6 theSun | THURSDAY FEBRUARY 26 2009

news without borders

MCA may reopen sex

DVD case against Chua MACC quizzes
Sivakumar
THE MCA disciplinary board may reopen
the sex DVD case involving deputy presi- But because
dent Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek if it re- Press Digest the party
ceives fresh complaints from members. by Kong See Hoh
China Press reported yesterday that last newsdesk@thesundaily.com
was busy
year the board had received complaints making
that the sex DVD incident had marred the Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, party members preparations

for three hours

party’s image. aligned with Ong are said to be planning to for the
“But because the party was busy mak- shut Chua up with requests to the central general
ing preparations for the general election committee or the presidential council to
that followed not long after the DVD sur- reopen the sex DVD case. election that
faced, the board put the case aside,” the Interestingly, the Chua Soi Lek sex DVD followed not
daily quoted a party source as saying. resurfaced lately, a year after it came to long after
The party’s morale took a dive after light in Johor, and police have started an the DVD
suffering a major setback in the elections. investigation following a report made in
Subsequently, the party’s top two leaders Petaling Jaya by a hawker that the lewd
surfaced,
decided not to seek re-election to their DVD was dropped into his mailbox. the board
posts and the sex scandal was eventually The board’s deputy chief, Datuk Jimmy put the case
buried. Low Boon Hong, kept mum when asked if aside.”
But the source said if there are fresh it is taking up the sex DVD case again.
complaints about the sex DVD or requests However, he said, the new team at the
for an inquiry into the incident, the board board can reopen cases left aside by its
has the right to reopen the case. predecessor.
Following a news portal report that He said the party constitution allows
Chua’s supporters are plotting to call for for action to be taken against members
an extraordinary meeting to move a vote found guilty of criminal offences, including
of no-confidence against party president expelling them.
Ong seeks to weed out phantom members
MCA will launch a major exercise next month to The 60-year-old second largest component in
cleanse itself of “phantom” members. the Barisan Nasional coalition once claimed to have
According to a report in Sin Chew Daily yester- more than a million members but the problem of
day, the party will also adopt direction elections for phantom and dormant members has been plaguing
the party president and state liaison chiefs in two the party in recent years. A re-registration exercise
years. will show the true membership figure which could
The report said as part of the exercise, the party be lower than 500,000.
will re-register all members. The trimmed-down party may also end up with
It is learnt that the leadership under Datuk fewer branches and fewer number of central del-
Seri Ong Tee Keat is determined to cleanse the egates.
party although it could mean having its membership It is also learnt that as part of the cleanse, trim
strength halved as this is the only way to remove the and repackaging drive to improve its image, the party
names of phantom members, and those who have will also take disciplinary action against recalcitrant
died or left the party, from the membership list. leaders or suspend problem divisions.
by Humnyun Kabir
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
IPOH: Perak state assembly Speaker V. Siva-
kumar was questioned for three hours by two
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)
officers from Putrajaya in relation to reports
lodged against him for alleged abuse of power.
The questioning took place at the official
residence of the mentri besar here from about
6.20pm.
“A very dangerous precedent has been set
by the authorities in challenging the immunity
powers of the Speaker as the rights of a Speaker
have not been respected by the authorities,”
Sivakumar told a press conference after the
questioning.
He said he gave his full cooperation to the
MACC officers yesterday, like he did when he
was quizzed by three state commercial police
officers on Monday over reports lodged against
him for recent political and constitutional devel-
opments in the state.
“I acted very professionally during both the
questioning sessions although they should not do
this (to me) in the first place as the Speaker has
immunity powers against civil and criminal pro-
ceedings for anything said or done,” he added.
It is believed that the reports were related to
Sivakumar’s suspension of Mentri Besar Datuk
Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir and his six state exco
members from the for 18 months and 12 months
respectively for contempt of the House.
Last Wednesday, Perak state assembly’s
rights and privileges committee chaired by
Sivakumar handed down the suspensions,
throwing the state deeper into a constitutional
and political crisis.
Many constitutional lawyers have given their
opinions on whether Sivakumar has the powers
to do what he did, and Zambry has set up a
legal team to advise him on his next course of
action.
The only thing clear is that Sivakumar has
to convene the state assembly to endorse the
decision as the assembly was not in session
when the committee met.
He had written to the Sultan of Perak last
week for consent to convene a special sitting
and he is waiting for the reply from the palace.
Sivakumar has also engaged the services
of lawyers
Earlier DAP Sitiawan assemblyman Datuk
Ngeh Koo Ham had thrown a challenge to Zam-
bry and his exco members not to take salaries
during their course of rule of the state until the
High Court decides on the legality of the new
Perak state government.
The Pakatan Rakyat exco members will do
likewise, he said.
Ngeh said that only the legal state govern-
ment should draw salaries and the rakyat should
not be short-changed in paying both the BN and
PR exco teams salaries.

Notice of claim filed against Utusan Court says ‘no’ to preliminary

by Himanshu Bhatt and Bernard Cheah
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
GEORGE TOWN: A notice of claim has been filed
against Malay language daily Utusan Malaysia for its
report that the Penang state government had formed
an “Inter-Religious Consultative Council”.
The notice by Karpal Singh & Company on behalf of
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng was sent on Tuesday.
In its front page story on Tuesday headlined “DAP
hina Islam?” (DAP insults Islam?”), Utusan reported
that the setting up of the council by the state govern-
ment must be stopped as it places Islam on the
same level as other religions. The report quoted
Penang Islamic Council president Shabudin Yahaya
as saying he was uneasy about the establishment
of the inter-religious council.
The notice said the words used were untrue,
baseless and published with malicious intent, and
Lim had never established an “Inter-Religious Con-
sultative Council” as published by the paper.
It described the words used in the report as
slanderous and had caused public hatred, insults
and ridicule towards Lim. The paper was asked
to retract the words and publish a public apology
prominently on its front page. It also asked the
Utusan to pay compensation to be agreed upon.
Meanwhile, PAS Tanjung division lodged a police
report against Shabudin, saying his reported com-
ment is slanderous and has the potential to stoke
racial tensions.
objection by Anwar
KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court dismissed
yesterday a preliminary objection by Datuk
Seri Anwar Ibrahim against an appeal by the
prosecution for the sodomy case to be heard in
the High Court, saying it was “premature”.
Justice Datuk Mohd Zabidin Diah said he
agreed with the prosecution that the applica-
tion was premature. He said the High Court can
rectify, correct the findings or the order of the
subordinate courts.
Anwar’s lawyer Sulaiman Abdullah had
raised a preliminary objection in a letter dated
Jan 23. He said the prosecution should meet
the “threshold test” before the court proceeds
to hear the revision.
(The prosecution had filed a revision and an
appeal against sessions judge S. M .Komathy’s
decision against the transfer of the case.)
Sulaiman said the prosecution should show
“if and how the decision of the sessions court
has prejudiced the ‘rights of the prosecution’, in
particular, disposing of the right of the prosecu-
tion to continue its case against Anwar.
He said the prosecution should also show
“if and how the decision of the sessions court
has caused a serious failure or miscarriage of
justice amounting to an illegality” – based on a
principle that revisionary powers should only be
exercised sparingly.
He said it is important for the prosecution
which is seeking to invoke the revisionary pow-
ers of the court to show at a minimum threshold
or prima facie level that a substantial failure or
miscarriage of justice has occurred, which has
caused undeserved hardship.
Sulaiman submitted that no injustice had
been caused to the prosecution by the sessions
court’s refusal to transfer the case and no injus-
tice has been caused to the prosecution’s right
to pursue its case against Anwar.
In reply, Datuk Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden,
who is heading the prosecution, said the High
Court’s revisionary powers are wide and exten-
sive and could be invoked in any situation where
it appears desirable in the interest of justice.
He said a judge may call for and examine
the record of any proceedings before any
subordinate criminal court for the purpose of
satisfying himself as to the correctness, legality
or propriety of any finding, sentence or order
passed and as to the regularity of any proceed-
ings of the subordinate court.
Earlier, Sulaiman withdrew his application to
disqualify Mohd Yusof, saying Mohd Yusof in his
affidavit in reply had stated that he did not have
access to the investigation papers in connection
with the “black eye” incident.
The hearing continues.

Selangor govt extends Wong’s leave

SHAH ALAM: The state government has extended
assemblywoman Elizabeth Wong’s leave indefi-
nitely until police investigations are completed.
“We are also grateful to the Sultan of Selan-
gor for trusting the exco members to make any
decision of the status of Wong who was the
exco for Tourism, Consumer Affairs and Environ-
ment,” Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim
said after the state exco meeting yesterday.
“We have discussed the issue with all the
exco members and the state government
agreed that it will be better for Wong to continue
her leave until police investigations are over.
“Any decision (on Wong) will only be made
after the investigations are completed.”
On another note, Khalid who had an audi-
ence with the sultan yesterday morning at
Istana Mestika and briefed him on current
issues in the state, said His Highness had no
objection to him using his personal car for of-
ficial purposes, as long as all procedures of the
law were followed.
On the donation of cattle to his constituency
for Aidiladha, which has become the subject of
a graft report, Khalid said the sultan also had no
objection and, in fact, asked him to continue the
charitable deed.
Khalid said he will write to the Malaysian
Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Datuk
Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan on his remarks last
Friday regarding the investigation into corrup-
tion allegations against him. “I will also take legal
action against the chairman of Gerak for making
allegations against me on abuse of power.”.