In Sarawak there can be seen a contemporary example of the rhyme “ and bigger fleas have smaller fleas upon their backs to bite em”  The chief flea is, of course State Governor and ex CM Taib Mahmud whose blood sucking capability breaks all previous records. Suharto, Marcos and the rest seem insignificant beside him. […]

While the spotlight remains on mega crook Najib, details have emerged about his relative Hishamuddin and the army camp built in Johor just before GE14 to try to ensure votes for the latter. It appears that officials allegedly involved in making this camp happen will be prosecuted. Good. But what about Hishamuddin, clearly the prime

A PAS spokesman announced that disciplinary action would be taken against the relative of PAS guru Hadi Awang for revealing that PAS did indeed take money from UMNO/BN, specifically from Najib Razak. Among other embarassments this revelation proves that the libel action begun by Hadi against Sarawak Report in London was based on a deliberate

A lesson that young policemen learn early in their careers is to know when to speak up and when to keep silent. Sadly it appears that this lesson by-passed the new IGP. As a former Director of the Special Branch he must know that spying on legal political parties is a delicate business fraught with

Time for the Swiss central government that is. It is bad enough to be harbouring and foot dragging on prosecution of notorious thieves implicated in the 1 MDB mega swindle/scandal. It is quite another to find that the national Attorney General may be inappropriately involved in the delays; which seem more and more curious every

The new IGP, formerly Director of the PDRM Special Branch, is apparently shocked that a Sabah political party have decided to bar Special Branch officers from its meetings. If he is really shocked he is displaying a degree of naivety that must make many wonder if he is suited to head the PDRM, even for

If the MACC are still busy not noticing mega corruption in Sarawak a look at the ASSAR affair should convince even the most obstinate of them to get head out of sand! This scandal, perpetrated by force on the native landholders of Sarawak by the criminal Taib gang, is as near as a small time

Hardly a day passes without someone from either UMNO or PAS beating the drum and claiming that their parties have some sort of divine right to rule secular Malaysia. These personalities have to come to understand that national policy and national development cannot be made exclusively in  Mosques or by Islamic personalities. Religion is a

A former chief of the PDRM has gone on record as saying that the new police oversight body must not “victimise” the PDRM. Such fears can be dismissed as the worries of former public servants, used, perhaps, to having their own, uncontradicted, way. The new PDRM oversight body is not only desirable to protect police

If Police resistance to more oversight of their activities is rightly seen as absurd and out dated the blame lies with last IGPs and the past Prime Minister (Najib) for having both misused the Force and having allowed it to misbehave grossly. That seems to have inculcated in the ranks of the PDRM some sense

THE Prime Minister was right to speak out in defence of free speech and, in particular, to specify the legal limits on this freedom. If correctly reported he is said to have categorised criticism of the Rulers as unacceptable. Misreporting, no doubt, since the Rulers have no constitutional exemption from criticism. They can, like any

While ex-PM Najib Razak faces criminal charges (soon to be followed by many, many more) his Sarawak tutor Taib Mahmud continues his career of mega crime untouched. Why? It is not because the MACC are incapable of bringing him to long overdue justice leading to prison for the rest of his miserable criminal life.It is,

There is an unfortunate habit prevalent in Malaysian society to avoid describing something unpleasant or openly illegal as such. The time has come to drop this convention and to describe things, persons and happenings by their real description. This bad habit has been particularly prevalent in the political field. Instead of calling a crook by

The recent spats involving some of Malaysia’s nominal State Rulers brings into focus the whole question of the rights, privileges and status of ruling houses in some of Malaysia’s component States. Much has been made of the claimed rights of the Rulers in such States but what is the real position? When the British moved

It should come as no surprise to Malaysians that the PDRM hierarchy, and especially the departing IGP, object to the proposed oversight of the PDRM by an outside review body. Used to doing whatever it likes and without proper checks and balances has resulted in a Force marked from top to bottom by abuse of

PAS personality Abdul Hadi announced to anyone inclined to listen to him that Islam is above all laws. He was apparently referring to an alleged dispute between the Prime Minister and some State Rulers. In a religious sense he may be right and certainly some co-religionists will agree with him. But in a temporal sense

It does not come as a surprise that the PH government approval rating is considerably lower after a year in charge than when seeking election. It has to be remembered that the majority voted for change due to the criminal conduct of the outgoing BN administration. It is a pity that it has taken a

Prime Minister Mahathir is reported as saying that he has difficulty in dealing with Malaysia’s “Rulers”. No doubt that is an accurate statement of the actual position but it des not reflect the legal and constitutional one. To be fair, some Rulers have accepted their constitutional position and are fulfilling their limited roles in their

Most Malaysians have heard of Al Capone, an American/Italian gangster who built a crime empire around a series of major criminal activities. The US law enforcers found themselves helpless to deal with him because any potential witnesses were either intimidated into silence or murdered to ensure it. Eventually a solution was found. Neither Capone nor

The Federal Government face a thorny problem over Sarawak and what to do about it. The root of the problem lies in the past. Not the colonial past nor the preceding Brooke era but the events following on Sarawak’s accession to Malaysia in 1963. As with many of the major problems in the modern world

The scandal of the longhouse fire at Sg. Asap in Taib controlled Sarawak is just one more instance of the utter indifference towards the native people of the State by the State government, controlled by the Malay/Melanau minority community. If you are unfortunate enough to live in a rural area of the State do not

The fundamental problem with palm plantation, and land use generally, in Sarawak is that native customary rights over land, existing from time beyond which the memory of man runneth not to the contrary (to use the customary legal jargon), and recognised by the Brookes and the British colonial administration have, since Malaysia, been  perverted by

We seek him there, we seek him everywhere. But, according to China’s ambassador to Malaysia, the most earnest efforts of his domestic authorities have failed to find fugitive criminal and Najib accomplice Jho Low. Have they checked in the casinos of Macau? Of course what this denial means is that until Kuala Lumpur meets CPG

Prime Minister Dr.Mahathir is right when he states that Malaysia is a democracy and that the Constitution is its supreme law. If there is any clash between provisions in the law of any constituent State in Malaysia and the Federal Constitution the latter must prevail. That is a matter of settled law and is unarguable.

A deputy Minister informed the Legislative Assembly that jewellery imported personally is not dutiable, as opposed to items imported commercially. Legally speaking he is correct and was no doubt following a brief provided by the Customs Department. However, in the case which gave rise to the query the facts are quite different.  It seems that