TR EMERITUS

From our Correspondent Following our publication of SPH's gross factual error in its propagandist book about the PAP - "Men in White", its authors have capitulated to public pressure and finally agree to acknowledge the mistake! The Straits Times will publish a little editor's note tomorrow to say that they regret causing injury to Mr Yoong's reputation and will remove the offending the offending line from future editions of the book "Men in White". TODAY will also publish an interview with Mr Yoong together with the clarification [So please check out the Straits Times and TODAY tomorrow] In page 441 of "Men in White", a sub-chapter on Singapore's ex-Solicitor General Mr Francis Seow, the authors insinuated that then CPIB director Mr Yoong Siew Wah had "conspired" with Mr Seow to have four detectives who were investigating a case involving Seow's female friend sacked. Mr Yoong has rebutted the factual inaccuracies strongly on his blog at Singapore Recalcitrant. The authors had based their account from a speech made by the then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew at the Select Committee Hearing of the Legal Profession (Amendment) Bill which was published in the Straits Times on 10 October 1986. There were four errors in the offending paragraph: 1. As CPIB Director, Mr Yoong was bound to investigate all formal complaints and Mr Francis Seow did lodge a complaint to both him and the police about the four detectives. 2. It was not Mr Yoong who sacked the four detectives, but the Deputy Commissioner of Police Mr Ratna Singam, who had since migrated to New Zealand. 3. Mr Yoong was never asked to resign from CPIB. He was promoted to become the Director of the Internal Security Act from 1971 to 1974. 4. Mr Francis Seow was never asked to resign from the Legal Service. He quitted the service to set up private practice which he had been contemplating for quite some time already in 1971. Mr Yoong first emailed the CEO of SPH holdings as early as 28 September to protest against the disparaging statement in the book. SPH did not bother to even publish Mr Yoong's letter or issue a public clarification to reverse the damage done to his reputation. Mr. Richard Lim, one of the authors, only gave a blanket reassurance that he will add a line after the sentence that Mr Yoong was also asked to quit to indicate that he was actually appointed Director ISD after his CPIB stint in his next and future editions of the book in order to be fair to him. It is not until Mr Yoong aired his grievances on his blog and we published an article on it this Monday did SPH relent and agree to express "regret" for their mistake. "Men in White" was given three weeks of endless publicity by the state media before it was officially launched by MM Lee himself on 8 September 2009. It is embarrassing that the authors did not exercise due diligence in the writing of the book. They should at least verify the facts with Mr Yoong and Mr Seow instead of depending on MM Lee's version of events at the Parliament Select Committee Hearing. Given the fact they could have missed such an glaring error, one cannot be absolutely sure if there are no other factual inconsistencies in the rest of the book. Read "Men in White" with a heavy grain of salt! Who knows there will be another Mr Yoong coming out in the next few months to challenge the authenticity and accuracy of its contents?  Read More →

By Lee Wei Lian and Leslie Lau from The Malaysian Insider KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 15 — Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai was appointed deputy president of MCA today after a heated central committee meeting that saw him at loggerheads with party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat who says he will now call for another EGM. Ong also refused to resign as party president today despite losing a confidence vote last week. The party president will now use his powers to call for another EGM to decide if the party should have fresh elections. Ong, Liow and other central committee members emerged from their meeting today without speaking to the press. In a posting on his blog put up immediately after the meeting, Ong said he had directed MCA secretary-general Wong Foon Meng to call for an EGM under Article 30.1 of the MCA constitution to decide whether to hold fresh polls. “The EGM/AGM will allow delegates to end the impasse over whether the central committee should seek a fresh mandate. “I still have a long list of unfinished business involving party and public interests, like the direct election of the MCA presidency and the Port Klang Free Zone issue. It is my wish to see such issues addressed without any abrupt disruptions.” He added that any hopes today, for fresh polls was dashed “because certain quarters are worried that I would renege on my words and decide to stay as the party president.” “This is absolutely baseless.” Despite being appointed the party No 2 today, a sombre-looking Liow also refused to talk to reporters. The Malaysian Insider understands that the meeting was heated, with Liow and Ong at the centre of arguments. As expected, Ong’s refusal to resign has split the party further. Last weekend’s EGM was touted as a battle between Ong and Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek. But while delegates voted for Chua to be only reinstated as an ordinary member they also passed a vote of no confidence against the president. Ong is not constitutionally bound to resign as he can only be forcibly removed by two-thirds of the general assembly. Last weekend’s motion of no confidence was narrowly passed by only slightly over half of the delegates. But the combative Ong had previously indicated he would resign if he lost the vote. Today, he appeared to go back on his word to quit, by offering only to call an EGM. Liow was appointed by a simple majority of the central committee today. The appointment could potentially cause even more factions to emerge. His fellow vice president Kong Cho Ha, who had in last year’s party elections secured the highest number of votes among the three VPs, had previously been arguing that he should be appointed No 2. But Ong may find himself an unlikely ally in Chua, his most bitter rival, in calling for an EGM to decide whether fresh elections should be called. Chua had earlier this week also called for fresh elections as the way out. If fresh elections are called, both Ong and Chua are likely to contest for the presidency. Earlier today, Ong’s supporters had orchestrated a show of support for him by organising a demonstration by hundreds of members outside Wisma MCA. The supporters held up banners urging Ong, who is under probe for graft and who admitted to taking free plane rides from a contractor, to stay on as MCA president. Full page advertisements suggesting the community was backing him were also placed in Chinese newspapers this week. An online petition was also put up to appeal to Malaysians to support Ong. - The Malaysian Insider  Read More →

Agence France-Presse, 15 October 2009 A court in Xinjiang on Thursday sentenced six more people to death over bloody ethnic unrest in its far-western Xinjiang region in July, bringing the total to 12 as it delivered tough retribution over the violence. Three of the six were given the death penalty with a two-year reprieve, a sentence usually commuted to life in prison, over the riots that the government says left 197 dead, in the worst ethnic violence in China in decades. A court in the regional capital Urumqi sentenced three others to life in jail and five people to lesser prison terms for their role in the unrest that rocked the city, according to a Xinjiang government statement faxed to reporters. The violence that erupted on July 5, which pitted mainly Muslim minority Uygurs against members of China’s dominant Han group, also left more than 1,600 injured. A total of 21 defendants have been tried and convicted since Monday of murder and other crimes such as intentional damage to property, arson, and robbery. Security had been ratcheted up in Urumqi ahead of the trials. Six Uygurs were given the death penalty on Monday and another sent to prison for life, in a move that Uygur exiles said would further stoke ethnic tensions in the vast region bordering Central Asia. On Thursday, one man with a Han Chinese name – Han Junbo – was among those sentenced to death for beating a Uygur man to death, the statement said. Another apparently Han man, Liu Bo, was given a 10-year jail term. Six of the other defendants had names that appeared to be Uygur, and the rest were not immediately identified, according to the government statement. One of those sentenced to death, apparently a Uygur, was found guilty of beating two people to death with another defendant, as well as stealing people’s possessions, including mobile phones and bracelets. Uygur exiles strongly condemned the first riot-related death sentences on Monday, calling them the “first of the mass executions promised by the Chinese government.” “The Uygurs can do nothing other than hope that the world will stop China from continuing the bloody repression of the Uygur people,” a statement e-mailed to reporters by the World Uygur Congress read. Rebiya Kadeer, the exiled leader of the congress who lives in the United States, said on Tuesday during a visit to New Zealand that the death sentences would serve only to “further enrage” her people. France also reacted to the sentences, with foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero expressing regret on Tuesday “that European diplomats were not allowed to attend the rioters’ trial.” Aside from the 21 tried this week, police have also detained around 700 people suspected of crimes related to the unrest, earlier reports have said. Residents in Urumqi said on Thursday the city was calm amid a heavy security presence. “We don’t worry too much but still we cannot relax our vigilance. The armed police are still on duty in bustling streets,” a woman at a drug store, who refused to be named, said over the phone. Beijing vowed to come down hard on those found guilty, with President Hu Jintao and other top leaders saying the “organisers, key members, and the serious violent criminals must be severely punished,” Xinhua news agency said. The country’s roughly eight million Turkic-speaking Uygurs have long complained of religious, political and cultural oppression by Chinese authorities, and tensions have simmered in the Xinjiang region for years. Beijing says China faces a serious terrorist threat from Muslim separatists in Xinjiang, but rights groups have accused Beijing of exaggerating the threat in order to justify very tight controls in the region. Authorities have blamed the Xinjiang unrest on “ethnic separatists”, without providing any evidence. But Uygurs say the violence was triggered when police cracked down on peaceful protests by Uygurs over a brawl in late June at a factory in Guangdong that state media said left two Uygurs dead. One ethnic Han man was sentenced to death and a second handed a life prison term over that brawl in verdicts announced on Saturday in southern China. - AFP  Read More →