2 theSun | THURSDAY APRIL 23 2009

news without borders Interact with the PM

on his website:
www.1malaysia.com.my

» The use of public facilities like town

Najib’s right to
decide: Mahathir
CYBERJAYA: Former prime minister Tun Dr Ma-
hathir Mohamad said yesterday Prime Minister
‘Heavy police presence in halls and government vehicles for
campaigning and the alleged mobi-
lisation of National Service trainees
during the nomination in Batang Ai
by-election;
» Inconvenient election timeline as the

Datuk Seri Najib Razak had the right to make
decisions and he did not interfere in the govern-
ment administration.
He also said he was not being consulted
on any issue and the government was free to
decide on anything.
“I’m not a consultant on every issue. In fact,
I’m not being consulted. The only way I can sug-
gest my idea is to answer questions from the
press and to write in my blog,” he told report-
ers after delivering a speech on “The MSC and
Leadership in the Information Age” at the MSC
Malaysia Leadership Talk Series.
“If you ask me a question, I have to answer
and maybe my answer is not the same as what
the prime minister has in mind. But it doesn’t
mean that I’m opposed to him. He has the right
to decide.”
He said it was quite obvious that Najib did
not depend on him, especially in appointing
ministers and deputy ministers, a few of whom
Mahathir thought were undeserving.
Mahathir said he was free to give his opin-
ions but the government did not consult him
on any issue.
“If they consult me, of course I tell them why
I make the suggestions. They don’t consult me
but I have the right to talk,” he said.
He also denied that he would be leading the
campaign in Penanti and had only said Barisan
Nasional should contest in the by-election.
“That’s all. I didn’t say I offered myself to lead
the campaign, the papers said so,” he said.
On the high cost being among the reasons
why BN might not be contesting in the Penanti
by-election, he said it was a valid reason but it
depended on the party.
Asked about the increasing interest among
Johor folk over the replacement bridge, he said if
the bridge was built, the Iskandar project would
really take off. – Bernama
by-elections unjustified’
by Giam Say Khoon
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: The
heavy police presence during
the three by-elections in Bukit
Gantang, Bukit Selambau and
Batang Ai was unjustified, elec-
tion watchdog Malaysians for
Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel)
said yesterday.
In a preliminary report on
the three by-elections held on
April 7, Mafrel chairman Syed
Ibrahim Syed Noh said their
observers noted that the people
were wary about the unjustified
mobilisation of policemen.
He cited a newspaper report
which put the police expenditure
for the three by-elections at a total
of RM17 million – 10 times higher
than the Election Commission’s
expenditure of RM600,000 a by-
election.
Mafrel northern coordinator
Ong Boon Keong noted that the
police presence has grown since
the Kuala Terengganu by-election
in January.
He said if the police are worried about
clashes between supporters of rival camps, the
nomination process could be extended from a
day to a week as done in many countries. This
way, the candidates may
file their nominations any
time and a police presence
will not be necessary.
Ong noted that Ma-
laysia is one of the few
countries where active
campaigning is held even
on polling day.
He said if political
parties follow the law of
campaign moratorium
on polling day, support-
ers will not create
tension outside polling
centres and, again, no
heavy police presence
would be needed.
“The campaign
moratorium has never
been enforced (by the
EC). Do not think that
voters will just change
their mind on polling
day with supporters
actively campaigning
outside the polling
centres? They are in-
telligent enough to make their choice,”
Sedition he said.
Syed Ibrahim also noted:
charge » Electoral flaws, in which an outdat-
flawed, ed electoral roll was used and posted
says challenges in tracing the voters;
Karpal » Abuse of public expenditure for cam-
paigning as “instant noodle projects”
pg 4 continued to be seen although Prime
Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak
had vowed to stop them.
polling day for the by-elections fell on
a working day and the voters’ conven-
ience must be taken as the paramount
consideration when deciding nomina-
tion and polling date; and
» Limited freedom of campaign and
peaceful assembly as there had been
police restriction against “open-air
ceramah” in Bukit Selambau, and
harsh enforcement used to disperse
ceramah, that failed to obtain police
permit as well as restriction on touch-
ing certain issues in Bukit Gantang.
He said Mafrel recommended
that:
» EC revamps the electoral roll or im-
plement automatic registration based
on National Registration Department
records;
» Polling should be held on a holiday
so more can vote.
» Instant projects or allocations by
the government made to give certain
candidates an advantage must stop as
it is tantamount to abuse of power by
the office-holders;
» Police should respect the citizens’
rights to peaceful assemblies as called
by the Malaysian Human Rights Com-
mission (Suhakam); and
» EC enforces the campaign ex-
penses limit which stipulates that a
candidate shall not spend more than
RM200,000 for a parliamentary seat
and RM100,000 for a state seat during
the campaigning period.
On the controversy over “unnec-
essary by-elections” and the link to
costs, Syed Ibrahim said a by-election
is a democratic process and the people
should have the right to vote.
He said the cost of holding a by-
election will be high only if “we are
putting excessive cost for the police,
EC and the political parties, therefore
the limit must be enforced”.

State withdraws appeal

in orang asli land case
by Maria J. Dass
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
SHAH ALAM: Selangor has
decided to withdraw its ap-
peal to the Federal Court with
respect to the Sagong Tasi
case, involving the acquisi-
tion of 15ha of the Temuan
tribe’s customary land in
Bukit Tampoi, Dengkil in
1995.
Mentri Besar Tan Sri
Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said
the state legal adviser will in-
form the Federal Court of the
state’s intention to withdraw
from the case today.
“The state will also take
into account the concerns
raised in the Court of Appeal
judgment in respect of the
gazette of orang asli land
and has formed an orang asli
land task force to address
land-related issues,” he said
after a state executive council
meeting yesterday.
At the press conference,
after a long absence, was
state executive councillor for
environment, tourism and
consumer affairs Elizabeth
Wong, who has been well
acquainted with issues in-
volving the orang asli.
She said the matter has
been in court for the past 13
years and last year, during
the court proceedings, the
state decided the orang asli
deserved compensation.
“We decided we want to
withdraw because this issue
should be solved administra-
tively. We don’t want to go
to court and be antagonistic
towards an already margin-
alised group,” she said.
There are about 14,000
orang asli left in Selangor,
the majority of whom are
Temuan and the rest from
the Mahmeri tribe.
Wong said the task force,
which met last Thursday, set
parameters and decided that
the orang asli cannot get all
they want, but the state wants
to be as fair as possible.
The task force is made
up of experts on indigenous
people, assemblymen who
have orang asli in their con-
stituencies, and those with
experience in this field, in-
cluding former Federal Ter-
ritory Gerakan chief Datuk
Tan Kee Kwong and former
co-chairman of the land task
force in Selangor Datuk Dr
Nik Mohd Zain.
Wong said the aim of the
task force is to resolve the is-
sues affecting the orang asli
within three months.
Abdul Khalid said the
Pakatan Rakyat (PR) govern-
ment hopes to work with the
indigenous communities in
the state.
“The state believes in pro-
tecting their rights and will
continue to treat them with
the respect they deserve,
which should have been
accorded to them from the
beginning,” he said.
Orang asli Sagong Tasi
and six others are the re-
spondents in the case involv-
ing their customary rights
over the 15.32ha plot.
On Sept 19, 2005, the
Court of Appeal upheld the
Shah Alam High Court’s de-
cision to declare Sagong Tasi
and the six others customary
owners of the land.
The Court of Appeal
affirmed the High Court’s
decision that the orang asli
of the Temuan tribe owned
the land under a customary
community title of a perma-
nent nature and ordered that
the orang asli be paid the
market value as prescribed
under the Land Acquisition
Act 1960.
The court ruled it was
wrong for the Selangor gov-
ernment to pay compensation
for the loss of livelihood and
damage to property when the
land was taken to construct
the Kuala Lumpur-Nilai
Highway.
When the defendants ap-
pealed to the Court of Appeal,
it further ordered United
Engineers (M) Bhd and the
Malaysian Highway Author-
ity (MHA) to pay damages to
the orang asli for trespassing
on the land.
On Nov 21, 2006, the
federal and Selangor govern-
ments, UEM and the MHA
were allowed their applica-
tions for leave to appeal to
the apex court.