VIRAL - SIAPA DALANG SEBENAR PEMBUNUHAN ADIK ZARA QAIRINA ?

VIRAL - SIAPA DALANG SEBENAR PEMBUNUHAN ADIK ZARA QAIRINA?

@Jr_Paku Midin Channel

KOTA KINABALU: Peguam, Shahlan Jufri menegaskan proses bedah siasat Allahyarham Zara Qairina Mahathir yang dijalankan di Hospital Queen Elizabeth (HQE) di sini, semalam berlangsung secara telus, berintegriti dan mengikut prosedur.

Shahlan, yang mewakili keluarga Allahyarham, turut memuji dedikasi pasukan forensik menjalankan pemeriksaan dari jam 11 pagi hingga 7.30 malam tanpa henti, termasuk memeriksa setiap kecederaan secara terperinci sepanjang proses itu berlangsung.

Berikut temu bual beliau bersama petugas media di luar pekarangan Jabatan Forensik HQE kira-kira jam 9.30 malam tadi, tidak lama selepas proses bedah siasat selesai.

Peguam: Alhamdulillah, proses bedah siasat berjalan lancar, bermula kira-kira jam 11 pagi tadi (semalam) dan selesai sekitar jam 7.30 malam. Mengenai bedah siasat itu, saya turut berada di dalam bilik forensik. Saya melihat sendiri bagaimana pemeriksaan dijalankan dari bahagian luar sehingga ke organ dalaman. Beberapa anggota polis juga masuk (hadir), namun yang berada di dalam bilik bedah siasat hanyalah saya bersama pasukan forensik (pakar patologi dan polis). Sebab memang itu keinginan (permintaan) keluarga Zara (Qairina).

Peguam: Laporan bedah siasat akan disediakan oleh pasukan forensik. Tengoklah berapa lama pihak hospital yang akan (siapkan laporan bedah siasat) ini, saya pun tak berapa pasti. Cuma saya boleh beritahu, proses bedah siasat sangat baik, tidak ada unsur seperti yang tular di media sosial, (kononnya) ada 'tangan ghaib' apa semua, tiada. Saya sendiri melihat bagaimana (jenazah) arwah diperiksa sehinggalah selesai, termasuk pemeriksaan organ dalaman. Saya ada di situ dari jam 11 pagi sampai jam 7.30 malam tadi (semalam).

Wartawan: Anggaran berapa lama laporan bedah siasat boleh dikeluarkan?

Peguam: Tidak pasti, bergantung kepada pasukan forensik. Di dalam tadi (bilik bedah siasat) ada empat pakar (patologi) — seorang dari (Hospital Sultan Idris Shah) Serdang dan tiga lagi dari Hospital Queen Elizabeth. (Pakar Perunding Patologi Forensik) Doktor Khairul (Anuar Zainun), salah satunya dari Serdang. Jadi ada empat orang (termasuk tiga pakar patologi dari HQE). Dibantu jurugambar forensik serta jurugambar polis.

Wartawan: Biasanya sebagai peguam, berapa lama proses (menyiapkan laporan bedah siasat) ini?

Peguam: Tak tentu. Mungkin paling cepat tiga minggu, paling lambat mungkin dua bulan. Tak pasti.

Wartawan: Ada sebarang kejanggalan semasa proses bedah siasat?

Peguam: Tiada, proses berjalan lancar. Saya harus berterima kasih kepada pakar forensik, dari jam 11 pagi hingga 7.30 malam tidak duduk (berehat), sentiasa membuat pemeriksaan teliti. Secara teliti, mereka bukan (memeriksa secara) sembrono. Setiap kecederaan dinilai satu persatu. Bila mana ada kecederaan, mereka akan panggil saya untuk terangkan kecederaan itu.

Wartawan: Adakah kecederaan itu menunjukkan unsur jenayah?

Peguam: Kita habiskan (atau selesaikan laporan bedah siasat) itu dulu.

Wartawan: Berapa orang berada di dalam bilik (bedah siasat) tadi?

Peguam: Dalam tujuh hingga lapan orang. Pakar (patologi), polis ada, saya pun ada.

Wartawan: Jadi, proses (bedah siasat) ini berjalan telus?

Peguam: Telus. Jangan percaya spekulasi di media sosial. Saya mewakili keluarga ada di bilik bedah siasat, bukan di bilik kaca. Di bilik kaca ini, hanya boleh tengok apa yang dibuat (iaitu proses bedah siasat dari luar bilik bedah siasat). Di bilik bedah siasat, apa yang doktor-doktor (pakar) itu buat, saya tengok dan saya dengar (apa yang mereka perkatakan).

Wartawan: Siapa pula yang berada di bilik kaca itu?

Peguam: Dua pegawai polis. Ibu (Zara Qairina) tidak, saya mewakili ibu (arwah) untuk masuk ke dalam (bilik bedah siasat).

Wartawan: Apa yang pihak tuan rekodkan (sepanjang proses bedah siasat)?

Peguam: Saya rekodkan kecederaan yang ada, cuma saya tidak boleh cerita panjang (dan ulas lanjut) sebab masih dalam siasatan. Untuk makluman, laporan bedah siasat bukannya dokumen awam, maksudnya (dokumen) sulit. Jadi untuk mendapatkan laporan bedah siasat itu, hanya (boleh didedahkan) di mahkamah nanti, kalau ada inkues. Cuma saya mahu beritahu, proses bedah siasat itu berjalan dengan telus, integriti sangat tinggi dan lancar.

Wartawan: Selepas pengebumian semula jenazah Zara Qairina, apa langkah seterusnya?

Peguam: Selepas pengebumian, saya akan berbincang dengan keluarga (Zara Qairina) dan pasukan guaman. Kita tunggu (laporan) siasatan selesai, kemungkinan besar kami akan memohon inkues (di mahkamah).

Wartawan: Netizen masih tidak percaya dakwaan tiada VVIP masuk (ke bilik bedah siasat)?

Peguam: Saya sahkan tidak ada VVIP yang masuk ke dalam bilik bedah siasat. Memang tiada. Yang ada hanya wakil keluarga, doktor (pakar) dengan pihak polis. VVIP memang tiada. Jika mahu, saya boleh terangkan satu per satu proses bedah siasat kerana masih segar (di ingatan). Doktor sendiri terkejut kerana saya boleh tahan (atau kekal) di dalam (bilik bedah siasat sepanjang proses).

Wartawan: Tuan tidak keluar langsung?

Peguam: Tidak keluar. Bau macam mana pun, apa mereka (pakar patologi) buat, saya ada di situ.

Wartawan: Ada sesi soal jawab dengan doktor?

Peguam: Ada. (Doktor) ada terangkan (bedah siasat), memang semua ada.

Wartawan: Adakah keputusan bedah siasat akan dibawa ke Semenanjung?

Peguam: Tidak. Keputusan di sini. Doktor Khairul (dari Hospital Sultan Idris Shah, Serdang) itu hanya membantu.

Wartawan: Bagaimana dengan imbasan CT (terhadap Zara Qairina)?

Peguam: Saya tak pasti.

Wartawan: Ini kali pertama tuan berada di bilik bedah siasat?

Peguam: Ya, kali pertama. Selalunya hanya melihat gambar (proses bedah siasat). Ini memang kali pertama, pengalaman itu masih segar. Saya masih ingat keadaan arwah (Zara Qairina) macam mana, pisau (pembedahan) apa yang digunakan, mangkuk apa yang digunakan, macam-macam. Awal-awal sebelum datang, gementar, selepas itu, berasa kasihan. Sebab (kubur) terpaksa digali balik dan buat bedah siasat (jenazah). Bukan sesuatu yang mudah, memberi keinsafan.

Wartawan: Tuan makan atau minum di dalam (bilik bedah siasat)?

Tak makan minum selama 8 jam

Wartawan: Tak. Dari jam 11 pagi sampai jam 7 malam, tidak ada makan dan minum. Sebab itu saya cakap tadi, saya sangat-sangat berterima kasih dengan pasukan forensik (pakar patologi) sebab mereka bukan saja tidak makan dan minum, (malah) tidak duduk. Saya (masih) boleh duduk. Mereka tidak langsung boleh duduk, sentiasa bergerak untuk mencari kecederaan yang lama dan baharu kalau ada. Mereka tidak duduk.

Wartawan: Mungkin sekali lagi soalan, ada unsur jenayah atau tidak?

Peguam: Ada unsur jenayah atau tidak, kami sudah buat laporan polis (lebih) awal. (Dalam) laporan polis itu kami syak ada unsur jenayah. Untuk (mengesahkan) sekarang, ia masih dalam siasatan (sehingga laporan bedah siasat disiapkan), sulit. Kita tunggu laporan (rasmi) dan juga di mahkamah.

Wartawan: Berapa lama lagi laporan (bedah siasat) boleh siap?

Peguam: Seperti saya kata tadi, paling cepat seminggu, dua minggu. Paling lambat mungkin dua bulan.

Wartawan: Berpanjangan lagilah?

Peguam: Memang berpanjangan lagi. Tetapi kita mahu selesaikan (kes ini) secepat yang mungkin, seperti kemahuan waris (Zara Qairina).

Emosi ibu tak menentu

Wartawan: Bagaimana keadaan emosi ibu Allahyarham Zara Qairina?

Peguam: Emosinya tidak menentu. Ketika pengecaman (jenazah), dia berat (hati), bukan sesuatu yang mudah. Sedih terpaksa melalui proses itu. Bukan mudah, selepas (proses) gali (kubur arwah) dan proses bedah siasat. Saya sendiri nampak, bukan mudah.

Harian Metro sebelum ini melaporkan Zara Qairina meninggal dunia selepas didakwa terjatuh dari tingkat tiga bangunan asrama Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama (SMKA) Tun Datu Mustapha, Limauan di Kinarut pada 16 Julai lalu.

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JAPAN'S NANKAI QUAKE, TSUNAMI OBSERVATION SYSTEM REPAIRED - TOKYO JAPAN

JAPAN'S NANKAI QUAKE, TSUNAMI OBSERVATION SYSTEM REPAIRED - TOKYO JAPAN

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TOKYO

Japan's weather agency said Friday that a malfunction in the ocean-floor observation system off the Pacific coast, installed in preparation for a Nankai Trough earthquake, has been resolved.

Emergency earthquake warnings and tsunami monitoring are now functioning as normal, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The system is located off the Tokai region along the Nankai Trough -- a zone susceptible to megaquakes.

The system transmits data collected on the seafloor via cable to a land-based observation station in Shizuoka Prefecture. The equipment responsible for time-stamping the data broke down earlier this month, but was repaired by noon Friday.

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JAPAN RAISES TRAVEL ALERT FOR THAILAND, CAMBODIA BORDER, AMID CLASHES - TOKYO JAPAN

JAPAN RAISES TRAVEL ALERT FOR THAILAND, CAMBODIA BORDER, AMID CLASHES - TOKYO JAPAN 

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TOKYO

Japan's Foreign Ministry on Friday raised its travel alert for the Thailand-Cambodia border area following recent armed clashes between the two Southeast Asian countries, advising citizens not to visit the region.

Under the updated travel advisory, the designated area has been placed under a level 3 alert, the second-highest on the four-point scale, urging nationals to "avoid all travel."

The clashes broke out on Thursday with Thai authorities saying more than a dozen people, including civilians, have been killed.

On Friday, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya told his Cambodian counterpart Prak Sokhonn that the tensions should be eased "peacefully through dialogue," expressing Tokyo's "deep concern" during their phone talks, his ministry said.

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DOZENS DEAD IN VIETNAM AFTER HA LONG BAY TOURIST FERRY SINKS - HALONG BAY HANOI, VIETNAM

DOZENS DEAD IN VIETNAM AFTER HA LONG BAY TOURIST FERRY SINKS - HALONG BAY HANOI, VIETNAM  

@Jr_Paku Midin Channel

HALONG BAY, Vietnam (July 20, 2025): Rescuers searched desperately Sunday for four people still missing after at least 35 were killed when a boat capsized at one of Vietnam’s most popular tourist destinations.

The tourist boat ferrying families around Vietnam’s famed Ha Long Bay was lashed by a sudden storm Saturday in one of the deadliest disasters at the UNESCO World Heritage site.

The vessel “Wonder Sea” was carrying 46 passengers and three crew when it capsized because of sudden heavy rain, according to a provincial police report seen by AFP.

Previous state media reports had said that 53 people were on board and 37 people had died, but the figures were later revised by police.

Tran Trong Hung, a resident in the Ha Long Bay area, told AFP: “The sky turned dark.”

There were “hailstones as big as toes with torrential rain, thunderstorms and lightning”, he said.

Most of those on board were families visiting from the capital, Hanoi, with more than 20 children among the passengers, state media outlet VNExpress said.

35 bodies had been recovered and 10 people rescued by Sunday, police said, with four people still missing.

One of the rescued, a 10-year-old boy, told state media outlet VietnamNet: “I took a deep breath, swam through a gap, dived then swam up, I even shouted for help, then I was pulled up by a boat with soldiers on”.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh sent his condolences on Saturday to relatives of those killed and called on the defence and public security ministries to conduct urgent search and rescue.

Authorities would “investigate and clarify the cause of the incident and strictly handle violations”, a government statement said.

Torrential rain also lashed northern Hanoi, Thai Nguyen and Bac Ninh provinces on Saturday.

Several trees were knocked down in the capital by strong winds.

The storm followed three days of intense heat, with the mercury hitting 37 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas.

Mai Van Khiem, director of the National Center for Hydrometeorological Forecasting, was quoted in VNExpress as saying that the thunderstorms in northern Vietnam were not caused by the influence of Tropical Storm Wipha in the South China Sea.

Wipha entered the South China Sea on Sunday gaining strength, and is on course to make landfall in Vietnam early next week.

Ha Long Bay is one of Vietnam’s most popular tourist destinations, with millions of people visiting its blue-green waters and rainforest-topped limestone islands each year.

Last year, 30 vessels sank at boat lock areas in coastal Quang Ninh province along Ha Long Bay after Typhoon Yagi brought strong wind and waves.

And this month, a ferry sank off the popular Indonesian resort island of Bali, killing at least 18 people.

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150 RESCURED AND 3 KILLED AFTER PASSENGER SHIP CATCHES FIRE IN INDONESIA

150 RESCURED AND 3 KILLED AFTER PASSENGER SHIP CATCHES FIRE IN INDONESIA

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JAKARTA, INDONESIA (July 20, 2025): At least three people were killed and about 150 others rescued after a passenger ship caught fire in the waters of Indonesia’s North Sulawesi province on Sunday, according to Veri Ariyanto, a senior official at the provincial Search and Rescue Office.

“Three people were killed, and nearly 150 were rescued safely. They were rescued by the joint rescue team and local fishermen’s boats,” he told Xinhua.

The search and rescue operation is still underway. Two ships, several rigid inflatable boats, and other vessels have been deployed, Ariyanto said.

The ship, KM Barcelona 5, caught fire while sailing in the waters off Manado, the capital city of the province, at around 1:00 pm local time, Dani Repi, head of the quick reaction team of the provincial Disaster Management and Mitigation Agency, said.

Approximately 280 people were on board, he said.

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'THE HIROSHIMA MEN' IS A REMINDER OF THE HORRIFIC HUMAN COSTS OF ATOMIC ATTACK - NEW YORK

'THE HIROSHIMA MEN' IS A REMINDER OF THE HORRIFIC HUMAN COSTS OF ATOMIC ATTACK - NEW YORK

@Jr_Paku Midin Channel

NEW YORK

John Hersey was a 32-year-old reporter who returned from Japan with in 1946 with a groundbreaking story that challenged the U.S. government’s version of its atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima, showing the human consequences were far more horrific and extensive than the American public had been told.

Hersey’s 30,000-word piece for The New Yorker magazine focused on a few of the thousands of survivors who fell ill, and often died, from the lingering effects of radiation long after the bomb’s initial impact killed tens of thousands of Japanese men, women and children.

Hersey is among diverse group of men author and historian Iain MacGregor profiles in his new book, “The Hiroshima Men: The Quest to Build the Atomic Bomb, and the Fateful Decision to Use It.” MacGregor earlier wrote “Checkpoint Charlie,” an acclaimed history of Cold War Berlin, as well as “The Lighthouse of Stalingrad: The Hidden Truth at the Heart of the Greatest Battle of World War II.”

With the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima attack approaching next month, “The Hiroshima Men” is a potent reminder of the extreme human costs that were wrought by the first atomic weapon employed during warfare.

By profiling some key players, MacGregor pulls readers into their personal stories with visually enticing description and lively dialogue.

One was pilot Paul Tibbetts, Jr., who fell in love with flying at age 12 when he rode in an old biplane that took off from a horse racing track outside Miami. He named the Boeing B-29 Superfortress that he was flying when it dropped the atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945, for his mother, Enola Gay.

Another profile is of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the brilliant scientific theorist who inspired a team testing the atomic bomb at a secret research laboratory in rural New Mexico.

There's also Maj. Gen. Henry “Hap” Arnold, who led the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II and understood what could be achieved with the faster long-range B-29 bomber, which could travel farther and fly much higher than the popular B-17 that had been used on Europe.

MacGregor also introduces us to Senkichi Awaya, the mayor of Hiroshima, a city founded in the late 1580s by a powerful warlord who built a castle headquarters on the shores of a strategically located bay.

There are many more.

The most powerful sections of the book come toward the end, when MacGregor describes the ghastly aftermath of the bombing — a gruesome hellscape littered with charred bodies and stunned survivors with skin dangling from their bodies and eyes hanging from the sockets.

He then invites readers to reflect on the event’s profound costs:

“I hope, looking right across the experience of this terrifying and cataclysmic event, that you, the reader, can judge for yourself whether this journey through the experiences of a city mayor, a bomber pilot, an Army general and an award-winning journalist, who all were intimately connected to Hiroshima, was worth it.”

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AFGHAN MOMS SMASHING JAPAN'S LANGUAGE BARRIER FOR SAKE OF KIDS - CHIBA JAPAN

AFGHAN MOMS SMASHING JAPAN'S LANGUAGE BARRIER FOR SAKE OF KIDS - CHIBA JAPAN

@Jr_Paku Midin Channel

CHIBA

A long-term Afghan resident of Japan has set up a free language school to help her more newly arrived countrywomen stay connected with their children, who now prefer to converse in Japanese rather than their ancestral language.

With nearly four decades of experience as an interpreter in legal proceedings, Sedeka Eto has established the school to support Afghan mothers who fear their children, born or raised in Japan, are becoming increasingly distant.

"While children learn to speak Japanese at school, mothers remain unable to understand it. Children then forget the Afghan language," said Eto, 67, who heads the nonprofit association Eagle Afghan for the Reconstruction of Afghanistan.

Chiba, which borders Tokyo, is home to approximately 40 percent of some 6,000 Afghan residents in Japan, many of whom fled to the country as refugees after the Taliban regained control in 2021.

Eto's school was established in 2023 via the nonprofit and holds classes every Saturday. More than 120 Afghans are registered and learn Japanese there.

Eto came to Japan from Afghanistan in 1983 and married a Japanese man. Working as a legal interpreter, she witnessed interrogations and court proceedings and became aware of an increase in shoplifting and other crimes committed by foreign youth.

Communication between Afghan parents and their children can be limited to simple Japanese. A mother with five children of primary and middle school age reports that her children speak to each other in Japanese, making it impossible for her to understand them.

Children are unable to make themselves understood when they talk to their parents about problems at school and other complex issues, while many mothers say they are also unable to engage at parent-teacher conferences.

As a result, Eto believes parents and children can become estranged, and such alienation leads some juveniles to crime.

There are also cases in which children, when scolded by their fathers or older brothers in the Afghan language, do not understand and are beaten for not listening, Eto said.

"I thought it was imperative that they be able to communicate in the same language," said Eto of her decision to open the language school.

However, it is not easy for Afghan women to attend because they are customarily prohibited from going out alone -- an act seen as neglecting their responsibilities as mothers. Nonetheless, many find ways to do so.

Despite their husbands' opposition, the women earnestly study Japanese, stopping what they are doing to focus on their work, even while looking after their children. A childcare space with Japanese staff is also provided during class.

A 45-year-old woman who attends the class came to Japan in December 2022 due to deteriorating conditions in Afghanistan. "I felt like I was dead inside because I couldn't speak Japanese," she said.

"My husband tells me to just study with my smartphone. But studying while talking with a teacher is completely different. At home, I need to do the housework as well," she said.

In Afghanistan, the woman had to drop out of junior high school. She said that the experience of being taught in a classroom with a blackboard made her happy and improved her mental state.

Eto said that other students say they feel empowered because they can now talk to teachers from their children's schools or ride buses or trains by themselves. Instead of being financially dependent on their husbands, more and more women have expressed a desire to study further and work outside the home.

Many of the women spend the week counting down the days to the class. It is a day when they can learn Japanese, share their concerns with their peers and socialize.

"I can't wait for Saturdays to come," one woman said.

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RUBIO SAYS JAPAN DEFENSE SPENDING HIKE LESS ABOUT MONEY, MORE ABOUT CAPABILITIES

RUBIO SAYS JAPAN DEFENSE SPENDING HIKE LESS ABOUT MONEY, MORE ABOUT CAPABILITIES 

@Jr_Paku Midin Channel

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio hinted Friday that while Washington is asking Japan to boost its defense spending, the thinking behind the push is likely to align with the views of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

Asked during a briefing in Malaysia for his thoughts on reports that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is pressuring Japan to ramp up its defense budget to as much as 5% of its gross domestic product (GDP), Rubio refuted the characterization of this as a “demand.”

“We've encouraged them to invest in certain capabilities,” he said after the conclusion of Association of Southeast Asian Nations-related meetings. “It's less to do with the amount of money and more to do about certain things they can do.”

These comments echoed the view of Ishiba, who has repeatedly said that Japan will not be told how much to spend, and that what is most important is the substance of strengthened defense capabilities — not arbitrary figures.

“At the end of the day, we are in agreement with Japan on collective self-defense, on the ability to come to each other's aid in a time of conflict or in a time of danger,” Rubio said. “We understand that there are dynamics, constitutional and legal, that limit their ability to invest in certain things versus other things, but we have a very close relationship with Japan, very close."

Last month, the Pentagon told The Japan Times that it had made the 5% of GDP on defense a “global standard” for Japan and other U.S. allies, in the first official confirmation that Washington is asking Tokyo to pump up its defense budget even further.

Japan has denied that a specific figure has ever been broached, but Trump in April called the two countries’ alliance “one-sided” — remarks that echoed views from his first term, when he demanded Tokyo cough up more cash or risk the removal of U.S. troops.

Ostensibly pacifist Japan has in recent years undertaken a dramatic transformation of its security policy, including a five-year plan to ramp up defense spending to 2% of GDP by 2027.

But pouring even more cash into defense coffers would come with significant political costs as the government focuses on domestic economic priorities amid growing uncertainty over how to secure funds.

Japan is currently getting far less bang for its buck as inflation and the yen’s diminishing value erode its plans for the country’s largest military buildup in postwar history.

Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said in April that defense spending was within striking distance of the 2% target, at 1.8% of GDP.

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