ANWAR WON

Anwar is Permatang Pauh MP (Final update)

BUKIT MERTAJAM: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has won the Permatang Pauh by-election.

The PKR de-facto leader was returned to Parliament with a majority of 15,671 votes, exceeding the 13,388-vote majority won by his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail in the March 8 general election.

Anwar garnered 31,195 votes to beat Barisan candidate Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah, who polled 15,524 votes, while Angkatan Keadilan Insan Malaysia candidate Hanafi Hamat lost his RM15,000 deposit after getting only 92 votes. There were 447 spoilt votes.

"This is the people's victory," Anwar said in a victory speech.

"Permatang Pauh has given a clear signal to the leadership of this country. We demand change. We want freedom. We don't want to live with corruption and oppression.

"We want an independent judiciary, we want the economy to benefit the vast majority not the corrupt few," he added.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the result was proof that democracy was still alive in the country and there was no manipulation involved.

"As we have pointed out right from the start, we would be facing a tough challenge," he said.

The closely watched by-election was called after Dr Wan Azizah resigned as the MP on July 31 to enable her husband to run for election.

Anwar held the seat for four terms before he was sacked from his Deputy Prime Minister's post in 1998 under corruption and sodomy charges.

Dr Wan Azizah, who had been known as a reluctant politician, won the seat for a third term in March.

A mammoth crowd comprising PKR leaders and supporters gathered early at the tallying centre at the Tuanku Bainun Teacher Training College in Bukit Mertajam to celebrate Anwar's victory.

Supporters in the crowd let off fireworks as returning officer Roslan Yahaya announced the results about 10pm.

Voter turnout was relatively high, at about 80% of the total of 58,459 registered voters in the constituency.

Barisan was the underdog from the start in the hard-fought by-election that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak described as a titanic challenge.

Anwar’s convincing victory was reminiscent of his heyday, when he secured a stunning 23,515-vote majority in the 1995 general election by polling 27,945 votes. In Tuesday's polling, 47,258 voters cast their ballots, or 80.83% of the 58,459 total number of voters.

SOURCE: http://thestar.com.my

ANWAR TO BE CHARGED

Thursday August 7, 2008

Anwar to be charged with sodomy

PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will be charged today with sodomy and the legal battle will have serious implications on his comeback bid in the Permatang Pauh by-election, which he engineered by getting his wife to resign the seat.

Nomination Day is set for Aug 16 and polling day 10 days after that, but the question now is whether the PKR adviser will be on hand to personally campaign or will he be locked up as a sodomy is a non-bailable offence.

Reacting to the Election Commission announcements on the date and the authorities’ decision to charge him, Anwar accused the Government of conspiracy to fix him to prevent him from making a political comeback.

He even held Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi personally responsible. Anwar cited the timing of the EC’s announcement and when the police served him with the notice that he is to be charged for sexually assaulting his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari.

Brickfields CID chief Asst Supt Jude Pereira was at the PKR de facto leader's house in Bukit Segambut at about 12.15pm, five minutes after the EC issued its statement.

However, Abdullah denied Anwar’s claims, and stressed that he had reminded police not to charge Anwar if they did not have enough evidence.

ARTICLES SOURCE: http://thestar.com.my

BATTLE OF PERMATANG PAUH

Battle of Permatang Pauh begins…

by Bernard Cheah and Karen Arukesamy


SEBERANG PERAI (Aug 4, 2008) : A 25-year-old female press photographer was roughed up by some PKR officials while attempting to take pictures of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at a ceramah here on last night.

Loh Hoay Hoon of Guang Ming Daily was punched, kicked and held by the neck in the event at the Seberang Jaya expo grounds here.

An ugly scuffle breaks out between PKR youths at Anwar's ceramah after a group of PKR youths attacked a Chinese media photographer. Sunpix by Masry Che Ani.

"I was bewildered and confused," Loh told theSun today.

"All I was doing was taking some shots of Anwar before he left the grounds. I don’t understand why they had attack me like this," she said, choking with tears and still visibly traumatised.

Loh received outpatient treatment at the Seberang Jaya Hospital later, before lodging a report at the Seberang Jaya police station at about 3.15am.

She was taken to the hospital again for an additional check-up late this afternoon.

Loh said afterr the ceramah had ended, she wanted a few shots of Anwar getting into his car.

However, an unidentified man, believed to be an Anwar bodyguard, stopped Loh and pushed her aside, she said.

"I told the man ‘saya hanya buat kerja saya’ (I'm just doing my work)," she said.

She remembered hearing something like "Jangan kacau, jangan buat susah di sini." (Don't disturb, don't cause trouble here.)

Then she found herself being hit and held by the neck by the man and several others, as she was leaving the grounds.

A few other PKR members then tried to hold back the man, apparently to restrain him.

A scuffle then broke out, as the group that attacked Loh and the one that helped her shoved each other and traded insults.

Loh said she was also hit on the back of her head by an unknown assailant.

She said she had had an untoward incident with the same man earlier this year, and had complained to PKR state secretary Abdul Malek Abul Kassim.

"Some reporters have also been pushed by the same individual."

Penang Media Club acting president Zuraida Abdul Rahman condemned the incident.

"All we want to do is just report what happens at a ceramah as it is."

Abdul Malek expressed regret over the behaviour of the official, adding that stern action would be taken by the party to prevent a recurrence.

He explained that security had to be beefed up as there were death threats made against Anwar.

Most party officials who act as guards were PKR members and not trained professionals, he added.

"We really appreciate the job done by members of the media in giving us coverage," he stressed

National Union of Journalists (NUJ) president Norila Mohd Daud also condemned the Seberang Perai incident, saying that some members of PKR had become over-protective of Anwar and nobody knows "what is their reason or what is the stand of the party."

On July 15, during the televised debate between Anwar and Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek, three photographers were roughed up by security personnel hired by AgendaDaily, the organiser of the debate.

Police reports were lodged, but there has been no response from the police.

TheEdge executive producer Othman Abu Bakar, whose photographer was one of those assaulted, said so far they had been questioned by police on what happened. He wants the police to look into the matter.

ARTICLES SOURCE: http://www.thesundaily.com

SEX SCANDAL

Text messages link MCA's Wee in 'sex scandal'

JOHOR BARU: Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong is being dragged into a "sex scandal". He is alleged to have been involved with a student from China whom he helped to settle a problem several years ago.


Text messages via the short messaging system (SMS) have been circulating over more than a week, predicting that Wee would be forced to resign his government and MCA posts under the same circumstances which forced out former health minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek.

Dr Chua gave up all his posts early this year when a VCD of him having sex with a woman in a hotel surfaced.


Wee, who is the MCA Youth secretary-general, lodged a report at the Central police station on Friday, after learning that the text messages had been circulating since July 22.
One of the messages read: "To whom it may concern: Countdown 90 days. Dr Wee Ka Siong will resign from all the posts by 20 Oct 2008 just as Dr Chua."

Wee said the text message was a clear attempt to tarnish his image, and was initiated to coincide with the run-up to the MCA's divisional elections last week.


Wee, who won the Johor Baru MCA division chief post uncontested on Sunday, is now eyeing either the Youth chief post or even a vice-president's post in MCA.

He claimed he knew the person who initiated the circulation of the text message.

"I am not afraid of this person who is clearly out to tarnish my image. There has been some bad blood between this person and me since my days as chief of the Johor Baru MCA public complaints bureau."


Wee said Datuk Michael Chong, head of the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department, had in 2002 asked him to help a student from China who had allegedly been swindled of RM100,000.

She had given the man the money to help her further her studies here.

"I organised a press conference on behalf of the student and I believe this person has been nursing a grudge against me since that incident."


He added that the person who initiated the "vicious SMS" had also lodged a police report against him and Chong alleging defamation after the media had highlighted the case.

"Let it be known to the public as I am sure of my innocence."

When contacted, Chong said he remembered the case.


He said the man, posing as a Mara education agent, duped the girl into paying RM100,000 to study in a college in Johor.

"The girl came to Malaysia, only to find that her offer letter turned out to be a fake," he said.

Chong said the case was forwarded to Wee because he was the party's Education Bureau chief and also in charge of public complaints in Johor.

"As far as I remember, the case was settled and the girl returned safely to China with some compensation," he said.


Johor Baru district police chief ACP Zainuddin Yaacob confirmed the police report but declined to disclose the details of the investigations.

It was learnt that police had recorded the statement of the person who Wee alleged is the one who started the text message. He is believed to be the founder and chief executive of a Chinese education group based here.


ARTICLES SOURCE: http://www.nst.com.my

STOLEN BIKE

WeirdNews> Politician gets back stolen bike


LONDON: British opposition leader David Cameron has been reunited with his stolen bicycle thanks to a tabloid newspaper and a supporter of the rival Labour Party, the paper reported last Sunday.

The Conservative party leader, often photographed riding his bike to work at the House of Commons, realised that it was stolen after he left it outside a supermarket near his west London home last Wednesday evening.

The Sunday Mirror said it located the bicycle — dumped in a nearby street — with the help of 60-yearold resident Ernest Theophile, who enlisted neighbourhood youths to trace it. "You never want to see anyone have their bike nicked (stolen) — not even a Tory," he was quoted as saying.

The Conservative Party confirmed that the newspaper had returned the bike to Cameron.

Cameron, 41, uses the bicycle to commute from his home in trendy Notting Hill to Parliament to highlight his party's commitment to green issues. — AP

ARTICLES SOURCE: http://www.mmail.com.my

TWIST IN SODOMY SAGA

Monday July 28, 2008 MYT 9:20:20 PM

Twist in sodomy saga (updated)

PETALING JAYA: Police have slammed a news portal report, which claimed that a private hospital doctor who had examined Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan had been arrested.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar said the articles were just another attempt by certain quarters to confuse the public over the on-going investigation into Mohd Saiful's police report alleging that he had been sodomised by PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The online articles posted a medical report which said there was “zero active bleeding”, “zero ulcer or pus” and “zero tear and scar” in Mohd Saiful’s anus.

The report from Pusrawi Hospital was signed by Dr Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid at 2.14pm on June 28.

Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin, who also carried the report on his website, said this proved that Mohd Saiful was not sodomised by Opposition de facto leader Anwar.

“The police also have a copy of this report that I have published, so they know what I know,” he wrote.

Raja Petra also alleged that Dr Mohamed Osman had gone into hiding because the police wanted him to change his medical report to implicate Anwar.

“There is no truth to these allegations," said the Deputy IGP.

"In fact we interviewed the aforementioned doctor in the early stages of our investigation following the report lodged by Saiful.

“Neither did we arrest the doctor or detain him for three days as alleged in the Malaysia Today article. We do not have any plans to do so either,” Ismail said, declining to comment further.

PKR secretary-general Salehuddin Hashim said there needed to be a complete public disclosure of the facts of the case.

“The medical report appears to confirm what we have always believed – that the allegations against Anwar are without merit and are politically motivated.”

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang said: “This is a very disturbing turn of developments and will subject Malaysia to a new spate of international bashing unless the police can come forward to throw light on the first medical report and the whereabouts of Dr Mohamed Osman.”

How the medical report was leaked, which is a breach of patient confidentiality, is unknown, but Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said the Malaysian Medical Council must look into the case.

A top Health Ministry official said the leaked report was probably not a full report because it appeared to be documenting only the superficial.

A spokesperson from the hospital said a statement would be issued soon.

ARTICLES SOURCE: http://thestar.com.my