America's Iconic News Anchor Walter Cronkite Dies

Walter Cronkite, America's preeminent television journalist of the 1960s and 1970s who as anchor and managing editor of "CBS Evening News" played a primary role in establishing television as the dominant national news medium of that era, died last night at age 92.

CBS Vice President Linda Mason said Cronkite died at 7:42 p.m. with his family by his side at his home in New York after a long illness. He had been suffering from cerebrovascular disease, his family said recently.

Cronkite's career reflected the arc of journalism in the mid-20th century. He was a wire service reporter covering major campaigns of World War II before working in radio and then joining a pioneering TV news venture at the CBS affiliate in Washington. Later in New York, he anchored the network's nightly news program from 1962 to 1981, a period in which television established itself as the principal source of information on current events for most Americans. -- from the Washington Post

A New Journey For (Former) MCA Stalwart Chua Jui Meng

Former Health minister Chua Jui Meng today quit MCA and announced that he is joining the opposition -- Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

Chua said he was taking a "new journey, a journey of change".

"I'm convinced that today I'm standing on the right side of history, especially at this defining moment of history, I'm joining this party," he told a crowd of some 800.

He was with PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim at the PKR's 'The Truth Behind the Scandals: Perak, PKFZ and the BN Conspiracy' forum in Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa.

Chua said he decided to join PKR because the country's two-coalition political system was being undermined by Umno.

The death of Teoh Beng Hock, the political aide of Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was the “tipping point” in his decision to defect to the opposition, he added.

On Thursday, Teoh's body was found sprawled on the roof of an adjacent building after he had undergone questioning late into the night at the offices of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

H1N1 Influenza : UiTM In Malacca Closed

The Ministry of Health has ordered the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) campus in Lendu, Alor Gajah to temporarily stop classes after several more students contracted Influenza A(H1N1) on Thursday.

Some estimated 5,000 students were informed by university officials late Thursday evening that they would be given a nine-day break from classes until July 24 in an attempt to prevent further infections.

MORE......

Higher Taxi And Bus Fares

From Aug 1, fares for all public transport services in the country will be increased.

The biggest hike will be fares for taxi and school buses.

Passengers will have to pay RM3 (currently RM2) for the first three minutes and 10 sen for every 115 metres travelled while parents will fork out 30 per cent more per child.

But those above 60 years old and those considered needy will benefit from the hike. They will receive 25 per cent discount despite the hike of two sen for every kilometre travelled in an express bus.

The government also announced a slew of measures to keep track of bad drivers and operators.

CONTINUE READING NST ONLINE......

Manik Urai

The outcome of the Tuesday's Manik Urai by-election was a complete surprise to many of us.

If you believe the Pas hype -- the party had in its hands 2,000 votes (majority) an hour before polling ended -- you'd think Pas would be romping home with a big win.

On Umno's side, grassroots leaders talked of "reduced majority", although top party leaders indicated that it had a 'good chance' of winning. Nobody quite believed that. And if you did, you'd be disappointed simply because you'd wish that Umno could've done a little better, and win.

The results -- Pas won BUT by a miserable 65-vote majority.

( Pas candidate Mohd Fauzi Abdullah obtained 5,348 votes while Barisan Nasional's Tuan Aziz Tuan Mat, 5,283. In last year's general election, Pas' Ismail Yaakob defeated Mohamed Zulkifli Omar of the Barisan Nasional (BN) with a majority of 1,352 votes.)

How bad is it for Pas?

Pas spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat is not about to be pushed to a corner and take the blame. A little responsibility, perhaps, but not sole blame.

He is blaming it on Umno' money politics.
If that is so, then, the voters are a very corrupt lot too. I'm not inclined to believe that they are.

In this round, I'd have to disagree with Nik Aziz.
Or, was it wrong for the voters to have been convinced by Umno that it could help change their lives for the better?

If it were money politics, as described by the Tok Guru, Umno would have been slaughtered. No mercy.

You cannot deny Umno's markedly improved performance. And credit MUST surely go to Mustapa Mohamad, Kelantan Umno chief.

Pas has a lot of work to do now. A lot of cleaning up.
And it's really not complicated to understand what happened and why. But Pas must accept the reality, the truth, no matter how ugly and how brutal. the sooner it works to mend fences and rectify the situation, the better it is for the party.

A combination of factors - Pas' "unholy marriage" with DAP is not going down well among many Malays; as well as the infighting and rift in the party. And of course, Tok Pa.

That said, Umno must get over the high, the jubilation. And quickly. Yes, it is a moral victory. Still a defeat.

Whether this is a signal of what's to come remains to be seen and depends on how Pas overcomes whatever shortcomings.

Besides, nothing is permanent.

Buy Nothing Day.....

There' s never a day that I've stayed away from the shops. Except when I'm ill and bed-ridden, which is hardly.

There's always something to buy.
That doesn't mean that I'm a shopaholic, incapable of being thrifty.

I used to not think about this very normal thing we do. And recently, when the economic crunch hit us all, I started thinking about my neighbourhood shops.
Already, they're competing with the big boys. With this downturn, they're barely surviving. So, i do whatever I can.
And I am a supporter of local small traders.

So how can I not go to Ah Leong's shop or buy Kak Limah's nasi lemak tomorrow? What if everyone decides not to buy anything tomorrow?
Won't that hurt the small businesses? Even for that one day?

I believe that we all should be thrifty, to not overspend or be extravagant in these hard times. But, I also believe that we should help keep our economy alive, in whatever way we can, no matter how small.

So you see, it is difficult for me to join in and celebrate not buying anything.

And, oh...tell me....how do you assess the success of "Buy Nothing Day"?

Pas Wins Manik Urai, But....

only just. In fact, by the skin of its teeth.

Can't be a victory, if you ask me.

Consider the fact that in today's by-election, Pas candidate Mohd Fauzi Abdullah won by only 65 votes.
(Of course, that means Barisan Nasional's Tuan Aziz Tuan Mat was defeated.)

And the fact that in the last year's general election, Pas' Ismail Yaakob defeated Mohamed Zulkifli Omar of the Barisan Nasional (BN) with a majority of 1,352 votes.

That is severe.

The Manik Urai seat fell vacant following Ismail's death on May 22.
Ismail, who was deputy head of the Pas Kuala Krai Division, won the Manik Urai state seat in the general election in 1985 and had been the elected representative there for five terms.

Manik Urai is one of the four state seats in the Kuala Krai parliamentary constituency, the others being Dabung, Guchil and Mengkembang.

A win is a win, even by one vote. Sure, sure. That's democracy.

Let's get real here. ONLY 65 votes, in your own fortress, your stronghold for the six terms.

A defeat, in my book. And Pas too, I am sure.

Pas knows what went wrong.

And if it does not get its act together, it will continue to lose its loyal Malay votes.

Policy Reversal On PPSMI

There's no point hiding the fact that the government will be reversing its policy on the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English.

The story's been leaked. "Everyone"s talking about it.
Today Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will be announcing that the government has no choice but to revert to teaching the two subjects in Bahasa Malaysia.

The PPSMI issue sparked so much controversy among teachers, parents, Malay writers, Chinese educationists and, of course, politicians.

A harsh critic for a policy reversal is former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who detailed why PPSMI should be retained.

I understand that statistics have proven that PPSMI is simply not working well for our students, mainly rural Malays.

I do understand, and I believe all this is due largely to a very flawed education system. I'm no education expert but, a good look at my children's text books and a bit of grilling on how these subjects are being taught by their teachers tell me that all is not well at all in our public schools.

If school kids NEED tuition for almost every subject, including Sejarah -- then, there is something really wrong with how teachers are teaching. Don't tell me that I have NO time to teach my kids. Truth is, I'm not qualified to teach maths -- and even BM, according to today's syllabuses.

I know that even our politicians and some very important people send their kids to private schools -- here or abroad. Either because 1. they can afford it. 2. they can afford it and they don't have faith in our public schools.

This "final decision" of the government to reverse its policy is, of course, disappointing. Howver, I am encouraged, a little by the fact that the government will be putting into place some strong measures to uplift the teaching of English by increasing the teaching hours and re-introducing English literature. The government will be getting teachers, including retired ones, locally, and from abroad.

The good thing is that (I've been made to understand), the reversal will not be immediate.

My open support of PPSMI has not been received well by several quarters who, of course, accused me of not being a patriot, anti-BM and so forth.

I've explained my stand. Supporting PPSMI does not make me less of a Malay, nor a Malaysian.
I'd even go far to say that an overhaul of the teaching of BM (including its syllabus at every level) should be undertaken to encourage people to LOVE the language, not to fear it.

With its decision, the government needs now to plan well. Holes and weaknesses should have been plugged and rectified years ago. It is, of course, as cliches go, not and never too late.

Education policies have always been dictated by political expediency, needs and interest. That is the reality.

So, let's hope the reality now is to produce a new generation of literate Malaysians who are educated, intelligent, competitive and resourceful who are a vital capital to the country.

Service To The Country....

When the Government first launched Khidmat Negara or National Service (thank God it's not called Servis Nasional), I must tell you that I was a critic. Harsh but honest.

I liked the whole idea, basically but I felt the Government's readiness did not match it's commitment. The programme itself was deficient in its design and content. Implementation left much to be desired.
Worse, facilites for recruits, in most instances, were so bad, due to, as we all found out, sub-standard contractors.

In short, it was generally poorly-run and administered. Some horror camp stories did not help better our perception of NS.

But we are all clever critics, aren't we?

It dawned on us all that National Service was here to stay. Deal with it.

Some people, of course, could not. Read HERE.

However, it was also clear that efforts were being made to improve the programme, including the facilities provided in the camps nationwide.

Over time, I believe, things improved.

My eldest, Adel Hakim was not selected for National Service after he finished school in 2007. He was pretty nonchalant about it.

Like "okay if I'm selected, okay if I'm not".

As for my youngest, Shaira who is in Form Five, the horror camp stories about abuse and death scared her no end.

I knew that there was always a chance that she would be selected, just as other students. So, I tried to mentally prepare her for that eventuality, telling her that things have improved and that it is a good programme where she'd meet lots of people. In short, that she would love it.

Yesterday, she called me to say that she had been selected. (No mention of where the camp will be, though).

She was not ecstatic. But not overly downcast.

"Tahniah. Anda di pilih......" -- said the message.

Why was she being congratulated for being selected to three months of physical training, she wondered?

Well, I said....because it would be just too bad if you weren't selected to join this damn good summer camp.

I know I will be in deep trouble if everything turns out otherwise.

Shaira is a little reticent and not prone to making friends. So, she'd have no choice but to make friends.

Besides, she'd come home, fit and trim. This seems to cheer her up a little.

I'm hoping that she'll really come to terms with the whole NS thing.

Meanwhile, Shaira is hoping, wishing, praying......that at least the camp toilets are clean.

Good To Be Back?

I'm talking about me.

Today is my first day (back) at work at NST. Homecoming, in a manner of speaking. "Sirih pulang ke gagang", some friends echoed.

First day after three years "in absentia". I won't go into detail of my leaving NST in March 2006.

A coincidence. I first joined the newspaper in July 1978 as a cadet reporter.

Never thought I'd go back to NST, to be honest. Never thought about it.

So. Good to be back?

Ask me in two weeks.