Gov't to use blog to spread info

The information ministry is planning to use an official blog to disseminate information, and other round-ups from the house.

Information Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek said his ministry planned to use blog to disseminate information and welcome public feedbacks on its move.

The minister said this in a reply to Dr Fong Chan Onn (BN-Alor Gajah) who asked whether the ministry will consider blog as an alternative media, during the question session in the Dewan Rakyat this morning.

Met later at the lobby, Ahmad Shabery however said the proposal will need to be studied further and that he would seek the views of the Attorney-General's Chambers due to possible legal implications.

Citing an example, he pointed out the ministry may need to deal with legal issues should a person posted seditious remarks on the official blog.

Problem to look for a finance minister?

The decision by the Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to continue holding the finance minister post was to strengthen the ministry which played an influential and important role.

"By holding the two posts, the premier's vision and the government's (policy) implementations can be streamlined and carried out more efficiently and effectively," Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz said in a written reply to Fong Po Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah).

Fong had asked if the prime minister was facing any difficulty in appointing a finance minister and wanted the premier to state the reasons as to why he continued holding the post.

Responding, Mohd Nazri said the appointment of a minister was the premier's discretion and that the finance ministry was an important ministry in the daily administrative affairs.

In the new cabinet line-up announced after the March 8 polls, Abdullah relinquished his post as the internal security minister but continued holding the finance ministry portfolio.

713 M'sians face trial abroad since 2004

There were a total of 713 Malaysians facing trials overseas over various types of offences since 2004, Deputy Foreign Minister Abdul Rahim Bakri told the Dewan Rakyat today.

Among them, the highest number of people - 231 cases in total - were facing charges related to drug offences, Abdul Rahim said in his reply to Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin (BN-Papar) during the question session.

According to the deputy minister, of the number, 162 were males and 69 females while Chinese topped the figure with 111 cases, Malays (90), Indians (5) and others (5).

Majority of them were caught in Latin America, Europe, China and Taiwan, he added.

To a supplementary question, Abdul Rahim said the government was willing to work with any parties to provide assistance to those who were charged but will not interfere in the judiciary process in other countries.

Azmin hits back at Tajuddin

The allegation that PKR's de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim played a role in the suspension of Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak) from Umno membership in 1993 was baseless, said Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) today.

"The supreme council of Umno had decided to suspend him, not Anwar," he added when met by reporters at the Parliament lobby.

The council that was in charge of the technical committee within Umno, which was then chaired by Zaki Azmi, had asked Tajuddin - who had allegedly used RM6 million to ‘buy' an Umno division chief post - to give his statement to defend himself, said the Gombak MP.

"Saifuddin Nasution (PKR-Machang) has confirmed with me yesterday about this as he was the secretary then. But finally, the supreme council decided to suspend him.

"On that ground, I have to clear Anwar's name," he added.

Yesterday, Azmin made the claim while interjecting the debate on the royal address by Dr Puad Zarkashi (BN-Batu Pahat), who was criticising the PKR de facto leader's double standard when the ex-deputy premier was in the government.

ACA can probe Kelantan vote-buying

R Sivarasa (PKR-Subang) today pointed out that the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) need not wait for any official reports before investigating a matter based on a confidential information from an anonymous sources.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in a written reply to Teresa Kok (DAP-Seputeh) said the ACA has not received any complaints over allegations that BN had ‘bribed' Kelantan voters with RM200 in order for them to travel back to their hometown during the March 8 poll.

At a press conference at the Parliament lobby today, Sivarasa stressed that the ACA can investigate anyone at any time.

"Why suddenly they're giving us a reason that they don't have enough evidence if we don't make the official report?" he asked.

Kok, who was present at the press conference, showed the photos of Kelantan voters with RM200 in their hands which were also posted on her blog.

"Not only were the photos being posted on my blog, they were all over the Internet and some newspapers. I wonder why ACA and EC have not come forward to take action," she said.

PM's reasons unconvincing

Liew Chin Tong (DAP-Bukit Bendera) said the reasons provided by the prime minister to turn down the implementation of an automatic voter registration was "lame and unconvincing".

In a written reply to Liew yesterday, Abdullah said the suggestion would create "confusion" on where they should cast their votes and it would reduce the voting turnout.

In response, Liew explained that the voters can simply change their address in MyKad at the National Registration Department (NRD) and if they were to vote, they could show the "receipt" for the change of address.

He added that the NRD and the Election Commission (EC) can share their database to access voters information as this will free the EC from the laborious task of the voter registration.