Thesun 2009-05-28 Page01 Pkfz Report Out Today

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No. 4768 PP 2644/12/2009 (023092)

Thursday May 28, 2009

TELLING IT AS IT IS

We’ll attack, North Korea warns south SEOUL: North Korea yesterday blasted South Korea’s decision to join a US-led anti-proliferation exercise as tantamount to a declaration of war and threatened an attack if any of its ships are stopped. The communist state’s powerful military declared it is no longer bound by the armistice which ended the 195053 war on the peninsula. The military, in a statement on official media, said it “will not guarantee the legal status” of five South Korean islands near the two countries’ disputed border in the Yellow Sea. Neither would it guarantee the safe passage of US and South Korean naval and civilian vessels in the area. Analysts said the strongly-worded announcement, two days after the north shocked the world with a nuclear test, could set the stage for limited naval clashes in the area – the scene of bloody firefights in 1999 and 2002. The north said it considers Seoul’s decision to join the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) “a declaration of war against us”. “Our military will no longer be bound by the armistice accord as the current US leadership has drawn the puppets (South Korea) into the PSI,” said the statement from its military representative in Panmunjom. The statement said if the armistice is no longer binding, “the Korean peninsula will go back to a state of war”. This meant North Korean troops would take “corresponding military action”, it said without elaborating. “Those who have provoked us will face unimaginable merciless punishment. Any tiny hostile acts against our republic, including the stopping and searching of our peaceful vessels, will face an immediate and strong military strike in response. The US imperialists and the traitor Lee Myung-Bak’s group have driven the situation on the Korean peninsula into a state of war.” South Korea’s defence ministry responded calmly and said no reinforcements are being sent to the region. – AFP

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PKFZ report out today by Husna Yusop [email protected]

PUTRAJAYA: The audit report on the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project is scheduled to be released this afternoon, following

the green light given by the cabinet at its weekly meeting yesterday. The Port Klang Authority will convene a board meeting this morning, followed by the release of the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report at 3.30pm at the PKA office

in Port Klang, PKA chairman Datuk Lee Hwa Beng said last evening. Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat said in his blog posting yesterday the cabinet deliberated on the report for the third time and “I have finally obtained the green REUTERSPIX

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Lahore suicide bombing A

government building in the Pakistani city of Lahore is destroyed after a suicide bomber tried to force his car into the police headquarters yesterday, killing 24 people. The blast also damaged an office of the military’s main intelligence agency. A gunbattle was reported to be going on immediately after the blast. See Page 11

light for the report to be released in its entirety”. “I am very glad that the prime minister and my cabinet colleagues share my aspirations that our government should be transparent and directly deal with the issues of the day. Sweeping problems under the carpet is not an option,” he said. He said the issue had been played up by the Opposition for a few years and they have used it as their “political capital”. “We now have to disappoint them by proving to the public that the new administration under our prime minister has nothing to hide and is prepared to reveal the truth as well as to take appropriate action should there be any wrongdoing.” Earlier, when asked about the PKFZ report at a press conference, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak said they were gathering more information before going public but did not say when the report would be released. The report was set for a May 6 release on Ong’s order but hit a snag as it was revealed the independent directors of PwC wanted indemnity from PKA in the event of any legal action arising from it. That problem has since been resolved. Earlier this month, theSun reported that the report on PKFZ would be a damning disclosure of mismanagement, clandestine deals, conflicts of interest and a total disregard for transparency and accountability. The project was reportedly supposed to cost RM1.845 billion but ended up at RM4.6 billion. On the suggestion by Gerakan that former communist leader Chin Peng be allowed to return, Najib said the government would not allow it as it would create dissatisfaction among society, especially those killed during the Emergency period and their family members. Gerakan’s suggestion triggered negative and even angry response from various groups, including exservicemen. On a report that Jemaah Islamiah leader Mas Selamat Kastari was being held under a two-year detention at the Kamunting Detention Centre, Najib confirmed that for the time being, Mas Selamat was held under the Internal Security Act (ISA). He said it was Malaysia’s decision

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