Malaysia court postpones trial of Australian woman accused of drug trafficking. Posted The trial of an Australian woman charged with drug trafficking in Malaysia has been pushed back by a month due to delays completing a chemist report on the alleged contraband. Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto, a 52-year-old mother of four, was arrested on December 7 at Kuala Lumpur airport with 1.5 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, also known as ice. A chemist report on the substance was to be submitted to the court on Friday, but was not yet ready, defence lawyer Tania Scivetti said. A new date has been set for March 26. Malaysia has a mandatory death penalty by hanging for anyone found guilty of carrying more than 50 grams of a drug. If illegal drugs are confirmed, the case is expected to be elevated to a higher court that can handle death penalty cases. Ms Scivetti said the case could stretch to at least the end of the year.
"She is in good spirits. She had travelled to Shanghai after falling for an online romance scam by a person claiming to be a US serviceman, according to lawyers. Malaysia linked to world’s largest money laundering scheme, NYT reports @ Wed May 29 2013. Asian currency notes are seen in this photo illustration in Singapore January 17, 2013. — Reuters pic KUALA LUMPUR, May 29 ― Unlicensed money exchangers in Malaysia had aided the operators of a global currency exchange that ran a US$6 billion (RM18.33 billion) money-laundering operation online, a hub for criminals peddling in everything from stolen identities to child pornography, The New York Times (NYT) reported.
The currency exchange called Liberty Reserve is believed to be the world’s largest cyber money-laundering case and was based in the United States but operated well beyond the country’s borders as well as traditional international banking regulations, providing easy and anonymous cover increasingly sought by criminals to fund their activities, the widely-read daily reported, citing American law enforcement officers.
The people who accepted Liberty Reserve’s currency were “overwhelmingly criminal in nature,” according to the indictment as reported by the NYT. Malaysia’s Wah Seong to Invest $744 Million in Congo Palm Oil.
Malaysia vs terrorism. Malaysian reforms. Nuclear plants in Malaysia. Anwar Ibrahim. Malaysia 'may be WMD transit point' 22 March 2011Last updated at 09:26 Malaysia is investigating whether ship cargo seized earlier this month included parts for making Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). Malaysian police seized the suspected bomb-making equipment on a ship bound from China to the Middle East. Malaysia's Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein was quoted as saying Malaysia was a probable transit point, rather than a destination, for the parts. The government said that the seizure, made in early March, was not the first. "We are investigating the background of the containers and parts found in the two containers," Mr Hussein was quoted by state news agency Bernama as saying. "It is to determine whether these are possibly parts to help make weapons of mass destruction or nuclear items," he said.
Police said last week they had asked the country's nuclear agency for a report on the parts seized on the Malaysian-registered ship. Implications "First, we need some time to identify the equipment and what it could be used for. Malaysia seizes ship carrying nuke parts. Malaysia seizes ship carrying nuke parts Sat Mar 19, 2011 8:40AM Mahi Ramakrishnan, Press TV, Port Klang Malaysia's opposition politicians have slammed the government for being embroiled in the possible trafficking of components essential to making nuclear warheads.
This outcry was prompted by the confiscation of two containers at the Klang Port an hour away from the country's federal capital of Kuala Lumpur. The police have initiated an investigation to ascertain if the equipment seized on a Malaysian-registered ship was to be used in the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction. Opposition leaders say that this incident clearly shows that the country is a hub for the trafficking of nuclear weapon components. Malaysia was embroiled in a similar issue in 2004 when a factory was found to manufacture the delicate machinery needed to enrich uranium for nuclear bombs. Malaysian leaders have, however, denied any links to trafficking. This is where the two containers were seized. Why the Malays are returning to Umno. UMNO still retains Malay support. The support of the dominant Islamic race for Pas, an Islamist party that has been fighting neck and neck with Umno for the Malay ground for more than five decades, continues to dwindle.
This was reflected yesterday in Barisan Nasional's double victory in Merlimau and Kerdau, two Malay-majority constituencies, and in the results of recent Umno-Pas electoral battles. Nearly 90 per cent of voters in Kerdau were Malays while Malays comprise 65 per cent of voters in Merlimau. Umno candidates who represented BN in the by-elections secured a 3,643 vote-majority in Merlimau and a 2,724 vote-majority in Kerdau, higher than the results in the 2008 polls. In 2004, BN candidates won Merlimau by 2,154 votes and Kerdau by 1,615. At the last Umno-Pas showdown in Tenang, Johor, 83 per cent of Malay votes went to the Umno candidate. Why are Malays, particularly in rural areas, returning to Umno? Another reason was people's fear of Pas' new politics. -New Straits Times.
Najib Leaves For Turkey.
Malaysian National News Agency :: BERNAMA. Malaysian society. Global Voices Online » Malaysia: New Economic Model. Malaysia: Refugees are Arrested, Abused and Denied the Right to. Amnesty International Charges that Refugees are Arrested, Abused and Denied the Right to Work in Malaysia Human rights organization reveals that majority of refugees are from Myanmar June 16, 2010 The Malaysian government should give refugees in the country the right to work, Amnesty International said today as it revealed a litany of abuses suffered by refugees in Malaysia, the vast majority of whom are from Myanmar.
Released ahead of World Refugee Day on June 20, the new report, Abused and Abandoned: Refugees Denied Rights in Malaysia, documents the plight of refugees and asylum-seekers who have reached Malaysia, where they are refused legal recognition, protection or the right to work. "Refugees should be able to live with dignity while they are in Malaysia. Refugees and asylum-seekers in Malaysia are subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention in appalling conditions, caning, extortion, human trafficking and deportation back to the persecution that they fled.
The U.S. Background. Can Malaysia escape a trap of its own making? – Weekly editorial. Author: Peter Drysdale Malaysia’s recently presented New Economic Model is, on paper, a hugely ambitious strategy for changing the country’s economic and social direction and, hopefully, its economic and political fortunes. The government of Prime Minister Najib seems inclined to embrace its principles and try to forge a new direction in Malaysian economic and social policy. In the 1980s Malaysia was among the brightest stars in the Southeast Asian economy, with growth around 8 per cent a year and a huge transformation away from its comfortable plantation and minerals past towards a new industrial future, driven by foreign investment and rapidly growing exports of consumer electronics to regional and global markets. After the Asian Financial Crisis Malaysia has faced a far less certain future, not only because of the political dark-side that it exposed under Mahathir, but also because of the way that cosy politics had come to sap the vibrancy out of the economy and good economic policy.
Malaysian government closes opp.