Friday, March 11, 2016

Man dies in shootout with police

ALOR STAR: A man died in a shootout early today with the police in Taman Rakyat, Mergong, near here, said Kedah Police deputy chief Datuk Abdul Jalil Hassan.
He said the incident occurred at 4.10am when patrolling policemen spotted a man driving a white Honda Civic car in a suspicious manner at the traffic lights near the Mergong branch of Bank Rakyat.
The policemen ordered the man to stop the car for an inspection but the man sped off.
"The suspect also fired three shots at the policemen and they returned fire in self defence. The suspect's vehicle skidded and crashed into a tree in front of a mosque in Taman Rakyat.
"The suspect is believed to have died from a police gunshot. Police found a hand grenade, a Smith & Wesson pistol and ammunition, and various types of drugs," he said at the scene.
Abdul Jalil said the police had yet to identify the suspect as he was not carrying any identification document.
"None of the policemen was injured. A police vehicle was slightly damaged in a collision with the suspect's car," he said. – Bernama

Making Sens - What if Trump wins?

CAN any Republican challenger stop the bigoted, bilious and bombastic Donald Trump from amassing sufficient delegates in the primaries and caucuses to become the Republican Party's nominee for the US Presidential election scheduled on Nov 8 this year?
Although Ted Cruz has emerged as the strongest alternative to Trump, the Texas Senator is unlikely to energise the Republican faithful to rally behind him. Although Florida Senator Marco Rubio is the Grand Old Party (GOP) establishment's favoured candidate, he is lagging in the delegate count.
If Trump succeeds in becoming the GOP's standard-bearer, can a man labelled by other Republicans as a con artist, a declasse mountebank and a fraud win against the Democratic contender?
Whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders become the Democratic nominee, both offer conventional policy prescriptions.
Trump's jaw-dropping proposals include building a US$8 billion (RM32.93 billion) wall on the southern border and suggesting Mexico pay for its construction, deporting 11 million illegal immigrants from the US and banning Muslims temporarily from entering America.
Equally headline-grabbing are Trump's rants against women.
Angered by Megyn Kelly's questions about the Republican frontrunner calling women "fat pigs," "dogs" and "disgusting animals," Trump blasted the Fox News anchor for asking "ridiculous" questions during a Fox News debate last August.
"You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever. In my opinion, she was off base," Trump ranted.
A more intriguing question: can a Malaysian Trump reach the pinnacle of political power in this country?
Unfortunately, some Trump sound-alikes exist in this country. In response to a complaint by a female Member of Parliament (MP) about a leaking roof in Parliament, her male political opponent – sharing Trump's obsession with female bodily fluids – fired back that she also "leaked" every month.
Some Trump wannabees in this country indulge in name-calling and revel in making outrageous statements – for example, labelling a category of citizens, who have resided in this country for decades, if not centuries, as "pendatang" or immigrants. There is little justification for claiming Malaysian politicians, compared with their American counterparts, are less cringe-worthy.
That last Thursday's televised debate in Detroit involving four Republican contenders, including Trump, descended into vulgarity and was, for long stretches, a juvenile name-calling slugfest underscores the fact that American TV networks expect US presidential aspirants to entertain viewers rather than elucidate policies for voters.
More worrying, Trump's rise as a successful vote-getter stems from the widening income gap in the world's richest economy. Large swathes of American voters are angry because they have gained little benefit from the country's increasing prosperity.
Writing in The Salon, Paul Campos highlighted a clutch of revealing statistics. In 2014, US per capita gross domestic product (GDP) was US$55,185 – nearly double that in 1974. GDP is the total output of goods and services within a country.
During the same 40-year period, the average household income of the bottom 50% of American households barely edged upwards – from US$25,475 in 1974 to US$26,520 in 2014.
"In other words, half the population has gotten essentially none of the extra US$10 trillion of national wealth that the American economy has generated over the past 40 years," Campos noted.
Over the same period, the average household income of the top 5% of American households accelerated almost two-fold from US$187,729 to US$332,347.
For America's 13,000 richest households, comprising an infinitesimal 0.01% of the total population, their annual household income, adjusted for inflation, skyrocketed by about seven-fold during the last four decades – from less than US$5 million to more than US$30 million, Santos wrote.
That American politicians like Trump, by targeting immigrants and religious minorities, have becoming increasing popular is a major concern for developing economies.
"Trump voters don't want to hear that we need a president who will strengthen the safety net or a central banker who will weaken the dollar. They want a strongman who will stick it to their enemies at home and overseas – Putin with a New York accent," Matt O'Brien wrote in Wonkblog.
"It is a combination of anger and fear that does not put people in a particularly reflective frame of mind. This is the politics of the viscera, not the brain," William Galston, Brookings Institute's governance expert says.
In Malaysia, top political leaders have often argued redistributing income should continue to be a major priority, that a widening income gap in this country is a lesser concern.
Trump's rise to pre-eminence in the US suggests complacency on this issue isn't an option.
Time is also running short. Failure to redress this growing disproportionate disparity in wealth – particularly within the same ethnic group – could have significant and adverse political implications in a general election that must be held months after the current Parliament's mandate ends on June 24, 2018.
Opinions expressed in this article are the personal views of the writer and should not be attributed to any organisation she is connected with. She can be contacted at siokchoo@thesundaily.com

March 23 for case management of Nik Nazmi's case against former AG

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has set March 23 for case management of PKR Youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad's lawsuit against former attorney-general Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail.
Judicial commissioner Datuk Roslan A. Bakar fixed the date in chambers today during which the plaintiff's counsel, Syahredzan Johan, and senior federal counsel Zureen Elina Mohd Dom were present.
Syahredzan told reporters when met that the March 7 and 8 hearing dates for the case had also been vacated as Nik Nazmi has another case pending at the Shah Alam High Court. The new hearing dates have not been set.
On Jan 5, the Shah Alam High Court set June 13 to 16 for Nik Nazmi's trial involving a charge of organising an illegal rally dubbed 'Black 505'.
He allegedly committed the offence at Kelana Jaya Stadium in Petaling Jaya in 2013, under Section 9(1) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012.
Nik Nazmi, 34, filed the lawsuit against Abdul Gani on March 31, 2015, alleging that the then attorney-general's act to reprosecute him despite the Court of Appeal's decision on April 25, 2014, to dismiss the charge against him, was malicious.
The plaintiff was charged at the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court for the second time on May 6, 2014. – Bernama

Law Speak - Local authorities cannot be sued for invalid planning approvals

I WROTE in my last column of the decision by the Penang Appeal Board to set aside the planning permission given to a developer to build some 603 housing units on sensitive hill land – land that is 250 feet above sea level and/or with a gradient of 25°.
The fear persists among local authorities and state governments that they may, nonetheless, be sued for millions by a developer for costs incurred and damage allegedly suffered for the grant of the planning permission in the first place.
It is my respectful view that this fear is unfounded in law.
First, the Appeal Board – acting under powers given to it under the Town and Country Planning Act 1976 – sets aside any planning permission on the basis that the permission was flawed; it violates the applicable legal architecture. In short, the law prohibits any grant.
This implies that the developer did not have any right to the grant of the permission in the first place. It is an elementary principle of law that a court cannot countenance an illegality – which it will be doing if it awards damages in respect of a right that the law, as declared, does not recognise. This applies even if the planning authority misinterpreted the law wrongly.
This was made clear in a recent 2015 case decision of the High Court in England. In summarily dismissing the suit brought by a corporation for damages for loss suffered as a result of the planning authority's negligence in granting the planning permission in the first place (later refused), the Judge said: "It would be an extreme and unwarranted extension of a local authority's liability at common law to require it to pay damages to compensate for loss suffered by a member of the public, whether corporate or individual, because of a mistake made by it in granting planning permission to that person, in circumstances where the planning permission, in fact, subsequently had to be set aside or quashed."
Secondly, what if the developer argues that its loss was because of the representation made by the local authority that such permission would be, and was in fact, granted? This is referred to in law as an estoppel – if a person makes a representation that is acted upon, it is binding on the parties. Else it would be unfair and inequitable.
But the law confines this principle to private law. It does not apply to public authorities exercising public functions. The highest court in England – the House of Lords – made this abundantly clear in a 2002 case (Ex parte Reprotech): "These concepts of private law should not be extended into the public law of planning control, which binds everyone." Because remedies against public authorities must also take into account the interests of the general public, which the authority exists to promote.
"The general principle", said the House of Lords, (is) "… that a public authority cannot be estopped from exercising a statutory discretion or performing a public duty."
This case was approved by the Malaysian Court of Appeal in Majlis Daerah Dungun v TNB (2006); which in turn was cited with approval by the Penang Appeals Board in Goh Kheng Huat v Majlis Perbandarn Seberang Perai (2010).
Thirdly, in any event the Town and Country Planning Act explicitly protects public authorities, including local authorities and its officers, for any act they perform to carry out their functions. This means they cannot be sued for damages "in respect of any act, neglect, or default done or committed" (section 54).
Finally, it is noted that while the Act provides for some situations where damages may be claimed, it says nothing of that kind when it deals with the power of the Appeal Board to set aside a decision of the planning authority. This further reinforces the legal position that there is no basis under the statute to sue the local authority.
On these several grounds it is safe to conclude that no claim for damages can succeed against a local authority for its initial grant of planning permission that is set aside as being invalid in law.
Gurdial is professor at the Law Faculty, University of Malaya. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com

Decision on Nik Nazmi's application to out strike charges on March 23

SHAH ALAM: The High Court here today fixed March 23 for a decision on an application by Selangor state executive councillor Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad to set aside a charge relating to the organising the 'Black 505' assembly without sufficient notice in Petaling Jaya, about three years ago.
Judge Datuk Ghazali Cha set the date after hearing submisions from counsel Syahredzan Johan who represented Nik Nazmi and deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin.
On Jan 5 this year, Nik Nazmi, 34, who was accused for the third time of the offence, had pleaded not guilty after the charge was read out to him before Justice Ghazali.
According to the charge, Nik Nazmi, who is the Selangor Education, Human Resource Development, Science, Technology and Innovation Committee chairman was accused of failing to inform Petaling Jaya district police chief at least 10 days before holding the Black 505 rally at Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) Stadium in Kelana Jaya at 8.30pm on May 8 2013.
He was charged under Section 9 (1) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 and liable to be sentenced under Section 9 (5) of the same act which provides for a fine not exceeding RM10,000 upon conviction.
Nik Nazmi, who is also Parti Keadilan Rakyat Youth chief was charged for the first time on May 13 2013.
He later applied to set aside the charge but was rejected by the High Court judge here on Nov 1 2013.
On April 25 2014, the Appeals Court allowed Nik Nazmi's application to drop the charge and set aside the decision of the High Court.
On Feb 6 2014, Nik Nazmi was charged for the second time for the same offence.
However, on May 6 2014, the Petaling Jaya Sessions court judge discharged Nik Nazmi but not amounting to an acquital after the judge recused himself from hearing the case.
The judge also took into consideration the decision of the Appeals Court which allowed the appeal by Nik Nazmi to drop the charges against him on April 25 2014.
Earlier in today's proceeding, Syahredzan applied to the court to use its discretion to cancel the charges for the third time on Nik Nazmi on the grounds that if the hearing continued, it would be infringing his client's rights under Article 7(2) of the Federal Constitution.
The lawyer said Article 7(2) stated that a person who has been discharged by a court could not be charged again without getting an order from a higher court.
According to him, Nik Nazmi was discharged but not acquitted by the Sessions Court and his client could only be charged again if there was an order from the Federal Court.
"The Court of Appeal had discharged Nik Nazmi and the decision is still valid as it has not been struck out by the Federal Court. Therefore this court (High Court) is tied to the decision by the Appeals Court," he said.
Wan Shaharuddin argued that the charges against Nik Nazmi originated from the Sessions Court, therefore there was no reason for the case to be brought to the Federal Court.
He said the charge for the third time was based on the charge on the second time in which the applicant was discharged but not acquitted.
"The prosecution has full powers under Section 145 of the Criminal Code Procedure to charge him again if it is not infringing Article 7(2) of the Federal Constitution. Therefore, we did not violate the principle as the applicant was never tried," he said. – Bernama

Citizens Declaration fallout: Umno Gopeng wants Mahathir removed from GLC posts

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. SUNPIX by ASHRAF SHAMSUL
IPOH: The Gopeng Umno division has asked that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pix) be removed from all posts in government-linked companies (GLCs).
"In view of recent developments, action should be taken against Mahathir," Its chief, Senator Datuk Hamzah Mohd Kassim, said in making the call to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.
"Similar action must also be taken against Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir if they are holding any posts," he told reporters here today.
Mahathir, Muhyiddin and Mukhriz are among the signatories of the Citizens Declaration demanding for Najib's resignation.
Dr Mahathir is Petronas adviser and chairman of Proton.
"When they were in power and holding posts, the leaders claimed to have Umno blood ... where is the commitment now?" he asked.
He said the division meeting on Sunday unanimously decided to protest against the declaration.
He also condemned the move by Umno leaders to join forces with the opposition, especially DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang.
"They are not out to help the rakyat, instead it is only for their personal interest," he added

Tiny village becomes Indonesian anti-smoking champion

Bone-Bone village looks like any other rural hamlet in Indonesia, but it is an unlikely champion in the fight against smoking in one of the world's most tobacco-addicted countries. AFP
NESTLED amid mountains in remote central Indonesia, Bone-Bone looks like any other rural hamlet in the archipelago, with a modest collection of houses, shops and mosques and people quietly going about their daily lives.
But it is an unlikely champion in the fight against smoking in one of the world's most tobacco-addicted countries, after it became the first village in Indonesia to impose a total ban on smoking.
"Thank you for not smoking, say no to cigarettes" reads a sign at the entrance to the settlement to Sulawesi, one of the archipelago's main islands, while another says "Please enjoy the scenery and fresh air in our village".
The move has inspired other villages around the country to follow suit and take the law into their own hands as the central government shows little sign of launching a determined, nationwide fight against tobacco.
Such bans are just a small step in a country where 30 percent of the adult population are smokers, and more than 200,000 die every year due to tobacco-related illnesses, according to public health experts in Indonesia.
More than two thirds of adult males use tobacco, the highest rate in the world, according to the World Health Organisation's Global Adult Tobacco Survey, although far fewer women smoke.
In recent decades, many countries in the developed world have launched campaigns to cut tobacco use, ramped up prices, restricted cigarette advertising and banned smoking in public places, leading to sharp falls in smoking rates.
While Indonesia is not alone among developing countries in lagging behind in efforts to tackle tobacco use, even by regional standards it fares poorly.
Tobacco adverts remain highly visible around Indonesia, on billboards and posters, it is the only country in Southeast Asia that still allows cigarette advertising on television, and the only one in the Asia-Pacific region not to have ratified a key UN treaty on tobacco control.
The domestic tobacco industry remains hugely lucrative and powerful, and it is common to see children smoking a sweet-tasting clove cigarette – an extremely popular Indonesian speciality, which dominates the local market.
'I can save money'
But in Bone-Bone, it is a different story. Smoking has almost entirely disappeared among the population of around 800 inhabitants since the ban came into force a decade ago.
Rather than worries about villagers contracting cancer, economic concerns were what prompted then village head, Muhammad Idris, to implement the ban through a local bylaw.
He said that many poor families in the area could not afford to send their children to school because their fathers were spending too much on smoking, and the youngsters themselves got addicted to the costly habit at a young age.
While cigarettes are cheap by international standards in Indonesia – with a packet of a local brand costing around the equivalent of a dollar – a heavy habit can strongly impact the finances of poor families with meagre incomes.
"I went to college with 13 other students from this village, only six graduated, the rest dropped out because they spent their tuition money on cigarettes," Idris told AFP.
The ban was implemented in stages. In 2000, local authorities prohibited the sale of cigarettes in Bone-Bone, smoking in public places was forbidden from 2003, and then a full ban on both smoking and selling tobacco products – for residents and visitors – came into force in 2006.
Punishments for those caught breaking the rules include community service, such as cleaning up mosques in the staunchly Muslim village and their neighbourhood, while some have even been forced to issue a public apology to the entire village through a loudspeaker.
Amir, a blacksmith and father of nine in Bone-Bone, was forced to end his 40-a-day habit by the ban, but has found himself much better off.
"I can save money, I can buy what my family needs and – most importantly – I can pay for my children's education," said Amir, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
About 10 villages across the country have followed Bone-Bone's example by imposing a smoking ban, a move made possible by the heavy decentralisation of power introduced in the archipelago after the end of authoritarian rule in 1998.
Government backsliding
But the numbers of people affected out of a population of 250 million remain tiny, there is little sign of an effective, national strategy to tackle the problem, while activists accuse the government of backsliding in the fight against tobacco.
In August, the industry ministry set a target for domestic producers to produce around 130 billion cigarettes a year over the coming four years, around fifty percent higher than the previous four-year target.
"The government want our people to smoke as many cigarettes as possible," said prominent tobacco control activist Kartono Muhammad.
Indonesia's health ministry has produced a roadmap to fight smoking but officials admit implementation has been poor, with a lack of coordination between different branches of the notoriously bloated and ineffective bureaucracy undermining efforts.
In the face of growing evidence that smoking is affecting Indonesians' health and making them poor, the tobacco industry remains defiant.
Ismanu Sumiran, chairman of the association of Indonesian cigarette producers, most of whose members produce clove cigarettes, insisted smoking rates were falling and that "kretek" cigarettes are part of local culture.
"Even before this country was formed, kreteks already existed and were used in traditional ceremonies," he told AFP. – AFP