Find and arrest duo, pet lovers urge cops

Friday January 28, 2011

Find and arrest duo, pet lovers urge cops

By STEVEN CHIEW

KUALA LUMPUR: More groups have lodged reports urging police to track down and arrest the two people implicated in the dog abuse video.

They also want the police to immediately rescue the dog if it is still alive.

The report was lodged by Malaysian Animal Rights Society president N. Surendran, who also represented the Malaysian Animal Welfare Society, Independent Living & Training Centre and Lawyers for Liberty at the Dang Wangi police headquarters here yesterday.

Surendran said Bukit Aman should set up a task force jointly with the Veterinary Services Department to investigate and prosecute the two.

“The duo should be penalised because if they could do this to an animal, they could do it to anybody.

“The fact that they posed with the puppy showed they were confident no action would be taken against them,” he added.

Surendran also said the Veterinary Services Department was not doing enough to protect animals.

“If no action is taken after lodging the report, we will look for the two people involved, arrest them and hand them over to the police,” he added.

He described the acts caught on the video as one of the worst cases of animal abuse he had ever seen.

The groups also called on the Government to amend the law to provide better protection for pets from being abused.

In the video, a man is seen using brute force on a poodle in an attempt to force the dog to stand on its hind legs

More police reports by animal lovers

More groups are urging the police to track down and arrest the two people implicated in the dog abuse video.

You Tube video above is from The Star.

Hunt the poodle abusers within 24 hours – or risk vigilante action!

Hunt the poodle abusers within 24 hours – or risk vigilante action!

Submitted by Najiah on Thursday, January 27th, 2011

THASHA JAYAMANOGARAN

Thursday, January 27th, 2011 18:02:00

24-HOUR ULTIMATUM: Surendran (standing, fifth from left) and other representatives of animal welfare and animal right groups showing their support at the Dang Wangi police headquarters this morning — Pic: Razak Ghazali

KUALA LUMPUR: Animal lovers have vowed vigilante action against a couple involved in the torture of a poodle as efforts intensified to save the cuddly dog.

Representatives of animal welfare and animal rights groups told The Malay Mail today that they would hunt the couple if the authorities failed to take any action within 24 hours.

They said the couple who had been implicated in the “Save the Poodle” Facebook groups should be hauled up for questioning by the police and the Veterinary Services Department.

This morning, Malaysian Animal Rights Society (ROAR) president, N .Surendran, lodged a police report on the abuse of the poodle at the Dang Wangi police station.

The report was also made on behalf of Petpositive, Malaysian Animal Welfare Society (MAW), Independent Living and Training Centre (ILTC) and Lawyers for Liberty (LFL).

In the report, the groups urged the police to immediately track down and arrest two suspects in connection with the torture of a small brown poodle.

The video of a man with tattoos on his arms filmed by a woman had gone viral and triggered angry reaction from animal lovers, including from abroad.

One woman from California even offered a reward leading to the arrests of the abusers.

It is not known when this cruel act occurred but animal lovers stand firm that it was not about when it happened, rather about the cruelty that was “shocking and despicable”.

The identity and whereabouts of the alleged abusers were also revealed and passed on the police.

Surendran told The Paper That Cares that he was disappointed with the Veterinary Services Department for failing to respond quickly to public uproar.

He said the police had also failed to investigate the matter promptly under Section 44 of the Animal Act 1953.

Petpositive president, T. Anthony, said animal abuse was getting bolder because of the authorities’ ignorance.

“Poodle is one of the best partners for the disabled as they are hearing dogs and help in our quality living,” said Anthony, who feels the act was boldly recorded because the abuser thought the authorities would not waste time with such cases.

He said: “Are dogs dangerous to humans or are humans dangerous to them?”

The 15-minute video clip continues to be the most viewed this week. It shows a man hitting, choking and throwing the dog across a room in a bid to teach it to stand on its hind legs.

It began as a link on Facebook by a woman who apparently found a pen drive containing the video clip at a mall recently. It went viral after it was posted on YouTube.

Latest checks show that “Save the Poodle” groups on facebook are fast growing.

One such site, Andrew & Michelle's "Save the Poodle" Mission on Facebook garnered hundreds of supporters shortly after it was set up on Tuesday.

The creator, identifying himself as Andrew Boey, said he had viewed the video clip several times and had highlighted several "clues", including the tattoo on the man's arm, so he could be identified.

Boey had posted several updates from SPCA Selangor and SPCA Singapore.

READ: Maximum fine likely to go up from RM200 to RM50,000

ANIMAL RIGHTS & welfare groups (Independent Living & Training Centre) to make police report @ IPD Dang Wangi KL at 11.30am tomorrow, Thursday. Details: 012-220 3146

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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Howls over dog-beater video

By JOSHUA FOONG
PETALING JAYA: A video of a man abusing a dog has sparked a heated response from canine lovers on social networking site Facebook and triggered a nationwide hunt for him.

In the widely-circulated video, the unidentified man, believed to be a Malaysian, is seen using brutal force on a poodle in his attempt to get the dog to stand up on its hind legs.

Some of those who viewed the video have said the man is a Malaysian.

Several people also claimed to know his close friends.

Harsh lessons: The poodle being abused by the unidentified man in the video.

In one scene, when the dog returned to standing on its four legs, the man in frustration gave it a violent smack, sending the poodle flying.

The Facebook user who uploaded the 15-minute video last Friday said she had discovered it in a thumbdrive which she had found in a Kuala Lumpur shopping mall.

Thousands of animal lovers, shocked and angered by the man’s act, immediately called for his arrest.

“This is an outrage! Swift action ought to be taken on this man,” one Facebook user commented.

“The guy in the video is crazy to have done such a thing to the helpless animal,” another said. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) is getting complaints and leads from callers.

“We have been receiving a lot of calls on the matter but we have no confirmation on the man’s identity,” SPCA office manager M. Shelvy said.

She also asked those with information to call the SPCA at 03-42565312 or 03-42535179.

Disabled see red over suspension of aid

G Vinod

| January 25, 2011

The Welfare Department suspends the aid to check on the employment status of the recipients, but this has landed many in a financial quandary.

PETALING JAYA: The disabled are upset with the Welfare Department for suspending their monthly disabled workers allowance (EPC) without any proper notice since December.

The RM300 aid is given to employed disabled people earning less than RM1,200 a month.

Fearing repercussions, many of the disabled people who aired their grouses to FMT wished to remain anonymous.

According to one of them, who is self-employed, he had gone to the Federal Territories Department to check on the matter when he did not receive the money.

“They said it was because I did not submit any letters confirming my employment since 1993,” added the 40-year-old wheelchair-bound individual, whose wife is also disabled.

He said an officer claimed that without any proof of his employment, the department could not determine if the money was taken by him or others.

“It was illogical for them to say that. The bank requires my thumbprint on some forms before I can withdraw the money. So who is going to fake my thumbrint?” he said.

After submitting his documents two weeks ago, the department promised that the oustanding payment would be credited into his account in two months.

“They should have notified us properly, instead of just stopping the payment. Many of us are dependent on this aid,” he said.

Another recipient, a visually impaired father, also saw red over the matter, saying that he was finding it difficult to make ends meet.

The 48-year-old masseur, whose wife was also visually impaired, said the couple relied on both their allowances to settle their utility bills.

“I haven’t paid my electricity and water bills. I need to buy books and stationery for my son who is in school. Now everything is stuck.

“They think just because we are disabled, they can do anything to us, and we won’t complain. We are not beggars, but we need the money to run our families. We are not rich,” he said.

“Perhaps they are using the money for the Tenang by-election,” he added.

Proper notification should have been given

Commenting on the matter, Independent Living and Training Centre president Francis Siva said his organisation had met with Federal Territories Welfare Department officers last year to iron out several issues.

Among them being the Welfare Department redirecting the funds to the Treasury if the recipient did not collect it within 10 days.

“However, we argued that not everyone can take the money out on time especially those who are bed-ridden,” he said.

Siva added that the officials then promised that the money would not be taken out but now this issue had cropped up.

He also condemned the Welfare Department for only allocating RM150 for disabled people who could not work.

“The working ones get RM300 but those who cannot work only get RM150. Something is wrong with their mindset,” he said.

Siva said that more aid should be given to those who cannot work, especially those who were bed-ridden, as the latter normally required additional medical assistance.

“They need to purchase food, medicine, diapers and other things. Without money, many disabled people are driven to commit suicide,” said Siva, who himself had friends who took their own lives.

Marginalised minorities to form power bloc

23/01/2011

Marginalised minorities to form power bloc

Hazlan Zakaria (Malaysiakini)

Smarting under the yoke of what they claimed to be the 53-year tyranny of BN’s “majority rule” and whetted by the tsunami of 2008, minority groups have banded together, hoping to create a new power bloc in Malaysian politics.

What they are trying to recreate, though on a much grander scale, is the flashpoint ignited by Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) and the free and fair elections advocacy group Bersih, which many believed swayed the last general election.

Both NGOs were responsible for galvanising the groundswell of public support that was said to have helped reverse BN’s once hegemonic hold on the two-thirds majority in Parliament and as well as wrest control of five states.

The 2008 experience has proven that small dedicated groups of minorities can cause a lot of waves if they work together.

It is towards this government-influencing, if not government changing critical mass that a collage of self-described “marginalised minorities” has decided to embark upon.

“We have suffered from the centrifugal force which continues to victimise us. We need a change,” said moderator N Ganesan (left) at the National Human Rights Conference on The Future of Marginalised Communities in Malaysia at the KL-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall today.

Hailing from the length and breadth of the Borneo isle and the peninsula, the panel for today’s discussion included representatives of groups contending that they have been disenfranchised – the Indians, Dayaks, Orang Aslis and the disabled.

However, this time, they have decided not to peg their hopes on any political party but will look more to their own interests, aiming to hold whoever is contesting at ransom, their votes for solutions to their concerns.

‘We need change’

“After 2008, we were hoping that Pakatan would improve things for us. But to be honest, Pakatan did nothing for the disabled. We need change, we need good leaders who can deliver,” lamented Independent Living Training Center coordinator Francis Siva in his speech to the 150-strong audience.

His main grouse, something which he said is shared by the disabled community, is the indifference with which the authorities, even in Pakatan states, treat their requests and concerns.

On the other hand are there are the Dayaks and the Orang Asli whose main grouses are centred on their relationship with their customs, the land and surrounding forest.

They claim this is being denied to them by a federal government keen on developing and extracting natural resources, so much so that it saw no wrong in stealing land owned by the Orang Asli and Dayaks.

“Timber is extracted and nature’s treasures destroyed,” accused Jaringan Kampung Orang Asli Semenanjung Malaysia Pahang chapter chairperson Yusri Jahut.

The government’s hunger for land and resources, they said, is threatening their livelihood, and poised to sever the ties to those things they hold so dear.

“We are being treated like the Red Indians of America, about a hundred years ago,” lamented John Ryan Anthony of the Sarawak Dayak National Union.

He was joined by Hindraf national coordinator W Sambulingan who criticised government policies of the NEP and ‘ketuanan Melayu’ which he said continue to cow the Indians, warning against a possible ‘Tunisia’ style popular uprising.

Memo to PM

The conference came up with a list of resolutions which they will compile into a memorandum that will be sent to the PM in a month’s time.

The memorandum is but a starting point as the groups all agree to move forward into a collective response to encroachments into their basic rights.

“If you tell me to go to war, then we go to war. We just lack expertise, if you provide the expertise, we will provide the muscle,” said Anthony displaying his commitment to the new alliance.

Former Sabah PKR leader Jeffrey Kitingan (right) joined the panel though he did not gave a speech. He was joined by another former PKR leader Zaid Ibrahim who made a cameo appearance, but just sat quietly in the audience.

“I am here just to listen,” said Zaid when asked to join the panel.

The conference was organised by the Hindraf, jointly with Human Rights Foundation, Borneo Resource Institute (BRI), Common Interest Group of Sabah and Sarawak (Cigma), Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (Sadia) and several other NGOs.