Hisham: Suhakam’s statement on ISA-13 is irresponsible

KLUANG-The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia's (Suhakam) call to release the 13 individuals detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA), has been criticised by Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein as being completely irresponsible.
Hishammuddin asserted that Suhakam should not have made the statement without first checking on facts or background of those detained in Tawau, Sabah on Monday.
"Making a statement without background information and facts and wanting to release these dangerous individuals was completely irresponsible of Suhakam," he said after meeting settlers in Felda Bukit Tongkat here, Saturday.

Muhyiddin: BN not depending on Sabah and Sarawak to win

LABUAN-The Barisan Nasional is not depending solely on the two states of Sabah and Sarawak to win in the next general election, but on the other states in Peninsular Malaysia as well.
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said although the two states as well as Labuan had been described as fixed deposits for the Barisan, the coalition should be able to win back the other states that had fallen to the opposition in the last election.
"We should be able to wrestle back the other states which are now being ruled by the opposition in the next election," he said.
Muhyiddin said equal focus and attention were given to all the states including those ruled by the opposition as according to him, the Barisan government always adopted a fair attitude.

Umno slams S’gor MB for not taking part in GE before June 2012

PUTRAJAYA- Umno has lashed out at Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim for refusing to participate in the upcoming general election if it is called before June next year.
Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said holding elections separately would not just trouble the voters but also costly.
“Selangor voters residing outside the state would have to return twice to cast their votes and that will incur some costs.
“This is not to mention the cost to hold a series of elections,” he told newsmen here on Saturday.
Khalid had on Thursday cited the just approved state budget for next year as the reason for the possibility of not participating in the election if it was called before June.
“We do not want to shortchange the people,” he said after closing the state assembly sitting.
Mohd Shafie also said the refusal indicated that the Parti Keadilan Rakyat-led Selangor government was not confident in retaining the state.
“They are not confident of getting the support from the people and I think that is the reason for it,” he said.

--TheStrar

Now, Khairy says let police probe NFC

KUALA LUMPUR — Khairy Jamaluddin refused to rebut today opposition claims of graft surrounding the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) project after staunchly defending the public-funded cattle-farming project for weeks.
The Umno Youth chief said instead that police should investigate the controversial project owned and run by minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s family.
“The police have to finish their investigation.
“After that I suppose we’ll get a better indication whether or not there’s any credibility to the allegation,” Khairy (picture) told reporters at the Twitter-initiated 3on3 basketball tournament at Berjaya Times Square here.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar had said yesterday that NFC was being investigated for cheating or criminal breach of trust over its purchase of two luxury condominium units here using government funds.

PAC to probe NFC next week, but don't hold your breath

KUALA LUMPUR — Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will conduct an internal hearing on the controversial National Feedlot Project (NFC) next week after weeks of graft allegations against the public-funded RM250 million cattle-farming project.
Opposition lawmakers have demanded explanations from the government and a disclosure of all Cabinet meeting minutes from 2006 onwards to determine if minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil was directly involved in the decision to award the NFC project to her family.

Revamping the Malay Mail and MSM: A waste of time unless the press is freed

Many critics attribute the grave misfortune that has befallen the New Straits Times Group of Publications in the marketplace, in the last two decades, to its pro-government, pro-Umno, editorial stance since independence for Malaya in 1957.
Underlining such uncharitable takes would be the announcement on Tues 15, Nov 2011 that the century-old Malay Mail, ex-Nst stable, finally breathed its last on that day. It appears to have been all of a sudden although many will pooh pooh all this. They will remind us gleefully that the writing has been on the wall for quite some time now. Anyway, the universal reaction to MM’s shutdown has been “good riddance to bad rubbish!”
Not so soon.

Money, money, money: It's an Umno crony's world

The Auditor-General has done a very good job in producing the audit report showing clear and indisputable findings on how our money has been spent and wasted by the UMNO-BN government and its machineries in 2010.
Recently the UMNO-BN federal government informed us that it has to borrow more money for expenses in 2012 of RM45.9 billion, about 4.7% of GDP as tabled in Parliament.
While economists have been trying to find ways to boost the economy, reduce spending and reduce borrowing; more or less to achieve a balanced budget, those who have connection to those in power have other plans. They are in fact cohorts in trying to divert the proposed expenditure and siphon the money out for themselves.