Chow Kon Yeow: 曹观友

Press Statement by DAP National Vice Chairman and MP for Tanjong Chow Kon Yeow on Thursday, 17 May 2007.
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Foreign Minister should intervene and rescue Malaysian duo still stranded in Saudi Arabia
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It is regrettable that two Malaysian citizens are still being deprived of their human rights over a commercial dispute with a Saudi Arabian company.

The duo, Francis Ng Wai Kong and Victor Hoo Kim Swee are unable to return to Malaysia since January 2007 because their passports have been detained.

Worse still, they were ordered out of the Malaysian Consul-General office in Jeddah at midnight on 6 May 2007. Until now the Foreign Ministry has been keeping mum over this unfortunate incident.

The Malaysian government and Foreign Ministry should reclassify the case as a case of violation of the human rights of Malaysians who have their freedom of movement restricted and prevented from going back to their home country.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar should direct the Malaysian Consul-General in Jeddah, Syed Bakri Syed Abdul Rahman to treat the case as a violation of the human rights of two Malaysians and do everything possible to secure their early return to Malaysia.

As the problem involved a dispute between a Saudi Arabia company and two Malaysian companies, Syarikat Season Growth and Syarikat Akebono, it should be resolved according to commercial and contract laws of that country.

The Saudi Arabian company should seek remedy in a commercial and civil court and they cannot take laws into their own hands by illegally restricting the free movement of the two Malaysians who are merely servants and agents of the Malaysian companies.

It is regrettable that the Malaysian Consul General in Jeddah, Syed Bakri Syed Abdul Rahman had taken upon himself to be a judge in this case by ordering the Malaysian companies to give in to the full demand of the Saudi Arabian company.

It is pertinent for the Malaysian government and Foreign Minister to secure the return of Francis Ng and Victor Hoo soonest as they are now considered overstayers and may be detained as illegal immigrants in this foreign land.

On 17 April 2007 I tried to move an emergency motion to discuss the plight of two Malaysians who were stuck in Saudi Arabia because of a trade dispute.

The Speaker rejected the motion on the ground that the Foreign Ministry was looking into the matter.

Today Vincent Hoo, the father of one of the victims, forwarded to me an e-mail message he received from the duo, Francis Ng and Victor Hoo.

Both of them have been chased out of the Consulate in Jeddah in the middle of the night on 5 May 2007.

They have no documents to identify themselves; their passports were withheld by the other party. They were driven around by a taxi in search of a hotel to put up the night.

They went to five hotels, but no one dare to take them in because they have no identity papers.

Finally they were dumped by the taxi driver near an overhead bridge at about 3.00 in the morning.

They were forced to spend the night under the bridge with other illegal immigrants.

Finally in the morning they found their way to their lawyer’s office.

I am asking why these two Malaysians are being treated this way by the Jeddah Consulate. I have seen Ahmad Shabery Cheek, the parliamentary secretary of the Foreign Ministry yesterday and today. He had no answer for me and instead asked me to write to the Minister himself.

Do Malaysians still care?

I have just returned from a Roundtable on Foreign Relations in Federal Countries: The Case of Malaysia at the USM, Penang today.

The roundtable is sponsored by the Forum of Federations, Ottawa Canada and the Centre of International Studies, School of Social Sciences, USM.

The main theme is to explore the role of the constituent or state governments in international affairs constitutionally and politically.

I observed that under our Federalism, due to constitutional provisions and political control, State government has only minimum role not only in foreign affairs but also economic planning and other affairs of the State. While our Constitution provides for Federal legislations and regulatory mechanism, it is felt that the Federal government is found to be less sensitive to State problems.

A participant remarked that with so little power, we might as well do away with the State Government in our Federal system. More and more powers of the State Government have been taken away by Federal government. Opposition party will find it so untenable to convince the people that they are able to rule the State without the support of the Federal government.

State governments today are left with very few rights, in land matters and religious affairs. Even then, there are Federal legislations which grant substantial power to the Federal government, for example The Land Acquisition Act and the standardization of Islamic laws.

This is an important area in our political system and much more attention need to be given to ensure the people rights in State matters are not further eroded.

Another observation worthy of our concern is that Penang failed to emerge as the regional hub of global ICT industry because the State has so little power to do so. Almost everything comes under the purview of the Federal ministries.

Queen’s Counsel Cherie Blare (Cherie Booth) made a surprise appearance at the Federal Court’s hearing for Fawziah Holding’s appeal over her representing the company in the Metramac case in Putrajaya yesterday.

I watched over the TV news that she was escorted by security officers from Britain and local Special Branch personnel.

QC Cherie Booth was given VIP treatment. She was driven to the Palace of Justice in a black BMW bearing the crest of the Prime Minister’s Department.

Now, the question is: “Who is who?” Why the Prime Minister’s Department gave VIP treatment to QC Cherie Booth? She was after all at Putrajaya as a QC for her application to appear before the Federal Court. Cherie Booth was not paying a visit to the Palace of Justice as the wife of Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The British authorities did the same. They were providing VIP treatment to QC Cherie Blaire, a rare privilege for any attorney. The British public may want an answer from their Prime Minister’s Department.

We are often caught in such a situation and sometimes the no clear line is drawn up to handle such situation. In this case, (Malaysian and British) taxpayers’ monies are spent to provide VIP treatment to an attorney out for a private job-related duty.

This is a conflict of interest situation and it would be prudent for politicians to avoid.

The Prime Minister’s Department owes Malaysians an explanation.

A member faxes over a Bernama report, “Malaysia to give aid to cash-trapped Palestinian Government”. He questioned why.

He said the government is complaining that it does not have enough fund to support petroleum subsidies and the people are made to pay more for petrol.

He added, “How come the government is not short of fund when giving aid to foreign citizens.”

Well, we did not dealt into the action taken by major Western donors who imposed a freeze on aid to the Palestinian government after Hamas, which the West categorized as a terrorist group won parliamentary elections in January.

What caught my attention was a statement made by our Prime Minister.

He was quoted, “The Palestinian people should not be punished for their choice of government. Their decision (to choose Hamas) should be respected.”

People who make such remarks must “not throw stones when they are living in a glass house”.

Voters who supported Opposition candidates have made their choice but does the BN government respect their choice?

Instead, they are discriminated against and denied their equal rights to development.

Tomorrow, Sarawakians will go to the poll and make their choice.

Can Pak Lah respect their choice?