Wage law amendment solely to 'benefit Zaki'

The recent amendment to the Judges Remuneration Act 1971, which was bulldozed through Parliament, was for the benefit of outgoing Chief Justice Zaki Azmi, insists veteran politician Karpal Singh.

The Bukit Gelugor MP and DAP chairperson said he had raised the matter during parliamentary debates supported by the other opposition MPs.

"Yes, I did raise the issue before in Parliament, before the amendment was passed. However, this is the BN Parliament we are talking about... they refused to consider the vehement opposition to the bill," Karpal (left) said.

"Clearly, the law was amended to benefit Zaki. He has been parachuted to the job by the Executive. I do not know whether this is what we call 'payback' for his services to Umno."

The amendment to Section 9 of the Act, titled "Special provision for Chief Justice, President and Chief Judge", states that notwithstanding anything in the Act but subject to Section 8, a person holding the office of Chief Justice, President or Chief Judge shall be entitled to maximum pension if he has held either office or all the offices for a period in the aggregate of not less than three years.

Prior to the amendment, the Lord President, or CJ, must have have been a judge for not less than 10 years prior to retirement to benefit from full pension.

Teluk Intan MP M Manogaran said the amendment was a mockery for the position of the Chief Justice and Zaki, whom he classified as only a "Grade C" judge. This amendment, he said, was a present for the judge who retires next month.

"I remember Opposition MPs debated on it heavily but yet it was bulldozed through. That is why we want a Select Committee be formed for issues such as this, and to include the Judiciary. This is embarrasing."

Zaki, (right) known as an Umno lawyer, was appointed directly to the nation's highest court, the Federal Court, on Sept 5, 2007. He was made President of the Court of Appeal on Dec 11, 2007, and promoted Federal Court Chief Justice on Oct 18, 2008.

He is scheduled to retire next month,when he turns 66.

Karpal had previously raised the issue of Zaki allegedly bribing court officials when he was a lawyer, following a speech the latter made in Sarawak, and had called for disciplinary action against him.

In the past, judges ascended through long service, with many starting off as magistrates and moving up as sessions court judges and then on to the High Court, Court of Appeal and Federal Court.

Zaki and former Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram are the exceptions. Gopal, a practising senior lawyer, was appointed straight to the Court of Appeal.

Bad news for other judges
While it may be good news for Zaki, who is considered an outsider among the judicial fraternity, other judges will not get to enjoy full pension unless they have served 18 years.

The 2011 amendment raised the 15 years' of service for full pension for judges to 18 years, putting the others in a fix. This is especially so for judges who may already have served 15 years and nearing retirement.

They will only get pro-rated pensions.

"This also brings to light the government's interference with the Judiciary in the appointment of judges for the top posts, as they may now come not from the bench and, in the end, receive full pension," Karpal said.

Manogaran concurred that the amendment was seen as taking away something from judicial officers who had risen from the ranks to benefit those placed into top posts in the Judiciary by the Executive.

Zaki, the Teluk Intan MP added, had not made any landmark or introduced significant changes during his short service.

"What we hear are complaints about the fast track system. And yet, despite this, he will receive full pension for being on the bench for just four years," said Manogaran.

Karpal went on further, describing this latest development as very unfortunate and disturbing.

The legal fraternity has also complained that the amendment is directed at benefiting judges appointed to the top posts by the government. They want the Judiciary to be returned to what was before - an independent arm, seperate from Parliament and the Executive.

Don’t blame church for helping poor Muslims, says Asri

By Shannon Teoh

August 25, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 — Influential cleric Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin said today that Muslims should take care of their own poor instead of accusing Christians of proselytising when the church helped poor Muslims.

The former Perlis Mufti said that he met one of the 12 Muslims who attended a thanksgiving dinner at Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) and found that she was a single mother with three children who turned to the church after difficulties in obtaining help from the zakat, or Islamic tithe office.

“What is so strange about that? That is what people who are serving God do. What is so strange if the church teaches Christian values when that is what a church does,” the maverick scholar said.

Tensions between Christians and Muslims have been heightened after the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) swooped down on DUMC several weeks ago, claiming to be investigating a complaint that Muslims were being converted at a dinner the church was hosting for a local NGO.

Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia also reported that poor Muslims living in squatters near Jalan Kelang Lama were also being proselytised by Christians claiming to be giving free English classes.

But Asri (picture) said today that blaming the church was the easy way out.

“We accuse them as the cause of everything. Then we demonstrate and inflame the public to rise up against the church for its welfare activities and ‘evangelism.’

“But we who did not help or preach do not need to be faulted. So that people forget our mistakes, we blame all sin on others,” he said.

He said that such a move was like a rich family where one member runs away to a neighbour because of a lack of attention, protection and food but the neighbour offers all the help that is needed.

“Is burning down the neighbour’s house or arresting and punishing the neighbour for influencing our family member the only solution we can suggest? At the same time, we do not question the responsibility that we have abdicated all this while,” he wrote in a statement today.

He added that the zakat office should be more sincere in helping poor Muslims instead of letting them beg for sympathy from the church.

“Some zakat officers... make applications difficult and complicated. Those asking for alms are treated like beggars. Give them the zakat as it is their right.

“In fact, zakat can be given to non-Muslims. If it functions this way, then non-Muslims will be attracted to Islam. If it doesn’t function well, then even Muslims will want to leave Islam,” he said.

The Selangor state government met with both Jais and representatives of the Harapan Komuniti NGO today in hopes of resolving the debacle which has seen the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) administration come under fire from both Muslims and Christians.

Najib-FBC scandal hits US magazine

After international broadcasters CNBC and BBC, US magazine The Atlantic also launched an internal investigation into its connections with a public relations company which was hired by the Malaysian government to glam up the image of BN politicians overseas.

According to prominent Washington-based news portal Politico, a spokesperson of The Atlantic confirmed that the magazine is probing its cooperation with London-based FBC Media Ltd, which has provided editorial content on foreign subjects while doing public relations work for some of the same governments it was reporting on.

“In addition to the internal review, the magazine also said Justin Smith, president of Atlantic Media Co, has resigned from the board of FBC, the firm at the centre of a controversy over whether it improperly mixed its journalism and PR businesses. It was Smith who connected FBC Media with The Atlantic,” read the report.

It revealed that FBC's chairman, Alan Friedman (left), had approached the century-old magazine about hosting an event featuring his client, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak. The event, held in March, was moderated by The Atlantic national correspondent James Fallows.

Concerns were also raised whether Friedman's reports from the World Economic Forum in Davos in January for The Atlantic were aimed to promote his clients.

Smith, who has sat on FBC's board since 2007, told Politico on Sunday that he informed Friedman two weeks ago of his desire to step down.

“The truth is that Alan Friedman has been a friend of mine for nearly 20 years,” Smith said.

“In light of this friendship and my past association with the company, I am very disturbed to learn of the serious allegations being raised about FBC and Alan's conduct. What I would particularly regret, should these accusations directed at FBC be proven true, is my role in having introduced Alan to The Atlantic's editors and event planners.

Full review ordered

“I have directed a full review of The Atlantic's dealings with him, and the responsibility at The Atlantic for any problems it might uncover will be mine. It is my job to safeguard at all costs The Atlantic's reputation for editorial integrity,” Smith was quoted as saying.

The Najib-FBC scandal was first disclosed by Sarawak Report, a portal founded by journalist Clare Rewcastle-Brown, who is the sister-in-law of former British prime minister Gordon Brown.

It claimed that FBC was paid millions of ringgit by BN politicians, including Najib and long-serving Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, to glam up their image overseas.

This was verified by the entries in the government's Supplementary Budget 2010 which showed that FBC was allocated RM28.35 million for work on a 'Global Strategic Communications Campaign' ordered in 2009. The company had received RM29.34 million the previous year.

British-based daily The Independent also reported that documents filed with the US House of Representatives in 2008 show that FBC contracted the Washington-based American lobbying company Apco Worldwide.

Following the disclosure, CNBC and BBC had pulled all FBC-produced content and launched their own internal investigations last month.

'Enough cloned voters for BN to topple Selangor'

The PAS Youth wing, which has been raising the issue of electoral fraud, claims it has detected tens of thousands of 'cloned voters' who the BN can manipulate in the coming general election.

"The number of dirty registrations of 'cloned voters' is already enough to topple the present Selangor state government.

"Is this what is meant by (Prime Minister) Najib (Abdul Razak) to grab Selangor at all costs?" PAS Youth exco member Mohd Adram Musa asked at a press conference at PAS headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

A 'cloned voter' is voter who has two entries in the electoral roll, with same name but slightly different MyKad numbers.

PAS Youth has been releasing names of such voters over the past one month, questioning whether they are allowed to vote twice in elections.

'EC, NRD must explain issue of clones'

Some of the names have been proven to be 'clones' - which the Election Commission admitted and deleted them from the electoral roll as soon as hey were raised.

According to National Registration Department (NRD), these 'clones' are non-active Mykad numbers, which should have been removed from its database.

However, a few of these names are genuinely shared by two different individuals who also have the same date of birth.

These people have come out publicly to slam PAS Youth's action for publicising their details and slandering them.

During the press conference, Mohd Adram together with Johor PAS Youth chief Suhaizan Kaiat (right) issued a 14-day ultimatum to the EC and NRD to explain the issue of 'cloned voters', including the total number of such names in electoral roll, and how many the EC has removed and will remove.

They also urged the NRD to explain how the department verified invalid 'clone identities' that should be removed.

"Does NRD already have a list of 'clone citizens' before PAS Youth made its objection?

"We afraid that the EC may remove the wrong identities," Suhaizan said.

Should the EC fail to provide a satisfactory explanation, he added, PAS Youth would disclose its list of 'cloned voters'.

Lawyer: Stop branding DUMC 12 as apostates

The syarie lawyer for 12 Muslims present at a thanksgiving event in a church complex recently has urged the public and the press to cease attempts to brand them as apostates.

Lawyer Muhamad Burok said that several articles, including those found online, had published the personal details of the 12 and had exposed them to danger.

“As their syarie lawyer, I should remind everyone to refrain from accusing any Muslim person as apostates, which is tantamount to the offence of takfir,” he said in a statement today.

Takfir is the act of accusing a fellow Muslim of being an apostate or unbeliever.

The 12 were questioned by Jais after they were found to be attending a dinner at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church.

Jais said that they were carrying out an inspection upon receiving information that Muslims were being subjected to proselytising efforts.

Although a final report by Jais on the matter had yet to be made public, numerous reports in newspapers and online have alleged and condemned Christian efforts to convert Muslims.

Authorities must maintain confidentiality

On the 12, Muhamad said that such articles had subjected them to public ridicule, contempt, harassment and compromised their personal safety.

“We call upon everyone involved in the media to act with reason and wisdom by refraining from making any disparaging publications and postings in order that we can bring calm and perspective to our culturally and religiously diverse community,” he said.

As for the authorities, Muhamad said that they must adhere to the highest standards of professionalism and not leak personal information.

“ln this regard, we state that our clients do not deserve to be treated with scorn and ridicule especially during this holy month of Ramadhan,” he said.

He said that all quarters must act with “introspection and circumspection” to assist the administration of the law in accordance with the Federal Constitution and the rule of law.

WWF and Taib's empire: Sleeping with the enemy? By KERUAH USIT

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), an NGO describing itself as the world's leading conservation organisation, has admitted it is "highly concerned" over allegations of corruption involving Sarawak-based logging conglomerate Ta Ann, a member of the WWF's Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN).

The WWF flagship GFTN scheme to encourage sustainable forestry has provided a veneer of credibility to Ta Ann's logging operations in Sarawak and in Tasmania, Australia.

Ta Ann is is headed by Abdul Hamed Sepawi, a member of Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud's inner business circle. He's also Taib's cousin.

Global environmental NGOs have accused Taib (right) of hoarding a fortune by awarding contracts worth billions of ringgit to proxies, and in particular, to his own family members. Taib's response is simply that his relatives are astute business people.

Hamed founded Ta Ann in the mid-1980s, and is pictured hugging a tree on its website.

The logging group is now publicly listed, and boasted a market capitalisation of RM1.236 billion at the end of last year.

Ta Ann enjoys 362,439 hectares of timber concession rights, more than double the area of Malacca.

Some of these concessions overlap with its 313,078 hectares of forest plantation rights. Ta Ann also owns 66,681 hectares of oil palm.

Hamed also chairs construction giant Naim Cendera, a beneficiary of dam-building contracts and other government mega project largesse, and Sarawak Energy, the state's privatised electricity monopoly.

Both Taib and Hamed rank among the wealthiest men in Sarawak, one of the poorest states in the Malaysian federation.

Australian Greens hold balance of power

Ta Ann has been condemned by Australian Green Party leader Senator Bob Brown, and Tasmanian 'direct action' environmental protestors, for its record of deforestation and encroachment of native land rights in Sarawak.

"Ta Ann...was given AUD10 million (RM3.1 million) by the federal government (under the previous John Howard administration) to establish (itself) in Tasmania, and now has the major claim under the proposed forestry deal for allocation of timber resources in Tasmania into the future," Brown announced at a joint press conference on August 5 with Baru Bian (right), Sarawak human rights lawyer and state assemblyperson.

The lavish Australian government subsidy came with a contract allowing Ta Ann access to Tasmania's rich forests until 2027.

Kim Booth, a member of the Tasmanian Parliament, said he was "horrified" that Ta Ann was allowed to log Tasmania's forests, accusing Ta Ann of a "shocking record with regard to the abuse of indigenous people in Sarawak, and also the damage they are causing to the environment over there."

Brown added that all of us have a great responsibility to know what's going on in Sarawak. The indigenous people of Sarawak have native titles (to the land), but that is being serially eroded."

He commended the "great work of Baru in the (Sarawak) courts, (with over) 100 cases at the moment, trying to defend people whose rights are being abused."

Baru remarked that Sarawak has "fine policies in writing" about sustainable forestry, but "the issue is really that in practice, (overlogging) is not prevented."

As leader of the Greens, and power broker in Australia's hung Parliament, Senator Brown wields substantial influence in premier Julia Gillard's government.

WWF promises GFTN review

It came as no surprise, therefore, when WWF director-general James Leape wrote to Brown, and the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), an NGO advocate for forest dwellers and a leading critic of Taib's human rights record.

"The WWF is highly concerned about the claims against Ta Ann and has taken up the issue directly with the company," Leape wrote.

Leape assured them the Malaysian timber group is currently developing a public document to respond to the latest corruption allegations.

The WWF has also announced a review of the GFTN, following a damaging report published last month by Global Witness, called 'Pandering to the Loggers'.

Global Witness, a campaigning group, concluded that the WWF's GFTN, embracing some 300 companies in 30 countries, is "allowing companies to reap the benefits of association with WWF and its iconic panda brand, while they continue to destroy forests and trade in illegally sourced timber".

The report detailed "serious systemic problems, including a lack of transparency and accountability, wholly inadequate rules for membership, instances of weak performance, monitoring and enforcement and an absence of adequate procedures to assess whether the scheme is actually making a positive contribution to forest sustainability."

The WWF has argued the Global Witness report "contains a number of errors and misleading statements", without providing examples.

The WWF said its commissioning of the GFTN review demonstrates, nonetheless, that it takes the allegations seriously.

The WWF expressed confidence the review will show its "current set of performance and monitoring procedures are fit for purpose", and reiterated its commitment to sustainable forestry.

'WWF was not being naïve'

A Sarawakian land rights activist, Muhim Urip, told Malaysiakini yesterday that "it is well known, within the limited NGO circle in Sarawak, that the WWF has been trying to curry favour with Taib for a long time, to enable the WWF to apply for conservation and research 'projects' in Sarawak."

He argued "the WWF is thus no different from many crony companies who have 'projects' here. Everyone knows that no-one gets any 'projects' without the personal approval of the chief minister. If you can't get to him personally, then you go to his family."

The WWF was not being naive when it worked with Ta Ann, as it knew full well who helms the company, he added.

"For the WWF's HQ (director-general) to now say they are 'highly concerned' is but a lousy attempt to save its grossly tarnished image. It is insincere and smacks of an attempt to salvage (the reputation of) a battered organisation that is willing to go to bed with a company that is purely profit oriented."

Muhim also criticised the narrow focus on the "continually abused" concept of sustainable timber production, pointing out this ignores land rights, the lives of forest dwellers and political corruption.

"In the rush for all things 'sustainable', principles are put aside in place of convenience, as if the end justifies the means," he said.

The WWF's close links with Taib's family may have grown out of a simple-minded idea that the WWF could exert some mitigating influence over the destructive clear-felling employed by Sarawakian logging companies.

But Sarawak's notoriously profitable logging methods are exported by behemoths like Ta Ann, Samling and Rimbunan Hijau as far afield as Papua New Guinea, Cameroon and Guyana.

The idea that a conservationist NGO - even a cuddly panda - could somehow put the brakes on the money-making machine driven by these timber tycoons, backed up by their ruthless patron Taib, is hard to swallow.

International reputations at risk

These timber barons have enlisted sophisticated public relations consultants to fend off environmentalists' attacks.

These campaigns share many similarities with Malaysian oil palm planters' efforts to improve their shabby international reputation, using so-called 'sustainability' schemes like the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

The logging companies have also followed Taib's lead, in paying to burnish their unappealing images.

Taib attempted this Sisyphean task by hiring Fact Based Communications (FBC), a British public relations firm.

Unfortunately for Taib and his business partners, Taib's mercenary'propaganda-for-cash' journalism scandal was exposed by the investigative reporting website Sarawak Report.

Media giants like CNBC, BBC and CNN aired powder-puff, sycophantic interviews with Taib and Malaysian premier Najib Abdul Razak (left).

FBC was producing and pushing this propaganda for free to broadcasters on the one hand, while on the other, FBC was accepting RM75 million from Taib and Najib (left) for massaging their global images.

The public relations debacle led to CNBC binning its World Business show and the BBC rejecting further programming from FBC, pending an investigation.

The WWF may now be facing the same challenge to its credibility as the RSPO in the palm oil industry, and the FBC in public relations.

It would appear that the Taib family's money and clout has put the international reputations of well-known brands like the BBC, CNBC and the WWF at risk.

When asked about the WWF's escape route from this public relations disaster, Muhim expressed some doubt regarding the WWF's ability to reform its weaknesses.

"The WWF is masquerading as an NGO, when it thinks and acts like a multinational corporation. How else can you explain that WWF works only with the Sarawak government and loggers, spending resources to deal and work with the destructive industry - and not the civil society in Sarawak, especially the communities affected by logging?" he said.

"The WWF will need to have principled and democratic civil society partners in order for the WWF to have any legitimacy, at least in Sarawak."

KERUAH USIT is a human rights activist - 'anak Sarawak, bangsa Malaysia'. This weekly column is an effort to provide a voice for marginalised Malaysians. Keruah Usit can be contacted at keruah_usit@yahoo.com

Bishop troubled by growing 'religious gulf'

Catholic Bishop Dr Paul Tan said the "nonsense about Christianity that it encourages free sex and permits prostitution" which appeared in a column in a Malay newspaper today was "symptomatic of the existing gulf in understanding between nominal Muslims and other religions in Malaysia."

"Now, I'm not going to call for a ban on that publication which I understand tends to express on occasion liberal views on politics," said the head of the diocese of Melaka-Johor in an immediate response to Malaysiakini which carried news of the Sinar Harian report.

"I don't believe that you should go banning a publication just because it has given a patently false report of what is taken to be Christian teachings; though I would settle for an apology.

"But just imagine what would happen if some publication had featured a comparably contorted view of Islam?" mused the Jesuit-trained prelate, who is also president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Malaysia.

"The Home Ministry would be down on that publication in a flash and the latter would have to give an explanation for its maledictions on pain of termination of its licence and maybe even prosecution of its staff," Bishop Paul Tan elaborated.

Prevent spreading lies on other religions

He said that the editor of Sinar Harian could checked with his Christian friends to verify the truth or falsity of the teachings of Christianity as proposed in the column he ran in his paper.

"Either he does not have such a friend or it does not occur to him to check out such an obvious distortion of Christian teaching which only tells you the extent of the gulf in religious understanding between nominal Muslims and adherents of other faiths in Malaysia," said the bishop.

"Anyone who thinks that Christianity encourages free sex and permits prostitution must have emerged from a Robinson Crusoe-like isolation on some island," sighed the prelate.

"Christianity views free sex as a grave distortion of the God-given gift of sexuality and considers prostitution sinful degradation of women and of men.

"Malaysians should learn about each other's religions to avoid making knaves of their selves," advised the bishop.

"The governing authorities should prevent the ignorant from spreading lies about the beliefs of other religions," he urged.