Word: malaysia
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...British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the verdict "monstrous" and urged the United Nations Security Council to impose an international arms embargo on the regime. Malaysia's Foreign Minister Anifah Aman expressed "grave concern" over the verdict and called for an urgent meeting of his counterparts in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a regional organization that is usually supportive of Burma. A global arms embargo is "the most effective way of showing this military dictatorship that it can no longer defy the international community," says Zoya Phan of London-based advocacy group Burma Campaign...
...over-zealous and abusive show of power to crush the people's right to assembly and free expression," Ragunath Kesavan, president of the Malaysian Bar Council, told TIME. "The new government appears determined to stifle public opinion, persecute and punish those who dare to speak out." (See pictures of Malaysia...
...mayhem on Saturday, his critics are now saying, are a harbinger of worse things to come. The brutal display of force unfolded in the middle of a Saturday afternoon in central Kuala Lumpur as protesters marched to Istana Negara palace to ask King Mizan Zainal Abidin - whose role in Malaysia today is largely ceremonial - to repeal the ISA law. The law, under which detained persons can be held without trial for years under the act, was first enacted in 1948 to use against communist insurgents, but has always been abused. In September 2008, the ISA was resurrected to temporarily arrest...
...weathered his own political storms in recent years, has been styling himself as the prime-minister-in waiting. "I have promised a review of the ISA," Najib told local media on Sunday. "They can protest in halls and stadiums but not on the streets." Police and government officials in Malaysia typically view street demonstrations as a challenge to their authority, whereas a gathering in a stadium or otherwise contained public space is considered a peaceful and legitimate show of dissent. The current opposition, however, says street demonstrations themselves are peaceful with police using force to disperse the crowd...
...Najib had been doing okay until Saturday's mayhem, according to political analysts. After inheriting a ruling coalition in disarray and a government lacking firm direction amidst an economic slowdown, he had pulled the government together and give "hope of a fair, just and united society under his One Malaysia banner," says political scientist Denison Jayasooria. Mr Najib saw to it that more non-Malays were employed in the civil service, started several new, government-managed, big-sized unit trust schemes allowing non-Malay participation. He even allowed unsold portions of the units reserved for Malays, to be offered...