4 theSun | TUESDAY OCTOBER 13 2009

news without borders

Legal firm discharged from Manohara’s case

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court
here yesterday allowed a legal
firm to discharge itself from rep-
resenting the wife of the Tengku
Temenggong of Kelantan, Tengku
Muhammad Fakhry Sultan Ismail
Petra, and her mother in the RM105
million defamation suit brought
against them by the prince.
Senior Assistant Registrar
Shazali Datuk Hidayat Shariff, in
granting Messrs Fakrul Hisham
Abdullah & Associates’ application,
also ordered that the discharge
order be served to Manohara
Odelia Pinot and her mother, Daisy
Fajarina, before Oct 28.
The court set Oct 29 for mention
of the case to ensure the order is
served to both the defendants.
On Sept 25, the legal firm, rep-
resented by lawyer Noor Hisham
Abdullah, filed an application to
discharge itself from representing
Manohara and Daisy on grounds
that the defendants did not extend
their cooperation, making it difficult
for the firm to prepare the relevant
documents to defend their case.
The firm, which was appointed
to represent Manohara and Daisy
on July 30, had served a preliminary
discharge notice from the case to
their clients through registered post
to Jakarta on Sept 20 and Oct 5.
Until now, Manohara and Daisy
have yet to enter their defence.
Lawyer Mohd Haaziq Pillay,
counsel for Tengku Muhammad
Fakhry, told reporters outside the
court that if Manohara and Daisy
were to appoint a new counsel,
they would have 14 days to file their
defence, failing which a judgment
in default could be obtained.
In the suit filed on July 20, the
prince is suing his wife and mother-
in-law, claiming that they had falsely
and maliciously defamed him dur-
ing news conferences between
April and June about Manohara
being abused. – Bernama

whether Kugan was given any injection

briefs
Seminar discusses arms
transfer and controls
KUALA LUMPUR: Representatives of 28 Asia-Pacific
countries commenced a two-day seminar here yes-
terday to discuss global transfers of conventional
arms and controls, according to a statement.
The seminar will be attended by high-level
representatives of the relevant ministries of the
participating states, international and regional
organisations and civil society, said the statement
from the Delegation of the European Commission
to Malaysia.
The participants will discuss the patterns in
international trade of conventional arms and proc-
esses under way at the United Nations, and will
have the opportunity to analyse issues of priority
and concern. – Bernama
First book on military legal
proceedings launched
KUALA LUMPUR: The first book on Malaysian
military law entitled Military Legal Proceedings
in Malaysia was launched yesterday by Defence
Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
The 482-page book was jointly written by a
former judge advocate general at the ministry
of defence, Teo Say Eng, and the commander of
the Subang air force base, Kol Wan Normazlan
Che Jaafar.
The book deals primarily with the
investigation of offences and charges,
proceedings before courts martial and reviews
of convictions and sentences meted out in
summary dealings and court martial trials.
– Bernama
Army, navy and police hold
joint operations off Sabah
SEMPORNA: An integrated operation, involving
the armed forces, the police and the maritime en-
forcement agency in Sabah waters was launched
yesterday.
The 10-day operation, which covers waters off
Lahad Datu to Tawau, was launched by the Joint
Forces Commander Lt-Jen Datuk Allatif Mohd Noor
at the Azumi Camp near here. – Bernama
‘Return Kugan’s
samples to UMMC’
PETALING JAYA: The magistrate’s
court here yesterday ordered the po-
Growing lice to return the forensics samples of
number
A. Kugan, who died in police custody ear-
of female ly this year to University Malaya Medical
Centre (UMMC).
envoys Magistrate Ho Kwong Chin made
pg 8
the ruling after hearing submissions by
lawyer N. Surendran, the counsel for
Kugan’s mother, N. Indra, and deputy
public prosecutor Hanim Mohd Rashid,
who represented the police.
Hang on comrade ...
AN ARMY personnel attends to his colleague,
who was critically injured in a road accident
at Km294 of the North-South Expressway near
the Bangi exit yesterday. A car with three
soldiers collided with a small lorry travelling on
the fast lane from the south heading to Kuala
“After hearing submissions by both
parties, the court orders that the specimen
and other items seized to be returned to
UMMC immediately,” he added.
Indra had filed the application to
compel the police to return all items,
documents, tissue samples and bodily
fluids to the UMMC pathology depart-
ment as she wanted to send them to a
medical centre in Australia
for tests to determine
Lumpur.
Two soldiers
were badly injured in the accident while a
third suffered minor injuries.
The lorry driver and his passenger were
not hurt.
prior to his death in January this year.
The samples were seized by the police
on April 6 from UMMC where a second
post mortem was carried out on Kugan
on the insistence of his family.
Kugan, 22, was arrested by police on
Jan 15 on suspicion of stealing a car and
was detained at the Taipan USJ police
station for five days before his death.
Kugan’s death sparked an outcry from
his family and civil society groups.
Police initially said there was no
foul play in Kugan’s death as the first
post mortem attributed it to water in his
lungs, but following a public outcry, the
Attorney-General ordered the police to
investigate his case as murder.
A second post mortem, conducted by
a UMMC pathologist detailed numerous
injuries on his body.
Though 11 police personnel from
the Taipan USJ police station were
transferred to desk duty in connection
with the case, only one policeman,
V. Navindran, 28, was charged on Oct 1
at the sessions court with two counts of
causing grievous hurt to Kugan.
May 12 is National
Nurses Day
KUALA LUMPUR: May 12 is National
Nurses Day, Health Minister Datuk Seri
Liow Tiong Lai announced yesterday.
“This is to acknowledge the nurses’
continuous contribution to the country’s
healthcare sector,” he said at a news con-
ference after opening the International
Nursing Conference, near here.
He said that the move was approved
by the cabinet recently.
Liow said although 93% of vacancies
for nurses in the public sector had been
filled and that some 7,000 new nurses
graduate annually, there was still a short-
age especially in specialised areas like
palliative medicine and critical care.
He said currently there were some
79,742 nurses in the country with 59,000
in the government sector.
He said to date, there were 107
nursing colleges and higher education
institutions that offered nursing courses
nationwide.
“At the moment, our nurses popula-
tion ratio is 1:329 and we hope to achieve
the World Health Organisation bench-
mark of 1:200 by 2013,” he said.