Two robbers believed shot dead by cops

Two robbers believed shot dead by cops

Sabah sabahdaily   7:44 AM

KOTA KINABALU: Two Sulu gunmen, suspected to be robbers, were believed to have been killed in a shootout near here, which was captured on social media.

Pictures and videos of the incident along a street between two rows of shophouses in the middle of the Penampang Baru township made the rounds on social media, especially on WhatsApp.

Various accounts of the incident, which caused passers-by to run helter-skelter and shops to quickly close their shutters, have emerged.

It is believed that during the 4pm incident, the men, who were sitting at the front of a four-wheel drive, were killed while a woman in the rear seat was arrested, unhurt, by balaclava-clad policemen.

One of the shopkeepers claimed to have seen a four-wheel drive with policemen cutting in front of the suspects’ vehicle before gunshots, lasting for a minute, rang out.

Some witnesses swore they saw two bodies inside the suspect’s vehicle and the police escorting the woman from the car.

Others claimed they saw three people escaping from their vehicle while plainclothes policemen, walking down the street, diverted traffic out of the area.

Moments later, police cars and personnel from the Penampang police station arrived at the scene.

At least five to 12 gunshots were said to have been fired but this remained unverified as people were immediately ordered to leave the area while those living on the upper floors were asked to secure their homes and stay indoors.

Police have so far remained tight-lipped over the case that has shocked businesses and people in the vicinity.

As at press time, the area was still being secured by the police.

Both Sabah Police Com­missioner Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman and Penam­pang OCPD Deputy Supt Ratan Kumar Singh promised to release details of the incident today.

Asked if it was true that the incident had been an “emergency drill” as alleged by some, Jalaluddin said: “It was an exercise as well as an operation to hunt down criminals.”

Reporters and photographers covering the incident from outside the yellow police line were shooed away, with some having their cameras seized and their pictures deleted.

Photographers who hoped to take pictures of the incident from the surrounding buildings also had their cameras and handphones taken away, and their identification cards checked.

-thestar

DAP’ man defends ‘sleeping’ BN MP

DAP’ man defends ‘sleeping’ BN MP

Sabah sabahdaily   1:31 PM

KOTA KINABALU: Former Kota Kinabalu MP, Hiew King Cheu, who recently defected to the Barisan Nasional (BN) has come to the defence of Batu Sapi MP Linda Tsen who was caught “sleeping” in Parliament earlier this week.
A clip on the sleeping MP has been uploaded onto YouTube.

“There is a difference between sleeping and resting one’s eyes which I personally have done in Parliament,” said Hiew in claiming that Opposition members have been caught sleeping in Parliament as well. “Linda was reading her notes while taking an eye rest, not sleeping.”

“I sometimes closed my eyes but my ears were open and I was listening. That does not mean that I was sleeping. Why make a big fuss about someone taking an ‘eye rest’ during the sitting?”

Hiew, the Luyang Assemblyman with MCA, alleged that whoever posted the video was an “irresponsible’ person who wanted to shame the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) and BN.

“How would you feel if someone now posts a picture or video of Pakatan Rakyat leaders and MPs having an ‘eye rest’ in Parliament?” he asked.

“There are even videos and photographs to prove it. Therefore, consider carefully before you shame or discredit someone. Do not simply point fingers.”

Hiew, continuing, advised against using social media like YouTube or Facebook as tools for personal attacks and described such actions as “very unethical and impolite”.

Tsen, besides lodging a police report, is also considering taking legal action against those who uploaded the YouTube clip of her allegedly sleeping in Parliament.

“I was reading my notes on the table, and not sleeping as it would seem to indicate on the picture circulated through the social media,” said Tsen in a statement. “I believe the picture on the video was purposely created and spread on the social media by irresponsible parties.”

“It is a composite photo. I believe it may have been created using Photoshop software and circulated on the social media along with several defamatory remarks made by the opposition.”

-FMT

NGO wants Perkasa out of Sabah

NGO wants Perkasa out of Sabah

Sabah sabahdaily   4:21 PM

KOTA KINABALU: The Angkatan Gabungan Rakyat Asli Sabah (Agaras) on Friday lodged a police report against hate group Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Perkasa) stating that it does not want the latter to be in Sabah or conduct any activities in the state.

“Agaras is strongly against Perkasa as they are a threat to the unity of our people, especially the youths, whom they are manipulating into joining their organisation,” said Agaras’s President, Cornelius Frederick @ Michael F. J. Sulip. “We don’t want the NGO to be in Sabah under the guise of Bumiputeraism and the unity of the Bumiputera.”

Sabah like Sarawak, he pointed out, is about the Orang Asal living in harmony with others.

He said this in reference to the police report lodged by the NGO at the Penampang police station.

Cornelius added that hate preacher and Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali’s call for the burning of Bahasa Melayu bibles and his NGO’s ideologies and teachings were not in line with the 1Malaysia ideology initiated by Prime Minister Najib Razak.

He also hoped that the authorities concerned would take the necessary action to stop Perkasa from spreading their teachings in Sabah.

“If this problem is not nipped in the bud it will affect the minds of our youths, spread hate, shatter the harmony of our country and drive it into chaos,” he added. “We will not allow Ibrahim Ali in Sabah.”

Copies of the police report will be handed to Sabah chief minister Musa Aman, the state secretary, the Immigration Department, local authorities in the state, component parties of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition and the opposition.

The NGO believes that the Sabah Government can use its autonomy in immigration powers and not only ban Ibrahim Ali from the state, as the Sarawak Government had done, but root out the NGO in the state.
He suggested the local authorities, for example, deny a trading licence to the NGO.

Trading licences, obtainable from local authorities, were necessary in Sabah to operate any organisation from lawfully recognised premises. Organisations were not allowed to operate from residential premises.

The City Hall in Kota Kinabalu said they would look into the presence of Perkasa in the Sabah capital. A spokesman declined to comment further.
Agaras’s vice president Patrick Sadom also lodged a police report at the same time against a Facebook user named ’Zef Fithry’ “for posting insulting and degrading remarks on Sabah and its people”.

“This is unacceptable. We hope that the authorities will look into the matter and bring the person to justice,” said Sadom. “We believe the person is from the peninsula. No Sabahan would ever post such hate about his own people.”

’Zef Fithry’ has allegedly posted, among others, remarks that Sabah was a shame to Malaysia, that its people were stupid and jobless and forced to resort to prostitution, and that artistes in the state looked like male private parts.

-fmt

Beware of those who use religion as a tool

Beware of those who use religion as a tool

Sabah sabahdaily   7:25 PM

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Chief Musa Aman has reminded the people of Sabah not to be swayed by certain quarters who tried to instigate them by using religion as a tool.

He said that these instigators had their own agenda as religious issues did not arise in Sabah, where the people lived in peace and harmony regardless of race, religion or culture.

“Even Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak himself acknowledges and recognises that Sabah is the best example of the 1Malaysia spirit,” he said when speaking at the Sabah government financial aid presentation to non-Muslim non governmental organisations (NGO) and Southwest Coast and Lower Interior schools here on Wednesday.

Also present were Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan and Special Functions Minister Teo Chee Kang.

At the function, Musa presented financial aid, totalling RM32 million, to nearly 200 non-Muslim NGOs, national type, missionary and private schools.

Musa also urged all strata of the community to be with the government to nurture and sustain the spirit of unity, togetherness and harmony that had been achieved in Sabah all this while.

He said religious bodies played an important role in instilling good and positive values among the people of various races and religions.

Since 11 years ago, the Sabah government had presented financial aid totalling RM208,533,199, including RM88,536,019 to missionary, national type and private schools and RM119,997,180 for non-Muslim NGOs, he said.
- Bernama

Jeffrey queries Sabah’s Federal budget

Jeffrey queries Sabah’s Federal budget

Sabah sabahdaily   6:03 PM

KOTA KINABALU: Bingkor Assemblyman Jeffrey Kitingan doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry over a statement by Kota Belud MP Abdul Rahman Dahlan that Sabah was allocated RM22.1 billion for the period 2012-2013 alone by Putrajaya while collecting only RM8.3 billion from the state.

“Rahman Dahlan is making the Federal government look foolish with his figures,” said Jeffrey. “Sabahans are not ignorant fools to swallow such figures.”

Jeffrey, who is also the Star Sabah Chief, was giving his take on Rahman Dahlan’s comments on the sidelines of a public forum over the weekend in Kota Kinabalu.

The Federal minister’s figures have been widely shared on the social media, especially Facebook, and ridiculed all around.

Jeffrey held that Rahman Dahlan has understated the figures on revenue from Sabah.

For starters, he said, Sabah contributed RM36.48 billion in oil revenue alone for the period 2012-2013 and another RM26.6 billion for the following period.

He pointed out that under the 40th Schedule of the Federal Constitution, Sabah was entitled to receive 40 per cent of the revenue the Federal government collected from the state.

“If the Federal government collected only RM8.3 billion in revenues from Sabah during the period 2012-2013, the state should only receive RM3.32 billion and not the RM22.1 billion cited by him,” he argued. “Is the Federal government being so generous to Sabah at the expense of the other states?”

The opposition politician claimed that a big chunk of Federal funds actually received by Sabah are in the form of salaries for Malayans employed by the Federal civil service and GLCs in the state and disbursed for contracts secured in Sabah by companies based in the peninsula.

Taking the argument further, the Bingkor Assemblyman recalled that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak announced during the 2014 Budget that Sabah and Sarawak would receive RM2.3 billion each for the year.

“If Sabah and Sarawak were two of the 13 states in Malaysia, as the Minister absurdly suggested during the public forum, they would have received a fairer share of RM6.15 billion each, not RM2.3 billion,” he said.

He urged Rahman Dahlan to come clean on Federal allocations for Sabah and Sarawak, how they were divided into operating expenditure and development, and how much was actually disbursed.

He also wants the minister to make a full disclosure of the revenue the Federal government collects from Sabah and Sarawak.

-fmt

Bung and Lateefah: Cat fight on Twitter

Bung and Lateefah: Cat fight on Twitter

Sabah sabahdaily   5:56 PM

True to form, Kinabatangan MP Bung Moktar Radin caused quite a stir when he picked a fight with Lawyers for Liberty co-founder Latheefa Koya for her blatant remark that he be gotten rid of.

Giving her an ultimatum of either apologising within 24 hours or facing the wrath of the police, Bung tweeted, “You have 24 hours to offer an explanation or apologise. If not, I will lodge a police report.”

The tweet in question from Latifah was, “Rather than get rid of the Sedition Act, it’s better to get rid of the Kinabatangan MP instead.”

Bung defended himself against detractors online, saying that (sic) “If somebody sms u to eliminate ur family… What would you do?”, adding that “I just need explanation from her… Nowadays, everybody is capable to kill anybody.”

Bung, who clearly interpreted the comment as a ‘death threat’, drew return fire from Latheefa, who told the MP that the “PDRM are not your private bodyguards” and warned him “Don’t try to threaten anti-Sedition activists! Rampaging with a draconian act.”

In an apparent tit for tat, Lateefa gave Bung 24 hours to retract his statement that the Sedition Act be used against those calling for its repeal.

Eric Paulsen of Lawyers for Liberty weighed in on the situation, saying, “(Bung) is a symbol of all that is wrong with UMNO’s culture of entitlement – they can say the most offensive things but others can’t.”

-FMT