Bangla kesayangan UMNO/BN saman gomen RM3 juta...

Warga Bangladesh saman kerajaan...

Seorang pekerja Bangladesh memfailkan saman ke atas kerajaan Malaysia, Jabatan Imigresen untuk RM3 juta kerana didakwa disebat ketika di dalam penjara sementara menunggu rayuan sabitan kesnya.

Pekerja itu, Alamin Sheikh Badsha Sheikh, 28 tahun, seorang pekerja binaan sebelum itu dijatuhi hukuman penjara tiga bulan dan tiga sebatan pada Julai tahun lalu selepas dia mengaku bersalah atas tuduhan gagal menunjukkan dokumen perjalanan dan permit yang sah.

Menurut laporan The Malaysian Insider (TMI), dia ditahan pada bulan Jun tahun lalu dan didakwa di Mahkamah Majistret Bukit Mertajam bulan berikutnya di mana Alamin mengaku bersalah tanpa diwakili peguam.

Selepas dia dijatuhkan hukuman, barulah majikannya tampil dengan dokumen sah untuk membuktikan sebaliknya.

Ketika menunggu proses rayuan di Mahkamah Tinggi Pulau Pinang, dia telah disebat di Penjara Pokok Sena.

Peguam Alamin kini, S Raveentharan berkata anak guamnya disebat tiga kali dengan rotan pada 9 Oktober tahun lepas hanya kira-kira 16 hari sebelum rayuan kesnya didengar di Mahkamah Tinggi.

Pada prosiding rayuan itu, Hakim Datuk Zamani Abdul Rahim mengenepikan sabitan bersalah ke atasnya yang dibuat di bawah Akta Imigresen.

“Hakim pun turut terkejut apabila mengetahui bahawa anak guam saya sudah menjalani hukuman penjara dan disebat.

“Ini adalah kes yang mana sistem kehakiman dilakukan secara tergesa-gesa, adakah perlaksanaan hukuman yang terburu-buru itu sebabnya diketahui oleh pihak polis, imigresen? Adakah penyelewengan berlaku?,” kata Raveentharan dalam satu sidang media hari ini.

Beliau berkata, Alamin yang tidak diwakili peguam ketika didakwa, mengaku bersalah tanpa memahami tuduhan yang dikenakan ke atasnya.

Laporan TMI menyebut Alamin tidak hadir pada sidang media berkenaan kerana sedang ditahan di Pusat Tahanan Imigresen Langkap, Perak sementara menunggu proses penghantaran pulang.

Menurut Raveentharan, anak guamnya akan menyaman kerajaan Malaysia atas penderitaan, turut menamakan Ketua Pengarah Jabatan Imigresen, Pegawai Penyiasat Jabatan Imigresen, Ketua Polis Negara, Ketua Polis Pulau Pinang dan Pegawai Penyiasat Polis sebagai defendan.

“Pihak kami memohon saman sebanyak RM1 juta bagi setiap sebatan,” katanya.

Dalam kenyataan tuntutan saman itu yang difailkan hari ini di Mahkamah Tinggi, Alamin juga menuntut ganti rugi umum dan ganti rugi khas untuk kesakitan, penderitaan dan juga masalah psikologi yag dialaminya.

Raveentharan berkata Alamin juga akan menjalani pemeriksaan perubatan untuk melihat kecederaan kekal yang dialami selepas disebat di penjara.

“Hukuman sebat itu mencetuskan kebimbangan dia tidak akan boleh mendapatkan zuriat pada masa akan datang,” katanya.

Selain itu, Alamin turut menuntut ganti rugi kehilangan pendapatan sebanyak RM1,300 sebulan sepanjang dipenjarakan dari Julai ke November 2013.

Dia juga menuntut ganti rugi RM2,500 sehari bagi tempoh 90 hari ketika dipenjarakan.- mk

RM3mil suit over three wrongful rotan strokes...

A 28-year-old Bangladeshi was arrested and subsequently jailed by a Bukit Mertajam magistrate, who also ordered he be given three strokes of the rotan last year, despite the worker having a work permit valid until July this year.

Alamin Sheikh Badsha Sheikh was caned on Oct 9 last year, and jailed from July 19 until Nov 18 last year upon pleading guilty.

The worker did not have a valid travel document and work permit with him when stopped at a police roadblock in Bukit Mertajam on June 6 last year. His documents were with his employer.

The High Court in Penang on Oct 25 last year revised his case and set aside the conviction under Section 6(3) of the Immigration Act.

To judge Zamani Abdul Rahim’s surprise and astonishment, the worker had already been caned and his sentence completed, lawyer S Raveentharan told a press conference today.

Today, Alamin filed a suit against the Malaysian government, director-general and investigating officer of the Immigration Department, the inspector-general of police, the Penang police chief and the investigating police officer for RM3 million (RM1 million for each stroke),  the counsel said.

He said Alamin filed his statement of claim at the Penang High Court today, and is suing the defendants for “vicarious liability” for their negligence, carelessness and shabby work done and executed without due care and diligence on an innocent man.

Alamin is also seeking compensation for “losing his manhood” due to whipping, loss of income of RM1,300 per month for the days he did not work, for depression and also RM25,000 a day for 90 days  of wrongful imprisonment (three months).

Alamin was imprisoned and had indeed greatly suffered as he was deprived of his basic human rights as an individual, Raveentharan added.

“By bringing this matter to the High Court, we hope the courts will see it fit to enshrine justice for this innocent man,” he said.

Alamin is currently detained at the Langkap Immigration detention centre, pending deportation.

Raveentharan said it is believed that for cases involving deportation, the execution of a sentence on the wrongdoers or the designated individual to be punished would usually be carried out prior to their deportation to their respective countries and not otherwise.

He said this was “highly questionable” and there seemed to be an apparent and glaring “miscarriage of justice” suffered by Alamin.

‘Justice huried is justice buried?’


“The man is innocent. Is this a case of where justice hurried is justice buried by the authorities?

“The execution of the sentence was hurried, indeed for reasons only known to the Malaysian Crown officers, namely the Prisons Department and Police Department,” Raveentharan said.

“Is there a fundamental breach of duty of care by the officers of the Crown of Malaysia?” he asked.

“Why was the execution of whipping so speedily conducted, executed and completed on this innocent individual?” he asked.- mk

MH370: Siapa benar, Hishammuddin atau CNN...

Keluarga 239 penumpang dan anak kapal MH370 yang sedang berduka, rakyat Malaysia, dan warga dunia menerima satu lagi kejutan pada hari ke-34 kehilangan pesawat itu apabila CNN melaporkan bahawa Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia (TUDM) telah menghantar pesawat pencari pada pagi pesawat MAS MH370 hilang, iaitu pada sekitar jam 8 pagi, tetapi tidak memaklumkan langkah tersebut kepada pihak berkuasa sehingga tiga hari kemudian dan kemudian dikejutkan pula oleh penafian Menteri Pertahanan Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

CNN kelmarin melaporkan bahawa menurut seorang pegawai tinggi kerajaan Malaysia dan satu lagi sumber yang terlibat dalam siasatan, “pesawat pencari pasukan tentera udara Malaysia telah dikejarkan pada sekitar jam 8 pagi, sejurus selepas Malaysia Airlines (MAS) melaporkan pesawatnya hilang pada awal 8 Mac.”

Menurut laporan itu, pesawat telah dikejarkan sebelum pihak berkuasa mengesahkan data yang menunjukkan bahawa Boeing 777 terbabit telah berpatah balik dari laluan asalnya.

Sumber yang tidak dinyatakan namanya itu menyebut bahawa TUDM “tidak memaklumkan kepada Jabatan Penerbangan Sivil atau operasi mencari dan menyelamat sehingga tiga hari kemudian, iaitu pada 11 Mac.”

Ia seterusnya melaporkan bahawa pesawat MH370 telah hilang dari radar tentera 120 batu nautika setelah ia kembali melintasi Semenanjung Malaysia.

“Berdasarkan data yang ada, bererti pesawat itu telah menjunam ke altitud 4,000 hingga 5,000 kaki,” dakwa pegawai kanan kerajaan terbabit.

Hishammuddin menafikan laporan CNN itu dan menyifatkannya sebagai “dakwaan palsu.”

Siapa yang berkata benar, Hishammuddin atau CNN?

Sukar untuk mempercayai laporan CNN, melainkan jika ia sanggup mendedahkan nama “pegawai kanan kerajaan Malaysia dan sumber lain” yang dapat mengesahkan laporannya.

Namun, melihat pada penyaluran maklumat yang tidak sekata selama ini, selain bermacam kekeliruan dan percanggahan yang telah ditimbulkan, juga pelbagai tindakan tidak sekata, serta mengambil kira jurang maklumat yang begitu besar sejak 35 hari lalu, penafian Hishammuddin itu tidak memadai, tidak memuaskan dan sukar untuk diterima begitu saja.

Jika Jawatankuasa Pilihan Parlimen (PSC) berkenaan MH370 telah ditubuhkan sebelum Dewan Rakyat ditangguhkan kelmarin, tentu ia boleh berperanan sebagai badan yang sesuai untuk menyiasat kesahihan laporan CNN tentang tindakan TUDM menghantar pesawat pencari pada pagi MH370 hilang tetapi tidak melaporkannya kepada pihak berkuasa hingga tiga hari selepas itu dan tentunya PSC boleh mengeluarkan laporan yang berwibawa untuk membuktikan kebenaran penafian Hishammuddin serta melenyapkan segala keraguan tentang perkara itu.

Malah, PSC bukan saja mampu untuk mempastikan sama ada TUDM telah menghantar pesawat pencari pada pagi 8 Mac itu, malah juga mempastikan:

- sama ada benar pesawat pencari TUDM dikejarkan untuk mencari setelah radar tentera mendapati MH370 telah melencong dari laluan asal dari Kuala Lumpur ke Beijing, atau mengapa pesawat itu tidak dikejarkan sejurus saja ia melencong, antara jam 1.40 dan 1.45 pagi, kerana sekurang-kurangnya dua pesawat Sukhoi-30 milik TUDM boleh dikejarkan dari Gong Kedak untuk memintas MH370 di ruang udara Kelantan; dan 

- mengapa sekali lagi MH370 tidak dipintas sewaktu ia menghampiri Pulau Pinang dan dikesan oleh radar tentera di Butterworth, walaupun skuadron jet F/A TUDM berada dalam keadaan bersedia 24-jam di pangkalan udara Butterworth.

Persoalan di atas dan banyak lagi persoalan lain berkaitan MH370 menanti untuk dijawab sejak 35 hari lalu, tetapi seperti yang saya sebut dalam dewan Parlimen di depan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak dan Hishammuddin sendiri pada 25 Mac (hari ke-18 kehilangan MH370) saya bersetuju bahawa keutamaan kita ialah untuk meneruskan operasi mencari dan menyelamat (SAR), manakala persoalan lain yang berbangkit tentang tragedi ini, termasuk persoalan tentang pengurusan krisis, boleh ditangani setelah pesawat serta penumpang dan anak kapal ditemui.

Hari ini masuk hari ke-35 MH370 hilang. Saya baru saja menerima laporan bahawa stesen radio Perth telah mengumumkan “laporan belum disahkan menyebut bahawa kotak hitam pesawat Malaysia Airlines MH370 telah ditemui.” 

Laporan itu memetik pandangan seorang pakar penerbangan bahawa jika “laporan belum disahkan ini cukup kukuh untuk kita mengatakan bahawa kotak hitam telah ditemui, itu cukup untuk kita meluncurkan Bluefin 21 ke dasar laut dan mengambil gambar atau memindai dasar laut dengan pemindai sonar.”

Saya harap laporan itu benar kerana keluarga 239 penumpang dan anak kapal telah lama menanti penyudah kepada tragedi ini.

Bagaimanapun, selepas 35 hari bencana MH370, saya percaya bahawa kita telah sampai ke tahap di mana keluarga 239 penumpang dan anak kapal MH370 mahukan jawapan kepada seribu-satu persoalan yang timbul berkaitan tragedi ini, maka proses untuk mencari jawapan perlu dimulakan dengan segera tanpa lengah.

Dalam keadaan ini, laporan CNN dan penafian Hishammuddin tentang tindakan TUDM menghantar pesawat pencari pada pagi 8 Mac itu memarakkan lagi keraguan tentang kesanggupan kerajaan untuk bersikap telus sepenuhnya, apatahlagi kerana sebelum ini ia mengingkari janji untuk memberi maklumat kepada Ahli Parlimen Pakatan Rakyat dan enggan menubuhkan Jawatankuasa Pilihan Parlimen MH370.

Atas alasan ini, saya meminta Perdana Menteri mengotakan kata-katanya bahawa Malaysia tidak cuba menyembunyikan sesuatu dengan sekurang-kurangnya memenuhi dua janj yang setakat ini telah dimungkiri – memberikan taklimat kepada Ahli Parlimen Pakatan Rakyat tentang tragedi MH370 dan menubuhkan Jawatankuasa Pilihan Parlimen berkenaan tragedi MH370.- harakahdaily

Who's lying on RMAF report, CNN or Hisham...

A bombshell was dropped on the grieving families and loved ones of the 239 passengers and crew, Malaysians and the world on the 34th day of MH370’s disappearance.

CNN reported last night that the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) had scrambled its search aircraft on the morning of the missing Malaysian Airlines Boeing 737 but did not inform authorities until three days later and the denial by Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

Quoting a senior Malaysian government official and another source involved in the investigation, CNN reported  that  “Malaysian air force search aircraft were scrambled around 8am, soon after Malaysia Airlines (MAS) reported that its plane was missing early March 8.”

It reported that aircraft were scrambled before authorities could corroborate data indicating the Boeing 777 turned westwards from its northbound flight path.

The unnamed source stated RMAF had “not informed the Department of Civil Aviation or search and rescue operations until three days later, March 11".

It added that  Flight MH370 disappeared from military radar for some 120 nautical miles after it crossed back over Peninsular Malaysia.

"Based on available data, this means the plane must have dipped in altitude to between 4,000 and 5,000 feet," claimed the senior government official.

Hishammuddin has denied the CNN report, describing it as “a false allegation”.

Who is right, Hishammuddin or CNN?

Unless CNN is prepared to name the “senior Malaysian government official and another source” to substantiate its report, it would be difficult for anyone to accept it as gospel truth.

But the bare denial by Hishammuddin, after the drips and drabs of information being doled out; clarifications, confusions and contradictions; frequent  twists and turns and “flip-flops” and the vast  “black holes” in information in the past 35 days of the MH370 disaster is just not adequate, satisfactory or acceptable.

If  an opposition-headed parliamentary select committee on the MH 370 had been set up before the Dewan Rakyat adjourned yesterday, it would be a proper body to investigate  the veracity or otherwise of the CNN report that Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) had scrambled its search aircraft on the morning of the missing Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777, but did not inform the authorities until three days later, and come out with a credible and authoritative report to back Hishammuddin’s denial and put all doubts on the matter to rest.

In fact, the Parliamentary Select Committee could not only inquire whether RMAF had scrambled search aircraft that morning but also:

• Whether or why there was no scrambling of RMAF search aircraft when the military radar tracked MH370 as having diverted from its Kuala Lumpur to Beijing course, when in the first few minutes between 1.40 and 1.45am, at least two RMAF Sukhoi-30s from Gong Kedak could have been scrambled to intercept the jetliner in Kelantan airspace; and,


• Why a second chance was lost  to intercept the plane when it approached Penang and was picked up on the military radar in Butterworth, although the RMAF with its F/A squadron was on 24-hour standby at the airbase.

These and many other  questions have been awaiting answers in the past 35-days of the MH370 disaster, but as I said in Parliament in the presence of the Prime Minister Najib Razak and Hishammuddin on March 25 (18th Day),  I agree that the utmost priority must continue to be given to SAR – search and rescue – operation and the many questions that have arisen about the whole tragedy, including the crisis management, can wait until the discovery of the aircraft and hopefully,  the passengers and crew on board.

This is now the 35th Day of the MH370 disaster. I have just received reports that a Perth radio station has announced “Unconfirmed report says Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 black box has been found”, and quoting an aviation expert as saying that if these “unconfirmed reports  are firm enough to say we have located the black box, that is enough for them to launch the Bluefin 21 to go down to the bottom and take photographs or scan the bottom with a sonar scanner”.

I hope this is not another false alarm as the families of the 239 passengers and crew are awaiting for a closure.

However, after 35 days of the MH370 disaster, I believe we have come to a stage where even the families and loved ones of the passengers and crew on board MH370 would want answers to all the thousand-and-one questions that have surfaced about the whole tragedy instead of waiting for a finality and full closure of the tragedy with the discovery of the black box or wreckage, and this process of finding answers to these questions should begin without any delay.

In these circumstances, the CNN report and Hishammudin’s denial that RMAF had scrambled search aircraft on morning of March 8 had fuelled further doubts about government’s readiness to be fully transparent following the reneging of promises to brief Pakatan Rakyat  MPs and refusal to establish a Parliamentary Select Committee on MH370.

For these reasons, I would call on the Prime Minister to honour his word that Malaysia has nothing to hide by honouring two broken promises so far – an authoritative briefing to Pakatan Rakyat MPs on the MH370 tragedy and the establishment of an opposition-headed parliamentary select committee on the MH370 tragedy.- mk

Malaysia starts probing confused initial response...

Malaysia’s government has begun investigating civil aviation and military authorities to determine why opportunities to identify and track Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 were missed in the chaotic hours after it vanished, two officials said.

The preliminary internal enquiries come as tensions mount between civilian and military authorities over who bears most responsibility for the initial confusion and any mistakes that led to a week-long search in the wrong ocean.

“What happened at that time is being investigated and I can’t say any more than that because it involves the military and the government,” a senior government official told Reuters.

In an interview with Reuters last weekend, Malaysia Airlines chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said internal enquiries were under way, although he declined to give details.

A government spokesperson did not respond to Reuters questions over whether an investigation had been launched. The senior government source said it was aimed at getting a detailed picture of the initial response. It was unclear which government department was in charge or whether a formal probe had been opened.

Malaysia’s opposition coalition has demanded a parliamentary inquiry into what happened on the ground in those first few hours. Government officials have said any formal inquiry should not begin until the flight’s black box recorders are found.

The Boeing 777 was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it disappeared on March 8. Malaysia says it believes the plane crashed into the southern Indian Ocean after being deliberately diverted from its Kuala Lumpur-to-Beijing route.

A search effort is taking place well out to sea off the Australian city of Perth to try to locate any wreckage as well as the recorders which may provide answers to what happened onboard.

Mechanical problems assumed

Interviews with the senior government source and four other civilian and military officials show that air traffic controllers and military officials assumed the plane had turned back to an airport in Malaysia because of mechanical trouble when it disappeared off civilian radar screens at 1.21am local time.

That assumption took hold despite no distress call or other communication coming from the cockpit, which could have been a clue that the plane had been hijacked or deliberately diverted.

The five sources together gave Reuters the most detailed account yet of events in the hour after the plane vanished. All declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue and because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

“The initial assumption was that the aircraft could have diverted due to mechanical issues or, in the worst case scenario, crashed,” said a senior Malaysian civilian source. “That is what we were working on.”

Officials at Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation, which oversees air traffic controllers, the Defence Ministry and the air force directed requests for comment to the Prime Minister’s Office, which did not respond.

One senior military official said air traffic control had informed the military at around 2.00am that a plane was missing. The standard operating procedure was to do so within 15 minutes, he said. Another military source said the notification was slow in coming, but did not give a time.

Civil aviation officials told Reuters their response was in line with guidelines, but they did not give a specific time for when the military was informed.

Once alerted, military radar picked up an unidentified plane heading west across peninsular Malaysia, the senior military official said. The air force has said a plane that could have been MH370 was last plotted on military radar at 2.15am, 320km north-west of the west coast state of Penang.

Plane tracked in real time?

Top military officials have publicly said Malaysia’s US and Russian-made fighter jets stationed at air force bases in Penang and the east coast state of Kuantan were not scrambled to intercept the plane because it was not viewed as “hostile”.

“When we were alerted, we got our boys to check the military radar. We noticed that there was an unmarked plane flying back but (we) could not confirm (its identity),” said the senior military source. “Based on the information we had from ATC (Air Traffic Control) and DCA (Department of Civil Aviation), we did not send up any jets because it was possibly mechanical problems and the plane might have been going back to Penang.”

The military has not publicly acknowledged it tracked the plane in real time as it crossed back over the peninsula.

While fighter jets would not have had enough fuel to track a Boeing 777 for long and darkness would have complicated the operation, they could have spotted MH370 flying across peninsular Malaysia and possibly beyond, aviation experts said.

That could have enabled Malaysia to get a better fix on where it was headed and thus possibly ruled out the need to search off its east coast in the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea, around where MH370 was last seen on civilian radar.

Fighter pilots should be able to scramble within minutes, aviation experts said, although the time can vary widely from country to country. In Europe and North America, radar experts said controllers were trained to coordinate across civil and military lines and across borders.

They said military jets would have been scrambled, as they were from a Greek air force base in 2005 when a Helios Airways jet with 121 people on board lost contact over the Aegean Sea after suffering a decompression that knocked out the pilots. Two F-16 jets could see the captain’s seat empty and the first officer slumped over the controls. The plane crashed in Greece after running out of fuel.

“This raises questions of coordination between military and civil controllers,” former pilot Hugh Dibley, a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society in London, said of Malaysia’s response.

Bureaucratic delays

Another contentious issue has been whether the military was slow in passing on its radar data that showed an unidentified plane had re-crossed the Malay peninsula.

Two civilian aviation officials said military bureaucracy delayed the sharing of this information, although they gave no precise timeframe for when it was handed over.

“The armed forces knew much earlier that the aircraft could have turned back. That is why the search was expanded to include the Straits of Malacca within a day or two,” said a second senior
civilian source, who was familiar with the initial search, referring to the narrow stretch of water between Indonesia and Malaysia, on the western side of the peninsula.

“But the military did not confirm this until much later due to resistance from senior officers, and the government needed to step in. We wasted our time in the South China Sea.”

Government sources have said Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had to force the military to turn over its raw radar data to investigators during the first week after the flight’s disappearance.

Military officials have said they did not want to risk causing confusion by sharing the data before it had been verified, adding this was why Air Force chief Rodzali Daud (i) went to the air base in Penang on March 9, where the plane’s final radar plot was recorded.

On the same day, Rodzali said the search was being expanded to the west coast, although Reuters has not been able to determine if that meant the data was being shared with other Malaysian officials.

On March 12, four days after Flight MH370 disappeared, Rodzali told reporters there was still no confirmation the unidentified plane had been Flight MH370, but added Malaysia was sharing the radar data with international civilian and military authorities, including those from the United States.

Authorities called off the search in the South China Sea on March 15 after Najib said satellite data showed the plane could have taken a course anywhere from central Asia to the southern Indian Ocean.

Fears of losing jobs

A sixth source, a senior official in the civil aviation sector, said the plane’s disappearance had exposed bureaucratic dysfunction in Malaysia, which has rarely been subject to such international demands for transparency. “There was never the need for these silos to speak to one another. It’s not because of ill intent, it’s just the way the system was set up,” the official said.

The accounts given to Reuters reveal growing tensions between civilian officials, the military and Malaysia Airlines over whether more could have been done in those initial hours.

One of the Reuters sources said military officials in particular were concerned they could lose their jobs.

Tensions have also emerged between the government and state-controlled Malaysia Airlines.

Malaysia’s defence minister and acting transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, said in an interview with China’s CCTV that the airline would have to “answer” for its mistakes in dealing with the relatives of the some 150 Chinese passengers on board.

In his interview with Reuters, Malaysia Airlines chief Ahmad Jauhari played down talk of tension, saying there were “slight differences of opinion”.- Reuters

cheers.