http://pemudakeadilan.tripod.com atau http://www.pemudakeadilan.com

Jika topiknya perpaduan Melayu sahaja:
PAS tidak akan sertai perbincangan
Oleh Nur Abdul Rahman

KUALA LUMPUR, 10 Jan (Hrkh) - PAS tidak akan menghadiri perbincangan dengan Umno jika topik perbincangan hanya untuk perpaduan Melayu sahaja.

Setiausaha Agung PAS, Ustaz Nasharudin Mat Isa berkata, pendirian ini adalah pendirian rasmi PAS kerana PAS berpendapat Melayu tidak berpecah.

"Yang berpecah hanyalah Melayu dalam Umno sahaja. Mereka lari dari Umno dan menyertai parti-parti dalam Barisan Alternatif," kata Nasharudin kepada Harakah.

Beliau yang juga Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Teknikal PAS bagi mengadakan perbincangan awal antara Umno dan PAS sebelum deligasi penuh yang diketuai oleh presiden kedua-dua parti tersebut bertemu.

Bagi Nasharudin, Umno cuba menjuarai isu perpecahan Melayu untuk memujuk balik orang Melayu yang berpecah dari Umno agar pulang balik ke pangkuan parti itu.

"Bagi PAS, topik perbincangan haruslah meliputi perpaduan nasional bukannya perpaduan Melayu sahaja di samping lain-lain isu nasional," katanya.

Dalam wawancara eksklusif bersama Harakah pagi ini, beliau mempersoalkan perpecahan orang Melayu yang dimaksudkan oleh Umno.

"Adakah perpecahan itu bermaksud orang Melayu tidak memberi sokongan kepada Umno? Atau dalam sistem demokrasi ini, apabila rakyat memilih mana-mana parti yang mereka mahu dan tidak lagi memberi sokongan kepada Umno di anggap perpecahan?

Perpecahan ini hanya dari perspektif Umno," katanya.

Beliau turut kesal dengan laporan akhbar media arus perdana yang sengaja memutar belitkan pendirian antara PAS dan KeADILan.

Laporan media menyebut PAS bersetuju berbincang dengan Umno sedangkan KeADILan tidak bersetuju.

Mengenai kenyataan itu, Ustaz Nasharuddin menjelaskan, PAS bersetuju untuk berbincang dengan Umno sekiranya perbincangan itu bersifat nasional bagaimanapun KeADILan dalam satu kenyataan akhbarnya sebelum ini menegaskan tidak bersetuju untuk mengadakan perbincangan mengenai isu perpaduan Melayu.

"Pada hakikatnya, pendirian PAS dengan keADILan adalah tidak berbeza tetapi media pro BN sengaja untuk memecah belahkan antara kedua pihak dengan mengatakan PAS bersetuju sedangkan Keadilan tidak bersetuju," katanya.

Tambah beliau lagi, Umnolah sebenarnya yang mengamalkan politik perkauman.

Katanya, PAS telah menubuhkan satu Jawatankuasa Teknikal bagi merintis jalan ke arah perbincangan secara mendalam mengenai isu itu.

Katanya, jawatankuasa tersebut membincangkan dari segi format perbincangan agenda dan perkara-perkara yang bersifat teknikal.

Jawatankuasa berkenaan dipergerusikan oleh Setiausaha Agung PAS, Ustaz Nasharuddin Mat Isa dan dianggota oleh tiga ahli jawatankuasa PAS Pusat iaitu Dr Abdul Wahab Ismail, Dr Hatta Mohd Ramli dan Dato' Hishamudin Yahya.

PM urged to put aside Malay unity talks
Susan Loone

4:06pm, Wed: Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been urged to put aside the Umno initiated “Malay unity” talks and accept the opposition coalition’s invitation to engage in national unity talks instead, an opposition leader said today.

DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang said that Mahathir should accept Barisan Alternatif’s suggestion to underscore the fact that he is Prime Minister for all Malaysians and not just for one community.

“He (Mahathir) should set an example to all Malaysians in putting national interest above communal or sectional interest,” said Lim in a media statement.

“He must also demonstrate that he is still committed to Vision 2020 and the Bangsa Malaysia concept,” he added.

Lim said that it is sad that there are political leaders who are desperately trying to re-communalise Malaysians and Malaysian politics.

Last night, BA leaders met in Petaling Jaya and decided to initiate an all-party national round-table conference to explore solutions to the “crisis that besets the nation”.

The conference, known as “State of the Nation” talks, is to include all the component parties of both the BA and ruling coalition Barisan Nasional.

“The nation is in the midst of a crisis. It is a crisis related to values and ethics, democracy and human rights, ethnic relations and the management of the economy,” said a joint media statement by BA leaders.

“The cruel, inhuman and unjust persecution of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, following his dismissal from the government and Umno, precipitated the crisis,” the statement added.

Anwar is currently serving prison term in Sungai Buloh for a total of 15 years for corruption and sodomy.

BA leaders said that even before the Anwar episode, the unjust imprisonment of DAP Lim Guan Eng for sedition and false publication of news two years ago exposed fundamental weaknesses in the country’s legal and judicial system.

Good governance compromised

The “selective” prosecution of dissidents and severe restrictions upon the opposition media eroded whatever little faith the people had in the institutions of governance, BA leaders added.

“The principles of good governance have been further compromised through blatantly vindictive moves such as the denial of petroleum royalty to the people of Terengganu.

“Because of the ruling elite's overwhelming dominance, the people are helpless in the face of such abuses of power,” the statement added.

BA leaders who attended the meeting last night included PAS president Fadzil Noor and deputy president Mustafa Ali, Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and deputy president Dr Chandra Muzaffar, DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang and secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock, PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali and secretary-general Dr Sanusi Osman.

The leaders agreed that in the last six months, there have been constant attempts by the ruling elite to exploit communal fears and coerce community leaders to submit to BN’s authoritarian might. They cited the recent Suqiu (Malaysian Chinese Organisations’ Election Appeals Committee) incident as a case in point.

“It is mainly because of this crisis that a significant segment of Umno and BN supporters have now shifted their political allegiance to BA,” said Syed Husin when contacted by malaysiakini today.

“It is wrong to interpret this shift as a split among the Malays. Since this political shift is related to a whole lot of fundamental challenges, it cannot be solved by holding talks on Malay unity alone,” he added.

He reiterated that the outstanding issue facing the people today is not Malay unity but the integrity of the national leadership and the sincerity of its commitment to justice and democracy.

Anwar requests hospital for back surgery 
Ajinder Kaur

6:05pm, Wed: Jailed former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, who has been warded at the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital (KLGH) for the past one month for a back injury, has agreed to undergo surgery to treat his condition. 

In a letter sent to the director of the KLGH, his lawyer Sankara Nair said that Anwar and his family have agreed that surgery is now inevitable since there has been no significant improvement in Anwar’s condition despite four weeks of treatment. 

Anwar is specifically seeking to undergo an endoscopic micro-spinal surgical operation as recommended by several foreign and local specialists. 

The specialists include Tawakal Hospital neurosurgeon Dr Halili Rahmat, Beaumont Hospital (Dublin) neurosurgeon Dr Ciaran Bolger and St May’s Hospital (Texas) neurosurgeon Dr Beck. 

They have stressed that the stated surgical method was most recommended as it did not require open surgery thus minimizing risks when compared to conventional surgical methods. 

Prepared to pay 

According to Sankara, Anwar was prepared to bear the cost for the surgery if it could not be borne by the government. 

“We emphasise that Dato Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim, like any other patient under your care, should not be denied his legitimate right to obtain the medical treatment and surgical method of his choice. Indeed it is his legal right,” he said in the letter to the KLGH. 

Anwar, who is serving a 15-year jail term for corruption and sodomy, was admitted to the hospital on Nov 24 after doctors confirmed that he was suffering from a "prolapse of the disc with severe compression of the nerve root" (slipped disc). 

He has been undergoing comprehensive physiotherapy, but the treatment has been limited in effectiveness apart form easing the pain. 

The national news agency Bernama had last week quoted his wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as saying that her husband did not require surgery for his injury. 

Sankara, however, refuted the report, saying that Wan Azizah had been misquoted. 

“She did not say that Anwar didn’t require surgery. It was only a question of when,” he told malaysiakini when contacted. 

Malaysia's jailed Anwar agrees on surgery, hopes to head to Germany

Wed, 10 Jan 2001 11:54:21

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Jailed Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim has decided to undergo surgery for severe back pain and wants to fly to a German clinic for the operation, his attorney said Wednesday. 

Anwar, a former deputy prime minister, has since November been receiving therapy - under heavy guard - at a state-run hospital in Kuala Lumpur for a slipped disc. The treatment has failed to cause significant improvement in his condition, said lawyer Sankara Nair. 

Anwar "should not be denied his legitimate right to obtain the medical treatment and surgical method of his choice," Sankara said. "Surgery is now an inevitable option." 

Sankara said he wrote to the Kuala Lumpur hospital director last weekend to recommend that Anwar undergo "endoscopic micro spinal surgery." 

Citing both local and foreign experts, Sankara said the high-tech procedure was less invasive and risky than conventional surgery because it does not require much interference with muscle tissues or the spine. 

Anwar, who is bedridden, had been reluctant to undergo surgery for fear of complications that could cause paralysis. He has been in traction and has been taking painkillers and muscle relaxants in hope of getting better. 

Hospital authorities last month ruled out the need for him to seek therapy abroad, but admitted that he does require surgery and that the decision would be up to him whether to have it. 

Sankara said Anwar wanted to be operated on by "the best possible specialists." In his letter to the hospital, Sankara suggested sending Anwar to Alpha Klinik in Munich, Germany. 

"He is prepared to bear the costs involved," Sankara said. 

Alpha Klinik claims on its Web site that its surgeons have treated patients from more than 60 nations. 

Malaysian authorities will likely be reluctant to allow Anwar any overseas treatment. Doctors here say that they conduct more than 100 back operations annually and have the expertise to operate on Anwar. 

Anwar, 54, believes his back condition was caused in part by a beating from Malaysia's former national police chief in September 1998, shortly after Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad fired him from the Cabinet. 

On the night of his arrest by police, Anwar was blindfolded, handcuffed to a bed and assaulted by Abdul Rahim Noor, who has since been tried and sentenced to two months in jail. Execution of the sentence has been delayed pending appeal. 

Anwar was found guilty of corruption and sodomy and sentenced to 15 years in prison despite his insistence that he was framed for posing too much of a political threat to Mahathir. 

Mitrajaya to buy chairman's unit in Malaysia rescue

by zoomResearch, 10-Jan-2001 10:04:07 

Samsudin Abu Hassan, chairman of construction company Mitrajaya Holdings Bhd, has become the latest in a string of Malaysian tycoons to be bailed out by their publicly traded companies. 

Mitrajaya said it agreed to buy the remaining 40 percent of its South African unit for RM15.4 million from an unprofitable company controlled by Samsudin, giving him much-needed cash. It is also buying land his unit has been struggling to sell.                                                           

Mitrajaya said in a statement it will buy the rest of the shares in its 60 percent unit Samrand Mitrajaya Development Pty. from Samrand Development Pty., a South African property developer controlled by Samsudin, a protege of Malaysian Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin. Samsudin owns 24 percent of Mitrajaya. 

· The deal seems to add another black mark on the issue of corporate governance. In recent months, the market has become extra sensitive with public listed companies used as vehicles to shuffle troubled assets of their respective owners or major shareholders.

· Mitrajaya's purchase can only suggest that Samsudin must be quite desperate in South Africa. It also reflects the possibility of Mitrajaya having problems securing new projects locally. 

· On one hand, Mitrajaya's purchase of the remaining stake in Samrand's South African unit which is developing an 18-hole golf course in Johannesburg designed by golf legend Gary Player will at least help maintain earnings growth.

· But on the other hand, bailing out Samrand would not be beneficial as it only erodes the proceeds from Mitrajaya's rights issue to purchases overseas that yet to have clear and profitable prospects. 

· Mitrajaya is in the midst of completing its cash raising exercise via a 27.9 million rights issue at RM1.30 apiece with warrants. The exercise is expected to raise about RM57 million to be utilized as working capital for on-going and future construction and property development projects of Mitrajaya.

· Samrand Development's loss widened to 32.48 million rand (about RM16 million) in FY 3/2000, from 15.3 million rand after the company failed to sell as much land as it had expected to offload.    

· Mitrajaya will purchase two plots of land measuring a total 62 hectares from Samrand for RM5.8 million. 

· The latest deal may create some uncertainty over Mitrajaya's future growth for FY 12/2001. But for the time being, the company is expected to perform within expectations of at least RM20 million in net profits for FY 12/2000. 

· The stock is trading at a cheap PER of 7.47x based on adjusted annualized net EPS of 17.40 sen (adjusted for rights issue resulting in enlarged share capital of 118.05 million). Due to Mitrajaya's deal Samrand, the stock may not be well received by investors despite its cheap PER. AVOID until clearer signs prospects are seen.