Archive - 2 February 2009

A survey by Merdeka Centre reveals that the premier-in-waiting's popularity has nosedived to 41 percent.

However, Sultan Esmail Dalus II will continue to press for the restoration of his property rights to North Borneo.

He says the PKR duo cannot retract their resignation letters and must now step down, as events have been set in motion for by-elections in their state seats.

updated 5.49pm Both have issued statements at two separate press conferences but with the same message - that they have not stepped down as state representatives. [VIDEO & PRESS STATEMENTS INSIDE]

updated 4.30pm Amid the political turmoil in Perak, PKR Kedah rep V Arumugam files a police report claiming that he is being threatened to defect to BN.

If Lim Guan Eng is prosecuted for bypassing the ‘open tender’ system, his defence will be that it has saved the state more than RM500,000 in public funds.

The opposition leader said that Pakatan Rakyat was drawing up the election strategy now, with the hope of retaining the two seats.

Changkat Jering assemblyperson Mohd Osman Jailu's representative has lodged a police report denying that he has vacated the state seat in Perak.

Najib needs to go to the March Umno general assembly with something in his hands or he would have a hard time getting the party behind him for the tough battle ahead.

The DAP leader says he was merely expressing the party's stand that all assemblypersons and MPs must always be in contact with the leadership.

As BN and PKR brace themselves for possible by-elections in Perak, Malaysiakini learns there is a likelihood that the matter could be first referred to the courts instead of the ballot boxes.

updated 4.55pm A Perak PKR division chief makes the damning allegation in a statutory declaration that details an alleged meeting with the Umno No 2 at the latter’s official residence in Putrajaya last year. [STATUTORY DECLARATION INSIDE]

Indonesian Islamic hardliners have called for a ban on international organisations Rotary Club and Lions Club, saying they are part of a Zionist conspiracy.

Starting with one cup of pure black coffee and a cup of pure white milk, let’s add equal amounts. The result is a nice brown concoction. If we continue to add milk, this coffee will turn lighter and lighter. So too with people.

DAP’s Jelapang representative Hee Yit Fong questions sec-gen Lim Guan Eng’s move to dismiss any party representative who goes missing for more than 24 hours without reason.

free ‘Instead of moving the nation ahead in these turbulent times, our political leaders and their party machinery are more obsessed with power-grabbing.’

Burma's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi today met with UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari after refusing to see him during his last visit to the military-ruled nation.

Prostitution is virtually the only part of the personal services industry in the Netherlands that works. One can't get a manicure in Amsterdam without booking an appointment two weeks in advance, but men can buy sex anytime – and at an attractive price.

Most newspapers splashed news on the two Perak assemblypersons who are allegedly switching camp from PKR to Barisan Nasional.

comment On Jan 20, Kugan Ananthan died inside a police station and the events which followed made him a household name albeit under the most tragic of circumstances.

updated 12.35am In a rare midnight press conference, Perak Menteri Besar Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin says the sultan has been briefed on the issue of possible by-elections in two state seats.

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani assured India that his government had investigated information it had provided over the Mumbai attacks and would respond soon.

Shells hit a crowded hospital in northeast Sri Lanka, killing at least nine people and raising fears today for thousands of civilians caught in a final military push against Tamil Tiger rebels.