Malaysian police seized DVDs used by the opposition to campaign for upcoming special elections, officials said yesterday, heightening fears of a crackdown on political dissent.
The April 7 balloting to fill three legislative seats is being fiercely contested because the results will be considered a barometer of public support for the incoming prime minister and other newly elected ruling party leaders.
The National Front coalition government and opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s three-party People’s Alliance launched campaigning on Sunday for the by-elections, which will be held in three states where lawmakers recently died or resigned.
Police seized 30 DVDs at an opposition campaign rally and briefly detained an opposition official late on Sunday in northern Perak state, said Ngeh Koo Ham, a Perak opposition lawmaker.
Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said the action was “the latest example of the increasing intolerance toward fundamental liberties like freedom of speech, thought and expression in Najib’s Malaysia.”
The DVD showed clips of opposition lawmakers being barred from holding a meeting at the Perak state legislature after the National Front wrested control of the state administration from the People’s Alliance.
District police chief Azisman Alias denied any political motivation, saying the government’s film censorship board has not approved the DVDs for public distribution.
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is scheduled to become prime minister before the end of the week, has dismissed opposition allegations that he is clamping down on dissent. Over the past week, authorities shut down two opposition newspapers and used tear gas to break up a large opposition rally.
Opposition officials claim the moves are meant to prevent them from further eroding the National Front’s support. The Front retained power with less than its longtime two-thirds parliamentary majority in national polls a year ago and lost two subsequent by-elections.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of