Overdose Of Politics Impede Development In Certain States - Najib

BINTULU, Sept 16 (Bernama) -- Certain states are lagging behind other states as they are not working in tandem with the federal government, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The prime minister said the leaders of these states placed politics uppermost in their minds rather than the prosperity of the people.

He said good working relationship and understanding with the federal government were the hallmark of Sabah and Sarawak's significant progress since gaining independence through the establishment of Malaysia 49 years ago.

The decision made by leaders of yesteryears in both states to join 11 other states in the Malay Peninsular to form Malaysia on Sept 16, 1963 became the foundation today's success, he said at the Malaysia Day celebration at the old Bintulu airport site here Sunday night.

"I think none of the people of Sarawak and Sabah today will say they have made a big mistake by joining Malaysia," he said.

Najib said since the successful establishment of Malaysia, the people of the three regions had fought together to defend the country's sovereignty.

"There were people from Peninsular Malaysia who had shed blood to defend Sabah and Sarawak and not least the people from Sabah and Sarawak who died in defending Peninsular Malaysia," he said.

He said the nation's leaders in the early stages of independence had successfully kept their promises to ensure that Malaysia would persevere and remain sovereign, followed by post-independence leaders who fulfilled their promises to bring development to every nook and corner of the country.

"As for today's leaders, our promise is that by the dawn of 2020, Malaysia will be declared a developed nation," he said.

Meanwhile, Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said the state was unable to achieve independence on its own in 1960s due to the political and security situation in the region then.

Taib said the plan on the formation of Malaysia was conveyed to him by the late Tunku Abdul Rahman (first prime minister), who did not want the people of Sabah and Sarawak to continue to be under the clutches of the colonial government.

"We also wanted progress as we do not want to continue to be left behind, and it was only by joining Malaysia we can change the fate of our people," he said.

Aceh Teen’s Suicide Brings Shariah Scrutiny

 

 This May 2012 file photo shows an officer with Wilayathul Hisbah, the Aceh Sharia police, giving directives to a number of women arrested during a raid in Banda Aceh targeting women who wear form-fitting outfits. (Antara Photo/Irwansyah Putra)  

The implementation of Islamic Shariah law in Aceh has again drawn criticism by those who say its implementation is heavily discriminatory toward women.

Sparking the latest outcry, a 16-year-old girl reportedly committed suicide this week after she was accused of prostitution and arrested by Aceh’s Shariah police.

The girl and her friends were watching a concert when she and one of her friends were arrested by officers of the Shariah police, known locally as Wilayatul Hisbah, in Langsa, Aceh, on Monday. The officers accused the two of being prostitutes based on how they were dressed.

“The arrest process, which is done publicly, will certainly make people feel humiliated,” Feri Kusuma of the Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said at a press conference on Thursday.

He added that women who failed to wear conservative Islamic garb in Aceh were often arrested violently, with that violence creating a culture of fear.

Dian Novita, of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), acknowledged Aceh’s special autonomy status, but urged the provincial administration to comply with Indonesian law, especially in matters related to human rights.

Under the morality-based Shariah code, those deemed in violation of Shariah law are often humiliated during the arrest process.

Komnas Perempuan said the suicide case should serve as a wake-up call for the Aceh administration to review its handling of those detained for Shariah violations, especially those cases involving minors.

“There are many cases of people wrongly arrested for how they dress, accused of prostitution. The process of [arrest] is incorrect, given there is no room for a child to communicate with the parents,” Dian said.

Kontras called on officials to revise the policy to prevent future tragedies.

“We have to continue gaining public support for the push for the policy to be revised in Aceh,” Feri said.

Kontras also criticized the broader implementation of Shariah law, which the commission said was only applied to civilians while police and military officers in violation of its dictates were only processed based on the Criminal Code.

Egypt Islamist preachers say film makers deserve death

(Reuters) - Two Islamist preachers in Egypt told worshippers on Friday that those who made a movie deemed insulting to the Prophet Mohammad deserved to die under sharia (Islamic law) but they urged protesters not to take their anger out on diplomats or others.

Although the comments could be taken by some ordinary Muslims as an edict to take the law into their hands, many Egyptians believe that only the prestigious Al-Azhar mosque and seat of learning has the authority to issue decrees.

An Al-Azhar preacher on Friday said protests should be peaceful, a state newspaper reported.

Many Muslims deem it blasphemous to depict the Prophet in any form, and have been enraged by a movie made in the United States that portrayed him as a womanizer and religious fake, and protesters have stormed U.S. diplomatic missions in several Muslim countries.

"Those who produced the movie should be tried and killed," Mahmoud Shabaan, a sheikh from the ultra-orthodox Salafi school, told worshippers at Cairo's al-Nour mosque, citing actions by the Prophet's followers and Islamic teachings.

He also said the movie-makers should have a fair and urgent trial, adding that "nothing less than death was appropriate" for those who had insulted the Prophet.

At least one of the promoters of the film is an Egyptian Coptic Christian now living in America. Comments suggesting targeting those behind the film could stoke already heightened tensions between Muslims and Christians, who account for about 10 percent of Egypt's 83 million people.

Shabaan also said embassies and diplomats, as well as police, should not be attacked. "We should express our anger, but in a peaceful way that is governed by sharia," he said, after demonstrators scaled the U.S. embassy walls in Cairo this week, battling with police nearby since then.

MURSI CONDEMNS VIOLENCE

Those remarks echoed comments by Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, which he repeated again on a trip to Italy on Friday.

Mursi condemned insults to the Prophet but called for peaceful protests, condemned violence and said Egypt was committed to protecting embassies. He also condemned the killing of the U.S. ambassador in an attack by gunmen in Libya.

In Alexandria, Sheikh Ahmed Mahlawi said: "I demand retribution for those who insult the Prophet, peace and blessings upon him, and spilling their blood is a legal duty."

Youssry Hammad, spokesman for the Salafi al-Nour party, which secured a big bloc of seats in Egypt's parliamentary election, said the group rejected insults to the Prophet but also rejected any calls to kill the film producers.

"We also refuse any attacks on embassies," he said.

At Al-Azhar in Cairo, preacher Mohamed al-Mukhtar al-Mahdi condemned the film but told protesters not to use violence and said foreigners in Egypt should not be targeted and should be kept safe, the website of Al-Ahram newspaper said.

He also said companies that funded the movie should be tracked down and boycotted. Such calls for a boycott were echoed by others, with some calling for boycotting Western or Jewish products, an apparent response to some initial reports that Jewish donors had backed the film.

Jewish groups have condemned reports that they supported the film, CNN reported on its website.

The Salafi Call, an influential group of ultra-orthodox Salafi Muslim sheikhs, had on Wednesday called for suspending cooperation between the Egyptian and U.S. government until America "takes practical measures to stop this farce."

U.S. President Barack Obama's administration said it had nothing to do with the film and condemned it, but that it could not curb the constitutional right to free speech in the United States even if some views expressed might be offensive.

(Reporting by Tamim Elyan, Mohamed Abdellah and Ahmed Tolba; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

NGOs: Greater influence, more responsibility

NGOs are now coming under increasing scrutiny because of their growing influence in their role as a watchdog.
COMMENT

By Khoo Ying Hooi

With the rising influence and visibility of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) in the country, their activities have come under increasing scrutiny.

Questions have been raised about their representation, financial management and governance. This in turn has led to growing pressure on NGOs to improve their accountability and effectiveness.

Ever since the involvement of Suaram in the Scorpene scandal, it has been showered with criticisms particularly from politicians regarding its legitimacy and how much it really represents the interest of its constituents.

Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob claimed that there appears to be a “high level of suspicions” in the accounts of Suaram, which registered under the name of Suara Inisiatif Sdn Bhd.

NGOs in every corner of the world are subjected to greater scrutiny due to their greater influence.

In India, for example, the NGOs there have recently been hit by a new regulation issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs which requires mandatory registration of any overseas funding that they receive. Among those who are affected are Save the Children and Rotary Club of Bombay.

As a result, more than 4,000 organisations in India had their registration cancelled for violations under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. The law basically aims to regulate flow of foreign funds into NGOs with the intention of preventing any possible use of these funds for activities deemed detrimental to national interest.

In Russia, too, its Parliament last July passed a controversial law describing all those NGOs that received foreign funds as “foreign agents”.

The move by the Russian government has angered the people and sparked protests by numerous leading human rights organisations including For Human Rights Movement.

Self-regulation for NGO sector

NGOs are often seen as a threat to national interest as they are an important apparatus for checking the wrongdoings of the government and as an important advocate for marginalised people.

Most NGOs have their own procedural accountability. However, this also depends on the type of organisation, their composition and forms of funding.

Non-profit accounting is deemed as complicated because fundamentally, the operational method of NGOs is not the same as the government and companies. Its financial management is mainly focused on utilising money, rather than making it.

On the one hand, they have to account for the use of financial resources to donors. On the other, they are also responsible to their beneficiaries – the target group that they are supposed to assist.

In the old days, good values are basically sufficient to prove an NGO’s legitimacy, but with the increasing importance of the NGO sector in their role as a watchdog, there is now increasing pressure on NGOs to also demonstrate to whom and for what they are accountable.

So how can NGOs respond to these challenges?

One way of doing so is through self-regulation. Self-regulation is when NGOs institute their own regulatory mechanisms and supported by several other organisations in the same sector. It is one of the methods for the NGOs to set standards of conduct that they must practise in order to show legitimacy, effectiveness and responsible control of resources.

Make information accessible

There are various benefits of self-regulation. It not only can help strengthen the internal structures and operations of the organisation, it can also help in building public trust. By making public commitments to clear principles, norms and standards, it allows the sector to indicate trustworthiness and professionalism. Most importantly, it can help protect the sector from inappropriate government intervention.

Whenever the relations of both parties – the state and the NGOs – become tense, the government often uses the excuse that the latter’s accountability is inadequate to further dent their credibility, as what is happening to Suaram.

However, working within the framework of self-regulation, the NGO sector can speak with one voice through their collective efforts and thereby prevent more restricted forms of government regulation from being introduced.

Given the increasing influence of Suaram, its legitimacy is not likely to fade any time soon.

NGOs should routinely publish their strategic plans, annual reports, governance and management arrangements, and also financial information.

The process of developing uniformed standards is a long-term effort. So, in the meantime, in order to clear the air, perhaps the easiest way for Suaram is to make information easily accessible to all parties through the channels mentioned.

The current situation will likely be unfavourable to Malaysian NGOs if there is no breakthrough in relations between the government and the NGOs.

The writer is an academic staff in Universiti Malaya and a PhD candidate in the University Putra Malaysia. She is a FMT columnist and can be contacted at yinghooi@gmail.com.

Anti-American fury sweeps Middle East over film

(AFP) - Fury about a film that insults the Prophet Mohammad tore across the Middle East yesterday with protesters attacking US embassies and burning American flags as the Pentagon rushed to bolster security at its missions.

The obscure California-made film triggered an attack on the US consulate in Libya’s city of Benghazi that killed the US ambassador and three other Americans on Tuesday, the anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001 al Qaeda attacks on the United States.

In Tunis, at least five people were wounded by police gunfire near the US embassy, and a Reuters reporter said a big fire had erupted within the embassy compound. Protesters had earlier leapt over the compound wall.

Witnesses said Sudanese police fired tear gas at thousands of protesters to stop them approaching the US embassy outside Khartoum, but some jumped over the wall. A Reuters reporter heard gunfire from the scene.

The wave of indignation and rage over the film, which portrays the Prophet Mohammad as a womanizer and a fool, coincided with Pope Benedict’s arrival in Lebanon for a three-day visit.

The protests present Obama with a new foreign policy crisis less than two months before seeking re-election and tests Washington’s relations with democratic governments it helped to power across the Arab world.

It also emerged that Libya had closed its air space over Benghazi airport temporarily because of heavy anti-aircraft fire by Islamists aiming at U.S. reconnaissance drones flying over the city, after President Barack Obama vowed to bring the ambassador’s killers to justice.

The closure of the airport prompted speculation that the United States was deploying special forces in preparation for an attack against the militants who were involved in the attack.

A Libyan official said the spy planes flew over the embassy compound and the city, taking photos and inspecting locations of radical militant groups who are believed to have planned and staged the attack on the US consulate.

There were protests in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Marines to Yemen

The Pentagon said it had sent a “fast” platoon of Marines to Yemen to bolster US embassy security after clashes in Sanaa.

US embassies were the main target of anger and protest but most embassy staff were not at work because Friday is the Muslim weekend across the Arab World.

The frenzy erupted after traditional Muslim Friday prayers. Fury over the film has been stoked by Internet video footage, social networks, preachers and word-of-mouth.

Protesters clashed with police near the US embassy in Cairo. Two Islamist preachers in Egypt told worshippers that those who made the movie deserved to die under sharia (Islamic law) but they urged protesters not to take their anger out on diplomats or others.

Sudanese demonstrators broke into the German embassy in Khartoum and hoisted an Islamic flag, while one person was killed in protests in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli.

Police in the Sudanese capital had fired tear gas to try to disperse 5,000 protesters who had ringed the German embassy and nearby British mission. A Reuters witness said police stood by as a crowd forced its way into Germany’s mission.

Demonstrators hoisted a black Islamic flag saying in white letters “there is no God but God and Mohammed is his Prophet”. They smashed windows, cameras and furniture in the building and then started a fire.

Staff at Germany’s embassy were safe “for the moment”, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in Berlin. He also told Khartoum’s envoy to Berlin that Sudan must protect diplomatic missions on its soil.

Sudan’s Foreign Ministry had criticized Germany for allowing a protest last month by right-wing activists carrying caricatures of the Prophet and for Chancellor Angela Merkel giving an award in 2010 to a Danish cartoonist who depicted the Prophet in 2005 triggering protests across the Islamic world.

Bashir under pressure

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is under pressure from Islamists who feel the government has given up the religious values of his 1989 Islamist coup.

The official body of Sudan’s Islamic scholars called for the faithful to defend the Prophet peacefully, but at a meeting of Islamists, some leaders had said they would march on the German and US embassies and demanded the ambassadors be expelled.

The Foreign Ministry said in its statement: “The German chancellor unfortunately welcomed this offence to Islam in a clear violation of all meanings of religious co-existence and tolerance between religions.”

Sudan used to host prominent militants in the 1990s, such as Osama bin Laden, but the government has sought to distance itself from radicals to improve ties with the West.

A Lebanese security source said a man was killed in Tripoli as protesters tried to storm a government building.

Earlier, a US fast food restaurant was set alight. Twelve members of the security forces were wounded by stones thrown by protesters, the source said.

Protesters also clashed with police in Yemen, where one person died and 15 were injured on Thursday when the US embassy compound was stormed.

US and other Western embassies in other Muslim countries had tightened security, fearing anger at the film may prompt attacks on their compounds after the weekly worship.

Obama has promised to bring those responsible for the Benghazi attack to justice, and the United States also sent warships towards Libya which one official said was to give flexibility for any future action.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington had nothing to do with the crudely made film posted on the Internet, which she called “disgusting and reprehensible”, and the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff called a Christian pastor in Florida to ask him to withdraw his support for it.

Palestinians staged demonstrations in both the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israeli police, some on horseback, used stun grenades and made a number of arrests outside Jerusalem’s Old City as a few dozen demonstrators tried to march on the nearby US consulate.

“Israeli police prevented an illegal demonstration from reaching the US consulate in East Jerusalem and used stun grenades after rocks and bottles were thrown at them,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

In Nablus, in the northern West Bank, several hundred people protested and burned an American flag, witnesses said.

American flags burned

The largest protests were in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Islamist group Hamas, with at least 30,000 Palestinians staging rallies across the coastal territory.

Some 25,000 took to the streets of Gaza City, answering a call by Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad faction and waving the green and black flags of the two factions.

American and Israeli flags were set alight, along with an effigy of the film’s producer.

Protesters in Afghanistan set fire to an effigy of Obama and burned a US flag after Friday prayers in the eastern province of Nangarhar.

Directing their anger against the US pastor who supported the film, tribal leaders also agreed to put a US$100,000 bounty on his head.

About 10,000 people held a noisy protest in the Bangladeshi capital. They burned US flags, chanted anti-US slogans and demanded punishment for the offenders, but were stopped from marching to the US embassy. There was no violence.

Thousands of Iranians held nationwide protests. There were also rallies in Malaysia, Jordan, Kenya, Bahrain, Qatar, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Iraq.

Cat Merah,Batu Dan Paku : Cubaan Sabotaj Jelajah #Merdekarakyat Johor

Rombongan PKR ke Johor hari ini yang dipimpin oleh Ketua Umumnya, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim menjadi sasaran lagi di Skudai petang ini yang boleh mengakibatkan kemalangan ke atas bas yang digunakan untuk kempen parti itu.

Setiausaha Agung PKR, Datuk Saifuddin Nasution memberitahu Malaysiakini semasa majlis makan malam 800 meja di di Skudai bahawa serangan itu berlaku sejurus sebelum rombongan mereka sampai ke majlis tersebut, yang merupakan kawasan letak kereta di sebelah Sutera Mall.

“Dalam perjalanan kami ke sini, kami mendengar bunyi letupan kuat apabila kami melalui di bawah jambatan pejalan kaki.

“Kami mendapati seketul batu dilemparkan ke salah sebuah kereta dalam rombongan kami.

“Kemudian kami temui paku di atas jalan raya. Jadi kita berhenti di tepi jalan manakala kakitangan keselamatan kami membersihkan jalan raya sebelum kami boleh meneruskan perjalanan kami, “katanya.

Naib Presiden PKR yang juga ahli Parlimen Kuantan, Fuziah
Salleh, semasa ucapannya di majlis makan malam itu, mendakwa mereka ternampak sebuah kereta di hadapan rombongan mereka hilang kawalan dan berpusing ke arah yang bertentangan.

“Kami dapati jalan penuh paku,” kata Fuziah sambil mendakwa pelakunya mahu bas mereka ditimpa kemalangan.

“Alhamdulillah, kita berjaya mengatasi semua cabaran ini,” katanya kepada kira-kira 6,000 hadirin berbilang kaum.

Kereta yang berjaya sampai ke destinasi majlis makan malam itu, kemek dan calar pada bahagian bonetnya.

Ketika ditemui Malaysiakini kemudiannya, Fuziah berkata kejadian itu berlaku kira-kira 1km dari tempat majlis makan malam itu di sebatang jalan raya yang gelap, tetapi dia tidak tahu namanya.

Instead of high watermark for women’s rights, Najib’s hijacking of women portfolio proves to be an even lower point for women agenda

The launching of Pakatan Rakyat’s Women’s Agenda tonight is a historic event, as gender equality and empowerment of women to improve their social, educational, economic and political status must be accepted by everyone as part of human rights which must involve the commitment and challenge to everyone in the country.

Recently, women’s rights should have witnessed a highwater mark in Malaysia when the Women’s Minister is also the Prime Minister, but unfortunately, the opposite is the case – with women agenda reaching an even lower point with the hijacking of the Women Minister’s portfolio by a male – as if there are no eligible and qualified Malaysian woman for the post!

“Janji Ditepati” has recently been Najib’s favourite subject, but with Najib as Women’s Minister for the past six months, are women in Malaysia satisfied with “Promises Fulfilled” with regard to women issues and causes?

Do women in Malaysia feel safer from crime, whether in shopping malls, car parks, public streets or even in the privacy of their homes? The answer is a resounding “NO”, even with parents fearful about the safety of their underaged daughters following the recent spate of cases where judges made a mockery of statutory rape legislation to protect underaged girls.

The Malaysian government is fond of boasting about the achievements and status of Malaysian women in the international arena, particularly with regard to gender equality and women empowerment.

In actual fact, Malaysia is not in any leading position in the international context with regard to gender equality and women empowerment, as reflected by the lowly ranking of Malaysia in the 2011 Global Gender Gap Index report prepared by the World Economic Forum in Geneva.

Malaysia’s overall Global Gender Gap Index (GGPI) ranking, which is made up of three criteria firstly economic participation and opportunity; secondly, health and survival; thirdly, political empowerment, is a lowly No.97 out of 135 countries, worse than Philippines (8), South Africa (14), Cuba (20), Mozambique (26), Argentina (28), Sri Lanka (31), Nambibia (32), Guyana (38), Kyrgyz Republic (44), Kazakhstan (49), Thailand (60), Botswana (66), Bangladesh (69), Brunei (76), Albania (78), Armenia (84) and Indonesia (90).

Malaysia’s ranking in terms of women’s representation in government is the worst of all three criteria, ranked 115, behind Sri Lanka (7), Bangladesh (11), Philippines (16), India (19), China (57), Indonesia (61), Vietnam (76), Cambodia (78), Singapore (83) and Thailand (97).

Neighbouring and other Asian countries have had women as heads of state of government, like Indira Gandhi of India, Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan, Corazaon Aquino of Philippines, Megawarti Sukarnoputri of Indonesia, Yingluck Shinawatra of Thailand, Sheikh Hasina of Banglasdesh and Mrs. Srimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka. But no women have risen to the top in Malaysia, whether at the federal or state levels, as no woman have ever been Mentri Besar or Chief Minister.

This gender gap must be rectified.

Malaysia should aim to be included in the top 50 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index and one way for the attainment of this objective is the implementation of Pakatan Rakyat’s Women Agenda if and when Pakatan Rakyat takes power in Putrajaya in the 13th General Election.

(Speech at the launch of the Pakatan Rakyat Women’s Agenda “Wanita Berdaya Negara Sejahtera” in Shah Alam on Thursday, 13th September 2012 at 9 pm)

30 still detained despite ISA repeal

The Sun Daily 
by AZIZUL RAHMAN

KUALA LUMPUR: A former Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee has questioned the continued detention of 30 people at the Kamunting detention centre in Perak despite the repeal of the draconian law last April.

Fadzullah Abdul Razak, who was among 12 people released from Kamunting on Aug 17, said the question is pertinent as it has been almost a year since Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak announced the abolition of the ISA.

Fadzullah was speaking at a press conference called by the Abolish ISA Movement (GMI) at Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall yesterday. 

Farida Mohammad and Sivamalar Genapathy from Lawyers for Liberty, who were also present at the press conference, said they visited the detention centre on Wednesday and were allowed to meet only 12 detainees.

Farida said one of the detainees, Razali Kassan, has been diagnosed with kidney stones  and has strict dietary needs. “But he has to use his own money to buy food at the detention centre’s canteen as the centre does not provide the kind of food he needs.” 

Meanwhile, GMI chairman Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh criticised an English daily for allegedly reporting that detainees at Kamunting are still carrying out criminal activities from behind the bars, through the use of telephones.

20 Students Scalded In An Explosion During A Barbecue At School

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 (Bernama) -- Twenty Form Four and Form Five students of a school at Taman Mulia, Bandar Tun Razak here were scalded when an explosion happened at a barbecue stove as they were preparing food to celebrate Aidilfitri at the school compound Friday.

Three of them were seriously injured in the 9.45am incident

One of the victims, Mohd Hidayat Mohd Yazid, 16, said he and a few others were trying to start a fire for the barbecue when a teacher told them to use 'thinner' to get it lit faster.

"The explosion happened when the teacher poured thinner onto the flames a second time. Three students and I were badly injured in the incident, while the teacher was also scalded," he said when met at his home at Bandar Tun Razak here.

The injured were sent to the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Hospital by teachers at the school.

Mohd Hidayat was scalded in the legs and hands and received out-patient treatment together with the teacher, while his three colleagues were warded at the same hospital.

Cheras deputy police chief Supt Abd Rahim Hamzah confirmed receiving a report on the incident and the case was being investigated.

Britain's Young Royal Couple Attracts Crowd To KLCC Park

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 (Bernama) -- More than 3,000 people thronged the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) Park this morning for a glimpse of Britain's young royal couple Prince William and his wife Catherine.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who arrived at 10.30am, were greeted by cheers from the public who arrived as early as 8am waving the Malaysian and British flags.

The pair were taken in a buggy from the KLCC shopping mall to the park, located in the shadows of the famed Petronas Twin Towers, where they then proceeded to shake hands and wave to the crowd.

The sounds of the 'kompang' and cultural performances by the National Arts and Culture Department (JKKN) enlivened the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, Catherine, who looked resplendent in a knee-length pearl white gown, wowed the crowd beside her handsome prince who wore a dark blue suit.

Prince William and Catherine, who is fondly known as Kate, were never short of smiles for the public and received roses from their admirers.

Priyenshar Sebastian, 19, who waited at the park since 8am with her friend Sangeeta Arokiasamy, 22, said words could not describe how happy she was to see the royal couple.

The HELP Institute student did not mind following Prince William and Kate as they walked along the park.

"Although we did not get a chance to shake their hands, we are happy and feel that this experience is surreal. Luckily we got a picture of them," said Priyenshar who wore earrings the shape of the British flag.

Scottish national, Lynn Maitland, 40, said she was ecstatic to have shaken hands and had a small chat with the couple.

"I am shaking, I can't describe my feelings. I never got the chance to get this close to the royal couple and they asked me and my friends a few questions about where am I staying here and my husband's workplace.

"William is so kind and Kate is so beautiful and she took the flowers we gave. We are so lucky to be standing at this spot," said Maitland who has lived in Malaysia for six years to accompany her Petronas-employed husband.

Adam Danish Iman Khuzaiman, 10, a Primary Four student at Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Tun Dr Ismail 1 expressed his delight at being chosen to follow the school's 147-person entourage to the KLCC Park.

As a fan of the royal couple, he watched the wedding on television last year and could not wait to recount his experience to his friends and parents at home.

Accompanying teacher, Nur Halim Ahmad, 26, shared the same sentiment as other fans, adding they were at the park since 9.30am.

"Part of our group was made up of members of the school's Theatre Club and we were invited by the JKKN. I'm happy to be able to come along and get a live view of the couple," he said.

Earlier, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited the Asy-Syakirin Mosque at the end of the park and were welcomed by Federal Territories Religious Department (Jawi) director Datuk Che Mat Che Ali.

Kate donned a white scarf and her husband later signed a visitor's book before entering the prayer hall to hear the Al-Quran being recited and watch people perform ablution.

The couple, who toured the mosque, commended the design and structure of the mosque officated by the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, on Aug 26, 2011.

Meanwhile, in SEPANG, Prince William and Kate left for Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, one of the chosen states during their official four-day visit as Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to Malaysia which began yesterday.

The couple departed from the KL International Airport Bunga Raya Complex at 4.45pm.

In Kota Kinabalu, they will be feted in a ceremony organised by the state government tonight and are scheduled to visit Lembah Danum, Sabah's main tropical rainforest, tomorrow.

Yesterday, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge paid a courtesy call to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, at their official residence and had an audience with Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah and Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Hajah Haminah during a royal banquet at the Istana Negara.

Apart from mingling with the public at KLCC Park, the couple also visited Hospis Malaysia, a charity organisation that offers professional palliative care to patients with life-limiting illness.

Malaysia is their second stop after Singapore on their nine-day tour to South-East Asia and the Asia Pacific, representing Queen Elizabeth II in conjunction with the celebration to mark the 60-year reign of the British monarch.

Prince William and Kate are scheduled to leave for the Solomon Islands on Sunday to continue their tour.

Will death in police custody become the norm?

(Malaysiakini) Penang Suaram has expressed concern that the absence of police action on deaths in their custody will result in more of such cases taking place in the future.

The human rights NG0's state-based coordinator Lee Hui Fei (left) said the problem may be so rampant that it becomes a "norm" in the country.

Since last year, Lee said, 10 people have died in custody while 25 others perished as a result of police shooting.

She said the existence of the 1958 Lock-up Procedures Act lays the responsibility on the police to ensure that detainees remain well and healthy.

However, Suaram has been receiving complaints about incidents of police torture and abuses, filthy lock-up conditions, midnight or early dawn interrogations, Lee told a press conference in George Town yesterday .

"Police cannot escape their responsibilities when a death in custody case occurs.

"If this situation continues, with more and more people dying in the hands of police and with no investigation or follow-up conducted, we worry that such human rights abuses will become widespread," she added.

She was speaking during a session in Komtar where the family of Cheah Chin Lee, who died in the police lock-up last month, submitted a memorandum to Suhakam commissioner Muhammad Sha'ari Abdullah.

The meeting was hosted by state executive councillor Chow Kon Yeow, who is also Tanjung MP and state DAP chief.

Suhakam roped in to assist

Cheah's mother Lim Gaik Suan and aunt Leanne (above, right) complained to Muhammad Sha'ani about police inaction and the absence of information on how Cheah died after only 20 minutes in the lock-up.

He was arrested on Aug 13 for suspected motorcycle robbery and was found dead "by aphyxsia from hanging" in the Tanjong Tokong police station lock-up.

George Town OCPD Gan Kong Meng denied any police cover-up and said an inquest on Cheah's death would be pursued upon the police getting the forensic and chemist reports.

Urging Suhakam to set up a public inquest into the untimely death of the 36-year-old furniture worker, Lee said the inquest should also determine whether the police had complied with their standard operating procedures in this instance.

"There is also a need to find out if there was any human rights abuse," she said. "We must find ways to ensure the security of detainees so that there will be no more mysterious deaths in the police lock-up."

Also yesterday, in Simpang Renggam, Johor, another family had lodged a report over the suspicious death of P Chandran, 47, in the lock-up of the Dang Wangi district police station in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.

Chandran's brother Gunalan, who lodged the report at the Simpang Renggam police station, said there were discrepancies over the time of the lorry driver's death, as well as unexplained wounds in several parts of his body.

Rise of Hinduism in USA. Is a Hindu USA upcoming?

A majority of Indian Americans identify as Hindus, concluded a Pew report released last week. Seen above are idols at a San Francisco Bay area-based Hindu temple.

Rise of Hinduism in USA

Pew Report Highlights Rise of Hinduism in U.S.

United States. One in 10 Asian Americans identify themselves as Hindus, concluded the results of a report on Asian Americans and their religious affiliations, released July 19 by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

Hindus and Buddhists counted together represent two percent of the overall population, the same share as Jews.

Ninety percent of Hindu Americans believe there is more than one way to interpret the tenets of their faith, and the majority celebrate both Hindu holidays like Diwali as well as Christmas, noted the report, titled: “Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths.” The report lacked much novel information, and re-stated largely-held beliefs about Indian Americans and their religious practices.

Most Asian American Buddhists and Hindus maintain traditional religious beliefs and practices. Two-thirds of Buddhists surveyed believe in ancestral spirits, while three-quarters of Hindus keep a shrine in their home, concluded the report, adding however that 30 percent of the Hindus surveyed and 20 percent of Buddhists report having attended religious services of another faith, outside of special occasions such as weddings or funerals.

U.S. Buddhists and Hindus tend to be inclusive in their understanding of faith. Most Buddhists and Hindus, for instance, reject the notion that their religion is the one true faith and say instead that many religions can lead to eternal life, or in the case of Buddhists, to enlightenment, noted the survey.

The 182-page report focused on the four major religious groups of Asian Americans: Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and the religiously unaffiliated. Muslims compromise an additional four percent of Asian Americans, but their numbers in the survey were too small to include in the analysis, said an introduction to the report.

Libya makes arrests over Benghazi attack

Officials say "four men are in custody" suspected of having links to killing of US ambassador and three embassy staff.

Libyan authorities have made four arrests in the investigation into the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi in which the US ambassador and three embassy staff were killed, the deputy interior minister said.

"Four men are in custody and we are interrogating them because they are suspected of helping instigate the events at the US consulate," Wanis Sharif told the Reuters news agency on Thursday.

He gave no further details.

US ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans died after the gunmen attacked the US consulate and a safe house refuge in the eastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday night.

The attackers were part of a mob blaming America for a film they said insulted the Prophet Mohammad.

Demonstrators attacked the US embassies in Yemen and Egypt on Thursday in protests against the film, and American warships were moved closer to Libya.

Barack Obama, the US president, has vowed to bring to justice those responsible for the Benghazi attack, which US officials said may have been planned in advance. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington had nothing to do with the video, which she called "disgusting and reprehensible".

'Big advance'

A "big advance" has been made in the probe into the deadly attack, Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagur told the AFP news agency in an exclusive interview.

"We have made a big advance," Abu Shagur said in his first interview since his election as premier on Wednesday night.

"We have some names and some photographs. Arrests have been made and more are under way as we speak."

The new prime minister did not elaborate on how many suspects were in custody or what groups, if any, they were connected to.

"We don't want to categorise these people until we know all the facts," he said.

Sharif was similarly reticent about going into details when he spoke to AFP earlier on Thursday.

"The interior and justice ministries have begun their investigations and evidence gathering and some people have been arrested," he said.

Initial reports said Stevens and the three other Americans were killed by a mob outside the consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday as they tried to flee an angry protest against a US-produced movie deemed offensive to Islam.

But it is now believed Stevens died from smoke inhalation after becoming trapped in the compound when suspected Islamic militants fired on the building with rocket-propelled grenades and set it ablaze.

US officials are investigating the possibility that the assault was a plot by al-Qaeda affiliates or sympathisers, using the protest against the film as a cover to carry out a co-ordinated revenge attack on Tuesday's anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US.

Libyan authorities initially pointed a finger of blame at supporters of Muammar Gaddafi, who was ousted and slain in an uprising last year that was backed by NATO air power, and at al-Qaeda.

But Abu Shagur played down the al-Qaeda line.

"We don't have any proof as yet of an al-Qaeda presence as an organisation in Libya," although "some youths have been influenced by the extremist ideology of al-Qaeda," he said.

Abu Shagur said "extremists" were a tiny minority in Libya who "do not number more than 100 or 150," whereas most of the youth in the country were moderates.

The attack on the US consulate was "a cowardly, criminal and terrorist act," he said, adding it was "isolated, not representing a phenomenon in Libyan society and it will not have negative consequences with our allies" who backed the revolution.

He did not have confirmation that the US was sending two warships off the Libyan coast. "But we will not accept anyone entering inside Libya. That would infringe on sovereignty and we will refuse," the prime minister said.

A decision to deploy a team of 50 US Marines was taken "in co-ordination with Libyan authorities," he added. They would guard the US embassy in Tripoli and two diplomatic residences.

Source:Al Jazeera and agencies

Mengapa 4 tahanan ISA enggan jumpa peguam?

Peguam: Isteri tahanan ISA diugut, visa bakal tamat

BBC is full of liberals afraid to mock Islam (says veteran of the BBC)

Roger Bolton said BBC bosses were out of touch with the public

A respected BBC broadcaster has claimed television is dominated by ‘liberal sceptical humanists’ who laugh

at Christianity but are afraid to mock Islam.

Roger Bolton, a former editor of Panorama, said an obsession with human rights over religious beliefs had left corporation bosses out of touch with the public.

In the modern culture of broadcasting, Mr Bolton said anyone who opposed gay marriage or IVF was treated as a ‘lunatic’ if it was because of their religious beliefs.

He added: ‘The default position in broadcasting is always, it’s a question of human rights and how can they do it.’

Mr Bolton said it had got to a point where audiences thought it was ‘fun’ to mock Christianity but would not dare laugh at jokes about Islam.

He said in the last few years ‘something went wrong with the BBC’s religious programming’ and questioned whether it was ‘fit for purpose’.

Mr Bolton presented Sunday, Radio 4’s main programme for religious news and current affairs, for 12 years until 2010.

Now the presenter of Radio 4’s Feedback show, he made his comments at the BBC’s Re:Think festival in Salford, when he gave a speech and sat on a discussion panel.

He said that Christians wanted a ‘level playing field’ when being laughed at rather than being ‘singled out’. And he added that those who raised the matter of religion felt other faiths did not ‘have to put up with what Christianity does’.

‘It is perfectly alright to make any joke you like about Christianity,’ he said. ‘You try to make a joke about Muslims, or Jews, or about Sikhs.’

Issues are too often seen purely in terms of human rights, he said.

‘At least there should be an effort to people to say that just because someone opposes gay marriage, just because someone opposes IVF, doesn’t mean they are a lunatic, it is out of their beliefs.’

A spokesman said BBC religion and ethics airs a variety of programmes that reflect society's relation to religion today

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2202379/BBC-liberals-afraid-mock-Islam-says-veteran-BBC.html#ixzz26NoFTCet

‘Liberal sceptical humanists tend to dominate television,’ he said. ‘But they are not, I believe, representative of the country.’

He added: ‘I believe it is no coincidence that the last three BBC heads of religious broadcasting left their jobs to various degrees disillusioned with the corporation’s treatment of religion and ethics

But Mr Bolton also said: ‘What I do now think is that Muslims in particular ought to be mature enough in this country to take that humour and that Christians do have a right on their side when they say the satire applied to them ought to be applied to others.’

The BBC’s head of religion and ethics, Aaqil Ahmed, a Muslim, said it was a ‘complicated’ situation, adding that things ‘took time to evolve’ and newer communities had not had their religion ‘ridiculed’ for as long as others had been.

A BBC spokesman said: ‘This is an incorrect view of BBC religious and ethics programming.

‘As well as observing major religious festivals across TV and radio, BBC religion and ethics provide over 170 hours of programmes ranging from Songs of Praise to documentary series, such as Dead Good Job, Divine Women, The Life of Muhammad, as well as topical debate such as The Big Questions.

‘These provide the audience with a rich mix of programmes that reflect society’s relation to religion today.’

US Ambassador to Libya Was Raped Before He Was Tortured, Killed #SAVAGE

The Lebanon report on the murdered U.S. ambassador, Christopher Stevens, in Libya remains unconfirmed by the AFP. 

==============================================

The horror is unimaginable. The world "radically transformed" by Obama.
And more gruesome then Obama's lethal delusions is the diversion he is attempting to create using Mitt Romney. Obama and his media jackals are attacking Romney for his much needed and proper criticism of Obama's epic failing in handling this unfolding crisis of war. The Obama administration apologized for "religious incitement" when the Egyptian emabassy was attacked. It's all the enemedia jackals are talking about, not Obama's epic fail, but the timing of Romney's remarks.
Obama's sharia spring sacrificing soldiers, diplomats and ambassadors. Obama sanctioned the brutal sodomy of Gaddafi, something that would never have happened under Bush.
White House condemns ........ film.

Below is the rough (Google) translation.

Sources AFP that "the U.S. ambassador to Libya was raped sexually before killing by gunmen who stormed the embassy building in Benghazi last night to protest against the film is offensive to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)," The sources said that "Ambassador was killed and representation of his body in a manner similar to what happened with Gaddafi, such as murder. "

"Lebanese paper report - Murdered U.S. Ambassador to Libya reportedly raped"   Washington Times

Hat tip Big Fur Hat? Big Fur Hat September 12, 2012 /Tayyar/News/PoliticalNews/

According to the Lebanese news organization Tayyar.org, citing AFP news sources, U.S. ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens, who was killed by gunmen that stormed the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on Tuesday, was reportedly raped before being murdered. A google translation of the report says : 

A news report made by the Libyan Free Press is also reporting that Ambassador Stevens was sodomized before he was killed:
"Libya - USA Ambassador in Bengazi sodomized and killed by his own al-Qaeda puppets."

Putrajaya lists homosexual ‘symptoms’ to prevent spread among schoolchildren

2 KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 — Putrajaya has endorsed a list of identifiable gay and lesbian traits to schools and parents to prevent the spread of the phenomenon among teenagers, especially students, according to media reports.

The list published today by the Chinese-language Sin Chew Daily says that gay men have muscular bodies and like to show off by wearing V-neck and sleeveless clothes, prefer tight and light-coloured clothing, are attracted to men and like to carry big handbags similar to those used by women.

Lesbians are said to be attracted to women, like to eat, sleep and hang out in the company of other women and have no affection for men, according to the report, which quoted the guidelines published by the Yayasan Guru Malaysia Bhd and Putrajaya Consultative Council of Parents and Teachers Associations.

Deputy Education Minister Mohd Puad Zarkashi (picture) said few people understood or knew the early “symptoms” of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community to prevent its spread.

"The time has come for the LGBT issue to be discussed openly and not seen as a "taboo"," Bernama quoted him as saying after launching the Parents Handling LGBT Issues seminar in Penang yesterday.

Puad said the ministry took a serious view of the LGBT issue and did not want it to start in schools as it could lead to bigger problems if not contained.

"In our country, there are signs of support among certain parties to the Seksualiti Merdeka movement whose objectives are to defend the LGBT community on human rights grounds," he said.

He reminded parents to monitor their children's activities especially those surfing the Internet, so that they are not influenced by websites and social medias run by LGBT supporters.

Homosexuality has long been considered taboo by Malaysia's dominant Malay community, which professes that it is against the teachings of Islam. Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad sacked his then deputy, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, on charges of sodomy and abuse of power in 1998, saying such behaviour is unacceptable for a Malaysian leader.

Anwar went free six years later after the sodomy conviction was overturned. He fought off a similar charge earlier this year.

But Putrajaya's latest move against homosexuality started last year when the annual human rights event, Seksualiti Merdeka, was banned by the Home Ministry.

The sexuality rights festival, which would have seen the hosting of forums, theatre, musical performances and movie screenings, was branded by the mainstream media as a "sex party for the LGBT community".>

In April, Jaringan Melayu Malaya (JMM) used Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan's invite to officiate the event as proof that she supported LGBT rights in what can be seen as a move to discredit the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections (BERSIH) struggle before it's rally on April 28.

In July, both Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Anwar voiced their disapproval of the LGBT community.

Najib had said during an assembly of 11,000 members of mosque committees in Serdang that LGBTs were "enemies of Islam".

Anwar had testified in court that he supports discrimination against LGBTs while saying that laws would be reviewed should a Pakatan Rakyat federal government be formed.

Yesterday, the Opposition leader withdrew his lawsuit against former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan who admitted being sodomised by Anwar in lodging his police report.

Counsel Ranjit Singh said the suit was withdrawn because Anwar's reputation had been vindicated by the acquittal of his sodomy charge.

Fernandes: AirAsia ready to take on rival

The AirAsia boss says with Lion Air moving to Kuala Lumpur, the Indonesian skies are wide open.

KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes has vowed to give Indonesian rival Lion Air “a real run for their money” after it announced plans for a new low-cost carrier, a report said Thursday.

Indonesia’s PT Lion Mentari Airlines and a Malaysian partner Nadi said Tuesday their Malindo Airways would launch flights around the region from Kuala Lumpur in May, a direct assault on AirAsia’s home turf.

AirAsia has long been based near Kuala Lumpur but Fernandes recently opened a regional headquarters in Jakarta and purchased Indonesia’s Batavia Air for $80 million.

“We are thrilled that they are coming here as this means taking away capacity from Indonesia. We can give them a real run for their money in Indonesia,” he was quoted by The Edge Financial Daily as saying.

Analysts have said Malindo could threaten fast-growing AirAsia’s profit.

AirAsia’s share price dropped to an 11-month low on the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange Wednesday.

Fernandes, a former record industry executive, took over insolvent AirAsia in 2001 and quickly turned it into one of the aviation sector’s biggest success stories.

It has come to dominate budget travel in Asia with a business model based on flying into secondary airports in major cities, with their lower landing costs.

But analysts have warned that it must contend with a host of upstart challengers emboldened by Fernandes’ pioneering success.

Malindo will launch with a fleet of 12 Boeing 737s flying to regional destinations but hopes to expand to 100 planes in a decade and fly to Europe by 2015.

Lion Air is Indonesia’s largest privately run airline. Malaysia’s National Aerospace and Defense Industries (NADI), which specialises in maintenance, repair and overhaul services, will own 51 percent in the joint venture.

- AFP

Mengapa Rayer tutup kes kecurian wang?

Rayer yang juga ahli Lembaga Wakaf Hindu Negeri Pulau Pinang turut dituduh bertindak melulu di dalam badan tersebut.
UPDATED

PETALING JAYA: Pemuda MIC Pulau Pinang hari ini mempersoalkan tindakan ahli Lembaga Wakaf Hindu Negeri Pulau Pinang (PHEB) RSN Rayer yang juga Adun Seri Delima bertindak menutup kes kecurian wang di Kuil Sri Balathandayuthapani Sabtu lepas melibatkan wang sebanyak RM10,395.00.

“Kenapa RSN Rayer (gambar) mengambil kepentingan utama dalam isu kecurian ini di mana beliau telah memberikan arahan untuk menarik balik laporan polis ini.

“Adakah RNS Rayer ingin memberikan mesej bahawa kecurian duit milik tabung kuil (orang ramai) merupakan satu kesalahan yang ringan dan boleh dimaafkan secara diam-diam?

“Adakah RSN Rayer merupakan “kingmaker” dalam PHEB dengan mengambil tindakan serta berkuasa daripada pengerusi yang sedia ada?,” soal Ketua Pemuda MIC Pulau Pinang J Dhinagaran dalam satu kenyataan media hari ini.

Menurut pemimpin MIC ini dalam kes kecurian tersebut, penolong bendahari kuil tersebut telah membuat laporan di Balai Polis Pulau Tikus terhadap seorang kakitangan PHEB pada 8 September lalu tetapi terpaksa menarik balik laporan tersebut berikutan “arahan dari Rayer”.

Kes kecurian ini bukan kes yang pertama. Menurut Dhinagaran dua tahun lepas wang PHEB sebanyak RM68,000 turut dicuri.

Justeru itu, Dhinagaran (gambar) turut membidas peranan Timbalan Ketua Menteri II Dr P Ramasamy yang juga merupakan pengerusi PHEB.

“Adakah Dr P Ramasamy hanya berfungsi sebagai sebuah boneka dalam menguruskan lembaga ini? Ini kerana Rayer nampaknya lebih bertindak melulu dalam segala urusan PHEB,” kata Dhinagaran.

Ramasamy dituduh sebagai lebih menguruskan isu warga Sri Lanka berbanding rakyat Pulau Pinang.

Ketua Menteri Lim Guan Eng turut digesa oleh Pemuda MIC Pulau Pinang agar mengambil tindakan terhadap Rayer.

“Di bawah pemerintahan Kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat Negeri Pulau Pinang yang mengamalkan prinsip kecekapan, kebertanggungjawapan dan ketelusan, apakah tindakan susulan oleh YB Lim Guan Eng terhadap RSN Rayer yang telah campurtangan dalam masalah ini?,” soal beliau.

Sementara itu, Rayer mengakui bahawa beliau menasihatkan ahli jawatankuasa kuil tersebut berdasarkan faktor kemanusiaan dan belas kasihan.

“Tertuduh tertangkap ketika melakukan jenayah tersebut dan meletakkan jawatan serta-merta. Wang yang dicuri juga diperolehi semula,” jelas Rayer.

Beliau turut menyatakan bahawa pihaknya tidak mahu memanjangkan kes menerusi proses mahkamah.

Tackling commercial crimes: ‘Success rate average’

Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar says the Commercial Crime Department needs to be beefed up to combat such crimes.

PETALING JAYA: The success rate of tackling commercial crimes is only “average”, Inspector- General of Police Ismail Omar said today.

He admitted that his force needed to beef up its Commercial Crime Department to combat rising commercial crimes, while attention should also be given to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

“If you ask me, I would say it’s average,” he said when asked what was the success rate of the police’s commercial crime fight at an event on corporate crime here.

“But my answer is, I would want to beef it [this department] up,” he said, adding that he personally felt crime in commerce is “not that bad”.

Ismail said his men have the necessary credentials in the commercial crime sector, but the challenge lies in the “accumulating” workload.

He added that more men should be placed in the Commercial Crime Department.

Opposition leaders have in the past accused the police of poor management over their resources, with most of the money and manpower slotted for political-related “national security” rather than crime fighting.

If voted into power, Pakatan Rakyat vowed to reform the police force and redistribute its resources to combating crime including commercial ones.

Perception towards the government’s anti-crime policies has been poor, with Ismail himself admitting that the majority of Malaysians found police success in bringing down criminals unconvincing.

But he maintained that crime is dropping, blaming the negative perception on the media instead.

However, Ismail also said that the police must put more effort to manage the poor public views on the state’s anti-crime efforts, but urged voters to “look at other indicators” to see their success.

‘Beaten every day for 60 days’

When you are beaten for 60 days straight, your innocence no longer matters to you, says an ex-ISA detainee.

KUALA LUMPUR: A former detainee under the Internal Security Act (ISA), Fadzullah Razak, recalls with bitterness the day the prime minister announced the repeal of the act exactly one year ago.

“When we found out the ‘amazing’ news through NST and Utusan – the only newspapers detainees are provided with – everyone was shocked and in disbelief, even the detention staff,” Fadzullah told a press conference here today.

“My fellow detainees were so happy; some were jumping with joy, others rolled around on the floor. You’d find people celebrating in all sorts of manner.

“But I told them: ‘Don’t believe it, as the government has never been sincere about it’,” said Fadzullah.

His scepticism on that day is apparently not unfounded – although exactly one year has passed since Najib Tun Razak’s much-anticipated announcement, 30 detainees remain in the Kamunting detention centre under a now-defunct act that allows for detention without trial.

After a new bill was tabled to replace the ISA this year, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein had ignored calls for the detainees’ immediate release and instead said he would personally look through each case to determine their fate.

Fadzullah himself was only released last month, along with 11 other detainees, after spending two years there for allegedly having links with terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah – links that had never been proven in court.

“The situation in the centre was extremely stressful – imagine knowing the ISA had been abolished, but you’re still stuck there as political hostages,” said Fadzullah.

“We’re talking about innocent people here; people who had never been charged in court. How can we accept our fate, as we had not done anything wrong?”

He said the police would tell the ISA detainees to simply resign themselves to their fate – a task that he said was far easier said than done.

Beatings, bribery and threats

Fadzullah explained that before detainees were brought to Kamunting, they were first “tortured” for 60 days at a police remand centre (PRC) until they confess their crimes.

“Torture, sexual humiliation, 60 days of beatings… It’s impossible [in that situation] for you to say, ‘I’m innocent.’ You just want it to stop,” he said.

“So whether you’re guilty or not, you confess,” he said.

Fadzullah said he knew of a 19-year-old detainee who, unable to withstand the torture, had strangled himself with a towel.

He also said that even though the violence stops once detainees are taken to the centre, the officers resort to threats and bribery to elicit cooperation.

“The officers threaten us all the time. They say things like: we can have you released early. So the detainees will just follow orders,” he recalled.

But when inspectors from the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) visited the centre, Fadzullah said, the officers would bribe the detainees with meals from fast-food outlet McDonald’s.

“Whenever the inspectors come to see us, the officers would observe from behind to see who would dare to become a whistleblower,” he said.

“It’s all just a game to them.”

Situation worsens for remaining detainees

Meanwhile, lawyer Farida Mohammad said that she had visited several of the remaining detainees yesterday, and had found that their situation was worsening.

She said that one of the detainees, Razali Kassan, was suffering from kidney problems and was forced to purchase his own meals at the centre as the doctor had advised him to avoid oily foods.

“This doesn’t make sense at all. He is being detained there; the centre should be providing him with the right food, not forcing him to buy his own meals,” she said.

She also revealed that teacher Bakar Baba, who was ironically detained two months after the ISA’s repeal was announced, is now jobless.

“His family received a letter from the Education Ministry that he has been sacked. And since he received the letter two months late, he has passed the deadline for the appeal,” said Farida.

But she said that Bakar was not giving up and had appealed to the ministry to have his job reinstated, despite not knowing when he would ever be released from the detention centre.

Bring back the multi racial national schools of the yester years.

Senator S.Ramakrishnan, 13/9/2012

Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin unveiled the country's new education blueprint aimed at revamping the education system into one that is supposed to produce global players. While the attempt to revamp is a welcomed one but the movers who are supposed to shift the current system and implement the new dynamic education system seem to be the same people whose actions and inactions deteriorated the current system. Will the hardliners both at the political and bureaucracy level allow the smooth liberalization and transformation of the new system? Will Perkasa and the like allow the decentralization of school authorities, depolarization in schools and liberalization in religious education in the current system?

All the previous attempts like the implementation of smart schools and the teaching of maths and science in English have been waste of billions of ringgit. Malaysia never lacked good laws, policies and plans but the implementation is where the flip flop, changing of goal post and the half hearted execution leading to the current quagmire in the education system.

In 2006, a national education blueprint 2006-2010 was released by the then prime minister Tun Abdullah Badawi to bring about revolution in education. The Blueprint goals was to establishing a National Pre-School Curriculum, setting up 100 new classes for students with special needs, increasing the percentage of single-session schools to 90% for primary schools and 70% for secondary schools, and decreasing class sizes in primary schools and in secondary schools by the year 2010. Are they achieved? Did the 2006 blueprint address the problem of racial polarization in schools as envisaged? Taking into consideration the religious fervor in the education system, can the system be ever reformed by the same staff who allowed the religiosity to take root?

Now the 2012 national education blueprint was released by Datuk Najib Tun Razak to make 11 strategic and operational shifts to transform the country's education system. Will it face the same predicament as the earlier ones? Unless the ministry of education makes a structural overhaul, recruiting multi racial talents with wide experience from different backgrounds, transformation may not be possible.

One generation of good and effective headmasters were replaced with mediocre performers. The same mediocre headmasters and ministry officials are given the responsibility to bring about transformation in schools. The comments from teachers indicate that they don’t have confidence in their heads to give fair assessment. For transformation to take place all selection and decision making bodies in education ministry be made multi racial and multi lingual in view of the fact that we have Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese, Tamil and agama schools. The imbibing of critical thinking and analytical discourse must start from teachers themselves.

Minister of education should set up a team to study the underlying reason as to why the non Malay students shun national schools and prefer vernacular schools? Despite the highest spending on education, Malaysia doesn’t have much to show in terms of achievements and results. Achievers must be rewarded and recruited into civil service regardless of race and religion to bring about genuine transformation.


IS MALAYSIA BECOMING A NATION OF FAKES
By Senator S.Ramakrishnan

National leadership is all about sacrifices in the interests of the nation and it should not be driven by selfish motives to enrich the Barisan leaders and cronies.

It’s unfortunate that the current leadership is being tainted with corruption scandals to stay in power at all costs. Using Government funds to deceive the public is unforgiveable.

The Barisan Government has spent hundreds of millions using overseas PR agents and local firms to spin stories to make it look good. UMNO has engaged bloggers and cyber troopers to deceive the public.
It is evidently clear the pseudo spinning by Barisan is visible in the social media. There is plethora of fake stories, fake tweets, fake statistics, fake electoral rolls, fake ICs, fake citizenship and fake photos.

The Najib administration has spent about RM100 million in improving its image through APCO and other overseas public relations agencies.

To use Bernama or the local mainstream media in the PR campaign to boost the waning popularity of Barisan Government is a desperate attempt to gain voters in the next General Election.

A leader’s weakest point is his vanity. It is for this reason the Najib administration (PM's Office) has spent hundreds of millions on public relations and image consultants to paint a rosy picture of the Government.

The international media has exposed some of these foreign PR consultants faking as commentators, journalists and columnists. Unfortunately, some are under investigation and some fired in their own countries.

The Barisan has to learn something that is basic. When voters suspect the usage of fake, false and flimsy spin in the media, the voters are not going to believe them. As result Barisan will suffer a credibility crisis as it is experiencing now.

Recently, Bernama faked the attendance of the crowd in PM's house. The more one looks at the photo it is clear that it is doctored. For example, the depth perception of the people in the foreground (lighter shade) and the people in the background (darker shade) simply don't match. The spin doctors seem to have overlooked the fact that this doctored picture was for PMO use only as the digital print shows.

The giveaway easy to recognise the feature is the people in the background look "flatish" or two dimensional whereas the people in the foreground shows a bit of the 3rd dimension. The size correlation of the people under the flag -the two men vs the two mak chik is completely out although they stood practically side by side.


And despite hasty denials by the national news agency Bernama that the photo had been altered, critics believe the incident will boomerang and make the already upset colleagues in UMNO even more "hopping mad" at the latest attempt to pull wool over their eyes.

What Malaysians cannot understand is why Najib and his spin doctors are turning to doctored photos to mislead deceive and creatively doctor pictures to show support of Malaysians.

So, what's the truth? Is Najib a crowd puller? If so why are people being paid from taxpayer’s money for creating bigger attendance at all Najib events? In addition, they are also being ferried, given nasi bungkus, souvenirs, T-shirts, hampers, rice bags, pocket money etc.

Senator S.Ramakrishnan
8/9/2012


BERNAMA’s rebuttal hints picture doctored
By Senator S.Ramakrishnan
Bernama’s denial is shocking because The Star staff themselves were embarrassed for the exaggeration in number of people present in the Prime Minister’s house.

I challenge Bernama to show a video of post it on Youtube showing the number of people and that particular scene because Bernama also had its TV station covering the event.

If the event had such a mammoth crowd I am certain Bernama’s TV cameraman would have captured the typical scene and broadcast it on TV. But, it was not done. Can Bernama prove it by showing the TV footage to support its denial?

The Bernama editor-in-chief admitted the photographer had used his “creativity” in capturing the picture of a crowd surging forward with cameras held ready to snap a shot of the first couple.

With all the modern state of art cameras and equipments at Bernama’s disposal doctoring the picture to depict a large crowd of well wishers with different sizes of faces from front to the background of the picture is small matter.

Now, I will state the reasons why the picture was doctored according to photographer and printing expert.

· Sri Perdana cannot hold such a large crowd (tens of thousands as indicated in The Star’s caption line) as the picture portrays a crowd of tens of thousands.

· Hari Raya open house is usually attended by the young, old and disabled on wheel chairs and this is not evident.

· In the front page picture is a sea of faces and this is not possible to be gathered in one spot on the Hari Raya day.

· Most of the youths are with cameras, there must be something more exciting than Najib.
· The pictures are doctored, primarily because some of the people in the background appear larger.

· Different pictures have been juxtaposed and superimposed in the doctoring process to create an impression of a large crowd.

· This picture does not show Najib and it is a total let down in the public relations campaign to gain supporters for the Barisan.

· A Hari Raya event would usually show Najib shaking hands and meeting the people and this is lost in this picture which The Star decided to use on the front page.

· The picture has been doctored by an amateur graphic artist who could not hide the doctoring.

· Experienced photographers too confirm that the picture is doctored. Bernama must do more than just a denial to convince Malaysians.

Senator S.Ramakrishnan

6/9/2012


BY SENATOR S.RAMAKRISHNAN

Open house concept provides many opportunities for fraud and corruption

Last week in a Press Statement, I had asked Prime Minister investigate as to whom, why and how such doctored pictures were planned to fool the masses, especially those who bought The Star and other newspapers which carried the same picture.

Until today, neither the PM nor his officials have disputed my statement on the concocted and doctored picture. Inflating the number of people coming by The Star is a serious white collar crime and the Editors must be pulled up to answer as to why they resorted to damaging the image of the PM. They have to answer to their readers who have put trust on them to deliver the news without any biased or slanted reporting.

A reader of The Star has sent me questions as the level of fraud involved in doctoring pictures. If the above is true then the objective of showing a large crowd with inflated figures could be to substantiate the inflated catering costs of the open houses. This is another form of fraud and looting of public funds which amount cannot be substantiated by any records, figures of facts that can be verified.

The open house concept has been practiced at federal, State, Ministerial, Constituency, Department, Corporate etc level. In all most all cases the costs are borne by taxpayers or shareholders/others.

Thus the present open house concept provides many opportunities for fraud and corruption and looting of public funds by those making decisions on who gets the contracts for supply of food and other infrastructure including the many entertainers.

Another undesirable effect of the open house could be the lack of interaction of rakyat on one to one basis. People have stopped going to houses of friends due to reason that the food may not be halal or beef is served.

The photos show that attendees at open houses are mainly from one race with the other races can be counted on finger tips. Thus to say that open houses show the 1M concept may be another mirage. Even at these open houses the different races do not appear to mix but stick to their own kind. Thus it may be another farce of living together and mixing but it is more like living side by side as the railway tracks.
Political leaders should stop fooling the public and themselves that the open house concept is creating 1Malaysia.

By the way another observation: It is observed that the main speeches by political leaders at the many functions appear to emphasize own political party and race related matters with little mention about the country's future. The attendees of these functions also are dressed in the dresses of their respective parties. Thus if these functions are being financed from public funds then is it not a case of using public funds for own political party campaign for the coming GE13.

It is also noticed that in independence celebration functions government leaders always stress that the independence of Malaysia was fought by a single party leaders whereas the sacrifice of communist and leftist activists will be conveniently forgotten. Truth cannot be hidden and untruth cannot survive long. Let’s build a nation that is truthful, inclusive and fair to all its citizens.

Senator S. Ramakrishnan
4/9/2012

New National Education Blueprint 2013-2025 leaves many crucial policy questions unanswered

The Preliminary Report of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 was launched with much fanfare on Tuesday. This document, written by expensive consultants at taxpayers’ expense, although seemingly comprehensive, in actual fact still leaves many crucial policy questions unanswered.

If these gaping holes are not addressed, this blueprint will suffer the same fate as all the other education blueprints that have been launched by previous Prime Ministers and Education Ministers.

Firstly, this blueprint does not contain any indication that the Ministry of Education has learnt from mistakes in the past.

Many of the initiatives announced under this new Blueprint are recycled ideas and past unfulfilled promises. For example, the Education Development Master Plan (Pelan Induk Pembangunan Pendidikan) 2006 to 2010 promised that any existing education gaps would be closed by continuing to provide necessary basic infrastructure necessities on a continuous basis.

But still, despite spending RM16 billion on physical infrastructure development from 2006 to 2010 under the 9th Malaysian Plan, there are still 1,500 (or 15%) of the 10,000 schools which do not have access to water suitable for drinking and 300 schools which still lack access to 24-hour electricity.

Today, we still hear many stories about schools promised but never built especially in the rural areas. At the same time, some poor quality schools are built at many times their cost price, to the benefit of political cronies.

In 2005, there were 2,768 schools without computer labs. In 2011, there were 2,700 schools without computer labs. In 2005, there were 1664 schools without functioning science labs. In 2011, there were 2,000 schools without functioning science labs. In other words, the number of schools without functioning science labs have actually increased by more than 300 and the number schools without computer labs decreased by only 68 despite the almost RM3 billion spent on IT and related infrastructure from 2006 to 2010 under the 9th MP.

In 2005, the SchoolNet project was supposed to have connected 9,285 schools to the internet even though only 8,900 schools had 24 hour electricity supply. Under this new blueprint, all 10,000 schools are supposed to have 4G internet access via the 1Bestarinet initiative. This project, which includes the provision of a virtual learning environment (VLE), is estimated to cost RM1.5 billion and was awarded to YTL Communications, a company with no track record for managing a project of this scale.

Without a transparent and comprehensive audit into past expenditure which failed to deliver the desired outcomes, such large scale development expenditure plans are likely to fall into the same cycle of mismanagement of resources and corruption.

Secondly, there are some serious policy omissions in this blueprint which need to be highlighted.

For example, there is scarcely any mention of any plans to strengthen the quality of teaching and infrastructure in vernacular and religious schools despite these schools having almost a quarter of total primary school enrollment.

There is no mention of any commitment on the part of the government to increase the number of vernacular and religious schools, which are in high demand in some areas, as reflected by the large class sizes, sometimes numbering more than 50 in urban areas such as Subang Jaya.

In addition, although the fact that the gender gap is widening was highlighted – including the fact that female students comprise up to 70% of incoming cohorts in some universities – there were no concrete proposals raised in order to address this very serious and growing problem. There was no mention, for example, of the incorporation of alternative teaching methods which would be more appealing to boys compared to girls, especially in areas with a higher number of boys dropping out of school.

Furthermore, despite identifying Sabah and Sarawak as having the districts with the highest number of low performing schools and pupils and also the highest number of dropouts, there were no concrete plans identified in this blueprint to tackle the unique problems faced by students in both states.

There was no mention of, for example, any strategies to target high performing Sabah and Sarawak Bumiputera natives to go back to their communities as teachers and agents for change.

Thirdly, there are some policies in this blueprint which are not ambitious enough in its scope and scale.

For example, while the policy to decentralize the scope and responsibilities of the Ministry of Education at the federal level to the state and district levels is an encouraging step, especially if capacity is also increased at the local level, this policy does not go far enough.

It does not, for example, give any leeway for the establishment of English medium schools, for example, which is a popular choice among many, especially in the urban areas.

Fourthly, specific strategies need to be identified for certain policies to work effectively.

For example, the goal of recruiting from the ranks of the top 30% of a cohort into the teaching profession is a laudable one which should have been implemented many years ago.

But according to the Ministry of Education’s own statistics, top academic performers comprised only 1% of applicants into the Bachelor of Education program in 2009 and this was only recently increased to 9% of total applicants in 2011.

To raise this figure to 30% would require pro-active strategies to target these top performers. The experience of Teach for Malaysia (TfM) to target 50 high performing fellows to become teachers for two years shows that top performers can be effectively enticed to become teachers. But without the identification of these targeting strategies, the top 30% goal will be an elusive one.

In addition, the call to recruit among the top 30% was not accompanied by the acknowledgement for the need for more aggressive recruitment strategies among the non-Bumiputeras especially in the national schools.

The Ministry’s own statistics shows that the percentage of Bumiputera teachers in national schools have increased from 78% in 2001 to 81% in 2011 while the percentage of Indian teachers have remained at 5% with the percentage of Chinese teachers dropping from 17% to 14%.

Targeting the top 30% of any cohort should result in a representative distribution of recruits. Given the current aversion of high performing non-Bumiputeras, it is disappointing that this blueprint does not outline any new recruiting strategies to overcome this historical aversion among non-Bumiputeras to see teaching as a meaningful and rewarding career.

One proposal, which DAP supports unreservedly, is the recognition of the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) for entry into public universities and the civil service, which would mean that more non-Malays who are in Chinese independent schools would be able to apply to be teachers for all subjects, and not just for Mandarin. Unfortunately, this has been totally omitted in the blueprint.

There were also no new strategies outlined in the blueprint on how to increase the appeal of vocational and technical education as attractive educational pathways.

Despite RM577 million of development expenditure pumped in during the 9th Malaysia Plan for technical and vocational education and training, the number of students enrolled in vocational education actually fell from 62,200 in 2008 to 51,500 in 2011, a fall from 2.7% to 2.2% of total students in secondary schools.

At the same time, the number of students enrolled in technical schools has barely budged, currently numbering 20,000 or less than 1% of total secondary school students.

Identifying new strategies to make technical and vocational education more attractive is key to increasing intake and will likely reduce the male dropout rate by ensuring that a larger number of males who are not ‘academically inclined’ will stay in secondary education.

Fifthly, while we welcome the commitment promised in the blueprint that the Ministry will publish annual reports to track the various KPIs and to conduct comprehensive five year reviews in 2015, 2020 and 2025, we also express our initial reservations about the seriousness of this commitment.

We have seen how the statistics and achievements announced under the Government Transformation Program (GTP) and the Economic Transformation Program (ETP) were manipulated in order to artificially boost these KPIs.

The crime figures under the GTP and the progress of selected Entry Point Projects (EPPs) are notable examples. We have seen the same propensity of grade inflation in our education system where statistics from the Examination Syndicate show that 50% of Form 5 students would have failed to achieve minimum standards in the English language Cambridge assessments compared to only 20% under the SPM examination.

If the Ministry of Education is serious in making its progress transparent, it should make detailed data publicly available including UPSR, PMR and SPM results of each primary and secondary school so that the stakeholders such as parents and academics can evaluate this progress for themselves.

There is still time for the government to address these shortcomings. If the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, who is also the Education Minister, are serious about education reform, they should address these and other shortcomings during the public consultation period before the blueprint is finalized in December.

Police to review SOP on handcuff usage

The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: Police will review the standard operating procedures (SOP) on the use of handcuffs.

Federal CID director Comm Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Zinin said this followed allegations of indiscretion on the use of handcuffs on suspects.

“We will study current guidelines on the matter,” he said at Bukit Aman yesterday.

Comm Mohd Bakri said there were instances that warranted the use of handcuffs for the safety of the suspects and the police officers.

“We will gather feedback from our officers in the field before putting the SOP in black and white,” he said.

Several parties had recently criticised the cops who handcuffed part-time model Ong Sing Yee, 19, who surrendered to the police after she was implicated in the incident where several people stepped on photographs of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak during a gathering here on the eve of Merdeka day.

The teenager and her boyfriend, Lim Kian Peng, 20, surrendered to Johor police after their pictures appeared among those who had allegedly stepped on the images.

They were released on police bail but will return for further questioning on Oct 5.

Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Gan Ping Sieu had said recently that it was unnecessary for Ong to be handcuffed as she had willingly turned herself in.

He had stressed that the SOP should be reviewed, adding that he did not blame the police officers who were trained to respond in that manner.

Gan said he would write to Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar in his capacity as deputy minister to urge him to review the current SOP.

Responding to the criticisms, city police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohmad Salleh had said handcuffing an arrested person was part of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Inter-faith group wants all religions taught in schools

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) wants the government to include a new provision in the national education policy that allows all religions to be taught in schools.

In a brief statement issued today, the inter-faith group said the call was made in a resolution proposed by the Christian Federation of Malaysia and unanimously adopted by delegates during the 30th MCCBCHST annual general meeting held on July 14.

"In its ongoing discussions with the government of Malaysia and with the Education Ministry and the education department, the MCCBCHST shall propose and put forward as part of the national education policy the provision that all religions be allowed to teach their respective scriptures in national or in government-aided schools.

“For example, the (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia) SPM Bible Knowledge in the case of the Christians,” read the statement.

It also proposed that the examinations of such subjects be prepared and graded by the respective authorities of each religion and recognised by both the Education Ministry and the education department.