akudiary

I'm back!!!

2010-10-26T04:52:00.001+08:00

Its been like a zillion years ago since I last updated dis blog. Sometimes I do wonders whether I should shut this blog off or not(seriously I do feel like closing it off though). But now,here I am again!! I've decided to keep writing and publishing anything I wanna share with others in dis blog. So guys, keep updated!!!

The politics of sugar

2009-12-19T01:26:00.001+08:00

NEXT year, the government will possibly abolish the sugar subsidy. I'm personally all for that. For many years now, I've learnt to enjoy food and beverages without adding (or at least reducing the amount of) sugar. "Boss" at the mamak stall at first raised his eyebrows when I ordered "limau ais kosong". Now he's used to my request.

I notice too, that more people are forsaking sugar. It's still a class thing, though. After all, Equal sweetener is only for the privileged. In the homes of some friends, one kilogramme of brown sugar (not white, because it's more processed) can last for six months or more. But what about those who earn far less? For whom sweetened condensed creamer, another unhealthy price-controlled item, is mixed with water to feed their babies? For whom local biscuits made with subsidised sugar are a cheap treat to pacify crying children?

From a middle-class perspective and upwards, abolishing sugar subsidies should hardly be an electoral issue. Chances are, abolishing subsidies of any kind, while we will feel the pinch, will not put us out on the streets. People did learn to cope when the price of fuel went up to RM2.70 per litre.

Yet, come election time, it won't be surprising if the opposition adds the removal of subsidies to their basket of campaign issues. And it won't be surprising if the government backs down due to pressure.

The politics of cheap sweeteners

Subsidies, one of the many forms bribes can take
(© JadeGordon / sxc.hu)

So if food is metaphor, subsidised sugar for me has come to symbolise the rut our political culture is stuck in. That sugar is not a middle- to upper-class necessity gives us a glimpse into the ideological divide between the urban areas that swept opposition parties to power, and the rural heartland which kept Barisan Nasional intact.

That sugar is addictive shows the political immaturity of an electorate that has been conditioned to depend on elected representatives for handouts. Some tales in Ampersand by Petaling Jaya councillor KW Mak illustrate this.

Sugar also symbolises the government's failures to lead in citizen education and empowerment by perpetuating the subsidy mentality to ensure re-election, and in sugar-coating some hard facts about political risks to our collective health. One example is the continual stoking by some leaders of a false sense of racial superiority.

Vegetarian? Vegan? Is it organic?
(© Morgan Noguellou / sxc.hu)

Kicking the habit

I like looking at other people's shopping carts while standing in the hypermarket queue. You can guess a person's lifestyle based on his or her groceries.

If a cart contains skimmed milk, lean meat or an expensive fish like salmon, and a vegetable combo like zucchini, broccoli, peppers or asparagus, the shopper can likely afford the time and money for gym and outdoor hobbies. Is quite possibly single and can afford branded skin products.

Ikan kembung, cheap protein like taufoo and eggs, kang kung or choy sum, palm oil-based cooking oil (not sunflower or canola, not even olive), a bottle of Ribena or cordial, normally corresponds with a frazzled homemaker of a middle-income family. That's the lunch that will be cooked for the family's school-going children.

If tins of sweetened condensed creamer, sweet biscuits, junk food like little jellies or chocolate or strawberry-coated biscuit sticks are added to the above, I will expect the children to have weight issues. Evidence shortly comes in a troupe of rotund children who run up to their parents with more junk food or Vitagen in hand.

Now, don't think I'm a snob, but I think most families like these are from the lower-income group. The presence of cheap, sugary, calorie-laden snacks in the shopping cart is the basis for my assumption. It is usually the wealthier who have the knowledge and the disposable income to make healthier food choices.

Sweet calories (© Michael Lorenzo / sxc.hu)

But over-consumption of sugar because it's cheap has become a burden on the public healthcare system. An increasing number of Malaysians suffer from diabetes. In fact, diabetes is considered a greater potential threat than swine flu or HIV/AIDS, and Malaysia is regarded as being among the countries in the region that could lead Southeast Asia into a diabetes epidemic. Clearly, it's not just a disease of the poor. But the wealthy have the power of choice.

But making the right choices is also predicated on first of all having options, and then having the ability to choose a healthier option over others. That's no different from political choices.

If the electorate is only being offered super-sweet deals in the short term which are detrimental to the long-term health of democratic citizenship, we could end up with political diabetes. And as a society, which part of our body politic would we need to amputate in the future, once the damage is done, in order to ensure our survival?

But before citizens can make informed choices about the country's political health, what are we doing to ensure that they have more than one option? And what are we doing to ensure that they are empowered to make the healthier choice?

For 2010, let's resolve to live healthier. Physically and politically. Start with kicking the sugar habit. Sweet as it is, too much of it can kill.

-taken from www.thenutgraph.com-

Why Malay husbands are called ‘Abang’

2009-12-10T20:40:00.002+08:00

When I want to know what current Malaysia thinks I would go to the “kopitiam” at lowyat.net. It’s young, energetic, nerdy and generally racist. Under the mask of anonymity and pseudonyms people are more comfortable speaking out their mind. But all in all it is quite funny, amusing and raw, and like most things “Internet”, it’s quite harmless. Pretty much like Malaysians in general; we talk a lot of hot air at the mamak stall but in the end, just like the proverbial saying, they “talk cock only”.

Regardless of which political spectrum you may be in, BN, PR or the guy who complains a lot but doesn’t vote, we can all agree that we Malaysians should be more united. Being the BN/Umno fan boy that I am of course it would be obligatory for me to say that it is in everyone’s best interest for the 1 Malaysia concept to become a reality. Okay, so some of you almost puked on the keyboard, fine! Be it 1 Malaysia, Malaysia Malaysian, Harapan Baru untuk Rakyat, Merakyatkan Ekonomi, Negara Islam, Something-Something Rakyat, Wawasan 2020 or whatever that tickles your fancy, today let's focus on what we have in common rather on what we disagree on.

To help break down this barrier, I am going to start with something rather simple yet fundamental which is let's start with getting to know each other a little better, just that.

Someone in Lowyat started this thread called "Why do Malays call their husbands Abang?" He was just wondering why Malay women called their sweethearts "big brother". It sounded weird to him and quite incestous in a way.

Definition

"Abang" means older brother in Malay. It is often used in Malay families when one addresses their older male siblings. Malay families (mostly) find it rather disrespectful to address their older sibling by their first name alone. So as a sign of respect the word “abang” is usually placed before the person's name or nickname e.g. "Abang Zali” or “Abang Long"; for older female siblings the word "kakak" is used. Abang is also used in daily conversation, be it with strangers or acquaintances. People prefer to use the word abang to refer to their slightly older male counterparts or seniors as a sign of respect, a culture that one naturally carries from the family to office, university or school.

From asking for directions of a stranger to ordering drinks, abang is often used. This is because people like to introduce a feeling of respect, cordial and pleasantness into the conversation; it’s like every conversation is with a family member. Indeed this is something truly Malaysian that breaks through the racial boundary. There’s the saying that everyone in Malaysia is someone related to you, they're either an abang, kakak, uncle, auntie, macha or boss.

This is perhaps the first step into understanding why Malay women call their sweethearts “abang”. It's because it is a nickname that has a feeling of respect, adoration, closeness and, most importantly, love. She calls him “Abang” and he calls her “Sayang”. See it even rhymes nicely.

Psychology 101

When you watch “Young and Dangerous”, a Cantonese gangster movie starring Ekin Cheng, you notice that the gang bosses are called “Tai Lo” or big brother in Cantonese. Their Tai Lo, apart from being their boss, is at the same time their guide, protector and also someone the rest of the gang members look up to. Chan Ho Nam is the Tai Lo in “Hung-Hing”, meaning whenever there is trouble and people want to settle things they would call him to have a “slow talk”.

Now the same reasoning can be applied in the abang factor. It’s not saying that Malay families are run like gangsters, it’s just that women (no matter how modern) would always want their man to be their protector, the one who they can count on when there’s trouble. It’s like when girls are being bullied by the naughty neighbourhood kid, their big brothers would come and beat him up. So now their sweethearts will take the role of their older siblings. He’d come and beat up the jerk and whom she can depend on when things get rough. This is why he is called “abang” — he’s the new big brother, the new Tai Lo or in a more romantic sense, her knight in shining armour.

Pronunciation

When a cute female anime character calls a male character “Oni Chan” in an annoyingly cute high-pitched voice, their male fans would get all giddy and excite. When it comes to “abang” in Malay it’s all about how you pronounce it. There a difference between an “abang” the big brother, “abang teh o ais satu” and “abang sayang”.

When it comes to ordering “teh o ais” it’s fairly easy to do as no one says “abang teh o ais satu”. Since this is a rather mundane and short social interaction, usually people would use the more casual form which is “bang”. The same rule can be applied to other forms of “abang” usage in daily conversation.

But it gets tricky when it comes to husbands/boyfriends and the pronunciation depends on the situation. Remember this maxim it’s not what you say but how you say it. Generally there are three ways of saying “abang” to your loved ones

Abaang — The “A” slightly longer then the sibling “abang” and generally used in daily conversation. People can tell that you mean your husband by just listening to the way you pronounce it e.g. “Abaang, jom makan kat luar hari ni.” Or “Abaang jangan lupa beli beras.”

Abang! — The way you pronounce, it is “A”, slight pause, “Bang” and to be used when one is angry or annoyed e.g. “Abang! Siapa perempuan ni? Cakap!”

Abaaaaanngg — To be pronounced with a very long “A” and a fading effect on the “NG” sort of like purring. This is what one call as the “manja” (affectionate) “abang”. To be used during intimate moments or asking for a favour. Generally straight Malay men will melt when hearing this form of “abang” and this works all the time. Culturally this form is usually used on Friday nights, Islamic calendar of course.

Then there’s the naughty “abang” but since I have a word limit here so we’re going to skip that one. In case you’re wondering how to pronounce it, let’s just say it’s about the same as when one says “Papa Jahat!”

So to ‘/k @ lowyat.net’ (and my fellow readers) I hope you are enlightened on why the word abang is used. I started off with the definition, to the reasons and finally on how to say it and by now you should be a fine “abang” connoisseur.

Like I said before I’m not much of a social activist or an academician, I’m not into long-winded articles in explaining the definition of being Malaysian. I prefer to go into the fundamentals, the basic, to me if we want to be more united we ought to be closer and to be closer we got to know each other better. I hope my explanation today, which comes from no reference whatsoever except from my personal view, makes you understand a little bit more about why some people in Malaysia do certain things they do. Feel free to email me if you have any little questions and let’s get to know each other better.

So folks keep your ears open and try to guess which “abang” that “tudung” girl in office means when she’s talking on the phone.

-taken from www.lipassepi.blogspot.com-

The voice of the Malay communists

2009-12-04T16:19:00.003+08:00

THE issue of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) is definitely one that is framed according to the racial lines that divide us as a nation. For example, the prevailing myth is that the CPM was an all-Chinese illegal organisation even though there is enough literature about the party's Malay members and leaders.

At the same time, there is also the perception of selective racial treatment . Former CPM members who are Malay enjoy the right to return to Malaysia, as guaranteed under the 1989 Haadyai Peace Agreements. But the same right is not extended to former CPM secretary-general Chin Peng.

Interestingly enough, despite the Malays being "favoured", not every Malay communist has chosen to return. Not only that, while they are made near invisible by official history and hence not vilified in the same way that Chin Peng is, these former CPM Malay members still have reason to be critical of the Malaysian government.

No conditions

Abdullah (right) receiving an old friend and comrade, Wang
Hai Zhi, at his hotel room in Haadyai during the interview

Former CPM chairperson Abdullah CD is one of them. At 86, he is likely the highest-ranking ex-CPM Malay cadre left alive. He was a signatory to the 1989 peace agreements. But he tells The Nut Graph that soon after signing the treaty, he was not convinced that the Malaysian authorities were sincere about letting senior leaders like him return.

Abdullah was given Thai citizenship and has been living in Kampung Chulaborn 12, Sukhirin, one of the four "peace villages" in southern Thailand where former CPM cadres have resettled after the 1989 peace treaty. He is allowed to enter Malaysia, and has visited Parit, his birthplace in Perak, and Kuala Lumpur.

Abdullah says the Malaysian officers tasked with facilitating the return of ex-guerrillas imposed conditions on their return home.

"Saya kata, kalau soal syarat ini, saya tak mahu lah. Ramai lagi yang balik. Saya tak bersetuju syarat," Abdullah says in an interview in Haadyai on 30 Nov 2009 where he was attending the peace accord's 20th anniversary commemoration.

"Apa syarat yang tak setuju?" The Nut Graph asks him.

"Syarat dia Akta Keselamatan. Saya tak mahu. Apa-apa syarat, saya tak mahu. Syarat-syarat tak ikut perjanjian. Kalau ikut perjanjian, takde soal syarat."

His answers seem to corroborate Chin Peng's own recollection of attempts to make the resettlement process difficult. In Chin Peng's memoirs, Alias Chin Peng: My Side of History, he wrote that the CPM suspended the returnee programme until then Special Branch chief, Tan Sri Norian Mai, agreed that asking the ex-guerrillas to sign confessions was unfair.

Additionally, under the peace treaty, the Malaysian government was not to apply the Internal Security Act, or the Akta Keselamatan Abdullah was referring to which allows for indefinite state detention without trial, against former CPM members for past activities.

Malay, Muslim, and communist

Book cover of The Memoirs of
Shamsiah Fakeh: From AWAS to
10th Regiment

History about Abdullah's left-winged beginnings with many prominent Malay leaders before he joined CPM is well-documented in his memoirs which includes his experiences leading the CPM's 10th Regiment. The 10th regiment mainly comprised Malay-Muslim cadres. But even before the Emergency was announced in 1948, many Malays already supported the leftist struggle against the British and Japanese occupations.

"Banyak jugak orang Melayu dalam CPM. Dulu pun dah ramai dalam KMM," Abdullah says in the interview, referring to the Kesatuan Melayu Muda nationalist group.

Abdullah's wife, Suriani Abdullah was also a CPM central committee leader. Another prominent Malay woman leader was Shamsiah Fakeh, who earlier led the women's wing, Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya.

Other prominent Malay CPM leaders included Abu Samah Mohamad Kassim, another 10th Regiment leader and CPM central committee member, and Rashid Maidin. Rashid, also a central committee member, was on the negotiating team with Chin Peng at the 1955 Baling peace talks. He was also a signatory to the Haadyai peace accords along with Chin Peng and Abdullah.

Cover for The Finest Hour

Dr Collin Abraham, in his book The Finest Hour: The Malaysian-MCP Peace Accord in Perspective, cites these as examples of how the Chinese-dominated party did take pains to give Malay members important roles to deal with perceptions of racial discrimination in the CPM's rank-and-file.

Abraham also notes how the British used Islam as propaganda to prevent Malays from joining the CPM, when actually, the party viewed religion as a personal choice. When The Nut Graph asks Abdullah how he could be Muslim and a communist, he declares: "Pertama, saya orang Melayu. Bermula di KMM. Kemudian parti komunis. Takde soal, takde soal."

A "false independence"

A relatively unknown CPM story is that of Syed Hamid Ali, 66, the younger brother of Parti Keadilan Rakyat deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali. An active student leader at Universiti Malaya in the late 1960s, he became a guerrilla to avoid arrest.

"Because of my activities, my passport was confiscated while I was travelling. There was the threat of the Internal Security Act. I joined the CPM because I had nowhere else to turn to.

"I took up arms first, before officially joining CPM in 1976. I never wanted to be a communist. But there was nowhere else to go at the time," says Syed Hamid who resettled in Malaysia in 1991 and now lives in Batu Pahat. He, too, spoke to The Nut Graph in Haadyai.

Syed Hamid was in the 10th Regiment before being transferred to other units. He says even though Malaysia had already been independent for 19 years when he joined, the CPM considered it a "false independence".

Claude Fenner
(source: rmp.gov.my)Syed Hamid disagrees with the argument, still used against the CPM today, that they continued armed resistance against a sovereign state even after the British left.

"After Merdeka, we continued to rely on British defence and police. Our own police and army worked for and were paid by the British. We inherited their repressive laws like the ISA. The first Inspector-General of Police until 1966 was British, Claude Fenner. Umno continued the policies of the British. What sort of independence is that?"

Discontent

From the perspective of these former CPM members, denying Chin Peng's return is not the Malaysian government's only broken promise according to the 1989 peace treaty. Syed Hamid says the continuing demonisation of CPM by government officials and the media also contravenes the spirit of the peace accords where both Malaysia and CPM agreed not to vilify each other.

It was on this basis that Chin Peng sued the government for defamation in 2005 but lost.

Chin PengIn contrast, the Thai government not only ensured that the CPM's image was not tarnished, it also provided land and resources for former CPM members to resettle in southern Thailand.

With that as a comparison, and considering all that the Malaysian government has done and continues to do, it is clear that if we only understand the CPM issue along racial lines, we would be fooling ourselves. Not only were there Malay Muslim communists in the CPM, these former communists have as much to be discontented about with the Malaysian government as does Chin Peng.

-taken from www.thenutgraph.com-

Silence, please! Mind tuning in progress

2009-11-29T17:08:00.000+08:00

NOV 29 — The most surprising thing about the ongoing BTN (Biro Tata Negara, although it might be more apt to call it the Brain Tuning Network) furore is not so much what actually goes on behind closed doors but that it took so long to be exposed publicly.

All but an open secret for years gone by, its shroud is slowly but surely being stripped away to allow those not fortunate enough to have been invited to join to now take a peek at the festivities that go on under the guise of unity-building and fostering goodwill.

The things they teach, in the course of turning participants into productive and loving Malaysians, are issues some attendees have faithfully tried to carry to the masses. So even if you didn’t manage to get in, fret not. Think of it as a pyramid scheme, you’ll hear about it even if you have no desire to.

One thing on the agenda is that DAP is a communist party, though in recent times it has become more difficult to decipher whether this is meant to paint them in a bad light or otherwise. Especially when we’ve been so eager to curry favour with the communists that our prime minister has seen fit to retrace his father’s footsteps and go knocking on Beijing’s doors.

“Come, please come. Build us our bridges. Lend us your money. Buy up our companies. What? Communism? No, we have no problems with communists. We love communists, we even used to have some of our own! Not anymore so nowadays we have import them by the planeloads to pretty up our lounges. Yes, please come, we welcome you. Oh, er, how did that go again? Erm, yes, hu?n yíng, hu?n yíng.”

This is also difficult to reconcile with the idea that the Chinese in Malaysia are “pendatang” and should therefore be sent packing to China. But if they’re so eager to be rid of the Chinese, why do they spread their legs so far apart for the Mainland Chinese? It can’t be that we’re “too Chinese”, so are we not Chinese enough? Not communist enough? Will it help if we start paying for things in yuan?

It wouldn’t be so bad if the gist of the xenophobia was directed at foreign nations, maybe in the vein of Iranian “We must fight the Western devils” or Castro’s “Man your guns! The Yankees are coming to bomb us!” (Understandable, in all fairness, as the Yankees did bomb them before.)

But to turn citizen against fellow citizen? What earthly good can ever come of this? What true benefit can they hope to achieve by gumming up their own works, crippling their own economy? What damned fool truly believes this a good idea?

We are being aimed at each other’s throats so that we become blind to see our pockets picked.

More importantly, the BTN programme is but one grotesque manifestation of the ethnocentric government. It is there because there is an unspoken policy behind it, and all other forms of gradually cementing institutionalised racism.

To have bred a culture of intolerance and an environment of hate that drives the country’s talent into the eagerly-awaiting bosom of foreign nations, what right do they have to cry foul that the “disloyal and unpatriotic” do not return to aid the country’s progress? And what hypocrisy and pointlessness to later institute programmes to “lure” them back when they suddenly need them.

If they subscribe to the idea that the state is the father and the people, his children, then we have had decades of living with a drunken, abusive parent. One who disguises his iniquities and weaknesses as a blanket of love. He is cruel only to be kind, he tells his little ones. But the truth is, he is just cruel.

All this to what end? To reinforce their political base? To win and keep their positions of power? How politically and morally bankrupt must one be to willingly gamble the fate of the nation for a few more years in power? When unable to stay in office on the back of good governance, does none feel the shame of having to resort to such lows to claw on to a post they no longer — and perhaps never did — deserve? Have some pride, at least.

It is time politicians accepted that all Malaysians are Malaysians, be they brown, black, yellow, purple or green. All have and must play a role in salvaging a country that has been busy standing still while the world races on. We cannot choose the nation of our birth, but we have the choice of what we do for it still.

So they can make everyone start pulling in the same direction or they can continue to stoke the flames in the centre and have the country pull itself asunder.

Prosper together. Or beggar thy neighbour; and thyself along. Even then, it may already be too late.

-taken from www.themalaysianinsider.com-

Hasselblad 50 megapixel H3DII-50 MS

2009-11-21T01:41:00.003+08:00

Hasselblad today kept its H3DII camera line alive by adding a specialized model, the H3DII-50 Multi-Shot. It addresses image quality through an unusual approach that drops the need for the Bayer filtering common on virtually all cameras: it takes four shots, each offset by a pixel, and composites these into a single image. The result is a shot where every pixel has full color information and eliminates the visual artifacts that creep up on even better cameras, such as moiré from the interpolated color values.

The mode is intended for photos of still subjects, such as architecture or still lifes, where the subject and the lighting are unlikely to change. Single-shot mode is still available.

Hasselblad hasn't changed the core features of the camera, including its namesake 50-megapixel sensor. The camera normally retails for 22,995 euros ($34,169) in its native Germany but can drop to 16,000 euros ($23,775) by trading in a complete camera system from any company and 14,000 euros ($20,803) if owners trade in previous Hasselblad equipment.

-wish i had money!!!hahah..-

Old Lady in Court

2009-11-19T00:14:00.002+08:00

Defense Attorney:
Will you please state your age? Little Old Lady:

I am 94 years old. Defense Attorney:

Will you tell us, in your own words, what happened the night of April 1st? Little Old Lady:

There I was, sitting there in my swing on my front porch on a warm spring evening, when a young man comes creeping up on the porch and sat down beside me. Defense Attorney:

Did you know him? Little Old Lady:

No, but he sure was friendly. Defense Attorney:

What happened after he sat down? Little Old Lady:

He started to rub my thigh. Defense Attorney:

Did you stop him? Little Old Lady:

No, I didn't stop him. Defense Attorney:

Why not? Little Old Lady:

It felt good. Nobody had done that since my Albert died some 30 years ago. Defense Attorney:

What happened next? Little Old Lady:

He began to rub my breasts. Defense Attorney:

Did you stop him then? Little Old Lady:

No, I did not stop him. Defense Attorney:

Why not? Little Old Lady:

His rubbing made me feel all alive and excited. I haven't felt that good in years! Defense Attorney:

What happened next? Little Old Lady:

Well, by then, I was feeling so 'spicy' that I just laid down and told him
'Take me, young man. Take me now!' Defense Attorney:

Did he take you? Little Old Lady:

Hell, no! He just yelled, ' April Fool!' And that's when I shot him, the little bastard

Abdul Rahim Abu Bakar, the Hang Jebat of Pahang

2009-10-03T21:47:00.000+08:00

Ex-Pahang MB Abdul Rahim Abu Bakar dies

Former Pahang Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Rahim Abu Bakar died at his home in Jalan U-Thant here at 7.10pm yesterday, believed to be due to a heart attack. He was 66.

His second child, Rosnita, 35, said her father was waiting for the azan call to break the fast when her mother Datin Rosnah Kamaruddin found him unconscious.

She said they contacted paramedics from Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre, who pronounced him dead.

"Father did not show any signs prior to his death. As far as we know, he was not suffering from any illness... his death could be due to a heart attack," she said.

Rosnita said since all her brothers and sisters had returned home to celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri, they were at their father's side when he died.

He will be buried at the Taman Kosas Muslim Cemetery after Friday prayers today at the Kampung Pandan mosque, she said.

Meanwhile, Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Minister Datuk Noh Omar said Abdul Rahim's demise was a big loss to politics in the country, especially Umno.

"I had known him when he was actively involved in Umno. I have always admired his high values and struggles towards Umno because despite coming from a poor family, he achieved tremendous success," he said.

Abdul Rahim leaves a wife and four children — Roslina, 37, Rosnita, Mohd Rizal, 32, and Rosazreen, 25 and four grandchildren.

Abdul Rahim was born on Feb 7, 1943 in Beserah, Kuantan and started his political career as the state assemblyman for Beserah after winning the seat in the 1978 general election.

An economics graduate from Universiti Malaya, he was Pahang Menteri Besar from July 19, 1978 to Nov 7, 1981. — Reuters

*************************************************

That is what the mainstream media wrote. It is very short and, of course, just sticks to the ‘core issues’. But what the mainstream media failed to mention is that Rahim Bakar was somewhat of a loose canon who held the post of Menteri Besar of Pahang for slightly over three years.

Rahim Bakar was a most outspoken individual and the Pahang rakyat loved him. He would blast away, even in public, and there were no ‘sacred cows’ as far as he was concerned. In fact, whenever there were palace spies around, Rahim Bakar would purposely raise his voice so that they could hear what he says. Then he would sit back with an amused look on his face to see the spies scurry away to report to the Pahang Sultan what Rahim Bakar just said.

The best way and no other way to describe the relationship between the Menteri Besar and the Palace was that they were in a state of war. Rahim Bakar whacked the Sultan to kingdom come and he did not care a damn what the repercussions would be.

At that time, the Prime Minister was Tun Hussein Onn, a jewel and no-nonsense of a man. He was brought up in the British tradition and acquired his discipline in the British army. Hussein Onn would not tolerate any shit and in spite of his Johor Palace links he would keep the Royal Family on a tight leash and would offer them no slack.

It was always an unwritten rule that the nine Malaysian rulers would be allowed certain ‘excesses’. For states like Pahang, Kelantan, Terengganu, Perak, and so on, these excesses would include large tracts of timber concessions. States like Negeri Sembilan, which did not have too much timber land left, the ‘concessions’ would be in the form of pig farm licences. Why do you think they call that state Negeri Sembilan Darul Khinzir?

The Sultans would be given a certain timber ‘quota’ every year, which they are expected to use wisely. Most Sultans would have Chinese partners to work the timber concessions and for Pahang it was the infamous ‘Tengku’ Wong -- who was exposed and stripped naked by no less than the Gerakan President at that time, Lim Keng Yeak.

This was back in the 1980s. Lim went before TV, and with spit splashing on the TV cameras, he lamented about ‘Tengku’ Wong, who, Lim said, is the Pahang Sultan’s business partner. Lim said that ‘Tengku’ Wong and the Sultan have ripped off the state out of hundreds of millions worth of timber. What Lim did not know was that ‘Tengku’ Wong was not just the Sultan’s partner. He was also ex-Pahang Menteri Besar Khalil Yaacob’s partner. So there were actually three parties involved.

Datuk Fauzi Rahman, the one-time Member of Parliament for Kuantan, actually made a police report on this matter some years back but until today nothing has been done about it. Instead, Fauzi was kicked out, as is the fate of all whistleblowers in Malaysia who lodge police reports or sign Statutory Declarations not favourable to those who walk in the corridors of power.

The ‘Pahang Constitutional Crisis’, if I may be permitted to call it that, started when the Pahang Sultan used up his timber concession quota super-fast. Actually, the Sultan lost it all in the casinos where he spends most of his time.

In one casino in the UK, the Sultan lost so much money, millions of Ringgit, that he could not afford to pay off his debt. Sultan or no Sultan, the casino would not allow him to leave until he paid up.

The Sultan summoned the Malaysian High Commissioner to the UK and the hapless diplomat had no choice but to get out of bed and make his way to the casino. The Sultan then made the High Commissioner guarantee the debt on behalf of the Malaysian government. Only then did the casino allow the Sultan to leave.

When the Sultan returned to Malaysia he asked for more timber concessions. But His Highness had already used up his quota for the year. So Rahim Bakar brought the matter to the attention of the Prime Minister.

Hussein Onn was still boiling mad that the Malaysian government was forced to guarantee the Sultan’s gambling debts and he put his foot down and said no more timber concession for the Sultan.

Rahim Bakar, being the loose cannon who takes no shit from anyone kind of man, told the Sultan in a not so diplomatic way to bugger off. (I just love this Rahim Bakar and when I grow up I want to be just like him).

The Sultan was pissed and he wanted Rahim Bakar sacked and declared persona non grata. (Now you know why I just love the man -- we persona non gratas have to stick together).

Rahim Bakar was eventually forced to resign halfway through his term and they put an interim Menteri Besar, Rashid, to warm the seat while waiting for the next general election in a couple of month’s time.

The Sultan wanted Najib Tun Razak, an orang istana, who was then in the federal cabinet, to take over as Menteri Besar. In the 1982 general election Najib contested a state seat and went back to Pahang as the new Menteri Besar so that he can fulfil his main function of granting the Sultan all the timber concessions that His Highness wanted plus, as his secondary job, run the state administration.

Rahim Bakar was not the first Menteri Besar to fall because he refused to bow to the Sultan’s demand for timber concessions. Ghazali Jawi of Perak and Nik Hassan of Terengganu too were forced out when they refused to give their Sultans what they wanted.

Isa Samad, in a way, suffered the same fate, but he refused to grant the Negeri Sembilan ruler what His Highness wanted not based on principles but because Isa wanted it all for himself (hmm…let’s hope we meet him in this coming by-election in Bagan Pinang).

So there you have it. NST, Utusan, Bernama, Malay Mail, etc., would just report what Reuters reported above. Boring! Malaysia Today gives you the untold story. So let us honour the late Datuk Abdul Rahim Abu Bakar and one-time Pahang Menteri Besar for being the true patriot that he is. He opposed the Sultan and he paid the price. And this is what he must be remembered for, the Hang Jebat of Pahang, the Anak Pahang Tulin.

-taken from Malaysia Today-

Sultan of the people?

2009-09-26T02:23:00.001+08:00

1. I received a call last night from a retired Army General of the Royal Malay Regiment raising his concern after watching some shocking news coming from the Sultan of Pahang which was shown on TV. His phone call led me to browse through the online Mainstream Media (MSM) and the online alternative media. It was buzzed with the news of the Sultan of Pahang had called upon the people to continue to support the BN government while officiating the opening of a bridge in Pahang.

2. I was equally shocked to hear what was uttered by HRH Sultan. In my mind, HRH has overstepped his professional, Royal and legal boundaries. His act of crossing of these boundaries worries me as it might lead to bigger things in this country especially after the action of the Sultan of Perak and the King (Sultan of Terengganu) in handling the Perak and Terengganu constitutional crisis respectively.

3. The law is very clear on the role of a Sultan. His role includes the appointment of MB’s as well as the religious head in a state. He is to remain neutral for the sake of the Rakyat. They use to be completely immune from prosecution until Tun Mahathir changes the laws. He has to be non partisan and must take an effort to ensure that he remains neutral in all aspects of governance. When the HRH make such statement of supporting a particular political party, it creates ill feeling among the Rakyat.

4. It really worries me when the HRH makes such a remarks especially in the current moment, the support for the need of having a Royal Family is waning significantly among the urban/semi-urban, young and middle age Malays in this country. The statement by the Sultan of Pahang may create further dissension among the people. It bothers me that the Malays that have been tolerating the many royal family and their antics in this country may just lose their tolerance. By being biased, HRH has opened a canned of worms wider.

5. Personally, I felt HRH should not have made such a statement. He has brought himself down to the level of a commoner and their politics. If by the will of the Almighty, PR is able to capture Pahang in the next GE, how would the Sultan reacts? Does it mean that he will not appoint the leader chosen by the Rakyat to govern them? Will he make life so difficult for the government of the day to function which will lead to problems of magnanimous proportion?

6. Over the years, more people in the streets begin to question the rights and the need to have so many royalties for a small country like Malaysia. The people who have high regards for the Royalty are getting lesser by the day. Their popularity dwindle when people gets to know how much it cost the state to maintain a royal family when hundreds of thousands are living in poverty. The Pahang and Johor Royalty are usually in the limelight for the wrong reasons. The Johor Royal family is always associated with thuggish behavior.

7. The most recent issue involve a bar fight between the Negeri Sembilan and Johor Royal Family. Apparently the Johor Royal Family had used gun and JMF body guards to assault the Negeri Royal Family. This does not augur well for the Royals.

8. Rumors over the years are rampant with stories of how the Pahang Sultan personal debt was settled by the Pahang State Government. There have been far too many stories over the years. Even the Perak Royalty which used to be well regarded by the people had their imaged tainted with the political crisis in Perak.

9. To remain important and useful, the Royal family must show that they have a greater foresight then politicians. They must thread the world of politics carefully in the best interest of the Rakyat. After all they have enough money to last 7 life time. Facts remains that only a small group of non-Malays really cares deeply about the need to have a Royal family. With the ways things are going, the Malays today are divided on the need to have so many Royals in Malaysia which means that the Royal Families has very little support of the people. If they think that the Royal Malay Regiment will defend them, I suggest they do a hard re-thinking.

10. If a member of a Royal family chose to bring their level down to the level of a commoner by their physical and verbal act, I suspect that they would lose the support of the majority of the Malays which may have an impact on the constitutional Monarchy system in the long run. In Kelantan, the hard line Malay Muslims are questioning whether having a Royalty is against the practice of Islam. Some even questions whether the people are respecting the Sultan more than the Prophet in their daily rituals when facing the Sultan.

11. I believe the best thing for a Royalty to do is that if he or she wants to be in politics, they should they should denounce their right to the throne and do not hide behind the royal veil where they cannot be criticized. It really saddened me with the act of the Pahang Sultan. He always said that he is open for criticism in his dealing with football in Malaysia. Respectfully Tuanku, you have failed the nation when it comes to football. I think you should stay away from politics.-“Patek pohon derhaka”

-taken from http://rights2write.wordpress.com/

'Halal'

2009-09-03T03:17:00.001+08:00

A very silly slapstick comedy demonstrating the proper Islamic way to slaughter chicken.

feel free to comment ya!!!

Ramadan- A blessed month for muslim

2009-09-02T03:12:00.003+08:00

"O who believe, fasting is decreed for you as it was decreed for those before you; perchance you will guard yourselves".

The month of Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was sent down, a guidance for the people, and clear verses of guidance and criterion. [Quran: Chapter 2, 183]

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It is appropriate that every Muslim should receive the blessed month of Ramadan with repentance, sincerity, resoluteness and earnestness. He/she should make the intention to perform extra acts of devotion and worship therein, including the Night Prayer (qiyam), recitation of Qur'an, and abundant charity to the poor and needy.

On the authority of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him): The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), used to say the following when the month of Rajab began. "Oh Allah! Bless us in Rajab and Sha`ban, and bring us, oh Allah, to Ramadan." [Narrated by Tabarani and Ahmad]

The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) addressed his companions on the last day of Sha`ban, saying, "Oh people! A great month has come over you; a blessed month; a month in which is a night better than a thousand months; month in which Allah has made it compulsory upon you to fast by day, and voluntary to pray by night. Whoever draws nearer (to Allah) by performing any of the (optional) good deeds in (this month) shall receive the same reward as performing an obligatory deed at any other time, and whoever discharges an obligatory deed in (this month) shall receive the reward of performing seventy obligations at any other time. It is the month of patience, and the reward of patience is Heaven. It is the month of charity, and a month in which a believer's sustenance is increased. Whoever gives food to a fasting person to break his fast, shall have his sins forgiven, and he will be saved from the Fire of Hell, and he shall have the same reward as the fasting person, without his reward being diminished at all." [Narrated by Ibn Khuzaymah]

In another hadith, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) says, "Ramadan has come to you. (It is) a month of blessing, in which Allah covers you with blessing, for He sends down Mercy, decreases sins and answers prayers. In it, Allah looks at your competition (in good deeds), and boasts about you to His angels. So show Allah goodness from yourselves, for the unfortunate one is he who is deprived in (this month) of the mercy of Allah, the Mighty, the Exalted." [Narrated by Tabarani]

The preceding hadiths bring attention to readiness and preparation for receiving Ramadan. This is achieved by having a clear understanding of this month in one's mind, and greeting Ramadan with love and yearning. Also, one should have the determination and intention to perform good deeds and worship, and one should lay down a program to accomplish this in the days of the blessed month.

It is communally obligatory upon the Muslims to seek the crescent at the time of sunset on the 29th day of Sha`ban, and the 29th day of Ramadan, in order to verify the status of the start and end of their fasting. When seeing the crescent, it is sunnah for the Muslim to supplicate with the following supplication, which has been reported from the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).

On the authority of Talhah ibn `Ubaydullah (may Allah be pleased with him): when the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) saw the crescent, he used to say, "Oh Allah! Cause it to appear over us with prosperity, faith (Iman), security and Islam. (Then to the moon:) My Lord and your Lord is Allah." [Narrated by Tirmidhi, who said it is a good (hasan) hadith.]

Qatadah said that he was informed that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to say, when seeing the crescent, "A crescent of goodness and orientation, a crescent of goodness and orientation, a crescent of goodness and orientation. (To the moon:) I believe in Allah who created you." (Three times), and then he would say, "Praise be to Allah who has taken away such- and-such month and brought such-and-such month." [Narrated by Abu Dawud]

The month of Ramadan has excellences over the other months, as is testified to by the Qur'an and Sunnah, and out of these we will bring to attention the following virtues:

1. It is the month of the Qur'an, with regards to revelation and study. ("The month of Ramadan is that in which was revealed the Qur'an." [Qur'an, 2:185]). On the authority of Ibn `Abbas: Angel Gabriel used to meet the Prophet every night in Ramadan and used to study Qur'an with him.

2. It is the month of seclusion. Ibn `Umar said, "The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to seclude himself for the last ten days of the month of Ramadan."

3. It is the month of generosity. Ibn `Abbas said, "The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to be at his most generous in Ramadan."

4. It is the month of standing (in voluntary night prayer). On the authority of Abu Hurayrah: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, "Whoever stands (in voluntary night prayer) during Ramadan, with faith and in expectancy of reward, his previous sins are forgiven him."

5. It is the month of the compulsory fast, because of Allah's saying, "So, whoever among you witnesses the month should fast." [Qur'an, 2:185] A terrible error prevalent among people is to talk about Ramadan just as they talk about the obligation of fasting, as if Ramadan and fasting are synonymous, each carrying the meaning of the other and not anything more nor less. Yet, fasting is one of many acts of worship in Ramadan.

Many reports have been narrated from the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) explaining the distinction of Ramadan, of which we have selected the following.

"The month of Ramadan has come to you; a month of goodness and blessing." [Ibn Khuzaymah]

"The Master of the Months is Ramadan, and the Master of the days is Friday." [Ibn Khuzaymah]

"Whoever fasted Ramadan with faith and in expectancy of reward, his previous sins are forgiven him." [Bukhari and Muslim]

"When Ramadan comes, the gates of Heaven are opened, the gates of Hell are closed, and the devils are chained." And in a narration from Nasa'i, the following words are added: "and a caller calls out every night: 'Oh seeker of Good, draw near! Oh seeker of Evil, desist!' "

Malaysian ptotesters clash with riot police

2009-08-02T13:05:00.007+08:00

YB Dr. Hatta Ramli of Parliament Kuala Krai is being saved by YB Dr. Dzulkefly Ahmad from Parliament Kuala Selangor and others demonstrators after the MP being beaten by Undercover and uniform Police Personnel during yesterday Anti ISA Rally. Photo by Jack Oii Courtesy of Malaysian Insider

Malaysian riot police fired tear gas and water cannons Saturday in clashes with several thousand anti-government demonstrators who gathered to protest a long-standing law allowing detention without trial, raising the stakes in a long-running struggle for political power in the country.

The law – known as the Internal Security Act – enables Malaysian authorities to detain indefinitely persons they consider to be security risks. In the past, al-Qaeda linked terrorists have been held under the provision. But opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and human rights activists say the law is also used to stifle dissent in Malaysia, where the National Front coalition has ruled the country without interruption since independence from Britain in 1957.

Last year, the law was used to detain a blogger, a journalist and members of a Hindu rights activist group.

As many as 10,000 protesters converged in the center of Malaysia's main city just after 2 pm on Saturday, and prepared to march toward the national palace where they intended to hand in a petition to the country's constitutional monarch to appeal the security law. Chants of "Reformasi" -- the Malaysian term for political reform -- echoed around the narrow streets in downtown Kuala Lumpur as police fired tear gas and chemical-laced water to break up the protesters

Police used batons to charge into groups of demonstrators, scuffling with many of them. Some protesters took refuge in a nearby department store to evade arrest, while other businesses pulled down their shutters as concerns about violence grew.

Witnesses saw police dragging detainees into waiting vans, sometimes kicking and screaming. Inspector General of Police Musa Haji Hassan said in a statement that police arrested 310 protesters because the rally hadn't been granted a permit. "Because of their defiance, police were left not no choice but to disperse them by spraying tear gas and throwing water at the demonstrators," Mr. Musa said.

"The police are really brutal," Mr. Anwar, the opposition leader, told reporters attending the protest, stressing that the crackdown underscored the government's unwillingness to tolerate any dissent. Prime Minister Najib Razak, meanwhile, said the protesters had been warned not to rally, local media reported, and said he had received many complaints about traffic disruptions in the area. He said he would leave it to the police to determine what to do with the people detained during the protest.

James Chin, a political science professor at the Malaysian campus of Australia's Monash University, said the protest was intended to "send a strong signal to the rest of the world that nothing has changed in Malaysia" in years.

Indeed, the political tension pervading the country seems in many ways to be a retread of what happened a decade ago, when Mr. Anwar, then a deputy prime minister, was fired from the government for questioning its economic policies and then convicted for allegedly sodomizing two male aides – a crime in this mostly Muslim country. Last year, with the opposition making its largest ever election gains, Mr. Anwar was again charged with sodomizing a man who once worked in his office.

Mr. Anwar says he is innocent in both cases, saying the charges were fabricated to destroy his political career. Mr. Anwar's earlier conviction was quashed after a successful appeal in 2004, enabling the 62-year-old grandfather to return to politics. Initial trial proceedings in the latest case began in July and are likely to drag on for several months.

Mr. Najib, the prime minister, has promised to consider amending the Internal Security Act, and one of his first acts on becoming prime minister in April was to release a dozen detainees who were being held under the law. He has also denied playing any role in instigating the legal case against Mr. Anwar.

Other government officials and political activists have said the internal security law is needed to combat terrorism and maintain social order in this racially-diverse nation of 27 million people, which is home to large ethnic-Chinese and Indian minorities as well as the majority Muslim Malay population.

-The Wall Street Journal-
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congrats to my frens muzikri@kay el for participating the rally yesterday. u got a braveheart man!. i really hope the gov will amends the act soon. i said really hope.

lets say one day u got ur brother arrested under this act for he was suspected being a terrorist. then u said to the police,"u cant keep detaining my brother sir,u dont have evidences to prove him guilty".then the officer said,"yes, maybe we dont have the evidences, but we 'believe' he was guilty. and by that time ur brother was detained for 6 years in jail, for the term "we believe he was guilty". ur mother suffered her son loss and ur brother's wives and kids maybe loss their income n home.where is the human rights after all?? if u really think of it u may not say this to me," bodo lah protesters ni wat rusuhan ari2 cuti cmni,nk kuar pun susah".

dont think of only urself frens!!!

Al Fatihah- Yasmin passed away

2009-07-26T15:35:00.003+08:00

Today is a sad day especially for Malaysian movie goers who celebrate human and cultural diversity that is manifested in the movies made by internationally acclaimed film director Yasmin Ahmad. She passed away last night.

Yasmin’s films are politically and intellectually significant particularly in a society where ethnic and religious differences are often capitalised by certain quarters for short-term political gains to the detriment of social harmony.

I extend my heartfelt condolences to her husband and family.

Al-Fatihah.

I.S.A. -- The Institutionalization of Senility and Amnesia?

2009-07-23T15:51:00.002+08:00

Melayu mudah lupa (Malays are prone to forgetfulness)
-- a popular modern Malay saying

"Work with me… not for me." - Former Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who ruled for 22 years, once spoke about the nine challenges called ‘The Way Forward-Vision’, said to be a culmination of his work throughout his tenure.

The document charted the challenges the nation must confront in order for it to develop on par with the advanced nations.

These challenges are summarised as follows:

1. Establishing a united Malaysian nation with a sense of common and shared destiny

2. Creating a psychologically liberated, secure, and developed Malaysian society with faith and confidence in itself, justifiably proud of what it is, of what it has accomplished, robust enough to face all manner of adversity

3. Fostering and developing a mature democratic society, practising a form of mature consensual, community-oriented Malaysian democracy that can be a model for many developing countries

4. Establishing a fully moral and ethical society whose citizens are strong in religious and spiritual values and with the highest ethical standards

5. Establishing a mature, liberal and tolerant society in which Malaysians of all colours and creed are free to practise and profess their customs, cultures and religious beliefs and yet feeling that they belong to one nation

6. Establishing a scientific and progressive society, a society that is innovative and forward-looking, one that is not only a consumer of technology but also a contributor to the scientific and technological civilisation of the future

7. Establishing a fully caring society and caring culture, a social system in which society will come before the self, in which welfare of the people will revolve not around the state or the individual but around a strong and resilient family system

8. Ensuring an economically just society… in which there is a fair and equitable distribution of the wealth of the nation, in which there is full partnership in economic progress

9. Establishing a prosperous society with an economy that is fully competitive, dynamic, robust and resilient

With the Internal Security Act (ISA), how do we then meet these challenges? How is it an antithesis to what a civil society means? Do we still deserve the ISA?

Snapshot of protests

We are on the threshold of 2009. We have created a larger middle class, educated and imbued not only the taste of progressive Western secularist ideals synthesised with deep cultural and/or religious values still preserved, but also a better understanding of the principles of human rights. We know that Malaysia ratified the 1946 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We know that these involve the rights to the freedom of speech and assembly.

Our nation no longer deserves the ISA or any other intolerable Acts that kill the creativity and imagination of its nation. The ISA is an ideological state apparatus must go if we are to move forward as a nation that is known for it wisdom, intelligence, tolerance, and commitment to social justice - one that takes care of the needs of the poor of all races, without fear or favour.

The ISA which provides for detention without trial for up to two years at a time is anathema to the idea of a civil society. If we charge the detainees in court, we could learn a lot more about the meaning of ‘national security’. It is not merely about maintaining public order but about trying to understand why citizens are publicly acting in manner deemed ‘disorderly’. The history of the use of the ISA is tied to the history of the ruling class and how those who own the means of production own the means of silencing progressive voices of change.

Let us look at some snapshots of the protest movements in our history:

Why did Raja Haji the legendary Bugis warrior mount a revolt against the Dutch, ending in his martyrdom atop a hill in Malacca? Why did Mat Kilau, the legendary warrior from Pekan Pahang act up against the British ending in his mysterious self-imposed exile and death by natural cause at the age of 122? Why did the Malay Nationalist Party, a continuation of Kesatuan Rakyat Indonesia Semenajung and an early radical Malay party in the late 1940s act up, only to be met with witch-hunts by the returning British?

Why did those fighting for Independence in the 1950s under the banner of Saberkas act up against the dying colonial British Empire, paving the way for the creation of what is now knows as United Malay National Organisation? Why did those truly multiracial group of social activists act up by organising the hartal against the British in the early 1960s only to be met with heavy- handed reaction? Why did those calling themselves the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army revolt against the powers-that-be, end their persecution by the British that returned to power when the Allied Powers crushed the Axis Powers?

Why did the Malaysian intellectuals and social activists speak out over almost 20 years of the Kondrietiff cycle, beginning from May 13, 1969 to October 1989, to this moment in time to be met with the American McCarthy Era-type of response form the present government?

The answer lies in economics. Human existence, motivation, the rise and fall of nations has been attributed to economics. One's existence is defined by the material condition one is in or born into.

Question of power

Deeper than simple economics lies the question of power and the powerless, and the politics of under- representation. The Americans revolted against the British in the late 1770s under the banner ‘no taxation without representation’, symbolically registering their protest with the Boston Tea Party.

Essentially they revolted against intolerable laws set forth by the British - the 1765 Quartering Act and Stamp Act of 1765, Townshend Act 1967 and Coercive Acts 1774.

In our case, the answer lies in the ideology of Malaysia-style Oriental Despotism. The complex, dynamic, systematic, contradictory, sustaining, and consensual politics of the political-economy of a dependent communal-based capitalist state has made it possible for the use of the ISA to be rationalised and legitimised by arguments that touch merely on the symptoms of the breakdown of public order, rather that the root cause of the order in which the public need to be organised.

Had there been a sound developmentalist agenda from the onset of Independence - an agenda that retards the evolution of a corrupt corporate capitalist pluralist neo-feudalistic neo-colonialist capitalist state - we would have avoided or abandoned the use of the ISA and seen the evolution of a truly civil society that practises politics of inclusion.

To put it in simple words: we have made the wrong historical turn. We have to come back to where we began - back to the drawing board. This is the challenge - how do we undo hyper-modernisation and the politics of mistrust?

We are actually doomed as a nation. We need to get out of this quagmire if we are to save ourselves from total destruction in an age wherein the centre cannot hold, as the poet WB Yeats wrote.

How are we doomed? Why have we come to a point in which the ultimate keris - the ISA - is used to silence the voices asking the government to look into the plight of the oppressed and the desolate? Why is the voice of reason cast aside and force used instead? What might the consequence of this in an age of globalised, high speed, split-second information flow, consumption, and instantaneous revolution?

How do we evolve - or rise form the ashes of destruction brought about by internal contradictions that we have failed to resolve?

This nation needs to conduct soul-searching. Urgently.

And the ISA is an anti-Islamic act, nor is it sanctioned by any religion. Let us be clear on this notion of peace and justice. There are no communists amongst us; only neo-colonialists holding on to their ideological state apparatuses. A just government will need no I.S.A.

credit to:
-http://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com/-

Government scraps teaching of maths and science in English

2009-07-09T02:49:00.003+08:00

PUTRAJAYA, July 8 — The government today decided to end the policy of teaching mathematics and science in English or PPSMI in both primary and secondary schools effective from 2012.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, in an announcement today, said the two subjects will be taught in Bahasa Melayu in national schools and Tamil and Chinese for vernacular schools.

The Education Minister added that the changes would not affect Form Six and matriculation programmes.

"The government made the decision after studying closely research on PPSMI that shows that PPSMI could not be implemented as expected," Muhyiddin told a special press conference here.

He said the decision was fair and made carefully after witnessing the implementation in the first six years after its introduction.

He also denied that the decision to scrap the policy was politically motivated.

"This decision is not political, we made the decision not for political mileage. What is Manek Urai compared to the future of our children," said Muhyiddin.

He however denied that the PPSMI policy had failed.

"I wouldn't say it was a complete failure, but it did not achieve what it was supposed to achieve," he said.

Introduced in 2003, the policy has been heavily criticised by Chinese educationists and Malay-language activists, but a recent survey by the independent Merdeka Center showed that 58 per cent of 1,060 voters interviewed supported the policy.

Muhyiddin had admitted in Parliament last month that students had not shown significant improvement in the two subjects over the past six years.

But he said today the intention of the policy, which is to improve English language proficiency among Malaysian students, will continue to be upheld.

The measures to be introduced include recruiting some 14,000 new English language teachers. Currently there are more than 30,000 English teachers nationwide.

Muhyiddin also said the lesson duration for English language would also be doubled for lower primary students to 120 minutes a week, while for upper primary it would be increased from 90 minutes to 120 minutes a week.

For secondary students, the duration will be increased from 200 minutes to 280 minutes a week.
-Malaysian Insider-
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There are lots of controversies and debates pertaining to the teaching of Maths and Science in English. There are a few facts, accompanied with hundreds of opinions.

FACTS
1. Most people are agreeable that English is a very important international language.
2. Most people know that English is the lingua franca of Maths and Science.
3. Most of us accept that English is the language most frequently used in Business and Commerce.
4. It is much easier to find employment if you are proficient in English.
5. Most websites in the internet are in English.
6. The Japanese and Chinese do not learn their science and maths in English and are still progressive.

DEBATABLE
1. English Teaching of Maths and Science (ETeMS) improves a student's proficiency in English.

Most advocates of ETeMS want to continue with the current system simply because they think that English is a very important language.

Generally, both proponents and opponents of our current programme believe in the importance of English and the standard of English should be improved. The difference is the methodology of improving the standard of English language.

Proponents believe that we can improve the standard of English through the continuation of ETeMS. Since science, maths and English are so important in this modern world, an early start is good for future generations.

Opponents believe that that the standard of English ought to be improved by allocating more time and resources to the teaching of the language per se. They perceive that English is best left to the English specialists, and science or maths teachers should be focusing or concepts and principles.

2. Teaching of Science and Maths in English hinders student's understanding of the concepts in Science and Maths.

Teaching and learning is about communication. Currently, students and teachers alike are poor in the standard of English. Even if a teacher is very good in English, it is very difficult to impart knowledge and understanding when the students do no understand the language. There are form 2 students who don't even understand the word "average" or the word "milk."

Even though I am educated in English right from standard one, I struggled to understand many science concepts taught in English during my time. This is because English is not my mother tongue and there were very little audio visuals aids then. I still remember trying to find the meaning of words like aperture, armature, induction, etc. Maths was much easier for me because more figures than words are used. Even today, most students are able to solve maths problems if given in figures. The students could only blink if the problems are presented in words.

3. Our national language is diluted because it is not used in Science and Maths.

Some conservatives feel that Bahasa as our national language is downgraded in importance. This worry is unfounded because other subjects are still taught in B.M. Besides, all government correspondences are still in B.M.

4. Rural kids are badly affected by the teaching of science and maths in English.

Rural kids probably have the lowest level of command in English. Their parents who mostly do not have any formal education will be unable to assist their children in subjects like science and maths. Teaching Maths and Science in English will further discourage these kids from learning. It may be true. There are students who give up simply because they do not understand what the teachers are talking about. Most schools have very little remedial programmes.

Students who have higher cognitive skills do not have any diificulties in different settings, be it taught in English, BM or Chinese. Some of our Malaysian students are copy well in French universities, though most of the subjects were taught in BM when they sat for SPM in Malaysia.

5. Countries like Japan, France and German are not using English as a medium for teaching in school but still they are forerunners in science and technology.

Japan, France and German by comparisons are the pioneers in technology. We are consumers. They had discovered science and technology for centuries even before the time of technology revolution. For example, Japan had discovered the field a long time ago, before WW starts. They went to the West to learn then going back to their country, doing translation and making their own research.

Note that they have been doing the translations even before the technology revolution has not started yet. The research they had been doing goes well with the development of technology.

Where is Malaysia at that moment? We are not even exist in the world map yet..
But now??

Malaysia are now beyond the revolution time. In fact we are moving at faster pace than we expected. With the decision, we eventually resort to move backward when everyone else goes forward these days

And I’m also think the Americans can't forget our batang gembira(joystick)and our cucuk dan main (plug and play) items...I think they already have their dildos after all...Hmm...very good huh!...

Btw, why is a little strawberry worried? Because his parents was in jam..strawberry jam..;D

Exclusive Interview With UMNO Youth Chief: It Is The Malay Leadership

2009-07-06T22:32:00.002+08:00

There is no such thing as Malay supremacy or Malay dominance in Malaysia, but Malay leadership is an indisputable fact, said UMNO Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin.

He said that whether it is Barisan Nasional (BN) or Pakatan Rakyat, Malay leadership is the reality and even if Pakatan Rakyat was the ruling party, the prime minister would still be a Malay.

He pointed out that the so-called Malay supremacy or Malay dominance was an outdated ideology, as well as a phenomenon that does not exist.

He stressed that Malaysia ruled by BN is not dominated by Malays. Instead, it is “led by Malay under the true spirit of partnership”.

During an exclusive interview with Sin Chew Daily, Khairy commented on the argument that non-Malay’s dissatisfaction over the Malay dominance concept suggested by Malays was one of the factor that made BN lost support of the people.

“I don’t think the so-called Malay supremacy or Malay dominance can still exist in today’s Malaysian society; however, if you are referring to Malay leadership, it is an undisputable fact.

“Even for Pakatan Rakyat, when they have to choose a Prime Minister, the candidate must be a Malay. In BN, UMNO is as well playing a leading role,” said Khairy.

Khairy did not deny that some Malays are still coming out with Malay dominance arguments. He believed that they must change their thoughts and ways of expression.

He pointed out that Malay dominance is not referring to the supremacy of Malays. In fact, it is referring to Malay rulers.

“We address Malay rulers as Tuanku because they are Raja Melayu of all. Malay dominance is referring to these Raja Melayu and it does not mean that all Malays are masters,” he said.

He believed that no one, including Chinese, will question the Malay sovereignty of the Malay rulers.

“We must stress that it is a Malay leadership under a faithful cooperation.

“Similarly, Pakatan Rakyat is led by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. He is the opposition leader and I believe that Pakatan Rakyat accept to have a Malay Prime Minister,” he said.
He stressed that the meaning of leadership is totally different with the meaning of dominance and supremacy.
-Malaysia Today

*now u see,even he realised the supremacy thing. Why dont u??

UITM,here I come!!

2009-07-04T04:13:00.002+08:00

Typical title when going back to your place,right? I’ll not discussing the title, promised.

I’ll get back tomorrow, by 11 hour long boring train ride. Lot of things pop-up in my head at dis moment.

I’ll not say that I’ll never play truant in this upcoming semester.

I’ll not say that I’ll get prepared early for each lectures.

I’ll not say that I’ll study early for every test n exam.

I’ll not say that I’ll remain concentrate in each classes.

I’ll not say that I’ll get up earlier in the monin.

I’ll not say that I’ll not be late to class.

Coz guys u know what? That is juz rhetoric!(i’m not intend to use ‘rhetoric’ at first)

I can aim and hope for everything, but that will only be true if enough effort is put on them(aims). Got tired of repeating almost the same aims since my shcool days(its not spelling error). But motivators around will said, ’never say never to aim’. Whatever.

I cant help myself but to feel pretty depressed by last semester's exam result. Being failed one of the papers really keep me oppressed all the days. I said that because I never taking for granted that subject,and yet failed. I admit, I really cant accept the result. The failure means I have to repeat the paper again in semester 4. It is not easy for me to add one more paper in my exam list, meaning loads more of works and headache. I’m just totally unexpecting it. Not that I’m being ungrateful. Don’t say that I forget the Quran verse “ Allah does not change a people’s lot unless they change what is in their hearts.ar-rad:11”. Is there any hopes for me at the end of the tunnel?. And now you said me being cliché, yes I am.

Anyway , I’ll move on with my life. Let bygones be bygones. I hope. Fullstopped.

Movie review- Land of The Lost

2009-07-02T20:48:00.005+08:00

The only marginally interesting, if unsurprising, thing about the pricey movie spinoff of the junky children’s television show “Land of the Lost” is that a lot of money has been spent on yet another cultural throwaway. (Never say that Hollywood doesn’t know how to recycle.) Although the original Sid and Marty Krofft series, which ran from 1974 to 1976, doubtless still has its fans, because, well, some people are happy to watch whatever pops up on their televisions, I suspect that a fair share also like to light up before tripping down that particular nostalgic byway.

Not that I didn’t sometimes laugh anyway. It’s hard not to laugh when Will Ferrell, who can be very funny when given something actually funny to do, takes off his shirt to brandish his flabby-pack, a ritual unveiling now apparently written into all his contracts. It’s a cheap gag, certainly cheaper than the digital dinosaurs that stomp through a few scenes. But it’s effective largely because Mr. Ferrell’s version of comedy’s familiar child-man always skews more creepy than sentimental. Unlike most comic actors, even the most assaultive, he never begs for our love. Instead he exploits our willingness to laugh at other people’s debasement. He makes you laugh, he makes you squirm.

In “Land of the Lost” he does both, if not nearly enough. Wearing his usual deadpan, he plays Dr. Rick Marshall, a “quantum paleontologist” whose crackpot theories lead him down a waterfall and into a twilight zone alongside a brainy British babe, Holly (pure icing), and a Southern-boy sidekick, Will where past, present and future come together in what looks like a giant flea market. Much like prospective shoppers, the characters roam about poking at this and that — in between cracking wise and sprinting from the regularly timed rampaging diversions.

Every so often the three visitors also cross paths with a few inhabitants of this thinly conceived fantasy, including a fuzzy critter, Chaka, and a legion of googly-eyed lizard men, the Sleestaks, which materialize in the jungle part of the set. That said, in between all the incidental nonsense they slip in an amusing interlude featuring a druggy substance and some male bonding that suggests that the best way to enjoy the desert is to bask in friendship under the light of multiple moons.

“Land of the Lost” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Mildly raunchy language and gnashing dinosaur teeth. But truly, its sucks!!

Wedding photographer??

2009-07-01T03:49:00.003+08:00

Last week while browsing through a mag, I found an article that was very interesting to read. The topic was ‘Freelancers; storm through economic hail’. One of the freelancers being interviewed was a wedding photographer, and he’s doin the job as a side income to give xtra money to his family. He doesn’t have any qualifications when he first start the job, but learn from his experience and self-study.

Wedding is a lucrative business. Usually a wedding photographer will charge at least RM 400 hundred just for their starting package. Yes, you will be under the sun or very hot all the time but its worth the time you spend for. Creativity is the other thing you need to be considered if you want to be a photographer. Dont just take the same pose. You need to have the passion, not juz thinkin about the money.

I start thinking; if he can,why cant I? Maybe photography can be a new hobby to me. But photography is not a cheap hobby you know. One set of DSLR kit for entry level photographer(for example Canon 400D) may cost you about rm2K-rm 3K. It will cost more if you want to add for example other lens or flash.

Then, I remembered once my father had a SLR camera that he no longer used(it was 94/95 model I guess). I went through the cabinet and look what I found!! I put the batteries on and its still functioning as usual!

My father asked me to bring the camera along to learn the function when I’m back to college,but I said “Malas nk cuci filem la ayah,klu DSLR xpa gak.” Haha..

To me, it is no point for you to own expensive DSLR or compact digital camera if you don’t even know what is ISO,shutter speed,aperture or any other common technical term used when describing a camera. Maybe in 1 or 2 years from now I will be a wedding photographer,who knows?? And yes, I have to start saving $$$ now!!

The fav win the day

2009-06-29T04:49:00.006+08:00

Luis Fabiano scored twice as Brazil came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 and retain the Confederations Cup

Clint Dempsey scored the opening goal in the final, but Brazil came from 2-0 down to win 3-2. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters

Historically, it has been a disaster. Brazil spanked Argentina in the Confederations Cup final of 2005, but were a lopsided shambles at the World Cup a year later; France won the Confederations Cup in Korea in 2001 and were a shower a year later; England won Le Tournoi in 1997 and would have won the World Cup but for David Beckham being sent off honest a year later; and West Germany won the US Cup in 1993, only to be humiliated by Bulgaria a year later.

As harbingers of imminent doom go, this is almost up there with winning the Manager of the Month award and being in a team managed by Phil Brown.

Not that this will trouble Brazil, who tonight aim to continue their often bumpy but increasingly smooth journey to next year's finals. They have progressed pretty nicely throughout this tournament, scoring 11 goals while winning all four of their games, and will expect to finish the job against the USA, who they thrashed 3-0 in the group stages of this tournament. The US have already ~~used up enough luck to last four lifetimes, the raggy gits~~ worked two miracles in this tournament; doughty and admirable as they are, it is hard to see lightning striking thrice.

Team news Brazil are unchanged, which means no place for Dani Alves, who came off the bench to score the last-minute winner against South Africa in the semi-final, while the US make one change: Benny Feilhaber replaces the suspended ~~Mark~~ Michael Bradley.

USA (4-4-2) Howard; Spector, DeMerit, Onyewu, Bocanegra; Dempsey, Clark, Feilhaber, Donovan; Davies, Altidore.
Subs: Guzan, Bornstein, Califf, Wynne, Pearce, Beasley, Kljestan, Adu,
Torres, Bradley, Casey, Robles.

Brazil (4-2-3-1. ) Julio Cesar; Maicon, Lucio, Luisao, Andre Santos; Gilberto Silva, Felipe Melo; Ramires, Kaka, Robinho; Luis Fabiano.
Subs: Victor, Juan, Kleber, Dani Alves, Miranda, Josue, Julio Baptista, Elano, Kleberson, Alexandre Pato, Nilmar, Gomes.

Referee Martin Hansson (Sweden)

A whistlestop tour through the ~~rich~~ history of Brazil v the US It's all about this, really, isn't it? Wonder if Kevin Keegan still thinks Leonardo was unlucky to get a red card. I'd say he was lucky not to get a red jumpsuit.

Ever wonder what might have been, where it all went wrong? Not so much in terms of, you know, your entire adult life, but specifically this tournament: Spain v Brazil would have been a classic.

"That's the Kleberson on the Brazil bench?" sniffs Gary Naylor. "It can't be, can it?" Yep, and that's Mirandinha and Roque Junior next to him. I actually think Kleberson gets a raw deal in terms of what achieved at Old Trafford. He was ultimately a flop, but for a period in the winter of 2003-04 he was playing quite splendidly on the right-hand side of midfield in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Circumstances conspired against him, but he did not hide and the quality of his technique was always apparent. Certainly he does not, in my opinion, deserve to be bracketed alongside some of the disastrous signings made by Sir Alex Ferguson in that peculiar summer of 2003, namely Eric Djemba-Djemba and David Bellion.

"Any chance of you doing some "live" chalkboards?" says Jim Harris. "That would be cool." ~~There is more chance of me zestily taking a rusty hacksaw to my babymaker than doing some live chalkbo~~I would absolutely love to do live chalkboards, Jim, but sadly we only have the facility for Premier League games.

Sunday-night football It's pretty great, isn't it? A nice novelty, like being allowed to stay up to watch The Bill when you were a kid. Who knew that June Ackland would have such an influence on pop music in 2009?

Interestingly(ish), the two team graphics on the TV both showed lopsided formations. I've never seen that on a TV graphic before, even though many formations have not been balanced down the years (Brazil 82 spring to mind). Maybe there is now a wider acceptance that a formation doesn't need to be balanced. Anyone who has lost years of their life to Championship Manager or Football Manager has always known this, of course.

1 min Brazil kick off from right to left. Let's do this.

2 min "Good to see that after four (five? six?) years of live blogging you've found the strike-through function," says James Andrews. "Can we expect new innovations such as linking and spell check in the years to come? Nirvana awaits."

3 min Clint Dempsey has a pop from 25 yards. Miles wide.

4 min "Aside from 1970 and 1982 (and I know that's excluding a lot), when was the last time Brazil played samba football?" wonders Gary Naylor. "Strikes me that most Brazilian teams play Christopher Samba football - functional, but not as glamorous as the shirts and the iconography would have you believe." I'd include 1986 in that, and maybe 2002. I wonder whether, as with the less brilliant Coen Brothers films, we are only judging Brazil by their stratospheric standards. Even allowing for the fact that it was a desperately poor tournament, if any other side had won as Brazil did in 2002, there wouldn't have been a solitary criticism of their style.

5 min It's been a scruffy start, which suits the US, and if anything they've had more of the ball so far.

7 min Kaka, ahead of the near post, gets a surprisingly free header from a corner, but he can't enough of it and plants it wide of that near post.

GOAL! Brazil 0-1 USA (Dempsey 10) Oh my. A lovely curving cross from a very deep position by the right-back Spector finds Dempsey, 10 yards out, and he tucks a very adroit, side-footed volley across goal and beyond Julio Cesar. That's a superb goal, and should liven things up nicely after a frankly tedious start.

13 min Robinho, on the left edge of the box after being found by Kaka, tries to pass it low into the far corner, but Howard plunges to fumble it wide for a corner.

14 min "I don't suppose you can use the strike-through function to shut that fugging buzzing noise off from the stadium that is giving me tinnitus," says Ian Copestake. "Unless I just have tinnitus." Those instruments will surely go down well with the thousands of Englishmen nursing force-12 hangovers in South Africa next year.

15 min After Brazil make a dog's breakfast of clearing a right-wing corner, an off-balance Dempsey volleys into orbit from six yards. It wasn't really a chance as he was basically upside-down when he went for it.

16 min The US know how to squeeze the eye of the needle even tighter. When Kaka came infield 18 yards out, they were seven players waiting for him, and his shot was blocked.

17 min "Hey Rob," begins Chelsea Rentz. "Jesus, could you guys of the British press at least PRETEND to be excited about the US? Sure we've had our share of luck, but we have our share of talent as well. That Deuce Dempsey who just scored to put us 1-0 up also scored the goals that saved Fulham's ass from relegation two years running. And Tim Howard has been Everton's savior for years. So a little respect would not kill the British press. Hopefully we get to face England in the World Cup and party like its 1950 all over again." How excited do you want me to be? I'm typing while doing handstands and high-fiving anyone I pass. To show just how excited I am, I might even treat myself to a few exclamation marks!!!!! How about a LOL?! A ZOMG?!!!!

19 min I don't know what's more exasperating: the noise coming out of those instruments, or the noise coming out of the BBC co-commentator Mark Bright's mouth. He's so boring that in 2007 - no word of a lie - the BBC cut to a flight simulator while he was rambling on about what day itr was or some such.

20 min Bocanegra is justly booked for putting his arms round Kaka and refusing to let him go. I haven't seen such a tense, uncompromising embrace since they stopped doing 1.45am slow songs in nightclubs.

21 min "So that's West Ham squad player Jonathan Spector providing the assist to Fulham's Clint Dempsey scoring against Brazil," says Gary Naylor. "These mid-ranking Premier League teams must be better than they look. And what's Paul Nixon doing managing the USA?" For our American readers, that last bit was a cricket joke. Don't get me started on cricket.

22 min Brazil have their most coherent spell of possession, but then Ramires punts an aimless cross wide.

23 min Don't presume that the US are happily sitting on a 1-0 lead. They are carrying a decent menace on the break, most notably through Jozy Altidore, who looks like a horrible bugger to defend against. But what the US are doing well is getting their midfielders back very quickly and very tight together in front of the back four. Brazil need to go round the brick wall rather than through it, but the inclination of their main wide player, Robinho, is of course to come infield onto that magical right peg.

25 min "I am an American, but rarely ever root for USA! USA! USA!," says Damien Neva. "However, after what they did to Spain I can't help but to support them. I mean, being a Chelsea fan is usually enough, but how better to piss of the rest of the world?"

26 min Felipe Melo works Howard, low to his right, with a good strike from 25 yards. He is booked seconds later for an apparently harmless challenge on Onyewu.

27 min A good one-two between Kaka and Maicon on the right ends with Maicon Nelinho-ing one towards goal, albeit at the near post. Howard, who had anticipated a cross, plunged back to his left to tip it wide for a corner.

GOAL! Brazil 0-2 USA (Donovan 27) What a magnificent goal! From that Brazil corner, the Americans launched a brilliant counter-attack. They were two-on-two; Donovan found Davies on the left, and he returned the ball first time to Donovan, now on the edge of the box. His first touch was delightfully quick-witted, twisting the blood of the last defender Ramires, and with his second he crunched it to the left of Julio Cesar and into the corner. Brilliant goal.

29 min I haven't seen much of this tournament, but having looked at the scores I presumed Brazil were in decent fettle. Well today they look a shambles. Robinho is brilliantly gifted but a disgraceful charlatan, and there is very little quality in their midfield. And as for the defence...

32 min "How have Brazil become such a joke defending after they were so solid in beating Argentina 3-0 in the Copa America final a couple of years ago?" asks Gary Naylor. "Gilberto Silva looks like he needs a mobility allowance and we know that the likes of Robinho and Kaka think tracking back is beneath them, but where are the others? South American teams don't really travel well do they?"

34 min This is frankly surreal. The US are very, very comfortable. Brazil are stupid enough to keep coming infield and the US keep swallowing them up. The only real threat has beem Maicon on the right, but his breaks have been few and far between.

35 min That was better from Brazil. Robinho played a glorious angled pass to the overlapping left-back Andre Santos, on the left corner of the six-yard box. He sidefooted it towards goal, but Howard was able to beat it away for a corner. It was an excellent save, but Santos should probably have gone across goal as he was at a prohibitive angle.

36 min Santos is justly booked for pulling down Altidore on the right-hand side. They can't handle his physical strength at all.

38 min Brazil win a free-kick 30 yards out and make a disgraceful mess of it. The tee-up to Felipe Melo was overhit, so he then had to pass it further wide to Maicon, whose cross was cleared. Hopeless.

40 min Jonathan Spector easily deals with Kaka, which is a sentence I never thought I'd type.

41 min "I am old," croaks John Santana. "What is ZOMG?!" Oh I've no idea, but I've seen the kids using it and I think it's a general expression of giddy disbelief.

41 min Robinho tries to surprise Howard with an early, left-footed strike from a tight angle on the left, but Howard leaps to touch it over. It was a routine save.

43 min "So, will you please fire up the Guardian's patented Excusometer for Brazil's poor performance so far?" says Mike Wilner. "Best one I can figure is that the Brazilians don't like playing on a chilly night during the South African winter. Hmmmm – isn't there going to be a World Cup final next year around this time? Oh, and LET'S GO USA USA USA!" You lot are extraordinarily graceless winners, aren't you? I couldn't ~~give a flying fu~~care less who wins, and am rather enjoying the US's industrious, streetwise performance.

45 min Apparently Kaka just swung an arm at Feilhaber. If that's the case, he's lucky not to be sent off, even if he didn't connect.

Half time: USA 2-0 Brazil So who predicted that score then? The US have quite simply done a number on Brazil. They have been excellent and astute defensively, and Davies and Altidore have carried a genuine, if occasionally haphazard, menace on the break. Both goals were of an extremely high quality, and there is no doubt that USA deserve to be ahead. Brazil are a shower, but they've been made to look like a shower.

Half-time chit-chat

"Though gobsmacked at the sheer incompetence of Brazil, I'm very impressed with the organisation and athleticism of the USA. Players at peak fitness, who know what their individual jobs are and how that relates to an over-arching tactical system, all backed up by a good goalkeeper is a recipe that can go a long way in any football tournament - Brian Clough seemed to think so" - Gary Naylor.

"zOMG is a varient of the all-too-popular acronym 'OMG', meaning 'Oh My God'. The 'z' was originally a mistake while attempting to hit the shift key
with the left hand, and type 'OMG'. Also used in all-caps, 'ZOMG' is generally used in a sarcastic manner, more often than not a humiliating fasion. It is also used as a device for stating the obvious: 'zOMG! you r teh winz!!one!!eleven!' - Ben Jamin.

"Easily the best 45 minutes this team has played in a decade. It's often said that a person in trouble needs to hit rock bottom before being able to recover and grow. Perhaps that's what happened to this team following the earlier 0-3 loss to Brazil. It does not even remotely look like the same U.S. team. Unbelievably disciplined on defense, and shockingly comfortable with possession - by American standards, at least. Hope it lasts" - Chris Grovich.

"Watching the match while sitting next to two men with English accents
in an American pub, and they don't know squat about football (I write
about it for a living), but because of their accents, the crowd around
them thinks they are lifelong scholars of the game. Sad. Sent from my Nokia circa 1997" - Kim Newsome [Writing about football isn't necessarily indicative of knowing squat about football, as readers of this MBM will realise]

Garth Crooks has just said "Brazil are in possession, yeah?" This is brilliant. No doubt at the end of the game he's be saying the US are "going dark", hailing their "colossally concentrated amounts of defending" and signing off by saying "futures Gabby".

46 min The US kick off from right to left.

GOAL! Brazil 1-2 USA (Luis Fabiano 46) It took just 39 seconds for Brazil to get back into the match. It was a very good goal, too: Maicon on the right fed the ball into Luis Fabiano on the edge of the box, back to goal, and he took a touch before swivelling to strike it instantly, through the legs of DeMerit and past Howard into the corner. Another excellent finish.

48 min "Would losing to the US actually be seen as worse than losing to Argentina back in Brazil?" asks Alex Keenan. I suspect we'll never know.

49 min The US need to hold their nerve tactically, and keep two men up for the counter-attacks. If they just sit in and try to hold on to this lead, it'll only go one way.

51 min The goal hasn't, as you might have expected, precipitated an onslaught from Brazil. In fact the US have just had a decent 90 seconds of attacking. 90 seconds!

53 min The US break four-on-four, but first Davies and then Dempsey pick the wrong ball and Brazil clear the not inconsiderable danger.

54 min Brazil get a free-kick 30 yards out. This time they at least manage to collectively process that a shot at goal is a decent idea in such situtations, but Lucio's scuffed low strike hits the wall. The US are... not exactly comfortable, but still defending very well.

57 min I may well, incidentally, have described 'Michael Bradley' as 'Mark Bradley' when detailing the team news. Mea bad.

58 min An excellent save from Howard, his best yet. A deep corner from the left found Lucio, beyond the far post, and he thumped his header goalwards, but Howard leapt to his right to beat it away. Gilberto Silva, off balance and aged 77, belted the rebound over the bar.

59 min "Is anyone else more impressed with international football as played by national teams compared to that played by club teams (in the Champions League for example)?" wonders Gary Naylor. "I know there's an argument that the CL has all the best players and that national teams are essentially scratch sides, so little time is available to their coaches, but I prefer the slightly looser style of national teams compared to the antiseptic, bloodless efficiency of many CL teams."

60 min Brazil score, but it's not given! A devastating cross from Andre Santos on the left found Kaka, beyond the far post. He headed it down and, as it bounced back up, the retreating Howard punched it onto the bar and away. Brazil thought it had crossed the line before Howard punched it - and replays show they were right. That was a goal, basically. The only thing I would say in the linesman's defence is that at the time it didn't appear to be over the line.

63 min "The Brasil goalie is wearing way to much clothing," announces Millie Savard. "I don't care who you are you wear long pants at a football game, you're a [word that has a softer meaning in America than it does over here, so I'd better not print it]."

64 min It's coming. Brazil are all over the Americans like a cheap rash now. And the reason they are causing so many problems is that they have stopped trying to go through the brick wall and are now going around it, fizzing in a stream of extremely dangerous crosses from both wings.

65 min Donovan forces a rudimentary save from Cesar, low to his right, with a decent 20-yard shot.

66 min Julio Cesar makes another save, this time from Dempsey, who tried to bend one towards the far corner from 20 yards. It was fairly central, but Cesar went for the spectacular save, beating it away two-handed.

67 min A double Brazil substitution: Elano and Dani Alves on for Ramires and Andre Santos. Both are direct swaps.

68 min "Kaka seems finally to have woken up and is playing some clever angles," says Ian Copestake. "Can I have Garth Crooks's job?" You don't have his charisma. And you can ask a question in under 74 hours.

70 min Lucio is booked for dissent.

71 min "I agree with Naylor's sentiment but not with the diagnosis," says David Wall. "It seems to me that this tournament has shown how effective tactics can be, highlighting the importance of a good coach with plans. How else to explain the USA's success against Spain and in this game so far, and SA's resistance against Brazil in the semi-final. As a fan of Jonathan Wilson (rather than Harry Redknapp) i'm all in favour." Redknapp is better looking than Wilson, though.

72 min Another lovely save from Howard. Fabiano broke clear onto a subtle through pass from the inside-right position, but Howard was out to him like a shot on the edge of the box and smothered Fabiano's attempt to lift the ball over him. As he lay on the floor, cradling the ball, he screamed at Onweyu for playing Fabiano onside. Great stuff.

73 min Davies so nearly slaloms through the Brazil defence. Only the studs of the last man Lucio stopped him looking into the whites of Julio Cesar's eyes.

GOAL! Brazil 2-2 USA (Luis Fabiano 74) It had to come. The US defence have been playing from memory for the last 10 minutes, and Kaka was able to run the tiring Spector a little too easily down the left of the box before passing the ball invitingly across the face of goal. Robinho missed a sitter, shinning it onto the bar from six yards, but Fabiano was on hand to head the rebound past Howard from a couple of yards.

75 min The US make a double substitution: Altidore and Feilhaber off, Bornstein and Kljestan on.

76 min "I was wondering," begins Liben K. "Why are some of the Brazilians wearing turtlenecks or whatever that thing Dani Alves and Julio Cesar have around their necks? Is it cold down there?" I have no idea, being in an office in London, but I'll be sure to ask Guardian fashion expert Hadley Freeman about any possible new football fashion trends should I bump into her by the free coffee machine."

77 min Brazil should be getting this wide at every opportunity, because the US simply can't handle it. The quality of the Brazilian crossing - and there has been loads of it in this half - has been mixed, but the good ones have been sensational, hit with vicious dip and swerve.

79 min Brazil are having all the possession now, and you have to feel that they will win this by the end of the 90 minutes. The US have been heroic, but they look spent.

81 min Bornstein blasts wide from 25 yards. The US still look reasonably menacing on the break, and attack might well be their best form of etc.

83 min Davies goes down in the box under a challenge from Luisao. There didn't seem to anything in it, and the referee wasn't interested.

84 min Maicon stabs the ball into Fabiano, who turns DeMerit brilliantly to create a shooting chance, but DeMerit somehow makes up the ground to concede a corner.

GOAL! Brazil 3-2 USA (Lucio 84) It was only a temporary reprieve for the US. The corner was hammered to the far post by Elano and the captain Lucio, who had escaped his marker Dempsey, planted a firm header past Howard and in off the unprotected post. Anyone who doubts the importance of the Confederations Cup should see Brazil's celebrations. Lucio is seriously on the brink of tears. Elano is on his knees, pumping both fists like a man who has just heard they are recommissioning Murder, She Wrote. They are going mental.

86 min "Shame on Brazil's doubters," says Gary Naylor. "Good job I wasn't one of them."

87 min The US have nothing left to give and Brazil are almost goading them with a prolonged spell of possession. There will be no late stings here, I'm afraid.

88 min The US bring on Conor Casey, a forward, for Ricardo Clark, a midfielder.

88 min 20 sec That was a big, big chance for the USA. Donovan curled in a very good corner, but Onyewu thumped his header over from eight yards. He was under a fair amount of pressure, but he got a firm connection on it and will feel he should have done better.

90 min There will be three minutes of added time.

Full time: Brazil 3-2 USA Brazil retain the Confederations Cup after a fantastic final. The US were deservedly ahead 2-0 at half-time, but Brazil overwhelmed them with an exhilarating second-half performance. They were let off the leash by the match situation, and they were magnificent. I'm not sure if it tells us anything about what might happen when the real business starts in a year's time, but it was bloody good fun. Fans of the film 'Go' might be sniffy about Confederated Products, but this Confederations Cup has been a gem.

-guardian.co.uk

Merit-based scholarships??

2009-06-28T04:12:00.003+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR, June 27 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak said tonight the government would introduce purely merit-based public scholarships by next year, and also indicated his administration’s intent to completely do away with race-based quotas in more sectors.

The prime minister’s remarks at a dinner organised by the Chinese community appear to be designed to win back the support of non-Malay voters for Barisan Nasional (BN).
While his announcement was short on details, it also indicates his administration’s efforts at hijacking Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) more multi-racial platform.

The prime minister said tonight that he believed quotas were bad and that he wanted to create a win-win situation for all Malaysians.

Najib’s remarks seem to also suggest that he believes he can control the potential backlash from Malays while wanting to convince the non-Malays that, even if they have misgivings about Umno and BN, they should have faith in him.

Speaking at a dinner organised by the MCA and Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ACCCIM), he said a new “National Scholarship” would be formed next year. The National Scholarship will be a new category of aid offered by the Public Service Department (PSD).

“These scholarships will be based 100 per cent on merit and those who receive them will be the best of the best,” said the prime minister.

Najib added that he would also soon be announcing a major shift in policy and hinted at doing away with some forms of quotas soon. “I will not let the cat of the bag now but will announce it later,” he said.

Najib’s speech represents his government’s first concrete response to growing unhappiness — especially among the non-Malay communities — with his government.

Recently, there were widespread protests particularly from the Chinese community over the way PSD scholarships were awarded. There also continues to be displeasure over race-based quotas, particularly from the business community.

The uneasiness has grown recently with Umno politicians pushing for unity talks with PAS, in what was seen as an entrenchment of Umno and BN’s racial policies.

Tonight, the PM acknowledged the failure of quotas when he said “Having quotas is not the right way and is not good for Bumiputeras.”
Najib said he was aware of the rent seeking collaboration between Bumiputera and Chinese businessmen which undermined the purpose of the quota system.
“We know what’s going on and it’s not getting us anywhere.”

He said the government wanted to create a mutually beneficial situation which was acceptable to all communities. He added the new policy would remove the obstacles to doing business and address the complaints from the Chinese community about government policy and implementation.

Najib acknowledged that the Chinese community only wanted fairer policies, and are not opposed to Bumiputeras progressing or helping them to get ahead.

He added the government understood the need to address the concerns of the Chinese community, especially in areas such as education, the economy, religion and the rising crime rate, in order to regain their confidence.

-So, what say u??

Movie review-Gadoh

2009-06-27T02:58:00.005+08:00

Yesterday, I got a chance to watch this movie. The movie was released last month, screened at HELP Institute. This film was in indie genre, a genre that we’ll expecting true view of the societies we are living with today, with nothing leavin behind.

The pretext – a high-school teacher tries to find a solution to inner-school violence but is hindered by the head master’s bureaucratic attitude – is a familiar one. So what then makes Gadoh unique?

Gadoh stands out to Malaysian because the main star(the only actor/actress I recognised were only the guy that starred in KAMI, and Zarina Ann Julie) of this film is not the idealistic teacher, her maverick-grad-school friend or even a brilliant student dismissed as a mere hoodlum. The main protagonist of Gadoh is underlying racial tensions, uniquely Malaysian ones that is. This film is poignant and at least in regards to Malay and Chinese frustrations, inclusive. Gadoh’s dialogue witty as it is, sounds like it was crafted from your own secret thoughts and misconceptions.

Still this is a safe film. Eventually everyone gets along with each other once they’re able to identify their common humanity and shared problems. Yet between the edgy camera-work, convincing character portrayals and stellar script, an inner conflict arises. Although this is a brave, smart, honest and incredibly funny film, some elements are hard to accept. For instance, that the lone Indian student played by Ryan Lee Bhaskaran remains passive and compliant to being bullied, or that, even more disconcertingly, he is “lone” at all. Where were the other Indian kids? It’s also difficult to digest that very real, valid frustrations between ethnicities aired here were able to just dissolve like aspirin in the face of friendship and trust-building exercises.

Only, that’s exactly what happens in Gadoh. Malays, Chineses and Indians find a way, in an unsettling, almost too-easy manner. But perhaps that is the underlying meaning to this conflicting film; that the burden of being a generation saddled with the legacies of inequality is something we carry together. And can be solved if we are brave enough to face those issues together. Gadoh raises interesting questions, but is definitely a must-see.

Still, this film really reflect on what most of us think about others of different races. Though, we have engaged in this enigma for many years, maybe before Independence. And we are not trying enough to swept the problem away, but instead leave it to our sons and youth. Then the problem will never be solved. Referring to one of the dialogues in the movie;

“Kita tidak pernah cuba mendengar apa yang ingin mereka katakan,(tetapi) kita hanya mahu mendengar apa yang ingin kita katakan”

A thought..

2009-06-24T18:03:00.001+08:00

If a gun is put to my temple and I am ordered to renounce my Bumiputera status, I will gladly oblige, as I prefer to have my brain in one place rather than for it to be splattered all over. If afterwards, the commands wants me to give up my Malayness, I will also oblige without complaint, being mindful of keeping my brain intact to live another day. Giving up being a Malay or a Bumiputera is no big deal.

As a Bumiputera, I wont belong any longer to that privileged class of Malaysians where quotas are reserved, land is preserved and housing allocations are observed. As a Malay, I wont be able to eat rice wit sambal belacan using my hand, clad in sarong while watching dramas( definitely not on RTM!). I will certainly miss the joy of using Bahasa Melayu, that most exquisite language where the words with its shades can be used in multifarious modes depending on the context and objective of the speaker.

But if the holder of the gun persists and insists that I renounce my Muslimness, I will recite the shahadah(solemn oath) and play quickly the history of my life from the recesses of memory in time before he pulls the trigger, for to renounce Islam I shall not, as it my reason for being, without it I’m nothing.

So, where does Malays run to? Is being filthy rich the definition of successful Malay? How do we measure success in Malay context? Is it by development of infrastructure around Malaysia? Or equalling others in book records like going to the moon, climbing the Everest or swimming across English channel?

We need to self-reflect on what makes the Malays great. Ask yourself.

Movie review-The Last House On The Left

2009-06-23T16:38:00.003+08:00

Well,last night I managed to watch the movie.This movie was the remake of the same title aired in 1972. The original story(1972) was a bit too brutal and was banned in several countries.Though the plot was changed a bit from the original story. The opening was very good to me,doesnt took too much time for the momentum to start.

Here the plot, Emma, John, and Mari Collingwood head out on vacation to their lake house. Shortly after arriving, Mari borrows the family car and drives into town to spend time with her friend Paige. While Paige works the cash register at a local store, she and Mari meet Justin, a teenager passing through the town who invites them both back to his hotel room to smoke some weed. While the three are hanging out in the hotel room, Krug, Justins father, Francis, Justins uncle, and Sadie, Krug's girlfriend, arrive.

Krug shows Justin a local newspaper that has Krug's and Sadie's pictures on the front page, which explains how Sadie and Francis broke Krug out of police custody and killed the two officers that were transporting him. Believing it too risky to let Paige and Mari go, Krug kidnaps them and uses their vehicle to leave town. While Krug searches for the highway, Mari convinces him to take a road that leads him to her parents lake house; Mari then attempts to jump out of the vehicle, but the ensuing fight amongst all the passengers causes Krug to crash into a tree. Frustrated by Mari's attempts to escape, Sadie and Francis proceed to beat Mari as she crawls away from the wreckage. Krug attempts to teach his son to "be a man" by forcing him to fondle Mari's breasts. When Justin refuses Krug decides to rape Mari. Paige begins insulting him to get him to stop, which causes Krug to pause momentarily only to stab Paige in the stomach twice. As Mari watches Paige bleed to death she is raped by Krug. Afterward, Mari musters enough strength to escape the group and make it to the lake so that she can swim to safety. Before she can swim far enough Krug shoots her in the back, leaving her to bleed out in the lake.

A storm forces Krug and his gang to seek refuge with John and Emma, whose home is nearby. Justin realizes that they are Mari's parents, and intentionally leaves a necklace Mari was wearing on the counter to alert them about their daughter. When John and Emma find Mari, barely alive, on their porch, along with the necklace from the counter, they realize that the people who did this to Mari are in their home. As they try and find the key to their boat, so that they can take Mari to the hospital, they decide to get revenge on those responsible. When Francis happens upon Mari's body he is attacked and killed by John and Emma. When the couple go after Krug and Sadie they find Justin in possession of Krug's gun; Justin gives the gun to John so he can kill Krug. Sadie awakens and interrupts John, allowing Krug the chance to escape the couple where he pieces together that they are Mari's parents. After Emma shoots Sadie in the head, John runs after Krug. With a combined effort from Emma, John and Justin, Krug is knocked unconscious. The story end with John paralyzes Krug from the neck down, and leaves him to die with his head in an active microwave; then he, Emma, Mari, and Justin take the boat to the local hospital.

For me the ending was a little funny(Krug's head explodes in microwave), but I guess that's how the director injected psychotic element in this film. Quite frustrating but for overall, a good movie to watch.'To avoid fainting, keep repeating-it's only a movie...'

Letter to IT Support

2009-06-22T21:11:00.001+08:00

Upgrade Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0
Dear IT Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a slow down in the
overall performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications that had operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 un-installed many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, but installed undesirable programs such as EPL 5.0, NBA 3.0 and ESPN 2.0.
And now Conversation 8.0 no longer runs and House Cleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these
problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,
Desperate

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reply:

Dear Desperate,

First keep in mind; Boyfriend 5.0 is an entertainment package, while Husband 1.0 is an
operating system. Try entering the command C:\ I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME and download Tears 6.2 to install Guilt 3.0.

If all works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

But remember, overuse can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Late Night Teh Tarik 6.1. Late Night 6.1 is a very bad program that will create SnoringLoudly.wav files.

Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-Law 1.0 or reinstall another Boyfriend program. These are not supported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have a limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider additional software to improve memory and performance. I personally recommend Hot Food 3.0 and Lingerie 6.9.

Good Luck,
IT Support

Huh, so funny..

2009-06-21T19:29:00.000+08:00

NEW DELHI, June 20 — College students in northern India are furious about being told how to dress, following a ban on jeans and tight-fitting clothes. The management of four girls’ colleges in Kanpur city announced the ban earlier this month, with a co-educational college later extending the ban to both male and female students.

Meeta Jamal, principal of one of the girls’ colleges, said: “A notice has been issued in the college, restricting girls from wearing Western outfits like jeans, skirts and tight tops on campus as it does not indicate a disciplined atmosphere.”

And using an Indian term for men who sexually harass women, she added: “Such dresses often attract comments from ‘eve-teasers’.

“There are more than 8,000 students in the college and we cannot overlook the safety of so many students. A dress code would check eve-teasing to some extent and ensure discipline.”

At the same time, teachers have been banned from wearing sleeveless blouses and using mobile phones.

And while students violating the rule would be let off with a reprimand, teachers will have to pay 100 rupees (RM7.40) each time they flout the rules.

Some Indians fear the ban is part of a growing trend of ‘moral policing’ by religious hardliners.

In January, activists from a Hindu hardline group beat and kicked women at a pub in the southern coastal city of Mangalore, saying the women were violating traditional Indian values by drinking alcohol in public and warning them of dire consequences if they were seen in bars again.

The government in communist-ruled Kerala, which boasts a 100 per cent literacy, has banned Bollywood-type dances at college functions, while policewomen in Meerut city have beaten up courting couples in a public park.

Both students and teachers in Kanpur city are outraged by the dress code, with a student who gave her name as Saumya saying: “We are grown-up people and at this age we should not be told what to wear.”

At the same time, a teacher who did not want to be named implied that the rules questioned teachers’ professionalism, saying: “We don’t have to be told what to wear. As teachers, we are conscious of what we wear to college.”

A particular focus of student anger is that the new dress code outlaws their most popular piece of clothing.

“Jeans are the most common outfit worn by college students, particularly because – unlike other clothes – they are easy to maintain,” one student said.

Meanwhile, many students feel that the dress code is taking aim at the wrong target, punishing women rather than the men who harass them.

Some said that instead of banning jeans, the college authorities should arrange to provide them with martial-arts training so they can protect themselves from harassment.

And student Tulika Saxena said: “It would be much better if the college authorities sit down with police and other officials to formulate a strategy to check the menace.”

Neelam Chaturvedi, who works with a women’s rights group in Kanpur, said the ban was “totally irrational”.

“It appears that the college authorities feel that eve-teasers target only girls wearing jeans. I can narrate umpteen incidents in which boys misbehaved with girls wearing salwar kameez (a form of traditional wear),” she was quoted as saying in media reports.

Feisty former minister for women’s affairs and child development Renuka Choudhury has blasted such moral policing, terming it as the ‘Talebanisation of India’.

But others see it as simply a reflection of a traditionally male-dominated society.

“The dress code is blatantly patriarchal and anti-women. If, at the age of 18, students can be given the right to elect their prime minister, can they not choose how they dress?” said a left-wing student activist in Chennai. – The Straits Times

Jakarta threat??

2009-06-21T03:25:00.007+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR: Indonesia has threatened to temporarily stop providing domestic help to Malaysia.

Indonesian ministers, its national police chief, and the Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia are expected to hold a meeting with Malaysian representatives on Monday for a preliminary evaluation.

The threat comes after the report two weeks ago of Siti Hajar, the Indonesian maid who was allegedly scalded with hot water by her employer, for whom she had been working since 2006.

“There are proposals to consider to stop sending maids to Malaysia for a few months, to review and improve the system and discuss problems faced by maids such as abuse and unpaid salary,” said Indonesian Embassy labour attache Teguh Hendro Cahyono.

“We understand that Malaysia is not the only country (with maid abuse cases). There are also a lot of cases in Saudi Arabia. In Singapore, there have been instances of maids jumping off buildings.”

Teguh said Malaysia was considered the last option for Indonesian domestic helpers due to the low pay and abuse cases.

While Hong Kong and Taiwan pay a maid between RM1,300 and RM1,600 per month, and Saudi Arabia and Singapore offer between RM800 and RM900, Indonesian maids who work here are paid a minimum monthly wage of RM600, he said.

Asked about the general view that Indonesian maids were the most problematic — with a high number of runaway cases — compared to maids from other countries, Teguh said that was a stigma on their domestic help.

“This is a prejudice towards them, which jeopardises the relationship between employers and maids. The employers generally perceive the maids as untrustworthy — that they would run away whenever they have the chance to.

“Hence, they would try to restrict their freedom such as by keeping their passport.”

Likewise, he said the maids felt that the employers were mean.

“Most of the maids who run away do so because they are not paid or because they suffer abuse at the hands of their employer, or that they don’t get any rest at all,” he said.

Malaysian Association of Foreign Maid Agencies (Papa) president Datuk Raja Zulkepley Dahalan estimated that 7,000 employers would be affected if Indonesia stops sending maids to Malaysia.

In Malacca, Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr. S. Subramaniam said the opposition towards the Government’s proposal to make it compulsory for employers to give their foreign maids a day-off from work each week was not surprising.

“Although they know that they should give the day-off, they have their own view that there would be negative effects following the decision,” he told reporters after attending a meet-the-client session at Wisma Perkeso in Ayer Keroh yesterday.

He was asked to comment on the result of a SMS poll carried out by The Star on the proposal where 76.1% of the 769 respondents indicated their disapproval with only 23.9% agreeing to the idea.

-the star

Yesterday I was quite surprise to see The Star's frontpage entitled 'Indonesia threat'. The headline is together with pictures of people around the globe celebrating birthday of Aung San Suu Kyi,Burmese freedom fighter. Thing that 1st comes to my mind is the Ambalat issue. I really thought that the news was the reaction to massive provoking by Indonesian's papers towards the issue.

Yet to my sigh,it was regarding the Indonesian maids,or better called 'bibik' here. Maid abuse are everywhere, as stated in the news,so why this time they wanna act like the 'great saviour' to their people living overseas( I think overseas in this context is 'Malaysia'). Maybe by halting maid supplying, Indonesia think they can give us a lesson on how we are very depending to them (maybe later they will not allow anymore Indonesian contract workers to work here, maybe on the reason of very less wages paid compared to other countries.lol)

I dont see their reason for halting the maid. Is the abuse happens daily? I'm sure not. So why they seems to be overreacting concerning the matter? In fact every Malaysian knows maid abuse is isolated case in this country. So why they dont look at our statistics of maid abuse reported here? And yes,human rights is always human rights no matter where you from or your authority in the society. Just let our government settle it and those proven guilty will be confined to punishment,no doubt for that.

Speaking of the issue, a few days ago my father got a phone call from my auntie,telling him whether to accept or not a request from my grandma's maid(bibik). If my family doesnt accept the request, the bibik told us she will leave. You know what the bibik want? A 25% of higher wages than before! I think the bibik know that it will be a much higher cost to hire a new ones, thats why she let out the request. And I said to myself, even the bibik are much more demanding now!!

'True Muslim'. Anyone?

2009-06-21T03:00:00.002+08:00

You are a good Muslim. So you are now assured of going to heaven.

To strengthen your case when you one day die and finally get to meet your Maker, you do not drink or gamble as well. You lead a very pious life. But hold on a minute. You work for the government. And the government taxes gaming and liquor. And this money is used to pay your salary. So you are actually ‘eating’ haram money, money procured from taxes on gaming and liquor.

Furthermore, according to one-time Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, 90% of the personal and private businesses taxes is paid by the Chinese. And the Chinese are involved in all sorts of non-halal businesses. They run lotteries and gambling outlets. They run bars, pubs, nightclubs and discos. They run brothels, massage parlours and karaoke centres that are actually fronts for the ‘China Dolls’ racket. They run banks, finance companies and money-lending businesses. You name it and the Chinese run it. And all these are haram according to Islam. And they pay taxes on all this and this tax money is used to pay the salaries of the government employees.

Sheesh, what do you do now? There is only one option open to you. You resign from the government and run your own but small business. You set up a driving school. But none of your students pass their driving test. They will never pass unless you pay the Road Transport Department tester a bribe, the usual under-the-table money. So you will have to bribe the tester or else none of your students will pass their driving test and you will eventually have to close down because no one will come to your driving school any longer.

So you close down your driving school and open a tuition centre instead. But you can’t get a licence to operate a tuition centre unless you also pay a bribe. Okay, forget about the tuition centre. You will instead set up a small stall selling cakes and nasi lemak. But you can’t get your hawker’s licence unless you also bribe the local authorities.

Sheesh, forget about the whole thing. You decide to go back to your kampong to become a padi farmer. Your late father left you a piece of land, which he used to grow padi on. It has of course been neglected all those years because you chose to work for the government instead of becoming a padi farmer. Now you decide to grow padi on that neglected land. You also sell your house and car and surrender your credit cards to avoid having to pay haram interest on your loans and credit cards.

You will become a true Muslim by just planting padi.

You apply for fertilizer from the government but are told you need to become an Umno member to qualify for fertilizer aid. If not you will have to buy your own fertilizer from the Chinaman supplier and that would mean your production cost would be too high. The only way to keep your cost down would be to get a fertilizer subsidy but you must first become an Umno member. Furthermore, you need to sell your padi to Bernas and they will pay you a low price if you do not pay the purchasing officer a ‘commission’ and show him your Umno membership card.

It troubles you that you must become an Umno member to get government subsidies. It troubles you even more that you must bribe the purchasing officer to get a fair price on your padi. Your late padi-farmer father once told you that you must support PAS if you want to go to heaven. Now you have to become an Umno member to get the fertilizer you need for your padi field. And you still can’t escape bribery even as a padi farmer.

Will that mean you will be going to hell instead?

Lo and behold, the Deputy Prime Minister said you could still go to heaven even if you vote for Barisan Nasional. You need not vote for PAS to go to heaven after all. Barisan Nasional too can help send you to heaven. You just pray that it will be later rather than sooner.

Halleluiah! Your soul has been saved. You can now safely become an Umno member to get your fertilizer and still go to heaven. You need no longer support PAS. Allah is most kind and merciful after all.

Then you discover something most depressing. The Westminster form of government and western-style parliamentary general elections are not Islamic after all. The so-called western concept of democracy is an un-Islamic concept. There are no such things in Islam. Islam does not choose its leaders in this manner.

This is most depressing. Islam says you are not supposed to choose kufurs, mushriks, fasiks and whatnot as your leaders. And in the Westminster system of general elections the worst kind of people are elected as the country’s leaders. You are supposed to choose noble and pious people as your leaders. The current system allows only slime-balls and scumbags into office.

Sheesh! So not only will you not go to heaven if you support Barisan Nasional. You will also not go to heaven even if you support PAS. This is because PAS is also involved in an un-Islamic system of government. PAS is as un-Islamic as Umno or Barisan Nasional is.

Aiyah! So better you don’t become a member of any political party. And better still, you don’t vote as well. But if you don’t then you are allowing bad people to get into power. By doing nothing you are aiding and abetting sin. So you must do something. But what can you do? Every option available to you is haram and un-Islamic.

What a dilemma! The whole problem is you were born a Muslim. No, the real problem is you were born, full stop. If not then you would not be faced with any dilemma. This is actually the REAL Malay dilemma. You can never be a proper Muslim in this modern world, especially not in Malaysia. You start to wonder what it was like in the old days before we saw ‘progress’. You always suspected that progress is bad for you, especially as far as your soul is concerned.

Mad fish?: scientist warns that farmed fish could be a source of mad cow disease

2009-06-21T02:13:00.000+08:00

Jeremy Hance, news.mongabay.com
June 17, 2009

In a paper that shows just how strange our modern world has become, Robert P. Friedland, neurologist from the University of Louisville, warns that farmed fish could be at risk of Creutzfeldt Jakob disease, or Mad Cow Disease.

Currently, farmed fish are fed cow by products—a food source they would never find natural environment (unless society started dumping cow carcasses in oceans or lakes).

Friedland and co-authors raise the issue in the Journal of Alzhemier’s Disease and call on food regulators to ban feeding cow bone or meat to farmed fish until it can be determined if the practice of feeding fish cow-parts is safe.

“We have not proven that it’s possible for fish to transmit the disease to humans. Still, we believe that out of reasonable caution for public health, the practice of feeding rendered cows to fish should be prohibited,” Friedland said. “Fish do very well in the seas without eating cows.”

Mad Cow Disease is a fatal disease that can be contracted by eating parts of a cow infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). After an outbreak in Britain due to infected beef, 163 people died.

“The fact that no cases of Creutzfeldt Jakob disease have been linked to eating farmed fish does not assure that feeding rendered cow parts to fish is safe,” warns Friedland. “The incubation period of these diseases may last for decades, which makes the association between feeding practices and infection difficult. Enhanced safeguards need to be put in place to protect the public.”

Along with cow, farmed fish are also fed significant amounts of antibiotics to keep them disease-and-parasite free. Farmed fish pose additional health hazards due to the possibility of mercury contamination.

One more secular remark!!

2009-06-19T20:52:00.000+08:00

(Bernama) - Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin said today Muslims who vote for either the Barisan Nasional (BN) or PAS have an equal chance of going to heaven.

He said what could prevent them from going to heaven was their sins and not their votes for a political party.

He said both the BN and PAS fought for the Islamic cause, but what set them apart was that the BN had the strength and capability to bring progress to the country.

"The capability of the BN to develop the country is stronger compared with that of PAS under the leadership of spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat," he said at a meeting with educationists at Sekolah Kebangsaan Sungai Sok here.

Muhyiddin, who is also education minister, said PAS did not have the capability to develop the country.
As such, voters in Manik Urai should be rational and make a wise choice if they wanted to enjoy better livelihood and development in their constituency, he said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-now bear in mind muslim shall not set anything done apart from their religion.so wth this statement above going?i should ask you these these questions if you agree with our DPM :

Can one goes to heaven if he set up laws to discriminate others?
Can one goes to heaven if he doesn't believe in fairness and equality treatment to all human beings?
Can one goes to heaven if he misuses the authority given to him by the people to oppress and suppress others even they have merits?
Can one goes to heaven if he plunders the tax payers' sweat and blood money to enrich the selected fews and deprive others the opportunity even they work hard for it?
Can he goes to heaven if he lies to the people and evade responsibilities just to remain in power and threaten others by misusing the enforcement agencies and the judiciary to intimidate others human freedom and liberty?
Can he goes to heaven if he always instil fears onto others using racist programmes like BTN to create hatred among the people?
Can he goes to heaven if he cannot believe that all human are equal and no one is more superior than the other as profess in your religion?

So how can you said the chance is equal for you???

Lyric-secret crowds by Angels and Airwaves

2009-06-19T19:38:00.000+08:00

If I had my own world,
I'd build you an empire

If I had my own world,
I'd fill it with wealth and desire
A glorious past to admire,
And voices of kids out walking dogs, birds, planes, cleanest cars

If I had my own world,
I'd love it for all that's inside it
There'd be no more wars, death or riots
There'd be no more police, packed-parking lots, guns, bombs sounding off

If I had my own world,
I'd build you an empire
From here to the far lands,
To spread love like violence (x2)

Let me feel you, carry you higher
Watch your words spread hope like fires
Secret crowds rise up and gather
Hear your voices sing back louder

If I had my own world,
I'd show you the life that's inside it
The way that it glows when you find it
And the way it survives with its families, friends or its enemies

Let's make this a new world
I swear you can go if you want to
I know that you have that within you
Inventing the first clean and useable, gods greatest miracle

If I had my own world,
I'd build you an empire
From here to the far lands,
To spread love like violence (x2)

Let me feel you, carry you higher
Watch your words spread hope like fires
Secret crowds rise up and gather
Hear your voices sing back louder (x4)