Herein lies the root of MONEY POLITICS. If Pak Lah and the BN component parties want to stop money politics; then consider stopping the community development fund allocation handed out by BN MPs.
Currently only BN MPs have an allocation of 2 million Ringgit to be disbursed (without any need for accountability or reporting) to whosoever they wish or who would get them reelected. This is wrong and immoral for 2 reasons:
1) It is public funds which should not be given only to BN MPs. By allocating it to BN MPs only, it means that it is political in nature. This is not party funds and therefore should be enjoyed by every tax paying Malaysians. The allocation of these funds is illegal and clearly meant for vote buying!!
2) There is no accountability for these funds and MPs have the sole discretion of disbursing these funds. Another leak in government funds and a lack transparency in the way these funds are disbursed.
It was unanimously agreed by our government’s MPs that for the sake of UNITY, there will be NO reporting of how these funds are disbursed. So dear rakyat, another slap in our faces; “Pay your taxes and don’t ask how we spent it!!!!”
Monday, February 26, 2007
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Perdana Global Peace Forum....
The following excerpt from Amnesty International report 1999 on Malaysia....
On 29 September Anwar Ibrahim was brought to court after being in incommunicado detention for nine days. He showed visible signs of ill-treatment including a swollen eye and a bruised arm. (PM Mahathir said it was self inflicted!) He complained that after his arrest he was handcuffed and blindfolded and that the police then “beat him severely, causing serious injuries” until he “virtually passed out until the next morning”. He was not allowed to see a doctor until the fifth day of his detention.
Anwar Ibrahim lodged a formal complaint over beatings he received while in custody and the court granted a request for doctors to examine his injuries. A doctor who examined him on 29 September released a medical report stating that Anwar had been assaulted 'over the left forehead and neck and received blunt trauma that resulted in residual bruises over the left upper and lower eyelids...' .
After being transferred to Sungai Buloh prison on 14 November, Anwar was placed in solitary confinement and subsequently allowed weekly family visits and access to his lawyers.
In an affidavit submitted to his lawyers Dr. Munawar Anees also protested his handling by police - which constituted degrading treatment - while being held in incommunicado detention. After being arrested under the ISA on 14 October, Dr Anees was driven, blindfolded and handcuffed, to an unknown location. He stated he was made to strip, insulted and shaved bald and held for one day in a solitary confinement cell without bedding, in which the lights were left continuously. He was repeatedly blindfolded and handcuffed when taken from his cell to be interrogated which he described as “systematic humiliation... to the extent that I ended up... a shivering shell of a man willing to do anything to stop the destruction of my being”. (No it was not Guantanamo Prison under US care! )
As he was arrested Dr Anees had complained of chest pains. He was not taken to hospital until a day later and, after his trial and conviction, was transferred from Kajang jail to a hospital coronary rehabilitation ward where he was given access to lawyers and family members. While in the ward Dr Anees was reportedly verbally pressured by police officers not to appeal his sentence.
Sukma Darmawan, was detained under the Criminal Procedure Code for police investigation on 4 September and held incommunicado for 15 days. Amnesty International is gravely concerned at reports that Sukma may have suffered severe physical and psychological pressure and ill-treatment, including being stripped naked in a very cold room, beaten and threatened with indefinite detention under the ISA. After his trial and conviction, in an unexplained move, he was transferred from Kajang jail back to incommunicado detention at Bukit Aman federal police headquarters where he has been denied access to lawyers appointed by his family.
Note the many Human rights abuses....
On 29 September Anwar Ibrahim was brought to court after being in incommunicado detention for nine days. He showed visible signs of ill-treatment including a swollen eye and a bruised arm. (PM Mahathir said it was self inflicted!) He complained that after his arrest he was handcuffed and blindfolded and that the police then “beat him severely, causing serious injuries” until he “virtually passed out until the next morning”. He was not allowed to see a doctor until the fifth day of his detention.
Anwar Ibrahim lodged a formal complaint over beatings he received while in custody and the court granted a request for doctors to examine his injuries. A doctor who examined him on 29 September released a medical report stating that Anwar had been assaulted 'over the left forehead and neck and received blunt trauma that resulted in residual bruises over the left upper and lower eyelids...' .
After being transferred to Sungai Buloh prison on 14 November, Anwar was placed in solitary confinement and subsequently allowed weekly family visits and access to his lawyers.
In an affidavit submitted to his lawyers Dr. Munawar Anees also protested his handling by police - which constituted degrading treatment - while being held in incommunicado detention. After being arrested under the ISA on 14 October, Dr Anees was driven, blindfolded and handcuffed, to an unknown location. He stated he was made to strip, insulted and shaved bald and held for one day in a solitary confinement cell without bedding, in which the lights were left continuously. He was repeatedly blindfolded and handcuffed when taken from his cell to be interrogated which he described as “systematic humiliation... to the extent that I ended up... a shivering shell of a man willing to do anything to stop the destruction of my being”. (No it was not Guantanamo Prison under US care! )
As he was arrested Dr Anees had complained of chest pains. He was not taken to hospital until a day later and, after his trial and conviction, was transferred from Kajang jail to a hospital coronary rehabilitation ward where he was given access to lawyers and family members. While in the ward Dr Anees was reportedly verbally pressured by police officers not to appeal his sentence.
Sukma Darmawan, was detained under the Criminal Procedure Code for police investigation on 4 September and held incommunicado for 15 days. Amnesty International is gravely concerned at reports that Sukma may have suffered severe physical and psychological pressure and ill-treatment, including being stripped naked in a very cold room, beaten and threatened with indefinite detention under the ISA. After his trial and conviction, in an unexplained move, he was transferred from Kajang jail back to incommunicado detention at Bukit Aman federal police headquarters where he has been denied access to lawyers appointed by his family.
Note the many Human rights abuses....
Perdana Global Peace Forum......
A Story of TORTURE......................where?
96. Sometime during this interrogation the original four officers entered the room and joined this fifth officer. They
then took over the interrogation while the fifth officer left the room. The four reverted to the trend of the first two days. They warned me and then threatened me and abused me in turn. They threw questions at me but did not wait for answers. Each cut into the other's line of questioning and kept interrupting my train of thought. I was warned that I had been sacked from my jobs, that the US investigators had completed their work and were about to return with their recommendation that my green card and citizenship be revoked, that I still had time to co-operate to save myself and my family, that they would tell me how I could help the nation and myself. They kept on drumming into me that my perception of things was wrong, that I had forgotten, that I had to listen to them. The abuse centered around my penis, its length and size, human genitalia, vaginal and anal sex. They never stopped talking about sx, repeatedly stating that they had to fuck Anwar. They made me simulate anal sx by lying down on the floor. They instructed me to first `fck' someone and then be `fked' by someone. They asked me to groan and moan while I was doing it.
98. It became apparent that this routine and the haranguing was going to go on for ever. Truth and my denials were getting me nowhere. I was at the point of collapse and could not go on. I knew I had to play along with them.
99. The fifth officer took out a cigarette from a pack that was in his pocket and offered it to me. I was always given a cigarette from a black pack. The officers when they smoked always seemed to take cigarettes from other packs. The cigarette tasted unusual but good. Every time I smoked one of their cigarettes I felt strangely lightheaded and `woozy'.
100. He suggested that it was natural in Pakistan. I looked at him. He stared at me and then pointed at my ans. I was dead tired. I nodded my head. He smiled and said `good'. 102. At one point in their haranguing and their suggestions that I was a homosxual I asked if they knew biology and suggested a medical examination would confirm homosexuality. They ignored this and for a long time made me talk about the male and female sex organs. They wanted graphics and made me draw these, over and over. They talked incessantly about anal sex, giving me extensive biological details about the size and shape of the pnis in relation to the male anus.
53. While this was going on I heard the door behind me being violently kicked open. I turned and saw a man walk in. The four behind the table stood up. The man who walked in was carrying a thick heavy file. He walked up to me and hit the back of my head with the file and then shouted at me that they knew everything and that there was no need for me to misguide them or to hide. He said that they knew everything I did with Anwar. When I tried to protest that I did nothing except help write speeches, this officer menacingly said " I am giving you 24 hours. Within that period come up with what we want or we will be very very nasty with you." He went on to say that his superiors wanted the information from me within 24 hours, that by tomorrow they must complete the matter. He then hit the back of my head again with his file, thumped the floor with his shoes, shouted `Hidup Malaysia', turned and left. The door was heavily slammed shut behind him.
More of the story here.....
http://cambridgecoalition.tripod.com/anees.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/biz2/REFORMASI/SHOCKING.html
This forced confession was not IRAQ but in our very own backyard. This is one story of inhumane treatment under Mahathir's Royal Malaysian Police back in the late 90's!!
Thus his PERDANA GLOBAL PEACE initiative as Param Cumarasamy said, is a farce. Its hypocrisy. There should be a trial and a royal commission held on all the abuse and crime against humanity in our very own country. Should we not clean up our backyard, before meddling with the world?
96. Sometime during this interrogation the original four officers entered the room and joined this fifth officer. Theythen took over the interrogation while the fifth officer left the room. The four reverted to the trend of the first two days. They warned me and then threatened me and abused me in turn. They threw questions at me but did not wait for answers. Each cut into the other's line of questioning and kept interrupting my train of thought. I was warned that I had been sacked from my jobs, that the US investigators had completed their work and were about to return with their recommendation that my green card and citizenship be revoked, that I still had time to co-operate to save myself and my family, that they would tell me how I could help the nation and myself. They kept on drumming into me that my perception of things was wrong, that I had forgotten, that I had to listen to them. The abuse centered around my penis, its length and size, human genitalia, vaginal and anal sex. They never stopped talking about sx, repeatedly stating that they had to fuck Anwar. They made me simulate anal sx by lying down on the floor. They instructed me to first `fck' someone and then be `fked' by someone. They asked me to groan and moan while I was doing it.
98. It became apparent that this routine and the haranguing was going to go on for ever. Truth and my denials were getting me nowhere. I was at the point of collapse and could not go on. I knew I had to play along with them.
99. The fifth officer took out a cigarette from a pack that was in his pocket and offered it to me. I was always given a cigarette from a black pack. The officers when they smoked always seemed to take cigarettes from other packs. The cigarette tasted unusual but good. Every time I smoked one of their cigarettes I felt strangely lightheaded and `woozy'.
100. He suggested that it was natural in Pakistan. I looked at him. He stared at me and then pointed at my ans. I was dead tired. I nodded my head. He smiled and said `good'. 102. At one point in their haranguing and their suggestions that I was a homosxual I asked if they knew biology and suggested a medical examination would confirm homosexuality. They ignored this and for a long time made me talk about the male and female sex organs. They wanted graphics and made me draw these, over and over. They talked incessantly about anal sex, giving me extensive biological details about the size and shape of the pnis in relation to the male anus.
53. While this was going on I heard the door behind me being violently kicked open. I turned and saw a man walk in. The four behind the table stood up. The man who walked in was carrying a thick heavy file. He walked up to me and hit the back of my head with the file and then shouted at me that they knew everything and that there was no need for me to misguide them or to hide. He said that they knew everything I did with Anwar. When I tried to protest that I did nothing except help write speeches, this officer menacingly said " I am giving you 24 hours. Within that period come up with what we want or we will be very very nasty with you." He went on to say that his superiors wanted the information from me within 24 hours, that by tomorrow they must complete the matter. He then hit the back of my head again with his file, thumped the floor with his shoes, shouted `Hidup Malaysia', turned and left. The door was heavily slammed shut behind him.
More of the story here.....
http://cambridgecoalition.tripod.com/anees.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/biz2/REFORMASI/SHOCKING.html
This forced confession was not IRAQ but in our very own backyard. This is one story of inhumane treatment under Mahathir's Royal Malaysian Police back in the late 90's!!
Thus his PERDANA GLOBAL PEACE initiative as Param Cumarasamy said, is a farce. Its hypocrisy. There should be a trial and a royal commission held on all the abuse and crime against humanity in our very own country. Should we not clean up our backyard, before meddling with the world?
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Nonmalay models belittles local models....?
This takes the icing on the cake!!! Of all the absurd comments by Malaysia's Information Minister, this has gotta be the dumbest of them all.......what do you all think?
Government reasons that non-Malay models belittle local models
By Bardan Kippusamy
South China Morning Post
The Malaysian modelling and advertising industries are in shock after the government announced it was reviving a ban on the multiracial Asian faces that dominate billboards and magazines. Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin said yesterday that models with so-called "pan-Asian" features were not representative of Malaysian demographics."Using pan-Asian faces means downgrading local faces," he said. "We have to give priority to models with local looks." Pan-Asians are popular in ethnically diverse Malaysia, where advertisers tend to use their neutral features to avoid alienating any customers.
A prime example is model and actress Maya Karim, 27, who is of Malay-Chinese-German parentage and is the latest poster girl for L'Oreal Malaysia.
A ban on pan-Asian faces is already in force at two government-owned television stations that cater mainly for majority Malays, who form 60 per cent of the population.The announcement on Sunday extended the ban to advertising carried by private television stations, the print media and billboards.The minister said the ban would eventually cover all media, but it was unclear when it would take effect.The ministry would have the power to decide on whether a model's features were appropriate, and be backed up by the weight of law. ....(They have the time???)
A similar ban was imposed in 1997, but the law was later shelved amid an outcry. Now, the government is again under pressure from cultural and religious purists who want to promote "local faces" in the media.The issue is often debated in Muslim publications and websites, where Eurasian models are criticised for dressing scantily, smoking and visiting night clubs.
Model Betty Ibtisam Benafe, 28, who is of Malay-Arabian-Javanese parentage, said the ruling would affect her work and income."We might end up jobless," she said. "The government should have an open mind ... we are also selling Malaysia to the world."Copywriter Alwin Tan said the ruling, if it took effect, would seriously damage the advertising industry, which was already held back by more than 30 different rules."We are a multicultural society and pan-Asian faces like Maya Karim are neither Malay, nor Chinese or Indian, but all of them put together," he said."We should celebrate diversity instead of banning it."Karim told Kosmo! magazine that the ruling was "confusing and unfair"."Our looks may differ but we are all Malaysians," she said.
Human rights lawyer Anuchuthan Sivanesan said the government should let the advertisement industry manage itself."Anyway, who is to decide whether a face is Malay or Chinese or pan-Asian," he said. "This is ridiculous."
Government reasons that non-Malay models belittle local models
By Bardan Kippusamy
South China Morning Post
The Malaysian modelling and advertising industries are in shock after the government announced it was reviving a ban on the multiracial Asian faces that dominate billboards and magazines. Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin said yesterday that models with so-called "pan-Asian" features were not representative of Malaysian demographics."Using pan-Asian faces means downgrading local faces," he said. "We have to give priority to models with local looks." Pan-Asians are popular in ethnically diverse Malaysia, where advertisers tend to use their neutral features to avoid alienating any customers.
A prime example is model and actress Maya Karim, 27, who is of Malay-Chinese-German parentage and is the latest poster girl for L'Oreal Malaysia.
A ban on pan-Asian faces is already in force at two government-owned television stations that cater mainly for majority Malays, who form 60 per cent of the population.The announcement on Sunday extended the ban to advertising carried by private television stations, the print media and billboards.The minister said the ban would eventually cover all media, but it was unclear when it would take effect.The ministry would have the power to decide on whether a model's features were appropriate, and be backed up by the weight of law. ....(They have the time???)
A similar ban was imposed in 1997, but the law was later shelved amid an outcry. Now, the government is again under pressure from cultural and religious purists who want to promote "local faces" in the media.The issue is often debated in Muslim publications and websites, where Eurasian models are criticised for dressing scantily, smoking and visiting night clubs.
Model Betty Ibtisam Benafe, 28, who is of Malay-Arabian-Javanese parentage, said the ruling would affect her work and income."We might end up jobless," she said. "The government should have an open mind ... we are also selling Malaysia to the world."Copywriter Alwin Tan said the ruling, if it took effect, would seriously damage the advertising industry, which was already held back by more than 30 different rules."We are a multicultural society and pan-Asian faces like Maya Karim are neither Malay, nor Chinese or Indian, but all of them put together," he said."We should celebrate diversity instead of banning it."Karim told Kosmo! magazine that the ruling was "confusing and unfair"."Our looks may differ but we are all Malaysians," she said.
Human rights lawyer Anuchuthan Sivanesan said the government should let the advertisement industry manage itself."Anyway, who is to decide whether a face is Malay or Chinese or pan-Asian," he said. "This is ridiculous."
Sunday, February 04, 2007
I was in Subang Parade when there was a gun fight!
Tonight I came within 10 feet of a gun shot!!! It started out a nice evening in Subang Parade, having a Japanese Sushi meal. All of a sudden there were gun shots ringing all over the shopping complex. The quick thinking restaurant manager, pulled the shutters and encouraged everyone to keep he heads down. It was a robbery, on Saturday night in the busy shopping complex in Subang Jaya!!!!
The robbers ran out the front exit and just kept shooting as they crossed the road towards Alliance bank. One of the shots hit the front glass window of the restaurant we were in. On the way out we were passed the goldsmith shops and saw 3 guards sprawled on the floor in front of the shop. A scene from a TV show!!! My family was a bit shaked, so we made our way to the basement and drove home quickly.
This is not good!! This is the type of violence we only hear about in neighbouring countries like Phillipines or Indonesia.....gunfights in a crowded shopping mall is not indication of a civil society with a certain sense of peace. Our city has been under threat from snatch thieves, robbers, car jackings and violent crimes. Something is terribly wrong with our country as law and order breaks down and the sense of peace we should get as citizens begin to evaporate.
The government MUST recognise the problem. Our policemen need higher salaries, modern equipment and greater discipline. We need to bring a certain amount of law and order back to our country and the government must put priority on this.
The robbers ran out the front exit and just kept shooting as they crossed the road towards Alliance bank. One of the shots hit the front glass window of the restaurant we were in. On the way out we were passed the goldsmith shops and saw 3 guards sprawled on the floor in front of the shop. A scene from a TV show!!! My family was a bit shaked, so we made our way to the basement and drove home quickly.
This is not good!! This is the type of violence we only hear about in neighbouring countries like Phillipines or Indonesia.....gunfights in a crowded shopping mall is not indication of a civil society with a certain sense of peace. Our city has been under threat from snatch thieves, robbers, car jackings and violent crimes. Something is terribly wrong with our country as law and order breaks down and the sense of peace we should get as citizens begin to evaporate.
The government MUST recognise the problem. Our policemen need higher salaries, modern equipment and greater discipline. We need to bring a certain amount of law and order back to our country and the government must put priority on this.
Friday, February 02, 2007
We have lost our way on education....
Time for holistic relook at education system - The Sun 31st January
A new education plan to improve primary school pupils' proficiency in English is about to be tried out as a year-long pilot project in 50 schools. It will see Mathematics and Science lessons, of which there are seven and three periods respectively, turned into English lessons.
The Mathematics and Science teachers will continue teaching their pupils but their focus this time will be to make their pupils more comfortable with English. Effectively it will mean year one pupils will now do 18 periods of English per week from their present eight.
The programme is called ELiTE or Early Literacy Through English. With so many recent innovations - like the recently launched National Education Blueprint 2006-2010) - and the virtual alphabet soup of plans and programmes like Kia2M, JQAF, Kafa, PIP, BCK, BTK, Mekar and Rimup that have been introduced by the Education Ministry it is little wonder that many people are quite confused with the present education system of the country.
Oh no…not another plan from MOE! This article in the Sun is most disconcerting. Lets not experiment any longer with our children’s future….please! Come up with a holistic plan to educate our young bearing in mind current and future world trends. 37 years ago, nationalist leaders decided to raise a generation of Bahasa Malaysia speaking adults by conducting a medium of instruction for all subjects in Bahasa. The result, a generation of Malaysians today cannot hold a simple conversation in English. I was fortunate enough to go to a Mission School where our headmasters and teachers were still comfortable with the language and were determined to make us proficient in it.
Then, 5 years ago, a knee jerk response to the poor command of the language by our leaders. English and Mathematics to be taught in English and overnight our teachers were expected to speak and teach in this foreign tongue! It would have been wiser to begin with standard 1 and to upgrade the English textbooks for all years to include literature. There is no better way for one to grasp the English language then to read and critique.
It is no wonder many today opt for private schools and Chinese schools. Heck, even some minister’s I am told sent their children to private schools. Leave the poor rakyat to attend the mediocre Kebangsaan schools. I sent my children to a Chinese medium school for lack of a good Kebangsaan school. Afterall why should I want to subject my children to all the pressure and the longer hours having to study maths and science in 2 languages unless the Kebangsaan schools are far short of what it should be?
Lets not be proud, the honourable minister of education could benchmark with countries who are far more ahead in this arena. Countries leading in science, technology and innovation. Great Britain, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Australia and even gulp…Singapore (that would take a whole lot of humility).
Oh no…not another plan from MOE! This article in the Sun is most disconcerting. Lets not experiment any longer with our children’s future….please! Come up with a holistic plan to educate our young bearing in mind current and future world trends. 37 years ago, nationalist leaders decided to raise a generation of Bahasa Malaysia speaking adults by conducting a medium of instruction for all subjects in Bahasa. The result, a generation of Malaysians today cannot hold a simple conversation in English. I was fortunate enough to go to a Mission School where our headmasters and teachers were still comfortable with the language and were determined to make us proficient in it.
Then, 5 years ago, a knee jerk response to the poor command of the language by our leaders. English and Mathematics to be taught in English and overnight our teachers were expected to speak and teach in this foreign tongue! It would have been wiser to begin with standard 1 and to upgrade the English textbooks for all years to include literature. There is no better way for one to grasp the English language then to read and critique.
It is no wonder many today opt for private schools and Chinese schools. Heck, even some minister’s I am told sent their children to private schools. Leave the poor rakyat to attend the mediocre Kebangsaan schools. I sent my children to a Chinese medium school for lack of a good Kebangsaan school. Afterall why should I want to subject my children to all the pressure and the longer hours having to study maths and science in 2 languages unless the Kebangsaan schools are far short of what it should be?
Lets not be proud, the honourable minister of education could benchmark with countries who are far more ahead in this arena. Countries leading in science, technology and innovation. Great Britain, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Australia and even gulp…Singapore (that would take a whole lot of humility).
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