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The Star
05-07-2025
- Politics
- The Star
National security offenders to be disqualified from Hong Kong's Legco elections
Hong Kong authorities have proposed disqualifying anyone convicted of offences endangering national security from being nominated to run in a Legislative Council election or serving as a lawmaker. The Electoral Affairs Commission said a public consultation for the proposed guidelines, which include several changes related to national security, was launched on Thursday and would wrap up on August 1. The proposals were shared months before the next Legco election on December 7, the second to be held since the process was overhauled to follow a 'patriots only' system. The changes include the disqualification of anyone convicted of offences that endanger national security from being nominated or elected as a lawmaker, in adherence to the city's existing national security legislation. Members of the Election Committee who are convicted of the same offences are also barred from voting in the polls for the Election Committee constituency. Election candidates will also be prohibited from sending by mail any publications that constitute a national security risk. 'In relation to national security, we only reflect what has been reflected in the relevant legislation,' commission chairman David Lok Kai-hong said. 'So, if there is any amendment because of a change in the national security [laws], it also has corresponding changes in our election law as well as in relation to the qualification of a person running for the seat or [being] qualified to be a councillor. 'So in such a case, I don't think we have made any substantial changes.' Asked if the proposed guidelines covered national security offenders who had completed their sentences, Lok only said that the laws had been written very clearly and urged the public to look at the terms of the relevant legislation. The Registration and Electoral Office, meanwhile, discussed promotional efforts for the coming election and said they would be widespread and take reference from the 2023 district council poll. 'We hope to be able to raise the election atmosphere; we are currently going through the preparation work,' said Natalie Chan, the body's chief electoral officer. In a paper submitted to Legco's Finance Committee in April, the government said it planned to spend HK$1.28 billion (US$163 million) on the coming election. Authorities aimed to allocate HK$177 million for promotional efforts, HK$814 million for technological appliances and voting venues' rents and HK$289 million for paying an expected 37,000 personnel, according to the paper. The planned budget represents a 52 per cent increase from the HK$841 million spent on the 2021 Legco election, which had a turnout of only 30.2 per cent – the lowest since the city's return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. Chan added that authorities had completed their purchase of electronic vote-counting machines for the Legco functional constituency election, with the cost expected to be about HK$160 million. She said the high cost accounted for hiring service contractors to design the system, software, hardware and support services. Authorities also needed a large amount of vote-counting equipment, as the poll would involve about 200,000 voters, while the sum included expenses for on-site support staff to tackle any potential equipment issues during the vote count, she said. But Lok said authorities had yet to decide on whether they would use the machines for the constituency poll, noting the decision would depend on further testing. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
![[Watch] David vs. Goliath: Taman Desa Community Fights DBKL To Save Their Playground](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.therakyatpost.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F06%2FUntitled11-8.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
![[Watch] David vs. Goliath: Taman Desa Community Fights DBKL To Save Their Playground](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fall-logos-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ftherakyatpost.com.png&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
Rakyat Post
30-06-2025
- Business
- Rakyat Post
[Watch] David vs. Goliath: Taman Desa Community Fights DBKL To Save Their Playground
Subscribe to our FREE A group of residents is taking their local council to court to prevent the demolition of their neighbourhood playground and police station to make way for apartment buildings. The Taman Danau Desa community, a neighbourhood in Taman Desa, has until August 26 to file their legal case against Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), which recently approved plans to build high-rise condominiums on two public sites. Lok Shi Shuen, who has lived in the area for 32 years, said residents decided on legal action after years of protests and complaints were ignored. 'We can't just lie down and do nothing about it. We must stand up for our green spaces,' she said. Years of Silent Transfers The trouble began years ago when the city council quietly transferred ownership of public land to private developers—a process known as The 2.11-acre playground was handed over to a private company in January 2017, while the nearby police station land was transferred in August 2024. Residents say they weren't told about these changes. The playground used to house a recycling centre and community garden where families would bring their children and neighbours would learn about sustainable living. In 2019, it was suddenly fenced off, and the community programmes shut down. Everyone was upset, Lok said. It was a nice place that allowed us to understand a bit more about sustainable practices. Learning From A Winning Playbook Under the city's new master plan, approved in May, both sites will be converted into residential areas that can accommodate approximately 321 apartment units combined. This continues a pattern in the neighbourhood where other public spaces – including library land, a community centre, and transport facilities – have already been sold off for private housing projects. When residents submitted nearly 2,000 complaints about the development plans last year, city officials acknowledged their concerns but said other communities had faced similar losses. 'You are not the only one who lost their playground,' the session chairman reportedly told them during a public hearing in May 2024. The residents are using the same lawyers who helped another community in Kuala Lumpur save their green space in 2023. In that case, residents of Taman Tun Dr Ismail successfully fought in court to stop a 29-storey apartment complex from being built in Taman Rimba Kiara park. Malaysia's highest court Lok's group has hired Thomas Philip Advocates & Solicitors, hoping for a similar outcome. Racing Against Time The community now faces a tight deadline. Malaysian law allows them only 90 days from the date the development plan was officially approved to challenge it in court. They're fundraising to cover legal costs, which could include multiple court hearings if the case goes to appeal. Any leftover funds will be allocated to supporting other communities in protecting their green spaces. Residents are reaching out through social media, community meetings, and door-to-door efforts to raise awareness and funds. Fighting For Community Over Profit The case highlights a common problem in Malaysian cities where public spaces are being converted to private developments to meet housing demand. While the city's overall plan still lists the playground as 'Open Space and Recreation,' the detailed local plan contradicts this by allowing apartments to be built on the site. City officials justify this by saying they're simply matching the land use to the ownership documents, but residents argue that this prioritises private profit over community needs. Despite the challenges ahead, Lok remains optimistic about their chances in court. We're not giving up, and we definitely have a chance to save our playground and our police station. The community has set up a website at READ MORE : Parts of this story have been sourced from Share your thoughts with us via TRP's . Get more stories like this to your inbox by signing up for our newsletter.
Hindustan Times
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
How Emergency Brewed in Bihar
Sinhasan Khali Karo Ki Janata Aati Hai! When Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan roared with these lines of legendary Hindi poet Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' from the stage of Delhi's iconic Ram Leela Maidan, the janata (public) of the country rose with their echo. It however unnerved Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who was facing salvos of public anger. Out of despair, she imposed what historians now recall as the dark chapter in Indian history – the Emergency, declared on June 25, 1975. Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan addressing a rally just before the Emergency was declared at Ramlila Ground in New Delhi. (HT Photo.) It was a paradox that Dinkar, who was revered and exalted to Rashtrakavi (national poet) status by Indira's father, Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, for his poetry of rebellion, turned out to be a weapon in the hands of Indira's bete noire. JP was a political honcho who was moulded in the grind of Bihar. Dinkar was a bard of Bihar. So, the embers of political pirouette in the leadership of JP had to be most glowing in Bihar. The state in fact soon turned into the epicentre of anti-Congress and anti-Indira temblor. JP evolved into a principal of all those clamouring 'Total Revolution' – total change of system. Patna university would be its seminary, its students its knights and Bihar its hothouse. And Dinkar's poetry will be its song. Till it was lifted in 1977, many acts of the Emergency unfolded in Bihar. Early build-up in Bihar It was on June 5, 1974 that JP gave a call for 'Total Revolution' against the 'corrupt Congress regime, price rise and other forms of misgovernance from Patna's historic Gandhi Maidan, and gradually his movement became pan-India, seeking resignation of Indira Gandhi. Indira was enduring but as the Allahabad high Court annulled her election from Rae Bareli, she went draconian. And the country was introduced to the Emergency. Actually it was an incident in Bihar that is believed to have seeded the idea of Emergency in Indira's mind. It was the assassination of then Union minister Lalit Narayan Mishra that took place in a blast in Samastipur in January 1974. Once the Emergency was in place, the state turned into a battle ground and both the Indira machinery and the Opposition leaders tested each other's guts. In Bihar, the main action was in Patna, the State Capital, where the proclamation of Emergency suddenly put the onus of compliance of everything on the administration. Vijay Shankar Dubey, a 1966 batch IAS officer and then district magistrate of Patna, recalls a chain of events that unveils how events shaped the history of that pivotal time. He says the roots of the emergency had been laid long before Indira Gandhi made the big announcement. He lists a number of factors, including the poor financial condition of the country after the 1971 war, rising prices, shortage and black marketing of essential commodities like sugar and kerosene and the students' agitations in various parts of the country. He says that as soon as students mobilised all over, a large-scale arson and violence broke out. In Patna alone, 13 lives were lost in police firing. In order to rein in chaos and streamline the agitation, JP took over the leadership in his hands. 'It was March 18, 1974 when the. Then Patna University Students' Union (PUSU), comprising the likes of Lalu Prasad Yadav as president, Sushil Kumar Modi as general secretary and many others, announced to gherao the Bihar Assembly during the session, seeking resignation of CM Abdul Ghafoor and his cabinet over price rise and corruption. It led to stone pelting and violence. Many important buildings were set on fire, including the Searchlight and Pradeep newspaper office on Buddha Marg, which now houses Hindustan Times and Hindustan, Kotwali police station, Assembly secretary's house, Circuit House, education minister's residence, fire station, etc. Had I not ordered firing, things would have spiralled out of control and the entire city would have burnt,' he recalls. Students' agitation Dubey's tenure as DM of Patna was from March 1974 to June 1977. He was witness to all – from student agitation, large-scale arrests, imposition of myriad kinds of restrictions, suspension of fundamental rights and all other 'excesses' that define the Emergency era. He recollected that JP was in Patna those days after having witnessed another students' movement in Gujarat,and saw in it an opportunity to take it forward under his leadership in a different way. 'On April 2, 1974, he led a silent procession from Kadamkuan in Patna with barely around 500-600 persons -- all with hands and mouth cuffed, against police action, price rise and for seeking resignation of CM and his cabinet, etc. but swelled into 50,000 plus by the time it reached the then Bailey Road. It further boosted JP's confidence that the people were desperate for change. CM Ghafoor was, however, not ready to resign nor did Indira Gandhi want an elected government to go under pressure,' he reminisces. However, he said that April 2, 1974 onwards, agitation in Bihar became a routine affair and spread across the state. 'Be it rendition of poems, speeches on the roadside, pamphlet distribution or dharna, something or the other was always on, with youth and students always at the top of JP's scheme of things. JP appealed to the people to send postcards and inland letters voicing their opinions on the government and with widely guessed 50-lakh of them loaded on a truck marched towards the Raj Bhawan on June 5, 1974 to submit it and later hundreds of thousands people gathered at the Gandhi Maidan, where he gave the call for Total Revolution and shifted his target from Bihar government to Central government for systemic change to end corruption, political and administrative reforms, right to recall and eradication of the caste system. As the long procession moved, there was firing at the tail end at a point on Bailey Road allegedly by activists of an organisation called Indira Brigade, but it was soon controlled and the accused were arrested,' he says. On November 4, 1974, JP again took the agitation route, under which the activists were to gherao Assembly and force ministers and MLAs to resign, though the administration did not allow the procession to swell by dispersing them through use of 'mild force', Dubey says, adding that he contemplates writing a book reflecting the exact turn of events during his eventful tenure as Patna DM when the country witnessed the biggest political churning. 'The procession was stopped near Revenue Building with barricades. There was also lathicharge there, in which it was alleged that JP was also hit and a picture went viral, but it was wrong. I still have two medical reports – one from JP's family doctor – indicating that he was not injured in lathicharge, though some other leaders did receive some blows. When some people later asked JP if he was hit that day, the socialist leader said that the question was not about being hit, but the larger question was why there was lathicharge. I will elaborate this in my upcoming book why there was lathicharge that day,' Dubey says, adding that after November 4, 1974, JP shifted his focus entirely on Delhi to seek the ouster of Indira Gandhi, as the discontent had spread across the country by then. Roar from Delhi and Sudden Enforcement 'I was around 35 kms away from Patna camping in Masaurhi in connection with some land settlement issue for the landless. Those days, the only means of communication was landline phone or wireless system available to senior officials. As the Emergency was imposed at midnight, I had no idea immediately. Next morning, my then PA sent a messenger to inform me about it so that I could immediately return. I reached the next morning to understand that emergency had been imposed under Article 352 and the Maintenance of Internal Security Act, 1971 and the British era Defence of India Rules had been invoked, which gave powers to the administration to detain any person/persons for up to two years without FIR or trial if there was convincing evidence against them about indulgence in unlawful activities, participating in agitation or violence,' he said. The Allahabad High Court's June 12, 1975 verdict setting aside the election of Indira Gandhi as MP, even though she was given 15 days time to move the Supreme Court, gave further fillip to the movement against her and when the Apex Court also upheld the order on June 24, 1974, refusing to interfere with the HC order, JP pressed the peddle to seek her resignation, as she would have remained the PM for six months even without being a member of either House. On June 25, 1975 in his historic speech at Delhi's Ramleela Maidan, he exhorted the police and government officials not to obey illegal and immoral orders, which became another trigger for Indira Gandhi, who was already grappling with the surcharged atmosphere. And from Ram Leela Maidan, JP roared with Dinkar's 'Sinhasan Khali Karo…' The throne shook. But it was not vacated until 1977 when janata voted out its occupant.
Daily Express
16-06-2025
- Daily Express
Residents to take DBKL to court to preserve playground, police station
Published on: Monday, June 16, 2025 Published on: Mon, Jun 16, 2025 By: Natalie Chan, FMT Text Size: The Taman Danau Desa playground has been fenced off and is now inaccessible to the public. Kuala Lumpur: Residents of Taman Danau Desa will file a judicial review on the recently gazetted Kuala Lumpur Local Plan 2040 in an attempt to preserve their playground and a police station, both located on land that has been rezoned for the development of condominiums. Lok Shi Shuen, who is part of a movement comprising residents from Taman Desa, said they decided to drag Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to court after their protests and petitions fell on deaf ears. Advertisement The residents of Taman Danau Desa, a neighbourhood in Taman Desa, raised concerns earlier this year about excessive development in the area. Lok, who has lived in Taman Danau Desa for 32 years, said the last straw was the move to fence up the playground, which is also home to a recycling centre and a community farm. 'Everyone was upset,' Lok told FMT, adding that the Tzu Chi recycling centre had helped raise awareness about the importance of recycling and featured a thrift shop of sorts that had attracted people from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds. 'It was a nice place that allowed us to understand a bit more about sustainable practices.' According to the draft local plan, published in January last year, the Taman Danau Desa community playground was rezoned for high-rise residential developments. Less than a month before the plan was gazetted, residents discovered that the plot of land on which the police station was located had been rezoned for the development of high-rise residential homes. Lok claimed that the residents did not know they had lost their playground until two years after its alienation. She said they only realised it after the playground was fenced off in 2019, forcing the recycling centre and the community farm to cease operations in that location. 'We can't just lie down and do nothing about it. We must stand up for our green spaces and the land for our public amenities,' she said. Lok and her fellow residents hope that a 2023 ruling by the apex court will help their cause. Two years ago, the Federal Court struck out an appeal by DBKL to reinstate the proposed Taman Rimba Kiara development project. The proposed project involved a 29-storey apartment block with 350 units of affordable housing, as well as eight blocks of serviced apartments and eight storeys of parking facilities. The appellants, which included Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan and developer Memang Perkasa Sdn Bhd, were appealing against a decision by the Court of Appeal, handed down in 2021, in which it quashed a 2017 development order for Taman Rimba Kiara after ruling in favour of Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) residents in a judicial review appeal. Lok's movement has engaged the same law firm that represented the TTDI residents, and has until Aug 28 to raise the necessary funds. 'We're not giving up, and we definitely have a chance to save our playground and our police station,' Lok said. More information on the residents' efforts is available at * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
