Cambodia’s ex-king Norodom Sihanouk dies in Beijing

Sihanouk had fought a long battle with health problems
that dogged his final years, including cancer,
diabetes, hypertension and heart problems.

PHNOM PENH: Cambodia’s former king Norodom Sihanouk, whose life mirrored the turbulent history of his nation where he remained a revered figure, died in Beijing today at the age of 89.

Sihanouk, who had been a frequent visitor to China where he received most of his medical treatment, died of a heart attack, according to his longtime personal assistant Prince Sisowath Thomico.

“He was brought to hospital and died shortly after,” he told AFP of the former monarch who abruptly quit the throne in October 2004 in favour of his son, citing old age and health problems.

South Korea shows Malaysia how overseas voting can be done

While the Election Commission (EC) is struggling to make the changes necessary to facilitate overseas voting, South Koreans living in Malaysia are gearing up to vote for their president from abroad for the first time.

At the Korea Day Exhibition in the Sunway Convention Centre, Subang Jaya, that ended yesterday, its embassy officials and volunteers set up a booth to register their citizens as absentee voters.

Overseas election officer Sim Hyun Whoa (left) told Malaysiakini when met at the embassy's booth that the necessary legislative changes were made in 2007, but preparations only started in 2011 in the run-up for the April 2012 general assembly election.

STAR: PM Should Stop Lying and Fooling Sabahans

“The Prime Minister should stop lying and treating Sabahans as fools by making sweeping statements about Sabah’s rights without checking the facts.  To true Sabahans, the PM is making a fool of himself” said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, Chairman of STAR Sabah in response to the PM’s statement that the rights of Sabahans are intact as reported in today’s papers.

Sabah’s rights downgraded to colony and 12th State

“How can the PM say that Sabah’s rights have not been taken away when it is very clear that from its position as an equal partner with Malaya in 1963, Sabah is now downgraded to become the 12th state and its Umno/BNstate leaders subservient to Umno/KL leaders”asked Dr. Jeffrey.

“Saya sanggup tinggalkan lubuk kemewahan dalam BN, demi membantu rakyat miskin", Datuk Seri Lajim Ukin

Datuk Seri Panglima Lajim Ukin Pengerusi PPS

Oleh: Mail Mathew
KEMABONG: Pengerusi Pejuang Perubahan Sabah (PPS) Datuk Seri Panglima Lajim Ukin menepis tanggapan pelbagai pihak mengatakan beliau menyertai pembangkang Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) lebih bersifat peribadi kerana tamak kuasa adalah tidak berasas dan karut semata mata.

Beliau berkata, jikalau tuduhan itu benar tidak mungkin beliau meninggalkan kemewahan dan kuasa yang ada semasa berada dalam UMNO-BN dimana gajinya (emolumen bulanan) tidak kurang daripada RM30,000 sedangkan dalam pembangkang satu sen pun tidak ada.

Felix Baumgartner breaks the sound barrier during skydive from a record 24 miles up

By: Pete Thomas, GrindTV.com

Felix Baumgartner stepped out of the space capsule an astonishing 128,100 feet, or 24.26 miles above earth, about three times the cruising altitude of jetliners. The skydiver plummeted for 4:20 seconds, but it seemed an eternity, because his faceplate was fogging up on the way down as he fell through harsh atmospheric conditions at a dizzying speed. 

PKR mampu urus tadbr negara dengan baik jika diberi mandat rakyat selepas PRU-13, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim

Oleh: Mail Mathew

KEMABONG: Ketua Pembangkang Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim menyelar sikap kerajaan Barisan Nasional (BN) yang dipimpin Perdana Menteri Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak sebagai tidak prihatin kepada masalah bebanan rakyat kerana terpaksa berdepan dengan kos sara hidup yang tinggi terutamanya keperluan asas seperti minyak petrol dan barangan runcit yang lain.

Beliau berkata, melihatkan keperitan hidup rakyat yang semakin tertekan kerana masalah itu, mendorong beliau mencadangkan kepada kerajaan supaya harga minyak diturunkan namun Perdana Menteri bimbang kononnya negara akan muflis jika ia diturunkan.

Factories retrenching as output slips, minimum wage looms

By Lee Wei Lian

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 — Manufacturers in Malaysia are shedding workers due to uncertainty over the global economy and the impending start of minimum wage next year, says RHB Research Institute.

RHB said in a report yesterday that in line with a slowdown in sales, the manufacturers retrenched 4,609 workers in August compared to a recruitment of 441 workers in July. Unemployment was 3.1 per cent in July, with an estimated two million foreign workers employed in the country.

Nasha do not contaminate Sarawak with your religious extremism

By Francis Paul Siah

NASHARUDDIN Mat Isa is probably an unknown name in Sarawak. I doubt many people in the state know who he is, particularly now that he is no longer a PAS heavyweight but a party renegade.

But Nasharuddin has carved a name for himself in the political and religious circles in the Peninsula. He is the former deputy president of PAS and the serving Bachok MP.

By all accounts, Nasharuddin had a meteoric rise in PAS. He was said to be the prodigy of the late Fadzil Mohd Nor who was PAS president from 1989 until his death in 2002.

MP accuses NRD of double standard

KOTA KINABALU: An opposition MP has accused the federal government of applying a different set of procedures when dealing with Sabah-born Malaysians and foreign-borns registering for birth certificates in the state.

Sepanggar MP, Eric Majimbun said the procedures adopted by Kuala Lumpur marginalised and discriminated against the people of Sabah, particularly those in the rural areas where many children do not have birth certificates.

He said when these applicants, with the assistance of local community leaders, finally get their documents, the National Registration Department (NRD) will stamp, in red ink, the words “Late Registration”.

Poser over RM40m for Sabah Umno

By Luke Rintod of FMT

The highly reputed Hong Kong ICAC has washed its hands
off the RM40 million Musa Aman 'matter' and even
retracted its probe application with the Swiss Court.

KOTA KINABALU: The Umno-led Barisan Nasional government’s attempt to “clear” Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman of allegations of money laundering after some RM40 million had floated up out of nowhere, has raised more questions of how political parties are funded, said State Reform Party (STAR).

The party’s deputy chairman, Daniel John Jambun, said many are now questioning the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Aziz’s statement as to why businessman Michael Chia “contributed” a whopping RM40 million to Sabah Umno.

Nazri yesterday said that Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail had found “no elements of corruption” from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) probe on Musa regarding the RM40 million, which Chia was caught with red-handed in Hong Kong in 2008 as he was about to fly to Malaysia.