Anti-Islam film sparks Libya, Egypt protests

(AP) - CAIRO: A movie attacking Islam’s prophet Muhammad sparked assaults on U.S. diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt on Tuesday. A Libyan security official reported an American was shot to death as protesters burned the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, and in Cairo, protesters scaled the walls of the U.S. embassy walls and replaced an American flag with an Islamic banner.
It was the first such assaults on U.S. diplomatic facilities in either country, at a time when both Libya and Egypt are struggling to overcome the turmoil following the ouster of their longtime leaders, Moammar Gadhafi and Hosni Mubarak in uprisings last year.

The protests in both countries were sparked by outrage over a film ridiculing Muhammad produced by an American in California and being promoted by an extreme anti-Muslim Egyptian Christian campaigner in the United States.

In the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, a large mob stormed the U.S. Consulate, with gunmen firing their weapons, said Wanis al-Sharef, an Interior Ministry official in Benghazi. A witness said attackers fired automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades at the consulate as they clashed with Libyans hired to guard the facility.

Outnumbered by the crowd, Libyan security forces did little to stop them, al-Sharef said.

The crowd overwhelmed the facility and set fire to it, burning most of it and looting the contents, witnesses said.

One American was shot to death and a second was wounded in the hand, al-Sharef said. He did not give further details, and there was no immediate U.S. confirmation of the death.

Hours before the Benghazi attack, hundreds of mainly ultraconservative Islamist protesters in Egypt marched to the U.S. Embassy in downtown Cairo, gathering outside its walls and chanting against the movie and the U.S. Most of the embassy staff had left the compound earlier because of warnings of the upcoming demonstration.

“Say it, don’t fear: Their ambassador must leave,” the crowd chanted.

Dozens of protesters then scaled the embassy walls, and several went into the courtyard and took down the American flag from a pole. They brought it back to the crowd outside, which tried to burn it, but failing that tore it apart.

The protesters on the wall then raised on the flagpole a black flag with a Muslim declaration of faith, “There is no god but God and Muhammad is his prophet.” The flag, similar to the banner used by al-Qaida, is commonly used by ultraconservatives around the region.

The crowd grew throughout the evening with thousands standing outside the embassy. Dozens of riot police lined up along the embassy walls but did not stop protesters as they continued to climb and stand on the wall - though it appeared no more went into the compound.

The crowd chanted, “Islamic, Islamic. The right of our prophet will not die.” Some shouted, “We are all Osama,” referring to al-Qaida leader bin Laden. Young men, some in masks, sprayed graffiti on the walls. Some grumbled that Islamist President Mohammed Morsi had not spoken out about the movie.

A group of women in black veils and robes that left only their eyes exposed chanted, “Worshippers of the Cross, leave the Prophet Muhammad alone.”

By midnight, the crowd had dwindled. The U.S. Embassy said on its Twitter account that there will be no visa services on Wednesday because of the protests.

A senior Egyptian security official at the embassy area said authorities allowed the protest because it was “peaceful.” When they started climbing the walls, he said he called for more troops, denying that the protesters stormed the embassy. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

The Cairo embassy is in a diplomatic area in Garden City, where the British and Italian embassies are located, only a few blocks away from Tahrir Square, the center of last year’s uprising that led to the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. The U.S. Embassy is built like a fortress, with a wall several meters (yards) high. But security has been scaled back in recent months, with several roadblocks leading to the facility removed after legal court cases by residents.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry promised in a statement to provide the necessary security for diplomatic missions and embassies and warned that “such incidents will negatively impact the image of stability in Egypt, which will have consequences on the life of its citizens.”

One protester, Hossam Ahmed, said he was among those who entered the embassy compound and replaced the American flag with the black one. He said the group has now removed the black flag from the pole and laid it instead on a ladder on top of the wall.

“This is a very simple reaction to harming our prophet,” said another, bearded young protester, Abdel-Hamid Ibrahim.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Egyptian police had removed the demonstrators who entered the embassy grounds. Speaking before reports of the slain American emerged, she condemned the attack on the consulate in Libya “in the strongest terms.”

Muslims find it offensive to depict Muhammad in any fashion, much less in an insulting way. The 2005 publication of 12 caricatures of the prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper triggered riots in many Muslim countries.

A 14-minute trailer of the movie that sparked the protests, posted on the website YouTube in an original English version and another dubbed into Egyptian Arabic, depicts Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a madman in an overtly ridiculing way, showing him having sex and calling for massacres.

A YouTube spokesman said the website would not take down the video at this point. The spokesman said the website’s policy is to remove videos that include a threat of violence, but not those only expressing opinions.

“We take great care when we enforce our policies and try to allow as much content as possible while ensuring that our Community Guidelines are followed,” the YouTube representative said. “Flagged content that does not violate our Guidelines will remain on the site.”

Sam Bacile, an American citizen who said he produced, directed and wrote the two-hour film, said he had not anticipated such a furious reaction.

“I feel sorry for the embassy. I am mad,” Bacile said.

Speaking from a telephone with a California number, Bacile said he is Jewish and familiar with the region. Bacile said the film was produced in English and he doesn’t know who dubbed it in Arabic. The full film has not been shown yet, he said, and he said he has declined distribution offers for now.

“My plan is to make a series of 200 hours” about the same subject, he said.

Morris Sadek, an Egyptian-born Christian in the U.S. known for his anti-Islam views, told The Associated Press from Washington that he was promoting the video on his website and on certain TV stations, which he did not identify.

Both depicted the film as showing how Coptic Christians are oppressed in Egypt, though it goes well beyond that to ridicule Muhammad - a reflection of their contention that Islam as a religion is inherently oppressive.

“The main problem is I am the first one to put on the screen someone who is (portraying) Muhammad. It makes them mad,” Bacile said. “But we have to open the door. After 9/11 everybody should be in front of the judge, even Jesus, even Muhammad.”

For several days, Egyptian media have been reporting on the video, playing some excerpts from it and blaming Sadek for it, with ultraconservative clerics going on air to denounce it.

Medhat Klada, a representative of Coptic Christian organizations in Europe, said Sadek’s views are not representative of expatriate Copts.

“He is an extremist ... We don’t go down this road. He has incited the people (in Egypt) against Copts,” he said, speaking from Switzerland. “We refuse any attacks on religions because of a moral position.”

But he said he was concerned about the backlash from angry Islamists, saying their protest only promotes the movie. “They don’t know dialogue and they think that Islam will be offended from a movie.”

Sri Lanka Rejoining the World

Rajapaksa, not somebody you'd have over for coffee

The place isn't a paradise for minorities but the economy is recovering
The government of Mahinda Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka has probably botched its dealings with the United States, the European Union and the United Nations. Still, the disenchantment with Colombo may be overblown three years after the end of the 26-year civil war, which ended in 2009.

While major countries and agencies continue to wag their fingers in irritation, they are privately moving ahead with interacting with the government.

During a recent macro research visit to the country, we found that there are lingering domestic tensions that risk renewed flare-ups of uncoordinated incidents of violent conflict, but domestically the civil war is now a non-issue with zero risk of a sustained violence derailing a structural peace.

That doesn’t mean there has been much reconciliation. The New York-based Human Rights Watch NGO said in July that since the war ended the government “has not launched a single credible investigation into alleged abuses.” More than 100,000 Sri Lankans remain in India’s Tamil Nadu state, saying they would rather not return, citing economic hardship and concern over human rights abuses, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

“My relatives who have returned say `Don’t come. ‘There aren’t any jobs and the cost of living is too high’,” 46-year-old Sivabalan Palaniyandi from Gummidipoondi, an industrial town 40km north of Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu, told the UN agency’s news service, IRIN.

Journalists have been beaten and some have been murdered, allegedly by individuals acting in behalf of the Rajapaksa government. Although longstanding emergency regulations have lapsed, other legislation granting police and other security forces overbroad detention powers remains in place. The president, human rights watch said, continues to issue monthly decrees granting the armed forces search and detention powers.

Last year the European Union removed GSP Plus trade preference in protest over the unresolved post-war human rights issues. And more recently, the United Nations issued a non-binding resolution -- led by the United States and signed by India -- criticizing the government's record of post-civil war reconciliation efforts.

However, so far, the US has indicated it is uninterested in turning this into a major diplomatic issue and the same goes for India. For example, the day after the UN issued its resolution earlier this year, the US State Department announced it was removing export restrictions on military-use optical equipment.

India has also reached out with a positive diplomatic missive shortly thereafter. Such timing was not coincidental. The US also recently gave Sri Lanka a six-month waiver on Iran oil sanctions, based on continued progress that Sri Lanka has made in diversifying some of the 90 percent of the oil imports it typically sources from Iran.

International blowback: still a risk
However, if Sri Lanka puts its head in the sand on this issue, the country risks sowing the seeds of a festering problem that could result in more serious diplomatic sanctions, and turn what currently is a tempest in a teacup into a diplomatic nightmare. A potentially disruptive foreign policy scenario, for example, could play out for Sri Lanka if the extremely well-funded and organized Tamil diaspora finds common purpose with human rights groups in lobbying G20 governments to pursue active sanctions related to continuing reconciliation problems.

Debilitated by years of conflict, Sri Lanka can count on a period of economic “catching up” in the years to come, which will help insulate domestic growth from global headwinds – assuming the government doesn’t drop the ball. Two thirds of a coastline featuring world class beaches and half of the country’s highly productive arable land were effectively frozen during the civil war. The economy has responded positively as these two pillar industries have finally been unshackled by war and boosted by government sponsored infrastructure development over the past several years, including new and desperately needed highway projects connecting the east and west already (and soon the north and south).

So far this year industrial growth has held up pretty well despite slowing manufacturing output, agricultural output looks good in annual terms although the sector is coming off a low base because of last year’s rains. Annual GDP growth should best 6 percent growth and can be expected to go above 7 percent for 2013, according to consensus projections, well above continuing global stagnation.

This is despite slowing global growth and the lingering hangover effects from an “emergency” policy adjustment program the government implemented in February 2012 aimed at addressing a nascent balance of payment crisis fueled by the central bank’s ill- advised ultra-loose monetary policy in the second half of last year. The policy adjustment program included rate hikes, currency depreciation and a large and widely unpopular reduction in fuel subsidies, all of which successfully killed two big birds with one stone. First and foremost, the policy adjustment package helped restore macroeconomic stability, but just as importantly it paved the way for a resumption of the IMF program suspended in September 2011 when IMF officials rightly warned the central bank against deploying foreign exchange reserves to defend the currency.

We are extremely encouraged by Sri Lankan policymakers’ deep new commitment to negotiating a follow up IMF program (after the successful conclusion of the previous one in July 2012). We expect officials to sign a new agreement, including a line of credit in the US$1 - 2 billion range, by November of this year – and we expect this will help anchor foreign portfolio-investor confidence going forward. Policymakers learned a painful lesson last year when snubbing the IMF resulted in near economic calamity.

Wild Card: Ports, Gas, Hydro
Sri Lanka is potentially sitting on vast deposits of natural gas in nine off-shore fields. Two of three fields tested so far have given positive signatures for gas and phase two development of these fields has begun with roughly US$125 million being spent this year on the projects -- not a lot by international standards, but a start. Production on active wells could come into play as soon as three years from now.

Hydro represents 70 percent of Sri Lanka's power generation. This is a blessing when the rains are normal. When they aren’t, it’s a problem. The balance of payments stresses in 2H11 were exacerbated by seasonally high oil imports required to offset lost hydro power resulting from a historic drought. This year’s rains are also showing early signs of weakness. The monsoon rains in India were down 24 percent in June, although they have recovered somewhat since, and rain levels are off in Sri Lanka as well -- suggesting another big year of oil imports in 2012. Oil accounted for 30 percent of imports last year, roughly 42 million barrels.

Two thirds of global sea traffic passes by Sri Lanka, representing opportunity. The government has big plans to inject the country into the pan-Asian supply chain by developing the Hambantota port, which has been open for 18 months, yet only received its first ship more than a year later in June 2012.

Government critics we met with called the port project an unmitigated disaster. We believe it is too soon to conclude disaster, but there is no doubt that private sector expertise and capital are urgently needed in this and other Sri Lankan projects to improve the efficient deployment of scarce public capital resources.

Sri Lanka has been written off as an irrelevancy for decades. Investors now are sniffing around. To keep them interested, the country obviously has to move forward on lots of different fronts, and not just on human rights, as the Hambantota port fiasco shows. Still, there are encouraging signs after so many years of disaster, including what we expect will be a new IMF program announced in the next month or two. The government must capitalize on this and other opportunities to re-build foreign and domestic investor confidence if it wants to continue reaping the peace dividend. The ball is in their court.

(Sam Baker is an Asia specialist for Trans National Research, based in New Jersey, USA. He made a recent fact-finding trip to Sri Lanka.)

Who Hijacked Islam?

By ANWAR IBRAHIM

"Let not your hatred of others cause you to act unjustly against them."
The Koran

Never in Islam's history have the actions of so few of its followers caused the religion and its community of believers to be such an abomination in the eyes of others. Millions of Muslims who fled to North America and Europe to escape poverty and persecution at home have become the objects of hatred and are now profiled as potential terrorists. The nascent democratic movements in Muslim countries will regress for a few decades as ruling autocrats use their participation in the global war against terrorism to terrorize their critics and dissenters.

This is what Mohamed Atta and his fellow terrorists and sponsors have done to Islam and its community worldwide by their murder of innocents at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The attacks must be condemned, and the condemnation must be without reservation. The foremost religious authorities are outraged and have issued statements denouncing the monstrous murders. All efforts to punish the perpetrators must be supported.

One is therefore perturbed by the confusion among Muslims who responded to the attack with a misplaced diatribe against the U.S. In Malaysia, the government-controlled media have been deployed to stir up anti-American sentiments, while members of the political Elite use a different language for international diplomacy. Certainly there are legitimate grievances against the U.S. and good reason for despondency over the fate of the Palestinians, who now face an even more arrogant Israel. But this is not the time for sermonizing or moralizing over U.S. foreign policy. Had we Malaysians been the victims of such a tragedy, we would find such hectoring tasteless and repulsive.

One wonders how, in the 21st century, the Muslim world could have produced an Osama bin Laden. In the centuries when Islam forged civilizations, men of wealth created pious foundations supporting universities and hospitals, and princes competed with one another to patronize scientists, philosophers and men of letters. The greatest of scientists and philosophers of the medieval age, ibn Sina, was a product of that system. But bin Laden uses his personal fortune to sponsor terror and murder, not learning or creativity, and to wreak destruction rather than promote creation.

Bin Laden and his prot�g�s are the children of desperation; they come from countries where political struggle through peaceful means is futile. In many Muslim countries, political dissent is simply illegal. Yet, year by year, the size of the educated class and the number of young professionals continue to increase. These people need space to express their political and social concerns. But state control is total, leaving no room for civil society to grow.

The need for Muslim societies to address their internal social and political development has become more urgent than ever. Economic development alone is clearly insufficient: it creates its own tensions in the social and political spheres, which must be addressed. A proper orientation must be developed for Muslim engagement with the world at large. Participation in the global processes must not be the monopoly of the government.

It is the sense of alienation and the perception that the world is against them that nurture bitterness among those who resort to terrorism. Confusion and anger against the global order and its only superpower have been brought about by the failure of the Muslim world to address two crucial issues: Afghanistan's descent into chaos and anarchy as a result of the Soviet invasion and the subsequent rise of the Taliban, and the suffering inflicted on the Muslim masses in Iraq by its dictator as well as by sanctions imposed on that long-suffering nation.

For ethical reasons, Muslims will support the global initiative against terrorism. But there is a growing perception that autocrats of all types will seize the opportunity to prop up their regimes and deal a severe blow to democratic movements. Russian President Vladimir Putin will use it to defend atrocities in Chechnya, Israel to defend its intransigence and Malaysia its detentions without trial.

Necessity will prompt the U.S. to seek the collaboration of the governments of Muslim countries. This is understandable. But they do not hold all the answers to terrorism. The growth of democracy, political participation and civil society is the final answer. By softening its endorsement of the struggle for democracy and the protection of human rights, the U.S. will inadvertently strengthen dictatorial regimes, thus replicating past associations with Marcos, Suharto and the Shah of Iran.

For more than 100 years, the Muslim world has had to grapple with the problem of modernity. Of greatest urgency is the effort to inculcate an intellectual and political orientation that promotes democracy and openness. Intellectuals and politicians must have the courage to condemn fanaticism in all its forms. But they must, in the same breath, equally condemn the tyrants and oppressive regimes that dash every hope of peaceful change.

According to Anwar Ibrahim's lawyer, this essay will be part of a lawsuit that Anwar, the jailed former Deputy Prime Minister, plans to file this week against the Malaysian government for alleged defamation resulting from a state-owned TV broadcast that he says characterized him as an Islamic extremist and a threat to national security.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,178470,00.html#ixzz26HQLjpTb

National Education Blueprint needs more work — Ramon Navaratnam

SEPT 12 — The ASLI-Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) welcomes the release of the Preliminary Report, Malaysian Education Blueprint (2013-2025) as timely and necessary for preparing the future intellectual and social and human capital of Malaysia, in a globalised world.

We recognise that there has been lot of hard work and effort in drawing public opinion and in the compilation of this report. We therefore congratulate this participatory effort especially through the town hall meetings for feedback as well as the academic and professional evaluative work.

We also recognise that the five system aspirations (page E-9) and the 11 shifts (page E 10) to transform the educational system are necessary and strategic.

However, we note that there are also major and serious gaps in the report and therefore urge the Ministry of Education to undertake further consultative processes to review the findings and plans and to actually incorporate public views that are now overlooked.

In reading this extensive blueprint, we have noted a number of areas that require further work as it does not reflect a comprehensive understanding of the educational requirements and aspirations of all the Malaysian communities. If ignored this can lead to greater polarisation and national dis-unity due to the following issues:

First, the report rightly recognises the need for strengthening language proficiency in both English and Bahasa Malaysia (page E-10) including new provision at the primary level with intensive remedial support for struggling students after school hours (page E-12). The target of specific targeting vernacular stream students in Bahasa Malaysia is most urgent, but specific recommendations have to be spelt out to ensure proper implementation.

Second, the report also rights places emphasis on improvements of the quality education (page E-14) through the effective recruitment and training of teachers. The supervisory and support systems for teachers must be addressed.

In this context, while the entry requirements of teachers by merit is very important, nonetheless, there is a no mention of the urgent need to have ethnic balance of both teaching staff especially in primary and secondary schools, including headship positions and positions in education departments at the Federal, state and district levels. This is very critical in ensuring the national character is maintained in all the educational streams and choices.

Third, there is a major conceptual issue to the way “the ethnically homogeneous environments” ((page E-7, 3-21, 7-15) are described and analysed. While the document rightly highlights the unparalleled degree of choice for parents, the selective use of data focusing on vernacular schools in the context of national unity is regrettable. It’s almost blaming the vernacular schools as the cause of polarisation when in reality, the national schools are driving many students of all races away from the national schools.

There must be a clear revelation of data across all the 20 categories (page A-8) of educational institutions, including the composition of students in residential schools, technical & vocational schools, matriculation and through other provisions such as preschool through Kemas or secondary through MSRM institutions. The student and staff population by ethnicity is not revealed nor identified as one contributing factor separating Malay students from non-Malays, especially in the secondary school system. “Where then is the transparency to encourage confidence in the blueprint?”

In this context, the root reasons for the exodus of non-Malay students is due to the imbalanced cultural and religious environment in a majority of NATIONAL schools. This must be noted and addressed to win credibility and support for blueprint. In addition the document only adopts the approach of ‘direct interaction’ among students from various ethnic communities. However, it must be noted that even within homogeneous environments, there can be an effective orientation towards multiculturalism, which can be fostered in order to enable student interaction in multi-cultural situations. It has to be emphasised that multi-culturalism can contribute to national unity.

The section on “Enhancement of unity in schools” (page 7-15 to 7-18) does not focus on how to ensure the environment of the school and the approach adopted by the school is truly appreciative of the multi religious, multi ethnic and multi-cultural reflection of Malaysian society.

Fourth, the document lacks substantive data and statistics such as breakdown of data across the 20 categories of schools. The release of data in the blueprint has been selective and therefore not comprehensive. The earlier documents entitled “Pembangunan Pendidikan” (2001-2010) and the “Pelan Induk Pembangunan Pendidikan” (2006-2010) provided more comprehensive charts and tables, which enabled the general public to appreciate the complexity of issues as well as hold ministry officials accountable.

Fifth, the blueprint misses the opportunity to ensure an inclusive educational system. There is no specific mention how vernacular schools, mission and religious schools, currently categorised as “national type”, which also implies limited funding for infrastructure development can be truly incorporated as fully funded schools and national schools. A majority of students in mission schools are Malay students and therefore, a review of this issue is essential. Therefore, the time has come in our NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY to bring an end this dichotomy and ensure each of the different streams achieve the national character and inclusive nature in the interests of national unity.

This is why the objective of wave 3 (page7-18) with the objective working towards “schools of choice for all” continue to create insecurities over constitutional protections towards vernacular and religious schools. It is therefore imperative that the blueprint takes the long-term view that the parental choices will remain—however with no compromise on the national agenda of national language, national unity and nation building.

It is in this context that CPPS feels that many of the community concerns raised by ordinary citizens and parents have been censured by some professionals and foreign and local consultants. Thus, we would like the Ministry of Education to release the reports (page A-5) of the Independent Review Panel chaired by Prof Tan Sri Dzulkifli, the findings of the National Dialogues chaired by Tan Sri Dr Wan Mod Zahid as well as the commissioned academic and UNESCO reports. This will enable ordinary citizens to review these in the light of the blueprint document.

The nation is looking for freshness in addressing the strongest asset of this country namely our younger generation. We need boldness and innovation from a critical but constructive dimension to ensure that our educational policy its implementation and institutions bring out the best in our children to develop their full potential to serve the common good of this nation.

We need to put into practice the slogan “people first, performance now” to ensure our education policy is truly transformed to enable our country to progress and not regress due to a lack of political will to move innovatively and boldly forward.

* Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam is chairman of the ASLI-Centre of Public Policy Studies (CPPS).

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.

‘Judges must have courage to act without fear or favour’

Malay Mail
by Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani and Meena Lakshana

LORD David Pannick, QC, said judges must have the courage to pass sentences without fear or favour, stressing the importance of the separation of power in a democratic state.

The renowned barrister said the courts must be bold and act without fear of offending or embarrassing anyone.

“The independence of the judiciary, free from control by the legislature and the executive is absolutely fundamental to a free society. You need to have independent judges of integrity and courage who are prepared to apply the law even if it offends, embarrasses or receives objection from certain powers in society. I am a strong supporter of an independent judiciary,” he told The Malay Mail during a recent interview here.

He explained that judges must be open to criticism as it would help improve the quality of the courts through greater debate.

He said there was also a need to ensure there was no disparity in sentencing but admitted that handing out judgments was “an extremely difficult task.”

He said the judge not only has to look at what that individual has done, but also the circumstances of the offence and also has to be sure to conform to previous rulings.

“I sympathise with any judge who has to pass a sentence, because each case depends on its own individual facts. However, it is important that principles in sentencing developed by the common law and the legislature are followed," he said.

“It is important to ensure people’s confidence in the judiciary and also that the person convicted understands why a particular sentence has been given."

He said it is very important for judges to explain why a sentence was decided to allow better public understanding.

"In England, confidence in the judiciary is enhanced when a judge makes an effort to explain in detail why he is handing out a particular sentence," he said.

"There is no mathematical formula for sentencing. Each case is different and the judge must use his discretion and professional judgement in ensuring justice is adequately served."

Death in custody – Samiyati Indrayani Zulkarnain Putra (Wangsa Maju police station; 12 Sept 2006)

Six years ago today, 45-year old Samiyati Indrayani Zulkarnain Putra died in police custody at the Wangsa Maju police station.

The mother of five was found dead in her cell three days after her arrest on 10 Sept 2006, and the police classified this as sudden death.

According to the post-mortem report, Samiyati Indrayani Zulkarnain Putra’s death was due to intra-cerebral hemorrhage with intra-ventricular extension and perforated gastric ulcer. However, when her brother, Monashofian Putra, saw her body in the Kuala Lumpur Hospital, he reported that Samiyati Indrayani Zulkarnain Putra had bruises on her face, body, legs and neck.

Monashofian Putra lodged a police report and urged the police to investigate, among others, the bruises, the reasons why the police had not sent Samiyati Indrayani Zulkarnain Putra to the hospital immediately when they informed him, via a text message, that she was in a serious condition, and why the doctor only arrived two-and-a-half hour after her death.

Despite the requirement that all custodial deaths be investigated by inquiries conducted pursuant to Chapter XXXII of the Criminal Procedure Code, it does not appear that an inquest has been conducted into Samiyati Indrayani Zulkarnain Putra’s death.

Every death in custody must be thoroughly and impartially investigated. Samiyati Indrayani Zulkarnain Putra’s death must not be relegated to a mere statistic.

Based on the statistics disclosed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, 156 persons died in police custody from the year 2000 until Feb 2011.

We express our heartfelt condolences to Samiyati Indrayani Zulkarnain Putra’s family and friends on the anniversary of her death.

IGP Praises Kelantan Police For Swif Action In Snatch Theft, Slashing Case

KOTA BAHARU, Sept 12 (Bernama) -- Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar has praised the swift action taken by Kelantan police in solving a snatch theft and slashing case involving a woman about two weeks ago.

"The initiative by Kelantan police chief Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman and Kota Baharu district police chief ACP Azham Othman to station policewomen at hotspots is a smart move to tackle snatch theft rampancy," he told reporters after attending the 66th Human Movement Planning Committee meeting here Wednesday.

The meeting co-chaired by Malaysian Armed Forces chief Tan Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zin deliberated on security measures at the Malaysia-Thailand border.

Meanwhile, Jalaluddin said two drug addicts believed to be the culprits in the snatch theft and slashing of Rohairani Abdullah @ Ibrahim, 36, had been arrested and remanded for seven days.

In the incident around 1pm, the victim had just alighted from her car and was heading to a shop to buy a scarf when she was slashed after the suspects on a motorcycle failed to snatch her handbag.

Education Transformation Needed To Meet Malaysia's High Aspirations - Najib

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 12 (Bernama) -- Malaysia requires a transformation of its entire education system, lifting achievement for all students in order to meet its high aspirations, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He said the country could not stand still amid an increasingly competitive global environment.

"Rather than simply adding staff and facilities, there's now a need to understand and improve the dynamics of the teaching and learning process," he said.

"That's why we've launched the Education Blueprint," he said in the latest posting on his 1Malaysia blogsite.

Yesterday, Najib launched the preliminary Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 which provides a comprehensive plan for a rapid and sustainable transformation of the country's education system.

"From how we approach student learning, the way we recruit, train and reward our teachers and principals right through to how the Ministry of Education itself operates, it lays out a process for that change," he said of the document.

Najib said that while the targets set out were ambitious, they were entirely achievable.

They include ensuring universal enrolment from pre-school to upper secondary education in 10 years; halving the achievement gaps between the rich and the poor, urban and rural, and between the states that form Malaysia in eight years; rising from the bottom-third to the top-third of countries in international assessments like PISA and TIMSS in 15 years; and building an education system that gives children an appreciation of their unique identity as Malaysians.

Every effort, he said, must be directed towards improving student outcomes.

"Transforming the education system will not be easy and we're likely to encounter a number of challenges along the way," he cautioned.

"But rest assured that not only are the government and the Education Ministry committed to delivering on these goals, I'm also personally committed," the prime minister said.

Najib said that everybody -- from individual parents to members of the local community to the private sector -- had a role to play and a personal stake in improving the country's education system.

"So, God willing, let's take this exciting, challenging and -- most importantly -- necessary journey together, as one nation," Najib said.

He noted that thanks to the thousands of dedicated teachers, principals, administrators as well as officers and staff at the Education Ministry, the Malaysian education system had been the bedrock of the country's development.

"It goes without saying that education is an essential part of anyone's personal development and also a major contributor to the development of a nation's social and economic capital.

"It inspires creativity and fosters innovation; provides our youth with the necessary skills to be able to compete in the modern labour market; and is a key driver of growth in the economy," he said.

Najib observed the need to ensure that the education system continued to progress in tandem as the government put in place measures under the New Economic Model, Economic Transformation Programme and the Government Transformation Programme.

Ampang Jajar residents go to the ‘polls’

In a unique experiment, residents at the Ampangan low-cost flats in Ampang Jajar in Butterworth went to the ‘polls’ on Sunday to provide an indication of their priorities and local needs.

The residents themselves had earlier discussed their priorities under the theme of ‘safety’ and shortlisted seven key issues for final polling.

On ‘polling day’, 597 of the 1050 residents from about 250 homes in the flats showed up to cast their ‘votes’ – or rather ‘money’. They were each given ‘RM500′ in token money and asked to divide this ‘money’ into the respective ‘ballot’ boxes based on their individual needs and priorities.

The result? The box that received the most ‘money’ was the one for a recreational park, followed closely by better building maintenance. Coming up third was the wish for traffic lights in their area.

The other four needs were a site for trading, better security, an activity centre and improved cleanliness.

Prior to ‘polling day’, the organisers had carried out a survey of the 250 homes in the flats and then divided the residents into focus groups, which then came up with the shortlist of seven issues identified for polling.

The exercise was part of a gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) project initiated by the Penang Women’s Development Corporation in collaboration with the MPSP. PWDC, funded by the Penang state government, was set up to promote greater gender awareness, equality and justice and to empower women in all sectors.

Under a three-year pilot project, the MPSP and the MPPP are adopting GRB to take into account the needs of all the people before deciding its budget priorities.

A similar polling process, also under the theme of ‘safety’, will be undertaken in other low-cost flats. Next up are the River Road low-cost flats in Sungai Pinang, where polling will be carried out over three days next weekend, according to Aloyah Bakar of PWDC. She said credit for this system of seeking local residents’ views should go to contemporary artist Wong Hoy Cheong.

The process is commendable as it combines participatory decision making with local democracy among women and men, young and old, in influencing how limited funds are to be allocated based on the people’s needs at the grassroots.

Aloyah said the process is not yet over. The organisers will meet with the Ampangan residents to come up with a working paper on the three ‘winning’ needs and the paper will be presented to the MPSP for it to be incorporated in the local council’s 2014 budgeting process.

The PWDC/MPSP will also be looking at the theme of ‘cleanliness’, though the process may be slightly different as it will involve ‘tamans’ or housing estates on mainland Penang.

PR jamin asing kuasa PM-Menteri kewangan

'BN abused gov't agencies to persecute Suaram

4 lakh Bangladeshis go missing

Amid renewed controversy over illegal migrants in Assam in the wake of recent ethnic clashes, about four lakh ‘detected’ illegal foreign nationals have vanished from the State in the past 26 years. Unbelievable, but true!

The Assam Government has no clue about the whereabouts of this huge number of foreign nationals —an overwhelming majority believed to be Bangladeshis — who had been detected as ‘illegal foreigners’ by the three-dozen Foreigners’ Tribunals in the State over the years.

According to official records, the 36 Foreigners’ Tribunals in Assam detected a total of 3,83,790 illegal foreign nationals living in Assam between 1986 and 2012 (till July). However, shockingly, they have all done a disappearing act, or so the authorities concerned would have one to believe.

The figures of the Foreigners’ Tribunals further make an alarming revelation. The number of detections of illegal foreigners has been increasing every year.

While only 503 illegal foreigners were detected in 1986, a whopping 27,988 such foreigners have been detected by the Foreigners’ Tribunals in the first seven months of 2012 itself (January-July).

Assam’s Director General of Police Jayanta Narayan Choudhury said the problem lies with the Foreigners’ Tribunal Act.

“The suspected foreigners go missing as they cannot be arrested by the police till they are proved as Bangladeshis. It takes a long time — right from a case getting registered in the tribunals against any individual till they are finally confirmed as foreigners by the tribunals. The suspected people go missing, as according to the Act, police cannot even detain them for a longer period,” Choudhury said.

He also said that there is nothing that the State Government can do about this as a Central legislation is required to amend the act. Chief of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and two-time former Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta charged the Centre for inaction.

“The Government of India has not taken up the matter with Bangladesh and there is no extradition treaty between the two countries.

The detected illegal foreigners could not be pushed back due to lack of extradition treaty between the two countries. We have been repeatedly asking the Central and State Governments to trace these missing illegal foreigners and deport them,” he said.

The figures also assume significance in view of the recent change in the demographic pattern in at least six districts of Assam --- Dhubri, Goalpara, Barpeta, Nagaon, Karamganj and Hailakandi. Out of these six districts, only two districts had a Muslim majority in 1971. However, 30 years down the line all the six districts have Muslims as majority (Census 2001).

While Hindus comprised 34.80 per cent of population in Dhubri in 1971, Muslims made up for 64.46 per cent of the populace. In 2001, the Hindu population decreased to 24.74 per cent even as the Muslim population reached 74.29 per cent in the district.

Similarly, Goalpara district had 50.17 per cent Hindu population in 1971 compared to 41.46 per cent Muslims. According to the 2001 census, Hindus constitute only 38.22 per cent of the districts total population while the Muslim population increased to 53.71 per cent.

In Barpeta too, the Muslims constituted 48.58 per cent compared to 51.19 per cent of the Hindu population in 1971. In 2001, Muslims became a majority in the district with 59.37 per cent compared to mere 40.19 per cent of the Hindus. Ditto in Nagaon, where the Muslims constituted only 39.24 per cent of the population in 1971 compared to 59.57 per cent of the Hindus. In 2001 though, the Muslims became a majority in the district with 51 per cent. Hindus became a minority comprising only 47.80 per cent. Karimganj and Hailakandi districts have had a similar demographic change since 1971.

Recently, the 12-hour bandh called by the North East Students Organisation (NESO) to protest illegal infiltration from Bangladesh and demand Central Government’s immediate intervention to find a lasting solution to the burning problem drew a total response in all the seven North-Eastern States.

Justice BK Sarma of the Gauhati High Court in a judgment issued on April 21, 2011 too had said, “…in most of the cases, the declared foreigners have done the act of vanishing and the state administration is without any clue of their whereabouts. In various reports, it has been stated by the State administration that vigorous attempts have been made to nab them, but they could not be traced out. Thus, there is total failure of the State administration to nab the foreign nationals, who after invoking the writ jurisdiction of this Court, do the act of vanishing.”

In the same judgment, the court further instructed the state administration to detain suspected foreigners in detention camps so that with the closure of the proceedings and depending upon the outcome thereof, they can be deported to Bangladesh.

Sexual harassment awaits Egyptian girls outside schools

Egyptian school girls brace for another year of sexual harassment at the gates of their schools.

CAIRO: As the new school year begins next week in Egypt, school girls and their families are preparing to face yet another year of sexual harassment, this time waiting for the children outside their schools.
Egyptian mothers worry about their young daughters, who are subjected to sexual harassment outside their gated schools and daughters only pray to go home safely after the day has ended.
The phenomena of men waiting outside girls only schools to sneak a view, harass and self-expose themselves has made even school a difficult trip to take on a daily basis. Egyptian girls must join girls-only schools after elementary school in all public education, which has turned the gates of the schools into a pervert magnet.
I went to the Kolyet al-Banat school in Zamalek, an all-girls school from elementary through high school:

Right around the corner from our school is an all boys school similar in age group to ours, so we knew what was out there waiting for us every day after school. But it wasn’t exclusive to naughty school boy behavior, we had adult men who also used to wait for the final bell to ring and the thousands of girls to come out. We had a guy who looked like a father of any one of us, a lawyer or a businessman carrying a briefcase, who used to stand there outside of our school every single day. Once the girls started to leave the school he would swiftly move his briefcase, exposing his penis to us. As children we would run away, some laughing and some crying. But he wasn’t the only one. A building guard, or bowab as they are called in Egypt, who worked in a nearby building, a 60-something old man who wore the traditional male dress and sat on his bench watching the street. Once we passed by him, he would lift up his dress and expose his naked flesh to us. We stopped walking by that building and warned other girls as well.

When the problem became overwhelming and parents started to complain to the school and the police, the authorities and the Qasr al-Nil police station sent a police car that stood there outside of our school everyday during my senior year. Problems were getting out of hand and leaving the school meant being exposed to the worst of human nature. That was in late 1999, but the problem has not improved, not even slightly, since. In fact it became widespread to the point where mothers are hiding horror stories of what happens to their girls in school, fearing the father would prevent them from having an education.
Reem a young mother who knows of the atrocities waiting for her child outside of class, told Bikyamasr.com:

I tell my 14-year old daughter to look at her shoes at all times when she is leaving school and I make sure that I am there waiting for her before the final bell rings. “Her father made her wear a veil when she started exhibiting signs of puberty, thinking he is protecting her and for me to tell him of what lies outside her school will only make him sit her at home.

Now sexual harassment is no stranger to the experience of being a female in Egypt; in fact it became a fundamental element of being outdoors. Last week, the National Council for Women (NCW) said that Egyptian women get harassed 7 times every 200 meters, and a 2008 report by the Egyptian Center for Women Rights found that well over two-thirds of Egyptian women are harassed on daily basis. Even activists who protest the grotesque practice are also harassed, defying logic.
But a generation of back bent girls lying about the daily violations is not a very sustainable solution, nor is having an army waiting to protect them. So what is? Could it be tougher penalties for those who now cross the line between sexual harassment to pedophilia or having more and more theatrical campaigns that are met with solid concrete walls of reality? Or perhaps it should start from inside the family and schools who produce generations of child molesters and exhibitionists who come back to bite them where it hurts?
Threatening to take away girls education due to the perverseness of a culture that sees them as sexual objects, even when they are as young as pre-teens, rings more danger bells than our hearing seems to comprehend.
More Egyptian girls acquire higher marks in high school every year. More get into “top” schools such as medicine and media. And yet these girls have to go through that battle every single day. Bred from an early age to ignore sexual violations against them as they focus on their future.
In the 1980s, a popular play “Sook ala Banatak” or “Lock your girls,” a father is met with the challenges of raising girls in a patriarchal society. All he can do is try to forcibly marry them to his colleagues so he can move on and get married to the woman he loves. But at the end he comes to the romantic notion of how fathers should lock their girls, but give them the key.
A romantic notion that sees girls as the problem and the solution, in denial of their second grade status in the family, at work, or their own families afterward. But in a society where women’s existence itself in public is threatened, more than a key should be given to them; more like their dignity and their self-respect.
And mothers should teach their girls to straighten their backs, and face violations since burying ones head in the sand only grants more power to the monsters.
BM

McDonald's 'made married couple sit apart' in Pakistan restaurant

McDonald's is at the centre of a row over Islamic values in Pakistan after a customer complained he was told not to sit beside his wife because managers feared it would damage the restaurant's family reputation.

Noman Ansari, who stopped at a branch in Karachi for a diet Coke on Saturday night, said the episode was a symptom of an increasingly intolerant nation.

A spokesman for McDonald's said it was investigating the complaint.

Mr Ansari said trouble started when he sat next to his wife and slipped an arm behind her shoulder.

A member of staff told the couple to move but when they again sat beside each other in an adjacent booth it became clear that the issue was not their location, but the proximity of a man and a woman in public.

In an account posted on his blog, Mr Ansari said he was told: "Sir, this is a family restaurant. Couples sitting together is against the policy of McDonald's Pakistan, as it goes against the family atmosphere of the restaurant."

Two managers then told him that couples sitting together damaged the "Islamic family atmosphere" of McDonald's, according to the account.

The alleged incident highlighted a difficult issue for Pakistan's restaurants, particularly fast food chains where loud music and glitzy American decor try to coexist with the country's strict rules on modesty.

Many – including some branches of McDonald's – have partitioned areas for families, to separate men from women.

Ali Arsalan, McDonald's Pakistan assistant marketing manager, said the company tried to foster a family atmosphere and confirmed it was looking into Mr Noman's grievance.

"If there is some physical action it is possible that a family might have raised a complaint and asked the couple to have sit on a separate seat because we have sisters or mothers there," he said.

Multinational fast food companies frequently struggle with local religious and cultural sensibilities.

Last month, Pizza Hut Pakistan was forced to withdraw its "all you can eat" offer during Ramadan in order to end what it called an "invitation to gluttony" as customers gorged themselves at the end of a day of fasting.
And in India, McDonald's is planning to open its first vegetarian branches close to two holy sites, leading to threatened protests by Hindus and Sikhs.

‘Government also funded foreign NGOs’

The Malaysian government provided financial aid to anti-apartheid and pro-Palestinian movements, said several NGOs.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian government and several local corporations gave financial support to anti-apartheid movements in South Africa in the 80s, said Centre for Independent Journalism executive director Masjaliza Hamzah

“We are also providing support to pro-Palestinian cause. Civil society movements have to secure funds from wherever they can to manage their operations,” Masjaliza said at a press conference here today.

Earlier, over 130 NGOs voiced their solidarity with Suaram as the latter is currently under the government’s radar for allegedly breaching provisions under the Companies Act.

Among the NGOs present today were Lawyers for Liberty (LFL), Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO), Tenaganita and Sisters in Islam.

Yesterday, English daily The Star reported that Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob as urging Bank Negara to investigate allegations that Suaram was receving funding from an American organisation linked to billionaire financial speculator, George Soros.

“This is because the issue involves the transfer of money from the United States. I hope Bank Negara will do something,” Ismail reportedly said.

It was also reported earlier that Suaram had registered itself under the Registrar of Companies (ROC) instead of Registrar of Societies (ROS).

Masjaliza said that many NGOs such as Suaram registered themselves with the ROC due to various red tapes imposed by the ROS on the registration of civil society movements.

“The Home Minister has the power to arbitrarily deregister a society under the ROS with no judicial review. However, the ministry cannot do so for companies,” said Masjaliza.

‘Buying submarines or cows?’

Suaram adviser Kua Kia Soong pointed out that even former prime ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman and Hussein Onn, were not allowed to register human rights movement, Hakam, in 1989 and had to register it under ROC.

On receiving foreign funding, Kua said that receiving funds from other countries did not mean that the civil society movements were under the thumbs of foreign powers.

He said that Suaram was a principled civil society movement that stood firm on the tenets of human rights and had not wavered since its inception in 1989.

“But the same can’t be said about the Malaysian government. We supported the Palestinian and the Bosnian cause which was good but decided to support the Indonesian government on the East Timor issue,” said Kua.

Pusat Komunikasi Masyarakat (Komas) executive director Tan Jo Hann challenged the Malaysian government to open its books on how it is spending taxpayers’ money instead of targeting Suaram.

“Tell us what are you doing with our money. Buying submarines or buying cows?” asked Tan.

Meanwhile, Bersih co-chairperson S Ambiga said she was horrified on how Suaram is being persecuted by the authorities despite being a respected human rights movement.

She said that in a globalised world, it was common for anyone from anywhere to contribute on issues close to their hearts.

“It’s not a crime as long as the funds are accounted for. No civil society movement will have any issues with authorities investigating our books as we are transparent,” said Ambiga.

However, Ambiga described the government’s move to single out Suaram as an attempt to divert attention from the Scorpene submarine purchase being investigated by the French courts.

“It’s attempt to kill the messenger. Remember that the more you try to kill the messenger, the louder the message becomes,” she said.

Perak’s ‘defected 4′ keen on contesting

The four Pakatan reps who contributed to BN's political coup in the state are hoping for another shot in the coming national polls.

TAIPING: The four former Pakatan Rakyat state assemblypersons who contributed to the fall of the Pakatan state government in Perak in 2009 are now planning for a new lease of political life in the coming general election.

The four BN-friendly independents are Hee Yit Foong (Jelapang), Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu (Changkat Jering), Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (Behrang) and Keshvinder Singh (Malim Nawar).

The first three played a vital role in destabilising the elected Pakatan state government into falling into the hands of BN while Keshvinder left after the fall due to political differences.

While there was much speculation that the four had jumped ship due to monetary gains, they however denied this.

The four claimed they shifted alliance to BN because they were unhappy with their respective parties’ administration.

FMT spoke to them recently about their intention to remain active in politics.

“Yes! I shall definitely stand again in Jelapang for the third time on a BN ticket,” exclaimed an excited Hee, who is also the state assembly deputy speaker.

Hee had contested and won the Jelapang seat twice under the DAP banner in three-cornered fights in 2004 and 2008.

When told that Jelapang was a MCA area which may not be given to her and the alternative may be for her to stand as an independent candidate, she said: “Our BN leadership wants a performing, likeable and winnable candidate which qualifies me for the seat.”

“Anyway a four-cornered or five-cornered fight (in Jelapang) does not scare me as I have already faced two three-cornered fights before,” she added.

Asked about the alleged monetary gains for jumping ship, Hee retorted: “You think I am money gila [crazy] like them?”

“I left because I was unhappy with the party leadership of the two cousin brothers (DAP state chief Ngeh Koo Ham and secretary Nga Kor Ming),” she added.

She also said that her relationship with the Jelapang voters remained good despite DAP’s political propaganda to tarnish her name after her defection.

“You must remember that the two PKR assemblymen (Osman and Jamaluddin) had left earlier and BN had the majority in the state assembly before I resigned from DAP.

“My relationship with the Jelapang voters is good as I am constantly attending to their problems and needs,” she explained.

‘Voters want me’

Keshvinder, meanwhile, said his voters had urged him to stand in the Malim Nawar state seat again.

“They (voters) are happy with my good service and want me to contest again. The problem is that Malim Nawar used to be a MCA seat and they might not give me the seat again,” he added.

On whether he might stand as an independent if not given the BN seat, he said: “The possibility is there but we will wait and see.”

On the other hand, Osman was more bold and stressed that he would stand as an independent candidate in Changat Jering if BN failed to choose a winnable Umno candidate for the state seat.

Jamaluddin, however, just laughed and said his constituency belonged to MIC and he did not know whether he would be given this seat.

He stressed that it was still early and he had not made up his mind yet whether to contest as an independent if denied the BN seat.

According to BN sources, the proposed allocation of state and parliament seats for Perak had been sent to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak for his approval.

MIC returns fire to Gobind

Pangsapuri Aman lift fixed, but other problems remain in Puchong, says MIC youth info chief.

PUCHONG: MIC has urged the Subang Jaya Town Council (MPSJ) to attend to problems afflicting flat dwellers around Puchong, accusing DAP’s Gobind Singh Deo of neglecting his duties as MP for the area.

In a press statement released today, MIC Youth information chief S Subramaniam thanked MPJS for repairing a lift at Pangsapuri Aman, which had been out of service for six months.

He commended MPSJ for resolving the matter “without waiting for the state government’s instruction”.

However, he said MPJS and the Selangor government had overlooked problems faced by residents of other low-cost flats. He mentioned Pangsapuri Aman, Pangsapuri Dahlia, Puchong Hartamas.

He also asked the authorities to attend to the threat of recurring landslides in Bandar Puteri Puchong.

Subramaniam, who also leads the Puchong MIC division, said Gobind should apologise to Pangsapuri Aman residents for his failure to resolve their problems.

Last week, Gobind rejected allegations that he had failed to respond to complaints about the faulty lift, saying he had forwarded to the state government quotations for the repair.

However, Subramaniam said this was not good enough. “I’m glad that the Puchong MP has responded to the memorandum, but when? He took two months.”

He dismissed Gobind’s claim that he often visited the flats and challenged him to explain how many programmes he had organised for the benefit of Pangsapuri Aman residents as well as other Puchong residents, especially the urban poor.

He also said Gobind had no good reason to ask the Pangsapuri Aman residents to contribute funds for the repair of the lift.

Referring to Gobind’s statement that Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim had visited the area, Subramaniam said: “It is not true. The MB was not focusing on the flats issue, but [his visit] was purely politically motivated. The programme was organised for him to hand over land titles to Kampung Tun Razak resettlers… a few hundred metres away from the flats.”

In his rebuttal last week, Gobind noted that among the residents of Pangsapuri Aman were local MIC leaders who could have used their influence to improve the conditions there.

Subramaniam told the MP to stop blaming MIC in the issue, saying such a responsibility should be shouldered by Pakatan Rakyat, which rules Selangor.

“I think he has forgotten about it,” he said. “MIC leaders residing in the flats have many times raised the issue to the relevant people and authority. The MPSJ area councillor has failed to visit the area since she took office.”

Choose quality candidates, DAP urged

Teluk Intan MP M Manogaran says a DAP candidate must not be a bankrupt, an alcoholic or a drug addict, or be involved in scandal or vices.

GEORGE TOWN: A DAP parliamentarian today called on the party to field only candidates with the highest integrity, dignity and capability in the next general election.

Teluk Intan MP M Manogaran said only candidates of these qualities would not be vulnerable to enticement and turn into political frogs after being elected as state representatives or MPs.

He said a DAP candidate must not be a bankrupt, an alcoholic or a drug addict, and must not have a criminal record, or be involved in scandal or vices.

In the fast-emerging new political culture in the country, he said the ever-demanding voters were now insisting on candidates of highest integrity and dignity.

He said the party must vet candidates thoroughly to make sure they have a clean background before nominating them for seats.

“Tainted characters should never be [picked as] candidates. Candidates should not betray the party’s trust and the people’s mandate,” he told FMT here today.

He indicated that lack of integrity and dignity were the main reasons for the defections of DAP state representatives in Perak – Hee Yit Fong of Jelapang in 2009 and Keshvinder Singh of Malim Nawar in 2010.

Hee’s defection in particular was a bitter pill to swallow as it caused the downfall of the infant 11-month-old Pakatan Rakyat government in the silver state.

Manogaran said the party should also seriously consider candidates selected by party branches since grassroots sentiments would reflect sentiments of the public.

He is particularly concerned about the quality of DAP’s ethnic Indian candidates in the next election.

He claimed that the community had been let down, shortchanged and betrayed by lack of quality Indian political representatives and leaders over the years.

This time, he said the DAP’s ethnic Indian candidates should have high qualities and a strong political conviction to work with and for the betterment of the community, especially the marginalised group.

“Indian representatives must also respect the people who voted them in,” said Manogaran.

BUKTI PENCACAI SAMSENG BALING CAT PADA BAS MERDEKA RAKYAT

Jayakumar to contest in Sungai Siput again….. but this time under PSM banner

(The Malaysian Times) - Sungai Siput MP Dr Micheal Jayakumar says that he would contest for the Sungai Siput seat in the coming 13th General Election (GE). “I will be contesting again for the seat in Sungai Siput under the PSM banner,” said Jayakumar to The Malaysian Times (TMT) today.

The Sungai Siput constituency in Kuala Kangsar, Perak, had been under the helm of Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu since 1974. It however, fell to Jayakumar of the Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) in the 2008 election. This was Jayakumar’s third attempt in regaining the seat from BN, with the first being in 1999 and the second in 2004.

The largest percentage of voters in the constituent is the Chinese community with 41 percent followed by the Malay community with 31 percent, Indian with 21 percent and seven percent Orang Asli voters.

With a total number of voters being 47,424, Jayakumar had managed to garner 16,458 votes while Samy Vellu received 14,637 votes. He (Jayakumar) won the election with a majority of 1,821 votes.

In speaking about the election in 2008, it was believed that Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu had lost the seat in Sungai Siput due to the lack of Malays voters.

In confirming this, Jayakumar had said that Samy Vellu had not only loose the support of the Malays voters, but also the Chinese and Indian voters alike. This was due to the Hindraf issue which was aflame at that time.

Looking into who would be the possible candidate to go against Jayakumar, iIt is rumoured that MIC Secretary-General, Datuk S Murugesan may be contesting in Sungai Siput under the Barisan Nasional (BN) banner.

The voters in Sungai Siput may see a fight between two capable Indian leaders should Murugesan and Jayakumar indeed contest in Sungai Siput. This may also turn Sungai Siput into a ‘hot seat’ during the coming election.

It is said that the odds of him (Murugesan) winning the seat against Jayakumar was 50-50. This was based on the current support that the PSM leader had gained during his term at the constituency.

When asked on how PSM was faring in Sungai Siput, Jayakumar said that the party is doing fairly well and is well supported by the people there. However despite his dedication in wanting to serve the constituents, Jayakumar lacked the funds to address the woes.

“The only downfall is that PSM is not able to provide monetary goodies for the people as BN can. We have instead helped the people in getting housing loans and looking into the people’s Social Security Organization (SOCSO) woes. We are also providing counseling for those who are facing family problems,” said Jayakumar.

Asked on whether PSM will be able to retain its seat there, Jayakumar said, “We have a fighting chance. We have and are serving the people. They recognize our services.”

Jayakumar on June 25, 2011, was among the 24 people who were picked up in Penang during the widespread pre-Bersih clampdown.

They were later slapped with accusations that they had attempted to revive communism and wage a war against the King. He and five others – PSM deputy chairman M. Sarasvathy, central committee members Choo Chon Kai and M. Sugumaran, Sungai Siput branch secretary A. Letchumanan and Youth chief R. Saratbabu were however released on July 29, 2011.

Indigenous Malaysians Miss School, Agency Finds

KUALA LUMPUR — Human rights advocates have raised concerns that thousands of indigenous children in Malaysia are not attending school, which they say exposes them to greater risk of living in poverty in adulthood.

A report released last week by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, a government agency, showed that 7,000 indigenous children aged 5 to 18 who live on the Malaysian Peninsula were not attending school in 2007, based on government figures.

Among those aged 7 to 12, the number not attending school rose to more than 2,700 in 2010, up from 1,962 in 2007.

The commission was unable to obtain more recent figures for other age groups but said the overall number of indigenous children not in school could have increased because of population growth.

Muhammad Sha’ani Abdullah, a human rights commissioner, said many indigenous people on the Malaysian Peninsula, called orang asli in Malay, lived in remote areas.

“Based on our observations and our visits to the orang asli villages, still there are issues of no schools in the villages or the schools are very far away,” he said by telephone.

While the report focused only on the Malaysian Peninsula, some rights advocates say the number of indigenous children not attending school is likely to be higher in Borneo Island states like Sabah and Sarawak, which are home to the majority of the indigenous population.

In Malaysia, there are about four million indigenous people from a total population of 28 million, according to the Center for Orang Asli Concerns, a private group. About 190,000 indigenous people live on the Malaysian Peninsula.

The commission’s report, based on interviews with students, parents and teachers, found that the distance to the closest school was a major concern.

Colin Nicholas, coordinator of the Center for Orang Asli Concerns, cited as an example two indigenous villages in Pahang State, where the nearest school is 30 kilometers, or 20 miles, away.

“The kids there don’t go to school,” he said. “They say it’s too far and they don’t have transport.”

While there was a student hostel at the school, many parents did not want to leave their young children there.

Mr. Nicholas added that some students felt discriminated against by teachers and parents worried about their safety.

Mr. Sha’ani said that while the government was supposed to provide students with transport to schools, often the vehicles did not show up and could not reach the children in bad weather, raising questions over how often the children attended.

“There’s an effort to improve transport, to increase the number of schools, but still we find lots of gaps,” he said.

Mr. Sha’ani said that children aged 6 to 7 were too young to live in hostels and that the commission wanted to see schools catering for students in their first three years of primary school in every village.

The commission also found that some children without identity papers did not attend school because parents and teachers mistakenly believed such documents were a condition of enrollment.

Mr. Sha’ani said that if children did not have identity papers, their village head could vouch for their identity and help enroll the children.

He also expressed concern about the state of schools in areas populated by indigenous communities, saying that some lacked clean water and electricity.

Mr. Nicholas said that a higher proportion of indigenous Malaysians lived in poverty compared with the general population and that education was essential to help improve the lives of the younger generation. “The cycle of poverty remains,” he said.

Mohammad Shafie Apdal, the rural and regional development minister, said that the government had set up rural schools.

“We have set up schools that are tailor-made to meet the needs of the orang asli,” he was quoted as saying last week by The Star, a Malaysian newspaper. “But because a lot of them are staying in the interior, we face difficulties in getting them to send their children to school away from home.

“We try to relocate them to places that are closer to schools but many are reluctant to leave their ancestral land. To bring the infrastructure to them is very costly.”

Video Rakaman Jelajah #MerdekaRakyat Rantau Negeri Sembilan 7 September 2012

Tsunami over FELDA — Sakmongkol AK47

SEPT 11 — If my friend, Pirates of Putrajaya had been a little bit more patient, he will find his views on the FGV vindicated. Probably he underestimated the will of the government to use GLCs under its control to shore up the FGV price.

Nevertheless, his views will be vindicated soon and I and millions of others hope he will come back into blogosphere to share with us, his rapier sharp analyses.

What Najib is doing right now is just putting out fires. He forgot that it all needed but a single spark to light up the prairie fire.

He has given an advance of RM15,000 each to Felda family. I hear, full payment hasn’t been given out yet. Perhaps Felda will use its gain of RM5.99 billion to pay the balance of what has been promised by Najib. Felda pays unto itself using its own money.

He has given almost RM43 million as raya bonus. Each family got around RM382. That amount was useful to buy cookies, lemang , fresh meats and maybe new curtains for the missus. Because of the drop in FGV share price, he has also announced that Felda will pay for the settlers’ purchase of FGV shares. Once again, that will probably come from the RM5.99 billion.

Finally to placate the settlers’ anger, he has announced that Felda will pay for PTPTN loans taken by the Felda children.

That is his economic strategy. We don’t have to go the Chicago, Princeton, Oxford or Cambridge to do that. Not even Nottingham.

What was the real agenda really? Maybe all this corporate bullshit was about saving FGV. It has done extensive futures trading and had incurred huge losses. That was why some brainy people came up with the idea, the only way to save FGV was to have it buy out KPF’s share in Felda Holdings and go for listing.

At closing time today, FGV share was RM 4.68, earning the holders of the stock a premium of 13 sen. If Najib hadn’t come up with the brilliant idea of ordering Felda to finance settlers’ purchase, each settler ends up with a RM94.70 loss.

Actually FGV bought out Felda Holdings to save itself. It has incurred heavy losses doing futures trading. We don’t know how much FGV got by selling its shares. There was no cash payment involved as the purchase was financed by the issue of new shares which were sold to the public through the IPO. Part of the proceeds were used by Felda to pay its EPF loan amounting to RM6 billion. Then EPF is instructed to buy FGV shares, now it owns 7% of FGV bought for RM 1.2 billion. Foreign interests are selling down to cut down losses.

What is even more pernicious and atrocious is the betrayal to Felda people. 360,000 hectares of land have been forfeited which could be used in future to create 80,000 new settlers.

It's dark days looming over Felda and no amount of PR exercise can mitigate the anger that is shoring up. There is a tsunami looming over Felda. — sakmongkol.blogspot.com

* Sakmongkol AK47 is the nom de plume of Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz. He was Pulau Manis assemblyman (2004-2008).

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.

Bersih 3.0: Cop oblivious to Article 10

The Sun Daily 
by ALYAA ALHADJRI

KUALA LUMPUR: A police officer in charge during the Bersih 3.0 rally admitted he was not aware that the public has a right to freedom of expression and assembly.

Insp Farid Sairi from the Dang Wangi district police station was responding to lawyer Roger Chan from the Bar Council who cited Article 10 of the Federal Constitution which protects a person’s right to freedom of expression and assembly.

Chan, who held a watching brief at the National Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) inquiry into the rally yesterday, has suggested that Farid, as a police officer, should be well versed with the law.

Farid, who during the April 28 rally was in charge of some 100 personnel in an area designated as ‘Sector 3’, replied: “I only know a little bit.”

He also said he was not aware that the public has a right to oppose any government’s policy deemed to be not in their favour.

“As a police officer who is upholding the law, is it an offence for the public to voice resistance against any government policy?” asked Chan, to which Farid replied that he was not sure.

Earlier, responding to ACP Jamaluddin Abdul Rahman who held a watching brief for the police, Farid also admitted that he did not know the real reason behind the day’s rally which was organised by electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0.

“As far as I know, the rally is organised to sit down and protest,” he said, adding that he only acted based on orders given by his superior ASP Ahmad Jais Ujang during a briefing held at about 6am the same day.

Asked by inquiry panel chairperson Datuk Dr Khaw Lake Tee on specific instructions given during the briefing, Farid said he was told to stand guard and prevent entry into Dataran Merdeka.

In his testimony, Farid said his troop was stationed next to the Royal Selangor Club, from the food court to the church at the end of Jalan Raja.

Despite insisting that no incidents had occurred under his watch from 7am to 9.30pm, Farid noted that there was a “constant increase” in the number of personnel on duty – from 100 in the morning to about 300 at the end of the day. The club and its surrounding areas have been identified as the sites where alleged police brutalities had taken place against arrested protesters who were brought to a holding area before being taken to the Police Training Centre (Polapol) at Jalan Semarak.

PM Announces Setting Up Of New Low Cost Airline

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 11 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today announced the setting up a new low cost airline known as Malindo Airways.

Najib said the airline, borne out of a collaboration between National Aerospace and Defence Industries Sdn Bhd (Nadi) and Indonesia's PT Lion Group, would begin operations on May 1 next year and be based in KLIA 2.

The collaboration, said Najib, not only marked another milestone in the nation's aviation industry, but also represented yet another facet of the close relationship between Malaysia and Indonesia.

"To my mind the acronym Malindo- the melodic combination of the names of Malaysia and Indonesia has very significant historical connotations, reflecting the long intertwined history of the peoples of our two countries,".

"In terms of this to be established airline, I believe the name reflects the bridging of the two countries by way of a wide network of flights that will connect various cities and towns region-wide, opening new destinations for travellers from within the Nusantara and beyond," he said after witnessing the signing ceremony for the establishment of the airline between the two companies, here.

Najib said, with huge challenges faced by the airline industry today, including escalating operational costs and soaring fuel prices, the smart partnership such as the one formalised today would provide the new airline various savings and efficiencies in terms of fleet maintenance as well as the opportunity to tap a robust market that was ripe for the entry of a new low cost carrier (LCC).

"Airlines would need to be innovative and creative in order to continue to be profitable, and sustainable as a business, without compromising on service levels, reliability and affordability," he said.

Sharing a broad projection for global aviation, Najib indicated that the world air traffic was expected to grow at an annual rate of 5.1 per cent over the next 20 years, whereas air travel within the Asia-Pacific region was expected to grow by 6.7 per cent.

"The Asia-Pacific region accounts for 34 per cent of global passenger traffic and this is expected to almost triple from 779.6 million in 2010 to over 2.2 billion in 2030 with Malaysia expected to account for 200 million passengers.

"This is a staggering number. But one that represents an enourmous opportunity for the region's airlines, and aviation players in general.

"We must be ready to tap into this lucrative market and readiness means adapting and making changes today for the market conditions we anticipate tomorrow," he added.

Najib said the entry of the new airline was a timely move to meet the burgeoning market demand, both for low cost flights and maximum connectivity across the region especially between different cities in Malaysia and various parts of Indonesia.

He said, with significant experience in Airline Operations, MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) services, Supply Chain Management and Human Capital development, NADI and PT Lion Group would not only be able to provide quality services to their consumers in the region, but also to the global aviation industry. "This will fortify the Aviation Business ecosystem both in Malaysia and Indonesia. Furthermore, the partnership will provide the regional low-cost air travel market with healthy competition, ultimately benefiting low-cost travellers in both countries," said Najib.

According to the prime minister, the Malaysian Aerospace Industry which has grown tremendously over the last 20 years, will be well poised to meet the challenges and to seize the opportunities of the future if it be continuously built and nurtured.

In 2011, Najib said, the industry generated RM26 billion in turnover, employing approximately 54,000 workers, 15,000 of whom were skilled in various vocations. "This is something that we, as Malaysians, can take pride in, particularly because it is a testament of the success of the National Aerospace Blueprint (NAB) that was introduced in 1997," he said.

The Blueprint laid out 45 recommendations covering aerospace manufacturing, commercial aviation, general aviation, systems and space, to provide Malaysia with the essential framework to develop itself as technologically and competitively competent global aerospace player by 2015.

The introduction of the Government's Economic Transformation Program (ETP) further bolstered Malaysia's Aerospace industry, identifying two Entry Point Projects,namely "EPP1-Growing MRO Services" and "EPP2-Growing Large Pure Play Engineering Services", which were expected to contribute RM16.9 billion to Malaysia's Gross National Income (GNI) and create over 32,000 jobs by 2020, added Najib.

The Kurukshetra War Of The 21st Century

There is nothing wrong about war”, once said Sri Aurobindo. And it is true that throughout the ages, war has been an essential part of man’s life on this planet and there have been very few periods in modern history which have not seen strife. The French fought three bloody wars against the Germans in the last 125 years, India has battled five wars in 55 years, four against Pakistan, if you count Kargil, and one against the Chinese.

Of course the horrors of war, the devastation it creates, have been documented enough so that there is no need to delve upon them. In the olden times, it was accepted as a fact of life and very few people protested. Actually, of all the nations in the world, India is the one who handled best the business of war, as Sri Aurobindo points out: “Vedic India allowed for men's inclination to war, but made sure that it never went beyond a certain stage, for only professional armies fought and the majority of the population remained untouched”. Indeed, at no time in ancient India, were there great fratricidal wars, like those between the British and the French, or even the Protestants and the Catholics within France itself.

But today, as there is a new awareness of the value of life, both human, animal and vegetal, man often recoils from the terrors of conflicts and its consequences on the human being and its environment. Naturally also, humanity aspires to a more harmonious life, where not only will it not be necessary to kill each other to survive, but also where all human beings would love and respect each other, regardless of their colour, religion and nationality. Thus, particularly in the United States during the Vietnam war, there manifested amongst the youth this longing for “no war, but peace”, as symbolized by the famous photo of a young American girl sticking a flower in the barrel of the gun of a national Guard. This antiwar pressure was so great that it took out the wind of the Unites States to fight this bloody conflict in a faraway country. and ultimately it surrendered meekly Vietnam to the Vietcongs. Since then, although there is no more such antiwar movement in the United States, American soldiers seem to have lost their valour and now their wars are fought from the safety of supersonic planes and very rarely on the ground. And as soon as a few American, or French, or English soldiers are killed, the will to fight goes, because of intense media and public pressure on Governments. This is why hijackers and kidnappers have such a field day now: they kill one or two people and whole governments surrender, as seen during the hijack of the Kathmandu-Delhi flight in December 1999. It takes Israelis soldiers to keep on fighting with their own public, press and government behind them, when suicide after suicide bombers kill scores of innocent people every month.

In India too, there has risen a strong, coherent antiwar lobby. Intellectuals such as Arundhadi Roy have brilliantly pleaded for a peaceful and restrained India, powerful but benevolent, who learns not to retaliate, to be merciful and generous towards her smaller neighbours. The spectre of a nuclear war has of course come as a strong argument for the antiwar lobby in India and we have seen in the last two weeks how both foreign correspondents and Indian magazines have used the available data on the horrendous consequences of a nuclear war to put pressure on the Government to back out from a conflict with Pakistan.

At any rate, Indian Governments have not been exceptionally bold militarily. Two factors appear to have inhibited the Indian courage to face adversity when faced with threats: the first is Buddhism, which made out of non-violence a rigid creed; and the second is the Mahatma Gandhi’s equally unbending theorem of non-violence, which may have precipitated India’s partition. And this is why maybe, under the guise of non-violence and peace, so many Indian intellectuals and politicians have shied away from war since independence, witness Nehru’s refusal to heed warnings about China’s hostility, which triggered the humiliation of the Indian army in 1962.

But will there be a nuclear war? Musharraf, whatever his obsession about Kashmir, which is basically a revenge for the loss of Eastern Pakistan, now Bangladesh, thanks to India’s support, is an intelligent man: he knows that if he does manage to drop one nuclear bomb on Delhi or Bombay, there will no more Pakistan worth the name, as all major Pakistani cities will be wiped off the face of the earth. Islam, who has made of the use of violence a near religious practice, understands the language of violence: see how it kept quiet when America showed its muscle after the 11th September attack, or when the Allies invaded Iraq. Thus Musharaff is doing a nuclear blackmail on the world… which is unfortunately working, as so many nations have evacuated their nationals and so much pressure is brought upon (successfully?) on India by the US and the EC.

If there is a war between Pakistan and India, whatever the politicians say, it will be a war between two brothers, for except for their religion, everything unite Indians and Pakistanis: their colour, ethnic origin, food habits, language... In fact, some Indian Muslim soldiers might have to shoot on some Pakistani cousins, or uncles. Will they pull the trigger when their commander says so? Will not their conscience tell them that it is wrong to shoot on one’s brothers? Does not that remind you of something? Did not Arjuna face the same dilemma five thousand years ago in Kurukshetra? Did he not throw his bow on the ground and tell Krishna: “no I will not fight, because war is such a horrible thing and I refuse to kill my bothers”.

But what does Krishna tell him: “not only you are not killing the soul, but merely the material body; but also sometimes, when all other means have failed and it is necessary to protect one’s borders, wives, children and culture, war can become dharma. And that brings in the final question: is a war against Pakistan justified? Would it be dharma? Well you have to decide for yourself: for nearly twenty years Pakistan has waged a proxy war against India in Punjab, in Kashmir and now more and more in the North-East; it has killed thousands of innocent people, raped women dismembered children, mutilated Indian soldiers in the most horrible manner... Several Indian Prime Ministers have made one-sided attempts at peace, without getting reciprocity from Islamabad.

Indeed, a war between Pakistan and India might be the Kurukshestra of the 21st century, the ultimate war which will set right fifteen hundred years of Islamic terror and both redeem the Hindus’ karma of cowardice, as well as the Muslims’ karma of bloodshed. This war, if it ever happens, will also pave the way for the reunification of India and Pakistan, by force or by natural means. For the two brothers can fight for a time, but ultimately they have to embrace each other anew, as they are basically one, beyond time and body, as Krishna once told Arjuna.

Pakistani parliamentarians discover a ‘Pakistan’ – in India

A village named Pakistan on the Bihar-Bengal border surprises visiting lawmakers.

ISLAMABAD:  On a friendly visit to India, parliamentarians from this side of the border discovered another Pakistan.

Tucked away between the border of Bihar and Bengal, Pakistan is a remote village that has survived 65 years of bitter relations that have dominated South Asian history.

It was in the hope that their Muslim friends, who fled during the partition to then-East Pakistan, will return one day that Sikhs and Hindus named their village Pakistan. Finding ‘Pakistan’ in the Indian state of Bihar overwhelmed the parliamentarians.

“If people of a remote village can hope their old friends will return home one day … why can’t we as nations think of peace as the driving force behind our relations?” said Senator Haji Adeel Ahmed, one of the parliamentary delegates from the Awami National Party (ANP).

He added that a people-to-people contact improve ties between India and Pakistan.

“Don’t leave everything on the state and its agency. They have their own self-centred agenda. Let people take the lead and their collective wisdom will guide to the ultimate good,” he said.

Furthermore, the parliamentarians proclaimed that they were ‘pleasantly surprised’ to see how a majority of Indians supported peace between nuclear-armed neighbours.

Even though certain factions on both sides of the border have tried to break down ties between the two nation states, the people of the village still hold on to the hope of seeing their friends.

“This reflects the true feelings of public on both sides. While certain groups have been trying to ignite the flames of hatred here and there, these innocent villagers kept their hopes alive,” said Ahmed.

The villagers say they have sent a message of peace and harmony in naming their village Pakistan.

Even though their migrated friends never returned, the villagers still haven’t given up. Today, their third generation still remembers the occupants of the pre-partition houses which are now in ruins.

Likewise, diplomats remain hopeful. ‘Good things’ are in the pipeline, said one of the top Pakistani diplomats who is aware of the process between the regional giants.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Bengal as Bangladesh. The error is regretted.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10th, 2012.

Jihadis Threaten to Burn U.S. Embassy in Cairo

Jihadi groups in Egypt, including Islamic Jihad, the Sunni Group, and Al Gamaa Al Islamiyya have issued a statement threatening to burn the U.S. Embassy in Cairo to the ground. According to El Fagr, they are calling for the immediate release of the Islamic jihadis who are imprisonment and in detention centers in the U.S. including Guantanamo Bay: “The group, which consists of many members from al-Qaeda, called [especially] for the quick release of the jihadi [mujahid] sheikh, Omar Abdul Rahman, whom they described as a scholar and jihadi who sacrificed his life for the Egyptian Umma, who was ignored by the Mubarak regime, and Morsi is refusing to intervene on his behalf and release him, despite promising that he would. The Islamic Group has threatened to burn the U.S. Embassy in Cairo with those in it, and taking hostage those who remain [alive], unless the Blind Sheikh is immediately released.”