Foul!

“Corruption involving local footballers is still prevalent in the country. We are still encountering cases involving corruption among footballers, but it is not easy to prosecute someone without any concrete evidence." Those were the words of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission ( MACC) deputy chief commissioner Datuk Azam Baki. Read the report here . Here's the thing. Since the establishment of the full time committee comprising the FA of Malaysia, MACC and police in 2012 , we have hardly heard of any arrests made. Reason? As Azam said, it's not easy to prosecute without concrete evidence. As for FAM?  It's Coordination and Integrity Department, headed by former policeman Osman Bakar, does not seem to have the power or means to nab those responsible for corrupting the beautiful game. Insiders reveal the national body has been providing information to the authorities throughout last year. The M-League is still being monitored by betting websites....

An IS suspect in a SpongeBob T-shirt nabbed recently.  HARESH SAYS By HARESH DEOL ENGLISH actor, filmmaker and director Peter Ustinov once said: “Terrorism is the war of the poor against the rich, and war is the terrorism of the rich against the poor.” Such has been the misconception of the men, women and even children who join a particular group, these days in the name of religion, to fulfill a certain agenda. Experts have long dispelled the notion that acts of terror are carried out by the poor and uneducated. History has shown it is the educated and affluent who lead such organisations and brainwash the minds of others through propaganda. It has nothing to do with the poor or economically challenged. It is not even about class or inequality. Osama bin Laden was an engineer from a wealthy Saudi family. Another Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was a trained surgeon. The lead hijacker of the 9/11 attacks in US, Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta, was an engineer ...

As published in Malay Mail today By Haresh Deol 
 haresh@mmail.com.my KUALA LUMPUR — Striker Safee Sali has been gunned down by a gun and live bullets find in his pickup truck.   He told Johor Baru police he had sent his vehicle to a workshop to fix some accessories. A man driving his green Ford Ranger has been arrested.   Fresh from winning the FA Cup final, the Johor Darul Ta’zim footballer and his teammates were on their way to Johor Baru yesterday when he received a phone call that police had found a gun in his pickup truck.   Police had stopped the vehicle, driven by a 4x4 accessories workshop owner, at a roadblock near the Kempas exit at the North-South Expressway at noon yesterday.   They found a Smith & Wesson pistol and 30 live bullets in a yellow bag on the back seat of the vehicle.  “I was in the bus with my teammates in a joyous mood after beating PKNS 2-1 in the final,” Safee said.    “As we left Segam...

A person cannot be declared unfit for selection as a subinspector in Delhi Police or the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) just because he has tattoo marks on his body, the Central Administrative Tribunal has said, reported Hindustan Times. Rules on tattoo marks on the body in the recruitment process of the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) have been a grey area due to a lack of clarity on the terms and conditions contained in the recruitment notice. There is no bar in recruiting candidates in the CAPFs, Delhi police and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) with permanent tattoo as per the SSC recruitment rules. However, a 2012 home ministry notification allowed candidates with a “small engraving/tattoo of name or religious symbol on the inner face of the arms or hands” for enrolment, but said, “Candidates having permanent tattoo on any other part of the body be debarred for recruitment in CAPFs…” This ambiguity on recruitment rules was the subject mat...

As published in Malay Mail today   HARESH SAYS By Haresh Deol IT was supposed to be another day at work. Instead, I received a rude shock last Thursday from a used car dealer.   “Bro, did you lodge a police report that your car was stolen?” were his first few words on the phone. Car? Police report?   In 2010, I bought a used Mazda RX8. The first owner, a diplomat with the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, shipped the car into the country from Japan. The car was then sold to another man and I was technically the third owner. I had all the paper work, including copies of the AP, and secured a bank loan with ease.   Despite what some may say about the rotary-engine petrol-guzzling beast, it was one of a kind. The annual road tax was only RM70 (due to its 1.3cc engine) and maintaining it was surprisingly cheap. However, I did not do justice to it and decided to let it go in 2014. It was on Dec 22, 2014, when I sold it to a used car dealer. I have been “car-le...

As published in Malay Mail today       Haresh Says By Haresh Deol RAISING my hand furiously to ask questions — from the back of the media room — during a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters, I had to speak up. The first question was related to the case. The second got some stern-looking officers smiling.   “Aren’t you tired of repeating the advice to the public as they continue to fall prey to scams?” I asked. City deputy police chief Datuk Law Hong Soon responded diplomaticaly.   “We advise people not to be easily trapped by fraud, especially the Macau scam. Refer to us if you receive a dubious phone call or believe you are being tricked,” he said after KL police nabbed 52 China nationals from six high-end homes.   I bet Law has repeated the same message over and over. Given a choice, he would rather record his voice and play it each time police bust scammers who lure the vulnerable into losing money. ...

As published on the front page of Malay Mail today. By Haresh Deol haresh@mmail.com.my PETALING JAYA — A young policeman, who joined the force just six months ago, is among 26 enforcement officers picked up by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for alleged links with petrol and diesel smugglers in Durian Burung, Kedah. In what has been described as a major bust, MACC is expected to arrest more people, including police officers stationed near the Malaysia-Thailand border. The anti-corruption body had last year nabbed 12 Customs Department officers for their links with alcohol and tobacco smuggling, mainly through Port Klang. The smuggling racket cost the government billions in tax revenue. MACC had been monitoring the movements of the suspects — including nine policemen and a former Smuggling Prevention Unit (UPP) ASP who retired recently — before conducting a two-day blitz codenamed Ops Licin 2, on Monday and yesterday. The suspect...

As published in Malay Mail today. HARESH SAYS Haresh Deol IT has to be one of the darnedest statements made by a politician.   Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob is finally more “popular” than his singer son Gadaffi, also known as Dafi.    While the agriculture and agro-based industry minister’s Facebook page saw several sympathisers supporting his call to boycott Chinese traders, the majority lambasted his unwarranted remarks, saying it was racist.   The Cabinet minister, had on his Facebook page on Monday, said the majority of Malay consumers could push Chinese traders to lower prices by boycotting their businesses.   He later clarified by saying the post was not targeted towards the Chinese community in general but Chinese traders and businessmen who refused to bring down the prices of goods despite the drop in oil prices. Not targeting the community but Chinese traders and businessmen? Is there a difference?   Inspector-...

As published in Malay Mail today. Aiming for goal, Putrajaya hits crossbar Comment by Frankie D’Cruz frankie@mmail.com.my THERE was one moment this week when cumbersome rules upset our lives. It was a case of how everything that could go wrong was going wrong. On Monday, Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah disclosed the government was still studying a fuel subsidy mechanism after saying it would be rooted on the income of vehicle owners who would be split into three levels. That meant the new system had yet to be finalised. The result of announcing just one aspect: a storm of criticism in the next day’s papers, and the next and the next. Welcome to the (almost) weekly edition of “Public Information: How to create noisy debate”. It has been a full five days since we learned that those earning more than RM10,000 a month would not enjoy fuel subsidy; those with income between RM5,001 and RM10,000 would be given partial subsidy; and those earning below RM5,00...