Jom lawat pejabat syarikat bekal dakwat kekal SPR...

 Pejabat syarikat bekal dakwat SPR diburu wartawan...

Syarikat yang didakwa membekalkan dakwat kekal bagi pilihan raya umum lalu Integrated Challenger Malaysia Sdn Bhd mula menjadi buruan wartawan selepas namanya didedahkan di Parlimen semalam.

Setakat jam 2.20 petang tadi, termasuk Malaysiakini, sudah tiga pengamal media hadir ke pejabat syarikat itu di Jalan Tengku Ampuan Zabedah A 9A, Seksyen 9, Shah Alam.

Bagaimanapun, kesemua pemberita hampa selepas gagal mendapat sebarang reaksi daripada Integrated Challenger, yang perolehan dakwat kekal itu kini disiasat Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM).

Malaysiakini pada sebelah paginya mengunjungi alamat syarikat itu berhampiran kawasan perumahan dan sebuah sekolah di Seksyen 13, Shah Alam, yang alamatnya diperoleh daripada carian maklumat di Google.

Bagaimanapun, tempat itu kini didapati menempatkan sebuah spa yang menawarkan khidmat terapi ozon dan penjagaan kesihatan.

Loceng pintu masuk spa yang terletak di tingkat dua bangunan kedai dan pejabat itu tidak dijawab oleh sesiapa selepas ditekan berulang kali.

Ruang dalam yang boleh dilihat menerusi kaca pintu juga gelap gelita.

Sementara rak kasut di tepi kanan pintu dan sepasang kasut di atasnya diselaputi habuk yang tebal, seperti lama ditinggalkan.

'Dia ada tugas luar'

Enggan kecewa dengan penemuan itu, pada tengaharinya Malaysiakini berkunjung pula ke lokasi kedua di Seksyen 9 Shah Alam seperti tercatat dalam daftar syarikat, Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (SSM).

Jika lokasi pertama adalah sebuah spa, lokasi kedua pula terletak di atas sebuah spa yang menawarkan khidmat pelangsingan dan urutan badan ala-Bali.

Malaysiakini terhalang untuk naik ke pejabat itu oleh pintu kaca yang berkunci namun berjaya bercakap dengan seorang pekerja pejabat melalui interkom.

Malaysiakini: Selamat petang. Ini pejabat Integrated Challenger Sdn Bhd kan? Saya hendak bercakap dengan Puan Norsiah Yusoff (yang dikatakan pengarahnya, hasil maklumat carian di Internet).

Pekerja: Dia tak ada di pejabat sekarang. Dia buat kerja luar. 
 
Malaysiakini: Saya mahu dapatkan maklum balas tentang dakwaan syarikat ini membekalkan dakwat kekal untuk SPR. Siapa yang boleh saya hubungi?  

Pekerja: Saya pun tak tahu encik. Puan Norsiah pun saya tak pasti bila dia akan selesai dengan tugasan luar dia.

Dakwaan hubungan rapat dengan bos SPR

Penyambut tetamu tersebut enggan memberikan nombor telefon Norsiah atau pegawai syarikat lain yang boleh mengesahkan dakwaan tersebut.

Malaysiakini juga menunggu selama sejam di kawasan berdekatan untuk menunggu kemunculan Norsiah atau pegawai lain syarikat itu.

Setengah jam kemudian, dua orang wartawan dari sebuah harian berbahasa Melayu juga tiba di lokasi sama tetapi difahamkan mereka dimaklumkan, premis itu bukan pejabat Integrated Challenger.

Mereka mahu menemui Mohamad Salleh Mohd Alli, yang didakwa pemilik syarikat itu oleh Anggota Parlimen Pandan Rafizi Ramli semalam.

Bagaimanapun, wartawan berkenaan dimaklumkan, beliau sedang berada di luar negara.

Tidak lama kemudian, muncul lagi dua orang wartawan sebuah portal berita baru yang akan beroperasi tidak lama lagi, di lokasi sama.

Mereka pula dimaklumkan bahawa kedua-dua Mohamad Salleh dan Norsiah tidak ada di pejabat.

Anggota Parlimen Pandan Rafizi Ramli (atas) semalam di Dewan Rakyat mendedahkan Integrated Challenger sebagai syarikat yang didakwa sebagai pembekal dakwat kekal pilihan raya umum lalu.
Beliau menyebut nama serta nombor kad pengenalan individu yang didakwa sebagai pemilik syarikat terbabit.

Pengarah strategi PKR itu juga mendakwa syarikat itu mempunyai hubungan rapat dengan pengerusi dan timbalan pengerusi SPR, tuduhan yang dinafikan suruhanjaya itu.

Rafizi juga mendakwa, Integrated Challenger turut mendapat kontrak bernilai besar RM6.9 juta itu secara rundingan terus.-malaysiakini

Indelible ink expose,Shahidan has confirmed indirectly...

MP for Pandan Rafizi Ramli was in a jubilant mood on Wednesday. His latest expose seems to have hit bulls-eye again. Shahidan Kassim, the minister in the Prime Minister's Office, "indirectly" confirmed his accusation made a day ago that the supplier of the controversial 'indelible' ink used in Malaysia's recent general election had links to top officials in the Election Commission and may have improperly obtained the contracts through direct tenders.

"He (Shahidan) confirmed it indirectly. The minister mentioned the names of several companies which received contracts, he did not name the company that obtained the contract for the indelible ink but the firm that received the hat and T-shirt contracts," Rafizi, who is also the PKR strategy director, told a press conference at the Parliament lobby.

"The information is the same as the information I have. The firm that got the hat or the T-shirt is Nash Ventures Sdn Bhd and this firm although not officially linked to Mohamed Salleh Mohamed Ali has the same registered office address and his wife is the director in this company. So this is what I mean there are 3 companies that have direct negotiations with the Election Commission -  one on indelible ink, one on T-shirt and one on hats.

 "I did not name these earlier because we know the minister will not confirm the actual company (which supplied the indelible ink) but he will give the names of the other companies. So the fact that Nash Ventures has been confirmed as one of the companies confirms what our sources revealed to us that there were 3 companies controlled by Mohamad Salleh. Going by the minister's answer, I don't see them revealing any information anytime soon on (the indelible ink supplier) on the grounds that it is for security.

"So it is up to the EC to recapture whatever credibility it has, just give the full breakdown and tell us the full details. I had revealed the name of the company that we believe supplied the indelible ink which is Integrated Challenger Sdn Bhd because we know they won't reveal the identity of the ink supplier but will just give the names of the companies for the T-shirt and hat."

Direct tenders, refusal to give details

Malaysia's controversial Election Commission has been accused, with all 7 members of its top panel slapped with a lawsuit by the Opposition, of defrauding voters by using 'indelible' ink that could be washed off within hours. By failing to use indelible ink containing sufficiently high amount of silver nitrate, the EC had exposed the May 5 ballot to multiple voting and electoral fraud, Rafizi and the Pakatan Rakyat coalition had claimed.

On Tuesday, Rafizi had exposed the identity of the ink supplier, alleging the firm - controlled by Mohamed Salleh - had links to the top government and EC officials. The supplier, Integrated Challenger Malaysia Sdn Bhd, was allegedly awarded the RM6.9 million contract to supply the indelible ink through direct negotiati

"According to internal information from the EC itself, the contracts to supply t-shirts, caps and ink were given through direct negotiation from the companies that are controlled by one person. There are three companies, controlled by the same person, one of it is Integrated Challenger and there are two more, that came in using the names of his staff," Rafizi had said.

Rafizi had also revealed there were also other companies controlled by the same person that were involved in other government contracts including the Defence Ministry.

"He (Mohamed Salleh) is an expert in direct negotiation; he gets the ink, defence and also other government contracts as well, because he is close to government leaders, including the EC chairman and deputy chairman," said Rafizi.

Scapegoat and was the ink "doomed" to fail

When told by a reporter that the Election Commission had reportedly disclaimed responsibility, saying that the ink contract was negotiated by the EC secretary, Rafizi's response was: "We will wait for the EC secretariat (to make a response) then. Someone will be the scapegoat."

His colleague, Nurul Izzah the MP for Lembah Pantai, had told Malaysia Chronicle that Rafizi's latest expose' only "proved" Pakatan's lawsuit against the EC panel.

"Today we also heard that the person Mohamed Salleh is indeed the supplier (of the indelible ink used in the May 5 general election) and just by virtue of the refusal of the Speaker Shahidan Kassim to deny or say otherwise brings home exactly why we must pursue the case, why we must pursue convictions because we cannot allow them to get away with what they have done.

"If we have a supplier given (the deal to supply indelible ink) by direct tender, we must ascertain what was paid using taxpayers' money, was it based according to specifications, was it doomed to fail due to the conspiracy that exist between the EC, the supplier and the people colluding with them. I think the recent expose's bit by bit have really proven our case and I do hope the courts will be empowered to do the right thing.

If found liable, the EC panel would be discharged in disgrace and a new general election called. All 7 EC members would also have to bear damages if awarded by the court, plus legal costs as well the costs of holding a new general election.

The 7 members are chairman Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof, deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, Mohamad Ramji Ali, P Manogran, Christopher Wan Soo Kee, Md Yusop Mansor and Abdul Aziz Khalidin.

Shahidan had in a previous written reply told the Dewan Rakyat (Lower House) that RM6.9 million had been spent on the ink, with an additional RM200,000 spent on transportation, packaging and storage, bringing the total expenditure to RM7.1 million.- malaysian chronicle

Retribution is quick if you're sex bloggers...

In a flash, the authorities cracked their whips when a non-Muslim couple, infamous for their exhibitionist sexual trysts, posted a photograph of themselves dining on pork (bak kut teh) soup.

Next to the photograph was a caption that linked the consumption of the forbidden meat to Muslims breaking their fast in the holy month of Ramadan.

The move courted an uproar and numerous quarters clamoured for the heads of Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee to roll for being so blatantly and brazenly insensitive to Muslims.

The couple later apologised but this fell on deaf ears.

One minister warned that insulting Islam on the social media is becoming rampant and this must be curbed while another declared that repentance will not absolve the offenders of their callous deed.

The authorities are now considering charging the lovebirds under the Sedition Act.

The indignation is understandable. The posting was downright ridiculous and offensive. There is no excuse to belittle a faith and the couple should have been aware of the repercussions when trampling on what is sacrosanct to others.

However, there appears to be two diametrically opposed approaches to such matters in Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's 1Malaysia.

The same authorities, politicians and religious leaders did not even squeak when Perkasa vice-president Zulkifli Noordin (right) degraded the Hindu religion or when university lecturer Ridhuan Tee Abdullah derided the Thaipusam festival.

This begs the question whether Muslims have the right to be offended while others should just accept the blatant disparagement of their respective faiths as a fact of life in Malaysia.

Zulkifli, in a video recording of his sermon posted on YouTube, had ridiculed the Hindu belief that the Ganges River in India is sacred.

He also mocked Hindu deities for failing to prevent a flood from ravaging a shop that sold statues of these deities.

Ridhuan (right), on the other hand, saw red over the attempts by certain organisations to lift the temporary ban imposed on a Tamil film, which critics claimed equated Islam with terrorism.

In his argument that appeared in a Malay-language daily, the associate professor, who ironically teaches ethnic relations, penned derogatory remarks about the Thaipusam festival in Batu Caves.

He also complained about the proliferation of Hindu temples and shrines since the 2008 general election.

In both cases, there were calls to take stern action against Zulkifli and Ridhuan, including charging them under the Sedition Act. However, these voices went unheeded.

For Hindus, an apology is sufficient?

And what about Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali's incendiary remark to torch Malay bibles which contain the word ‘Allah'?

Mahathir, who is the patron of Perkasa, later defended Ibrahim, stating that it is common to burn banned publications.

Once again, there were the familiar calls for Ibrahim to be dragged to court, including from outraged Christian leaders and clergymen, but the firebrand continues to roam free to commit verbal ethnocide.

And as if to rub salt into the wound, Najib, who fathered the 1Malaysia slogan, named Zulkfli as the BN candidate for the Shah Alam parliament seat in the last general election.

To make matters worse, Zulkifli is the vice-president of Perkasa, the right-wing movement with an unenviable track record of stoking racial and religious flames.

Defending his candidature, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had described Zulkifli as a man with calibre.

Muhyiddin (left in photo) also reminded the people that Zulkifli had since admitted his mistake and apologised for insulting the Hindu faith.

So in the case of slighted Hindus, an apology is sufficient.

There is no justification for Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee's action as freedom of expression cannot be used as a shield to rattle religious and racial ties.

But the same rule must also be extended to those Muslims who insult the faiths and beliefs of others. In short, 1Malaysia needs one approach on issues concerning religious rows. There should be no double standard.

Failing which, it would prove that 1Malaysia is the most hollow, superfluous, deceptive, insidious and deceitful slogan ever coined to hoodwink a nation.-malaysiakini

Hina Islam: Kerajaan jangan pilih kasih

PAS: Take action against Ibrahim,and Zul too

cheers.