Study tour proposed as defection date looms
From News Reports:
Kuala Lumpur, September 6: Ruling Barisan Nasional MPs have been asked to submit their passports in preparation for an overseas study trip ahead of Tuesday September 16, the anticipated date for defections to newly re-elected Anwar Ibrahim, reports The Star newspaper.
The newspaper said the Backbencher Club had mooted the journey but its chairman Tiong King Sing rejected suggestions that it was organised to foil any defections. “The trip came about after a few of our members got talking,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.
“We wanted MPs to update themselves with the latest information about agriculture and high-tech food production so that we can debate better on the Budget when Parliament sits again in October,” he said.
Anwar Ibrahim has told reporters that his plan to topple the Barisan government is on schedule and that about 30 Barisan MPs, particularly from Sabah and Sarawak, were ready to defect.
It is understood proposed study tour will take place between tomorrow and Friday, September 19 and will be open to all MPs, but especially those with agricultural constituencies.
The Southeast Asian Times

UMNO meet ends in rough and tumble
From News Reports:
Kuala Lumpur, September 4: United Malay National Organisation members exchanged punches and threw chairs after counting showed that the Johor Legislative Assembly’s longest serving member – six terms – and an incumbent divisional chief, Datuk Othman Jais, 61, had lost to newcomer Shaifuddin Ali Hanafiah, 47.
Felda Palong Timur 5 Umno branch Chief Poninan Panijo told The Star newspaper that said Othman Jais supporters had been unhappy with the results and demanded a new vote.
The fighting had started when the vote was confirmed and harsh words traded.
“The legs of several chairs were also broken,” Poninan Panijo said.
But the defeated candidate denied that there had been a fight.
Instead, there had been an argument when several members who had not paid their fees voted.
The Star says that earlier rotten eggs were thrown during the meeting of the Sungai Machang Hilir branch meeting near Seremban.
The meeting became unruly after members started to protest against financial statements, loss of membership forms and delays in posting notices for the meeting.
The Southeast Asian Times

UMNO members want Dr M to return
Langkawi, September 2: The Kampung Raja and Atas Umno chapters of the Padang Matsirat branch of the United Malays National Organisation, or Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu, have carried a resolution asking former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammad and his wife Dr Siti Hasmah Mohammad Ali to rejoin it and the right-wing governing coalition Barisan Nasional.
Dr Mahathir and Dr Siti Hasmah resigned from Umno on May 19.
The resolution asks the Umno supreme council to appoint Dr Mahathir as an adviser to Umno and Barisan Nasional.
The resolution – carried at the yearly meeting, also asks the federal government to appoint Dr Mahathir as an envoy to draw foreign investment for Malaysia.
Dr Mahathir Mohammed resigned from the organisation that he helped found more than 60 years ago vowing not to rejoin until his hand-picked successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi resigned.
Dr Mahathir made his announcement at a forum At Alor Star in his home state of Kedah titled, ‘Future of the Malays after the 12th General Election’ in which the ruling party suffered heavy losses.
The Southeast Asian Times

Singapore to open Batam consulate
From News Reports:
Batam, September 1: Singapore plans to open a consulate in Batam, Riau Island province, on December 1, says the republic’s foreign minister Balaji Sadasivan.
The new office was expected to further increase cooperation in trade, health and tourism, he said during a weekend visit to Batam.
The opening of the Singapore consulate office was also intended to support the implementation of Indonesia-Singapore cooperation in developing the Indonesian Special Economic Zone in the Batam, Bintan and Karimun islands, he said.
Singapore’s investment in Indonesia totalled US$3.75 billion last year- the most of any country.
The Southeast Asian Times

Former Bali police chief sworn as governor
From News Reports:
Denpasar, August 30: Internal Affairs Minister Mardiyanto has sworn former police chief Made Mangku Pastika as the Governor of Bali.
His running mate Ngurah Puspayoga was sworn as his deputy for their five-year term.
Australia’s Ambassador to Jakarta, Bill Farmer, and former Tourism Post and Telecommunication Minister Joop Ave attended the well-secured ceremony.
Bali’s Election Commission confirmed that the resort island’s former police chief had been elected its first popularly elected governor in July.
The Indonesian-Democratic-Party-of-Struggle-nominated Pastika-Puspayoga team won 55 percent of the vote.
The Golkar Party duo received 26.7 percent of the votes and the Democratic Party 18.25 percent.
The new governor led the investigation of the first Bali bombing.
One of the new administration’s priorities would be the disbursing collateral-free working capital loans for small and medium enterprises and programmes that would provide 10,000 new jobs each year.
The Southeast Asian Times

Batam sets rules for Ramadan entertainment
From News Reports:
Jakarta, August 28: The Batam administration will allow nightspots to open during Ramadan despite a request from the Indonesian Ulema Council that they be closed for the fasting month. And although the councillors will require nightspots close on the first day of Ramadan, the 17th day or Nuzulul Qur'an, the eve, and on the days of Idul Fitri, most will have to close for only four days this year compared with 17 days last year.
The Jakarta Post quotes Batam Mayor Ahmad Dahlan told that his office would strictly supervise nightspots during Ramadan so as to prevent 'immoral acts'.
“Massage and karaoke parlours and bars offering live music will be allowed to open within the hours we have determined and activities must conform to the guidelines, especially no immoral acts,” he said.
“Public order officers will be at hand to supervise implementation.”
Indonesian Ulema Council Riau Islands chapter chairman Azhari Abbas said the decision was inadequate.
“The number of closed days is far lower than in previous years. We had hoped that this year the municipality would close them for the whole of Ramadan,” he said.
The chairman said the decision was a bid to gain support, especially from business people and workers.
Ramadan will start early next month.
The Southeast Asian Times

Indonesian military studies human rights
From News Reports:
Jakarta, August 25: The Constitutional Court has helped organise a three-day programme for about 200 middle-to-high-ranking officers to help the military, or TNI , shed its image as a violent and abusive institution.
The Jakarta Post quotes TNI chief General Djoko Santoso as saying.
Understanding of the Constitution, law and human rights was crucial in establishing a professional military institution within a democratic country.
“Success in a military operation is no longer determined merely by military and technical factors, but also by upholding the law and human rights in the process of achieving the objectives,” he said when the programme began last Friday.
Not a single Indonesian military officer has been convicted for the numerous known abuses by their troops throughout the archipelago.
Constitutional Court chief judge Mohammed Mahfud told the officers that he hoped their studies would raise their awareness of the military's position within the Constitution that now embodies the principle of human rights..
“The TNI can now understand violating human rights principles means violating the Constitution,” the judge said.
The Southeast Asian Times

Gary Glitter arrives in London
From News Reports:
London, August 23: Paul Francis Gadd, aka Gary Glitter, 64, asked for round-the-clock protection after he arrived at London’s Heathrow Airport about 7am yesterday but failed to appear at the Uxbridge Magistrates Court to sign the British register for sexual offenders.
In response, District judge David Simpson said the disgraced rock star had “demonstrated his desire to avoid the jurisdiction of this court” and ordered that he sign on as a sex offender within three days.
But Glitter’s lawyer David Corker said that the singer rejected his conviction in Viet Nam of committing obscene acts with two girls then aged 11 and 12 at the southern resort of Vung Tau as a “charade” and he was likely to appeal against his inclusion on the register.
Glitter paid US$2,000 in compensation to the family of each victim before his conviction and evaded the capital charge of child rape.
He maintained his innocence throughout his trial.
His lawyer said the singer needed the extra time to prepare his argue and ensure adequate protection for his arrival in Britain where he fears he could be murdered.
The lawyer also said that Glitter was “not a well man” who could be suffering from tuberculosis.
Inclusion on the register is for life and will restriction the movement of the much-travelled singer.
The singer, who was deported from Viet Nam after he was freed from jail last Tuesday, was refused entry to both Thailand and Hong Kong so that he had no option but to return to Britain.
Glitter was convicted of downloading child pornography in 1999 and served two months of a four-month sentence before travelling to Spain and Cuba before Southeast Asia.
Britain’s Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said during the week that he did not want him to be able to travel abroad again.
The Southeast Asian Times

Garry Glitter refused entry to Hong Kong
From News Reports:
Bangkok, August 22: Gary Glitter has returned to Thailand yesterday after he was refused entry to Hong Kong.
Travelling as Paul Gadd, the 64-year-old has been barred from entering Thailand after travelling there from Viet Nam where he served almost three years in jail after he was found guilt of committing obscene acts with two girls then aged 11 and 12 in the resort of Vung Tau.
The once glam rocker denied the charge.
A Thai Foreign Office spokesman said: “We have been informed by the Hong Kong authorities that Mr Gadd was denied entry to Hong Kong and has returned to Bangkok.”
Glitter spent more than 20 hours in the transit lounge at Bangkok airport on Wednesday following his release from prison on Tuesday.
He had refused to join an onward flight to London.
As the Thai Foreign Ministry tried to find a way of dealing with Gary Glitter, about 2,000 protesters rallied outside its Bangkok headquarters demanding that it revoke the diplomatic passport of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and work to extradite him from Britain.
The demonstration was led by the People's Alliance for Democracy which organised a bigger protest Tuesday at the British Embassy, calling for the British government to return Thaksin to Thailand so that he and his wife, Pojaman, can stand trial.
The former prime minister and his wife fled to Britain rather than face the charges against them before the Supreme Court, which has issued warrants for their arrest. Thaksin explained his decision to flee in an open letter saying that he could not expect a fair trial in Thailand.
31 sentenced her to three years in jail.
She was released on bail pending an appeal and allowed to fly with her husband to China to attend the opening of the Olympic Games.
The Southeast Asian Times

Gary Glitter aboard the aircraft that carried him from HCMCity to Bangkok

Gary Glitter
to go home
From News Reports:
Ha Noi, August 19: Gary Glitter is scheduled to be freed today from his Viet Nam prison where he has spent almost three years for child sexual molestation.
The disgraced 1970s pop star, once famed for his flamboyant bouffant wigs and silver jumpsuits, faces immediate deportation to Britain, Agence France Presse quotes his lawyer Le Thanh Kinh as saying.
“I paid for the ticket for him,” the lawyer said. “He's a British citizen. (Viet Nam) wants him to go back to the UK."
Glitter, 64, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, was arrested in Viet Nam in November 2005 and convicted the following March of committing obscene acts with two girls then aged 11 and 12 in the resort town of Vung Tau.
He paid US$2,000 in compensation to the family of each victim and evaded the capital charge of child rape.
Instead, he was sentenced to three years in jail, the minimum allowed by Viet Nam law, was reduced by three months for the traditional Tet Lunar New Year in 2007.
The pop star has sold more then 20 million records.
Glitter maintained his innocence throughout his trial.
The Southeast Asian Times

Banned Singapore film to be shown in Malaysia
From News Reports:
Monday, August 18: The documentary One Nation Under Lee will be screened in Kuala Lumpur, Johor Baru, Penang as well as Sarawak next month as part of the Freedom Film Festival that is organised each year in Malaysia.
Singapore’s Media Development Authority representatives seized the 45-minute film at a private screening of the Peninsula-Excelsior Hotel during May.
They said the CD of the film was seized in accordance with the republic’s Film Act.
The act makes it is an offence “to possess or to exhibit or distribute any film without a valid certificate.
The film argues that the city-state’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew had first championed democracy and then used it to consolidate his power by crushing his opponents and the media.
The Southeast Asian Times

Presidential children seek election
From News Reports:
Jakarta, August 17: The youngest son of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Edi Baskoro – more popularly known as Ibas – and Puan Maharani, the youngest daughter of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, are seeking election to parliament.
Edi tops the list of minor Democratic Party candidates for Jakarta’s second electoral district and Puan tops the list of major Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, candidates for central Java’s electoral district one.
Presidential spokesman and Democratic Party executive director Andi Mallarangeng, says of the president’s 28-year-old son who studied management in Australia: “He is low-profile, humble and intelligent. Like the proverb goes, ‘The apple never falls very far from the tree.’ With him, we can discuss many things. The party needs a figure like him.”
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle’s Ganjar Pranowo – described by The Jakarta Post as a rising star – says of Puan, 35: “Ever since I've known her, she has been beside her mother in facing big moments. I think she has what it takes to become a good politician. Besides, she's a University of Indonesia graduate.”
But pollster Indo Barometer executive director Muhammad Qodari argues the quick rise of the privileged children confirms Indonesia’s prevailing political dynasty. “Political dynasties should take an example from business dynasties,” the newspaper quotes him as saying. “Tycoons usually prepare their children from the bottom to give them time to learn everything.”
“To eliminate cynicism, they should neither top their party list nor contest in their strongholds. They should instead serve as vote getters to help their parties win legislative seats in districts where the Democratic Party and the PDI-P are not the favourites,” he said.
Both candidates have been placed in party strongholds.
The Democratic Party is Jakarta’s second largest and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle is the most popular political party in central Java.
The Southeast Asian Times

Historian doubts “hero’s” story
From News Reports:
Jakarta, August 15: Diponegoro University historian Djuliati Suroyo doubts that 88-year-old Andaryoko Wisnuprabu is the famed Supriyadi who disappeared after the famed uprising against the Japanese occupation in Blitar, east Java, in February 1945.
“There was also another man who earlier claimed to be Supriyadi, but he was proved a fake,” the historian told The Jakarta Post in Semarang.
Andaryoko's claim to be the real Supriyadi must be supported by strong proof and testimonies and be thoroughly scrutinized historically.
University of Indonesia historian Nugroho Notosusanto had researched Supriyadi’s disappearance through the examination of archives in Japan.
The research showed that Supriyadi and his comrades were caught during rebellion; some were tried in Jakarta, and one of them, Muradi, was sentenced to death.
Supriyadi might well have been beaten to death by Japan’s secret police.
See story below.
The Southeast Asian Times

Missing hero
re-appears
From News Reports:
Jakarta, August 14: An 88-year-old man claims to be national hero Supriyadi who disappeared after an uprising against the occupying Japanese at Blitar, central Java, in February 1945.
Andaryoko Wisnuprabu reveals his alleged identity as Supriyadi in historian Baskara T Wardaya’s book Mencari Supriyadi, or In Search of Supriyadi, published last Saturday.
“I am old now and I want to reveal to the public that I am actually Supriyadi,” Andaryoko later told The Jakarta Post at his house in Semarang.
Supriyadi led about 200 members of the Japanese-sponsored militia, Pembela Tanah Air, or Defenders of the Fatherland, in a revolt against Japanese troops in Blitar, East Java, on February 14, 1945.
He was appointed Peoples Defence Minister in Indonesia’s first cabinet on October 6,
The author of Mencari Supriyadi, who was Fulbright scholar 2004-2005, said many people have claimed to be Supriyadi before, but Andaryoko had a different approach. His accounts were not steeped in mysticism, were not self-centred and are not parochial.
“He is not a mythical man like those who previously claimed to be Supriyadi, he does not want to be adored or designated as leader, and he has knowledge of national politics.”
Former President Soeharto declared the missing Supriyadi a National Hero on August 9, 1975.
The Japanese executed six or eight people after the rebellion but it was thought Supriyadi may have been killed without trial to avoid public anger.
The Southeast Asian Times

PAS wants Canadian “rocker” banned
From News Reports:
Petaling Jaya, August 13: The youth wing of the federal chapter of PAS, or the Malaysian Islamic Party, is attempting to ban a proposed concert by Canadian “rocker” Avril Lavigne planned for Friday, August 29.
But Women's Aid Organisation executive director Ivy Josiah argues the issue is not that of decency but of freedom of expression.
“Decency is very relative,” she said.
“This is the issue of the rights to freedom of expression and for people, especially the youths, to choose what they want to see and hear.
“The society's morality and values are not shaped by concerts and music.”
PAS Youth chief Kamaruzaman Mohammed asked Kuala Lumpur Mayor Hakim Borhan and the Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry calling for a ban on the concert on Saturday.
PAS says the show should be banned because “rock and punk is not suitable for the young generation and especially so during Merdeka month.”
Sisters In Islam programme manager Norhayati Kaprawi said: “PAS has said many times that it would never infringe on the rights of non-Muslims but in reality, it is in fact denying non-Muslims their rights.
.“Is this call limited only to Muslims or to everyone?
Since PAS is a component part of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition what are the PKR and DAP's position on this (banning of concerts)?” she asked.
“It seems like PAS is making all the decisions. Is this within the Pakatan's manifesto?”
In July, the city’s administrators cancelled Dangdut queen Inul Daratista's concert because of “security reasons” after the Youth Council of the Malaysian Islamic Party announced they would oppose the planned concert.
The party's youth council’s decision to oppose the concert followed the banning of a concert by the 29-year-old singer in Johor Bahru.
The Southeast Asian Times

Cyprian inspects tsunami preparedness
Phuket, August 9: Dr Marios Matsakis, 52, who represents the Cyprian Democratic Party in the European Parliament, has met with senior Thai officials to gauge the island’s progress in the introduction of disaster-prevention measures since the 2004 tsunami.
Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit and Disaster Mitigation and Prevention chief Chotnarin Kerdsom chief briefed the Cambridge-University graduate and forensic specialist.
Dr Matsakis, who is also a member of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee, said, “Cyprus was one of the first countries to send a team of doctors to Phuket after the tsunami and so I wanted to see the area that my home country has supported.
“We are very much interested in finding out how the relief work and development has been going since the tsunami.
“Our community wants to make sure that there is an adequate system in place to prevent another catastrophe from happening,” he said.
The Southeast Asian Times

Abu Bakar Ba'asyir resigns from militant council

Wanted: Lawyers to defend protesters
Singapore, August 7: Eighteen Singaporeans who will go before a subordinate court judge on Monday, August 18 for protesting the republic’s escalating cost of living outside parliament house last March are appealing for help from lawyers.
The appeal on the Singapore Democratic Party’s website says: “We appeal to you not for our own sakes, but for the sake of our nation. Please contact us at speakup@yoursdp.org
The pre-trail hearing is a prelude to a trial where the 18 will be charged with having participated in an assembly and a procession without a permit.
The 18 say a permit to hold the protest was refused although the Consumer Association of Singapore had held a similar rally for World Consumers' Rights Day the year before.
The accused say they have sent hundreds of emails to law firms asking for legal representation.
Only a handful replied and of those who did many said that they were not criminal lawyers or that they were too busy and could not afford the time.
Others said they did not want to challenge the Peoples Action Party government.
The Southeast Asian Times

Dr Mahathir wants Tony Blair banned from Malaysia