The Star Online: Nation
The Star Online: Nation |
- Anwar: No Bersih demo if PM can guarantee fair elections
- Identities of Malaysian hackers given to the police, says Fadillah
- KL-Khartoum’s ties still cordial despite Sudan’s absence at LID: Najib
| Anwar: No Bersih demo if PM can guarantee fair elections Posted: 19 Jun 2011 07:11 AM PDT Published: Sunday June 19, 2011 MYT 10:11:00 PMSHAH ALAM: The Coalition for Free and Fair Elections (Bersih) will be asked to call off its planned illegal street demonstration for July 9 if the prime minister can guarantee free and fair elections in the country. Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said he was willing to ask Bersih chairman Datuk S.Ambiga to cancel the plan right away if Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak could give the assurance. "If the prime minister can guarantee this and a clean electoral roll as well, we don't need to hold a mass procession," he said, when winding up his speech at the party's General Election Convention, here, Sunday. Bersih plans to hold an illegal demonstration to demand for free and fair elections, the electoral roll to be cleaned up, postal voting to be reformed, the using of undelible ink for voters, and free and fair access to the media. Anwar, in his speech, also reminded party members dissatisfied with the choice of candidates for the general election to bring up the matter through the right channels and not to lobby him to determine the candidates. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Identities of Malaysian hackers given to the police, says Fadillah Posted: 19 Jun 2011 04:50 AM PDT KUCHING: A number of Malaysian hackers involved in attacks on more than 200 websites since last week have been identified. Deputy Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Fadillah Yusof said yesterday that their identities had been forwarded to the police. Fadillah conceded that the attacks were a lesson for the Government on cyber security. He declined to say how many hackers had been exposed or whether they would face prosecution. "Please don't do this. Let us work together to develop a safer space in the cyber world," Fadillah said. Since the pre-dawn attacks began six days ago, many public and private sectors websites have been compromised. Two days ago, the Ministry announced that it had traced about 90% of the attacks to Malaysian addresses. Speaking to reporters here on Sunday, Fadillah confirmed that no more websites would be blocked by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) for now. "Our policy is that we are free. We won't censor unless you breach the law," he said. A loose grouping of international hackers calling themselves Anonymous orchestrated their Operation Malaysia after MCMC blocked 10 websites, including those that accommodate illegal movie, music and software file-sharing. Although Malaysia is their latest target, Anonymous's notoriety includes bringing down the computer systems of Paypal, after the online payment company suspended donations to Wikileaks, and causing a YouTube "porn day" and defacing the websites of religious cult Scientology. The group claims that it is anti-censorship and its hackers hack not for financial gains but to challenge cyber-vulnerability. Asked whether the group's intention was not all bad, as its hackers had exposed weaknesses that needed improving, Fadillah said: "Well, in a way, yes. But they also deny people their rights, information and service from our websites. "What is more important is the awareness and we have to be more prepared. Cyber threats are real, so we've got to keep updating ourselves. We've got to be careful about our information content," he said. Fadillah also said the Government also had the responsibility to protect the rights of content producers. The initial blocking of the ten websites was to prevent people in the entertainment and software industries from losing a big chunk of their revenue to piracy. "Stakeholders in these industries had lodged complaints that their rights were being infringed upon. We have a system. It can't be free for all online. Since there were complaints, once they were proven, we had to take action. We respect all. Democracy is about freedom, but freedom has its limits," he added. Fadillah was speaking to reporters after a joint Gawai, Mothers Day and Fathers Day lunch by the Sarawak Bumiputra Disabled People's Association. Related Stories: Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| KL-Khartoum’s ties still cordial despite Sudan’s absence at LID: Najib Posted: 19 Jun 2011 04:29 AM PDT PUTRAJAYA: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Sunday that Sudan's absence at the Langkawi International Dialogue (LID) 2011 was in reaction to some of the comments made here about the attendance of the country's president Omar al-Bashir at the dialogue, but stressed that Kuala Lumpur continued to maintain cordial ties with Khartoum. The Prime Minister said there was some reaction (from Sudan) to some of the comments made here but it was the official position of the Malaysian government that was important. "So they (the Sudan government) must understand that other people can voice their personal views but it is the official position of the Malaysian government that matters most," he said. "Foreign policy is between the Foreign Minister and the Prime Minister and whatever we decide is the policy of the Malaysian government" he said during a press conference on the sidelines of the three-day LID which began Sunday. Earlier Sunday, responding to Bernama, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman confirmed that Sudan was not participating in this year's dialogue due to some unforeseen circumstances. Prior to this development, it was reported that Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali Karti would represent his country, following Sudanese President Al-Bashir's decision not to attend the dialogue due to pressing domestic engagements. Several days ago, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz was quoted by a news portal as saying that the presence of Bashir at LID could be an embarrassment for Malaysia. Anifah offered a different perspective to Nazri's comments, saying that if the presence of the Sudanese president at LID could somehow improve the situation in troubled Sudan, then Malaysia would have done something useful. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant on Bashir on March 4, 2009, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Sudan does not recognise ICC's jurisdiction and the country is not a party to The Hague-based ICC. Sudan's Ambassador to Malaysia Nadir Yousif Eltayeb had said that Bashir's decision not to attend the LID has nothing to do with the issue of the ICC's arrest warrant against him. Najib said Bashir had been an active participant in the LID series and had attended the dialogue in 2002 and 2007. He said Kuala Lumpur had very positive relations with Bashir who had studied in Malaysia, adding that Bashir had many warm feelings about Malaysia. "LID is a forum to share experiences and views on development as well as an opportunity for us to try to play that kind of informal role to help towards influencing certain policies and actions that may result in bringing development in the world. "We are aware of the problems in the South...the world is worried about the problems in the South and Malaysia can be an interlocutor to help and present not only our views but also the world views so that it will not escalate into a very serious problem," he said. Najib also said Malaysia was not yet a member of the Statute of Rome and, therefore, Kuala Lumpur was not obliged to comply with its decisions and, as such. It was not illegal for Malaysia to invite Bashir to attend the LID. "On balance, after studying it...the Foreign Ministry and the government believe it was mutually beneficial for President Bashir to attend," he said. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). On Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, whose presence at the LID was criticised by some quarters, Najib said the African leader was the most active participant at the LID series, having attended the dialogue five times before and now his sixth appearance. "We are not constraint by any ideological decision, the basis of LID is developing networking and for us to understand and share experiences. "We think it is useful for us to invite Mugabe to the LID although we are actually aware of his position vis-a-vis the Commonwealth and many other countries," he added. - Bernama Related Stories: Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Star Online: Nation To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan