Archive - 19 May 2009

updated 7.35am Teo Nie Ching and Jenice Lee plus nine others were arrested at a vigil to 'mourn the death of democracy'. [VIDEO INSIDE]

Selangor is challenging the federal government's long-held culture of secrecy by tabling a Freedom of Information Act in July. [VIDEO INSIDE]

A breakaway group from Hindraf has launched the Indian-based Malaysia Makkal Sakti Party (MMSP), but it denied that it has links to BN. [VIDEO INSIDE]

Forty years after 13th May 1969, the levers of authority and power are still being used and abused to 'dictate the kind and quality of democracy we want and need in Malaysia'.

Forty years after May 13th, the insecurities that threatened the nation remain the same threats that the authorities fear.

updated 6.15pm The Selangor assembly's rights and privileges committee has suspended opposition leader Dr Mohd Khir Toyo for 12 months from the House.

The son of controversial blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin pleads guilty at the Shah Alam Magistrate's Court on four counts of theft as well as being in possession of stolen goods.

updated 9.45pm Sri Lankan state TV broadcast video footage today of what it said was the body of Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

The attorney-general had offered submissions in assisting the court to interpret the Perak constitution but, in a ruling on May 11, the judge rejected all three points made. [FULL JUDGMENT INSIDE]

GPI has called on the International Criminal Court to charge hawkish Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse for war crimes and will be organising a rally on Sunday.

Local BN leaders welcome the move but critics slam the ruling coalition for withdrawing from the by-election for the Penanti state seat.

The MCA president says the party never endorsed or authorised its deputy president to initiate talks with the PAS leader on the Perak crisis.

updated 5.25pm with Vell Paari's comments He denies using the derogatory remark to describe MIC, and calls on Samy Vellu's son to resolve the Maika imbroglio.

The BN's decision not to contest the Penanti by-election frontpaged many newspapers today.

Mafrel regional coordinator Ong Boon Keong said the BN had been the biggest culprit in breaching all electoral rules and regulations in all elections.

Burmese police were expected to give evidence against pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on the second day of her trial.

breaking news updated 4.10pm Except for Uthayakumar, the other four recently-released Hindraf leaders meet with the advisory panel at the Kamunting detention centre.

‘This decision not to contest is perceived as the BN finally acknowledging it is beaten in what can be regarded as its heartland.’ [VIDEO INSIDE]

Anwar has ridiculed his former party Umno for being afraid to contest in Penanti but said it might back an independent candidate.

breaking news Tamil Tigers denied that their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran had been killed by the military, insisting that the rebel chief was alive and well.

Authorities in Japan stepped up measures to halt A(H1N1) flu, which the WHO declared was not yet a pandemic even as it claimed two more lives in Latin America.

comment How on earth did he get into the assembly? The assembly building was out of bounds to all except the elected members of the assembly.

Awang Tengah responds to the accusation by DAP state rep Violet Yong on the import of illegal Indonesian timber called batak without valid documentation.

Burma's tightly controlled state media has reported on the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi for the first time, giving a rare mention of the imprisoned pro-democracy leader.

comment BN’s future as a coalition is on the line. If it continues to hang on to power in Perak, it will mean MCA, MIC and Gerakan will have to take a gamble at the next general election.

free ‘So Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak says that BN will let the sultan of Perak decide on fresh elections in Perak. Is he trying to make the sultan the villain of the piece?'

Troops were locked in bloody street battles with Taliban fighters in the northwest as rival politicians united behind the offensive to eliminate Islamist militants.

President Mahinda Rajapakse is set to deliver a victory speech to parliament following the bloody defeat of the Tamil Tigers and their decades-old war for an independent ethnic homeland.

updated 5.35pm The defiant Hindraf leader P Uthayakumar has refused to attend a meeting with the advisory panel at the Kamunting detention centre in Perak today.