of all these accusations and allegations which are based on fabrication of facts and can affect the strength of Malaysia’s national power. There are reports of foreign military intelligence’s involvement in plotting the downfall of the country’s leadership and this is not true. As the Director of Military Intelligence (DMI), I can assure all Malaysians that this allegation is not true. Based on our relationships and networkings, I am confident of the country’s security and now is an opportune time to invest in Malaysia. Furthermore, there is no military intelligence report on the murder case of Altantuya. This is strictly a matter for the police department and its enforcement agencies to look into.

6. As the DMI, I believe that facts which are confusing Malaysians will cause more anger and will lead to more street demonstrations. This will also lead to chaos in the country. Malaysians have to believe in the leadership and discard all their fears as the present government is strong and able to proceed with the democratic process. It is of paramount importance that all Malaysians know that our military intelligence is always monitoring the security of the nation as some parties, intentionally or unintentionally wants to see the country in tatters.

7. Irresponsible parties are using confusing facts for their own personal interests or agendas. These facts are hard to believe thus, the rakyat will lose confidence. Many incidents or reports involved the role of the military and military intelligence. Here, I have to stress that these reports which are made by unknown parties are immoral. These irresponsible groups take pleasure in seeing the Malaysian society in ruins and encourage the culture of accusations among each other. This will lead to the detriment of the country’s economy and stop the progress of the nation. In the end, all Malaysian will be at the loosing side.

8. As the DMI I feel I have to stress that the military intelligence report which was mentioned in RPK’s statutory statement is not true. Since I took over my position as DMI, it has not come to my attention that this report existed. As for DSAI’s statement that he alleged foreign military intelligence sources informed him about his safety is also not true.

OFF AIR for Now....

Yew Tube will be not be able to post any videos for now (two outstanding videos - Media Walk and Save the Lake) as the capacity of the hard drive is full and not able to do any tranfers yet due to time constraints!
Please do visit by end of the week once a new Hard drive is installed.....
:) Thanks for your support!

DBKL's Demolition Day

Read here for full report.
Read here for YB Wee Choo Keong's leadup to the demolition, here, here and here.

Fund Raiser at Damansara Village Restaurant

It started as a noble idea to help its own staff and their families, mainly Myanmarese who endured the recent cyclone that claimed no less than 70 thousand lives. Fortunately, the staff of Damansara Village Restaurant were not directly affected by the cyclone, but by then another tragedy had struck China.
Proprietor of the Restaurant, Patrick Teoh had by then met with his employees and it was decided that a nights collection will be set aside in aid of these unfortunate victims. And so the call went out to colleagues and business associates, friends and families, and bloggers, of course.
It turned out pretty good, a total of Rm24, 632.17 was collected on 20th of May 2008.
When asked what was the amount he had hoped to collect, Patrick gave a modest figure of Rm15,000.00. Complements must go the management for not deducting cost for the night.
The food was excellent, so fresh that the prawns was still jumping from the plates.
Such is the fare tha Damansara Village offered.

For a more complete report, do go to Damansara Village's official blog here.

Malaysian Artistes For Unity

The arts scene, Malaysia. Not many make it to the top, and when people do, most are quick to chide them.
Malaysian Artistes for Unity is one project that these 'big' names got in on, and for gratis!
You really do not hear of these things these days! A brainchild of songwriter Pete Teo, Malaysian Artistes for Unity was announced some six weeks ago. A trailer was uploaded on you tube in April, and had gotten some 8000+ views. With some 120 volunteers from all walks of life, and thousands of hours of production, throw in some 16 singers, and 50 odd personalities, and some big name actors and what they got was one fantastic song and video.
The aim of this project, MAFU is to incite the 'one Bangsa Malaysia' goal, something that most Malaysians aspire for, but may have lost the plot. Pete was quick to ward off any complements, asserting that this project is for one for the country. No race, no colour, no religion (not in his own words) but the ultimate goal of bridging these obstacles in this nation we all love.
'Here In My Home' was put together in less then 6 weeks, and is now available for download for FREE (both song and video) from its website.
At the press conference announcing the project and release of both the song and video, Pete Teo (Project Producer), Yasmin Ahmad (Director), Ho Yuhang (Director), Jason Lo , Sandy Monteiro , and Chan Fong was at hand to provide the media with the project brief as well as information that Maxis had agreed to provide free data uploading via its network for its subscribers without charge.
A project by who's who in the Arts, for Malaysians who are keen to bridge the divide is what I will sum this up to be. And I can already see this group of noble artistes going places, perhaps on the next Bangsa Malaysia roadshow.......two have said yes!
Syabas to them, and now lets, see you 'here in my home'!



'Here In My home' video posted in you tube by Yew Tube!

Of Candle Light Vigils and Police Harrassment

Candlelight vigils are held mostly in most parts of the world by civil society, generally without disturbance or violence. However, in Malaysia, mostly, these vigils are often interrupted by the Police. On the 7th of May, outside the Sungai Buluh Prisons, a group opf about 60-80 people were gathered in solidarity with Raj Petra Kamarudin, who was held in remand after his failure to raise bail in his recent charge of sedition by the Malaysian Government. The night passed without any untoward incident, with an address by Selangor State EXCO member YB Ronnie Liu, as well as a short speech from both Haris Ibrahim and Marina Lee Abdullah, wife of RPK. There was heavy Police presence, as well as off duty prisons officials, but the evening genrally got on without any problems.
On Thursday, 8th of May, another vigil was held in the Dataran Merdeka, or Independence Square. There was heavy Police presence as expected, coupled with the Federal Reserve Unit, normally tasked with crowd and riot controls. There was also heavy machinery parked around the area, tear gas cannon and all. The evening started without much problem, until 8.15pm, when Lawyer Haris Ibrahim was taken away by Police (Arrested, according to Haris) from the Square. He had been accused of ignoring police warnings, and subsequently removed from the area. Read here for other witness accounts of the night. Confusion arosed at first of Haris was indeed arrested, as not much information was attainable from Police personnel present in the square. It is a practice by Police not to divulge information to anyone after such incidents. In fact, previous accounts had also lead certain parties to lodge kidnapping reports against the police for not disclosing information of the detainees. However, Lawyers Malik Imtiaz, through many telephone calls had coordinated with Lawyer Edmund Bon and Viswa on Haris's whereabout, that they were at the IPD Dang Wangi police station to meet Haris an hour after the incident. Haris was subsequently 'released' and it was eventually clarified that he was never arrested at any one point!
The point here is that the police could have just allowed the gathering seeing that those present was really there to show support for those wrongly held (including those under the ISA detention). A strong show of force by the boys in blue, but was it really necessary?