Thursday, January 14, 2010
Uthayakumar Clashes With Judge Again In Sedition Trial (Bernama)
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 (Bernama) — The sedition trial of lawyer P. Uthayakumar was almost derailed Wednesday after his lawyers told the Sessions Court that they were going to make a second application to recuse her.
However, Uthayakumar decided to drop his intention and allowed his counsel to cross-examine the first prosecution witness, former deputy Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Acryl Sani, after judge Sabariah Othman reminded the lawyer that his first application for recusal was still pending at the Court of Appeal.
A heated argument between Uthayakumar and Sabariah erupted after Uthayakumar accused the judge of acting on instruction to convict and sentence him to prison.
Uthayakumar launched his attacks on Sabariah after she told him that it was not necessary to record each of his objections and she was satisfied with Acryl’s answer that he could not recall the journalist who contacted him on photographs posted on the “Police Watch Malaysia” website on Nov 25, 2007.
The photographs pertained to an illegal mass rally organised by the Hindu activist group, Hindraf, in the city.
Uthayakumar repeatedly told the judge that he would write to the Chief Justice if she continued to refuse to put his objections on record.
A visibly upset Sabariah strongly objected to Uthayakumar’s allegation that she was instructed to convict and send him to prison and asked him to apologise to the court.
“I’m not satisfied with you and I want you to take back the words,” Sabariah said.
Uthayakumar’s lead counsel, N. Surendran, had a difficult time to defuse the situation and clarified that the accusation was not against the judge.
Sabariah decided to continue with the trial and reminded Uthayakumar not to be influenced by his emotions and make wild allegations.
“Be more careful with what you are saying next time,” stressed Sabariah.
On Dec 11, 2007, Uthayakumar, 47, pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court to publishing a seditious letter on the “Police Watch Malaysia” website.
The charge under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act 1948 carries a fine not exceeding RM5,000 or imprisonment up to three years, or both, on conviction.
Two days later, Uthayakumar was detained under the Internal Security Act following his involvement in street demonstrations here on Nov 25 and alleged seditious remarks against the government.
Earlier, during examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Noorin Badaruddin, Acryl said that he directed deputy OCPD of Dang Wangi to investigate on the appearance of the photographs on the website.
Cross-examined by counsel Surendran, Acryl agreed that Hindraf and its leaders were being very critical towards the government and also very vocal on the police.
Asked whether the action taken against Uthayakumar was to silence him from taking up issues pertaining to the Indian community, Acryl disagreed and added that the investigation was more focused on the authencity of the photographs.
To another question on the police estimate of the number of people in the illegal gathering, Acryl said he could not confirm the figures because there were conflicting numbers of 5,000, 10,000 and even 50,000.
The hearing before Sabariah continues tomorrow.
– BERNAMA
P.Uthayakumar to Judge - you have instructions to convict me and are biased
KL Jalan Duta Court 13/2/10.
P.Uthayakumar’s ethnic cleansing trial continued at 2.15pm today. The learned “biased” Judge was once again hostile and repeatedly on all and about eight applications in a row rejected P.Uthayakumar’s and his lawyer’s objections. The last straw was when the Judge even refused to record down the last objection of P.Uthayakumar that the police officer ought to know the name of the person who had called him to inform him of the “ ethnic cleansing” posting (picture) in the website. P.Uthayakumar then told the Judge that the she is biased and has instructions to convict him (P.Uthayakumar) and to send him to jail. And that he (P.Uthayakumar) is not frightened of UMNO’s jail.
P.Uthayakumar then once again asked the Judge to recuse herself. He also told her that he wants to write to the Chief Justice for her recusal but how is he to effectively do it as the Judge does not even want to record the same in her minutes which the High Court, Court of Appeal, Federal Court and the Chief Justice would rely on. After the heated arguments between lawyer N.Surendran and P.Uthayakumar with the Judge, the court took a ten minute recess. Upon resumption of the trial, P.Uthayakumar did not apologize even though the Judge asked for the same.
P.Uthayakumar argued that Justice must not only be done but manifested and undoubtedly be seen to be done.
In Lenon v Metropolitan Properties, Lord Denning Master of the Rolls of the Court of Appeal in United Kingdom held that if the ordinary man in the public gallery is left with the impression that if there is a perception that the Judge is biased then the Judge ought to discharge himself or herself.
But here despite the allegation that the Judge has instructions to convict P.Uthayakumar, a lawyer of 19 years standing, she is still refusing to discharge herself.
Will Justice be served to P.Uthayakumar?
Will the Malaysian Court’s integrity and credibility be preserved? Is it in the interest of this Judge to continue hearing this matter.
This trial continued right up to 5.35pm when the court hours end at 4.45pm Res Ipsa Loquiteour ( The facts speak for itself).
Kandasamy
No statistics on locals marginalised but statistics on overstaying foreigners is available.
No official figures for Indians without B.C and IC but 40,000 Indian nationals missing in Malaysia (BH 13/1/02010 at page 2).
The UMNO led government was spot on with the 40,000 Indian nationals “missing in Malaysia, but despite 52 years of independence and with the back up of over 100,000 over civil servants, the official statistics for Indian children being denied birth certificates and Indians adults being denied their identity cards and citizenship is not available or inadequate.
We however estimate that there are about 150,000 Malaysian Indian minority children being denied their birth certificates and about 300,000 Malaysian Indian adults being denied their Identity cards and citizenship.
P. Uthayakumar
Church arson: “Arrest only when cops are sure.” Hindraf arrest first and be sure later
This is the stand by Malay-sia’s Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussien when it concerns malay muslim criminals who torched the Christian churches. Remember this very same Home Minister who with the malay muslim criminals and others who had stepped on the cow head and spat on it in Shah Alam in October 2009? (Malay Mail 12/1/2010 at page 3)
holding a press conference together! (See photo below the cow head standing behind Hishamuddin)
But when it is the Hindraf peaceful assemblers the Home Minister directs an arrest first order and be sure later. One Malay-sia?
Karpal wants police protection for all places of worship
By Adib Zalkapli - The Malaysian Insider
Karpal Singh and Gobind Singh being briefed by Sentul Gurdwara president Gurdial Singh on the attack
In yesterday’s incident, a barrage of stones had cracked the sliding glass door to the entrance of the temple.
“The whole world is watching Malaysia,” Karpal told reporters today at the temple.
Following the firebombing and arson attacks against churches in the past week, police have stepped up security but have admitted they do not have enough manpower to guard all places of worship. Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan had asked churches to beef up security.
“What has happened is unprecedented. There is concern among the Sikh community and to their credit they have remained calm,” said the Bukit Gelugor MP today.
Karpal was accompanied by his son Gobind Singh Deo who is also the Puchong MP. The duo are the only Sikh representatives in the Parliament’s lower house.
Gobind said he hoped that the police would launch a thorough investigation.
“Just to generalise this as a job of naughty boys is not sufficient,” he said.
The attack on the temple last night has made it the first non-Christian house of worship hit since the controversial landmark “Allah” ruling.
The Sikhs also use the term to describe God in their Punjabi language and had unsuccessfully sought to be part of the Roman Catholic Church’s legal suit to use the word in the Bahasa Malaysia edition of its Herald newspaper.
Eight Christian churches and a convent school in Selangor, Perak, Malacca, Negri Sembilan and Sarawak have been hit so far in the attacks which followed the Dec 31 High Court decision allowing the church to use the word “Allah.”
The stoning of the gurdwara near the former Sentul Railway Yard comes a week before Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak makes a three-day official visit to India on Jan 19 to meet his counterpart Manmohan Singh, a Sikh himself, and reflects the government’s struggle to contain the issue and keep it from spiraling out of control.
On how the latest attack would affect Najib’s trip to India Karpal said the Prime Minister owes the world an explanation.
“The PM has a lot to explain to the Prime Minister of India, I hope he has prepared an acceptable explanation not only to the Indian PM but also to the foreign press,” he said.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Stones hurled at Sentul Sikh temple
Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Muhammad Sabtu Osman, when contacted, confirmed the incident.
During the incident, he said, several volunteers who were busy cleaning the temple witnessed stones flying into its main entrance and immediately alerted the police.
Some 20 stones were thrown from outside the temple compound, he said, adding that police had retrieved the stones and were carrying out further investigations. – Bernama
HINDRAF & HRP meets Indian Opposition Leader of the Parliament Madam Sushma Suwaraj at her office on 11/1/2010.
After our Mr. P. Uthayakumar’s 30 minute briefing at the office of the Opposition Leader on 11/1/10 at 5.15 p.m and the presentation of “ Malaysian Indian Minority & Human Rights Violations Annual report 2009 Malay-sia Truly Racist”, Madam Sushma was sympathetic and could not believe at what was happening to the minority Indians in Malay-sia.
Madam Sushma informed us that she would be calling upon Prime Minister Najib Razak on 19/1/10 in her capacity as the Leader of the Opposition in the Indian Parliament. Najib is on his official visit to India together with his top notch trade and investment team.
Madam Sushma promised to raise the very serious human rights violations against the Malaysian Indian minority when she meets Prime Minister Najib.
She also promised to raise questions in the Indian Parliament and put pressure on the Indian government accordingly with regards to the present plight of the Malaysian Indians who are being oppressed and kept out of the national mainstream development of Malaysia and denied the very even basic necessities from birth certificates to about 150,000 poor and innocent children to about every aspect of life.
S. JAYATHAS
Information Chief
HINDRAF & HRP meets Indian Foreign Minister S. M. Krishna
New Delhi 11/1/2010 . This afternoon at 1.30 p.m the HINDRAF & HRP delegation led by P. Uthayakumar met the External Affairs Minister of India Mr. S. M.Krishna for about 30 minutes at his office at South Block, New Delhi and lodged HINDRAF’s “Malaysian Indian Minority & Human Rights Violations Annual Report 2009, Malay-sia Truly Racist”. (see photos below) This 2009 report was also lodged with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s office. (see acknowledgement in letter below) Our letter dated 11th January 2010 titled “SOS : Malaysian Indian Minority Suffering Serious Human Rights Violations, Malay Muslim Supremacy” was also submitted to the said Minister and Prime Minister.
The Minister promised to take up the very serious acts of racist, religious extremist and supremist UMNO policies (that has systematically kept 70% of the minority Indians in Malaysia poor and hardcore poor and out of the national mainstream development of Malaysia) with Prime Minister Najib Razak when he visits New Delhi on 19/1/10. Najib is leading a trade mission to India and seeking mega projects, contracts, tenders and big businesses in India. But he has to reply to HINDRAF and HRP’s very serious allegations first as a pre condition.
Our Trade & business to be “traded” with compliance and not human rights violations against the minority Indians in Malaysia proposal “as a pre-condition” was made to the Government of India by HINDRAF & HRP.
S. JAYATHAS
Information Chief.
UMNO: Tiada sekolah kerana dinafikan sijil lahir- Masyarakat India
HRP: Kanak-kanak ini adalah di antara 150,000 kanak- kanak keturunan India di Malaysia yang telah dinafikan sijil kelahiran dan akan teraniaya di seluruh tahap kehidupan mereka. Kesemua penganiayaan ini adalah disebabkan kerajaan pimpinan UMNO di Malaysia. Mereka- mereka ini juga telah dinafikan peluang untuk belajar di sekolah- sekolah Giat Mara dan lain-lain Sekolah Kemahiran kerajaan yang lain. Kanak-kanak ini meminta bantuan dari Pertubuhan bukan Kerajaan agar dapat membantu mereka. Tetapi hakikatnya hanya UMNO sahaja yang dapat membantu mereka.
Gujerat CM meets HRP & HINDRAF
Photo : P. Uthayakumar after greeting Gujerat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. The Chief Minister is seen holding our “ Malaysian Indian Minority & Human Rights Violations Annual Report 2009 Malay –sia Truly Racist”. When briefed on the plight of especially the poor and working class Indians in Malaysia, Mr. Modi replied that he is “aware” of the same and would work towards championing the same both in India and raising the same with the Malaysian government. This was reported in the New Delhi based Tamil daily Tinagaran on 10/1/10 at page 2.
S. JAYATHAS
Information Chief
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
HINDRAF to call off the candle vigil on 13/01/10
HINDRAF initiated the candle light vigil to send a strong message to the UMNO led government for their lackadaisical attitude in handling the issue related to fellow Malaysian Christians in respect of their religious practice.
HINDRAF having received the feedback from Christian leaders and their devotees have decided to call off the candle vigil that was planned for on January 13, 2010 at the entrance of the Assumption Church in Petaling Jaya.
Having consideration for the sentiments of the Malaysian Christians and their leaders in such bleak time and in due respect of their wishes, HINDRAF is cancelling the candle light vigil.
Thank you.
P. Waytha Moorthy
HINDRAF – Chairman
Perobohon Kuil Hindu berterusan
BATU CAVES, 7, Januari – Majlis Perbandaran Selayang (MPS) telah merobohkan sebuah kuil yang terletak di hadapan kawasan perumahan Sunway baru-baru ini. Mereka telah meminta penganut dewa kuil tersebut untuk mengalihkannya secepat mungkin. Menurut Pusphanathan, tempoh sehingga Khamis ini telah diberi untuk pengalihan kuil tersebut namun mereka telah mengambil tindakan merobohkan kuil itu tanpa sebarang pemberitahuan awal semalam bersamaan dengan hari Rabu. Menurut Pusphanathan, kuil yang terletak berhampiran dengan kawasan pergunungan itu tidak mengundang sebarang bahaya kepada penduduk setempat.
Church officials reject minister’s call to drop ‘Allah’ usage
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Jamil Khir Baharom earlier today urged church leaders to adopt the same approach as a lay Sabah leader who reportedly said the word “Allah” should be reserved for Muslim use in Malaysia because they have been using it longest.
“Will we or the church, if we don’t use the word Allah, suddenly lose or increase followers in the Christian faith 10-fold?” Utusan Malaysia reported Datuk Clarence Bongkos Malakun, president of the Sabah Justice of the Peace Council, saying in a statement from Kota Kinabalu last night.
“It is time for us, the Christian community, particularly the Catholic make an evaluation based on the present situation for security and public peace and drop the word Allah to calm our Muslim brothers.
“Rather than insisting on the right to use the word Allah it is better if Catholics only use the word ‘Tuhan’ or ‘Tuhan Yang Maha Kuasa’,” said Bongkos Malukun.
He added that Christians in Malaysia should stick to the Federal Constitution and not follow those in Indonesia on the use of “Allah”.
Pastor Danil Raut, the president of the Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) church in the peninsula, was highly critical of Bongkos Malukun’s statement and claimed it was not representative of the Christian community.
“He’s got the right to say his opinion but I definitely cannot agree with him,” Raut told The Malaysian Insider.
“So many people have been using the word before Merdeka. In the language of our people, the Lunbawang and Lundayeh, ‘Allah’ means God,” he added.
“This is stated in the Lundayeh Bible, not the Malay Bible,” he stressed.
Pastor Richard Samporoh agreed.
“I think his statement is very political,” Samporoh said. He noted that Bongkos Malukun used to be a state assemblyman and is a Christian but not a church minister and does not have the authority to speak for all Christians.
“Many people, including the politicians, have misunderstood the whole issue,” said Samporoh, who heads the SIB church in Shah Alam.
“We’re not demanding to use the word. We have been using it for almost 300 years. The case was only filed because of the ban from the Home Ministry,” he added.
Samporoh said he has been a pastor for over 30 years and the controversy only erupted recently, after the federal government banned the Catholic church from publishing the word “Allah” to refer to the Christian God in the Bahasa Malaysia section of its weekly paper.
Samporoh further claimed that there was an agreement between the federal government and the church in the 1980s that Christians be allowed to use the word in their worship.
“We can use the word ‘Allah’ in our Bible, but it cannot be sold in public bookstores,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
“I’m not very sure if there was a written agreement but it was during Musa Hitam’s time,” Samporoh replied when asked.
The Sabah-born pastor is also the adviser to the SIB church in the peninsula and strongly supports inter-faith dialogues.
“Understanding each other is the best way to resolve problems. I don’t think the Muslims understand what is going on,” he said.
Father Lawrence Andrew who edits the Catholic paper, Herald, was reluctant to comment on the issue.
“My official position is this: the case is in the courts. Let the court decide. I cannot comment on it,” he reponded when contacted.
But The Malaysian Insider understands that in the Roman Catholic church, only officials holding the rank of the bishop onwards have the authority to make decisions.
The Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, Reverend Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam, who is the publisher of Herald, could not be reached for comment.
He is currently away in Johor for meeting of bishops with the Vatican’s representative who is based in Singapore.
Pakiam is also the president of the Malaysian Bishops Conference
Another incident, this time in Seremban - Anil Netto
Another incident has been reported in Seremban this morning, bringing the total number of church properties targeted to nine.
Some people are having trouble keeping track of the number of incidents; so here is my tally:
- Metro Tabernacle Church in Desa Melawati – molotov cocktail damages administrative wing (8 Jan)
- Assumption Church in Jalan Templar – molotov cocktail hurled on pavement in front of church fails to explode (8 Jan)
- Life Chapel in Section 17, PJ – molotov cocktail slightly damages porch (8 Jan)
- Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in PJ old town – firebomb misses window, scorches outer wall, minimal damage (8 Jan)
- All Saints’ Anglican Church in Taiping – two molotov cocktails scorch stair case leading to main entrance and side porch (9 Jan)
- Convent school in Taiping – molotov cocktail, probably meant for St Louis’ Catholic Church next door, breaks guard-house window (9 Jan)
- Malacca Baptist Church in Durian Daun – smeared with black paint (9 Jan)
- Good Shepherd Anglican church in Lutong Miri – stoning damages two windows (9 Jan)
- Sidang Injil Church in Seremban – front doors scorched (10 Jan)
Only the Metro Tabernacle Church suffered serious damage.
M Bakri Musa has come up with a scathing blog post here, comparing the comments and reactions of various key personalities such as Najib, Khairy, Khalid Ibrahim, Anwar and Hadi.
The latest attack scorched the front door of the Sidang Injil Borneo church. Earlier, Lim Kit Siang and the Insider reported that Rasah MP Anthony Loke had confirmed the attack. The deputy IGP at first denied the report, according to the Insider, but Negri Sembilan police said the culprits used petrol to try and set fire to the door.
According to a Twitter message from Lim Kit Siang, the church is located less than 1km from the Seremban IPD. The church, which is believed to conduct Malay-language services, is said to be the “fastest growing church” in the country.
Meanwhile, an Indonesian scholar has told organisations in that country to remind Indonesian Muslims not to copy the attacks in Malaysia,
