4 œ theSun | MONDAY NOVEMBER 17 2008

news without borders

police station here yesterday, he

briefs
No more high-rises
urged Ramasamy to retract the
statement and apologise to those
involved. – Bernama

in heritage zone
GEORGE TOWN: New high-
rise structures will no longer
be legally possible in George
Town’s Unesco-listed heritage
zone when the state encodes a
new set of rules prohibiting tall
buildings by year-end.
According to stringent
conservation guidelines drafted
by the state government, new
buildings within the heritage
zone must not exceed a height
of 18m (or about five storeys).
The restriction covers a sig-
nificant area, including both the
core zone, covering 109ha, and
the 150ha buffer zone.
The new guidelines, a copy
which has been obtained by
theSun, comes on the heels of
controversial approvals already
given to four high-rise buildings
– all hotels – within the heritage
area.
Keep off politics,
Bar Council told
KUALA LUMPUR: The Bar
Council should opt to dissolve
itself if it wanted to dabble in
politics, said Malaysian Muslim
lawyers Association president
Tan Sri Abu Zahar Ujang.
He said the council was
acting like an opposition party
and was even questioning
bumiputra privileges.
“I advise the council to
form a political party if it
wants to be active in politics,”
he said at a law forum on
bumiputra rights held at Tun
Hussein Onn’s Memorial here
yesterday.
He also advised Muslim
lawyers in the country to
be united as Muslims were
“under increased pressure”
of late. – Bernama
Witchery no match
for firepower
SEREMBAN: Four wanted
Indonesian criminals who
dabbled in the black arts for
invincibility against weapons
found their witchery no
match for police firepower as
they were gunned down near
Jalan Seremban-Kualiti Alam
yesterday.
The Indonesians, who were
armed with parangs, refused
to heed an order to surrender
when the police intercepted
their car about 6am, following
an armed robbery.
Instead, the desperados,
who were barefoot, alighted
from their car and charged
at a group of policemen who
shot them dead. – Bernama
Showing
them the
‘Social contract important
to all races’
Aussies
march
against
climate
change
KUALA LUMPUR: A law lecturer has
pg 10 rejected the notion that the social
contract was to safeguard the interest
of the Malays, saying such views
smacked of ignorance.
“The social contract is important
to all ... to the Malays as well as to
the non-Malays. Without the social
contract, there will be chaos and no
one will be able to live in peace,”
said International Islamic University
Malaysia (IIUM) law lecturer Prof Dr
Abdul Aziz Bari.
Abdul Aziz, a member of the
BERNAMAPIX
London-based International Bar Asso-
ciation and Society of Legal Scholars,
said Malays have no reason to feel
threatened by the demands made by
non-Malays because their rights and
privileges were protected.
“If Lim Kit Siang were to become
a prime minister, he cannot ignore
Article 153. If he wants to change the
policy, he will have to get consent
from the Malay Rulers as provided for
under Article 38. They (the Malays) are
well-protected, well-endowed if you
look at the constitution. You cannot
take away those provisions and you
cannot amend them without prior
consent from the Council of Rulers,”
said Abdul Aziz, who has written many
books and over 50 articles on public
law, particularly constitutional law.
“To me, this is a non-issue. I don’t
understand why it should be debated
in a manner as though the Malays
were under siege,” he told Bernama
in an interview.
He said some had also failed to
fully understand the core of the con-
stitution, to the extent of denying the
existence of the social contract.
“It is true the term ‘social contract’
does not exist in the Federal Constitu-
tion but I cannot agree with views that
it is non-existent.”
Abdul Aziz, who is also the chief
editor of IIUM’s Law Journal, said
although the social contract was not
written as a document of its own,
it was amply manifested in various
provisions of the Federal Constitution,
including Article 153.
“This is not a straight legal agree-
ment, it’s a political philosophy; it’s
not like buying a car or a house where
there is a sale-and-purchase agreement.
Don’t confuse the issue ... if you don’t
understand, just keep quiet,” he said.
He said the social contract also
manifested itself in other aspects, for
instance in Article 3 of the constitution
about Islam being the official religion
of the federation but other religions
could be practised in peace in any
part of the federation.
“There is an element of compro-
mise here, of give and take between
races, because in Article 152 for in-
stance, although Malay is the national
language, there is no stopping others
from using their languages.”
He said the social contract could
change as was seen when Article 153
was amended in 1963 when Sabah
and Sarawak, together with the Fed-
eration of Malaya, formed Malaysia.
“When Sabah and Sarawak bumi-
putras were given the same privileges
(given to the Malays), Article 153 was
amended to grant the Yang di-Pertuan
Agong the responsibility of safeguard-
ing the special position of the Malays
and the Sabah and Sarawak bumipu-
tras and the legitimate interests of
other communities,” he said.
“So, the social contract can change
with the times and situation; (but it
will be alright) as long as the change
takes place in a transparent manner
and not done unilaterally,” he said.
On “ketuanan Melayu” or Malay
supremacy, he said many people
misunderstood the issue.
“It is a political philosophy. In the
constitution, it’s about our identity,
not supremacy. If we talk about the
issue of ketuanan Melayu, then there
will be the concept of a master and
the rest will be second-class citizens
or slaves, which is unacceptable,
either in a democratic constitution or
in Islam.
“The Malay supremacy issue arose
much later. To me, the more you talk
about it the more contradictions you’ll
find,” he said.

Police report
against DCM
PENANG: The Bayan Baru Umno
Youth division has lodged a po-
lice report against Deputy Chief
Minister II P. Ramasamy over his
remarks that the Malays domi-
nated the state civil service.
Division Youth chief Norman
Zahalan said the statement had
racial undertones.
Speaking to reporters after
lodging a report at the Bayan Lepas
ropes...
The wife of the deputy
prime minister, Datin Seri
Rosmah Mansor, watches
as students demonstrate
some difficult skipping
rope exercises at the
Kompleks Penyayang Bakti
Bandar Sri Damansara in
Kuala Lumpur, yesterday.
The demonstration
was part of a day-long
programme called “A
Healthy Nation Begins
With You and Me”.
Cop stabbed during drug raid
by Charles Ramendran
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: A police detective was
seriously injured after being stabbed in the
chest by a drug pusher during an operation
to weed out illegal drug activities in the city
late on Saturday.
The lance corporal, identified only as
Zuki and attached to the Dang Wangi district
narcotics department, was taking part in a
raid on an apartment in Jalan Masjid India
when the attack took place at about 9pm.
He had confronted a drug pusher who
was armed with a pair of scissors and tried
to apprehend him but in the ensuing strug-
gle was wounded by the suspect.
His colleague Sgt Yusuf Mohammad,
who tried to subdue the 38-year-old sus-
pect, was also lightly injured. Several other
police detectives then managed to subdue
the pusher who was found in possession of
15 tubes of heroin.
Zuki was rushed to the Kuala Lumpur
Hospital where he was warded in the
intensive care unit while Yusuf received
outpatient treatment. Zuki is reported to
be in stable condition.
Kuala Lumpur Narcotics Department
chief ACP Kang Chez Chiang said 15
suspected drug pushers were arrested in
various areas including Jalan San Peng in
the operation.