The suspects are Zufri Abubakar, Zandra Mambrasar, Diana Dorthea Simbiak, Melkianus Kambu, Fransiskus Antonius Letsoin and president commissioner Theodorus Kosay.

“They were named suspects on Monday,” Papua Integrated Law Enforcement Team (Gakkumdu) lead investigator Adj Sr Comr Steven T Tauran said on Wednesday, without elaborating.

The six commissioners allegedly rigged the legislative election by transferring or reducing the number of votes for a Gerindra Party legislative candidate in electoral district Papua 1.

The case began after a legislative candidate from Gerindra, Ronald Engko, reported the commissioners to the task force on June 11, upon finding that the number of votes he won had changed at a KPU Papua plenary session at the Grand Abe Hotel in Jayapura.

Engko’s lawyer, Yusman Konoras, said the report had been discussed by the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) in Papua, which subsequently concluded that the KPU Papua commissioners had violated administrative procedures. The Bawaslu issued a written rebuke to the KPU Papua.

“Based on the Bawaslu’s conclusion, we reported the KPU Papua to the Gakkumdu task force for a criminal offence,” Konoras said.

Separately, KPU Papua commissioner Zandra Mambrasar confirmed the suspects’ names, saying that the problematic vote count had occurred in Heram district, South Jayapura, and in North Jayapura.

“This should be the responsibility of the KPU Jayapura, but Ronald Engko has reported the KPU Papua instead,” he said.

MANILA, Philippines — “They are just looking for someone to be my match.”

That was how Salvador Panelo, President Rodrigo Duterte’s chief legal counsel and spokesperson, played down renowned international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney’s participation in the legal defense of Rappler chief executive officer Maria Ressa.

Panelo, however, was unimpressed with Clooney, saying she was “misinformed” about Ressa’s case.

“Maybe when we meet, to use the word of the President, I can ‘educate’ her,” he told reporters at Malacañang on Tuesday, commenting on reports that the British-Lebanese wife of Hollywood star George Clooney would be joining Ressa’s legal team.

Still, Panelo said he was “excited to debate with her.”

International legal team

According to London-based law firm Doughty Street Chambers, Clooney and Caoilfhionn Gallagher will lead Ressa’s international legal team and work closely with her Filipino lawyers.

Duterte remark on ‘restive’ AFP warns of possible coup – Palace

Duterte still trusts Customs chief Guerrero – Palace

Panelo ‘excited to debate’ with Amal Clooney

Ressa, who was named Time “Person of the Year” in 2018 for her journalism, faces several criminal charges along with Rappler in what press freedom advocates have branded an act of “persecution.”

“Maria Ressa is a courageous journalist who is being persecuted for reporting the news and standing up to human rights abuses,” Clooney said in a statement issued by her law firm on Monday.

“We will pursue all available legal remedies to vindicate her rights and defend press freedom and the rule of law in the Philippines,” she added.

Clooney’s stature

Panelo maintained that he was not concerned that someone of Clooney’s stature has taken interest in Ressa’s case.

“They’re just looking for allies. They’re welcome to defend Maria,” he said.

He said Ressa might have been looking for a lawyer who could be his “match.”

“That’s because if Maria and I get into a debate, she would be pitiful because she isn’t a lawyer. Of course, she would need a lawyer [and she got one] who is pretty and sexy, too,” he said.

Panelo, however, pointed out that Clooney could not appear before any Philippine court since she was not a lawyer recognized by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, but she could serve as consultant or spokesperson.

He said he did not believe Clooney’s participation reflected the international community’s interest in Ressa’s case.

“She (Ressa) may have just conned Attorney Amal,” he said.

Silencing critics

Ressa was arrested twice this year and has accused the President of using prosecutions against her, including ongoing cases of alleged tax evasion and libel, to silence critics and intimidate the press.

The President has branded Rappler a “fake news outlet” and his government insists it is simply enforcing the law as cases pile up against the website publishing reports critical of his brutal war on drugs.

Ressa and Rappler directors and staff face 11 cases, complaints and investigations, which required her to post bail eight times and pay bonds to travel overseas.

“I have been targeted and attacked simply for being an independent journalist. I am delighted that Amal Clooney and her team will be representing me at the international level to challenge the violations of my rights and those of the media organization I represent,” Ressa said in the statement.

“Our international lawyers will look into how best to protect us under international law and institutions, and will work with our Philippine counsels toward this goal,” she said.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo case

Clooney, who was appointed special envoy for media freedom by the British government, also defended two Reuters journalists jailed for more than 16 months in Myanmar and freed in May.

She first tried to intervene in a legal case in the Philippines when she filed a suit in February 2015 in the UN working group on arbitrary detention seeking the release of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from her hospital detention on plunder charges.

Then Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Arroyo’s detention was a ruling by the court and the executive department was not involved in determining where she should be held or detained. —With a report from AFP

Panelo considers Amal Clooney his ‘match’

PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will turn 94 on Wednesday (July 10).

Social media users took the opportunity to post birthday wishes on Dr Mahathir’s Facebook page on Tuesday (July 9).

They also wished him good health and the wisdom to lead the country.

Among them was Lutfiyah Lidwina Leslie who said, “Happy Birthday Dr Mahathir semoga Allah panjangkan umur Tun (May Allah give you a long life),” on the comment section on one of Dr Mahathir’s posts.

Another Facebook user Katherine Tan wrote, “Happy Birthday Tun. Keep healthy and happy always.”

Hafid Saed commented, “Salam ulang tahun ke-94. Semoga Allah membantu Tun membaiki negara. (Happy 94th birthday. May Allah help Tun improve the country).”

Dr Mahathir, who is the seventh Prime Minister, was born on July 10, 1925 in Kampung Seberang Perak, Alor Setar, Kedah. He is the youngest of nine siblings.

Dr Mahathir, who is married to Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, first became Prime Minister in 1981 at the age of 56.

He was the country’s fourth Prime Minister then.

Dr Mahathir then stepped down from the post in 2003 after being in office for 22 years.

Fifteen years later, after GE14, he has become the oldest elected Prime Minister in the world.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/07/09/birthday-wishes-pour-in-for-dr-m-who-turns-94-on-wednesday-july-10/

During a meeting of the WTO’s Council for Trade in Goods held in Geneva, Ambassador Paik Ji-ah said that that Japan’s restrictions on exports of key chemicals used to make high-tech components to South Korea went against free trade principles.

The meeting was held Monday and Tuesday.

The envoy called for a prompt withdrawal and a clarification on the grounds of the export restrictions taken by Japan, stressing the invalidity of what Japan claimed to be grounds for such action — “damage to trust” and “inappropriate situation” — under the current WTO rules.

Paik also expressed regrets over Japan’s decision for retaliatory action after it hosted a G-20 summit last month where leaders had clearly confirmed the need for free, fair and non-discriminatory trade policies.

Seoul plans to raise the issue at a general council meeting of the WTO, which will take place on July 23-24.

“It is hard to expect us to be able to reach an agreement on the issue, as the WTO requires a unanimous vote but we expect that by addressing the issue, we will rouse the international community’s public opinion concerning Japan’s unfair measures,” a Foreign Ministry official said.

Tensions between South Korea and Japan escalated over the last few days after Japan tightened restrictions on several key chemical exports to South Korea in an apparent response to last year’s Supreme Court rulings here against Japanese firms over wartime forced labour.

On Monday, President Moon Jae-in urged Japan to withdraw export restrictions that hurt South Korea’s semiconductors and display panels industries and called for sincere negotiations between the two countries.

The Japanese government has removed Korea from the list of countries that receive preferential treatment in importing fluorine polyimide, resist and etching gas from Japanese firms.

Speaking to lawmakers during the first day of the interpellation session, Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon on Tuesday criticised Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recent remark suggesting South Korea may not be complying with trade restrictions against the North.

Appearing on Japanese television on Sunday, Abe said it was natural to suspect that South Korea may not abide by related UN resolutions, saying the South has not adhered to the accord on settling problems associated with Japan’s 1910-1945 colonization of Korea.

“Abe’s remark is a dangerous comment that could threaten the security order that we have been maintaining for a long time,” Lee said.

The United Nations Security Council has assessed South Korea as faithfully implementing sanctions resolutions imposed on North Korea, he added.

Meanwhile, Japan is reportedly planning another round of export curbs for South Korea that could target a broader range of items that could include those used in weapons production, including machine tools.

“This agreement means people from different parts of the country can easily access more than 30 digital products available on our platform at more than 300 g&g stores,” said Nyein Chan Soe Win, co-founder and chief executive of Get All Myanmar, in an exclusive interview with The Nation.

He considers the collaboration the beginning of the digital transformation in Myanmar, taking the first step of implementing a digital economy.

“We have chosen g&g from among several convenience stores in Myanmar because the majority of its stores are in the hearts of big cities and in the business districts of towns,” he said.

“We are aiming to geographically expand our reach, so strong partnerships are vital to our growth in the long term. We started to cooperate with g&g a couple of months ago and witnessed the improvement in our business. This led to the signing of this agreement today.”

He said the firm is always open to partnerships with local companies and is now in active discussion with leading digital-payment services. He expected an agreement with at least two firms by the end of this year.

“Physical businesses and digital commerce are complementary. Today’s business trend leads to something we call omni channel, where former offline-only businesses are reaching out to online marketplaces and online-only businesses are extending their operating territory to physical locations as well,” he said.

Founded by young entrepreneurs, Get is a mobile-first digital company utilising artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud services and big data. It is a digital-commerce platform that gives small entrepreneurs the technology to be competitive in the future.

Mobile top-up, express bus tickets, domestic and international flight tickets are available on the Get platform, as are data internet packages, game cards, gift cards and event tickets. Attraction tickets, insurance premium payments, and prepaid card payments will be available soon.

“To date, the majority of the people use our store for mobile top-ups, followed by buying different kinds of tickets. Hopefully, this trend will continue for the next few years, but the use of Get POS [points-of-sale] for other digital service is also on the rise in Myanmar,” he said.

The firm is enjoying a gradual growth at around 10 per cent every month.

“Following our cooperation with g&g, we now have more than 11,000 points-of-sale. On average, we see 2,000 more points-of-sale every month. If we are able to maintain this growth rate, we will soon be covering all the important areas of Myanmar over the new few months,” he said.

Shin Hak-cheol, vice chairman and CEO of LG Chem, vowed Tuesday to make the company one of the world’s five biggest chemical companies in the next five years by doubling its revenue by 2024.

LG Chem Vice Chairman & CEO Shin Hak-cheol speaks during a press conference held at LG Twin Tower in Yeouido, western Seoul on Tuesday. (LG Chem)

“LG Chem will reach 30 trillion won ($25.4 billion) in sales this year for the first time and 59 trillion won by 2024, becoming a global top five company,” Shin said during his first press conference since he took office in February.

Shin is the first CEO of LG’s petrochemical and battery manufacturing affiliate to have come from outside the company. He was the vice chair of 3M.

To achieve the goal, the company will invest 1.3 trillion won in research and development in 2019, up 200 billion won from annual R&D expenses last year.

By the end of the year, it will hire 700 additional researchers, bringing the size of its R&D workforce to 6,200.

“The company’s new catchphrase for growth is ‘build strength on strength,’ which means to make this strong company even stronger by reinforcing the R&D division and making preemptive investments at opportune times,” he said.

Significant portions of new investments will be allocated to the firm’s rapidly growing lithium-ion battery business and life science business, the vice chairman said.

“We will continue investing in the battery business in the next two to three years, despite some fluctuations, such as the fire accidents with energy storage systems,” Shin said. “The company aims to raise 10 trillion won in battery sales this year, and 5 trillion won will come from the electric vehicle battery sector.”

However, he could not confirm when the battery business would see a noticeable surplus.

In the long run, the battery business will account for 50 percent of the company’s entire sales at around 31 trillion won, the executive said.

Regarding concerns about the possible expansion of Japan’s curbs of exports of key materials needed for Korean chip and display makers, Shin said the company has already established likely scenarios and countermeasures.

“For materials of EV batteries, like the battery separators, anode and cathode, we have not only Japanese suppliers but also Korean, Chinese and even some European,” he said. “It has been our longtime goal to diversify the supply chain across various regions and products.”

“We don’t’ have immediate concerns about the issue, but I believe we can overcome expected problems if the restriction expansion is realized,” he added.

Speaking at a weekly meeting with senior presidential aides, Moon said that Japan’s move violates principles of free trade, and urged it to reconsider using trade for political ends.

“[I] urge Japan to withdraw the measures, and call for sincere negotiations between the two countries,” Moon said, adding that the “vicious cycle of measures, and countermeasures” does not benefit either country.

Moon warned that the country will “not be able to withhold necessary measures” if Japan’s move damages local companies.

He did not elaborate on the “necessary measures”, but government officials say the matter could be taken to the World Trade Organisation for dispute settlement.

The Japanese government has removed South Korea from the list of countries that receive preferential treatment in importing fluorine polyimide, resist and etching gas.

Fluorine polyimide is used to make flexible organic light-emitting diode displays; resist is a thin layer used to transfer a circuit pattern to a semiconductor substrate; and etching gas is used in the semiconductor fabrication process.

Japan’s move is being interpreted as retaliation for the top Korean court ordering Japanese firms to compensate Koreans who were mobilised as forced labour during Japan’s occupation of the country in the first half of the 20th century. Japan claims that all related issues were settled through a 1965 treaty.

Japan denies the allegations that export restrictions are politically motivated, and its leaders, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, have hinted that the measure was rolled out in response to Seoul’s failure to enforce sanctions on North Korea.

At Monday’s meeting, Moon also called on the government to work closely with the business community to draw up response measures.

“Depending on [how] the situation develops, establishing an emergency response system [operated by] the private and public sector should be considered,” Moon said, adding that the presidential office and all concerned ministries should work with the affected companies.

He also stressed the need to reduce the manufacturing industry’s dependence on imports for key materials and equipment.

A. Bakar Abd Rahman, 48, said the death of his wife, Marini Kasman, 38,  was due to heart failure and not because of the air pollution in Pasir Gudang.

“My statements were twisted, I was still grieving and just finished burying my wife before some reporters from unknown agencies came up and asked questions.

“I would like to apologise if anything I’ve said have been misinterpreted, and I do not want to blame any government agencies or department,” according to A. Bakar when met at his home in Taman Cahaya Masai here on Sunday (July 7).

He added that his wife had been suffering from high blood pressure and asthma.

“She was admitted to Hospital Sultan Ismail (HSI) on Friday  (July 5) at 10pm after complaining that she was having breathing difficulties.

“She was pronounced dead by the doctor at about 4am on Saturday (July 6) due to heart failure,” he said, adding that he and his wife had worked together as caterers.

A. Bakar added that he was shocked to see that his wife’s death had been manipulated to spread false news.

“I have been called to give my statement to the police. There are also irresponsible people out there who have used pictures of me and my wife during the recent Hari Raya to gain sympathy.

“I would like to advise these people to stop, if you have some humanity in you, you should understand my current situation,” he said, adding that no one has come up and met with him after the death of his wife.

The Health Ministry had refuted rumours on social media that Marini died due to the Pasir Gudang pollution.

In expressing his condolences to the family, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said the woman had suffered from chronic hypertension for the past 10 years.

“She was brought to HSI Johor Baru on July 5 after experiencing difficulty in breathing and coughing for three days. Her legs were also swollen and she had a fever,” he said, adding that the woman was later warded at the hospital.

Checks later revealed that Marini had acute high blood pressure in addition to troubled breathing.

“The medical team did their best to treat her but her condition became more serious and she died at 4.20am on July 6 from decompensated heart failure,” he said in a statement Sunday.

Earlier, Marini’s death had sparked a social media frenzy after it was linked to the air pollution in Pasir Gudang.

A poster, as well as a news clip about the woman’s death, have also been circulated via WhatsApp and Facebook.

The ministry said the premier spoke to the WTO about Cambodia’s development to a stage where the poverty rate had been reduced from more than 50 per cent in 2004 to less than 10 last year.

Hun Sen met with WTO director-general Roberto Azevedo and expressed regret over the EU decision to formally withdraw its “Everything but Arms” agreement from Cambodia.

He met other WTO officials and ministers from several European countries to discuss trade.

In a keynote address to the 41st session of the Human Rights Council, Hun Sen described how rights had improved in Cambodia over recent decades.

“He emphasised the people’s struggles to rebuild and develop the country from ashes, all the while facing unfair trade embargoes and economic sanctions imposed by those who always preach about humanity, human rights and democracy,” the ministry said in a press release.

Hun Sen described how his “Win-Win” policy had brought a complete end to war and achieved lasting peace.

It was achieved by Cambodia alone, he said, without bloodshed, weapons or ammunition, and without external support.

“Cambodia, previously looked down upon and politically isolated, is now a fully independent sovereign state with territorial integrity, and has actively integrated herself into regional and international affairs,” Hun Sen said.

He then met with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.

Hun Sen’s Facebook page said Bachelet acknowledged that the premier had led Cambodia to economic prosperity and improved social rights.

Hun Sen and Bachelet discussed several issues, including the 173 recommendations in Cambodia’s Universal Periodic Review.

Bachelet offered support and technical assistance in implementing the recommendations, which she said respond to development strategies and strengthening the rule of law.

Hun Sen said he had worked hard to push the development of human rights. Recently he had helped detained women by creating a lawyer group to represent them free of charge and had increased the budget for the ministries of Women’s Affairs and Justice to help poor women.

Hun Sen met some 1,000 overseas Cambodian students to update them on the situation back home, touching on topics including concerns raised by Phnom Penh residents such as car parking and waste disposal.

“The occupancy is pretty good. It is always above 50 per cent on every flight. About 1,000 passengers travel through YIA in one day,” said YIA general manager Pandu Pramana.

As of Friday, he added, 10 planes had used the airport, operated both by Batik Air, a full service carrier, which is a subsidiary of Lion Air Group, and Citilink Indonesia, a low-cost carrier subsidiary of flag carrier Garuda Indonesia.

These planes fly from Halim Perdakusuma Airport in Jakarta; Soekarno Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten; Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan; and from Samarinda in East Kalimantan.

To reach the airport, which is located some 44 kilometers from downtown Yogyakarta, travelers can take the airport train from Maguwo Station or Yogyakarta Station. The train stops at Wojo Station, where the airport authority provides shuttle buses.

State-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura I (AP I) president Faik Fahmi said the construction of YIA currently stood at about 65 per cent. He said the airport would serve more flights when fully completed in December.

He added that more commercial flights would be gradually relocated from the old Adisucipto International Airport, with flight capacity improving from 10 take offs and landing a day to 30  an hour.