Curious that Senator Penny Wong has said nothing about fellow South Australian and Malaysian Adele Koh

  by Ganesh Sahathevan 

"The trouble is that the Australian press is still infantile....It does not know how to control its bowels. Only one paper has to get on to a good story and we get several cases of verbal and pictorial diarrhea, all trying to go one better"\

Adele Koh,c .1975

The Advertiser,,1977

                                SA State Library -Royal Visit archives
    

When campaigning for election in 2019 Penny Wong said that appointing her the first Asian-Australian foreign minister would send a strong message to Asians that Australia was not white and racist . Australian media, especially the ABC were happy to go along with that narrative, but a bit of research would  have shown that relations between Australians and Asians, including Malaysians,  were well underway at all levels long before Penny Wong Ying Yen was born.

It is highly unlikely that Penny Wong is unaware of that history, her Sabah Hakka-Cantonese father married an Australian from South Australia, while he was a student here. Given that history it is curious that Penny Wong has had nothing to say about fellow Malaysian and South Australian Adele Koh's contributions to that ongoing relationshsip.  Adele Koh's contributions were quite public, and the photo above from The Advertiser was front page of the Malay Mail in 1977, when that paper was the country's premier afternoon paper.                                                                                                                                                                       Those who knew her in Malaysia had a good laugh, all in the knowledge that someone whom they knew to be highly intelligent had conjured up yet another episode to amuse herself and entertain others. Wong's failure to acknowledge the work of others in an attempt to portray herself as the one born to redeem Australia's reputation in Asia and the world is even more galling given the record of the former South Australian Premier Don Dunstan's close relationship with Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew and Penang's Lim Chong Eu, and native appreciation of South East Asian culture. He was also married to Adele Koh, until her death in 1978.

END

See Also 

"The trouble is that the Australian press is still infantile," she said. "It does not know how to control its bowels. Only one paper has to get on to a good story and we get several cases of verbal and pictorial diarrhea, all trying to go one better."

Yesterday in their Reliving 40 Years series, the STAR featured two ladies I knew as friends.

I met Adele at one Press Ball. We used to have lots of Balls those days like the Ad Agency Balls. Every organization held one ball or another annually. However, when we questioned why nobody held the government’s Ball, a furor ensued and we never had anymore Balls and henceforth only Annual Dinners…..no more holding any Balls. Period. I digress….

Adele, when we reminisced, reminded me that she boarded with Mum when she had a brief stay in Taiping. I was training to be a teacher in Penang then. I remember Adele for many things, some told to me by her journalists’ colleagues. But we all agreed on one thing…..her legs were meant only for mini-skirts which was the rage then and dang, she did carry those minis so well. All typewriters stopped clacking when Adele entered the Press Desk. She had straight, healthy jet-black hair which was in vogue then. In 1975 she moved to South Australia as a political staffer and later became the wife of the 35^th Premier of South Australia, Don Dunstan. "She has the high cheekbones of her Asian forebears," wrote one, "and she walks with the in-born grace of the East." The fact that she was from Penang added to her exotic status. If you thought she was a bimbo, how wrong you are. She chided the Australian Press:

"The trouble is that the Australian press is still infantile," she said. "It does not know how to control its bowels. Only one paper has to get on to a good story and we get several cases of verbal and pictorial diarrhea, all trying to go one better."

If cancer of the lungs did not end this young firebrand’s life can you imagine what she would today say about our Main Stream Media! Maybe much worse things! No?

PwC's FCPA problems may include its conduct in the matter of Malaysia's 1MDB

by Ganesh Sahathevan 

      Nazir Razak paying a courtesy call on old friend and new chairman of the SC, Faiz Azmi

As previously reported on this blog,  PwC may have a FCPA problem, arising out of its business  dealings with the Communist Party China linked Top Education Group .

That however is not the only FCPA problem that PwC may have to contend with. As mentioned: 

PwC's Australian scandal reveals PwC has a global centre which can intervene in local operations; there are now more reasons to believe that PwC Malaysia's 1MDB work was compromised by the fact that PwC has been Goldman Sachs' auditor for over 30 years

 Concerns about PwC's conduct in Malaysia with regards the 1MDB have been raised on this blog since at least 2019 but PwC has been very good at playing Malaysian politics. Rather than pursue PwC  for 1MDB related damages, Prime Minister Anaw Ibrahim has appointed PwC' Malaysia's executive  chairman at all relevant times, Faiz Azmi, a known associate of Najib Razak's brother Nazir, the new chairman of the Securities Commission, Malaysia's primary corporate regulator.

To Be  Read With 

Monday, August 12, 2024

PwC may have a FCPA problem - The Communist Party China linked Top Group investment by PwC Australia and its partners can have consequences under US law

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

FCPA

Like many other of the Big 4 accounting firms PwC which has its headquarters in the United States, structures itself in a way  that allows the firm to claim worldwide reach, but where national firms can claim to be independent of each other. KPMG tried that during the 1MDB  kleptocracy investigation , and PwC seems to be attempting the same to avoid any connection to the Australian tax scandal involving a number of Australian partners.  The revelation that the newly appointed CEO Kevin Burrowes received undisclosed payments from PwC International further complicates the effort.

 

 In the course of the media's investigation into PwC's tax scandal the ABC's Investigation Unit discovered that PwC and a number of its partners had acquired IPO shares in Top Education Group Ltd, an Australian company that was sought and was listed on the HKEX. Top was listed in early 2018, in what appears to have been a ramp and dump of the type known to attract the attention of Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). 

 

Top Group's listing was made possible only as a result of the company being granted what remains the first and only license to grant law degrees. The license was granted by the NSW Legal Profession Admission Board, at  a point which coincided with donations from that company, and its then owner, Zhu Minshen, to the NSW Liberal Party. Zhu Minshen has since passed away, but in 2016, just two years prior to the IPO, and 3 years before his license to grant law degrees was renewed, Zhu's role in influence peddling on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party was given a very public airing.

The chairman of the NSW Legal Profession Admission Board at all relevant times was the then Chief Justice Of NSW, Tom Bathurst AC KC, who has been recently appointed by Kevin Brookes to oversee his review of PwC's processes, which is supposed to address  the  failings in governance that led to the tax scandal.

 

The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act   has broad application . PwC's attempts to distance itself from the tax scandal of its Australian operations do not appear to working, and the Top Group affair, condemned by Australia's Minister For Education Jason Clare involves  Australian public officials at very many levels of government.

END

PwC may have a FCPA problem - The Communist Party China linked Top Group investment by PwC Australia and its partners can have consequences under US law

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

FCPA

Like many other of the Big 4 accounting firms PwC which has its headquarters in the United States, structures itself in a way  that allows the firm to claim worldwide reach, but where national firms can claim to be independent of each other. KPMG tried that during the 1MDB  kleptocracy investigation , and PwC seems to be attempting the same to avoid any connection to the Australian tax scandal involving a number of Australian partners.  The revelation that the newly appointed CEO Kevin Burrowes received undisclosed payments from PwC International further complicates the effort.

 

 In the course of the media's investigation into PwC's tax scandal the ABC's Investigation Unit discovered that PwC and a number of its partners had acquired IPO shares in Top Education Group Ltd, an Australian company that was sought and was listed on the HKEX. Top was listed in early 2018, in what appears to have been a ramp and dump of the type known to attract the attention of Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). 

 

Top Group's listing was made possible only as a result of the company being granted what remains the first and only license to grant law degrees. The license was granted by the NSW Legal Profession Admission Board, at  a point which coincided with donations from that company, and its then owner, Zhu Minshen, to the NSW Liberal Party. Zhu Minshen has since passed away, but in 2016, just two years prior to the IPO, and 3 years before his license to grant law degrees was renewed, Zhu's role in influence peddling on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party was given a very public airing.

The chairman of the NSW Legal Profession Admission Board at all relevant times was the then Chief Justice Of NSW, Tom Bathurst AC KC, who has been recently appointed by Kevin Brookes to oversee his review of PwC's processes, which is supposed to address  the  failings in governance that led to the tax scandal.

 

The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act   has broad application . PwC's attempts to distance itself from the tax scandal of its Australian operations do not appear to working, and the Top Group affair, condemned by Australia's Minister For Education Jason Clare involves  Australian public officials at very many levels of government.

END

Muslims celebrate the first time in history a NSW Supreme Court admissions speech has been delivered by a person donning the kefiyeh -CJ Andrew Bell can longer distance himself from the misconduct of his underlings

 by Ganesh Sahathevan

In the words of the Australian Jewish Association :

An ugly anti-Israel protest took place with the seeming approval of the NSW Law Society.

 However, as Mahmud Hawila states in his Linkedin feed, the video of this incident has been posted on the NSW Supreme Court Youtube page. The Chief Justice Andrew Bell is ultimately responsible for conduct in his court, but has been unwilling  to address the misconduct of his underlings.

 

TO BE READ WITH 

Sunday, April 17, 2022

NSW Supreme Court position in favour of sharia not matched by any statement in favour of other faiths-Perception of bias among adherents of other faiths justified

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

The. NSW Supreme Court's  position in favour of sharia   is  not matched by any similar statement in favour of other faiths.  There is at least a perception of bias, especially given the somewhat sanitized version of sharia that the Court describes, which  it says is  not incompatible with Australian law. 

TO BE READ WITH 

Sharia: The Sultan Of Brunei & the Governor designate NSW Margaret Beazley's views compared.;the official position of the Government Of Brunei vs that of the Supreme Court NSW 

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Readers are referred to the article published earlier on this blog about the views of the Governor designate NSW, the former President Of The Court Of Appeal NSW Margaret Beazley AO.
The Governor designate's views are contained in a speech that continues to be broadcast (or "published")  to the whole world on the NSW Supreme Court website:

Governor designate Margaret Beazley AO  will have to clarify her position on Islam very soon.:Her silence in the case of the Malaysian lesbians punished by caning maybe acceptable among judges but not from the Queen's representative

The story above includes this paragraph which the Legal Profession Admission Board NSW, whose chairman is the Chief Justice NSW Tom Bathurst, have deemed to be defamatory ,and lacking "insight": 


The Hon Justice M J Beazley AO, President Of The Court Of Appeal ,State Of NSW, Australia ,said in a speech delivered in 2014, but not widely reported:
"...despite a perception that Islam and the Australian law are incompatible, this is not borne out by the caselaw"
She did so in conjunction with the Affinity Intercultural Foundation, the Australian arm of the Fetullah Gulen movement. While Gulen and his followers have been recently victimised by former friend and ally Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the president of Turkey who they helped install, Gulen and his people are not innocent of jihadi activity.
They are nevertheless quite adapt at recruiting Western "intellectuals" to promote their, cause, Her Honour is only the most recent.



Now , compare the views of the highly learned justices to that of the Sultan Of Brunei, an absolute monarch of a Muslim country:

A Powerful Message From Brunei to the World

Why do you care so much what's happening here in an Islamic nation when you didn't even bat an eyelid about the Syrians, Bosnians, Rohingyas, Palestinians, etc.

“In your countries you practice freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion, etc. It’s in your constitution. It’s your political system, your national identity, your rights, your way of life. In my country, we practice a Malay, Islamic, Monarchical system and we’re going to start practicing the laws of Islam, Shari’ah Law. Islam is in our constitution, our national identity, our rights, our way of life. We may find loopholes in your laws and justice system, and you may have found ours, but this is our country. Just like you practice your right to be gay, etc. for this world you live in now, we practice our rights to be Muslims for this world and the Hereafter. This is an Islamic country practicing Islamic Law. Why don’t you worry about your kids being gunned down in schools, worry about your prisons being unable to accommodate convicts, worry about your high rate of crimes and DUIs, worry about your high suicide and abortion rate, worry about whatever it is that you should be worried about there. Many religions are against homosexuality, it’s nothing new. The moment you hear that Islam and Muslims making a stand and trying to reaffirm their faith, you judge, you boycott, you say that it’s wrong, it’s stupid, it’s barbaric. Again, go back to those worries that you should focus on I’ve mentioned earlier. Is it not wrong to legalize deadly weapons, is it not wrong to allow unborn babies to be killed, is it not wrong to allow a lifestyle that results in AIDS and discontinuation of the next generation? Why do you care so much what’s happening here in an Islamic nation when you didn’t even bat an eyelid about the Syrians, Bosnians, Rohingyas, Palestinians, etc. Thousands are being killed there and you don’t care, not one is killed here under this Shari’ah Law, and you make a big fuss, even when the citizens here who are directly affected by it, accepts it with peace. Punishments may be harsher but it does not mean it’s easier to be carried out. There are processes to go through before an actual conviction. We are fine with it, we are happy.”

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MH 17: Australia's Penny Wong solemnly swears to pursue Russia, but says nothing about Malaysia's opposing views

by Ganesh Sahathevan


Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong vowed to continue to hold 
Russia to account. Picture: NewsWire/ Martin Ollman

News.com.au and others have reported:

Marking 10 years since the horrific downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has reignited her vow to hold Russia to account for the nearly 300 deaths.  

n her speech, Wong said the downing of the plan was “incomprehensible”, and promised to continue to pursue justice against Russia.

“On behalf of the Australian Government, I recommit, again, to our collective pursuit of truth, justice and accountability for the outrages perpetrated on July 17, 2014,” she said.

“I recommit to our ongoing partnership with the Netherlands, which lost nearly 200 nationals, with Malaysia, Belgium and Ukraine.

Malaysia however has taken a different stance, distancing itself from laying any blame on Russia. As reported on this blog:

MH 17 : On the second anniversary Malaysia's PM Najib spends time in Moscow,while Australia's Julie Bishop continues to defend her handling of the issue

Australian media in particular the ABC have gone to great lengths to play up Wong's Malaysian antecedents,  implying that being Malaysian born and Chinese Wong can more readily speak with Asia's leaders. There is however nothing to indicate that Malaysia has changed its position on MH17 was a Malaysian plane to Malaysia's position on the matter is crucial. If nothing else Malaysia may well have access to evidence that could make or break the case. Malaysia' s opposing views may well be fatal to the case brought by Australia and The Netherlands, and it is unlikely that Wong is unaware of that fact.

 END



To Be Read With

Comment
There are many reasons why Fauziah cannot be ignored, the fact that she was " Malaysia’s Ambassador to the Netherlands when the MH17 incident occurred" is just one of them.


Gaps in JIT probe over MH17 By Datuk Dr Fauziah Mohd Taib
June 22, 2019 @ 12:29am



THE June 19 press conference by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) over the downing of MH17 has caused some dissension in international affairs. Because of the murkiness of the situation and the many angles, I believe it is worthwhile for us to break down the matter into components before looking at it as a whole again.



Facts of the case: Malaysia Airlines MH17 was shot down by an air missile near Donetsk in the eastern part of the Ukraine five years ago on 17 July. All 298 passengers, including crew members, were killed. MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur passing through a zone of conflict in eastern Ukraine.



The JIT: The team comprises prosecutors from the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, Belgium and Ukraine. The purpose was to establish the facts of the case, determine the truth of what happened, gather criminal evidence and identify those responsible.

Malaysia was initially excluded from the JIT until it protested, justifying that we have ownership to the aircraft and the number of Malaysians who perished were considerable.



JIT findings: MH17 was shot down by a BUK missile transported into the separatist-controlled territory of eastern Ukraine from Russia. The Dutch findings were based on physical evidence where some 35 per cent of the aircraft’s remnants were transported in 11 containers to the Netherlands. According to the Dutch Safety Board, each piece of evidence was meticulously examined at least five times.



Based on these findings, the JIT held a joint press conference in The Hague to announce four suspects to be charged with the downing of the MH17 aircraft. Of the four, three are Russian nationals while the fourth is Ukrainian.

They are said to be responsible for bringing in the deadly weapon into eastern Ukraine, which according to the JIT had only one purpose — to shoot down a plane. The suspects were eliminated from hundreds of others based on screened big data, tapped telephone conversations and the social media.

Under Dutch criminal law their act is punishable even though they were not active soldiers and did not pull the trigger.



Despite the findings, JIT has left many questions unanswered. These questions, I believe, are more pertinent to the case:

FIRST, none of the four suspects were the crew members of the vehicle from which the surface to air missile was shot. The JIT was unable to identify who they were, how many of them, and how they were linked to the four suspects. What was their chain of command and what was the instruction? What was the intent of firing the missile? Was the incident a conscious and deliberate act intended to hit the Malaysian commercial aircraft per se or was the Malaysian aircraft caught in a crossfire?



Under criminal law, it is usually the act and intention at the same time that constitute a crime. The plaintiff has to prove that the civilian aircraft was intentionally shot. The defence is successful simply if it raises a reasonable doubt.



SECOND, there were 160 commercial flights flying over the Ukraine on that day. Why did the Ukraine air traffic controller direct MH17 to fly at a lower flight path, at 33,000 feet, over the conflict zone that put our aircraft in danger? Is the Ukraine not also culpable for directing MH17 to fly at that level, knowing that it was allowing a commercial airliner to fly straight into a zone of conflict?



THIRD, JIT members were drawn from the countries involved in the downing of MH17. But why was Russia not included in the JIT? Some press statements have alluded that Russia was invited to join the JIT, but declined. Was this the same way that Malaysia was initially excluded from joining the JIT, because it could not be determined if Malaysia would be supportive of Russia and not the West?



According to the JIT, the suspects are innocent until proven guilty and it is now in JIT’s hands to show that they are innocent. Witnesses have been asked to come forward. This comes after five years of the establishment of the JIT. It shows how little evidence they have to begin prosecution yet the trial will still begin on March 9 in The Hague next year.



For Malaysians, the fact that the four suspects are linked to the Russian government is not relevant. We should not be caught in a geopolitical feud between the West and Russia. After all, from the very beginning, the Russians have been blamed by the West either directly or indirectly for the incident.



What is relevant for us is the truth. What happened on that fateful day? Who caused it, and was it intentional? If it was intentional, then why us?

The writer was Malaysia’s Ambassador to the Netherlands when the MH17 incident occurred

College Of Law Australia's directive to Malaysian advisers may have implications under Malaysia's laws- College Of Law offered LLM degrees in Malaysia without approval from Malaysian authorities, and despite not being among law schools certified by the Australian Law Schools Standards Committee

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

                             The College Of Law's misconduct in Malaysia is a matter of public record

It has been previously reported that College Of Law Australia's CEO Neville Carter informed this writer in 2019 that he had instructed his staff to not provide answers to any queries from this writer . The queries concerned the College's business and Carter's claims about his contribution to Malaysian legal practise.

The College's advisers Dhinesh Bhaskaran and Tat Chung Wong are subject to Malaysian laws,and their seeming obedience to Carter's directive may have consequences for all concerned under Malaysian law, with regards the College's misconduct in offering LLM degrees in Malaysia without approval from Malaysian authorities, and despite not being among law schools certified by the Australian Law Schools Standards Committee.

If nothing else, being officers of the court Bhaskaran and  Wong do have obligations to report the College's misconduct to their Chief Justice and the relevant Malaysian authorities. Being part of a scheme to conceal information from their Chief Justice and Malaysian authorities is likely to invite investigation from all relevant authorities, to begin with. 

TOE BE READ WITH 

Wednesday, June 12, 2024

Bar Council Malaysia working with College Of Law Australia promised its members "internationally recognised" law qualifications - College Of Law Sydney not among law schools certified by the Australian Law Schools Standards Committee

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

 An extract from the Bar Council Malaysia's 2017/18 Annual Report: 

However,  College Of Law Australia, based in  Sydney,is not among law schools certified by the Australian Law Schools Standards Committee. The College's CEO Neville Carter has ordered his staff to not entertain queries from this writer, which go back to 2018, and concern the College's conduct in Malaysia.

TO BE READ WITH 

Saturday, January 23, 2021

College Of Law Sydney's LLM degrees offered in Malaysia, Singapore, ASEAN not recognised even in Australia: College Of Law Sydney not among law schools certified by the Australian Law Schools Standards Committee

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

                                                            https://www.collaw.com/our-people

Readers will recall that Sydney's College Of Law has begun offering a range of LLMs, or Masters Of Law courses in Malaysia, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN on the strength of its standing in Australia, and its contribution to legal practise in Malaysia going back to the 80s. As New Malaysia Times has reported, the College's past and recent business in Malaysia is shrouded in mystery. Silence on the part of the College's advisers in Malaysia, Dinesh Bashkaran of Shearn & Wong Tat Chung of Wong Beng Toh, who are senior members of the Malaysian Bar , has only deepened the mystery. 

Now it has been discovered that the College Of Law Sydney, and thus the LLM courses it offers,are not certified by even the Council Of Australian Law Deans and its   Australian Law Schools Standards Committee.

The Australian Law Schools Standards Committee (ALSSC) is established under Standard 12 of the Australian Law School Standards. The ALSSC’s functions are to:

• consider and determine applications from law schools for certification as compliant with the Standards; and
•  keep the Standards under review and to propose to CALD amendments from time to time.

The ALSSC is comprised of eight committee members from both within and outside the law school sector.

A list of the Australian Law Schools that are certified as at 9 March 2020 is available here.

https://cald.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Certified-Law-Schools-as-at-9-Mar-2020.pdf               

Readers can see for themselves from the PDF link above that the College Of Law Sydney is not among those listed as being certified by the CALD.

END