Sunday International News

Malaysia immigration graft a
‘national security problem’
Agence France-Presse . Penang, Malaysia
Malaysia’s anti-graft watchdog Saturday said rampant corruption at the immigration department was a national security problem following the arrest of seven people.
Among those detained was a top immigration official who allegedly issued visas to foreign workers in exchange for money, reports said.
Officials from the Anti-Corruption Agency seized cash totalling more than 600,000 ringgit (185,759 dollars).
ACA director general Ahmad Said Hamdan said the watchdog got wind of the scam two months ago following tip offs from the public.
‘It goes right to the top. It involves the public, foreigners, government officers and also syndicates.
‘This actually involves national security ... and the problem is throughout the country. We have arrested a number of people and we expect to pick up more soon,’ Ahmad told reporters in the northern state of Penang.
Malaysia is a magnet for immigrant workers who for decades have come to labour in manufacturing, construction and on oil palm plantations. It is one of the largest importers of foreign labour in Asia.


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‘Lebanese political crisis not
over with new cabinet’
Agence France-Presse . Beirut
While the formation of a national unity government is an important step towards stability in Lebanon, the country’s political crisis is far from resolved, analysts cautioned on Saturday.
A new 30-member cabinet that gives the Hezbollah-led opposition veto power on decisions and includes one minister from the militant group was announced on Friday, seven weeks after an accord which saved Lebanon from the brink of renewed civil war.
‘The birth of the cabinet puts an end to one crisis, but it does not fundamentally resolve the political crisis... or eliminate political differences,’ Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Centre, said.
‘The cabinet’s principal purpose is preparing for elections, which opens the door to negotiations, but it isn’t an easy challenge to face.’
The opposition had waged a campaign against the government that plunged the country into a debilitating political crisis, culminating in widespread clashes that killed 65 people in May and saw a Hezbollah-led takeover of large swathes of west Beirut.
An accord struck in Qatar late May put an end to the street fighting and called for the election of army chief Michel Sleiman as president after a six month vacuum and for the formation of a national unity cabinet.
Political wrangling between the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority and the opposition, backed by Iran and Syria, prolonged the cabinet’s formation.
The government’s first task in accordance with the constitution is to put out a political declaration which requires a parliamentary vote of confidence.
‘The next battle is about the government’s statement which will entail some muscle flexing, especially when it comes to the arms of the resistance and respect of international resolutions,’ said Nadim Shehadi, London-based Chatham House’s Lebanon expert.
‘All this language is explosive.’
The issue of Hezbollah’s weapons is controversial, especially after they were used domestically in the May clashes and in the devastating 2006 war the militant group fought against Israel.
The war was sparked exactly two years ago Saturday when Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.
In the ensuing conflict more than 1,200 people were killed in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis were killed, mostly soldiers, before a UN-brokered ceasefire took effect on August 14.
‘The Doha agreement deals with the matter of the weapons of the resistance vaguely and doesn’t address the relationship between the state and such organisations,’ Salem said.
‘This implies that the agreement does not recognise the sovereignty of the state over these organisations, but rather places them on equal footing.’
The opposition refused to include the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons as part of the Doha accord. According to Shehadi, ‘we will see another crisis with the question of all the decisions taken when the government was incomplete.’
Opposition ministers resigned from the cabinet in November of 2006, but prime minister Fuad Siniora’s government continued with business as usual after that.


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‘Lob bombs’ biggest worry for
US in Baghdad
Associated Press . Camp Liberty, Iraq
US forces may be close to unlocking the mystery of who is behind a deadly innovation in Iraqi insurgents’ weapons, a ‘lob bomb’ now being used in Baghdad to target US and Iraqi combat outposts, a senior American general said Friday in an Associated Press interview.
Major General Jeffery Hammond, commander of US forces in Baghdad, called the weapon ‘the greatest threat right now that we face,’ and he likened the shadowy group behind it to the American military’s elite Delta Force.
The weapon is particularly worrying because it is designed to cause catastrophic damage and cannot be stopped once it has been launched, Hammond, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, said in an interview in his office at this US military headquarters compound just west of the capital.
US forces detained a man on Thursday who Hammond said could provide valuable insights into the group behind the bombmaking.
‘We think we have defined the network,’ he said. He would not elaborate, although other American officers said in interviews that the group is Shiite and may have links to Iran.
‘We think we might have picked up a guy that could lead us – could be a big lead in this,’ Hammond said.
It’s not clear whether this small group is related to efforts by anti-American Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to revitalise his Mahdi Army, which had held sway in the Sadr City section of Baghdad until US and Iraqi forces wrested control after seven weeks of fighting that ended in May.
Arguing against a link to such an al-Sadr initiative is the fact that the group that Hammond described has been operating since at least late 2007, although it has become more active in recent months.
The 107 mm rockets that are used in the improvised bombs – which some call an airborne version of the roadside bombs that through the course of the war have been the leading killer of US troops – are manufactured in Iran, officials said. But some officers cautioned against assuming Iran is directly involved.
The weapons are launched from small trucks and are fired in multiples of four to nine rockets at a time. The detonation is sometimes triggered by a signal from a cell phone, other times by a washing machine timer.


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