The High Court has set Dec 14 to fix the date for injunction hearing over the RM500mil defamation suit filed by Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat against Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing.
Deputy registrar Hilmiah Yusof set the date in her chambers Wednesday after meeting counsel Ronnie Tan and Harjit Sandhu who acted for Ong. Both men mentioned the case on behalf of Tiong’s lawyer Prem Ramachandran who was not present.
Speaking to reporters later, Tan said Hilmiah had ordered both parties to file affidavits before Dec 14 for the hearing of an injunction application.
Tan said the injunction application was filed by Ong to stop the defendant from spreading any slander or libel against him.
Ong had on Aug 24 filed the suit at the High Court civil registry here through his legal team.
The suit was filed over unfounded and malicious defamatory allegations made by Tiong that Ong had received RM10mil from him for MCA activities following the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) disclosure.
In his statement of claim, Ong demanded that Tiong fully withdraw his defamatory remarks and publish an apology in major Malaysian newspapers of all languages.
The purpose of such statements, he said, were to tarnish his name.
Such remarks, he said, were published with the element of mala fide by Tiong to obstruct the fair and just investigation over the misuse of funds in the PKFZ issue and the role played by Tiong’s company in the controversy.
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The Borneo Post reported that Sarawak has sought the help of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to address the issue of children of mixed parentage in the state who have supposedly been denied bumiputra status. Supposedly? It is a fact otherwise this issue will not be highlighted in the local media.
Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Alfred Jabu said he wrote to the Prime Minister on the issue several days ago. Being a Dayak Bumiputera himself, Alfred Jabu has the power to push for the State constitution to be amended instead of asking help from the PM.
He highlighted the case of SPM top scorer Marine Undau, whose application for a place in a matriculation programme was rejected because of her mixed parentage.
“I believe the Prime Minister can solve the problem,” he told reporters after performing the ground-breaking ceremony for the proposed RM220mil City One shopping mall project here on Wednesday.
Jabu said one way to address the issue was to amend the Federal Constitution.
Another Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam also backed the proposed amendments of Article 161(a) of the Federal Constitution which stipulates that for a child born in Sarawak to be classified as bumiputra, both his or her parents have to be bumiputra.
However, the Sarawak State Constitution states that a child is considered a bumiputra if one of his or her parents is a bumiputra.
Besides Undau, two similar cases involving Awang Adrian Awang Kasumar (SPM 10As scorer) and Daniel Ibau were highlighted by the media.
Several quarters have urged the Federal Government to standardise the different definitions of bumiputra status in Peninsula Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak as inter-racial marriages are common.
A child born in the peninsula will be accorded bumiputra status as long as one of his or her parents is a bumiputra. In Sabah, a child is classified a bumiputra if his or her father is one.
Related posts:
* State cabinet committee’s bluder on Bumiputera status
* 1Malaysia 3Bumi status definitionmalaysia ~ If you like this informative post, please subscribe to my full RSS Feed
What’s in store for these children? James Masing says Marina’s case a test of state cabinet committee’s power on Bumiputera status. Masing should be asking that question to Sarawak YB who married non-Dayak. Such YB are the Chief Minister himself, Dr Jerip Susil or Dr Tiki Lafe.
Has a state cabinet committee which decides on who are rightfully Bumiputera in Sarawak erred all these years?The committee, which meets twice a year, has given its endorsement for Bumiputera status to hundreds of Sarawakians who are born to mixed-marriages, but the plight of Marina Undau has raised serious concerns about its authority. A member of that committee is Land Development Minister Dato Sri Dr James Masing and he could not help but worry whether the committee’s decisions were in line with the federal constitution which should be supreme.
He is concerned that if it was true that what Article 161a of the federal constitution says is that in Sarawak both parents must be native in order for their child to be Bumiputera, all the committee’s decisions would have been undone.
“The committee decides based on the ethnicity of either one of the parents. If the father is a native, then the child must be native or a Bumiputera. But the article says that both parents must be ‘exclusively’ native, so what does that mean? Have we been doing something illegal? “ he asked when interviewed by The Borneo Post yesterday.
“If Article 161a of the federal constitution is correct, then has the Sarawak government acted ultra vires the article? What happens to the newly declared Bumiputeras? Is their status to be nullified?”
He said if his understanding of the article was correct, there would be tremendous political and socio-economic ramifications on all Sarawakians of mixed-parentag, who had benefited from the many privileges accorded to the Bumiputera.
“It’s not just education we are talking about here,” he said, adding that he had recently been approached by many Sarawakians who were concerned about their Bumiputera status.malaysia ~ If you like this informative post, please subscribe to my full RSS Feed
There are 3 different criteria to determine if a child should be granted a Bumi status. This is what I called 1Malaysia 3Constituion. Semenanjung, Sabah and Sarawak each have their own definition as follows:
• Semenanjung – “Jika salah seorang ibu atau bapa calon adalah seorang Melayu yang beragama Islam/Orang Asli seperti mana yang ditakrifkan dalam Perkara 160(2) Perlembagaan Persekutuan; maka anaknya adalah dianggap seorang Bumiputera.” (If either parent of a candidate is a Malay who is a Muslim/Orang Asli as defined in Article 160 (2) of the Federal Constitution, the child is considered a Bumiputera.)
• Sabah – “Jika bapa calon adalah seorang Melayu yang beragama Islam/Peribumi Sabah seperti yang ditakrifkan dalam Perkara 161A(6)(a) Perlembagaan Persekutuan; maka anaknya adalah dianggap seorang Bumiputera.” (If the father of the candidate is a Malay who is a Muslim/native of Sabah as defined by Article 161A(6)(a) of the Federal Constitution, the child is considered a Bumiputera.)
• Sarawak – “Jika bapa dan ibu adalah seorang Peribumi Sarawak seperti mana yang ditakrifkan dalam Perkara 161A(6)(b) Perlembagaan persekutuan; maka anaknya adalah dianggap seorang Bumiputera.” (If the father and mother is a native of Sarawak as defined under Article 161A(6)(b) of the Federal Constitution, the child is considered a Bumiputera).
This means the children of Taib Mahmud are not a Bumiputera.
From BP: Being ‘mixed’ is no privilege
Iban-Chinese schoolgirl in limbo over Bumi status; ministry ascertains her as non-native, throws out application to do matriculation
KUCHING: Getting her Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) result was the best — and the worst — thing that could happen to Marina Undau.The 18-year-old science stream student of SMK Simanggang scored 9As and 1B in the SPM examination last year.
She thought she was on her way to university, especially being a Bumiputera and all, but that was not to be.
Born to an Iban father and a Chinese mother, Marina’s life was turned upside down when her application to undergo a university matriculation programme was rejected by the Ministry of Education. The ministry determined that she is not a ‘Bumiputera’.
Her dreams were crushed and in the process, she lost a part of her identity and the drive that made her a top scorer.
The Borneo Post met Marina at her house in Sri Aman yesterday.
Seated between her parents, Undau Liap and Wong Pick Sing, the disappointment in the teenager was obvious.
Speaking in Iban, she said: “Aku amai enda puas ati nadai olih nyambung sekula ngagai universiti (I’m very sad that I can’t pursue my university education).”
With no chance of entering a university for now, Marina has started Form 6 in her old school.
Asked what she thought of everything that was happening, she replied: “What worries me is that will this happen again when I pass my STPM next year? If I get good results, what’s next?” What confuses Marina even more is how her elder sister could further her studies in Universiti Sains Malaysia in Pulau Pinang, where she is now in her second year, without ever having her identity questioned.
When Marina’s application was rejected, Undau contacted the Education Ministry’s Matriculation Department in Putrajaya on June 23 and was told that her daughter was not a ‘Bumiputera’.
Dissatisfied, the father, a government servant, wrote to the ministry on July 1 and the reply he got shocked him, and it is bound to challenge the identity of many Sarawakians who are born of mixed-parentage.
The ministry said in a reply on July 14 that Unau’s appeal was turned down because “the candidate is categorised as non-Bumiputera (father is Iban and mother is Chinese)” based on a definition used by the Student Intake Management Division, Higher Learning Department and Higher Education Ministry.
Their definition is as follows:
• Semenanjung – “Jika salah seorang ibu atau bapa calon adalah seorang Melayu yang beragama Islam/Orang Asli seperti mana yang ditakrifkan dalam Perkara 160(2) Perlembagaan Persekutuan; maka anaknya adalah dianggap seorang Bumiputera.” (If either parent of a candidate is a Malay who is a Muslim/Orang Asli as defined in Article 160 (2) of the Federal Constitution, the child is considered a Bumiputera.)
• Sabah – “Jika bapa calon adalah seorang Melayu yang beragama Islam/Peribumi Sabah seperti yang ditakrifkan dalam Perkara 161A(6)(a) Perlembagaan Persekutuan; maka anaknya adalah dianggap seorang Bumiputera.” (If the father of the candidate is a Malay who is a Muslim/native of Sabah as defined by Article 161A(6)(a) of the Federal Constitution, the child is considered a Bumiputera.)
• Sarawak – “Jika bapa dan ibu adalah seorang Peribumi Sarawak seperti mana yang ditakrifkan dalam Perkara 161A(6)(b) Perlembagaan persekutuan; maka anaknya adalah dianggap seorang Bumiputera.” (If the father and mother is a native of Sarawak as defined under Article 161A(6)(b) of the Federal Constitution, the child is considered a Bumiputera).
Undau could not accept the explanation given by the ministry and he hoped that the government would seriously look into education issues that involve Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera status.
“Is this what we call the 1Malaysia concept? Why all the differences in the intake of students for higher learning. I am not questioning the constitution, but what is the meaning of 1Malaysia if things like this happen?” Unau asked.
A check with the National Registration Department (NRD) headquarters here revealed that there have been numerous enquiries about the Bumiputera status of late.
A staff said she was somewhat surprised because no one had asked until recently.
A spokesperson for the NRD here said that in Sarawak, if a person is born to an Iban and his mother is Chinese, he is registered as an Iban according to the race of his father.
Asked if such a person is automatically accorded Bumiputera rights, the spokesperson said: “We don’t actually handle that. We look at the race of the father. If the father is Iban, the child is Iban. If the father is Chinese, the child is Chinese. The Bumiputera status comes under the Native Court.”
Native Court Registrar Ronnie Edward, when contacted, said the Bumiputera status was a ‘birthright’ and the Native Court only hear cases where a person who was to be declared a Bumiputera although his father was not a native.
He said there had been others who had suffered the same fate as Marina and it all boiled down to the Federal Constitution.
“I think to solve this problem. Article 161(A) of the Federal Constitution has to be amended. The article says that in Sarawak, both parents have to be ‘exclusively’ a native,” Ronnie said.malaysia ~ If you like this informative post, please subscribe to my full RSS Feed
Highlights of the new National Automotive Policy announced today. Local assembly of luxury passenger above 1,800cc and priced above RM150,000 on-the-road fully liberalized.
Foreigners can own 100% of assembly operations.
APs to be stopped by Dec 2015.Audit on AP recipients ongoing and checks to be done. Those flouting will be removed from list.
Gradual introduction of Vehicle End of Life Policy. For starters vehicles above 15 yrs will have to undergo mandatory inspection during renewal of road tax.
Freeze on assembly of re-built commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses will continue.
Import Duty structure maintained at 0% for CKD and 5% for CBU for AFTA.
Excise duty structure remains. No changes.
All imported used vehicles prices will be gazetted to prevent under-declaration.
Manufacturing of critical components for cars such as brake system and transmission to get incentives such as Pioneer Status/Investment Tax Allowance.
The import of used parts/components will be prohibited from June 2011.
Proton to establish strategic partnership with global OEM.
Source: www.theedgemalaysia.commalaysia ~ If you like this informative post, please subscribe to my full RSS Feed
Sabah PKR Wanita chief Christina Liew has today joined vice-president Jeffrey Kitingan in quitting the party post, dealing yet another blow to the opposition.
Her resignation on Wednesday came less then 12 hours after Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan quit as PKR vice-president.
Liew remains a PKR member and Kota Kinabalu division chief.
When contacted Liew, who also heads the party’s Kota Kinabalu division, said her resignation from the supreme council was due to her disappointment with PKR.
“I have worked very hard in promoting PKR over the past nine years. Since the party has disregarded my contributions, I will bow out with dignity,” she said.
Liew said she could not understand why she was replaced by Datuk Kong Hong Ming as PKR liaison deputy chairman, adding that she considered the move as a “public humiliation.”
She said she had always believed in fairness and transparency in PKR until the appointment of Kong and more recently the promotion state liaison secretary Ahmad Tamrin Zaini as state party chief replacing Azmin Ali.
In announcing his resignation as PKR vice president late Tuesday, Dr Jeffrey said the move came about as he had lost confidence in the party leadership’s decision making process in terms of decisions affecting Sabah.
He said there was no seriousness on the part of the party leadership in taking the views of Sabah PKR leaders.malaysia ~ If you like this informative post, please subscribe to my full RSS Feed
Wan Ubaidah Omar, the chairman of Kelantan Women, Family and Health is making a fool of herself for suggesting that awards be given to assemblymen for marrying single mothers. She stated that there are 16,500-registered single mothers in the state and even if there are 500 assemblymen willing to marry the single mothers, there are still 16,000 single mothers remain unmarried and facing financial difficulties. Instead of suggesting a special fund for the single mothers (where the assemblymen can contribute 10% of their income), Wan Ubaidah Omar is promoting single mothers to be a sex object for the assemblymen. She is now a qualified pimp.
Her suggestion drew support from backbenchers -- all of them men -- who started thumping their palms on the table at the Kelantan State Assembly on Wednesday.
She said the assemblymen could increase their quota to help single mothers with young children and it would help greatly if the assemblymen assisted by marrying them.
Her statement prompted house speaker Nassuruddin Daud to ask Wan Ubaidah to explain the word “quota.”
“What I meant by quota is the number of wives; awards should be given to learned House members who take the lead in doing this and also for those who have already married single mothers.
“This would help to reduce the number of single mothers in the state,” she said in reply to a question by Hassan Mahmood (PAS-Tawang), who had asked what was being done to reduce the number of divorce cases and what efforts were being taken by the state government to help single mothers.
To a supplementary question, Wan Ubaidah said that based on state records, there were 16,500-registered single mothers below the age of 60 in Kelantan and this figure did not include those who had been left in the lurch by their husbands.
She said one dilemma facing some single mothers in Kelantan and the country as a whole was that many of them could not register at the Welfare Department or related agencies because their husbands had left them without filing for divorce.
She said that she agreed with the call by Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Nik Mat to whip irresponsible husbands who left their wives high and dry without any reason.
She said Kelantan spent RM2mil annually to look after the welfare of single mothers who had no source of income.
“Apart from that, we have organised entrepreneurial workshops to help single mothers earn a living.
“The government has also organised talks to educate the immediate families of single mothers to take the initiative to help and not leave them alone to fend for themselves.
“We have had similar educational talks for husbands who had divorced their wives to encourage them to pay alimony to help their ex-wives get on with their lives,” she added.malaysia ~ If you like this informative post, please subscribe to my full RSS Feed
PKR vice-president Datuk Jeffrey Kitingan has quit his post, further clouding the leadership turmoil in the party here. He announced this late yesterday after meeting several hours with senior state party leaders.
“I’m quitting the post as I’ve lost confidence in the party’s leadership decision-making process in terms of decisions affecting Sabah,” he told The Star after the meeting.
“There appears to be no seriousness on the part of the party leadership in taking the views of Sabah PKR leaders. As such, I see no reason for me to remain in the party position,” he said, adding that he would be submitting his resignation letter today.
Asked if this move was a precursor for him to quit PKR, Dr Jeffrey said: “Don’t ask me that for now.”
Dr Jeffrey’s move to quit the post came just hours after he announced that he was rejecting his appointment to the party’s newly set up National Integration Council.
He had also said the PKR leadership’s move of making Sabahan Thamrin Zaini the state party chief was unacceptable as it ignored the wishes of the state party leaders.
Dr Jeffrey said he saw no reason for accepting the post in the council which he described as “something that was set up just to make us happy.”
PKR communications director Jonson Chong said on Sunday that the council had been set up to improve relations between Sabah, Sarawak and the peninsula.
Chong also announced that PKR vice-president Azmin Ali had been replaced by state party secretary Thamrin as Sabah PKR liaison chief.
The change came about after Dr Jeffrey disclosed two weeks ago that 18 Sabah PKR division chiefs had signed a memorandum submitted to PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that Azmin be replaced with a local Sabah leader.
It was reported that Sabah PKR division leaders had suggested that Azmin be replaced as state party chief by either Dr Jeffrey, deputy chiefs Datuk Dr Hamzah Amir or Datuk Kong Hong Ming.
Yesterday, Dr Jeffrey said the request to change the state party chief was not meant to get any Sabahan to replace Azmin, stressing that he had nothing personal against Thamrin.
Instead, he said the party here needed a leader who had the backing of the divisions to galvanise support for PKR in Sabah.
“If we do things like other peninsula-based parties where decisions are made over that side, why should the people choose us? We must be reformed and be democratic,” he added.malaysia ~ If you like this informative post, please subscribe to my full RSS Feed
