Malaysia as a transit point for asylum seekers must be substantiated

NST Online

Allegations that Malaysia is a transit point for asylum seekers trying to get into Australia must be substantiated, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

“We cannot take these allegations lightly as the country’s name and image is at stake,” the home minister said.

“Without evidence, such allegations would only damage ties between both countries.”

Hishammuddin was commenting on newspaper reports that Pakistanis, Afghans and Iraqis were using Malaysia as a transit point to seek asylum in Australia.

“We would work with the Australian government if the allegations are proven,” he said, adding that the Malaysian authorities are in the process of forming a new committee to address the problem.

“If their claims are proven, we will not run away from our responsibilities. We will take effective measures to curb foreigners from using Malaysia as a transit point into Australia,” he said after a visit to the Kajang Prison, here yesterday evening.

Referring to a meeting with some Australian delegates from the country’s national security department last week, Hishammuddin said they assured the Australians that the matter will be taken seriously.

“We have emphasised that we are very concern over the allegation and even have a council in the ministry to study this problem.”

He said this existing council will be fined tuned to deal with such a problem more effectively.

Hishammuddin added that this problem had to be dealt with delicately as it involved bilateral relations with neighbouring countries.

Human Rights Watch Letter to the Prime Minister of Malaysia

Source: http://www.hrw.org/

Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Bin Haji Tun Abdul Razak

Pejabat Perdana Menteri

Blok Utama

Bangunan Perdana Putra

Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan 62502 Putrajaya

Malaysia

Re: Human Rights in Malaysia

Dear Prime Minister,

Congratulations on your April 3, 2009, appointment as Malaysia's sixth prime minister. As you know, Human Rights Watch, a nongovernmental human rights organization that monitors human rights in more than 70 countries around the world, has long raised human rights concerns in Malaysia with your predecessors.

We especially welcome your expressed "intention to uphold civil liberties" and your "regard for the fundamental rights of the people of Malaysia." To that end, we urge your government to take specific measures to bring Malaysian law, policy, and practice into line with international human rights standards.

We urge that your government promptly ratifies core international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and begin the process of bringing domestic law into conformity with these international instruments.

We further urge that you and your government give priority to the issues of arbitrary and preventive detention, freedom of expression, protection of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, and ending impunity for security forces. In the pages that follow, we discuss these issues in detail and offer specific recommendations.

Arbitrary Detention

The state of emergency in effect in Malaysia since the 1960s has been used by previous governments to violate fundamental human rights. Under the emergency, the Malaysian government enacted emergency ordinances permitting the government to pass broad and ambiguous laws that bypass judicial processes and review and effectively permit indefinite preventive detention. The Internal Security Act (ISA) is the most notorious of such laws and violates a number of international human rights standards, including the right to be free from arbitrary detention, the right to due process and to a fair trial, the presumption of innocence, as well as rights to freedom of expression and association.

Previous governments have justified use of the ISA by referring to multi-ethnic tensions. While Human Rights Watch recognizes that multi-ethnic tensions are a legitimate concern of any government, 51 years after independence, the government should not lose sight of the fact that Malaysia has a well-developed criminal justice system fully capable of dealing with multi-ethnic tensions, threats to its security, and other ill-defined activities without recourse to the extra-judicial ISA.

The official position that detention under the ISA is preventive, acknowledges that the government cannot, or has chosen not to, prosecute detainees for alleged crimes but rather extends executive power at the expense of the judiciary.

Throughout its long history, the ISA has been used to punish and silence peaceful political opponents and government critics. It has become an unfortunate and deeply embedded feature of a Malaysian political climate that stifles free expression, association, and peaceful assembly.

Recent ISA political detainees include Raja Petra Kamaruddin, founder and editor of Malaysia's most popular website; Teresa Kok, an opposition Democratic Action Party parliamentarian; and the Hindraf 5. Three of the five Hindu activists remain in detention. Others once held under the ISA include prominent political leaders such as Anwar Ibrahim, former deputy prime minister and current head of the political opposition coalition; and Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh, and Lim Guan Eng.

While Human Rights Watch welcomes the release of 13 ISA detainees, we are concerned that the promised government review will rebuff efforts at repeal. We are further concerned that in March and April 2009 there were three new ISA arrests and that such arrests were not formally announced, but only confirmed after reported by a civil society group.

We urge that you heed the 2003 recommendation of Suhakam (Human Rights Commission of Malaysia), and promptly rescind the ISA and all other criminal preventive detention measures.

Human Rights Watch urges the Malaysian government to:

Immediately and unconditionally revoke all emergency proclamations and ordinances that violate internationally protected human rights, including the Emergency (Public Order and Crime Prevention) Ordinance 1969.

Abolish the Internal Security Act. Malaysia's penal code and criminal justice system are fully capable of addressing situations of internal security.

Immediately charge or release all individuals currently held under the Internal Security Act. Assure that those charged have prompt access to legal counsel and family members and are tried in conformity with international fair trial standards.

Freedom of Expression and Assembly

Human Rights Watch welcomes your lifting of the March 23, 2009, ban against two opposition party newspapers, Suara Keadilan, published by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), and Harakah, published by Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), and your follow-up statement that Malaysia's media outlets should not fear the consequences of responsible reporting.

However, less than a week later, your government refused to admit a reporter and photographer from Merdeka Review, an internet news website, to the press conference announcing your new cabinet. On April 14, Information, Communication, and Culture Minister Rais Yatim warned bloggers that the law would be invoked against bloggers who make unfounded allegations, and on April 19 he indicated displeasure and a review of "the role of [private] television and radio stations in nation-building."

Until legislation such as the draconian Printing Presses and Publications Act, which requires annual licensing, is dismantled and the scope of the Sedition Act is narrowed, arbitrary threats to free speech and political activity in the name of national unity will remain. In September 2008, for example, Sin Chew Jit Poh, a Chinese language newspaper, and The Sun were warned about their reporting on "sensitive" inter-ethnic issues.

Provisions of the Police Act further compromise the ability of Malaysian citizens to peacefully assemble and advocate on critical issues. License requirements for any gathering of more than three persons have been used to block rallies, large and small, whose message the government disapproves of. Peaceful "unlawful" demonstrations have been swiftly repressed through use of water cannons, tear gas, arbitrary arrests, and politically motivated trials.

In 2008-09, a series of small candlelight vigils calling for an end to ISA detention were summarily dispersed. In one, on November 9, 2008, a Malaysikini videographer on assignment was roughed up and had his camera confiscated. While eight people, among them five lawyers, have recently been acquitted of charges relating to their participation in a peaceful march on December 10, 2007, International Human Rights Day, the eight should never have been charged, nor is an appeal of their acquittal by the government warranted.

Human Rights Watch urges the Malaysian government to:

Rescind the Printing Presses and Publications Act.

Amend the Police Act to ensure it respects the right to peaceful assembly by revoking the unlimited power of a police district's officer in charge to refuse to license or determine the conditions under which assemblies, meetings, and processions are licensed.

Substitute regulations that set out reasonable and negotiated conditions for assembly and an appeal process that eliminates political grounds on which decisions to withhold permission are too often made.

Narrow the overbroad definitions of "sedition" and "seditious tendency" employed in the Sedition Act and refrain from using the act to censor expression or to jail political opponents or critics.

Security Force Malfeasance

A culture of impunity pervades routine law enforcement by police and immigration officers in Malaysia. Recent unresolved incidents in police lockups highlight the problems of injuries and deaths in custody. Police report that there were 85 deaths in police custody during 2003-07, many of them still unresolved.

The United Nations Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions call upon governments to conduct "thorough, prompt and impartial investigation of all suspected cases of extra-legal, arbitrary and summary executions, including cases where complaints by relatives or other reliable reports suggest unnatural death." Ensuring that the police and other security officers are held fully accountable for any crimes that they commit is necessary for respect of human rights as well as for the maintenance of professionalism in the security forces.

In Malaysia, inquests move slowly-some are postponed for years-and family members are often not aware they are occurring. Common police explanations for these custodial deaths include hanging (i.e. suicide), falling while trying to escape, and natural causes. In one case, a detainee was reported to have died of "sudden fatty liver" within days of his detention. In addition to injuries that resulted in deaths, numerous other cases of physical abuse occur in conjunction with investigations of alleged crimes.

The death of 22-year-old Kugan Ananthan in January 2009 is one of a number of recent cases that point to the need for an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) as recommended in April 2005 in the Report of the Royal Commission to Enhance the Operation and Management of the Royal Malaysian Police. Although the attorney general originally classified the case as murder, no one has been arrested and the case appears stalled. The subsequent public outcry has no doubt pointed to the lack of confidence in the ability of the police, the hospitals, and the Attorney General's Chambers to investigate swiftly and impartially deaths in custody.

Substitution of the pending Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission bill (EAIC) for the IPCMC is unacceptable. The EAIC, which covers 21 government agencies, is a much-watered down version of the commission's recommendations. Among other defects, the revised bill eliminates the commission's power to initiate its own investigations even if no complaint had been received, and should it find a complaint has merit, choose the appropriate course of action. It also fails to eliminate as commissioners those with vested interest in outcomes.

In addition, the Malaysian government should:

Implement the original Independent Police Complaint and Misconduct Commission proposal recommended by the Royal Commission to Enhance the Operation and Management of the Royal Malaysian Police.

Discipline or prosecute as appropriate all security force officers involved in incidents of abuse, including those with command responsibility.

Migrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers

Malaysia's immigration policy makes no legal distinction between undocumented migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. Only those with proper documentation, including work permits, may legally enter or reside in Malaysia. All others are without protection and vulnerable to arrest, detention and deportation. The government does no screening to ascertain whether deportation poses a threat to a person's life or freedom "on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion."

Malaysia's current policy demands that asylum seekers register with the Malaysian offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). However, impediments to effective access­­­­ deny asylum seekers "the right to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution" as guaranteed in article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Of particular note, the government refuses to allow UNHCR unrestricted access to migrants awaiting deportation in immigration detention centers, some of whom may be refugees in need of protection who have not had the opportunity to seek asylum.

In the context of the global economic downturn, Malaysia has halted new foreign hires and instituted a "foreign workers first out" policy that requires employers making staff cuts to terminate migrants first. Migrant workers carry large recruitment debts that they pay back over extended periods of time. Their employers should not be encouraged to prematurely terminate employment on the basis of national origin.

RELA

RELA (Ikatan Relawan Rakyat or People's Voluntary Corps) is a government-backed untrained paramilitary force whose members, in conjunction with immigration and police officers, routinely round up suspected undocumented migrants.

In May and June 2008, asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants told Human Rights Watch researchers of abuses perpetrated by RELA members and immigration officers during the arrest process and in the immigration detention centers.

Such abuses included physical assault, intimidation, threats, humiliating treatment, forced entry into living quarters, extortion, theft, restricted communications with friends or family, and disregard and destruction of identity or residency papers.

Several Malaysian officials have excused the abuses suggesting that the number of abusers is insignificant and that reasonable force is sometimes justified.

However, credible accounts from migrants indicate that force is ubiquitous and gratuitous.

Domestic Workers

Migrant workers in Malaysia include over 300,000 domestic workers, primarily from Indonesia. Excluded from key provisions in Malaysia's labor laws and subject to onerous placement fees by recruitment agents, many of these workers confront a wide range of human rights abuses, including labor rights violations such as excessively long working hours, lack of rest days, and unpaid wages; violations of freedom of movement and freedom of association; and physical and sexual abuse. In some cases these situations amount to forced labor, trafficking, or servitude. Human Rights Watch welcomes recent prosecutions and convictions of abusive employers, but few domestic workers receive any redress. In recent years, nongovernmental organizations in Indonesia and Malaysia and the Indonesian embassy in Malaysia have received thousands of complaints from or on behalf of domestic workers. Many more cases are likely unreported given domestic workers' isolation in private homes, employers' ability to have workers summarily deported, and migrants' lack of information about their rights.

Human Rights Watch urges the Malaysian government to:

Ratify without reservations the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, its 1967 protocol, and the 2003 Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families and bring domestic law and practice into conformity with the documents.

Ensure asylum seekers, refugees, trafficked persons, and abused workers are not subject to penalties imposed under the Immigration Act 1959/63.

Allow asylum seekers the right to residence, documentation, work, and education while their claims are pending and give recognized refugees the opportunity to regularize their status.

Facilitate UNHCR's ability to determine refugee status by allowing the agency unhindered access to detention facilities. Ensure that all detained asylum seekers and refugees are able to contact UNHCR regularly.

Abolish RELA, and repeal all regulations under which RELA was established and its powers expanded. Until such time, RELA should be restructured as a volunteer agency with no enforcement powers and with no role in either apprehension of irregular migrants or maintenance of security in the immigration detention centers.

Undertake independent investigations into allegations of abuse by RELA members, immigration officers, and police officers. Hold accountable the perpetrators of such abuses, including those with command responsibility.

Extend equal protection of the 1955 Employment Act and the 1952 Workman's Compensation Act to domestic workers and create mechanisms for enforcement.

Strengthen regulations governing recruitment agencies and include clear mechanisms to monitor and enforce standards concerning migrant workers. Oversight bodies to protect domestic workers from abuse should enjoy the power to conduct unannounced inspections of recruitment agencies and to impose substantial penalties on agencies that abuse workers or otherwise violate standards.

Ensure employers fulfill their contractual obligations to migrant workers or pay adequate compensation.

Thank you for your consideration. We would appreciate the opportunity to discuss these and other human rights issues with you and with members of your administration.

Sincerely, Brad Adams

Executive Director

Asia Division

Cc:

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Dato' Haji bin Muhyiddin Yassin

Minister of Foreign Affairs Datuk Anifah bin Haji Aman

Minister of Home Affairs Dato' Seri Hishammuddin bin Tun Hussein

Minister of Information, Communication, and Culture Dato' Seri Utama Dr. Rais Yatim

Deputy Chief of Mission to the US Ilango Karuppannan

Ambassador to the UN Datuk Hamidon bin Ali

Unnecessary deaths in detention In Malaysia

The MALAYSIAN Insider

APRIL 24 — Last Sunday, a newspaper in Bangladesh reported on the case of 30-year-old Ikhtiar Uddin, a Bangladeshi migrant worker who died while being held in detention in Lenggeng detention centre after being punished, beaten, and tortured “severely” by Malaysian authorities.

On Wednesday, the New Straits Times reported that a 25-year old Liberian was found dead in detention, also in Leggeng detention centre. We don’t know his name, or the cause of his death.

Last month, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar (then Home Minister) reported to Parliament that between 1999 and 2008, there were 2,571 deaths of detainees in prisons, rehabilitation centres and immigration detention centres. He attributes these deaths to illnesses, fights and suicides.

Almost 14 years ago, in August 1995, Tenaganita released a memorandum entitled “Abuse, Torture and Dehumanised Treatment of Migrant Workers at Detention Centres”. It was a straightforward memo, describing in plain terms problems in the recruitment and management of migrant workers that resulted in their abuse both in and out of detention.

True to its title, the memo also focused on conditions of detention, highlighting overcrowding, inadequate sanitation, insufficient food and water (leading to dehydration, malnutrition, diarrhoea and even cases of beri-beri), sex abuse of female detainees and corruption. Tenaganita expressed concern over deaths in detention, “as high as four deaths per week at the Semenyih camp alone”, citing illnesses, torture, and inadequate medical care as possible causes of death.

The memo made several recommendations, including the independent monitoring of detention centres by human rights groups, the establishment of an independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate allegations of abuse, the creation of a complaints mechanism for migrants, and the reform of the legislative framework and system of recruitment so that the rights of workers could be better protected.

Instead of considering these recommendations, the government proceeded to charge Irene Fernandez for maliciously publishing false news under section 8A(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984. After a prolonged trial, she was sentenced to 12 months’ jail. It took 13 years before her conviction was set aside in November last year.

I wonder how many deaths in detention could have been prevented, how much suffering avoided, if the government had invested all the resources it used in prosecuting Fernandez to monitor and reform immigration detention?

Since the infamous Tenaganita memo, there have been a number of reports highlighting similar issues in immigration detention. A joint report by the International Federation for Human Rights and Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) in March 2008 shows that some of the issues reported in Tenaganita’s 1995 memo still exist, including ill treatment and excessive punishment of detainees.

More recently, Mizzima News, reporting on protests by Myanmar detainees on their prolonged detention on April 3, quote a Myanmar detainee: “…There have been deaths, detainees have been assaulted and bones broken. Myanmar detainees are usually released on the Thailand border. They never release us in the city to prevent trouble. They transfer us to human traffickers after secret deals…”

Several steps are necessary in order to prevent deaths and improve conditions of detention. Firstly, the government needs to review and to limit the use of detention. At the moment, law enforcement officers rely too heavily on detention — for the investigation of cases, for securing witnesses for trials, for keeping migrants until they figure out what to do with them — which is extremely expensive and which gives rise to human rights abuses.

There have been many instances where documented migrants (including tourists) were unable to produce valid passports immediately upon questioning. Instead of allowing them to retrieve these documents (from hotel rooms, employers, family members or friends) Rela and Immigration officers have sent them to detention centres where they have been held in remand for up to 14 days pending investigation. Some detainees have not been allowed to contact anyone during this time, much less seek legal counsel. There have been numerous cases of documented migrant workers stranded in detention for months and months, unable to “prove” their legal status. Desperate to get out of indefinite detention, they pleaded guilty for offences they did not commit.

It is also unnecessary to arrest and detain refugees holding documents issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Persons seeking asylum should be granted access to the UNHCR and released after their status as refugees is confirmed. This prevents immense suffering and is the real solution to stop the trafficking of migrants and refugees at the Thai-Malaysia border (which, incidentally, has become the centre of attention again this week with the submission of a report by US Senator Richard Lugar to the Malaysian government entitled “Trafficking and Extortion of Burmese Migrants in Malaysia and Southern Thailand” tabled by Committee on Foreign Relations of the US Senate on April 3).

Another group that should not be held for immigration detention are children. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has recommended that Malaysia: “Take urgent measures not to detain children in connection with immigration proceedings, unless it is necessary to protect their best interests and for the shortest time possible, and establish a screening process to ensure that groups with special needs, such as refugees and asylum-seekers, including their children, are rapidly identified…”

It is also unnecessary to detain victims of trafficking and migrants required as witnesses in court cases.

Secondly, it is incumbent on the government to spend more resources to ensure that it meets minimum standards for the treatment of detainees. In addition to improving conditions of buildings, ensuring the sufficient supply of sufficient food, toiletries and necessary provisions, detainees must also have access to medical services and to legal counsel so that their cases can be resolved. There are certain basic requirements that cannot be compromised in order to save on costs.

Thirdly, it is necessary to have stronger, regular independent monitoring of all places of detention. Suhakam has been given the power under the Suhakam Act to “visit places of detention in accordance with procedures as prescribed by the laws relating to the places of detention and to make necessary recommendations”. Over the past few years, Suhakam Commissioners have highlighted the need to improve conditions of detention. However, there has been little systematic change in response to their recommendations by law enforcement agencies.

Suhakam needs to ensure that detention conditions meet international guidelines such as the 1955 UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and the 1988 Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment. Effective monitoring must also include a confidential complaints mechanism accessible by detainees for which there are safeguards against reprisals, as well as investigations into abuse committed by law enforcement officials leading to prosecution. Suhakam must conduct an inquiry into all deaths in detention, disclosing names, nationalities and causes of death.

Conditions of detention in Malaysia have affected hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees since Malaysia embarked on its aggressive policy of arresting, detaining and deporting people suspected to be in an irregular situation. We can give little consolation, if any, to the families of the 2,571 who died in detention over the past decade. We can only wonder about how many of these could have been prevented if the Tenaganita memorandum was taken more seriously in 1995.

What we are sure of is that we can prevent the unnecessary death and suffering of detainees in the future if we take concrete steps to reform immigration detention today.

Alice Nah is a researcher who examines the interconnections between citizenship and migration. She is one of the coordinators of the Migration Working Group, a network of civil society groups and individuals advocating for the protection of the rights of migrants, refugees and stateless persons.

What Burma Needs From the White House

The Washington Post

By Desmond Tutu

When President Obama was elected, I was filled with hope that America would regain the moral standing to aid those who are impoverished and oppressed around the world. I have since rejoiced to see him reversing the most obnoxious policies of the Bush administration -- by ending torture, announcing the closure of the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay and engaging the world on climate change, to name just a few. But there is another issue on which America's moral leadership is desperately needed, and here, it must be acknowledged, President Bush was on the side of the angels: the struggle for human rights and justice in Burma.

Last year, when a cyclone struck Burma, we watched in horror as the country's military government refused offers of help to save thousands of people clinging to survival. Not everyone noticed what the government was focused on in those terrible days -- a referendum to ratify a new constitution, designed to entrench its rule forever. As villagers in affected areas fought to stay alive and the rest of the country anguished over their fate, the government mobilized its forces not for rescue but to herd people to the polls. Of course, this was not a real referendum; it was illegal for any Burmese to urge a "no" vote, and the results were rigged in any case. But it was a real manifestation of the heartlessness of those who rule Burma.

Now the Obama administration is reviewing America's policy toward Burma. A thoughtful review is needed; as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently said, neither economic pressure nor diplomacy has yet achieved the change we seek in Burma. It stands to reason that every aspect of U.S. engagement with this country needs to be made more effective, more targeted and more broadly supported by key countries around the world. But as we wait for the results of this thought process, as America's allies wait, as the United Nations waits, as the Burmese people wait, we should remember that the Burmese government is not waiting. Each day, it moves a step closer to its goal of eliminating opposition and consolidating power, with another stage-managed "election" looming in 2010. The administration does not have the luxury of considering its options and then starting to lead; it must somehow think and lead at the same time, before it loses the initiative, and misimpressions about where it stands spread.

As the administration reviews its policy, I hope it will remember that the voices of those with the most at stake cannot easily be heard. My sister Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the heroic and beloved leader of the Burmese democracy movement, remains under house arrest and cannot speak to the world. In recent months, hundreds of prominent activists, Buddhist monks and nuns, journalists, labor activists, and bloggers who want the world to maintain pressure on their government have been sentenced to years, even decades, in isolated jungle prisons, where not even their families can visit. Meanwhile, those who support or have resigned themselves to their government's approach are free to speak out. This repression cannot be rewarded; the voices of those it has silenced must be heard as if the walls of their jails did not exist.

I hope that the Obama administration will energize global diplomacy on Burma. It should be willing to talk to Burma's leaders, to work intensively with Burma's neighbors and to make clear that there is a dignified way forward for all those in Burma who are willing to compromise. It should support carefully monitored humanitarian assistance directed to help Burma's people, so aid reaches them and does not reinforce corruption or result in other unintended consequences.

So yes -- America should engage Burma, but it should not engage in wishful thinking. Nothing in our experience suggests that offers of aid will cause Burma's generals to change course; unlike some authoritarian regimes, this one seems to care not a bit for the economic well being of its country. It would probably interpret an easing of sanctions as an acknowledgment that it has won the struggle with its people and proved its right to rule. Indeed, all our experience suggests that diplomatic engagement is likely to succeed only when sanctions have truly hit their mark. In South Africa, it was only when sanctions became targeted and were implemented in a sophisticated way that a negotiated solution -- one that seemed impossible for many long years -- finally took shape.

Injustice and oppression will not have the last word in Burma (or Zimbabwe, or Sudan), any more than they did in South Africa, Poland, Chile or anywhere else the human spirit is alive. The brave Burmese people who have struggled for their freedom believe this is a moral universe, where right and wrong still matter. They need to know that the world's most powerful democracy still believes it, too.

The writer is archbishop emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

Rudd warns of asylum seeker influx

ABC News

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says Australia is facing the threat of huge numbers of asylum seekers.

Mr Rudd has discussed the problem of people smuggling with his Indonesian and Malaysian counterparts in the wake of Thursday's boat explosion which killed three asylum seekers and injured dozens more.

He says they all agreed that new global security and economic factors are causing an increase in the numbers of asylum seekers trying to get to Australian by boat.

"The reality is we are facing huge additional numbers across the archipelago coming off global factors," he said.

"The UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] underpins that, other commentators underpin that, our regional partners in Indonesia and Malaysia underpin that as well.

"The critical challenge is how we continue to calibrate our response."

But Immigration Minister Chris Evans will not say whether he has tried to verify reports the Government was warned its border security policies might lead to the arrival of more asylum seekers.

Weekend newspaper reports claimed the Australian Federal Police gave the warning in the weeks prior to last Thursday's boat blast off Australia's north-west coast.

Speaking to Fairfax Radio today, Mr Evans would not say whether he had followed the matter up.

"I don't know whether such a report exists and I haven't seen it," he said.

"All I can say is I haven't seen such a report and ... I don't know that one exists."

Cover-up refuted

Minister for Home Affairs Bob Debus says there has been no attempt by the Government to cover up the circumstances surrounding the explosion.

Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull has accused the Government of withholding information about the cause of the explosion from the public.

Mr Debus says the investigation is being carried out by police, not by the Government.

"Isn't it an extraordinary thing that an investigation by a coroner and more than 50 police officers is being called a cover-up?" he asked.

"From the very beginning the Government has told the public what it actually knows.

"From the very beginning we have undertaken to release material as it was proper in a legal sense to do so."

Earlier, the Northern Territory Police's Acting Commander Peter Bravos also rejected claims of a cover-up.

"This is a police matter and recognition of such by government and government agencies is appreciated," he said in a statement.

"Speculation has the potential to compromise an investigation and, as such, is not in anyone's interests.

Embattled Tigers mull taking their war abroad

NST Online

The Tamil Tigers may switch to using other Southeast Asian countries as support bases as their leaders change tack following setbacks in the war in Sri Lanka,

writes NEVILLE DE SILVA.

EARLIER this month an English-language newspaper in Sri Lanka ran an analysis on the war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), whose dream of an independent Tamil state of Eelam in the island is fast fading.

The subhead to that article in the Lakbima News read: "LTTE planning for fifth Eelam war -- in Malaysia".

With the Tigers' conventional army decimated and its leadership literally cornered on a sliver of land in a war that pundits claimed could never be won by either side, a new scenario is unfolding.

This could have dangerous implications for countries well beyond the borders of Sri Lanka. Yet the gravity of it does not appear to have been fully appreciated. The article did not spell out the wider issue but the message was clear enough: military defeat in Sri Lanka is not the end of the 30-year war. The battle for Eelam will be fought elsewhere, though the war of attrition will still be conducted in Sri Lanka.

While the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, whose 60 million Tamils have cultural and ethnic affinities with the Sri Lanka Tamils, would serve as the LTTE's rear base, Sri Lankan intelligence officials are increasingly concerned at what they perceive as burgeoning LTTE activities in Malaysia.

The Lakbima News article, while recalling the comments of Malaysian officials at the height of the Hindraf protests in 2007 about possible links between Indian Hindu organisations and the LTTE, said that the Tigers' chief arms buyer Kumaran Pathmanathan, alias "KP", wanted by Interpol, was reportedly operating now from Malaysia.

There was much speculation in Colombo that the Norwegian ambassador to Sri Lanka had travelled to a Southeast Asian country to meet "KP", and some said it was to Malaysia.

The ambassador was rebuked by Sri Lanka's Foreign Ministry. This week, Sri Lanka withdrew recognition of Norway as the "peace facilitator".

Last Sunday, another Sri Lankan newspaper, The Nation, returned to the subject of the supposed Malaysian connection. It said that army intelligence had information that LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran's son Charles Anthony and military leader Sornam "had fled to Malaysia" for medical attention following injuries sustained in a recent clash.

"The LTTE is believed to be planning to establish their international network centre to be based in Malaysia," the newspaper said, adding that the strengthening of Sri Lanka's diplomatic mission in Kuala Lumpur was a result of this intelligence.

Malaysia, may not be the only Southeast Asian country where the LTTE, banned as a terrorist organisation by some 30 countries including India, is likely to set up support bases or revive dormant links for a different kind of war.

This would happen whether or not Prabhakaran survives the military offensive. The LTTE has lost not just territory but several top commanders since President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government decided to carry the fight to the enemy three years ago, after six months of absorbing Tiger attacks.

During a visit to Thailand last month, Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama warned Thai leaders of the danger to the region if the Tigers based themselves in Southeast Asia, given the presence of sizeable Indian and Sri Lankan Tamil communities there.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his foreign and defence ministers vowed they would not allow Thailand to be used for activities that would destabilise friendly countries. Abhisit said it was in "all our interests" to fight terrorism.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda, on a visit to Sri Lanka last month, repeated the pledge that Indonesia would not allow activity prejudicial to Sri Lanka.

The LTTE's military setbacks in Sri Lanka have not diminished its capacity to collect funds. Narcotics, smuggling and financial crimes are some ways of doing this, but the LTTE may also sell or barter its expertise to other extremist groups, or collaborate with them in training suicide bombers and using modern technology in terrorist attacks.

The website "South Asian Terrorism Portal" claimed that the LTTE provided forged passports to Ramzi Yousef, one of the planners of the first attack on the World Trade Centre in New York in 1993.

The website said there were intelligence reports that the LTTE was smuggling arms to various terrorist organisations, including Islamic groups in Pakistan and their counterparts in the Philippines.

The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said three years ago that the LTTE was building commercial links with al-Qaeda and other militants in Afghanistan, and that several of its cadres had been spotted in Afghan militant camps.

Glen Jenvey, an international terrorism specialist, claimed that al-Qaeda had emulated LTTE terror tactics, while the Washington-based Maritime Intelligence Group states that al-Qaeda learnt its terror tactics through LTTE contacts teaching Indonesians these dark arts. Western nations with sizeable Tamil communities are being pressured to use their diplomatic clout to restrain or punish the Sri Lankan government.

If the LTTE compromises Southeast Asian nations' banking systems for money-laundering and transferring funds to front organisations, or joins hands with home-grown extremist or dissident groups, Southeast Asia might well be a battleground for a different kind of war against Sri Lanka.

* The writer is a veteran observer of Sri Lanka affairs, based in Colombo

Myanmar: The refugee factory

AMERICAN CHRONICLE

Myanmar – the largest nation in South East Asia and one of the poorest nations in the world. But it was not always like this. It had a bright past which ends up in the darkness of poverty. All the wealth that Myanmar had has swollen by their military lead government. To make their way unhindered they have done whatever is needed. They brutally suppressed country´s movement for democracy, kept democratic leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi captive for many years. Yet there is any sign of releasing her.

Day by day Burma´s military government is causing trouble not only in their country its neighbors are also facing significant trouble handling Myanmar refugees. In 1991 more than a million Rehinga refugees from Myanmar´s northern region flee to the neighboring Bangladesh. At that time Bangladesh and Myanmar were about to start a war. Fortunately that conflict was solved by dialog but still more than 30 thousand Myanmar refugees are living in Bangladesh. They are causing huge social and political problem for that country. People of Northern Myanmar speak Bangla - the official language of Bangladesh. They are Muslim like Bangladeshi people and they look like Bangladeshi people. So they can easily camouflage with the society –hiding their identity, make it difficult for the government to separate who is refugee and who is not. These refugees are hired for low payment by the local companies resulting local people to face trouble to get standard payment.

Another dangerous part of these Myanmar refugees is those who are not getting any job or don´t have a certain future -they are shaking their hand with the Islamic terrorists. Islamic militants are selecting them increasing growing concern for the country.

Another group of these people of Northern Myanmar took to the ocean. They use small boat to cross Bay of Bengal to reach another Muslim nation Malaysia. Some of them are use Thailand as their transit point. Thai authorities reacted very offensively to prevent flooding of refugees. CNN and some other news media have focused how Thai officials push Myanmar refugees in to the open ocean without any food and water. Most of these refugees are never seen again. Many countries and United Nation has expressed their concern about this incidence. Thai government has rejected the accusation but also said they would investigate. However only a handful of people could ultimately made it to Malaysia.

These movements of refugees are an agonizing issue for its neighbors. For the international rule they cannot do much but it is also very difficult to stay quite. Some sources said, Myanmar is once again accumulating troops in northern Arakan region threatening once again another outbreak of refugees to the neighbors. Myanmar sounds they have little headache for the feelings of the neighbors.

Myanmar is isolated from the international community. There are many sanctions have imposed on this impoverish nation. Sanctions came from west and United Nations –which has little effect on Myanmar government. Diplomatic effort does not work here. Some countries like China are behind the Myanmar government. Myanmar has no problem to work with its fellow ASIAN nations –many of which are ruled by such dictators. Military rulers are having not problem to deal with sanctions. Without the effort from all the courtiers miseries in Myanmar is far from over.

Manhunt is on for Mekong Robin Hood

SOURCE: ASia TIMES

CHIANG MAI - A shootout on the Mekong River between Myanmar's army and a rebel militia killed one and injured three Chinese sailors and motivated a manhunt that involved the security forces of four nations. The mid-February incident underlined the still-lawless nature of the notorious drug-producing Golden Triangle, where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet and where China is making strong trade and investment inroads.

The ethnic Shan rebel Naw Kham, 48, the target of the manhunt, is a former member of drug lord Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army and current leader of the Hawngleuk militia, known to be active around the Myanmar border town of Tachilek.

Naw Kham is wanted dead or alive by certain regional governments and stands accused by Western counter-narcotics officials for drug trafficking. Yet he remains immensely popular among many of the Golden Triangle's poor rural residents, who see him as a sort of modern-day Robin Hood for his daring attacks on rich Chinese commercial interests.

As a government-sanctioned militia leader, he was known to have close contacts with certain factions of Myanmar's army, particularly the divisions responsible for the remote Shan State. Those contacts included ties to Major General Ko Ko, previously commander of the Tachilek area in the late 1990s and currently chief of the army's Bureau of Special Operations Number 3, which is responsible for the Pegu and Irrawaddy Divisions.

Those top-level connections haven't always been enough to protect his interests. On January 10, 2006, in what the Myanmar government at the time referred to as a "successful operation", Naw Kham's compound in Tachilek was raided.

A large stash of methamphetamine pills and production equipment, as well as a cache of 150 weapons and ammunition, were seized.

Thai and Chinese anti-narcotics officials provided intelligence for the sting operation, according to Myanmar officials who held a press conference after the raid.

That wasn't enough, however, to actually nab Naw Kham, who, presumably with the help of his Myanmar military connections, was tipped off to the raid and not in residence when officials converged on his compound.

He later regrouped with his militia members to a Golden Triangle area closer to the Mekong River.

In 2007, his militia began to levy a protection "tax" on boats traveling along the waterway, as well as overland transport through the remote areas he controlled.

Naw Kham has consistently claimed he serves the non-ceasefire Shan State Army-South (SSA-S), but this has been denied by the group's leader, Yord Serk.

According to a report by the Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN), an exile-run news group internationally renowned for its coverage of the drug trade, Naw Kham's group collected 5,000 baht (US$141) per kilogram of heroin and 2.5 to three Thai baht per pill of methamphetamine, as well as taxes on legitimate commercial goods.

By 2007, the Myanmar government had eased its pursuit and Naw Kham was, according to Western counter-narcotics officials, maintaining houses near Tachilek in Myanmar, in Laos' Bokeo province as well as near Chiang Saen in Thailand's northern Chiang Rai province.

"Sure the [Myanmar military] helped him," claims SHAN editor Khunsai Jaiyen.

"Naw Kham's group was too small to operate in the tri-border area without protection." Naw Kham's extortion activities have won him some powerful enemies.

According to a Western counter-narcotics analyst with extensive knowledge of drug trafficking activities in the area, Naw Kham had started to confiscate drug shipments that he was paid to protect and on-sold the narcotics for his own profit.

That is known to have peeved the United Wa State Army (UWSA), the largest drug trafficking organization in Myanmar, situated along both the Chinese and Thai borders. The UWSA is known in 2008 to have sent a contingent to confront him, but were apparently blocked by the Myanmar Army.

Chinese enemyNaw Kham is known to have made an even more powerful enemy in Beijing. A string of shootings of mostly Chinese cargo vessels on a stretch of the Mekong near the Golden Triangle in early 2008 culminated in an attack in February on a Chinese maritime police patrol boat, the Jang Guojong 007.

Three Chinese police officers were seriously injured in the attack which the Myanmar exile media, as well as Lao and Thai government sources, say was the work of Naw Kham's militia. Several reasons, none of them confirmed, were put forward for the attack.

They include: the protection of illegal drug shipments; retaliation against another drug trafficking organization for using the patrol boat to transport narcotics down river and undercut Naw Kham's enterprise; as a warning to Chinese businessmen building a casino in nearby Tonpheung on the Laotian side of the river to pay his militia protection money; or to steal outright money being transported by the boat to the multi-million dollar casino project.

Whatever the reason, Western counter-narcotics officials say Beijing was infuriated about the incident and put strong diplomatic pressure on the Lao, Thai and Myanmar governments to capture Naw Kham.

A source close to the Lao government said that Lao leaders were displeased by the attack, which caused Vientiane to lose face since the attack occurred on Laos' stretch of the Mekong. The Myanmar government, some say bowing to Chinese pressure, staged on February 18 another attack on Naw Kham's militia.

The events surrounding the Mekong firefight are still murky, but what is known is that four Chinese cargo boats were stopped by Naw Kham's men at an island in the river and ordered to pay protection money.

Soon thereafter, soldiers from the Myanmar army's Light Infantry Battalions 359 and 526 situated in Tachilek attacked Naw Kham's militia members. During the firefight one of the Chinese boats was hit by either a rocket-propelled grenade or a grenade fired by a M79 grenade launcher.

Four Chinese on the boat were wounded, one of whom later died of his injuries. The Myanmar military, associates of Naw Kham and individuals who claim to be witnesses to the fight, give conflicting accounts about who fired the grenade.

What seemed more clear from the incident was that certain Myanmar army officials were given marching orders to stop protecting Naw Kham. Some analysts say that Chinese pressure on the Myanmar, Lao and Thai governments had been building steadily since the 2008 patrol boat attack.

They suggest that plans for this year's counterattack were hatched at a February 7 meeting between Myanmar and Thai security officials, which may also have been attended by Chinese representatives. The Bangkok Post, a Thai English-language daily, reported that Chinese police had joined both Myanmar and Lao security forces in the chase.

Naw Kham escaped the initial attack, which killed five of his men, but the ensuing manhunt is believed to have decimated his organization.

According to SHAN, as of February 24, at least 34 of his men had been arrested by Myanmar soldiers and police. Others are believed to have fled to Laos, where according to sources in the area they were either killed or arrested by Lao security forces.

Myanmar's army chief of staff General Thura Shwe Mann, the number three ranking official in the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), made a two-day visit on February 24 to Laos, where security was reportedly at the top of the agenda in talks with Lao President Choummaly Sayasone and Minister for National Defense Lieutenant General Duangchay Phichit. Jungle gang Naw Kham's militia, with at most 50 men and their family members, was run more like a gang than a fighting force.

Yet he is known to have received generous support from villagers and influential businessmen in Myanmar, Laos and Thailand who are believed to have benefited from his drug trafficking activities. With his ability to move and operate in an area patrolled by three sovereign countries, he almost certainly also received protection from certain Myanmar, Lao and/or Thai security officials.

Some of that support arose from Naw Kham's charisma and business savvy; his extortion rackets and drug trafficking activities are believed to have generated rich profits.

More significantly, he was able to tap a growing undercurrent of resentment about China's growing commercial influence in the Mekong region.

Many villagers in the area were happy to see him "tax" Chinese cargo vessels, which often carried products that undercut the price of their local foods and wares.

He is known to have a particular following in the Tonpheung district in Laos' northwestern Bokeo province, where a huge Chinese casino and hotel project has forced many from their homes with little or no compensation.

As an added insult, the Chinese company responsible for the project imported Chinese workers for the project instead of hiring displaced and underemployed local villagers.

Some say the displaced villagers saw Naw Kham as the only way to challenge the Chinese investors, who are working hand-in-hand with the Lao government through a concession arrangement.

Sources along the border say that villagers have supported some of Naw Kham's operations, including allegedly the 2008 attack on the Chinese patrol boat. According to SHAN's Khunsai, the gunmen were Naw Kham's in that particular incident, but they were given back-up support from Lao villagers.

They are battling against big money interests. The four-star, 689-room hotel and casino is being constructed by the Kings Romans Group Co Ltd (also known as the Dokngiewkham Company) and is expected to open in the coming months and be fully operational by 2010.

Provincial vice governor Amphone Chanhthasomboun told the Vientiane Times in August that the project would cost about US$300 million, although other in-the-know sources predict the project is worth closer to $200 million.

The casino and hotel are only the start of a Chinese-financed new town on the Mekong, situated around 46 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital of Huay Xai. A 827-hectare concession, granted by the Lao government in 2007, gives the Chinese company rights for 50 years with an option to extend for an additional 25 years.

The Lao government retains a 20% share in the so-called "economic zone", which will entail 47 projects, including hotels, golf courses, shopping centers, schools, universities, hospitals and water systems.

The entire project is slated for completion in 2018 and will include investment of $2.2 billion. Huay Xai's rundown airfield is also scheduled to be upgraded to an international airport as part of the broad scheme.

The enterprise, some in Laos fear, will be similar to Boten in Laos' Luang Nam Tha province, where Lao villagers were forcibly displaced and now live in a shantytown to make way for a Chinese-invested casino, hotel and shopping area populated almost exclusively by Chinese visitors.

What happened at Boten is well known in Bokeo province and has fueled resentment against Chinese in northern Laos, where growing numbers of migrants are settling and seen to be dominating business opportunities.

Local resentment over Chinese investment and settlement has been compounded by China's controversial control over the upper reaches of the Mekong, where Beijing has erected a series of dams that environmentalists say has adversely altered the river's flow.

Locals claim that water levels are adequate when Chinese vessels are scheduled to travel down the river, but are lower when Thai vessels attempt to make the trip upstream. Chinese officials counter that only 18% of the Mekong's flow originates in China and so its dams do not significantly affect downstream water levels.

The Mekong has in recent years become a profitable transportation route between northern Thailand and China's otherwise remote and landlocked southwestern Yunnan province. The river route became economically viable after the dredging and blasting of river rapids in Laos and Myanmar in 2004.

China sees the route as an outlet for manufactured goods from Yunnan and to import agricultural products and fuel from Thailand. Although a faster land route linking China and Thailand through northwestern Laos was completed last year, the lack of a bridge across the Mekong means that the river route is still profitable.

It will likely be more so with Naw Kham's extortion racket driven out of the area. Naw Kham is still at large and was always a small player in a region increasingly being driven by big powers. Yet he captured the imagination of many locals fuming over the perceived exploitative nature of growing Chinese investments in the Golden Triangle area.

And in such an environment, even hit-and-run characters like Naw Kham can take on the stature of local folk hero.

Thai v Thai fighting in the streets

Bangkok Post

Angry residents repel invading protesters

Angry residents took violence into their own hands on Monday to help soldiers and police disperse United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) protesters in their neighbourhoods.

In Din Daeng, apartment residents helped soldiers remove a gas tanker used by red shirt protesters to thwart government forces.

About 50 residents of the flats asked the demonstrators and truck driver to move the tanker away from their homes because of the presence of children and the elderly.

The protesters refused and the ranting of the drunken tanker driver only angered the residents.

One resident, who gave his name only as Tanawat, said he did not want to interfere in the rally but did not think the protesters should hold people hostage.

The red shirts opened the valves of the gas containers and prepared to set the tanker alight, Mr Tanawat said. They also parked a bus near the tanker, apparently to use it to feed the planned fire.

Some protesters threw petrol bombs into the apartment compound, he said, but the residents managed to put out the fire.

"Fire cannot force us out. This is our home," Mr Tanawat said.Other residents attacked the red shirts for only thinking of themselves and not caring about the danger they were causing others.

The ageing Din Daeng flat compound is a sizeable community made up of many buildings each housing 80 rooms.

Soldiers stationed in the area since the morning removed the tanker in the late afternoon.

Villagers near Wat Somanas Rajavaravihara near Ratchadamnoen Nok Avenue yesterday also expressed anger at the red shirt protesters after they fired on and threw petrol bombs at the army headquarters.

They also torched tyres and five buses at the intersection.

Residents armed themselves with whatever was at hand to use against the protesters. But soldiers intervened and told them "to let officers keep order and peace", one resident said.

The troops then fired on the protesters and a gunfight took place lasting about an hour. The protesters eventually fled after trying to set fire to buses and the nearby Forest Industry Organisation office.

Also, about 200 Muslims gathered near Phetchaburi road to attack red shirts who had destroyed their shops and cars on Phetchaburi Soi 5 and 7 while returning to Government House.

At least 1,000 rioters, who were pushed from Ratchaprarop road by the military, broke shop windows and destroyed four cars and 10 motorcycles as well as fired guns at a mosque, Daral Amarn.

The angry residents brandished wooden clubs, knives and iron bars in preparation to fight the red shirts.

Cars holding red shirts were attacked with sticks before the residents returned to their homes as police forced the red shirts to withdraw.

Sompong Potisiri, a coffee vendor, said the red shirts smashed her pushcart.

"I was shocked and don't know who to ask for compensation," she said. "I never thought there would be something like this."A Muslim leader said the action was unacceptable.

The mosque was sacred to the Muslim community."They've done too much to us," he said. "We feel very angry."

The military led by Col Apirak Kongsompong, deputy chief of staff of the 1st Division of the King's Guard, turned up later at Uruphong intersection to tell residents the red shirts' action was not a fight for democracy but rioting pure and simple. He called on the residents to resist the rioters.

Some local people angered by the red shirts' actions clapped their hands in support of the officers.

In a related development, 500 residents living near the Yommarat intersection and Nang Loeng market also forced out the protesters.

The residents joined the police to disperse the rioters, shouting: "This is my home. You all should get out."

Foreign refuge granted for 144 Rohingyas overseas

Source: asiaone NEWS

A TOTAL of 144 Rohingya refugees in Malaysia were sent to other countries which were willing to accept them, said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.

Replying to Senator Datuk Abdul Rahman Bakar, he said the refugees were from Myanmar.

He said from 2003 to 2008, 45 Rohingya refugees were accepted by Australia, 13 by Canada, seven by Denmark, two by Norway, 27 by New Zealand and 50 by Sweden.

Dr Rais said Malaysia categorised the refugees as illegal immigrants and worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to send them to countries willing to accept them.

"Currently, there are 15,001 of them ... They receive aid from UNHCR and the local community."

To a question by Senator Datuk Syed Ali Syed Abbas Alhabshee, Dr Rais said the Asean Secretariat was compiling information before any specific action could be taken.

It was reported that Myanmar had finally agreed to cooperate with the Asean Secretariat for data and information collection as the first step to resolving the Rohingya refugee problem plaguing several Asean members.

-The Star/Asia News Network

Najib Names 28-Member New Cabinet Line Up

The Star Online

PUTRAJAYA: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced a 28-member Cabinet with 25 ministries that saw eight ministers dropped and seven new faces appointed.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who won the Umno deputy presidency in last month’s party elections, was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister.

Najib, who took his oath of office as the new prime minister on April 3, also retained the finance portfolio which he has held since Sept 19 last year following the portfolio swap between him and former premier Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at that time.

Najib’s Cabinet is slightly smaller than his predecessor’s 32 ministers and 27 ministries. Najib said that the new members of the administration were highly spirited and ready to serve.

“I am confident that all of them share the same commitment to spur the nation towards excellence.

“This is our lineup and our team which reflects Malaysia’s plural society,“ he said when announcing the list at the Prime Minister’s Department, carried live on national television.

The new Cabinet also a reflection of the slogan “One Malaysia. People First. Performance Now” adopted by Najib’s administration.

The eight dropped are;

Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar (Home),

Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said (Tourism),

Senator Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib (Rural and Regional Development)

Senator Datuk Amirsham A. Aziz (Prime Minister’s Department)

Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan (Housing and Local Government)

Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamed (Works)

Datuk Seri Zulhasnan Rafique (Federal Territories) and

Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad (Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs) who had resigned.

The new faces includes Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon who is appointed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Unity and Performance Management.

The functions of the Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development will be absorbed by other ministries -- for example, small and medium enterprise development will come under International Trade and Industry, while Mara and Tekun will be overseen by Rural and Regional Development.

Najib also announced that he would be forming a Council of Economic Advisers, consisting of between six and eight experts who will advise him directly on economic matters. The chairman of the Council will have ministerial rank but would not be part of the Cabinet.

Najib was at Istana Terengganu in Kuala Lumpur at about 10:57am where he had a 30-min audience with the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan, before leaving for Putrajaya where he announced the new line-up at 3pm.

The premier had spent the last five days juggling names and positions to take into consideration the requests and views of various Barisan Nasional component parties.

The new ministers and deputy ministers will take their oath of office at Istana Negara at 9.30am Friday.

NEW CABINET LINE-UP:

Prime Minister and Finance Minister 1:

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak

Deputy PM and Education Minister:

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin

Ministers in Prime Minister’s Department

Unity and Performance Management:

Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon

Law and Parliament:

Minister: Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz

Religious Affairs:

Brig. Gen. (Rtd) Datuk Jamil Khir Baharum

Economic Planning Unit:

Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop Deputies: Datuk Liew Vui Keong

Senator Datuk Dr Mashitah Ibrahim

Datuk SK Devamany

Ahmad Maslan

Senator T. Murugiah

Finance

Minister: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak

Finance Minister II:

Minister: Datuk Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah

Deputies: Datuk Chor Chee Heung & Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussein

Ministry of Education

Minister: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin

Deputies: Datuk Wee Ka Siong & Datuk Puad Zarkashi

Ministry of Transport

Minister: Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat

Deputies: Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri & Datuk Robert Lau

Ministry of Home Affairs

Minister: Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein

Deputies: Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop & Jelaing Mersat

Information, Communications, Arts and Culture

Minister: Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim

Deputies: Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum & Senator Heng Seai Kie

Energy, Green Technology & Water

Minister: Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui

Deputy: Noriah Kasnon

Plantation Industries and Commodities

Minister: Tan Sri Bernard Dompok

Deputy: Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin

Rural and Regional Development

Minister: Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal

Deputies: Datuk Hassan Malek & Datuk Joseph Entulu

Higher Education

Minister: Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin

Deputies: Dr Hou Kok Chung & Saifuddin Abdullah

International Trade and Industry

Minister: Datuk Mustapa Mohamed

Deputies: Datuk Muhkriz Mahathir & Datuk Jacob Dungau

Science, Technology and Innovation

Minister: Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili

Deputy: Fadillah Yusof

Natural Resources and Environment

Minister: Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas

Deputy: Tan Sri Joseph Kurup

Ministry of Tourism

Minister: Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen

Deputy: Datuk Seri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Abdul Taib

Agriculture and Agro-based Industries

Minister: Datuk Noh Omar

Deputies: Johari Baharum & Rohani Abdul Karim

Ministry of Defence

Minister: Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi

Deputy: Datuk Dr Abdul Latif

Ministry of Works

Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor

Deputy: Datuk Yong Khoon Seng

Ministry of Health

Minister: Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai

Deputy: Datuk Rosnah Rashid Shilin

Youth and Sports

Minister: Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek

Deputy Minister: Datuk Razali Ibrahim,

Deputy Minister: Wee Jeck Seng

Human Resources

Minister: Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam

Deputy: Datuk Maznah Mazlan

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs

Minister: Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri

Deputy Minister: Datuk Tan Lian Hoe

Housing and Local Government

Minister: Datuk Kong Cho Ha

Deputy Minister: Lajim Ukin

Women, Family and Community Development

Minister: Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil

Deputy Minister: Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Minister: Datuk Anifah Aman

Deputy Minister: Datuk Lee Chee Leong,

Deputy Minister: Senator A. Kohilan Pillai

Federal Territories

Minister: Datuk Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin

Deputy Minister: Datuk M. Saravanan

Team To Combat Human Trafficking - IGP

KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 (Bernama) -- A team comprising police and immigration departnment officers has been set up to combat human trafficking.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said the team was currently investigating allegations on syndicated human trafficking activities involving enforcement officers at the Malaysia-Thai border.

"The Malaysian Government is serious in combating human trafficking. Legal action will be taken against those involved, and we are also working closely with our Thai counterparts in the investigation," he said in a statement here Wednesday.

Musa said the police were fully committed in addressing human trafficking issues, in line with the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act 2007 (Act) 670, which was enforced on Feb 28, last year.

He said the act had taken into consideration, the United Nation's protocol to prevent, suppress and punish perpetrators of trafficking in persons, especially women and children.

"A tripartite meeting among the police chiefs of Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia was convened early this year, whereby matters pertaining to trans-national crimes, particularly human trafficking, were discussed extensively," added the IGP.

In January, a foreign news agency reported that the US Senate was investigating allegations that officials in Malaysia were extorting money from foreign migrants and were linked to human trafficking.

The AFP report, among others, stated that the migrants, mostly from military-ruled Myanmar, were allegedly taken by government officials to the border between Malaysia and Thailand where they were extorted or sold to human trafficking syndicates.

Source: BERNAMA

Najib sworn in as Malaysia's sixth Prime Minister

The Star Online

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was sworn in as Malaysia’s sixth prime minister Friday, taking over from Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who stepped down after leading the country for over five years.

Najib 55, took his oath of office before Yang di Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin at Istana Negara.

Dressed in a black baju Melayu complete with sampin, Najib arrived at the palace, accompanied by his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor. Together they entered the Balairong Seri at 10am, followed by Abdullah and his wife, Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah.

Najib signing his letter of appointment as Prime Minister

A total of 319 guests, including former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his wife, Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, attended the historic event.

The ceremony, steeped in tradition, began when Tuanku Mizan and Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Zahirah entered the throne room at 10.05am and the national anthem was played by the Malaysian Armed Forces band.

After taking his oaths of office, loyalty and confidentiality, Najib signed the four instruments of appointment, followed by the reading of the doa selamat.

The instruments of appointment were then signed by Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff as witness and handed over to Chief Secretary to the Government, Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan.

At the same ceremony, Abdullah was conferred the nation’s highest award, the Seri Maharaja Mangku Negara (SMN), while Jeanne received the Seri Setia Mahkota (SSM) by Tuanku Mizan. Both awards carry the title Tun.

The handing over of the Prime Minister’s duties from Abdullah to Najib took place about 4.50pm at the fifth floor of the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya.

Abdullah hands over to Najib the Prime Minister’s blue desk file to signify the official handing over of duties and responsibilities.

At the ceremony, Abdullah handed to Najib the Prime Minister’s blue desk file to signify the official handing over of duties and responsibilities.

Najib was born in Kuala Lipis, Pahang, on July 23, 1953, and is the eldest son of the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, the nation’s second prime minister, and Tun Rahah Mohd Noah. His appointment is most significant in the country’s history in that this is the first time that a prime minister’s son is holding the post.

His leadership capability began to surface when he was elected Pekan Umno division Youth head in 1976 and he went on to become the country’s youngest Member of Parliament at the age of 22 when he won the Pekan seat unopposed in a by-election following his father’s death.

He then went from strength-to-strength in politics and Government to reach the pinnacle as Umno president and Malaysia’s prime minister. - Bernama

______________________________________________

Time line of Najib's swearing in as PM on Friday

Handover of duties of PM

04.50pm: Abdullah officially hands over his duties as PM to Najib.

04.10pm: Najib and his wife Rosmah arrive at Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya for the handing over of duties as PM ceremony from Abdullah to him.

03.55pm: Abdullah and his wife Jeanne arrive at Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya for the handing over of duties as PM ceremony from him to Najib. Swearing in ceremony

10.27am: Swearing in ceremony of Najib as PM ends.

10.25am: Abdullah’s wife Jeanne conferred the Darjah Seri Setia Mahkota Negara, which also carries the title Tun.

10.23am: Abdullah conferred the nation's highest award, Darjah Seri Maharaja Mangku Negara, which carries the title Tun.

10.10am: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak sworn in as Prime Minister before the Yang di Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin at Istana Negara.The swearing in ceremony is also witnessed by the two previous Prime Ministers, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

09.55am: King arrives for swearing in ceremony.

09.45am: Abdullah and Najib arrive at Istana Negara.

09.30am: Ministers and officials gather at Istana Negara. Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad also arrives at the Palace.