Malaysia Airlines (MAS) mengesahkan kakitangannya ditahan di sebuah dewan utama di Lido Hotel di Beijing oleh ahli keluarga penerbangan MH370 semasa mereka melahirkan rasa tidak puas hati untuk mendapatkan butiran berhubung kehilangan pesawat itu, pada 3 petang 24 April.
Dalam satu kenyataan hari ini MAS berkata lebih 200 anggota keluarga meminta seorang pegawai Malaysia hadir memandangkan hanya kakitangan MAS yang hadir semasa sesi taklimat.
"Seramai 10 kakitangan syarikat penerbangan itu kemudian dimaklumkan supaya menunggu di dewan utama sementara sekumpulan 60 ahli keluarga pergi ke kedutaan Malaysia untuk mendapatkan pegawai kerajaan menghadiri taklimat itu.
"Kumpulan itu kemudian melepaskan kakitangan itu pada 1.44 pagi, 25 April," kata kenyataan itu.
Menurut kenyataan itu lagi dalam satu lagi insiden, penyelia keselamatan MAS, S Kalaichelven diserang seorang ahli keluarga rakyat China semasa bertugas di Lido Hotel di Beijing pada 22 April.
"Kakitangan syarikat penerbangan itu cuba menghentikan tindakan agresif seorang ahli keluarga terbabit yang menuntut akeses kepada sekretariat, apabila dia menendang staf berkenaan di lutut kirinya.
"Mereka yang berada di tempat kejadian dapat meredakan keadaan dan kemudian membawa Kalaichelven ke sekretariat untuk mendapatkan bantuan pertolongan cemas," kata kenyataan itu.
Menurut kenyataan itu, kakitangan terbabit hanya cedera ringan dan MAS membuat laporan polis berikutan insiden itu. – Bernama
Obama temui BERSIH, Majlis Peguam,NGO...
Presiden Amerika Syarikat Barack Obama akan bertemu dengan pemimpin masyarakat sivil Malaysia, termasuk BERSIH, sempena lawatannya ke Malaysia hujung minggu ini.
Malaysiakini difahamkan, turut diundang NGO hak wanita Sisters in Islam (SIS) dan Empower, kumpulan hak pekerja Tenaganita serta NGO Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF)
Wakil
sebuah NGO memberitahu Malaysia, kira-kira 10 orang diundang oleh
kedutaan AS di Kuala Lumpur untuk pertemuan yang masa dan tempatnya
masih belum dinyatakan itu.“Kami tidak minta tapi kami gembira dengan undangan ini.
"Ia menunjukkan pengiktirafan presiden AS akan keperluan melibatkan diri dengan masyarakat sivil di Malaysia,” kata wakil itu yang enggan namanya disebut.
Turut diundang sama wakil Majlis Peguam dan Suruhanjaya Hak Asasi Manusia (Suhakam).
Obama menjadi presiden pertama AS akan melawat Malaysia selepas lawatan terakhir Lyndon B Johnson hampir 50 tahun lalu.
Susan Rice
Dalam pilihan raya tahun lepas, pembangkang di bawah pimpinan Anwar Ibrahim memenangi majoriti undi popular untuk kali pertama tetapi masih gagal mendapat majoriti parlimen. Kedutaan Amerika Syarikat tidak segera bertindak balas terhadap permintaan untuk mengulas mengenai mesyuarat itu.
Aktivis berkata Obama juga akan bertemu wakil-wakil pertubuhan termasuk Suruhanjaya Hak Asasi Manusia Malaysia, Majlis Gereja-gereja dan kumpulan Islam yang terkemuka yang sederhana, di antara lain.
Sifton menyeru Obama untuk bertemu Anwar, yang menghadapi penjara 5 tahun atas tuduhan liwat,kesalahan yang secara meluas menganggap bermotifkan politik.
Pegawai-pegawai AS telah berkata Obama tidak akan bertemu Anwar, tetapi Penasihat Keselamatan Negara,Susan Rice sebaliknya akan bertemu dengan Anwar. mk/tmi
Najib, cepatlah penjarakan Anwar dan jangan dok lengah2 lagi...
Menjelang rayuannya didengar di Mahkamah Persekutuan yang dijangka dalam tempoh terdekat ini, Anwar Ibrahim membayangkan bahawa beliau mungkin akan dipenjara sekali lagi kes liwat yang dihadapinya. Walaupun mengemukakan 35 hujah untuk menolak keputusan Mahkamah Rayuan yang sebelumnya menjatuhkan hukuman penjara lima tahun kepadanya, beliau tetap merasakan peluangnya untuk bebas adalah tipis.
Selain memberi alasan bahawa beliau tidak mendapat perbicaraan yang adil serta mahkamah yang didapatinya bersikap "bias", Anwar juga kelihatan mengeluh dengan proses mempercepatkan pendengaran kesnya dan tidak memberi pertimbangan budi bicara langsung atas kematian peguam utamanya, Karpal Singh dalam kemalangan jalanraya minggu lalu.
Dengan mereka tetap diminta mengemukakan notis rayuan tidak lewat daripada jam 3 petang Rabu lalu, anak Karpal Singh, Ramkarpal terpaksa bertungkus-lumus dan berjaga sepanjang malam untuk menyiapkan hujah-hujah rayuan di sebalik mereka sedang bersedih dan sibuk dengan upacara persemadian bapanya selang beberapa hari sebelum itu.
Walaupun bakal mendapat bantuan daripada terkenal, Sulaiman Abdullah tetapi berdasarkan perkembangan yang berlaku itu, Anwar tetap merasakan bahawa badan kehakiman bertindak semata-mata atas arahan pemimpin politik yang sedang menggenggam kuasa ketika ini.
Dalam usia 67 tahun dan terdengar juga ura-ura kemungkinan pihak pendakwa turut merayu untuk melanjutkan lagi tempoh hukuman selama 5 tahun yang diterimanya, tidak mustahil penjara adalah destinasi terakhir kehidupan Anwar yang selama ini penuh warna-warni.
Dan sifir politik mudah yang ada dalam pemikiran Perdana Menteri, Najib sendiri barangkali menyetujui bahawa perjalanan politiknya untuk kekal lebih lama di tampuk kuasa turut menjadi lebih selesa jika Anwar dapat dipenjarakan.
Di ketika yang sama, Anwar pula nampaknya lebih bersedia untuk ke penjara kali ini. Beliau yang sering mengungkatkan perkataan " lawan tetap lawan" dan "jangan bicara soal perjuangan jika takut dengan risiko" bukan ssja sudah meninggalkan pesanan kepada pengundinya di Permatang Pauh, minggu lalu dengan mengatakan "ini mungkin pidato saya yang terakhir", malah sempat membakar api perjuangan bahawa semangatnya sama-sekali tidak akan luntur walau ke mana sekalipun beliau dihumbankan.
Memenjara, menganiaya dah menzalimi musuh politik adalah resam di mana-mana jua sudut dunia yang ada pertelingkahan dan perebutan kuasa. Sudah banyak dicatatkan dalam sejarah dunia mereka yang menerima nasib malang itu. Mandela dipenjara, Khomeini dibuang negara dan Aquino malah ditembak mati serta ramai lagi yang sengsara.
Menjelang kemungkinan Anwar dipenjara sekali lagi, bukan saja Reformasi 2.0 dihidupkan kembali untuk mengajak rakyat, khususnya anak-anak muda agar bangkit melakukan perubahan, beberapa pemimpin pembangkang pula memberi bayangan bahawa Najib akan disingkirkan rakyat jika berani berbuat demikian.
Serentak dengan Anwar menuju penjara, laluan lebih sukar untuk masa depan Najib turut diwujudkan dengan mengajak rakyat agar lebih berani bersuara dan bertindak mewujudkan pembaharuan. Kalau pun tidak di jalan-jalanraya, sekurang-kurangnya lebih keberanian di peti undi nanti. Baca seterusnya...
Malaysia Airlines says staff "held" by Chinese families...
Ten Malaysia Airlines staff were held against their will for hours by Chinese relatives of flight MH370 passengers, the airline said on Friday, at a Beijing hotel that has seen increasingly tense confrontations over the missing plane.
The airline employees were "barred from leaving" a ballroom for more than 10 hours on Thursday, and another staff member was kicked in the leg in a confrontation two days earlier, the airline said.
Tempers have repeatedly flared at the Lido Hotel, where Chinese relatives have been put up by the airline since the plane vanished, increasingly lashing out in briefings as Malaysian officials and the flag carrier have been unable to explain the plane's disappearance.
"Malaysia Airlines confirms that its staff were held at the Lido Hotel ballroom in Beijing by the family members of MH370 as the families expressed dissatisfaction in obtaining details of the missing aircraft on 24 April 2014 at 3 pm," it said in a statement released in Kuala Lumpur.
The more than 200 family members were incensed when a Malaysian government official did not come to brief them on Thursday, and the meeting descended into chaos as relatives angrily confronted airline staff.
An airline spokesman told AFP "the main MAS officials were barred from leaving the ballroom" as about 60 family members left for the Malaysian Embassy to demand information from government officials.
"The group finally released the staff at 1.44am, 25 April 2014," the airline's statement said.
The relatives who went to the embassy remained there in an overnight protest, two participants said on Friday.
The carrier also said a Malaysia Airlines security supervisor was "kicked in the left knee" by an "aggressive" Chinese family member at the hotel on Tuesday.
The airline said it had filed a police report on the incident.
About two-thirds of the 239 passengers aboard the missing plane came from China.
Chinese relatives have for weeks complained bitterly about what they call Malaysia's secretive and incompetent handling of the search for the plane, which vanished on March 8.
It disappeared from radar on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and is believed to have crashed far out in the Indian Ocean.
A multi-national search, however, has failed to find any evidence despite weeks of looking.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday that his country urges Malaysia to "take seriously" the families' grievances, while urging families to behave in a "rational way".
Dozens of relatives staged a noisy protest last month at the embassy -- apparently sanctioned by Chinese authorities, who cleared streets for their approach -- decrying Malaysian authorities and the national airline as "murderers". - AFP/gn
Obama should speak loudly on rights abuses...
Obama will be the first US president to visit Malaysia since 1966.
I note the statement by Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, John Sifton: “Malaysia’s claims of being a tolerant and rights-respecting democracy don’t stand up to scrutiny.
“President Obama needs to take up concerns that basic rights are under threat, and that civil society is squeezed between restrictive laws and abusive government implementation.”
In a letter sent to Obama last month, Human Rights Watch urged the president to raise human rights issues during his visit to Kuala Lumpur, and to meet with members of human rights groups, civil society organisations, opposition political party figures and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.
Contrary to images Malaysian leaders try to portray abroad, the government continues to use vague, overboard and outdated laws to prosecute or harass political opponents.
Human
Rights Watch notes that parliamentary Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim
was recently prosecuted and convicted, for the second time in his
political career, under Malaysia’s colonial-era “sodomy” law.The colonial-era Sedition Act has also been used against other opposition figures, including lawyer and opposition politician Karpal Singh, who died in a car accident on April 17.
Even the recently enacted “reform” legislation, such as the 2012 Peaceful Assembly Act, are being used to prosecute peaceful protesters, such as the rally organisers of protests after the disputed May 2013 elections.
The government invoked another outdated law, the abusive 1966 Societies Act, to declare illegal Comango, a coalition of human rights groups that recently highlighted human rights problems in Malaysia at the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Media companies and outlets also pressured
Also, more recently, the Malaysian government used the Societies Act to prosecute a high-profile Shia Muslim leader.
Malaysian leaders have long used the country’s Printing Presses and Publication Act and the Communications and Multimedia Act to pressure media companies and outlets.
Human Rights Watch also notes that setting up a newspaper in Malaysia still requires approval from the government, and criticising the government can lead the authorities to close down a media company.
The White House indicated in a briefing on April 18, 2014, that Obama would not be meeting with Anwar Ibrahim, thus missing an important opportunity to express disapproval for the politically motivated prosecutions against him.
“President Obama should speak out on Anwar’s case and meet with him while in Kuala Lumpur,” Sifton said. “Neglecting to do so sends a message to the Malaysian government that misuse of the courts for political gain is acceptable to the US.”
Police abuse also remains a serious human rights problem in Malaysia. A recent Human Rights Watch report, “No Answers, No Apology: Police Abuses and Accountability in Malaysia,” found unjustified shootings, mistreatment and deaths in police custody, and excessive use of force to disperse public protests, for which the police are rarely held accountable.
Investigations into police abuse are conducted primarily by the police, who do not act transparently or impartially in their inquiries, and there is no effective independent oversight mechanism to turn to when police investigations invariably falter. The result is heightened public mistrust of the police and the government.
Tolerance
of Malaysia’s many minority communities is also under threat.
Government leaders routinely denounce ethnic and religious minorities,
who face harassment and spurious prosecutions.Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people face particular persecution, with government officers banning group events or using offensive and false allegations to undermine their activities.
In 2013, extremist religious groups filed complaints with the police against an LGBT event, deeming it a “deviant sex festival,” forcing the organisers to cancel it. The police in 2011 banned Seksualiti Merdeka, an LGBT gathering and arts festival.
Government religious officials and police also frequently arrest transgender women under state-level syariah (Islamic law) provisions, prohibit cross-dressing. There are also credible reports of abuses occurring during the raids and while the women are in police custody.
Again, as Sifton put it: “President Obama should highlight that LGBT people are entitled to the same rights as everyone else.
“Speaking out on anti-gay persecution in Kuala Lumpur could have a long-lasting impact in Malaysia, both in demonstrating international support for this community under threat, and in setting the tone for a more civil public debate in the country.” - mk
cheers.
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