Archive - 3 November 2002

A US-proposed regional anti-terrorism centre to be set up in Malaysia early next year may be opened to countries outside Southeast Asia, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said today.

As Indian Malaysians celebrate Deepavali tomorrow, a group of Indian migrant workers would be doomed to spend the day cooped up in a 10m x 5m room of a temporary shelter in a Petaling Jaya church mulling over their uncertain fate over the next few days.

Raids on Indonesian Australians' homes underscores how the government's security mindset, as well as over-reaction to the Bali attacks, is undermining basic democratic rights in Australia, legal experts and rights activists say.

Central banks from seven Muslim countries today launched a regulatory body to oversee the booming Islamic investment market. Bank Negara Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz (photo) heads the steering committee.

Still dour over its failure to recapture the Anak Bukit state assembly seat in Kedah from PAS, the Barisan Nasional now gears up to ensure that its luck will change during the next general election. Deputy Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi seeks help against electoral fraud.

The foreign ministers of Malaysia and Singapore have been continuously spouting domestic rhetoric over the water issue, each claiming the other to be at fault. DAP leader Kerk Kim Hock (right) wants to know Kuala Lumpur's answers to the latest Singapore offensive and asks Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar (left) to tell all in parliament.

Deeply divided MCA continues to generate internal heat over its RM27 million purchase of the Australian Institute for University Studies (AIUS). The price, not revealed by the party chief, is displayed on the KLSE website. It looks like Dr Ling Liong Sik has some explaining to do on the issue.

Racial ties in multicultural Malaysia have weakened, particularly among young people, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad warns. The government will take steps to check this unhealthy trend, he says.