Utusan 'tells' Najib to block gay Christian pastor's NY wedding

A call by the UMNO-owned Utusan newspaper to Prime Minister Najib Razak's government to "block" a Malaysian gay pastor’s wedding slated to take place in New York, USA, has raised eyebrows.

Many pundits point to the intensifying rivalry between Najib and Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, against whom even US officials believe the PM is trying to pin trumped-up sodomy charges.

EC tells Ambiga: Don't come to us, we are powerless - ask BN!

So, the cat is out of the bag. Finally, the Election Commission has admitted it has to shadow the BN government's wishes although Prime Minister Najib Razak insists that the EC is independent.

“The EC is not an enforcement agency; it is only a management body for elections. The best we can do is to propose relevant laws to the Attorney-General’s Chambers. But ultimately it is the government of the day, which obtained majority votes, which has the final say," EC deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar.

"If the government decides that voting age is 21 years old, whatever proposal we send to the A-G’s Chambers can never go to Parliament."

Sex slave tells of 18-year ordeal

A CALIFORNIAN woman kidnapped as a schoolgirl and repeatedly raped over 18 years in captivity described graphic details of her ordeal, in a first ever TV interview aired yesterday. 

Jaycee Dugard, who was 11 when she was seized and kept in a back yard compound by Phillip and Nancy Garrido in 1991, described how she gave birth to two daughters of her own - and how that helped her survive.

Giving birth, alone in a backyard and aged 14, was the most painful experience of her life, she said, describing her thoughts about when she first saw her baby daughter.

Brain surgeon tells court of sex and drug addiction

MELBOURNE - A Malaysian neurosurgeon told a Sydney court this week that he realised his drug and sex addiction was "spiralling out of control" when a 22-year-old prostitute, Victoria McIntyre, died from a cocaine overdose in his Sydney apartment.

"I made a big mistake and the whole thing snowballed completely out of control," Suresh Nair, 43, is quoted by The Australian newspaper as telling Downing Centre District Court, Sydney, on Thursday.

"There was a part of me that recognised things were out of control...but there was another part of me that chose to ignore that rational part of my mind."

A second prostitute, Suellen Domingues-Zaupa, 23, died in the same circumstances nine months later, in November 2009.

Nair told his sentencing judge, Robert Toner, "If I had handled things differently and been honest with myself, I feel very strongly that nothing would have happened with Suellen."

In its report, The Sydney Daily Telegraph said former colleague and prominent neurosurgeon Charlie Teo defended Nair's previous good character.

Dr Teo told the court he held Nair in extremely high regard despite the charges against him.

"I have a public profile...but I felt very strongly that Suresh was a good person and people needed to know that," Dr Teo said.

Having visited him twice in jail, Dr Teo said Nair was "very remorseful."

Dr Teo described Nair as "awkward socially" but said his patient care and skills as a brain surgeon were exemplary.

Nair has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Domingues-Zaupa, and one count of drug supply relating to the death of McIntyre.

Nair has been suspended by the New South Wales Medical Board and is awaiting deregistration after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of Domingues-Zaupa and two drug-supply charges, one related to McIntyre's death.

Since being remanded in jail 18 months ago, Nair has been the victim of a vicious assault, which resulted in the loss of some vision.

He also faces deportation to Malaysia because he does not hold Australian citizenship despite migrating here in 1980 at the age of 11.

Nair's barrister, Peter Hamill SC, said his client's "dreadful, debilitating addiction" had resulted in a "tragic waste; the waste of the lives of the victims...there's also the awful waste of Nair's incredible talents, 20 years of work down the drain."

But Judge Toner disagreed, saying Nair was not an addict, but a "binge cocaine user" and there was "one dead body too many."

Nair will be sentenced on Aug 12.

Arrest Ibrahim Ali for threatening to harm the Chinese, Pakatan tells police

In a bid to take the shine of Bersih official launch due later tonight, self-appointed "war general" Ibrahim Ali threatened to turn Kuala Lumpur into a sea of blood on July 9 if his wishes were not heeded.

“Imagine if chaos erupts. If the Bersih rally is not cancelled. I believe the Chinese community will have to stock up on food,” the Perkasa chief told a crowd of some 500 supporters in Kuala Lumpur.

He and Perkasa members had burned an effigy of Bersih president, Ambiga Sreenevasan.

“Yes, anything can happen. And so I ask the police to act and use whatever powers are at their disposal.”

But instead of fear, the only response he elicited were calls for his arrests, rude names for his lack of intellectual substance and sighs of exasperation for the crudity of his behavior.

"The first person to be arrested should be him," MP for Gopeng Lee Boon Chye told Malaysia Chronicle. "I am not surprised he would use May 13 as a bogeyman. Firstly, he has limited knowledge, so for him May 13 is the reference point for evrything. Secondly, it actually indicates his links to Najib and Mahathir."

The Najib and Mahathir connection

The portly Ibrahim Ali, known for his high-pitched and high-volume rhetoric, is close to former premier Mahathir Mohamad, who is the Perkasa founder. May 13, 1969, was a day of racial riots that left hundreds of Chinese dead in the streets of Kuala Lumpur after Malay leaders from UMNO provoked inter-communal violence.

Najib's father, second prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein, was accused of triggering the incident so as to oust the then-prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Despite May 13 being a black day for Malaysia and Najib's professed wishes for racial unity as expressed by his 1 Malaysia slogan, he has not lifted a finger stop Ibrahim's ranting.

Meanwhile, Bersih - a coalition of 62 NGOs - is holding its launch at the KL Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall at No. 1, Jalan Maharajalela, Kuala Lumpur at 8.30 pm tonight. It has invited all Malaysians to attend give their views on the rally.

"BERSIH 2.0 emphasises once again that the Perhimpunan BERSIH 2.0 is purely a civil society initiative and we have invited other organisations including political parties from all sides of the political divide to join us in upholding democracy and calling for electoral reform," its organising committee said in a statement on Saturday.

"BERSIH 2.0 once again invites all interested Malaysians to attend and express their views at the Launch of Perhimpunan BERSIH 2.0 on 19th June 2011, during which we will explain further the 8 demands of BERSIH 2.0."

Vote for anyone except BN if Ibrahim not punished

PAS leaders have reassured Malaysians not to be put off by Ibrahim's "silly rhetoric". The Islamist party has promised free legal fees "all the way" should Perkasa and UMNO stir up trouble for protesters.

PAS has pledged to send 300,000 supporters.

"Don't waste time on that copy cat. He will be lucky to get even 1,000 supporters on that day," PAS MP for Bukit Gantang Nizar Jamaluddin told Malaysia Chronicle.

Nizar was referring to Ibrahim, who is also the Pasir Mas MP. Even BN politicians such as Nazri Aziz have tagged him as a "clown".

Pakatan leaders say that if no action was taken against Ibrahim and Perkasa, then Malaysians - especially the Chinese - must ensure that they voted for anyone other than the BN at the coming general election, which is widely expected to be held within months.

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‘Horribly Humiliating’ – Egyptian Woman Tells of ‘Virginity Tests’

The Egyptian military was celebrated for helping to facilitate a peaceful revolution there three months ago. But now accusations have surfaced that they subjected young women to degrading “virginity tests” in what appears to have been an attempt to control the population. One woman told SPIEGEL her story.

Salwa al Husseiny Gouda, 20

Before she describes how uniformed soldiers hit and kicked her and the other young women, ordering them to take off their clothes, lie on their backs in front of gawking soldiers and spread their legs so a man in a white lab coat could test their virginity — before this, the hairdresser quickly lights a cigarette and pulls the smoke deeply into her lungs.

Salwa Husseini Gouda is a petite woman with gently curved lips and almond-shaped eyes. The 20-year-old looks tired this afternoon, wearing jeans and a headscarf together with a tight-fitting top. She smokes one cigarette after another. The air is heavy with shimmering heat and the Egyptian capital is dusty and loud, as always.

“I have no idea why they arrested me, of all people, in Tahrir Square,” she says. “I was standing in front of a tank at that particular moment, maybe that’s why.” She attempts a grin. “Anyway, people should watch out for me — I’m a dangerous criminal!”

According to eyewitness reports, men stormed Tahrir Square, center of the Egyptian revolution, on the afternoon of March 9 and attacked demonstrators seemingly at random. They weren’t wearing uniforms. “They looked like thugs,” Husseini Gouda says. “They called me a whore and hit me in the face.” She says she was shocked when the group dragged her and around 20 other women into the Egyptian Museum and handed them over to the military. “I couldn’t believe our army was behind this attack,” Gouda continues. “But then they took us to a military prison, and from then on, it only got worse.”

‘Shocking and Degrading Treatment’

On the day Husseini Gouda was arrested, Hosni Mubarak, the country’s deposed president, had been in self-imposed exile in the seaside resort of Sharm el-Sheik for nearly four weeks. A month before the arrest, the masses at Tahrir Square had cheered for the military, which took over power in the country after Mubarak resigned. “The people and the army are one,” demonstrators shouted, dancing and celebrating in front of the tanks. Mothers pressed their babies into soldiers’ arms for pictures. The world watched Egypt with amazement, seeing men and women, Muslims and Christians, fighting side by side for freedom. Then, 18 days later, the revolution was, the pharaoh chased off. The people were victorious. It was a triumph that belonged to women as well — or so it seemed at the time.

When Husseini Gouda arrived at the military prison on March 9, she says she was led to a small room together with two other women. There they were forced to undress and allow their clothing to be searched. Then they noticed a soldier standing outside the open window, photographing them naked. “I was afraid they would use the pictures to make us look like prostitutes,” Husseini Gouda says.

That night, the women were locked in a cell and given water and bread that stank of kerosene. The next day, they saw a stretcher in the hallway outside their cell. Here, an officer announced, a doctor would inspect the unmarried women for virginity. “We couldn’t believe it,” Husseini Gouda says. “We asked if it could at least be a female doctor, but he said no. One girl who tried to resist was plied with electroshocks.”

Several human rights organizations are investigating the events that occurred at the military prison in Heikstep northeast of Cairo between March 9 and 13. Amnesty International has called on Egyptian authorities to “stop the shocking and degrading treatment of women protesters.” The European Parliament denounced the “forced virginity tests” as torture.

Psychiatrist Mona Hamed, from El Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, has documented statements from several of the women who were arrested on March 9, including Husseini Gouda. Hamed’s conclusion: “What’s new is that it isn’t the police or the secret police behind this, but the military.” The virginity tests, she says, send a message to the people, because the army wants to control citizens’ freedom of movement. If a woman at a demonstration were beaten or arrested, Hamed says, her family would perhaps be able to accept that — but not the charge that their daughter is a prostitute. “That’s an unthinkable humiliation for the woman and her family,” she explains.

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