‘Money talk’ from Sabah muddles SWP picture

By Joe Fernandez

The latest talk along the political grapevine in Kota Kinabalu and the local media is that the Sabah People’s Front Party (SPF) might be more than willing to “accommodate” the so-called Sarawak Workers Party (SWP) on one condition: that the SWP fields and finances SPF candidates in Sabah under its (SWP’s) banner.

The alternative is that SPF, led by Deputy President Osman Enting, would apparently “go all out to destroy SWP”.

The prime-movers behind SWP aren’t taking the bait so far and are unlikely to do so since that would be tantamount to their admission of being complicit in an alleged illegality. It would have been quite a different matter if the story had not gone public. In that case, the prime-movers would have been more than willing to throw money at the problems to make them all go away.

American caught a big pre-historic fish in Texas lake

By Pete Thomas
TEXAS : Whether Brent Crawford has captured the world's largest alligator gar will never be known -- his scale bottomed out emphatically at 300 pounds and he filleted the prehistoric-looking fish after attempting to obtain its weight.

But this much is clear: The gar Crawford landed while bow-fishing recently in Texas' Lake Corpus Christi is among the largest specimens ever captured -- and it was captured in a manner like no other gar captured beforehand.

(The largest-known alligator gar caught while bow-fishing weighed 365 pounds. The largest caught on rod and reel weighed 279 pounds.)

Crawford, who has lived on the lake for 20 years, was alerted to the presence of several giant gar in a wide canal feeding into the lake: an enormous female swimming with about five smaller males.

Persatuan Pengguna bangkit isu rakyat Pakistan bina kedai runcit merata tempat di Sabah

By Donny Yapp of CAPS
KOTA KINABALU : Sejak tahun lalu, CAPS telah menerima banyak aduan dan laporan dari kedua-dua golongan pengguna dan pekedai runcit tempatan berhubung semakin banyaknya kedai runcit yang dibina dan dan dioperasi oleh rakyat asing terutama Pakistan.

Kedai-kedai runcit Pakistan ini dikatakan tumbuh agai cendawan selepas hujan, dibina di merata tempat dan selekoh, di tempat-tempat yang biasanya rakyat tempatan tidak dibenarkan membuatnya ataupun pasti akan mengalami gangguan pihak berkuasa tempatan.

Egypt's Mubarak reported in coma, off life support

By HAMZA HENDAWI | Associated Press 

FILE - In this Saturday, June 2, 2012 file photo, Egypt's ex-President Hosni Mubarak lays on a gurney inside a barred cage in the police academy courthouse in Cairo, Egypt.

CAIRO (AP) — Hosni Mubarak was in a coma on Wednesday but off life support and his heart and other vital organs were functioning, according to security officials.

Overnight, state media reported that the 84-year old former president, ousted in last year's uprising and now serving a life sentence in prison, suffered a stroke and was put on life support. He was transferred to a military hospital from the Cairo prison hospital where he has been kept since his June 2 conviction and sentencing for failing to stop the killing of protesters during the uprising.

Clean water, dirty loan

By Luke Rintod of FMT

KENINGAU: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s sudden announcement of a RM235 million loan from the federal government to Sabah to upgrade water supply for Keningau alone has caught many here by surprise.

Most people here were sceptical of Najib’s announcement during his trip here last weekend.

One economist from Kuala Pemyu, Dr James Alin, questioned the motive behind the abrupt decision to grant Sabah a loan and not a federal grant, as was the normal procedure.

Harrowing 'torture notes' emerge from Kamunting

By Aidila Razak
The emergence of 'torture notes' smuggled out of the Kamunting detention camp, where Internal Security Act detainees are held, has raised questions about interrogation methods used by the authorities. 

The notes, allegedly smuggled out by camp staff and passed on toMalaysiakini, detail the Guantanamo-style 'torture' experienced by some of the 45 detainees still held at the infamous facility in Taiping, Perak.

No dates are given, but the incidents are said to be from the interrogation process while they were held at a remand facility, prior to being transferred to Kamunting.

No Putrajaya for PR without total Indian support

By Joe Fernandez
The consensus at the grassroots level is that the 13th GE won't see a repeat of the 2008 political tsunami in Peninsular Malaysia despite the alternative media because the vital Hindraf Makkal Sakthi factor, representing the Indian underclass in particular, will be missing this time.

The reasons are aplenty.

Bersih under super duper rich lawyer Ambiga Sreenivasan won't be able to help Pakatan Rakyat (PR), especially Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), compensate for the absence of Hindraf.
Amibiga is no match whatsoever for Hindraf. She doesn't represent the Indian underclass. She continues to get the support of the Chinese and Malays, the converted, for PR but the Indians, the crucial factor, is missing. Attacking Ambiga in racist terms is not going to make the Indians come rushing to her defence.

Sabah natives protest Malayan rule

By Luke Rintod of FMT 

STAR leaders with part of the crowds holding the provocative banners

KENINGAU: As Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak went about wooing support for his embattled government in this interior district of Sabah, he was kept blissfully unaware that the natives here are restless.

The stage-managed show of support for the federal government which is bitterly resented here for failing to raise the quality of life in one of the richest states, was in stark contrast to the heartfelt show of protest and call for freedom just down the road in a tamu (local bazaar) ground.

Holy Father Receives President Of Un General Assembly

Vatican City, 15 June 2012 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office released the following communique at midday today:

"This morning the Holy Father received in audience Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser, president of the sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. The president subsequently went on to meet with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. who was accompanied by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States.

Astaga, Najib datang Keningau umum bagi "loan" RM235 juta kpd Sabah pula

"Saya datang ni bukan dengan tangan kosong. Saya datang kerana beberapa bulan kebelakangan ini, pemimpin Sabah minta saya buat sesuatu untuk Keningau," kata Najib.

KENINGAU: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak meluluskan pinjaman berjumlah RM235 juta kepada kerajaan negeri Sabah untuk membina sebuah loji rawatan air baharu untuk manfaat kira-kira 200,000 penduduk Keningau. Perdana Menteri berkata pada masa ini segala dokumen mengenainya sedang disiapkan dan projek berkenaan akan dilaksanakan sebaik sahaja proses penyediaan dokumen berkenaan selesai.

“Saya datang ni bukan dengan tangan kosong. Saya datang kerana beberapa bulan kebelakangan ini, pemimpin Sabah minta saya buat sesuatu untuk Keningau. (Timbalan Ketua Menteri) Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan mencadangkan dan disokong oleh Datuk Seri Musa Aman sebagai Ketua Menteri Sabah.