UMNO Kedah Dan Pulau Pinang Desak Abdullah Undurkan Diri

Majoriti bahagian UMNO di Kedah dan Pulau Pinang mendesak Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi mengundurkan diri daripada persada kekuasaan negara dan UMNO.

Hasrat ini disampaikan oleh mereka kepada delegasi kepimpinan UMNO Malaysia yang diketuai oleh Datuk Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Razak dalam pertemuan tertutup di Kedah dan Pulau Pinang.

Dalam pertemuan di Sungai Petani, 7 bahagian UMNO mendesak Abdullah meletakkan jawatan, 2 bahagian menyokong Abdullah terus berkhidmat sebagai Perdana Menteri, 2 bahagian lagi berkecuali.

Di Pulau Pinang, 9 bahagian mendesak Abdullah mengundurkan diri, 1 bahagian – Tanjung - berkecuali dan 3 bahagian lagi – Kepala Batas (Bahagian Abdullah), Bukit Mertajam dan Nibong Tebal - menyokong Abdullah terus memimpin negara.

Sementara itu, seorang AJK UMNO Bahagian di Kedah yang menggunakan nama samaran AAH telah mengirimkan komen kepada blog ini pada jam 7.44 petang semalam mengenai pertemuan di Kedah seperti berikut:

Saya berada dalam dewan (perjumpaan di Kelab Cinta Sayang, Sungai Petani, Kedah) dari mula hingga tamat. Apa yang dapat saya simpulkan ialah: UMNO Kedah tidak lagi mempunyaai keyakinan terhadap kepimpinan Abdullah dan Mahdzir Khalid. Mereka inilah angkara kekalahan Kedah (dalam PRU12). Mereka (para pemimpin UMNO Kedah) rata-rata berpendapat Abdullah dan mantan Menteri Besar Kedah adalah “pengkhianat” paling besar di Malaysia.

Calon Tanpa Restu

Sementara itu, Utusan Malaysia 11 April 2008, telah memetik Najib sebagai berkata seperti berikut:

SUNGAI PETANI 10 April – UMNO mengenal pasti masalah pemilihan calon yang tidak mendapat restu ketua-ketua UMNO bahagian adalah antara punca calon Barisan Nasional (BN) dikhianati pada pilihan raya umum lalu, kata Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Timbalan Perdana Menteri berkata, maklum balas yang diterima Jawatankuasa Pengurusan parti dengan pemimpin bahagian menunjukkan ramai di antara mereka melahirkan rasa kecewa kerana tidak dibawa berunding semasa pemilihan calon dibuat.

“Antara perkara pokok yang disuarakan ialah supaya pada masa akan datang, dalam pemilihan calon-calon bertanding, maka proses rundingan dengan bahagian dilakukan dengan cara lebih menyeluruh lagi.

“Kita menerima pandangan ini dan saya akan sampaikan dalam mesyuarat Majlis Tertinggi (MT) parti nanti,’’ katanya kepada pemberita selepas mempengerusikan mesyuarat Jawatankuasa Pengurusan parti bersama lebih 150 pemimpin Badan Perhubungan UMNO Kedah di sini hari ini.

Hadir pada majlis tertutup hampir tiga jam itu ialah kedua-dua Naib Presiden UMNO, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin dan Datuk Mohd. Ali Rustam. Turut serta Ketua Pergerakan Wanita UMNO, Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz; Setiausaha Agung, Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor; Ketua Penerangan, Tan Sri Muhammad Muhd. Taib; Ketua Puteri UMNO, Datuk Noraini Ahmad; Bendahari parti, Datuk Mohd. Azim Zabidi dan Pengerusi Badan Perhubungan UMNO Kedah, Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid.

Malaysia extends detention of five suspected Islamic militants

Malaysia's government has extended the imprisonment without trial of five alleged Islamic militants, including a former army captain accused of helping the Sept. 11 hijackers, a human rights group said Thursday.

They have already been held for about six years.

The Home Ministry sent letters to the five men's families in recent weeks indicating they will remain jailed under the Internal Security Act for at least two more years, said Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh, chairman of the Abolish ISA Movement.

"The standard reason was given, which is that they've not been sufficiently rehabilitated," Syed Ibrahim told The Associated Press.

The Internal Security Act, a legacy of British colonial times, lets suspects be held indefinitely without trial for two-year periods that the government can renew indefinitely.

Ministry officials familiar with the detention could not immediately be reached for comment.

The extension suggests that authorities believe the suspects, who are accused of being members of the al-Qaida-linked regional terror group, Jemaah Islamiyah, still pose a security threat despite having been held in a northern prison camp since early 2002.

The most prominent among them is Yazid Sufaat, an ex-army captain who allegedly let several senior al-Qaida operatives, including two eventual Sept. 11 hijackers, use an apartment he owned for meetings in Malaysia in January 2000.

He also is accused of giving a false letter of employment to Zacarias Moussaoui _ the only person charged and convicted in the United States for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 _ that helped Moussaoui enter the United States.

Yazid, a U.S.-trained biochemist, was arrested in late 2001 when he returned home from Afghanistan, where he was suspected of working on a biological and chemical weapons program.

Security officials have said that Yazid, 44, described the program he was developing for al-Qaida as being in the "conceptual stages" when their plans were interrupted by the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Syed Ibrahim, the rights activist, said the other four detainees are businessman Suhaimi Mokhtar, university lecturer Abdullah Daud, taxi driver Shahrial Sirin and Indonesian trader Abdullah Minyak Silam.

Syed Ibrahim slammed the extension, saying the suspects should be freed or brought to trial.

"We are dumbfounded that the government continues to use" the security act, he said.

The Internal Security Act has also been used to jail hundreds of opposition leaders and others deemed to pose security threats.

About 70 alleged Islamic militants were detained under the act in late 2001 and early 2002. Many have since been released in stages, but rights groups estimate about 20 remain in detention.

Armed airport patrols launched after shootout

The police have introduced armed patrols of the capital's main airport after a dramatic robbery that left five people injured in a hail of bullets, reports said today.

	50 shots were fired
	Airport staff suspended