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news without borders
Press Digest
by Kong See Hoh
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
Hua Zong makes
11-point appeal
over Budget 2010
HUA ZONG (Federation of Chinese Associa-
tions of Malaysia) has given the thumbs-up
to five proposals contained in Budget 2010
but wants the government to look at several
other measures, the Chinese press reported
yesterday.
At a press conference in Kuala Lumpur on
Monday, Hua Zong president Tan Sri Pheng
Yin Huah said the federation supported the
proposal to create a conducive environment
for investment; build 80 more schools of vari-
ous streams; award based on merit, 30 na-
tional scholarships for top students; increase
the personal income tax relief by RM1,000;
and modernise the farming industry.
However, he said that there were several
other areas that need attention, and as such,
the federation is making an 11-point appeal
to the government regarding the budget, as
well as asking for tax exemptions on profits
from funds raised by Chinese organisations
and gains from the disposal of real property
that has been held for more than five years.
Pheng said as all Chinese associations are
non-profit-oriented, the government should
consider tax exemptions on funds raised for
welfare and association activities.
He said Hua Zong will submit a memoran-
dum on its response to the national budget,
which would detail the federation’s support
for five proposals and 11 requests.
Among the appeals, Hua Zong wants
the government to put a stop to all talk of a
single-stream schools , build more Chinese
primary schools based on need and approve
the setting up private Chinese schools in ar-
eas where they are needed such as Pahang.
Govt mulls special unit
to address maid abuse
KUALA LUMPUR: The Home Ministry is con-
sidering setting up a special unit by pooling the
resources of several ministries to find the best
way to address cases of maid abuse in the country,
the minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein,
said yesterday.
The matter would be raised at the cabinet
meeting, he told reporters at the Parliament lobby
when asked how the government would go about
tackling the cases of maid abuse following the
death of Indonesian maid Mantik Hani.
Mantik, 36, from Surabaya, was allegedly
abused and found locked up in the toilet of a
house in Taman Sentosa, Klang, and died in the
intensive care unit of Tengku Ampuan Rahimah
Hospital in Klang at about 10am on Monday.
She was found in a bathroom with a broken
back, broken right wrist, and bruises on her face
when the police raided her employer’s home on
Oct 20. According to Bernama, Hishammuddin
said the government would not compromise on
the question of safety of the people, regardless of
nationality.
He said Deputy Inspector-General of Police
Tan Sri Ismail Omar, who heads the probe into
the case, had told him that the investigation
papers were being readied for submission to the
Attorney-General’s Chambers.
“I hope the case will be brought to court as
soon as possible because, in the context of bilat-
eral relations with Indonesia, it is in the people’s
interest to see that the case is brought to court
and judgement served immediately,” Hisham-
muddin said.
Alyaa Alhadjri reports: Police CID di-
rector Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin
said in a statement Mantik’s employers – a
35-year-old man and his wife – have been
arrested and are under investigation.
“We are conscious of the fact that this case
has to be conducted expeditiously and that all
parties have confidence in the way in which
it is handled,” he said.
He advised all parties to remain calm to
allow police to complete the investigation in
accordance with the law.
Meanwhile, an Indonesian association for
migrant workers sovereignty has called for
maid agencies that shortchange employers
and maids through profiteering practices to
be disbanded to ease tensions between the
two countries.
Migrant Care Malaysia country director
Alex Ong, in a statement yesterday, said
Commission and tribunal to
hear Iraq war crimes
by Meena L. Ramadas.
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: A commission and tribunal will
convene on Friday and Saturday to hear the testi-
monies of two Guantanamo Bay detainees in an
effort to bring Iraq war perpetrators to justice.
They will hear the experiences of a Sudanese
reporter and a Briton who were detained without
trial in Guantanamo Bay.
The commission and tribunal will be held at
Putra World Trade Centre.
War Criminal Conference and Exhibition
keynote speaker and former prime minister Tun
Dr Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday the com-
mission will also deliberate on the affidavits of
other Iraq war victims that have been submitted
to the commission.
“International institutions and the courts
established by the United Nations charter have
done nothing in dealing with war crimes,” he
told reporters. “Even the powerful nations like
the United States and the United Kingdom have
done nothing.”
Mahathir said the commission will seek a de-
tailed account of the experiences and will adjourn
to consider the evidence.
Once it reaches a consensus that there are
cases to be heard by the tribunal, the plaintiffs will
elucidate their experiences again to the tribunal.
The tribunal will decide on the same day
whether certain individuals should be charged
with the crimes.
“Having decided that, we have to give two
months for the people to be informed and after
Stoning law in Aceh to be reviewed
BANDA ACEH: An Islamic law authorising the
stoning to death of adulterers and the whip-
ping of homosexuals in Aceh province will be
reviewed, officials said.
The law enacted by the former Aceh Legisla-
tive Council on Sept 14 would be reconsidered
by the newly-elected council and has not been
signed into effect by the governor of the con-
servative province.
Human rights activists and officials in Jakarta
have expressed concern that lawmakers in Aceh
are out of step with the rest of the mainly moder-
ate Muslim country, and have asked for the law
to be withdrawn.
“The governor has refused to sign the by-law
because of the stoning (provision), which is iden-
tical to a death sentence,” said Aceh government
spokesman Abdul Hamid Zein.
“From the beginning the Acehnese govern-
ment hasn’t agreed with the stoning law. We
hope the parliament will discuss the law again.”
The new regulations – which allow punish-
ments of up to 400 lashes for child rape, 100 lashes
for homosexual acts and 60 lashes for gambling
– were unanimously passed by lawmakers in the
final weeks of the outgoing parliament.
theSun | WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 28 2009
Legislate
laws
quickly
to protect
maids
pg 13
Malaysian employers are currently paying
RM8,000 (equivalent to 16 months maid’s sal-
ary) in agency fees to obtain a maid, while the
hiring costs stand at not more than RM2,200
per maid.
“To compensate for the high cost, maids
are subjected to a forced deduction of their
salary; up to 100% deduction for seven
months,” he said.
Ong said that many maids have to work
more than 15 hours a day and they deserve
the right to their salary without deductions.
“In the spirit of Asean, both governments
should agree that domestic workers are given
the rights to hold their passport, having a day
off, and be paid a fair rate according to their
skill qualifications,” said Ong, referring to the
ongoing dialogue between the Indonesian
and Malaysian governments over the treat-
ment of maids.
the minimum two-month period, the tribunal will
decide when the trial will be held,” Mahathir said.
He said Malaysian lawyers will represent the
prosecution in the tribunal.
The members of the commission and tribunal
are international and local personalities but he did
not name them.
Asked the laws that will be used to prosecute
those found to commit war crimes, he said the
tribunal will utilise international laws such as
those practised by the United Nations.
“We are going to use the same law to point
out to them that if you will not use the law against
these criminals, then we are going to do it,” he
said.
Although the tribunal cannot arrest and im-
prison the individuals as they would be tried in
absentia, Mahathir said there are other ways to
enforce the sentence.
“We can campaign against these people to not
be accepted in any society or country,” he said.
“Beyond this, we want to encourage demo-
cratic countries to try and ensure that candidates
for the legislative council will be those that are
anti-war supporters.”
The commission and the tribunal are an
extension of the War Criminal Conference and
Exhibition, organised by the Perdana Global Peace
organisation and Kuala Lumpur Foundation to
Criminalise War.
The conference and exhibition, which will be
held from today to Saturday at Dewan Merdeka,
PWTC, are to create awareness among the public
that war is a crime.
Entry to the exhibition is free.
They are supposed to replace elements of
Indonesia’s secular criminal code, causing um-
brage in Jakarta which wants to portray Indonesia
as a developing, modernising democracy with a
moderate Muslim majority.
Earlier this month the Acehnese government
publicly disowned Miss Indonesia beauty pageant
winner Qori Sandioriva, 18, because she did not
wear an Islamic veil during the contest.
Acehnese Governor Irwandi Yusuf has stated
his opposition to the draconian measures, putting
him at odds with hardline religious leaders.
Provincial parliament speaker Hasbi Abdullah
said the parliament which was inaugurated on
Sept 30 was “generally” opposed to the stoning
law and its revision would be a priority for the
new lawmakers.
Yusuf’s Aceh Party controls 33 of the new
parliament’s 69 seats.
But Moharriadi Syafari, from the influential Pros-
perous Justice Party, said the law had automatically
come into force in the middle of Oct, or 30 days
after it was approved by the outgoing parliament.
“The by-law comes into effect 30 days after
it’s been approved even if the governor has
refused to sign it. “ – AFP