"Battle of the Bands" - the KL Bar Young Lawyers Committee's Charity Nite 2008

Yes folks, it is that time of the year again. Once more, the KL Bar Young Lawyers Committee (YLC) is proud to showcase its annual Charity Nite. This year will be different from the previous years. Whilst, there may be no KL Bar Idol finals this year, but in its place, the YLC has lined up an exciting and rocking battle royale for you.

I am now happy to announce the KL Bar YLC’s Battle of the Bands 2008!This year, on Friday, June 27 2008 at SaVanh Too, Plaza Mont Kiara, we will have the good fortune of being entertained by 5 very promising bands. Yes, amongst us we have our own talented rockers and bluesmen. Lawyers and friends of all walks of life and practice will come together to raise money for charity. Before I introduce the bands, let me say a few things about the charity that we have adopted this year.

The Home that we have adopted this year is the Persatuan Penjagaan Kanak-Kanak Cacat Klang Selangor. It has been the YLC’s tradition to adopt homes that aid children and/or the disabled. Pusat Penjagaan Kanak-kanak Cacat Klang, Selangor (the “Home”) is a tax-exempt shelter for children who are physically handicapped, mentally retarded, deaf, dumb, autistic and/or suffering from Down’s syndrome.

To attend to the daily needs of these special needs children, the Home provides specialized medical treatment and also sends these children to special schools. These children are also taught skills to enable them to be more independent and interactive as they head towards becoming adults. The Home currently shelters 68 children with the youngest being a 2 year old boy who unfortunately suffers from Down’s syndrome and from bone cancer. Monthly administration and operation costs of the Home run up to a substantial amount of approximately RM31,950.00.The KL YLC hopes to raise as much cash as possible for the Home.

Now, as promised, announcing the Bands.The motley 5 that came forward this year in the name of charity are:

1. Joe Latex and the Rubbertappers – a seasoned band featuring Izral Khairy, Tze, and Fahri Azzat;

2. Malayan Borneo Grasscutter Ninja Union Quartet – a mass hysteria band featuring Fareez Jinnah and his Ninjas, whoever they may be;

3. Taiko Tai and the Ringtones – a pop - rock band helmed by Lai Chee Hoe and includes Darren Teo and Tan Cheong Leong

4. Will Sing for Petrol – a fiery band led by Mohd Ashraf Abdul Jabar and comprising of Kelvin Ng and Ong Yu Jien, lawyers from Raja Daryll & Loh; and finally

5. Its OK to Adjourn – a rhythmic band featuring Mark Ho, Isa Aziz and the evergreen Dennis Appaduray

The winner, of course, will be determined, by the highest amount of donations collected and will be crowned at about 10.45 pmIn addition to the 5 bands, the crowd will be entertained to an opening act and a closing act by the 2 KL Bar Idol finalists last year!All members and their friends are encouraged to attend this year’s Charity Nite.

Details of the event are as follows:Price: RM30 nett (inclusive of food (including vegetarian options) and 2 alcoholic or non- alcoholic drinks)Time: Doors open from 7 pm onwards until lateTickets can be purchased from the KLBC Secretariat (ask for Rajan - 603-2693 3585 or email http://klbar.blogspot.com

Alternatively, you can make a personal donation to the Home itself. Please make your cheques payable to ‘Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee’ with the name of the Home on the reverse side of the cheque. If the previous editions are anything to by, this will truly be a night to be remember. Not wanting to be outdone by each other, the bands, I am told, are furiously practicing and have promised to ensure that it will be an explosive occasion. So, in the words of David Gilmour, “no more turning away”, come support the best of us in action. Make it a night to remember, all in the name of charity!Meanwhile, the Battle Rages On…

H.R. Dipendra

Chair

Young Lawyers Committee

KL Bar Paintball Battle

“Shoot the lawyers!!!”, was the battle cry. And boy, did we get shot. The Social and Arts Committee of the KL Bar Committee organised a paintball game at Tanamera, Sg Buloh on 14 June 2008 (Saturday). Everyone met at the Sg Buloh Jejantas Restaurant which was designated as the common meeting point around 9am before making the convoy to Tanamera.Upon arrival, everyone registered themselves to get their paintball gear which included a marker with 500 pellets, and a mask. A protective vest is optional for an extra RM10.00. For those who want a full camouflage outfit, they can rent it for RM5.00.

Now that this place give a good bargain or what?Roll call started at around 10am. We joined the other players and were divided into 2 teams. The first scenario that we entered was the Vietcong Field. This scenario involved a hill and each team was stationed at the top and bottom of the hill. We played an elimination round where the objective of the game was to eliminate all the players in the opposite team. The next scenario we entered was Lake Placid. This scenario is set in an oil palm plantation with a small lake in the middle. 4 barrels were placed around the lake. The objective of the game was for each team to grab 2 of its designated barrels and bring it back to base. We broke for lunch around 2pm. Lunch was Nasi Goreng Ayam provided by Tanamera’s caterers.After some rest, we began the afternoon session with the Kill House scenario.

A small hut is located in the middle of the jungle. 8 people were picked, and 6 were placed in the hut, while the other 2 were placed outside. The objective of the game was for the rest of the players to get 2 players to touch the house in order to win the game. Sounds simple? Not when the 2 players guarding the house outside happened to be good snipers, and in full camo gear.The last scenario that we played was the Killing Field. Set slightly further away from Lake Placid, again teams played in an oil palm plantation. Each team was placed at opposite end of the field, with the oil palm trees and several old tyres for covers.

Like the Vietcong Field that we played earlier, it was an elimination round until the last man standing. We finished the game at around 430pm. Suffice to say, most of us came out unscratched. We were exhausted, but happy at the same time because we had so much fun.

Lai Chee Hoe

Chair

Social, Arts & Culture Committee

BN meeting to discuss Sapp betrayal

The Barisan Nasional supreme council will be holding an emergency meeting this afternoon to discuss Sabah Progressive Party's (Sapp) shocking betrayal yesterday.The meeting will be chaired by Prime Minister and BN chairperson Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the Putra World Trade Centre at 2.30pm.The main issue on the agenda will be to discuss what action could be taken against Sapp for its 'betrayal' against the ruling coalition.

It is learnt that Sapp has not been invited to attend this meeting.Yesterday Sapp announced that it had lost confidence in Abdullah's leadership and thus would be backing a motion of no-confidence against the premier when Parliament resumes on Monday.

Sapp has two members of parliament - Dr Chua Soon Bui (Tawau) and Eric Enchin Majimbun (Sepanggar) - and four state assemblypersons in Sabah.

For now, Sapp has decided to remain in the 14-member ruling coalition.The BN meeting today may see calls being made for the Sabah-based party to be expelled from the ruling coalition.While three major BN coalition partners - MCA, MIC and Gerakan - had immediately thrown their support for Abdullah, the meeting this afternoon might also give an opportunity for other coalition members to state their stand.

Rallying behind AbdullahBN goes into this meeting knowing full well that de facto PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim is waiting in the wings to welcome any defectors so that his opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition can form government.

Meanwhile AFP quoted Umno information chief Muhammad Muhammad Taib as saying that the decision to call for the BN meeting was made last night, after Sapp's announcement."We will be discussing, obviously, the Sapp's call for a vote of no-confidence against the prime minister. The party has painted a very misleading picture," said Muhammad, one of Abdullah's trusted lieutenants.He condemned Yong, saying other coalition members "would rally behind Abdullah" at the gathering to be attended by at least 44 coalition party leaders."It is totally out of line. He should have used the forums within the coalition to voice his dissatisfaction instead of declaring ultimatums through the press."

A split in Sapp?

Sapp's decision to move the motion of no-confidence against Abdullah does not appear to have the full support of the party's leadership.Sapp deputy president Raymond Tan, who was conspiciously absence from the press conference yesterday when party president Yong Teck Lee made the announcement, said he was "confused and embarrassed" about Sapp's move.

He added that the party's supreme council was not consulted on the matter and blamed Yong of acting on his own."It is not proper for us to do it when Abdullah is the Barisan chairperson. It is disrespectful to the prime minister," he said. Tan is Sabah deputy chief minister and infrastructure minister.Sapp's four state assemblypersons were also absent from the press conference yesterday.Sapp will be holding its supreme council meeting tomorrow to decide whether it will stay in BN.

SAPP hints coalition of independent reps

KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 (Bernama) -- Sabah Progessive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee, who on Wednesday declared in Kota Kinabalu that his party had lost confidence in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has hinted the possibility of several elected representatives from Sabah abandoning Barisan Nasional (BN) to serve as independent elected representatives.

The former Sabah chief minister also ruled out the possibility of these "independent MPs" and state assemblymen joining Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)-led Pakatan Rakyat should they decide to quit the ruling coalition.Yong, who has been critical of Abdullah's political decisions on Sabah and what he described as "unpopular" measures pertaining to fuel price hikes and illegal immigrants' issues in the state, said they were not keen to cross over to a peninsula-based opposition party.

"We don't want that. What we want is if there is any political party in the state, it should be a Sabah-based party, looking after the affairs in the state and its people," he said in an interview with Bernama in Kota Kinabalu recently."We don't foresee ourselves joining any other peninsula-based opposition party if we ever decide to dump BN. Maybe only in terms of a loose coalition (with a peninsula-based opposition party)," he added.

He, however, declined to say whether SAPP itself would leave the BN."Let's wait and see," said Yong, who declared in Kota Kinabalu that the party's two members of parliament (Sepanggar and Tawau) would support a motion for a vote of no confidence against the prime minister in the coming Parliament sitting on Monday.Several SAPP leaders, when met, indicated that several state politicians from other parties had shown interest in joining the "coalition of independent representatives".

"It's not just SAPP only. It will be a bigger coalition of independent members of parliament and assemblymen, at least until the next general election," said one leader who declined to identified.It is learnt that about 10 to 18 Sabah MPs and assemblymen would announce their decision to quit BN and jump-start the "independents" pack" in a matter of days."Just watch out for this Saturday. It could be another political tsunami," an aide to the SAPP chief said.Meanwhile, a political observer said several MPs from Sabah could announce their stance in the BN after the SAPP holds its emergency supreme council meeting this Friday.

Sapp to make important announcement

Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp) is calling a press conference at 2pm today at its headquarters in Kota Kinabalu where it is expected to make an important announcement.

While speculations are rife that the party might decide to leave Barisan Nasional, sources close to the party have revealed that such a defection may not take place today.

“Today is just the first step. There might not be any defections yet,” said a source.

It is learnt that at the press conference, the party might once again call upon Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to do more for Sabah, especially in regards to solving the illegal immigrants' problem as well as poverty eradication.

“The party might even say that it has lost confidence on Abdullah's leadership,” said a source.

Anwar needs 30 MPs

Malaysiakini learnt yesterday that Sapp was calling for a press conference today to make a key announcement that will "lead to a drastic change of the political scenario in Malaysia".

In recent weeks Sapp has been identified as the most likely party to leave BN and join forces with Anwar Ibrahim's Pakatan Rakyat.

Sapp is led by outspoken former chief minister Yong Teck Lee, who in recent months has questioned Abdullah's policies towards Sabah and the federal government's inability to solve the illegal migrants' problems in the state.

The party has two members of Parliament and four state representatives.

Political commentators pointed out that even if the party pulled out of BN to join Pakatan, the defection of the two MPs would not be sufficient for rock Abdullah's BN.

Anwar needs 30 MPs to derail Abdullah and BN from power.

However Sabah sources claim that other BN coalition partners would follow Sapp out of BN if the party starts the exodus.

Syed Hamid: Fuel price won't go down

Street demonstrations against the fuel price hikes will lead only to further hardships for people caught up in the inconvenience that accompanies such gatherings, said Home Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Syed Jaafar Albar.

“The fuel prices are not going to go down. The thing is going to be there. We need to do some adjustments. By going into the streets, they are causing hardships to other people. The majority of the people would like to go on with their lives,” said Syed Hamid.“Under the difficult circumstances, we need to adjust our lives.

We need to prioritise (certain aspects of) our lives... Going onto the streets just for political gain (and) to show they are the champions (of the people is not the way).”Groups claiming to uphold the public interest can help more by “working together” with the government in alleviating the difficulties, he said. Speaking at a press conference after officiating the Asean 8th Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crimes in Kuala Lumpur, he was commenting on the mammoth anti-fuel hike gathering planned next month by opposition parties and NGOs.

In an expected but still unpopular move, the government had increased petrol and diesel prices by 40.6 and 63.3 percent respectively from June 5, due to sky-rocketing global oil prices.Following this, groups such as the Coalition Against Inflation (Protes) and the People's Anti-Oil Manipulation Movement (Geramm) kicked off a series of demonstrations.A road show has also started. In addition to getting one million signatures to petition the government to rescind the price hikes and undertake more measures to alleviate problems, this aims at mobilising a record one million people to demonstrate on July 5.

Last Friday, 2,000 people marched in protest on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, from the Masjid Jamek Kampung Baru to the headquarters of Islamic opposition party PAS.Crime rate ‘will go up’Syed Hamid, however, said there are other ways of expressing discontent against the government and its policies, such as through the general election and other “democratic practices”.“I don’t think we should import this culture of demonstrations. You can’t replace the government through demonstrations,” he said.Earlier in his speech, Syed Hamid said the spiraling prices of food, fuel and other commodities in the region is leading to the decrease of real incomes and causing hardships and social unrest.He also warned that the global economic downturn fueled by housing and financial problems in the US may lead to an increase in transnational crimes such as terrorism, human trafficking, money laundering, and cyber- and economic crimes.

Expanding on this, Syed Hamid told reporters it is a generally accepted principle that, as economic situations worsen, “people look for alternative ways in order to earn a living (including) criminally”.“Many of the syndicates that operate internationally operate from poor countries that operate internationally. The chief may come from a rich country, but they utilise and take advantage of people from the poor countries to be sources or agents to operate on the transnational front,” he said.The same scenario can be expected on the domestic front - if a lot of people are unemployed, the crime rate will be higher than usual, he warned. As such, the economic factors functioning as the ‘supply’ side of national and transnational crimes should be examined together with enforcement and preventive aspects, he added.

Dr M says it again: Don't question Malay rights

TELUK INTAN, June 15 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has told non-Malays that they should stop questioning the special rights of the Malays and count themselves privileged, having been given citizenship and other rights in this country.He urged them to understand history and realise that an agreement was reached before independence in 1957 when the Malays were willing to accept other races as people who could "share the wealth of this land". Part of the formula saw Umno allow MCA and MIC to administer the country.

"Finally, with the agreement of all parties, immigrants were accepted as citizens of Tanah Melayu and people of other races accepted the reality that Malays had special rights as indigenous people of this land. Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra willingly gave one million citizenships to Chinese and Indians. Which country in the world has given immigrants equal rights?"If the Malays were willing to accept the immigrants we should not let other people now question our rights," he said, drawing applause from a Malay majority audience, at a resthouse in Teluk Intan on Saturday.

The speaking engagement was organised by a non-governmental organisation.Defending Malay rights and painting a doom's day scenario for Malay political power have been recurring themes in Dr Mahathir's speeches across the country since election 2008. He was criticised heavily for playing the race card in a speech several weeks ago in Johor, with Malaysians accusing him of trying to drive a wedge between different races in the country.Parti Keadilan Rakyat deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali even wondered whether Dr Mahathir was laying the foundation for racial strife with his incendiary comments.But in Teluk Intan on Saturday Dr Mahathir hit back.He noted that every time Malays discuss matters related to their own race, they were accused of being racist or chauvinistic. "There appears to be an attempt to stop Malays from speaking about our rights. If we speak about our rights, we are called racists. If they speak about their rights, then it's alright," said Dr Mahathir.

The former prime minister has come one full circle in his political rhetoric. In the early days of his political career, he was part of a group of young Umno politicians known as the "Ultras".This group believed that Umno should not share political power and blamed Tunku Abdul Rahman for pandering to other races. Dr Mahathir moderated his views after becoming the prime minister in 1981, realising that anyone who wants to govern Malaysia needs the support of non-Malays.In 1995 he promoted the concept of Bangsa Malaysia.

Today he has adopted his old rhetoric, perhaps acknowledging that his goal of pushing Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi out of office will only be realised if the Malay ground, particularly Umno members are galvanised into action by fear of losing power.