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Flight path over Penang a ‘last farewell’ for MH370 pilot, reports UK daily - The Malaysian Insider
– March 2, 2015.Just days before the first anniversary of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, a senior Boeing 777 captain with a major commercial airline has weighed in on the mystery, alleging that it was the work of the pilot. Captain Simon Hardy's theory was reported in UK newspaper Daily Mail today, where he said the main clue was that after flying across the border between Thailand and Malaysia, the aircraft made a sharp u-turn towards Penang, one of three turns made in quick succession. According to Hardy, the doomed MAS flight seemed to be taken on an emotional "last farewell", as in a fly-past of the pilot's home island of Penang. "The unusual overflying of Penang is ‘perhaps the only clue to the perpetrator'.
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Stop blaming the Chinese for your own weaknesses, Azmin tells Putrajaya - The Malaysian Insider
– The Malaysian Insider pic, March 2, 2015.Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali said today that blaming the Chinese community for inflation was just an excuse to cover up Putrajaya's own failures in managing the country's economy. “Don't blame the Chinese whenever there is inflation and play up racial sentiments to cover up your own weaknesses,” he said. It does not matter if you are Malay, Chinese, Indians or Kadazans," the Bahasa Malaysia daily reported him as saying. Azmin's remark comes after Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob started a firestorm last month after he urged Malay consumers to boycott Chinese businesses over the latter’s refusal to lower prices after the drop in oil prices.
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Visiting Terengganu? Dress this way
— Reuters file picKUALA LUMPUR, March 2 — Tourists and visitors to Terengganu may have to shop for new clothes before they visit as the state government will introduce an Islamic dress code barring revealing attire. According to The Star on its website today, the new dress code will be distributed soon to all travel agents both in Malaysia and in neighbouring countries. The guideline that is specifically addressed to tourists were initially publicised in an article on the state government’s website, Teganukita, that has since been removed. The east coast state of Terengganu is almost entirely Malay-Muslim, with only a handful of other ethnic minorities residing there.
The Malay Mail Online | Malaysia q -
PAS stands by Harakah piece, tells Najib ‘see us in court’
— Picture by Saw Siow FengKUALA LUMPUR, March 2 — PAS today refused to retract an article by party mouthpiece Harakah Daily linking Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s stepson to 1 Malaysia Development Bhd funds or apologise as demanded by the prime minister. The Islamist party’s lawyer and central working committee member Hanipa Maidin said Harakah Daily was entitled to publish the report as it was matter of public interest, adding that PAS was prepared to defend its newsletter against Najib’s legal action. “We are ready to meet him in court... this is an issue of public interest and we are not afraid as it involves public funds,” Hanipa, who is also Sepang MP, told a press conference at the party’s head office here. PAS received the letter of demand from Najib’s lawyers last Thursday in which the prime minister gave the party paper two days to retract the article and refrain from publishing similar ones in future.
The Malay Mail Online | Malaysia q -
Two petrol stations temporarily shuttered for closing before fuel hike
— File picture by Shahir OmarKUALA LUMPUR, March 2 — The government has temporarily suspended two petrol stations in Kelantan for closing almost two hours ahead of the 25 sen fuel price hike on Sunday, despite having adequate fuel supply. Local daily Utusan Malaysia reported today Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Kelantan director Datuk Abdul Ghani Harun as saying that the two petrol stations were the only ones out of 167 operators in the east coast state that had stopped selling fuel early. According to Ghani, the two petrol stations had claimed that they had faulty pumps and that their fuel supply was cut off.
The Malay Mail Online | Malaysia q -
Sabah student’s conversion to Islam invalid as she’s a minor, lawyer says - The Malaysian Insider
– The Malaysian Insider pic, March 2, 2015.The conversion of a 16-year-old girl to Islam at her boarding school in Sabah without her Christian parents' knowledge is not valid under the law, as the religion of a minor can only be changed with both parents' consent, constitutional lawyer M.Kula Segaran said. The law on this matter has been decided in the civil courts, he said, based on the Ipoh High Court ruling in the case of kindergarten teacher M.Indira Gandhi, where the court held that the unilateral conversion of her three children, aged between six and 17, by her Muslim-convert husband Riduan Abdullah was unconstitutional. Kula Segaran said the parents of the student in Kinarut, Papar, should be able to seek recourse in the civil court to impugn their daughter's conversion certificate, if one has been issued. Kula Segaran was asked about the legal status of the girl's religion, which has been disputed by her parents, who raised her as a Christian and who claim that she had been wrongly influenced at the school into embracing Islam.
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PetroSaudi’s US$1.5 billion assets non-existent, says DAP lawmaker - The Malaysian Insider
– The Malaysian Insider pic by Nazir Sufari, March 2, 2015.The US$1.5 billion (RM5.4 billion) worth of assets PetroSaudi International (PetroSaudi) injected into the 2009 joint venture with 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) was non-existent, DAP said today, adding that the strategic investment fund had been aware of this all along. DAP lawmaker Tony Pua told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today that while 1MDB had invested US$1 billion into the joint venture, known as 1MDB PetroSaudi Limited, PetroSaudi had merely used an oil field belonging to Turkmenistan as its asset.
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Don’t sweep S’wak Report on 1MDB under carpet
It is time Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak came out from his long hibernation and explain in detail all these allegations. The person who can shed light and truth on the entire deal and where the US$700 million actually went is 1MDB president Arul Kanda Kandasamy. Please speak to Arul Kanda and take along an independent accountant when you do. Commentable: Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad is absolutely right when he said “somebody must be doing something stupid”.
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Terengganu issues dress code for tourists
UPDATED 10.16PM State media reported this but the article was later taken down.
Malaysiakini q -
Jho Low allegedly siphoned off US$700 million from 1MDB, says website - The Malaysian Insider
Businessman Jho Low orchestrated the 2009 joint venture between 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and PetroSaudi International to allegedly siphon off US$700 million from the strategic development fund, whistleblower website Sarawak Report has claimed. The UK-based website revealed that the 1MDB PetroSaudi joint venture company's US$700 million loan repayment to PetroSaudi in 2009 was a front and the funds channelled to a firm allegedly owned by Low, called Good Star Limited.
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My body is not an invitation – Rosheen Fatima - The Malaysian Insider
This article was first published on ELLE Malaysia’s website. In his column this week in Sinar Harian, ironically titled "When the ignorant speak", Ridhuan Tee claimed that women's bodies invite rape. As a rape survivor, woman, sister, daughter and – most importantly – as a human being, this statement filled me with disgust. Years later, after putting my life back together, going through the court case, seeing my rapists convicted and beginning to move on and heal (an endless journey), I see headlines telling me that, according to Ridhuan Tee, I invited the rape by virtue of my having a female body.
The Malaysian Insider q -
Mainland Chinese family ejected from flight over seatbelt dispute - Nation | The Star Online
PETALING JAYA: A three-year-old boy who refused to fasten his seatbelt during a Hong Kong-bound Cathay Pacific flight caused his family to be ejected from the aircraft, but not before sparking a commotion on board and delaying the flight. The Straits Times reported that the boy’s parents, a mainland Chinese couple, were urged to secure their three-year-old in his seat moments before flight CX564 was due to take-off from Bangkok at 3.15pm on Tuesday. Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported a passenger by the surname Lau telling Apple Daily that the boy had refused to sit down and wear his seatbelt. A video taken by Lau showed another female passenger getting irritated with the commotion and asking the flight crew to “call the police”.
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Ghosts of MH370 to haunt new MAS CEO’s first week, UK paper says
— AFP picKUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28 — Christoph R. Mueller faces a daunting week ahead of him when he assumes his role as the new chief executive officer (CEO) of ailing flag carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS), just days shy of the one year anniversary to Flight MH370’s disappearance. UK newspaper The Independent said in a report that Mueller’s to-do list will be “unappetising”, as he not only has to restore public confidence in the airline but will also have to cut jobs as part of the airline’s restructuring plan. “Next weekend, he (Mueller) and his airline will be in a media spotlight as the world remembers MH370. While his staff grieve for lost colleagues, he knows that many of them will also lose their jobs as the airline ‘restructures’,” the UK paper said yesterday, referring to the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukrainian airspace back in July last year.
The Malay Mail Online | Malaysia q -
Jetstar plane forced to turn back to Melbourne - Regional | The Star Online
MELBOURNE: An unruly passenger forced a Jetstar plane to turn back to Melbourne on Sunday after about an hour into the flight.
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MAS expects to save 25% in bills through settlement with caterer - The Malaysian Insider
– The Malaysian Insider pic, March 2, 2015.Loss-making national carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is expected to save 25% in monthly bills after it signed a settlement agreement with caterer Brahim’s Airline Catering Sdn Bhd (BAC) last Friday. The agreement is part of the airline’s recovery plan announced last year to overhaul all its operations and return the company to profitability, said Khazanah Nasional Berhad, which is in charge of the turnaround plan. In a statement today, Khazanah said part of that recovery plan involved MAS renegotiating some 4,000 supply contracts. The settlement agreement will also see MAS paying BAC RM37.95 million out of a total sum of RM94.03 million that has been held back by MAS to its caterer.
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'1MDB funds went to PetroSaudi, no one else'
The Saudi Arabian oil company says news reports on its 1MDB deal are 'malicious'.
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Suspected a suicide bomber, Nigerian mob beats teenage girl to death (VIDEO)
A woman, reportedly a teenager, was beaten to death in Bauchi, Nigeria after a mob suspected she might be a suicide bomber, police and eyewitnesses said. Boko Haram wishes to enforce strict Islamic law across the country.
The Malay Mail Online | All q -
We’re with Ahok. Are you with us, Jokowi? - Jakarta Globe - The Malaysian Insider
Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has never been one to back down from a fight, and on Friday he showed he wouldn’t be cowed by the City Council in a tussle over the city’s 2015 budget. He first paid a visit to his old friend, the previous governor, Joko Widodo, who just so happens to be president, to fill him in on the council’s attempt to tack on Rp 12.1 trillion (RM3.4 billion) of unauthorized funding onto City Hall’s original budget of Rp 78 trillion. Then he headed over to every crooked politician’s worst nightmare, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), to report the councilors’ shenanigans, and came away with a promise that antigraft investigators would look very closely at the two boxes’ worth of documents that he left them. Basuki is a politician like no other – brash and abrasive, but always principled.
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Dismissing suit threat, The Edge says will keep publishing Jho Low, 1MDB articles
— Reuters picKUALA LUMPUR, March 1 — The Edge Media Group said today it will continue to publish articles on Low Taek Jho and his alleged links to the controversies surrounding 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), despite facing possible legal action by the Malaysian billionaire. In a brief statement that ran in its business weekly The Edge, group CEO and publisher Ho Kay Tat said the group has received several letters from Low’s lawyers accusing the group of allegedly defaming Low. “We would like to state here that The Edge Media Group stands by all the articles we have published about Mr Low and about 1Malaysia Development Bhd, and we will continue to publish news stories about Mr Low and 1MDB as and when it is merited,” Ho said. The statement also attached the first page of the latest legal notice the group received dated February 26, demanding a retraction of an allegedly false and defamatory assertion published by the group’s news portal The Malaysian Insider (TMI).
The Malay Mail Online | Malaysia q -
Appeal to PM to be more Inclusive for national unity – Ramon Navaratnam - The Malaysian Insider
Our Prime Minister made a significant speech to the Malay Solidarity Gathering at the Putra Indoor Stadium at Bukit Jalil in Kuala Lumpur, last Saturday Feb 28th. This is a courageous call by the PM and will be welcomed and supported by all reasonable Malaysians! In all our socio economic development we need to bear in mind the overall basic need to be more Inclusive in order to reduce polarisation and to enhance our weakening national unity!
The Malaysian Insider q
