Nuclear Reactors in China, a difference & safer too!

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A Different Kind of Nuclear Reactor in China
 
Rather than using fuel rods encased in water as in most reactors, engineers in China are building pebble-bed reactors that use billiard ball-size fuel spheres known as pebbles. Amassing these pebbles inside the reactor creates nuclear fission, which heats a gas. The gas in turn heats water into steam, driving a turbine. The reactor core consists of 420,000 of these fuel spheres, and every 15 seconds one is removed and replaced by another one. Experts say these reactors offer a safer nuclear alternative.

China can guarantee nuclear power plants safety: official

(Xinhua)

BEIJING - An official overseeing nuclear safety in China has said that the safety of the country's nuclear power facilities is guaranteed, while reaffirming its goal of developing nuclear power as a clean energy source.

"There is a guarantee for the safety of China's nuclear power facilities and (China) will not abandon (its nuclear power plan) for fear of slight risks," said Tian Shujia in response to reports that China will become more prudent toward developing nuclear power.

Tian, director of two nuclear safety centers under the Ministry of Environmental Protection, made the remarks in an interview with the People's Daily.

He said there are strict laws, regulations, and technical standards which govern site selection, design, construction, testing, operation, and retirement of nuclear power plants in China. He added that these codes are stringently enforced by the Chinese government.

China drew up these codes by taking developed countries' nuclear standards and the safety recommendations of the International Atomic Energy Agency into full account, he said.

China took lessons from previous nuclear power accidents and adopted time-tested technology in designing and building its nuclear power plants, he added.

According to Tian, no notable defects have been found in China's seven operational nuclear power plants, and the safety statistics for most of these plants are higher than the global average.

In addition, China has an emergency-response mechanism in place for its nuclear power plants, he said.

Tian's interview was the latest official remark on nuclear safety in China after a quake-triggered explosion led to radioactive leakage at a Japanese nuclear power plant earlier this month.

One day after the deadly quake jolted Japan, Vice Minister of Environmental Protection Zhang Lijun said that China would not change its plans for developing nuclear power.

Although China suspended its approval process for new nuclear power stations on March 16, officials have not indicated any possible suspension of the national nuclear energy plan set in the country's development plan for the next five years.

Under the 12th Five-Year Plan approved by China's top legislature on March 14, China will launch new nuclear energy projects with a combined generative capacity of 40 million kilowatts.

In the interview, Tian said nuclear energy, as a form of clean energy, is a necessary choice for China if the country will meet its 2020 goal. Currently, non-fossil fuels account for 8 percent of China's total energy consumption.

China plans to have 66 nuclear power plants by 2020 with a total generating capacity of 66 million kilowatts, which will account for 6 percent of China's total power capacity, according to Tian.

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China is building reactors touted as safer

SHIDAO, China • While engineers at Japan's stricken nuclear power plant struggle to keep its uranium fuel rods from melting down, engineers in China are building a radically different type of reactor that some experts say offers a safer nuclear alternative.

The technology will be used in two reactors here on a peninsula jutting into the Yellow Sea, where the Chinese government is expected to let construction proceed even as the world debates the wisdom of nuclear power.

Rather than using conventional fuel rod assemblies of the sort leaking radiation in Japan, each packed with nearly 400 pounds of uranium, the Chinese reactors will use hundreds of thousands of billiard-ball-size fuel elements, each cloaked in a protective graphite layer.

The coating moderates the pace of nuclear reactions and is meant to ensure that if the plant had to be shut down in an emergency, the reaction would slowly stop on its own and not lead to a meltdown.

The reactors will also be cooled by nonexplosive helium gas instead of depending on a steady source of water — a critical problem with the damaged reactors at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi power plant. And unlike those reactors, the Chinese reactors are designed to gradually dissipate heat on their own, even if coolant is lost.

If the new plants here prove workable, China plans to build dozens more of them in coming years.

So-called pebble-bed reactor technology is not new. Germany, South Africa and the United States have all experimented with it.

Germany led the initial research into pebble-bed nuclear reactors and built its own research version in the 1960s. That reactor closed after an accident, caused by a jammed fuel pebble that released traces of radiation — coincidentally nine days after the Chernobyl accident in 1986, at a time of greatly increased worry about nuclear safety. Xu said China, learning from the German mishap, had designed its reactors to keep the pebbles from jamming.

South Africa tried hard until last summer to build a pebble-bed reactor but ran into serious cost overruns.

In the United States, the federal government and companies have spent heavily on pebble-bed research. But there has been little appetite for actually building new nuclear reactors.

But as in many other areas of alternative energy, including solar panels and wind turbines, China is now taking the lead in actually building the next-generation nuclear energy technology. The government has paid for all of the research and development costs for the two pebble-bed reactors being built here, and will cover 30 percent of the construction costs.

"China epitomizes the stark choices that we face globally in moving away from current forms of coal-based electricity," said Jonathan Sinton, the top China specialist at the International Energy Agency in Paris. 

"Nuclear is an essential alternative" to coal, he said. "It's the only one that can provide the same quality of electricity at a similar scale in the medium and long term."

Despite Japan's crisis, China still plans to build as many as 50 nuclear reactors over the next five years — more than the rest of the world combined. Most of this next wave will be of more conventional designs.

But if the pebble-bed approach works as advertised, and proves cost effective, China hopes it can eventually adopt the technology on a broad scale to make nuclear power safer and more feasible as it deals with the world's fastest-growing economy and the material expectations of its 1.3 billion people.

Western environmentalists are divided on the safety of pebble-bed nuclear technology.

Thomas Cochran, the senior scientist on nuclear power for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an American group, said such reactors would probably be less dangerous than current nuclear plants, and might be better for the environment than coal-fired plants.

"Overall, in terms of design," he said, "it would appear to be safer, with the following caveat: The safety of any nuclear plant is not just a function of the design but also of the safety culture of the plant."

The executives overseeing construction of the new Chinese reactors say that engineers are already being trained to oversee the extensively computerized controls for the plant, using a simulator at a test reactor that has been operating for a decade near Beijing, apparently without mishap.

But Greenpeace, the international environmentalist group, opposes pebble-bed nuclear reactors, questioning whether any nuclear technology can be truly safe. Wrapping the uranium fuel in graphite greatly increases the volume of radioactive waste eventually requiring disposal, said Heinz Smital, a Greenpeace nuclear  technology specialist in Germany. But he said the waste was far less radioactive per ton than spent uranium fuel rods — one of the big sources of trouble at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

As the world turns

WHAT ARE WE TO DO  By TAN SRI LIN SEE-YAN


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I am back. Missed my last column as I had to put in a “bionic” spine on March 6. Technically, I underwent major surgery to resolve degenerative lumbar kypho-scoliosis causing severe multilevel spinal stenosis. Simply put, I had to fuse lumbar vertebrae #L2, L3, L4, L5 and S1 (the secrum).

The outcome: I now have 10 screws at my lower back and these are held together by two 7-inch titanium rods. It took 7-hours of surgery, so I now have sort of a “bionic” lower spine. That does sound awesome but I am fine walking and sleeping without pain; a trade-off I assumed in exchange for a rather stiff and inflexible lower back. No more golf for me, I am afraid.

The past week was not all bad. On March 19, I was conferred the Honorary Doctorate in Economics by Universiti Sains Malaysia, at which I served as Pro-Chancellor for the past 10 years (2000-2010). It was an honour I deeply appreciated.

Then on March 23, I was awarded the Brand Laureate Brand Personality Award 2010-2011 for achievements in economics and finance. That's rather thrilling since I have also been associated with (sitting on the boards of directors mainly) some of the best Malaysian and foreign brands over the past 17 years: Jobstreet, Mid-Valley MegaMall, Genting and Resorts World, Silverlake, Top Glove, F&N and Coca-Cola, Great Eastern Life, Straits Trading, and Cabot of Boston.

State of the world

Just as economic expansion is stabilising in the long-troubled US and eurozone, concerns are now emerging on the economic health of Asia and the Middle-East. The unfolding disaster in Japan following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, along with the continuing turmoil in the Middle-East, have raised new concerns and uncertainties over economic prospects in these regions, including their impact on food and commodities' prices, especially oil.

As events turned, the US economy now appears healthier, with growth slowly gathering strength and consumers cautiously borrowing again. But, it's still a sluggish recovery with high unemployment at 8.9%, albeit its lowest in nearly two years, and a struggling housing market.

Let's face it. US households are still carrying far too much debt. Relative to income, families' debt today is nearly twice as high as in 1980s. Borrowing relative to disposable income after tax today stands at 120%. To return to normal (70%), debt would need to be cut by some US$6 trillion (or 45% of GDP).

The deleveraging process still has ways to go. Much is said about the bounce that could come from improving profitability of corporate America, if the cash finds its way into increased capital spending and employment. With companies still uncertain about the future, that's not happening. So like it or not, the anaemic recovery may yet require another jolt of new stimulus. That won't come easy, if at all.

The eurozone, on the whole, will see very moderate growth certainly lower than the United States, according to World Bank which talks of 2011 as a year of deceleration. In Europe, you get a mixture of some growth in Germany and France, and very soft recoveries (if at all) in debt-ridden Portugal, Greece, Ireland and Spain. The risks lie in the impact of continuing emphasis to contain inflation, while helping to keep the region's most indebted nations afloat.

The United Kingdom, in the midst of austerity, is now struggling. With markets unnerved by further rating downgrades on Greek and Spanish debt, the effective capacity of the European rescue funds has since been bumped up to 500 billion euros (US$700bil), with strings attached to whip eurozone laggards into shape through vigorous economic and fiscal workouts (including putting in law a pledge to get a grip on public debt). The intention is to prevent its sovereign risk woes from spreading beyond Portugal. Despite these steps, markets are not convinced. Europe is seen to continue to muddle and fuddle.

Where does this leave the rest of the world? The World Bank's January outlook talks of emerging and developing countries (EDCs) expanding at nearly twice (6%) the rate of global growth in 2011, and more than double 2.4% expected for high-income nations. Still, the overall pace of growth is not strong enough to give global recovery a solid traction.

Even so, the World Bank talks of “serious tensions and pitfalls persist in the global economy, which in the short-run could derail the recovery to different degrees.” These threats include eurozone financial market crisis, volatile capital flows and rising prices of commodities, especially food and fuel. Alongside are affordability issues, where poverty impacts could intensify with dire consequences for social and political stability.

Impact of oil

But the world has since changed with new concerns coming from Asia and the Middle-East. The Arab world has seen unprecedented political unrest as its people sought to bring down long-standing regimes, resulting of late in a new “war” in Libya.

As the region is a crucial supplier of oil, its price assumes a new risk. The world faces the prospect of another bumpy ride if oil prices persist on current levels. This time is more alarming because oil prices are rising out of fear that global supply lines are being disrupted. Not because demand for oil is racing ahead along with the price.

The World Bank says this surge in prices would dent growth in EDCs by 0.2-0.4 percentage points. Overall, this is unlikely to be large enough to derail the strong recovery we now see in EDCs. But a spike to US$150 or even US$200 a barrel would present a serious risk. For March, the price stood at US$90-US$120.

Yet a lot more can still go wrong. As I see it now, consumers can withstand a moderate rise in oil prices. But at anything above US$150, we are in unchartered waters and can cause panic, which in turn could lead to a double-dip recession in the West and high inflation in the East. It's a risk to be taken seriously.

However, oil prices have a firm floor (underpinned by demand) but a soft ceiling because of spreading unrest. If recent rise proves temporary, the world economy can shrug off its effects with relative ease. If the price rise persists, outlook could darken quickly.

MENA

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) produce more than one-third of world's oil. The spread of unrest across the region threatens widespread supply disruption. Sure, the oil market has many buffers today: government stockpiles, high commercial stocks and Saudi Arabia's ample spare capacity to pump more.

Yet, more disruption can't be ruled out. The joker in the pack could be Saudi Arabia which bears many characteristics that had fuelled unrest elsewhere, including a large pool of disillusioned youth. Despite spending US$36bil to “buy-off” dissent, the Kingdom continues to face demand for reform.

Furthermore, a second threat could come from gradual dwindling of spare capacity. All points to a continuing high premium for oil.

Today, the world is less vulnerable to damage from higher oil, but not immune. The conventional rule of thumb is a 10% rise in oil price will cut world growth by one-quarter of one percentage point. The World Bank puts global growth in 2011 at 3.3% (3.9% in 2010), but its impact on inflation, especially in EDCs is much more serious.

The United States, facing low inflation now, sits rather comfortably. Even so, US consumer confidence fell sharply once petrol went pass US$3 a gallon. It's now at US$3.38. But Europe, already getting more unsettled with inflationary expectations, could over-react and tighten too far which can push its still-fragile economies back into recession.

The worse hit will be EDCs, many of them (India, Brazil and China) are facing problems of high inflation and rising inflationary expectations. Most serious is impact on the poor which has led many governments to subsidise both food and fuel. This has already put enormous pressure on the budgets of India and Brazil.

But the biggest damage lies in MENA itself, where subsidies on food and fuel are increasingly used to quell unrest. Fuel importers, such as Egypt, face enormous challenges in bankruptcy from spiralling high oil prices and ever-growing subsidies. At worst, the risks are circular with dearer oil and political uncertainty feeding on each other. So the world remains shakier than we all realise.

And then, there's Japan

As of now, the Japanese situation appears to be under control. There has been disruptions, of course, but not so serious as to cause real difficulties for the world economy as a result of earthquake and tsunami. Nevertheless, two areas of some concern remain. The first has to do with effects of nuclear plants which contribute up to 30% of total electricity generated in Japan.

In the event of catastrophe, the shortage of electricity and rolling power outages would adversely affect economic activities, which in turn could lead to cut-backs in imports and exports. These have attendant effects on other economies, especially in Asia.

The second deals with fears over Japanese supply chain disruptions. Some multinationals have begun to halt output due to shortage of parts from Japan. Especially hit are high-tech, automotive and steel industries, including electronic and raw materials for making semiconductors.

For example, Japan accounts for 90% of world's supply of bismaleimide triazine, a key material used in production of printed-circuit boards used in chips for tele-handsets. Japan is also a large suppler of silicon wafers used for semiconductors. It is home to many manufacturers of glass substrates, a key material in making liquid-crystal-display panels used in smart phones, tablet computers and TVs.

These disruptions are already affecting businesses which run “just-in-time” inventory processes with very little slack. Undoubtedly, the short term is likely to see disruptions. Japan is in urgent need to import coal, LNG and oil products to restore energy consumption, but damaged storage tanks, ports and refineries make it difficult to absorb fuel and raw materials foreign suppliers are prepared to rush in. All these would slow auto, technology and ship-building industries worldwide.

Cost of rebuilding has been variously estimated at US$150-US$250bil (1995 Kobe earthquake damage cost US$100bil). The upper end is about 4% of GDP. The government now talks of at least US$200bil. Reconstruction will take years with safer new structures of higher quality. This should begin to boost GDP later this year pushing up further demand for oil even as unrest in MENA raises supply fears. Higher oil prices are always bad news for Asia and the world.

A word on China

China's new economic roadmap sets a low 7% annual growth for 2011-2015; it's expected to grow 8% this year (10.3% in 2010). For the past five years, growth target was 7.5% but actual annual growth was 11.2%. This is intended to signal the government's desire to adjust the economic structure to bridge the wealth gap and to engineer a shift from investment/export-led growth model to one led by its own domestic engine, mainly private consumption.

The accent is on quality of growth, not its speed. Part of restructuring includes building 10 million affordable homes in 2011 and 36 million units in 2011-2015. That's enough to house the combined population of France, Australia and Canada.

My own view is that Chinese officials are convinced a slowdown is already in the works. To rebalance its economy, less weight is being placed on manufacturing and exports, and more in building services and getting domestic spending as the new growth engine. So it's not a matter of whether growth will indeed slacken but when.

Recent empirical work by my friend Barry (Prof Eichengreen of Berkeley) and Shin (Korea University) concluded that fast-growing economies slow down when per capita income reached US$16,500. China will be there in 2014 if it continues growing 10% a year. Generally, slow growth comes sooner when:

• a higher ratio of elderly people is active in the labour force

• manufacturing's share of labour exceeds 20%

• its currency is undervalued

• imbalances and excesses in manufacturing exports eventually force a deceleration (Korea in 90s).

 China displays all these symptoms. So if there is a lesson from history, is China's slackening growth really imminent? Certainly that's what China's new vision is. I am reminded of what Edison once said: “Vision without execution is a hallucination”.

Former banker, Dr Lin is a Harvard-educated economist and a British Chartered Scientist who now spends time writing, teaching and promoting the public interest. Feedback is most welcome; email: starbizweek@thestar.com.my.

Western Coalition of convenience in Libya, Libya agrees with AU's road map

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Coalition of convenience

The military intervention by Western coalition forces in Libya will only create more uncertainties and worsen the humanitarian crisis in the country and the region. In fact, the humanitarian situation in Libya has deteriorated since the United States, France and Britain launched air strikes on March 19.

The deepening political crisis and worsening humanitarian situation in Libya run counter to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, which sanctioned imposition of a no-fly zone over the country to protect civilians.

Many countries are criticizing the coalition for deepening the crisis by abusing the UN mandate, and have demanded an immediate end to military intervention in Libya.

The coalition forces' lack of proper planning and objective has come as a shock. Almost a week passed before the coalition forces agreed to a command structure. On Thursday, the US and other member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) finally reached an agreement on who would take over the command from the US to lead the operations in the next stage.

This is unimaginable given the importance of the Libyan crisis and the overriding military supremacy that NATO enjoys today. There is enough justification to ask whether the coalition has the sincerity to carry out the UN mandate without violating it in any way

These misgivings have sprung up because Libya's future looks bleak and regional stability is in jeopardy after a week of military operation by the Western coalition. It seems that the Western coalition has opened a Pandora's box in Libya.

For all we know, suffering may have just begun for the Libyan people and there is no guarantee when it will end. But no matter what happens, the Iraq story should not be repeated in Libya.

Recent years have seen the West intervening in many countries. Western powers do not think twice before using force against a sovereign state on the pretext of humanitarianism. The Libyan crisis marks the pinnacle of such interventionism because the West has acted with less support within and outside its bloc compared to the attack on Iraq eight years ago.

By using the excuse of humanitarianism, the West cannot fool all the people into believing that the military action in Libya is for a just cause. Two factors seem to have made the West decide on the military action in Libya: the country is rich in oil and embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi has for long been an eyesore for the West.

The turbulence in Libya gave the West a ready excuse to launch its military campaign that may end Gadhafi's rule but will certainly leave the country in tatters and its people shattered. - 

(China Daily) Newscribe : get free news in real time

Libya agrees with AU's road map

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ADDIS ABABA - The African Union (AU) on Friday announced that the Libyan authority has agreed with the five-point Road Map set by the AU High Level ad hoc Committee to the crisis in Libya.


Briefing journalists after a meeting with Libyan delegation led by Ahmed Zouni, speaker of Libyan People's Congress, Jean Ping, AU Commission Chairperson, said the delegation sent by Libyan Authority confirmed with their oral statement their full agreement with the whole elements of the AU road map set in connection with the crisis in that country.

"We had that meeting with the delegation sent by Libyan authorities we have exchanged views on how to follow up our road map; we have a road map with five points which was submitted to them and asked them how they are going to comply with these five points; we have received the full agreement that they have agreed with the whole these five points; they already sent us a written agreement; but they have confirmed orally to the panel that they are committed to the proposal, to the road map of the Commission," said Ping

The chairperson said the AU would follow the implementation of the cease fire.

"We will go to implement this cease fire decision. We are going to make it effective with a mechanism of monitoring of control, then we move to the other issues which are humanitarian assistances, the protection of foreign nationals including the African migrant workers who are in Libya and then the last one the dialogue the necessity to respond to the legitimate aspirations of the Libyan people to democracy, freedom, peace, justice and to development," he said.

The five-point Road Map consists of the following elements:

First, the protection of civilians and the cessation of hostilities.

Second, the humanitarian assistance to affected populations both Libyans and foreign migrant workers, particularly those from Africa.

Third, the initiation of political dialogue between the Libyan parties in order to reach an agreement from the modalities for ending the crisis.

Fourth, the establishment and management of an inclusive transitional period.

Fifth, the adoption and implementation of political reforms necessary to meet the aspirations of the Libyan people.

(Xinhua) Newscribe : get free news in real time

Video: Studio interview: Significance of AU road map CCTV News - CNTV English

International bribery scandal, Alcael-Lucent barred from Celcom Asiata, TM deals

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Can Malaysia prevent another international bribery scandal? 
By Friday Reflections - By B.K. Sidhu

ALCATEL-LUCENT has been blacklisted for 12 months.

Axiata Group and Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) will avoid dealing with them till early next year. This ban affects both the international company, Alcatel-Lucent SA, and the Malaysian operations, Alcatel-Lucent Malaysia Sdn Bhd.

Alcatel has a big office at Wisma Denmark, Kuala Lumpur, and a pool of engineers, some of whom are expatriates. Internally, they must be counting their lucky stars that it is only 12 months, not 12 years, or else they may have to pack and return to France.

Other vendors who find Alcatel a challenger must be rejoicing as it is one vendor out of the race at a time when telcos/celcos are preparing for the next-generation network awards.

To recap, two days after Christmas last year, the international bribery scandal involving Alcatel broke out. The French giant, to avoid prosecution, decided to pay US$137mil to settle US charges that it paid millions of dollars in bribes to foreign officials to win and maintain contracts in Costa Rica, Hondurus, Taiwan and Malaysia.

The documents released by the US Department of Justice and Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) stated that Alcatel paid improper payments to secure contracts with Celcom Axiata Bhd, a unit of Axiata Bhd. Then, Celcom was a unit of TM and it awarded a telecoms contract to Alcatel that ended in 2009. The bribes totalled US$700,000 and were paid between 2004 and 2006 to consultant A and B. No details are available as to who these consultants are but purportedly said to be TM employees. They got paid off for supplying information on competitor's pricing.

After the scandal broke out, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had to jump in to investigate and the agency literally housed itself in TM and Alcatel for several days to weeks, interviewing dozens of people and fine-combed tonnes of documents to nab the culprit. At the same time, TM and Axiata conducted their own internal investigations.

In all these investigations, it would be good to see if there was any potential conflict of interest.

This week, MACC suggested that vendors who pay bribes be blacklisted and both TM and Axiata jumped in to blacklist the French company.

But the story does not end here.
The giver has been punished and the question on many people's lips is if any evidence has been unearthed to nab the takers those who took or shared the US$700,000. Will they be brought to the book or will this be hushed-up and some people get away scot-free? The names of the consultants are awaited by some with abated breadth.

For one, MACC has not finished its investigations and may announce more details next week or the coming weeks. The men are still at work and we just need to be patient.

Punishing Alcatel and making sure it does not have new business for a year or so can be bad for the company, but will it deter others and prevent a similar episode?

In Alcatel's case, it had to swallow the bitter pill for what it did. Why this bribery case happened is because there is a precedent set in the industry. It is a global thing in the world of telecoms some expect, some like to give, some ask.

Can it be prevented in the future?

A vendor representative says there is a need for greater transparency at all levels of the tender process from the technical evaluations right up to the commercial bidding and if no one takes, no one will give.

Another said: “To stop the spiral of cronyism and corruption and not let things build up until there are ugly consequences for our leaders, the Government and the nation, we need to call for open and transparent tender processes for all procurement for government-linked companies and government departments and agencies.''

Talk is cheap but execution is tough. However, if we are serious, then we have to prevent abuse and curb corruption at every step of the way. And if we need to learn from others, we should, as we can easily borrow some of SEC's books and force a rigorous audit process. That will get us somewhere or we can just sit down and do damage control every time it happens. The choice is really in our hands.

Deputy news editor B.K. Sidhu wonders why dropped and failed calls have become so rampant these days.

 Alcatel-Lucent barred from Celcom Axiata, TM deals for a year

By LEONG HUNG YEE  hungyee@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: Both Axiata Group Bhd and Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) have barred Alcatel-Lucent from participating in tenders, contracts or joint ventures for a year following the call from Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

“Alcatel-Lucent welcomes the MACC recommendation and is committed to earning back our customers' trust,” it said in a statement in response to the 12-month suspension.

Axiata said the suspension runs for 12 months from Feb 18 while TM's suspension was effective Jan 5.
Analysts said the probe set up by TM to investigate the improper payment and suspension was good for investors as well in the efforts to improve corporate governance.

“The suspension will send a strong message that graft is not tolerated here,” an analyst said, adding that the move would safeguard foreign perception and demonstrate that the Government took such allegations seriously in its efforts to promote foreign direct investments.

Another analyst said it would also strengthen and reinforce internal procurement policies and uphold the integrity of dealings with equipment vendors.

However, some are saying that it was unfair that only Alcatel-Lucent was penalised in this situation. Analysts believe the call made by MACC was the first move and would probably shed more light with regard to allegations that TM employees received payments from Alcated-Lucent.

TM said the actions or solutions with regard to the alleged improper payments received by TM employees were pending the outcome of the MACC investigation.

The equipment vendor said the recommendation followed Alcatel-Lucent's settlement with the United States Department of Justice and Security Exchange Commission that was announced in December 2010. However, Alcatel-Lucent said it focused on activities occurring from 2004 to 2006, prior to the merger of Alcatel and Lucent Technologies in 2006.

Alcatel-Lucent, previously known as Alcatel, was investigated over allegations that it had used the services of consultants and made illicit payments to win or keep multi-million dollar telecommunication contracts in several countries including Malaysia.

Alcatel-Lucent and three of its subsidiaries had to pay more than US$137mil (RM423mil) in fines and penalties to settle US charges.

According to court documents, Alcatel-Lucent agents were alleged to have paid bribes to officials in Malaysia to obtain or retain a telecommunications contract worth US$85mil (RM263mil) .

Subsequently, TM set up a task force to investigate the alleged improper payments from Alcatel-Lucent to its staff regarding bids for the then Celcom Bhd's 3G mobile services.

In a filing on Bursa Malaysia Wednesday, TM said there was no financial impact apart from the cost of investigation and related administrative expenses, as a result of the investigation.

It said the contract in question related to a technology that TM did not operate anymore so there are no immediate impact on operations.

“TM also does not foresee any major impact on existing operations as the board agreed that TM will honour prior contractual obligations entered into with Alcatel Lucent and its group of companies,” TM said.

It said the TM board considered and deliberated the findings of the investigation and agreed that the report by KPMG Corporate Services Sdn Bhd be submitted to the MACC which was duly furnished on March 1, 2011.

Both Axiata and TM said they might review Alcatel-Lucent's suspension from time to time subject to the latter providing assurances and evidence satisfactory to the TM group that it had implemented clear enforceable policies and measures to prevent a recurrence of any improper acts.

Proof lies in the sex video, Anwar! Whistleblower seen in sex tape: The 3 Datuks

Proof lies in the sex video, Anwar!
Comment By Joceline Tan, 
Datuk Shazryl Eskay Abdullah (L) and Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Chik (R). -PHOTO: NSTP

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Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s political allies must insist that the controversial sex video be sent for scientific testing if they are sincere about his political survival.

THE burning question now is whether or not the man in the sex video is Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Only a handful of people can answer that with some degree of authority because everyone else talking or writing about it has not viewed the video.

One of those who has watched it is Anwar loyalist and Sungai Petani MP Datuk Johari Abdul who called a press conference to declare that he is convinced that it was not Anwar in the video. He is the only one so far who has disputed the identity of the man having sex in the video.

The conclusion of the others, mostly media people, vary from remarks that “the face looks like Anwar but the stomach is too big” to an outright affirmation.

A newspaper editor who had viewed it said that he had thought to himself, “Oh my goodness, that’s Anwar Ibrahim,” the moment the video showed a man entering a hotel room wearing a towel around his waist. The resemblance was that close.

Pakatan Rakyat politicians from the top down have since slammed the video, claiming it is doctored.
A giant question mark will continue to hang over the identity of the man in the video until and unless the video is sent for scientific verification.

But Pakatan leaders seem to be avoiding the elephant in the room in their bid to do damage control.

Anwar’s allies and supporters should be demanding for a conclusive verification of the video rather than disparaging the people behind it and running down the way it was screened to a select group.

They should be demanding a copy of the video so that they can decide for themselves and more importantly, verify it with an independent film studio of their choice.

The best place, it is said, is the FBI lab in the United States.

That way, they can check whether the video is doctored and if Anwar’s head has indeed been superimposed on the naked body of someone else.

As DAP strategist Liew Chin Tong said: “If it’s a fake, Anwar will emerge stronger than ever. If it is authentic, it’s the end of Anwar’s political career.”

It is true that it is an offence to possess or view pornographic material and the law should take its course here.

At the same time, there is little doubt that the three people connected to the video – Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Chik, Datuk Shazryl Eskay Abdullah and Datuk Shuib Lazim – have motives of their own.


Anwar had a direct hand in Rahim’s fall from grace back in the 1990s and this is probably payback time.

Shuib is treasurer of Perkasa, a group which feels that Anwar has let down the Malay cause.

Eskay’s motives are a little more complex. Eskay, who is from Kedah and of Thai descent, was the former honorary consul to Thailand.

He has had quite an interesting career, having worked as a sports therapist in the United States, including for the US Olympics gymnastics team as well as the Dallas Cowboys, a professional American football team.

He has a land in Naka, Kedah, where he rears goats and rides about on his horse wearing a stetson hat and carrying a rifle. That is why he is also known as Datuk Cowboy.

He is one of the few people to have stayed close to two arch enemies, namely Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar.

Dr Mahathir, always on the lookout for successful Malaysians abroad, brought Eskay back to Malaysia to help Anwar with his backaches caused by the latter’s riding injury.

That was the start of the friendship between Eskay and Anwar. Again, Anwar has demonstrated poor judgement in his choice of friends.

And while allies and supporters have rallied around Anwar, Nurul Izzah, his daughter and party vice-president, has been far too quiet. She has not uttered a word about the controversy but she was present at Johari’s press conference on Wednesday where she sat with her arms crossed, looking solemn and unsmiling. She was clearly uncomfortable when Johari attempted to describe what he had seen in the video.

Nurul Izzah rose on the family name but she showed an independent streak in the way she carried herself during the PKR polls last year and has gone against Anwar’s will on a number of occasions.
Her silence and her body language speak volumes about her anxiety and concern regarding the latest allegations against her father.

Even Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail has not been her usual self since the controversy exploded. She has been by her husband’s side like the loyal wife that she is but she has looked sad and somewhat deflated.

Her station as the president of PKR has been completely overwhelmed by her role as the wife of a political leader fighting for his survival.

Regardless of whether the video involves her husband, this is not the best of time for her. The lady has had to take on more hardship than she deserves in this lifetime.

Anwar on the other hand is in top fighting mood. He has pointed the finger at everyone from the Prime Minister down.

But if he truly wishes to clear his name on the video issue, he should initiate the process of sending the video for scientific testing without further delay.

And if he is innocent as he claims, he will come out stronger.

Whistleblower seen in sex tape 

by NG CHENG YEE  chengyee@thestar.com.my 

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KUALA LUMPUR: Businessman Datuk Shazryl Eskay Abdullah is sure that the sex video is genuine because he himself is seen in the footage.

 “I can 100% confirm because I was in the tape. This is not a body double. You see me in the tape,” said Eskay at a packed press conference at a hotel in Jalan Pinang here yesterday afternoon.

He was replying to questions from reporters over whether the video footage was genuine and if the man in the tape was indeed Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Question: What were you doing there (in the footage)?

Answer: I cannot tell you! I am in the tape, why should I lie to you? Many people know me, I have given you my name.

Q: In the statement, you said you were not going to hand over the video to the police, but then why do you say now that you are going to do so? Are you under pressure?

A: I received an SMS that PKR president and Anwar's wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ahmad wants to view the tape. They even sent a mediator to ask me for the tape, which you know I would never give. Datuk Anwar is also my friend. They decided to go to the police so we are also going to the police.

Q: Is there only one tape or are there more?

A: Only one. Nobody has it. I could have sold it but it's not about money; it's about the truth
Eskay, who is embroiled in a court case where he sued a company for RM20mil for a breach of contract, also stressed that he was not an Umno member.

It was reported that Eskay discovered the tape when he was asked by the man in the video to retrieve a gold Omega watch.

Eskay claimed that while searching for the watch he discovered the recorder in a drawer.
Earlier, Eskay and former Malacca Chief Minister Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Chik spoke to the press after their identities were exposed by PKR Sungai Petani MP Datuk Johari Abdul at a press conference.
Rahim told reporters that Datuk T was a monicker for him, Eskay and Perkasa treasurer Datuk Shuib Lazim.

“The three of us are Datuks. You can say Datuk T stands for Datuk Trio or Datuk Tiga,” said Rahim, stressing that they did the expos on the video because they wanted to ensure that the people knew the truth.

On whether he was a spectator in the sexual acts, Eskay said: “I will give the full cooperation to the police. I will tell the police the truth and nothing but the truth.”

On why he did not go straight to Anwar if he was so sure it was him in the video, Eskay said: “I never knew there was going to be a tape. If I have the tape, somebody else will also have the tape, think about it.”

Eskay, who stressed several times that he and Anwar were friends, said there was no fallout between them. “It's about time, enough is enough. I had enough of being used,” he said.

Eskay also denied that the revelation of the video was a blackmail attempt.

“No, it's not blackmail. I did not ask for money. I will go straight to Anwar Ibrahim if I were to blackmail him and I would not be going to the press,” he said.

He also denied suggestions that the revelation was politically motivated, saying that if that was the case he would have distributed copies of the video in Sarawak.

On whether he is worried about his safety, Eskay said: “Of course I am worried about my safety. I hope now the police can take some precaution and help me out.”

Related Stories:
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PKR man: Video an attempt to get me and five MPs to defect
Pahang PKR hits out at outdated political ploy'
Kit Siang calls for fair treatment
Step down in interest of nation, Anwar told
Prove your claims, Hisham dares accusers
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Press clamoured to watch video, says Eskay

Dr Mahathir, Politician to the core

Review by OOI KEE BENG

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This long-awaited autobiography is more about the political than the personal

BELIEVE it or not, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been a part of Malaysian politics since World War II. Thus, his long-awaited memoirs easily drives home the fact that his influence runs deep and continues unabated, over 60 years later.

Not one to shy away from controversial views, he expressed grave disappointment with every one of Malaysia’s prime ministers and deputy prime ministers, barring Tun Abdul Razak Hussein.

Studying his words, one also sees that Mahathir was often in conflict with himself, for example when denying the key role he must have played in many failures and controversies.

He is also known for his willingness to do whatever it took to remain in power once he had reached the pinnacle in 1981. His deputies never had an easy time, and all of them fell by the wayside. Not even Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, despite being the only one to reach the position of prime minister, could remain safe from Mahathir’s assailment.

The stamp of ownership Dr M put on Malaysian nation building is undeniable, and no one today doubts that both the good and the bad from his long period of dominance will continue for quite some time yet.

His 22 years in power were controversial ones, during which scandals broke one after the other, and opponents were at times arrested without trial. The latter actions, he now claims, were against his will.

But his tenure was also the time when Malaysia gained global prominence, not only as an economic wonder and a showcase for “moderate” Islam but also as a multiracial society that posed as champion of the South and the Muslim world as well.

However, after he stepped down in October 2003, the long-term effects of his method of nation building have become obvious. Institutional degradation threatens to be his lasting legacy, and the establishments ruined in his time include Umno itself.

One can thus understand that his memoirs was eagerly expected. Many wish to know how he perceives his own achievements, and even more want to see some regret.

Now that he is no longer a politician, can he exercise enough distance from his own past to achieve a credible narration of his life and achievements?

As it turns out, he can’t. Dr Mahathir cannot not be a politician. Perhaps how he sees himself is best noted in what he says about his daughter: “Marina turned out to be a lot like me: argumentative, stubborn, opinionated and always believing she is right. She does not mind expressing her views: and that makes things very difficult sometimes. (Tun Dr Siti) Hasmah always said that an elephant could get crushed between two people who think they are always right”. (Page 216.)

Doctor In The House, stretching over 800 pages, varies in style. It varies in depth as well, with some subjects studied much more at length and in detail than others.

Taking too long to finish a book has many drawbacks, the chief of which is that the parts will not gel well, making the final product feel like a collection of chapters written by different people. It does not help that Dr M dwells excessively on the chapters that are lessons in official history and not biographical.

I was certainly left wishing that he had had expert help or that he had listened more to whatever expert help he may have had when finishing the book.

The lack of proper referencing gets exasperating after a while since many claims made in the book certainly cry out for verification. Yet, it is not historical errors that are the major irritant. Many concepts, especially nationalistic notions, are thrown in without any consideration of their dubiousness. “Tanah Melayu” is used as if it were a reference to a bygone polity and not a term used by early anthropologists.

Mahathir’s potential for controversy was obvious already when he began publishing articles in The Sunday Times after the war. His first piece saw the light of day on July 20, 1947. It was about Malay women empowering themselves, and about how their “fervent nationalism and sympathetic understanding” actually inspired their men to struggle for their own survival.

This view on women is one of the more commendable aspects of Mahathir (page 235), as is his affection and respect for his wife, Dr Siti Hasmah, and his joy in fatherhood.

Some of his passing memories are amusing to read as well, and I am sure they bring a recognising smile to older Malaysians the way Lat’s cartoons do; by capturing passing pedestrian scenes that otherwise remain outside description.

Most other areas that he draws attention to are done in a much less amiable fashion. The issue of race, a 19th century notion that most social scientists today find well nigh impossible to define, let alone use, is not a problem for Dr Mahathir. And he does realise that much of what he had to say can be construed as racist or narcissistic (page 24).

But although that is not his stated intention, I have to say that the fervent and categorical use of “race” is disturbing and certainly makes his book unnecessarily racialist, if not racist.

Some narcissism is apparent when he exaggerates his role in the resistance against the Malay Union (pages 92-95) or when he claims that after his expulsion from Umno, “no one else was championing the cause of the Malays” (page 210).

He is probably right when complaining that he became persona non grata after Tunku Abdul Rahman kicked him out of Umno in 1970, but to be flabbergasted and to protest as avidly against being ignored after his retirement in 2003 is surely unjustified (pages 210, 243).

“Successors, even if they are of the same party, do not wish the people to remember their predecessors. Many try in different ways to obliterate memories of the recent past. This is easy if the predecessor is disgraced, yet even if the predecessor willingly surrenders power, a successor may be uncomfortable if he is remembered too kindly (page188).

The lack of a serious class analysis in the book is disturbing, as is Dr M’s tendency to place blame on others in analysing history.

He accuses the British of being unfair in devaluing the pound sterling without first telling Malaysia about it (page 189). But currency devaluations do not work unless they come as surprises; that is how capitalist finance is played. And accusing voters of being vindictive when not supporting him in 1969 also shows a warped understanding of what popular will and democracy is (page 196).

Dr Mahathir claims that Umno was being magnanimous in not playing racialism to the hilt when they cooperated with non-Malays back in the 1950s instead of embracing the Islamist splinter group, PAS, thus forgetting in the process that independence would not have been impossible otherwise (page 222).

Here, the myth of complete Malay unity as a default situation looms large despite the evidence. Umno’s subsequent weakness is blamed on non-Malay demands and not on the obvious reality that, for most people, ethnicity-based dominance is not always the paramount consideration in politics. Other dimensions such as inter-personal conflicts, profession, class, gender, education and urbanity, not to mention an endless array of historical circumstances, are equally relevant.

Needless to say, PAS is also blamed for being betrayers of the Malay cause (page 223), while Datuk Onn Ja’afar is not judged the same way despite his departure from Umno and his forming of alternative parties.

The Malays as such are also blamed. Shortcomings in the New Economic Policy are not blamed on the state and its administrators but on the greed and poor money management of the individual Malay (pages 232, 267).

Doctor In The House seeks to be more than a mere memoirs but ended up disappointing this reader, both as an autobiography and a lesson in Malaysian history. If the goal is to leave to posterity a simplified version of history easily digested by people prone to ethnocentric thinking, and highlighting the role Dr Mahathir played in it as understood by him in his twilight years, then that is immediately achieved.

But in presenting half truths, selective recollections and opportunistic rationale, Dr Mahathir’s book fails to bring greater understanding to his time in history.

Ooi Kee Beng is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore. He is the author of The Reluctant Politician: Tun Dr Ismail And His Time (ISEAS 2006).

Malay Politicians Must Stop Poisonning Malay Minds

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An interesting speech gave by Dr. Azmi Sharom; an Assistant Professor of Law at UM.  He explains the CONSTITUTION: the Malaysian supreme law. Listen to this, it's interesting and refreshing. 

Worth listening to this recording. Our constitution is the most altered, amended, and modified constitution in the whole wide world.

Malaysia has never been an Islamic State as our Constitution is very specific on it. It was the Indian cobra, mamak Mahathir who lied all the way when he declared Malaysia as an Islamic Country and therefore State in 2001.

Lim Kit Siang immediately corrected him but he being the person he is insisted that he was right. Jokers like Ling Liong Sik, Samy Vellu and Lim Keng Yaik  of course did not object and quietly agreed with him and so did the other BN leaders. This mamak has damaged our country through and through.

He also passed the Syariah Law in Selangor in 1995 with the help of MCA, MIC, and Gerakan.

Ask MCA, MIC and Gerakan why they support an Islamic State and passed laws to support it, and now complain that DAP is supporting an Islamic State, when DAP has never ever agreed to do so.The evidence is beyond doubt, it is in the public domain, ask them, the shameless ones, do they have an answer?

We must never ever let UMNO get back their 2/3rds majority ever again.  If they do, then our country will go to the dogs. UMNO will again start changing the constitution like there is no to-morrow.  It will be changed to suit UMNO, just like they changed the constitution/rules/laws to allow for gerrymandering of the constituency, where a rural constituency with an electorate of 5,000 voters is entitled to vote for one MP/DUN, whereas in urban localities, an electorate of 100,000 can only vote for one MP.  What sort of democracy do you call this?

Can someone out there enlighten more?.  Whether you're  pro-BN or pro-opposition, please, do not, in your wildest dreams ever allow UMNO their 2/3rds majority.  Don't ever let Malaysia go the ways of Zimbabwe, Somali, or Myanmar, the current crisis in Middle East and North African countries.

Educate yourself about what the supreme law of the land says. Then vote wisely.  

Spread this like wildfire...make it one of the most viewed. You will help educate people about our law. 

When Doc in the House had ‘AIDS’

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Along The Watchtower By M. Veera Pandiyan

Fascinating stories about Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, from a man who was close to both of them.

IT’S amazing that when it comes to politics in Malaysia, things either revolve around the same old issues or the same old personalities.

Like these two who still continue to make the headlines – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Over the past few days, I have been trying unsuccessfully to get a copy of the former Prime Minister’s memoirs, A Doctor in the House, which has generated much interest since its launch more than two weeks ago.

Having missed out on the deadline for the collective buying discount offer at the office, the last hunt was at Borders in Tropicana City Mall in Petaling Jaya on Monday, only to find out that the latest batch of copies had just been sold out.

Love him or loathe him but this is one person whom Malaysians find hard to ignore. The PM for 22 years may have stepped down eight years ago but there’s no waning of his stature or influence among many, just as there seems no end to aversion and scorn from others.

The other character who seems to be forever making the news is of course Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, a former blue-eyed boy of Dr Mahathir, who rose through his patronage to occupy the second most important position in the country before being unceremoniously sacked and jailed in 1998 on sodomy and corruption charges.

After a long hiatus, poster-size pictures of him made the front pages on Tuesday, next to headlines denying that he was the man in a shocker of a sex video with a hooker, unveiled to selected media representatives a day earlier.

Anwar has since lodged a police report citing criminal intimidation and defamation against Datuk T who exposed the video, and the police have begun probing the case under the law pertaining to possession and distribution of pornographic material.

(Datuk T stands for Datuk Trio or Three Datuks, who have been identified as Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Chik, Datuk Shazryl Eskay Abdullah and Datuk Shuib Lazim).



Datuk T, meanwhile, had said he would surrender the footage to an independent public commission and urged the media fraternity and non-government organisations to take the lead in setting one up.

As some of these developments were taking place on Tuesday, I was having a chat and coffee with Tan Sri Sanusi Junid, a man whose life has been intertwined with that of Dr Mahathir and Anwar and one who knows a lot about both of them.

The former youth leader, scholar, linguist and colourful politician who has had a chequered career spanning banking, politics from the grassroots to the Cabinet level and academia, is, of course, no stranger to controversy himself.

Political veterans would agree that this is one guy who has always been close to Dr Mahathir and was also once very chummy with Anwar, making him a veritable font of yarns about both of them.

Many of the stories are yet to be heard, and some like those dating back to when Anwar was a Form One schoolboy in the Malay College Kuala Kangsar and Sanusi was his senior in Form Five are unlikely to be told.

Sanusi, a founder vice-president of Abim, certainly is someone who knows the ins and outs of Anwar from the time he was 12 years old to his entry into politics.

Among the anecdotes told by Sanusi on Tuesday was about the time when Dr Mahathir threatened to quit as Prime Minister in 1985 as Umno nearly held an extraordinary general meeting to urge Tun Musa Hitam, who had resigned as Deputy Prime Minister in the wake of the Memali tragedy, to return.

He recalled his rather devious role, and that of a few others, in getting the delegates to oppose the motion for the EGM – by making them believe that the majority was against it, although the opposite was true – through persuasive but frantic last-minute phone calls.

Musa’s supporters later put up posters linking Dr Mahathir with ‘AIDS’ – an acronym for the closest people around him then: Anwar Ibrahim, Daim (Zainuddin) and Sanusi – and blamed them for the defeat.

According to Sanusi, among the ‘AIDS’, it was Anwar who was cosiest to Dr Mahathir.

“Besides his wife and children, Anwar was the nearest to Dr Mahathir’s heart,” he recalled, adding that unlike the others whom he only sought for views, Anwar benefited most from the former PM’s trust.

Sanusi also related another interesting tale about money politics in Umno, dating back to 1993 when former Deputy Prime Minister Tun Ghafar Baba was swept away in the contest for the deputy president’s post by Anwar, who was then leading the party’s Team Wawasan.

Sabah strongman the late Tun Datu Mustapha Harun, Ghafar and Sanusi were on their way to a divisional meeting in Sabah in a helicopter and during the journey, Mustapha kept telling Ghafar not to worry as he was about to get his first nomination from the state.

“But when we reached the place, the division chief, who was supposed to be a strong supporter of Mustapha, said: ‘Sorry Tun, I cannot nominate Ghafar today because that man over there (pointing to someone later only identified by the others as a Sarawakian and non-Malay) has just given me RM500,000.”

The meeting soon started with a short speech, after which the nomination was done in front of everyone. And as the division chief said, it was not Ghafar who was named.

Sanusi said during their journey back, Mustapha said he was not surprised at the turn of events.
He said he told the dejected Ghafar matter-of-factly: “I regret I did not bring RM1mil.”

Associate editor M. Veera Pandiyan likes this observation by American journalist Joseph Sobran who passed on last year: Politics is the conspiracy of the unproductive but organised against the productive but unorganised.

Malaysia High Court to Admit DNA Evidence against Anwar's sodomy trial

Setback for Anwar in Malaysia sodomy trial -High Court decides to admit key DNA evidence against opposition leader, reversing earlier ruling.
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Anwar Ibrahim maintains there is a political conspiracy against him [AFP]

Anwar Ibrahim, the Malaysian opposition leader, has suffered a setback in his sodomy trial, as a court decided to accept the key DNA evidence that had been earlier rejected as inadmissible.

The country's High Court, on Wednesday, said it would let prosecutors use the evidence in their bid to link Anwar to traces of semen found on his accuser, a 25-year-old former aide.

The surprise reversal of the decision came after an appeal by the prosecution, and after the court had heard new testimony from police.

"It is clear that [Anwar's] arrest was lawful and the detention was for a lawful purpose," judge Zabidin Mohamed Diah told a packed courtroom.

"This court has no choice but to allow these items to be tendered [as evidence]. My earlier ruling in the matter is reversed," he said, but added that the court would not compel Anwar to provide a sample of his DNA.

The court had previously ruled that DNA from a bottle, toothbrush and hand towel in Anwar's detention cell -taken without his consent - was obtained illegally, and was therefore inadmissible.

Vital evidence

The evidence is a vital part of the prosecution's effort to prove that Anwar had sex with Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, his former aide. A chemist had testified that the DNA on those items matched that of semen discovered on Saiful.

Anwar faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of sodomy, which is considered a crime in the Muslim-majority country.

Yusof Zainal Abiden, the government prosecutor, had asked the High Court to review its earlier decision about the illegality of the DNA evidence.

He urged the court to compel Anwar to provide his DNA as tests would show whether there was a match with the semen found in an internal examination on Saiful, who claims he was coerced into having sex with the politician at a Kuala Lumpur condominium in June 2008.

Anwar has refused to voluntarily provide a DNA sample because he fears authorities will tamper with it.
The opposition politician criticised the court's decision, insisting to reporters that authorities got the three items through "trickery and deception".

'Political conspiracy'

Sankara Nair, Anwar's counsel, said the judge did not take all the facts into consideration.

"We disagree with the decision because the judge says the arrest was legal but it wasn't just the issue of the arrest alone, it was also the violation of lockup rules and many other issues," he told the AFP news agency.
Malaysia High Court to Admit DNA Evidence against Anwar's sodomy trial

Anwar maintains that the charges are part of a political conspiracy to remove him from politics.
He is also struggling with new allegations of sexual misconduct after a sex video depicting a man believed to resemble him was leaked under mysterious circumstances on Monday.

Anwar claims both the sodomy charge and the video were fabricated by the government to crush his political threat.

Authorities deny any conspiracy. And police said they were investigating the video, which has not been publicly circulated.

Source:

Agencies

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Safe nuclear does exists, China is leading the way with thorium

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A few weeks before the tsunami struck Fukushima’s uranium reactors and shattered public faith in nuclear power, China revealed that it was launching a rival technology to build a safer, cleaner, and ultimately cheaper network of reactors based on thorium.

Thorium could be a much safer option for China which has been unsettled by the nuclear crisis in Japan where fears over radiation levels are rising Photo: AP

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

This passed unnoticed –except by a small of band of thorium enthusiasts – but it may mark the passage of strategic leadership in energy policy from an inert and status-quo West to a rising technological power willing to break the mould.

If China’s dash for thorium power succeeds, it will vastly alter the global energy landscape and may avert a calamitous conflict over resources as Asia’s industrial revolutions clash head-on with the West’s entrenched consumption.

d chosen a “thorium-based molten salt reactor system”. The liquid fuel idea was pioneered by US physicists at Oak Ridge National Lab in the 1960s, but the US has long since dropped the ball. Further evidence of Barack `Obama’s “Sputnik moment”, you could say.

Chinese scientists claim that hazardous waste will be a thousand times less than with uranium. The system is inherently less prone to disaster.

“The reactor has an amazing safety feature,” said Kirk Sorensen, a former NASA engineer at Teledyne Brown and a thorium expert.

“If it begins to overheat, a little plug melts and the salts drain into a pan. There is no need for computers, or the sort of electrical pumps that were crippled by the tsunami. The reactor saves itself,” he said.

Thorium reactor can't easily spin out of control

“They operate at atmospheric pressure so you don’t have the sort of hydrogen explosions we’ve seen in Japan. One of these reactors would have come through the tsunami just fine. There would have been no radiation release.”

Thorium is a silvery metal named after the Norse god of thunder. The metal has its own “issues” but no thorium reactor could easily spin out of control in the manner of Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, or now Fukushima.

Professor Robert Cywinksi from Huddersfield University said thorium must be bombarded with neutrons to drive the fission process.

“There is no chain reaction. Fission dies the moment you switch off the photon beam. There are not enough neutrons for it continue of its own accord,” he said.

Dr Cywinski, who anchors a UK-wide thorium team, said the residual heat left behind in a crisis would be “orders of magnitude less” than in a uranium reactor.

The earth’s crust holds 80 years of uranium at expected usage rates, he said. Thorium is as common as lead. America has buried tons as a by-product of rare earth metals mining. Norway has so much that Oslo is planning a post-oil era where thorium might drive the country’s next great phase of wealth. Even Britain has seams in Wales and in the granite cliffs of Cornwall. Almost all the mineral is usable as fuel, compared to 0.7pc of uranium. There is enough to power civilization for thousands of years.

I write before knowing the outcome of the Fukushima drama, but as yet none of 15,000 deaths are linked to nuclear failure. Indeed, there has never been a verified death from nuclear power in the West in half a century. Perspective is in order.

We cannot avoid the fact that two to three billion extra people now expect – and will obtain – a western lifestyle. China alone plans to produce 100m cars and buses every year by 2020.


The International Atomic Energy Agency said the world currently has 442 nuclear reactors. They generate 372 gigawatts of power, providing 14pc of global electricity. Nuclear output must double over twenty years just to keep pace with the rise of the China and India.

 Strain could shift onto gas, oil and coal

If a string of countries cancel or cut back future reactors, let alone follow Germany’s Angela Merkel in shutting some down, they shift the strain onto gas, oil, and coal. Since the West is also cutting solar subsidies, they can hardly expect the solar industry to plug the gap.

BP’s disaster at Macondo should teach us not to expect too much from oil reserves deep below the oceans, beneath layers of blinding salt. Meanwhile, we rely uneasily on Wahabi repression to crush dissent in the Gulf and keep Arabian crude flowing our way. So where can we turn, unless we revert to coal and give up on the ice caps altogether? That would be courting fate.

US physicists in the late 1940s explored thorium fuel for power. It has a higher neutron yield than uranium, a better fission rating, longer fuel cycles, and does not require the extra cost of isotope separation.

The plans were shelved because thorium does not produce plutonium for bombs. As a happy bonus, it can burn up plutonium and toxic waste from old reactors, reducing radio-toxicity and acting as an eco-cleaner.

Dr Cywinski is developing an accelerator driven sub-critical reactor for thorium, a cutting-edge project worldwide. It needs to £300m of public money for the next phase, and £1.5bn of commercial investment to produce the first working plant. Thereafter, economies of scale kick in fast. The idea is to make pint-size 600MW reactors.

Yet any hope of state support seems to have died with the Coalition budget cuts, and with it hopes that Britain could take a lead in the energy revolution. It is understandable, of course. Funds are scarce. The UK has already put its efforts into the next generation of uranium reactors. Yet critics say vested interests with sunk costs in uranium technology succeeded in chilling enthusiasm.

The same happened a decade ago to a parallel project by Nobel laureate Carlo Rubbia at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research). France’s nuclear industry killed proposals for funding from Brussels, though a French group is now working on thorium in Grenoble.

Norway’s Aker Solution has bought Professor Rubbia’s patent. It had hoped to build the first sub-critical reactor in the UK, but seems to be giving up on Britain and locking up a deal to build it in China instead, where minds and wallets are more open.

So the Chinese will soon lead on this thorium technology as well as molten-salts. Good luck to them. They are doing Mankind a favour. We may get through the century without tearing each other apart over scarce energy and wrecking the planet.

This is my last column for a while. I am withdrawing to the Mayan uplands.

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Missile hits Gaddafi compound in Tripoli

Building in military centre is destroyed as coalition forces target facilities used by Libyan leader.

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A three-storey building in a military command centre used by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has been destroyed in an air strike by coalition forces.

The Sunday-night strike was the first reported attack on the Bab al-Azizia, a sprawling compound in Tripoli, the capital, that Gaddafi has used recently as a backdrop for televised addresses and which was bombed by the United States in 1986.

The regime invited journalists to visit the site of the attack early on Monday morning. Spokesman Mussa Ibrahim called it a "barbaric bombing" but said no one had been hurt. He declined to say whether Gaddafi himself was inside the compound.

Despite two separate cease fires declared by the Gaddafi regime, fighting continued throughout Libya on Monday. Loyalist troops were still present in the coastal city of Misurata, east of Tripoli and the site of a major oil refinery, stationing snipers on rooftops and bringing in residents of neighbouring towns to act as human shields, witnesses said. In Zintan, southwest of Tripoli, Gaddafi forces were on the attack for the second-straight day as they attempted to exert more control over towns in the Nafusa Mountain area.

Coalition forces from France, the United Kingdom, United States and other nations began striking the Gaddafi regime's military assets on Saturday as part of an effort to enforce a UN Security Council resolution aimed at protecting Libyan civilians.

That air campaign appeared to open some breathing room for rebels in the east, who pushed out of the opposition stronghold of Benghazi and neared Ajdabiya, 160km to the south, where regime troops and rebel fighters clashed. The situation there was fluid; fighting prevented journalists from entering the town itself, and there were reports that it was still mostly encircled by Gaddafi troops.

Tripoli hit for second day

Other loud explosions rocked Tripoli on Sunday night, as Britain''s ministry of defence said one of its submarines had again fired guided Tomahawk missiles on Libyan air defence systems.

"The principle firing happened around nine o''clock in the evening local time and that''s when we believe there was a strike in the region of Gaddafi''s compound," McNaught said.

"We saw a large plume of smoke coming from an explosion somewhere in that general direction. It is likely there were plenty of useful military targets there if you were a major international force looking to persuade Gaddafi to make peaceful noises."

The blasts came two days after the United Nations Security Council authorised international military action to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya, as well as "all necessary measures" to prevent attacks by Gaddafi forces on civilians.

The uprising against Gaddafi broke out on February 15, and hundreds of civilians have died in the regime''s brutal crackdown.

''Gaddafi not a target''

The US military said the coalition campaign, called Operation Odyssey Dawn in the United States, had succeeded in "severely degrading" Gaddafi''s air defences.

US Navy Vice Admiral William E Gortney stressed in a press briefing on Sunday that the Libyan leader is not a target for the international military assault on the country.

Gortney, the US spokesman for the coalition, added that any of Gaddafi''s ground troops advancing on pro-democracy forces are open targets for US and allied attacks.

"If they are moving on opposition forces ... yes, we will take them under attack," he told reporters.
"There has been no new air activity by the regime and we have detected no radar emissions from any of the air defence sites targeted and there''s been a significant decrease in in the use of all Libyan air surveillance radars."

Gortney said the coalition acting against Gaddafi, which originally grouped the US, Britain, France, Italy and Canada, had broadened to include Belgium and Qatar.

Libyan ceasefire

His comments came shortly after the Libyan military announced its second ceasefire since the UN resolution authorising the no-fly zone was passed.

http://english.aljazeera.net//news/africa/2011/03/2011320202616794816.html Residents of Benghazi celebrated after French jets prevented Gaddafi''s forces from reaching them

But the White House has said it will not recognise a ceasefire declaration.
"Our view at this point...is that it isn''t true, or has been immediately violated," White House National Security

Adviser Tom Donilon told reporters on Sunday.

Despite the strikes, the Libyan leader has vowed to fight on and in a televised address, a defiant Gaddafi promised a "long war" that his forces would win.

"We will fight for every square in our land," Gaddafi said. "We will die as martyrs."

He said the air attacks by foreign forces amounted to a "cold war" on Islam and threatened retribution against Libyans who sided with the foreign intervention.

"We will fight and we will target any traitor who is co-operating with the Americans or with the Christian Crusade," he said.

Conflicting casualty claims

The comments came as Tripoli''s official media said the air strikes were targeting civilian objectives and that there were "civilians casualties as a result of this aggression".

However, Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, denied that any civilians had been killed in the bombardment, which saw some 110 cruise missiles being shot from American naval vessels in the Mediterranean sea.

Gaddafi "was attacking Benghazi and we are there to stop that ... we are ending his ability to attack us from the ground, so he will not continue to execute his own people," Mullen said.

"It was a significant point when the Arab League voted against this guy. This is a colleague [of theirs], and we''ve had a significant number of coalition countries who''ve come together to provide capability."

But Arab League chief Amr Moussa on Sunday condemned what he called the "bombardment of civilians" and called for an emergency meeting of the group of 22 states to discuss Libya.
He requested a report into the bombardment, which he said had "led to the deaths and injuries of many Libyan civilians".

"What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone, and what we want is the protection of civilians and not the bombardment of more civilians," Egypt''s state news agency quoted Moussa as saying.

Source:

Al Jazeera and agencies

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Travel light, cut down the baggage

Monday Starters - By Soo Ewe Jin

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IN my years in the workforce, some of the most poignant moments have been that of people leaving the company, either to take on a new job or when they retire.

Do they get a big farewell party or do they just quietly slip away? What are the things they need to take along? Can they be placed in one box? Or do they require help to cart away cartons of stuff accumulated over the years?

What do we bring along when we start work at a new place? Do we bring with us stuff from our former job, or do we just come in with nothing but a family photo to place on our new desk?

I have had the privilege of hiring people in the various places I worked and one simple piece of advice I give them is that we should wipe our slates clean and start afresh.

 

File picture shows a migrant worker carrying his baggage on the way to the railway station in Qingdao city, in eastern China's Shandong province, on 19 January. China begins the annual passengers transport during the Spring Festival from 19 January. An expected 2.85 billion passenger trips are expected to be made the 40 days. Planes and trains have been added to cope with the passenger surge, which is 11.6 per cent up year on year, according to the Ministry of Transport. - EPA

I recall the time when one staff member came up to me to suggest that I should not hire someone because of his past history. I gently told her that if I had listened to others telling me about her, I might not even have hired her.
Give everyone a chance, I said. You may be amazed how people perform under different circumstances and different bosses. We need not view the world through tinted glasses. It is healthier to approach each new situation with unprejudiced eyes.

These thoughts come to mind as I reflect this week on why some journeys we take simply wear us down because of the baggage we bring along, be it emotional or physical.

I like to travel light. In my younger days, I backpacked for two months through Europe in winter with just one haversack. Even for family vacations now, we pack as little as we can, and we never bust our baggage limits when we fly.

It is quite a sight when travellers haggle with the airline stuff because they exceed the weight limit. I often wonder why there is a need to bring so much along, not to mention the additional load on the journey home.

The tragedy still unfolding in Japan reminds us that whatever we have can simply disappear in a moment. For the survivors, they have to live day by day, not even sure if there will be food on the table or water to drink. In moments like these, it is hard to even think of the things they have lost.

Japan is such a developed country but this tragedy has literally brought the nation to its knees. And at times like these, we realise that it is not the buildings destroyed, or the icons demolished, but the faces of people that reflect the real loss.

Are you, in your own journeys, travelling light or heaping burdens onto yourself with each step of the way? Are you working to forever pay the bills or coming to a realisation that to be happy with little is far better than to be miserable in much?

Deputy executive editor Soo Ewe Jin thanks all readers who wrote him encouraging email after his previous column. The kind thoughts and prayers are giving wing to his feet on his new journey.