Sementara enam Anggota Majlis Mesyuarat (Exco) kerajaan negeri digantung selama 12 bulan daripada menghadiri sesi DUN juga berkuatkuasa hari ini.

Speaker DUN Perak V. Sivakumar mengumumkan keputusan itu selepas Zambry dan enam Exco berkenaan tampil di hadapan Jawatankuasa Hak dan Kebebasan DUN di sini hari ini.

Kesemua tujuh Adun BN itu sebelum ini diberi notis saman supaya tampil di hadapan jawatankuasa itu berikutan aduan Adun Canning (DAP), Wong Kah Woh, bahawa majlis angkat sumpah jawatan mereka bertentangan dengan Undang-undang Tubuh Negeri Perak dan menghina DUN kerana Menteri Besar Ke-10, Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, belum meletak jawatan secara rasmi.

Sivakumar berkata setelah meneliti aduan tersebut, beliau mendapati satu kes prima facie terhadap Zambry (Adun Pangkor), Datuk Ramly Zahari (Manong), Datuk Saarani Mohamad (Kota Tampan), Hamidah Osman (Sungai Rapat), Zainol Fadzi Paharuddin (Sungai Manik), Mohd Zahir Abdul Khalid (Kamunting) dan Dr Mah Hang Soon (Chenderiang).

“Keputusan ini diambil selepas mendapati kesemua mereka gagal dan tidak memberikan sebarang penjelasan dalam Mesyuarat Jawatankuasa Hak dan Kebebasan yang diadakan hari ini.

“Mereka telah gagal menawarkan sebarang penjelasan atas tindakan mereka yang menghina Dewan Undangan Negeri,” kata Sivakumar dalam satu kenyataan akhbar empat perenggan di sini lewat petang ini.

Selain Sivakumar, Jawatankuasa Hak dan Kebebasan DUN dianggotai Husin Din (Pas-Selingsing), Chan Ming Kai (PKR-Simpang Pulai), Ong Boon Piow (DAP-Tebing Tinggi), Loke Chee Yan (DAP-Kepayang) dan Sum Chok Leng (DAP-Bercham), manakala wakil tunggal Barisan Nasional (BN) ialah Datuk Hasbullah Osman (Temenggor).

Sebelum itu, kesemua tujuh Adun terbabit telah dipanggil untuk memberi keterangan pada pukul 3 petang di Bilik Mesyuarat Bahagian Kewangan, Bangunan Setiausaha Kerajaan Negeri di sini.

Zambry dan enam Exco itu yang dilihat keluar dari bilik mesyuarat itu pada kira-kira 3.30 petang enggan memberikan sebarang komen kepada pemberita yang menunggu.

Sementara itu, Zambry Abdul Kadir berkata beliau dan enam Exco kerajaan negeri akan mengambil tindakan susulan mengikut peraturan dan undang-undang berhubung tindakan Jawatankuasa Hak dan Kebebasan Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) Perak yang menggantung dan melarang mereka daripada menghadiri sesi DUN.

Beliau bagaimanapun enggan menyatakan apakah tindakan susulan itu.

Zambry berkata jawatankuasa tersebut yang dipengerusikan oleh Speaker DUN Perak V. Sivakumar tidak boleh membuat keputusan itu dengan sewenang-wenangnya tetapi sebaliknya perlu membawanya ke sidang DUN terlebih dahulu.

“Keputusan jawatankuasa itu juga adalah menidakkan kuasa Sultan Perak yang membuat pelantikan Menteri Besar dan barisan Exco berkenaan,” katanya ketika dihubungi Bernama di sini malam ini.

Katanya tindakan jawatankuasa berkenaan juga adalah subjudis memandangkan isu pelantikan beliau sebagai Menteri Besar telah difailkan di Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur oleh Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin yang ingin mencabar kesahihan pelantikan berkenaan. Menteri Besar berkata Sivakumar juga telah melakukan satu penipuan yang besar apabila mendakwa di dalam kenyataan akhbarnya hari ini bahawa Zambry dan enam Exco berkenaan telah gagal dan tidak memberikan sebarang penjelasan dalam Mesyuarat Jawatankuasa Hak dan Kebebasan yang diadakan petang tadi.

Menurut Zambry, beliau dan Exco berkenaan telah memberikan penjelasan kepada jawatankuasa tersebut dan turut mengemukakan bantahan awal dengan mengemukakan sebab-sebab mengapa beliau dan enam exco berkenaan tidak boleh dikenakan tindakan terhadap pertuduhan yang dikenakan.

“Oleh itu dakwaan Speaker bahawa kami telah gagal menawarkan sebarang penjelasan merupakan satu penipuan paling serius yang dilakukan oleh seorang speaker,” katanya.BERNAMA

media menyebut…

GAMBAR intim antara dua pelakon Spa Q 2 yang tersebar di internet tentunya menjadi bualan hangat di dalam industri hiburan kini.

Sex, privacy and newspapers
Comment by P.GUNASEGARAM

IN THE eighties, a Malaysian beauty queen had nude pictures of her taken by her boyfriend. In that instance, presumably after the relationship soured and in a fit of spite, the boyfriend sent those pictures to the newspapers.

At least one newspaper editor got rid of the pictures. But others did not. One paper even confronted the father of the girl with the pictures, illustrating the sequence of events through cartoons because actual pictures could not be used. It was ugly and distasteful.

The beauty queen had to step down from her position and the net result of that entire sad, sorry episode was that the boyfriend had his revenge. He was never brought to account for his actions.

He had got his own back on the girl, aided and abetted by the press whose motive was to get readers in. The newspaper which broke the story did not so much as name the boyfriend who caused much hurt and agony to the beauty queen by blatantly violating her personal privacy.

Selangor state executive councillor and assemblywoman Elizabeth Wong’s predicament is not much different. In this case, the pictures were believed to be taken by a former boyfriend without her consent.

Whatever the motive of the person who released the pictures to select media, he has achieved his objective. Wong has been embarrassed in public and has offered to step down from her position both as executive councillor and assemblywoman.

For the newspapers, there is a dilemma whenever things like this happen. If it is purely a personal matter with no repercussions on others, do we keep things out of the press? And even if we did, what assurance is there that it won’t appear on the Internet?

But once the news is out, really, there is not much point blaming the newspapers for continuing to use it. When the public’s prurient interest in such matters is raised to fever pitch, newspapers which ignore the interest do so at their own peril in terms of losing out to other newspapers.

It is news and there is an obligation to report what transpires after that and how a public figure responds to an unfolding event of great stress to her and the reactions of those around her.

Despite everything we say about the right to privacy and our public position that Wong did no wrong, it will be hypocritical if those concerned still insist that she pay the price with her resignation.

Let’s admit and acknowledge that for a wide section of the public — the vast majority of us normal human beings — there are boyfriends and girlfriends and intimate moments of great privacy.

If a partner violates that privacy for any reason, the other party is not to blame — the blame lies with the person who broke that trust, not the person who gave it.

If that is what we believe as a society, then Wong’s offer to resign should be rejected. If we believe that and still accept her resignation, then we are hypocrites for we are holding her responsible for merely, like the rest of us, being human.

Whichever way this whole sad, sorry episode turns out, the unquestioned criminal in this case is the person who took and distributed the pictures, and it must be pretty clear and obvious to any competent investigator who that is by now.

In the eighties, the beauty queen’s boyfriend got off scot-free for perpetrating what was essentially a sordid crime. Let’s hope that at least in this aspect history will not repeat itself.

thestar.com.my

Video of X-ray room romp makes the rounds
Compiled by MAZWIN NIK ANIS, NG SI HOOI and A. RAMAN

A VIDEO clip showing a couple having sex in an X-ray room in a hospital in Kuala Lumpur has become a hot topic, coming on the heels of the bedroom photos of Bukit Lanjan assemblyman Elizabeth Wong.

Kosmo! in its front page reported that the video clip was recorded by the couple “as a rememberance of their passionate moments together”.

It also published a picture of them making love.

The man, believed to be a hospital employee, had sneaked his tudung-clad girlfriend into the X-ray room recently for the amorous tryst.

Their “performance” is now circulating not only in the Internet but from handphone to handphone.

According to Kosmo!, the six-minute clip shows, among other things, the woman stripping her sarong before her lover, clad in a pink shirt and black pants, performs sexual acts with her.

thestar.com.my

Tuesday May 20, 2008
PAS man lit the ‘resignation’ fuse

ALOR STAR: The man who challenged Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to quit Umno is actually PAS member Ismail Wan Teh.

Ismail was wearing a non-governmental organisation’s hat when he asked Dr Mahathir if he would be willing to quit Umno as a sign of protest against Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s leadership.

Ismail, the Kedah Citizens’ Action Group deputy chairman, asked the question based on Dr Mahathir’s call to Umno members to resign en masse as a show of no-confidence in Abdullah.

Ismail asked if Dr Mahathir were willing to quit, as it would have a major impact on Umno.

Dr Mahathir who was probably not aware that Ismail was a PAS member, said it sounded like a challenge.

“I will leave Umno until Abdullah’s leadership is ended,” he said.

Dr Mahathir, who is Umno member number 000 0001, told a press conference later that he would rejoin Umno after Abdullah had stepped down.

Ismail contested and lost the Kota Siputeh state seat in Jerlun in the recent general election.

from: TheStar.com.my (http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/5/20/nation/21301873&sec=nation)

Download Dr M quits UMNO news PDF file

PM Abdullah in danger as Mahathir quits party

KUALA LUMPUR (May 19, 2008): Former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad quit Umno today and urged others to follow suit in a move that could weaken its (Umno) hold on power and unsettle financial markets.

The still influential Mahathir, who was prime minister and leader of the United Malays National Organisation for 22 years until 2003, said he would only return to Umno after Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi quit as leader.

Mahathir, 83, had stepped up pressure for Abdullah to resign as premier after the latter led Umno and the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition to a dismal showing in the 12th General Election on March 8.

“I will write a letter to Umno headquarters to inform that I had quit the party,” Mahathir told a news conference in his home state of Kedah. He said he had lost confidence in Umno’s ability to safeguard the interest of the ethnic Malay majority.

Mahathir urged other Umno members to quit but not to join the opposition which is seeking to seize power from the ruling BN by wooing defectors.

“It’s like pulling another brick out of the crumbling wall,” said Tricia Yeoh, director of the Centre for Public Policy Studies. “Once Mahathir resigns, some others will too.”

If UMNO lawmakers quit the party and declare themselves independents, meaning no party commands a clear majority in parliament, it will send Malaysia into the political wilderness.

Umno, the backbone of the 14-party BN that has ruled since independence from Britain in 1957, holds 79 of BN’s 140 seats.

The opposition, led by former deputy premier and Mahathir’s foe, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, needs to gain just 30 seats to win a simple majority and form the government.

“Mahathir’s resignation highlighted the precarious political situation in Malaysia and could be negative to the ringgit currency,” markets consultancy 4CAST said in a commentary.

Research house Informa Global Markets (IGM) said the resignation was more likely to undermine Abdullah’s hold on the party rather than remove a thorn from the premier’s flesh.

But it added: “It is too early to determine if it will split the party, and thereby weaken Umno further, which already is facing prospect of defections.”

Mahathir announced the resignation three days after the government ordered the Attorney-General to investigate him and five others over the appointment of judges while he was in power.

Analysts said Mahathir was apparently upset over the allegations. “His departure can bring harm to Umno and weaken the PM’s leadership,” said political analyst Yahya Ismail.

Mahathir said at the weekend he was willing to be investigated and taken to court over the allegations. – Reuters

Updated: 05:58PM Mon, 19 May 2008

from: http://sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=22451

I’m no hero, says man who dared Dr M

By : Noor Adzman Baharuddin

Ismail Wan Teh says he never intended to challenge Dr M to make the first move to quit Umno.

2008/05/20

Abdullah: Why should I leave?

from: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Tuesday/Frontpage/2244960/Article/index_html

• Hop out of BN, Mahathir tells MPs

  May 21, 08 1:01pm

• Dr Mahathir Mohamad outlines the second line of attack against Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, by urging Barisan Nasional representatives to leave the coalition ‘temporarily’.MORE

• 	‘No advantage in joining Pakatan’
  	Mokhzani latest to quit Umno

from: http://malaysiakini.com/news/83186

S’pore takes Pulau Batu Puteh, M’sia gets Middle Rocks

THE HAGUE: The International Court of Justice has ruled that Singapore has sovereignty over Pulau Batu Puteh while Malaysia owns Middle Rocks.

As for the South Ledge, the ICJ ruled that it belongs to the state in whose territorial waters it is located.

ICJ vice-president, Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh read out the judgment, which was carried live over RTM1 Friday.

Pulau Batu Putih, which Singapore calls Pedra Branca, an isle no larger than half a football field, is about 14.3km from Tanjung Penyusop in Johor and 46.3km from Singapore.

Middle Rocks is about half a nautical mile from Pulau Batu Putih and 1.7 nautical miles from South Ledge.

The 17-member bench heard oral arguments from Malaysia and Singapore between Nov 16 and 23 last year.

The judgment ends the 28-year old territorial dispute between Malaysia and Singapore and both countries had earlier pledged to abide by the decision of the ICJ that is final and not subject to appeal.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim described the judgment as a “win-win” situation. He said the status quo remained although Singapore has sovereignty over Pulau Batu Puteh and Malaysia over Middle Rocks.

Read: International Court of Justice official press release on the judgement