Military Watch:

Iranian Strike Destroys the Emirates’ Most Valuable Military Aircraft at Largest Airbase

Middle East , Aircraft and Anti-Aircraft

Military Watch Magazine Editorial Staff

March-16th-2026

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GlobalEye AEW&C, Shahed 136, Destruction at Al Dhafra Air Base

Multiple sources have reported that strikes launched by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have destroyed a Untied Arab Emirates Air Force Saab GlobalEye airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system, which is one of the most high value military aircraft operated the the Middle East. The aircraft was targeted at Al Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi as part of a large scale drone attack on the facility. The base hosts air assets from the UAE Air Force, the U.S. Air Force, and the French Air Force, with the full extent of the damage remaining unclear due to the unknown contents of hangers that were seen destroyed in satellite imagery. It is highly possible that more than one GlobalEye was damaged in the attack. Alongside the GlobalEye, hangars targeted are thought to accommodate U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton unmanned long range maritime surveillance aircraft, which cost over $240 million each, and U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance and combat drones.

GlobalEye AEW&C System

Although UAE Airspace is protected by a dense multi-layered air defence network including U.S.-supplied THAAD and Patriot anti-ballistic missile systems, South Korean Cheongung-II air defence systems, and supporting air defence artillery, the effectiveness of this network has been highly limited. Iranian forces’ ability to strike Al Dhafra, which is one of the most heavily defended facilities in the country, has provided one of multiple indications that air defence capabilities are rapidly diminishing. The release of images showing damage at Al Dhafra closely coincides with the release of footage showing mass destruction of major infrastructure, including the country’s largest airport, Dubai International Airport, and largest port at Fujairah. Although the UAE Air Force and the French Air Force have deployed fighters from Al Dhafra to intercept drone attacks, their suitability for such operations has been limited, with the French Air Force’s operations over two weeks having led the country’s defence ministry to raise serious questions regarding the severe depletion of its costly air-to-air missile stockpiles. 

The GlobalEye was developed to provide advanced situational awareness to the operator’s networks, and integrates two oversized radars and advanced data links, as well as signals and electronic intelligence sensors enable the aircraft to detect and analyse radar emissions and communications signals. The aircraft’s capabilities are nevertheless significantly more constrained than those of larger more advanced AEW&C systems such as the U.S. E-7 Wedgetail and the Chinese KJ-500. The UAE Air Force is currently the type’s only operator, with France and Sweden having also placed orders for two and three respectively. The relatively small radars carried by UAE Air Force F-16, Mirage 2000, and future Rafale fighters makes support from AEW&Cs particularly important, contrasting to the Royal Saudi Air Force which operates much larger F-15 fighters that can function much more independently. 

UAE Air Force F-16 Pursues Shahed 136 Attack Drone Over Almamzar Beach

Five GlobalEye systems were delivered from 2020-2024 under a $2.5 billion contract, making them significantly more costly than other aircraft confirmed to have been damaged or destroyed in Iranian attacks, such as the U.S. Air Force KC-135 tankers targeted at Prince Sultan Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia in a closely coinciding attack. The destruction of the GlobalEye is expected to further limit the U.S. and its strategic partners’ situational awareness in the region, after the Revolutionary Guard Corps destroyed the sole AN/FPS-132 radar based outside the U.S., which was located in Qatar, and two AN/TPY-2 radars from THAAD systems in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, as well as multiple lower value radar systems. The U.S. has been forced to redeploy anti-missile systems and their radars from across the world, most notably from strategic forward locations in South Korea, to compensate for these losses. 

Large Fire After Iranian Strike on Dubai International Airport

While missile defences in Israel can depend on a further AN/TPY-2 system in Turkey to track incoming missiles, states located closer to Iran have remained far more vulnerable, with the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar having been targeted particularly intensively due to their leading roles in supporting the U.S.-led campaign against Iran. Footage showing local Patriot air defence systems repeatedly failing to intercept even relatively basic Iranian ballistic missile strikes on multiple occasions have followed a long history of the system’s failures during combat, with its underperformance thought to have further exacerbated frontline U.S.-aligned Gulf states’ vulnerability. The U.S. has itself suffered from extreme shortages of surface-to-air missile interceptors, which has reportedly been a primary factor leading it to push for a ceasefire.

One day Keir Starmer might say what he really thinks of Trump. But not today

One day Keir Starmer might say what he really thinks of Trump. But not today

John Crace

The PM’s natural instinct to stay out of the Iran war has been a good one, but he is left speaking in code about US relations

Tue 17 Mar 2026 05.19 AEDT



It was a message that could just as easily have been given via a ministerial statement in the Commons. But Keir Starmer needs every break he can get at the moment and he wasn’t going to pass up the chance to look like a world leader at a press conference in Downing Street. The advantages were obvious. No need to have to listen to Kemi Badenoch drone on for five minutes with her revisionist fantasies in reply. Avoid the danger of loads of backbench MPs observing that President Trump is a deranged halfwit who doesn’t know what he’s doing.😂😂😂

But best of all a press conference was ideal because the American war with Iran is one of the few occasions when the prime minister’s judgment has been right all along. Just over two weeks in and it’s increasingly looking like the The Donald is only in the war for its entertainment value. Just last weekend, he was saying he might continue bombing Kharg Island for fun. For the lols and social media hits. There has never been a plan or a goal in mind. Not so long ago he was saying the Brits were late to the party and he didn’t need them anyway. Now he is begging for help in keeping the strait of Hormuz open.

Starmer’s natural instinct to stay as far out of the conflict as he can has been a good one. When Kemi and Nigel Farage were yelling to get stuck in, Keir urged caution. And he’s been proved right. Most Brits want well out of another war in the Middle East. All of which made the press conference a no-brainer. A rare opportunity for the prime minister to look prime ministerial. He might not get another chance.

Even so, the last few weeks have taken their toll. Keir now looks permanently knackered from having to juggle the war, the Mandelson fallout, threats to his leadership and so much going pear-shaped on the home front. It’s just been one damned thing after another with no let-up. The job has proved to be a blessing and a curse. Something he wanted so badly has begun to destroy him from the inside out. And yet he can’t let go. He is compelled to hang on for as long as possible. But his eyes are now hollowed out. He looks to be running on fumes.

Still, Keir was determined to give it his best shot. Even if he couldn’t find the passion he might at least find the right words. His aim was to protect British nationals, he said. He had a contingency plan to protect the less-well off from energy price hikes. He wanted to bring an end to the conflict as soon as possible. More to help avert the cost of living crisis getting any worse than for humanitarian reasons. Opening the strait of Hormuz was essential to ensure the world’s oil and gas supplies but the only way to achieve a lasting peace was a negotiated settlement.

After that things turned a little vague. Though Starmer was adamant that Britain would stay out of the war, he gave almost nothing away about what the UK’s response might be to Trump’s demand for European help. It sounded very much like he was playing for time. We might send some underwater mine-hunting drones. There again, we might not. Depends where they were.

We probably wouldn’t be sending any warships. Largely because we’ve only got a few and we’re trying to keep all of them out of harm’s way. No point ending up as collateral damage in an illegal war. It wasn’t as if Trump would be at all grateful for any help we did give. That’s just not his style. He is a man who lives almost entirely in an amoral, consequence-free present. Threatening the end of Nato for non-involvement when only a matter of weeks previously he had tried to annex Greenland from Denmark. Taking Trump at his word is a thankless one-way ticket to hell. Besides, the Germans had already said no.

Most of this was inferred, rather than said. Starmer’s still not quite brave enough – or reckless enough – to spell out the US president’s shortcomings. Though you feel the moment may be getting closer. One day it might be a relief for him to say what he really thinks. But we’re not there yet.

So we had to make do with code when it came to questions from the media on the special relationship. Everything was very difficult, he said. No decisions had been made on anything. We were working with partners. It sounded as if he would be very happy for no decisions ever to be made. To let the situation continue to be indeterminate until such time Trump got bored and stopped the war. Or maybe The Donald would bump his head and turn into a sentient being.

Starmer was inevitably on far trickier ground when he was asked about Mandelson. Then his answers turned incoherent. Due process had been followed at all times. The only problem was that the due process had been inadequate which is why he was determined to make sure the due process was more thorough in the future. Make sense of that if you can.

Everything is still as clear as mud. We don’t even know if Keir even wanted Mandelson or had just been told he wanted Mandelson. His curiosity didn’t stretch to taking any real interest in the vetting report that said Mandy was a potential wrong ’un who had been sacked twice and was still mates with a convicted paedophile. There’s just no way you can spin this to make Starmer look good.

Still, at least he can claim to have been on the right side in the war. Which is more than can be said about the Tories and Reform who are now struggling to play catch-up. Both find themselves in the strange position of wanting to be more like Keir. Though for both of them, this now involves lying through their teeth. Kemi is now adamant that she would never have dreamed of taking part in offensive operations even though it’s on record that she and her shadow foreign secretary, Priti Patel, said exactly this. Insulting the country’s intelligence isn’t generally a vote winner. But I guess Kemi knows best.

kt notes: Indian pollies in UK and the States tend to be conservative and ultra-belligerent with foreign countries

Richard Tice was also at it during his press conference on Monday morning. Dicky is Reform’s new money-saving expert who was there to tell everyone only idiots fail to take advantage of aggressive tax avoidance loopholes. From now on, Reform would be giving everyone a grant of £20,000 to hire top tax lawyers. Just remember only complete losers don’t regard paying tax as a negotiation. Dicky was also asked if he still wanted the UK to bomb Iran. I never said that, he protested. Maybe there are tax breaks to be had in the reconstruction of Tehran.😂😂😂

‘Trump is aiming for dictatorship’. That’s the verdict of the world’s most credible democracy watchdog

‘Trump is aiming for dictatorship’. That’s the verdict of the world’s most credible democracy watchdog

Martin Gelin


Sweden’s V-Dem Institute warns that the US is no longer a liberal democracy. And autocracy is creeping across Europe too

Tue 17 Mar 2026 16.00 AEDT

The US is no longer a democracy. One of the most credible global sources on the health of democratic nations now says this outright. The Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute at Gothenburg University reaches the alarming conclusion in its annual report, that the US is hurtling towards autocracy at a faster rate than Hungary and Turkey.

“Our data on the USA goes back to 1789. What we’re seeing now is the most severe magnitude of democratic backsliding ever in the country,” says Staffan Lindberg, founder of the institute.


Since 2012, Lindberg has led his small group of researchers in Sweden to become the world’s leading source for analysis of the health of global democracy. In their latest report, published on Tuesday, they conclude that the US, for the first time in more than half a century, has lost its long-term status as a liberal democracy. The country is now going through a rapid process of what the report’s authors call “autocratisation”.


“For Orbán in Hungary, it took about four years, for Vučić in Serbia, it took eight years, and for Erdoğan in Turkey and Modi in India, it took about 10 years to accomplish the suppression of democratic institutions that Trump has achieved in only one year,” Lindberg says.

US democracy is now back at the worst recorded level since 1965, when US civil rights laws first introduced de facto universal suffrage. All progress made since then has been erased, according to the report.

Worldwide, democracy has receded to its lowest levels since the mid-70s. “The world has never before seen as many countries autocratising at the same time,” Lindberg says.

A record 41% (3.4 billion) of the world’s population currently resides in countries where democracy is deteriorating, the report claims, adding that Washington is leading this global turn away from democracy.

The researchers use 48 different metrics to assess democratic health, such as the freedom of expression and the media, the quality of elections and the observance of the rule of law. The resulting “liberal democracy index” shows that the speed with which US democracy is being dismantled is unprecedented in modern history. The main factor is a “rapid and aggressive concentration of powers in the presidency”, Lindberg says. Congress has been marginalised, jeopardising the “checks and balances” (judicial and legislative constraints on the executive) so crucial to US democracy. At the same time, civil rights have been rapidly declining and freedom of expression is now at its lowest level since the 1940s.

The V-Dem report highlights Trump’s pardon for 1,500 people convicted of the Capitol Hill assault, ‘undermining the legitimacy of courts’. Photograph: Samuel Corum/Getty Images


“We’ve seen a very fast concentration of power in the executive wing. The legislative branch has practically abdicated its powers to the president. It no longer functions as a check on executive power,” Lindberg says.

In Donald Trump’s first year as president, he signed 225 executive orders, whereas the Republican-controlled Congress passed only 49 new laws. “Most of Trump’s executive orders were significant. He shut down entire departments of the government, firing hundreds of thousands of employees. The bills passed by Congress were mostly insignificant modifications to existing laws. So, we no longer have a meaningful division between the legislative and executive branches,” Lindberg says.

Congress has been marginalised and freedom of expression is at its lowest level since the 1940s

Meanwhile, the supreme court has also mostly abdicated power, and even when it does strike down Trump’s executive orders, he circumvents it, Lindberg tells me. He points out that there are more than 600 ongoing judicial procedures against the Trump administration in the courts.

Another aspect of America’s rapidly deteriorating democracy, according to the report, is the removal of internal guardrails that protect the federal government from abuse of power. When I ask Lindberg how we should read the findings, his response is emphatic. “Trump has fired inspector generals and higher levels of civil servants across departments, and replaced them with loyalists. This is exactly what Orbán and Erdoğan did. They remove the constraints on power. It should be obvious by now that Trump is aiming for dictatorship.”

So how did a small research institute in Gothenburg become such a credible source on the decline of democracy in Washington? When Lindberg, a soft-spoken political scientist, founded the V-Dem Institute in 2012, global democracy was near its historic peak.

“Back then, we were all researching the process of democratisation, and we were frustrated that the metrics weren’t good enough, so we wanted to create a credible global index that was relevant for the whole community of democracy researchers,” he says.

Five years later, when the institute published its first dataset of global democracy, its experts realised that things were rapidly going in the wrong direction. “Now, all of us researching democratisation have become researchers on autocratisation,” Lindberg says.

At the time, their reports were criticised for “exaggerating” the risks to global democratic stability. “We were called alarmists. But now our warnings seem justified,” Lindberg says.

The core group of a dozen researchers in Gothenburg works with 4,200 researchers in 180 countries, using what they claim to be the largest global dataset on democracy, with more than 32m data points for 202 countries and territories, spanning from 1789 to 2025. “We have universal standards, but also people on the ground to tell us what is actually going on. The reports are 100% scientific, research-driven, and our data is free from bias and state influence, from general punditry and political considerations.”


V-Dem’s report, titled Unravelling the Democratic Era?, should be required reading for Europe, where seven EU member states – Hungary, Greece, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Italy and Romania – are “affected by autocratisation”, amid signs of governments using media censorship, curbs on freedom of expression and repression of civil society. Portugal and Bulgaria have joined the institute’s “watchlist”.

The report identifies the UK as a “new autocratiser”, driven by “a substantial decline” in freedom of expression and the media. “In the UK, it began before Keir Starmer, with the Elections Act 2022, and the government expanding its power over electoral commissions,” Lindberg says. “The Policing Act 2022 decreased civil rights and free speech. The Online Safety Act 2023 was used to penalise online speech and lawsuits silencing journalists. The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 increased demands on universities to monitor protests and police free speech. What’s worrying is that once the democratic backsliding begins, it’s often hard to stop.”.

Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Estonia and Ireland top V-Dem’s global democracy index for 2025. The efforts of others, including Poland, are highlighted for attempting to “U-turn” away from autocracy. But only 18 countries across the world are democratising, a historic low.

Dozens of people are detained during a protest held in support of the banned Palestine Action group, London, 24 November 2024. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images


A single bright spot in the assessment of the US is that free and open elections are still being held, and the electoral system “remains stable for now”. But executive orders since Trump came to power point to new risks for the electoral system.

Threats to bureaucrats and poll workers administering elections are already alarming, Lindberg says. “We’ve seen media reports that 40% of election/poll workers have quit since 2020. And Trump never accepted his defeat then. Why would he accept a defeat now? If we see a denial of the election results in 2026, then it’s a complete democratic breakdown.”

A potential source of cautious optimism may be that Trump’s authoritarian turn is increasingly unpopular. His approval rating is now below 40%. Large numbers of Trump voters are deeply disappointed with the new war in Iran, and with steadily rising living costs. Many of the liberal states that have been Trump targets, such as Minnesota and California, have successfully fought back against threats to civil rights and local communities.

“We’re also seeing more criticism from within the Maga movement,” Lindberg says.

It would be naive, as the report warns, to think that European countries are immune to democratic decline, whatever happens in Washington. “It’s a global trend,” says Lindberg, “so it’s not just America that is driving this. Research clearly shows that the far right, once they gain power, have a high probability of dismantling democratic institutions.”

In many countries across Europe, voters are now mobilising to elect their own versions of Trump, despite the administration’s open threats to the continent and its persistent support for extremist parties that undermine European stability. Establishment conservatives are following along, hoping against reason that things will somehow work out better this time than in previous eras of authoritarian rule. With stark numbers and crystal-clear language, the V-Dem report underscores the risks of this path.

Martin Gelin is a journalist and author. He writes for the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter

Trump faces coalition of the unwilling on Iran

FMT:

Trump faces coalition of the unwilling on Iran

Allies show little willingness to assist amid recent tariff threats, insults and Greenland takeover plans from the US president

President Donald Trump said allies from Europe to Asia owed Washington for decades of protection. (EPA Images pic)

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump spent his first year back in power disparaging US allies. Now he wants them to help America in the Iran war – and they are none too enthusiastic.

From tariffs to insults and threatening to invade Greenland, Trump has rarely missed an opportunity in recent months to criticise America’s partners.

Yet now the 79-year-old Republican has said he expects the same allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil traffic and reacted angrily when they rebuffed him.

“It’s an extraordinary demand,” said Philip Gordon, the former national security advisor to vice president Kamala Harris and now an academic at the Brookings Institution.

“To justify risking people’s lives, not only for that operation, but for a president who has done nothing but insult and berate you for the last 15 months, that’s probably a bridge too far,” Gordon told AFP.

Trump has warned that the Nato alliance could be at risk if it fails to step up to unblock the strategic waterway, saying other countries get most of their oil supply through it and must contribute.

But while he insisted Monday that “we don’t need anybody” to clear the straits, he also thundered that US allies from Europe to Asia owe Washington for giving them decades of protection.

Trump has also hit out at China for failing to help.


‘Layers of irony’

In foreign capitals there has been deep skepticism over getting involved in a war Trump did not consult them on, yet which has caused major disruption to their economies.

Their reluctance has been compounded by Trump’s repeated tongue-lashings since returning to office.

Trump has slapped tariffs on allies, berated Nato members over their defence spending and support for Ukraine, and unveiled a national security strategy that prioritised boosting pro-Trump parties in Europe.

He has disparaged the contributions of nations whose soldiers fought and died alongside US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan – and claimed that America won World War II by itself.

And just weeks ago came Trump’s threats to invade Greenland, which prompted an unprecedented display of unity behind fellow Nato member Denmark that forced Trump to back down.

“There are several layers of irony,” remarked Erwan Lagadec of George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.

Lagadec said the United States had “launched a war without consulting allies, expecting them to mop up the mess, and that’s not going fly.”

Nato would also unlikely be in a position, or achieve consensus, to launch any major mission in the Strait of Hormuz, Lagadec added.


‘Bullying and blackmail’

Before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, then-president George W. Bush spent months building up what he called a “coalition of the willing” of more than 40 countries to back the United States.

But Trump, whose criticism of the Iraq war and other US quagmires was a centrepiece of his “America First” policy, failed to construct any similar alliance for a war he believed would be over soon.

European nations already struggling to deal with Ukraine and their own economies have very practical concerns about getting involved now in Iran, said Liana Fix of the Council on Foreign Relations.

“It is not payback, but just very real constraints and policy trade-offs,” Fix told AFP.

But while US allies will still be wary of irking Trump over Hormuz, they may also choose to show that they can no longer be pushed around.

“If they do go along with him, his experience will be that bullying and blackmail work. That’s been his experience for the whole first year, and then Greenland put a stop to it,” said Gordon, who was also a special assistant to president Barack Obama.

“Now the chickens are coming home to roost.”

***

No worries you frigging ijit, Motherland India, with legs kang-kang, is on her way with her mighty navy. BTW, she is doing it for Fatherland Satanyahu, wakakaka.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Iran ‘negotiating’ with Fifa over moving World Cup games to Mexico

FMT:

Iran ‘negotiating’ with Fifa over moving World Cup games to Mexico

Iran are scheduled to face New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles, followed by Egypt in Seattle

Iran’s participation at this summer’s World Cup finals in the US, Canada and Mexico has been thrown into doubt since the war began late last month. (EPA Images pic)

MEXICO CITY: Iran’s football federation is “negotiating” with Fifa to relocate the country’s first-round matches at the World Cup to Mexico from the US, citing the conflict in the Middle East, Iran’s embassy in Mexico said Monday.

Iran’s participation at this summer’s finals in the US, Canada and Mexico has been thrown into doubt since the war began late last month.

“When (US President Donald) Trump has explicitly stated that he cannot ensure the security of the Iranian national team, we will certainly not travel to America,” Iranian football chief Mehdi Taj said in remarks posted on the embassy’s X account.


“We are currently negotiating with Fifa to hold Iran’s matches in the World Cup in Mexico.”

Iran are scheduled to face New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles, followed by Egypt in Seattle.


The team’s base camp for the tournament is currently slated to be located in Tucson, Arizona.

Abolfazl Pasandideh, Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, on Monday denounced “the US government’s lack of cooperation regarding visa issuance and the provision of logistical support” for the Iranian delegation ahead of the World Cup, in a statement published on the embassy’s website.

He added that he had also “suggested to Fifa that Iran’s matches be moved from the United States to Mexico.”

Fifa did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.


Trump triggered uproar last week after stating that while Iran’s football team would be “welcome” in the US, they should not travel to the tournament “for their own life and safety.”

Trump’s comments came after Fifa president Gianni Infantino had given assurances that Trump had promised him that the Iranian team would be welcome.

Iran hit back at Trump’s comments saying “no one can exclude Iran’s national team from the World Cup”.

Iran’s place at the tournament was thrown into question after the US and Israel launched a massive offensive against the Islamic Republic, which responded with waves of missiles and drones targeting Israeli territory and American targets across the Middle East.

***

Clown lacks the honour and grace of a host - he's just a low level sulking thug

Go to the ground, inspect quit rent cases yourself, Chow told

FMT:

Go to the ground, inspect quit rent cases yourself, Chow told

Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng says the Penang chief minister should not rely solely on data from land and mines officers and aides

Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng (left) said Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow declined his invitation to visit the Bola-Bola flats in Bagan, where residents were upset over the increase in their quit rent from RM3,676 to RM22,120.

GEORGE TOWN: Lim Guan Eng has told Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow to personally inspect complaints over Penang’s revised quit rent rates instead of relying only on feedback from land and mines officers and aides.

In a statement today, the Bagan MP said Chow should understand the actual situation faced by affected landowners, and that the growing number of appeals showed that public anger over the issue was real.

Lim said the number of appeals, which rose from about 300 on March 4 to over 2,000, could continue climbing until the April 30 deadline for quit rent payments.


He said Chow had declined his invitation to visit the Bola-Bola flats in Bagan, where residents were upset over what he said was a fivefold increase in quit rent from RM3,676 to RM22,120.

Lim said that even in Chow’s parliamentary constituency of Batu Kawan, a village house lot in Kampung Sekolah, Juru, saw its quit rent jump from RM12 to RM34,118.


Chow earlier said the land was not used solely as a kampung house lot but also for timber and pallet storage and as a wood workshop.

He said several landowners who publicly criticised the revised quit rent rates had left out key details such as lot size and the actual business or industrial use of their land.

However, Lim said Chow had openly admitted that the new quit rent calculation system had caused increases ranging from hundreds- to thousands-fold.

He asked how such steep hikes could be justified when they were not mentioned in Pakatan Harapan’s election manifesto for Penang in 2023.


Lim also said the explanation that the quit rent structure had not been reviewed since 1994 did not justify sudden and excessive increases.

He said the fee for statutory declarations was raised to RM10 from RM4 in January 2023 after nearly 30 years, marking an increase of about two-and-a-half times.

Lim also cited the case of SJKC Li Hwa in Butterworth, where quit rent rose from RM2 to RM8,074.

He said repeated corrections and reductions in some assessments, including cases where amounts were reduced by as much as 90%, showed that the current system was flawed and unfair.


He urged the Penang government to review the entire quit rent calculation method and replace it with a system that was logical, fair and reasonable.

***

For frigging sake Guanee, do your "advising" in private - don't do it openly in private with undeniably the aim of humiliating Chow.

Your overt hostility to your successor is way too notorious for Penangites to remain calm and silent. Please respect Chow - he's the CM, not you nor your sister.

‘No decision made’ — Saravanan rebuts Perikatan announcement on MIC entry

‘No decision made’ — Saravanan rebuts Perikatan announcement on MIC entry



Datuk Seri M. Saravanan meets with media practitioners after the Human Resources Ministry's Customer Day at Menara Manickavasagam in Kuala Lumpur on September 22, 2022. — Bernama pic

Tuesday, 17 Mar 2026 1:59 PM MYT


KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 — MIC deputy president Datuk Seri M. Saravanan has denied that his party has joined Perikatan Nasional (PN), directly refuting a claim made earlier by the coalition’s secretary-general, Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan.

Saravanan insisted that MIC’s central working committee (CWC) has not made any decision on the matter, Free Malaysia Today reported.


“No decision has been made by MIC to join PN. I’ve been very clear from day one: we will let the CWC decide, and the CWC has yet to decide anything,” he said.

The Tapah MP clarified that MIC had not submitted a formal application to join the coalition, and had only made an “enquiry” about the process following an invitation from then-PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.


Saravanan’s firm denial came after Takiyuddin announced that PN’s Supreme Council had already approved MIC’s entry into the coalition.


Takiyuddin also claimed he would be meeting MIC president Tan Sri SA Vigneswaran tonight to hand over an official letter confirming the party’s admission.

However, Saravanan said he was unaware of any such meeting.


“The president would have told me,” he said.

The conflicting statements are the latest development in long-running speculation about MIC’s future within Barisan Nasional (BN).

During the party’s general assembly last November, delegates gave the leadership a mandate to explore leaving the coalition amid dissatisfaction over MIC’s role and relevance.

Despite this, top BN leaders have consistently dismissed the speculation, and MIC leaders recently attended a BN leadership retreat, signalling that the party remained within the fold.

***

MIC, enjoy the 'attention' lah - you guys seldom got teh right type, wakakaka😂😂😂

TMJ goading detractors: Lawyers say 'unclear' line between criticism and sedition

TMJ goading detractors: Lawyers say 'unclear' line between criticism and sedition

Qistina Nadia Dzulqarnain
Published: Mar 17, 2026 7:00 AM
Updated: 10:46 AM


Legal experts have cautioned that while criticism of royalty can potentially attract legal retribution, the boundary between legitimate critique and seditious remarks is unclear and highly dependent on how such comments are framed.

The lawyers’ insights follow recent remarks issued by Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, who claimed to have been victimised in the “heritage” players’ scandal plaguing the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).

Earlier this month, the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the International Federation of Association Football’s (Fifa) findings that seven Harimau Malaya players were allowed to play for the national team via forged citizenship documents.

Following the CAS ruling, the crown prince had called for internal accountability within the FAM, urging the local body to identify the individuals responsible for the document submissions while suggesting that the public sue him en masse over his alleged personal involvement.

Besides pinning the blame for the issue on “FAM insiders,” the crown prince also challenged detractors to end his “influence and credibility” in the football scene, after certain quarters accused the Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) FC owner of playing a role in the controversy.

The comments by Tunku Ismail, also known as TMJ, have since ignited fierce debate online, especially since the state regent was key in identifying the implicated players and had publicly urged the government to grant them citizenship.

‘Respectful political discourse’

When contacted, lawyer Arjun Mohanakrishnan highlighted that freedom of speech is a right protected by the Federal Constitution, with certain legislatures, such as the Sedition Act 1948, also providing leeway for “respectful political discourse” on - or against - institutions of the state.

Citing Section 3(2) of the Sedition Act, Arjun pointed out that an act or statement intended to correct “errors or defects” in any government, or show where a ruler has been “misled or mistaken,” are legally protected “exceptions” as they are not deemed seditious.

While such exemptions are recognised, Advance Tertiary College academic director and senior lecturer Daniel Abishegam cautioned that the broader definition of what constitutes sedition remains vague as well as “open to interpretation and manipulation.”

As such, room is left for the Sedition Act - alongside laws under the Penal Code and the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 - to be applied in different ways depending on how the remarks are perceived.

“Section 3(1)(a) of the Sedition Act states it is an offence to ‘bring into hatred or contempt’ or to excite dissatisfaction against any ruler or any government - the problem is, what does that mean? It is very vague and ill-defined.

“Further case law has confirmed that intent does not matter in these cases. If the words are deemed seditious, (then) it is an offence,” he told Malaysiakini.


No objective line to be drawn

Similarly, former deputy public prosecutor Farhan Read argued that the ambiguity extends beyond the interpretation of such laws and into enforcement action itself.

“When the police or the MCMC come knocking and the public prosecutor charges you in court, I don’t think there is an objective line to be drawn between legitimate criticism and seditious remarks, because that call is made on executive instruction,” Farhan said.

The practising criminal defence lawyer added that while the courts may “draw a line” in executing the judiciary’s task of defining the limit of protected speech, such a boundary would be “blurry at best”.

“Basically, if you say anything which hurts the feelings of the monarchy, then you’re going to end up in court - whether it is legitimate criticism or otherwise, that is for you to prove in court,” he added.

Commenting on Tunku Ismail’s series of posts against those perceived as his opponents, Daniel opined that as long as those responding to the royalty’s online remarks keep their comments “factual and based on solid evidence,” the potential of legal repercussions could be avoided.

“(However), the danger of (such comments) being interpreted otherwise is always there.

“The problem is when the Johor crown prince is openly asking for people to ‘finish him off’,” I would hope that people are aware of the laws and be restrained in their comments,” he added.

He noted that while the existence of many laws aimed at protecting the sanctity of the royal institution is “understandable,” rulers should also remain “above the fray” and avoid engaging in open disputes to preserve the royal establishment’s dignity.

“This may seem unfair to the rulers, but it is for the greater good,” he asserted.

***

Don't do it - it's not worth the effort. In Malaysia,

one always loses to the 3 R's.

The temples that the city grew around

LETTER | The temples that the city grew around

Published: Mar 12, 2026 2:31 PM
Updated: 5:31 PM



LETTER | The presence of Hindu temples on hospital grounds and railway lands in Malaysia today is not an accident of urban sprawl.

They are a historical testament to the labour that built the nation’s backbone.

To understand why these shrines exist, one must look back over a century to the British colonial era, when the landscape of Malaya was transformed from virgin jungle into a global hub for rubber and rail.


Colonial labour built Malaya

During the peak of British colonial rule, Malaya witnessed one of the highest migration rates in the world.

Between 1881 and 1939, hundreds of thousands of South Indian labourers, primarily Tamils, were brought in under the Kangani system and indentured labour contracts.

They were the primary workforce tasked with clearing dense tropical forests to lay the tracks for the Malayan railways and constructing the nation’s first public hospitals and government offices.


Shrines for protection and healing

In the early 1900s, these labourers lived in “kuli lines” or labour quarters located immediately adjacent to their worksites.

These areas were often remote, malaria-infested, and dangerous.

Faced with the threat of the Spanish Flu, wild animal attacks, and high workplace fatality rates, workers established small shrines to seek divine protection.

Many early Indian migrants served as the essential heartbeat of colonial hospitals, working as dressers, attendants, and cleaners.

They built shrines on hospital grounds not just for themselves, but as places of “divine healing” for the sick they served.

British resident-generals and colonial administrators explicitly sanctioned these places of worship.

They viewed religion as a tool for “social discipline” and a way to ensure a stable, content, and productive workforce.

MIC deputy president and Tapah MP M Saravanan once urged the government not to overlook the historical facts surrounding the establishment of Hindu temples in Malaysia, many of which received approval from colonial authorities and local administrators.

The majority of Hindu temples on government or plantation lands were built during the British and Japanese colonial eras.

Crucially, these structures were erected decades before the National Land Code 1965 was enacted.


When cities grew around temples

A century ago, these sites were isolated, surrounded by rubber estates. The Indian nurses, doctors, and railwaymen who lived there raised families and anchored their community around these small altars.

Years later, the estates were subdivided into housing schemes, and the small wooden hospitals grew into “hospital besar” (general hospitals).

The once remote railway tracks became the central veins of modern city transport hubs.

Because these temples were established in an era before modern land titles and structured gazetting, many lack “formal” documentation despite being over 100 years old.

Today, these historical sites are often unfairly labelled as “unauthorised structures” or “encroachments” on public land.

Such labels ignore the truth. The temples did not move into the city. The city grew around the temples.

The Indian labourers who cleared the “virgin jungles” to build these very hospitals and tracks laid the spiritual stones of these temples simultaneously.

To question their presence today is to forget the historical reality that without the sweat and spiritual resilience of these pioneer workers, the foundation of infrastructure we now seek to expand would not exist.



M VIVEKANANTHAN is an aide to the Tapah MP and MIC deputy president M Saravanan.

Evil destructive Israel

 

IDF launched a wave of strikes on Iranian infrastructure in Tehran

It's no longer about Iran's nuke but to destroy it a la Gaza

Zamri claims trial for public mischief, Arun pleads not guilty to religious provocation

Zamri claims trial for public mischief, Arun pleads not guilty to religious provocation


Published: Mar 17, 2026 10:12 AM
Updated: 1:30 PM



Independent preacher Zamri Vinoth and activist Arun Dorasamy have both pleaded not guilty to separate offences.

Zamri (above, left), 41, was charged in the Kuala Lumpur Magistrates' Court this morning under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code, which criminalises statements made with the intent to cause, or which may cause, disturbance to the public.

Those convicted can be liable to imprisonment for up to two years, a fine, or both.

He was accused of committing the offence via a Facebook post on Feb 3 regarding a gathering involving “illegal temples", Free Malaysia Today reported.

Arun, 56, claimed trial to a charge under the same section of the law before the Magistrates' Court in Jawi, Nibong Tebal.

The activist, whose real name is Arumugam Dorasamy, is alleged to have committed the offence via a video on his Instagram account, @arun_dorasamy, at about 3.45pm on March 12 last year at Ikea Batu Kawan, Penang.

The Star also reported that Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) M Kulasegaran was spotted at the court complex in Penang.

Arun, who was represented by lawyers T Gunaseelan, Balwant Singh Purba, and Dickson Eng, posted bail after magistrate Nurul Ainna Ahmad set the amount at RM5,000 in one surety.

Deputy public prosecutors Nazran Sham and Airina Syazreen Zainurin requested the bail amount.

The magistrate set June 22 for the handover of documents.

***

Arrest the bigot, must also arrest Arun - Ptui