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Showing posts with label Luke Rintod. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Luke Rintod. Show all posts

Chased out first by police, now Mara

Families of former Sabah "Border Scouts" were shocked
when MARA officers said they were told by Sabah Land
and Survey Department to have a look at 10 acres of
their 45 acre settlement.
By Luke Rintod of FMT
KENINGAU : Days after families of former Sabah “Border Scouts” or “polis pengakap sempadan” aired their worries of being chased out from their settlement a second time by their own former employer, the PDRM or Royal Police of Malaysia, another federal agency has taken an interest to take over part of their 45 acres here.

Families of those aged and some ill former warriors of Sabah’s border were taken aback when a group of officers claiming to be from MARA or Maktab Rendah Sains MARA (MRSM) came to their settlement and took pictures of the areas last week.

10 points, sultan’s decree and the raid

By Luke Rintod of FMT 
Recently, various news reports on the confiscating of Bibles translated into Bahasa Malaysia have repeatedly referred to the so-called 10-Point Resolutions adopted in April 2011 to ease fears among Christians about the Islamic agenda of government agencies and certain leaders in the Barisan Nasional coalition.

But what exactly are the 10 points?

The Mindanao unrest and Sabah illegals

Analysts say with fresh armed clashes in Mindanao,
it is unlikely Malaysia would deport Filipinos
 illegal immigrants back to the areas.
By Luke Rintod of FMT
One of the repercussions of the fresh unrest in the southern Philippines would be the derailing of Malaysia’s effort to mount a sweeping operation to nab illegal immigrants in Sabah as part of its nationwide exercise.

The operation in Sabah will not be easy. Sabah has a huge population of Filipino and Indonesian immigrants hiding under various clever masquerades.

The locals in Sabah, especially the Kadazandusun and Chinese, who have been enraged for too long over this perennial issue, handed Barisan Nasional half a dozen defeats in the two communities’ areas in the recent general election.

Musa ‘lacks Malay-ness’ for Umno

By Luke Rintod of FMT
KOTA KINABALU: A political scientist in Sabah believes it would be better for the two Sabah Umno leaders, currently being propped to vie for Umno’s vice presidency, to work together.

In contention for one of the three coveted Umno vice-president posts are Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman and federal Minister of Rural Development, Shafie Apdal.

Shafie is an incumbent to this seat. The other two incumbent vice presidents are federal ministers Hishamuddin Hussein and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Shake-up in Sabah STAR leadership

By Luke Rintod of FMT
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah chapter of Sarawak-based State Reform Party (STAR) top leadership has appointed its new state line-up in a presidential-decree style, shocking reform-minded leaders in the party.

With the absence of a clear proviso in the party constitution, Sabah STAR chairman, Jeffrey Kitingan, is apparently left with absolute power ‘to hire and fire’ in the party here.

He began his bid to overhaul the party following its shocking defeats in the recent 13th general election, by not reappointing all his five deputies.

PBS retains incumbents

The selection of PBS candidates for the 13th general election
left observers surprised and supporters disappointed.
By Luke Rintod of FMT
PENAMPANG: Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), Umno’s staunchest local ally, will field all its incumbents in the May 5 general election much to the disappointment of its supporters and political observers.

The party has three MPs and 12 assemblymen.

The only new faces on the list are former school principal Mary Yap who will contest in Tawau and Fung Fen Lui who is slotted for the Tanjung state seat.

Opposition ‘spoilers’ giving Sabah BN quiet wins

By Luke Rintod of FMT
STAR and SAPP have reminded Sabah DAP and Sabahans that
voting for Pakatan would be a case of jumping from the
frying pan into fire situation.
KOTA KINABALU : Opposition parties DAP, SAPP and STAR have a common enemy in Barisan Nasional. Yet they seem unable to hold it together, constantly kniving each other instead of plotting against their enemy.
This in itself is intriguing and is telling of Sabah’s layered opposition politics which runs deep on distrust.
Yesterday, DAP’s sole parliamentarian Hiew King Chew, accused both State Reform Party (STAR) and Sabah Progressive Peoples Party (SAPP) of being “useless” parties that cannot do anything.
“It is a waste to vote STAR or SAPP,” he had said in statement that lumped the two parties as “spoilers” in the 13th general election.

Who will the Suluks support?

By Luke Rintod of FMT
Sabah Umno leaders do not believe that the Suluk voters in Sabah have deserted them following the Tanduo stand-off in Lahad Datu between Sulu terrorists and Malaysian armed forces.
“The majority of the Suluk voters are still with BN (Barisan Nasional),” said Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan, the principal political secretary to Sabah strongman, Musa Aman.
Many in the BN component parties like PBS, UPKO, LDP, PBRS and MCA share Nizam’s observation.
But deep within the Suluk community in Sabah, cracks are appearing.

New security rules: A blessing, a curse

The new government gazette to manage Sabah’s security
strangely enough does not seek to deter intrusion by
foreigners, or cleanse Sabah of illegal immigrants.
By Luke Rintod of FMT
KOTA KINABALU: The federal government gazette to manage public security in Sabah’s eastern area could be both a blessing and a curse to Sabahans.

The gazette which is officially called “Preservation of Public Security Regulations 2013” was published on March 24 and contains four objectives, with 19 major regulations under five parts.

While it failed to give details on how it will beef up security against foreign intrusions in Sabah’s east, the gazette did touch on a few major issues that are expected to be potentially controversial.

Sulu incursion: Hiding from the truth

By FMT Staff  and Luke Rintod
KOTA KINABALU: As the dust settles on the incursion by a group of armed men from the southern Philippines, the question of who will take responsibility remains hanging. Most politicians in the government have resigned themselves to watching from the sidelines.

Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, the younger brother of Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman, appears to be passively muddling through the crisis.

Cracks appearing in Sabah Umno?

By Luke Rintod of FMT
A Sabah NGO - United Suluk Community Organisation (USCO) -
has, strangely enough, decided to move into ‘active’ politics.
KUDAT: Speculation is high that former deputy chief minister under a PBS-plus government, Amir Kahar Mustapha, is about to quit Umno and join an opposition group.

The former Banggi assemblyman, who is the eldest son of ex- Sabah chief minister, the late Tun Mustapha Harun, is said to have been approached by the members of the Suluk community here to represent them in the opposition in the coming election.

‘Najib not sincere over Allah issue’

By Luke Rintod of FMT
Parti Bersatu Sabah must explain why it allowed the Sabah
State Assembly in 1992 to pass an enactment barring use
of the term “Allah” and several related words.
KOTA KINABALU: Pressure is piling on Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to speak plainly on his government’s stand on the use of the word ‘Allah’ by non-Muslims in Sabah and Sarawak.
The word has become so politically loaded in the peninsula that failing to acquiesce to native Christians insistence in the two Borneo states that they be allowed to continue to use it in their worship threatens to strip away any electoral support his Barisan Nasional government may enjoy among them.
His detractors in Sabah were quick to deride the prime minister after he implied on Friday that he opposed the use of the word ‘Allah’ by all non-Muslims.

Sabah – jinxed for all time?

The invasion is yet another unwelcome incident pointing
to the federal government's myopic view and disregard
of Sabah’s original ethnic fabric.
By Luke Rintod of FMT
PENAMPANG: There is a troubling question foremost in the minds of Sabahans these days – did it have to be this way?

Many believe that all the unpleasant things happening to Sabah would not have happened if the state had been allowed to remain a sovereign state within the Federation of Malaysia.

Veteran political activist, Fredoline Edwin Lojingki, 72, said the latest in a long line of unwelcome incidents – the intrusion of armed Sulu extremists in Lahad Datu – pointed to the federal government’s myopic view and disregard of the original ethnic fabric in Sabah.

Jeffrey’s party to contest most constituencies

By Luke Rintod of FMT
KOTA KINABALU: Local opposition State Reform Party (STAR) is likely to contest in 40 of the 60 state seats and in 16 of the 25 parliamentary constituencies in the coming general elections.

STAR Sabah deputy chairman, Daniel John Jambun, in a statement here on Friday evening said the party leadership under Jeffrey Kitingan had decided on this and that the party will introduce all its candidates ahead of the polls.

‘There was no Sabah referendum’

By Luke Rintod of FMT
Any talks between Malaysia and the Philippines must include
Sabah because only the people of Sabah can decide what
 they want, says Jeffrey Kitingan.
KOTA KINABALU: United Borneo Front (UBF) chairman Jeffrey Kitingan has disputed the context of the 1962 referendum which academics and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak claim confirmed Sabahans’ desire to be part of Malaysia.

“There has never been a referendum on Sabah as stated by some academics.

“In fact, the so-called referendum in 1962-63 was actually only a sampling survey of less than four percent of the Sabah population,” he said in response to Najib’s comments on Sabah yesterday.

STAR adds ‘Kita Ambil Balik’ to ‘Ini Kali Lah’

The new slogan is aimed at helping the party take
back what was taken away from Sabahans.
By Luke Rintod of FMT
KOTA KINABALU: With its conviction building that its time has come, Jeffrey Kitingan’s State Reform Party (STAR) has added to its popular slogan, “Ini Kali Lah” the additional phrase “Kita Ambil Balik” (We Shall Take Back) ahead of the coming general election.
STAR Sabah operation room director, Saiman Sandah, in a statement here today said, the slogan “Ini Kali Lah, Kita Ambil Balik” will help pave the way for STAR to lead in taking back what was taken away from the state and Sabahans.
He said the new slogan has already started to be used by STAR leaders at the party’s functions including at a closed-door briefings for potential candidates at the Ming Garden Hotel here over the weekend.

Philippines press: Stand-off is Malaysia’s ‘karma’

The whole saga is a "karma" on Malaysia for its clandestine
role in supporting the Muslim Sulu insurgence against Manila
government in southern Mindanao, says a writer.
By Luke Rintod of FMT
KOTA KINABALU: Philippines dailies are having a field day reporting on the ‘invasion’ Sabah’s east-coast town of Lahad Datu by men claiming to be members of the “Royal Sulu Sultanate army”.
One writer by the name of Ramon Tulfo of the Philippine Daily Inquirer recently wrote that the whole saga was a “karma” on Malaysia for its clandestine role in supporting the Muslim Sulu insurgence against Manila government in southern Mindanao in the 1970s and 1980s.
“When the (Philippines) government was fighting the MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) in the 1970s through the 1980s, Malaysia was secretly supporting the rebellion in the South. Weapons coming from Libya and other Middle East countries passed through Malaysia on their way to the MNLF.

Police escorts a danger to motorists

Why must a VIP get right of way at the expense
of law abiding rakyat who are oftentimes
rough-housed to the side of road? asks an activist
By Luke Rintod of FMT
KOTA KINABALU: Police, especially traffic police, escorting VIPs on Sabah roads are being accused of endangering other road users when conducting their duties. A social activist said he recently almost met with an accident when overzealous police escorts forced him to the verge of the road to give way to a VIP speeding towards him
Donny Yapp, a director of UK-based NGO, Borneo Rights International (BRI), said the policemen simply “bulldozed” their way through the traffic and confused other motorists on a highway by waving their hands and pointing their fingers at them to get off the road.
Yapp said he was shocked earlier this week when a police outrider suddenly appeared alongside his vehicle frantically waving and pointing to one side of the road and the divider.

Kah Kiat now in PKR camp?

By Luke Rintod of FMT
If rumours are any indication, the end is near for
Liberal Democratic Party – Sabah BN's local
Chinese arm.
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah political grapevine is abuzz with rumours that former Sabah chief minister and ex-Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) president Chong Kah Kiat has joined PKR.
Word is that Chong, along with two other eminent former state Barisan Nasional assemblymen, joined opposition PKR in a secret meeting with PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim who was here last week.
Chong, who was once a federal minister, was also the former assemblyman for Tanjung Kapur.
The other two are Yapin Gimpoton who once held Kadamaian and Ahmadshah Tambakau, a former Bingkor representative. Ahmadshah, a ex-federal deputy minister, was also once Keningau MP.

Jeffrey, Yong fail to settle seats issue

Both disagreed with each other's presumed strength in
many Kadazandusun areas, where both want to break into.
By Luke Rintod of FMT
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah-based opposition party leaders Yong Teck Lee and Jeffrey Kitingan were in discussions last night in a last- ditch effort to stitch together a pact to give Sabah voters a clear choice between a local opposition front and a peninsula-based one.

But the two pivotal figures in Sabah’s opposition power play, however, again failed to reconcile their overlapping claims for Sabah parliamentary and state seats.

According to sources, the secrecy surrounding the meeting caused some delay in the arrival of representatives – from both parties – at the rendezvous point in the city.

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