Syria air strikes kill 15 in hard-hit Aleppo

Syria air strikes kill 15 in hard-hit Aleppo
Soon Koh’s faction drops quit bombshell
Head of State lauds tradition of festive open houses in Christmas message
Alarm foils bid to rob deputy minister’s house
No closure of Malaysia-Indonesia border check-point in Tebedu – Police
Police deny Bukit Aman was attacked, Facebook claim a ‘despicable act’

Posted: 24 Dec 2013 09:50 AM PST

BEIRUT: Syrian air strikes killed 15 people, including three children, in Aleppo on Tuesday, as the regime pressed a blistering 10-day bombing campaign that has killed hundreds, threatening planned peace talks.

One activist in Aleppo described the past 10 days as "the most violent in the whole of the Syrian revolution," a war that has claimed more than 126,000 lives since March 2011 and displaced millions of people.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has documented the killing of 379 people, among them 108 children, 34 women and 30 fighters, in the massive air campaign in and around Aleppo, the country's second city and onetime commercial hub.

Video footage distributed by Shahba Press, a network of activists in the region, showed men covered in dust carrying a woman through a destroyed street in the rebel-held Sukkari neighbourhood.

Other men carried out a baby and an older child, all survivors of the bombing.

The Observatory, a Britain-based group relying on a network of activists and other witnesses inside Syria, called on "the international community, the UN secretary general and anyone with a conscience to take immediate action to stop these indiscriminate killings of Syrian civilians."

Aleppo has been divided into regime and rebel-held enclaves since the opposition launched a massive offensive in July last year.

Rebel areas have since suffered frequent bombardment, but an activist in Aleppo told AFP via the Internet that the latest attacks are unprecedented.

"The past 10 days in Aleppo have been the most violent in the whole of the Syrian revolution," said Mohammad Wissam, a 19-year-old activist.

"When the planes come, people freeze, they stand, look up at the sky, and wait for the bombing, feeling helpless.

"Then when the bombing starts, so does the panic. People run aimlessly in all directions, looking for anywhere to hide, but there is nowhere to hide. So many people are getting trapped under the rubble of collapsing buildings," Wissam told AFP.

"When the helicopters start launching the TNT-packed barrels, it's like madness grips everyone… The bombing is random."

The opposition National Coalition has said it will boycott peace talks slated for January if the bombing of Aleppo does not cease.

"In order for the political process to succeed, immediate confidence building measures must be enacted – to include the establishment of humanitarian corridors to cities under siege by Assad's militias – and an immediate halt to the regime's barrel bomb campaign," Munzer Aqbiq, an adviser to the Coalition's presidency, said on Tuesday.

Rights groups have widely condemned the use of TNT-packed barrels dropped from helicopters as unlawful because they fail to discriminate between civilians and combatants.

But a security source in Damascus on Tuesday defended the military's operations to "save Aleppo".

"We do not target any area unless we are 100 per cent sure that the ones there are terrorists," the source said, using the regime's term for the rebels.

"The bodies you see on television are the bodies of terrorists and mercenaries, most of who travelled into Syria from abroad."

Syria's state news agency SANA also defended the military's actions, accusing the United States of "ignoring the crimes committed by the terrorists" after Washington condemned the bloody air campaign in Aleppo.

"Washington is a pirate that only looks with one eye," said the agency.

SANA also reported that four people were killed in a "terrorist" mortar attack on the eastern edge of Damascus.

A foreign ministry source meanwhile accused rebels of recently attacking two sites where chemical arms are stored, one in Damascus province, the other at an unspecified location in central Syria.

Blaming foreign backers of the opposition for the attacks, the source called on the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to "make every possible effort for these irresponsible countries to stop their practices."

The OPCW has been working in Syria since October to eliminate its massive chemical stockpile as part of an unprecedented UN-backed mission to disarm a country torn apart by civil war.

The UN resolution followed a US-Russian deal that averted US strikes on the regime after Washington accused it of launching a gas attack on August 21 that killed hundreds.- AFP

Soon Koh’s faction drops quit bombshell

Posted: 24 Dec 2013 09:44 AM PST

by Raymond Tan reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on December 25, 2013, Wednesday

Nine aligned to SUPP Sibu branch chief threaten to leave party if he is sacked

SIBU: The crisis gripping Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) deepens with the declaration by the party's five state assemblymen and four political secretaries to the Chief Minister that they will quit the party if Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh was sacked.

Making their stand through press statement yesterday, the group which is aligned to Wong in the internal dispute said, "We sink or swim with Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh. If he is suspended or expelled from the party, we shall leave with him."

The nine who issued the joint statement are Datuk Lee Kim Shin, Andrew Shilling, Datuk Francis Harden, Suzanne Lee, Datuk Dr Jerip Susil, Ku Fut Po, Ranun Mina, Phang Dah Nan and Dr Johnical Rayong.

The group warned that any action taken by the disciplinary committee against Soon Koh would irrevocably and permanently split the party.

With the party's disciplinary panel showing no sign to back down from its decision to censure Soon Koh the internal power struggle looks like spiralling into the eventual destruction of the state's oldest party.

The statement added: "If this happens, the destruction of SUPP will rest squarely on the present Central Working Committee and the persons behind the move to weed out Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh. They must bear full responsibility…."

They stressed they did not recognise the legality of the Central Committee because its members were elected in the last Triennial Delegates Conference which was tainted by voting irregularities, starting from the branch levels.

"Neither the Central Committee nor the Central Working Committee has the legal standing to set up any disciplinary committee. They also cannot take any action against any member while the validity of the election is awaiting confirmation from ROS."

The dispute besetting SUPP sprang from alleged election irregularities from branch levels to the party's Triennial General Meeting in 2011.

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Head of State lauds tradition of festive open houses in Christmas message

Posted: 24 Dec 2013 09:43 AM PST

by Jacob Achoi reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on December 25, 2013, Wednesday

KUCHING: Head of State Tun Datuk Patinggi Abang Muhammad Salahuddin commended the government's effort to continue organising open houses during every festive celebrations at national level.

He said such gesture, which is only practised in Malaysia, would further promote unity and harmony among the people of various races and religions.

"Open houses is a traditional way which is still very effective to enhance harmony among us who embrace different religions, and for this reason, the effort by the government to organise open houses for the different festive celebrations is very much lauded," he said in his Christmas message.

He said he had repeatedly pointed out that through open houses people of various races and religions visit one another.

Salahuddin also stressed that tolerance among the people of different religious beliefs must continue to prevail and flourish, to preserve the existing harmony, peace and unity.

He pointed out that Christians had played a very important role within the plural society of the state.

"Co-operation and tolerance among the people of different races and religions has been the pillar of strength for Sarawak to move forward," Salahuddin said.

Encouraging economic growth had brought about progressive development for the state to continue moving forward allowing the people to enjoy prosperity, he added.

Salahuddin also urged the people to help promote the Visit Sarawak Year 2014.

The Head of State also called on the younger generation to face challenges with patience, knowing that they will become the future leaders of the country.

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Alarm foils bid to rob deputy minister’s house

Posted: 24 Dec 2013 09:39 AM PST

KUCHING: Burglars attempted to sneak into Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar's double-storey bungalow in Green Road yesterday, but their effort was thwarted by the alarm.

Only an Indonesian maid was in the house when the incident unfolded at about 3.15am, and she was believed to be fast asleep upstairs. Wan Junaidi and his family were away on holiday.

Kuching police chief ACP Roslan Bek Ahmad said the burglars entered the compound through a cap in the fence behind Wan Junaidi's house. That fence is shared with a vacant house.

The alarm was triggered when the burglars tried to force open a window, and they managed to give five personnel guarding the house the slip on a motorcycle, he said.

"The alarm went off when they (burglars) tried to force open the window, and this alerted the two GOF and three Rela personnel on duty guarding the house.

"One of the GOF personnel released a warning shot to the air while chasing after them, but they fled on a Honda EX5," he said, adding it was raining heavily then.

Roslan said initial investigation showed no one was injured, no missing items were reported, and no thumb prints were found at the scene. The case is being investigated under Section 457 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 511 of the same Code for attempted robbery.

Roslan advised members of the public to install alarm and CCTV (closed-circuit TV), if they could afford, to keep criminals at bay.

He said it was effective against house break-in attempts.

Meanwhile, Land Development Minister Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing, in a statement, said with the spat of robbery and snatch thefts happening in Kuching lately, those who are going for holidays should be more careful.

"The police are trying their best to maintain security, but house owners must assist by not leaving their houses unattended for too long," said Masing, who is also PRS president.

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No closure of Malaysia-Indonesia border check-point in Tebedu – Police

Posted: 24 Dec 2013 09:38 AM PST

KUCHING: Police dismissed rumours that the Malaysia-Indonesia border checkpoint at Tebedu, Serian, about 95km from here, had been temporarily closed following alleged public unrest in Pontianak, the capital of Indonesia's West Kalimantan province.

Serian police chief DSP Mohd Jamali Uni said the checkpoint remained open as usual and was operating 12 hours daily from 6am.

He told Bernama Tuesday that public bus services between Kuching and Pontianak had also resumed operations as normal after being affected last week by alleged extortion along the route (within the Indonesian province).

"Despite such allegations, we have not received any report yet (from the bus operators) and although the situation seems to be back to normal, we will continue to monitor," he said.

Meanwhile, a source from the Immigration here concurred with Mohd Jamali and said no order had been issued to close the checkpoint temporarily due to security reasons.

The Tebedu border checkpoint is one of several routes linking Sarawak and Indonesia's Kalimantan which is serviced by four Sarawak express bus companies and two from Indonesia.

There were allegations from bus operators that buses entering Pontianak from Sarawak were stopped by groups that demand money to continue their journey, following which a number of bus operators in Sarawak refused to service the route. — Bernama

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Police deny Bukit Aman was attacked, Facebook claim a ‘despicable act’

Posted: 24 Dec 2013 09:37 AM PST

by Anasathia Jenis reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on December 25, 2013, Wednesday

KUALA LUMPUR: Police yesterday denied claims on Facebook that the police headquarters in Bukit Aman, here, has been attacked, resulting in deaths and injuries.

Supt Lai Lee Ching of Bukit Aman's Inspector-General of Police secretariat (Corporate Communication) said the situation in Bukit Aman was peaceful and operating as usual.

She stressed that the dissemination of false news was a despicable act and police would act firmly against the culprit.

"In a follow up to the spread of such rumours, a police report was lodged and the case will be investigated under Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code which carries a two-year jail sentence, fine or both," she said in a statement yesterday.

Lai also urged the public not to spread such false news or risk answering to the law.

The statement on Facebook, among others, claimed that Bukit Aman was attacked by a group of suicide bombers which resulted in deaths and injuries among policemen. — Bernama

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