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Rafizi picks up Umno man’s asset declaration gauntlet
— File picture by Choo Choy MayKUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — PKR lawmaker Rafizi Ramli accepted today an Umno division chief’s challenge to declare his assets and told federal ministers to do likewise. The opposition Pandan MP said he will come up with a statutory declaration that will list his assets and debts, his income and work background before he joined politics, as well as his monthly income and expenses as a politician. “After I make the declaration, I really hope that Datuk Seri Syed Ali Alhabshee will no longer give excuses and that he’ll lead an internal Umno campaign instead so that all Umno leaders who are of ministerial status and above will make similar declarations,” Rafizi said in a statement, referring to the Cheras Umno division chief.
The Malay Mail Online | Malaysia q -
1MDB: abandon ship – Sir Wenger J. Khairy - The Malaysian Insider
However, I doubt that the 1MDB officials could savour the fine delicacies when they had to face the Cabinet yesterday. While you can twist the truth when dealing with reporters and issue half-baked media statements, it is quite something else to try to mislead the Cabinet. According to Sarawak Report, the deal was a sham and was used by Taek Jho Low to enrich himself to the tune of US$700 million, courtesy of funds raised through a guarantee of taxations of the Malaysian people and revenue from her natural resources. Arul Kanda has gone on record to say that he has no evidence of Jho Low’s involvement in the management of the fund.
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Muslim preacher irate with Perlis Mufti’s snub after ‘roti jala’ tale
Popular Islamic preacher Datuk Mohammad Kazim Elias complained against Perlis Mufti Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin for excluding him from a forum in the state, calling the action “hasty and shameful”. In response, the newly-returned mufti said his disagreement was personal and internal matter, arising from Kazim previously citing a dubious tale of Prophet Muhammad serving his guests roti jala and curry, a predominantly Malay dish. “I was informed about the cancellation of my invitation to the event two weeks ago, but I did not want to publicise this matter to preserve their dignity,” Kazim said, as quoted by Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia. Yesterday, a copy of a letter from Mohd Asri was spread online, in which the mufti disagreed with Kazim’s inclusion in a forum in May in conjunction with the Perlis Sultan’s birthday, allegedly because the preacher was involved with the spread of “dubious tales”.
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Australia forces Chinese company to sell RM112 million Sydney mansion - The Malaysian Insider
– Photo courtesy of realestate.com.au, March 3, 2015.Australia has ordered the Chinese owner of a A$39 million (RM112 million) Sydney mansion to sell up, the first crackdown on foreign residential purchases in nearly a decade, amid government attempts to cool one of the world's hottest property markets. 'Villa del Mare' was bought "illegally" in November by Golden Fast Foods Pty, a firm owned by Hong Kong-listed Evergrande Real Estate Group through a string of shell companies in Australia, Hong Kong and British Virgin Islands, Treasurer Joe Hockey said in a statement on Tuesday. Golden Fast Foods has 90 days to sell the property or face legal measures, the statement added. Executives at both Golden Fast Food and Evergrande were not immediately available to comment, but one of the agents involved in the deal, Christie's International Real Estate, said the property was purchased by an Australian company.
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Kedah father shocked daughter, son-in-law fighting for IS in Syria
— AFP picKUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — A Kedah man was shocked to learn that his daughter is in strife-torn Syria, following reports yesterday that his son-in-law Muhamad Wandy Mohamad Jedi, 25, was one of the two Malaysian jihadists in an Islamic State (IS) beheading video. According to Ahmad Husin, 54, he last met his daughter Nor Mahmudah, 26, in 2014 when she came to ask for his permission to marry Malacca-born Wandy; they have been estranged since. “I cannot believe that they could join IS and are now in Syria, because as far as I knew they were in Penang.
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'Roti jala' hadith have scholars in a knot
Perlis mufti blocks preacher Kazim Elias over a 'false hadith' on roti jala.
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New Honda Civic breaks Nürburgring record - The Malaysian Insider
The new Honda Civic Type R hot hatchback, officially unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show on Wednesday, is now also officially the world's fastest front-wheel-drive…
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MH370: From alien abduction to stolen by Russia — theories keep coming
— Picture by Yusof Mat IsaSYDNEY, March 5 — A year on from the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, an extraordinary amount of key data remains unknown - fuelling conspiracy theories and heated online debate about one of aviation’s biggest mysteries. The resulting theories range from the wild - alien abduction, MH370 and its doomed fleetmate MH17 were the same plane - to sober, science-based arguments that the plane is in the southern Indian Ocean, but not necessarily in the current search area. “It’s amazing how much information we don’t have after looking at this case for all this time,” said Jeff Wise, an aviation expert whose recently published Kindle book The Plane That Wasn’t There reached No.1 on Amazon’s bestseller lists. A Chinese Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft prepares to fly out from Perth International Airport, to participate in the continuing search in the southern Indian Ocean for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, April 16, 2014.
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Two Malaysians in Isis beheading video identified, says report - The Malaysian Insider
– The Malaysian Insider pic, March 4, 2015.Bukit Aman has identified two Malaysians who were spotted in a beheading video by Isis, The Star Online reported today. Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division principal assistant director Senior Asst Comm Datuk Ayub Khan was reported as saying that the two are 20-year-old Mohd Faris Anuar from Kedah and Muhamad Wanndy Muhamad Jedi, 26, who is from Malacca. The report said that the duo are believed to be part of a new group of militants comprising Malaysians and Indonesians - Majmu'ah al Arkhabiliy.
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PAS’s Dzulkefly assaulted at home this morning - The Malaysian Insider
– The Malaysian Insider pic, March 5, 2015.PAS central committee member Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad was assaulted by unknown assailants at the car porch of his home in Shah Alam, early this morning. His close friend and party member Datuk Kamarudin Jaafar, who is also Tumpat MP, confirmed the incident. He said Dzulkefly was in the midst of lodging a police report on the incident and was being treated for his injuries. "One of the attackers said 'why so insolent' when they were beating him," said Kamarudin.
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Kitingan: ‘Pathetic’ growth rampant in Sabah
The Star Sabah leader holds Umno at fault for the conditions the state is now in.
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Malaysian teen in Syria is now pining for mum - Nation | The Star Online
PETALING JAYA: After taking up arms in Syria five months ago, Malaysian teenager Hidayat Azman is now pining for his mother. Hidayat, also known as Abu Islam, who just turned 19 three weeks ago, posted on Saturday, “I miss u mum….love u forever” on his Facebook together with a photograph showing his lonely existence in a barren land. Hidayat, who went to a pondok school in mainland Penang before briefly continuing his studies in Egypt, claimed he went to Syria last year with his mother’s blessing.
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Retiree shocked to find out son is fighting with Isis, says report - The Malaysian Insider
– The Malaysian Insider file pic, March 5, 2015.A retired civil servant is in a state of shock upon learning that his "disciplined" son has been identified by police as one of two Malaysians spotted in a beheading video by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) militants, The Star reported today. Anuar Salleh, 57, said he could not believe his quiet son, 20-year-old Mohd Faris Anuar, had joined Isis militants and was present when a Syrian man was beheaded. "I last saw Faris at the end of last year. “I was not home on the day he left, and have not been able to contact Faris at all.
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1MDB burden shifting to Cabinet, says veteran newsman - The Malaysian Insider
– The Malaysian Insider file pic, March 5, 2015.Even as Putrajaya ordered the Auditor-General (A-G) to vet the debt-laden 1Malaysia Development Bhd's accounts, a senior newsman has observed that the move suggests the Cabinet was taking collective responsibility over the state-owned strategic investment fund. Datuk A. Kadir Jasin said this also showed that power over 1MDB, which is Najib's brainchild, is no longer the exclusive domain of the prime minister. "This could be useful for the prime minister. What started off as his one-man show is now the collective burden of the Cabinet," he said in a blog posting last night.
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Year of the Goat: Myth or science? - The Malaysian Insider
When the clock struck midnight on February 15, it quietly marked the “birthday” of the “Year of the Goat” and signalled the exit of the Horse Year according to the Chinese zodiac chart — thus initiating the start of the annual celebrations for the Lunar New Year. The question is how did the Chinese calendar come to be named after 12 animals? There is the legendary folklore where the Jade Emperor threw a “heavenly feast” and invited all the animals to attend, or the alternative tale of a race organised among the animals, which led to the rat “taking the lead” on the zodiac chart. There are no such things as animals and their behaviours [affecting us],” Yap continued.
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Don’t just dream of becoming a doctor ― Tay Tian Yan
I saw from the STPM results that we are going to have many top students in this country, and many of these students, along with their parents, will all put their focuses on the medical schools of local government universities. You don't need a fortune-teller to remind you that very soon, their parents will host news conferences through their political parties of choice to complain about the country's top medical schools rejecting their kids. I was thinking, the quotas of our public university medical schools are less than 500 a year and there is little the government can do to place all the housemen. There are too many who want to get into the medical schools but their quotas will never be able to meet the demand.
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Indonesia executions: Australia offers prisoner swap deal to save Bali Nine duo (VIDEO)
― Reuters picSYDNEY, March 5 — Australia today suggested a prisoner swap with Indonesia in an eleventh hour bid to save two drug smugglers facing execution, as Prime Minister Tony Abbott attended a candlelight vigil for the men. Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the ringleaders of the so-called “Bali Nine” drug trafficking gang, could be killed within days after being moved yesterday to the Indonesian island where they are due to face a firing squad.
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Should they be called ‘Muslim evangelicals’? - The Malaysian Insider
What do you think about the label “Muslim evangelical group”? A news report last week used that label for an organisation which calls itself Multiracial Reverted Muslims (MRM). MRM was in the news because it distributes translations of the Quran and has been mistaken for the Islamic Information Service (IIS). IIS was in the news because it had irked the Malaysian Consultative Council on Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST): after IIS patron Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad launched a plan to raise RM20 million to produce translations of the Quran with interpretive notes for distribution to non-Muslims, MCCBCHST urged non-Muslims not to accept the Qurans.
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Be prepared for ‘brutal fight’, Bar chief warns backers of second legal body
— Picture by Saw Siow FengKUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — Malaysian Bar president Christopher Leong has told proponents of an alternative Bar Council to get ready for “the most brutal fight” by the professional legal body to safeguard its independence. Leong said the proposal for an alternative to the Malaysian Bar, which represents lawyers in peninsular Malaysia and has some 16,000 members, will greatly harm the administration of justice, the legal profession and the country’s reputation. “They will have a fight on their hands and we would defend the Malaysian Bar vociferously and mightily; without fear or favour,” Leong told Malay Mail Online in an interview yesterday.
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Mexican mayor sparks anger after lifting woman’s dress during birthday bash (VIDEO)
— AFP file picSAN BLAS (Mexico), March 5 — A Mexican mayor who once said he stole “a little bit” from public funds sparked outrage again after lifting a woman’s dress while dancing on stage during his lavish 44th birthday bash. Mayor Hilario Ramirez says he let himself be “moved by the emotion of the party” attended by 50,000 people in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit on Saturday. In a video that has gone viral online, the mustachioed mayor is seen dancing closely with the woman and lifting her minidress, which she quickly brings back down, as a band plays on stage.
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