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Ministry to help rape victim, family of rapist – Jainab BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily News » Sabah - New 2 Borneo

Ministry to help rape victim, family of rapist – Jainab

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 04:01 PM PST

by Jenne LajiunJenne Lajiun. Posted on February 5, 2014, Wednesday

KOTA KINABALU: The Community Development and Consumer Affairs ministry will render its support to the rape victim in the case involving restaurant manager, Riduan Masmud.

"I will issue instruction for counselling to be conducted for the victim and her family. If she wants to continue going to school, we will support her," said the minister, Datuk Jainab Ahmad Ayid, to The Borneo Post yesterday.

She said her ministry will also extend its support to the victim's family as they were poor.

"Perhaps we can help them with 1Azam to improve their standard of living," she said.

Additionally, Jainab said, her ministry will also extend its assistance to the family of the convicted rapist.

"We will help them because they are also victims…we will provide them with counselling and we don't want the public to view them negatively. We don't want his children and family to go through needless trauma due to the circumstances," she said.

Aside from that, her ministry will also see what it can do to help the rapist's family economically as it is understood that the rapist was the main breadwinner of his family, she said.

As for the sentence meted out to Riduan, Jainab congratulated those who were involved in addressing the issue.

"The court has dealt with the rapist…this was a complicated case but the law is very clear in its stand when it deals with the rape of an underage person," she said.

At this juncture, Jainab also issued a reminder to parents to monitor their children's use of the internet, and in particular, social network websites. She reminded that children could be easily manipulated and abused by people on the internet as they were naive.

She also called on children to not be overly trusting of people they meet online and to limit their use of the technology.

Two days ago, the Sessions Court ordered Riduan to be jailed for 12 years and to receive two lashes of the cane for raping an underage girl, whom he later married.

The girl, who was 12 years and six months old, was raped inside a car by the roadside near the Kionsom Waterfall in Inanam at about 10am on February 17, last year.

The offence was classified as statutory rape as the victim was under 16 years old under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code and is punishable with a jail term of up to 20 years and also liable to whipping upon conviction.

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14 illegals from Indonesia detained

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 03:59 PM PST

TAWAU: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) detained fourteen Indonesians trying to sneak into Tawau yesterday from Sungai Melayu.

District enforcement chief Anor Hj Jaafar said an MMEA boat was patrolling Tawau waters at about 10:30am when it came across a speedboat from Sungai Melayu, Sebatik Island, that was heading for Tawau town.

He said all fourteen passengers comprising seven men and four women aged between 20 to 40-years-old, two boys aged 4 and 3-years-old and a 2-year-old girl were Indonesians, including the skipper who was also detained.

He said all the detainees will be investigated under the Immigration Act 1959/63 for failure to produce valid identification documents.

He said public awareness on the offense of bringing illegal immigrants in is still lacking, causing such cases to occur in Sabah waters especially Tawau.

Anor said Tawau's geographic location which is near to Indonesia also caused the incident to be rampant following many routes for them to enter the country's border.

He urged the public to help curb the activity by channeling information to the MMEA hotline at 089-752 115/089-750 116.

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Inspections to be carried out at all multi-storey car parks

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 11:01 AM PST

KOTA KINABALU: Checks will be carried out to ensure that all multi-storey car park structures are built according to the specifications set.

In fact, Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Hajiji Noor stressed that the recent car plunge incident at Star City shopping complex should serve as a lesson for both contractors and premises owners to abide by the rules and regulations set under the building code.

"For now, I cannot blame anyone as I have yet to get a full report from City Hall on the matter, but we are seriously looking into the case as it involves endangering not only the car owner but those who frequent the shopping complex.

"The whole incident should serve as a wake up call to the Central Board, local authorities and building owners to ensure that building structures are according to the specifications set. We want to make sure that there would be no repeat of such incident in the future," he said when contacted by The Borneo Post, yesterday.

He was responding to the recent call from the Malaysian Institute of Architects (PAM) Sabah Chapter chairman Victor Wong on the local authority to tighten the building code to ensure all parapet walls are adequately and structurally reinforced.

Wong said the code must be enforced whether the walls are at the car park levels or at the balconies since "un-reinforced" parapet walls can be highly dangerous when accidents occur.

On Jan 30, a 53-year-old man had allegedly lost control of his vehicle while reversing and crashed straight onto the "parapet" wall, before plunging four storeys down to the ground around 7am.

He suffered a fractured shoulder bone and bleeding in the lungs.

"Under the existing building by-laws, there was no explicit requirement for all the parapet walls to be reinforced structurally. As a standard practice, stiffeners are always being specified by professionals to ensure that the parapet walls are generally safe to be used. However, these basic stiffeners will not be strong enough to withhold the impact of a crashing car," said Wong.

He noted that there was a worrying trend where with so many condominium projects under construction in the state capital and other parts of Sabah, more car parks were being stacked vertically to satisfy the car parking requirement within the limited sizes of the building lot.

"Therefore, similar accidents such as the one reported are likely to recur if the safety issue on the parapet wall design is not tackled promptly by both the authorities and professionals," said Wong.

Meanwhile, Hajiji urged PAM Sabah Chapter to work closely with the local authorities and sit in as councillors to find the best remedy to ensure the incident does not repeat in the future.

"PAM Sabah Chapter members are professionals and we need their expertise to help us find a solution to the matter. I believe with their cooperation, we will be able to offer better security and safety for the buildings in Sabah, especially those with multi-storey car parks. Let's put our heads together and overcome this matter to ensure that the building code and by-laws are followed," Hajiji concluded.

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Local faces trial for possessing stolen items

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 08:27 AM PST

KOTA KINABALU: A local man claimed trial in separate Magistrate's Courts here yesterday to four charges of possessing stolen items.

Mohd Raqib Abdul Karim, 29, who appeared before magistrate Herlina Muse, was charged under Section 411 of the Penal Code which carries a jail term of up to five years or a fine or both, upon conviction.

On the first to second counts, the accused, who was defended by counsel Shahlan Jufri, was alleged to have possessed stolen items, namely a piggy bank, stage lighting, car keys, three wrist watches and an iPod at Taman Wangsa Maju in Telipok at 2.45am on December 12, 2013.

For these cases, Herlina set March 11 to 12 for the accused's trial and released him on bail of RM3,000 with two local sureties for each of the charges.

Meanwhile, in another Magistrate's Court, he faces another two similar charges of possessing a stolen wristwatch and a thumb drive at the same time and place.

Senior assistant registrar Ryan Sangiraan Rayner Jr who heard the case fixed February 18 and February 25 for the case management of both the cases.

All the alleged offences were committed with an accomplice who is still at large.

Rayner Jr, who presided as a magistrate, released him on bail of RM3,000 with two local sureties for each of the charges, pending disposal of the case.

Prosecuting officer Inspectors Azamana Hamat and Syahrin Ali prosecuted.

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Pro-BN NGO lodges police report over Seputeh MP’s video clip

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 08:24 AM PST

KOTA KINABALU: A non-governmental organisation (NGO) calling itself Gabungan NGO Pro BN has issued an ultimatum to Seputeh member of parliament Teresa Kok to prove the existence of pirates in Sabah within 14 days, or else face a lawsuit.

"It's definitely her intention to embarrass Sabahans, to tarnish the state's image. She clearly stated "you can visit Sabah and see pirates with bonus shows of kidnapping and shooting episodes," the NGO's president Zulkaranain Mahdar claimed yesterday after lodging the report at the city police headquarters in Karamunsing here at 11.30am yesterday.

Zulkarnain said the video clip is not only seen as slander but also has caused further sadness and disappointment to Sabahans and family members of the fallen heroes.

"The 11.39 minute video clip is purely slander and is seen as trying to damage the good image of Sabah in the eyes of other countries.

"The video clip also shows one of the guests identified as Master Yan Yan saying 'you can travel to Sabah, where you get to see pirates, with bonus show of kidnapping and scenes of open fire'.

"What are they trying to imply in the message, that if you want to see pirates and experience gunfight and be kidnapped, that you can always come to Sabah?" he asked, adding that such remarks would only bring a bad image to Sabah in conjunction with the Visit Malaysia Year 2014.

"What happened in Sabah and especially the Lahad Datu incident should not be made a joke as the fallen heroes have sacrificed their lives to protect the sovereignty of the country.

"She (Kok) must not forget that among the fallen heroes were men from Peninsular, Sarawak and Sabah," he said.

Zulkarnain said he believed the intention of Kok was to bring shame to Sabah and cause hatred and disunity among the rakyat.

He also wants the government and relevant authorities to investigate and take stern action against Kok and those involved in making the video clip.

Zulkarnain said Pro-BN also urged Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Musa Aman, to bar the Seputeh member of parliament from entering Sabah in the future.

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Villagers ‘taken advantage of’ – Dompok

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 08:22 AM PST

by Chok Sim Yee. Posted on February 5, 2014, Wednesday

KOTA KINABALU: United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) president Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said the 74 villagers from northern Sabah who were allegedly "tricked" into converting to Islam were "taken advantage of".

He said the conversion was not conducted in the true spirit of the Federal Constitution that provides for freedom of worship.

"Basically, the people in these villages were taken advantage of," he said after meeting Protestant Church of Sabah president Rev Jensey Mojuin.

Dompok said Upko had conducted a preliminary probe into the villagers' claims and was still collecting more information.

Among the 74 affected northern district Pitas villagers were some PCS members well as some from the Sidang Injil Borneo and Baptis Pelita Cahaya.

The villagers had claimed they were brought to the Pitas town community hall under the pretence of receiving financial aid from a non-governmental organisation.

Instead, they were brought to the Pitas town mosque where their identity cards were taken before they were made to recite some "foreign words" and then given RM100 each.

Sabah Islamic Affairs Department (JHEAINS) outgoing director Amri Suratman had been quoted as saying that the conversion of the 74 adults and children from three remote villages was valid as it was carried out according to Islamic law.

He said the New Year's Day event was organised by a Selangor-based NGO, but the conversion was carried out by JHEAINS officers.

Amri said the villagers were asked if they were converting to Islam voluntarily and on their own free will.

He added it was up to the Syariah Court to decide if the conversion of the villagers would stand.

When asked about Amri's remarks, Domok said; "What has been said by the department is not correct. There is evidence to the contrary. We will have more information in about a week."

Dompok also said the villagers could potentially take legal action to reverse their conversion, but the decision to do so was up to them.

He said Upko was stepping in to help the villagers as "we are here to serve the cause of justice and human rights."

"These are basic issues. A person's conversion to any religion is his right and this right must not be tampered with," Dompok said.

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