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Indonesia declines Aussie prisoner swap offer, to press ahead with executions
JAKARTA, March 5 — Indonesia's security minister said today that Jakarta would press ahead with the execution of two Australian drug smugglers and other foreign convicts, ruling out an offer of a prisoner swap put forward by Canberra. "In
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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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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.
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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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Muhamad Wanndy described as a loner - Nation | The Star Online
MALACCA: Muhamad Wanndy Mohamad Jedi has been described as a loner who hardly mingled with his neighbours since his family moved to a village in Jalan Bukit Tambun, Durian Tunggal, six years ago. One of his neighbours said the 25-year-old kept to himself and would not even greet anyone. Police said his wife Nor Mahmudah Ahmad, 26, made the trip to Syria with him to join the Islamic State militants on Feb 26. In a Facebook posting, Muhamad Wanndy himself admitted that he was a loner.
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GST crackdown: 219 businesses in Johor fined RM3.28 mln – BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily New
JOHOR BAHARU: A total of 219 companies and traders have been slapped with compounds totalling RM3.28 million for failing to register for the Goods and Services (GST) before the deadline on Feb. 28.Johor Royal Malaysian Customs Department director Datuk
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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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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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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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Oregon woman arrives in US after stuck in East Timor for 6 months - The Malaysian Insider
– Reuters pic, March 5, 2015.An Oregon woman arrested on a drug charge while travelling in East Timor arrived home in Portland on Wednesday to a swarm of national and local media after six months of diplomatic negotiations. Stacey Addison, who said she was never in possession of drugs, was imprisoned for two months and then released without travel documents in December, leaving her unable to leave the Southeast Asian country. Really strange, but really good," said Addison, a 41-year-old veterinarian who was initially detained when a man with whom she shared a cab was arrested on drug charges last September. Prison conditions were basic, but she was treated well, Addison said at Portland International Airport.
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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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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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'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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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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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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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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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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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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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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