Umno's Biggest Challenge..

THE Umno general assembly this time will be the last before the general election. I'm saying it because analysts said the same thing of the party general assembly last year. But there was no general election.

This assembly is therefore crucial. Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak has already made it clear ahead of the assembly that Umno has to show not only to the Malays but the rest of the country that it is stronger and more solid now to face the general election.

"What is this general assembly about? Simple, it is about the general election and it is about making sure Umno remains in power," a senior Umno leader  told this blogger...

Najib has been in full gear the past three years touring the country, going to the ground to meet the people and at the same time implementing the government and economic transformation programmes. Besides fulfilling his international engagements, including buttressing relations with the US in 2010.

This is the final home stretch for Umno. Now it is up to Umno delegates to take it up from there.

Some Umno leaders this blogger spoke to said they hoped the Umno president will be forthright in his address which will set the tone for the assembly,

"I think his forthrightness will be appreciated", said former Wanita Umno chief Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz.

"It is a bitter medicine that we have to swallow. At this time, he has to be cruel to be kind. For Umno, it is make or break. We have to regain our lost ground", she added.

In previous assemblies, the party president had always called for the party to close ranks, to be united, to put party interst above self and so forth.

After 1999, when the party  faced losses in the general election,  a recurring message had been reform reinvention, re-engineering, renewal, rejuvenation and revival.

Political observers and analysts had a field day making their assessments -- protest against Anwar Ibrahim's sacking, rejection of Umno by Malays and so forth.

But in 2004, Umno and the BN swept the general election with a landslide victory and increased popular votes.

This was after Tun (then Datuk Seri) Dr Mahathir passed the premiership to Tun (then Datuk Seri) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Again analyses abound -- feel good factor, Pak Lah being the benign face of Umno, rejection of PAS Islam,  endorsement of Umno's moderate brand of Islam, Pak Lah's promises to fight corruption and so forth,

BN won 198 of the 219 seats in parliamnent with Umno 109, increasing its number from the last elections. MCA and MIC too gained a few more seats.

PAS won only seven (Opposition leader Hadi Awang lost his parliamentary seat), DAP got 12 and Keadilan lost four of the five seats contested (Dr Wan Azizah Ismail was the sole Keadilan MP in parliament).

Then, four years on, it was a drastic change, a shocking scenario.

In 2008 general election which everyone calls a political tsunami, the  BN lost five states.  It won 140 of 222 parliamentary seats - (Umno 79, MCA 15, MIC 3 and Gerakan 2).  Keadilan won 31, PAS 23 and DAP 28. With a total number of 82, they quickly cobbled up a "pakatan".

So many factors conspired to bring down the BN. Many said the oppositon won by default because the BN was arrogant,  because of the son-in-law (Khairy Jamaluddin who is Pak Lah's son-in-law), Hindraf and so forth.

Whatever.

It is no different this time. Najib's message is for Umno to be stronger and more united. But circumstances are not the same.

After the devastation in 2008, it is not, and cannot be,  business as usual for Umno although Umno, pointed out an observer, had always delivered. It is clearly the strongest component in the coalition.


"We are facing a different Malaysia. Umno cannot be rallying for the Malays only. It should appeal to the non-Malays as well. More so now, with MCA and MIC in a weakened position," said a senior Umno leader.

Najib has set the tone since he took over as PM and party president.


"He is the face of Umno and he is the face of the BN. He is a popular leader. Anywhere he goes, people support him. He has convinced people that he is the leader and the champion of Malays and non-Malays. If this were a  prime ministerial race, he will win. But I cannot say the same about Umno," said a senior MCA leader.

The rest of the country will be keenly following -- as always -- proceedings in the Umno general assembly which begins on Thursday at the Putra World Trade centre in KL.

 Malays and non-Malays will want to know what Umno is made up of, Has it reformed? Is it sensitive to changes in the country.

For one thing, Umno has got to convince the Malays-- who are so divided that it is the only party that can represent and protect their interests. And we're not talking just about rural Malays but also those in ubran areas.

For another, Umno has got to strike a balance -- promoting Malay interest but at the same time convincing non-Malays that it is also there for them. That is a just party for all.

"The history of Umno is one of inclusiveness, as evident since we achived independence when the Malay leaders invited the non-Malays to be part of the Malayan government in power-sharing and guaranteed their rights and interests.

"People have forgotten this and the opposition has exploited this and have kept smearing Umno with a racist label, relentlessly pushing that perception.

"This is the time for Umno to remind Malaysians that the party looks out not just for the Malays but everyone else, that proposals and propositions in the assembly translate to national policies for everyone's interest," said an Umno veteran.

Umno should be reminded of the 2006 general assembly when it for the first time it was telecast live.

Passionate debates on driving the Malay agenda spooked non-Malays who perceived them to be extremist.

All said and done, post assembly, Umno leaders and members have got to work hard for Umno to be returned to power and for the mandate from the rakyat.
They have to reach out to the people because that was how PAS, DAP and PKR did it in 2008.

Truce In Gaza

After eight days of fighting --punishing Israeli airstrikes on Gaza and a barrage of Hamas rocket fire on Israel -- a ceasefire was invoked.

So far 161 Palestinians, including 71 civilians, 37 of whom were children, were killed. Thousands others were injured.

On the Israeli side,  two soldiers and four civilians, were killed and dozens others wounded by rockets fired into residential neighbourhoods.

So far five Israelis and 162 Palestinians including 37 children children were killed.  Thousands of Palestinians were injured.

But how long the Egyptian-brokered truce will last remains to be seen. But for now, let's hope everyone abides by the truce.

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

says author Noam Chomsky

Chomsky Statement on Israel's War on Gaza

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

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

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

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

 It is not a war, it is murder.

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

Israel. Murderer.

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

By Noam Chomsky and others

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Salam Maal Hijrah!

To my Muslim friends ..

Selamat Menyambut Awal Muharram..

Happy Deepavali!

Have a happy Deepavali.....

It's About Saving Lives, Stupid!

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

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

 

Continue reading her article "Politicising life and death" 

 

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

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

So, get your politics out of the equation.

 

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

 

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

 

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

Wow. What a hero!

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

Wow. What a hero!

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

 

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

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

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

  

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

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

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

 

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

 

Obama Re-elected for Second Term.

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

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

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

Romney obtained 206.

Read Obama's victory speech HERE.

And Romney's concession speech HERE.

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

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

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

Obama's win over the electoral colleges was sizeable.

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Here is The Washington Post article on her death.

The Glorious Haj

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

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

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


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

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

Whose Moderate Muslim?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Read the article HERE

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

The Bad Bad Palm Oil...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

KUALA LUMPUR - in the Top 10 City Skylines

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

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

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

See the list HERE.

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

Steady-lah.

Never Hurt A Robber, Burglar or Intruder...

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

Crazy, right?

Well, apparently not.

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

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

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

They were caretaker of the premises.

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

Read it HERE

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

I'm no lawyer but ...

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

What were they supposed to do?

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

What kind of signal is the court sending?

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

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

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

Alvin and Vivian

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


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


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

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

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

One thing - they are unrepentant.

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

Here is their story...

and here.

and here.

what about here from Vivian

here too...

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And the Malaysian government is keenly following his case.

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

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

They certainly seem to be enjoying it.

Newsweek To Go All-Digital

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

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

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

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

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

Well, it has finally happened. 

Read about it HERE...

Penang and Polygamy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From The Past

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

Another "Best....." Forbes List

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

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

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

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

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

Continue reading HERE...

What Scorpene Trial? Oh...

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An Unlikely Saviour For Malaysiakini

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Continue reading HERE...

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

From The Choice.

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

Guns and All...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There have been fatal cases in all these.

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


This is unacceptable.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read the rest of the story.

Happy 40th Birthday, Malaysia Airlines!

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

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

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

Seriously?

Mmm... seriously?

Call It What You Want -- It's A Damn Dahsyat Budget...

"This Government has never promised the moon, the stars or the galaxy. We have never painted a pretty picture based on wishful thinking. As a responsible Government, we continue to speak the truth even though it may be unpleasant. We have never misled to the rakyat with tall tales. On the other hand, we have always offered solutions and provided good leadership to every problem faced by the rakyat.": Najib Razak

They call it an election budget. Can't blame them for labelling it so, because it is the last one before the next general election.

Be that as it may...it is whatever you want to call it..

Najib's critics, adversaries, enemies and what have you can try all they want to trash and thrash the Budget 2013...well...they can try.. but I talked to so many people...including those non-lovers of the BN and they say that Najib's really nailed it...

Yeah..it's got something for everyone. Okay, almost everyone...
Come on -- from the pre-schooler to the retireee/senior citizen.
Maybe the PM left out the mega/super-rich. Hurray..

But really, who's left out? Who has been excluded? And if you've been left out, you will suffer?


And for me -- as a mother, as a working woman and as, well, a woman -- it's got so much for me. tax relief, and for the kids and then for my kids' present and future and ...free mammogram.. Yippee..


Of course, of course....they'll try to tear it down to pieces. Good luck.

Read the Budget 2013 HERE.

P.S: I'll not stop wishing for a good health plan for the rakyat...

Budget 2013....

It's that time of year again. Everyone's all bracing to know what's in store -- what's going up, what's going down.. Where are we getting more, and where are we getting the cuts.

Everyone's going to call it an election budget because well, the general election will be held soon...and "soon" is subjective. "Soon" to us may not be "soon": to the Prime Minister, or vice versa. But at the Pusat Rakyat Loyar Burok exhbition booth yesterday, Najib was sporting enough to scribble "coming soon" on the board where people were asked to continue from what was written "I think the 13th GE is on...."

So, yes...your guess is as good as mine.. Which means we'll keep on guessing. And we've run out of "windows" etc...

Anyway, in the weeks and days before the Budget announcement, we, essentially...want to know what the goodies are. Yep..better believe it...you and I and the rest of the country are just interested in the goodies...

But, cutting to the chase -- I know what I'd like to see in the Budget. As a Malaysian -- and like other Malaysians -- I worry about the rising cost of living. Rising costs of food, petrol and so forth. So, I'd hate to see rising costs of all these things that will cause hardship to me and my children.

People are talking about the needs and wants of the urban middle class -- particularly in buying houses.. The buzzword is "affordable" homes.

It's like this -- the rich can take care of themselves and the poor are taken care of already. But this UMC (urban middle class) group...They're pretty neglected. Somehow, people (read:the government) forget to include them.

Take housing -- this group does not qualify for low-cost houses and those they can afford are in faraway and unattractive locations, sometimes not worth the buy. And those in attractive locations are way beyond their means.

Although I'm lucky to have been able to buy a house in a good location (bought it in 1985, so yes...I'm lucky and finished loan payment..Thank God)...I can't say the same for today's working middle class who want to buy homes. These houses aint affordable these days...They're really expensive...

So yeah..I'm thinking about my kids when they're starting out on their own. Work, marriage,family, home ownership, you know.
Can they ever afford to buy their own homes. I suppose it's a case of beggars can't be choosers... But that is so sad...Those affordable homes for them are in  some God forsaken location..

So, yes...this will be a real challenge for the government to address. But I'm hoping there's something there on affordable homes.

My wishlist would be in three other areas very close to my heart as a Malaysian -- education, health and security (keselamatan -- as in fighting crime)...not necessarily in that order because all are equally important.

I must stress that in my old age, I am so concerned about health -- as in the cost of health and medical treatment.

Because of the over-crowdedness in government and public hospitals, people opt for private health care. It's okay for those still working and their health and medical treatment is  covered by the employers.

But good quality health care is expensive. 

I've always found it interesting that in my youthful working days, I was never hospitalised for any illness, except twice for maternity (delivering my two kids).

Thank God, I have health insurance which I took when I began my working life.

Imagine those people who retire and do not have health insurance. You know, the older you get the higher premium you have to pay. And when you start getting all those ailments, you may not even get your insurance application approved.

So, I suppose the best thing for Malaysians to do is to take care of their health...which for so many, is easier said than done.

Anyway...here's hoping that the budget will be a good 'un. (And heard that it will be)

Read THIS
and also THIS

Did This Really Happen?

I read with disbelief a report about a group of armed men who stormed into a showroom, overpowered 2 guards and fled with cash and new cars in Bandar Sungai Long, near Kajang early Tuesday morning.
They security guards were unarmed. The robber tied them up before fleeing with an undisclosed sum of money and five Honda cars worth over RM500,000.
There were about 15 of them, armed with parang and axes.

According to news reports, the guards freed themselves and called the police at about 7pm.
Kajang Deputy OCPD Supt Azman Ayob told reporters that the robbers spent more than three hours ransacking the premises and breaking into the showroom office to steal the money.

They then drove off in the cars three Honda Accords, a Honda CRV and a Honda Civic all without registered number plates.
The police are now going through the CCTV footage to assist in investigations.
The showroom started operations last year.

If this happened the way it was told, I am so dismayed. Can you imagine if this same group robs another showroom or a restaurant...? There is every likelihood. It's just a matter of when and where.


Thankfully, no one was hurt. It's not so much that they stole the vehicles and cash... but the fact  that 15 (or more) of them grouped together to commit the crime and, of course, got away with it.

I hope the police have already got leads...

Chilling....

Hypocritical Rant by Foreign Agents

Oh yeah. If you're got funds from foreign bodies, nothing to be guilty about. In fact no reason for you to hide that fact.

If you're getting the monies to do some job for your financiers, that's ok too.
You want to bring down the government?  Hey that's okay too. But say so.
This is a democracy. You have the right to bring down a government you do not like. But as an NGO, don't pretend you're not doing it when you are really doing it.

***********************
(source: The NST)

BETTER UNDERSTANDING: A new perspective on anti-government rhetoric following revelations of foreign funding
by Asmi Anshar

A HANDFUL of non-government organisations and a pro-opposition news website were reported to have accepted financial grants from foreign benefactors, and that the funding was the impetus for a slew of outrageous accusations and skewed reports against government leaders, the prime minister in particular, in recent years.
Upfront, it's quite all right to suck in this kind of money, especially in this era of global economic uncertainty and squeezed funds, for altruistic goals. Some look to government aid, others depend on private local sponsors, such as banks and wealthy corporations, while a selected number are chosen by foreign bodies to carry out benevolent programmes.
Every outfit, whether left or right, charitable or activist-minded, needs patrons with a liberal chequebook. But in doing so, some fail to live up to the simple rule of accepting money from foreign donors: be up-front about the money and be straightforward in rationalising the objectives.
For example, if you get money from a certain foreign government or billionaire, then say so from the beginning instead of shrouding the real intent with surreptitious red herrings like "pro-freedom" and "pro-democracy".
If your aim is to flummox the already toxic political atmosphere with your pro-opposition news reports and commentaries, say so, too, instead of pretending to be the mother of all free press, particularly when your editors once blatantly told voters to choose the opposition instead of voting with their inner conscience, as all independent press would do.
The outcome of these pretensions is clear: the reenactment of an age-old deception, the wolf in sheep's clothing, coming to mind as these NGOs' equivocal funding is exposed for the absurd but not laughable attempt at re-colonisation, the kinds infamously chronicled by ex-covert operatives of foreign spook agencies.
Instead of standing up by whatever political convictions they profess, the NGOs blame the messenger, the national newspapers, which exposed their duplicity. These NGOs tag team with their political mentors, supporters and apologists, vilifying the messenger's so-called "bad faith" reporting and hopping around the fact that they were caught wearing the "foreign agent" mask.
If a reporter asks the straight-to-the-gut question like: "Are you aware that by taking money from foreign donors, you are becoming their agents?", the NGOs' instinct would be not to explain rationally, but to scream bloody murder, legal action or something obfuscating like the "money is not related to our street demonstrations".
Ah... the language of the hypocrite.
The national newspapers are used to these hysterics: they've been so banned, blacklisted and sued by deluded opposition leaders and their ilk who can't see beyond their "undemocratic noses".
But the highfalutin high moral ground perched by many government critics won't see this as an affront to press freedom because it is free speech only if their own kind highlighted the corruption, but bad faith if the likes of the New Straits Times or Utusan Malaysia reported their putrefaction.
Ironically, these critics were unwittingly misreported by a certain website sympathetic to them, but highly critical of the prime minister.
In rapid succession, a Singapore-based foreign scholar was miffed that her remarks at a forum were misreported as, heaven forbid, endorsing Malaysian government initiatives, while the daughter of a certain ex-prime minister was equally miffed that a NGO she once led was said to have received the same foreign funds, but in her operative words "never during her time", a benefit of doubt she will be given. It's nice to know that these critics can remonstrate against a news website sympathetic to their rants for misreporting.
It's also good to know that their beef with the media is not confined to just the national newspapers. So, perhaps the scholar and the ex-prime minister's daughter could also put in a good word to certain opposition leaders to mitigate their anti-national press demagoguery and just be even-handed regarding all forms of reporting, good or bad.

Teen Pregnancy On The Rise

This is alarming.


(The Star)

KLANG: More Malaysian teenage girls are getting pregnant, with a major hospital recording at least one case every day.


According to Dr Mohamad Farouk Abdullah, senior consultant and head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital here, about 14% of the 12,000 babies delivered annually at the hospital were by teenage mothers with many of them unwed.

“We thought such numbers of teen pregnancies were only in Klang, but I am also hearing of similar scenarios in the other six specialist hospitals in Selangor,” he added.

“The youngest girl to give birth at our hospital was a 12-year-old girl,” Dr Mohamad Farouk said at the “Pregnant by Choice, Not by Chance or Force” seminar. It was organised by the hospital in conjunction with its Family Planning month.

The Health Ministry recorded 18,652 births by girls below the age of 19 last year compared with 5,962 in the second half of 2010.

Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital's medical social welfare officer Nurul Azira Mahamad Jafar said she had been handling at least one case of an unwed mother every working day of this year.

“The highest number of referrals I have had in a day so far was 14. These are our children who are pregnant in their teens,” said Nurul Azira, who has been handling cases of unwed mothers as well as rape and sex abuse victims at the hospital for the past six years.
Most of the pregnant girls are referred to the hospital by clinics.
This is because teenage pregnancies are considered “high-risk cases”. A teenager is twice more likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth complications than women in their 20s.
Most of the girls come to the hospital complaining of discomfort such as stomachache and spotting.

 The rest of the story here.

Read this article too.

AWAS...

Cameras installed in 14 hot or "black"spots in Perak, Selangor, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur to catch speedsters and motorists beat the traffic lights begin operation today.

This is under the first phase of the Automated Enforcement System (AES).

Ten of the cameras are to catch speed limit breakers and four to catch those who jump traffic lights.
 More cameras will be installed at 817 blackspots in the second phase, which will see a nationwide implementation of the AES.

The government is hopeful that doing this would help reduce the number of road fatalities.

Now this is nice. The NST reported that in Perak, 90 per cent of the 106 who volunteered for the Territorial Army on Friday were Chinese.
 It's a fact that the community is not known to be so hot about joining the armed forces for several reasons.
But this is good.
This was not lost on army chief Gen Tan Sri Zulkefli Zainal Abidin who pointed out that race had never been the criterion for recruitment or promotions.

The NST said Zulkefli could not help but express his awe at the high number of Chinese youth joining the Territorial Army.

 Read the rest of the article here....

I know my sister, Nina, skipped this page in the papers or turned off the TV when the news about this was on.

Nina always tells me --"alaa...apa lah Kak Ena ni"...everytime I hold her newborn (she delivered Sofea Helena last month). She has 5 children now. Because I will look at her newborn and never fail to utter "...how could people do this to their babies..." Of course e I never get to finish my sentence because Nina would have this pained look...and besides, I would also stop as images of dead newborns play in my head.\

I have written about this topic -- of unwed mothers dumping their babies, in some cases killing them because they fear their families would find out  and the repercussions of that. These women are Muslims. Well, that's a fact.

Here's the news report that was published on Monday Sept 17.

A NEWBORN baby girl, believed to be a day old, was found sprawled on the ground floor of Block One of the Desa Mentari Apartment here yesterday morning.
The baby, whose umbilical cord was still attached, was believed to have been thrown from the third floor of the apartment.
She was discovered around 11am by passers-by who alerted the police.
Eyewitness Juandi Mat, 35, said he was repairing his motorcycle when he heard something hit the ground.
"At first, I didn't think much of it because residents here like to throw garbage from the top floors, but one of the residents who was standing next to me said that it was a baby.
"I didn't believe him and hoped that it was just a doll.
"But when I went to check, I was shocked to see the baby sprawled face down on the floor in a pool of blood," said the lorry driver.
District police chief Assistant Commissioner Arjunaidi Mohamed said a female suspect, in her 20s, was picked up for questioning.
"We are investigating this case under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.
"The motive has yet to be determined."

The young mother is in remand and her boyfriend has been arrested.

I cannot begin to describe the horror of it all. What must have possessed her to throw her baby out like that.

Actually, I know. I can just imagine. So overcome with shame that diminished her mentally.

We, as a society, have failed her. We judge girls like her. And we punish them.


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