Anwar not eligible for PKR elections

The Registrar of Societies has informed Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PRK) that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is not eligible to contest in the party's elections this weekend.

Anwar, however, has said he would still go ahead and contest in the election, reports The Star.

Malaysiakini reported that, the elections for the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Youth wing has been delayed because the voters list went missing.

Meanwhile, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has denied being the “hidden hand” behind the aspirants for key posts in the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) elections.

“People are using my name for their own purposes. If I were the hidden hand, would people be contesting against me (for the president’s post)? I did not even tell (Abdul) Rahman Othman to contest or not to contest,” he said.

His wife and incumbent president Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and former deputy president Rahman are the other two candidates vying for the president’s post in the party election this Saturday.

Anwar, who is slated to win the post, has come under the spotlight for allegedly exerting his influence over who should contest for some of the key posts.

Allegations of meddling in the elections have caused ripples ahead of a keenly contested poll.

Datuk K. Nallakaruppan, claiming that he felt betrayed, has threatened to resign from the party which he joined only in August last year at the invitation of his “good friend” Anwar.

Nallakaruppan, who received the second highest number of nominations among those vying for the three vice-president posts, said that Anwar had asked him to withdraw from the contest.

Anwar was also accused of meddling in the contest at the Youth wing level, drawing criticism from former Youth chief Ezam Mohd Nor.

Former deputy president nominee Azmin Ali was also said to have been pressured against challenging incumbent Dr Syed Husin Ali for the post, even though the former has denied it.

Anwar said all he did was advise those who wanted to vie for posts that he would not campaign for them and that they should be prepared to accept defeat and stay committed to the party.

“Those claiming that I am interfering should provide evidence to the party election committee. The fact that the mainstream media is so interested in our election shows that the party is not irrelevant as some people have claimed,” he said.


Malaysia ninth on list in Transparency International’s report

Transparency International’s 2007 Global Corruption Report: Corruption in Judicial Systems shows Malaysia coming out ninth from 62 countries surveyed.

It seems that Malaysians have a better opinion of their judiciary than citizens of most industrialised nations, and this has befuddled Transparency International (TI) Malaysia and the Bar Council.

According to those surveyed, we have a world-class judiciary....more here and here.

"Not a day passes without cases of teenage pregnancies, abandoned babies and abduction and rapes reported in the newspapers," said Dr Irene Fernandez, executive director of Tenaganita, a rights NGO.

"The World Health Organisation (WHO) has already warned in 2006 that Malaysia is on the brink of an HIV epidemic. We can't be in denial any longer,"

"Just worrying about it is not enough. Where are the tough measures?"

About 15,000 children have already been made orphans by AIDS in Malaysia, the WHO said. Full story here.