Utusan – Isytihar perang sebagai jenayah

November 21, 2011 in Articles, Events@PLF, Media, PLF News, Spotlight, Supporting the Foundation, Tun Dr. Mahathir

November 20, 2011 | By Ku Seman Ku Hussain

Mulai semalam hingga Selasa ini bekas Presiden Amerika Syarikat (AS) George W. Bush dan Perdana Menteri Britain, Tony Blair “dibicarakan” di Kuala Lumpur. Mereka dibicarakan kerana dituduh melakukan jenayah perang terhadap Iraq pada 2003. Akibat jenayah itu dianggarkan 1.4 juta orang awam di Iraq terkorban, berjuta yang lain menderita krisis makanan dan kesihatan.

Walaupun kedua-dua pemimpin yang dianggap “paksi kejahatan dunia” itu tidak ada di Kuala Lumpur, perbicaraan diteruskan di hadapan tujuh panel hakim dan disaksikan oleh orang ramai.

Bush dan Tony Blair didapati melanggar piagam Majlis Keselamatan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB). Mereka melancarkan perang atas Iraq untuk menumpaskan Presiden Saddam Hussein dengan alasan Iraq mempunyai loji senjata nuklear. Tetapi setelah didapati alasan itu tidak benar, PBB dan Mahkamah Jenayah Antarabangsa (ICC) gagal mengambil tindakan terhadap terhadap kedua-dua mereka.

Membicarakan dua bekas pemimpin Barat itu memperlihatkan kesungguhan Malaysia memperjuangkan keadilan kepada mangsa jenayah perang sekaligus keamanan dunia. Pada masa yang sama Malaysia mendesak dunia mengiktirafkan perang sebagai jenayah dan mereka yang melakukan jenayah ini mesti dihukum. Walaupun Perang Dunia Kedua telah berakhir lebih 60 tahun lalu, kuasa besar Barat mengenepikan badan dunia seperti PBB untuk melancarkan perang atas negara lain yang merdeka.

Tribunal Jenayah Perang Kuala Lumpur dianjurkan oleh Yayasan Keamanan Global Perdana yang diusahakan oleh bekas Perdana Menteri, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. Perbicaraan ini juga sindiran tajam kepada PBB dan ICC yang gagal melaksanakan tanggungjawab untuk memberi keadilan sekaligus memperjuangkan hak asasi manusia untuk hidup aman. Ini memperlihatkan dengan jelas bahawa kedua-dua bekas pemimpin itu mempengaruhi PBB dan ICC untuk tidak menghukum mereka.

Perbicaraan dijalankan di depan tujuh panel hakim yang terdiri daripada Datuk Abdul Kadir Sulaiman, bekas Hakim Mahkamah Persekutuan, Datuk Dr. Zakaria Yatim, bekas Hakim Mahkamah Persekutuan, Tunku Sofiah Jewa, Profesor Salleh Buang, Alfred L. Webre, Profesor Emeritus Datuk Shad Saleem Faruqi, profesor undang-undang UiTM dan Profesor Niloufer Bhagwat. Tujuannya untuk membuktikan Bush dan Tony Blair melakukan jenayah di Iraq yang akhirnya mengakibatkan krisis kemanusiaan yang teruk.

Walaupun dipadankan dari sebuah tribunal jenayah perang Vietnam 1967 anjuran kerajaan Sweden dan Denmark untuk mendakwa AS membunuh orang awam Vietnam, Tribunal Jenayah Perang Kuala Lumpur lebih berwibawa. Ini kerana Suruhanjaya Jenayah Perang Kuala Lumpur menyediakan bukti-bukti yang sangat kukuh dan tidak boleh ditepis oleh tertuduh.

Antaranya rakaman pengakuan rakyat Iraq yang menjadi mangsa perang dan mereka yang didera di luar batas kemanusiaan semasa dalam tahanan. Pengumpulan bukti walaupun mengambil masa yang lama iaitu lebih dua tahun tetapi berhasil mengemukakan pertuduhan yang kukuh terhadap Bush dan Tony Blair. Inilah kali pertama sebuah tribunal membicarakan bekas pemimpin AS dan Britain itu selepas perang Iraq pada 2003.

Bagi tuduhan pertama, Bush dan Tony Blair dituduh melakukan jenayah dan menakluki sebuah negara yang merdeka, Iraq pada 19 Mac 2003. Ini menyalahi piagam PBB yang melarang serangan atas negara lain kecuali mempertahankan diri. Tuduhan kedua, Bush bersama lapan pegawai kanan dituduh melakukan penyeksaan dan mengeluarkan perintah eksklusif untuk mengecualikan semua konvensyen antarabangsa termasuk Konvensyen Geneva III 1949 terhadap penglibatan mereka di Afghanistan pada 2001 dan di Iraq pada 2003.

Serangan

Selain Bush dan Tony Blair, turut dituduh dalam Tribunal Jenayah Perang Kuala Lumpur ialah bekas Naib Presiden AS, Dick Cheney, bekas Setiausaha Pertahanan, Donald Rumsfeld, bekas Peguam Negara Alberto Gonzales, bekas Penasihat Jabatan Pertahanan, William Haynes dan profesor undang-undang, John Yoo. Kalau ada yang masih ingat, perang Iraq adalah ujian penting Rumsfeld mengendalikan serangan AS dengan teknologi pemusnah paling moden.

Seperti kata Dr. Mahathir, ini bukan mahkamah main-main kerana ada pendakwaan, ada tertuduh dan ada juga peguam untuk membela tertuduh. Dr. Mahathir memberi tanggungjawab kepada barisan panel hakim yang berwibawa dalam undang-undang antarabangsa untuk menghukum Bush, Tony Blain dan yang lain. Ini adalah keputusan berteraskan undang-undang bukan perasaan.

Usaha ini memperlihatkan walaupun Malaysia kecil tetapi tidak mengecilkan diri. Malaysia berusaha memperjuangkan keamanan sejagat dan sentiasa memerhati tingkah laku PBB yang tidak menjalankan tanggungjawab dengan adil. Cara Malaysia perjuangkan keamanan bukan menggunakan senjata seperti AS. Tribunal ini juga seharusnya memalukan ICC yang gagal mendakwa Bush dan Tony Blair padahal asasnya cukup kukuh. Keputusan perbicaraan ini digunakan untuk mendesak dunia memulaukan kedua-dua bekas pemimpin ini dari sebarang kegiatan termasuk mengundang mereka memberi ceramah.

Hak asasi manusia telah dicabuli kuasa-kuasa besar Barat. Mangsa perang dinafikan mendapat keadilan sebaliknya didera melampaui kemanusiaan. Maka Tribunal Jenayah Perang Kuala Lumpur mengambil tanggungjawab untuk memberi keadilan.

Pemimpin kuasa besar dunia tidak boleh memberikan apa alasan sekalipun untuk mewajarkan perang terhadap negara lain. Tidak ada istilah perang untuk keamanan seperti yang dislogankan oleh AS semasa menyerang Afghanistan. Sepuluh tahun AS memburu Osama Ben Laden dan berjuta yang menjadi korban. ternyata tidak ada istilah perang untuk keamanan. Lebih malang yang terkorban sama ada di Iraq atau Afghanistan sebahagian besarnya rakyat biasa.

Mana-mana pemimpin yang mewajarkan perang adalah menghalalkan pembunuhan beramai-ramai. Pembunuhan dan penyeksaan terhadap rakyat Palestin sejak tahun 1948 hingga kini oleh Israel disebabkan AS menghalalkan perang. Dalam perang Iraq, AS bukan sahaja menghalalkan pembunuhan dan penyeksaan malah menjadikan Iraq sebagai medan menguji teknologi senjata pembunuh termoden. Ini bukan rahsia lagi. Belanjanya ditanggung oleh kerajaan Iraq yang menjadi boneka AS sekarang ini. Ternyata “pertolongan” AS menjatuhkan Saddam bukanlah percuma. Ia dibayar dengan kehilangan nyawa, harta benda dan khazanah budaya berharga zaman kegemilangan Baghdad suatu waktu dulu.

Banyak pemimpin dunia yang terlibat dengan jenayah perang dibawa ke muka pengadilan. Bekas pemimpin rejim Khmer Rouge di Kemboja, Pol Pot yang membunuh lebih dua juta orang awam akhirnya dihadapkan ke muka pengadilan di negaranya. Tetapi ICC yang mempunyai pengaruh lebih besar tidak mendakwa Bush dan Tony Blair yang melakukan jenayah yang sama. Inilah jawapannya kenapa Malaysia memikul tanggungjawab dan menganjurkan Tribunal Jenayah Perang Kuala Lumpur. Mercutanda keadilan dan kemanusiaan disuburkan dari negara ini.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Dr Siti Hasmad Mohd Ali, at the exhibition

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NST – KL tribunal to try Bush, Blair for Iraq war crimes

November 14, 2011 in Articles, Events@PLF

November 14, 2011 | By R. SITTAMPARAM

The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal  on Saturday will  try former United States president George W. Bush and former British prime minister Tony  Blair on a charge of committing crimes against peace during the Iraq War.

Bush and seven  top US officials who served under him  will also face a separate charge of crimes of torture and war crimes at the tribunal.

The three-day hearing, conducted by  seven senior judges headed by retired  Federal Court judge Datuk Abdul Kadir Sulaiman,  will go on although the two accused leaders and other defendants have yet to respond to the tribunal’s notice.

Datuk Dr Yaacob Hussain Marican, the secretary-general of the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War,  which is holding the tribunal, said the tribunal was being convened for the third time since 2007.

Yaacob said the tribunal of conscience was modelled on  the one convened by philosopher Bertrand Russell in 1966 to try the perpetrators of the Vietnam War.

Yaacob said although the tribunal  lacked enforcement powers, it would publish the verdict to get the world community to treat the accused as guilty persons.

“The charges are being brought against the accused by the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission,  which comes under our foundation, following in-depth investigations into complaints received from war victims in 2009.

“The commission  acts as a peoples’ initiative to provide an avenue for  victims to file their complaints and let them have their day in a court of law.”

Professor  Gurdial S. Nijar, a  law professor and author of  law publications, and Professor Francis Boyle,  an American professor, practitioner and advocate of international law, will head the prosecution during the trial.

The trial, to be held in an open court at the headquarters of the Al- Bukhary Foundation in  Jalan Perdana here, is open to the public.

In conjunction with the tribunal, Perdana Global Peace Foundation will organise an exhibition, ” War is a Crime”,  with a conference on  Friday.

Its chairman, Tan Sri Norian Mai, said the conference’s theme, “The Arab Uprising”, to be opened by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, would see  speakers such as former US presidential candidate and congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and former United Nations assistant secretary-general Denis Halliday.

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The Ingredients of an Innovative Culture

November 4, 2011 in Articles, Events@PLF, PLF News, Spotlight

YBhg Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Azman Hashim, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Perdana Leadership Foundation

Innovation is key to Malaysia’s success in the 21st century as it aims to reach high-income status by the year 2020. This was the basis of discussions at the 13th Perdana Discourse Series “Building a Culture of Innovation in Malaysia: Successes, Strategies and Challenges” organised by the Perdana Leadership Foundation and Universiti Teknologi MARA on the 2nd of November 2011.

In his welcome address, Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Azman Hashim, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Perdana Leadership Foundation, remarked, “Where industrialisation relied on our natural resources and labour, now it will be the application of knowledge to innovate and the speed by which it is applied on the part of governments, businesses and the workforce that will determine our success in this new age of rapid technological change.”

There were Malaysian success stories highlighted in the keynote address of Tan Sri Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr. Augustine S.H. Ong, Founder-President of MINDS (Malaysian Innovation and Design Society) and former Director-General of PORIM (Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia). An eminent scientist with 14 patents to his name, Tan Sri Augustine highlighted the Malaysian innovators such as Pua Khein Seng, the inventor of the thumb drive, and Professor Dr. Raja Noor Zaliha Raja Abdul Rahman, who was the first scientist to crystallise protein – but also stressed that Malaysian discoveries often do not receive sufficient support nor recognition from the public and funding sectors.

Tan Sri told the tale of Tocotrienols (an essential component of vitamin E) which were first isolated by Malaysians working in palm oil research but which subsequently were leveraged by others, namely the Americans, due to lack of support in Malaysia to take this discovery further.

YBhg Tan Sri Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr. Augustine S.H. Ong, Founder-President of MINDS, being candid during his keynote address.

During the panel session, panelists Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, CEO of Multimedia Development Corporation, Mr. Prakash Chandran, CEO of Siemens Malaysia and Encik Johan Mahmood Merican, CEO of TalentCorp, all agreed that innovation thrives in an open culture that encourages questions and ideas. Formality and bureaucratic layers should be reduced to encourage the free-flow of ideas, and diversity – of backgrounds, expertise and knowledge – will boost innovation. Silicon Valley’s diversity of human resources – where many entrepreneurs come from other countries – was cited as a prime example of diversity working in innovation’s favour.

Mr. Prakash also listed the various factors that encourage innovation in an organisation, using Siemens and its long track record of producing inventions and discoveries, as a model: leadership support, talent procurement and management, resources and technology. He reminded the audience that innovation is not the exclusive domain of scientists and researchers but should be pursued across all of an organisation’s departments. This change in thinking, he said, is one of the challenges faced at Siemens.

Datuk Badlisham also stressed that ideas on their own are not unique and it is in execution of the idea that value is generated. “Do not be too protective of your idea,” he advised.

Johan Merican emphasized three factors that he believed are key to an innovative culture: Knowledge, Leadership and Thinking Skills, and added that ethical underpinnings are also necessary to ensure innovations lead to positive outcomes.

During panel session – (from left) Mr Prakash Chandran, President & CEO of Siemens Malaysia, En. Johan Mahmood Merican, CEO of TalentCorp Malaysia, Puan Zuraidah Haji Musib, CEO of Primakarya Media and Communications Consultancy and Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, CEO of MDeC

Members of the 200-strong audience consisted of students and academics, as well as R&D staff of corporations.

The Perdana Discourse Series debuted in August 2004 when Tun Dr Mahathir discussed the inaugural topic of “National Unity”. Other Discourses within the series dealt with subjects such as National Sovereignty, Media and National Development, and Political Stability.

The Series aims to foster interaction and dialogue between older and younger Malaysians on issues of national importance, such as unity, social re-construction and education; attracting and stimulating the young Malaysian’s interest and increase awareness on the country’s leadership path by tracing the policies, strategies and models used during the tenure of the past Prime Ministers. A monograph of the discussions and issues arising from the discourse will be documented and published.

The Perdana Discourse Series is sponsored by PROTON Holdings Berhad.

Full house - The audience during the PDS13

En. Johan Mahmood Merican, CEO of TalentCorp Malaysia

During Q&A session

Registration of delegates

International students from Albukhary International University at the discourse

Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, CEO of MDeC

Keynote Speaker, YBhg Tan Sri Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr. Augustine S.H. Ong, Founder-President of MINDS.

PERODUA Contributes RM500,000 to Perdana Leadership Foundation through sales of its limited edition Alza

October 27, 2011 in Articles, Events@PLF, PLF News, Spotlight, Supporting the Foundation, Tun Dr. Mahathir

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who conceived of PERODUA, is giving a speech at Perodua’s Tea with Tun Mahathir, thanking Perodua for contributing RM500,000 to PLF through sales of its limited edition Alza. He is also commending Perodua for managing to increase sales of its vehicles although, as Advisor to PROTON, Tun admits to some envy when he sees quite a big number of Myvis on the road!

Links:

Tun Dr Mahathir Visits Perodua after 10 years

Limited edition Alza to open for booking from April 1

Tun Mahathir visits Perodua

Perodua contributes 1/2 million to Perdana Leadership Foundation

Perodua Contributes RM500,000 to Perdana Leadership Foundation

Perodua gives RM500,000 to Perdana Leadership Foundation

No Concrete Proton-Perodua Tie-up Yet: Dr Mahathir

Perodua remembers Dr M’s contributions

NST – Joint effort to help 3.2m starving Somalis

August 18, 2011 in Articles, Events@PLF, Media, Spotlight, Tun Dr. Mahathir

PGPF president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Media Prima Berhad news and editorial operations executive director Datuk Ahmad A. Talib (left) and Mercy vice-president (1) Associate Professor Dr Mohamed Ikram Mohamed Salleh (right) at the launch of Tabung Bencana NSTP-Media Prima for Somali famine victims yesterday. — NST picture by Afendi Mohamed

August 17, 2011 | by Koi Kye Lee

PUTRAJAYA: Concerned for the famine-stricken people in Somalia, the Tabung Bencana NSTP-Media Prima yesterday kick-started a fundraising campaign to assist them.

The campaign, launched by Perdana Global Peace Foundation (PGPF) president, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, is a collaborative effort between NSTP-Media Prima, PGPF and the Malaysian Medical Relief Society (Mercy).

Due to an ongoing drought crisis, more than 3.2 million people in Somalia are on the brink of starvation.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the famine has badly affected two regions of southern Somalia.

In his speech, Dr Mahathir commended the fundraising initiative.

“It is good that we are aware. We sympathise with these people and we have come together to do something to alleviate their suffering.
“I hope Malaysians, whom we claim to be generous people, will lend a helping hand to support this effort to assist the victims,” he said. He also made a personal contribution towards the fund.

Media Prima Berhad news and editorial operations executive director Datuk Ahmad A. Talib said they were approached by Mercy to help with the fundraising for the Somalis, and later by PGPF, with a similar intention.

“Since both organisations approached us for a noble cause, we decided to come together and pool our resources for the same objective.
“As a media house with multiple media platforms and channels, we believe that we can always use our strength for good causes such as this, help unify Malaysians from all walks of life and contribute towards the less fortunate, irrespective of race, religion and boundaries,” he said.

Mercy vice-president (1) Associate Professor Dr Mohamed Ikram Mohamed Salleh said the fund would help to create greater awareness about the situation in Somalia.

“Due to the complexity of the situation and also logistical issues, we need a big amount to sustain the relief project in the country so that we can provide them with medical and humanitarian aid.”

It was learnt that several organisations had pledged their support. PGPF pledged RM50,000.

Yayasan Al-Bukhary and Emkay Group also pledged RM 750,000 and RM10,000 respectively.

The collections will be channelled towards providing medical aid, food and humanitarian needs to the famine victims of Somalia.

Present during the fundraising campaign launch was NSTP group managing editor Datuk Zainul Arifin Mohammed Isa.

The Tabung Bencana NSTP-Media Prima was launched in October 2009, in response to the earthquake that shook Padang, Sumatra and other Southeast Asian countries.

The fund has also covered flood relief missions in Kedah, Perlis, Pagoh in Johor and Miri in Sarawak.

All donations can be banked into Maybank account number 5141-0532-0757.

Cheques can be made payable to “Tabung Bencana NSTP-Media Prima” and sent to the Finance Department, The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd at 31, Jalan Riong, 59100 Kuala Lumpur.

Do also also visit the Perdana Global Peace Foundation Official Website

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