Thursday, April 30, 2015

WHAT ABOUT NAJIB’S RIGHT TO REPLY?

SSK5
Salleh Said Keruak
Shahbudin Husin said Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s open show of defiance in the face of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s campaign to oust him would only provoke the former premier to intensify his attacks.
According to Shahbudin, if Najib maintains his resolve and Dr Mahathir remains true to his character, the Malaysian public will be witnessing a bitter war indeed, “As everyone knows, Mahathir will never back off, will never surrender, will never abandon something he has started,” said Shahbudin.
Does this mean Najib should not reply to Dr Mahathir and should just keep quiet instead?
When, out of respect for Dr Mahathir, the Prime Minister keeps quiet, he is accused of ignoring the issue and of not replying to all the allegations. However, when the Prime Minister does reply as demanded, he is now accused of provoking Dr Mahathir and of prolonging the issue.
No doubt Malaysians have a right to criticise. However, in that same spirit, those who are criticised also have a right to reply. Rights work both ways. We cannot apply the principle that while Malaysians have a right to criticise the Prime Minister the Prime Minister does not have the right to reply. 
We have to decide whether we want the Prime Minister to reply or to just keep quiet. You cannot criticise the Prime Minister for keeping quiet and then when he replies you criticise him for replying. This is not how things work in a democracy and a civil society.

PANAS! SERANGAN TUN M SEMAKIN SENGIT

Dr Mahathir jumpa akar umbi jelaskan serangan terhadap Najib



Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad berharap diberi peluang untuk menerangkan kepada ahli Umno tindakannya mengkritik pentadbiran Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak agar mereka dapat membuat keputusan atau menghukum secara bijak dan adil. 

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad berkata hari ini akan menemui ahli Umno di peringkat akar umbi bagi menerangkan kritikan beliau terhadap Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak memandangkan beberapa pihak menganggap tindakannya merosakkan parti.

Dalam entri terbaru di blognya, bekas perdana menteri itu berkata, untuk membuat keputusan atau menghukum secara bijak dan adil, rakyat perlu dengar kedua-dua belah pihak.

"Saya harap saya diberi peluang berjumpa dengan ahli Umno biasa untuk menerang akan masalah kehilangan berbilion ringgit oleh Najib.

"Lepas mendengar kedua-dua pihak, adililah terhadap 'serangan' saya. Apakah saya sedang merosakkan parti atau mencuba menyelamatkannya?" katanya dalam blog popularnya chedet.cc hari ini.

Bekas perdana menteri paling lama berkhidmat itu mutakhir ini dikecam pemimpin dan penyokong Umno kerana terus-terusan secara terbuka mengkritik Najib dan meminta beliau berundur.

Dr Mahathir menerangkan, serangan beliau mungkin tidak menyenangkan Najib dan sebahagian ahli Umno, tetapi niatnya ialah untuk menyelamatkan Umno, "parti keramat yang dahulu disokong sehingga menang dua pertiga majoriti setiap pilihan raya umum (PRU)."

"Hanya mereka yang tidak dapat lihat sahaja yang tidak sedar Umno di bawah Najib gagal memulih Umno selepas Tun Abdullah," katanya merujuk kepada perdana menteri sebelum Najib, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, yang mengambil alih kepimpinan negara daripada Dr Mahathir.

Abdullah menjadi perdana menteri pada Oktober 2003 dan berundur pada April 2009 susulan prestasi hambar BN dalam PRU 2008.

"Kemenangan Najib lebih tipis," kata Dr Mahathir.

Beliau berterima kasih kepada ahli akar umbi Umno, yang sebahagiannya menasihatkan beliau menghentikan serangan terhadap Najib kerana katanya, beliau berpengalaman dalam bidang politik, terutama yang berkaitan dengan budaya Melayu.

"Kita cenderung untuk setia kepada pemimpin. Kita tidak soal apa-apa yang dilakukan oleh pemimpin. Dia pemimpin, kita pengikut. Oleh itu, ikut sahajalah. Lebih-lebih lagi apabila kita diberi penerangan olehnya secara tertutup seolah-olah kita dapat berkongsi rahsia dengan pemimpin kita."

Beberapa bulan kebelakangan ini, Dr Mahathir menggesa Najib meletak jawatan, mengaitkannya dengan beberapa isu seperti 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) yang dibebani hutang berbilion ringgit, kes pembunuhan wanita Mongolia Altantuya Shaariibuu dan gaya hidup mewah keluarganya.

Beliau juga meminta Umno menyingkirkan Najib jika tidak mahu tewas pada PRU akan datang.

Bagaimanapun, Najib baru-baru ini mengumumkan beliau tidak akan menyerah kalah dan menegaskan kerajaannya mengamalkan ketelusan dalam pentadbiran.

"Walau dilintang dengan seribu aral, biarpun kita diasak dan dikritik, sebagai sebuah kerajaan yang telus, saya selaku perdana menteri bersama-sama timbalan perdana menteri, dan didokong pula para menteri serta rakan ahli pentadbiran, tidak akan sesekali berganjak atau menyerah kalah, malah akan tetap istiqamah dan terus berjuang, merintis sejuta lagi jalan baru demi kebaktian kepada rakyat dan negara," katanya ketika membentangkan laporan prestasi Program Transformasi 2014 pada Selasa.
 ~dipetik dari The Malaysian Insider

"Hukum Agama Ketinggalan Zaman Perlu Di Tukar" - Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah

 Sheikh Abdullah Bin Bayyah, Grand Sheikh of Al Azhar University, Cairo



Outdated religious laws must be changed, UAE forum hears

ABU DHABI : Calls for renewal of religion, reassessment of outdated religious laws and orders, and putting an end to excommunication, were made by leading Muslim scholars at the second forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies.

Reviving Fiqh, Islamic science, is no longer an option, but rather a “life buoy” to stop indiscriminate applications of past-time fatwas or excommunication by extremist groups, said the grand imam of Al Azhar.

“Renewal is fundamental in the Islamic religion, which is based on constantly linking between religious texts, the purpose of these texts and the current living reality,” said Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah, president of the forum.

“There are calls to renew religion and religious speech and a religious revolution..

He called for reviewing the fundamentals of Islamic science, as many rulings are no longer applicable in modern society.

“So people take the revelation and think it is universally applicable in every time and place,” added Sheikh Hamza Youssef, a renowned Muslim personality and president of Zaytuna College.

“For example, Omar bin Al Khattab suspended [the Sharia penalty] for theft during drought.”

Another example is the apostasy law, ..which existed in Christianity
.

in the current age applying apostasy law will cause more people to leave religion than to join it so it has an opposite effect.

As for other Sharia penalties, scholars need to sit and think about them: “It all needs to be reassessed,” he added.

Grand Sheikh Ahmed Al Tayyeb, of Al Azhar University, said Fiqh principles should be revised 

majority of scholars agreed that fatwas change with the change of time, place, circumstance and conditions, such principles do not apply any longer.

My comments : Well  that is his view.  As I have said before I dont think there is such a thing as 'Islamic scholarship'. There is only sectarian learning. These people exist within their own sects.  Other sects may not agree. Tell them to bring some proof and they go poof. If you dont agree with their sect you can get killed or punished. That is how they preserve their 'scholarship'.

There is a big difference between fiction and reality. For example, in the Islamic context, how can something be construed as part of revelation when it is not written in the Quran.  

Or how can one have different interpretations of something that is NOT found in the Quran?

There is no punishment for apostasy mentioned in the Quran. So how did these learned scholars come to argue about the punishment for apostasy as though it was written in the Quran? If it is not in the Quran it is not part of the revelation.

And true enough, as the Sheikh has said, the punishment for apostasy is found in the christian Bible.   The Sheikh should have elaborated on this further. 

Here are a list of things that are NOT found in the Quran but they are found in the Bible:

1. punishment of death for apostasy
2. stoning the adulterer to death
3. hijab for women
4. circumcision for males
5. the ban against statues, carvings etc
6. collecting religious tithes

and many more.  Splitting hairs and splitting heads over things that are not found in the Quran but are found in the Bible.  What a waste of life.

GET OUT! 'Corrupt' 4 told by blind protesters to quit MAB

GET OUT! 'Corrupt' 4 told by blind protesters to quit MAB
In a clear display of anger, 60 blind protesters stormed the gates of the headquarters of the Malaysian Association for the Blind (MAB) today.
The protesters wanted to demonstrate inside the MAB compound, but were hindered by the locked gates.
This angered the protesters, who then tried to tear the gates down, while others scaled it to get inside.
The situation cooled down quickly though, and after about 20 minutes outside, the gates were opened, allowing the protesters to continue their rally inside.
Hidup orang buta (Long live the blind), and lawan tetap lawan (opponents remain opposed) were among the cries they made, mimicking the opposition coalition battle cry as well.
Corrupt, neglected the blind
The two-hour protest, led by Solidariti Orang Buta Malaysia (SOBM), sought to force the top four people in charge of MAB to quit, claiming they had become corrupt and neglected the blind.
The four are MAB president Tengku Azlan Sultan Abu Bakar, deputy president Dr Veera Ramani, CEO Ganesan Supayah, and vice-president S Kulasegaran.
This is the second time the blind are protesting against the MAB in two months.
Among their allegations against the four are lack of transparency and wasteful spending.
"After Ganesan became the CEO, MAB's savings dwindled from RM11 million to RM6 million," MAB vice-president Hasidi Hassan claimed.
They have lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the matter.
Besides this, the blind also want to run MAB themselves.
"We are not stupid, don't think the blind cannot run MAB," Society of the Blind in Malaysia (SBM) president Mohammed Nazri Othman cried into the microphone.
The four top people in charge of MAB are not blind or visually impaired.
Malaysiakini is in the process of contacting MAB for its comment on today's protest. - M'kini

OMG WHY NOT! Unethical to quiz Najib's LAVISH lifestyle, say ex-BN reps

OMG WHY NOT! Unethical to quiz Najib's LAVISH lifestyle, say ex-BN reps
It’s unethical to talk about Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's family’s lavish lifestyle, claimed a group of former BN elected representatives.
“I don't think (Najib's opponents) should stoop so low to talk about people's personal lives,” said Abdul Rahman Sulaiman, the information chief of the Malaysian Council of Former Elected Representatives (Mubarak).
Najib's grandfather had set up the Noah foundation, to look after the family, he said.
“So, those people are wealthy people” he held.
There is no question of Najib and his family living beyond their means, added Mubarak president Abdul Aziz Rahman.
As such, Mubarak doesn't find this an issue, and those who do need to do it properly, he told a press conference.
- M'kini

COPS AGAIN? WHY DID JUDGE IGNORE? I was beaten, says Petaling Street ‘stripper’

COPS AGAIN? WHY DID JUDGE IGNORE? I was beaten, says Petaling Street ‘stripper’
KOTA KINABALU - Persana Avril Sollunda, 32, the Sabahan dubbed “the Petaling Street stripper” by the media, is awaiting trial in jail, at Sungai Buloh. Her case will only be mentioned again on May 29. She has pleaded not guilty.
Persana, a part-time model and spa worker in Kuala Lumpur had no bailor on Tuesday resulting in the Court being unable to set bail. The trial will not start on May 29. If she’s found guilty when her case is eventually heard, she will face three months in jail, a fine, or both. She has one child.
According to Facebook, some Church groups have plans to bail her out.
The social media and YouTube where her case has gone viral has been critical of Magistrate Zura Syazween Hamizan for ignoring her complaint that she was beaten.
It was not immediately clear who beat her or where the alleged beating took place. Zura responded however by saying that it was not the issue (in Court) and proceeded to read the charge again.
Persana, of mixed Dusun-Thai (Chinese)- Indian (Punjabi) ancestry, was charged in the Magistrate’s Court under Section 294 (a) of the Penal Code for allegedly committing an obscene act in public.
She was arrested by police last Saturday under Section 509 of the Penal Code for public indecency. On Sunday, police confirmed that she had tested positive for methamphetamine.
The social media has also reported that Persana took off her blouse and later her bra last Thursday when she was accused of theft by someone and wanted to prove that she was not hiding anything on her person.
The story, as reported in the media, was that she did not settle a RM18 bill for her chicken rice meal at a stall along Petaling Street and wanted to avoid the bill by stripping.
She can be heard saying on video that she in fact paid for her meal, that she left the money on the table. Initial reports said that there was also a man with her, a Caucasian, who isn’t in the videos of her which went viral.
In the video, she is seen walking along the street, jacket in hand after having abandoned her blouse and bra which she earlier threw at a female hawker. She can be seen pausing, having her pictures taken by someone, and swinging around a couple of times in a pose before walking off.
Persana was reportedly a contestant in the 2005 Dewi Remaja competition and also tried her luck in Pengacara Jemputan Nona, a TV3 competition.
Among the pictures of her which have gone viral on social media is one with Huguan Siou Joseph Pairin Kitingan. Persana can be seen standing next to Pairin in the picture.
The Huguan Siou, who is also Deputy Chief Minister and President of the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), is in traditional costume. Pairin later told local media that he had seen the picture but could not recollect when it was taken.
“I don’t know her,” he assured the media. “Many people have their pictures taken with me. It’s normal. When they ask, you oblige. But I don’t remember her.” - FMT

Najib not a PM but an emperor, says Zaid

Zaid Ibrahim says that even if many people dislike Mahathir Mohamad, he is spot on when it comes to Najib Razak.
zaid najib
PETALING JAYA: With a critical eye on the recent behaviour of Prime Minister Najib Razak and his steadfast refusal to answer many burning questions regarding his leadership, Zaid Ibrahim has proclaimed that he is acting more like an emperor than a prime minister.
The former law minister said the people voted him in to be their prime minister not realising that they would end up being under the rule of an emperor instead.
“The Rakyat went to the poll 2013 thinking they were getting a PM; little do they know they got an Emperor,” he tweeted.
In Zaid’s view, a prime minister was someone who felt compelled to answer the queries of the people rather than put up a fight against them. He also said Najib was more an emperor than anything else because he did as he pleased regardless of whether the people approved of it or not.
“A PM must feel he is accountable to the Rakyat. A PM does not wage war against those who have questions for him. An Emperor doesn’t care.”
Taking a swipe at readers of a news portal, whom he said did not like Mahathir Mohamad, Zaid warned that it was time to wise up and support the former prime minister as his assessments of Najib had been spot on.
“Malaysiakini readers may not like Tun M but he is 100 pc correct on Najib. So start being smart and support him all the way.”

Zeti: Impact of GST will be discussed at meeting

Implications of the tax on the country's growth, consumption spending, investment activity and inflation will be addressed, says Bank Negara governor.
zeti aziz gst
KUALA LUMPUR: The impact of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) impact will be among the issues to be discussed during the monetary policy committee meeting next week, said Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz.
She said the meeting will address the implications of the GST on the country’s growth, consumption spending, investment activity and inflation.
“This (the GST impact) is still being monitored. We are also in an environment where we have lower oil prices that is offsetting (the impact),” she told reporters after presenting Kijang Emas Scholarships to recipients here today.
Zeti was asked if there had been early signs of prices of goods increasing faster than expected after the GST implementation coupled with rising costs globally.
She said based on the experience of 169 countries that have implemented the GST or value added tax, implications would arise in the first year of implementation.
The governor further explained that it usually takes a year or two before a new tax system sets in and stabilises, and some countries have managed to do it a litter faster, while others have taken a longer time.
– BERNAMA

ISMA sees evil behind marital-rape sensation

The NGO's website says the issue is being played up as part of an anti-Islam agenda.
isma, marital rape
PETALING JAYA: ISMA’s website has accused the “liberal social media” of sensationalising the issue of marital rape to paint an ugly picture of Islam.
An article on ISMAweb today said news reports and commentaries on the issue have been presented in such a way as to show that Islam is a “problematic religion that is unjust to women”.
The article, written by ISMAweb editor Razali Zakaria, did not name any specific website, but said the sensation was sparked by a news report quoting Perak Mufti Harussani Zakaria as saying that “there’s no such thing” as marital rape in Islam.
Harussani’s comments first appeared on the Malay Mail Online and the report was picked up by various Malaysian-based news portals, personal blogs and social media sites. It was also featured by the right-wing Israelnationalnews.com.
Razali noted that the issue of marital rape made its recent appearance in the news with the launching of a campaign against it by the State Assemblywoman for Damasara Utama, DAP’s Yeo Bee Yin.
He also noted that Yeo’s campaign was not directed at any religion or even at religion per se, but he said the “liberal and secular news portals, which are closely associated with the Jews, have found in it an opportunity” to attack Islam.
“Why didn’t they seek comments from the priests of Christianity and other religions?” he asked. “Instead they have chosen to trap the Perak Mufti into giving a statement.”
Razali also questioned Tony Pua’s motive in posting on his Facebook Harussani’s comments side by side with Perlis Mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin’s opposing opinion. He speculated that Pua was indirectly inviting comments that would put Islam in a bad light.
He described Pua as “a racist and chauvinist” and one among the “infidel leaders of the DAP tribe”.
Razali prefaced his article with the following quotation from the Quran:
And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquillity in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought. – Ar-Rum, 21
“In truth,” Razali said, “there should be no such thing as a problem in marital relations between believing Muslim couples.”

P. Pauh: Angry BN voters blame GST for high prices

Pakatan Rakyat campaigners have succeeded in convincing voters that GST alone is to blame for the hike in prices, not profiteering businesspeople.
p gst
PERMATANG PAUH: Barisan Nasional is facing an uphill battle trying to explain the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to their supporters in the Permatang Pauh by-election.
BN election campaigners said most people either did not understand or refused to accept that the current hike in prices of goods and services was due to profiteering businessmen and not the GST.
They said that voters refused to try and comprehend the fact that many businesspeople had actually hiked up the prices of their goods prior to the implementation of the new taxation system in order to reap a profit from it now.
They said many people kept asking why the prices were not going down when the 6% GST was supposed to replace the previous 10% SST (Sales and Services Tax).
BN also admitted that the Pakatan Rakyat by-election machinery had succeeded in convincing most voters that the GST alone was to blame.
“The people simply blame GST for all price hikes. No doubt we are facing a tough time to make them understand the truth,” said the workers.
When contacted, PPP Penang Youth chief P Thaiyalan Pillay acknowledged that GST was undoubtedly BN’s biggest obstacle in the by-election.
Echoing the words of BN campaigners, he too alleged that businesspeople, especially retailers, had deliberately hiked up prices during the pre-GST period in order to profit now.
He said these unscrupulous people were now blaming GST to cover up their unethical business tricks.
“They capitalised on GST to hike up prices to maintain their huge profit margin and burden the people.
“Pakatan plays the same political game to fish votes even though the coalition leaders know that irresponsible and profiteering businessmen were to be blamed,” said Thaiyalan.
He pointed out that PR campaigners were spinning the issue on the GST to gain political mileage despite Parliamentary Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim himself supporting the tax system in October last year.
He also said that another reason why BN was facing difficulties in explaining the GST was because it was still in the early stages of implementation.
However, he did not think that Permatang Pauh voters would overwhelmingly cast anti-GST votes against BN.
He expressed confidence that BN would be able to explain GST and make people understand it fully before the main polling day on May 7.
“We have to work harder to make the voters understand the importance and benefits of GST.
“We must make people understand that GST cannot be blamed for the price hike.
“We also have to explain that some prices (of goods and services) have actually gone down due to GST and the repeal of SST,” said Thaiyalan.
Early voting is on May 3.
In the by-election, PKR President Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who held Permatang Pauh MP between 1999 and mid-2008, will face BN candidate from Umno Suhaimi Sabudin, and two independents Salleh Isahak and Azman Shah Othman.
The by-election is being held after its incumbent MP and Wan Azizah’s husband Anwar lost his parliamentary status following his sodomy conviction.

It wasn’t me, says wife of former MCA chief over capsules for badminton star

Toh Puan Ong Ee Nah, seen here with her husband Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik during his cheating trial in October 2013, denies that she is the person behind the tainted cordyceps which led to Datuk Lee Chong Wei's suspension. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, April 30, 2015.Toh Puan Ong Ee Nah, seen here with her husband Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik during his cheating trial in October 2013, denies that she is the person behind the tainted cordyceps which led to Datuk Lee Chong Wei's suspension. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, April 30, 2015.The wife of former MCA president Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik has come out to quash talk that she was the person who had given tainted cordyceps capsules to world badminton ace Datuk Lee Chong Wei, which resulted in the latter's eight-month suspension by the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
Toh Puan Ong Ee Nah told The China Press that while she and Lee were close friends, she was not the person that was alluded to in Lee’s recent doping case.
The identity of the person has been the subject of rife speculation on social media after The Malaysian Insider revealed yesterday that capsules tainted with banned anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone were given to him by the wife of a "very influential man in Malaysia".
Lee yesterday told news portal Malaysiakini that the woman in question was not the wife of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, who is one of his avid supporters.
Lee was given a back-dated eight month ban by the BWF's anti-doping panel on April 27 after he tested positive for the banned substance at last year's world championships.
A BWF report said since around 2007 or 2008, the unnamed woman began giving Lee some of her own supply of pure cordyceps capsules, which she bought in raw whole form and had it powdered and made into capsule form at a traditional Chinese medicine outlet in Kuala Lumpur.
The report said the woman in question began to send Lee her cordyceps capsules on a regular basis as a gift. Some of the capsules were said to have been contaminated with dexamethasone.
"The athlete (Lee) does not wish to identify the lady by name because he fears the consequences for her, if she is associated with his doping case," said the 13-page report signed by BWF panel chairman, Rune B. Hansen.
The report, however, said Lee had named the woman during an “in-camera” session of the hearing, in the presence of the three panel members and a Malaysian lawyer.
"In the opinion of the panel, this strengthened his trustworthiness," the report added.
The report also said that a lawyer, Song Wei Kar, had in March last year visited the shop in Kuala Lumpur where the woman had her supply of pure cordyceps ground and made into capsules.
The proprietor confirmed to Song that he had helped the woman to make capsules from her supply of cordyceps.
However, he did not want to give a statement for fear that it would adversely affect his business.
The report said the proprietor acknowledged that his treatment of the cordyceps involved a potential contamination risk.
The former badminton world number one told the anti-doping panel that he had consumed two cordyceps capsules every morning in August 2014, including on the morning of the semi-finals of the BWF World Championships.
"How the contamination occurred is not known for sure, but most likely it occurred during the process of grinding the raw cordyceps into powder and putting this powdered cordyceps into the gelatin capsules in the shop in Kuala Lumpur," the report said.
Laboratory analysis also found the presence of dexamethasone "in and/or on the shell of one of the two capsules" that remained in the container of capsules used by Lee from August 2014, the report stated.
The panel held that the most likely reason for Lee's positive testing for the anti-inflammatory drug was because he had consumed cordyceps capsules and that the gelatin capsule shells were contaminated.
- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/it-wasnt-me-says-wife-of-former-mca-chief-over-capsules-for-badminton-star#sthash.ZBn64nxw.dpuf

Judgment flawed, says Anwar in applying to set aside sodomy conviction

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's lawyer N. Surendran and daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar at the Court of Appeal today, after the opposition leader applied for a review of his sodomy conviction and five-year jail sentence by the Federal Court. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Nazir Sufari, April 30, 2015.Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's lawyer N. Surendran and daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar at the Court of Appeal today, after the opposition leader applied for a review of his sodomy conviction and five-year jail sentence by the Federal Court. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Nazir Sufari, April 30, 2015.
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim ‎who filed a review application today to set aside his sodomy conviction by a Federal Court bench said a  "grave injustice" was caused in sending him to jail.
A motion filed at the Federal Court registry said that a fresh bench should be constituted ‎as the February 10 ruling was flawed.
"The review was filed after dissecting the ‎judgment which found Anwar guilty of the offence," Anwar's lawyer N. Surendran told reporters.
Surendran said a sealed copy would be served on the prosecution for the application to be heard as soon as possible.
Anwar, in the motion, also said the verdict ought to be reviewed because the Prime Minister's Office immediately issued a press release on the day of the judgment and due to conduct of ad-hoc deputy public prosecutor Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah after the ruling.
"During a roadshow, Shafee made vicious, vulgar and personal attacks on me and this was endorsed and supported by Umno," he added.
He said Shafee was biased in the conduct of the prosecution's case and did not act in the interest of justice.
Anwar  is serving a five-year jail term on a charge of sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, at a condominium unit in Bukit Damansara on June 26, 2008.
A five-man Federal Court bench led by Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria dismissed Anwar’s final appeal against his conviction and maintained the five-year jail term imposed by the Court of Appeal.
The appellate court on March 7 last year reversed the High Court’s finding acquitting Anwar after his defence was called.
A review application is made under Rule 137 of the Federal Court rules on grounds of unfairness, with the applicant asking for the adverse judgment to be set aside and a new bench to rehear the appeal.
Arifin, who delivered the judgment, said there was “overwhelming evidence” that Anwar sodomised Saiful.
The written grounds said that the judges were convinced there was a “ring of truth” in Saiful’s complaint and he had provided a detailed account of the incident.
Further, there was a relationship between Anwar and Saiful and the former had taken advantage of the latter’s weaker position, the judges said.
Anwar, in his supporting affidavit to his application, said the Federal Court judges erred in not re-examining the story told by Saiful against other circumstances and the probabilities of the case.
They said the evidence was not subjected to careful scrutiny as a sodomy charge was easily made but difficult to rebut which was a point that has been accepted by the courts.
In this case, only Anwar and Saiful were witnesses to the alleged crime.
Anwar said it was incumbent on the Federal Court to re-examine Saiful’s evidence, the most important of which they said was Saiful’s claim that the act of sodomy took place in Apartment 1 of the condominium building, and that it took place on a carpet in that apartment.
However, in a search by the police, a carpet was recovered from Apartment 2.
There was no evidence that the carpet was ever moved from Apartment 1 to Apartment 2, a fact acknowledged by the Federal Court in its judgment.
The defence was of the view that Saiful’s story was not probable because the carpet was never in Apartment 1 and hence the alleged act could never have taken place.
However, the Federal Court concluded that the fact relating to the carpet was immaterial.
The defence also said that the Federal Court erred by failing to consider the improbability of Saiful’s evidence regarding the investigating officer, Jude Pereiera, who only collected the lubricant jelly allegedly used to facilitate the sexual act, a day after Saiful the complainant lodged a police report on June 28.
The defence said Saiful’s story was highly improbable as no senior investigating officer would have done that, and Pereira did not confirm Saiful’s version.
It also said that DNA evidence assumes importance only if there is other evidence to show that the offence is committed, but in the present case, Saiful’s testimony was shown to be improbable as he lacked credibility. As such, the DNA evidence did not help, the defence argued.
The defence also questioned whether the samples that were handed by doctors at the Kuala Lumpur hospital to Pereira were the same ones that were received by a forensic expert in the Chemistry Department, alleging that tampering could have occurred in Pereira’s handling of the samples.
They said Pereira’s action of cutting open the bag in which the samples were secured, re-marking them, placing them in a steel cabinet and turning off the room’s air-conditioning, had compromised the samples.
It was accepted by the prosecution’s witnesses that degradation would have occurred unless the samples were preserved in a freezer.
Yet, the court was told by the government’s chemist that the samples were in “pristine” condition.
The defence said that as such, there was serious doubt as to whether the samples taken by the medical witnesses were the same ones that were received and examined by the forensic witness.
Anwar said the bench failed to consider the testimony of the first doctor Dr Mohd Osman Abdul Hamid who examined Saiful and whose testimony differed from three other (doctors) who examined the complainant later.
He said the prosecution did not provide evidence that Dr Othman had a motive to cook up the story against Saiful.
Therefore, Anwar said, Dr Othman's evidence ought to have been considered, instead of labelling him as an untruthful witness. -TMI