Daily Express, Kota Kinabalu, 11 October 2002

Rape and attempted rape: Five jailed

Kota Kinabalu: Five locals were on Thursday jailed between five and eight years for the rape and attempted rape of a 19-year-old girl seven years ago.

Lee Cheng Kong, 22, Chong Yaw Loong, 22, Ching Teng Yaw, 21, Fan Shau Loong, 24, and Liaw Chen Chung, 20, were found guilty by Sarawak-based Sessions Court Judge Abdul Rahman Sebli.

But they applied for a stay of execution pending notice of appeal to be filed in the High Court.

Abdul Rahman granted each of them bail of RM15,000 with RM10,000 deposited under two sureties pending the hearing of the appeal.

Chong, Fan and Liaw who were found guilty on two counts of raping the girl were each jailed eight years and ordered caned five times on each count.

Abdul Rahman, however, ordered the jail terms to run concurrently.

Lee was sentenced to five years' jail for raping the girl while Ching was handed five years' imprisonment for attempting to rape her.

The five had committed the offence at a Chinese cemetery in Jalan Inanam, between 2.30am and 3.30am on July 20, 1995.

They also repeated the act at a downtown hotel between 4am and 4.50am the same day.

The five were ordered to enter their defence on July 24, 2000 when the court ruled that the prosecution had established a prima facie against them.

Counsel Sugumar Balakrishnan closed the defence case on Aug 9 this year, after calling six witnesses.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Wan Abdul Razak Wan Husin appeared for the prosecution.

The Star, Kuala Lumpur, 23 October 2002

Kajang rapist jailed 19 years

By M. Mageswari

KUALA LUMPUR: An unemployed man who brutally attacked and raped a 19-year-old student in broad daylight in Kajang was jailed 19 years and ordered to be whipped 12 times, after he pleaded guilty at a Sessions Court in Ampang here yesterday. 

Jumat Abdullah @ Richard Norman, 32, of Jalan Lundu Biawak in Kuching, who admitted to kicking and trying to suffocate the Form Six girl, was ordered to serve his jail term effective from the date of arrest on Oct 10. 

Judge Mohamed Saman Mohd Ramli said he had considered the fact that Jumat had owned up to committing the offence as soon as an interpreter read him the charge yesterday. 

"Maybe it is true that the accused had regretted (his actions) and perhaps it is real that he (Jumat) will not repeat the act," the judge said.

However, Mohamed Saman said he had to take into account that rape was a serious offence and cause for concern among the public.

"The incident occurred in daylight and the accused inflicted a lot of violence on the victim, such as pushing her (from an 8m-high pedestrian bridge), kicking and choking her. These violent acts could have caused her death.

"It is fortunate that the victim did not die or else you (Jumat) will have to face other charges," the judge added.

Jumat was expressionless when the sentence was read.

He was charged with raping the student below the bridge in Jalan Reko Kajang, Kajang, between 2.35pm and 4pm on Oct 8.

The offence under Section 376 of the Penal Code provides for a jail term of up to 20 years and whipping.

In mitigation, Jumat, who was unrepresented, asked for a lower sentence saying that he had a family comprising a father, mother and siblings to take care of.

Earlier, DPP Kamaruzaman Abdul Jalil asked the court to impose a deterrent sentence against Jumat, saying that the punishment should be a lesson not only to the accused but also to would-be offenders.

The court was told earlier that the student was on her way to a shopping complex when Jumat called out to her at the bridge but she ignored him.

The accused then pushed the student from the bridge, choked and kicked her causing her to scream in pain, after which he raped her for between 10 and 15 minutes.

Jumat then tied the student up with a rope, covered her body with a black plastic bag and stuffed her mouth with a pair of stockings and gagged her by tying a handkerchief across her jaw.

Two men who happened to be passing by stopped to help the girl.

Jumat was also charged with robbing the student in the same court yesterday, under Section 394 of the Penal Code. He claimed trial.

The offence carries a maximum of 20 years' jail and a fine or whipping if convicted. The judge fixed Nov 27 for mention.

Jumat was sent to Kajang Prison to serve his jail sentence late yesterday.

Follow-up: 29 November 2002 - Rapist gets another 11 years' jail term

The Star, Kuala Lumpur, 26 October 2002

166 illegals caned and jailed under tougher Act

A TOTAL of 166 illegal immigrants have been ordered to be caned and jailed so far since the tougher Immigration Act was enforced on Aug 1.

Minister in the Chief Minister's Department Datuk Abdul Ghapur Salleh said another 99 illegal immigrants caught during the period were jailed.

Answering questions raised by government backbenchers on the twin war against illegal immigrants and squatters under Ops Nyah II Bersepadu, Ghapur said that so far 232,511 Filipino and Indonesian illegal immigrants had been deported or returned voluntarily since the operations begun on Feb 26.

He said 18,659 Filipinos, 10,573 Indonesians and 279 others were deported with 203,000 (140,000 Indonesians and 63,000 Filipinos) returning voluntarily before the July 31 amnesty deadline.

Ghapur said the operations had so far cost the state and Federal Governments RM5.1 mil.

BBC News On Line, 28 October 2002

Asia-Pacific

Islamist wants sex-husbands whipped

By Jonathan Kent
BBC Malaysia correspondent

The spiritual leader of Malaysia's Islamist opposition party says he would like to see whipping introduced for men who enter into polygamous marriages purely for reasons of sex.

Nik Aziz Nik Mat, who is also the Chief Minister of the state of Kelantan, was responding to a proposal that state assembly members be allowed to take extra wives at will in an effort to help single mothers.

The spiritual leader of Malaysia's Islamist opposition party, PAS, says that men should be deterred from taking more than one wife for the wrong reasons.

Mr Nik Aziz says polygamy in Islam is not a passport to sex but a responsibility that should not be abused.

He says that many women are badly treated after their husbands take other wives, and that second wives are often dumped after their husbands become bored with them.

He says such men should be whipped until they become impotent.

He was speaking after a state assemblyman from his own party suggested that elected representatives in Kelantan be given written permission to take extra wives whenever they wish, in an attempt to help single mothers.

Mr Nik Aziz has a colourful reputation.

Three years ago he announced that the state civil service in Kelantan would only employ ugly women because pretty ones could get married.

His party, Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), has tried to introduce Islamic laws to the two Malaysian states it controls, but has been blocked by the national government.

© MMIII