Calon polis perlu ambil ujian agama, moral

Pengarah Pengurusan Bukit Aman, Abd Rahim Jaafar berkata, penekanan nilai agama dan moral bertujuan menangani kes salah laku dalam kalangan warga polis, walaupun jumlah kes sedemikian tidak sampai 1%.

KUALA TERENGGANU: Setiap calon anggota dan pegawai polis bagi pengambilan akan datang perlu melepasi ujian agama serta moral.

Pengarah Pengurusan Bukit Aman, Abd Rahim Jaafar berkata, ia bagi memastikan semua anggota dan pegawai polis baru memiliki nilai murni serta berintegriti tinggi.

“Tahun depan kita unjurkan pengambilan 6,000 anggota dan kira-kira 500 pegawai untuk mengisi perkhidmatan.

“Selain ujian psikometrik dan sikap, setiap calon perlu menjalani dan melepasi ujian agama bagi yang Muslim serta ujian moral bagi bukan Muslim secara dalam talian, dan juga ketika sesi temuduga sebelum diterima untuk latihan.

“Polis ini tugas dia menjaga keselamatan orang ramai, tetapi macam mana nak jaga jika dia pun bermasalah,” katanya selepas menghadiri Majlis Istiadat Penganugerahan Pingat Jasa Pahlawan Negara di sini, hari ini.

Rahim berkata, penekanan nilai agama dan moral itu dibuat bagi menangani kes salah laku dalam kalangan warga polis, walaupun jumlah kes seumpama itu sangat kecil, iaitu tidak sampai 1%.

Seramai 300 anggota, pegawai serta pesara polis menerima anugerah Pingat Jasa Pahlawan Negara yang disampaikan Menteri Besar, Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar. Majlis itu turut dihadiri Ketua Polis Terengganu, Aidi Ismail.

Selain penekanan terhadap asas agama dan moral, Rahim berkata, polis juga sedang mendapatkan bantuan pihak universiti untuk mengkaji teknologi yang dapat mengesan calon bermasalah dengan dadah lebih awal.

“Ini kerana kita dapati ada anggota polis yang ditangkap berkaitan kes dadah, sebenarnya sudah terlibat lebih awal, iaitu sebelum memasuki perkhidmatan polis.

“Perkara seperti ini yang kita cuba elakkan kerana ia memberi imej serta reputasi buruk kepada polis, walaupun jumlah sangat kecil.” - FMT

More than 100 Sabah flood victims moved to relief centre

Rising floodwaters at Beaufort, Sabah, due to heavy rain last night.

KOTA KINABALU: Heavy rain last night caused severe flooding in Sabah’s Beaufort and Membakut townships after two main rivers in the southwestern area breached dangerous levels today.

Beaufort district officer Jupery Etok said as at 2.30pm today, about 40 families, comprising over 100 people, had been moved to a temporary relief shelter at the Kampung Selagon hall in Beaufort town.

Jupery expects conditions to worsen as a downpour continues upriver at Tenom where the Tenom Pangi hydroelectric dam is located.

He said the heavy rain in Beaufort lasted for five hours until midnight yesterday while Membakut experienced a downpour from 6pm to 11pm.

“The water levels at Sungai Padas and Sungai Membakut are continuously rising and we expect more people to be transferred from their homes to the relief centre,” he said when contacted.

Residents in Beaufort, Sabah, walking in floodwaters up to knee-level.

He said due to the heavy rain in Tenom, two water gates at the dam had been opened to release the high volume of water.

According to figures provided by the Civil Defence Force, a total of 19 villages in Membakut, which is a sub-district, and four in Beaufort, have been affected by severe floods.

A school in Membakut, Sabah, affected by the floods.

The water levels as of noon today for Sungai Padas and Sungai Membakut were at 8.82m and 7.47m, above the dangerous level of 8.70m and 6.80m for the respective rivers.

A number of main roads in both areas are impassable to all types of vehicles, including the Jalan Kampung Bakalau intersection in Beaufort and Jalan Kampung Bambangan in Membakut.

It is understood that the floods in Beaufort and Membakut also affected the train services for the Kota Kinabalu-Membakut- Beaufort route after rail tracks came under water in several areas.

The collapsed section of Jalan Tamparuli-Kiulu.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the west coast, a road has collapsed in Tamparuli, about 35km north of here, also due to heavy rain since yesterday.

About 28m of the Jalan Tamparuli-Kiulu stretch collapsed after the earth beneath it gave way at about 3.30am today.

Sabah Public Works Department (JKR) director Richard Jomiji told reporters that the road was the main route linking Tamparuli to Kiulu, both of which are rural areas.

Fire and rescue personnel help evacuate flood victims in Sabah.

Road users are advised to use alternative routes at Jalan Kiulu-Lawa Mondou, Jalan Kiulu Logkou Lama or Jalan Bungalio Logkou Timbok.

Jomiji also said Sabah JKR would try to complete a temporary by-pass near the collapsed road as soon as possible.

On Sunday, a landslide cut off the main road at KM96.7 of Jalan Kundasang-Ranau. - FMT

No more delays with IPCMC, Sosma and Sedition Act, Ambiga tells PH

Lawyer and human rights activist Ambiga Sreenevasan says delays by the government are unacceptable.

KUALA LUMPUR: Human rights activist Ambiga Sreenevasan wants to know the reason why some Pakatan Harapan MPs are apparently objecting to the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).

“I would like to know what is the objection (about)? I would like to know because the delays are unacceptable,” she said on the sidelines of the Human Rights Day forum here.

Ambiga said the PH government had had enough time to consider any objection, referring to the Dec 3 postponement of the second reading of the IPCMC bill in the Dewan Rakyat after it had been tabled.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Liew Vui Keong had said that the tabling was postponed to refine the bill to facilitate its implementation, and to avoid any unwanted issues from arising once it was passed.

“I don’t buy the (government’s explanation) that more time is needed because enough work has been done on it. So, enough with the excuses,” said the former Bar Council president.

Asked if the delay could have been due to fine-tuning, Ambiga said: “They have been giving enough excuses. I see it as a delaying measure.”

She urged the government to table the bill in March, as promised.

Liew had told the Dewan Rakyat on Dec 3 that the bill would be tabled in March.

Ambiga noted that the government had also been postponing other promised law reforms, such as the repeal of the death penalty.

“It has been adjourned and adjourned. We are nearly two years into Pakatan rule but the promised repeals have not happened,” she said.

This includes the repeal of the Sediton Act and the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012, better known as Sosma.

Ambiga said she was voicing out as she was frustrated over the delay.

“There should be no more delays because right now, no one believes them as there are all these adjournments. No one believes what they are telling us because their credibility is so short right now,” he said, adding that PH had to do something to regain credibility.

Asked about police objecting to IPCMC, she said: “They will be worried because what they (police) want is a fair process. We just have to ensure that its a fair process and get on with it.” - FMT

Widow awarded RM490,000 in death in custody case

N Dharmendran had been detained for alleged attempted murder involving firearms.

KUALA LUMPUR: Marry Mariay Susay, whose husband N Dharmendran died in police custody in 2013, was today awarded close to half a million ringgit in damages.

The housewife had sued the police and the government in 2016 for damages over assault, battery, breach of duty, negligence, false imprisonment and conspiracy.

Dharmendran had been detained for alleged attempted murder involving firearms. He had been kept in the lock-up for 10 days.

Last year, the Federal Court affirmed the acquittal of four policemen implicated in his death.

More to come - FMT

Task force yet to submit final report on disappearance of Koh, Amri, says Suhakam

Suhakam described Pastor Raymond Koh and Perlis Hope founder Amri Che Mat as ‘victims of enforced disappearances’.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) said the special task force set up to probe the disappearance of Pastor Raymond Koh and Perlis Hope founder Amri Che Mat has yet to submit its final report.

Suhakam commissioner Mah Seng Kwai said the report was supposed to be submitted this month.

The six-member special task force was set up by the home ministry in May to look into Suhakam’s early findings on the missing the duo, which it described as “victims of enforced disappearance”.

“We are waiting for the special task force to submit their report,” Mah, who headed Suhakam’s inquiry panel, said at the sidelines of the Human Rights Day celebration today.

He said the task force was to submit its report to the Cabinet, after which it would be given to Suhakam.

“Part of our earlier recommendations was to have the task force carry out further investigations into the case,” he said.

It was supposed to investigate issues not initially covered by the Suhakam inquiry.

In April, after a lengthy hearing that began in August last year, Suhakam released the findings of its inquiry, saying the police Special Branch was behind the disappearence of Koh and Amri.

Koh was abducted by masked men on Jalan SS4B/10 in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, on Feb 13, 2017, and Amri disappeared on Nov 24, 2016, after leaving his home in Kangar, Perlis. - FMT

Malaysia has a new attraction

As it turned out, Miss Universe Philippines Gazini Ganados won the online voting for Miss Universe 2019 National Costume competition held in Atlanta, Georgia in the US yesterday.

However, Miss Universe Malaysia Shweta Sekhon was the favourite among producing staff backstage and was instructed to change into her national costume (above) for it to be showcased as Best National Costume.

When she was dressed in all her glory, she struts to the stage just as host Steve Harvey announced Miss Philippines as the winner. Shweta promptly corrected him and said it was Malaysia, not the Philippines, and continued to explain her costume.

The mix-up was a blessing in disguise as it became the centre of attention. While the mono-silver colour costume worn by Miss Universe Philippines was elegant, what Miss Universe Malaysia donned was breathtakingly beautiful and colourful and will long be remembered.

As such, it should be put on display at leading shopping malls such as Pavilion Kuala Lumpur or Suria KLCC. Designer Carven Ong could make several replicas so that they could also be displayed in Penang, Melaka and Singapore.

Another could be used by Tourism Malaysia in its local promotions and overseas roadshows. It is bound to attract onlookers and the unique culture of the Baba and Nyonya will fascinate many to visit Malaysia. - Mkini

Mahathir hopeful of 1MDB settlement with Goldman soon

Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is hopeful of reaching an out-of-court settlement with Goldman Sachs over the 1MDB scandal soon but that compensation of "one point something billion" dollars offered by the bank was too small.

The Southeast Asian nation has charged Goldman and 17 current and former directors of its units for allegedly misleading investors over bond sales totalling US$6.5 billion that the US bank helped raise for sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

Mahathir said they have demanded US$7.5 billion from Goldman and negotiations were ongoing.

"We would like to avoid having to go to the courts, but if they come up with a reasonable sum I think we will agree," Mahathir, 94, said in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday.

"But at the moment their offer is too small. We're continuing to talk with them to explain why they should pay what we demand. Of course, it's not the full amount, that they may be able to bring down, but we think that we can reach some agreement at a later stage."

A spokesman for Goldman declined to comment.

Mahathir said he hoped an agreement with Goldman would be reached "soon".

"Yes, I want to achieve a settlement. We are progressing, if we fail then we'll go to the courts," he said. "We cannot preempt by going to the courts."

Goldman said in October it was in discussions with authorities on a possible resolution of investigations relating to 1MDB.

The bank could separately end up paying less than US$2 billion to US authorities to resolve criminal and regulatory probes connected to the scandal, Bloomberg reported last week.

US authorities say about US$4.5 billion was siphoned from 1MDB, founded in 2009 by then-Malaysian prime minister Najib Abdul Razak. The scandal helped Mahathir unexpectedly defeat Najib in a general election last year.

Mahathir said Malaysia would not agree to a settlement with fugitive financier Jho Low, accused of playing a central role in the scam. Low has consistently denied wrongdoing and says he does not expect a fair trial in Malaysia as long as Mahathir is in power.

"We think he is very guilty. We have proof of that," Mahathir said of Low. "We want to settle it according to the law.

Mahathir said Malaysian authorities have no contact with Low or his representatives and did not know where he is.

The US Justice Department said last month it struck a deal to recover US$1 billion in funds allegedly looted from 1MDB from Low.

- Reuters