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Anwar can be present during interviews: Court

Posted: 09 Aug 2011 10:03 PM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here allowed the presence of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim during the interview of 15 witnesses, including Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.

Justice Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah ruled that the accused had the right
to be there after meeting Anwar's counsels and deputy public prosecutors headed
by Mohd Hanafiah Zakaria in his chambers today.

Both the prosecution and defence sought the directive of the trial judge today when two of the witnesses, former inspector-general of police Tan Sri Musa
Hassan and ex-Melaka police chief Datuk Mohd Rodwan Mohd Yusof, protested

yesterday against Anwar's presence during the interview.

Lawyer Karpal Singh told reporters with the court's directive, all the witnesses had to come to court as required by the defence.

"Anwar will be there and he has the right to be there and the investigation
officer (IO) of this case will facilitate us to conduct the interviews with 10
of them already here today," said Karpal.

Asked whether there was any indication from the prosecution when Najib and

Rosmah would be interviewed, Karpal said so far there was none but added it had
to be before Anwar took his stand next Monday (Aug 15).

On Monday, Mohamad Zabidin granted Anwar's two applications to interview 15
witnesses including Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, his wife Datin
Sri Rosmah Mansor, Musa, Rodwan and 11 others.

The judge then set Aug 15 to 26 for the defence case.

At the close of its case, the prosecution offered 71 witnesses, including
Najib and Rosmah. The defence chose to interview only 25, and so far, only five
had been interviewed.

They are ex-sprint queen Datuk Mumtaz Jaafar, Dr Mohd Osman Abd Hamid,
formerly of Pusrawi, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan's youngest sister, Saidaiti
Azlan, a Kuala Lumpur Hospital doctor known only as Dr Daniel, and Khairil Anaz
Yusof, a special assistant to Najib when he was deputy prime minister.

On May 16, Justice Mohamad Zabidin ordered Anwar to enter his defence after
ruling that the latter's former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, the complainant
in the case, was a truthful and credible witness.

Anwar, 64, pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court on Aug 7, 2008, to
committing carnal intercourse against the order of nature at Kondominium Desa
Damansara in Bukit Damansara, between 3.10pm and 4.30pm on June 26, the same
year. -- BERNAMA

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Government should boost New Media presence

Posted: 09 Aug 2011 09:26 PM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR: The government must boost its presence on the internet by mastering the new media such as 'Face book' and 'Twitter' which are highly popular, especially among the young.

Institut of Mind Development (INMIND) chief executive Norizan Sharif said
the conventional way of tackling issues using the mainstream media was
ineffective.

"The government must respond to the new media, otherwise the people treat
its allegations as true.

"Currently, we don't see the government responding in Facebook, we also
don't see any (government) initiative in answering in blogs and Twitter. We can

see many opposition Members of Parliament in Twitter, but on the government
side, the number is dismal," he told Bernama.

Norizan was commenting on a statement by Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein yesterday who said the opposition used the new media to instigate the people to take part in illegal activities for political gain although the news they highlighted were untrue.

Hishammuddin said the government found it difficult to explain the situation

on the illegal gathering on July 9 despite the various existing media channels
being used, following the widespread use of the new media by the opposition.

Norizan, who also wrote in the blog http://www.nobisha.com said the absence
of government engagement in the new media handicapped it so much so that it
encountered difficulties in answering issues relating to the illegal
gathering.

He also suggested that the government activate efforts to download every
announcement or good news to YouTube because studies found that the young spent
part of their time surfing the internet.

Meanwhile, Universiti Kebangsaan's History, Politics and Strategy Study
Centre senior lecturer Abd Ghapa Harun said the mainstream media must also
dispel the fallacy that they still monopolised news distribution.

"It is important that the government is transparent when issuing related
information when facing an issue because this will build confidence in the media
being used by the government.

Abd Ghapa also said that emphasising a high level of integrity among the
mainstream media by the government, would in itself weaken the public trust in
the alternative media.

He said the integrity of a large portion of the content of the alternative
media was questionable compared to that of the mainstream media. -- BERNAMA

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Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Selasa, 9 Ogos 2011

NST Online: Topnews

NST Online: Topnews

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