Tag: Malaysia

Death Penalty for Malaysian Drug Trafficker

SINGAPORE: A 27-year-old Malaysian who had earlier been found guilty of bringing into Singapore 22.24g of diamorphine, the pure form of heroin, was on Monday (Sep 22) sentenced to death.

Prabagaran a/l Srivijayan was arrested in the early morning of April 12, 2012, at the Woodlands Checkpoint after immigration officers found two bundles wrapped with black masking tape – later found to contain the diamorphine – in the centre armrest console of the car he was driving into Singapore.

Prabagaran, who had said he was unaware that the two bundles were in his car, claimed trial on a charge of importing heroin of more than 15g, which carries the death penalty.

He was convicted in the High Court on July 22.

Court documents said Prabagaran had borrowed the car from a friend to enter Singapore on that day in April because he could not use his motorcycle. He had been behind in paying his monthly installment and he was afraid that the motorcycle shop in Malaysia would repossess the vehicle.

Prabagaran had also told another friend that he had to take the car to Singapore early in the day – even though he was due to start his shift at a petrol pump station here only at 3pm – because he needed to return his work permit and gate pass to a former employer.

During the trial, the prosecution had argued that Prabagaran was an untruthful witness and that his testimony was “unconvincing, riddled with inconsistencies and cannot be believed”.

“If the accused (Prabagaran) had truly intended to return his work permit and the gate pass to his former employer, he has not offered any satisfactory explanation why he had to do so several hours before his work shift began,” said the prosecution.

Prabagaran’s defence lawyer, Mr N Kanagavijayan, told the court that his client would be filing an appeal against the conviction.

Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/death-penalty-for/1375990.html

September 23, 2014
Fate of Malays Are Shaped By The Government

Dr. Mahathir says the Malays are lazy. He says he has failed. After a lifetime trying to correct the Malay character, since the days he wrote his Malay Dilemma, Mahathir is a frustrated man. Either the Malay is irredeemable or Mahathir has the wrong prescriptions.

The Malay is lazy compared with whom? There must be a measure. Because Mahathir is ashamed in front of the Chinese, then by extension, the Malay is lazy when compared to the Chinese.

If so, why are the Chinese not lazy and the Malays lazy? To me this is not due to some innate cultural characteristics and – allow me to say it directly here at once – it’s due to the refusal of the Chinese to allow others to dictate their destiny. The Malays on the other hand have resigned to the fact that their destiny is shaped by others, notably the government.

Before Umno, the Malays were as they were because centuries of living under feudal rule had shaped their childlike dependence. When Umno came, the mental bondage wasn’t eliminated but reinforced by the neo-feudalism that Umno practises.

The Malays must now start believing that they are given this inalienable right to define their own lives, that responsibility over their wellbeing rests with themselves first and not defined by an extraneous entity like the government. The Malay is free to pursue his own personal interest without being prevented by others; he plays his part in contributing to society’s wellbeing voluntarily. He looks after himself, his family and does his bit for society.

I see the Chinese in Sungai Klau and Sungai Ruan not shirking from communal interests. They collect donations and the better-off contribute generously to religious and social causes. But more important, they undertake to look out for themselves first.

This looking out for themselves is probably shaped by their own acknowledgement that it’s difficult to obtain help from a Malay-dominated government, and this induces the Chinese to look at creative and even defiant ways. But I also think that looking after one’s own interests is also shaped by a personal code of conduct. No one owes you a living but yourself.

So as to Mahathir’s opinion that Malays are lazy, many Malays will not believe that. The Chinese may also reject this notion. Sure, I have seen Malays being instructed repeatedly by the Chinese mandor over a particular job, but that is not to say the Malay is lazy. He is less skilled.

There are of course a great number of layabouts and loafers. They are like that because they have no application. Talent is wasted if there is no application.

Application. The first politician I heard using this word was Lee Kuan Yew. Having all the necessary social and productive skill sets, you require application. If application is hindered, the person becomes a dud.

I have been thinking what is it that hinders the Malay from applying his potential? Since Mahathir is comparing the Malay to the Chinese, I would like to offer my thoughts on this.

What’s holding back the Malay? It would easier if we can lump it all into the concept of culture. That would require a more scientific exposition, not possible in a blog like this. We have to be more specific.

Different mental plane

The hindrance to application is personal inhibition. The Chinese does not attach much significance to authority, it seems. The Malay operates on a different mental plane.

The Malay, after years of living under the feudal system, is what he is today because of that. He is inhibited. He has the glass window, the invisible bar that defines him within a narrower space. That space was defined in the past by the feudal system of government and now by the system of neo-feudalism. Umno really does not want to liberate the Malay mind, fearing its power will be challenged.

That space to me is defined ultimately by the government and so it is ultimately the government that is responsible for moulding the Malay mind. The concept of government to the Malay is that of an imposing benign master, deity-like, to be obeyed at all times. That allows the government to create a childlike dependence on the government and its leaders.

The path to a more complete application is therefore, I think, a break from dependence. Umno actually does not want to liberate the Malay except on its terms. “On its terms” means without forgetting the dependence and debt to Umno. Umno is actually looking after its own interests first, the interests of its own leaders, and then the Malays.

Taking care of the Malays should mean freeing them and allowing them personal space.

The Malay person’s more complete stepping out of the boxed space is inhibited by Umno. Umno has not liberated the Malay mind, and because of that he is inhibited. Of all the characteristics that prevent the Malay his full application, perhaps the most prominent is meekness, which translates into irrational subservience to the government. In the 1970s, when Umno produced the book Revolusi Mental, the party tried to encourage Malays to be more arrogant and defiant in attitude. Perhaps that is what they need most of all. A defiant and rebellious attitude.

The typical Chinese new villager in Sungai Ruan or Sungai Klau or Teras in Raub has 60 to 70 acres of land in the jungle turned into fruit orchards and so forth. Drive around the new village of Sempalit and you will see every available space in front of houses is planted with vegetables of some kind. Drive around in Sungai Klau and Sungai Ruan and you will see workshops attached to houses. You see that with Malay houses too, but with less intensity.

The PTG, the Land Office, has not taken action. Suppose a Malay individual decides to cultivate a two-acre plot in the jungle, the people from PTD and Forest Department and other people would be swarming over them. These people are asking the government to allow them a way out, not given handouts.

The handout recipe is a function of a sound welfare safety net system. Only those old and infirm qualify to get handouts. These people deserve to be helped. The able bodied, the skill-deficient, they cannot be given handouts but a way out.

Just compare the typical Malay and the typical Malaysian Chinese. The Malay would likely depend on the government for sustenance, either as an employee, contractor or rent seeker. He is a dependent. His mindset is shaped by the interests he can cull from being dependent on and seeking favours from the government. The government is the master, he the slave. The government is a deity to be worshipped, feared and obeyed absolutely.

The typical Chinese is probably self-employed, is working in some unrelated government business establishment. He defines his life. He is chauvinistic in the sense he accepts that his welfare and wellbeing are his own responsibility. So why can’t he be cocky and refuse to kowtow to anyone? He doesn’t owe anyone else a living. He participates in the free market.

He is independent and has choices when it comes to what kind of government he wants. If he wants to support DAP for being truer to his interests, there is nothing the Umno-led government can do because the Chinese are not dependent on it.

Ariff Sabri is the MP for Raub. He blogs at sakmongkol.blogspot.com

September 23, 2014
Ramai Warga Singapura Mula Jual Rumah Mewah Di Johor

KEBELAKANGAN ini, apabila duduk di beranda rumahnya di Setia Indah, Johor, perasaan sedih bercampur kecewa menyelinap ke dalam hati Encik Jeffri Husin.

Warga Singapura itu gundah kerana dalam proses menjual rumah idamannya itu – sebuah teres sudut dua tingkat dengan empat bilik tidur – dan pulang ke Singapura.

Bapa empat anak berusia antara 11 dengan 20 tahun dan masih bersekolah di Singapura itu terpaksa mengambil keputusan tersebut kerana tidak sanggup menanggung kos tinggi membayar tol di Koswe setiap hari.

“Ini bukan soal jual rumah saja, tapi berakhirnya sebuah impian,” katanya dengan suara tersekat-sekat.

Encik Jeffri, 46 tahun, yang bekerja di sebuah syarikat penerbangan di sini, berkata beliau dan isterinya memutuskan menjual flat lima bilik mereka di Pasir Ris dan berpindah ke Johor empat tahun lalu setelah tertarik mendengar kisah teman yang seronok tinggal di rumah lebih besar dan berhalaman di seberang Tambak.

Saat membeli rumah idaman mereka itu, yang berharga kurang RM500,000 ($195,300), detik paling bahagia bagi beliau dan isterinya.

“Kami sudah bayangkan rumah ini sebagai tempat kami meniti usia senja nanti,” kata Encik Jeffri yang menghabiskan sebahagian zaman kanak-kanaknya di Melaka dan masih rapat dengan ramai anggota keluarganya di Malaysia.

Beliau berkata kenaikan kadar tol itu beban yang terlalu berat dipikul. Malaysia menaikkan kadar tol sedia ada dan mengenakan tol baru bagi kenderaan keluar dan masuk Singapura melalui Kompleks Kastam, Imigresen dan Kuarantin (CIQ) Johor Bahru mulai bulan lalu.

Singapura akan mengambil langkah serupa, sejajar dengan dasar pemerintah menyepadankan kadar tol dengan yang dikenakan Malaysia, mulai bulan depan.

Selain itu, Malaysia merancang memperkenal Permit Masuk Kenderaan (VEP) ke atas kereta asing yang memasuki negara itu melalui Johor. Dengan kenaikan kadar tol, Encik Jeffri membayar sekitar $400 sebulan bagi menyeberang Koswe.

Sekiranya VEP itu dilaksana, beliau dikehendaki menanggung kos sekitar $600 sebulan.

Merumitkan lagi keadaan, Encik Jeffri dikehendaki menjual rumahnya di Johor sebelum boleh membeli flat di Singapura, ekoran undang-undang yang memerlukan seseorang itu menjual hartanah lain yang dimiliki, baik di dalam mahupun luar negara, dalam tempoh enam bulan selepas membeli flat HDB.

Pilihan lain bagi Encik Jeffri ialah menyewa flat di sini. Namun, beliau tidak mampu kerana kadar sewa kekal tinggi walaupun pasaran sewa agak lembap.

“Untuk sewa seluruh flat, anggarannya $2,000 sebulan. Ia tidak selesaikan masalah saya,” kata beliau. Lantaran itulah, satu-satunya cara baginya ialah menjual rumah idamannya di Johor dan membeli flat di sini.

Menurut Encik Jeffri, beliau boleh membeli flat tiga bilik berdasarkan simpanannya dalam Tabung Simpanan Pekerja (CPF), tetapi beliau telah memohon pinjaman bank bagi membeli flat lebih besar.

Rabu lalu, Berita Harian melaporkan kebelakangan ini ejen hartanah setempat menerima banyak panggilan daripada orang Melayu Singapura yang tinggal di Johor meminta mereka mencarikan flat di sini untuk dibeli atau disewa.

Ejen tersebut mendedahkan sebahagian mereka yang mahu pulang ke Singapura ekoran kadar tol lebih tinggi itu tersepit kerana tidak mampu menyewa flat sedangkan rumah mereka di Johor sukar dijual.

Namun, Encik Jeffri yakin dapat menjual rumahnya di Johor dalam masa terdekat. “Sebabnya, selain teres sudut, pemandangan rumah saya tidak terhalang,” kata beliau. Keadaan tidak menentu itu membuat perasaan kecewa dan sedih Encik Jeffri lekas bertukar menjadi marah.

“Keputusan yang diambil pihak berkuasa tidak ambil kira kesannya ke atas orang biasa seperti kami. Banyak projek perumahan di Johor dipasarkan kepada orang Singapura.

Kami yang tinggal di Johor juga menyumbang kepada ekonomi Malaysia, jadi kenapa kami dibuat sebegini?

“Saya bukan menolak sepenuhnya kenaikan tol, tapi biarlah ia berpada-pada.

Dan bila dinaikkan, pastikan ada pilihan alternatif, seperti MRT,” katanya.

Sumber: http://beritaharian.sg/setempat/rumah-idaman-di-jb-jadi-igauan-akibat-tol#sthash.zeAdMKyS.dpuf

September 22, 2014
MDA Allows Local Tertiary Institutions To Show Film on Exiled Chinese Communists

SINGAPORE & JOHOR BARU – The Media Development Authority is giving leeway to institutions of higher learning to show films that are restricted or not allowed, including To Singapore With Love.

It also said it has accepted a request from the Yale-NUS College to screen the film on Singapore’s political exiles, for classroom teaching and discussion only.

The 70-minute documentary, by local film-maker Tan Pin Pin, 44, received a “Not Allowed for All Ratings (NAR)” classification from the MDA last Thursday.

That was because the film’s contents “undermine national security” and distort the legitimate actions of security agencies as acts that victimise innocent individuals, the MDA had said.

Films classified as NAR are not allowed for public exhibition or distribution.

In its most recent statement on Friday, MDA said it “recognises that lecturers and students of media or related courses at tertiary institutions may require access to a wider variety of films, including films that are classified R21 or NAR.

“Some leeway is provided to these institutions to screen films for educational purposes, on condition that these films have either been previously classified by the MDA, or prior approval has been sought from the MDA before the films are acquired.”

Also on Friday, more than 350 Singaporeans crossed the Causeway to Johor Baru to catch Tan’s film, which was showing as part of an annual Freedom Film Festival.

The film has already been shown in Petaling Jaya and will go to Kuantan and Penang next.

In total, more than 410 people attended, with at least 20 on the waitlist. This was almost triple the number of participants that organisers were anticipating.

Organisers had to book an extra, larger room to accommodate viewers.

The documentary film includes interviews with nine political exiles who fled Singapore and now live in Britain and Thailand. Most were members or supporters of the Communist Party of Malaya, according to the MDA.

It has been touring the international film circuit for about a year, and will make its way to the Philippines and London in the next few weeks.

Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/singaporeans-arrive-johor-baru-screening-documentary-sin#9

September 21, 2014
Banned Film Showing Life Story of Chinese Communists Shown in JB

Government had made it clear that it would allow former members of the Communist Party of Malaya to return if they agreed to be interviewed on their past activities to resolve their cases.

Source: http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/jb-screening-political-exiles-film-draws-many-sporeans

JOHOR BARU — More than 400 people — a vast majority came from Singapore, including students, working professionals and retirees — turned up yesterday at a Johor Baru hotel for the screening of a documentary on Singapore political exiles that has been disallowed for public screening in the Republic.

The film, To Singapore, With Love, directed by film-maker Tan Pin Pin and featuring interviews with Singapore student leaders and activists now living in Thailand, the United Kingdom and Malaysia after having fled the Republic between the 1960s and 1980s, was shown as part of Malaysia’s Freedom Film Festival.

Organisers said about 350 members of the audience were from Singapore. Among these, about 150 had arrived on four chartered buses.

Interest in the film increased after the Media Development Authority (MDA) earlier this month classified it as Not Allowed for All Ratings (NAR), saying its contents undermined national security “because the legitimate actions of security agencies to protect the national security and stability of Singapore are presented in a distorted way as acts that victimised innocent individuals”.

The film was screened in two function rooms in the11@Century Hotel, and several people who turned up for the screening said they had come to learn more about Singapore’s history. Freelance graphic designer Sim Xin Feng, 21, said she wanted to know more about Singapore and why the film was classified as NAR. Student Wong Xinyuan, 20, who is studying liberal arts in Germany, said she had some prior knowledge about the political exiles and “wanted to know what they think”.

Some relatives of the exiles were also among the audience, said Mr Lim Jialiang, who had organised the bus charters with three friends. Mr Lim, 24, said he had to turn away about 200 people and that he MDA was heartened but not surprised by the response.

Ms Tan took questions from the audience after the screening and said she had put together the 70-minute documentary — which features, among others, student leader-turned-political exile Tan Wah Piow and Dr Ang Swee Chai, whose husband was the late student activist and lawyer Francis Khoo — from about 15 hours of footage. She said she had posed three questions to the exiles: When and why they left Singapore, and what they had done with themselves since. She reiterated her disappointment with the MDA’s rating and when asked what she had learnt from making the film, said: “I suppose when something moves you, you just have to follow your instincts.”

The MDA issued the rating last week after the National University of Singapore Museum submitted it for classification, with plans to screen it at an event, along with two other films by Ms Tan. The authority also said the individuals in the film had given distorted and untruthful accounts of how they had come to leave and remain outside Singapore. It added that the

September 21, 2014