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Muslim Women In Pahang Dressed Indecently During Ramadan Face Possible 1 Year Jail Term

KUANTAN – Muslim women in the state who fail to adhere to a “decent” dress code during the month of Ramadan can end up in jail for a year or fined up to RM2,000, a local English daily reports.

Pahang Islamic Religious Department (JAIP) head of investigation Mohd Anis Azmi said that checks done at a few local Ramadan bazaars have shown that many Muslim women were clad in dresses that were “too short or tight”, something he considers as “inappropriately dressed”.

“They should refrain from wearing revealing dresses in respect of the holy month,” Anis was quoted saying.

“This is a warning for the public before we start our operations against the offenders soon. JAIP cannot set a benchmark on what is decent attire, as what is decent to me may not be considered so to others,” he added.

“We also cannot be telling them what they should wear, but a rule of thumb is to dress decently even if you are only out to buy food in a Ramadan bazaar,” Anis explained further.

He revealed that once caught and deemed improperly dressed by the religious authority, the women will be counselled, and repeat offenders could face imprisonment or a fine.

Source: http://malaysiandigest.com

June 25, 2015
PAP’s Potential Malay/Muslim Candidates For Upcoming Elections Identified

A few Malay-Muslim candidates, including women mostly in their early 30s, have been identified for the next General Election, said Second Minister for Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs Masagos Zulkifli.

“I do not know who will finally … become candidates, but … they are committed, they are also single-minded about helping out, contributing to the party as well as to become part of the party,” said Mr Masagos, referring to the People’s Action Party.

He said the potential candidates hail from various sectors, adding that most of them are young. “Therefore, they will have a very good long runway to learn about leadership and be moulded into credible and reliable leadership.”

When asked whether they are ready for a leadership role in the community and on the national stage, Mr Masagos said, “I don’t know anyone who is ready … Even for myself, after I have been elected, the kind of work I’m exposed to is something I couldn’t imagine.”

He added that the potential candidates need mentors. “They are not merely (serving) their constituency, they are also the vanguard of the Muslim community,” said Mr Masagos.

“Therefore, we have to guide them and teach them. We have to embrace them to teach them to become reliable and respectable (not just for the community).”

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

June 25, 2015
Hougang DBSS Resident Files Court Application To Demand S&CC Refund From AHPETC

A resident of a new Housing Board development in Hougang has gone to court to obtain a refund for the service and conservancy charges (S&CC) she paid to the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC).

Corporate travel manager Melinda Teo, 37, lodged a report with the Small Claims Tribunal on Monday (June 22), in a bid to get back the $367.20 that she paid in S&CC between November last year and May this year.

Ms Teo, who lives in the 680-unit Parkland Residences, a Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) project, said she should not have to pay the fees to the Workers’ Party-run town council as it took over the management and maintenance of the property only on June 1.

Before that, the project’s developer, Kwan Hwee Investment, had to step in to clean the common areas.

Earlier this month, more than 300 residents of Parkland Residences sent a petition to the town council demanding to have their S&CC waived or refunded. But their appeal was not answered by either the town council or the Workers’ Party MPs, said Ms Teo.

However, an AHPETC spokesman had said in response to media queries earlier this month that the town council would have to compensate Kwan Hwee Investment for the maintenance work done before June 1. As such, it cannot return the S&CC to residents, it told reporters.

Following Ms Teo’s move to take court action, a representative of AHPETC must attend a meeting at the Small Claims Tribunal on July 2, according to a court document issued to the town council.

Otherwise, an order could be given against the town council in its absence. The order could include a mandatory compensation to the claimant for claims below $10,000.

Ms Teo said she decided to go down the legal route as “our e-mails and petition have only received the silent treatment from the MPs and town council”. She added that several neighbours have expressed interest in filing similar claims with the tribunal.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

June 25, 2015
Fugitive Former NTUC Chairman And PAP MP Finally Charged In Court

Former chairman of the National Trades Union Congress and Member of Parliament Phey Yew Kok appeared in court on Wednesday (Jun 24), after being on the run for almost 36 years.

Phey was charged on Dec 10, 1979 with four counts of criminal breach of trust of a total of S$82,520, and other offences under the Trade Union Act. He was out on bail at S$100,000 but did not have his passport impounded. Phey failed to turn up in court on Jan 7, 1980, and a warrant of arrest was issued on the same day. His two sureties lost S$95,000 of their bail bonds as a result.

Investigations revealed Phey had left Singapore for Kuala Lumpur by train on Dec 31, 1979, and proceeded to Bangkok where he disappeared. He surrendered at the Singapore Embassy in Bangkok on Monday, and officers from Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau accompanied him back to the Republic on the same day.

State Courts heard that the charges still stand and investigations will resume. Additional charges may also be tendered.

When the charges were re-read to Phey before the State Courts on Wednesday, the accused said to District Judge Eddy Tham that “if my memory still does not fail me, I don’t think the money was transferred to my personal account”. Phey also had to ask the court interpreter to read the charges to him slowly as he said he was hard of hearing.

There will be no bail, and Phey will be remanded pending further investigation.

Phey is scheduled to appear in court again on Jul 23 at 2.15pm.

For the charges, Phey faces a prescribed punishment of up to seven years’ jail for criminal breach of trust by a public servant, and is liable to a fine.

For the Trades Union Act charges, Phey faces a prescribed punishment of a fine up to S$1,000 unless the offences warrant another form of punishment under the act.

“ZERO TOLERANCE FOR CORRUPTION”

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that a “clean and non-corrupt system” has been maintained in Singapore for fifty years “because we have zero tolerance for corruption”.

“We will not allow any cover up, even when it is awkward or embarrassing for the Government,” added Mr Lee.

We have maintained a clean and non-corrupt system in Singapore for half a century because we have zero tolerance for…

Posted by Lee Hsien Loong on Wednesday, June 24, 2015

In response to media queries, Mr Lee said: “He has been charged in court, and the law will have to take its course.”

“This will bring closure to a long outstanding case involving a person who was holding public office as an MP and a senior union leader,” he added.

NTUC acknowledged Phey’s surrender to the authorities. “We must now let the law take its course,” the labour movement said in a statement.

Phey was general secretary of multiple trade unions including the Singapore Industrial Labour Organisation (SILO) and the Pioneer Industries Employees Union (PIEU) from 1970 to 1970.

He was also a People’s Action Party Member of Parliament for Boon Teck between 1972 and 1979.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

June 25, 2015
Three Myanmar Men Charged With Conspiring To Kill Own Citizen In Singapore

Three Myanmar men were charged on Wednesday with conspiring to murder a fellow national in Singapore with a gruesome collection of instruments including a chainsaw, a meat mincer, a cleaver and a chopping board.

Myanmar nationals Yae Wynnt Oaung, 32, Phyo Min Naing, 31, as well as Singapore permanent resident Zaw Min Hlaing, 37, were charged in a district court with plotting to murder another Singapore permanent resident, Aye Maung Maung Thet, 28.

A fourth suspect, 29-year-old Myanmar national Win Kyaw Kyaw Aung, left Singapore on Monday morning, police said.

The offence is punishable by up to 14 years in jail plus a fine.

The four men attempted to abduct Aye Maung Maung Thet at a suburban carpark on Sunday evening, with two of them assaulting him with a taser, an electrical device designed to stun and disable a person, court documents said.

The men fled when the victim’s cries for help attracted the attention of passers-by.

They were arrested the following day, two of them at a rented seaside chalet in Singapore’s eastern region.

“Items such as a meat mincer, chainsaw, kitchen knives, gas cooker, gas cylinder tank, a tool set, trolley bags, plastic sheets, cable ties, cleaver, aprons, chopping board and rubber boots were also recovered from the chalet and seized as case exhibits,” the police said.

In court on Wednesday, the three men, dressed in civilian attire and handcuffed, appeared sombre as the charges were read to them in Burmese, the Myanmar national language, by an interpreter.

No pleas were entered. They were ordered remanded in police custody for one week to assist in investigations.

The case follows a spate of murder cases in neighbouring Malaysia last year involving Myanmar nationals, mostly in the northern state of Penang. In some cases, victims were decapitated or had some of their body parts severed.

Malaysian police have said they believed the attacks are related to violent clashes in Myanmar between members of the Buddhist majority and its population of Rohingya, a Muslim minority.

But the motive for the botched murder plot in Singapore has not been disclosed.

Gruesome murders are rare in Singapore, a densely populated island of 5.5 million, 40 percent of them foreigners.

Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com

June 25, 2015