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©The Sun (Used by permission)
by Bernard Cheah

GEORGE TOWN (July 3, 2009) : Penang Chief Minister's Chief of Staff Jeff Ooi Chuan Aun has called for a domestic inquiry to be carried out on a Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) councillor for alleged abused of power over a stop-work order issued against a condominium developer in Batu Lanchang.

Ooi said the PKR councillor, which he declined to name, had tried to push MPPP officers to retable the One-Stop Centre (OSC) papers for the stop-work order to be withdrawn against the developer, and to enable the latter to continue construction work, on June 26 and 29.

"The councillor has violated the code of ethics by pushing the MPPP officers. He is only supposed to bring an official proposal in any official meetings recognised by the local authorities. I ask for a domestic inquiry to be carried out on this councillor immediately to ensure he does not have any conflict of interest. He should not behave like a hero or a cowboy," said Ooi at a press conference here today.

©The Star (Used by permission)

PUTRAJAYA: Former Perak menteri besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin is likely to be spared the agony of knowing whether the Federal Court will grant him leave to appeal against a decision on who is the rightful chief executive of Perak.

His successor, Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, who is the respondent in the leave application, has declared that he would not contest the matter.

"I wish to state that I do not object to leave to appeal being granted against the decision of the Court of Appeal," he said in his affidavit filed in the apex court registry on Monday.

©New Straits Times (Used by permission)
by Mazlina Mahmood

SHAH ALAM: Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah of Selangor has advised the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) to be open to the proposed amendment to three laws related to Islamic matters.

Mais secretary Datuk Mohammed Khusrin Munawi said yesterday the sultan wanted Mais and the relevant authorities to study the proposed amendments and to accept them if it were good for Muslims and fair to all.

The main contentious issue in the amendments is a proposal to disallow religious conversion of minors by one parent without the spouse's consent.

©The Nut Graph (Used by permission)
by Gan Pei Ling

PETALING JAYA, 3 July 2009: The Penang government needs to intervene and solve the Kampung Buah Pala issue even though the problem was caused by the previous Barisan Nasional administration, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) said today.

"[W]e urge the Pakatan Rakyat government to resolve this issue politically using the mandate given by the people of Penang to them in the last election," PSM secretary-general S Arutchelvan said in a statement today.

He said the party did not believe in a legal solution as there have been precedents in other cases where the courts ultimately favoured the rich and powerful.

©New Straits Times (Used by permission)

KUALA LUMPUR: Senior members of Parti Keadilan Rakyat went on the attack against DAP yesterday, worsening a breach among the Pakatan Rakyat allies.

The PKR member of parliament for Kulim Bandar Baru in Kedah, Zulkifli Noordin, said it was meaningless for DAP to remain in Pakatan if it could not tolerate its two partners in the alliance.

Referring to Kedah DAP’s decision to quit the Pakatan Kedah government, he said the party had to exercise mutual understanding to remain in the opposition pact or strike out on its own.

©The Malaysian Insider (Used by permission)
by John Lee

JULY 3 — Today, three things are in the headlines: Pakatan Rakyat’s formation of a shadow front bench, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s appeal being denied by the courts, and the Kedah DAP quitting the PAS-led Kedah government. I have listed these events in exactly the order of importance I think they will have in the long run. The notion of a competent and capable opposition is new to Malaysians, as is the idea of the opposition having clear, concrete policies to put forth, and an institutionalised shadow front bench will fundamentally alter how the political debate is waged.

Let’s start with the scandal in Kedah. This might seem like big news, but in reality, the DAP has a negligible presence in Kedah; it has only one representative in the state assembly, and with a small non-Malay population, there is little room for the party to grow (at least for now). The decision to quit the state government was thus taken by only a few DAP leaders, and already the party at the national level is moving to tamp down suggestions of Pakatan’s dissolution.

©The Malaysian Insider (Used by permission)
by Debra Chong

KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 – The clock is still ticking away for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who is caught between two crises.

The former deputy prime minister-turned-Opposition Leader, who is charged with sodomy for the second time in 10 years, may go into the dock as early as Wedneday, leaving the fledgling Pakatan Rakyat (PR) alliance floundering without a head.

Anwar’s lawyer Sankara Nair told The Malaysian Insider today the High Court judge who fixed the trial to start on July 8 had not changed the date even though he has to deal with two other matters connected to the Sodomy II charges first.

Last weekend saw more than 60 people gathering at the 2D Futsal Court, off Jalan Sungai Besi to cheer on (8) teams in their quest to attain the BC Futsal Challenge Trophy!  Despite the almost impossible to locate Venue, men, women and children found their way to the futsal court as early as 9.00am on a Saturday (27 June 2009). 

Others were less fortunate (including this contributor!), and managed to join the fanfare an hour (or so) later.