Syria's foreign jihadis: Where do they come from?

By Richard Allen Greene and Inez Torre, CNN

At least two Americans have been killed in Syria, and the video of James Foley's beheading is narrated by a man who seems to have a London accent, raising fears about the number of American and British Muslims going to fight in Syria. But do the U.S. and UK have the greatest problems? CNN crunched the numbers from 25 countries that have given official estimates of how many have gone to fight.

More than 11,000 people have traveled from abroad to fight in Syria, officials suggest, although some have gone back home again. They ally themselves with different factions, and sometimes change loyalties as groups merge, disband or change allegiances. Naturally, countries with bigger Muslim populations tend to send the largest number of fighters. Viewing this on mobile? Click here to see a larger version of this map.

But some countries with relatively small Muslim populations have sent a disproportionately large number of jihadis. Finland and Ireland have the highest number of foreign fighters per capita -- nearly one per 1,400 Muslims living in those countries has gone to Syria. Viewing this on mobile? Click here to see a larger version of this map.

Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population, but tiny numbers of fighters going to Syria. And even countries closer to the conflict such as Turkey, Algeria and Morocco have sent relatively few. (Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, which all have more Muslims than any country other than Indonesia, have not issued official estimates of how many of their citizens, if any, have gone to Syria.) Viewing this on mobile? Click here to see a larger version of this map.

All 25 countries in the study

Britain and France have comparable percentages of local Muslims going to fight in Syria -- just over one in 6,000 British Muslims and one in 6,666 French Muslims have gone to Syria, governments say. The figures in the Netherlands are not far off, around one in 7,700. American Muslims are going to Syria at a much lower rate, closer to one in 25,000. Viewing this on mobile? Click here to see a larger version of this table.

3 Columbus churches vandalized with graffiti overnight

By WTHR Channel 13

COLUMBUS, Ind. - Columbus Police said they've never had anything like it - three churches vandalized in the same night.

Someone spray painted them on the outside. It's the words used, though, that have some people asking if this was more than a prank.

“It was just one word. It said ‘Infidels!'” Father Doug Marcotte said of what was spray painted on Saint Bartholomew's Catholic Church in Columbus overnight Saturday.

Parishioners saw that, along with the word "Qur'an 3:151" on their way into mass Sunday morning.

“It's certainly not a warm and fuzzy verse. It talks about the infidels, their refuge being the fire,” explained Father Marcotte.

Specifically, that passage of the Qur'an reads: "We will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve for what they have associated with Allah of which He had not sent down [any] authority. And their refuge will be the Fire, and wretched is the residence of the wrongdoers."

Saint Bartholomew's wasn't the only Columbus church vandalized.

“It's really bizarre and the fact that they hit two other Christian Churches. It's not like we're all in a line. So why did they pick the three of us,” asked Father Marcotte.

Outside East Columbus Christian Church and Lakeview Church of Christ, members there found the same kind of graffiti Sunday morning.

“Is there somebody that really believes this that we're all infidels so they felt the need to write it all over our church? “ asked Father Marcote. “Is this some sort of nasty prank? Is this someone that's trying to incite people against Muslims? I mean I don't know,” he added.

Columbus Police said they're looking at surveillance video to help figure it out.

Until they do though, parishioners at Saint Bartholomew's have been unsettled by the defacing of their church, at the very least.

“There's a lot of bad stuff being done in the name of Allah and so when people see this happening in Columbus, whether that was truly the person's intent or there's something else going on, It makes people nervous. It makes people upset. It makes them scared,” said Father Marcotte.

Columbus police would not comment on whether they had alerted federal authorities to the vandalism because of its nature. The priests at Saint Bartholomew's said they've been contacted by members of the local Muslim community in Columbus who have condemned the vandalism and offered to help clean it up.

Anyone with information is asked to call police.

s Pope A Target Of The ISIS? The Vatican Firmly Doesn’t Believe So

Pope Francis is believed to be one of the top terror targets for the ISIS. Following the reports, Italy and the Vatican have beefed up the security of his holiness. However, these threats are being downplayed by the Vatican, and there are some interesting justifications to the same.

Pope Francis is against any kind of violence, and given the fact that ISIS is beheading Christians, the Pope condemned their actions recently. Having just denounced their actions, Pope Francis automatically made it to the list of ISIS. As all terrorists love to keep a “bucket list” of high-profile personalities to threaten, Pope Francis qualified for inclusion way before he even chose to make his views about the terror organization clear.

Italian media agency Il Tempo claims that Francis has been singled out as “the greatest exponent of the Christian religion,” and consequently a “bearer of false truth.” However, the Vatican feels that the ISIS won’t dare attack the Pope. It strongly believes that the Pope isn’t a target for the ISIS.

Why isn’t the Vatican concerned? Interestingly, the Vatican takes all threats against the Pope very seriously. Moreover, as The Inquisitr had reported, about 80 Italians have been recruited by the ISIS and are fighting for the terrorist organization. The ISIS has certainly proven that it is an international terrorist organization, and will continue its barbaric acts even against people who are Muslims, but not of their particular sect.

Despite these serious concerns, the Pope and the Vatican aren’t the top priorities for the Islamists, reported Newsweek correspondent Nicholas Farrell.

“There are fewer checks on terrorists in Italy and they can circulate more freely. Islamists regard Italy as a strategic place to launch attacks, not the main enemy like America or Britain”

Nonetheless, ISIS leader and self-proclaimed Caliph of the Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has previously made a speech announcing the group’s intention to “conquer Rome and own the world, if Allah wills.”

Cops release Penang exco Phee Boon Poh and PPS members

Police have now released all 155 members of Penang's Voluntary Patrol Unit (PPS) as of 10.30pm tonight.

Earlier this evening, state welfare, caring society and environment committee chairman Phee Boon Poh was released together with a few of the PPS members who were arrested yesterday.

Now, only Seri Delima state assemblyman R.S.N. Rayer, who was arrested today, remains in police custody.

Phee, who walked out of the station looking tired, met with his family members and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng then broke down in tears as he was received by a large crowd outside the gates of the Northeast District police headquarters.

After being garlanded, Phee thanked his friends, supporters, Pakatan Rakyat party members and the media for giving him the encouragement to stay strong.

"If I was taken for the betterment of Penang, then I am willing to make this sacrifice," he said in between tears.

Earlier today, Penang police chief Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi announced their remand for a day till tomorrow to facilitate investigations.

He said police would carry out a crackdown on the rest of PPS members.

“We remanded Phee and the 155 members, aged between 18 and 67, till tomorrow under Section 43 of the Societies Act 1966. Seven of them are women.

“PPS is an illegal organisation, so we will arrest all its members. There is no deadline. Therefore, I urge the members to surrender themselves to the police.

Rahim said initial investigations showed 11 of the detained members possessed criminal records. Four of them tested positive for drugs.

He said despite the fact that only one person had links with secret society by virtue of being a former Emergency (Public Order and Crime Prevention) Ordinance 1969 (EO) detainee, the police would go on with the crackdown.

Rahim revealed the PPS members who possessed criminal records came under Section 304, 379, 380, and 392 of the Penal Code, respectively, and also various drugs offences, and customs laws.

“Some of them have records for attempted murder, theft, break-ins and robbery. The suspect who was a former EO detainee was convicted for a drug offence previously,” he said.

He added that police seized 153 purple PPS T-shirts and 154 maroon berets bearing the Penang state emblem that formed the group’s uniform, a PPS placard and flag, a Jalur Gemilang, a Penang flag, walkie-talkies and membership cards.

He said the detainees comprised pensioners, civil servants, those who were self-employed and students.

While reiterating that 14 men and seven women were released on police bail early this morning, Rahim said the police had information on 30% of the members.

When asked whether the state government had presented a list of members to the police to be vetted for criminal records, he replied in the negative.

He also denied claims that police and PPS had worked together to patrol the streets within the state.

“I do not want to get involved in the challenges that are being thrown about on this matter.

“We are looking at this issue purely on the legal aspect and not on political insight,” he said, when asked to comment on the exchanges between Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar who announced PPS as illegal and Lim's continous defence of the unit. – September 1, 2014.

‘Negros’ and the mindset of pseudo-human rightists

 

“Why would any sane investor ‘invest’ in a company that has lost a total of RM4.3 billion for the past three years?” This was the question raised by Perak DAP economic development bureau chief Chong Zhemin in a reported statement on the subject of the government bailout of MAS.

Well, this makes sense. But the trend amongst politicians from both sides of the divide is the same. Take for example the goods and services tax (GST). While we hear pockets of criticism on GST, none of the parties in Pakatan have come to a concrete conclusion that they would abolish the GST should they come into power.

But the insensitive middle-class elites who are indoctrinated with the ‘ubah’ (change) slogan would conveniently forego any thoughts on serious matters pertaining to socio-economic imbalance as it really does not matter to them as long as political enhancement and rhetoric is achieved.

Let’s take another example. The Selangor saga. The elites seemed to have forgotten the root cause of the current saga. The Kajang Move was a breach of trust placed by the people on the assemblyperson who wa ‘forced’ to resign to pave the way for a certain politician to become the MB.

Now let us come back to the statement of Chong Zhemin. He further criticised the mooted MAS Act to facilitate staff transfer and review of employment contracts, bypassing the bankruptcy procedure.

He raised an interesting point and let me reproduce what is quoted.

Chong said the enactment of a MAS Act would change the legal status of employment for MAS staff, which could be unfair to them.

“The MAS Act is against natural rights and unjust as it could nullify all current employment contracts with MAS,” he said.

Interestingly, Anwar Ibrahim, too, came up with a statement. He had this to say: “Did you think what’s the future of the 6,000 affected families? Can you reflect on that for one second. Is it their fault? Were they lazy? Were they not competent? Whose fault is this?”

Now the issues raised are valid. Both Chong and Anwar  speak on the natural rights of MAS workers and the unjust associated with the new deal. I agree. But have you ever wondered where was natural rights and social justice when 800,000 estate workers were displaced from the plantations and the Indian Malaysia community were left stranded, their suffering unimaginable, and worst still this fact is not known to the Malaysian public during their displacement process since the 70s.

Anwar was the agriculture minister in 1984 when the estate displacement was taking place.

Let us for a moment ponder on the plight of these 800,000 mostly Indian Malaysian displaced estate workers from the 1970s.

They were employed in the plantation for four or five generations. They made the estates their permanent home. They were made to believe so by their bosses beginning from the white man right till the last employers.

Towards the ‘tail end of their services’ (I mean before they are evicted), their bosses who are the mighty and rich would play a game just like how it is now proposed on our national carrier MAS. Their bosses would sell the plantation to a new owner ie one of their sister company. Upon the sale of plantation, new contracts of employment would be drawn out with the estate workers who had loyally served their employers and country for almost 200 years.

Their four to five generation service to the companies and nation are lost permanently. These illiterate estate workers depend on the mandors  in the estates who act as their chief or spokesperson. Many of these mandors are also the estate MIC chiefs and the workers union heads.

‘Workers have lost their rights on the land’

The illiterate workers do not realise that they have lost their rights on the land they and their forefathers toiled and made the British and subsequent Umno masters (Guthrie, IOI, Kulim (M) Bhd and Sime, for example) and towkays (Berjaya Group, IJM, Hap Seng, etc) immeasurably  rich.

Finally the sister company sells the plantations to another (most likely) of their sister companies or crony entities which would be a property development company (eg Sime Properties Sdn Bhd). Then the sister property company would send their henchmen to evict the workers out of the estates with meagre compensation.

In recent times the workers have obtained ‘very good compensation’ for the sacrifices they as well as their forefathers have made. During one of my negotiations on the Bukit Jalil estate, the Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor openly told me not long ago that the practice was to pay not more than RM1,500.00 compensation for each family.

So with RM1500 the estate workers are supposed to be thankful for the compensation successfully negotiated by the mandors and union leaders, whereby thereafter they are supposed to utilise these ‘huge sums’ for relocation into new housing Tamans, pay their own deposit for a new house they could ‘comfortably’ purchase, ‘retrain themselves’ in new skills so that they can seek new employment opportunities in the urban areas they would be moving into, and pay for a psychiatrist should they need to recover from their trauma.

Eight hundred thousand plantation workers have been ejected this way forcibly either through government acquisition or private, yet the selfish elite middle class community as well as politicians from both sides of the political divide  of Malaysia do not see that as human rights violations.

The community becomes fragmented, lose their jobs, falls further below the poverty line, they are the new urban underclass, they build new squatter houses to survive the effect of displacement, they build new temples and shrines on trees as a mode to keep their hope in this nasty world alive and yet bear the brunt of accusations by the middle class elites as “Oh Indians ah - they are always like that. Just give them a tree and they start a temple”.

A populist cause

The middle class and politicians like Chong Zhemin will speak up for MAS workers’ rights because it is a populist cause. It catches the attention of the middle class media. It catches the attention of the pseudo-human rightists. That class of the community understands human rights as they prefer to perceive it.

The plight of the poor and defenseless estate workers were  never an  issue. They are the lowest strata of the community anyway. Who cares about them? They are sub humans aren’t they? They are not politically worth a mention, until the election bell rings. Oh, it’s easy, maa. Just get our henchmen in our own parties to throw crumbs and they would take it.

If the crumbs are thrown by the Pakatan guys it’s okay because its termed as assistance. But if comes from BN then the demonising and stereotyping begins. “Indians deserve it. They are stupid. They never learn,” and the list goes on.

Human beings are strange creatures. They choose not to see what they do not wish to see. They choose to understand truth according to what suits them. They do not see the plight of the sinking estate workers who are struggling to survive in the deep ocean. To the poor, any help would do, doesn’t matter if it comes from the perceived devil of the elite middle class.

Many of these ex-estate workers succumb to the influence of urbanisation and out of no choice join the underworld for survival. They would eventually be shot dead by the police in the name of wiping out crime and the middle class and elites would hail the police for doing a good job.

For those of us in Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia who speak up for these community are termed racist, extremist, selfish, not seeing the larger agenda, etc. When we signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the government to seek permanent and comprehensive solutions for the benefit of this forgotten community, we were accused of treachery.

I for one would say the MOU was the underclass Indian community’s Bill of Rights. And I make no apology for saying this or for entering into the MOU with the government. We in Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia need not be politically correct. We just need to do what is right. We are not concerned with whom we work with as long as we can ensure a permanent solution to the community.

We the Malaysian Indian estate workers and all those descendants of indenture and contract labourers are no different than the black Americans who were once degraded  as Negros. I see us as no more than the once black American Negros who were exploited and their rights denied.

The Hindraf neo-democratic revolution would continue to evolve to bring meaningful changes to the socio-economic position of Indian Malaysians.

Selamat Hari Merdeka yang ke 57. (Happy 57th year independence anniversary.)

---

P WAYTHAMOORTY is president of Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia and is a former deputy minister in the PM’s Department.

IGP won't forgive those who insult him - Malaysiakini

 

Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar today brushed aside an apology from a Twitter user who had allegedly insulted him, insisting that offenders will be punished.

"There is no forgiveness for anyone who abuses the Internet media to issue insults, condemnation or incitement.

"Wait for @PDRMsia's action," Khalid, who uses the twitter handle @KBAB51, said in a posting this evening.

Earlier today, Twitter user Viktor Wong had apologised to Khalid for insults hurled at the top cop yesterday.

"Hello both @PDRMsia @KBAB51, I am  retracting the suggestion on the bastardisation and apologise to you and all your members of the force," he said.

Yesterday, Wong, in an apparent reaction to the mass arrests in Penang, called Khalid "ruthless" and likened him to Heinrich Himmler, a leading military commander of the Nazi Party.

He also said that it was a "bastardisation" of the police force.

Himmler is said to have overseen the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust.

Shortly after the apparent insulting post, Khalid produced a photograph of the comment and instructed his officers to track down Wong and act against him, in a Twitter posting.

He also asked for action against  other Twitter users who called him a "BN dog".

Immediately after, the police through its official Facebook site acknowledged Khalid’s message and said it was in the midst of taking action.

'Azizah must be appointed based on 1992 royal deal'

 

Selangor ruler Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah has to consent to the appointment of Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the menteri besar because he is bound by a document signed in 1992 by his father, the then Selangor sultan.

Constitutional expert Abdul Aziz Bari said today the Declaration of Constitutional Principles, signed by six sultans, agrees that rulers will follow government advice, among other things.

This means, Aziz (left) said, the current sultan "may not" be able to insist on more names to be submitted as candidates for Selangor menteri besar.

"The content binds the rulers until today. It has no legal effect by the document itself but morally, it would be embarrassing for the rulers to ignore it," he said.

"So, in Selangor, the sultan has to appoint (Wan Azizah). Asking for more names, let alone refusing to appoint her, will go against the 1992 declaration and more importantly, the constitution itself."

Aziz said the document was formulated during Umno's tussle with the royalty in the early 1990s.

He said Umno at that time had friction with the Kelantan royal household as it blamed the royalty for having a hand in its defeat in Kelantan in 1990.

An undertaking to abide by constitution

 "The declaration was the result of negotiations between the rulers - led by the late Sultan Azlah Shah and Umno, led by Anwar Ibrahim, who was then an Umno vice-president.

"It was an undertaking, an affirmation by those six rulers to abide by the constitutional provisions pertaining to appointing the government, interference in state administration and business involvement, among others," he said.

Aziz said only the rulers of Kelantan, Kedah and Johor refused to sign the document but the other six rulers signed it.

He described the 1992 document as an attempt by Umno at that time to subdue the palace, which the party saw as a threat to its dominance.

However, Aziz said, the late Perak Sultan (right) did not entirely abide by the 1992 declaration during the state's constitutional crisis in 2009.

"Indeed, the late ruler went against what he himself wrote years before that; namely that dissolution was a matter of course that the sultan never refused," he said.

Sultan Azlan Shah had refused then Perak menteri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin's request to dissolve the state assembly after three Pakatan representatives sided with BN to give it the majority.

Rayer arrested in relation to PPS

Police detain RSN Rayer to assist in investigations regarding PPS.

GEORGE TOWN: Seri Delima Assemblyman RSN Rayer has been detained to assist in the police investigation on the Penang Voluntary Patrol Unit (PPS) set up by the DAP-led state government.

Timur Laut district police chief ACP Mior Faridalatrash Wahid said Rayer, the PPS chairman for Seri Delima, was detained at 6pm when he came to the Timur Laut police headquarters.

Rayer came to the police station to handle the release of PPS members who were in remand, he said when contacted by Bernama here today.

Mior Faridalatrash said that as at 6.30pm today, the police had released 30 PPS members, including its chairman, Phee Boon Poh, who is also the State Welfare, Caring Society and Environment Committee chairman.

“We expect to release all the PPS members who were arrested yesterday by tonight,” he added.

Yesterday, police arrested 156 PPS members, including Phee, for allegedly flouting regulations after it was found that the organisation was not registered with the Registrar of Societies (ROS).

Twenty-one of them were released later yesterday, and the remaining held in remand.

- BERNAMA

Azmi Sharom next up for sedition charge

Law lecturer to be charged in court over seditious article he wrote on the Selangor Menteri Besar crisis.

KUALA LUMPUR: University of Malaya law lecturer Azmi Sharom is to face charges of sedition tomorrow for a piece he wrote on Aug 14 in news portal The Malay Mail Online, giving his thoughts about the Selangor Menteri Besar crisis.

Dang Wangi police have confirmed that Azmi will be charged under Section 4 (1) (b) of the Sedition Act 1948 at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court.

If he is found guilty, Azmi will have to pay a fine not exceeding RM5,000 if it is a first time offence or face a maximum of five years imprisonment for subsequent offences.

Azmi now joins the ranks of a string of others to be slapped with sedition charges in the past month, all of whom are politicians, with the exception of himself.

The weeks leading up to Merdeka Day saw Rafizi Ramli, N Surendran and Khalid Samad among many others charged in court for various remarks they made deemed seditious by Putrajaya.

DAP launches three campaigns – Post-Malaysia Generation Movement, Batu Sumpah Awareness Campaign and Mass Signature Campaign to demand immediate publication of Royal Commission of Inquiry Report on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah

DAP launched three campaigns in Keningau yesterday, viz:

*Batu Sumpah Awareness campaign;

*Mass Signature Campaign to demand immediate publication of Royal Commission of Inquiry Report on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah; and

*Post-Malaysia Generation Movement.

1. Batu Sumpah Awareness Campaign

Czech writer Milan Kundera’s famous quote “The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting” is good reason for the DAP launching the Batu Sumpah Awareness Campaign.

Seven months before the 13th General Elections in May 2013, I spoke at length during my speech on the 2013 Budget in Parliament on October 4, 2012 on the Keningau Batu Sumpah and the three commitments of “Ugama Bebas Dalam Sabah”, “Tanah Tanah dalam Sabah di kuasai oleh Kerajaan Sabah” and “Adat Istiadat anak rayat Sabah dihormatkan dan dipelihara oleh Kerajaan” engraved on the Keningau Oath Stone.

I called on all Members of Parliament, whether Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat, whether in Sabah, Sarawak or Peninsular Malaysia, to support a Royal Commission of Inquiry to assess whether the dreams and aspirations of Sabahans and Sarawakians in forming Malaysia had been fulfilled or betrayed in the past five decades.

Although my call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry stemming from Batu Sumpah Keningau fell on deaf ears in October 2012, as there was no support or response from the Barisan Nasional MPs, whether Sabah, Sarawak or Peninsular Malaysia to examine whether the terms of the oath of loyalty of the Sabahans from the interior five decades ago in exchange for support for the formation of Malaysia, as solemnly carved in perpetuity in Batu Sumpah Keningau, had been honoured, this remains a live issue and with the passage of time, an ever more focussed aspiration of the people of Sabah.

This is the rationale for the launching of a Batu Sumpah Keningau Campaign to canvas for greater awareness of the rights and expectations of the people of Sabah when Malaysia was formed 51 years ago and for support for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to assess whether the dreams and aspirations of Sabahans (and Sarawakians) in forming Malaysia had been fulfilled or betrayed in the past five decades.

I have said Sabah students are ignorant of the three most historic events in Sabah in the past five decades as they are not in the school history books, viz:

1.20-Points and Batu Sumpah Keningau;

2.The ’666′ tragedy of 1976 which changed the course of history, not only in Sabah but also in Malaysia; and

3.Million illegal immigrants who were unlawfully and unconstitutionally given citizenship/voter status through illegal scams like Project Mahathir, undermining Sabah and Malaysia.

The Batu Sumpah Keningau campaign will be to restore both history and memory to the people of Sabah.

Before the launching of the DAP Batu Sumpah Awareness Campaign in Keningau yesterday, there was an earlier programme for the annual ritual ceremony for Batu Sampah scheduled in the Keningau District Office compound which housed the Batu Sumpah.

But the Keningau District Office compound gates were locked, preventing public access to the Batu Sumpah and therefore annual ritual ceremony for the Batu Sumpah from being performed.

This is most unusual as permission had earlier been granted for the annual ritual ceremony for Batu Sumpah to be performed, but this permission was withdrawn when the authorities learned that I would be present.

I am flattered by such attention but regret that I had caused the annual ritual ceremony for Batu Sumpah from being performed in its proper place.

However, there is more than a silver lining for every cloud, for the outrageous lock-up of Batu Sumpah in the Keningau District Office compound inspired a most creative and innovative response from the Orang Asal NGOs slated to organise the annual ritual ceremony.

As a result of discussion and consultation with Orang Asal NGOs and elders of the community, the very creative response to the lock-up of the Batu Sumpah in the Keningau District Office compound was to produce within 24 hours a replica of Batu Sumpah with the three inscriptions so that the ritual ceremony could be performed, just outside the Keningau District Office grounds.

This has given rise to another creative and innovative idea, especially for the Batu Sumpah Awareness Campaign – to replicate Batu Sumpah Keningau in every kampung in Sabah, which will be quite a fantastic method to spread the Batu Campaign Awareness Campaign.

If the Batu Sumpah Keningau is replicated in every kampung in Sabah, a great “thank you” is owed to those responsible for the unfair and high-handed decision to lock up the Keningau District Office compound to prevent public access to the Batu Sumpah thinking this could sabotage the holding of the annual ritual ceremony for Batu Sumpah.

The Chairman of the DAP Batu Sumpah Awareness Campaign is Peter Saili, a former political secretary who has retired from politics for more than ten years, and other officials are Vice Chairman, Nooritha Saul and Secretary, Marius Felix.

Two Keningau Declarations were also issued yesterday – one by by Orang Asal NGOs at the Batu Sumpah ritual ceremony and the other by the DAP Batu Sumpah Awareness Movement.

The Keningau Declaration of Orang Asal NGOs expands the three basic demands in Batu Sumpah to seven, viz: Kelestarian Alam Sekitar, Pemerintahan Yang Baik, Kemajuan Ekonomi and Integriti Pendidikan.

The DAP Keningau Declaration called for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to assess whether the dreams and aspirations of Sabahans and Sarawakians in forming Malaysia had been fulfilled or betrayed in the past five decades.

DAP MPs/SAs will articulate and highlight the two Keningau Declarations – of the Orang Asal NGOs and the DAP Batu Sumpah Awareness Movement in the Sabah State Assembly and Parliament to canvass support from all MPs/SAs for justice for Sabah.

2. Mass Signature Campaign for immediate publication of Report of RCI on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah

The campaign for mass signatures for the immediate publication of the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Illegal Immigrants in Sabah is headed by DAP Sabah State Secretary Dr. Edwin Bosi.

Is there any reason why the Report of the RCI cannot be made public before Malaysia Day on Sept. 16?

The Cobbold Commission on the formation of Malaysia took less than seven months in 1962 to publish its report from its first appointment in January 1962. Why is the RCI on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah taking more than two-and-a-half years from the Cabinet decision in Feb. 2012 for its establishment, and still unable to have the Report made public?

3. Movement of Post-Malaysia Generation to take over political leadership

The third campaign launched yesterday is the Post-Malaysia Generation Movement of DAP Sabah for the young generation of Sabahans born after September 16, 1963 to take over the political leadership.

The participation of the DAP candidate for the Teluk Intan by-election Dyana Sofya in the Keningau programme is symbolic of the new generation of young Malaysians who should be assuming leadership responsibilities in Sabah and Malaysia whether in politics or other spheres of activities.

According to Statistics Department, in 2014, out of a populationn of 3.54 million inn Sabah, 88% or 3.12 million were born after 1963.

This is therefore a great challenge and the chairman of the DAP Sabah Post-Malaysia Generation Movement is outstanding Sabah social activist for over a decade Adrian Lasimbang, who will lead the campaign.

(Media Conference Statement 2 in Kota Kinabalu on Monday, 1st September 2014 at 9.30 am)

Najib Proud Of Malaysians Who Flew Jalur Gemilang For Sporting Glory Over Merdeka Weekend

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said today he is proud of the Malaysians who flew the Jalur Gemilang for sporting glory over the Merdeka weekend.

"There's hardly a better way to demonstrate a culture of excellence!" he said in his latest Facebook entry.

Najib also congratulated squash queen Datuk Nicol David for her ninth Hong Kong Open win; kickboxing's Junior World Champion Santhia Subramaniam and the under-16 Harimau Muda team's lifting of the Frenz Asia Champions Trophy by beating PVF Vietnam yesterday.

"Congratulations to Datuk Nicol David, the indisputable number one in squash, on your ninth Hong Kong Open win.

"Well done also to 16-year-old Santhia Subramaniam, Junior World Champion in kickboxing! The entire Malaysian kickboxing team did a superb job in London.

"Congratulations to the under-16 Harimau Muda team on lifting the Frenz Asia Champions Trophy. Let this win motivate you to do better in the coming tournaments," he said.

Najib said he also hoped that Malaysians would keep rooting for national shuttler Datuk Lee Chong Wei and all other athletes who were doing their best for Malaysia.

"Datuk Lee Chong Wei came very close to winning the Badminton World Championships. I know he wanted this win very badly for us all, but sadly it was not to be," he said.

In the world championships, held in Copenhagen, Denmark, Chong Wei lost 19-21, 19-21 to second-choice player Chen Long of China in the men's singles final.

Rumah Guan Eng dibaling 'molotov cocktail'

Gaza Strip: ISIS Intent on Palestine and Murder of Jews

by Gregory Baskin - guardianlv.com

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which is the organization that has quickly gained control of vast areas of Syria and Iraq using no-holds-barred tactics such as beheadings, kidnappings, and bombings, has now declared that one of its goals is “to fight the barbaric Jews and kill those of them hiding behind the gharqad trees, the trees of the jews.” Ghargad is a small bush the grows on desert sand dunes. In order to commit such murder, ISIS said it will first “do everything within its means to continue striking down every apostate who stands as an obstacle on its path towards Palestine.” This area is composed of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, as well as other places.

The intent of the group to take control of Palestine is shored up by media reports that ISIS cells are forming inside the Gaza Strip. Moreover, its intent to murder Jews was advertised last month when hooded ISIS members chanted “Death to Jews” at a protest in The Netherlands.

Inflammatory statements appeared in ISIS’ new, slick English language publication, Dabiq, which is geared toward young Muslims in Western states. The New Republic said the magazine “looks like a New York glossy with pictures of mutilated bodies.” Unlike other militant recruiting publications (i.e. Al Qaeda’s Inspire), Dabiq avoids religious text and relies on calls-to-action that sound contemporary, and therefore, digestible for young recruits hoping for a chance to die for their cause. It also prominently displays front-and-center writings about a coming apocalypse.

The magazine declares ISIS’ “commitment to making the religion of Allah triumphant over all other religions” and that ISIS’ fighters will continue “until we die trying to make the religion triumphant.” With major victories on either side of the Euphrates River, ISIS has claimed vast swaths of territory for the Islamic State it wishes to create in the Gaza Strip and elsewhere.

ISIS became very present in the Western consciousness when it recently published a video of James Foley, an American journalist, being executed. Estimates are that up to one-half of the people in ISIS’ ranks are from the West. The top suspect in Foley’s death–the man believed to have beheaded him–is a British rapper nicknamed “Jihadi John” by his ISIS colleagues.

Dabiq does not publish Arab poetry, as previous jihadist publications have. It is written, instead, in simple English, a language that young Muslims in the United States or Europe can relate to. Its latest (second) issue implores readers to perform hijrah, or to travel “from the state of the infidel to the state of Islam.”

Dabiq shows branding sophistication in its obvious desire to appeal to its target audience via using a slick format and many graphic illustrations. High quality photographs show ghastly executions and jihadists on battlefields. The terrorist acts that are described are rationalized in the magazine by ISIS’ overall goal of creating a caliphate, or a country ruled over by a strict and horrifying interpretation of Islamic Law, or Sharia. Intent as it is on Palestine, Dabiq offers the promise of the murder of Jews as a recruiting enticement.

The leader, or caliph, of ISIS is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has been criticized for not helping Palestinian civilians from being killed in the recent hostilities with Israel in the Gaza Strip. His new magazine states that, unlike the empty words of Arab nations who say much and act little, theirs should not be taken lightly.

In addition to its giant presence in war-torn Syria, the Sunni-dominated ISIS also stormed across Iraq recently, conquering Sunni cities and, according to the United Nations, driving over one million people from their homes and committing murder upon an untold number of Jews, as well as other ethnicities. In an episode reminiscent to the homes of Jews being marked in 1930s Germany, ISIS showed its intent by marking the homes of Christians in Mosul with a “N” for Nazarene. ISIS then forcibly removed all Christians from their homes and destroyed all of the local Christian institutions. For ISIS, it is Palestine or bust, apparently.

Opinion By Gregory Baskin

Rotherham child sex scandal resulted in 100 babies as abuse victim reveals she fell pregnant TWICE

Young: Jane with her baby in hospital

One disgusted mum in her 30s told the Sunday Mirror: "I was groomed and abused, but the police took no action”

Teenage girls raped in the Rotherham child sex abuse scandal gave birth to more than 100 babies.

Scores more children as young as 13 ­miscarried or were forced to have abortions after attacks by Asian gangs on 1,400 girls.

One victim, who got ­pregnant TWICE to the same attacker, said: “I was groomed and abused, but the police took no action.”

The vulnerable youngster had an abortion at just 14 when her abuser threatened to have her killed if she gave birth to his baby.

Then he made her pregnant again just six months later – and allowed her to keep her child, but only if she became a Muslim.

Now a mother in her 30s, she told the Sunday Mirror how she was also TWICE failed by police who refused to investigate the attacks on her.

The woman, who we are calling Jane to protect her identity, said: “I know now I was groomed and abused, but back then, I was confused. Now I want to tell my story to help other girls like me. There are so many of us suffering in silence.”

Jane is just one of more than 100 victims who gave birth to their rapists’ babies as 1,400 girls were groomed, abused and raped in the South Yorkshire town from 1997 to 2013.

Some babies were kept by their young mothers while many were forcibly adopted and are now themselves in the care system.

The heartbreaking legacy of the scandal that has left a new generation of children’s lives blighted for ever is revealed deep in the shock independent report into Rotherham published last week.

Read More: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/rotherham-child-sex-scandal-resulted-4137542

A meaningful Merdeka Day for me!

I am so happy today. It is a real Merdekal Day for me. My first book in the beautiful Bahasa Malaysia and my fifth on Malaysian Cultural Studies will be out soon, entitled 'Kalimah Allah Milik Siapa?: Renungan dan Nukilan Tentang Malaysia di Era Pancaroba', due to be out in the Malaysian bookstores by Merdeka Day. I am elated.

A few months ago, when I was working on it, I wrote these, I am sharing with you wonderful and supportive readers since eight year ago when I first started writing for Malaysiakini. Here it goes:

My greatest moment of joy, in my years of writing, will be for my ideas to be translated into the Malay Language. I have often told myself that I will one day find that moment to celebrate - I think this will be the moment.

To me, there is a sense of awe, mystery, magic and humility in this beautiful language I find enchanting as an effort to convey my ideas to Malay-speaking readers. I grew up in this language and my social and inner reality was constructed out of the tools and materials, artifacts and consciousness, offered by it.

This language will always be the beautiful bridge that connects me to the person I loved most in my life: my mother. She passed on a few years ago. My only regret is she did not get the chance to understand what I have been writing all these years.

Language constructs reality, alters it, shapes, it deconstructs it, or even destroys it to have it evolve into a karmic cycle. Throughout my life, my worldviews have vacillated and oscillated between these two worlds. I think in both languages and direct my consciousness to act in the worldviews of both.

There is a challenge, however. I write better in the English Language having been schooled in it since the day I set foot in an English-medium school in Johor Baru: Sekolah Temenggong Abdul Rahman 1.

The challenge is to express my thoughts to others in the Malay Language and to convey the meaning as accurately as I can by using metaphors, similes, examples, extrapolations, and clarifications in the Malay Language. The biggest challenge is to convey anthropological, philosophical, philological, and technological ideas to a speaker of the Malay Language.

In the case of my writings on the 'Allah Controversy', how, for example would the English language be able to fully convey the ideas of the nature and attributes of God when words such as 'ujud, qidam, baqa', muha-lafatuhu lil hawadis, walqiamuhu binafsih wahdaniat, kudrat, iradat, ilm, hayat, sama' basar, qalam...' of  'ruh, jasad, zat, sifat', of the concepts addressing complexity of the 'ilmu kalam', and so on and so forth are to be translated or transliterated into the English Language?

What about words such as 'nafs ammarah lawammah, suriyah, mutmainnah' to be understood as the evolutionary and vacillationary stages of anger? This is the complexity and the daunting-ness of the works in translations.

My thoughts are essentially Western-centric

This is the dilemma. My thoughts are essentially 'Western-centric' and my hopes are to get the ideas to the world of those who are 'Eastern-centric', with the goal of coming to an agreement of the universality of the ideas on politics, education, semiotics, cybernetics, and spirituality.

I have never given up on this hope, although I have found it daunting to think how Malaysian readers well-versed in the beautiful and aesthetically pleasing Malay Language can grasp the meaning of my ideas presented in the functional and technologically-inspired English Language. I know that it is not merely a 'translation', whether direct, or in 'spirit'; it is a complex cognitive process of 'shifting, vacillating and oscillating' world views.

Countless times I have been asked to have my writings translated, so that "the Malays can benefit from my calls for change" as it is often said, and my commitment to share what I believe a beautiful country such as Malaysia ought to evolve into, given ideas of ethics, creativity and futurism drawn essentially from a 'Western-centric' point of view.

I know I will one day honour that request. I know that what I have been sharing will reach the minds of the Malay-speaking readers. That moment has arrived - with my first book in the Malay Language. I could not have done this with the excellent work done by Pauline Fan, who I believe is one of the best translators to be able to read my vacillating-oscillating thoughts well, having also been the editor of two of my previous books.

I know that my mother will be proud of what I have been doing and from where she is now, looking at me in the eyes with the look of the profundity of love, she too will read the artifacts of my mind, with ease.

Given a good translator, my dream of not being lost in translation will became a reality. The moment has arrived - with my first book in the Malay Language. I could not have done this with the excellent work done by Pauline, a fellow columnist Bahasa Malaysia section and a cultural activist.

Our work is collaborative with the support from my excellent and most efficient publisher Gerakbudaya, which has faith in my writings and have published the two previous works, 'The Allah Controversy', and 'Dark Spring'. Needless to say my gratitude to Malaysiakini for letting me share my views, for social improvement, for the last eight years,

I hope I have honoured the request of many of my readers who have given me the encouragement to write, and whose words of praise have humbled me.

Till then, here is poem I wrote for my mother:

Mother's Day

Mother
I am at a loss for words
I could just write “Words cannot describe my love for you.
Thank you for everything …”

Like everybody said
In those cards, those poems, those moments of well-wishing
I could just say that
And wait for another year.
Another celebration.

At each and every breath I take
As each and every thought of every veins in my body that makes me stay awake
Each and every cell I bathe with mantras to
Each and every corner of your womb my eyes glanced through
I want to say “thank you …”

But that would be ordinary
As others too have wished.

Maybe I could send you a card
A prayer to your soul
And remind you of a memory of me when I was a child
And tell you where I have been as I walk on this world they called “maya”
I could tell you now what you meant by the path of righteousness
The path I took
The road not taken
That may have made a difference
But mother, on this day of yours
Those would be ordinary.

I am at a loss for words
Unless my thoughts and my words are in the Jawi you know
I could write about the days when I was a child
Fighting demons
Strange creatures in my mind
Out to destroy our kampong
I fought them alone
None will ever know
On those trees
In the rivers
In the room I locked myself in
No one knew . Not even you.

I could write all those on Mother’s Day
But those would be ordinary stories.

Mother, on this day I must confess
That I was an existentialist as early as when I started to:
Climb that tree
Sneaked out of that wooden back door
Jumped out of those old Javanese looking windows
Roamed the city alone in my Japanese slippers
Walked along the huge huge water pipes that lead to Singapore city.

I was an existentialist, mother.
I cared about the Universe
But did the Universe care about me?

I wanted to tell you all these
On Mother’s Day back in the day
But my story would be ordinary.
Plain ordinary.

You combed my hair daily
Laced it with Brylcreem
Masked me with Cuticura talcum powder
Tucked my shirt well into my neatly pressed pants,

You held my hand everywhere I go
Afraid that the world would take me away
You held my hand tight as we crossed roads
Afraid that I would come to multiple crossroads

I wanted to tell you all these Mother.
On the following Mother’s Day.
Back in the day.
Ordinary story to me.

Mother you are sweet
You said I had beautiful eyes
Those eyelashes too
Eyes that came from the depth of the night

Somewhere you and I may know
I saw you smile
When many came to look at my eyes
But what have those eyes seen now?

I don’t know how to say “Happy Mother’s Day”
That would be too ordinary to you and me.
I can only feel everyday is your day .
Though for many years I was sent away.
Like an anarkin.
             

---

DR AZLY RAHMAN, born in Singapore and grew up in Johor Baru, holds a Columbia University (New York City) doctorate in International Education Development and Masters degrees in four areas: Education, International Affairs, Peace Studies and Communication. He has taught more than 40 courses in six different departments and has written more than 350 analyses on Malaysia. His teaching experience in Malaysia and the United States spans over a wide range of subjects, from elementary to graduate education. He has edited and authored four books; Multiethnic Malaysia: Past, Present, Future (2009), Thesis on Cyberjaya: Hegemony and Utopianism in a Southeast Asian State (2012), The Allah Controversy and Other Essays on Malaysian Hypermodernity (2013), and the latest Dark Spring: Ideological Roots of Malaysia's GE-13 (2013). He currently resides in the United States. Twitter, blog.

 

Police chief wants probe on tweets insulting him - Malaysiakini

 

Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar has asked the force's cyber investigation unit (PCIRC) to act against individuals who insulted him on social networking site Twitter.

Khalid posted screenshots in his own Twitter account of two individuals who tagged Khalid with insulting messages directed at the police chief.

Although the reason for their outburst is unclear but it could be related to the police's action against the Penang Voluntary Unit (PPS) earlier today.

In both Twitter postings, Khalid mentioned PCIRC and requested that action be taken against them.

In one posting, a man tagged Khalid and called him "anjing BN" (BN dog), while another posted, "Thanks to ruthless (Khalid), Henrich Himmler of Malaysia."

Khalid said the first individual he mentioned was being "insolent" against the IGP and subsequently requested action against the other Twitter user.

Cyber response team starts probe

In a statement posted on its Facebook, the PCIRC said that it would investigate the two individuals, though it did not specify under what sections.

"The Police Cyber Investigation Response Centre will take action and conduct investigations on individuals who issue statements that insult PDRM through social media.”

It also posted the screenshots of the two Twitter postings to help identify the individuals behind it.

Khalid had earlier today ordered the police to take action against PPS, and currently 154 of them have been detained by Penang police, despite the state government's insistence that PPS is a legal state agency.

The police chief had argued that PPS is not registered under the Societies Act and thus it is an illegal organisation.

Selagi sejarah Merdeka ditipu, Malaysia tidak akan ke depan

Hari ini, genaplah 57 tahun rakyat Malaysia ditipu Malaya merdeka tanpa darah.

Selama 57 tahun juga kita diberitahu hanya Umno, MCA dan MIC sahaja yang membebaskan Malaya daripada penjajahan British.

Sedangkan, kemerdekaan Malaya pada 31 Ogos, 1957 mempunyai kisah dan cerita yang lebih besar daripada itu.

Penjajah British tidak akan memulakan rundingan kemerdekaan dengan Tunku Abdul Rahman jika tiada perjuangan mengangkat senjata melawan mereka di Malaya.

Terlalu banyak darah yang sudah ditumpahkan dan nyawa yang melayang sebelum bendera Union Jack diturunkan di Dataran Merdeka 57 tahun lalu.

Kita perlu jelas perjuangan mengangkat senjata rakyat Malaya yang bermula pada tahun 1948 itu berlaku selepas British mengisytiharkan darurat dan mengharamkan pertubuhan-pertubuhan politik kiri seperti Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM), Angkatan Pemuda Insaf (API), Angkatan Wanita Sedar (AWAS), Parti Komunis Malaya (PKM) dan banyak lagi.

Mengapa pertubuhan-pertubuhan ini diharamkan?

Kerana mereka mahu kemerdekaan 100% bagi Malaya.

Mereka mahu British keluar dan tidak lagi mengaut kekayaan ekonomi tanah ini.

Mereka juga mahu Malaya diperintah orang-orang dari tanah ini tanpa mengikut telunjuk British. Ini di antara sebab British memerangi mereka habis-habisan.

Kita perlu tahu parti politik pertama orang-orang Melayu adalah PKMM dan bukannya United Malay National Organisation (Umno).

PKMM yang ditubuhkan pada 17 Oktober 1945 juga merupakan parti Melayu pertama dan melaungkan slogan merdeka lebih awal daripada Umno.

10 tahun sebelum merdeka, sudah wujud sebuah pertubuhan politik berbilang kaum dan progresif Putera-AMCJA yang jika berjaya memerintah negara pada ketika itu, akan memusnahkan politik perkauman ciptaan British.

Perlu diingat, pada ketika itu konsep Melayu masih lagi diperdebatkan dan Putera-AMCJA mencadangkan agar semua warganegara Malaya merupakan orang-orang Melayu.

British amat takut dengan kesatuan berbilang kaum dalam Putera-AMCJA dan menghancurkannya. Selain propaganda media, British menangkap pimpinan-pimpinan pertubuhan progresif ini semasa darurat 1948.

Melayu, Cina dan India perlu dipisah-pisahkan supaya mudah bagi British untuk mentadbir. Sehingga hari ini formula sama masih digunakan kerajaan untuk memerintah negara.

Penulis tidak berniat untuk memberi syarahan sejarah, fakta-fakta di atas dikeluarkan agar pembaca boleh mengkaji sendiri dan menilai apa yang sebenarnya berlaku dan peristiwa-peristiwa mendorong tercapainya merdeka.

Walaupun akhirnya kita tidak boleh menafikan, Tunku bersama Umno, MCA dan MIC yang berjaya mendapatkan kemerdekaan Malaya daripada British, latar belakang dan sejarah sebenar yang berlaku perlu diketahui dan diberitahu agar jati diri kita menjadi lebih kuat.

Ia juga bertujuan untuk menghargai peranan semua pihak yang berjuang memerdekakan negara termasuk PKM yang dijadikan “momok” sehingga kini.

Jika sejarah sebenar diberitahu, sambutan kemerdekaan pada tanggal 31 Ogos setiap tahun akan menjadi lebih bermakna kepada semua pihak.

Jika tidak, sambutan hari kemerdekaan Malaya yang kemudiannya menjadi Malaysia pada 16 September 1963 hanya akan dihargai penyokong Umno dan Barisan Nasional (BN) dan tidak melibatkan seluruh negara.

Malaysia harus bergerak ke hadapan. Namun tanpa mengetahui sejarah sebenar, masalah-masalah pokok negara seperti perkauman tidak akan dapat diselesaikan.

Selamat menyambut hari kemerdekaan Malaya yang ke 57. – 31 Ogos, 2014.

* Ini adalah pendapat peribadi penulis dan tidak semestinya mewakili pandangan The Malaysian Insider.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/amin-iskandar/article/selagi-sejarah-merdeka-ditipu-malaysia-tidak-akan-ke-depan#sthash.79vwppyP.dpuf

Dewan Ulama PAS Selangor lulus usul kecam Adun sokong Wan Azizah

Dua Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (Adun) PAS Selangor hari ini dikecam Dewan Ulama negeri susulan keputusan mereka menyokong Presiden PKR, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail sebagai calon menteri besar (MB).

Perkara tersebut diputuskan selepas usul dibuat dalam Muktamar Tahunan Ulama PAS negeri Selangor kali ke-26 yang berlangsung hari di Klang, hari ini.

"Muktamar sebulat suara meluluskan usul mengutuk dan mengecam tindakan Saari Sungib dan Hasnul Baharuddin yang bertindak menandatangani Akuan Bersumpah (SD) menyokong Dr Wan Azizah sebagai calon Menteri Besar Selangor tanpa pengetahuan dan persetujuan parti," menurut kenyataan dalam akaun Facebook Dewan Ulama hari ini.

Selain keputusan mengecam Adun Hulu Kelang dan Morib tersebut, Dewan Ulama negeri juga mendesak tindakan diambil ke atas mereka.

"Dewan juga menyerahkan kepada Jawatankuasa Tatatertib PAS Pusat mengambil tindakan ke atas Adun berkenaan berdasarkan Fasal 82, Perlembagaan PAS (Pindaan) 2011," kata kenyataan itu.

Muktamar tersebut dirasmikan pemangku Timbalan Ketua Dewan Ulama PAS Pusat, Datuk Dr Mahfodz Mohamad.

Ketika kemelut di Selangor berada dalam keadaan tegang menanti PAS membuat keputusan rasmi dua minggu lepas, Saari dan Hasnul mengambil langkah menyokong Dr Wan Azizah secara terbuka.

Ia menyebabkan mereka menerima kritikan dan kecaman daripada parti sendiri.

Bagaimanapun, mereka menyatakan kesediaan berdepan sebarang tindakan disiplin.

PAS Pusat pada 17 Ogos memutuskan mencalonkan Dr Wan Azizah dan Timbalan Presiden PKR, Mohamed Azmin Ali menggantikan Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, walaupun PKR bertegas menamakan Dr Wan Azizah sebagai calon tunggal.

Setiausaha Agung PAS Datuk Mustafa Ali mengesahkan hanya dua daripada 15 Adun PAS di Selangor menandatangani SD menyokong Dr Wan Azizah.

Sebelum ini, Mahfodz yang juga Ahli Majlis Syura Ulama PAS mendesak pemecatan kedua-dua Adun tersebut. – 31 Ogos, 2014.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/bahasa/article/muktamar-ulama-pas-selangor-kecam-dua-adun-sokong-wan-azizah#sthash.j98c7nxq.dpuf

Musa Hitam blames Putrajaya for Malay dilemma - TMI

The Malays are suffering from inferiority complex because of Putrajaya’s preaching that the community is backward and always in need of assistance, said former deputy prime minister Tun Musa Hitam.

"Putrajaya has mentioned several times that it has a target of increasing the Bumiputera equity ownership in the national economic pie to 30% by 2020.

"But, the government does not take government-linked companies into account when they point out that the present Bumiputera equity ownership is 24%.

"We are deluding ourselves by continuously pointing a finger at the Chinese. There is no such thing as perfection," Musa told The Malaysian Insider in an exclusive at the World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) office in Hampshire Place, Kuala Lumpur.

Musa, who is the WIEF chairman, said the race issue had been played upon numerous times and has had a negative effect on Malaysia.

"Only bankrupt politicians continually use race and religion to win support.

"Do not get me wrong, I am Umno through and through, even if I am may not talk like a mainstream party member.

"We cannot adopt the attitude of 50 years ago. We have to keep progressing and updating ourselves."

Musa said the New Economic Policy introduced by former prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein was to improve the livelihood of Malays.

"The NEP was to lift the Malay community in Malaysia and to remove their inferiority complex."

He said that there were many Malays who had performed well and now made up the middle class of Malaysia, and that they could rationalise for themselves.

But, he regretted that there was a gap between the current generation and certain leaders in Putrajaya as they appeared to be on different wavelengths.

"Some leaders do not appear to be in sync with the very people whom they have trained."

He recalled an incident with a group of youths over a meal while travelling to Johor for a holiday:

"A group of 30 to 40 Malay youths stopped by the eatery where my wife and I were eating."

"Some of them recognised me and approached us. After exchanging pleasantries, one of the boys asked whether they could share something with me.

"I said go ahead, by all means. The youths told me in a rather apologetic manner that they were anti-government."

He said he told the youths the fact that they disagreed with Putrajaya was born out of the previous administrations, which reflected democracy.

"Many quarters take it for granted that Malay leadership is the most important factor. But, there are many other challenges to that due to the open society we live in.

"I am also saddened and disappointed by some of the comments and remarks made by the present leaders.

"They do not appear to have done their homework and research before saying something.

"More often than not, many of the present leaders talk first and then realise they have made an error later when it is too late to retract their statement."

Musa said the current leadership had shown that they were unable to deal with sensitive issues like religion.

"The Malays seem to be confused about religion. The non-Malays are appalled at what is happening among the leadership in Putrajaya. "

He said politicians want to be seen as belonging, "so nobody speaks about the subject, for fear that they will be viewed as being anti-Islam".

On Christians using “Allah”, he said: "Whatever the arguments which have been raised, the simple fact of the matter is that it was decided that only Muslims in the peninsula have ownership of the word 'Allah'."

Musa was amazed and astounded that the issue had been blown all out of proportion.

"If you are confident about your religion, there is no need to worry about Malays getting confused if the word 'Allah' is used by non-Malays."

During his stint as education minister between 1978 and 1981, Musa said Christian representatives approached him.

"At that time, the government was encouraging the use of Bahasa Malaysia by all races, including Christians.

"There were no Malay-language Bibles at that time and the Christians discovered that Indonesia printed such books.

"They sought permission to import the Malay-language Bibles to Malaysia and I approved it with certain conditions.

"The conditions included importing the Bibles for their own use, to be kept in the church and no open selling or distribution of the Bibles outside of churches."

Musa stood by his decision, saying it was right and a correct compromise as the issue had been quietly settled and rationalised.

"If you want everyone to use the national language, then you should not put roadblocks and obstacles."

On Malaysia today, the 80-year-old said he felt quite depressed and down.

"Malaysia is facing the possibility of becoming a failed state as it does not know how to handle success and the intricacies of politics.

"Sure, there are positives… foreigners are impressed with Malaysia and its infrastructure. Perhaps they get the impression that Malaysians are happy and friendly.

"But there are so many wrongs which have become a right, so many extraordinary things which have become ordinary.

"We pride ourselves on being democratic and embracing the Westminster-style of politics.

"Malaysia must learn how to embrace democracy and be prepared to lose," Musa said, referring to the two-thirds majority which Barisan Nasional used to enjoy.

In the 2008 and 2013 general elections, BN watched as DAP, PKR and PAS began to make inroads into its traditional strongholds.

"Democracy also means understanding the role of criticism and being able to accept it."

Musa said the present leaders adopted the attitude of accepting a single compliment and overlooking the criticism which accompanied it.

"Digital democracy has arrived in this world. It is unpredictable, open, kind and can also be cruel."

On the hudud fracas, Musa was disappointed at how Putrajaya handled it.

"I am reasonably confident that across board, the Malay community is disagreeable to the concept of hudud.

"The image portrayed by hudud of body dismemberment is quite scary and horrifying.

"While PAS has attempted to rationalise the issue, nobody else dares to say openly that he is against it.

"Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announces Malaysia is not ready for hudud, Umno Youth says who said it is against it?"

Musa cited a solution by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on the issue:

" Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad gave a very simplistic yet logical summary of hudud."

"He said if a Malay was caught stealing, his hands would be cut off. But if a non-Malay was caught for the same offence, he would only spend a couple of years in jail.

"This is the way to resolve issues, to do research and rationalise, to give explanations. Nowadays, everyone simply jumps on the bandwagon.

"Nobody dares to disagree."

But, he also admired PAS for standing up to what they believed in.

"Unfortunately, nobody listens to PAS and their explanations." – August 31, 2014.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/musa-hitam-blames-putrajaya-for-malay-dilemma#sthash.DBlMbS0y.dpuf

Police haul up PPS personnel

250 squad members arrested after Merdeka march

GEORGE TOWN: Police hauled up some 250 personnel of the allegedly illegal Voluntary Patrol Squad (PPS) immediately after their march past in the Penang Merdeka celebrations at the Esplanade here this morning.

The PPS members were taken to the Northeast District police headquarters in Jalan Patani.

Northeast police chief Mior Faridalatrash Wahid said the PPS was being investigated under Section 41 of the Societies Act over an allegation that it is an unregistered organisation.

The Registrar of Societies (ROS), the Inspector General of Police and Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar have all declared PPS an illegal outfit.

Penang police received instructions from Bukit Aman to arrest all PPS members today.

But Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng at a PPS event in Komtar has remained defiant, declaring the squad as a legal state body and announcing that his government would provide legal assistance to arrested PPS members.

Last night a Molokov cocktail was thrown into the compound of Lim’s residence in Jalan Pinhorn.

No one was injured and no property was damaged in the attack.

Police are investigating whether the attack was linked to their probe on PPS.

Some 16 police reports have been lodged against PPS nationwide after some squad members allegedly assaulted a social activist in Air Itam on Aug 17.

Established four years ago, PPS has 10,000-members, 59.6% of whom are Chinese, 32% Malays, 9.7% Indians and 0.4% others.

Malaysia not a functional democracy yet

Empower is saddened Malaysia is still gender biased and prefers to use repressive laws like the Sedition Act.

PETALING JAYA: Non-governmental organisation Empower said in a Merdeka Day statement today that Malaysia is far from being “a truly functional democracy that respects the rights of its citizens.”

The NGO said this in relation to two issues dominating the political scene in Malaysia – that of gender bias and the use of the Sedition Act to silence opposing political views.

On the issue of gender bias, Empower said they were sorely “disappointed” at the mounting reluctance to accept a woman as the Menteri Besar of Selangor despite the law itself being “gender-neutral”.

“Presently, the only current Menteri Besar candidate who commands majority support from the Selangor State Assembly is Wan Azizah,” the statement read.

They also said “double standards” were widespread as women were “held accountable to higher standards” and “frequently face demands to prove themselves over and above the norm.”

“On the other hand, male counterparts with similar levels of experience go unquestioned and their qualifications are assumed,” the statement read.

The NGO was also disturbed by the increasing use of the Sedition Act to silence political criticism, saying the authorities were “overstepping their limits” despite a pledge by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to repeal the Sedition Act.

“SUARAM’s statistics show that the number of investigations and charges under the Sedition Act actually rose dramatically in 2013: 15 cases compared to 7 in 2012,” the NGO said.

They said this form of bad governance was leaving the people “powerless” to fight injustice while “stifling” their right to express themselves freely, engage with one another constructively or make informed choices.

Empower’s statement was endorsed by the All Women’s Action Society (AWAM), Perak Women for Women (PWW) and Sisters in Islam (SIS).

Anwar Ibrahim : Apa Makna Kemerdekaan?

Is Najib administration the most shambolic premiership in Malaysian history – with right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing?

By Lim Kit Siang,

Is the Najib administration not only on auto-pilot but the most shambolic premiership in Malaysian history, with the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing?

Malaysians are entitled to ask this question following the anonymous statement from the Prime Minister’s Office yesterday, insisting that the slew of sedition charges against Pakatan Rakyat leaders was a court matter and the government has nothing to do with it.

The anonymous Prime Minister’s Office statement said:

“Any charges under the Sedition Act are a matter for the courts. Malaysia’s judiciary is independent, as the verdicts of many cases prove.”

The PMO statement however insisted that despite the sedition charging spree, the colonial era Sedition Act will still be replaced by the National Harmony Bill.

It said: “The government welcomes feedback from all sections of society, and hopes to present the draft Bill to Parliament by the end of next year.

“Until new legislation is in place, existing cases must be tried under existing laws.”

The PMO said the drafting of the replacement Bill was taking time as it is being carried out in consultation with civil society and the public.

Acknowledging that the recommendations of the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) for the Bill has been subjected to fierce criticism from extremist right wing groups, the PMO statement said: “Like other countries, we are working to find the right balance between freedom of speech and national harmony in the age of the online media”.

Thinking Malaysians find this anonymous PMO statement even more disturbing than re-assuring about what is happening in the country, in particular the Najib premiership.

Firstly, who issued the PMO statement? Why is it anonymous? Hiding the identity of the person who issued the statement is nothing more than an admission or confession that the authority for making such a statement is questionable and debatable and would not stand up to scrutiny or challenge.

Secondly, the statement not only showed the shambolic state of the Najib premiership, where the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing, but even worse, those in authority do not know what they are doing!

The PMO statement was utterly wrong when it claimed that the promise to repeal the Sedition Act would not be affected by the slew of recent sedition charges, as “Any charges under the Sedition Act are a matter for the courts” and that Malaysia’s judiciary is independent.

It is shocking that those responsible for the PMO statement do not seem to understand that in the dock of criticism for the slew of sedition charges is the Attorney-General and not the judiciary, and that although thd Attorney-General is vested with the discretionary powers under the Constitution to initiate any charges for any offence, he owes a duty of public accountability in a parliamentary democracy to explain that he is not guilty of selective and malicious prosecution against Pakatan Rakyat leaders in the recent slew of arrests and prosecutions.

Thirdly, the Attorney-General is the chief prosecutor of the Najib premiership and must reflect the policies pledged by the Prime Minister.

Najib has promised to make Malaysia the “best democracy of the world” but the slew of prosecutions against Pakatan Rakyat leaders for sedition offences as well as new-fangled criminal charges not done or unheard of even in the worst era of the 22-year “Dark Age” of the Mahathir premiership is a blatant and flagrant violation of Najib’s “best democracy” pledge.

No credible Prime Minister would on the one hand promise to make Malaysia the “best democracy in the world” and yet allow his Attorney-General to launch a prosecution dragnet against opposition leaders and dissent which only happens in the “worst democracies” in the world!

Or is anyone seriously suggesting that the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Gani Patail is empowered to go against the policies and pledges of the Prime Minister without having to resign or be sacked from office?

I understand that there will be another sedition prosecution in the next few days.

Clearly, those responsible for the PMO statement yesterday know they are fighting a losing battle, as those in government who believe in the promise of “the best democracy of the world” are being elbowed out and replaced by forces in government who are set on Malaysia joining the ranks of the “worst democracies” in the world.

Hence the advent of the New Despotism in the Najib Premiership 2.0.

(Speech at the annual ritual ceremony for Batu Sumpah Keningau in Keningau on Sunday, August 31, 2014 at 8.30 am)

Malaysians Celebrate 57th Merdeka Day In High Spirit

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 31 (Bernama) -- Malaysians from all walks of life on Sunday celebrated the 57th anniversary of the country's independence in high spirit to face future challenges and bounce back after the MH17 tragedy.

The public were seen to have flocked various venues, either at the national or state levels, since early morning to join the celebration with the theme of 'Malaysia: Here, Where Love Begins'.

In Dataran Merdeka, over 14,000 participants from 23 contingents from government agencies, private sector, telecommunication companies and government-linked companies, took part in the Merdeka Day parade.

The Merdeka parade began promptly at 8.05am, after the arrival of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah and Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Haminah.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and wife Puan Sri Noorainee Abdul Rahman as well as cabinet members and heads of foreign missions were also present to watch the parade and two hours of exhilarating performances.

It is estimated that 400,000 people flocked the Dataran Merdeka and its surrounding areas to join the national-level celebration and watch the Merdeka Day parade.

The event was also broadcast live by Radio Televisyen Malaysia on TV1.

In PERAK, the state-level Merdeka celebration took place in front of the Dewan Bandaran in Ipoh.

It was celebrated on a moderate-scale as the state was still mourning the death of the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah, who passed away on May 28.

The celebration was graced by the new Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Shah and Raja Permaisuri of Perak Tuanku Zara Salim.

Also present was Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir.

A total of 101 contingent from public and private agencies, institution of higher learning, uniformed bodies and non-governmental organisations participated in the Merdeka parade.

In MELAKA, the Merdeka celebration was held in front of the Independence Declaration Memorial in Banda Hilir, where the country's Father of Independence Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Alhaj first announced the date to declare Malaysia's independence.

A total of 9,468 participants, including students, from 196 contingents took part in the four-kilometre parade.

Also present were Melaka Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Mohd Khalil Yaakob, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Idris Haron and state executive council members.

In his speech, Idris also called on the multi-racial people in the state and in the country to stay united to maintain peace and harmony which had been among the beautiful essence of Malaysia over the past 57 years.

In SARAWAK, Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud, Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem, members of the state cabinet and other dignitaries and their wives joined some 5,000 people, including 2,000 participants, in the colourful Merdeka Day celebration at Kapit Open Sports Stadium.

In his speech, Adenan said it cannot be denied that the state had benefitted tremendously from the decision made 50 years ago by its (pre-Merdeka) pioneer leaders and people in agreeing for the state to join forces to form Malaysia.

In NEGERI SEMBILAN, the state-level Merdeka Day celebration and parade were held at the Seremban Municipal Council's field.

A total of 9,600 participants from 112 contingents comprising government agencies, private sector, non-governmental organisations, as well as students, took part in the 1.2km-long parade around the state capital.

Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, State Assembly Speaker Datuk Dr. Awaludin Said, State Secretary Datuk Mat Ali Hassan, state executive council members and senior state officials attended the event.

In his speech, Mohamad said all quarters should try to understand the phrase 'Malaysia: Here, Where Love Begin' which was selected as the theme for the national day celebration this year.

He said they should also take it as a slogan and a guide to ensure that this beloved country would continue to be protected, with peace and harmony be preserved for the wellbeing of the people.

In KELANTAN, over 2,000 spectators watched the state-level Merdeka Parade at the 3rd Battalion of the 506th Regiment of the Territorial Army's Sungai Durian Camp in Kuala Krai.

Fifty-three contingents from various government agencies took part in the parade.

Also present were Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob, Deputy Menteri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah, State Police chief Datuk Mazlan Lazim and Kelantan Federal Development Department director Datuk Makhtar Mustapha.

In JOHOR, the state-level Merdeka celebration was held in Kulaijaya and was attended by over 10,000 people from all walks of life.

The colourful parade began in Jalan Persiaran Sri Putra Utama at 8 am and ended at the Kulaijaya Mini Stadium.

Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin also participated in the parade by cycling along with state executive council (Exco) members, while State Assembly Speaker Datuk Mohamad Aziz and several other state Exco also participated by riding a golf cart.

In KEDAH, the state-level Merdeka parade in front of Pekan Rabu in Alor Setar kicked off at 7.30 am and was participated by over 4,000 people from 101 contingents from various public and private agencies.

Kedah Council Of Regency Chairman Tan Sri Tunku Sallehhuddin Sultan Badlishah, Kedah Council Of Regency member Tan Sri Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz Sultan Abdul Halim, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Tun Dr Mahathir and state Exco were among the 5,000 people who watched the parade.

In PAHANG, approximately 20,000 people started flocking Jalan Mahkota and Kuantan Municipal Council's field from as early as 7 am to join the state-level Merdeka celebration.

The celebration began with the arrival of Tengku Mahkota of Pahang Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah and Tengku Puan Pahang Tengku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah. They were met on arrival by Menteri Besar Pahang Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob.

All participants and spectators also observed a minute of silence as a mark of respect for the victims of the MH17 tragedy.

Ninety-seven contingents with 52 decorated vehicles took part in the parade.

In SABAH, the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) Special Taskforce Unit members, who were deployed to secure control during the state-level Merdeka Day celebration at the Likas Stadium in Kota Kinabalu, became the public's centre of attention as they appeared in uniformed, fully armed and masked.

The Merdeka Day, which was celebrated on a moderate scale as a respect for the MH17 tragedy victims, was also attended by Sabah Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin and Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman.

In PERLIS, the state-level Merdeka parade took place at the Dataran Merdeka, Kangar, with the participation of 50 contingents representing the various state government agencies, non-governmental organisations, security forces.

The celebration was graced by the Raja of Perlis Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Putra Jamalullail.

Also present were Raja Perempuan of Perlis Tuanku Fauziah Tengku Abdul Rashid, Raja Muda of Perlis Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail dan Raja Puan Muda of Perlis Tuanku Hajjah Lailatul Shahreen Akashah Khalil, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azlan Man and State Assembly Speaker Hamdan Bahari.

In PENANG, the Merdeka celebration and parade were also held on a moderate scale at the Penang Esplanade in George Town.

Approximately 5,000 spectators watched the parade which was graced by Penang Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas and his wife Toh Puan Majimor Shariff.

Also present were Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and state Exco members.

The celebration, which began at 9 am saw the participation of 96 contingents.

In TERENGGANU, a total of 117 contingents from various public and private agencies and institutions took part in the state-level Merdeka parade, which began at the Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium and ended at the Dataran Pantai Batu Buruk.

Also present were Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Razif Abd Rahman and his wife Toh Puan Halina Zakaria.

PAS tolak rayuan Anwar, tetap mahu kemuka 2 nama