MORE PICS - The 5OK ROBBER Was an ELITE DEDICATED COP Who Left Service on Suspicion of Involvement in Drag Related activities & the LURE of GOOD LIFE

Crime does not pay and it was his choice to end his life this way

Stephen Yau G.T., an old hand and knew both sides of the law was waiting for an “easy robbery” at the Esso petrol service station (in Taman Shamelin Perkasa) at about 12.45 pm. He acted alone well aware of the principle "less men more share".

ABOVE & BELOW: The usual crowd at a robbery scene (Esso Station), who would go away when the Police finished their jobs

When the RM50,000 in cash (the day’s collection) was transferred to the Cisco Security personnel, he confronted them and pulled off the robbery. He rushed off to his parked car in trying to escape (see picture)

ABOVE: The getaway car a MYVII, most probably a stolen one.

and barely held on to the bag of cash for 30 seconds when the security guards fired two shots at him and missed. In quick succession two more shots were fired and he was gunned down and ended his crime life.

He preferred the "easy & quick get rich" life of drugs and needed some pocket money when he attempted his last one. There is a saying “going up the mountains too often, one would encounter a tiger eventually”. How can a robber retired as the loot eventually dries up and as one needs to roll the "next one just like the other one" for a junkie.

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ABOVE; ACP Ramli birefing newsmen on "what happened"

From decorated cop to... dead robber; 01 Dec 2006; Tony Emmanuel, NST

KUALA LUMPUR: He was once among the best that the police had to offer: A man who could be trusted to give his life for the law. But a love for the good life took him down the wrong road after he left the elite Special Action Squad (UTK). On Wednesday, Stephen Yau G.T., who had saved numerous lives and who had several commendation letters to his credit, was gunned down as he tried to flee with RM50,000 from an Esso station in Taman Shamelin Perkasa. The policeman who had once served the nation with distinction took two shots and died soon after.

An autopsy at the Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia mortuary yesterday confirmed what police had suspected after the incident. Fingerprint verification erased all doubts on the identify of the robber.

The dead body off to the nearest hospital (HUKM, in Bandar Tun Razak) for a post mortem

Yau had been recognised by police officers as he lay on the ground after the robbery, which saw him trying to get away with the petrol station’s earnings. Almost 48 hours after the incident, investigators are beginning to understand that their respected former colleague had switched sides after leaving the force in 1994. It appears that Yau, whose feats included the UTK storming of a criminal’s hideout in Damansara Heights in 1993 and the shootout with Bentong Kali, had been lured by the big money in the underworld. The man, who had a penchant for Mercedes Benz, claimed to be a successful businessman purportedly overseeing numerous licensed money-lending activities. In reality, he may have been "an enforcer" for the upper echelon of organised crime. Investigators, looking back into files, are unearthing another side of Yau. Yau may have been involved in the December 2003 "table talk" between rival gangs after the notorious Johor-based Hai Loong Wong (Sea Dragon King) triad tried to set up their base in Klang. Police disrupted the negotiations with numerous seizures, including weapons and amphetamine type stimulant pills. Hai Loong Wong members earned their reputation for reputedly specialising in psychological intimidation of debtors. There were instances involving women who were stripped, photographed and threatened by threats of such photographs being made public if they failed to settle debts. The triad had tried to move operations to Klang following a vacuum created after a reputed underworld kingpin was murdered in an execution-style shooting at a restaurant in Jalan Imbi in January that year. Several days after the police raid, seven men, including the triad boss, were charged with kidnapping a businesswoman and holding her for a RM200,000 ransom. Two of the accused also faced an additional charge of outraging the modesty of the woman. Police believe the incident could have been related to territorial control, as the victim was a close relative of Yau. Yau appears to have left the police force under a cloud when he resigned after being asked to appear before an internal inquiry investigating dadah trafficking activities. The inquiry came about after police learnt of a sudden surge in the availability of dadah on the clandestine network at below market prices. Yau’s tactical team was involved in several raids which led to large heroin seizures. The inquiry then was to establish whether the heroin seizures logged commensurated with what was found at scenes of police raids. Police are convinced they will find numerous other instances of Yau’s involvement in organised crime as they go through their files over the last 12 years.

MORE PICS – UNWANTED CHILD, NEWLY BORN WAS THROWN DOWN From a Flat in CHERAS EARLY FRIDAY MORNING; Any Difference, Dying After Being Born and Aborted?

ABOVE: Passerbys looking at a departed soul. Which flat was it that did it in the middle of the night?
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The refrain from the song NOBODY’S CHILD (By Karen Young) echoes the

sadness of an unwanted child trying to live in this world

I'm nobody's child, 

Just like the flowers 

I'm growing wild. 

I got no mummy's kisses 

I got no daddy's smile. 

Nobody wants me, 

I'm nobody's child. 
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Baby thrown down from flat; 01 Dec 2006; V. Shuman and Leslei Kevin

KUALA LUMPUR: The newborn baby may have been still alive when it was placed in a rotting mess of kitchen refuse and hurled down an apartment block in Jalan Pudu Ulu, Cheras, yesterday. When a sweeper found the infant with its umbilical cord still attached at 7.15am, it had been dead for two to three hours. The back of the baby’s head had been crushed, most probably from the impact of the fall. Police are trying to determine the unit from which the baby was thrown. A Cheras police spokesman said although the baby was fair-skinned, its race had not been determined.

Roshayati Tambi Ahmad, 44 (ABOVE) stumbled upon the garbage bag as she was cleaning the area around Block B. "I noticed a stench from a garbage bag on the ground and found it filled with chicken and fish parts. As I picked it up, the body slipped through a hole at the bottom of the bag," she said. She alerted the management office, which called in the police.

ABOVE & BELOW: The police have the responsiblity to send the body for a post mortem

The body was sent to the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Hospital for a post- mortem.

ABOVE & BELOW: The curious busybodies looking at a death - which is a night to the soul

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Any difference, dying after being born and aborted before coming full term?

Question: Why do some babies die shortly after birth?

Response: First of all, nothing ever dies - it just changes form. There is a lovely story given in a film -"The Little Buddha" that illustrates this:
Imagine a glass filled with tea. The glass represents your physical body and the tea represents your soul (the portion of your soul that is in the physical body). Break the glass and the tea spills on the table, to the floor, into cracks. And yet, the tea is still tea and the glass is still glass, although its form has changed. The tea moves where it will. This is very close to how people make their transitions.
No one "dies" before their time. When the soul is ready to release the body, when it has accomplished what it came here to do, it moves on, even in the case of infants. What could they accomplish? – You might ask.
They may have come into this life to experience unconditional love, to feel the physical body, to experiment with changing form, to give love or other gifts, to meet a personal karmic situation as self-judgment, a point of view, something that had to be confronted and processed. There are also cases when a soul changes its mind after being born. It may decide to assist the family or a sibling from the other side. It may decide to wait and be reborn into the same, or perhaps another family, sometime down the line.. There is always a reason. To realize that each soul is making these decisions on their own is a beautiful, healing and freeing experience.

Question: When we die/transition, do we ever lose our personality?

Response: You never lose the unique, divine spark that you are.

In the case of ABORTION

Now what happens when a fetus is aborted or miscarried? Didn’t that being wanted to have life on Earth? Who has the right to determine for a fetus if it lives or dies?We all have choice, can, and do change our minds. Each soul that decides to come into the body is a full being already. Should that soul decide it does not want to be born, to experience life after all, it may choose a variety of ways of stopping the process, which include abortion or miscarriage.There is always a reason. . To realize that each soul is making these decisions on their own is a beautiful, healing and freeing experience.

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Further read from the girlinbombay

"I just found out that this has been declared 'blogging for choice' month. And I want to add my baby blog to all the pro-choice blogs out there.
For all my non-American readers, the word choice here refers to a woman's right to abortion i.e. the right to choose to terminate a pregnancy when they don't want to have a baby. Some Christians believe that abortion is murder of the fetus and must therefore be stopped. Of course this is not just about abortion, which is the thin end of the wedge issue - which is to ensure that women cannot control what happens to her body. Not only do the anti-choice groups oppose abortion but many of them even oppose free sale of contraceptives especially those which can be take after the deed, such as the morning after pill. Pharmacists adhering to this philosophy have refused to sell contraceptives to women with presciptions (see this and this and this) Many of these groups osentsibly believe that sex should be for procreation only which is why they are usually anti-gay and definitely anti-gay marriage. Under the current administration, which completely believes in this philosophy, funding has been withdrawn from programs which work in the poorest parts of the world for the sin of distributing condoms. The overarching theme is that 'sex is bad, sex is a sin and the only good reason to indulge in sex is to produce children'.
Coming from a culture that has a history of celebrating sex, though the past 1000 years has been an excercise in rolling back everything that was enlightened, these ideas seem stupid and ridiculous to me. Even though I practised abstinence till I met the one guy who was right for me, I would never presume to think I could tell other people what to do with their bodies and their personal lives. And even people in monogamous relationships need contraceptives unless we are each to have 10-15 children. This planet cannot support that many people!!
But the weirdest thing is to try and legislate morality. Even if you do think sex simply for pleasure is bad, do you think laws against it will work? If you think abortion is bad, then make sure that everyone has access to contraceptives, especially the morning after pill. Even so, there will be abortions - from a condom that broke to a pill/patch that was supposed to work but did not but they will be far fewer. Try and understand that no woman goes about trying to get pregnant so that she can have an abortion. Having a baby is not easy, read this to see how dangerous it is even with good health care and facilities. It is nonsensical to force women to go through with it, that attitude is no better than Saddam forcing children to walk ahead of the regular army in order to defuse landmines.
But the most important thing of all is to have humility. To be humble enough to say, this is what I think is good but of course other people have the right to their own opinions. Then there would be no conflict because of course no one is forcing you to have an abortion or use contraceptives or be gay. You live life on your own terms and allow others to do the same. Disagree with their choices if you must but do so civilly without trying to bring the state in people's personal lives or bedrooms.
The above paragraph would make no sense to two groups :- the unreconstructed sexists who believe that women should be kept barefoot and pregnant to ensure that they are not taking men's jobs or getting too uppity and the religious crazies. You cannot argue with the religious position, they believe this to be evil because their holy book says so and it must be stopped. All we can do is to hope that the state policy remains secular.
As for abortion, remember that the fetus is like a tumour growing inside a cancer patient, yes eventually fetus will be able to survive without the woman but till such time, she has a perfect right to her body and a right to refuse to host the parasite. Women are not incubators and you have no right to try to enslave our bodies. This is a harsh way to put it but necessarily so, women's rights are trampled on too easily by the patriarchy and it's enablers.
Update: Please read this for a very good blogpost on abortion, Feministe has said much better than I ever could "

MORE Pics -18 al-Qaeda Arrested Before Pope Ends Turkey Trip - a Visit & Prayer at Sultanahmet - "Blue Mosque" Opposite Hagia Sofia; Silent Meditation

ABOVE & BELOW: Pope being welcomed at the Mosque
Pope ends Turkey trip with visit to mosque By Peter Popham in Istanbul Published: 01 December 2006

Benedict XVI became only the second pope in history to step inside a mosque. It was a fitting end to a trip which had had the potential to become the most disastrous papal visit in living memory. Instead, Benedict flies home today after his four-day visit to Turkey with compliments ringing in his ears.

The polemical German pope, "God's rottweiler" as he was known when still a cardinal, has gone a long way towards neutralising the hostility he aroused in September when he quoted a medieval Byzantine emperor describing Islam as "evil and inhuman".

Outside Hagia Sofia yesterday, Istanbul's immense church-turned-mosque-turned museum, a solitary woman held up a placard that read: "God's curses on he who stuck his tongue out at the Prophet. The Pope is the enemy of the Turks."

She got plenty of attention from television cameras with nothing else to film, but despite or perhaps because of al-Qa'ida saying roughly the same thing, such sentiments became rarer as the week progressed. The Pope made "a good start" said Turkish daily Hurriyet, by giving his support to Turkey's bid to join the European Union.

"Reason has prevailed on all sides" said a columnist in the Turkish Daily News. "The majority of Turks are happy that the visit is going well and that the Pope has been so conciliatory in his remarks." If the Pope regrets that the real debate over religion and violence which he tried to kick off with his address in September has been deferred, he kept his feelings to himself.

Yesterday, Benedict, whom some Vatican-watchers had felt was putting his predecessor's policy of seeking amity with Islam into reverse, made a historic visit to Sultanahmet, the "Blue Mosque," opposite Hagia Sofia, a date written into his diary at the last minute and which had the potential to have explosive consequences. But the pontiff impressed his hosts by removing shoes and socks, and once inside he bowed his head in silent meditation for over a minute.

As the controversy has receded, the emotion of the visit of a figure like this has become striking, the sense of a man wading through a terrain dense with history: triumphs and disasters, glory and schism. In Hagia Sofia, Benedict was shown some of the golden frescoes, among the oldest Christian works of art, that adorn the magnificent building's walls. Once the church became a mosque, they were covered with black paint in the zeal to obliterate every trace of idolatry. Many of them are still hidden. He spent Wednesday evening and much of Thursday with Bartholomew I, patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church. The two men are trying to get unity talks between Catholics and Orthodox back on track after years of stagnation.

The man known as "the Green Patriarch" found Benedict in ready agreement on environmental questions. "As religious leaders we consider it one of our duties to encourage... all efforts made to protect God's Creation, and to bequeath to future generations a world in which they will be able to live," the two men said in a joint declaration. "The divisions among Christians are a scandal to the world," the Pope said after an Orthodox ceremony yesterday lasting nearly three hours. All Christians, he said, should "renew Europe's awareness of its Christian roots, traditions and values".

The fact that such sentiments were not seen by thin-skinned Turks as another papal slap in the face was a credit to the Pope's painstaking diplomacy - and his qualified support for Turkey's entry into the EU, practically the first thing he said on touching down in the country, and the biggest surprise of the visit.

Benedict XVI became only the second pope in history to step inside a mosque. It was a fitting end to a trip which had had the potential to become the most disastrous papal visit in living memory. Instead, Benedict flies home today after his four-day visit to Turkey with compliments ringing in his ears. The polemical German pope, "God's rottweiler" as he was known when still a cardinal, has gone a long way towards neutralising the hostility he aroused in September when he quoted a medieval Byzantine emperor describing Islam as "evil and inhuman". Outside Hagia Sofia yesterday, Istanbul's immense church-turned-mosque-turned museum, a solitary woman held up a placard that read: "God's curses on he who stuck his tongue out at the Prophet. The Pope is the enemy of the Turks." She got plenty of attention from television cameras with nothing else to film, but despite or perhaps because of al-Qa'ida saying roughly the same thing, such sentiments became rarer as the week progressed. The Pope made "a good start" said Turkish daily Hurriyet, by giving his support to Turkey's bid to join the European Union. "Reason has prevailed on all sides" said a columnist in the Turkish Daily News. "The majority of Turks are happy that the visit is going well and that the Pope has been so conciliatory in his remarks." If the Pope regrets that the real debate over religion and violence which he tried to kick off with his address in September has been deferred, he kept his feelings to himself. Yesterday, Benedict, whom some Vatican-watchers had felt was putting his predecessor's policy of seeking amity with Islam into reverse, made a historic visit to Sultanahmet, the "Blue Mosque," (see BELOW) opposite Hagia Sofia,

a date written into his diary at the last minute and which had the potential to have explosive consequences. But the pontiff impressed his hosts by removing shoes and socks, and once inside he bowed his head in silent meditation for over a minute. (see BELOW)

As the controversy has receded, the emotion of the visit of a figure like this has become striking, the sense of a man wading through a terrain dense with history: triumphs and disasters, glory and schism. In Hagia Sofia, Benedict was shown some of the golden frescoes, among the oldest Christian works of art, that adorn the magnificent building's walls. Once the church became a mosque, they were covered with black paint in the zeal to obliterate every trace of idolatry. Many of them are still hidden. He spent Wednesday evening and much of Thursday with Bartholomew I, patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church. The two men are trying to get unity talks between Catholics and Orthodox back on track after years of stagnation. The man known as "the Green Patriarch" found Benedict in ready agreement on environmental questions. "As religious leaders we consider it one of our duties to encourage... all efforts made to protect God's Creation, and to bequeath to future generations a world in which they will be able to live," the two men said in a joint declaration. "The divisions among Christians are a scandal to the world," the Pope said after an Orthodox ceremony yesterday lasting nearly three hours. All Christians, he said, should "renew Europe's awareness of its Christian roots, traditions and values".
The fact that such sentiments were not seen by thin-skinned Turks as another papal slap in the face was a credit to the Pope's painstaking diplomacy - and his qualified support for Turkey's entry into the EU, practically the first thing he said on touching down in the country, and the biggest surprise of the visit.

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Eighteen al-Qaeda arrests as Pope visits mosque

NICK PISA IN ISTANBUL
POPE Benedict XVI entered a mosque yesterday in an attempt to build bridges with Muslims just hours after a police operation netted 18 al-Qaeda suspects. Pope Benedict followed custom as he took off his shoes to enter the famous Blue Mosque in the heart of Istanbul on the third day of his visit to Turkey. Two months ago the German-born pontiff had angered Muslims by giving a speech in which he quoted a Byzantine emperor who said that everything Islam had brought to the world was "inhuman and evil". Security for his visit was tight and a ring of steel was thrown around the six-towered Blue Mosque and nearby Santa Sophia Museum.

As part of the clampdown and following a threat posted on the internet by an Iraq-based terror group, police carried out a number of arrests ahead of yesterday's visit and held 18 people they said were associated with Osama bin Laden's terror organisation.

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By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer Tue Nov 28, 5:57 PM ET

ANKARA, Turkey -

Pope Benedict XVI urged leaders of all religions Tuesday to "utterly refuse" to support any form of violence in the name of faith, while Turkey's top Muslim cleric complained to the pontiff of growing "Islamophobia" in the world. As he began his first visit to a Muslim country — a trip that drew extraordinary security but few onlookers — Benedict sought a careful balance as he extended friendship and brotherhood to Muslims, hoping to end the outcry from many Muslims over his remarks linking Islam to violence. He expressed support for Turkey's efforts to join the European Union, moving away from opposition he voiced when he was a cardinal. But the German pope also hammered away at key points of his 18-month papacy, telling diplomats that leaders of all religions must "utterly refuse to sanction recourse to violence as a legitimate expression of faith."

He avoided mention of any specific religion, even as he decried terrorism and the "disturbing conflicts across the Middle East." Benedict also said guarantees of religious freedom are essential for a just society, and the Vatican said he raised specific issues such as property rights of Turkey's tiny 32,000-member Catholic community during talks with Turkish officials. His comments could be reinforced later during the four-day visit when the pope meets in Istanbul with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians. The pope is expected to call for greater rights and protections for Christian minorities in the Muslim world, including the small Greek Orthodox community in Turkey. The 79-year-old made reconciliation a priority of his first day, taking on a taxing series of meetings that saw him needing a drink of water after coughing repeatedly while addressing diplomats in the last public appearance in the evening. Benedict's journey is extraordinarily sensitive, a closely watched pilgrimage full of symbolism that could offer hope of religious reconciliation or deepen what many say is a growing divide between the Christian and Islamic worlds. Seeking to ease anger over his perceived criticism of Islam, Benedict met with Ali Bardakoglu, who heads religious affairs in Turkey, warmly grasping hands. Benedict sat nearby as the Muslim cleric defended his religion.

"The so-called conviction that the sword is used to expand Islam in the world and growing Islamophobia hurts all Muslims," Bardakoglu said. The comment appeared to be a reference to Benedict's remarks in a speech in September when he quoted a 14th-century Christian emperor who characterized the Prophet Muhammad's teachings as "evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by thy sword the faith he preached." The Vatican described the cleric's speech as "positive, respectful and non-polemical," applauding what the church sees as efforts for a true dialogue between faiths.

On Sunday, more than 25,000 Turks showed up to an anti-Vatican protest in Istanbul, asking the pope to stay at home, but on the streets of Ankara most people went about their usual business and only a tiny protest was held outside the religious affairs office hours before the pope arrived. "Today we had the sensation he was a welcome guest," said Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi. "All feel the same responsibility in this difficult moment in history, let's work together," Benedict said during his flight from Rome to Ankara, where more than 3,000 police and sharpshooters joined a security effort that surpassed even the visit of President Bush two years ago. "We know that the scope of this trip is dialogue and brotherhood and the commitment for understanding between cultures ... and for reconciliation," he said. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan — in a last-minute change of plans — welcomed the pope at the foot of the plane and described the visit as "very meaningful." Erdogan's political party has Islamic roots, though the government is secular. In his first official act, Benedict visited the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, and wrote a message in a guest book calling Turkey "a meeting point of different religions and cultures and a bridge between Asia and Europe." Police monitored the highway leading to Ankara from the airport, where Turkish and Vatican flags waved in a light breeze. Snipers climbed atop buildings and hilltops. In wooded areas along the route, soldiers in camouflage fatigues set up observation points and sniffer dogs passed along bridges. It was his first visit to a Muslim country as pontiff. The original goal of the pope's trip to Turkey was to meet Bartholomew I, leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians. The two major branches of Christianity represented by Bartholomew and Benedict split in 1054 over differences in opinion on the power of the papacy, and the two spiritual heads will meet in an attempt to breach the divide and reunite the churches. Benedict leaves Ankara on Wednesday for Ephesus, where the Virgin Mary is thought to have spent her last years, and will then travel to Istanbul. A closely watched moment of the trip will come Thursday during Benedict's visit to Haghia Sophia, a 1,500-year-old site that was originally a Byzantine church and then turned into a mosque after the Muslim conquest of Istanbul — then known as Constantinople — in 1453. It is now a museum, and Turks would take offense at any religious gestures by the pontiff, who also plans to visit the nearby Blue Mosque. In 1967, Pope Paul VI fell to his knees in prayer, touching off protests by Turks claiming he violated the secular nature of the domed complex. In 1979,

Pope John Paul II made no overt religious signs during his visit.

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Pope makes 'unforgettable' visit to mosque at high point of Turkey trip

ISTANBUL (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI, in an exceptional gesture, turned towards Mecca for a moment of meditation in an attitude of Muslim prayer at the Blue Mosque, the third day of his eventful visit to Turkey. The dramatic moment came a mere 10 weeks after much of the Muslim world was outraged by comments the pontiff made seen as linking Islam to violence. Benedict XVI, who became the second pope in history -- after John Paul II in Damascus in 2001 -- to set foot in a Muslim house of worship, made the gesture at the suggestion of Istanbul Mufti Mustafa Cagrici, his guide for the occasion.

After explaining the basics of Muslim prayer to the pontiff during the early part of the tour, Cagrici said: "Let us turn toward the Kiblah" -- the direction of Mecca, which all Muslims must face when they perform their prayers five times a day. The pope complied. The two men, clad in long white robes, stood side by side and motionless for about two minutes, their hands crossed on their stomachs in a classical Muslim prayer attitude known as "the posture of tranquillity." The pope remained with his eyes closed for about a minute, but did not repeat Cagrici's gesture when the mufti wiped his face with the palms of his hands, signalling the end of the prayer. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi took pains to explain to journalists afterwards that the pope had not actually prayed but was "in meditation." Benedict is known to insist that members of different religions cannot pray together, but side by side. In the street outside the mosque, Istanbul residents who watched the visit on television debated the moment. After Mehmet Saglam, a student, told AFP he thought it was "a nice gesture," a passer-by asked: "But was it sincere?" "It's politics, all this," Saglam replied. Afterwards, the pope, padding the floor in white slippers -- Muslim tradition dictates that shoes be taken off before entering a mosque -- pursued his half-hour tour of the imposing mosque built in the early 17th century. Stopping several times to take in the mufti's comments on the Sultanahmet Mosque, as the Blue Mosque is known in Turkey, the pontiff was attentive and smiling, asking several questions. He was surprised at the vast size of the sanctuary, which has a capacity for 8,000 faithful. "That's a lot," the pope commented. The two men exchanged gifts, the pontiff first presenting Cagrici with a mosaic representing doves and saying: "This picture is meant as a message of fraternity --a souvenir of this visit that I will certainly never forget."

Benedict XVI received an Ottoman calligraphy that read: "In the name of Allah the merciful" -- also in the form of a dove. "A pleasant twist of fate," commented the mufti. As he left the mosque, visibly delighted, the 79-year-old pontiff said: "This visit will help us find together the means and paths to peace for the good of humanity." Benedict XVI had thrown the Muslim world into turmoil in September when, in a speech in Regensburg, Germany, he seemed to draw a parallel between Islam and violence. His four-day trip to Turkey that began Tuesday -- his first to a Muslim country -- is aimed mainly at attempting to heal the 10-century rift between the Catholic and Orthodox churches, but has changed in part into an exercise in fence-mending with Islam.

A few moments after the pope left the mosque, the muezzin's evening call to prayer could be heard in the night air. Just before the mosque visit, the pope went to the Saint Sophia museum, a sixth-century Byzantine basilica that served as a mosque under nearly five centuries of Ottoman rule. Flanked by Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler and Haluk Ozozlu, the museum director who was acting as his guide, and a retinue of Vatican and Turkish officials as well as bodyguards, the pope spent half an hour inside the Istanbul landmark. He occasionally put his hands together in admiration -- once while listening to explanations on the edifice's world-famous cupola -- but refrained from any religious gesture, such as praying or crossing himself. Pope Paul VI, visiting the same site in 1967, had astonished his host, then-foreign minister Ihsan Sabri Caglayangil, by spontaneously falling to his knees in prayer and creating a diplomatic incident.

© AFP 2006

Another TUG-O-WAR for Dead BODY of Rayappan Anthony, 71 at KL HOSPITAL Morgue. Family Claim he Renounced MUSLIM Faith and RETURN to Family

Rest in Peace, Rayappan.
Remember life implies death, and death implies life.
Death is therefore as creative as birth, as necessary for action and consciousness in your terms. Rest assures that death is another beginning. A death is just a night to your soul. You had lived before and will live again

UPDATE: Dec 07 2006; 21:35pm

TUG-O-WAR For BODY of Rayappan BODY Over: FAMILY Wins; MAIS Lost: Mais chairman Datuk Mohamed Adzib : OVER-WHELMING EVIDENCE Beats Gathered Information

It was better late and NOT prolonged that this tussle is now over. MAIS right from the beginning should have decided in favor of Rayappan’s widow when ALL the Overwhelming evidences were adduced. Perhaps there is some pressure from above that MAIS relents.

Mais Decides Not To Claim Rayappan's Remains; December 07, 2006 19:25 PM SHAH ALAM, Dec 7 (Bernama) -- The Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) has decided not to claim the body of A. Rayappan for burial according to Islamic rites. Mais chairman Datuk Mohamed Adzib Mohd Isa said all the information gathered before showed that Rayappan was a Muslim, but the evidence pointing that he was not a Muslim was overwhelming. "So, I hope the matter is solved and we don't think the people will view us negatively because we make the decision based on the existing facts and not emotion," he told a press conference here Thursday. Rayappan, 70, a former van driver, died at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital on Nov 29 of diabetes complications. Last Friday, Mais applied with the Syariah High Court to have his body buried according to Islamic rites because he had converted to Islam in 1990 and assumed the name of Muhammad Rayappan Abdullah. However, his family objected on the grounds that the deceased had renounced the religion. On Monday, his widow Lourdes Mary Maria Soosay, 69, filed an application at the Civil High Court in Kuala Lumpur for her late husband's body to be released to her, claiming that Rayappan had been a Roman Catholic when he died. Rayappan's body is being kept at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital morgue until the tussle for it between Mais and his family is sorted out. Mohamed Adzib said Mais had discussed the matter will all the parties and sought the views of the state's mufti, Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) and the legal adviser. "Yesterday, we reached a decision based on the information that we had gathered and we felt that there was no new evidence that could support Mais' case. "With this, Mais withdrew the case from the court today and will not make any other claim. We will not claim the body," he said. However, he added: "We regret because there was no evidence from the relevant parties who wanted to testify in court." Before Mais called the press conference, the Syariah Court of Appeal ruled that the Syariah High Court should have given an opportunity to the deceased's family to give evidence before it allowed Mais' application last Friday. Counsel Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar who held the watching brief for the Malaysian Syarie Lawyers Association told reporters that the Syariah Court of Appeal also ordered the Syariah High Court to hear the case again on Dec 12.
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from STAR; Thursday December 7, 2006 MAIS withdraws its claim on Rayappan's body
KUALA LUMPUR: The Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS) filed a notice in the Shah Alam Syariah High Court on Thursday, withdrawing its claim on the late Rayappan Anthony's body. In an earlier report, the Syariah Appeal Court was to review the order that granted the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS) control over the late Rayappan Anthony’s body.

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MPs: Body tussles can be avoid; B. Suresh Ram Updated: 07:41PM Thu, 07 Dec 2006 KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 7, 2006): Some Umno MPs are of the opinion that body tussles involving Muslim converts who leave the faith could be avoided if the religious authorities did their jobs professionally. They feel that cases like Anthony Rayappan's could be dealt with administratively, and need not have to be referred to the syariah court. In addition, educating Muslims and non-Muslims on the do's and don'ts would also help to prevent either side from being hurt in such disputes.

Datuk Zaid Ibrahim (BN-Kota Baru), a prominent lawyer, said it was to resolve these kinds of issues that the much-maligned Interfaith Council was proposed. "The proposed council could advise the government and relevant authorities when faced with such situations," he told theSun. He said it was only through dialogues between different communities could such a matter be resolved and that in Islam, dialogue was encouraged. "Muslim scholars have spoken on this and we need to involve people of different faiths and talk on topics such as this," he said. Zaid said the other option which the government could look at to resolve religious issues involving extra-legal or Constitutional matters was setting up a Constitutional Court. "We have to face this issue in an open-minded manner. We cannot resolve this if we face it in a dogmatic fashion," he said. Datuk

Shahrir Abdul Samad (BN-Johor Baru) (ABOVE) said the Rayappan issue and other such cases could be resolved administratively by the authorities without involving the syariah court. "How can the (information) on the MyKad be wrong?" he asked, referring to the report that Rayappan's MyKad gave his status as Christian after the National Registration Department approved his request for change of particulars.

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Cabinet Wants A. Rayappan's Religious Status Determined; December 06, 2006 22:42 PM KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 6 (Bernama) -- The Cabinet wants the religious status of the late A. Rayappan to be determined so that a decision can be made on the religious rites for his burial.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (ABOVE) said the Cabinet meeting Wednesday had discussed the tussle for his body between the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) and his family. "The Cabinet agreed that the matter be left to the Attorney-General's Office to be resolved," he told reporters after officiating the opening of the Bio-Malaysia Expo and Convention 2006 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre here. Rayappan's family members claimed that he had renounced Islam and re-embraced Christianity several years ago but Mais maintained that he was still a Muslim. Rayappan, 70, a former van driver, died at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital on Nov 29 of diabetes complications. His body is being kept there until the tussle for it between Mais and his family is sorted out. "What is important is that we determine his religious status first. If he was not a Muslim, then we will return his body to the family," said Abdullah. The Shah Alam Syariah High Court had earlier today referred the case concerning the burial of A. Rayappan to the Syariah Appeals Court. On Friday, Mais applied to have the body of Rayappan, who converted to Islam in 1990 and went by the name of Muhammad Rayappan Abdullah, buried according to Islamic rites, but his family objected on the grounds that the deceased had renounced the religion. On Monday, his widow Lourdes Mary Maria Soosay, 69, filed an application at the Civil High Court in Kuala Lumpur for her late husband's body to be released to her, claiming that Rayappan had been a Roman Catholic when he died.

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UPDATE: Dec 06 2006

TUG-O-WAR For BODY of Rayappan Continues; COURT Revokes Order for MAIS; Widow Sues Hospital, Govt for Hubby's Body; Seeks Damages & Declaration He is A Christian; DAP: Amend Article 121(1A)

You do not acquire a 'spirit' at death. You are one, now! You adopt a body (to experience earth life) just as a scuba diver wears a scuba diving suit (to survive undersea) and for much the same reason a space traveler wears a space suit (to survive in space).

You were born into a state of grace. It is impossible for you to leave it. You will die in a state of grace whether or not special words are spoken for you, or water or oil is poured upon your head or you need to place joss sticks for your ancestors.
You share this blessing with the animals and all other living things. You cannot fall out of grace, nor can it be taken from you.
You can ignore it. You can hold beliefs that blind you to its existence. You will still be graced but unable to perceive your own uniqueness and integrity, and blind also to other attributes with which you are automatically gifted.

Court revokes order; STAR

Tuesday December 5, 2006; By CHELSEA L.Y. NG and CECIL FUNG; KUALA LUMPUR: An order allowing the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) to claim the body of van driver Rayappan Anthony has been revoked to enable his widow to tell the Syariah High Court her side of the story.

The Syariah High Court in Shah Alam yesterday scheduled a hearing in the afternoon to allow Lourdes Mary Maria Soosay to testify why her late husband's body should be released to her. The hearing was adjourned to today as the 65-year-old widow did not turn up. Lourdes Mary, a cancer patient, was at that time filing an application at the civil High Court here for Rayappan's body to be released to her.

According to a source, Mais officials are expected to serve a subpoena on Lourdes Mary this morning to appear for the hearing in the Syariah High Court. Rayappan died of complications from diabetes at Kuala Lumpur Hospital (KLH) on Wednesday. When his family went to claim his body on Thursday, Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) officers stopped them, claiming Rayappan was a Muslim. On Friday, a Shah Alam Syariah High Court granted an application by Mais to claim Rayappan’s body but required the council to get the endorsement of the Federal Territory Syariah High Court. It revoked the order yesterday and fixed hearing for the afternoon.

A frail-looking Lourdes Mary made her way to the civil High Court yesterday, accompanied by some 20 family members and relatives, lawyers and several opposition MPs. “I want Rayappan Anthony back. I want my husband back as a Christian. I will stand by this until I get his body,'' she said in between loud sobs as she met the press.

Lourdes Mary is seeking the release of Rayappan's remains for a Christian burial and also an injunction to stop all other parties from claiming his body. The matter has been fixed for hearing before Justice Kang Hwee Gee at 9am on Monday. In her application, Lourdes Mary named the KLH director-general and the Government as defendants. Apart from seeking to declare that she is the lawful wife of the deceased, she is asking for general and special damages, costs and other relief deemed fit by the court. The family claimed that the National Registration Department issued Rayappan with a MyKad in 2003 in his original name and stated his religion as Christian. They acknowledged that he had been a Muslim before but claimed he returned to Christianity seven years ago. Lourdes Mary's lawyer A. Sivanesan said Jais had written to him about the proceedings in Shah Alam yesterday and he had replied that his client would not go to Syariah Court.
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05/12: Body tussle case: Battle in two courts; SUN

It has been a week since 71-year-old A. Rayappan died. As his body lie in the Kuala Lumpur Hospital mortuary, court battles are being fought to decide whether he will be buried according to Muslim or Christian rites. At the Civil High Court in Kuala Lumpur:
His widow M. Lourdes Mary, a cancer victim, sued the Kuala Lumpur Hospital and the government for the custody of her husband's body.
She wants the court to:

* declare that Rayappan is a Christian who had practised the religion until his death on Nov 29.
* instruct the HKL to hand over Rayappan's body with immediate effect
* to restrain the HKL from handing over the body to anyone else, in whatever way, other than his wife.
The case has been fixed for hearing on Monday (Dec 11, 2006).

At the Shah Alam Syariah Court:
The Syariah court, which had issued an ex-parte order to release Rayappan's body to the Selangor Islamic Affairs Council (MAIS) to be buried according to Muslim rites, has now asked his family via a letter to attend an inter-parte hearing in the interest of fairness and "as per instruction".
His widow's lawyer was also told to prepare affidavits to be presented to the court at a hearing scheduled for Monday (Dec 11, 2006) afternoon.

The lawyer's response: Rayappan's family members are not Muslims and they will not appear before the Syariah court and submit to its jurisdiction.
It is learnt the hearing was later postponed to Tuesday (Dec 12, 2006).

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05/12: Rayappan's widow sues hospital, govt for hubby's body

R.Surenthira Kumar; The Sun
The widow of A. Rayappan whose family is embroiled in a tussle with the Selangor Religious Affairs Department (JAIS) for the 71-year-old man's body today filed a suit against the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) and the Government.
The civil suit, filed by M. Lourdes Mary, 65, through her lawyers at the Civil High Court in Wisma Denmark at about 2.40pm, sought the following:
* a declaration that Lourdes Mary is the lawful wife of A. Rayappan until his death on Nov 29;
* a declaration that Rayappan is a Christian who has practised the religion up until his demise on Nov 29;
* a declaration instructing the HKL director and/or the hospital, on its own or through its agent/staff or representative to hand over Rayappan's body with immediate effect for burial;
* an injunction preventing the HKL director or HKL from continuing to hold Rayappan's body and/or prevent them from restraining Lourdes Mary from claiming her husband's body, with whatever means; and
* an interim injunction instructing the first defendant to hand over Rayappan's body to his wife and also restrain the HKL or its director from handing over the body to anyone else, in whatever way, other than his wife.
The suit also asked for general damages, special damages to be assessed, costs and whatever relief deemed fit.
Lawyer A.Sivanesan said the suit was filed on an urgency ticket and they are waiting for a hearing date to be fixed. Assisting Sivanesan are lawyers M. Manoharan, R.Kengdharan, R.Prabakaran, K.Ramu and M.Kulasegaran.

Last Friday (Dec 1, 2006), the Shah Alam Syariah High Court had issued an ex-parte order to release Rayappan's body to the Selangor Islamic Affairs Council (MAIS) to be buried according to Muslim rites as he had converted in 1990.

MAIS however could only claim the body today after it obtained an endorsement from the Kuala Lumpur Syariah Court.
Sivanesan told reporters a lawyer from JAIS sent him a letter this morning requesting Rayappan's next-of-kin to appear at the Shah Alam Syariah High Court inter-parte proceeding to give evidence and that he gave them details of the deceased's relatives for them to issue a subpoena.

The letter said that in the interest of fairness and "as per instruction", the department also wanted Rayappan's family members to prepare affidavits to be presented to the court at the hearing scheduled this afternoon.
Sivanesan said he replied by fax stating Rayappan's family members were not Muslims and that they would not appear before the Syariah court and submit to its jurisdiction.
However, it is learnt the hearing was later postponed to tomorrow.
He also notified JAIS that Rayappan's body be handed over to his lawful wife forthwith and also for the department not to cause any disturbance in the handing over of Rayappan's body to Lourdes Mary.
Sivanesan added they did not name JAIS as party to the suit as Rayappan's family felt that it had nothing to do with the issue as Rayappan is not a Muslim.
During the filing of the suit, a number of DAP MPs were present.
Sivanesan said Parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang will raise Rayappan's case in parliament.
Speaking to reporters later, Lim said the amendment to Article 121A of the Federal Constitution, which was amended in 1988, had caused injustice as the matter was not properly and fully debated before it was passed.
He said there was no opportunity for Opposition MPs to debate the matter as they were held under ISA during Operation Lalang.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, meanwhile, said the civil courts should not deny the fundamental rights of a citizen for his/her case to be heard.
"The rights of the non-Muslims will be under siege if the government succumbs to the orders issued by the Syariah Courts," added Guan Eng.
Rayappan's widow, Lourdes Mary, who is suffering from breast cancer, her 45-year-old daughter, Mary, and other family members and relatives were also present. The High Court fixed next Monday (Dec 11, 2006) for the hearing.

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And DAP lends its support

Amend Article 121 (1A): Kit Siang; B. Suresh Ram, SUN

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 5, 2006): Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang urged the weekly Cabinet meeting tomorrow to consider amending Article 121(1A) of the Federal Constitution to rectify the injustices arising from cases such as that of A. Rayappan and M. Moorthy. "Such injustices were never intended when Parliament enacted the constitutional amendments (to the article) in 1988," he said in a statement relased in the Parliament lobby today. Lim urged the Cabinet to initiate a consultation to review Article 121 (1A) to ensure that the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion - enshrined in Article 11 - is given its full and proper meaning and safeguards.

He said Malaysia's international reputation as a model multi-religious nation will not be enhanced by another dispute such as Rayappan's where his widow, M. Lourdes Mary, is in a legal tussle with the Selangor Islamic Affairs Council, to bury him. "Umno Youth leader Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and other Umno leaders are wrong when they claim that Article 121 (1A) is part of the Merdeka Social Contract' and cannot be questioned, as Article 121 (1A) was a constitutional amendment adopted by Parliament 31 years after Merdeka," he said. "Furthermore, there was no proper consultation on the amendment to Article 121 (1A) before it was passed in 1988," he added.

Lim said the constitutional amendment, which was debated for two days in March 1988, was passed at a time of national crisis when the principle of separation of powers was under attack, judges were threatened with impeachment, and seven DAP MPs detained under the Internal Security Act during Operation Lalang. "This was why Karpal Singh, Dr Tan Seng Giaw, Lim Guan Eng, Lau Dak Kee, the late P. Patto and V. David, and I did not take part in the parliamentary debate in March 1988," he said. In Petaling Jaya, the chairman of the Christian Federation of Malaysia, Bishop Paul Tan, called on the government to urgently enact laws that protect and ensure justice for non-Muslims, especially those who wish to revert to their original religion after they have renounced Islam. "We call on all parties in the Rayappan case to respect the professed faith of the deceased," he said in a statement.

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UPDATE Dec 02 06

I have to perform the last rites, as his lawful wife ...

R.Surenthira Kumar Updated: 03:42PM Fri, 01 Dec 2006

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 1, 2006): Cancer stricken widow M.Lourdes Mary, 65, says: "I have to perform the last rites, as his lawful wife and not let some strangers snatch away his body." While she is losing sleep and mourning the death of her husband, Rayappan Anthony, 71, the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (JAIS) is obtaining a Syariah Court order to claim the body at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) mortuary. Rayappan, who died on Wednesday (Nov 29) in the hospital due to prolonged illness, had in 1990 embraced Islam to marry a Muslim. However, Rayappan made a statutory declaration with a Commissioner of Oaths in 1999 to renounce Islam and return to Christianity. The documents, prepared by a lawyer and executed by the Commissioner of Oaths, were submitted to the National Registration Department which accepted the

declaration and reinstated Rayappan's religious status to Christianity. Speaking to reporters in lawyer A.Sivanesan office in Brickfileds this afternoon, a sobbing Lourdes Mary fears the outcome if JAIS get the order it wants from the Syariah Court. "I am a Roman Catholic. My husband was born a Roman Catholic," she added. Sivanesan said the Rayappan's grief-stricken family is going all out to

claim the body for the proper burial rites. "JAIS officials have been very secretive about the documents they had in their possession on the status of Rayappan's religion. After many attempts to reach JAIS officials, I managed to speak to Ustaz Anuar Hamzah Tohir, who told me I will be informed once they obtain the court order. "Together with my co-counsel M.Manoharan, we will file an injunction to

restrain Rayappan's body from being buried and for it to be released to

Rayappan's family. "We will file the papers on Monday (Dec 4) on a certificate of urgency," he said. Sivanesan said even if JAIS succeeds to calim the body today and bury it, "we will apply for a court order to exhume the body and hand it over to Rayappan's family. "We have the latest documents to prove that Rayappan, who had embraced Islam in 1990, had renounced the religion on May 10, 1999, through a statutory declaration," he added. Manoharan said the MyKad details, stating Rayappan's religion as Christian, are prima-facie evidence and adequate proof of his faith before his demise. "The act of emerging to claim the the rights to bury the dead must stop," he said, adding that Rayappan, prior to his death, had been attending church services with Sivanesan said a letter has been faxed to HKL, restraining them from releasing Rayappan's body because being a government body, they are not bound to comply with the orders of a Syariah Court. It is learnt that JAIS officials are believed to have obtained the order

from the Syariah Court. However, a check at 7pm at HKL showed that the body had yet to be released.

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KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 1, 2006): A tussle between the family of a dead man and the Selangor Religious Department (JAIS) at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital mortuary came to a deadlock yesterday when both parties did not reach a

decision on who had the right to the remains of the man, who had embraced

Islam but had, years later, renounced the religion. The grief-stricken family members suffered a second blow when JAIS officers told them that 71-year-old Rayappan Anthony, who died on Wednesday at KLH following prolonged illness, was a Muslim and restrained them from claiming his body. "He was calling out the name of Jesus in his death bed. He never observed the Muslim way of life as he consumed pork and alcohol and had never fasted. He went to church and had even received Holy Communion from a priest days before his death," said Rayappan's daughter Jeya Mary. "Now, after all these years of caring for him, why has JAIS turned up at this painful moment to take away the body of my father, who is no longer a Muslim. Where is the justice?" Rayappan's family admitted that he was born a Roman Catholic and had six children from his Christian marriage, but had converted to Islam in 1990 when he married a Muslim woman. The children said they were not aware of their father's Muslim status until he returned to them for good eight years later. Lawyer A. Sivanesan, who is representing the family, said Rayappan, who was known as Muhammad Rayappan Abdullah after the conversion, had made a statutory declaration with a commissioner of oaths in 1999, stating his wish to renounce Islam and return to Christianity. He said the documents, which were prepared by a lawyer and executed by the commissioner of oaths, were submitted to the National Registration Department (NRD), which accepted the declaration and reinstated Rayappan's religious status to Christianity. "When we showed the JAIS officers the MyKad, they told us, Ôitu MyKad boleh koyak dan buang' (that MyKad you can tear it up and throw it away). "They said the details in it are invalid," said Jeya. He said the NRD had also issued a MyKad, which stated Rayappan's religion as Christianity. At about 3pm yesterday, Sivanesan and the family, and JAIS officers and the Kuala Lumpur Religious Department (Jawi) met at a room in the mortuary to discuss the matter for an hour. Sivanesan said JAIS had only produced a card issued in 2005, which showed that Rayappan was a Muslim, to substantiate their claim. "In 2005, he was leading the life of a Christian. They (JAIS) did not provide or show any other document to say he was a Muslim," he said. Sivanesan also expressed disappointment over the lack of transparency by the JAIS officers, who told him they need not substantiate the dead man's Muslim status with other documents and had the right to claim his body. He said JAIS officer told him they will seek an order from a syariah court early today to claim the body and perform a Muslim burial. Sivanesan said the syariah court should rule in favour of the family as Rayappan had lived as a Christian. He cited the case of Nyonya Tahir, who was born a Muslim but led the life of a Buddhist. After her death earlier this year, the Negri Sembilan syariah court ruled

that she be allowed a burial according to Buddhist rites as she had never

practised Islam.

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Chaos At KL Hospital Morgue Over Rights To Body; November 30, 2006 21:41 PM

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 (Bernama) -- Chaos hit the Kuala Lumpur Hospital's morgue as two parties were adamant that they had the sole right to the body of one, who died at the hospital Wednesday. Rayappan's family members claimed that he was a Christian while the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) said that he was a Muslim. Hence, the dispute.

The argument had been going on at the morgue's compound since Wednesday. A.Sivanesan, lawyer to Rayappan's family members, said Rayappan, from Section 19, Shah Alam, embraced Islam on Jan 20 1990 when he married an Indian Muslim woman under his Muslim name, Muhammad Rayappan Abdullah. "But after about eight years of being a Muslim, Rayappan decided to return to his family and applied to renounce the faith," he told reporters at the morgue's compound Thursday.

Sivanesan said Rayappan had made a sworn declaration before a Commissioner for Oaths to renounce Islam but did not submit the letter to Jais until his death Wednesday. He said Rayappan applied to the National Registration Department (NRD) on May 10 1999 to change the particulars in his identity card by submitting his sworn declaration and the department had issued a new MyKad to him under the name of Rayappan Anthony. Sivanesan said he discussed the matter with the Jais officials Thursday morning and submitted all the legal documents from the NRD to them, and the matter would be taken to the Syariah Court Friday.

Meanwhile, Rayappan's daughter, Jayamarie, 42, said her father had stopped living as a Muslim when he returned to his Christian family in 1999. "We hope we can claim the body amicably and our lawyer has given all the documents to Jais," she said. Jais refused to comment when contacted.

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= = = = and here is the STAR’s account with other details

Friday December 1, 2006

Family and Jais fight for custody of van driver’s body

KUALA LUMPUR: The family of a 71-year-old man is challenging the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) for the custody of his body, claiming that he was a Christian and no longer a Muslim. The family acknowledged that he was a Muslim before but claimed he had returned to Christianity seven years ago. Van driver A. Rayappan died of complications from diabetes at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (KLH) on Wednesday. When his family wanted to claim his body from the KLH mortuary yesterday, Jais officers, who claimed that Rayappan was still a Muslim, stopped them. Lawyer A. Sivanesan, who accompanied the family to KLH, spoke with the officers but failed to resolve the matter.

“In 1990, Rayappan became a Muslim and his whole family knew about it. But in 1999, he came back to Christianity and has been practising his faith ever since,” the lawyer said. Sivanesan said that in 1999, Rayappan submitted a deed poll to the National Registration Department (NRD) to change his Muslim name back to his original one and it was approved. “There are no arguments. NRD has issued him a MyKad with his original name and therefore acknowledged him as a Christian. He died a Christian and his body should be given to his family,” he said. Sivanesan said Jais officers showed him a statement dated June 2005 that Rayappan’s name was Muhamad Rayappan bin Abdullah and that they had issued him a card, verifying him to be a Muslim. “Why didn’t they issue him the card in 1990 when he first converted?

Why wait until now to show that they have issued him a card last year?” he asked. “The family only wants to point out that he was born a Christian, became a Muslim and then converted back to Christianity. All this was done legally and there is no reason why we cannot claim his body,” said Rayappan’s cousin Deva Sagayam.

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For related post on the SMS Message case by "Raja Sherina" go H E R E

MORE PICS - Baharudin Ahmad, Former KANGAR COUNCIL President Jailed 4 Years, Fined RM405K – 4 COUNTS of CORRUPTION CHARGES Involving RM387.5K

ABOVE: The face of Baharudin Ahmad, a crude and indiscrete man who thrown his weight around immediatelyly after being appointed the Kangar Council President.

True to Lord's Acton words: "Power corrupts and absolutely power corrupts absolutely"
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Ex-Kangar Council Chief Jailed Four Years, Fined RM405,000 For Graft; November 29, 2006 18:46 PM

KANGAR, Nov 29 (Bernama) -- Former president of the Kangar Municipal Council, Baharudin Ahmad, was today sentenced to four years' jail and fined RM405,000 after the Sessions Court found him guilty on four counts of corruption involving RM387,500 in 1999. After Judge Rosilah Yop handed down the sentence, Baharudin, 48, who was represented by counsel M. Kirubanandan in place of Datuk Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, applied for a stay of execution pending an appeal to the High Court. However, the judge dismissed the application following an objection by the prosecution, and said that Baharudin would have to serve the jail term from today. Deputy public prosecutor Mohamed Hanafiah Zakaria, who suggested a heavy penalty on Baharudin, said he was the one responsible for causing the council building to be sealed on Aug 15.

ABOVE: Being led to court and handcuffed (BELOW)

ABOVE: Entering the court's lock-up before being transfered to prision to serve the sentence immediately as the court has disallowed his application for a stay of ecxecution

"The prosecution requests the court to consider a heavy penalty on the accused because the offences were committed when he had just assumed the post of Kangar council president and the evidence of witnesses showed that he had used his position to get some benefits.

"As a result of this, the council was sued by the complainant in this case, to the extent that it caused the council building to be sealed and, perhaps, its movable assets would be auctioned," he said. The building that houses the council office was sealed after the local authority failed to pay damages totalling RM6,350,774.77 to Sonati Development Corporation Sdn Bhd as ordered by the High Court for terminating a contract. Two weeks after the building was sealed, the council obtained an interim stay of the High Court order pending an appeal with the Federal Court. Records showed that the council had appointed Sonati Development on June 14, 1999 to manage the construction of houses and shophouses on its land in Mukim Titi Tinggi, Padang Besar. On April 14, 2000, however, the council terminated the contract with Sonati Development, causing the company to institute civil proceedings in the High Court against the local authority. Judge Datuk Hasan Che Lah, who heard the suit, held that the contract had been wrongly terminated.

In today's proceedings, Mohamed Hanafiah said the offences committed by Baharudin were serious and he referred to the recent Corruption Perceptions Index issued by Transparency International which showed that Malaysia had slipped in its ranking from the 39th position to 44th. The government was concerned over the increase in corruption cases, he said. Evidence by witnesses showed that Baharudin had received bribes totalling RM85,000 and returned only RM30,000 after he knew that an investigation was taking place, said Mohamed Hanafiah who was assisted by Ishak Mohd Yusoff. Baharudin who was brought to the court on Feb 9, 2004, had pleaded not guilty to all charges. He was freed on RM25,000 bail with one surety pending trial. He faced three charges under Section 10(a)(bb) of the Anti-Corruption Act 1997 and one under Section 165 of the Penal Code. The charges were later amended before the trial began. The trial saw 16 prosecution and four defence witnesses. Under the first charge, Baharudin was alleged to have solicited a RM300,000 bribe from contractor Nik Mokhtar Nik Hassan to approve and help ensure smooth implementation of the mixed housing development

ABOVE: The sealing of the Kangar council's premises on Aug 15

WORLD’S LARGEST WHITE ELEPHANT– RM7.6 Billion BAKUN DAM; RM 9 Billion LONGEST POWER LINK (Dam To PENINSULA MALAYSIA) Or RM8 Billion Aluminum Smelter

ABOVE & BELOW: The Bakun Dam still under construction and scheduled to finish in 2010

White Elephant - A rare, expensive Dam that is a financial burden (RM 7.6 billion) to build, maintain & utilize (RM 9 billion –undersea cable or RM8 Billion – aluminum smelter). Something of dubious or limited value - an endeavor or venture that finally proves to be a conspicuous failure.

The controversial Bakun hydroelectric dam project will be completed at an estimated cost of RM7.6 billion, the Dewan Rakyat was told today (June 11 06) .The figure was revealed by Parliamentary Secretary in the Finance Ministry Hilmi Yahya in a reply to Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR-Permatang Pauh) in an oral question session.

With the undersea power cable to Peninsular to cost (RM9 billion, from NST (below, Nov 28 06) or an aluminium smelter costing RM8 billion (The Edge, Sep 16 03, below); whichever way you look at it; it is a damned dam no longer wanted by its owner.

The government is in a real dilemma now and a decision must be made now as time is needed to lay the cables or to build the smelter. And where would the government get the funds (except from Petronas oil)? Even the Minister in charge, Datuk Dr Lim Keng Yaik said: “ It is all economics, so we have to work out whether it is worthwhile…” No wonder the EPU cancelled the RM 3 Billion West Coast Highway but it was reconsider the next day as some cronies felt it was too good a mega project to miss. See previous post h e r e.
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World's Largest undersea power link; 28 Nov 2006; Azlan Abu Bakar; NST

PETALING JAYA: One of the country’s most ambitious projects — to lay undersea power cables from Sarawak to Peninsular Malaysia — may be revived. Costing RM9 billion, the cables will transport up to 5,000 kilowatts of electricity from the Bakun hydroelectric dam and two other new proposed plants in Sarawak from 2014. Stretching from the tip of Sarawak to Ulu Sedili in Johor, the 670km-long network of cables would be the longest in the world, longer than the 580km line between Norway and the Netherlands. But this plan to lay cables under the South China Sea hinges on Cabinet approval and a feasibility study. The project was taken off the table after the financial crisis in 1997. It is being revived amid concerns about excess capacity from Bakun dam, which is due for completion by 2009.

Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik said: "Coming so far from Sarawak, that means we have to invest in big cables. ”It is all economics, so we have to work out whether it is worthwhile but most certainly it would be after 2014 and beyond. "We will seek approval from the prime minister to invest RM9 billion on the cables." The minister, who chairs the Electricity and Tariff Planning Development Committee, will seek approval from the Cabinet for the investment needed to lay out the cables. "The committee will meet on Dec 8 to discuss, among others, the two proposed hydro plants in Sarawak. "We will also look into ways to solve the Bakun issue which is scheduled to be completed by 2009 and a request made by Sarawak to set up an aluminium smelting plant," he said.

The two proposed hydro plants are in Murum and Baleh. Other members of the committee include the Finance Ministry, Petroliam Nasional Bhd, Energy Commission and Tenaga Nasional Bhd. Malaysia faces the tough question of how to secure future power supply for Peninsular Malaysia, amidst rising costs of gas and coal. Hydro plants are an alternative, but there is limited hydro plant potential in the peninsular. One option has been to import power from Sarawak. "While rivers in Peninsula Malaysia are capable of producing about 1,000 megawatts of electricity, the Rejang River can produce about 20,000MW," Dr Lim said. He added that the ministry will try to keep the cost at below 20 sen per kilowatt per hour. Dr Lim told this to reporters after opening the International Energy Conference For Sustainable Energy 2006, and introducing the National Suria 1000 Programme here yesterday.

"The cables will have to travel almost 700km from Bakun (Bintulu) to the tip of Sarawak and another 670km under sea crossing Indonesian territory to Ulu Sedili before it is channelled to Yong Peng, Johor, where the national grid is located," he said.

= = = = = = = = = = = And the Background to this BAKUN Dam
ANALYSIS - Key Questions for Malaysia's Bakun Dam Project

MALAYSIA: September 13, 2006

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's huge Bakun hydro-electric dam is three-quarters complete and within four years it will drown an area of jungle the size of Singapore. The trouble is, there is still no customer for its power, suggesting the project has only a matter of months to find one or risk sitting idle on completion in 2010. Malaysia gave the go-ahead for the dam 12 years ago, in the face of fierce environmental opposition, when the country was looking at a power shortage. Now, there is a power surplus. "The problem is timeframe," Niklas Olausson, research head of brokerage CLSA, adding that it would take around 10 more years for demand in Malaysian to catch up with supply.

There are two options for the 2,400 megawatts (MW) to be produced by the turbines at Bakun dam, at 205 metres high, under construction among the cleared rainforest of Sarawak state, on Borneo island. Originally, Bakun's power was to be taken by an undersea cable more than 500 km (300 miles) long to peninsular Malaysia, which accounts the vast majority of population and industry. Later, that option lost favour to a plan to use Bakun's power to develop an aluminium smelter in Sarawak. Now, the government is toying with both, not totally convinced of either proposal. As Energy Minister Lim Keng Yaik concedes, the cost of each plan is huge and the stakes are high. "This is because it takes four years to build whatever facilities. Even if the smelter plant project is on, it takes years to build. Even if you bring the electricity to the peninsula, it would take years to lay the cables," he said in July. Lim's comments followed media reports that the government might call off the smelter project. Firms including Rio Tinto, Alcoa, BHP Billiton and China's State Grid Corp. are reported to have expressed interest in setting up a smelter in Sarawak to exploit Bakun's abundant, reliable and cheap power. Newspaper reports said a smelter could use about 2,000 MW, or over 80 percent of Bakun's power, but the government felt the proposals lacked sufficient local participation or had failed to make a strong economic case. Instead, they added, the undersea cable would pump most of the power to the peninsula -- though the reports failed to point out that the peninsula was already awash with electricity.
POWER TO BURN

About 40 percent of Malaysia's total generation capacity of 18,000 MW is not used. The excess power, known as the reserve margin, is equivalent to three Bakun dams. "We don't need it now, but by 2012 we may need new power plants, because by then the reserve margin would have dropped to under 20 percent," said a power-sector analyst with a Malaysian brokerage. He declined to be named because of company policy. That is still a long way off, and in the meantime the government is being urged to consider exporting Bakun's power, once it has been brought ashore via the undersea cable. "Assuming that the power loss (in transmission) is low, the cost is low, and assuming that the energy price environment is a long-term trend ... it offers an avenue for power exports to places like Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand," said Olausson. Swiss engineer ABB and local firms Eden Enterprises and Malaysian Resources Corp. are among those vying to build an undersea cable, media reports have said. They say it could cost up to US$2 billion to lay the cable between sparsely populated Sarawak and the peninsula. The Bakun project, originally set for completion in 2002, was approved in 1994 by then premier Mahathir Mohamad amidst an outcry that it would inundate 69,000 hectares (170,000 acres) of rainforest and displace thousands of indigenous people.

The original plan was to channel 70 percent of the dam's power across the South China Sea to peninsular Malaysia by laying 670 km (416 miles) of submarine cables, creating reputedly the world's longest undersea transmission line.

A local company, Ekran Bhd., was awarded the concession to build and operate the dam. But construction was derailed by the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis and debt problems at Ekran, forcing the government to take over the project. In 2000, the government scrapped the idea of an undersea cable but maintained the dam's planned generating capacity of 2,400 MW, confident that there would be a ready customer.

A new contract to complete the dam was awarded to a seven-member consortium led by Malaysian conglomerate Sime Darby. The project still faces problems, with construction running behind schedule and incurring hefty cost overruns.
Story by Syed Azman
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Malaysian state says still pursuing Bakun smelter
Thu Sep 7, 2006 7:47am ET
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Malaysia's Sarawak state is still pursuing plans for an aluminium smelter, a government minister said on Thursday, despite media reports that the proposal was close to being scrapped.

Malaysian newspapers reported in July that the federal government might call off the smelter project, which was to be powered by Sarawak's 2,400-megawatt Bakun hydro-electric dam. The dam is jointly owned by state and federal governments and is under construction in the jungles of Sarawak, on Borneo island. Sarawak wants to use Bakun's abundant, reliable and competitively priced power to lure industry to the state. A federal government official could not be reached for comment. "As far as I know, the aluminium smelter project in still on," Sarawak's deputy chief minister George Chan told Reuters, adding the project was important for the state's development. "The only way for Sarawak to move on is to bring heavy industries to the state. We have great source of power supply. Otherwise we have no
comparative advantage over the other states," he said.

Firms including Rio Tinto (RIO.L: Quote, Profile, Research)(RIO.AX: Quote, Profile, Research), Alcoa (AA.N: Quote, Profile, Research), BHP Billiton (BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research)(BHP.AX: Quote, Profile, Research) and China's State Grid Corp are reported to have expressed interest in building the smelter in Sarawak.But July's newspaper reports said the federal government felt the proposals lacked sufficient local participation or had failed to make a strong economic case. Instead, the government was looking at an alternative use for Bakun's electricity -- an undersea cable feeding power from Sarawak to peninsular Malaysia, the newspapers said. Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop said last month the government had not decided on how best to use the power to be generated by the Bakun dam. A source familiar with the Bakun project said the proposed smelter would take up at least 800 megawatts of the dam's power. The Business Times newspaper said in July that Swiss engineer ABB (ABBN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research) and local firms Eden Enterprises (EDEN.KL: Quote, Profile, Research) and Malaysian Resources Corp (MYRS.KL: Quote, Profile, Research) were among those vying to build an undersea cable.

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Big Money: Power decisions; by P Gunasegaram, The Edge Daily (Malaysia) ;September 16th, 2003

As compelling as the logic seems to be at first glance, there are many complications on second thoughts. When the Bakun hydroelectric plant is completed, there will be 2400mw of power coming onstream, more than Sabah and Sarawak can use. And there is no undersea cable to the peninsula. So why not set up an energy-guzzling aluminium smelter, Smelter Asia, to absorb the tremendous power surge just as it comes onstream, which will provide some 3,000 jobs as well? There's a huge investment outlay of US$2.1 billion, or RM8 billion, and production of 500,000 tonnes of aluminium a year eventually, of which half will be exported and the other half will meet local needs. Sales could be as much as RM2.5 billion, about half for export, gaining valuable foreign exchange through exports and reducing imports.

As sexy as the proposals look, there are complications - serious ones. First, is it really desirable to have that aluminium smelter here? Second, even if it is, should Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary be the key person pushing both Bakun and Smelter Asia? And third, is the government giving away too much? The cost of building Bakun is expensive at RM4.5 billion. Electricity generated costs little but the increase in supply comes in large spurts. Other ways of doing it, instead of taking capacity rapidly up to 2,400mw, may be to go for smaller capacity with provision to increase later. That could have avoided the current situation where it is necessary to find a huge energy user to justify the dam.

Alternatives would be not to develop Bakun at all, or to scale it down to a number of smaller hydroelectric projects. That would have been more acceptable in terms of environmental and other considerations. Putting up a smelter would mean that a substantial portion of capacity (up to 1,000mw) goes to it or over 40 per cent of capacity. The smelter becomes so important that there might be further bending backwards to make sure it is profitable. That's not an unlikely situation, given that steel producers set up in the 1980s industrialisation drive still enjoy tariff protection. A single aluminium smelter, which absorbs over 40 per cent of Bakun's capacity and produces twice the nation's requirements for aluminium, is perhaps too much dependence. What happens if this project fails as so many heavy industrialisation projects have in the past? Aluminium is, after all, a commodity-like product and it is entirely possible there can be gluts in the future. We all know what happens then: local consumers of aluminium will have to pay higher prices. Perhaps it may be better to leave it to others to produce aluminium and for us to buy from the cheapest producers. That's what lessons we have had with steel seem to indicate. To protect local steel producers, tariff barriers have been placed to the detriment of steel users, needlessly raising the cost of raw materials for industry. Why Syed Mokhtar? With the latest agreement, he becomes by far the largest power (as in electricity) broker in the country besides having a slew of other interests in construction and ports, and now a massive aluminium-smelting venture. Isn't that too much for one man to handle? And isn't there a conflict when he is both purchaser and producer of electricity? Heaping some more on an already full plate just means that the food spills on to the floor - wastage in other words. By now, we should have learnt our lesson on that. Remember Tan Sri Halim Saad, remember Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli? And Syed Mokhtar has amassed more in lesser time than these two. Clearly, concessions have been given. For just 1.0 per cent of the purchase price of RM945 million for a 60 per cent stake in Sarawak Hidro, the company undertaking the Bakun project, Syed Mokhtar gains control of the company. And he has favourable terms (see story on Page 1) to pay for his equity stake in stages.

The government has sunk RM1.2 billion into the project already and converted over RM500 million of this into a very long-term soft loan, which benefits Sarawak Hidro. For the amount injected, the government could have continued to fully own Sarawak Hidro and obtain financing to complete the project. Power purchase contracts could be negotiated on an arm's length basis, not necessarily to Smelter Asia but to any other aluminium smelter or power user. It must be remembered that Syed Mokhtar recently sold his private interests in an independent power project to listed Malakoff at over RM800 million, most of which will have translated into almost pure profit for him because not much capital expenditure had been undertaken yet - essentially, Syed Mokhtar was selling a franchise. But now, Syed Mokhtar has the privilege of buying into Sarawak Hidro, based on project cost and the debt-equity split. He is not paying for the franchise - all he is doing is buying into equity at par. The government, the owner of Sarawak Hidro, gets no premium for the project and is effectively helping to fund Syed Mokhtar's equity purchase by deferring payment while effectively handing over control. What's more, it continues to bear the risk for the project through guarantees for financing. All told, the arrangements are a good deal for Syed Mokhtar, but not for the rest of us.

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FEATURE-Forest-dwellers count cost of Borneo's Bakun dam

23 Oct 2006 18:03:19 GMT; Source: Reuters; By Syed Azman

BAKUN, Malaysia, Oct 23 (Reuters) - The wall of Malaysia's huge Bakun dam is almost finished, a towering symbol of the nation's drive to develop. But it represents little more than broken promises to many of the tribal people it displaced. Eight years after the government forced thousands of tribal people from their homes in the jungles of Borneo island, many of them still find it difficult to adapt to a cash economy, a world away from their former life of farming, fishing and hunting. "It's tough to make a living here," said Okang Lepun, a Kenyah tribesman and father of seven who lives in the dusty resettlement camp of Sungai Asap, 30 km away from the dam wall. The 45-year-old is one of the lucky ones. He earns an income from selling vegetables to the dam's construction workers. But he, too, would prefer to have his old life back. "Over here, you have to buy everything -- rice, meat, fish. There's no hunting ground, there's no river to fish," he said. "We even have to pay for water and electricity." Large tracts of rainforests, where the Kenyah, Kayan and Penan people once lived, have been cleared to make way for the Bakun dam, which is set to flood an area the size of Singapore. To peer into the cleared land slated to be flooded and see the dam wall, visitors must drive for half an hour along a bumpy logging trail until they reach a security post. Inside, lines of dump trucks rumble along dirt roads, hauling boulders up steep slopes to feed construction of the 220-metre high rockfill dam on the Balui river in central Sarawak state. Some 16 million cubic metres of rock will be used to build the Bakun dam, one of Asia's largest hydro-electric projects outside of China. "The dam wall is now about 190 to 195 metres high, and should reach its full height in six months. Work is progressing well," said a source at one of the firms building the dam.

STRANGERS IN THEIR OWN LAND

Malaysia defied fierce environmental opposition in the 1990s to go ahead with the Bakun project, saying its cheap power would lure industry to Sarawak, one of its least developed states. But a decade later, the much-delayed project is still up to four years away from completion. There is still no major customer lined up to take a slice of the 2,400 megawatts of power the dam will be capable of generating and some of the local tribal people feel let down.

Indigenous people from the area account for only five percent of the project's total workforce of over 2,000, made up of mostly Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Chinese. Displaced families -- about 11,000 people in all -- received 1.2 hectares (three acres) each under the resettlement deal. Some say the land is not enough, too far away or infertile.

"We are used to cultivating rice, but we can't do that here as the land is not suitable," said Nyurang Ului, a Kenyah headman, sipping tea in a traditional Borneo longhouse, a row of timber homes built side by side, as one, and raised on stilts. Ului, 70, is grateful for closer schools and clinics since the move, but he is worried about the future awaiting the small children capering along the longhouse's communal verandah. "Five years from now, life will be even more difficult. Some may return to the old place," he said, adding that many had exhausted their compensation paid for abandoned ancestral land. Several years ago, about 400 people moved back to their ancestral land above the Bakun dam site, joining many others who had refused to leave the forests, according to environmental group Friends of the Earth Malaysia.

GOVERNMENT PROMISES A BETTER FUTURE Sarawak Land Development Minister James Masing, formerly chairman of Bakun resettlement committee, said it was just a matter of time until people adjusted.

"If you look at five to 10 years down the road from today, they will be in a better position. There are better education and better facilities here," he told Reuters. Last month, a delegation from the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia visited Sungai Asap and found that the absence of documentation, such as birth certificates and identity cards, had created bureaucratic headaches for the relocated tribal people. "Without documentation they are not only denied the right to modern health care, education and land title, but risk arrest and detention as illegals," said delegation leader Denison Jayasooria. Bakun was built with the promise of a new era of investment, industrialisation and jobs for the young people of Sarawak. When completed, its reservoir will cover 695 square kilometres (268 sq mile) and power eight turbines. But its owner, the federal government, has yet to find a major buyer for its power. The government could either approve a power-guzzling aluminium smelter plant in Sarawak or channel Bakun's power to the more industrialised Malaysian peninsula via submarine cables. Environmentalists say the option to lay cables would be expensive, fraught with technical uncertainties and could raise sovereignty issues if they passed through Indonesian waters. In any case, the peninsula currently has a glut of power. State-controlled utility Sarawak Enterprise Corp said this month it planned to build a 900-megawatt dam in Murum, 40 km upstream of Bakun and home to thousands of Penans, a tribe of forest-dwellers who traditionally hunt with blow-pipes. "The Penans there will face the same fate as us, if not worse. They can only survive in the forest," said Lepun, the Kenyah tribesman turned vegetable-seller.
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From Turkish Daily News H E R E , datelined Nov 10 1999

Anwar Ibrahim says Malaysia PM had role in dam deal
Kuala Lumpur - Reuters
Jailed former Malaysian finance minister Anwar Ibrahim told his sex trial on Tuesday that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had intervened to have a multi-billion dollar dam project shelved using public funds. Anwar, returning to the capital's High Court from hospital where he spent three days, said Mahathir had ordered him to compensate developers of the 15 billion ringgit ($3.9 billion) Bakun Dam using public funds, but without proper audit and account. "I was instructed by the prime minister to use Treasury funds to compensate the company without going through proper audit and account," said Anwar, testifying for the 11th day at his sodomy trial. "That is not the duty of the finance minister. I'm referring specifically to Tan Sri Ting and Ekran," he said. Businessman Ting Phek Khiing controls construction firm Ekran Bhd, one of the developers of the dam project, which was shelved in 1997. "The official Treasury view is that it must have been properly audited. When I refused it was seen as a challenge to the prime minister," Anwar said.
Anwar discharged from hospital

Anwar, standing trial on one of five sodomy charges, was taken to hospital on Friday for the third time last week after he complained of persistent headaches. Anwar told reporters he was discharged on Sunday. "They keep popping pills into me. I feel that I'm some kind of an addict," he said. He said he was angry that his family had not been allowed to visit him in hospital. "I was so furious, I made so much noise that they discharged me the following day". Anwar recently spent three and a half weeks in hospital after alleging opponents poisoned him with arsenic. A panel of local and foreign doctors later said he showed no signs of poisoning but complained of headaches, numbness and hair and weight loss. Malaysia shelved the Bakun project in Sarawak state on Borneo in October 1997 after the Asian economic crisis erupted. Last year, the government asked power firm Tenaga Nasional Bhd to revive parts of the project by taking over from Ekran. Ekran said last month it had relinquished its rights to the project and that the government would pay total compensation of 950 million ringgit to dam developers, contractors and lenders.

Evidence of 'bad blood,' judge says

Anwar told the court that Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin also had an interest in Bakun through nominees. "Other than Tan Sri Ting who was a major shareholder, Tun Daim Zainuddin also had an interest through nominees in Ekran and PM's son was supposed to get a project in the Bakun project. All this was done with the full awareness of the PM," he said. Anwar, who was sacked from the cabinet and expelled from Mahathir's United Malays National Organization (UMNO) in September last year, said Mahathir's attitude towards him changed. "The PM was convinced by Tun Daim and some of his associates that I would mount an effective challenge against him as UMNO president," he said. "Secondly there were major policy differences in the manner that we both dealt with the economic crisis and financial convulsions. I was no longer seen to be reliable to protect the interest of his family and cronies." Anwar was deputy UMNO chief when he was expelled. Judge Arifin Jaka reminded Anwar that his allegation of conspiracy must be related to the sodomy charge. "It's bad blood you are trying to show. Let me tell you there's enough evidence of bad blood," the judge said. Anwar's lead counsel Christopher Fernando said: "We have to build up the foundation. I can't put the cart before the horse."

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For further read:

The Bakun Dam: A Case Study

ABB PULLS OUT AS BAKUN DAM FLOUNDER

MORE PICS – LANDSLIDE - 262.6Km N-S Highway; SAMY’s TOLL Hikes 2007; Samy’s ON /OFF RM 3 Bil W Coast Highway (LPB); WHO Would Want To MISS This?

The landslide was really a “mountain in a molehill” by Datuk Samy Vellu. As can be seen in the pics, only 1 dumper tractor was a hand to clear the slide of land from the hill slope at 262.6 km.
And Samy in his usual element was complaining that nobody say “ Thank you” to the government for the compensations paid to the concessionaries when there was no hike. In the first place, all these crony's highway contracts are skewed in their favors (with the blessing of the government) and they should be reviewed to lessen the burden of the rakyat in view of the present economic situation. (see Below, Anwar's call for reduce fuel prices because of "sluggish economy & rising inflation"

Just be transparent and open up the accounts and see how much they are raking all the way to the banks.

As for the West Coast highway, he announced it was OFF and the next day, EPU needs time to consider and it is ON again. This is fishy, some crony just cannot take NO for an answer and who would it be to grab this golden opportunity.
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Landslide At Menora Tunnel; November 28, 2006 01:15 AM

IPOH, Nov 28 (Bernama) -- A landslide at Km262.6 of the North-South Expressway Monday forced the closure of two south-bound lanes of the highway there.

Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said the incident took place at about 7.40 pm Monday.

The landslide occurred at a slope about 200 metres from the Menora Tunnel but there was no loss of life or damage to vehicles, he said in a statement. "Two lanes are closed and cleaning work is being carried out. The fast lane has been opened to traffic and traffic flow is smooth. The situation is under control," he said. Samy Vellu said the two lanes would remain closed until Tuesday morning as a precaution to monitor the slope's stability. He said he had directed PLUS to undertake repairs to ensure that the slope was stable and safe.

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Five highways to charge new rates from Jan 1; Tuesday November 28, 2006

KUALA LUMPUR: Toll rates will be increased for five concessionaires come Jan 1, 2007, according to Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu. He said the Government could not afford to compensate the concessionaires for the Guthrie Corridor Expressway,

Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu.: "We cannot pay another 2 Billion as compensation. Everytime we pay compensation after compensation, nobody say "Thank you'"

Karak Highway, Grand Saga Cheras-Kajang Highway, Lebuhraya Damansara Puchong (LDP) and Kesas Shah Alam Highway the estimated RM2bil, if no increase was approved during this round of concession agreements. It is understood that this is how much the Government will have to fork out until the concession agreements lapse. Citing an example, Samy Vellu said the original toll rate when the LDP first opened was RM1.50.

“But because of complaints by the people, it was reduced to RM1. Just because the toll was reduced, it did not mean the balance of 50 sen did not have to be paid,” he said, adding that the Government had to compensate the LDP concessionaire RM68mil last year and RM76mil this year. Samy Vellu said the quantum of increase would only be finalised after a study by the ministry to make sure the increase was reasonable and would not burden the public.

The last toll increase was on Jan 1, 2005, when Plus Expressways increased toll rates by 10% on the North-South Expressway. In April 2002, Kesas highway also raised its rates by between 20 sen and 60 sen. Samy Vellu added that as a matter of policy, the Government would also ensure that if there were two different concessionaires operating on similar routes their toll rates would be identical. Meanwhile, in Petaling Jaya, Pan Malaysian Bus Operators Association president Datuk Ashfar Ali said he hoped that the increase would not apply to buses. “We cannot afford to absorb an increase. We hope that if the increase does apply to buses, then the Government will allow us to pass on the charges to passengers, as allowed for taxis.” Pan Malaysia Lorry Operators Association president Er Sui See said if the lorry operators were burdened the increase would be passed on to customer. On another matter, Samy Vellu said the proposal for the 216km West Coast Highway was withdrawn by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) at the last Cabinet meeting. He added that if the Government had carried out the project earlier, it would have been much cheaper, instead of the estimated cost of RM3bil now. Samy Vellu also said he would ask the Cabinet to stop issuing licences for Class F contractors because too many of them were dormant.

= = = = = = =UPDATE: 28 Nov 06; 21:55pm

Fomca Urges Govt To Review Toll Concession Agreement; Update: Nov 28 06, 21:50pm

By Mohsin Taib; KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28 (Bernama) -- The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) has urged the government to review the agreements on toll concessions describing them as "one sided" and a burden to the people. Secretary General Mohd Shaani Abdullah said since the government through Tenaga Nasional Bhd could review the contract with the independent power producers (IPPs), the same thing should be done to the toll concession agreements. "If the contract with IPPs can be reviewed, why can't it be done to the companies awarded the toll concessions," he told Bernama here Tuesday. Mohd Shaani was commenting on a statement by Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu on Monday that the five concession companies in the Klang Valley have been allowed to increase toll charges starting Jan 1. The five concessionaires are those operating the Damansara-Puchong Highway (LDP), Guthrie Corridor Expressway (GCE), Shah Alam Highway (KESAS), Kuala Lumpur-Karak Highway and the Grand Saga Cheras Highway. Samy Vellu said the increase was aimed at removing some of the RM2 billion subsidy borne by the government. Mohd Shaani said the concession agreements should be reviewed as the companies had collected huge profits due to the high volume of traffic that way surpassed earlier projections. He added the huge profits and high traffic volume were good reasons for the government to call for a review or at least ask for discounts from the companies. "The Minister said the toll increase cannot be avoided. Fomca wants to know why wasn't this thought of before signing the agreements," he added.

= = = = =Some consortium is eying this highway

West Coast Highway Project Has Not Been Shelved; November 28, 2006 12:15 PM

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28 (Bernama) -- Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu Tuesday clarified that the RM3 billion West Coast Highway (LPB) has not been shelved. He said the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) in the Prime Minister's Department had asked for a little more time to study the working paper on the project which was presented by the ministry at the Cabinet meeting last week. "The EPU will resubmit the working paper on the project to the Cabinet," said Samy Vellu in a statement here. He also said that he had informed the Cabinet last week that the project could not be postponed due to rising costs. Samy Vellu was commenting on news reports today which quoted him as saying that the 215.8 km LPB project would be cancelled.
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West Coast Highway Project Put Off; November 27, 2006 19:42 PM

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27 (Bernama) -- The West Coast Highway (LPB) linking Taiping in Perak to Banting in Selangor would not be implemented, Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said Monday. He said the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) in the Prime Minister's Department last week rejected the proposal from his ministry to build the highway. He, however, did not disclose the reason given by the EPU for rejecting the proposal. "I had informed the Cabinet (last week) that the project must be started. It could not be postponed because the cost might escalate. Currently, the cost is estimated at RM3 billion," he said. He was speaking to reporters after witnessing the signing of a 40-year concession agreement between the Works Ministry and Projek Lintasan Shah Alam Sdn Bhd for the construction of the 14.7km Kemuning-Shah Alam (LKSA) Highway costing RM600 million, here, Monday.

The government was represented by Works Ministry secretary-general Datuk Syed Jamal Syed Jaafar and Malaysian Highway Authority director- general Datuk Ir Mohd Noor Yaacub, while the company was represented by its chairman Tan Sri Hammad Kama Piah Che Othman and director Datuk Ir Jamaludin Osman. Last week, Samy Vellu announced that the government planned to build the 215.8km West Coast Highway. On contractors, Samy Vellu said he would propose to the government to stop issuing the Class F licence which had been frozen. He said only 13,000 out of the 37,000 Class F licence holders were active. The active contractors would be upgraded and allowed to be involved in projects worth more than RM200,000, he said.

MORE PICS - RETALIATORY ATTACK [CAR RAMMED & SLASHED] on KLANG HEALTH DIRECTOR For Closing Entertainment centres & Freezing of Licences

To many, in the law of the jungle, when their “rice bowl” is destroyed; they can only resort to violence to communicate. This attack is a physical communication telling the other party that “a wrong has been done” to the aggrieved party. The legal laws (for entertainment licences) are man made & created to fence up the individuals and restrict their spontaniety in doing things. In our society, the natural communication of aggression has broken down. We have confused violence with aggression and restrain the communicative elements of aggression while ignoring its many positive values, until its natural power becomes dammed up, naturally exploding into violence. Violence is therefore a distortion of aggression.

But there is never any justification for violence. There is no justification for hatred. There is no justification for murder. Those who indulge in violence (even on the virtual screen) for whatever reason are themselves changed, and the purity of their purpose adultered.

Council health chief hurt in horror attack; Tuesday November 28, 2006

By EDWARD RAJENDRA

SHAH ALAM: His entire life flashed before him as a one-tonne lorry rammed into his Naza Citra and three men rushed up to attack him with a machete and iron rods. “I thought I was going to die,” said Klang Municipal Council health director Dr Nasruddin Aspan as he recounted the attack that occurred shortly after he left his Taman Menegun Indah house here at about 7.30am yesterday for work. Dr Nasruddin said he locked himself in the car when he saw the driver of the lorry getting out and heading towards him. Moments earlier, the man had driven the lorry into the right side of his MPV where he was seated, smashing the door.

ABOVE: The stolen lorry was used to ram the car by hired hands and BELOW:" Close up of the damaged MPV car

Two other men got out from a brown Proton Gen 2 parked a little further down the road and also ran towards the MPV, armed with a machete and iron rods.

“The men began smashing my car windscreen and windows. Then they slashed and hit me through the broken window. “I kept sounding the horn as they hit me, first with my hands, and later with my right foot as I fell over to the passenger seat bleeding,” he related, still shaken from the experience.

ABOVE & BELOW: The damages sustained by the lorry in ramming the MPV

“I thought I was going to die and kept thinking about my three young sons. This is the first time in my career that I have been ambushed and attacked in this way.” He noticed some people witnessing the attack, but none dared to come forward to help. Thankfully, someone called the police.

ABOVE; Dr Nasruddin ("only doing his duty") showing newsmen to the injuries he sustained (BELOW)

Dr Nasruddin sustained a deep gash on the left side of his head which required eight stitches as well as bruises on his face and hands. Although he did not know why he was attacked, and by whom, Dr Nasruddin suspected it could be due to the closure of entertainment centres or the freezing of licences. “I was just doing my duty,” he added. Dr Nasruddin also recalled how a blue Proton Wira had tailed him from his house to the council office last Friday but he had shrugged off the matter. Shah Alam deputy OCPD Supt Edward Kromol said checks revealed that the lorry was reported stolen outside the Dynasty Hotel in Sentul, Kuala Lumpur, on Sunday.

He believed the men were hired to injure Dr Nasruddin. The men left in the Proton Gen 2 and abandoned the lorry. “We checked the number plate of the Proton and traced it to the owner in Taman Aman, Kapar. We will question him to verify if his car was stolen,” he said. State executive councillor Datuk Abdul Rahman Palil and MPK council president Abdul Bakir Zin visited Dr Nasruddin at his home in the afternoon. Abdul Bakir said the council would place a few enforcement officers at the house to protect Dr Nasruddin and his family.

MORE PICS - 2 FERRIES COLLIDED Head-on; 14.5 Nm From Kuah Jetty; LANGKAWI During HEAVY THUNDERSTORM; 1 Dead; 13 INJURED (3 Serious)

UPDATE: Dec 2 06

Langkawi Ferries Collision Findings Will Be Made Public;

December 01, 2006 20:50 PM
LUMUT, Dec 1 (Bernama) -- The findings in the inquiry into the ferries collision off Pulau Payar near Langkawi will be made public after they are presented to the Cabinet on Dec 11, said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy (BELOW)

Two ferries collided during bad weather on Nov 24, killing a three year-old boy and injuring 12 others. "The Marine Department is preparing the report to be presented to Cabinet on Dec 11. Until then, it is best to stop making comments on the incident," he told reporters after opening Kencana Petroleum Bhd's oil and gas fabrication workshop here Friday. Chan was commenting on statements by certain disgruntled parties that the ferry operator did not take adequate precautions to ensure passenger safety. On another matter, Chan said the Ministry would consider deepening Sungai Sitiawan to allow larger ships and barges to dock at the jetty owned by several manufacturers at Lumut port. "Currently, the Marine Department is deepening Sungai Dinding and the Dinding Straits to facilitate boats to Lumut port. We might extend the deepening works to Sungai Sitiawan," he added. The project to deepen Sungai Dinding and the Dinding Straits cost RM24 million.
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MB Hits Out At Agencies Over Monitoring Of Langkawi Ferry Operators; November 29, 2006 21:42 PM

ALOR STAR, Nov 29 (Bernama) -- Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid Wednesday hit out at what he described as the lackadaisical attitude of the Marine Department and the Maritime Enforcement Agency in enforcing the regulations to be adhered to by operators of the ferry service between Langkawi and the mainland. He said the agencies lacked commitment in enforcing the regulations, particularly those relating to passenger safety. The ferry service operators were always giving all kinds of excuses for not adhering to the regulations in force, he told reporters after chairing the weekly meeting of the state executive council, here. For example, he said, when they were asked for the passenger manifest, the reply was that the passengers did not want to record their names. "I was also told that it was a passenger and not the ferry captian who had lodged a report on last Friday's ferry collision. This clearly shows that the ferry operators are irresponsible," he said. Mahdzir said the agencies and the ferry operators should have learned from the accident near Pulau Payar last Friday in which a boy was killed. "In the past three days, many Marine Department officers were on ferries, inspecting the level of security, radar system and what not. But I feel this will be shortlived," he said. He said a special meeting involving the State Security Committee, Marine Department and the Maritime Enforcement Agency would be held at Wisma Darul Aman tomorrow to discuss their roles and the measures that had to be taken by ferry operators to improve passenger safety. Meanwhile, the committee investigating the ferry accident is expected to come out with its report only on Dec 5.

ABOVE & BELOW: The two ferries at the jetty afetr the collision
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ABOVE & BELOW: Details of the impact - the crushing of metals after the collision.

Parents of the dead boy to sue the ferry operator for negligence. Poor visibility blame for accident. "Radar cannot detect anything"

Legal action to amplify there is no compromise to passenger safety. 1 boy died 8 hours after the incident and 13 others were injured, with 3 in a serious condition in hospital.

Some were seriously injured with head injuries

55 passenger in the Sejarah 15 ferry collided with another big ferry with 153 people on board during the thunderstorm on Friday night. The parents of the dead boy will sue the Sejarah 15 ferry operator for negligence to provide the safe transport services and had failed to provide first aid for the family.

The injured ones

Others have also called for safety measures to be reviewed. And Transport Minister as usual is asking for a Report (with no deadline this time!)

Langkawi MP Datuk Abu Bakar: “It took an hour to ferry the injured to the hospital. If ther is a good and proper system, it would take only 15 minutes”

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One Of Ferry Collision Victims Dies; November 25, 2006 13:10 PM

LANGKAWI, Nov 25 (Bernama) -- One of the ferry collision victims died late last night, seven hours after the ferry he was travelling in collided head-on with another passenger ferry here yesterday. Mohd Danial Ramli, 3, of Tanjung Bendahara, Alor Star, who was warded at the Langkawi Hospital here, died of serious head injuries at about 12.15am, Langkawi District Officer Mansor Ismail said. Mohd Danial was admitted to the hospital at about 7.30pm, he told reporters after visiting the victims at the hospital. Mansor said the boy's body would be taken to Kuala Kedah this morning for burial at his mother's village in Sungai Limau in Yan.

Mohd Danial's parents -- Ramli Saad, 32, and Norziah Abdul Wahab, 40, were also treated at the same hospital and their daughter Amira Anui, 8, also for severe head injuries. Also at the hospital were Norziah's mother, Fatimah Ahmad, 60, and her younger sister Nornadiah, 20.
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ABOVE & BELOW: The lucky ones, uninjured took the other ferries

Chan Directs Mardep To Launch Immediate Probe Into Ferries Collision; November 25, 2006 17:58 PM

RAWANG, Nov 25 (Bernama) -- Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy has directed the Peninsular Malaysia Marine Department (Mardep) to lead an investigation to determine the cause of the collision between two ferries near Langkawi island. He said the investigation would focus on identifying the possible causes of the accident and to determine if the pilots had failed to follow existing rules. "The report will be handed over to my ministry for further action," he told reporters here today. Chan, however, did not say how long it will take to complete the probe. At about 5pm yesterday, two ferries collided head-on 14.5 nautical miles from the Kuah Jetty in Langkawi during a heavy thunderstorm. A three-year-old boy, Mohd Danial Ramli, who sustained serious head injuries as a result of the accident, died at midnight last night at Langkawi Hospital while 208 other passengers survived with several of them injured. Among the injured were Norziah Abdul Wahab, 40, Ramli Saad, 32, Amira Anui, eight, Fatimah Ahmad, 60, and Nornadiah Abdul Wahah, 20.
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Poor visibility likely cause of Langkawi ferry collision; Sunday November 26, 2006

BY EMBUN MAJID: LANGKAWI: Poor visibility due to heavy rain could have caused two ferries to collide near Pulau Payar on Friday, killing a three-year-old boy and injuring 33 passengers. District officer Mansor Ismail said the captain of Express Sejahtera 15 told the police that the ferry’s radar could not detect any object near the vessel before the collision with the Express Kenangan 6 at 5.15pm. The captains of both ferries informed their offices at Kuah jetty and two other ferries were despatched to the scene to take the passengers back, he said. “Boats from the marine police and the Fire and Rescue Department were despatched to the scene,” he said. Mohd Danial Ramli from Jalan Tanjung Bendahara, Alor Star, died of his injuries at about midnight on Friday at Langkawi Hospital.

Mansor said there were 153 passengers on Express Kenangan 6 while most of the injured were from Express Sejahtera 15, which had 55 passengers. He said the Express Sejahtera 15 with its damaged front portion was towed back to the Kuah jetty while Express Kenangan 6 made its way back on its own. He said until yesterday morning, four men and three women, aged between 20 and 40, and two girls, aged six and eight, were still warded at Langkawi Hospital. Eight-year-old Amira Auni Ramli was in the intensive care unit. Mansor said 24 people received outpatient treatment and were sent to a hotel and two rented houses in Kuah on Friday night.

Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said he had asked Mansor to meet with the Marine epartment and the two ferry operators to discuss compensation. “State Secretary Datuk Wira Syed Unan Mashri Abdullah, who is heading the investigation committee, will submit a report on the incident,” he said. In Rawang, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy told Bernama that the Peninsular Malaysia Marine Department (Mardep) would lead an investigation into the cause of the collision. He said the investigation would focus on identifying the possible causes of the accident and to determine if the pilots had failed to follow rules. “The report will be handed over to my ministry for further action,” he told reporters. Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai, who was in Langkawi for an MCA dinner, urged the authorities to ensure such incidents did not recur. He said Langkawi, which was a famous tourist destination, was preparing to welcome an influx of visitors for the Visit Malaysia Year 2007. “We regret this incident,” he said after visiting the injured passengers at the Langkawi Hospital on Friday night.