Latest news with #EastMalaysians
Daily Express
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Express
East Malaysians urged to speak up: Criminal justice system reforms
Published on: Tuesday, June 10, 2025 Published on: Tue, Jun 10, 2025 By: Sisca Humphrey Text Size: Harmindar chairing the CLRC's meeting session. Kota Kinabalu: East Malaysians are urged to speak up and shape the future of Malaysia's criminal justice system during a special townhall session held here on Monday. Chairman of the Criminal Law Reform Committee (CLRC) Tan Sri Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal said the session was part of efforts to review and reform three key laws including the Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and the Evidence Act. Advertisement 'This is your opportunity to tell us what works and what doesn't,' Harmindar said, a former Federal Court judge. He stressed that the voices of East Malaysians are vital to ensure that reforms are inclusive, practical and reflect the experiences of people across the country. 'The law affects everyone. That's why it's important the public, not just experts or officials, have a say. Reform must reflect real needs and realities on the ground,' he said. He noted that a similar townhall was recently held at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), which attracted over 150 participants. He emphasised that feedback would also be gathered through an online form open to all Malaysians and that subcommittees supported by researchers would be formed to study areas where fast improvements could be made. 'We're not here to politicise the law. We're here to make sure it serves justice, is rational, and is in line with the times,' he said. He encouraged participants to be honest and bold in sharing their views, even if they challenge existing laws. Meanwhile, Director General of the Legal Affairs Division (BHEUU) Datuk Zamri Misman revealed that the Government had tasked BHEUU to lead the introduction of Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPA) into Malaysia's legal system. He said this new mechanism, which would be included through amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code, aims to provide an alternative route for prosecuting certain offences particularly involving corporate crime or financial misconduct. 'This initiative is being carried out in collaboration with the Attorney General's Chambers, MACC, Inland Revenue Board and Customs,' he said. Zamri said the townhall was also a platform to seek early input from enforcement agencies and legal practitioners on the feasibility and operational aspects of implementing DPA. Also present were representatives from State Prosecution Office, Prisons Department, Department of Social Welfare, Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam), Sabah Law Society, the police and NGOs. 'Our reform process is meant to be inclusive and grounded in reality. We want the new policies to improve access to justice in a fair and equitable way,' he said. He hoped that the discussions would help shape a more progressive and just criminal justice system for all Malaysians. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
Daily Express
a day ago
- Politics
- Daily Express
Public input sought for sweeping criminal justice changes
Published on: Monday, June 09, 2025 Published on: Mon, Jun 09, 2025 By: Sisca Humphrey Text Size: Harmindar chairing the CLRC's meeting. KOTA KINABALU: East Malaysians were urged to share their views on proposed criminal justice reforms during a townhall session held in the state capital on Monday. Criminal Law Reform Committee (CLRC) Chairman Tan Sri Datuk Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal stressed the need for public input in reviewing the Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and Evidence Act. Advertisement He encouraged participants to offer frank and courageous feedback, even if it challenged existing legal norms. Harmindar said the reforms must be inclusive and represent the lived experiences of all Malaysians, including those in East Malaysia. Legal Affairs Division Director General Datuk Zamri Misman added that the Government is considering introducing Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPA) to better handle corporate and financial crimes. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
Borneo Post
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Borneo Post
Sabah, Sarawak hold key to Malaysia's political future - analyst
A YouTube screenshot of James (left) being interviewed by host Khoo Hsu Chuang. KOTA KINABALU (May 13): Give the East Malaysians what they want or risk losing the elections, warned political analyst Professor James Chin. In an interview on the @DoMoreTakeChargeOfYourLife YouTube channel, Prof James, who is from the University of Tasmania, shares his thoughts on why he thinks this is so. The Political Landscape of East Malaysia Starting off with the basics of Malaysian politics, it has always been understood to be a Barisan Nasional (BN) type of politics, where the core party is United Malays National Organisation (Umno), while other component parties such Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) collectively add to BN's strength. Some argue that this model fell apart in 2018, but it had actually occurred in 2008, when the elections showed that without support from the Members of Parliament (MPs) from Sabah and Sarawak, Umno will fall from power. 'That's the reason why when Najib came into power in 2009, one of the things he did was to make sure that the Speaker and Deputy Speakers came from Sabah and Sarawak. 'And more importantly, he made sure that we get this thing called Malaysia Day, a public holiday and a recognition of the formation of Malaysia,' said James. This was when everything changed, as people suddenly realised that the East Malaysian states are crucial to political stability at the federal level. Since prior to 2008, it was always understood that Sabah and Sarawak were basically a fixed deposit for BN – Umno. Another big change happened in 2018, when BN-Umno fell out of power. This was another crucial time for Sabah and Sarawak because this allowed Sabahans and Sarawakians to break away from the BN model. On the night BN lost power, the most important thing is not so much that then Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was trying to stage a coup or whatever, but it was when BN component parties left the coalition to form Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS). 'This sent a very strong signal that you guys can do whatever you want on the Malayan side, but you cannot rely on us in Sabah and Sarawak to just follow along. 'So that's the reason why in politics today, no matter how you play the numbers game, you always have to look at what's happening in Sabah and Sarawak,' he said Although the 112 parliamentary seats were required to form the government then, to obtain real political stability required 148 seats with support from Sabah and Sarawak. Prior to 2008, nobody mentioned the Malaysian Agreement 1963 (MA63), as most people considered 1957 as the independence date for Malaysia. Only after the controversy on the agreement that people started realising that the count doesn't start from 57, but 63, which is the real date of Malaysia's formation. The Fragmentation of Political Voices The above reasons showed how Sabah and Sarawak are very important to the political stability of the country moving forward, with the 50 plus parliamentary seats considered as East Malaysian fixed deposit for the ruling BN coalition at the time. However, these 50 MPs do not speak as one voice, with fragmentation existing between Sabah and Sarawak. 'On the Sarawak side, the block is actually quite solid as they had around 32 seats. It is in Sabah that you don't get a solid block. 'Having said that, there are certain issues where all the MPs, regardless of which party they came from, will come together. For example, MA63,' said James. This is the reason why the upcoming Sabah state elections is crucial, because what Sabahans are trying to do under Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor's administration is to create their own version of GPS. If GRS does well in the elections, they are hoping to transfer that success to the next general election, which Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has to call in two years' time. The Future of Sabah Elections In terms of Sabah politics, political parties' labelling is not really important, except maybe in urban areas where the Democratic Action Party's (DAP) rocket is a very strong symbol. Another important issue is regarding illegal immigrants (PTIs), who mostly came from the Mindanao regions of the Philippines and Indonesia and have resided in Sabah for many decades. Looking at the latest census figures, what is really interesting is that even the Malaysian government itself acknowledges that one-third of Sabah's population was not born in the state. 'But if you speak to researchers who are working on the ground in Sabah, they will tell you that 50 percent of the population are now people who were not born and raised in Sabah. 'If we want to be crude, it is arguable that the Sabah we see today was not the Sabah we saw at the time of independence in 1963, when the Kadazan-Dusun were the majority. 'Now, the Kadazan-Dusun are basically a minority in the state. Sabah is now a Muslim-majority state, and looking at its electoral politics, the native population have lost their balancing power,' said James. Looking at the Sarawak GPS model, it currently dominates local politics with 80 out of 82 state seats, while the remaining two seats are held by DAP. The idea in this is to localise politics and create a very parochial political culture. This sort of model appears to be very popular in Sarawak. And looking at the four parties that make up GPS – Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Sarawak Peoples' Party (PRS), Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) and Sarawak United Peoples' Party (SUPP) – a unique thing they share is that they are local Sarawak-based parties not found outside the state. 'So that's the reason why on this side, people are a bit afraid, because they feel that if Sarawak keeps going this way, they will never get a chance to penetrate there. 'For example, these BN parties have a big headache because they don't actually have any ground presence in Sarawak. They have ground presence in Sabah, which they previously didn't. 'But what people forget is that the only reason they went to Sabah is because the local champions in Sabah, who represent Umno's interest group, turned against them. 'In 1991, Peninsular-based parties such as Umno and MCA entered Sabah because they had no choice, but in Sarawak, that never happened,' he said. Coming back to the main question – what do Sabahans want? Sabahans, at least the political elite, want to replicate the GPS model where it's a local-based coalition, and kick out all the other non-Sabahan parties. Unfortunately, they cannot do this in Sabah because its politics is based on personalities. The Sabah elections this time will be quite interesting due to the spectre of high-level corruption hanging over the top administration, referring to the series of videos implicating several government assemblymen of bribery. 'So forget what the political elites want. What about the people themselves? 'What Sabahans want is very similar to what the rest of Malaysians want – political stability, economic prosperity, and a future for their children. 'But the problem in Sabah is, as I've said, the politics revolves around personalities, so all these things cannot happen,' he said. Sabah's economy has not been doing very well and it is one of poorest states in Malaysia, despite the fact that Sabah and Sarawak are major oil and gas producers. Since 1963, Sabah has gone through about 20 chief ministers. It is also the only state which experiments this top political position through the rotational chief minister system during Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's time. This system is unique because it allowed three voting blocs – Muslim Bumiputera, non-Muslim Bumiputera and Chinese – to each get a two-year term as the chief minister. However, today's people have mostly forgotten about this system. 'I think one of the problems we have on the Malayan side is that people don't understand Sabah and Sarawak, and also people here have very, very short memories,' he said. The Challenges of Political Stability In the next national elections, GPS is expected to dominate and use this advantage to get maximum concession with whoever the federal government is, to resolve the MA63 historical grievances. In Sabah, everything will be dependent on the upcoming state elections, which has to be called in the second half of his year. On the Peninsular side, the most important thing is whether Anwar can hold the Unity Government coalition together, which was basically entrusted to him by the King, who asked him to form the government. So in the next round of general election (GE), rather than a three-way fight like the last GE – BN versus Pakatan Harapan (PH) versus Perikatan Nasional (PN) – this time will see basically PH-BN against PN fight. 'If they cannot get a clear majority on this side of the South China Sea, then Sabah and Sarawak will play a very important role in picking whoever will eventually form the federal government, and whoever gets the 148 parliamentary seats will get political stability,' said James. For Anwar's side, the most important thing is to handle the relationship between PH and BN-Umno because they will have to share seats in the coming GE. For PN's side, they only have one card to play, which is the political Islam card. They are expected to go all-out and capture the Malay seats. What is interesting about PAS is that it has already broken out of the four classic core Malay states – Selangor, Perak, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang – so now they have to go down to the lower half of the Malayan states. If they can sweep through Malaya, even if Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) does not do very well, they could obtain close to 112 parliamentary seats. 'And if PN can get about 100 to 105 seats, it is very likely that Sabah and Sarawak will have no choice but to join with PN,' he said. The Structure of Malaysian Politics Looking back, the country has not really had political stability since 2018. The government fell in 2020 under Mahathir's rule, and the country had two more prime ministers, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, and now Anwar, who was elected at the end of 2022. In January 2024, there was the Langkah Dubai attempt to replace Anwar. Only in the middle of the year did Anwar gain political stability, when there was infighting in Bersatu and people defected but the Speaker did not apply the anti-hopping law. 'The Anwar that you see now is not the real Anwar because he did not win the mandate in the last GE. He was given the task to form the government. 'The Anwar you see today is the one trying to hold the coalition together and prepare it to win the next GE. 'If you really want to know what Anwar is really like, you got to give him the mandate in the next GE,' said James. Going further back, Malaysia was formed in a very interesting way. In 1957, one structure was put in place which no other country had. First, there is a written Constitution, but some of the powers of this constitution was restricted to the Conference of Rulers, outside of the constitution. Second, ethnic identity was tied with religious identity. A Malay person in Malaysia must be a practicing Muslim, which is defined in the Constitution. 'Which means that from day one, Malaysia has always practiced racial/identity politics. You can't run away from that,' he said. The second real restructuring of Malaysian politics occurred after the 1969 racial riots. Then Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein had the idea how to move the country forward, which was by creating BN in 1973, a completely new political structure. Malaysians of today are currently living in the era of this political structure created by Abdul Razak, but modified extensively through strongman Mahathir, who was in power for more than 20 years. This structure is basically based on seeking power through race and religion. It's a winner-take-all system. Even though the Constitution has been amended hundreds of times, it is not possible to change this portion of it because for the core part, certain things such as Article 153 cannot be amended without the Conference of Rulers' assent. Mahathir during his era had amended the Constitution to fit himself, changing the entire political structure, especially in terms of the civil service and creating a political culture that lives on until today. 'So when you say that you want politicians to get on with it and bring the country forward, it is not possible under the current system,' he said. But what is very clear is that in the next GE, the only vote that is up for play is the Malay votes. For the Chinese votes, the argument is still solidly behind DAP. This leaves the Indian votes as the only other that can be sort of played with. 'In the East Malaysian side, everything will depend on what happens in the upcoming state election. 'So the bottom line is, the next government will be formed by whoever wins the Malay votes and who comes closest to the 112 parliamentary seats,' he said.
New Straits Times
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New Straits Times
#SHOWBIZ: Marsha: Times Square appearance an honour to East Malaysians
KUALA LUMPUR: Singer-actress Marsha Milan Londoh was described her recent appearance on the iconic Times Square billboard in New York, the United States as a dream come true. She said in an Instagram post yesterday that appearing on the Spotify billboard in Times Square reminded her of the challenges she faced when she first entered showbiz. "Seeing myself on a billboard in Times Square, New York is something that has exceeded all my dreams. "As a female singer from East Malaysia or Malaysian Borneo, this journey is not easy, but moments like this remind me why I started. "Thank you #SpotifyEQUAL for allowing me to be a part of this campaign and thank you to Spotify Asia for raising our voice to the global stage," she said. Marsha, 40, dedicated her appearance on the billboard to all East Malaysians who strived hard to excel in their careers, especially those in entertainment. "To all women in music, your voice means a lot and we need to hear more," said Marsha who hails from Tamparuli in Sabah. Spotify EQUAL is an initiative that recognises female artistes from around the world and empowers their voices in the music industry. Many of Marsha's fellow artistes congratulated her on her achievement. "Very happy to see your dream come true," said actress, director and producer Puan Sri Tiara Jacquelina. Besides Marsha, other Malaysian singers who have been featured on the billboard include Datuk Seri Siti Nurhaliza, Ernie Zakri, Yuna, Dolla, Aina Abdul, Kaka Azraff, Layla Sania, Iman Troye, Aisha Retno and Vanessa Reynauld.
