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News of attack relayed via walkie-talkie BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily News » Sabah - New 2 Borneo

News of attack relayed via walkie-talkie

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 11:04 AM PST

by Nur Adika Bujang. Posted on January 8, 2014, Wednesday

KOTA KINABALU: Datuk Abdul Rashid Harun, who served as tactical commander during last year's Kampung Tanduo intrusion by terrorists, was informed of an attack at the village on March 1, which left two members of Malaysia's security forces dead.

That information was relayed via a hand-held radio receiver or walkie-talkie from three leaders of five designated sectors near the village where VAT69 snipers were stationed.

Abdul Rashid, who was previously the federal internal security and public order department (special operations command) deputy director, said one of the sector leaders had told him, via the walkie-talkie, that their location was compromised, when he heard gunshots in the background.

"It was about 10am and I was told by one of the sector leaders, Superintendent Macha, that there was an attack.

"Then, another sector leader DSP Anwar said, 'compromised', and I (again) heard gunshots.

"Right after that (communication with Anwar), I was informed by the third sector leader, DSP Rani, that there was a casualty in his group and later, I was informed there was another casualty by Superintendent Macha," he said.

He was testifying on the second day of the trial of 30 individuals charged with various offences related to terrorism in Sabah, at the state prisons department which doubled as a high court, here yesterday.

Abdul Rashid, who is currently director of the security and public order division of the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom) in Lahad Datu, was informed by his team, an hour after the attack began, that the casualties were identified as Inspector Zulkifli Mamat and Corporal Sabaruddin Daud, while three men were injured.

He was also informed that the group of intruders (terrorists) involved in the attack had fired the first shot, adding that he was at the VAT69 Tactical Base in Felda Sahabat, Lahad Datu when the attack occurred.

Earlier, Abdul Rashid said he had met one of the accused, Datu Amirbahar Hushin Kiram, and two men who had joined his second visit to Kampung Tanduo on the morning of Feb 16.

He told the court he did not know who they were then, and did not ask what their purpose was on that visit as his attention was on his duty to assess the area upon reaching the village.

Twenty-two of the 30 individuals jointly being tried, including two Malaysian men, are charged with waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, which carries the death penalty or life imprisonment, and being members of a terrorist group, punishable with life imprisonment and a fine upon conviction.

Of the 22, one faces two additional charges of recruiting members of a terrorist group and harbouring persons knowing that they were members of a terrorist group.

Of the remaining eight, five are accused of being members of a terrorist group; one of them, the sole woman of the 30 and a Malaysian citizen, is charged with harbouring persons knowing they were members of a terrorist group, while two are charged with attempting to harbour persons knowing they were members of a terrorist group.

The rest are Philippine nationals.

They are all accused of committing the respective offences between Feb 12 and April 10 last year.

The hearing, before Justice Stephen Chung, is aided by a prosecuting team of seven led by Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, while a total of 10 counsels appeared for the accused.

Hearing continues today. — Bernama

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JV Developers seeking RM13 mln in damages

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 09:24 AM PST

KOTA KINABALU: JV Developers are asking for RM13 million as damages for settlement of Koperasi Pusaka (Penampang) Bhd's wrong termination of their joint-venture agreements.

Prominent developer Dato' Sri Alex Kong, the managing director of JV Developers, namely Hubah Sdn Bhd, Konkamaju Sdn Bhd and Aggasf Properties Sdn Bhd, yesterday said the offer of settlement to Koperasi Pusaka followed a decision by the Federal Court in September last year to award damages to JV Developers.

He hopes that Koperasi Pusaka would seriously consider the offer of RM13 million that was compiled by a registered valuer engaged by JV Developers.

"If the court is asked to assess the damages, I believe Koperasi Pusaka will have to pay an even larger sum as damages to JV Developers," said Kong when met by reporters yesterday.

Back in September 2013, the protracted legal tussle between Koperasi Pusaka and JV Developers finally came to an end after the Federal Court dismissed an application for leave to appeal brought by Koperasi Pusaka.

The registered cooperative society had been engaged in litigation with JV Developers arising from Koperasi Pusaka's termination of various agreements and power of attorney signed with the cooperative during the period from 1992 to 2002.

Previously on May 12, 2012, the Court of Appeal found that the Koperasi Pusaka board of directors had been authorised and granted the full mandates in several general meetings to enter into joint venture agreements with the developers.

This authorisation was repeatedly briefed by the cooperative chairman to all members at two separate general meetings of Koperasi Pusaka held on Feb 28, 1993 and March 7, 1993.

The Court of Appeal also found that the transactions had been entered into for the benefit of the cooperative.

The agreements had been duly discharged by performance and Koperasi Pusaka had obtained all its entitlements under various agreements from the joint-venture parties, and the Court of Appeal ruled that all those agreements were valid and that the cooperative was bound by them.

Evidence adduced during the trial showed that Koperasi Pusaka had terminated the various agreements and power of attorney with the joint-venture parties on the alleged ground that there had been non-compliance with the Cooperatives Societies Act 1993 and the by-laws.

In particular, Koperasi Pusaka had sought the return of lands under the various joint-venture agreements.

However, the JV parties' lawyers argued that Koperasi Pusaka should not be permitted to use its own alleged non-compliance with its own by-laws as engine of fraud or an instrument of injustice against the JV parties especially when the cooperative had received its entitlements under the various agreements.

In its judgement, the Court of Appeal had granted the orders sought by the JV parties and had allowed all the claims by the latter against Koperasi Pusaka.

The claims of the JV parties include damages for wrongful termination of the agreements and power of attorneys by Koperasi Pusaka as well as aggravated, exemplary and punitive damages.

In a statement yesterday, Kong said it had been established in court that members of Koperasi Pusaka and the board members were fully aware of the cooperative's mandates and decision to enter into the agreements.

"Unfortunately, certain board members chose to pursue a frivolous allegation by withholding their own documentary evidence to claim that there had been no mandate for Koperasi Pusaka to enter into the various agreements and power of attorneys," he added.

Kong reckoned that the cooperative's present board of directors should verify the various decisions made by the cooperative that were properly recorded in its own minutes of meetings before proceeding to terminate those agreements.

"Regretfully, the actions by these board members have resulted in losses to Koperasi Pusaka through wasted legal expenditure and damages awarded by the court.

"I hope that the board members who had made the decision to terminate the agreements wrongfully will be mindful that their actions have seriously caused Koperasi Pusaka harm and will take steps to minimise the harm to the cooperative," he added.

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Mall lodges police report over alleged robbery attempt

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 09:24 AM PST

KOTA KINABALU: The management of Suria Sabah shopping complex is leaving it to the police to verify the claims of a young woman who was allegedly attacked in an attempted robbery on Monday evening.

General manager Tan Ting Wai reported that the management had lodged a police report to verify the incident, but have yet to receive any report from the alleged victim.

Tan added that after being informed of the matter via social media, Facebook and Whatsapp, the platform where the alleged incident had gone viral since midnight of the same day the incident was claimed to have taken place, the management had carried out an internal investigation.

"We have reviewed our surveillance cameras but found no such incident taking place. We also conducted physical investigation whereby we searched for evidence that might show any incident taking place in the area, like bloodstains, but found nothing.

"Looking at the photo of the woman's slash wounds uploaded on social media, the cuts were really deep and there must have been blood dripping somewhere, but there was none here," said Tan.

He suspected the alleged incident to be unsubstantiated and decided to wait for the police report to clarify the matter.

"Reports of the alleged incident have spread like wildfire and we're being put under the spotlight. Whatever it is, we're waiting for the police report and hope that someone will be held responsible for the matter," said Tan.

Photos of a local young woman's arm and thigh with slashed wounds have gone viral since Monday, with captions saying that she was injured after being attacked in an attempted robbery at the basement floor of the Suria Sabah shopping mall at 7.10pm on Monday.

The caption also purported that the attempted robbery involved an alleged illegal immigrant, who was said to have attacked the victim from behind and tried to snatch her handbag.

The victim resisted and sustained cuts on her hand and thigh.

A couple was said to have emerged from the washroom which scared off the robber, after which he ran off without any valuables.

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Ops to track down vehicles with unapproved dark tinted windows

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 09:23 AM PST

KOTA KINABALU: The Road Transport Department (RTD) Sabah will carry out a large-scale operation this year to track down vehicles still using dark tinted windows without approval from the authorities.

Its director, Mohd Shuhaili Mohd Taufek, said the offence, using dark tinted windows, has increased with over 14,000 being recorded in the state last year.

"The aim of the operation is to remind vehicle owners of the offence of using dark tinted window on their vehicles. Tinted windows can only be used after getting approval from the authorities, including the Sabah Commissioner of Police for security reasons, and confirmation from the government hospital for health reasons," he said at a press conference at RTD headquarters here yesterday.

According to Shuhaili, RTD has never approved or given certification for any tinted products sold by car accessories shops.

"If there are car accessories shops that claim to have approval from RTD on the use of tinted window, it is simply not true," he said.

Shuhaili said besides the use of tinted window, the department has also recorded other offences such as using high intensity definition (HID) lights and modification of vehicle plate numbers which came to 1,365 and 1,119 cases respectively in 2013.

"For illegal modifications of vehicle, 1,475 summons were issued last year," he said, adding that 4,600 summonses were also issued for numerous road offences by the department.

Meanwhile, Shuhaili said, the department is aiming to collect penalties from 80,000 notices of reminder sent to road offenders this year.

He said in 2013, the department collected penalties from 68,000 notices of reminder to road offenders with revenue amounting to RM120 million, an increase of 10 per cent from year 2012.

"For this year, we aim to collect penalties from 80,000 notices of reminders served on road offenders," he said.

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Suspected shoplifter apprehended by guard

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 09:23 AM PST

Posted on January 8, 2014, Wednesday

KOTA KINABALU: An alert security guard apprehended a man who attempted to flee with unpaid cosmetic products from a supermarket here yesterday.

In the 11am incident, the suspect, in his 20s, had reportedly walked out of Milimewa Supermarket here with several cosmetic products that were unpaid for.

The alert supermarket security guard immediately chased the man and with assistance from several City Hall enforcement personnel was able to apprehend the suspect, who was handed over to the police for further action.

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Welfare aid in Labuan amounted to RM3.2 million

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 09:23 AM PST

LABUAN: A total of RM3.2 million was channelled to welfare recipients over the past year compared with the RM2.7 million the previous year.

The increase in amount of aid is due to the rise in recipients from 1,006 people in 2011 to 1,084 last year.

Labuan Social Welfare Department (JKM) director Zulkiflie Hassan said the increase in the number of recipients should not be seen as an increase in the number of poor people, but as a result of monitoring and a more effective approach.

"The Welfare Department in collaboration with the village leaders will continue to monitor and seek information from local residents about those among the community who need help," he told Bernama yesterday.

Zulkiflie said various types of welfare assistance have been prepared, which covers assistance to persons with different abilities (OKU), unemployed OKUs, senior citizens, poor orphaned children, single mothers and allowance for OKU workers, with a total aid of RM150 to RM450 a month.

This aid is temporary and only for a period of 12 months.

"Before the aid comes to an end, the recipient will be asked to apply for an extension and a review process will be conducted with the help of a questionnaire to assess whether the recipient is eligible for continuation of the assistance or otherwise," said Zulkiflie.

Meanwhile, a total of RM255,520 will be handed out to 1,073 welfare recipients this month. — Bernama

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