Archive - 26 August 2002

Isu pemilihan calon lelaki atau wanita tidak seharusnya menjadi masalah utama kepada PAS kerana parti itu seharusnya memilih calon yang terbaik sahaja untuk mewakilinya dalam sebarang pilihanraya.

With the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia mediating, religious bodies meet today to discuss overlapping concerns, including the declaration that Malaysia is an "Islamic state" and religious freedom in the country.

An Utusan Malaysia report has accused the Gerakan-controlled Penang state government of sidelining the Malays. However, political observers say the report was aimed at pressuring the party into supporting the Umno-backed proposal to teach Science and Maths in English.

Angered by the misinterpretation of his comments on the language switch issue, a fuming Gerakan president Dr Lim Keng Yaik today rebuked local newspapers for portraying him as an "idiot" and a "mad doctor".

Having declared its opposition to the language switch last week, Gerakan now calls for an independent commission to formulate educational policies in the country. It also maintains that the current controversy should be analysed based on facts and evidence.

The existing practice of giving excessive weight to rural voters is unfair to the principle of one-man one-vote. For example, Selangor deserves to have 38 parliamentary seats, not 22, argues KC HO.

Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail today clarifies that the party respects the right of Terengganu and Kelantan to enact the controversial hudud law as the two governments are "democratically elected". She says that malaysiakini 's report yesterday failed to accurately reflect the party's stand.

updated version The police detained 25 people, including four children, during an eviction exercise in Shah Alam this morning. The residents, police say, were held for unlawful assembly, but activists claim that the cops have no legal right to evict the residents.

As a measure to deter possible terror attacks, the US government imposed stringent immigration regulations for travellers from about 26 countries, mostly from the Mideast. Inexplicably Malaysia is also on the list and this does not augur well for us, especially our students.

The company tasked to build the RM2 billion paper mill in Sarawak has gone into official receivership following the financial trouble of its parent company — Indonesian-owned Asia Pulp & Paper Ltd. The state government, which has a stake in the project, is finding ways to rescue the project.