Wednesday, 31 December 2014
Aceh, Islamic authorities forbid New Year celebrations
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New Year celebrations do not coincide with the Islamic calendar and are "contrary to Muslim culture". The prohibition to celebrate was issued by the mayor of Banda Aceh, and immediately supported by local authorities. Citizens of other religions "must show respect".
Jakarta (AsiaNews) - In Aceh Province - the only Indonesian province in which Sharia, or Islamic law, is implemented - New Year celebrations are banned. The prohibition was released two days ago by Illiza Sa'aduddin Djamal, mayor of Banda Aceh, who explained that Muslims are forbidden to celebrate the new year, because it does not coincide with the Islamic calendar. The ban was immediately supported by local authorities.
The celebration of the new year, she added, "is not a religious event, but just a profane and worldly event where people only enjoy the transfer of a new day with hurrahs. Cafés and night spots are told to stop their operation". For this reason, Illiza Sa'aduddin Djamal has also forbidden all religious activities.
Police have been ordered to confiscate fireworks or other such material for the festivities. "All events related to New Year celebrations are contrary to Islamic culture. Non-Muslim citizens of Banda Aceh will have to show respect".
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, is often the scene of attacks or acts of intolerance against minorities, be they Christians, Ahmadi Muslims or of other faiths. In Aceh Province - the only one in the Archipelago - Islamic law (Shari'a) is implemented, following a peace agreement between the central Government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM); in many other areas (such as Bekasi and Bogor in West Java) an increasingly radical and extreme vision of Islam is becoming prominent.
Nun pleads for Christians raped, sold, killed by ISIS
It is the season of “peace on Earth,” but Sister Hatune Dogan has a chill in her spirit that could only be felt in a time of war.
The Orthodox Christian nun feels it with each new atrocity committed against the Yazidi and Christian minorities of Syria and Iraq. She feels it in the church burnings across Egypt and the slaughter of innocent children in Pakistan.
For this reason she brought a word of warning to Americans in a visit last week to Minnesota, where she spoke to several church groups.
Today’s political climate draws her back to 1915 and her native Turkey, when her family experienced the cruelty of the Ottoman caliphate, which slaughtered 3 million Christians and reduced others to second-class status under subjugation, or “dhimmitude.”
ISIS is nothing new, she said, just the re-emergence of Islam’s dark side.
“ISIS is not fanatic. ISIS is not more terrible. ISIS is real Muslim believers who like to follow the Quran and Muhammad,” said the founder of Warburg, Germany-based Sister Hatune Foundation, a worldwide relief organization that has been honored by the German government for its dedication to human rights.
“Others say they are Muslim. They say they believe Quran, but they don’t follow it,” she said.
Armenian Christians accounted for about half of the 3 million who lost their lives in Turkey, but the other half were Christians of various ethnic backgrounds – Greek Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox and Protestants. All felt the boot of jihad against their heads.
Sister Hatune arrived last Thursday at the Atlanta airport for a stopover on her way back to Germany. She was dressed in traditional black garments and a habit covering her hair. She wore a simple wooden crucifix around her neck and carried with her a well-worn copy of the Quran, which has become her constant companion wherever she goes to teach about the current situation in the Middle East.
She believes Christians in the West should learn what is written in the Muslim holy book. If they did, they would realize that the Islamic State, also called ISIS, is not doing anything that hasn’t been done in the past by devout Muslims who have conquered a people they see as “infidels.”
Where are all the Christians?
Sister Hatune points to the fact that 96 percent of the people who populated the Middle East at the turn of the eighth century were Christian. Now, that Christian population has dwindled to 6 percent. Turkey was once almost all Christian, but now it is 0.03 percent Christian. Iraq had 1 million Christians under Saddam Hussein, but now only a few thousand remain, and the churches of Baghdad will be mostly empty this Christmas.
“Where are these Christians? Where are these people? Just ask yourself,” said the fearless nun, whose native tongue is Aramaic.
Her family initially lived in Turkey as Jews, but later her entire village converted to Christianity.
Born in 1970 the middle daughter of 10 children, Sister Hatune learned to speak 13 languages, but none make her more proud than Aramaic.
“This is the language of Jesus,” she told WND.
The Sister Hatune Foundation works in 35 countries with Matthew 25:34-40 as its mission statement – feeding, clothing, sheltering and providing medical care to the poor and persecuted of the world. She has been making regular trips to the Middle East since 2005, and ISIS presents a new challenge: trying to rescue orphaned children from its clutches.
Sister Hatune returned to her home convent in Germany for only a few days before she will make another trip to the Middle East to celebrate Christmas with persecuted Christians. She was with them in November when she visited refugee camps in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. She also sneaked into Syria to meet with Christians there.
“They need your support. Without your support they can’t continue,” she says in avideo showing her with a group of Yazidi refugees. “They live like animals. Starving. No food. Unsanitary. No one should have to live like this.”
Donate electronically to the Hatune Foundation, or send a check to Sister Hatune Foundation, Neur Weg 2, Warburg, Germany, D-34414.
It’s a plight she is all too familiar with. Her question “What happened to all the Christians?” is purely rhetorical and completely personal. Her family lived through the genocide of 1915 in Turkey, the country from which her parents fled in 1985.
Her great-aunt Sarah lived through the persecution in Zaz, a small village in southeastern Turkey, in 1915.
“She was 18 years old, very beautiful. One of the Muslim men saw her and said, ‘She is beautiful. She belongs to me,’” Sister Hatune said.
Sarah had four brothers, a mother and father, several cousins, aunts and uncles living in the village.
“Twelve in all, in October 1915, they killed in front of her eyes,” Sister Hatune said, motioning with her hands and speaking in a thick accent. “Shot them in front of her eyes.”
The operation was carried out by Islamic jihadists, both Turks and Kurds, with the blessing of the Turkish army.
“It was planned,” she said.
In all, 365 members of her family’s church, St. Demetrios, were murdered, representing about half of the village’s population.
“First they shot them. More than half were still alive so they burned them alive in the church in 1915 in my village,” she said.
Her great-grandmother had two children and was forced in 1921 to beg her Muslim masters to let her keep one of them and raise him as a Christian.
It is the same experience playing out today under ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
“The most beautiful ones they take for their wives and say ‘now you have to be Muslim,’” said Sister Hatune.
The others are forced to convert or die. Many have been slaughtered in front of their parents. She has one video smuggled out of Iraq that shows three young boys, around 5 or 6 years old, being psychologically tormented by their eventual killer.
“Tell me which one should I cut first,” the man asks them in Arabic.
A long butcher knife sits on a table beside him.
“Come put your head here,” he says, as the boys scream in terror.
They take a step back, but the confines of the small room leave nowhere to run.
When neither boy steps forward to volunteer his neck, the man yells: “Come all of you. Come all of you!”
He grabs one of the boys. The one in the white shirt. The boy screams and the other two cry.
“Are you ISIS?” the man yells over the screaming boy. “Are you ISIS?”
“No!” the boy answers through his tears.
All three were beheaded. The nun said she received the video from a relative of the three boys.
In another video, shot in 2013, three Christian priests are shown being led out into a field with their hands bound. A Muslim man wrestles one priest to the ground and slices his head off while several hundred Muslims yell: “Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!”
‘I Believe in Action’
Drawing on her own family background, Sister Hatune has recently finished work on her 13th book, “I Believe in Action,” written to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Christian genocide in Turkey. In this book she compares the life of Jesus to that of Muhammad, Islam’s main prophet.
“I not write from my head. All facts,” she said. “Muhammad came and he brought killing, beheading, pedophilia. He slept with a 9-year-old girl, he married when she was 6 years old. We know because she says it herself in the Hadith. In Yemen today, where Shariah is the law, they have to marry the girl before her first menstruation, maximum of age 13, because it is written.”
Sister Hatune thumbs through her Quran and finds another verse that she says leads Muslims to murder Christians in the Middle East.
“Twenty-five times in Quran it says to kill Christians because we are involved in polytheism,” she said, explaining that Muslims do not understand the concept of the Holy Trinity. “Also it says to not make friends with Christians.”
Europe is on its way to becoming the next battleground for Islam, especially Belgium and France, where Muslims make up 6 to 10 percent of the population. Sister Hatune’s adopted country of Germany is at least 4 percent Muslim and has more than 4,000 mosques.
“A mosque is not just for prayer,” the nun said. “It is to prepare to kill the unbeliever and control the world.”
In the Quran there are 97 verses against the unbeliever.
“And there are verses against the Christians who say God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, or that Jesus is the Son of God. They have to be beheaded, the head cut off from the neck; no other interpretation. This is what the Muslims are doing. Normal Muslims, who are really Muslims, have to follow this rule,” she said. “There will never be peace on Earth if these verses of the Quran are not stopped. It is in the Quran, Hadith and sunna 36,800 times, the words ‘cut,’ ‘kill’ or ‘attack.’ How can there be peace on Earth?”
The Quran also gives Muslim men permission to rape girls and women who are held captive as slaves (Sura 23:5-6).
In conquered cities, ISIS has marked the homes of Christians with a red symbol of the Nazarene. They are then visited by ISIS militants who bring unspeakable horrors upon the families.
Sister Hatune says it is justified under Sura 5:33 in the Quran, which states:
“Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land.”
Muslim apologists in the West say the verse is taken out of context by “Islamophobes,” but Sister Hatune believes otherwise.
“Those of us Christians from Middle East. We know them. We know their rules,” she said.
Today there are 57 Islamic countries living under Islamic law.
“Education is not allowed for the girls. The women are created for the sex for the gents,” she said. “If she becomes raped she has to bring four men with her as witness. Of course it is impossible, so she will be stoned. There are so many women and girls who die from stoning.”
Sister Hatune recalls going to school in Turkey as a young girl. Even though everyone in her village was Christian, no Christians were allowed to hold positions of authority under Islamic law, so all her teachers were Muslim. If the Christian children were caught going to church the teacher would beat them, usually by striking their hands with a metal rod.
She said the Turkish government confiscated all the guns from Christians before launching a violent jihad against them.
“Village by village they came and said, ‘If you don’t give your guns we will put you in prison for seven years,’” she said.
At the age of 14 Sister Hatune left Turkey with her parents in 1985, finding refuge in Germany. She joined a monastery there called the Sisters Serving Christ when she was 16.
“We were a rich family. They threatened my father to cut him here,” she said with a tug on the lower portion of her ear. “He run away. He said this is enough. We must leave everything and go.”
Watch video below of Sister Hatune relating her life story growing up under the “hard persecution” of the Turkish regime, which she said “pretends to be liberal” but is one of the world’s most fanatical Muslim countries.
Theodore Shoebat, son of former Palestinian terrorist-turned Christian Walid Shoebat, described Sister Hatune in a Dec. 30, 2013 article as a modern-day Mother Theresa.
“Hatune’s willingness to help the persecuted is so immense that it surpasses what anyone is doing today in the Middle East,” Shoebat wrote. “She has visited 38 countries and worked in the Ministry of Charitable and Social Service in Zimbabwe, Turkey and in India. Her righteous deeds of course receive the vociferous wrath of the jihadists, in the words of Dogan, ‘I get 18 death threats in seven languages.’”
A message for America
Sister Hatune came to America last week to seek donations for her ministry to the persecuted minorities of Iraq, Syria, Egypt and India. Most of these minorities are Christian but many in Iraq and Syria are of the ancient Yazidi sect. In one video Sister Hatune appears in a Yazidi refugee camp surrounded by families who have nothing but the clothes on their backs.
She came to America with a plea for help. But she also came with a message for Americans.
“America is inviting its own slaughterers to its door,” she said, referring to the U.S. policy of taking in Muslim refugees through the United Nations refugee program.
WND reported Dec. 11 that the U.N. has assigned 9,000 mostly Muslim refugees from Syria for resettlement in U.S. cities and towns and the U.S. has accepted nearly 2 million from Muslim countries since 1992.
“You have already a parallel society in America,” Sister Hatune said. “In 50 years they will kill your grandchildren before your eyes. The Middle East is already here. It is here. It is not far from here. It is at your door.”
That’s a message many churches in Minnesota were not ready to hear, said Debra Anderson, who heads a local chapter of ACT! For America and sponsored Sister Hatune’s recent visit.
“She wanted to do something active. She felt faith without works was dead,” Anderson said. “But it was rough trying to get her invited to speak at the churches in Minnesota. Some of it was her message. She is very critical of the Muslim governments.”
One church group that invited her to speak gave her a reception that Anderson described as “cool.”
They visited an order of Catholic nuns and “five or six of them walked out near the end of her presentation,” she said.
“Some of the photos of human suffering she showed in her presentation; I think they were really shaken,” Anderson said. “I don’t know that they had ever been challenged in their way of thinking like that. But it was all facts. We told them to check out other experts.
“But I had this one nun just interrupt me and say, ‘I am not going to listen to her anymore,’” Anderson said. “I had a hard time getting her into the churches. I really did.”
Anderson said she put out a request for speaking venues to some 800 people on her email list representing various Christian denominations.
Only a few responded with invitations.
One of the nuns from the convent in Minnesota interrupted Sister Hatune’s presentation with a specific concern.
“Sister, that’s enough,” she said, voicing her concern about a potential backlash against Muslims in the community if Sister Hatune’s documentation were to ever get widely disseminated.
But while some were repelled by the stories of thousands of girls being raped and the images of Christians being crucified by ISIS or Muslims playing soccer with the heads of their victims, others responded by coming up afterward and asking how they could get more information and possibly get involved in helping these persecuted Christians.
“My mission is to help the suffering people where they are,” Sister Hatune said. “They cannot come to me, so I go to them. One hundred percent of donations go to the suffering people. We are all volunteer. We are total independent. We have no big donor now. I wish. We have two fish and five loaves, and God is multiplying.”
The work is carried out by 5,000 volunteers with no paid staff, Sister Hatune said.
An elderly German man left the Orthodox nun a small stipend to live on when he died. She pays out of her own pocket for travel, or has a sponsor pay for her flight, as was the case with her trip to Minnesota.
Now she is making plans to return to the Middle East for Christmas, hoping to bring some gifts for children.
One of those who heard her message asked her if she was afraid.
“Everyone has fear,” Sister Hatune said. “But I am called to show solidarity. You do that, not with talk, but with action, with duty. Jesus is my body guard.”
The nun says Islamic culture is basically “like a dog,” in that it must be confronted. If there is a void or a weakness in the Christian culture, the Muslims will sense that weakness and continue to march through and intimidate the native culture.
“You cannot be afraid of Islam culture,” she said. “If you run, they will come after you like dog culture. You must stand your ground. I don’t say fight. I say resist. I say to them, ‘Stop. I don’t want you. I have my own God.’ They come here thinking to conquer the country. If they don’t accept the American way of life, go back to your home. The government has to understand this.”
Cops hack 9,000 porno Twitter accounts in Saudi
Arrested many owners
By 24/7
Saudi Arabia’s feared religious police smashed nearly 9,000 Twitter porno accounts and arrested many of their owners within a crackdown against vice in the conservative Gulf kingdom, newspapers reported on Tuesday.
The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said it joined hands with some “ethical hackers” to locate those accounts and identify their owners.
“The Commission members have succeeded in hacking Twitter porno accounts, shutting them and arresting some of their owners over the past period,” a Commission spokesman said without specify that period.
He said raids by Commission members also resulted in the arrest of many Saudis and expatriates involved in booze parties, vice and gambling.
Saudi Arabia’s feared religious police smashed nearly 9,000 Twitter porno accounts and arrested many of their owners within a crackdown against vice in the conservative Gulf kingdom, newspapers reported on Tuesday.
The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said it joined hands with some “ethical hackers” to locate those accounts and identify their owners.
“The Commission members have succeeded in hacking Twitter porno accounts, shutting them and arresting some of their owners over the past period,” a Commission spokesman said without specify that period.
He said raids by Commission members also resulted in the arrest of many Saudis and expatriates involved in booze parties, vice and gambling.
Flight QZ8501 relatives distraught as bodies found in sea
Relatives of passengers on AirAsia flight QZ8501 began crying hysterically and fainting today as Indonesian television footage showed a body floating in the sea during aerial searches for the plane.At least two distraught family members were carried out on stretchers from the room where they had been waiting for news in Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city – the take-off point for the aircraft that disappeared during a storm on Sunday.
"My heart will be totally crushed if it's true. I will lose a son," 60-year-old Dwijanto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP.
More than 48 hours after the Airbus A320-200 lost contact carrying 162 people to Singapore, aerial searchers spotted items in the Java Sea which officials said were from the plane. Soon after, they began recovering dozens of bodies.
As the first body was shown floating in the water on rolling television news, relatives burst into tears and hugged one another amid cries for more ambulances, said an AFP reporter at the scene.
One man covered his face and had to be held up by two other men before he fainted and was taken out by stretcher. Another woman was screaming and crying as she was supported by the mayor of Surabaya.
A female AirAsia officer shouted at the television media for showing footage of a floating body, while about 200 journalists were barred from the room holding the families, the windows of which were boarded up.
"Is it possible for you not to show a picture of the dead? Please do not show a picture of a dead body," said the officer. "That's crazy."
Munif, a 50-year-old whose younger brother Siti Rahmah was on the plane, said he had been trying hard to keep the other families calm.
"But the atmosphere was very different after the footage of a dead body was shown. Families became hysterical," he said.
"Because everyone was wailing and yelling, I couldn't deal with it so I decided to leave the room."
In Malaysia, families of those on the MH370 flight that went missing without a trace in March hoped those lost in the latest tragedy could at least have a proper burial.
"The families can now have a closure and have a peace of mind which I am dying for," said Selamat Omar, whose 29-year-old son was on the Malaysia Airlines plane. – AFP, December 30, 2014.
Perkasa mulls suit against G25 for ‘baseless allegations’
Upset at being criticised, right-wing group Perkasa is planning to sue the 25 prominent Malays who signed an open letter appealing for rational discourse on Islam, or at the very least, the group's vocal spokesperson, former diplomat Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin.The 25, who are retired civil servants and influential leaders, had called for an end to extremist views that spread racial and religious discord, and some members, in individual comments to the media, had also singled out groups like Perkasa and Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) for politicising Islam.
Perkasa secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali told The Malaysian Insider that they were making preparations to sue Noor Farida for her baseless allegations against the group.
"We are not going to be lenient anymore. We will take action against any party who makes baseless allegations against Perkasa."
Noor Farida, in an interview with The Malaysian Insider, had said the erosion of Malay rights that Perkasa and Isma claimed was "all in their imagination".
She also explained her fear that Malaysia could one day end up like "another Pakistan and Afghanistan" where religious extremism had scared the moderates and professionals into leaving the country.
Some of the other signatories, like retired Court of Appeal judge Datuk Seri Shaikh Daud Md Ismail, had also expressed concerns that Putrajaya was not doing enough to check extremists rhetoric in the country.
The open letter had asked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to address religious and racial tension and exercise leadership in guiding Malaysia back to moderation.
Syed Hassan said Perkasa would never acknowledge the letter's signatories, now dubbed as the Group of 25 (G25), as they did not represent the Malay community.
"Perkasa will not acknowledge this Group of 25 as a representative of the Malays.
"It is up to the G25 to also say that Perkasa does not represent the Malays, but at least we have more than 500,000 Malays as our members," he said.
Perkasa's possible legal action against Noor Farida or all 25 signatories comes after the Malay-rights pressure group's president, Datuk Ibrahim Ali, filed a defamation suit against English language daily Star Publications Bhd and its chief executive officer Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai.
Ibrahim is suing Wong over an opinion piece on the Perkasa chief's call for Malays to burn Bibles with the word "Allah".
Ibrahim had also called the G25 members "cowards" for criticising Malay-rights groups like Perkasa and Isma.
"They are only attacking the Malays. Why are they not saying anything on the non-Malay groups and the others who have criticised Islam and the Malay rulers?" Ibrahim had said at Perkasa's annual general assembly in Kuala Lumpur on December 14.
He also decried the letter and the views of the G25 as "Malay liberals" who were a threat to Islam.
“In 2015, we will be haunted by issues involving Islam’s defence. Malay liberals have now replaced those who want to destroy Islam,” Ibrahim said, adding that what they saw as "extremism" was actually "Islam's rules" and "God's law".
Amid worsening race and religious relations in Malaysia, the G25 had published an open letter on December 8 asking for a rational dialogue on the position of Islam and Islamic law in a constitutional democracy.
"Given the impact of such vitriolic rhetoric on race relations and the political stability of this country, we feel it is incumbent on us to take a public position," said Noor Farida, a former Malaysian ambassador to the Netherlands, in a statement issued on behalf of the 25 signatories.
The letter decried the "lack of clarity and understanding" on the place of Islam within Malaysia's constitutional democracy, as well as a "serious breakdown of federal-state division of powers, both in the areas of civil and criminal jurisdictions".
It also expressed concern at how religious authorities were "asserting authority beyond their jurisdiction" and that fatwa issued had violated the Federal Constitution as well as the consultative process.
Among the proposals it recommended was the need to promote awareness about the diversity of views and interpretations in Islam.
Public support for the letter's contents and for the 25 signatories has been strong, with many writing to media organisations expressing their thanks and solidarity with the signatories, while an online petition called #iam26 drew thousands of signatures. – December 31, 2014.
- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/perkasa-mulls-suit-against-g25-for-baseless-allegations#sthash.jNXDHDq7.dpuf
AirAsia debris, bodies retrieved from sea
Indonesia AirAsia's Flight QZ8501, an Airbus A320-200, lost contact with air traffic control early on Sunday during bad weather on a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.
The plane has yet to be found.
"My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ8501," airline boss Tony Fernandes tweeted. "On behalf of AirAsia, my condolences to all. Words cannot express how sorry I am."
The airline said in a statement that it was inviting family members to Surabaya, "where a dedicated team of care providers will be assigned to each family to ensure that all of their needs are met".
Pictures of floating bodies were broadcast on television and relatives of the missing already gathered at a crisis centre in Surabaya wept with heads in their hands.
Several people collapsed in grief and were helped away."You have to be strong," the mayor of Surabaya, Tri Rismaharini, said as she comforted relatives. "They are not ours, they belong to God."
A navy spokesman said a plane door, oxygen tanks and one body had been recovered and taken away by helicopter for tests.
"The challenge is waves up to three metres high," Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo, head of the Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters, adding that the search operation would go on all night.
He declined to answer questions on whether any survivors had been found.
About
30 ships and 21 aircraft from Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia,
Singapore, South Korea and the United States have been involved in the
search.Bizarrely, an AirAsia plane from Manila skidded off and overshot the runway on landing at Kalibo in the central Philippines on Tuesday. No one was hurt.
On board Flight QZ8501 were 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia and Britain. The co-pilot was French.
US law enforcement and security officials said passenger and crew lists were being examined but nothing significant had turned up and the incident was regarded as an unexplained accident.
Indonesia AirAsia is 49 percent owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia.
The AirAsia group, including affiliates in Thailand, the Philippines and India, had not suffered a crash since its Malaysian budget operations began in 2002.
- Reuters
Deities in Pengerang to be 'homeless'
SPECIAL REPORT
For septuagenarian Tan Swee Hoon, the festival of Chinese gods at the
Hu Fu temple in Kampung Sungai Jawa in Pengerang, Johor, has been the
most anticipated event for the past 70 years.
As she recalled, that was the time when the Kampung Sungai Jawa folk led their lives without television and Internet, which made temple stage performances a precious entertainment.
In mid-December this year, the Hu Fu temple committee held its annual gods festival together with a number of other Chinese temples in Pengerang.
What makes their festivals unique is that the committee of each temple will ‘invite’ deities from the other temples to join in their celebrations.
Committees that accept the invitation must carry the statue of their temple deity to the celebrating temple and only bring it back after the celebration ends, days later.
Unfortunately,
this year’s celebration is the last ever for the Hu Fu temple, which is
to give way to the RM60 billion Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated
Development (Rapid) project being carried out by national oil and gas
company Petronas.
Petronas acquired a 2,630-acre site, spreading across Kampung Sungai Kapal, Kampung Sungai Jawa and Kampung Teluk Ampang, for the project.
Built in 1884, the small Hu Fu temple is located off the shore. It has been guarding and blessing the fishermen in the sea for the past 120 years. The space in front of it is where the villagers gather or hang around.
According to a Hu Fu temple committee member, Yong Teck Chai (right),
eight Chinese temples in Kampung Sungai Kapal, Tanjung Tembuang,
Kampung Teluk Ampang and Kampung Sungai Kapal are being forced to be
relocated to a newly developed residential area - Taman Bayu Damai, some
15km to the east of their current sites.
However, Yong said, the statues would be “homeless” because the temple committees were told to vacate the temples by April next year - with the construction of the new temple buildings still a long way to go.
“It takes one to two years to build (a new temple), so we have no way out. The deities are going to be in trouble... they will have to be put in somebody’s house, temporarily.
“The deities are in trouble, for they have no place to stay. What to do?” he asked with a wry smile.
Yong said the statues of the Hu Fu temple needed to be placed in the house of a priest, at least. The statues from the demolished Kampung Sungai Kapal temple, he added, have been placed at a temple committee member’s house in Singapore.
The rest of the temple statues will be put in a Chinese temple in Kampung Sungai Renggit, which is not affected by the Rapid project.
Plot of 3.5 acres land given to eight temples
According to the government’s planning, Yong said, all the eight temples will be located on a 3.5-acre plot of land and each of the temples will be given 19,000 square-feet sites.
“Originally,
they only gave us a two-acre piece of land, and we managed to strive
for 3.5 acres,” said the 67-year-old businessperson, adding that each
temple would only have limited space as they were planning to build a
common hall on the land.
However, the proposal does not satisfy everyone. The Guan Yin temple committee members from Tanjung Tembuang are complaining that the area given them is too small.
One of the Guan Yin temple committee members, who only wanted to be referred to as Soon, said the proposed site would have to accommodate statues from four temples.
Soon said the Guan Yin temple was the only temple in that area that was able to get the land and money compensation from the government as it is a registered temple, while the others were not.
“We have many statues and we would like to fit four into one temple. But how can we arrange them?” he asked.
After a recent meeting among the committee members of the eight temples, Soon happily told Malaysiakini that the problem had been resolved as they eventually obtained a bigger plot of land at the meeting.
On the other hand, although all the temples are forced to make way for the Rapid project under the name of development, Yong still opined that it does more good than harm.
“I personally think that it’s good to relocate as all (the temples and deities) will be together and all of them can be invited to watch the performances during the festival,” Yong said, adding that this would save time and costs if the statues are to be moved to different temples.
No compensation for unregistered temples
Meanwhile, a local resident, Chua Peng Sian, who calls himself the “toothless man” and has been opposing the Rapid project right from the beginning, said the total number of Chinese temples in Pengerang cannot be confirmed.
Of the temples, Chua (left)
said, not more than 10 are registered and have received compensation
from the government to move out for the RM60 billion Rapid project.
Generally, he explained, registered temples in the Pengerang area have official committee members who organise the large-scale gods festivals, while the other unregistered ones have caretakers and they too did not face any problem before the coming of the Rapid project.
In this case, Chua said, the unregistered temples have no way to seek compensation for relocation.
One typical example of this would be the Shun De temple at Kampung Sungai Kapal, which is currently being cared for by a farmer, Kee Mooi Mooi, 56, and her family.
The family of six had the temple erected right in front of their house some 30 years ago, with Kee’s husband turning into a medium and receiving donations from the community to build the temple.
However, the family faces problems in getting their temple relocated, for the compensation of RM100,000 they have been promised is only for their house and the land it is located on.
“I
used to insist on not relocating as I have a deep feeling about the
temple. And also, I grew up here and it is a great pity that we are
being forced by the government to move out,” said the heart-wrenching
Kee (left).
Eventually, she decided to move to Taman Kota Jaya in Kota Tinggi with her family, and spend the monetary compensation to build a new house on a 2.5-acre plot of land, as well as a new Shun De temple right next to it.
“I need to start all over again once I have moved. It causes me a big headache, but I have no choice,” Kee said.
Kampung Sungai Kapal is about 80km away from Taman Kota Jaya, which is about an hour’s drive away.
However, what worries Kee even more is that she has not received the compensation from the government until today.
“It (the government) said (the compensation will be given to us) in the middle of December, but we have got nothing until now. I cannot work on the things that I have planned until I get the money,” she said.
Although Kee said her friends staying in Kota Tinggi welcomed them to move there, she was forced to leave her long-time friends in Pengerang.
“I have to leave this place... it’s a pity. I will be going there (Kota Tinggi), but all the friends here will be gone,” she lamented.
As she recalled, that was the time when the Kampung Sungai Jawa folk led their lives without television and Internet, which made temple stage performances a precious entertainment.
In mid-December this year, the Hu Fu temple committee held its annual gods festival together with a number of other Chinese temples in Pengerang.
What makes their festivals unique is that the committee of each temple will ‘invite’ deities from the other temples to join in their celebrations.
Committees that accept the invitation must carry the statue of their temple deity to the celebrating temple and only bring it back after the celebration ends, days later.
Unfortunately,
this year’s celebration is the last ever for the Hu Fu temple, which is
to give way to the RM60 billion Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated
Development (Rapid) project being carried out by national oil and gas
company Petronas.Petronas acquired a 2,630-acre site, spreading across Kampung Sungai Kapal, Kampung Sungai Jawa and Kampung Teluk Ampang, for the project.
Built in 1884, the small Hu Fu temple is located off the shore. It has been guarding and blessing the fishermen in the sea for the past 120 years. The space in front of it is where the villagers gather or hang around.
According to a Hu Fu temple committee member, Yong Teck Chai (right),
eight Chinese temples in Kampung Sungai Kapal, Tanjung Tembuang,
Kampung Teluk Ampang and Kampung Sungai Kapal are being forced to be
relocated to a newly developed residential area - Taman Bayu Damai, some
15km to the east of their current sites.However, Yong said, the statues would be “homeless” because the temple committees were told to vacate the temples by April next year - with the construction of the new temple buildings still a long way to go.
“It takes one to two years to build (a new temple), so we have no way out. The deities are going to be in trouble... they will have to be put in somebody’s house, temporarily.
“The deities are in trouble, for they have no place to stay. What to do?” he asked with a wry smile.
Yong said the statues of the Hu Fu temple needed to be placed in the house of a priest, at least. The statues from the demolished Kampung Sungai Kapal temple, he added, have been placed at a temple committee member’s house in Singapore.
The rest of the temple statues will be put in a Chinese temple in Kampung Sungai Renggit, which is not affected by the Rapid project.
Plot of 3.5 acres land given to eight temples
According to the government’s planning, Yong said, all the eight temples will be located on a 3.5-acre plot of land and each of the temples will be given 19,000 square-feet sites.
“Originally,
they only gave us a two-acre piece of land, and we managed to strive
for 3.5 acres,” said the 67-year-old businessperson, adding that each
temple would only have limited space as they were planning to build a
common hall on the land.However, the proposal does not satisfy everyone. The Guan Yin temple committee members from Tanjung Tembuang are complaining that the area given them is too small.
One of the Guan Yin temple committee members, who only wanted to be referred to as Soon, said the proposed site would have to accommodate statues from four temples.
Soon said the Guan Yin temple was the only temple in that area that was able to get the land and money compensation from the government as it is a registered temple, while the others were not.
“We have many statues and we would like to fit four into one temple. But how can we arrange them?” he asked.
After a recent meeting among the committee members of the eight temples, Soon happily told Malaysiakini that the problem had been resolved as they eventually obtained a bigger plot of land at the meeting.
On the other hand, although all the temples are forced to make way for the Rapid project under the name of development, Yong still opined that it does more good than harm.
“I personally think that it’s good to relocate as all (the temples and deities) will be together and all of them can be invited to watch the performances during the festival,” Yong said, adding that this would save time and costs if the statues are to be moved to different temples.
No compensation for unregistered temples
Meanwhile, a local resident, Chua Peng Sian, who calls himself the “toothless man” and has been opposing the Rapid project right from the beginning, said the total number of Chinese temples in Pengerang cannot be confirmed.
Of the temples, Chua (left)
said, not more than 10 are registered and have received compensation
from the government to move out for the RM60 billion Rapid project.Generally, he explained, registered temples in the Pengerang area have official committee members who organise the large-scale gods festivals, while the other unregistered ones have caretakers and they too did not face any problem before the coming of the Rapid project.
In this case, Chua said, the unregistered temples have no way to seek compensation for relocation.
One typical example of this would be the Shun De temple at Kampung Sungai Kapal, which is currently being cared for by a farmer, Kee Mooi Mooi, 56, and her family.
The family of six had the temple erected right in front of their house some 30 years ago, with Kee’s husband turning into a medium and receiving donations from the community to build the temple.
However, the family faces problems in getting their temple relocated, for the compensation of RM100,000 they have been promised is only for their house and the land it is located on.
“I
used to insist on not relocating as I have a deep feeling about the
temple. And also, I grew up here and it is a great pity that we are
being forced by the government to move out,” said the heart-wrenching
Kee (left).Eventually, she decided to move to Taman Kota Jaya in Kota Tinggi with her family, and spend the monetary compensation to build a new house on a 2.5-acre plot of land, as well as a new Shun De temple right next to it.
“I need to start all over again once I have moved. It causes me a big headache, but I have no choice,” Kee said.
Kampung Sungai Kapal is about 80km away from Taman Kota Jaya, which is about an hour’s drive away.However, what worries Kee even more is that she has not received the compensation from the government until today.
“It (the government) said (the compensation will be given to us) in the middle of December, but we have got nothing until now. I cannot work on the things that I have planned until I get the money,” she said.
Although Kee said her friends staying in Kota Tinggi welcomed them to move there, she was forced to leave her long-time friends in Pengerang.
“I have to leave this place... it’s a pity. I will be going there (Kota Tinggi), but all the friends here will be gone,” she lamented.
Pregnant mum, child killed in Camerons landslide
A pregnant woman and her year-old son were killed
while her husband fractured a leg in a landslide in Cameron Highlands,
today, police said.
M. Nitiahwaty, 24, who was eight months pregnant, and R. Rubeniswaran were buried alive in the landslide which occurred at a hill behind their house at Km46 Jalan Brinchang-Tringkap about 5.30am, Cameron Highlands police chief DSP Wan Zahari Wan Busu said.
Nitiahwaty's
husband, V Raja, 41, was rescued by fire and rescue personnel, Wan
Zahari said, adding that Raja was buried up to the chest and had
fractured his left leg.
Raja and the bodies of Nitiahwaty and Rubeniswaran were sent to the Sultanah Hajah Kalsom Hospital in Tanah Rata, he said.
Wan Zahari said the family had tried to escape the landslide as it occurred by trying to flee through a motor workshop in front of their house but the workshop door was locked.
Raja works at the workshop and the family lived in a house made of wood and plastic behind the workshop.
"They tried to save themselves by running out through the workshop but the workshop door was locked and they were hit by the debris from the landslide," he said when contacted.
Cameron Highlands Fire and Rescue chief Yusry Abdullah Sani said Raja was rescued at 7.15am.
Rubeniswaran was removed from the debris at about 8am and Nitiahwaty, about 30 minutes later.
- Bernama
M. Nitiahwaty, 24, who was eight months pregnant, and R. Rubeniswaran were buried alive in the landslide which occurred at a hill behind their house at Km46 Jalan Brinchang-Tringkap about 5.30am, Cameron Highlands police chief DSP Wan Zahari Wan Busu said.
Nitiahwaty's
husband, V Raja, 41, was rescued by fire and rescue personnel, Wan
Zahari said, adding that Raja was buried up to the chest and had
fractured his left leg.Raja and the bodies of Nitiahwaty and Rubeniswaran were sent to the Sultanah Hajah Kalsom Hospital in Tanah Rata, he said.
Wan Zahari said the family had tried to escape the landslide as it occurred by trying to flee through a motor workshop in front of their house but the workshop door was locked.
Raja works at the workshop and the family lived in a house made of wood and plastic behind the workshop.
"They tried to save themselves by running out through the workshop but the workshop door was locked and they were hit by the debris from the landslide," he said when contacted.
Cameron Highlands Fire and Rescue chief Yusry Abdullah Sani said Raja was rescued at 7.15am.
Rubeniswaran was removed from the debris at about 8am and Nitiahwaty, about 30 minutes later.
- Bernama
PAS hudud bill: Putting the cart before the horse?
PAS insistence on tabling the hudud bill in the Kelantan state assembly, as expected, has riled the party’s Pakatan Rakyat partners, particularly DAP.
But whatever the politics of this issue, to the experts what matters is the purpose. As of now, it is not quite clear what the bill, which sought to implement the hudud or Islamic criminal laws in the state, sought to do. There is the general view that criminal law falls under federal jurisdiction.
Even if Kelantan subscribes to the idea that hudud could be implemented within the existing framework – namely the Islamic criminal law that falls under the state jurisdiction – there are certain hurdles that need to overcome first, including the increase of jurisdiction of the syariah courts.
At the moment. their powers are not enough to deal with hudud offences. Of course all these presuppose that the ideological bar – namely the secular nature of the Constitution as alleged by the DAP – does not hold water.
In other words even assuming that hudud could be implemented by the states, they could not afford to ignore the federal authorities under which agencies, such as the police force, rest. Needless to say necessary amendments to laws pertaining to the syariah court jurisdiction as well as certain provisions of the Penal Code and so on can only be done by federal parliament.
Such makes one wonder if Kelantan Deputy Menteri Besar Datuk Mohd. Amar Abdullah was really serious when he claimed that hudud was more important than capturing Putrajaya. Apparently he did not see federal power as something crucial to make his hudud dream a reality.
And this is something that has made the partners – namely PKR and DAP – looked down upon the state’s proposed tabling. In short, the partners did not consider the proposal by Kelantan as something logical let alone viable.
It appears that outside Kelantan, not everybody in PAS agrees with the hudud proposal. It has emerged that the state government pursued the matter in secrecy from the party’s central authority.
Such was the impression when on Dec 23, it was reported that some of central committee members, most of whom were either Erdogans or Anwarites or simply the progressive wing, claimed that the party has never been consulted on the proposal.
Although this was followed by a curious statement by Datuk Mustafa Ali, the secretary-general who leans more towards the conservative wing led by party president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, the impression remains.
One may add that immediately after former MB Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat left office in the aftermath of the GE13, the new state government led by Datuk Ahmad Yaakob admitted that hudud could not be implemented within the existing framework.
Whatever the truth the problem with PAS’ hudud vision is more than just the party’s inconsistency and flip-flopping. The major problem with PAS is that they never argued the case for hudud implementation in the light of the existing constitutional scheme.
In fact PAS used to ignore the constitution. This began to change and the party adopted a more constitution-friendly as more and more professionals, including lawyers, joined the party after the 1998 Reformasi.
Nonetheless, this faction has yet to take full control of the party. Hence the weird views put up by Mohd Amar, including the use of guillotine as well as using the service of medical doctors to cut off limbs under hudud law. The latter view was rebutted strongly by the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA).
Admittedly one of the reasons which made the hudud implementation looks viable is the success of Islamic banking and Islamic university. As the two Islamic projects, like hudud, have their roots in Islam, it is argued that there is no reason why the latter could not be implemented in Malaysia.
For the record both Islamic banking and Islamic university, just like hudud today, used to be seen as not viable for the simple reason that they were against the existing conventional systems.
Be that as it may, one has to bear in mind that those two major Islamic projects were essentially top-bottom ones imposed during Mahathir Administration. It would be recalled that the two Islamic projects were meant to boost the Islamic credentials of the ruling Umno.
Whatever the intention behind them, they did not face problem as the ruling party wields an overwhelming majority in parliament. This has made it easier for Umno to make the necessary changes to the prevalent laws and practices to facilitate something which was previously considered odd and impossible to do.
Such a prerequisite is not at the disposal of PAS at the moment. And this is actually the problem. Funny enough, Mohd Amar has denied the importance of the key factor, namely winning the federal power.
And strangely enough he has counted the support of the party’s main nemesis, Umno. This is indeed mind-boggling as it underlines the rejection, not only the constitutional system but also the political system.
Mohd Amar seems to have forgotten that hudud has never been in Umno’s agenda. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has made that clear. Religious Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Jamil Khir may have impressed Mohd Amar but the number one Umno leader is still not on the same wavelength with PAS.
Up to now, Jamil has not been vocal on the hudud implementation. On the other hand, there are many Umno leaders who are more in tune with Najib. Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has stated that hudud would bring disunity among Malaysians. Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said that if Umno wanted to do it, the party would have done it long time ago.
Surely, the Kelantan Deputy Menteri Besar and all the hudud proponents must have realised by now that their proposed bill is unlikely to get the nod from Umno.
Dr Abdul Aziz Bari is formerly IIUM law professor who now teaches at Unisel. He is also a Senior Fellow at think tank IDEAS.
- See more at: http://www.theantdaily.com/Article.aspx?ArticleId=21749#sthash.qVF8kIp2.dpuf
Fernandes: Words cannot express how sorry I am
Group CEO of AirAsia Tony Fernandes says words cannot express how sorry he is for family members who lost loved ones on the plane that crashed.
FMT
JAKARTA: Family members broke down in uncontrollable sobs when news trickled in that debris and at least six bodies were being recovered from waters where the AirAsia plane carrying their loved ones had crashed.
Seconds later Group CEO of AirAsia Tony Fernandes tweeted, “My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ 8501.
“On behalf of AirAsia my condolences to all. Words cannot express how sorry I am.”
“I am rushing to Surabaya. Whatever we can do at Airasia we will be doing.”
The AirAsia plane travelling from Surabaya to Singapore lost contact with air traffic control Sunday morning with 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia, France and Britain on board.
A massive search and rescue effort was mounted with approximately 30 ships and 21 aircraft from Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea covering up to 10,000 square nautical miles. Indonesia was leading the effort.
JAKARTA: Family members broke down in uncontrollable sobs when news trickled in that debris and at least six bodies were being recovered from waters where the AirAsia plane carrying their loved ones had crashed.
Seconds later Group CEO of AirAsia Tony Fernandes tweeted, “My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ 8501.
“On behalf of AirAsia my condolences to all. Words cannot express how sorry I am.”
“I am rushing to Surabaya. Whatever we can do at Airasia we will be doing.”
The AirAsia plane travelling from Surabaya to Singapore lost contact with air traffic control Sunday morning with 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia, France and Britain on board.
A massive search and rescue effort was mounted with approximately 30 ships and 21 aircraft from Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea covering up to 10,000 square nautical miles. Indonesia was leading the effort.
Malaysia is deeply saddened by tragedy
This is indeed a trying time for those affected.
FMT
KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes Tuesday expressed his grief to the relatives of the 162 passengers and crew who were on board Flight QZ8501 after wreckage and bodies were spotted at sea.
“My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ8501. On behalf of AirAsia my condolences to all. Words cannot express how sorry I am,” he wrote on Twitter.
Fernandes said he was rushing to Surabaya in Indonesia, where the plane took off on Sunday bound for Singapore and where relatives have gathered.
“Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families and friends of our passengers and colleagues on board QZ8501,” his Malaysia-based airline said in a statement.
It said employees of affiliate AirAsia Indonesia, which operated the crashed plane, had been sent to the site in the Karimata Strait where debris was found and would fully cooperate in the investigation.
AirAsia Indonesia announced it would invite family members to Surabaya, “where a dedicated team of care providers will be assigned to each family to ensure that all of their needs are met”.
Out of the 162 passengers and crew on board, 155 were Indonesian.
The accident was the third disaster this year involving a Malaysian-owned carrier.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared in March while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew.
In July another Malaysia Airlines flight — MH17 — was shot down over unrest-hit Ukraine, killing all 298 on board.
Malaysia’s Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said his country “stands in solidarity with the families and loved ones of those onboard (the AirAsia flight)and offers our deepest condolences”.
“This is indeed a trying time for those affected and Malaysia is deeply saddened by this tragedy,” Liow said in a statement, offering Indonesia all possible help.
- AFP
KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes Tuesday expressed his grief to the relatives of the 162 passengers and crew who were on board Flight QZ8501 after wreckage and bodies were spotted at sea.
“My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ8501. On behalf of AirAsia my condolences to all. Words cannot express how sorry I am,” he wrote on Twitter.
Fernandes said he was rushing to Surabaya in Indonesia, where the plane took off on Sunday bound for Singapore and where relatives have gathered.
“Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families and friends of our passengers and colleagues on board QZ8501,” his Malaysia-based airline said in a statement.
It said employees of affiliate AirAsia Indonesia, which operated the crashed plane, had been sent to the site in the Karimata Strait where debris was found and would fully cooperate in the investigation.
AirAsia Indonesia announced it would invite family members to Surabaya, “where a dedicated team of care providers will be assigned to each family to ensure that all of their needs are met”.
Out of the 162 passengers and crew on board, 155 were Indonesian.
The accident was the third disaster this year involving a Malaysian-owned carrier.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared in March while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew.
In July another Malaysia Airlines flight — MH17 — was shot down over unrest-hit Ukraine, killing all 298 on board.
Malaysia’s Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said his country “stands in solidarity with the families and loved ones of those onboard (the AirAsia flight)and offers our deepest condolences”.
“This is indeed a trying time for those affected and Malaysia is deeply saddened by this tragedy,” Liow said in a statement, offering Indonesia all possible help.
- AFP
Nigerian to hang for drug offence
Found guilty trafficking more than 2kg of methamphetamine.
FMT
SHAH ALAM: A Nigerian man was sentenced to the gallows by the High Court here after he was found guilty of trafficking 2,150.4 grammes of methamphetamine at the KL International Airport (KLIA), Sepang, four years ago.
Judge Abdul Halim Aman made the decision on Ibe Godwin Uzochukwu, 37, after he was satisfied with the arguments of the prosecution who managed to submit a prima facie case.
Abdul Halim in his judgement said the court found the defence of the accused was just utter denial.
The accused was charged with committing the offence at the Exit Route, KLIA Arrival Hall, at 4.30pm on July 1, 2011. He was charged under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which is punishable under Section 39B (2), of the same act which carries the mandatory death sentence.
Six prosecution witnesses and a defence witness were called during the trial. Prosecution was handled by Deputy Public Prosecutor Rashidah Abu Bakar while the accused was represented by counsel Luqman Mazlan.
- BERNAMA
SHAH ALAM: A Nigerian man was sentenced to the gallows by the High Court here after he was found guilty of trafficking 2,150.4 grammes of methamphetamine at the KL International Airport (KLIA), Sepang, four years ago.
Judge Abdul Halim Aman made the decision on Ibe Godwin Uzochukwu, 37, after he was satisfied with the arguments of the prosecution who managed to submit a prima facie case.
Abdul Halim in his judgement said the court found the defence of the accused was just utter denial.
The accused was charged with committing the offence at the Exit Route, KLIA Arrival Hall, at 4.30pm on July 1, 2011. He was charged under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which is punishable under Section 39B (2), of the same act which carries the mandatory death sentence.
Six prosecution witnesses and a defence witness were called during the trial. Prosecution was handled by Deputy Public Prosecutor Rashidah Abu Bakar while the accused was represented by counsel Luqman Mazlan.
- BERNAMA
Kita Perlu Bertindak Sebagai Satu Pasukan
Kejadian bencana banjir besar kali ini merupakan antara yang paling buruk dalam sejarah Malaysia dan telah memberi kesan kepada lebih 220,000 orang di 5 buah negeri dan mengakibatkan kerosakan kepada terlalu banyak harta benda awam dan peribadi. Pada masa yang sama, begitu ramai rakyat Malaysia – tanpa mengenal usia, jantina, kaum, mahupun beda politik – telah tampil menghulurkan bantuan dalam bentuk dana, barangan keperluan, dan tenaga.
Saya telah berhubung dengan Dato’ Menteri Besar Selangor, YAB Mohamed Azmin Ali dan meminta beliau memberikan bantuan sebanyak yang mampu. Saya juga telah mengarah seluruh jentera parti di semua negeri agar turut membantu dalam usaha pengagihan barangan keperluan serta kerja-kerja pembersihan di kawasan-kawasan di mana air bah telah surut.
Saya menggesa agar semua pihak bertindak sebagai satu pasukan, dan menyokong langkah Kerajaan Persekutuan dalam usaha menangani bencana ini, serta menggesa agar diluluskan peruntukan segera untuk makanan dan ubat-ubatan, terutama untuk kawasan-kawasan kritikal.
Saya juga mengusulkan supaya Kerajaan Pusat menyediakan satu rancangan yang menyeluruh untuk memperbaiki atau membangunkan semula rumah-rumah yang telah musnah akibat banjir besar ini.
Saya, Azizah dan seluruh keluarga KEADILAN terus memanjangkan doa kepada Allah SWT agar bencana ini akan reda, dan diringankan beban yang dialami semua yang terkesan.
ANWAR IBRAHIM
29 Disember 2014
Saya telah berhubung dengan Dato’ Menteri Besar Selangor, YAB Mohamed Azmin Ali dan meminta beliau memberikan bantuan sebanyak yang mampu. Saya juga telah mengarah seluruh jentera parti di semua negeri agar turut membantu dalam usaha pengagihan barangan keperluan serta kerja-kerja pembersihan di kawasan-kawasan di mana air bah telah surut.
Saya menggesa agar semua pihak bertindak sebagai satu pasukan, dan menyokong langkah Kerajaan Persekutuan dalam usaha menangani bencana ini, serta menggesa agar diluluskan peruntukan segera untuk makanan dan ubat-ubatan, terutama untuk kawasan-kawasan kritikal.
Saya juga mengusulkan supaya Kerajaan Pusat menyediakan satu rancangan yang menyeluruh untuk memperbaiki atau membangunkan semula rumah-rumah yang telah musnah akibat banjir besar ini.
Saya, Azizah dan seluruh keluarga KEADILAN terus memanjangkan doa kepada Allah SWT agar bencana ini akan reda, dan diringankan beban yang dialami semua yang terkesan.
ANWAR IBRAHIM
29 Disember 2014
What has Umno/BN government learned from natural disasters? – Nawawi Mohamad
Malaysia has experienced several natural disasters which resulted in loss of lives and properties starting back in December 1993 with the collapse of two blocks of the Highland Towers, then the tsunami in 2004, recent Cameron Highlands landslides and the latest being the unprecedented floods in Kelantan, Pahang and Terengganu.
By the way, with so frequent flooding, we ought to be professional in facing them by now. Unfortunately, we are never ready and never prepared.
In the Highland Towers tragedy, we lacked experience such that the Japanese Civil Defence sent a team to help in the search and rescue effort. Search and rescue teams from Singapore, France, United Kingdom and the United States also came to help.
Besides helping, they also showed us the relevant techniques and the equipment they used in disasters. In fact, at the end of the search, the Japanese left their equipment and donated them to Malaysia.
From that incident, Malaysia formed its own Search and Rescue Team under the Fire Department. Our team had also been sent overseas to help disaster victims, like in Aceh during the tsunami in 2004. Naturally, every Malaysian should feel proud that we have our own reliable team and managed to help others in foreign countries as well.
Besides the elite team mentioned above, we also have several non-governmental organisations that play significant roles both at home and overseas. We have other agencies like JKR, JPA, PDRM, military and volunteers who at times have been at the forefront in the rescue efforts.
Malaysians are generally generous and we are all proud to be Malaysians in that sense. We also have the means: the equipment, machinery, resources and manpower to undertake the search, rescue and help victims in almost any natural disaster. We can do it.
But at the government and political levels, our ministers and politicians have not shown their will to improve themselves. Despite having declared that they work for the people since it is the people who put them into power anyway, at these times of need they seem to be lost and preoccupied with their own personal world.
We all know that Datuk Seri Najib Razak was holidaying and golfing in Hawaii, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein was said to be in London, loud-mouth Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was quiet as a mouse, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was also said to be in Australia and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin was not in control.
Never mind the politicians but even if they want to have fun while the people are facing hardship, make sure that there is a system established and could run on auto-pilot.
The Umno/Barisan Nasional government should set up a central command at the federal level with branches in every state to coordinate the various NGOs, volunteers, government agencies and above all the control of correct information should be given to the public.
Coordination is important so that every area is covered by the various teams and overlapping of efforts could be avoided. The disaster command centre will also be able to know the exact amount of resources at hand, and what kind of help is needed most.
Just look at the recent blunder as reported in the papers when TNB managed to send 45 gensets to Pahang and only 1 genset to Kelantan despite the latter being affected most.
TNB has limited logistics resources and they are not a logistics specialist either. If there had been a proper disaster management, some form of transport could be provided, may be by the military to help send the gensets where they are most needed.
The centre should only have one contact number, which will be connected to several help and information lines. Do not give the individual contact numbers of the NGOs, government departments and agencies because the central command must be the reference point. None of them should act alone, all should be under the central command and be coordinated efficiently.
There must also be a website meant to cater for any disaster where everybody can reach and not depend on the social media which most of the time spread false or half-truths. The website should be interactive where applicable so that those who need to know feel more comfortable.
The Umno/BN government must also educate the people in the flood-prone areas to be ready with survival supplies: food, drinking water, clothes, medicines, toiletries and other necessities should be carried along during evacuation.
The whole supply could be in the form of standard ration placed in a lightweight bag which could have multiple uses. For instance, it could be used as a life buoy if the victims are swept away. Add in an identification beacon for easy searching.
What we have now is the National Security Council (MKN) which is lousy but we do not feel secure. They have done nothing much except simply to exist and may be just to get paid. And nothing else except blunders in every disaster that we faced.
It seems the Umno/BN government has not learned much, if not nothing, from the disasters that we have had. Now if Najib and all the politicians want to go elsewhere during any disaster, please do something about it. – December 29, 2014.
* Nawawi Mohamad reads The Malaysian Insider.
- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/what-has-umno-bn-government-learned-from-natural-disasters-nawawi-mohamad#sthash.05kCBOk8.dpuf
By the way, with so frequent flooding, we ought to be professional in facing them by now. Unfortunately, we are never ready and never prepared.
In the Highland Towers tragedy, we lacked experience such that the Japanese Civil Defence sent a team to help in the search and rescue effort. Search and rescue teams from Singapore, France, United Kingdom and the United States also came to help.
Besides helping, they also showed us the relevant techniques and the equipment they used in disasters. In fact, at the end of the search, the Japanese left their equipment and donated them to Malaysia.
From that incident, Malaysia formed its own Search and Rescue Team under the Fire Department. Our team had also been sent overseas to help disaster victims, like in Aceh during the tsunami in 2004. Naturally, every Malaysian should feel proud that we have our own reliable team and managed to help others in foreign countries as well.
Besides the elite team mentioned above, we also have several non-governmental organisations that play significant roles both at home and overseas. We have other agencies like JKR, JPA, PDRM, military and volunteers who at times have been at the forefront in the rescue efforts.
Malaysians are generally generous and we are all proud to be Malaysians in that sense. We also have the means: the equipment, machinery, resources and manpower to undertake the search, rescue and help victims in almost any natural disaster. We can do it.
But at the government and political levels, our ministers and politicians have not shown their will to improve themselves. Despite having declared that they work for the people since it is the people who put them into power anyway, at these times of need they seem to be lost and preoccupied with their own personal world.
We all know that Datuk Seri Najib Razak was holidaying and golfing in Hawaii, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein was said to be in London, loud-mouth Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was quiet as a mouse, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was also said to be in Australia and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin was not in control.
Never mind the politicians but even if they want to have fun while the people are facing hardship, make sure that there is a system established and could run on auto-pilot.
The Umno/Barisan Nasional government should set up a central command at the federal level with branches in every state to coordinate the various NGOs, volunteers, government agencies and above all the control of correct information should be given to the public.
Coordination is important so that every area is covered by the various teams and overlapping of efforts could be avoided. The disaster command centre will also be able to know the exact amount of resources at hand, and what kind of help is needed most.
Just look at the recent blunder as reported in the papers when TNB managed to send 45 gensets to Pahang and only 1 genset to Kelantan despite the latter being affected most.
TNB has limited logistics resources and they are not a logistics specialist either. If there had been a proper disaster management, some form of transport could be provided, may be by the military to help send the gensets where they are most needed.
The centre should only have one contact number, which will be connected to several help and information lines. Do not give the individual contact numbers of the NGOs, government departments and agencies because the central command must be the reference point. None of them should act alone, all should be under the central command and be coordinated efficiently.
There must also be a website meant to cater for any disaster where everybody can reach and not depend on the social media which most of the time spread false or half-truths. The website should be interactive where applicable so that those who need to know feel more comfortable.
The Umno/BN government must also educate the people in the flood-prone areas to be ready with survival supplies: food, drinking water, clothes, medicines, toiletries and other necessities should be carried along during evacuation.
The whole supply could be in the form of standard ration placed in a lightweight bag which could have multiple uses. For instance, it could be used as a life buoy if the victims are swept away. Add in an identification beacon for easy searching.
What we have now is the National Security Council (MKN) which is lousy but we do not feel secure. They have done nothing much except simply to exist and may be just to get paid. And nothing else except blunders in every disaster that we faced.
It seems the Umno/BN government has not learned much, if not nothing, from the disasters that we have had. Now if Najib and all the politicians want to go elsewhere during any disaster, please do something about it. – December 29, 2014.
* Nawawi Mohamad reads The Malaysian Insider.
- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/what-has-umno-bn-government-learned-from-natural-disasters-nawawi-mohamad#sthash.05kCBOk8.dpuf
Najib Describes Floods In Kelantan As Major Disaster
KOTA BAHARU, Dec 30 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun
Razak has described the severe floods faced by Kelantan as a major
disaster which has brought much destruction.
Najib, who observed the effects caused by the major floods in Gua Musang and Kuala Krai today, said the two districts concerned were the worst hit areas this time.
"They (residents) consider the disaster not as a flood phenomenon but a major catastrophe because the water level rose so high and rapidly to the extent that many houses were submerged," he said at a press conference at the Sultan Ismail Petra Airport, Pengkalan Chepa, here today, after observing the affected districts.
Also accompanying the Prime Minister during the visit was International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, who is also chairman of the Kelantan Flood Disaster Committee.
Najib said that besides observing personally the houses that were totally destroyed and badly damaged, he was informed that hundreds of residents had their homes destroyed and had no place to live in.
"I see so much destruction and it is very depressing and so sad," he said, adding that the government would take several actions to assist the flood victims in the Gua Musang and Kuala Krai districts.
The Prime Minister said the government was now making continuous efforts to assist the flood victims who were placed at the relief centres and also helping them to return home after the flood had receded.
He said the government would make an evaluation of every house that was destroyed or damaged due to the floods as soon as possible.
"The action that must be taken is to build a temporary home for the victims who had lost their homes to the floods," he said.
Najib said the government would build permanent homes for the flood victims in Kuala Krai in in an area that was safer from the floods.
However, the federal government would discuss with the Kelantan state government as the land to be turned into the new settlement area was under the jurisdiction of the state government.
The Prime Minister said construction of houses on river land reserves could not be allowed because of the high risk of being affected by the floods.
Asked whether the rampant opening of land on hill slopes in the two districts was the main factor for the floods, Najib did not rule out the possibility of human negligence being a contributing factor for the disaster.
"Rampant opening of land especially for logging has an effect on the environment because there is no natural retention to stop the water from flowing directly to the river swiftly," he said.
The numerous logs floating in the river also had an effect when they became stuck under the bridges blocking the water from flowing and thus spilling over to the surrounding areas resulting in major floods.
"This is a lesson for us to take action to ensure sustainable development and a reminder from Allah SWT to us actually, so we must remember the guidance contained in the Al Quran that humans are actually the cause, God will not be cruel to us but we are being cruel to our own selves," he said.
The Prime Minister also praised the staff at the Kuala Krai Hospital when parts of the hospital were inundated and yet they were able to manage the patients and flood victims seeking shelter at the hospital in a good manner.
"What the nurses and doctors at the hospital did was beyond normal as they were under pressure, yet the services rendered by them deserved praise," he said.
Najib also praised the efforts of the government agencies and the Malaysian Armed Forces to rescue victims who were trapped by the floods.
Asked whether the cost for building the houses and other infrastructure that were damaged was included in the RM500 million allocation for the flood victims that was announced recently, Najib said the government would provide another allocation for this purpose.
-- BERNAMA
Najib, who observed the effects caused by the major floods in Gua Musang and Kuala Krai today, said the two districts concerned were the worst hit areas this time.
"They (residents) consider the disaster not as a flood phenomenon but a major catastrophe because the water level rose so high and rapidly to the extent that many houses were submerged," he said at a press conference at the Sultan Ismail Petra Airport, Pengkalan Chepa, here today, after observing the affected districts.
Also accompanying the Prime Minister during the visit was International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, who is also chairman of the Kelantan Flood Disaster Committee.
Najib said that besides observing personally the houses that were totally destroyed and badly damaged, he was informed that hundreds of residents had their homes destroyed and had no place to live in.
"I see so much destruction and it is very depressing and so sad," he said, adding that the government would take several actions to assist the flood victims in the Gua Musang and Kuala Krai districts.
The Prime Minister said the government was now making continuous efforts to assist the flood victims who were placed at the relief centres and also helping them to return home after the flood had receded.
He said the government would make an evaluation of every house that was destroyed or damaged due to the floods as soon as possible.
"The action that must be taken is to build a temporary home for the victims who had lost their homes to the floods," he said.
Najib said the government would build permanent homes for the flood victims in Kuala Krai in in an area that was safer from the floods.
However, the federal government would discuss with the Kelantan state government as the land to be turned into the new settlement area was under the jurisdiction of the state government.
The Prime Minister said construction of houses on river land reserves could not be allowed because of the high risk of being affected by the floods.
Asked whether the rampant opening of land on hill slopes in the two districts was the main factor for the floods, Najib did not rule out the possibility of human negligence being a contributing factor for the disaster.
"Rampant opening of land especially for logging has an effect on the environment because there is no natural retention to stop the water from flowing directly to the river swiftly," he said.
The numerous logs floating in the river also had an effect when they became stuck under the bridges blocking the water from flowing and thus spilling over to the surrounding areas resulting in major floods.
"This is a lesson for us to take action to ensure sustainable development and a reminder from Allah SWT to us actually, so we must remember the guidance contained in the Al Quran that humans are actually the cause, God will not be cruel to us but we are being cruel to our own selves," he said.
The Prime Minister also praised the staff at the Kuala Krai Hospital when parts of the hospital were inundated and yet they were able to manage the patients and flood victims seeking shelter at the hospital in a good manner.
"What the nurses and doctors at the hospital did was beyond normal as they were under pressure, yet the services rendered by them deserved praise," he said.
Najib also praised the efforts of the government agencies and the Malaysian Armed Forces to rescue victims who were trapped by the floods.
Asked whether the cost for building the houses and other infrastructure that were damaged was included in the RM500 million allocation for the flood victims that was announced recently, Najib said the government would provide another allocation for this purpose.
-- BERNAMA
Tuesday, 30 December 2014
IS supporters seeking suggestions of bizarre ways to kill captured Jordanian pilot
ISIS supporters are having the morbid debate predominantly on Twitter, using the hashtag "Suggest a Way to Kill the Jordanian Pilot Pig," vocativ.com reported.
The ideas include decapitating Moath al-Kassassbeh, burning him alive and even running him over with a bulldozer.
The hashtag has reportedly been retweeted more than 1,000 times.
Lieutenant Moaz al-Kasaesbeh was captured when his jet crashed in north-eastern Syria during a bombing mission on Wednesday.
IS militants have not said anything as yet regarding the fate of the Jordanian pilot.
It is still unclear as to what caused the plan to crash near the IS stronghold of Raqqa. (ANI)
http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/index.php/sid/228930151
Accused terrorist told comrade suicide bombings against innocent civilians were a 'forgivable sin' — just like masturbation
- Ali Yasin Ahmed will stand trial in federal court in New York City
- Allegedly joined Somalia terror group al-Shabaab and recruited members
- Told his colleague not to worry about suicide bombing as a sin
- An alleged terrorist facing trial in New York City justified killing innocent people in suicide bomb attacks as a 'forgivable sin comparable to masturbation', court papers show.
Ali Yasin Ahmed made the twisted claim during conversations in 2008 intercepted by federal authorities as they put him and co-defendants Mahdi Hashi and Mohammed Yusuf under surveillance.
All three are to stand trial in Brooklyn charged with providing financial and material support to Somalian based militant group al-Shabaab, which has merged with al-Qaeda.
The recorded messages were presented to the federal court and reveal Yusuf expressing his doubts to Ahmed about traveling to Somalia in November, 2008, because he was frightened of becoming a suicide bomber in the war-torn nation.
Ahmed though calms his would-be terror colleague's fears by telling him that in his interpretation of Islam, suicide bombing attacks on civilians were easily justified.
'Ahmed minimized the significance of suicide bombings against civilian targets and suggested that if such attacks were in fact a sin, they were an immaterial, forgivable sin comparable to masturbation,' wrote Assistant U.S. Attorneys Shreve Ariail, Seth DuCharme and Richard Tucker in court papers submitted last week.
The three al-Shabaab members were commanded from the United States by Arabi-American Jehad Mostafa, who lived in San Diego and was on the FBI's most wanted list.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2890096/Accused-terrorist-told-comrade-suicide-bombings-against-innocent-civilians-forgivable-sin-just-like-masturbation.html
Indonesian VP says object in sea not from flight QZ8501
An object spotted during a sea search for an AirAsia plane was not from the aircraft, Indonesian vice-president Jusuf Kalla said today after reports that an Australian surveillance aircraft had found something."It has been checked and no sufficient evidence was found to confirm what was reported," Kalla told a press conference at the Juanda International Airport in Surabaya from where the ill-fated plane departed.
Australia, Singapore and Malaysia have deployed military planes and ships to assist in the Indonesian search for flight QZ8501, which disappeared over the Java Sea yesterday en route to Singapore.
Kalla said there were 15 ships and 30 aircraft searching the area.
"It is not an easy operation in the sea, especially in bad weather like this," he said.
Indonesian Air Force spokesman Hadi Tjahjanto told AFP the search was now focused on a patch of oil spotted off Belitung island in the Java Sea. – AFP, December 29, 2014.
- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/indonesian-vp-says-object-in-sea-not-from-flight-qz8501#sthash.IrQM7s9n.dpuf
A-G should explain why emergency not declared during floods, says law expert - See more at: http://www.th
The country’s top lawyer must explain why Putrajaya is reluctant to declare a state of emergency in areas affected by the current devastating floods, constitutional law expert Abdul Aziz Bari said.
"The Attorney-General (Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail) should come out to explain the issue," he added.
Aziz said the legal provision on emergency in Malaysia was different from that of the United Kingdom or the United States.
In the US, he said it was implied that the executive authority was in the hands of the President while in the UK it was contained in an ordinary legislation.
"In Malaysia, the power to declare a state of emergency is in the Federal Constitution and in the hands of the Yang diPertuan Agong, who normally acts on advice from the Cabinet," Aziz said in a statement.
He said this in response to federal opposition parties, DAP and PAS, which had criticised Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for his failure to declare a state of emergency, especially in Kelantan.
The Universiti Selangor academic said PAS Youth's legal committee had also cited a standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the National Security Council (NSC) in the event of such disasters.
"But the NSC is just a government agency and the SOP is not even a law, let alone able to take precedence over the Constitution," he added.
Aziz said PAS claimed that the state of emergency that it talked about was not the one under Article 150 of the Federal Constitution.
"Now, who has the authority to say that? How many types of 'state of emergency' are there in Malaysia?" he asked.
PAS Youth legal committee also claimed that the declaration of a state of emergency was crucial in order to allow the use of military assets.
"I think they are wrong. All those assets, including helicopters and ships are all under the control of the government," he said.
On Saturday, Najib had said floods submerged much of Kelantan but insisted that there was no necessity to declare a state of emergency in the northeastern state as insurance companies would be absolved from paying compensation.
"If the government announces an emergency, the implications that will arise include the insurance companies being absolved from paying compensation... and compensation arising from damages to property and vehicles is enormous," he had said.
Aziz said he felt that the government had some good reasons for not declaring a state of emergency as it would not have improved anything.
"Emergency declaration will not stop the rain or will help us with more food or boats," he added.
He said todate, a state of emergency has only been declared once, that is, during the severe haze problem in Sarawak in 1998 but it was not done by the King.– December 29, 2014.
- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/a-g-should-explain-why-emergency-not-declared-during-floods-says-law-expert#sthash.AQor5wTs.dpuf
"The Attorney-General (Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail) should come out to explain the issue," he added.
Aziz said the legal provision on emergency in Malaysia was different from that of the United Kingdom or the United States.
In the US, he said it was implied that the executive authority was in the hands of the President while in the UK it was contained in an ordinary legislation.
"In Malaysia, the power to declare a state of emergency is in the Federal Constitution and in the hands of the Yang diPertuan Agong, who normally acts on advice from the Cabinet," Aziz said in a statement.
He said this in response to federal opposition parties, DAP and PAS, which had criticised Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for his failure to declare a state of emergency, especially in Kelantan.
The Universiti Selangor academic said PAS Youth's legal committee had also cited a standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the National Security Council (NSC) in the event of such disasters.
"But the NSC is just a government agency and the SOP is not even a law, let alone able to take precedence over the Constitution," he added.
Aziz said PAS claimed that the state of emergency that it talked about was not the one under Article 150 of the Federal Constitution."Now, who has the authority to say that? How many types of 'state of emergency' are there in Malaysia?" he asked.
PAS Youth legal committee also claimed that the declaration of a state of emergency was crucial in order to allow the use of military assets.
"I think they are wrong. All those assets, including helicopters and ships are all under the control of the government," he said.
On Saturday, Najib had said floods submerged much of Kelantan but insisted that there was no necessity to declare a state of emergency in the northeastern state as insurance companies would be absolved from paying compensation.
"If the government announces an emergency, the implications that will arise include the insurance companies being absolved from paying compensation... and compensation arising from damages to property and vehicles is enormous," he had said.
Aziz said he felt that the government had some good reasons for not declaring a state of emergency as it would not have improved anything.
"Emergency declaration will not stop the rain or will help us with more food or boats," he added.
He said todate, a state of emergency has only been declared once, that is, during the severe haze problem in Sarawak in 1998 but it was not done by the King.– December 29, 2014.
- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/a-g-should-explain-why-emergency-not-declared-during-floods-says-law-expert#sthash.AQor5wTs.dpuf
Kelantan, for first time, shows some improvement
Latest developments
-
Malaysiakini observes serious food shortage in Kelantan
-
School opening for 2015 delayed a week
-
Ahmad Shabery Cheek says not all mobiles affected
-
The water on Sungai Pahang has reached dangerous level in three areas
- Top civil servants recalled from leave to assist in relief efforts
7.31pm: There is slight improvement in the overall flood crisis as the number of displaced people fell slightly from 224,980 this afternoon to 222,365 this evening.
The
number of evacuees has been on a decline, albeit very slowly, since
this morning when there were 225,730 people housed at hundreds of relief
centres in several states.Kelantan, for the first time, shows some improvement. Conditions also improved in Johor, Perak and Terengganu.
Pahang is the only state which number of evacuees increase while the small number of people displaced by floods in Selangor have returned home.
The following is the latest number of displaced people as of 5pm today compared to noon's figures (at 3pm).
Kelantan 147,072 (-4,000)
Terengganu 32,210 (-572)
Selangor 0 (-33)
Johor 175 (-153)
Perak 7,407 (-133)
Pahang 35,501 (+2,276)
PM: Don't accept false news on social media
7.05pm: Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak urges regulators to go after those who spread false news about the ongoing flood crisis.
"I
hope the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission will trace
those spreading false information and take action against them,” he is
quoted as saying by Bernama.Najib also urges the public to rely on official information provided by the government and not accept rumours circulated on social media.
Railway infrastructure damaged
6.40pm: KTM Berhad says that some delay is expected in restoring the train services in the east coast line because the damages to infrastructure.
According to a Bernama report, the floods have damaged basic infrastructures like tracks, bridges, platforms and railway stations between Gua Musang and Tumpat in Kelantan.
Meanwhile, the Singapore government would be contributing S$100,000 (RM264,359) to aid flood victims all over Malaysia.
The funds will be channelled through the Singapore Red Cross to the Malaysian Red Crescent Society to be distributed here.
Husam: Numbers not important
6.28pm:
PAS vice-president Husam Musa, who has been surveying the flood
situation in Kelantan, shrugs off the RM500 million allocation announced
by the federal government to help flood victims.Husam says the figures are unimportant at this stage and focus should be on what immediate actions are being taken to assist the flood victims.
“I don’t want to hear about hundreds of millions, I want to know if there will be school uniforms, whether there will be help to repair damaged houses and cars,” he says while visiting Kampung Kadok in Pasir Mas.
DAP wants RCI on floods
5.22pm: Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang has urged a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into the massive flooding in Malaysia, and that the government should learn from countries like South Korea and Japan so that the same incident won't happen again.
"This time, areas that have never experienced flooding before were also hit by the disaster.
"The water rose very fast and caught the authorities by surprise," he says during a press conference in Penang this evening.
He adds that such a situation should not have occurred in Malaysia, and the fact that it did, is a shame.
According to Lim, it shows the weaknesses in our country's disaster management system and standard operating procedure.
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/284782
DPM: School opening delayed a week
Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the new school session would begin on Jan 11 for Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Johor on Jan 12 for the other states.
"The postponement is inevitable due to the use of several schools as flood evacuation centres and floods at several other schools.
"It
will take time for the teachers, parents and schoolchildren affected by
the floods to make the necessary preparations by the time the school
session starts," he said in a statement.The new school session for Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Johor was originally scheduled to begin on Jan 4 and for the other states, on Jan 5.
"As Education Minister, I understand and am concerned about the difficulties faced in this situation by all parties including the schools' management, teachers, parents and students if the 2015 school session starts as scheduled,"
he said.
Muhyiddin
said until yesterday, the Education Ministry found that 340 schools in
seven states were affected by the floods, either they were turned into
flood relief centres or were inundated by flood waters.He also advised the schools' management that after the flood waters had subsided, they should use that time to organise gotong-royong to clean up the schools and compounds for the safety and comfort of the students.
Up to this morning, the number of flood victims in six states including Selangor has reached 225,731.
No replacement
Muhyiddin later also said the postponement of the start of the 2015 school session by a week does not require schools to replace these school days.
"There is no necessity to replace those days as the schooling period is sufficient. It is not a case of providing additional school holidays. We had to postpone the session due to a specific problem," he said.
Muhyiddin spoke at a news conference after visiting two flood relief centres, at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Durian Mentangau and SK Kampung Nyior, Dungun.
Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman, state secretary Mazlan Ngah and Terengganu National Security Council acting secretary Roslina Ngah were also present at the news conference.
- Bernama
Pilot’s daughter pines for papa
The young daughter of Captain Irianto, the pilot of the missing AirAsia plane posts a sad message begging her dad to come back to her.
FMT
PETALING JAYA: With search efforts of the missing Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 already underway near Belitung Island, emotionally whipped family members and friends are struggling to come to terms with the loss of their loved ones on board that Sunday flight.
One such person was Angela, the daughter of Captain Irianto, the pilot on duty, who posted a piercingly sad appeal for her father to return home.
As reported by kompas.com, Angela posted the message on Path, a social networking site that read: “Papa pulang. Kakak masih butuh papa. Kembalikan papaku. Papa pulang pa, papa harus ketemu.” (Papa come back. I still need you. Return my papa to me. Papa come back, we have to meet.)”
Irianto, whose wife is a homemaker, has one other child besides Angela.
The pilot was well known for being experienced with 6,100 hours of flying time under his belt.
The actual cause of the plane losing contact with traffic control is as yet unknown as efforts are more focussed on searching for the wreckage.
PETALING JAYA: With search efforts of the missing Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 already underway near Belitung Island, emotionally whipped family members and friends are struggling to come to terms with the loss of their loved ones on board that Sunday flight.
One such person was Angela, the daughter of Captain Irianto, the pilot on duty, who posted a piercingly sad appeal for her father to return home.
As reported by kompas.com, Angela posted the message on Path, a social networking site that read: “Papa pulang. Kakak masih butuh papa. Kembalikan papaku. Papa pulang pa, papa harus ketemu.” (Papa come back. I still need you. Return my papa to me. Papa come back, we have to meet.)”
Irianto, whose wife is a homemaker, has one other child besides Angela.
The pilot was well known for being experienced with 6,100 hours of flying time under his belt.
The actual cause of the plane losing contact with traffic control is as yet unknown as efforts are more focussed on searching for the wreckage.
Najib told to sack half of his ministers
The Federal Cabinet is as disastrous as the floods, says Umno critic.
FMT
KUALA LUMPUR: The Federal Cabinet has proven to be a disaster, a popular blogger and Umno critic has declared.
In his latest blog entry, Shahbudin Husin notes that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has had to order holidaying ministers to return immediately to take part in handling the crisis brought on by heavy flooding in the East Coast.
They should have been sensitive enough to cut short their overseas vacation at the first sign of a crisis and without having to be told, he says.
“That they need to be summoned back like ducks that have forgotten their nests is as much a disaster as the floods and the loss of flights MH370 and MH17,” he writes.
He says the ministers, some of whom he names, apparently do not care that Najib needs them not only to assist in managing the flood crisis, but also to help improve the battered image of his administration.
“Only by dismissing at least half of the ministers and replacing them with trustworthy new faces will it be even possible for Najib to bring back a little shine to himself, Umno and BN so that they can maintain their power,” he says.
“If he’s still reluctant to throw them out, he, together with these useless ministers, should prepare to pack up and go.”
He says it is disastrous that Malaysia is saddled with ministers who do not seem to understand that their primary task is to serve the people.
He notes that it was only on the second day of his return that Najib directed the ministers to cut short their holidays “in London, Australia, New Zealand, Dubai and China”. This was probably after he realised that only a handful of ministers were in the country, he adds.
Shahbudin says the errant ministers include those eyeing the Prime Minister’s position, such as Umno vice presidents Zahid Hamidi, Shafie Abdal and Hishammuddin Hussein.
“Similarly,” he adds, “Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, who is considered by some to be the second echelon candidate for the Prime Minister’s position, has also disappeared without a trace to the extent that posters proclaiming his absence are strewn across social media.”
He says there are only a handful of ministers in the country and it’s the same faces who are struggling to help flood victims in the various states.
FMT
KUALA LUMPUR: The Federal Cabinet has proven to be a disaster, a popular blogger and Umno critic has declared.
In his latest blog entry, Shahbudin Husin notes that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has had to order holidaying ministers to return immediately to take part in handling the crisis brought on by heavy flooding in the East Coast.
They should have been sensitive enough to cut short their overseas vacation at the first sign of a crisis and without having to be told, he says.
“That they need to be summoned back like ducks that have forgotten their nests is as much a disaster as the floods and the loss of flights MH370 and MH17,” he writes.
He says the ministers, some of whom he names, apparently do not care that Najib needs them not only to assist in managing the flood crisis, but also to help improve the battered image of his administration.
“Only by dismissing at least half of the ministers and replacing them with trustworthy new faces will it be even possible for Najib to bring back a little shine to himself, Umno and BN so that they can maintain their power,” he says.
“If he’s still reluctant to throw them out, he, together with these useless ministers, should prepare to pack up and go.”
He says it is disastrous that Malaysia is saddled with ministers who do not seem to understand that their primary task is to serve the people.
He notes that it was only on the second day of his return that Najib directed the ministers to cut short their holidays “in London, Australia, New Zealand, Dubai and China”. This was probably after he realised that only a handful of ministers were in the country, he adds.
Shahbudin says the errant ministers include those eyeing the Prime Minister’s position, such as Umno vice presidents Zahid Hamidi, Shafie Abdal and Hishammuddin Hussein.
“Similarly,” he adds, “Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, who is considered by some to be the second echelon candidate for the Prime Minister’s position, has also disappeared without a trace to the extent that posters proclaiming his absence are strewn across social media.”
He says there are only a handful of ministers in the country and it’s the same faces who are struggling to help flood victims in the various states.
Seven planes in the air with Air Asia Indonesia QZ8501
Two other planes were flying at the same level as Air Asia Indonesia QZ8501.
FMT
“There were seven other planes near QZ8501.”
Uni Emirates Arab 406, AirAsia 502, and AirAsia 550, three of the other planes, were flying at the same level as AirAsia Indonesia QZ8501, said Wisnu.
Lack of leadership in dealing with floods
GOING BY Putrajaya’s scramble to deal with the seasonal floods assailing the country, a quote from Abraham Lincoln comes to mind – “nearly all men can stand adversity but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power”.
For Malaysia, the true test of its leaders’ character has been revealed one too many a times and that too in the most unflattering of ways.
The classic case in point was Putrajaya’s fumbling over the March 8, 2014 disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 which exposed the government’s weaknesses the world over.
However, the embarrassment that Putrajaya brought upon Malaysia with its apathy vis-à-vis the missing MH370 flight has not taught the government the much needed lesson in “thinking before speaking”.
Now, as the country battles the never-like-before floods, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has proved that old habits just refuse to die. When reacting to pressure to declare a state of emergency to deal with the floods, he said Putrajaya would only do so when power and water supplies were completely cut off and flood victims numbered “hundreds of thousands”.
So once again Putrajaya’s character leaves much to be desired.
From the callous remark by Muhyiddin to the fact that he was forced to turun padang or get his feet dirty and look at the flood situation in Kelantan – the worst-hit state – only after much flak from DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang, the handling of the flood problem by Putrajaya has been a let-down.
More than 160,000 Malaysians, so far, have been displaced by floods in nine states, the highest in the nation’s history.
Najib deserted the rakyat for leisure
As for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who left Malaysians to their own devices to deal with the ravaging floods, he finally got the message when netizens lampooned him for opting to go off on his golfing holiday in Hawaii and deserting the rakyat at a time of crisis.
Najib wisely decided to cut short his break and return to a very wet Malaysian soil. He has also since ordered all his cabinet ministers to return home from their various jaunts to handle the flood situation.
Still, the lethargic attitude displayed by both the premier and his deputy in addressing the flood problem speaks volumes about Putrajaya’s ill-preparedness in dealing with such disasters, despite floods not being uncommon in Malaysia.
When International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed spent 10 hours by boat to travel to Kuala Krai, an area deeply affected by the floods, it was then that he admitted to weaknesses in managing and rescuing flood victims in Kelantan.
Why has it only now dawned on Mustapa, who is also the MP for Jeli, that there are shortcomings that need to be addressed? Was he not aware of it in the many years he has been the parliamentary representative for Jeli and whenever Kelantan was inundated by floods?
Mustapa described this year’s floods as “big” to Astro Awani and said this resulted in the government’s weakness in coordinating aid.
How ironic that in times of adversity many an unpleasant truth surfaces. But then no excuse can compensate for Putrajaya’s lackadaisical attitude in reacting to the floods problems in the country.
While Najib got excited teeing away with US President Barack Obama in Hawaii, back home the National Security Council (NSC) failed to rise to the occasion by showing no sense of urgency in tackling the worsening floods.
Get rid of archaic thinking
To DAP’s Lim, Putrajaya’s frustratingly slow reaction to the flood conditions especially in the worse hit East Coast was unacceptable.
In a statement, Lim lashed out at Putrajaya saying “Surely Muhyiddin, the Cabinet and the NSC are not expecting for fatalities to pile up to tens or hundreds accompanying the number of flood victims reaching the scale of hundreds of thousands before a state of emergency as a result of a flood disaster is declared!”
Lim went on to show proof that other countries were fast to react and had in place centralised flood-relief operations before the tragedies got out of hand, much unlike what was happening in Malaysia.
The MP for Gelang Patah cited the Nov 28 flooding along the Gaza Strip that affected hundreds; the flooding on Dec 24 in Central Java, West Java and Aceh where 6,000 people were evacuated; the flooding in Vancouver on De 9 caused by a sub-tropical storm and the Dec 16 floods in the Bay Area of San Francisco.
Explaining that the governments of these countries did not wait for “hundreds of thousands of flood victims before an emergency was declared”, Lim said: “There is an urgent need for the immediate review of such outmoded, archaic and obsolete rules” such as was put forth by Muhyiddin.
Putrajaya and NSC need to buck up
DAP lawmaker Tony Pua urged the NSC to demonstrate leadership to tackle the worst floods in Malaysia's history.
In a statement, he said: “There has been almost no demonstration of urgency from the NSC. All we have heard two days ago was NSC secretary Datuk Mohamed Thajudeen Abdul Wahab warning people against spreading rumours regarding the flood situation.
“Thajudeen was only interested in the formalities of the process of calling for a state of emergency by claiming that it could only be declared by Najib.
“Worse, instead of informing the public what are the proactive and concrete efforts Putrajaya will undertake to manage the disaster, he was more concerned with going after those responsible for starting the rumours once the flood in the east coast had abated.”
Lim and Pua are not the only ones frustrated with Putrajaya’s nonchalant attitude towards the critical flood situation. The rakyat, post-March 8 have learned that the government is simply too stubborn in wanting to do the right thing at the right time.
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