Aliran news feed

Was Bala’s second declaration made under duress?

2008-07-04T17:39:27Z

Aliran views private investigator P Balasubramaniam’s two contradictory statutory declarations with shock and concern. It is difficult to believe that he could have retracted his earlier statutory declaration dated July 1, which implicates and condemns the Deputy Prime Minister’s involvement with Altantuya Shaaribuu, within a matter of three days. His latest statutory declaration dated July 4 retracts every thing that he had solemnly sworn “consciously believing the same to be true and by virtue of the provisions of the Statutory Declaration Act 1960.”

Army to help maintain law and order in Malaysia?

2008-07-03T20:11:17Z

Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan's suggestion yesterday that the military could be asked to help the police in maintaining law and order in the country is disturbing.

Midterm review of 9MP should factor in slowdown

2008-07-03T19:29:36Z

Kemungkinan kegawatan ekonomi amat tinggi pada takat ini. Tetapi saya tidak lihat sebarang rancangan kontingensi untuk menangani masalah-masalah rakyat sekiranya kemelesatan ekonomi berlaku. Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj rasa ini adalah suatu kelemahan yang besar dalam Kajian Separuh Penggal RMK9. Kerajaan harus menyediakan suatu pelan terperinci untuk membantu rakyat biasa bila berlakunya kegawatan.

Déjà vu for Malaysia ’s Anwar?

2008-07-01T18:31:27Z

The elections of March 2008 offered the faint promise that after decades of sectarian race-based politics, Malaysia’s political culture may have finally evolved beyond personality cults and hero-worship, say Farish Noor. But latest development carry a negative note to it in the sense that it has returned Malaysian society back to the older mode of personalised politics where the cult of leadership and political heroes is paramount.

Open letter to Hamidah Osman, Perak State Assembly member

2008-07-01T18:02:09Z

Tota takes to task Perak State Assembly member Hamidah Osman for her derogatory and insulting remarks against Indian Malaysians. He reminds her that Malay culture has many elements borrowed from Hindu and Indian linguistic and cultural traditions.

Stop deceiving and exploiting employers and domestic workers

2008-07-01T17:34:10Z

There is now a proposal to raise the Malaysian agents' fees for domestic workers to RM8,000. These agents only provide data to the end-users and do not deserve such a huge profit margin from their exorbitant charges. The official cost of hiring is only RM2,180 per maid while gross profit distributed among the human supply chains and (other unexplained charges) is RM5,820 per person, points out the Jakarta-based group Migrant Care.

Aliran website attacked

2008-07-01T16:10:09Z

Last night, soon after Anwar Ibrahim emerged from the Turkish embassy, the Aliran website came under attack from unknown sources. Within a three-minute spell, our website was bombarded with 60,000 hits from two IP address in particular. This was confirmed by our web-hosting company, which temporary disabled our website for a few hours. "The account was getting attacked," said the company's network security administrator. Service was restored hours later during the early hours of dawn. We apologise for the temporary disruption and thank our webhosting company for their vigilance and prompt action.

Act today to save refugees

2008-06-30T14:35:02Z

Refugees are appealing to their present host countries for temporary documents to allow them to stay and work legally while the UNHCR processes their resettlement to third countries. If they are allowed to work, refugees could signficantly contribute to the economic development of their host countries says Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani. Rohingya refugees are also asking the UNHCR to resettle them to third countries just as it does for other refugees.

Anti-ISA activists denied access to Parliament lobby

2008-06-28T19:24:54Z

On 26 June 2008, representatives from Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA (GMI), upon the invitation of Opposition Leader Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, held a press conference at the entrance of the Parliament building after being unjustifiably denied access to proceed to the lobby of the Parliament. They had wanted to hand over a joint memorandum in support of victims of torture in conjunction with the International Day Against Torture, particularly those who are being detained under the draconian ISA, observes Fadiah Nadwa Fikri of the Bar Council's human rights committee.

B S A Tahir released; many more still detained under ISA

2008-06-25T17:16:22Z

The Home Minister recently said that B S A Tahir was not a threat anymore and there was a recommendation for him to be released. He further added that he thought what needed to be investigated has been investigated. This development is another ugly episode of the arbitrary nature of the ISA, says Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh (right), as neither clear explanation nor details were given as to the nature of the threat or national security risks.