Thursday, January 31, 2013

Take Care Of Your Kids. It Only Takes Seconds..

..for a kidnapper to grab your child. Your life will forever change..

Child activist Hartini Zainuddin says there are  kidnappers are out there waiting to grab your child at the first opportunity.

She told The Star that she has a list of horror stories of children being abducted when parents take their eyes off their kids.Kidnappers are out there waiting to grab your child at the first opportunity. C

When Hartin is with her children in a public space, such as a supermarket, she always makes sure she’s holding her four-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son’s hand.

“And I will never take my eyes off them,” said the child activist.

“I’m also mentally prepared to scream and hold on to them (as they’re within arm’s length) if someone tries to grab them.”

Read the rest of the article HERE.


Friday, January 25, 2013

Little William : May You rest In Peace...

...and I pray that your murderer or murderers will be caught and punished....

This evening, it is confirmed that the body fished out of Sungai Sireh in Klang is that of a child -- that of missing boy -- 6 year-old William Yau.

His parents identified the body and confirmed that it is their beloved son.
(Our deepest and heartfelt condolences....)

William, we tried but we have failed you,,,like we failed all the other little angels.

We are sorry, dear William.

Rest in peace.

Dear PDRM,

It is your duty now to hunt for the killer/killers. Don't rest until you get him/her/them!

Meanwhile...here's my column on William in the NST.

Body of A Child Found in River...

The body of a boy with a fair complexion, believed to be about 7 years old, was fished out of Sungai Sireh, in Klang, yesterday.

I want to say that I pray it is not that of 6 year-old William Yau who went missing last week in Putra heights. But the body is of a child ..it is somebody's child. My heart goes out to the family of this child.

 For now, police believed it to be William because there has been no report of a missing child in the area.

William's parents have gone to the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital to.identify the remains.

Klang Selatan police chief Assistant Commissioner Mohamad Mat Yusop said a post-mortem examination is being  done today.


The story HERE

Whoever the child is...was he murdered?

Whoever he.may be, may he rest in peace.


Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Salam Maulidul Rasul

Selamat menyambut Maulud Nabi to all Muslims and have a happy holiday, everyone.

Peace!


Monday, January 21, 2013

NUR Alert out for William Yau


People -- we have failed Nurin,  Nadhirah and other little angels. Let's not fail 6 year-old William Yau who went missing on Wednesday (Jan 16) at Jalan Putra Mahkota 7/6c in Putra Heights.

Let's join the search for him. His distraught parents Yau Kok Kang and Goh Ying Ying are praying for his safety and safe return. The nation joins them.


William went missing after he and his family -- parents, older brother, Eric, 7 and younger sister Cindy, one  - had dinner in Puchong to celebrate Eric having been made class monitor.

According to The Star - on the way home, Yau and Goh stopped at an electrical shop in Putra Heights  to look at some washing machines.
They locked their children, including  in the car, leaving the windows open.
When they returned about 15 minutes later, William was nowhere to be seen.
According to Eric, William had gone looking for their parents because Cindy had started crying non-stop.

Of course, Yau and Goh are beside themselves for leaving their kids in the car. But you know, nothing is more punishing for your action than your child disappearing...


Help has come in a huge way for the family, with the political parties, NGOs and the community helping the police search for William.

The police has triggered NUR Alert but I'm not sure when they did that. Let's hope it was within 48 hours of the missing person report on William.

Let's hope William is in safe hands. Let's hope he will be returned safely to his family.

Let's hope too that this kind of help goes to the next missing child.

Remember, people -- Nurin's rapist and murderer is still at large.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Crime Index Down, But....

I am so sorry to say that THAT does not make our streets , our neighbourhood  etc..safe.

Here's the IGP:

(source;NST)

 KUALA LUMPUR: THERE was a notable decrease in the number of violent and property crimes last year, crime index figures released show.

The crime index dipped 7.6 per cent last year, with street crimes dropping by 3.6 per cent.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar said despite these successes, the public remained unconvinced.

"That is why I am not going to focus on the figures, but rather work on new initiatives to combat crime and win the public's confidence.

"We have set our targets for this year. Let the people decide after they see the results of our initiatives
later."

The IGP was commenting on a report that crime watchdog, the Malaysian Crime Watch Taskforce (MyWatch), had questioned an alleged attempt by the police to "manipulate" crime figures by suppressing data on non-index crime.

MyWatch claimed that the overall national crime rate was 30 per cent higher than what had been presented by police.

Its chairman, R. Sri Sanjeevan, claimed that the latest figures did not take into account non-index crimes and that it was an attempt by the police to instil a "feel good" feeling among Malaysians.

He also revealed two letters, allegedly issued by Criminal Investigations Department director Datuk Seri Bakri Zinin to state police chiefs, with breakdowns on occurrence of non-index crime between 2011 and 2012.

Sri Sanjeevan claimed that the two letters were obtained from "internal police sources" and challenged the authorities to dispute their authenticity.

Ismail countered that the crime index was not something fanciful drawn up overnight.

"It was designed based on a comprehensive crime index published by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations in 1960.

"There is no controversy here and no hidden agenda about index or non-index crime. Those within the police force understand it."

Ismail said the classification of index and non-index crime had not been drawn up to suit the National Key Result Area (NKRA).

"It was drawn up long before my tenure as IGP, or for that matter, my predecessor. It (MyWatch) just collected bits and pieces of information before coming up with its own conclusion.

"All I will say about last year's crime index was that violent and property crimes were reduced."

Elaborating, Bakri said the practice of collecting and classifying crime statistics was adopted from the

Uniform Crime Reports of the United States and this was an international standard adopted by other countries.

He explained that the crime index was the title used for a aggregation of classification of seven main
offences, namely homicide, forcible rape, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, larceny/theft and vehicle theft.

"We adopted this practice and further sub-divided certain offences. For example, vehicle theft is sub-divided into theft of vans/lorries, theft of cars and theft of motorcycles.

"Only these seven types of offences are used as an index to measure the degree of criminal exposure because they are most likely to be reported and most likely to occur with sufficient frequency to provide an adequate basis for comparison."

Bakri said police maintained statistics on all types of crimes.

"Only index crime is used as an indicator of the overall crime situation. Speaking from experience, the trend of overall crime (index plus non-index) is quite similar to that of index crime alone."

On his letters being made public, Bakri said they were sent to inform all police chiefs to focus on what needs to be done to bring down the number of non-index crimes.

Bakri said the increased number of non-index crimes might be small but appeared alarming when percentages were used instead of figures.

"For instance, if there was no kidnap case last year and there is one this year, that would make for a 100 per cent rise, but we are only talking about one case."

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Reforming Legal Education...

...because they don't make lawyers like they used to..

Reported in The Star (Wednesday, Jan 16) that the Attorney-General and Bar Council have agreed to set up a high-level task force to reform legal education because they are so concerned  over the quality of law graduates.
Their grave concern, it said
.
“Both A-G Tan Sri (Abdul) Gani (Patail) and I are extremely concerned about the quality of law graduates,”  council chairman Lim Chee Wee  was quoted to have said.

It seems this stemmed fron the outcome of an employability survey of new graduates and feedback from the Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) examiners and evaluators of three local universities .

“The A-G's view is also based on the examiners' and evaluators' feedback, and because the A-G's Cham-bers is the largest employer of local graduates,” he said in an interview with The Star.

Here's the rest of the report:

During his speech at the Opening of the Legal Year on Saturday, he disclosed that they had agreed to the setting up of a high-level task force to “review the state of legal education in Malaysia, and to recommend how to raise standards to a level of excellence”.

“Whilst the top local lawyers are as good as, if not better than, those elsewhere in the region, the Bar is concerned with the standard of the average lawyer, which is largely dependent on the capability of the graduates from local and foreign institutions.”

Gani is chairman of the Legal Profession Qualifying Board which administers the CLP and Lim is a member by virtue of his position as council chairman.

Asked whether the council had expressed its concerns to the public and private universities offering local and foreign law programmes before this, he replied: “We have done so privately, not officially.”
Lim said most of the earlier meetings were about other concerns and the need to have a Common Bar Course (CBC).

“We will meet them specifically on this now.”

As to whether the CLP would be abolished and the CBC introduced as the sole line of entry to the legal profession, he said: “The task force will work on a recognising institution for admission to the Bar.”

“The CBC is part of the solution but it needs to be examined further.”

On Jan 13, Sunday Star reported the overall pass rate for the CLP had plunged from 94.79% at its inception in 1984 to 40.81% last year, and that the survey showed a gap between what law firms wanted and the new lawyers they were getting and the wide disparity in the quality of the new entrants themselves.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Maids Issue To Be Resolved by April..

I've said it many times before and I'll say it again -- have a long-term plan on reliable and affordable domestic care support services for working women and households across the country so that we are not affected by this kind of situation.

The latest is a report quoting the Malaysian Maid Employers Association (Mama) that maids from Indonesia will start arriving within three months.
 Mama, according to the NST,  described as "successful" its meeting with Indonesia's Labour Supplier Association (Himsataki) on Monday.
Mama president Engku Ahmad Fauzi Engku Muhsein said both sides had agreed to find common grounds to end the long-standing issue.


This issue is close to my heart and I have written a lot about it.
Below  is my column that was published in the NST on Saturday Jan 11.

*****

IN this current deadlock with regard to the recruitment of foreign mai
ds, I feel lucky that I don't need one to help in the management of my home and life.

That's because both my children are above 18 -- one is studying in Ontario, Canada, and the other at a local university -- and no longer need supervision or care while I am at work.
But I remember the time when I needed a maid to care for them. Although I had an extended family -- parents and siblings living within an 8km radius -- having a maid was a necessity if only to better manage my life.

Sure, I could function without a maid but it meant some hardship as I would have to organise my schedule as well as my children's. A tough balancing act. Those days, you could get a maid easily but the recruitment procedures were embryonic and, therefore, tedious.

Read the rest of the article HERE.

Friday, January 11, 2013

A Musical Tribute To Arshad Ayub...


Universiti Teknologi Mara is presenting a musical -  "Tan Sri Arshad Ayub" as a tribute to his contributions as the founder of the university and in bringing it to the level it is today.

The performance will be from Jan 25  to 28  at Dewan Agung Tuanku Canselor at the UiTM main campus in Shah Alam..
Arshad, was appointed the university's (then known as ITM) first director in  1967 and is fondly remembered as  'Bapa Pembangunan ITM' .
Performing in the musical are well-known actor Tony Eusoff as well as  UiTM lecturers and students.
It is directed by Mazlan Tahir, an arts activist and lecturer at the Film, Theatre and Animation Faculty. .
The musical depicts Arshad's journey from the time he was a 16 year-old in Muar, Johor during the Japanese occupation to his appintment as ITM director. It follows his trials and tribulations.

 Tickets costing RM15 to RM100 are already on sale. They are available at the faculty. You can also  contact 019-2121328 to purchase.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Why Such Hatred For The Jalur Gemilang?


Did the supporters of the Jan 12 rally put up this banner calling for the Malaysian flag to be replaced by another?
If they did, they've got another think coming.

Trying your damnest to bring down the government through lawful and democratic means is one thing...heck, some people go overboard, spewing vile  and vitriol. We close one eye.

But trying to have the national flag replaced....that is going overboard.

This banner was seen along Jalan Bangsar.

Unpatriotic? Bah..too mild.

Kalau berani, I dare you to come forward and wave smeared and defaced Malaysian flags...

Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Malicious Sarawak Report

It is as clear as day that Sarawak Report's raison d'etre is to bring down Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and anything Barisan Nasional.

Nothing new about this. So clear.

I suppose it is not new then they also have a strong tendency to publish lies.

You hate a leader, you try your damnest to bring him down. You hate the government, you try your darndest to bring it down.

Including publishing lies.


You can say that to each his own. To each, his own lie.
Sarawak Report's hatred for Taib and the BN is only matched by its propensity to tell lies.

Like posting a report that PM Najib Razak had suffered a stroke over the weekend.

Such a liar. 

Do read this commentary by The Mole. 

"A crass, cruel and crude attempt at political assassination" - yep. True.

Tuesday, January 08, 2013

We Are All Living In Fear...


The NST report is HERE.

This is all so sad that it is the same old story over and over again... and this kind of crime has happened in many locations around the Klang Valley, notably near or at junctions with traffic lights.

In this incident, Capt Gurcharan Singh Sidhu, 63, and his wife Datin Arunee Dee, 38, were in their car at a traffic- light junction in Jalan P. Ramlee on Sunday evening when they were attacked and robbed by two men on a motorcycle.
 According to the report, the pillion rider smashed the front passenger window with a metal object and tried to grab Arunee's handbag. She put up a fight, but was knocked unconscious by a punch to her face. The pillion rider then grabbed the bag and the two escaped in heavy traffic.
Gurcharan said he was too stunned to react.
"My wife was unconscious. She was bleeding from her arms and legs after the window's shattered glass cut her," he told the New Straits Times yesterday.
"Motorists behind us kept honking thinking I was purposely holding up traffic.
"No one came to our aid. They were probably afraid for their own safety."

You can read the rest of the story on the link I have made above.

Here's the thing -- you and I know that this is not the first such horrific incident. You and I know someone who has been robbed viciously like this.

I know of two people -- my youngest sister, Nina and her daughter, Sara. Worse, it happened right in front of the gate of their house.

Why is this still happening?
Why are these criminals still going about their merry way robbing and hurting people at traffic lights, at their homes and everywhere?
Why are they still so bold?

Let me tell you why -- because THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH  IT and NOBODY IS STOPPING THEM OR CAN STOP THEM ..or WANT TO STOP THEM.
I'll be honest -- I am living in fear. My family is living in fear.  And we are not the only ones.
Not only residents of housing estates fear of being attacked anytime, anyday.
People...people driving in their cars..people walking...
You fear when you arrive at the gate of your home -- if anyone has been following you or lying in wait.
You are just so fearful.

In Section 16, PJ where my sister and her family live, occupants of nearly every household along the surrounding roads, have been attacked in one form or another.

Police reports have been made..and yet...the attacks went on unabated.
I'd like to ask the police this -- what are our men in blue doing to prevent/deter these criminals from their vicious spree?
I mean, really really seriously deterring them.....
Yes yes yes...they've bought more motorcycles for policemen to patrol the streets...Visibility does help to reduce crime.
But...then, these vicious attacks have continued and they happen when the policemen are not around.
Let me ask -- how many of these criminals have been nabbed?
You feel the threat of attack near or at your home, you feel unsafe outside your home. You feel unsafe anywhere. No place is safe ...
Just going out in your car is no longer safe. You worry when you arrive at traffic lights. You worry when you cross the road..

Although I did understand why residents felt the need to block the exits and entrances of their neighbourhood roads, I had thought that there were other security options and felt that the police should not happily approve of this kind of measure.
After my sister and my niece were viciously attacked right in front of their home, I threw all my scepticisms aside ...
Still...I feel that the police could do better and more. think outside adn beyond the box.

For instance, in Section 16, PJ..alarm bells should have rung strong and hard given the regularity of attacks and robbery -- some in broad daylight..

Yet..yet..

I despair looking at out neighbourhoods all guarded.
This is not normal at all. 
This sense of fear is not normal.
These are critical times. Dangerous times.

Monday, January 07, 2013

The MISperception On Guan Eng....

...and perpetuated by DAPsters and pro-DAP bloggers, says tenacious pitbull of a blogger Helen Ang.

Her fangs sink ferociously into Guan Eng's and Hannah Yeoh's asses...oh for good reason.

I can't resist re-publishing her posting on Guan Eng titled "Guan Eng Went To Jail for a Malay Girl -- oh Puhleez- lah".

Helen writes that Lim Guan Eng was sent to jail because the court found him guilty of promoting hatred.
In a High Court decision delivered on 28 April 1997, Guan Eng was found guilty under Section 4(1) (b) of the Sedition Act.
He was also found guilty under Section 8A of the Printing Presses and Publications Act for maliciously publishing false news.
The Court of Appeal found that the pamphlets printed by Guan Eng had “the effect of bringing the administration of justice into hatred and contempt” and that his allegations amounted to “denigrating and undermining the administration of criminal justice” — both offences which are deemed seditious under Malaysian law.

She also says thatLim Guan Eng was not jailed for “defending the honour” of a Malay girl.
It is perfectly in character that Guan Eng – then MP for Kota Melaka – had chosen to attack and defame the then Umno Malacca Chief Minister.
He is a politician who attacks Umno every chance he gets.
The still (photo above) captured from a recording of the Penang state assembly sitting on 7 May 2012 shows him attacking Umno, as usual.

Read her posting HERE....



Saturday, January 05, 2013

Oh DAP...

Here's the thing...it's good that you have owned up to your mistake and offered explanations...
I mean...crap can happen in elections.. even  party elections...a simple one like yours to elect 20 people from 68 candidates can be quite a, er,.. monumental task in which slips can happen...

Handling a general election....tough, huh.

Cease and Desist Politicizing Water..

This prolonged and protracted war between the PKR-led Selangor government and the Federal government over the construction of the Sungai Langat 2 Water Treatment Plant (Langat 2) is beginning to wear me thin, if it hasn't already.
Frankly, I'm getting so tired of it.

The Selangor government has rejected the project as being too costly. It has proposed a project using  membrane technology instead because it is cheaper. MB Khalid Ibrahim also said his government  wants to carry out its water supply restructuring plan. It also has  issues with Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas),since forever.

And of course, Langat 2 is a federal project.

The Langat 2 mitigation project was among several programmes planned before the 2008 general election to cope with the high demand for treated water due to the mushrooming of factories and business parks in Selangor and to prevent a recurrence of the 1997-98 water crisis.

Under the Langat 2 water transfer project between Selangor and Pahang, 1,890 million litres of raw water will be pumped daily from Sungai Semantan in Pahang to the Hulu Langat water treatment plant in Selangor. It has been reported that Selangor only has enough water to meet demand until 2014 and by 2017 the situation will worsen if measures are not taken to increase supply.

The Selangor government claims that Langat 2 project will burden the rakyat while the Federal Government says that the Selangor government's plan would only serve as a short-term solution and would not be practical in the long run.
The Federal Government insists that Langat 2 project is more economical and will avert a water crisis in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

I don't for a minute believe that the Selangor has the interest of the rakyat at heart in this case. It's just politics.As I have said, langat 2 is a federal project.


At this point, the Selangor government can present whatever argument against Langat 2 , I don't quite care. Go sue Syabas. Go sue the federal government if you think they all are cheating the rakyat. BUT DON'T STAND IN THE WAY OF a water treatment plant that can benefit the rakyat.

You know the rakyat may even sue the Selangor government for being in the way.. or  for just being an ass..

The fact is Selangor's population has grown and is growing. There a lot more industries and factories.

You want to be at war with the federal government, go ahead -- that's what politics is all about, after all.

But, I'll be damned if you politicize water.

I am a registered voter in Selangor. I have a huge extended family in Selangor -- around Banting and Kuala Selangor.

We discuss politics a lot.

In the last elections, my vote counted. Oh yeah it did.

And this year, my vote will definitely count.

Here's my column in the NST.

WHAT a start to the new year for some 500,000 people in Gombak and Kuala Lumpur who have been without water supply for a few days.

The disruption was caused by two faulty pumps. The good news, according to Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas), is that the pumps have already been "successfully repaired".
The not-so-good news is that water supply will only be fully restored within a week.

The Asinine Game Of The Opposition..

NST columnist Azmi Anshar unabashedly bashes the shenanigans of the opposition in their dissing of Prime Minister's Najib's non-announcement of the general election date.

Here's his commentary that was published yesterday (Friday Jan 4).

THE asinine parlour game of general election date prediction manufactured by opposition leaders (and some reputable pundits) -- parliamentary dissolution at nearly every quarter since 2009 -- turned out to be an embarrassing gambit illuminated by this loud finale: they were all wrong, wrong and wrong.

Let's put it in simpler terms: predictions peppered from the time Datuk Seri Najib Razak took over the premiership, the last date bandied about was November/December of last year, could easily have been extrapolated by your average taxi driver, karaoke guest relations officer or shaman.
Which means, anyone claiming to know the actual date of parliamentary dissolution was bluffing or staging a scenario where they tried to coercively rattle a sitting PM to prematurely call for polls, which was the original intent.
Like they say, give them enough rope and they'll hang themselves, the rope being the length of time Najib applied to good effect to hold the general election within shaman months, which is the obvious final stretch parallel to the Barisan Nasional's term that expires anyway by April 28.
Now, no opposition leaders are predicting a "March 28" polling date or any date of the sort because they have been soundly thrashed by their own silly game.

Friday, January 04, 2013

Robert Phang Vs Musa Hassan

This is going to be an interesting case .
 Robert Phang has filed a RM100mil-defamation suit against former IGP  Musa Hassan.
The suit was filed at the Shah Alam High Court registry on Friday through the firm Messrs S.N. Nair & Partners.
Phang claimed Musa uttered defamatory words at a press conference held by MyWatch which implied he was a dishonest, untrustworthy, unethical and a corrupt person.
He claimed Musa's words were pre-meditated to tarnish his image.
Phang is claiming compensatory and aggravated, exemplary damages, and other costs and relief deemed fit by the court.

Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Promises, Promises...

Everytime a landslip occurs, we get the powers-that-be ordering a review of hillside projects and so on.
After Highland Towers, you'd think that they'd stop trying to make big bucks  from these projects (two-storey luxury homes on hilltops located by hillsides) and they'd not approve these prjects and people would not buy them.

Well..folks its economics -- demand, supply and profits.

That's why I hate most developers (so few good men among them) and always suspicious of local authorities that approve these projects.

And if you buy homes in these projects....well...what can I say?

You think things will change after the Puncak Setiawangsa landslip?

PS: During my active blogging days, a blogger and I used to go to this area to conduct an interview with someone. We used to have breakfast at one of the kedai makan..at the foot of the hill.

We used to never fail to  look up at one house atop the hill -- always a good topic of discussion.  You can't help but be distracted by the very presence of the house up there.

I have always been against the building of houses or any structure at hillside or on hilltop.

It is not a matter of whether you can, but whether you SHOULD build these structures...


Happy New Year!

What a year 2012 was...

What's in store for 2013?
Are you ready for the biggest event of the year? One that can change your life? Or not...

I'm all ready...although the fever came and went...and will start again.

Yep..get ready to vote.

The general election aside, what have YOU resolved to do this year?

Anyway...Happy 2013, everyone.