The Glorious Haj

Millions of pilgrims from across the globe began leaving the holy city of Mecca at dawn on Wednesday headed for the holy sites of Mina, Muzdalifah and Arafat to begin their Hajj.

After a  night in Mina, they  left for the Mount of Arafat in the early hours today.

The Hajj is the great pilgrimage to Mecca -  a journey that every Muslim, with the means to, must make before they die.


The passage to Mina marks the official launch of the hajj on the eighth day of the Muslim calendar month of Dhul Hijja.
The day is known as Tarwiah (Watering) as pilgrims in the past stopped at Mina to feed their animals and stock up for the following day's trip to Mount Arafat.

"O my Lord, here I am at Your service, here I am.
There is no partner with You, here I am.
Truly the praise and the provisions are Yours,
 and so is the dominion and sovereignty."

Whose Moderate Muslim?

 By Iain Buchanan
 
Who gets to decide what a “moderate Muslim” is? In this extended piece, Iain Buchanan argues that as the West demands Muslims fit themselves into its definition of the moderate Muslim, it ignores that it has itself failed to abide by its own standards. The way to initiate true dialogue between moderates, he says, is for the West to take steps to address its own failures.

 
This is a tiresome time for Muslims. Especially in the West. Collectively, they are seen as wild, narrow-minded, and unevolved; a relic society still stuck in the Middle Ages. They are the world's biggest troublemakers, a demographic time-bomb in the heart of Europe. So Muslims have a great deal to account for, a great deal to live down. Of course, there are many Westerners who are happy to accommodate Muslims in the world they both share -- even cheek by jowl in the same city or state. But there is a quid pro quo. To be accepted by civilised society, Muslims must declare their peaceful intentions, their integratedness, their moderation. "Moderate Muslims", as it were, must wear on their arms the badge of a yellow crescent.

But what, exactly, is a "moderate Muslim"? Our definition of what a "moderate Muslim" is will depend on our definition of many other things. Firstly, it will depend on who demands the definition, and what they want from it. Secondly, it depends on the definitions of the two extremes between which "moderate" sits. Thirdly, it depends on the qualities – social, political, ecological, religious – that are being calibrated and tested for "moderation". So it is, perhaps, a thankless exercise. There can be a great many definitions of just what a "moderate Muslim" is. And there will never be agreement between all these definitions -- or those who make them. After all, we make of words exactly what we want to make of them.

"Moderation", like honesty, should be a virtue we can all agree upon, whatever our religious calling. It is, after all, the mark of a good human being – treating others fairly, making modest demands on our fellow beings and on the rest of God's creation, whether it be the land we occupy, the trees we use, the creatures we eat. Moderate people do not exploit, over-eat, abuse living things, waste resources. Moderate people are sympathetic, understanding, and calmly disposed. Moderate people do not make war, torture, or oppress ...

We could go on. But it would be evading the real issue. And the real issue is not a question of moderate human beings. It is a question of moderate Muslim human beings – and a question, ultimately, of geopolitics. And, ultimately, the issue is the right of the Christian West to pass judgement on others, and to demand their submission to a view of the world that the Christian West holds. For the growing demand for Muslim moderation is not so much a Muslim initiative, for Muslim benefit-it is much more a reactive demand to Western pressure, which seeks definitions and undertakings that please the Christian West.

At a simplistic level, there seems little to argue about. Christian Westerners, for the most part, consider a "moderate Muslim" to be the kind of Muslim they can live with: one who is quiet and unassuming, loyal, predictable, law-abiding, unthreatening in any way. This sounds reasonable enough, at least within the Christians' own lands. But the world is much bigger than the Christians' own lands: there are Muslim lands, and the lands of many others, often with very mixed populations. And the Christians have long had a decisive (and often very destructive) presence in all of these lands – as well as an unfortunate tendency, still, to want their writ to run over every single one of them. And so, at the very least, if Muslims accept a Western-defined "moderation" for themselves, perhaps they should examine more carefully the credentials of their definers.

Historically, of course, there is a problem. Whatever Christianity is as a religion, its followers have all too often been anything but "moderate" in their dealings with one another and their dealings with everyone else. For well over a thousand years, Christian history has been defined by the unholy marriage of power and the Bible. All too often, the gospel of the poor and needy has been suppressed, and Christians have shown themselves to be brutal, greedy, and war-mongering – and have justified their actions on the basis of holy scripture. Perhaps this only proves that human beings devise their holy scriptures to serve human ends – and that those ends are sometimes good and sometimes bad. Or perhaps it demonstrates that, however virtuous and well-intentioned their scriptures, human beings will usually be led by their baser instincts, and will readily misinterpret the book they claim inspires them. Clearly, there is a disconnection between what people say they believe, and what they do. And that disconnection has been particularly strong in European (and Christian) history.

And the reason is not hard to see. Over the centuries, as European (and eventually American) culture came to dominate the world, its use of the Christian gospel as motif and justification expanded dramatically. As powerfully as its secular patrons, the Gospel came to represent the hegemony of an imperial culture over a diverse but subservient world. In profound and complex ways, the Christian gospel became so institutionalised, as part of the dominant culture, that it became hard to tell where the West's secular personality ended and its spirituality began. And this conflation has had the direst effects -both on the integrity of Western and non-Western cultures alike, and on the reputation of the Christian gospel itself. Above all, it is essential to recognise that, all too often, what is seen as the Christian way is in fact the way of Western culture – and what is seen as Western culture is often, in many a mangled form, the Christian way as well.


Read the article HERE

lain Buchanan is the author of Fatimah 's Kampung (Consumers Association of Penang, 2008) and The Armies of God (Citizens International, 2010).

The Bad Bad Palm Oil...

This lowdown on palm oil is featured in an article listing the 6 worst natural ingredients.
Well, either it is part of a smear campaign against palm oil and Malaysia (as a producer of palm oil) or simply a poorly-researched piece.

Here's what is said: (I will "bold" the contentious bits)

Behind the label: Palm oil became the go-to replacement for partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) instituted trans-fat-labeling rules on processed foods, but that replacement didn't do much for public health.

A number of studies suggest that palm oil is as bad for your heart as the trans fats hidden in by partially hydrogenated oils.

The most recent, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, found that it raised bad LDL cholesterol levels as much as partially hydrogenated soybean oil.

In addition to its heart-damaging health problems, enormous tracts of rainforests and peat bogs have been razed or filled in to make room for palm oil plantations.

Peat bogs are ecologically valuable, because they sequester globe-warming carbon dioxide, and rainforest destruction has led to the endangerment of 140 animal species in Indonesia and another 50 in Malaysia, the world's two largest producers of palm oil.
 
Your move: Palm oil is mostly used in crackers, cookies, and other baked goods, so scrutinize labels. Safflower or sunflower oil are healthier and don't carry the problems associated with other genetically modified vegetable oils made from corn, canola and soy.

If your favorite product does contain palm oil, call the manufacturer and ask how it was sourced. Some companies use palm oil produced under an industry group called the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, which is trying to develop standards that would protect vital species habitats.

KUALA LUMPUR - in the Top 10 City Skylines

This is not an official list. It's not been endorsed by any recognized body or association. This list of top 10 city skylines was offered by online travel consultants Cheapflights.com.
Reuters published the list but  has not endorsed it.

Anyway, KL is eighth on the list of top 10 city skylines. Here's what is said of our capital city skyline.

"There's something particularly majestic about Kuala Lumpur's defining skyscrapers, the Petronas Towers. Malaysia Truly Asia, as the tourism board's tagline goes, is a wonder of multiculturalism, awe-inspiring landscapes and white-sand islands (our picks are Langkawi and Borneo). But Kuala Lumpur, one of the fastest growing cities in the area, quickly gives visitors a faster paced perspective on the country. The Petronas and Kuala Lumpur towers both illuminate each evening, providing a taste of what's to come in this cultural mecca."

See the list HERE.

Top of the list is Hong Kong. KL comes after Chicago and beat Shanghai and Moscow.

Steady-lah.

Never Hurt A Robber, Burglar or Intruder...

...because he maybe killed in the process and you can be charged for murder.

Crazy, right?

Well, apparently not.

As the case of brothers Frans Hiu, 22, and Dharry Frully Hiu, 20 who were found guilty of a crime they committed two years.

The High Court in Shah Alam sentenced them to death on Oct 18..

The brothers  were jointly charged with ha­­­­­ving a common intention in the murder of 26-year-old R. Khartic at a shophouse in 3A Jalan 4, Taman Sri Sungai Pelek in Sepang at 11am on Dec 3, 2010.

They were caretaker of the premises.

Justice Nurchaya Arshad ruled that the prosecution had successfully proven the case beyond reasonable doubt and sentenced the men to death.

Read it HERE

Okay. Do you get the feeling that there's something not right about this case -- the charge and the conviction. How the two boys (they are Indonesians) got to be charged under that particular section  of the penal code that is punishable by death.

I'm no lawyer but ...

Anyway, weren't these boys defending themselves against an intruder who broke into their "home"?

What were they supposed to do?

What are we supposed to do when someone breaks into our home?

What kind of signal is the court sending?

But I'm glad several groups are calling for a judicial review into the death sentence.

In my humble opinion,  the sentence is extreme. But why were they charged under that section in the first place?

Is there something only the court - the judge, prosecutors and the boys' lawyers - knows?

Alvin and Vivian

...are two young lovers who have an active sex life and want to share it with the rest of the world .


So, they uploaded their explicit sex  acts on Facebook for all to see, and enjoy, as they did.


Well..they caught the attention of people. Not that people are voyeurs but Alvin and Vivian think it's cool for everyone to watch them in the privacy of their bedroom and in the full glory of their nakedness.

Today, the very young couple is famous...or infamous - depending on where you're standing.

You might say Alvin and Vivian "tak malu" or "tak ada malu" for exhibiting their private moments (in the bedroom) and for basking in, unabashed, their new-found and almost instant, er..fame or infamy.

One thing - they are unrepentant.

Although, they must have some sense of  something...because they "blurred out the critical parts" and have already deactivated their erotic blog after the furore it had caused.

Here is their story...

and here.

and here.

what about here from Vivian

here too...

so why are you oldies and dinosaurs fretting about? Don't be unsporting.  Alvin's and Vivian's peers are okay with their exploits. Read THIS.

It seems, psychologists have studied people like Alvin and Vivian. There's a reason for their open display of their sex play. Could they be crying for attention?.Read it here.

You know if you ask me -- I'd let them be. Although I must confess, I wondered "what were they thinking?"

 Yes. they are budak2 yang tak malu, aren't they?  But they're not too young, nor too naive, to not know the consequence of their action. They should.  If they didn't or don't, then they must be so thick-skinned. Surely the overall reaction to what they had done would be an indication.

They're certainly different from a lot of kids I know.
We should know - and I did when I was at their age -- what is right and wrong, what is acceptable and what is not.

Yes, we live by our own definition but we do not live alone in our own little island. Yes, we should push the parameters, the barriers...but we do need to conform to certain norms.


Alvin and Vivian can't be that dense, that stupid. Vivian from Johor, after all, is a graduate. And Alvin is an Asean scholar, reading, for heaven's sake, law at Singapore's NUS.

They know what they are doing, surely. What they had done.
So, it is their choice to have made public what is supposed to be sacredly private.
(Unless they were high on something which I seriously doubt. Just high on a lot of love and lust.)

Certainly,  I wouldn't want my kids, my nieces or nephews to do what Alvin and Vivian had done. No right-thinking person would want that.  It is not acceptable - in any society in this modern, yes, modern world..

And it has nothing to do with being prudish, liberal, modern or whatever. Make no mistake about that.

Neither has it got to do with upbringing as we have read the response from their families.

 Alvin and Vivian clearly and I say this without prejudice - are shameless. Unashamed. 

 We can admonish them -- we already have -- and tell them off. But really...that's all that we can do. Besides, their parents sudah marah.

As for Alvin, we'll see if NUS will deal with him when he goes back to college. I hear they've called to meet him.

And the Malaysian government is keenly following his case.

I read somewhere that a deputy minister had called for action to be taken against these two kids because they have shamed the country. 
Oh really..The only ones they have shamed are themselves. So, please, let's not waste anybody's time in taking action against them in the name of the country.

So, is all this fuss and the fame surrounding their sex video delightfully intoxicating them?
For now, perhaps.

They certainly seem to be enjoying it.

Newsweek To Go All-Digital

"When I returned to print with Newsweek, it did very quickly begin to feel to me (like) an outmoded medium. While I still had a great romance for it, nonetheless I feel this is not the right medium anymore to produce journalism." - Tina Brown editor-in-chief.

  
Well, that's the way to go for the print media. Even a giant and an icon like Newsweek which has been around for nearly 80 years has to go with the flow or go bust...

So, when it's time to go, it's time to go....digital, that is.

Newsweek is one of the most internationally recognized magazine brands in the world. In face of stiff competition from tablets and mobile devices, its exces have decided to cease publishing the magazine in print.

The final print edition of this weekly current affairs magazine will hit newsstands on Dec 31.

Well, it has finally happened. 

Read about it HERE...

Penang and Polygamy

This is going to unsettle and upset a lot of Muslim women because it is open to abuse. Or have we forgotten?

If they have studied the matter carefully and after so much thought...what can I say?
Sisters In Islam, Angkatan Isteri2 Pertama....what say you?

Penang men no longer need to seek permission from their first wife in order to take on another bride. Instead, they now only need to get permission from the Syariah court to do so.

This was announced by Penang Islamic Religious Department director Datuk Sazali Hussein, who said the move can help curb the problem of unmarried women.

"For those who wish to practice polygamy, they only need to get approval from the syariah court to waive the need to present the first wife's approval to take on another wife."

"However, they need to provide solid reasons before it can be considered."

"Maybe if the reason given is solid and can bring benefits, the judge will grant the request," he was quoted as saying in Utusan Malaysia today.

Sazali was asked to comment on a suggestion by a reader in the newspaper's Forum column. The reader, identified as Syed Abdullah Syed Osman Jamalulail from Ampangan, Seremban, had suggested that polygamy conditions be eased to help women of an advanced age who are still unmarried.

Syed Abdullah had suggested that the authorities loosen the condition which stipulates that men who wish to marry women over 30-years-old need to obtain the consent of their first wife.

He had also suggested that another condition which should be relaxed was the requirement for the man to produce his salary slip or confirmation of wages from employers, as per normal procedure.

He believed that it was sufficient that the prospective newlyweds come to a mutual agreement on their union. (source: Malaysian Digest)

You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.- Sir Winston Churchill

From The Past

Statement from GERAM when the British banned API....

Another "Best....." Forbes List

NEW YORK, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Women seeking the best place to work and raise children in the United States may want to head to Ohio, where three of its cities have been voted among the 10 best for working mothers.

Columbus topped the ranking by Forbes, edging past New Orleans and Hartford, Connecticut and their surrounding areas. Cincinnati and its suburb of Middletown came in fourth, just ahead of Providence and neighboring towns in Rhode Island.

With a population of 1.8 million, Columbus scored high marks for its higher than average salaries for women, who make up 44 percent of the city's workforce.

The city also boasts a jobless rate of 5.7 percent, much lower than the national 7.8 percent, and good schools and childcare, according to Forbes.

"Pairing the excellent unemployment rate with an affordable but impressive quality of living makes the city an attractive locale for savvy working moms," Forbes said.

Continue reading HERE...

What Scorpene Trial? Oh...

 only by (certain) media, you mean....


"The media should be able to distinguish between rumours and facts, and between investigations and a trial." : French government prosecutor Yves Charpenel.

 A French government prosecutor has denied reports circulating among some Malaysian new websites  of an ongoing trial in France, on allegations of corruption by a French company over the purchase of two French-made Scorpene submarines by Malaysia in 2002.

Yves Charpenel said the media in Malaysia should be able to distinguish between rumours and facts, and between investigations and a trial.

"I am aware of all the fuss kicked up by certain media (organisations) in Malaysia over this matter, but what I can say is that this is nothing more than a trial by the media," he said here yesterday.

Charpenel, a former head of prosecution in France and now a state prosecutor and an executive member of the International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA), was in Kuala Lumpur to attend the four-day IAACA conference and general meeting.

Following a complaint filed in 2009 by non-governmental organisations Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram), that a French company had allegedly paid bribes to a Malaysian firm for the submarine deal, he revealed that two independent "investigating judges" started their investigations earlier this year.

Charpenel said that in France, as in other countries practising the rule of law, all investigations were done in absolute secret.

He said it was anybody's right to file a complaint and due to the secret nature of the investigations, some resorted to complaining to the media.

He explained that for specific cases in France, the Justice Ministry would ask an independent judge, called an "investigating judge", to launch a probe.

"He is just an investigator. This is an old system that started in the Napolean era.

"If the investigating judge wants someone to come to Malaysia, he has to ask your government because we have what is called the Treaty of Mutual Legal Assistance.

"And the Malaysian government can say "yes" or "no". It has to be decided by the Malaysian authorities.

 A French investigating judge cannot take his luggage, take a plane to Malaysia and ask someone to answer his questions. It is impossible. It is against French law and also international law."

Charpenel added that in France, as elsewhere, the course of justice will not be dictated by the media

"In France, the time of justice is different from the time in media. Of course, the media needs data, information, news. It's natural, but the investigation is quite different. This is exactly the same, whether in France or in Malaysia.

"And, it has to be secret. We are now in the first step. Maybe, we got another step, maybe not, and it is quite early to say more."

Asked about media reports that French lawyers representing Suaram in the suit would be coming to Malaysia to brief their clients, Charpenel said any lawyer from any country was free to do so because he was paid by his clients.

 "He can speak freely to the press. That's freedom or human rights. But he is not a prosecutor. He is not an investigating judge. He is not an official."

In April this year, opposition politicians here had even called for Malaysian officials to testify in Paris or risk being ostracised in the European Union.

"A trial is a trial with all the rules. Investigation is another thing," said Charpenel on the misinformation generated by certain news websites over allegations that a trial was already under way.

Over the weekend, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had said that the Auditor-General had declared the Scorpene deal was done in accordance with legal procedures. Bernama

An Unlikely Saviour For Malaysiakini

From The Mole
By Shamsul Akmar
 
It is quite telling that Malaysiakini, whose credibility is being questioned following accusations of being foreign-funded and a foreign tool to cause mischief to the nation, is turning to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to “absolve” itself.

Having vilified Dr Mahathir throughout almost its entire existence, Malaysiakini is using a letter written by Dr Mahathir to billionaire financier George Soros, to indirectly justify its acceptance of the latter’s funding.

Malaysiakini used the letter written by Dr Mahathir to Soros in early 2006 as the basis of the article, which can be basically summed up into five main thrusts:

1) It was Dr Mahathir who offered Soros the olive branch after the former had, during the 1997/98 financial crises, accused the latter of wreaking havoc on Asian nations as a rogue currency speculator;

2) Dr Mahathir asked Soros to join him in a Global Peace Forum 'criminalising war' campaign;

3) Dr Mahathir assured Soros that his participation in the Forum would not affect his other concerns;

4) Dr Mahathir met Soros in Kuala Lumpur 11 months later and they buried the hatchet when the former said he accepted that Soros was not involved in the devaluation of Malaysia’s currency, and

5) Dr Mahathir dug up the hatchet when he recently said Soros was seeking regime change in Malaysia.

Continue reading HERE...

GE13 Won’t Be About the Fabled Two-Thirds Majority

From The Choice.

You don't have to look hard in Putrajaya to find old men who are nostalgic about the fabled two-thirds majority.
Many of them are older Malay MPs and senior Umno officials who prefer to live in the past because things were simpler back then.
BN was easily returned at every election, there was no need for anything as extreme as political reform in tune with changing times, and a seat in the Dewan Rakyat was, for the most part, a ticket for life.
The GE12 came along and ruined everything. The loss of the two-thirds majority sparked a chorus of grieving not just because BN could no longer alter the constitution, but because the old guard felt they had lost prestige – and they had.
In turn they got rid of the man they blamed for the disaster, Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and breathed a sigh of relief when Najib took the helm.
He'll get it back for us, they thought.
Except there is a good chance Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak isn't even thinking about anachronisms like the two-thirds majority right now. What Najib wants at GE13 is to be returned with a working majority.
He doesn't want to just scrape over the line. 112 seats out of 222 would hardly send a message of a clear mandate and it wouldn't cover him for absentees from the house or rebels who cross the floor in defiance of the whip.
For a pragmatist like Najib, a working majority is enough for him to form a Government able to weather the occasional act of defiance and complete his reform agenda – no less, no more.
It begs the question: will a working majority be enough for the old guard? The answer to that is, who knows.
But it would be a brave, if not bloody-minded, 2013 Umno General Assembly that turned on the PM who returned it to office just four years after suffering a 14 per cent swing against it.
The painful reality is that the two-thirds majority might be gone for ever. Party politics has become more fractured, our political tastes have evolved and fewer people will say publicly that they vote for a particular party "because my father always did".
These days issues and leadership are key.
A look at other bicameral parliamentary democracies around the world makes the two-thirds majority seem like the Malaysian constitutional quirk that it is. It doesn't exist in the Westminster Parliaments of the UK, Australia or New Zealand.
In those countries, the aim of any party is, once again, no more than a working majority to fulfil its mandate.
In Australia, the ruling Labor Party doesn't have a majority, let alone a working majority, with just 72 of the 150 lower house seats.
The result is that Prime Minister Julia Gillard's minority Government is impotent.
Evidence of this is its chronic inability to implement the Malaysia Solution to deal with asylum seekers despite trying for more than two years.
In the UK, the Conservative Party's coalition with the Liberal Democrats has meant both parties making huge ideological compromises, but they at least have a working majority of 83 seats in the 650 seat House of Commons.
Pakatan Rakyat has a two-faced approach to the two-thirds majority. It is happy to use it as a political weapon, readily reminding BN of what it lost at GE12.
But at the same time, they wouldn't dare to make it a prerequisite for success at GE13. Anwar would treat 112 seats as the fulfilment of all his dreams.
The bottom line in all this is that Najib has proven that he doesn't need a two-thirds majority to transform the nation.
He has completed the most dramatic reform agenda in our history without it. He has transformed the way we vote, repealed the ISA and the Sedition Act, reformed the Printing Presses and Publications Act and introduced the landmark Peaceful Assembly Bill.
And the bad news for those old men who yearn for the good old days is that he is also reforming the BN seat selection process. Some of them are set to be "reformed" into retirement.
Najib's transformation agenda is a work in progress and while no leader would turn down a two-thirds majority, he has already shown that a working majority is all that he needs to get things done.

Guns and All...

So I'm not alone when I noticed that in most of the reported crimes, guns were used. This is frightening because really, we are helpless when someone points a gun at us. it is frightening because it seems that guns are so easily available to those who want to use them to commit a crime.

I've been asking - because those cases made me wonder - why the high incidences of gun-related crimes.

I mean, the crimes committed are not straight-forward snatch thefts or break-ins. Believe me, there is such a thing as a straight-forward crime.

You see, snatch thefts and house break-ins are not new...for as long as I can remember these things have been happening.
I've been witness in snatch-theft cases (in the 70s and 80s), even car-jacking (late 90s). My dad's house was broken into twice (in the  1973 and some time in the 80s). My own house was broken into in 1995.

You know those days, we blame the drug addicts.....

Anyway, the only difference now is that these crimes have become more violent, vicious.

In snatch-theft cases, the CRIMINALS are usually armed with a parang or knife or a grass cutter. They intend to hurt you. And the do. They slash you to frighten you.

In home invasion, they leave their victims injured and wounded.

There have been fatal cases in all these.

And then, of course, the use of guns by criminals. 


This is unacceptable.

So I ask myself -- is this because the criminals are more desperate or that these are not your regular hard-up opportunistic perpetrator who just snatch your hand bag and flee or break into your house while everyone's asleep or out, take your stuff and flee.

So these days, you think they're drug addicts who've been on these violent sprees?

The world has changed.  So too have our lives, our lifestyle and how we live our lives.
I hate to surmise and say "we live in dangerous times". Sometimes I grudgingly have to agree.

Those people committing those violent crimes these days  are CRIMINALS who have no qualms about hurting, maiming or even killing their victims.

Seems to me they are hardened and seasoned. They know where to get the guns.
So yes...I've been asking that question.

I fear that these criminals feel that they can go about on their rampage because they know no one can stop them...

Still, I'm glad the police have taken note of  these incidences and doing something about it.

KUALA LUMPUR: Some 45 murders and 65 robberies reported this year were gun-related, Federal Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Bakri Zinin said.

Bakri told the New Straits Times that police have always viewed firearms-related crime cases with utmost concern.
"Profiling crimes involving firearms and greater sharing of intelligence with our counterparts in neighbouring countries are among measures taken by police to tackle the issue of gun violence."
Task forces have been set up at the federal and state levels to prevent and suppress firearms smuggling.

Read the rest of the story.

Happy 40th Birthday, Malaysia Airlines!

From Malaysia Airlines Facebook page:
 
"40 years ago today, a Boeing 737 took off from Subang Airport to mark the start of operations for Malaysia Airlines System.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being with us through this incredible journey.
Here's to a high flying future ahead !"

You've come a long way, MAS....

Also Read For MAS, Life Begins At 40 
 and  Happy 40th Birthday, Malaysia Airlines...