It Is Not A War. It Is Murder...

says author Noam Chomsky

Chomsky Statement on Israel's War on Gaza

Prof. Noam Chomsky
November 17, 2012
(WASHINGTON DC) - The following statement by Noam Chomsky indicates a different stand toward Israeli aggression than Prof. Chomsky has revealed in the past:

"The incursion and bombardment of Gaza is not about destroying Hamas. It is not about stopping rocket fire into Israel, it is not about achieving peace.

The Israeli decision to rain death and destruction on Gaza, to use lethal weapons of the modern battlefield on a largely defenseless civilian population, is the final phase in a decades-long campaign to ethnically-cleanse Palestinians.

Israel uses sophisticated attack jets and naval vessels to bomb densely-crowded refugee camps, schools, apartment blocks, mosques, and slums to attack a population that has no air force, no air defense, no navy, no heavy weapons, no artillery units, no mechanized armor, no command in control, no army… and calls it a war.

 It is not a war, it is murder.

When Israelis in the occupied territories now claim that they have to defend themselves, they are defending themselves in the sense that any military occupier has to defend itself against the population they are crushing. You can't defend yourself when you're militarily occupying someone else's land. That's not defense. Call it what you like, it's not defense.”

Israel. Murderer.

Who is Doing the Killing in Gaza? Noam Chomsky and Others Challenge World's Media

By Noam Chomsky and others

(LONDON) - The degree of terror felt by ordinary Palestinian civilians in Gaza is barely noticed in the media, in stark contrast to the world's awareness of terrorised and shock-treated Israeli citizens.

WHILE COUNTRIES across Europe and North America commemorated military casualties of past and present wars on November 11, Israel was targeting civilians.

On November 12, waking up to a new week, readers at breakfast were flooded with heart rending accounts of past and current military casualties.

There was, however, no or little mention of the fact that the majority of casualties of modern day wars are civilians.

There was also hardly any mention on the morning of November 12 of military attacks on Gaza that continued throughout the weekend.

A cursory scan confirms this for Canada's CBC, Globe and Mail, Montreal's Gazette, and the Toronto Star. Equally, for the New York Times and for the BBC.

According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) report on Sunday November 11, five Palestinian civilians including three children had been killed in the Gaza strip in the previous 72 hours, in addition to two Palestinian security personnel.

Four of the deaths occurred as a result of Israeli military firing artillery shells on youngsters playing soccer. Moreover, 52 civilians had been wounded, of which six were women and 12 were children. (Since we began composing this text, the Palestinian death toll has risen, and continues to rise.)

Articles that do report on the killings overwhelmingly focus on the killing of Palestinian security personnel. For example, an Associated Press article published in the CBC world news on November 13, entitled 'Israel mulls resuming targeted killings of Gaza militants,' mentions absolutely nothing of civilian deaths and injuries. It portrays the killings as 'targeted assassinations.' The fact that casualties have overwhelmingly been civilians indicates that Israel is not so much engaged in "targeted" killings, as in "collective" killings, thus once again committing the crime of collective punishment.

Another AP item on CBC news from November 12 reads 'Gaza rocket fire raises pressure on Israel government.' It features a photo of an Israeli woman gazing on a hole in her living room ceiling. 

Again, no images, nor mention of the numerous bleeding casualties or corpses in Gaza. Along the same lines, a BBC headline on November 12 reads 'Israel hit by fresh volley of rockets from Gaza.' Similar trends can be illustrated for European mainstream papers.

News items overwhelmingly focus on the rockets that have been fired from Gaza, none of which have caused human casualties. What is not in focus are the shellings and bombardments on Gaza, which have resulted in numerous severe and fatal casualties. It doesn't take an expert in media science to understand that what we are facing is at best shoddy and skewed reporting, and at worst willfully dishonest manipulation of the readership.

Furthermore, articles that do mention the Palestinian casualties in Gaza consistently report that Israeli operations are in response to rockets from Gaza and to the injuring of Israeli soldiers. However, the chronology of events of the recent flare-up began on November 5, when an innocent, apparently mentally unfit, 20-year old man, Ahmad al-Nabaheen, was shot when he wandered close to the border. Medics had to wait for six hours to be permitted to pick him up and they suspect that he may have died because of that delay.

Then, on November 8, a 13-year-old boy playing football in front of his house was killed by fire from the IOF that had moved into Gazan territory with tanks as well as helicopters. The wounding of four Israeli soldiers at the border on November 10 was therefore already part of a chain of events where Gazan civilians had been killed, and not the triggering event.

We, the signatories, have recently returned from a visit to the Gaza strip. Some among us are now connected to Palestinians living in Gaza through social media. For two nights in a row Palestinians in Gaza were prevented from sleeping through continued engagement of drones, F16s, and indiscriminate bombings of various targets inside the densely populated Gaza strip.

The intent of this is clearly to terrorise the population, successfully so, as we can ascertain from our friends' reports. If it was not for Facebook postings, we would not be aware of the degree of terror felt by ordinary Palestinian civilians in Gaza. This stands in stark contrast to the world's awareness of terrorised and shock-treated Israeli citizens.

An extract of a report sent by a Canadian medic who happened to be in Gaza and helped out in Shifa hospital ER over the weekend says: "the wounded were all civilians with multiple puncture wounds from shrapnel: brain injuries, neck injuries, hemo-pneumo thorax, pericardial tamponade, splenic rupture, intestinal perforations, slatted limbs, traumatic amputations. All of this with no monitors, few stethoscopes, one ultrasound machine. …. Many people with serious but non life threatening injuries were sent home to be re-assessed in the morning due to the sheer volume of casualties. The penetrating shrapnel injuries were spooky. Tiny wounds with massive internal injuries. … There was very little morphine for analgesia."

Apparently such scenes are not newsworthy for the New York Times, the CBC, or the BBC. 

Bias and dishonesty with respect to the oppression of Palestinians is nothing new in Western media and has been widely documented. Nevertheless, Israel continues its crimes against humanity with full acquiescence and financial, military and moral support from our governments, the U.S., Canada and the EU.

Netanyahu is currently garnering Western diplomatic support for additional operations in Gaza, which makes us worry that another Cast Lead may be on the horizon. In fact, the very recent events are confirming such an escalation has already begun, as today's death-count climbs. The lack of widespread public outrage at these crimes is a direct consequence of the systematic way in which the facts are withheld and/or of the skewed way these crimes are portrayed.

We wish to express our outrage at the reprehensible media coverage of these acts in the mainstream (corporate) media.

We call on journalists around the world working for corporate media outlets to refuse to be instruments of this systematic policy of disguise. We call on citizens to inform themselves through independent media, and to voice their conscience by whichever means is accessible to them.  

Hagit Borer, U.K.
Antoine Bustros, Canada
Noam Chomsky, U.S.
David Heap, Canada
Stephanie Kelly, Canada
Máire Noonan, Canada
Philippe Prévost, France
Verena Stresing, France
Laurie Tuller, France

Salam Maal Hijrah!

To my Muslim friends ..

Selamat Menyambut Awal Muharram..

Happy Deepavali!

Have a happy Deepavali.....

It's About Saving Lives, Stupid!

LET me tell you about a country that has devised a tool to catch criminals in the act of breaking the law, writes Rita Sim (columnist with the New Straits Times)

This tool enables enforcement authorities to track down wrongdoers in many locations, punish them and effectively reduce deaths of innocent people.
For some reason, however, there are people opposing the use of this tool. They say that the tool will "burden" the criminals.
They say that there should be signs put up to alert wrongdoers about the tool, so that they can avoid them (and go on to commit the same atrocity elsewhere, presumably).
The country is Malaysia. The tool is the Automated Enforcement System (AES) and the "criminals" are drivers who speed on the road and run red lights, putting themselves and other road users in danger.
As for those opposing the AES? They are the usual suspects -- political players who see the potential to cause disruption and cast doubt on the project by making opaque statements about "having the people's best interests at heart".

 

Continue reading her article "Politicising life and death" 

 

I couldn't agree with her more. And not because she's my old school mate. Because she is right.

All that I have read and heard is from people attacking the project because it went to the BN's cronies, and that they don't want to enrich the cronies. 

And some petty issues about unsuitable locations of the cameras. Really petty.

 

What's your problem? You don't speed, they don't get rich.

As for the poor locations -- oh. just get over it.

 

Honestly, I don't care who got the project. Someone or other will get the project. Crony, cronies. Or not.  

By the way, that word "crony" is so overused and misused.

 

So, get your politics out of the equation.

 

Never mind that AES  will discourage people from speeding. Isn't that a good thing?

 

Statistics have shown that most fatal accidents were caused by human error which really, means speeding and recklessness.

 

And for heaven's sake, you have a state assemblyman Chang Lih Kang (PKR-Teja) smugly refusing to pay seven fines totalling RM2,100 which he claimed were issued under the AES.

Wow. What a hero!

And then you have Mahfuz Omar (Pas) instigating people to not pay the fines and that he would get 100 lawyers to help the people.

Wow. What a hero!

The number of fatal accidents in the country is alarmingly high. Everyone should be concerned.
I'm sure we all are - except for some idiotic people bent on playing politics.
It seems  most Malaysians want or need to blame someone.
Poor enforcement, poor roads ..poor everything. Never themselves.
So, just blame the weather-lah.

 

We have good roads, you can't deny that. We can improve on enforcement. 

But when enforcement is stepped up,  the very people who cry "bribery" and "corruption" are the very people ready to give "duit kopi".

In this scenario I always believe that no giver,. no taker. And you should always report corrupt officers.

  

The truth is, generally speaking, most Malaysians are horrid and nasty people behind the wheel or on the motorcycle.. They are inconsiderate, they blithely and cavalierly and knowingly break the law - like running the traffic lights, making illegal turns or u-turns and mostly speeding, even on neighbourhood roads.

And motorcyclists are another story altogether. They follow no rules.

We should worry that one day we will all be so immuned to grisly accidents, that we don't care, until of course, it happens to our family.

 

So, enough already. If it can help save lives,.why don't we just give AES a chance?

 

Obama Re-elected for Second Term.

 "Tonight, in this election, you, the American people, reminded us that while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back, and we know in our hearts that for the United States of America, the best is yet to come." - President Barack Obama - acceptance/victory speech, Nov 6, 2012.

President Obama won re-election for a second term, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney, with broad support from women, young voters and minorities in Democratic strongholds and key battleground states.

He notched the decisive 270-vote threshold in the Electoral College with victory in swing state Ohio,  and a later in another swing state -- Virginia which gave him 303 electoral votes.

Romney obtained 206.

Read Obama's victory speech HERE.

And Romney's concession speech HERE.

Undoubtedly, it was a very tight race. And as Obama said "a long campaign is now over".

It has been described as a grueling campaign  that set the stage for the Nov 6 showdown.

More than USD1 billion was poured into the campaign - by far the most expensive. 
 The presidential election officially kicked off in January 2012. In the run-up, three presidential debates and one vice-presidential debates were held.

Obama's win over the electoral colleges was sizeable.

There was a broad range of interesting analyses of the outcome. One of the points made was that Romney won mostly the white vote and fared poorly among African Americans and minorities. 

A study of the results also showed that he lost the youth vote by a huge margin.

One analyst said that had there been a high percentage of white voters in some of the states, Romney would have won.

One concluded that race factored signifcantly in the election.
 
Expectedly, some Republican leaders are now talking about "reinventing" the party, that they must now look at the "changing demographics"...in states that have a sizeable number of non-white ethnic groups such as Latinos, Asians and African Americans.


The elections over, both sides will be conducting a post-mortem. But more importantly, Obama has a gargantuan task before him --  fixing the economy at home and, foreign relations.

And facing a house divided (with Congress held by Republicans, and the Senate, Democrats.)

Han Suyin (September 12, 1917 – November 2, 2012)

Eurasian author Han Suyin whose real name was Rosalie Elisabeth Kuanghu Chow died on Nov 2 at her home in Lausanne, Switzerland. She was 95.

She was best remembered for her best-selling semi-autobiographical novel “A Many-Splendored Thing".

Bapak had an entire collection of her books, one of which, for me stood out. It was  "And The Rain My Drink", a  novel she wrote when she was married to Leon F. Comber, a British officer who worked in the Malayan Special Branch in Johor after the World War Two.
Han Suyin's pseudonym was Elizabeth Comber.

Some people believe that the book - a vivid depiction of  pre-independent Malaya - was also semi-autobiographical as Han Suyin used to work at the Johor Bahru General Hospital during the Emergency.


Here is The Washington Post article on her death.

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...