Raw deal for the poor in Sabah

By Luke Rintod of FMT

TONGOD: The Umno-led Sabah government has been accused of providing the state’s poor with shoddily built houses minus the essential utilities.

Citing the houses in Kinabatangan, State Reform Party (STAR) community leader James Ait said the government was being “dangerously careless” in the construction of these houses just because the recipients were impoverishd.

Born in Sabah but no free MyKad

By Luke Rintod of FMT

KUALA PENYU: “Newly-arrived illegal immigrants from the Philippines and Indonesia can easily get Malaysian citizenship, but why can’t I get it after 65 years?” asks John Dismas, a man who has lived in Sabah all his life.

The 65-year-old who was born in Kuala Penyu a year after Second World War, ended is perplexed by his situation. His mother was a Dusun Tatana and he speaks the dialect fluently, while his father was an Australian soldier who abandoned the family soon after the war.

From Perlis to Sabah: Umno's legacy - a trail of disappointment and flops

Written by  Nawawi Mohamad, Malaysia Chronicle
In May 2010, Minister in Prime Minister's Department Idris Jala woke the nation up from its slumber by announcing that Malaysia will be bankrupt by 2019 if the government does not cut subsidies and rein in borrowings. By end of 2011 our National debt was at RM460 billon and still rising.

Then we were shocked by the findings of ecoomic think-tank MIER in in January 2012 that if nothing is done to reverse the current trends in government expenditures and revenues, extrapolation suggests that Malaysia’s national debt will explode to 100 per cent of GDP by 2019.
Yet UMNO-BN remains unconcerned about the matter, if not totally ignored it. Along the way we were shocked and still feel disgusted about the RM250 million NFC debacle, which Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's PKR party exposed.

Malaysia: Security Bill Threatens Basic Liberties

Replacement for Internal Security Act Offers Some Reform, but New Concerns

(Bangkok, April 11, 2012) – The government of Malaysia’s proposed law to replace the infamous Internal Security Act (ISA) of 1960 opens the door to a range of future abuses, Human Rights Watch said today. On April 10, 2012, the government submitted the Security Offences (Special Measures) Bill 2012 to parliament, where quick ratification is expected.

The administration of Prime Minister Najib Razak touted the bill as a significant improvement over the ISA because it reduces the period of detention without judicial review from 60 to 28 days and only for an “active investigation.” It also prohibits arrest solely on the basis of “political belief or political activity.”

Large Aceh quake triggers Indian Ocean tsunami warning

Source 

An earthquake with an magnitude of 8.7 has struck under the sea off Indonesia's northern Aceh province.

The quake triggered a tsunami warning across the Indian Ocean region.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) said it was not yet known whether a tsunami had been generated, but advised authorities to "take appropriate action".