Police: Islamist militants hijack bus in Kenya at dawn, kill dozens

(CNN) -- Islamist militants ambushed a bus in Kenya on Saturday and sprayed bullets on those who failed to recite Quran verses, killing at least 28 people, authorities said.

The bus, which had 60 people aboard, was heading from Mandera, near the Somali border, to the capital of Nairobi.

About 20 miles into its dawn journey, militants stopped it at a hilly area and stormed in, local police Cmdr. Noah Mwivanda told the Daily Nation newspaper.

Militants demanded those onboard recite Quran verses. As others watched, they opened fire on passengers who failed to do so, he said.

Somali-based terror group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, saying it was retaliation for mosque raids this week. It described those killed as Christians.

This is one of the busiest travel seasons in the nation. Throngs make their way to relatives' homes for the holidays, with buses and other public transportation packed this time of the year.

"Security agencies are in pursuit of the criminal gang," the Interior Ministry said in a statement. It later said helicopters and jets have demolished the attackers' camp and operations were ongoing.

Kenyan Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku declined to comment on the incident in a phone call with CNN on Saturday.

The bodies of the victims were being taken to Nairobi, where the Kenya Red Cross will provide assistance to victims' relatives and survivors of the attack, said the organization's secretary general, Abbas Gullet.

Days before the bus attack, police raided multiple mosques in the port city of Mombasa after they found explosives in one. The searches this week prompted clashes with Muslim youths in the city, Kenya's second-largest.

Al-Shabaab, which has ties to al Qaeda, has launched a series of attacks in Kenya since its forces went into neighboring Somalia in 2011 to battle the extremists.

Kenyan soldiers have targeted militants' hideouts across Somalia, prompting retaliatory attacks from the terror group.

Last year, Al-Shabaab raided a Nairobi mall in a brazen attack that killed 68 people and left shoppers under siege for days.

In addition to Kenya and Somalia, the terror group has struck Uganda, where it killed more than 70 people gathered to watch a World Cup soccer match in Kampala in 2010.

As the attacks get more daring, the international community has rallied to battle the militants.

In September, a U.S. airstrike killed Al-Shabaab's leader, Ahmed Godane. The terror group later replaced him and vowed to avenge his death.

Demo tuntut pendidikan percuma kurang sambutan

Palestinians assault two Israelis after quiet Al-Aqsa prayers

Daily Star

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Friday prayers at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque went ahead peacefully despite tensions in the holy city, but Palestinians later wounded two Jews as they walked to worship not far away.

In the West Bank city of Hebron, stone-throwing Palestinians rioted, responding to a call by the Hamas movement for a “day of rage.”

After Israel dropped age restrictions for attending Friday prayers for the second week running, tens of thousands of people made their way to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Arab East Jerusalem.

Police were out in force to prevent a repeat of clashes, led by young Palestinians, that have rocked the city for months.

Men and women of all ages shuffled into the compound as police carefully checked the identity cards of younger worshippers.

But after dark, a few hundred meters away, Palestinians attacked seven Israelis on their way to Sabbath eve prayers, lightly injuring two of them after an exchange of insults.

“A group of Jewish worshippers were attacked as they walked ... to Beit Horot,” police said, referring to a Jewish seminary set up on the Mount of Olives by ultranationalist rabbi Benny Elon in 1999.

One man was stabbed in the back and the second hit with a blunt instrument, apparently an iron bar.

The Palestinians have been infuriated by a far-right Jewish campaign for prayer rights at the compound that threatens an ultra-sensitive, decades-old status quo under which Jews may visit but not pray.

Police had tried to preempt unrest by limiting male entry to those over 35, but Israel eased the restrictions last week as part of steps aimed at reducing tensions.

While Israel controls entry to the site in the Old City, Jerusalem’s Muslim authorities administer it, while Jordan acts as custodian.

Despite the lifting of the age restrictions, resentment simmered under the surface.

“The age limitations are only lifted because it’s to their [Israel’s] benefit,” said 23-year-old Amir, an engineer who had come from Ramallah in the West Bank to pray for the first time since June.

“People are afraid of coming. The situation here is very risky.”

In the West Bank city of Hebron, hundreds of Palestinians heeded a call from Hamas for a “day of rage” in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

A military spokeswoman said “350 rioters threw stones outside a mosque” and “were being dispersed by nonlethal means.”

No arrests were made. Separately, Israel rejected an appeal by the EU’s five biggest members to not raze the homes of Palestinians who carried out lethal attacks in Jerusalem, saying that the tactic was designed to deter further violence.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper said the Foreign Ministry heard arguments from the German, French, British, Italian and Spanish envoys that the demolitions, carried out against one East Jerusalem dwelling this week and planned against four more, were liable to inflame tensions and were counterproductive.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said the ambassadors were told the measure was consistent with Israeli law and would be pursued.

Israel used home demolitions extensively during the Palestinian revolt of 2000-05 but halted the practice, citing concern that it entrenched hostility.

Its revival in Jerusalem has also drawn criticism from the United States.

And in Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected the idea of Germany recognizing Palestine as a state unilaterally, saying the Palestinians and Israel could solve their long-running conflict only through negotiations.

The aim should be a negotiated two-state solution, Merkel told a news conference after meeting Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel. “Therefore from our point of view, a unilateral recognition of the Palestinian state would not move us forward on the way to a two-state solution,” the chancellor said.

Michel said Belgium generally favored recognizing Palestine as a state. “But the question is when is the right moment,” he added, stressing the need for a common EU position.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Nov-22/278547-palestinians-assault-two-israelis-after-quiet-al-aqsa-prayers.ashx#ixzz3Jq1YDNCg
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The extraordinary moment a whole village stopped to bury a dead militant: Hundreds of Muslim Kashmiris pause to pray for suspected terrorist killed by Indian security services

• Shiraz Ahmed is one of three suspected rebels killed in a gunbattle with government forces in South Kashmir
• The three men were thought to be members of the militant Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)
• LeT is fighting against Indian control in Kashmir and believed to be responsible for the 2008 attacks in Mumbai

A series of extraordinary photos show how hundreds of Kashmiri villagers who turned out for the funeral of suspected terrorist Shiraz Ahmed, who was killed in a gunbattle with government forces.

Relatives sobbed while other mourners covered their faces in grief, as the funeral procession moved through the village of Panjran, 28 miles south of Srinagar in India.

Three suspected rebels were killed on November 20, during an encounter with security forces in Tral area of Pulwama district in South Kashmir.

The men were thought to be members of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the militant group India believes is responsible for the 2008 attack on Mumbai that killed 166 people.

According to local reports, police said Ahmed transported militants, who were involved in the killing of Assistant Sub Inspector Farooq Ahmad.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2844386/Hundreds-Muslim-Kashmiris-pause-pray-suspected-terrorist-killed-Indian-security-services.html

Polis, tentera akan gempur Cameron Highlands waktu malam, kata Najib

Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) dan Angkatan Tentera Malaysia (ATM) akan menggerakkan anggota ke Cameron Highlands untuk menggempur kegiatan pembukaan tanah secara haram di situ pada waktu malam, kata Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Perdana menteri berkata langkah itu diambil susulan perbincangannya dengan Sultan Pahang Sultan Ahmad Shah, berdasarkan laporan kegiatan itu sering dilakukan pendatang asing tanpa izin (Pati) pada waktu malam.

"Saya sudah mengarahkan Ketua Polis Negara (Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar) dan Panglima Angkatan Tentera (Jen Tan Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zain) untuk menghantar anggota masing-masing supaya pada waktu malam kita akan membuat rondaan yang lebih menyeluruh dan kalau ada kegiatan yang menyalahi undang-undang kita akan ambil tindakan," katanya.

Beliau bercakap kepada pemberita selepas merasmikan Pameran Pertanian, Hortikultur dan Agro Pelancongan Antarabangsa (Maha) 2014, di Taman Ekspo Pertanian Malaysia Serdang (Maeps), di Serdang, hari ini.

Berhubung kebanjiran Pati di kawasan tanah tinggi itu, beliau berkata, penguatkuasaan lebih tegas dan berkesan akan dijalankan melalui kerjasama antara kerajaan negeri Pahang dan kerajaan pusat.

Najib berkata, Timbalan Perdana Menteri Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yang juga pengerusi Jawatankuasa Khas Mengenai Banjir Kilat di Cameron Highlands akan melawat kawasan tanah tinggi itu Isnin ini bersama-sama Menteri Besar Pahang Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob.

"Saya berharap hasil lawatan dan perbincangan bersama itu, kita akan membuat tindakan yang lebih berkesan dan kelemahan penguatkuasaan selama ini akan berubah kepada satu bentuk penguatkuasaan lebih serius dan berkesan lagi," katanya.

Kejadian banjir lumpur dan tanah runtuh di Kampung Raja, Pekan Ringlet dan Lembah Bertam di Cameron Highlands pada 5 November lepas, mengakibatkan lima kematian dan lebih 90 mangsa daripada 28 keluarga terpaksa dipindahkan ke pusat pemindahan di Dewan Serbaguna Orang Ramai di Ringlet. – Bernama, 22 November, 2014.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/bahasa/article/polis-tentera-akan-gempur-cameron-highlands-waktu-malam-kata-najib#sthash.RzgwIsT2.dpuf

Dr M believes fuel subsidy cut must be done in stages

The total removal of subsidies for RON95 petrol and diesel should be done in stages so that Malaysians would not be burdened by it, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.

The former prime minister said that although he agreed that fuel subsidies should be removed, he felt it should have been conducted in stages over a period of time.

“I agree with the reducing of subsidies but this is only my opinion. The removal of subsidies take time, just like anything we do, it has to be step by step,” Dr Mahathir said at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre after receiving an honorary doctorate from MAHSA University.

He was responding to the announcement yesterday by Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Hasan Malek, who said fuel subsides for RON95 and diesel will be scrapped from December 1.

Hasan said the retail price for these two fuels will be decided by a "managed float".

The fuel prices would be determined on a monthly average price, which will be announced at the end of each month for the following month.

World petroleum prices would be monitored daily to get the average.

The managed float system was already in use for RON97 petrol, and the move to use the same system for RON95 and diesel was made after it had proven successful for the higher-grade fuel.

Meanwhile, PKR today slammed Putrajaya for the move describing it as “irresponsible” in light of the financial burden it would create for the people.

PKR Youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said Putrajaya victimised the people with the move and failed to explain itself despite the many questions raised over government spending.

PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli yesterday said that the government was doing its best to embezzle Malaysia’s wealth by abolishing subsidies.

"The bigger issue at hand is whether the country's oil and gas wealth is shared with the public and not just squandered by Putrajaya," Rafizi said. – November 22, 2014.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/unlike-putrajaya-dr-m-believes-fuel-subsidy-cut-must-be-done-in-stages#sthash.DxJek2Yl.dpuf

An Interstellar view of ‘Malay-ness’

 

Of late there have been intensifying debates on ‘Malay-ness’ and that political parties will continue to engage in this, conducted within the framework Malaysia’s ‘commanding heights’ (read Vladimir Lenin’s essay) or the economic and ideological basis of this country as a hypermodern state.

Reading some seminal work on evolutionary biology, eugenics, social Darwinism, and the ‘mitochondrial Eve’ as the first human, questions came to be demanding perspectives on what actually is ‘Malay-ness’ and whether the ‘Malay’ exists and what does it have to do with culture, consciousness, and human progress in a multicultural society such as Malaysia.

I recently wrote these on my Facebook page:

“THE TRUTH is ... THE MALAYS

are not the first race/people on planet earth
as will be soon claimed by pop-pseudo-evolutionary biologists
the Mitochondrial Eve from Mother Africa
was the first ... then here is migration and variations
Malay-ness and ‘other-raceness’ is
merely a construct
mere illusion,
mere construction,
merely an idea of social dominance
not to be taken seriously
and to write a history
or a theory of jealousy
race, ethnicity do not exist and has no scientific basis
so you politicians - stop whining
and complaining
and scheming
and fighting till we bleed
read more science and become more human
treat each other like human beings
like what Mother Afrika Mitochondria preaches - ar

Is ‘culture’ the culprit?

We continue to debate about culture and religion in our public schools. We might be debating on faulty premises. We might have to look at the issue of culture, race, and ethnicity from a radically different perspective. Let us see what this may mean based on the propositions I will be making which fundamentally begin like this - culture is in the imagination and is not real.

There is no such a concept as ‘original culture’. Cultures are systems of construction of realities that is influenced by the historical-materialistic march of technology and capital, that then develops conditions of existence and formulate human consciousness. Culture is fluid and amorphous and is a construct rather than a constant. Culture is not static. Cultural construction can be conveniently used and abused to lend legitimacy to power and its concentrated self.

It is more than just the tools we use and play but also the house that we inhabit. Its definition is problematic; the numbers of definitions are many. The words Malay, Chinese, Indian, American, Indonesian - all these are cultural constructs that are useful in some ways but useless in others.

Unfortunately it is the uselessness of culture that is often most attractive and get translated into sophisticated racist policies. As racist policies become further institutionalised and as economic interests that go with these need to be protected even more, racial tensions and consequently violence erupts. As these further mounts, we have war and ethnic cleansing - in the name of cultural superiority.

We are endowed by the Creator these variations in skin colour and appearances to have use of to solve problems of humanity; to understand what needs and wants are, and to discern what is Good and what is Evil.

Cultures can enable human thinking and it can also disable it. It can be shaped, structured, and symbolised based on the influence of class structure of the people/peoples.

This will translate into ‘high’, ‘low’, ‘mass’, ‘popular’, and ‘sub-culture’. With all these subdefinitions of culture comes the status symbols of the object of display, affection, work, leisure, etc, that shape and that are shaped by the economic condition.

Hence, a goblet used in a sultan’s palace might be worth a thousand goblets used by the sultan’s hamba sahayas. Or a Rolls Royce used by a royal family signifies a symbol of ‘high culture’ as opposed to a ‘[Proton] Rusa’, a symbol of ‘popular culture’ used by a family in a remote kampong.

There is a new dimension of culture emerging. There are classes of culture and culture of classes. Classes of culture are post-industrial tribes that are victims of producers whereas culture of classes are the internal logic of cultures that have been eroded by the forces of globalisation and late capitalism.

I am still thinking. I don’t have the answers. I have only more question on whether the ‘Malay’ actually exist and if one needs to defend the people, through political designs. For too long we have been dwelling upon this problematique. Many have written about it.

Maybe we have been asking the wrong question all this while and fighting the wrong battles and setting up the wrong race-based institutions, based on the wrongest premises of winner-only-crafted history. This question by the way, was inspired by a movie I watched recently - Interstellar.

What, then is the answer? Or rather- what should be the questions?

---

DR AZLY RAHMAN, born in Singapore and grew up in Johor Baru, holds a Columbia University (New York City) doctorate in International Education Development and Masters degrees in four areas: Education, International Affairs, Peace Studies and Communication. He has taught more than 40 courses in six different departments and has written more than 350 analyses on Malaysia. His teaching experience in Malaysia and the United States spans over a wide range of subjects, from elementary to graduate education. He has edited and authored six books; Multiethnic Malaysia: Past, Present, Future (2009), Thesis on Cyberjaya: Hegemony and Utopianism in a Southeast Asian State (2012), The Allah Controversy and Other Essays on Malaysian Hypermodernity (2013), a first Malay publication Kalimah Allah Milik Siapa?: Renungan dan Nukilan Tentang Malaysia di Era Pancaroba (2014), and Controlled Chaos: Essays on Mahathirism, Multimedia Super Corridor and Malaysia’s ‘New Politics’ (forthcoming 2014). He currently resides in the United States where he teaches courses in Philosophy, Cultural Studies, Political Science, and American Studies. Twitter, blog.

Did hospital negligence cause 14-year-old’s death?

Tinasha Ganesan Rao is declared brain dead by a private hospital within eight hours of admission for a fever.

FMT

PETALING JAYA: From fever to fits, then death. That was how 14-year-old Tinasha Ganesan Rao spent the last few days of her life when her parents took her to Assunta Hospital to treat her fever.

The members of her family, who are completely distraught, are demanding answers from hospital personnel as to how their daughter ended up brain dead within eight hours of admission after suffering fits.

Speaking to reporters, her parents also expressed their frustration as to why they are not getting any specific answers to questions asked.

Tinasha’s mother, Uthayabavani Inthirarasa, 46, who was with her daughter throughout the ordeal, said the family lodged a police report this morning and were currently awaiting the hospital’s response as to how and why their daughter died.

She explained, ”We had three meetings with the hospital, posing many questions only to have the standard ‘I’ll get back to you on that’ answers.”

Saying they may have lost their “angel who was young and full of life” because of incompetence, Uthayabavani added, “We want to bring up the issue and get justice on this matter to help others who may face this situation, especially young children like Tinasha.”

The Petaling Jaya Assunta Secondary School student passed away at 11:40am this morning, shortly after several of her family members gave a press conference accusing the hospital of negligence.

Meanwhile the chief executive officer of the hospital, Peter TL Leong, maintained that all hospital procedures were followed and that Tinasha’s nausea was treated with the usual medication for such cases.

Leong also said that the hospital was eagerly awaiting the results of the post-mortem so that everyone could know for certain what caused the girl’s sudden death.

He added that it was also too early for Tinasha’s parents to suspect the hospital of negligence and rather than take their suspicions to the media, they should have filed for malpractice instead.

Relating the sequence of events leading to her daughter’s demise, Uthayabavani recalled taking a feverish Tinasha to the hospital at 8:30pm last Sunday.

“She had a fever that was slightly high, nothing too worrying; but I took her to this hospital instead of a clinic just to be safe,” she said.

“She was given one injection and two fever tablets in the span of three hours while waiting for admission.”

She added that by 11.30pm, after Tanisha was admitted, she vomited.

She said, “I went into the bathroom to clean up after her only to realise my daughter was given another injection after she threw up, without my consent.”

Tinasha’s father, taxi driver Ganesan Rao Balakrishnan, 47, who broke down repeatedly when talking about his daughter struggled to relate how Tinasha was given a double shot of fluids to stop the fits she later developed around 2am.

“At around 4am, Tanisha was put on oxygen to relax and next thing you know, by 6:50am they were performing CPR and trying to revive her.

“About an hour later, the specialist who showed up for the first time since admission said there were too many complications and by 3pm Monday afternoon Tinasha was declared brain dead,” he said.

The death of their beloved daughter has left Uthayabavani and Ganesan completely distraught and extremely confused as to why there were still so many questions hospital personnel were refusing to answer.

“We have many questions such as why the specialist told us later at one of our meetings that she was unaware of Tinasha’s condition and that she was not aware of any medical prescriptions given to her between the time she admitted Tinasha until 7:45am,” the girl’s father said.

“Is it the right SOP to not be in communication with the specialist on patients’ condition? How come some of the medication was given without our consent?”

Also present at the press conference was Tinasha’s uncle, Ramesh Inthirarasa, 42, and aunt Suthashini Inthirarasa, 42, who described their late niece as “bubbly, full of life, loveable”.

“To have someone so young taken away in a matter of hours over something that started with a fever… we cannot digest this, we will never accept how this escalated so quickly, and just like that, we’ve lost our baby,” said Suthashini.

Tinasha’s body is currently at University Malaya Medical Centre for a post-mortem.

MIC: Indian only in name, nothing more

It is shameful that MIC is still silent over the issue of the Vivekananda Ashram in Brickfields.

By A Pillai - FMT

Now that Culture and Tourism Minister Mohamed Nazri Aziz has come out openly and aggressively to thwart the development of the Vivekananda Ashram in Brickfields, the obvious question is: “Where are the senior MIC leaders in regard to the ashram?”

Wasn’t M Saravanan the Federal Territories deputy minister for years? Can he not do something? Or is it that in this country only Umno ministers have the power to effect change?

Not a day goes by that MIC leaders go out of their way to remind Indians across this wonderful nation that they have to support the party, because MIC is the one with the power and access to actuate change for the community.

Yet when the opportunity arrives, then festers, all the Indian community gets is a huge yawn of silence as MIC leaders fail once again to use their so-called powerful connections and influence with the Najib Cabinet and administration.

You can hear a pin drop for all of MIC’s silence on the issue of the Vivekananda Ashram. Was this claim of power and influence just a claim and nothing more?

What is the point of having Indian leaders in the government if they are just as powerless as those outside? Can you blame Indians for shifting their support to Pakatan Rakyat or even to the many Hindraf-like NGOs out there, because those in MIC lack the courage and will to fight for Indian issues?

The Vivekananda Ashram has stood in Brickfields for over a century. It has also stood as a symbol of intellectual and cultural development of the Indian people in this country.

While the Vivekananda Ashram Kuala Lumpur management committee argues that the development will not destroy the old building or the statue of Swami Vivekananda, they cannot deny that developing around it will drastically change the aesthetics of the site. Once development takes shape, the ashram will merely be a displaced old building crowded out by other large buildings in its vicinity.

For decades Brickfields has been a famous spot in Kuala Lumpur. However in the last decade or so, it has become a major location with the greater development of KL Sentral. With the ERL station in it, it is the doorway to the country, and that doorway is only a few hundred metres from the Vivekananda Ashram.

The Ashram is as much a Malaysian site as it is an Indian-Malaysian one, and to deny it a good, independent and unique presence when so many will be passing it daily, is to say that a prosperous and modern Malaysia does not require an Indian cultural centre presented unhindered to the peoples of the world.

What does the Vivekananda Ashram mean to the Indian people of Malaysia? The visit of Swami Vivekananda to Malaya in 1893 and the opening of the Ashram in 1904 are part of global story-telling. It is a point of pride. It shows progressive and modern Indian ideas which are universal.

Preserving the ashram as is stands, presents the level in which Malaysian Indian identities are regarded. Does the MIC not care about these things? I wonder about this especially when thinking about leaders like president G Palanivel and M Saravanan.

Are they not ashamed that when there is a protest to defend the ashram, it is led by community leaders of the area and even opposition leaders like Nurul Izzah Anwar? Yes, Brickfields may very well fall under her parliamentary constituency but when we see her and only her with other Pakatan Rakyat leaders like Manivanan of Kapar, we are forced to wonder if there is any life still coursing through the veins of senior MIC leaders.

Truth is, I do not care a lot about politics, but I will remember the politicians who care about my issues. I am not alone, there are many like me. I rather vote for a non-Indian group if they are willing to defend Indian issues like the Vivekananda Ashram, and forget about MIC leaders who are only Indian by name but not when it comes to defending Indian issues.

Save Vivekananda Ashram, Save MIC!

A Pillai is an FMT reader

Change or be changed, Muhyiddin warns Umno

It’s feared that the Umno General Assembly next week will avoid honest debate on the issues of the day.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: Umno Deputy President Muhyiddin Yassin has trotted out an old cliché, change or be changed, to warn the ruling party in a Malay daily on Saturday that it’s still in grave peril after winning the last two General Elections “by the skin of its teeth”.

He was referring to the Barisan Nasional’s (BN) loss of its two-thirds majority in 2008; and its failure to win it back last year and the results in the recent outing being even worse than in the previous one.

Muhyiddin’s choice of the Malay daily to deliver his message, on the eve of the Umno General Assembly, was ironic as it’s perceived as shrilly opposed to change of any kind in the nation’s politics.

The paper has instead chosen to make the Chinese community in particular as scapegoats for Umno’s and BN’s woes in electoral outings.

“I am saying that we have reached a rather critical stage, if no change or renewal appears to be happening, the concern is that we will lose,” said Muhyiddin, also the Deputy Prime Minister, in the Malay daily. “The signs are clear in front of us.”

The change or be changed theme comes with a caveat: “Never forget that Umno’s rise and growth was to champion bangsa, agama, negara (race, religion and country).”

“That has never changed,” warns Muhyiddin. “Our methods can be a little different but the message is the same.”

In directing his criticisms at the Malay daily and “extremists” in Umno and its NGOs, he asked: “When we use language, isn’t there a way to convey our message clearly without offending others?”

In a no-brainer, Muhyiddin pointed out the obvious in resuming debate on the change theme: that Umno was still licking its wounds from the beating it received in 2008, obviously at the hands of the people, when the opposition Pakatan Rakyat alliance won by default and couldn’t believe the results for two weeks.

To add insult to injury, he added, the party was plagued by internal strife.

“There are still internal issues which have not been resolved, there are still fights for positions, money politics, carelessness, negligence and forgetfulness, and this includes the party’s wings,” lamented Muhyiddin.

“We have to self-reflect and admit to this, but we must also take firmer, braver and more effective action.”

Taking a fatherly approach with the party’s junior wings, he wonders what else that they could do besides doing more of the same i.e. tackling issues raised by the people and raising awareness among the people on the true nature of the party’s struggle.

“Umno Youth, Wanita and Puteri have not faded, become weakened, or are not keeping silent at all,” said Muhyiddin in springing to their defence. “But there’s a perception that they are no longer like in the old days when they used to come forward if any issue was raised and act as a pressure lobby.”

“This perception has been going on for quite some time now and it must be changed. It cannot go on.”

The Umno Deputy President urged the wings to return to brass tacks and be clear on the issues that Umno should champion, and the different approaches which can be adopted, “in their fight to uphold bangsa, agama, negara”.

It’s feared that the Umno General Assembly next week will degenerate into the politics of distraction and disruption, marked by rhetoric and polemics, and avoid honest debate on the issues of the day.

If so, it would be the clearest indication that Umno is incapable of change and it will continue to be haunted by Muhyiddin’s “change or be changed” warning.

Opposition raises 11 queries on 1MDB for Najib

Prime Minister and Finance Minister urged not to use a legal suit to evade responsibility and accountability on “the scandal”.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister and Finance Minister Najib Abdul Razak has been urged to make a ministerial statement on the troubled 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and not evade responsibility and accountability on the issue by threatening Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua with a legal suit to silence him.

Pua has since made the 1MDB issue his constituency.

“The Prime Minister should not set a bad example to other Ministers,” said DAP’s elder statesman Lim Kit Siang in a statement. “He has to answer 11 teeming questions on the multi-billion ringgit 1MDB scandal.”

He was commenting on Pua being served on Friday with a letter of demand for allegedly defaming Najib in a YouTube video, Tony Pua: Najib is creating the biggest scandal ever in the history of Malaysia.

Lim listed the 11 questions covering various aspects of 1MDB and its subsidiaries raised by the Opposition in Parliament and outside.

Briefly, the issue of guarantees and letters of support from the Federal Government for 1MDB and their omission from the national debts; surrender of legal jurisdiction to the Courts of London in the event of a dispute or default; payment of “certain commissions, fees and expenses” to raise loans; diversions of loans taken by subsidiaries to repay debts incurred by 1MDB; and highly irregular “Use of Proceeds” of a US$3 billion bond

Among other issues: acceptance of a corporate loan guarantee by International Petroleum Investment Corporation (IPIC) of Abu Dhabi on such onerous terms; the conversion of a US$1 billion investment in a joint-venture with PetroSaudi in 2009, a company with no track record and dubious origins, into a loan subsequently increased to US$1.7 billion; a US$2.32 billion investment in Bridge Capital Partners in Cayman Islands, an unknown fund manager of questionable origins and no track record; and the Finance Ministry’s acquisition of SRC International Sdn Bhd, a 1MDB subsidiary, after it received a RM4 billion loan from Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pesara (KWAP) guaranteed by the Federal Government.

Elsewhere, the issues are overpayment in billions for 1MDB’s acquisition of Genting Sanyen and Tanjong Energy, both power assets; the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water reversing its policy of open tenders for new power plants to directly and hastily award a 50MW solar-power plant and a 2,000MW gas-turbine power plant to 1MDB before even the tariffs were agreed upon; and the Federal Government’s sale of super-prime land to 1MDB at heavily discounted prices to allow the company to “revalue” its assets;

Finally, the queries relate to international auditing firms, Ernst & Young and KPMG, quitting their lucrative work with 1MDB; and the failure by 1MDB subsidiaries to submit their financial statements to the Companies Commission.

“Although the current budget parliamentary meeting is to end on Thursday 27 Nov, 2014, it will be the height of irresponsibility for Najib as Prime Minister, Finance Minister and Chairman, 1MDB Board of Advisers, to evade and avoid accountability for the numerous questions that have been raised over the 1MDB scandal,” warned Lim in his statement.

“These have not been satisfactorily explained by the Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan.”

He urged Najib to arrange for a full debate in Parliament to be held on his Ministerial Statement on 1MDB.

Those in the know are surprised by the wealth of details on the 1MDB which the DAP has at its disposal.

The fingers of suspicion are being pointed at Umno

Dr Mahathir himself has since alleged that 1MDB paid above market prices in their purchase of power plants from Genting and Ananda Krishnan; that it has a debt of around RM38 billion after just five years in operation; that the money for 1MDB is not from the country’s surpluses but billions of ringgit of debt that has added to the already high national debt; and that the government will not have the ability to help repay the 1MDB debt as it is already facing a deficit budget problem.

Tunisians Are Shaken as Young Women Turn to Extremism

by Carlotta Gall - New York Times

TUNIS — Leila Mustapha Saidi returned home on a recent day to find her daughter Henda missing, along with her computer. Mrs. Saidi, who had watched her daughter grow religious and “obsessed” with the conflict in Syria, said she feared she had run off to join Islamist fighters there.

Instead, the police called four days later. Her daughter Henda Saidi was holed up in a house outside Tunis with a group of suspected insurgents. A day later, security forces stormed the house. Of six people killed in the raid, five were young women.

“They classified her as a terrorist,” Mrs. Saidi said bitterly.

After more than two years of mounting attacks and assassinations, Tunisians are no longer surprised by shootouts between gunmen and anti-terrorist units, even in the capital. But the standoff in which Ms. Saidi was killed nonetheless shocked many here for the sheer number of women involved.

It has also driven home the fact that — nearly four years after events in Tunisia set off the Arab Spring, and with presidential elections Sunday — the lure of extremism has touched virtually every part of society, men and women, the poor and the comfortable alike.

It has reached even the relatively affluent district of La Marsa, where the Saidis live in a pretty house with arbors of flowers in an enclosed front garden. Henda was the third person from her high school to die for the Islamist cause in the last year, teachers and acquaintances said.

“We are all uncomprehending,” said Linda Ben Osman, an art teacher who worked at the high school several years ago and knew Ms. Saidi. “These were smart kids, kind kids, ready for life — very beautiful in the case of Henda.”

“The youth are desperate, I think,” Ms. Ben Osman added. “Before Syria and ISIS,” she said, referring to Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, “people self-immolated, or took boats to escape to Europe and died in the sea.”

She and others consider the outburst of extremism to be a reaction to the authoritarianism of Tunisia’s former ruler, President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, whose overthrow ushered in a free-for-all democracy.

Radical Islamists released from prison and returning home from exile were quick to exploit the new freedoms, taking over mosques, setting up associations, and recruiting thousands of young followers. Tunisia has been grappling with a surge of Islamist extremism since.

“We were in some sort of prison,” Ms. Ben Osman said. “The former president worked to keep our minds closed. When freedom came, people didn’t understand it. And maybe it did not bring what people wanted, and they look for it elsewhere.”

Young women have been as susceptible as anyone. In an interview, the interior minister, Lotfi Ben Jeddou, said all the women killed in the October raid were in their late teens or early 20s, and had joined the insurgent cell over the past several months. “They were educated,” he said.

Government officials said the women had refused to surrender, even using two children as shields. One small girl was shot in the head. Two men were also in the house; one was killed and one wounded.

Barely a week after burying their eldest child, Ms. Saidi’s parents sat at home stunned at the turn of events.

Mrs. Saidi said she could not bring herself to view her daughter’s body when it was brought home for
the funeral. Her husband, Hedi Saidi, left the house and refused to attend the burial. “I could not accept the fact that it was my daughter,” he said. He criticized the government for hastiness in shooting at a house with women and children.

The Saidis described their daughter as highly principled but sometimes stubborn. “My daughter was a good girl, a hardworking student,” Mrs. Saidi said. “I do not think she was unjust. She did not do any wrong to anyone.”

Ms. Saidi, a 21-year-old law student, had become radicalized, and they knew she often hid her true intentions from the family, they said.

“For a year and a half she kept a system so we would not notice when she left,” Mr. Saidi said. “She was always reading, on the Internet, painting in her room.”

Ms. Saidi’s former high school French teacher, Dejla Abdelhamid, posted a heartfelt message on Facebook lamenting her death and wishing she had done more to prevent her being lured into extremism.

“Henda Saidi with her long fair hair, her radiant smile,” Ms. Abdelhamid wrote. “Her death is our failure, and the failure of a whole society, and in some part it is my failure as a teacher who fell short, missed something.”

Her post received a storm of comments, some accusing her of leading Ms. Saidi into radical Islam when they saw from her photo that she wore a veil. After Ms. Abdelhamid called on Ms. Saidi’s grieving parents, a colleague berated her for visiting the family of a terrorist.

“People do not know what is happening,” Ms. Abdelhamid said in an interview. “People are scared of each other.”

“The youth are lost, they do not have a reference,” she added.

She had met Ms. Saidi on the street a year after she had graduated from high school, she said. When she saw that she had abandoned her jeans and makeup and was dressed in the full black covering and gloves often worn by radical Muslims, Ms. Abdelhamid burst into tears. Ms. Saidi nevertheless seemed happy.

“She just smiled,” her teacher said. “I did not feel she was the girl who was lost.”

Ms. Abdelhamid attributes the turn to extremism by Ms. Saidi and others to the forced secularization under the dictatorship, which she says has left Tunisians ignorant of their religion, and now easily misled by radical preachers who have rushed in with new ideas.

“It’s like a tsunami we have not had time to understand,” she said. “We have to teach them to defend themselves in a solid way.”

Bar Council: Not for us to conduct prosecutions, AG’s fiat for individual lawyers only

Malay Mail
BY IDA LIM

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 21 — Despite a suggestion that it take over the role of prosecutor to haul controversial politician Datuk Ibrahim Ali to court for his bible-burning call, the Bar Council said it is not in a position to carry out such action.

Its chief Christopher Leong clarified with Malay Mail Online that no organisation can act on any fiat from the Attorney-General (AG) for non-government lawyers to act on his behalf in court, adding that the authority can only be granted to an individual.

“It would not be the function of the Bar Council as an organisation to undertake any criminal prosecution. Any fiat to be issued by the AG would be to an individual lawyer,” he said in a text message when contacted yesterday.

Leong added that such authorisation of private lawyers to conduct criminal proceedings would only be granted when the AG himself felt that charges should be pressed.

“Fiats are only issued in cases where the AG as the Public Prosecutor wish to commence prosecution but is either constrained by time, resources or expertise.

“Hence, the PP would only issue a fiat if in the first place he is of the view that a particular matter warrants prosecution. This is because a person holding the fiat is representing and prosecuting on behalf of the PP,” he said, using the initials for public prosecutor.

He also said that only the AG can issue any fiat.

Yesterday, PKR MP Gooi Hsiao Leong called on the Bar Council to apply for a fiat from the AG to allow itself to initiate criminal proceedings against Ibrahim, adding that the AG risks being seen as lacking impartiality he does not issue the fiat.

The awarding of such a “fiat” is not new or unprecedented, Gooi said, pointing to the AG's previous appointment of private lawyer Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah to prosecute Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on behalf of the government in a criminal case involving a sodomy charge.

He also asked if the AG could have said that Ibrahim's statement was seditious if if it was clearly “intended to be an appeal to stop the propagation of a religious doctrine or belief among persons professing the religion of Islam as provided under Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution, and not merely a call to burn Bibles” when read as a whole.

Over the past few weeks, Abdul Gani and his office has been under pressure to explain his controversial decision not to press charges against Ibrahim.

Abdul Gani also acknowledged that a sedition charge would not hinge on an individual's intention, but noted that there was also a court case saying that the alleged seditious action must be viewed in context.

In Ibrahim's case, the Perkasa leader issued the bible-burning call after a police report on the distribution of bibles to students, including Muslim students, in front of a Penang school, he said.

Abdul Gani cited Ibrahim's own clarification that he had not intended to create religious strife but had wanted to defend the sanctity of Islam, as well as his qualification that his call to burn bibles was directed at the group distributing them to students.

The government’s top lawyer also said Ibrahim had never called for the burning of “all bibles” which would be seditious, but had pointing to the edition of the bible that allegedly had Malay words with the word “Allah” and Jawi script that could “confuse”.

110 Percent Loan For PR1MA House Buyers - PM Najib

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said loan offers of as high as 110 percent will be extended to 1Malaysia Housing Project (PR1MA) house buyers by selected financial institutions.

The prime minister said this was a continuance of the government's effort to help the people pertaining to the housing project.

"This financial is to enable all house buyers to own houses while the extra 10 percent is to pay additional costs such as legal fee and insurance.

"The rent-to-own scheme is also offered as an assistance to the middle income group to own houses," he said in his latest entry in his blog Najib.razak.com tonight.

Najib, when tabling the 2015 Budget themed 'People Economy' in Parliament last October, had announced the government would address the issue of house ownership with reasonable prices through the construction of 80,000 units of houses under PR1MA with an allocation of RM1.3 billion.

The move, he said, was to enable more people to own houses, with the criteria of household income raised from RM8,000 to RM10,000.

Meanwhile the prime minister said the government aimed to build 500,000 units of PR1MA houses in five years' time and the PR1MA programme currently had covered all the states except Labuan.

He said among the PR1MA communities at present in the planning were in the southern and northern regions, Sabah and Sarawak with houses priced from RM118,000 to RM335,000.

Among the areas are in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur (RM275,000), Tebraru, Johor (RM180,000), Kuala Ketil (RM215,000), Sandakan, Sabah (RM280,000) and Kuching, Sarawak (RM235,000).

Najib said steps to apply for PR1MA houses were very easy and urged those who met the criteria to register for application and surf the official website at www.pr1ma.my.

Any applicant can obtain further details on the eligibility requirements or easy steps to apply via the attached infographic in the blog.

3 Malaysians arrested over Isis links

A man and two women were picked up by police last night for allegedly being involved in terrorism, said Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar.

The inspector-general of police said the arrests were made in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor by the force's counter-terrorism division.

Khalid, in a statement, said the three suspects aged between 28 and 34 were believed to be linked with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis).

"The first suspect, a woman, is the wife of an earlier suspected terrorist charged in court on November 11," Khalid said.

The second suspect was an event manager in Kuala Lumpur, while the male suspect was an executive assistant.

"All three suspects are believed to have been involved witth Isis via Facebook," he said.

Khalid said the three were also found to have been involved in gathering funds, which was used to send Malaysians to join Isis in Syria.

"All three have been arrested to facilitate investigations under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012," Khalid said.

On Friday, a third Malaysian was charged at the Sepang Sessions Court with supporting the Isis terrorist group.

Mohamad Fauzee Ahmad allegedly entered Syria between June 29 and September 18 to lend support to terror activities involving firearms and explosives.

The 43-year-old was reportedly seen as advancing a religious struggle in Syria.

If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 30 years in jail, or face a fine and forfeiture of assets used in the commission of the offences under Section 130J(1)(b) of the Penal Code.

Judge Nor Haffizah Mohd Salim reportedly set January 15 for mention. DPP Ishak Mohd Yusoff prosecuted the case.

Fauzee is the third person to be arrested upon returning from Syria, where Isis is operating.

The other two arrested and charged were Muhammad Fauzi Misrak, 32, and Mohammad Na’Im Abd Rashid, 26.

They were reportedly charged on November 11. Fauzi’s case is due for mention on December 19 while Na’Im’s case is on December 15.

The duo had allegedly fought for Isis between December 13 last year and July 14.

They were arrested with 12 others between October 15 and October 17.

On Tuesday, The Malaysian Insider reported that at least five Isis militants had returned to Malaysia, but lack of proof was holding back police from arresting them.

According to a senior intelligence source, under Sosma, there were a number of boxes which police needed to tick.

"Getting statements from sources in the Middle East to confirm that a Malaysian citizen was there fighting alongside Isis forces is insufficient," the official said.

"Police must build a strong case before a Malaysian suspect who fought alongside Isis forces in the Middle East can be charged in court here."

On Monday, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar told Parliament that Malaysian Isis fighters were returning to spread militant ideology in the country.

He said police checks showed that those who returned were not driven by disillusionment or the desire to surrender to the Malaysian authorities, but to influence and recruit others.

“The police are monitoring and they know, those who opted to return are doing so because they want to influence other Malaysians to join their cause, regardless if they are Muslims or not."

Thirty-nine Malaysians have been officially identified as being involved with Isis in Syria, whose aim is to set up an Islamic caliphate in the region.

The New Straits Times, however, reported that there were 45 Malaysians in Syria and 15 in Iraq.

It also reported that police may have difficulty in tracing exactly how many have returned as their departure from Malaysia to Syria was not properly tracked.

Between January and June this year, police arrested 23 people in various parts of Malaysia over alleged links to the terror group.

The Malaysians fighting alongside Isis forces in the Middle East were influenced to take up the struggle via social media, intelligence sources previously said.

Some, like former Kedah PAS Youth information chief Lotfi Ariffin who was killed in Syria, had not only posted about his activities with the militants on Facebook, but had issued call-to-action messages, too.

To date, five Malaysians have been killed in action in Syria. – November 22, 2014.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/3-malaysians-arrested-over-isis-links#sthash.76IGmMeu.dpuf

Quitting is last thing on Muhyiddin’s mind

 

Amid rumours that he would quit, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin says he is still ‘alive and kicking’ and will continue to serve for years to come.

He said he would remain in his post as long as he has the confidence of the Umno president Najib Abdul Razak and his party’s members.

“I think I still have the ability to assist the Umno leadership and the government, so I will continue with my services. There is no need to discuss when I will resign or whether it’s true that I’ll resign.

“I think if we are ready (to face general elections) then I can step down, but to me it seems that is not the situation, so it is important that I remain here and help,” he said in an interview with Utusan Malaysia published today.

Muhyiddin, who is also Umno’s deputy president, added that he and Najib will delegate some of their official duties to other ministers, in order to spend more time reforming the party.

He said he and the PM have been ‘buried’ in government affairs, to the extent of not spending enough time on party affairs.

“We are at a critical juncture. If reform or renewal is not seen to be done, I am worried that we will lose (the next election).

“The writing is already on the wall. If we don’t take stern action on the leaders of any level to bring change, then we will have to bear with the consequences,” he was quoted as saying, when asked about preparations for the 14th general election.

‘Free to speak’

On another matter, Muhyiddin said delegates at the upcoming Umno general assembly should be free to speak on any subject, including hot-button issues such as whether national-type schools help or hinder national unity, on the Sedition Act 1948, and issues of race and religion.

He said the party leaders and delegates have a responsibility to raise issues, and the assembly is the best platform for them to do so.

However, he said the speakers should also come forward with suggestions instead of merely raising issues, and also be tactful, to not hurt the feelings of others.

“Some people have reminded us not to say this or not to say that. For me, the members need to be given the freedom although they should know how to deliver it without hurting the feelings of others.

“Let it be sweet to the ears but sting in the heart because what was said is true. These are basics that I think our speakers could use,” he said.

Previously, Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Mansor (left) said that party members were told not play up racial and religious issues, or personal issues between members, during the assembly.

“We should not touch on personal problems, sensitive race issues and sensitive problems between Umno members.

“They can do what they want in accordance to the guidelines given by Hishammuddin Hussein, as the vice-president in charge of these matters,” he said.

Umno would be holding its 65th annual general assembly from Nov 25 until Nov 29 at the Putra World Trade Centre.