tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-385304032024-03-24T02:01:35.977+08:00Nuraina A Samad's 3540 Jalan SudinWHO SAYS IT'S A MAN'S WORLD?NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.comBlogger1565125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-52543690031463368982021-01-11T11:47:00.007+08:002021-01-11T11:47:55.367+08:00Another Lockdown, You Say? <p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcB9GEZ5rqCePNan9CxscXAQLyR0peKIQHgOp_zkCevRKQga9_A8Pd3_bL1vQ2V0eFo0E1OvJEImUox3M-tErmQX1biD1iqoDlfhFSgjikAXEYt3F83PoQPCojj4VmDM5udPvhqw/s1200/ACOVID.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1015" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcB9GEZ5rqCePNan9CxscXAQLyR0peKIQHgOp_zkCevRKQga9_A8Pd3_bL1vQ2V0eFo0E1OvJEImUox3M-tErmQX1biD1iqoDlfhFSgjikAXEYt3F83PoQPCojj4VmDM5udPvhqw/s320/ACOVID.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p> Ouch.</p><p>Not like that March 2020 lockdown.</p><p>Seriously, we expected this, right?</p><p>Well, if there's one, nak salahkan siapa, ya?</p><p>Numbers are rising like we'd never seen before. We shouldn't be surprised when we saw how things got the minute the Movement Control Order (MCO) was eased.</p><p>The situation was well under control during the earlier part of the MCO. </p><p>We all know what happened after the Saba state elections. That was our horror story of the pandemic. Even then, it was managed. </p><p>It was after the recovery period - towards the end of 2020 that things got a little out of control. When cross borders was allowed and people were allowed a little bit more freedom of movement.</p><p>To say that all hell broke loose is an exaggeration. But you get the picture. Traffic jams on city roads and the balik kampung traffic jams on highways. Crowded malls. Crowded restaurants. Crowded public parks. </p><p>People planned their out-of-town holidays. nHotels were offering fantastic packages.Those who remained in KL or PJ enjoyed their "staycation" at 6-star hotels that were offering great discounts like never before.</p><p>Malls were full of shoppers and diners.</p><p>Sure, SOP was adhered to in MOST places. But how do you adhere to in a crowd.</p><p>I think people got carried away that they do forget. </p><p>But the MCO was eased in phases. And it was welcomed because we did a good job of controlling the pandemic.</p><p>Let's not dwell on the past or sing high praises of the past.</p><p>It is now that's our dilemma.</p><p>Someone asked - who's to be blamed for tbe rising numbers?</p><p>Come 2021 New Year celebrations, people were not only revelling in the home towns but in our holiday destinations.</p><p>Everyone was going to Langkawi or Desaru.</p><p>Hotel and resort accomodation in Langkawi was full capacity. Say what??</p><p>Have you seen the crowds throughout the island of Langkawi? </p><p>I was told locals were spooked. I'm sure under ordinary circumstances, they'd welcome visitors. Of course, they'd want the economy to do well because it affects their livelihood.</p><p>But you can't blame them when they got real scared by the influx of holiday makers who went about their way with nary a care, judging by the many photos.</p><p>And have you seen the video of the New Year's Eve celebration somewhere in Langakawi? Memang lah cari pasal.</p><p>And then we're surprised buy the spike in Covid 19 numbers?</p><p>You can't pin the blame on the authorities this time -lah.</p><p>We easily forget what we had gone through, how hard life had been during the lockdown and the effects till now.</p><p>Lupa saja bila tengah senang.</p><p>Memang mudah lupa lah kita ni.... </p><p>So.. everyone bracing for that announcement by PM Muhyiddin Yassin.</p><p>Just don't go crazy panic-buying like that time not so long ago.</p><p><br /></p>NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-57047528092173084402021-01-11T11:08:00.001+08:002021-01-11T11:11:20.134+08:00Let's get the e-Scooters going, okay<p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">January 10, 2021</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">LET’s get real about e-Scooters and their place as not just another means of transportation in our cities. </p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Green advocates echo their potential to revolutionise the mode of transportation in our cities.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">As someone wrote somewhere: “The promise of cheap, easily available, motorized personal transportation is too alluring to be legislated out of existence.”</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">For now, they’re having a bad press here, particularly in the Klang Valley. Not surprising because they seemed to have suddenly appeared on our roadways, in our neighbourhoods and shopping malls. At least in the last few months or so.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Their presence on the road in the last few months had scared the hell out of people. </p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">They’ve been called unsafe, a nuisance and a hazard on public roads. Of course, not without reason although it would be totally unfair to wantonly paint them as dangerous vehicles. </p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">They are currently banned on these roads with some exceptions in some areas.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Continue reading <a href="https://www.mole.my/e-scooters-beyond-making-micromobility-a-safe-and-convenient-transportation-alternative/">HERE</a></p><div><br /></div>NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-43283588894493337392020-09-17T16:24:00.001+08:002020-09-17T16:24:21.542+08:00Concern for cyclists following release of road casualty figures <h1 class="entry-title fusion-post-title fusion-responsive-typography-calculated" data-fontsize="24" data-lineheight="27.12px" style="--fontsize: 24; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c61632; font-family: raleway; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.13; margin-bottom: 28px; margin-top: 0px;">Drivers are being urged to be more aware of cyclists after figures revealed that people riding their bikes are now among those most at risk on North East roads.</h1><div class="post-content" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; font-family: raleway; position: relative;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">As more and more people have taken to their bikes since the country went into lockdown earlier this year, the number of cyclists being killed or injured in the region is beginning to climb.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Of the last five fatal road collisions in the Cleveland Police force area, four have been cyclists.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">42 people were killed or seriously injured riding their bikes during lockdown in the region – between March and June – despite a 70% fall in traffic.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Road Safety GB North East said while the number of other road-users killed or injured fell dramatically during this period, it remained the same as last year for cyclists.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Both children and adults have been killed or seriously injured while cycling, leading road safety officers and the emergency services to call for better awareness of people on bikes.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">While the cause of each incident may be different, it is believed the sharp increase in people riding bikes – thought to be up by around 300% – coupled with an increase in driver speed, could be factors.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Peter Slater, of Road Safety GB North East, which is made up of road safety officers from across the region, said: “Although it’s great to see more people cycling in the region, we are really disappointed by the latest figures.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">“Riding bikes on busy roads can be challenging – especially for the new wave of lockdown cyclists. We would urge people who are new to cycling, or haven’t cycled for some time, to stick to quieter routes and cycle paths at first to build up confidence.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">“Also, make sure that your bike is in good working order and has lights that work.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">“We have so many more cyclists on our roads, so drivers, please slow down and give them plenty of space – at least 1.5m. Actively look for bikes, and take a second look before pulling out, or when opening your car door, because the consequences can be fatal.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Peter said, as the region’s roads returned to normal, it was important for all road-users to be considerate of others.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Police Inspector Catherine Iley, from the Cleveland and Durham Specialist Operations Unit, said: “Since lockdown we have seen an increase in people deciding to get out and about on their bikes for exercise.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">“However, despite the fall in traffic on the roads, we attended a number of collisions involving cyclists, some of which were sadly fatal.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">“I would encourage all road-users to remain alert to the hazards around them, and be mindful that cyclists, in particular, can be vulnerable. Please take the extra time to look out for cyclists and use caution when driving alongside them. It could save a life.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Chief Inspector Sam Rennison, of Northumbria Police, said: “If a vehicle travelling at high speed was involved in a collision with a cyclist or a pedestrian then the results could be catastrophic – and these figures reinforce the need for everyone to remain vigilant.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">“It’s vitally important that we reduce the average speed of cars, while cyclists also have a responsibility to ride in an appropriate manner and ensure they are as visible as possible to vehicles on the road.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Between March and June this year, when lockdown was at its height, the number of casualties in the region from cars fell by 68% on last year, pedestrians were down 59%, bikers were down 32%, and casualties from buses, trucks and other vehicles were down 65%.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Cycling casualties, however, decreased by just 0.6%.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">( from<a href="http://www.lookoutroadsafety.co.uk/about-us/"> Road Safety GB)</a></p></div>NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-80330052984148751472020-05-29T13:29:00.003+08:002020-05-29T13:47:46.262+08:00Trump against fact-checking TwitterWhat else could surprise you about the manic antics of US President Donald Trump?<br />
Well, the latest, of course, is his ire with<a href="https://www.wpr.org/twitter-fact-checks-president-trumps-tweets" target="_blank"> Twitter for fact-checking his lies.</a><br />
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He wasn't amused. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52832800" target="_blank">So, in retaliation, he is<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: "helmet" , "freesans" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: "helmet" , "freesans" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 1rem;">expected to sign an executive order redefining the legal protections given to social media platforms.</span></a><br />
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It means platforms such as Facebook and Twitter could be sued if they are judged to "deceptively" block posts.</div>
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The draft of the executive order says social networks are engaged in "selective censorship".</div>
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<span style="font-size: 1rem;">Meanwhile,it was reported that T</span><span style="color: #3f4d55; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">witter CEO Jack Dorsey is refusing to back down over fact-checking in the face of relentless criticism from the White House. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f4d55; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Daily Beast reports:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f4d55; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Dorsey’s company has become the target of Trump’s fury after it added a disclaimer to one of his tweets earlier this week. </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f4d55; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i>First, Trump threatened to close down social-media companies who he thinks are “show bias” against conservatives, and it was reported late Wednesday (May 27, 2020) that he will sign an executive order to remove important legal protections from sites like Twitter and Facebook. </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f4d55; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>In a series of tweets, Dorsey wrote that Twitter will “continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make.” </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f4d55; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>He added: “This does not make us an ‘arbiter of truth.’ Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves.” </i></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #3f4d55; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Despite his new vigor for fighting disinformation, this week </span><a class="TrackingLink LinkWrapper" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/husband-of-deceased-joe-scarborough-aide-calls-on-twitter-to-delete-trumps-tweets" style="color: #02141f; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; transition: color 0.15s ease; word-break: normal;">Dorsey denied a widower’s</a><span style="color: #3f4d55; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> request t<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/28/opinion/twitter-trump-scarborough.html" target="_blank">o remove Trump tweets that baselessly suggested Lori Klausutis was murdered in 2001 by her boss, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough.</a></span></i></div>
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NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-45813036553113758502020-05-29T13:06:00.001+08:002020-05-29T13:06:27.185+08:00The Murder of George Floyd<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYtg6sUkfrlcRDO18SL4Y8mhzXth88J6A7b1u2r6JR2cZoEPdLgbQx8EPUP1PFPRnKLbabKbqf6D0NUv9uia-aUm-7NR1O8t_U_qxusQxWFaP8XzWFCTbwuFOHqL9OtjHacX9LCA/s1600/afloyd.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYtg6sUkfrlcRDO18SL4Y8mhzXth88J6A7b1u2r6JR2cZoEPdLgbQx8EPUP1PFPRnKLbabKbqf6D0NUv9uia-aUm-7NR1O8t_U_qxusQxWFaP8XzWFCTbwuFOHqL9OtjHacX9LCA/s1600/afloyd.jpeg" /></a><br />
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<i><b>A petition is out for justice for 46 year-old African Amercian, George Floyd, not just for Americans to sign but for global citizens too.</b></i><br />
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<i><b>Here is his story. (The incident in Minneapolis, was also on video taken by a bystander who pleaded with the policeman to release Floyd from his knee choke.)</b></i><br />
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On Monday (May 25 2020), police officers responded to a call from a store about a bad cheque signed by Floyd. According to another report, Floyd had used a counterfeit $20 at the store. At any rate, the alleged offence did not warrant the brutal treatment against Floyd who was unarmed,.</div>
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He was arrested and handcuffed and then pinned down to the ground by<span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #262626; font-family: CNN, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;"> one of the officers.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #262626; font-family: CNN, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;">The officer was using his knee to pin down Floyd who </span><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; font-family: Georgia;">died at the hospital late that day.</span></div>
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Bystanders were witness to the incident. The one who took the video could be heard repeatedly urging the officer to get off Floyd who seemed to have deteriorated and then gone motionless.</div>
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On the video, the white police officer, was clearly seen kneeling for several minutes on Floyd who moaned: "I can't breathe."</div>
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<span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #262626; font-family: CNN, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif;">Floyd's death has sparked outrage and protests across the country,.</span></div>
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The four officers involved in Floyd's death were fired from the department the following day, Minneapolis police said.</div>
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The officers involved in the incident were identified by Minneapolis police as: Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng, according to the police website.</div>
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The incident is being investigated by local, state and federal authorities.</div>
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All four officers involved in the death have invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination, Freeman told CNN following the press conference.</div>
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"I am absolutely sorry for the pain, devastation and trauma Mr. Floyd's death has left on his family, his loved ones," Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo told ia news conference.</div>
NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-27101023174222896652020-05-29T12:04:00.000+08:002020-05-29T12:04:22.424+08:00A Shakespeare of Shit<div class="forum-post-title" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; padding: 1px 1px 1px 10px;">
Love this.</div>
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Wanted to post this a few weeks ago when someone forwarded it to me.</div>
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A delightfully funny take on that deranged man across the Atlantic.</div>
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Sure brightened my very dull and wet morning on another Covid-19 day.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Nate White, </b>an English writer tells us <b>why Donald Trump is not liked in the UK.</b> </div>
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Heck, Nate -- why he is disliked by the rest of the world, for sure.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Read it.</div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">A few things spring to mind.</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace - all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;">So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing - not once, ever.</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility - for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is - his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;">And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults - he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface.</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul.</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist.</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that.</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat.</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully.</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">There are unspoken rules to this stuff - the Queensberry rules of basic decency - and he breaks them all. </span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">He punches downwards - which a gentleman should, would, could <b>never</b> do - and every blow he aims is below the belt. </span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<b><span style="color: #134f5c;">He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless - and he kicks them when they are down.</span></b></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">So the fact that a significant minority - perhaps a third - of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think 'Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">* Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">* You don't need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. </span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><b>He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit.</b> </span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. </span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<b><span style="color: #134f5c;">But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.</span></b></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart.</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws - he would make a Trump.</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish:</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">'My God… what… have… I… created?</span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-right: 10px;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;">If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span></div>
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NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-84910714711364667882020-01-23T18:09:00.001+08:002020-01-23T18:09:23.471+08:00Schools in Singapore take reactive & proactive meaasures in the wake of the Wuhan Virus outbreak<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.75; margin-bottom: 25px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
You just have to give it to them-lah, the school authorities in Singapore.</div>
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They ain't taking any chances.</div>
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Here's a CNA report</div>
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SINGAPORE: <b>Schools in Singapore issued a notice to parents on Thursday (Jan 23), announcing precautionary measures to safeguard students' well-being in light of the Wuhan virus outbreak. </b></div>
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In the notice sent via the Parents Gateway app, which allows schools to update parents on programmes and activities, the school cited among its measures the "collection of your child/ward's travel declarations over the Chinese New Year weekend" indicated as Jan 24 to Jan 28. </div>
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"The details submitted are accessible only by authorised personnel and facilitate health measures to be taken in the event of heightened concerns after the holidays," the note added. </div>
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In a Facebook post on Wednesday night, Minister for Education Ong Ye Kung said the ministry, schools and institutes of higher learning have established measures to ensure the safety of students and staff since the major <a href="https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/sars-china-epidemic-wuhan-pneumonia-virus-outbreak-12302508" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(161, 37, 40); border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #a12528; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak</a> in 2003. </div>
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“We stand ready to activate them if the situation requires it,” Mr Ong wrote. </div>
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NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-8445287446465952362020-01-23T17:56:00.001+08:002020-01-23T17:58:45.711+08:00Wuhan Virus Outbreak -: Singapore forms task force<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.75; margin-bottom: 25px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>Preparing for the inevitable</i><br />
<br />
SINGAPORE: Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said on Wednesday (Jan 22) that he will co-chair a multi-ministerial task force to deal with the "eventuality" of the Wuhan virus on Singapore's shores. </div>
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He will lead the committee with Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong.</div>
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"<b>It is inevitable that we will see an imported case sooner or later,"</b> said Mr Gan, adding that this is because of the evolving situation and the high volume of traffic in and out of Singapore. </div>
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He was speaking to reporters after an update from the Ministry of Health (MOH) on the Wuhan virus situation. Three more suspected cases have been identified in Singapore and are undergoing testing.</div>
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The task force will have its first meeting on Thursday, Mr Gan said. </div>
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He added that it is important for the Government to understand the situation because there are "a lot" of unknowns.</div>
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"I think it's better for us to preempt some of these potential risks and do what we can to mitigate the risk," he said.</div>
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Measures introduced have to be proportional to the situation, but because the situation is evolving quickly, response has to be quick, he said.</div>
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"I think having a task force set up already will allow us to mount a very quick response, depending on the development of situation," he said.</div>
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When asked whether the Government foresees the Wuhan virus to be as serious as the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak of the early 2000s, Mr Gan said that given that many features of the new coronavirus are unknown.</div>
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"It is better for us to take precautions, and to ensure that we protect Singaporeans," he said.</div>
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Mr Wong, who also spoke to reporters, said that he will play a coordinating role among ministries like the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Manpower. </div>
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While the lead agency is MOH, the situation goes beyond one agency, and requires a whole-of-government and even whole-of-Singapore response, Mr Wong said, adding that the task force was set up in consultation with Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat.<br />
<br />
Read more from CNA <a href="https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/topics/wuhan-virus?cid=google_sem_paid_02052019_cnamkt&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyonMubmZ5wIVBSQrCh2l_Q_WEAAYASAAEgLu1fD_BwE">HERE</a><br />
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NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-50211500697979371122018-02-28T15:15:00.003+08:002018-02-28T15:15:42.776+08:00When can we make this happen here? Plastic-free aisles in supermarkets<h1 articleprop="headline" class="content__headline " style="color: #121212; font-family: 'Guardian Egyptian Web', 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; font-size: 2.375rem; font-weight: lighter; line-height: 2.625rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0.1875rem 0px 2.25rem;">
First plastic-free aisle is an example for other supermarkets to follow</h1>
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<span style="background-color: #fef9f5; font-size: 20px;"><i>There is no logic in wrapping perishable food in indestructible plastic, say campaigners hailing today’s launch in Amsterdam</i></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Today the world’s first plastic-free aisle was launched in Amsterdam by environmental campaign group A Plastic Planet and Dutch supermarket Ekoplaza. The aisle enables shoppers to choose from 700 everyday products that are free from plastic packaging. Before the end of the year, Ekoplaza plans to roll the plastic-free aisle out across each of its 74 stores</span><span style="color: #121212;">.</span></span></span></h1>
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Plastic packaging has no place in food and drink. </div>
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There is no logical basis for wrapping something as perishable as food with something as indestructible as plastic.</div>
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With recycled plastics today accounting for just 6% of total plastics demand in <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/europe-news" style="-webkit-transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0.0625rem; color: #e05e00; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none !important; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;">Europe</a>, it’s clear that we cannot recycle our way out of the plastic problem. </div>
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Food and drink plastic packaging does not belong in a circular economy given that it is difficult to reclaim, is easily contaminated, and all too often proves valueless.</div>
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The grocery retail sector accounts for more than 40% of all plastic packaging. </div>
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Plastic-free aisles make sound commercial sense, with a <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/12/supermarkets-stop-using-plastic-packaging-former-asda-boss-andy-clarke" style="-webkit-transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0.0625rem; color: #e05e00; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none !important; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;" title="">Populus poll last year</a> revealing that 91% of Britons back the measure.</div>
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Plastic has replaced so many forms of packaging that consumers wanting to reduce their plastic footprint at the moment find it impossible to do so.</div>
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We agree with A Plastic Planet that a plastic-free aisle will help consumers to reduce their own single-use plastic mountain. </div>
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We call on supermarkets across Europe to follow Ekoplaza’s example without delay. - <b><i>The Guardian</i></b></div>
NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-52531565052261490572018-02-19T16:53:00.004+08:002018-02-19T16:53:46.943+08:00We won't cry for you, AmericaBecause we're so tired.<br />
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This letter below was written by a Canadian.<br />
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Dear America:<br />I can't feel bad for you anymore. I am so tired of wasting "thoughts and prayers" on your destructive society. I am tired of watching you spew hate at other races, religions and cultures while you are the ones who are dangerous. You are the ones who are killing each other.</div>
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I am tired of watching killing after killing then seeing gun wagging, egotistical Americans yell obnoxiously about how the cure for this problem is more guns.</div>
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The rest of the civilized world is collectively shaking their head. The rest of the world does not sell automatic rifles to citizens off the street. The rest of the world does not shoot up high schools, churches, country music festivals. The rest of the world does not open fire in Elementary schools. Everybody "cares" Nobody acts. </div>
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And so I can't think about or pray for you anymore. All those thoughts and prayers for the 273rd time this year. Because that's how many shootings America has had since January 1, 2017. I can't waste my prayers on a society that refuses to change. I cannot feel bad for a place that refuses to acknowledge its self destruction.</div>
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You fill yourselves with hate that is fueled by fear and misunderstanding of anybody who isn't you. You support banning people from your country. You cheer for a wall to separate you. You refuse to see that the real problem, the real villain, is you.</div>
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My family just returned from a trip to the U.S. My daughter loved the warmth and the beaches. She asked me why we couldn't live there. As we drove by billboard after billboard advertising where one could purchase themselves a new gun, and as I listened to racial slurs be used in every day conversation by locals, and as I listened to your President refer to white supremacists as "very good people" and football, players kneeling for your anthem as "sons of bitches", I struggled to find the words to explain to my six year old that we will never live there because I would never want my children to think that any of these things are acceptable, let alone normal.</div>
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<br />America's obsession with guns is so fascinating to me, because never in my 31 years has it ever occurred to me to purchase one. But what we need is more guns. Because if we all have guns, we can shoot the shooter.</div>
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<br />But guns don't kill people. People kill people.</div>
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<br />When does it stop? when does it sink in? People with guns kill people. In the 273 mass shootings that have occurred in 2017, exactly how many were stopped by a person on the street with a license to carry a weapon? You and your handgun are no match for an automatic rifle on the 32nd floor of a hotel. The answer is to control the sale of firearms. Why is it that everyone can see this but you?<br /></div>
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People who cannot purchase guns do not massacre schools. People who cannot purchase guns do not mow down six and seven-year old children and their teachers in a time frame of about fifteen minuets. People who cannot purchase guns do not murder fifty-eight people and injure 515. The rest of the world is screaming this at you and you refuse to see the problem because you refuse to take responsibility.</div>
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So why is it that 6,880 people have died from gunshot wounds this year and America is still not taking the guns? Why is is that 6,880 people have been killed in one year, and you have yet to lose your privilege?</div>
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Why is it that you are more concerned about your "right to bear arms" than you are about the mother whose children never come home? I'm sorry America, but I can't pray for you anymore. I am exhausted and you are not changing. And according to history, you never will change. And it will get worse and worse. And our prayers do nothing.</div>
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<br />L.C.<br />Clarenville, Nfld”</div>
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NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-4235421074253743972018-02-07T12:06:00.002+08:002018-02-07T12:06:38.833+08:00Asia's Women Billionnaires<em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px;">This article (The Economist) is the second of a two-part series on women billionaires and philanthropy, focusing on Asia.</i></em><br />
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.27000001072883606px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Over half of the world's self-made women billionaires come from Asia-Pacific. And their slice of the pie is increasing</b></span></em><br />
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Women make up only a small percentage of top philanthropists in Asia, but their influence is disproportionately large as they transform the nature of philanthropy itself.</em><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">In terms of sheer numbers, female philanthropists in Asia lag behind their male peers. Out of the 40 donors listed on the Forbes Heroes of Philanthropy list in 2017, only six are women.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">1 On this year’s Hurun index of China’s top 100 philanthropists just 16 are women, compared with an average of 24% in global rankings.</span><br />
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Although few in number, Asia’s female philanthropists are acquiring some prominent additions to their ranks and are marking some new milestones. In May this year Zhonghui You, the founder of Shenzhen Seaskyland Technologies, an educational software company, added her name to the list of the 169 billionaires worldwide who have agreed to give away more than half their fortune to good causes. In doing so, Ms You became the first self-made woman in China to sign the Giving Pledge, an initiative of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.</div>
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“I think I can set an example to my peers and hopefully inspire others to pay attention and get involved,” explains Ms You. Her appeal to give more, and to do so publicly, is aimed at the billionaires who have benefited from Asia’s rapid economic growth in the past few decades, particularly in China. More crucially, it is a signal to a particular group to come forward: Asia’s wealthy women.</div>
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In March 2017 Forbes released its latest list of the world’s self-made female billionaires. Of the 56 women on the list, 29 come from Asia-Pacific, and of the 15 newcomers to the rankings 13 come from China, Hong Kong, Vietnam or Japan. They also hold an increasing slice of the pie. According to Boston Consulting Group, women held roughly one-third of global private wealth in 2015. It expects this share to rise by 11% a year in Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan), compared with a global average of 7%.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">HOMEGROWN PHILANTHROPY </strong></div>
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Does this herald a surge in philanthropy in Asia? Women’s wealth is growing alongside Asia’s nascent philanthropic sector. As noted by the Ash Centre for Democratic Governance and Innovation, part of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in China alone donations from the top 100 philanthropists more than tripled between 2010 and 2016, from US$1.3bn to US$4.6bn.</div>
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Like Ms You, other female role models are starting to emerge. Japan’s Yoshiko Shinohara, who joined the ranks of self-made female billionaires in 2017, established the Yoshiko Shinohara Memorial Foundation in 2014, which grants scholarships to students in nursing and social work programmes. Particularly in China—from where the vast majority of Asia’s self-made women billionaires originates—these home-grown examples are an important milestone, according to Zhenyao Wang, president of the China Global Philanthropy Institute (CGPI), an organisation dedicated to advancing philanthropy in China, which has 50 female members. “[Previously] China learned a lot about philanthropy from the outside world, from the UK, US and Hong Kong,” he says. “But that is changing. Now, as Chinese became wealthier, they look to and respect China’s history of philanthropists.”</div>
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One example is Qiaonv He, number 30 on the Forbes list. Worth an estimated US$1.8bn, the founder of Beijing Orient Landscape, a landscape architecture firm, made headlines in 2015 when she donated Rmb2.9bn (US$450m) in corporate stock to her Beijing Qiaonv Foundation for environmental causes. She was the first female philanthropist to donate more than Rmb1bn.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">DIVERSE PHILANTHROPIC CHANNELS </strong></div>
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The channels these women billionaires are choosing for their philanthropy are diverse. Worth more than US$1bn, Ms You has tried several approaches to giving her money away, including via foundations, one-off gifts, impact investments and supporting social enterprises. While many give to charitable causes, a small percentage have established foundations for their philanthropic pursuits, such as Ms Shinohara and India’s Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the founder of Biocon Limited. Just under 30% of Asian women billionaires on the Forbes list have a foundation, compared with more than 80% of American women on the list. “I am inclined to pursue a philanthropic foundation approach in the future,” Ms You adds.</div>
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The sector’s underdevelopment means there is significant scope to shape future giving. “These are mostly successful business people, so when they think about philanthropy, they’re also more strategic,” says Yinuo Li, China office director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “[They] want to get one-on-one in terms of how to give, how to establish foundations and how to set a strategy for the foundation.”</div>
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Mistrust of non-governmental organisations (NGOs)—and too few NGOs to give to—means that many donors are left adopting a do-it-yourself approach. “Lots of foundations end up becoming implementing foundations,” says Ms Li. “They pick an area and hire people to [execute projects], rather than give grants.”</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">PAVING THE WAY FORWARD</strong></div>
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Despite their limited number, these women are making an outsized difference by focusing on changing the nature of philanthropic giving itself. In China, in particular, they are focusing their attention on funding worthy projects in support of government initiatives and nudging policy reforms, thereby facilitating philanthropic activities.</div>
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Women “helped change policy and push government reform, by donating in co-operation with the government,” claims Mr Wang of the CGPI. As an example he cites Whitney Duan, founder of the Great Ocean Group, whose Kaifeng Foundation is one of the backers of the East-West Philanthropy Forum designed to convene US and Chinese donors and government representatives to discuss social issues such as climate change, for example.</div>
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Moreover, says Mr Wang, female philanthropists are bringing a more constructive tone to funding projects in co-operation with government. “[Women] don’t just criticise,” he says.</div>
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Still, more needs to be done to raise awareness of philanthropy, including organising events among female entrepreneurs that promote giving and encouraging more links between women in Asia and other parts of the world to share information and provide mentoring, according to Ms You.</div>
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Broader development of the philanthropic industry would help billionaires of both sexes, too, says Ms Li. “Most people are good at doing business, but professionals with experience running foundations are in short supply.”</div>
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It is clear that Asia’s self-made billionaires have the development of the industry in their sights, and women will also be at the wheel. For her part, Ms You hopes her advocacy will aid both specific causes and philanthropy in general. “My happiness derives from this personal mission,” she says.</div>
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http://sustainablegiving.economist.com/asias-women-billionaires-philanthropy-working-within/?utm_source=Paid+Social&utm_medium=Twitter</div>
NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-40047699480398841392017-10-17T11:20:00.000+08:002017-10-17T11:20:13.215+08:00An Uncaring Heartless MBPJ<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
By Nuraina Samad</div>
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(The Mole - October 9, 2017)</div>
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<a href="http://mole.my/an-uncaring-heartless-mbpj/">NO mincing of words here — the Petaling Jaya City Council’s directive to the Jalan 16/7 Residents Association to remove their security posts is unjustified and shows the council (MBPJ) to be uncaring and heartless.</a></div>
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Here’s why. The security post was installed at the top end of Jalan 16/7 four years ago to protect the safety and security of residents living along Jalan 16/7, lorong 16/7A, 7B and 7C. There had been a spate of violent snatch thefts and armed burglaries in the neighbourhood during a stretch prior to that.</div>
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There are 39 houses in the neighbourhood which is one of the oldest in Petaling Jaya. Jalan 16/7 is part of Section 16 that stretches from the area bordering Universiti Malaya (the other side of Jalan Dato Abu Bakar or Jalan 16/1) to Jalan 16/7 and including the hilly area behind Phileo Damansara. The roads are named old-school style – numerical with an alphabet to denote lanes or cul-de-sacs – from Jalan 16/1 to 16/20.</div>
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Most of the houses in Section16 are double-storey detached. Section 16 opened in the early 60s with the first few detached houses built in the area across from SMK Sultan Abdul Samad and behind Masjid Kolej Islam, both located along Jalan University.</div>
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Like most other parts of Section 16, the neighbourhood of 16/7 comprise senior citizens most of whom are retirees and former senior civil servants. They are long-time residents, some having lived in the area since the late 60s.</div>
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So, imagine when some of them became victims of armed burglaries and robberies. They understood that there was just so much the police could do. So, they decided to meet to discuss a course of action to protect their safety and security.</div>
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A committee was formed and a decision to install a small gate at one end of Jalan 16/7 and a security post at the other that would be in operation from midnight to 6am.</div>
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The process took about a year with residents meeting representatives of the local police and MBPJ for approval and the district land office to obtain a TOL for the area on which the security post would be installed.</div>
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More than 80 per cent of residents consented to the security installation.</div>
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So, for four years, there was peace. No sleepless nights. Residents felt reassured of their safety.</div>
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And then one day on Oct 3, the residents committee received that contentious directive from MBPJ. No prior notice. No decency at all.</div>
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It seems a set of new guidelines on security for residential areas has been enforced and Jalan 16/7 security installation is in violation of these guidelines. The council’s letter to the committee stated that the security post at Jalan 16/7 is on reserved drainage site and that the security installed is for a “micro guarded community”.</div>
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Shouldn’t the MBPJ have engaged the committee to discuss an alternative plan whatever it may be? None whatsoever. It’s just wham bam and take it down.</div>
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Should the the guidelines not have a retrospective effect on Jalan 16/7 security installation? Besides, these are guidelines. They are not the law.</div>
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And then the residents committee was reminded of a complaint a newbie neighbour had made a few months ago against the security post that he described to be an “eyesore” that was built too close to the gate of his house.</div>
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It is understood that in response, the committee pointed out to this newbie that the original location of the gate of his home is on Jalan 16/6. The original homeowner had relocated the gate to face Jalan 16/7.</div>
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It is not certain whether or not that complaint had anything to do with council’s decision.</div>
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The residents had gone through a tedious process of making sure everything was done lawfully. They hold a Temporary Occupation Licence (TOL) for the itsy bitsy site on which the security post stands. The MBPJ, of course, can legally take down the post. But what does it say of a council that would do that without engaging the residents. And on an issue of security and safety to boot?</div>
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As for the MBPJ’s contention of a “micro guarded community” — this is where the council officers should “turun padang” and inspect the area. A macro security to serve the larger community of Section16 is simply impractical and in fact, impossibles because of the location of Jalan 16/7. Because of the physical lay-out of Section 16 itself. It is an old area not meant to be a massive guarded community. The roads and lanes are narrow except for the main road that is Jalan 16/6 that connects Jalan Dato Abu Bakar to Jalan 17/1.</div>
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Logically and this is no rocket science – why would residents in, say Jalan 16/20 that is on the hilly side of section 16 way the other side, need to give their consent to a security installation for residents in Jalan 16/7?</div>
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You see, much can be achieved in an engagement, in discussions between MBPJ and the residents. Surely.</div>
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Clearly, MBPJ’s decision was rash, unjustified and smacked of arrogance and a show of might and bully.</div>
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On Friday, the residents held a meeting in the presence of Bukit Gasing assemblyman Rajiv Rishyakaran who told them that the security post will remain where it is pending a decision by the MBPJ.</div>
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The Jalan 16/7 residents are retired senior citizens who, it should be mentioned, decided to not take up the government allocation of RM10,00 for RAs to set up security features because they figured – “just a post and a gate and a monthly fee for our safety, for us all to have restful sleep and let that allocation be for another RA that may really need it.”</div>
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They had asked for very little from MBPJ – just a consideration for their safety and security.</div>
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The MBPJ saw it fit to take away that sense of safety that they had enjoyed the past four years. The MBPJ had clearly shown that they care not for the safety nor the welfare of these residents.</div>
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Or had the MBPJ been negligent in issuing their directive. Or did they bungle?</div>
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So, straight to the point. A heartless bullying council that has no interest of this community at heart.</div>
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NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-68856181562263738792017-06-20T10:33:00.001+08:002017-06-20T10:33:59.558+08:00PM Lee Hsien Loong Explains the Siblng "feud"<br />
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All eyes on the island republic,<br />
Maju lah Singapura.<br />
Undoubtedly, well-handled by PM Lee under such circumstances.<br />
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<br />NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-54389450326339141852017-06-20T10:27:00.003+08:002017-06-20T10:27:42.691+08:00The Victorian Muslims of Britain<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; max-width: 100%; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Here's an interesting article with names that I've come across in my readings. An eye-opener for some people, I am sure.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I've posted the full article minus the pictures. Click <i><a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/05/victorian-muslims-britain-160514100711278.html">here </a>t</i>o go there.</span></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i>By Josef O'Shea</i></strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">London, UK -</strong> When Londoners elected Sadiq Khan as mayor of their city, it sparked fresh debate about the place of Islam and Muslims in Britain.</div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Khan became</span> one of <a class="InternalLink" href="http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2016/05/sadiq-khan-face-multicultural-britain-160507170903348.html" style="color: rgb(0, 80, 121) !important; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" target="_self">the most popular Muslim politicians</a> <span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">in Europe when he won 57 percent of the votes in London's mayoral election as his Conservative opponent, Zac Goldsmith, faced accusations of running a divisive campaign.<br style="outline: none !important;" /></span><span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Today, Britain has a large and diverse Muslim population with just </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_the_United_Kingdom#cite_note-EW_Census_2011-2" style="color: rgb(0, 80, 121) !important; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" target="_blank">over 2.7 million Muslims</a> <span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">living in England and Wales. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In the late Victorian era, Britain presided over a vast empire in the East, which included millions of Muslims. When some of the most privileged sons and daughters of that empire embraced Islam, it was met less with hostility than mild curiosity and slight bemusement. </span></div>
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In 1913, the Daily Mirror newspaper responded to Lord Headley's conversion in a story headlined "Irish peer turns to Islam".<br style="outline: none !important;" /><br style="outline: none !important;" />"That the lure of Eastern religions is affecting an increasing number of Europeans, is again shown by the announcement that Lord Headley, an Irish peer, who spent many years in India, has become a convert to Islam," the article stated.</div>
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Like Headley, many of the early British converts to the religion were young aristocrats or the children of the mercantile elite. Some were explorers, intellectuals and high-ranking officials of empire who had worked and lived in Muslim lands under British colonial rule.</div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The stories of these converts, says Professor Humayun Ansari of Royal Holloway, University of London, reflect the turbulent times in which they lived, as well as the profound questions that were being raised about religion and the nature and origins of humanity. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"There was the carnage and chaos of the First World War, the suffragette movement, the questioning of imperialism and the right of the British and other Western empires to rule over vast numbers of people," says Ansari. </span>"In many ways, [those who converted] were living in a very troubled world. In Britain's wars in Sudan and Afghanistan, and later Europe, they saw terrible slaughter, with armies and governments on all sides claiming God was with them.</div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"They had experienced what they saw as the peace, the spirituality and simplicity of Islamic societies, and it appealed greatly to them," Ansari adds.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">These stories </span>point to an era when Islam could be seen in a far different light in the West than it often is today. These scholars, travellers and spiritual explorers could, in what were times of great upheaval and conflict, look to the East and see in the Islamic faith a religion which one convert, Lord Headley, characterised as being of "peace, brotherhood and universal values".</div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">They may be figures of a now distant era. But their personal journeys and their quests to understand Islam and the East reveal how questions and conflicts we may see as unique to our times were, in fact, being raised over a century ago. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Here are the stories of some of Britain's Victorian Muslims: </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; color: black; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">William Quilliam</span> <span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; color: black; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(1856-1932)</span></h2>
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One of the first high-profile converts was William (later Abdullah) Quilliam, the son of a prominent Methodist preacher and watch-making magnate in Liverpool. Born a Methodist in 1856, Quilliam converted to Islam in the early 1880s. He had travelled from his native England to Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria when he was 17, seeking a warmer climate to aid his recovery from an illness.</div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Quilliam became fascinated with the Islamic faith and immersed himself in studying it. He converted in Morocco, returned to Liverpool and began promoting the faith under his adopted name, Abdullah Quilliam. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Still in his 20s and a qualified solicitor, Quilliam founded the first mosque in Britain, which opened on Christmas Day 1889 in Liverpool and, in 1894, he was named leader of Britain's Muslims by the last Ottoman caliph, Sultan Abdul Hamid II. Quilliam wrote books aimed at introducing the Islamic faith to British people, even sending a copy to Queen Victoria,</span> <span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">who is reported to have enjoyed it and asked for several copies for her children.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Quilliam died in London in 1932 and was buried in Brookwood Cemetery, near Woking, which has a large Muslim burial ground and is also the final resting place of other prominent Anglo-Muslims.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; color: black; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lady Evelyn Cobbold (1867-1963) </span></h2>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It was </span><span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lady Evelyn, later Zainab, Cobbold who was one of the last of the aristocratic Victorians to convert. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1867, the daughter of the 7th Earl of Dunmore, Lady Evelyn seemed equally at home in the fashionable salons of Mayfair and Paris as in remote camps in the Libyan Desert. She was a noted sportswoman, a deerstalker and a crack shot.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In 1933, at the age of 65,</span><span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> she announced her conversion and became the first Western woman to </span><a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/themes/hajj/narratives/pilgrims_from_europe.aspx" style="color: rgb(0, 80, 121) !important; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" target="_blank">make the Hajj pilgrimage. </a><span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">She penned a bestselling book, </span><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pilgrimage-Mecca-Lady-Evelyn-Cobbold/dp/095588943X" style="color: rgb(0, 80, 121) !important; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" target="_blank">Pilgrimage to Mecca,</a><span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> detailing her experience. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When she died in 1963 at the age of 96, she left instructions that her gravestone, on a hill in remote Inverness in Scotland, bear the words: "Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth." </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">She spent much of her childhood in Algiers and Cairo, where she was raised with Muslim nannies, and later wrote about how she felt to be Muslim from as early as she could remember, but only decided to profess her faith during a personal audience with the Pope. She recounted the meeting in Pilgrimage To Mecca: </span><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></em></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Some years went by, and I happened to be in Rome staying with some Italian friends when my host asked if I would like to visit the Pope. Of course, I was thrilled. When His Holiness suddenly addressed me, asking if I was a Catholic, I was taken aback for a moment and then replied that I was a Muslim. What possessed me I don't pretend to know, as I had not given a thought to Islam for many years. A match was lit, and I then and there determined to read up and study the faith." </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; color: black; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rowland Allanson-Winn, 5th </span><span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; color: black; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Baron</span> <span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; color: black; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Headley (</span><span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; color: black; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1855-1935) </span></h2>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rowland Allanson-Winn, better known as Lord Headley, would have been the first Muslim to sit in the House of Lords had he taken the position due to him when he became the 5th Baron Headley in 1913. That same year, instead, he converted to Islam</span> and became Shaikh Rahmatullah al-Farooq. One year later, in 1914, Lord Headley headed the British Muslim Society.</div>
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Born in London in 1855 and educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, Lord Headley had been brought up as a Protestant before studying Roman Catholicism while living on the family's ancestral estate in Ireland. An accomplished engineer, early pioneer of martial arts, traveller and journalist, the Anglo-Irish aristocrat was considered a Victorian Renaissance man. He first encountered Islam in Kashmir in the mid-1890s while working for the British Raj in India.</div>
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He came to see Islam as a religion of tolerance and studied the faith in England with his mentor, the prominent Indian lawyer and Islamic scholar Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, before World War I.</div>
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Lord Headley was, by all accounts, an eccentric. One contemporary profile published in Time Magazine<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </em>described him as "a man of many parts, a champion middleweight boxer in his day at Cambridge, a distinguished globe-trotter, an editor and excellent raconteur".</div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He was also one of the earliest exponents of what we know today as martial arts. In 1890, Lord Headley co-wrote one of the earliest manuals on self-defence called Broad-sword and Singlestick, before going on to write one of the first modern guides to boxing.</span></div>
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He made the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in 1923.</div>
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As he lay dying in England in June 1935, he scribbled a note to his son, his final request being that he be buried in an Islamic cemetery.</div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; color: black; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Marmaduke Pickthall </span><span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; color: black; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(1875-1936)</span></h2>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Muhammed Marmaduke Pickthall was an English scholar, born to</span><span style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> an Anglican clergyman. Before converting, Pickthall travelled widely, studying and working across India and the Middle East.</span></div>
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He was also a successful novelist, counting D H Lawrence, H G Wells and E M Forster among his admirers. <span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He converted to Islam in 1917 and went on to publish </span><a href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/pick/" style="color: rgb(0, 80, 121) !important; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" target="_blank">a modern English translation of the Quran</a>, which was later authorised by the famous Azhar University in Cairo and which <span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">remains a standard work to this day. When he published his translation, the Times Literary Supplement praised the work as "a great literary achievement". </span></div>
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In the foreword to his translation, which he titled The Meanings of the Glorious Quran, Pickthall wrote: <span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">" </span><span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">... The Quran cannot be translated ....The book is here rendered almost literally and every effort has been made to choose befitting language. But the result is not the Glorious Quran, that inimitable symphony, the very sounds of which move men to tears and ecstasy. It is only an attempt to present the meaning of the Quran and peradventure something of the charm in English. It can never take the place of the Quran in Arabic, nor is it meant to do so ...."</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">As a schoolboy at Harrow Public School, Pickthall was a classmate and friend of Winston Churchill. A gifted linguist, he mastered several languages, including Arabic, and came to see himself as no longer an Englishman, but a Muslim "of the East". </span></div>
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He died in Cornwall in 1936 and was buried in the Muslim cemetery at Brookwood in Surrey, England. - Al Jazeera</div>
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NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-25862080936996786472017-06-14T14:04:00.001+08:002017-06-15T11:02:29.606+08:00Lee & Lee & LeeWell, well, well.<br />
What's been happening in our southern neighbour?<br />
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I really don't know what to make of this family feud in the Lee family. Lee being Lee Kuan Yew - Singapore's ex PM & Senior Minister and father of sitting PM Hsien Loong.<br />
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Hate to get "involved" in other people's affairs. But hey, this is Singapore's PM & his siblings. The two siblings posted their 6-page statement on Facebook early this morning for all to see.<br />
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It is a public statement.<br />
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Washing dirty linen in public? Some people will say it's sibling rivalry. Some people will sum it up and say it's all about greed.<br />
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Whatever. But it sure got my attention.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "selaneten" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;">Titled "What has happened to Lee Kuan Yew's values?", their angst is actually a long-running dispute over the demolition of their father's house at 38 Oxley Road.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmukrd_rpbMv5mHi2Xa_a2EDREsh7GTmhePe2s3y2YnCQ0Tl1UphSoPrBySZzRzaiUmJ_QjzZdAs36kkwwoOcyXujE7aXrt7XvPYaZbeMH-Iskw-4zo_JZ4urnnTkN1enW2U9cqQ/s1600/ahsienyang.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="780" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmukrd_rpbMv5mHi2Xa_a2EDREsh7GTmhePe2s3y2YnCQ0Tl1UphSoPrBySZzRzaiUmJ_QjzZdAs36kkwwoOcyXujE7aXrt7XvPYaZbeMH-Iskw-4zo_JZ4urnnTkN1enW2U9cqQ/s320/ahsienyang.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Dr Lee Wei Ling & Lee Hsien Yang<br />
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It seems, Hsien Loong's younger brother, Lee Hsien Yang and sister, Dr Lee Wei Ling want it to be demolished as requested by their late father.<br />
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They've also accused their brother of of having a personal agenda that is driving his political ambitions and have drawn in Ho Ching, Hsien Loong's wife.<br />
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This morning Hsien Loong responded, expressing his disappointment and sadness over the statement that is "publicising private family matters".</div>
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"I am deeply saddened by the unfortunate allegations that they have made. Ho Ching and I deny these allegations, especially the absurd claim that I have political ambitions for my son.," said Mr Lee, in response to a six-page public statement issued by his siblings on Wednesday (June 14).</div>
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Dr Lee Wei Ling and Mr Lee Hsien Yang had said in their statement that they had lost confidence in their brother, PM Lee.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Titled "What has happened to Lee Kuan Yew's values?", their statement centres around the long-running dispute over the demolition of their father's house at 38 Oxley Road.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ5FR1wykAFsAbU54hVGMCpHAgxPy3javFFN_cgtBI4RkvxrZ-GDQsTE0Y7GR03-Ua0uqv65bWjtJOPYQA-RYC8VMAOgUrmcd-oPWK2gjIPHiTYOQXW8F77sQshAN2zvcdX7G90Q/s1600/ahsienloong.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="417" data-original-width="283" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ5FR1wykAFsAbU54hVGMCpHAgxPy3javFFN_cgtBI4RkvxrZ-GDQsTE0Y7GR03-Ua0uqv65bWjtJOPYQA-RYC8VMAOgUrmcd-oPWK2gjIPHiTYOQXW8F77sQshAN2zvcdX7G90Q/s320/ahsienloong.jpg" width="217" /></a></div>
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PM Lee Hsien Loong</div>
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In response, PM Lee said: "While siblings may have differences, I believe that any such differences should stay in the family. Since my father's passing in March 2015, as the eldest son I have tried my best to resolve the issues among us within the family, out of respect for our parents."</div>
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He said his siblings' statement "has hurt our father's legacy".</div>
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In their statement, Hsien Yang and Wei Ling said they felt closely monitored and fear the use of organs of state against them and Hsien Yang's wife, Suet Fern.</div>
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The situation is such that Hsien Yang felt compelled to leave Singapore "for the foreseeable future".</div>
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The two siblings allege, among others, that since their father's death on March 23, 2015, there have been changes in Singapore that do not reflect what the late Mr Lee stood for.</div>
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The two siblings are joint executors and trustees of the estate of the late Mr Lee.</div>
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In their statement, they reiterated their father's wish that the house be demolished upon his passing, and said Hsien Loong and his wife had opposed this wish as "the preservation of the house would enhance his political capital".</div>
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The two siblings alleged that preserving the house would allow their brother "and his family to inherit a tangible monument to Lee Kuan Yew's authority".</div>
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The two siblings also alleged that "based on our interactions", PM Lee and his wife harbour political ambitions for their son, Hongyi.</div>
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Hsien Loong called this an "absurd claim" and denied that he had any such ambitions for his son.</div>
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"I will do my utmost to continue to do right by my parents. At the same time, I will continue serving Singaporeans honestly and to the best of my ability. In particular that means upholding meritocracy, which is a fundamental value of our society."</div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">The statement from the siblings came 1½ years after Dr Lee, Hsien Yang, and PM Lee issued a joint statement in December 2015 saying the brothers had each agreed to donate half the value of 38 Oxley Road to charities named in their father's obituary notice.</span></div>
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Dr Lee and Hsien Yang had said they would like to honour their father's wish for the house to be demolished after Dr Lee ceases to live in it.</div>
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Hsien Loong had said he had recused himself from all government decisions involving the house and, in his personal capacity, would also like to see this wish honoured.</div>
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He ended his response: "As my siblings know, I am presently overseas on leave with my family. I will consider this matter further after I return this weekend."</div>
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This is it so far. But, you and I know that's not the end.</div>
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It's just the beginning.<br />
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Maju lah Singapura!</div>
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NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-89705277563170242082017-06-14T13:28:00.000+08:002017-06-14T13:28:05.113+08:00You Go, MACC!You'd know by now that the Malaysian <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has been pretty busy these past few months.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The latest is the </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV)</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> case. Not an easy one this case. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">The alleged improprieties that warranted MACC investigations aside, the damn case is all about boardroom tussle. That seems to be something everyone recognises.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">What a shame </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;">that it has got to that.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Meanwhile, MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Azam Baki was quoted to have said that FGV"s two key figures may be called up to assist in investigations. They are </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">FGV chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad and chief executive officer Datuk Zakaria Arshad .</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">He also said another 50 people would also be asked to assist.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razk has appointed Pemandu Associates CEO</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> Datuk Seri Idris Jala as an independent party to establish the facts of the case behind the FGV controversy.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Last Saturday, Najib said in appointing Idris said it was important for all parties to establish the facts of the case in the FGV boardroom tussle as that was the best way for them to seek a solution that would bring the company forward.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Felda chairman </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> will be briefing Najib today on the issue.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Shahrir has expressed confidence that the issue could be resolved before Raya.</span><br />
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A real shame that this is happening to Felda - a rural resettlement agency that has grown into an economic powerhouse.</div>
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Back to MACC -- I say, you're doing a good job!</div>
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NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-29134249041670266502017-06-14T12:47:00.001+08:002017-06-14T12:47:31.617+08:00You Didn't Know About Volvo's Long History in Malaysia? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkxvS02sHez07URXDvGJvF49e9YMncTumdoGb5vY5LNDB9LhdLhan3svQrfdYTcJdC16Gaodf5U9_IER1b7EQ2e765ycwvUHuT2TFXWVKwXnMLOfCar7He4FIeMJXtZV-w0F73DQ/s1600/avolvo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkxvS02sHez07URXDvGJvF49e9YMncTumdoGb5vY5LNDB9LhdLhan3svQrfdYTcJdC16Gaodf5U9_IER1b7EQ2e765ycwvUHuT2TFXWVKwXnMLOfCar7He4FIeMJXtZV-w0F73DQ/s320/avolvo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Hans, a writer of <a href="https://www.carlist.my/">Carlist.my</a> saw it fit to tell the Volvo Malaysian story in response to a </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">a report by The Star on June 12, 2017 quoting</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan, Second Minister of International Trade and Industry as saying that locally-assembled Volvo cars will arrive in Malaysia by 2022, to be produced at Proton’s Tanjung Malim plant.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Ong also said that Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co (which owns Volvo Car as well as half of Proton Holdings) plans to make Malaysia as the Swedish car maker’s export hub for the ASEAN region.</span><br />
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Hans also mentioned another report by The Star that Volvo plans to use Malaysia as its base to penetrate the 620 million population ASEAN region in a big way.</div>
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The fact is, Hans, Volvo already has a sophisticated, export-capable plant in Malaysia, and Malaysia-assembled Volvos have been here since 1968. </div>
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Buyaah! </div>
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I am sure the younger generation of Malaysians are not aware of this. I'm surprised Ong doesn't know this.</div>
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<a href="http://Volvo does have a sophisticated, export-capable plant in Malaysia, and Malaysia-assembled Volvos have been here since 1968.">Read his article, titled "Mr Minister, Sorry But Your Are Greatly Misinformed About Volvo" , below. Click on it if you want to see some nice old photos and a couple of videos:</a></div>
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<i>Well here’s the problem: Volvo does have a sophisticated, export-capable plant in Malaysia, and Malaysia-assembled Volvos have been here since 1968. No need to wait until 2022 because Malaysia has been operating as Volvo’s regional hub for ASEAN since 2012.</i></div>
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<i>Earlier this year, prior to Geely’s deal with Proton, Volvo Car Malaysia had already announced that its <a href="https://www.carlist.my/news/volvo-further-grow-malaysia-ckd-operations-exports-five-new-markets-end-2017/44194/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #009cdb; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Malaysian plant will be expanding its export</a> destinations to include Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and even Taiwan. This is on top of the company’s existing export operations to Thailand.</i></div>
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<i>The oversight is quite embarrassing because the Swedes have long history of supporting Malaysia’s automotive industry.</i></div>
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<i>Volvo was the first car company to establish a vehicle assembly plant in Malaysia and is one of the few brands that export finished vehicles from Malaysia.</i></div>
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<i>Not only that, the plant in Malaysia was Volvo’s first outside of Sweden and until today, Malaysia is the only country outside of Sweden to assemble that XC90. Not just any XC90, but the most sophisticated plug-in hybrid variant that produces 407 PS of power - the Inscription trimmed XC90 T8 model! Not even Volvo plants in Belgium or China gets the honour!</i></div>
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<i>Here’s a brief overview of the relationship between Volvo and Malaysia.</i></div>
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<i>In the early ‘60s, Malaysia embarked on an ambitious plant to diversify its economic base to reduce the country’s reliance on agricultural produce, by establishing heavy industries. An important substitution policy was implemented and taxes were imposed on imported products.</i></div>
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<i>At that time, our little country in South East Asia was only known for rubber trees, tin mining and little else. When we announced to the world that we want to establish a car industry, not many took us seriously but the egalitarian Swedes at Volvo were the first to raise their hands, and said that they will help us and teach us.</i></div>
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<i><b>Volvo was the first car company to setup a vehicle assembly plant in Malaysia. Located in Shah Alam, the plant was then known as Swedish Motor Assemblies and the first Malaysia-assembled Volvo rolled off the plant in early 1968, a Volvo 144S sedan.</b></i></div>
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<i>The British, Germans and Japanese came slightly later – Inchcape Motor’s Assembly Services plant opposite Volvo’s facility was setup in 1968. It assembled for several European brands before switching to produce Toyota vehicles exclusively.</i></div>
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<i>The same year also saw Oriental Assemblers’ in Johor Bahru assembling Honda vehicles, before it was transferred to Honda Malaysia’s plant in Pegoh, Melaka in 2003.</i></div>
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<i>By 1976, Nissan vehicles were being put together at the Tan Chong Motor Assemblies plant in Segambut. For a short period of time before Segambut plant was ready, Nissan vehicles were actually assembled in Swedish Motor Assemblies alongside Volvos. </i></div>
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<i>Back in 2012, Volvo Car was not in the best of health. The new generation of SPA platform 90-series and 60-series cars developed with Geely's money have yet to reach the market. Volvo had a plant in both Thailand and Malaysia and as their sales volume were very low, they had to choose to keep only one plant. In a very surprising move, the Swedes chose Malaysia over Thailand.</i></div>
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<i>Today, the manufacturing facility is now known as Volvo Car Manufacturing (formerly known as Swedish Motor Assemblies). It’s a wholly owned subsidiary of the Sweden’s Volvo Car Group.</i></div>
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<i>The plant might be very old but Volvo has invested RM20 million to upgrade the plant to accommodate Volvo’s latest SPA platform and plug-in hybrid technology. This does not include the investments made earlier. In 2013, it became the first car plant in Malaysia to introduce laser welding, for the V40. </i></div>
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<i>Currently, the plant produces the V40, S60, XC60 (outgoing generation), XC90. The S90 and V90 are currently imported but plans are underway to locally-assemble them later.</i></div>
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<i>We hope the oversight, by a MITI minister nonetheless, will be overlooked by Volvo’s decision makers at Gothenburg and Hangzhou, because the rest of us Malaysians are truly grateful for Volvo’s contribution to Malaysia.</i></div>
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<i>We should also point out that neither the Volvo Car Group nor its owner Zhejiang Geely has said anything about assembling Volvo vehicles at Proton's Tanjung Malim plant. These comments came only from the Malaysian government. </i></div>
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NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-91794385785716347272017-05-16T14:25:00.002+08:002017-06-19T16:41:05.063+08:00Celebrating Teachers of Today & YesterdayMy children love listening to yarns about my school days. They always listen in rapt attention when the topic of my school days crop up.<br />
<br />
Sometimes I get the sense that they envy me. They tell me that it must have been such an exciting and stimulating and mostly fun time at school for me back then. It sure was. But I tell them that there was a lot of learning in case they think it's all a picnic.<br />
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For one thing -- the friends that I made back then are still in touch with me and we get to meet in our reunions..<br />
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My intimate knowledge of school in the 90s came about when my own kids started primary school.<br />
<br />
I think it was a shock for me to see a different school environment, life as well as the syllabi of the subjects offered.<br />
Have times changed, I thought.<br />
Of course, everything was in Malay.<br />
It meant that I wasn't able to help them with maths & science. And even the Bahasa Malaysia at standard 5 was incredibly complicated to me. I realised it was not about the proficiency of your BM but how you answered the questions. There seemed to be a format of some sort.<br />
And then, Sports Day was so downplayed that it did not matter whether or not you participated in it. In fact, sports day was an internal affair. There were several years that I didn't know the school was having a sports day because parents were not invited.<br />
The annual school concerts too. Tame & generally lame. I know that in secondary school, the main item was the school choir performance.<br />
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How different it was in my time. But that is just my children's school. Other schools might have had less conservative principals ... <br />
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In secondary school (at least in my children's), English Literature was not offered because there was no teacher for that subject. So my children had to take external classes for it.<br />
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But, well, that is a story for another day.<br />
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For now, I shall rattle some names - Mrs Wong, Mrs Podesta, Mrs Rahim, Mrs SH Tan and Mrs OK Chan.. These are my primary school class teachers. I know there's one whose name I cannot remember. And in this list, only one teacher I despised. And we shall leave it at that.<br />
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Our school principals (Assunta Primary had 2 sessions) were Miss Chow and Sister Ellyn. I remember Miss Chow as a dignified and an elegant person and was so in awe of her. She never taught me, though.<br />
Sister Ellyn taught us music, I think.<br />
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In secondary school, there were Mrs Chng, Mrs Lau, Mrs Siva, Mrs Raj, Miss Thomas, Mrs Simmons, Cik Tek, Puan Siti Hawa, Mrs Thambyrajah, Mrs Wong & the ever fit PE (physical education) teacher Miss Sze Tho.<br />
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And of course, the larger than life -- Sister Enda Ryan, our secondary school principal.<br />
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In case you think they spoilt us silly -- no... they did not. They were firm as you can imagine a teacher should be. They were strict when they needed to be which was most times but I never remembered them as cruel or brutal or whatever.<br />
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So, here's a BIG THANK YOU to them all...<br />
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I can't begin to tell you how fun school was those days. A lot of learning, a lot of playing, a lot of activities for our concert & sports as well extra-curricular.<br />
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I was active in sports and dance. Because it was "public knowledge" in school that I was a ballet student, I was always picked for dance performances for our sports day and annual concerts.<br />
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It shaped me monumentally.<br />
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Although I don't play any sports now, I am passionate about fitness. And of course, no one can keep me away from dance & dancing.<br />
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I can talk endlessly about teachers of my time, in my school. I'm sure there were horror stories that I never knew about. Today, you know of horror stories about school and teachers because there is the internet and social media.<br />
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But let me tell you there many more good and dedicated teachers.<br />
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I can go on and on ... so I'll stop here.<br />
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Let me just say - HAPPY TEACHERS' DAY.<br />
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<br />NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-30674873737316874902017-05-14T13:01:00.002+08:002020-02-27T16:12:16.003+08:00When Will This Sinister & Evil Exploitation of Children Stop?Harian Metro has the story of two senior citizens - a husband and wife - arrested for suspected human trafficking - of children.<br />
They allegedly used minors to sell stuff and collect money.<br />
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Here's the link -<br />
<a href="http://www.hmetro.com.my/mutakhir/2017/05/227716/warga-emas-isteri-didakwa-eksploitasi-kanak-kanak">http://www.hmetro.com.my/mutakhir/2017/05/227716/warga-emas-isteri-didakwa-eksploitasi-kanak-kanak</a><br />
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This is not something new. We all know and many of us have witnessed children going around commercial areas in residential estates selling calendars, religious books, ointments and the lot.<br />
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They all look like students wearing songkok and they will either tell you where they're from or show you proof of identity.<br />
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They go to restaurants that allow them in and go from table to table -- much like how the blind of "visually-challenged" men who are aided by healthy ladies in tudung do so selling packets of tissue paper.<br />
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There are also boys in baju Melayu who have set up permanent operating sites - a table with a a donation box for orphanages, religious schools et al - outside banks .<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;">T</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;">hese 2 senior citizens are not alone in their (alleged) crime. If it's true they're exploiting children, they're likely the less evil in this nefarious and sinister industry.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="color: #1d2129;" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;">There are bigger crooks who have amassed wealth from their despicable exploitation of children. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="color: #1d2129;" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;">What do we do as a community?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="color: #1d2129;" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;">Many Muslims are aware of this exploitation. Yet, they buy the items from </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #1d2129; display: inline;">these kids or make donations.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><br />If this is all a scam, then this scam will continue and made to perpetuate because there's a market of "customers". </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><br />This has been going on for more than 20 years. At least in Taman Tun Dr Ismail.<br />Most of the boys say they are from Kedah.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><br />Why has it been allowed to go on for this long?<br />Your guess is as good as mine. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><br />And why do people keep on buying items from these boys or make donations to their tabung?<br />Simple: Pity, compassion and a sense of humanity.<br />What if these boys are legit, they ask themselves.<br />And if they're not, punishment will come from Him.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #1d2129; display: inline;">For what they see before them, they give.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><br />And this humanity is what is being exploited by the evil syndicate masters.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #1d2129; display: inline;">This has been allowed to go on for far to long. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #1d2129; display: inline;">The longer this goes on, the more difficult it is to tackle.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #1d2129; display: inline;">It is whether you want to, or not.</span></span><br />
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NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-45406019456534983862017-02-20T12:45:00.001+08:002017-02-20T12:45:30.176+08:00A Malaysian in Trump's America<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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HERE I am in Trump country. That of President-elect Donald J Trump.</div>
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After today, he will be known as President Trump — rivaled by none of his predecessors in the way he had run his campaign.</div>
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But wait a minute. This is California. Southern California, to be exact, where a lot of people look like me.</div>
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e is “kinda rejected here”, said a tanned Californian in t-shirt and bermudas. Only in these parts do folks wear summer clothes in winter.</div>
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Winter is warm by temperate standards in this state.</div>
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This is my fifth visit here in the last two years since my daughter, Shaira Nur, enrolled at a university to continue her American Degree program.</div>
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When we first arrived here in January 2015, there was very little going on in the run-up to to the US presidential election campaign. There was, of course, the usual buzz, the nascent excitement. There was also not more than the regular hype when I returned in the summer of that year.</div>
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By winter last year, the gubernatorial and state legislative elections were going on. There was no spectre of Trump descending on American federal politics at that point.</div>
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Things were picking up when I was back home in Malaysia and by the time I was back in the summer, Trump had won the GOP presidency nomination in an election that was just so incredibly bruising to his fellow Republican candidates and Americans at large.</div>
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I was back home when he won the US presidency.</div>
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I had no interest in the man until his Republican presidential candidacy. I had watched how awful a person he was in the face-off with the other candidates. And his vilification of minority groups and immigrants. Man, was he a mean SOB.</div>
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It worsened during his “Make America Great Again” election campaign which was decidedly hateful, racially inflammatory and divisive. By this time, I despaired. How did this maniacal, out-of-control and horrid guy make it this far? It didn’t help that the majority of his supporters seemed to be white Americans – disenfranchised, angry, bitter, racist, bigoted and all that is ugly.</div>
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Worse when Muslims, immigrants, people of colour and other minority groups were targets of violent acts by right-wing Americans claiming to be his supporters.</div>
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I despaired because I saw America going back to those dark times of racism and bigotry. Regressing and retrogressing big time. I wondered what was wrong with America? Hasn’t history taught them anything? Weren’t they supposed to have come a long way?</div>
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Of course, it should not matter as, hey, it’s America’s problem. But I have a daughter studying here. She is Muslim and a foreigner – two things Trump had inspired Americans to hate in his campaign. And I am a regular visitor by now. Will I be stopped at Immigration the next time?</div>
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However, as it turned out, not everything was despairing because not everyone was happy with the outcome. America was in shock as many were in disbelief. His victory had sparked protests across the nation. Among them were by students of California State University Fullerton (CSUF) where my daughter is enrolled.</div>
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Also, California is a blue state and happily Democrat.</div>
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You don’t have to be an American to know that there had never been an election quite like the 2016 presidential election. I have good memories of President Barack Obama’s unprecedented, ground-breaking and historic election into office. It was to be celebrated. The euphoria was contagious.</div>
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So today will be the 58th inauguration of Trump and Michael R Pence as president and vice president respectively. On record as the most controversial inauguration in American history</div>
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The President-elect and Flotus-to-be, Melania are already in Washington DC. Celebration has started.</div>
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These last few weeks, the buzz has been about the inauguration or rather, the planned mammoth protests against the inauguration and, more significantly the boycott by nearly 60 House Democrats.</div>
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Some of the Democrat lawmakers had decided much earlier to not attend the inauguration as a message of protest against Trump’s politics of hate and divisiveness.</div>
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But what got the number ballooning was Trump’s insulting and what was deemed as an utterly disrespectful response on Twitter to a statement by America’s deeply respected civil rights icon, Atlanta congressman John Lewis.</div>
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Lewis, had told NBC in an interview that he was not attending the inauguration as he saw Trump’s presidency to be illegitimate.</div>
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The Democrat from Georgia reasoned that Russian interference helped get Trump elected and destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton.</div>
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In his typical style, the President-elect responded: “Congressman Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results.”</div>
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“All talk, talk talk – no action, no results. Sad” he tweeted.</div>
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John Lewis, one of the original Freedom Riders, is famously known for his participation in the 1965 march in Selma, Alabama where he was beaten by police. That day is remembered as “Bloody Sunday”.</div>
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Trump’s response riled up so many House Democrats who decided to join the boycott of the inauguration ceremony. Many expressed their disgust and dismay on Twitter.</div>
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Many felt it was so wrong particularly as his attacks were on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr Day.</div>
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Judy Chu, Representative of Pasadena, California’s 27th District in the US, made this point clear when she was interviewed on ABC about her decision.</div>
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In her statement that she issued on Twitter earlier, she said her decision to not attend was not made lightly. It was taken after much thought.</div>
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“While I do not question the legitimacy of Mr Trump’s election, I do object to his treatment of other Americans, particularly those who disagree with him. In a diverse democracy like ours, patriotic dissent is vital. That is why the values of pluralism, grievance, and criticism are enshrined in the 1st Amendment’s protections of religion, speech and press – all three of which have been targets of the President-elect.”</div>
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Chu said Trump’s personal attacks on Lewis were “just the latest example of behaviour unbefitting a president”.</div>
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“I, like millions of other Americans , will choose not to attend the inauguration of President Trump. Instead, I will continue to focus on my efforts to ensure a more just and equal country for ourselves and future generations of all Americans – regardless of race, religion. ethnicity or orientation”.</div>
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Many of the House Democrats boycotting the inauguration said that they accept Trump’s election and his presidency.</div>
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But, they are not celebrating it.</div>
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And that, to me, is a decent explanation.</div>
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Today President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will witness his successor sworn into office on the West Front of the State Capitol.</div>
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The new 45th Potus has promised everyone there a fantastic time.</div>
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So. here I am back in Trump country.</div>
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But thankfully in an overwhelmingly blue State where a lot of people look like me and where many do not accept Trump’s presidency. And where the winter is warm like a cool summer.</div>
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(For The Mole - Friday Jan 20 2017)</div>
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NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-87876662556619382952016-11-16T11:48:00.003+08:002016-11-16T11:48:35.705+08:00Australian tax authorities bully Malaysian Timber Tycoon. He Sues Aussie Government <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Well, I'll be, mate!</strong></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Here's an interesting story. Scary too.</span><br />
<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Thick twice, nay, many times, before buying property in Australia. There are some nasty Aussies there.</span><br />
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A Sarawakian timber tycoon is suing the Australian government over their decision to force him to pay taxes amounting to AUD50m.<br />
Daylight robbery and bullying a Malaysian, I say.</div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Read Rocky's Bru take:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Seeking justice in Malaysia.</i></span> Wikipedia insists that kangaroo courts did not have its origins in Australia, where kangaroos come from. If that's baffling to me I can't imagine what Sarawak-born Malaysian businessman Hii Yii Ann might be thinking. Hii, 56, is fighting a decision by the Australian courts about his tax residency status that could rob him of AUD50 million!</div>
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Hii, a Malaysian passport holder who has never applied to be an Australian resident, says he's submitted to the Australian authorities documented proof that he is a Malaysian taxpayer and has never lived anywhere near long enough in Australia to be deemed the country's "tax resident". Yet, the Australian court deemed that he had denounced his Malaysian tax residency status and, therefore, owed whatever he had earned to the Australian Tax Office.</div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The rest of the posting <a href="http://www.rockybru.com.my/2016/11/when-down-under-beware-some-kangaroos.html">HERE</a></span><br />
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Here's is <a href="http://mole.my/">The Mole </a>report by Zaidi Azmi</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">KUALA LUMPUR – November 15, 2016</strong>: A Malaysian timber tycoon is suing the Australian government for tax assessment amounting to millions of dollars in relation to income earned outside of the country.</div>
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Sarawak-born businessman Hii Yii An got into a tangle with the Australian Tax Office (ATO) after the latter changed his tax residency status to that of the country in December 2013.</div>
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This consequently led to Hii being accused of tax evasion totalling AUD$49, 774, 128.20 for the assessment years of 2001 to 2009.</div>
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Hii’s lead counsel, Datuk Alvin John, maintained that his client had never abandoned his Malaysian domicile, adding that Hii had been declaring his tax deductions throughout the said years.</div>
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“The ATO should have contacted Malaysian authorities before imposing the decision on him,” said John.</div>
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He further argued that the ATO had imposed extra-territorial jurisdiction on his client and that Australian taxation laws thus cannot be applied to Hii.</div>
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Australian law says that any person who lives in Australia for over six months or has chosen the country as his home needs to pay world tax (based on earnings outside the country).</div>
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“But he has never continuously lived that long in Australia,” said John, adding that Hii only makes short visits to Australia to see his children and check on his investments.</div>
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On why Hii decided to bring the matter to a Malaysian court, John explained that matters concerning Hii’s domicile can only be determined by the Malaysian government.</div>
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“In its defence, the Australian government is invoking a sovereign state immunity but this immunity is not absolute.</div>
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“When you falsely claim revenue from a foreign citizen, that citizen has the right of recourse and can initiate legal action either at the international level or in his home country,” said John.</div>
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However, if the Australian government refuses to accept a ruling favourable to Hii, Alvin pledged to take the case to the International Court of Justice.</div>
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The other defendants are the commissioner and deputy commissioner of the ATO.</div>
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Today’s case management was before deputy registrar Noorasyikin Sahat. The next will be on December 6.<br />
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NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-65407626131672187772016-11-14T18:00:00.002+08:002016-11-15T13:35:59.003+08:00 "Farewell, America"<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #414141; font-family: georgia; font-size: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 80%; outline: 0px; position: relative;">
This is an article from <a href="http://billmoyers.com/">Moyers & Company</a></div>
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<a href="http://billmoyers.com/story/farewell-america/">Farewell, America</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">By Neal Gabler</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">America died on Nov. 8, 2016, not with a bang or a whimper, but at its own hand via electoral suicide. We the people chose a man who has shredded our values, our morals, our compassion, our tolerance, our decency, our sense of common purpose, our very identity — all the things that, however tenuously, made a nation out of a country.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Whatever place we now live in is not the same place it was on Nov. 7. No matter how the rest of the world looked at us on Nov. 7, they will now look at us differently. We are likely to be a pariah country. And we are lost for it. As I surveyed the ruin of that country this gray Wednesday morning, I found weary consolation in W.H. Auden’s poem, <em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: 0px;"><a href="http://www.poemdujour.com/Sept1.1939.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1982d1; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">September 1, 1939</a></em>, which concludes:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Defenseless under the night</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Our world in stupor lies;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Yet, dotted everywhere,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Ironic points of light</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Flash out wherever the Just</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Exchange their messages:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">May I, composed like them</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Of Eros and of dust,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Beleaguered by the same</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Negation and despair,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Show an affirming flame.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I hunt for that affirming flame.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This generally has been called the “hate election” because everyone professed to hate both candidates. It turned out to be the hate election because, and let’s not mince words, of the hatefulness of the electorate. In the years to come, we will brace for the violence, the anger, the racism, the misogyny, the xenophobia, the nativism, the white sense of grievance that will undoubtedly be unleashed now that we have destroyed the values that have bWe all knew these hatreds lurked under the thinnest veneer of civility. That civility finally is gone. In its absence, we may realize just how imperative that politesse was. It is the way we managed to coexist.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">If there is a single sentence that characterizes the election, it is this: “He says the things I’m thinking.” That may be what is so terrifying. Who knew that so many tens of millions of white Americans were thinking unconscionable things about their fellow Americans? Who knew that tens of millions of white men felt so emasculated by women and challenged by minorities? Who knew that after years of seeming progress on race and gender, tens of millions of white Americans lived in seething resentment, waiting for a demagogue to arrive who would legitimize their worst selves and channel them into political power? Perhaps we had been living in a fool’s paradise. Now we aren’t.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This country has survived a civil war, two world wars, and a great depression. There are many <span style="background-color: white;">who say we will survive this, too. Maybe we will, but we won’t survive unscathed. We know too much about each other to heal. No more can we pretend that we are exceptional or good or progressive or united. We are none of those things. Nor can we pretend that democracy works and that elections have more or less happy endings. Democracy only functions when its participants abide by certain conventions, certain codes of conduct and a respect for the process.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The virus that kills democracy is extremism because extremism disables those codes. Republicans have disrespected the process for decades. They have regarded any Democratic president as illegitimate. They have proudly boasted of preventing popularly elected Democrats from effecting policy and have asserted that only Republicans have the right to determine the nation’s course. They have worked tirelessly to make sure that the government cannot govern and to redefine the purpose of government as prevention rather than effectuation. In short, they haven’t believed in democracy for a long time, and the media never called them out on it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Democracy can’t cope with extremism. Only violence and time can defeat it. The first is unacceptable, the second takes too long. Though Trump is an extremist, I have a feeling that he will be a very popular president and one likely to be re-elected by a substantial margin, no matter what he does or fails to do. That’s because ever since the days of Ronald Reagan, rhetoric has obviated action, speechifying has superseded governing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Trump was absolutely correct when he bragged that he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and his supporters wouldn’t care. It was a dictator’s ugly vaunt, but one that recognized this election never was about policy or economics or the “right path/wrong path,” or even values. It was about venting. So long as Trump vented their grievances, his all-white supporters didn’t care about anything else. He is smart enough to know that won’t change in the presidency. In fact, it is only likely to intensify. White America, Trump’s America, just wants to hear its anger bellowed. This is one time when the Bully Pulpit will be literal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The media can’t be let off the hook for enabling an authoritarian to get to the White House. Long before he considered a presidential run, he was a media creation — a regular in the gossip pages, a photo on magazine covers, the bankrupt (morally and otherwise) mogul who hired and fired on <em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: 0px;">The Apprentice</em>. When he ran, the media treated him not as a candidate, but as a celebrity, and so treated him differently from ordinary pols. The media gave him free publicity, trumpeted his shenanigans, blasted out his tweets, allowed him to phone in his interviews, fell into his traps and generally kowtowed until they suddenly discovered that this joke could actually become president.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Just as Trump has shredded our values, our nation and our democracy, he has shredded the media. In this, as in his politics, he is only the latest avatar of a process that began long before his candidacy. Just as the sainted Ronald Reagan created an unbridgeable chasm between rich and poor that the Republicans would later exploit against Democrats, conservatives delegitimized mainstream journalism so that they could fill the vacuum.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Retiring conservative talk show host Charlie Sykes complained that after years of bashing from the right wing, the mainstream media no longer could perform their function as reporters, observers, fact dispensers, and even truth tellers, and he said we needed them. Like Goebbels before them, conservatives understood that they had to create their own facts, their own truths, their own reality. They have done so, and in so doing effectively destroyed the very idea of objectivity. Trump can lie constantly only because white America has accepted an Orwellian sense of truth — the truth pulled inside out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">With Trump’s election, I think that the ideal of an objective, truthful journalism is dead, never to be revived. Like Nixon and Sarah Palin before him, Trump ran against the media, boomeranging off the public’s contempt for the press. He ran against what he regarded as media elitism and bias, and he ran on the idea that the press disdained working-class white America. Among the many now-widening divides in the country, this is a big one, the divide between the media and working-class whites, because it creates a Wild West of information – a media ecology in which nothing can be believed except what you already believe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">With the mainstream media so delegitimized — a delegitimization for which they bear a good deal of blame, not having had the courage to take on lies and expose false equivalencies — they have very little role to play going forward in our politics. I suspect most of them will surrender to Trumpism — if they were able to normalize Trump as a candidate, they will no doubt normalize him as president. Cable news may even welcome him as a continuous entertainment and ratings booster. And in any case, like Reagan, he is bulletproof. The media cannot touch him, even if they wanted to. Presumably, there will be some courageous guerillas in the mainstream press, a kind of Resistance, who will try to fact-check him. But there will be few of them, and they will be whistling in the wind. Trump, like all dictators, is his own truth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">What’s more, Trump already has promised to take his war on the press into courtrooms and the halls of Congress. He wants to loosen libel protections, and he has threatened </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: 0px;">Washington Post</em><span style="background-color: white;"> owner Jeff Bezos of Amazon with an antitrust suit. Individual journalists have reason to fear him as well. He has already singled out NBC’s Katy Tur, perhaps the best of the television reporters, so that she needed the Secret Service to escort her from one of his rallies. Jewish journalists who have criticized Trump have been subjected to vicious anti-Semitism and intimidation from the alt-right. For the press, this is likely to be the new normal in an America in which white supremacists, neo-Nazi militias, racists, sexists, homophobes and anti-Semites have been legitimized by a new president who “says what I’m thinking.” It will be open season.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This converts the media from reporters to targets, and they have little recourse. Still, if anyone points the way forward, it may be <em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: 0px;">New York Times</em> columnist David Brooks. Brooks is no paragon. He always had seemed to willfully neglect modern Republicanism’s incipient fascism (now no longer incipient), and he was an apologist for conservative self-enrichment and bigotry. But this campaign season, Brooks pretty much dispensed with politics. He seemed to have arrived at the conclusion that no good could possibly come of any of this and retreated into spirituality. What Brooks promoted were values of mutual respect, a bolder sense of civic engagement, an emphasis on community and neighborhood, and overall a belief in trickle-up decency rather than trickle-down economics. He is not hopeful, but he hasn’t lost all hope.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">For those of us now languishing in despair, this may be a prescription for rejuvenation. We have lost the country, but by refocusing, we may have gained our own little patch of the world and, more granularly, our own family. For journalists, Brooks may show how political reporting, which, as I said, is likely to be irrelevant in the Trump age, might yield to a broader moral context in which one considers the effect that policy, strategy and governance have not only on our physical and economic well-being but also on our spiritual well-being. In a society that is likely to be fractious and odious, we need a national conversation on values. The media could help start it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But the disempowered media may have one more role to fill: They must bear witness. Many years from now, future generations will need to know what happened to us and how it happened. They will need to know how disgruntled white Americans, full of self-righteous indignation, found a way to take back a country they felt they were entitled to and which they believed had been lost. They will need to know about the ugliness and evil that destroyed us as a nation after great men like Lincoln and Roosevelt guided us through previous crises and kept our values intact. They will need to know, and they will need a vigorous, engaged, moral media to tell them. They will also need us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We are not living for ourselves anymore in this country. Now we are living for history.</span></div>
NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-52381029666129267402016-11-13T07:09:00.000+08:002016-11-14T07:10:00.223+08:00They're Hoarding Cooking Oil, So Report ThemMy friend complained on Facebook that a store near her home somewhere in Puchong had run out of cooking oil.<br />
She posted a photo of empty racks & shelves where bottles of cooking are usually placed.<br />
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Of course the rants started coming in her comment box.<br />
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How could this be happening? Someone demanded an explanation.<br />
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The government should do something about it.<br />
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Okay. Her's the thing. It should not be happening. And yes the government - the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives & Consumers Ministry should do something, provided YOU report or complain to them so that they can send the enforcement team to that store or supermarket.<br />
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The store, mini market or supermarket, you see, must be hoarding their supply.<br />
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Jahat!!!<br />
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In stores and minimarkets in my neighbourhood, there is NO problem of supply.<br />
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So, do your part.<br />
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Anyway...talking about complain -- well, here's something from<a href="https://seademon.me/2016/11/13/cooking-oil-in-numbers/"> SeaDemon explaining again to whiners what the issue of cooking oil increase is all about.</a><br />
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<br />NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-40387654965692449152016-11-09T17:30:00.004+08:002016-11-09T17:31:39.010+08:00It's Terribly Orange in America : President TrumpMy previous posting on what to call Bill Clinton is well, overtaken by the fact that the new POTUS is Donald Trump.<br />
Don't know whether I want to laugh or cry. But oh for good reason.<br />
<br />
Anyway, this is an article by the New Yorker.<br />
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<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">An American Tragedy</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></i>
<i><b><span style="font-size: medium;">By David Remnick</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: "adobe caslon" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><i><b>The election of Donald Trump to the Presidency is nothing less than a tragedy for the American republic, a tragedy for the Constitution, and a triumph for the forces, at home and abroad, of nativism, authoritarianism, misogyny, and racism. </b></i></span><br />
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: "adobe caslon" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: "adobe caslon" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><i><b>Trump’s shocking victory, his ascension to the Presidency, is a sickening event in the history of the United States and liberal democracy. On January 20, 2017, we will bid farewell to the first African-American President—a man of integrity, dignity, and generous spirit—and witness the inauguration of a con who did little to spurn endorsement by forces of xenophobia and white supremacy.</b></i></span><br />
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: "adobe caslon" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: "adobe caslon" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><i><b> It is impossible to react to this moment with anything less than revulsion and profound anxiety.</b></i></span><br />
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: "adobe caslon" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<i><b><span style="color: #121212; font-family: "adobe caslon" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;">There are, inevitably, miseries to come: an increasingly reactionary Supreme Court; an emboldened right-wing Congress; a President whose disdain for women and minorities, civil liberties and scientific fact, to say nothing of simple </span><span style="color: #121212; font-family: "adobe caslon" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;">decency, has been repeatedly demonstrated. </span></b></i><br />
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: "adobe caslon" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: "adobe caslon" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><i><b>Trump is vulgarity unbounded, a knowledge-free national leader who will not only set markets tumbling but will strike fear into the hearts of the vulnerable, the weak, and, above all, the many varieties of Other whom he has so deeply insulted. The African-American Other. The Hispanic Other. The female Other. The Jewish and Muslim Other. </b></i></span><br />
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: "adobe caslon" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: "adobe caslon" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><i><b>The most hopeful way to look at this grievous event—and it’s a stretch—is that this election and the years to follow will be a test of the strength, or the fragility, of American institutions. It will be a test of our seriousness and resolve.</b></i></span><br />
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: "adobe caslon" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: "adobe caslon" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><i><b>Early on Election Day, the polls held out cause for concern, but they provided sufficiently promising news for Democrats in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, and even Florida that there was every reason to think about celebrating the fulfillment of Seneca Falls, the election of the first woman to the White House. </b></i></span><br />
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: "adobe caslon" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: "adobe caslon" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><i><b>Potential victories in states like Georgia disappeared, little more than a week ago, with the F.B.I. director’s heedless and damaging letter to Congress about reopening his investigation and the reappearance of damaging buzzwords like “e-mails,” “Anthony Weiner,” and “fifteen-year-old girl.”</b></i></span><br />
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: "adobe caslon" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: "adobe caslon" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><i><b>But the odds were still with Hillary Clinton.</b></i></span><br />
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: "adobe caslon" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: "adobe caslon" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><i><b>Continue reading <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/an-american-tragedy-donald-trump">HERE</a></b></i></span><br />
<br />NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38530403.post-36830833271492393162016-11-07T16:43:00.001+08:002016-11-07T17:05:47.351+08:00First Gentleman Bill Clinton? First Dude, Maybe? Or Just Plain President Clinton?<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Now this is intriguing. It still is.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Let's revisit the question - - if Hillary Clinton wins, what should Bill be called.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Okay okay. Let's get serious. I know many women have got the perfect name ,or label for the guy. But, let's keep it civil and clinical.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #292929; font-family: "liberationserifregular" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 19px;"> Popular American late night tv host </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Kimmel" style="font-family: LiberationSerifRegular, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 19px;">Jimmy Kimmel </a><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "liberationserifregular" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 19px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: "liberationserifregular" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 19px;">posed the question to Hillary when she made an appearance on his show in November last year.</span></div>
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Kimmel">“</a><i><b>First dude, first mate, first gentleman — I’m just not sure about it</b></i>,” she replied. She's as stumped as the rest of us.</div>
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Kimmel offered up “the first president lady” as an alternative. How's that going to work out remains to be seen.</div>
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In January 2015, Bill Clinton himself joked to US talk show host Rachael Ray that he would go by “Adam” — as in the first man. </div>
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“<i>We’re joking about this, but it’s a serious decision “Serious decision for Hillary, serious decision for the country and the world.</i>”</div>
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The Independent in April had the story <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/if-hillary-clinton-enters-the-white-house-just-what-will-they-call-bill-10176740.html">HERE </a>.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #281e1e; font-family: "indy serif";">"<b>Sorry, Bill – there is no template for how to be a First Gentleman. You’ll have to make it up as you go along.</b>" - says The Independent, in conclusion.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #281e1e; font-family: "indy serif"; font-size: 19px;">Clearly a dilemma. But it </span><span style="color: #281e1e; font-family: "indy" serif;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">shouldn't be. In fact, it will all be taken care of. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #281e1e; font-family: "indy" serif;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">This is probably made easier by the fact that Bill is a former POTUS.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #281e1e; font-family: "indy" serif;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">Endless possibilities.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #281e1e; font-family: "indy" serif;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard had her "domestic partner' Tim Mathieson by her side while she was PM from 2010-1013.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #281e1e; font-family: "indy" serif;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">The Aussies -- public & press - referred to him as "First Bloke".</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #281e1e; font-family: "indy" serif;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">Today, an AFP report revisits the question, as the US is a day away from polling.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>WASHINGTON: Hillary Clinton’s possible election next week to America’s highest office has raised a sticky question: What’s the best way to refer to the president’s male spouse? There have only ever been male presidents in the United States with female spouses. </i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>One president, James Buchanan, remained a lifelong bachelor. Bill Clinton poses a special dilemma – not only he would be the first male presidential spouse, but also the first former president to return to the White House as a spouse. </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>The former Arkansas governor was elected president in 1992 and again in 1996, serving eight years in office.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i> It is common to use the honorific “president” to anyone who has served in the post, even after they leave office. But if the prognosticators are correct, and Hillary Clinton wins the presidency, then Bill Clinton can no longer be referred to as President Clinton after his wife’s inauguration in January without creating massive confusion.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i> Lisa Grotts, a certified etiquette expert, told AFP that the dilemma of how to address a male spouse has been dealt with at the state level, which may, or may not, provide a roadmap.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i> “In the US, we have six female governors, and their husbands unofficially go by First Gentleman. But there are no rules for presidential spouses,” she said. </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>“Once a president, always a president and that will always be his title for life,” she said. </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>Allida Black, an expert on first ladies with the White House Historical Association, told AFP that there is no question that, in terms of protocol at least, Bill Clinton’s “title will stay the same” when the first couple are presented at formal events – at a state dinner, for example. </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>“It will be President Clinton and former president Clinton,” Black said.</i></span></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> “We went through the same thing with the Bush family,” she continued, referring to </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">George H.W. Bush, the 41st US president, and his son, George W. Bush, the 43rd.</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i> “We had President Bush and former president Bush, so when they were together, they were introduced that way, and the Clintons will be introduced the same way as well,” she said. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>The stickier issue of day-to-day nomenclature will be handled by the in-house experts, Black said. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>“The office of presidential protocol, working with the Clintons, will decide how to rename the Office of the First Lady,” Black said.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i> “If she was married to a person who had not been president, he would have been the First Gentleman, but because Bill Clinton had been president, he is former president, and not the First Gentleman.”</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i> What is clear, is that Bill Clinton will not revert to the title of governor or former governor, which would be a breach of protocol. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>“It would be a lesser title than being former president,” Black said. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>The first lady traditionally has her own staff and budget in the White House, and typically adopts causes that are more or less non-controversial. </i></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Laura Bush took on the issues of reading and literacy; Michelle Obama tackled obesity, and good nutrition via her White House garden. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">She also gave greater visibility to support for veterans and their families. </span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>Another issue brewing in political circles is precisely what official role the First Gentleman – if that is what he’s called – will play. </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>Bill Clinton has promised to step away from the family’s Clinton Foundation charity if his wife is elected.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i> He remains relatively fit and active, but has sworn off one of the endeavors that has occupied much of his time in retirement and proved quite lucrative – speech-making – which earned both Clintons millions of dollars once they were no longer in public office. </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>Officially, Bill Clinton will not be allowed to take paid government employment during his wife’s tenure. </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>“He cannot have an official paid position but he could be an unofficial advisor to her,” said Black. </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>That would reverse the arrangement they reached during Bill Clinton’s presidency, when Hillary Clinton headed up his administration’s failed efforts to bring about comprehensive health care reform. </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>Hillary Clinton earlier this year suggested that she might task her husband with spearheading her administration’s efforts to revitalize the economy – a nod to his vaunted presidential success in balancing the US budget while creating millions of jobs. </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Well, there you go.</span></div>
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NURAINA A SAMADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671206532110686716noreply@blogger.com2