Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Daily Mirror bayar pampasan RM0.5 juta kepada Presiden PAS

Daily Mirror bayar pampasan RM0.5 juta kepada Presiden AS
Harakahdaily Oct 22, 07

LONDON, 22 Oktober (Hrkh) - Akhbar ternama Britain, Daily Mirror telah
bersetuju meminta maaf kepada Presiden PAS, Dato Seri Tuan Guru Abdul
Hadi Awang di hadapan Hakim Eady, Hakim Mahkamah Tinggi di Royal Court of
Justice, dekat sini ekoran penyiaran gambar dan berita berunsur fitnah
yang mengaitkan beliau dengan pergerakan al-Qaeda.

Ustaz Hadi diwakili oleh Adam Tudor dari firma Carter Ruck di London.
Firma Carter Ruck adalah firma yang paling terulung di dalam
mengendalikan kes-kes fitnah.


Ustaz Hadi yang turut berada di Mahkamah Tinggi ketika mana ucapan minta
maaf tersebut dibuat ditemani oleh Mohamed Hanipa Maidin, Pengerusi
Lajnah Guaman dan Undang-Undang PAS Pusat dan Dr Dzulkifli Ahmad,
Pengarah Pusat Penyelidikan PAS Pusat.


Pada 1 May 2007 yang lalu akhbar the Daily Mirror telah menerbitkan
gambar Ustaz Hadi sebagai sebahagian daripada siri artikel mereka
berkaitan rancangan untuk melancarkan serangan pengganas di United
Kingdom termasuk untuk mengebom Pusat membeli belah Bluewater di Kent.


Gambar Ustaz Hadi muncul di akhbar tersebut dengan tajuk "AL-QAEDA - Abdul
Hadi" dan dinyatakan bahawa beliau adalah pemimpin nombor tiga al-Qaeda
dan sedang ditahan di Guantanamo Bay.


Hasil daripada penerbitan berita fitnah tersebut Ustaz Hadi melalui
Lajnah Guaman dan Undangâ€"Undang PAS Pusat telah mendapatkan khidmat
guaman melalui firma guaman Carter Ruck di London.


Hasil daripada tuntutan yang dibuat oleh peguam Ustaz Hadi, akhbar Daily
Mirror telah bersetuju untuk meminta maaf dan menerbitkannya di akhbar
tersebut.


Daily Mirror juga bersetuju membayar pampasan berjumlah RM500,000 kepada
Ustaz Abdul Hadi dan membayar semua kos guaman.


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Siasatan BPR langsung tak munasabah, saya pula diugut!

Pada hari ini tiga orang pegawai dari Badan Pencegah Rasuah mengunjungi
pejabat saya buat kali kedua dalam tiga minggu berikutan siasatan mereka
terhadap rakaman video yang telah saya siarkan kepada awam pada 19
September 2007.


Saya menghargai kerjasama BPR yang berterusan tetapi saya ingin menegaskan
kegusaran saya bahawa kerajaan menggunakan BPR untuk melambatkan siasatan
sebenar dan mengalihkan perhatian orang ramai dari isu-isu penting
berkaitan salahlaku kehakiman yang ditimbulkan oleh video tersebut.


BPR merakam sebuah kenyataan lanjutan dari saya hari ini. Saya memaklumkan
kepada mereka bahawa klip video 14 minit yang asal bersama dengan sumber
yang membawanya kepada saya. Saya memberikan mereka jaminan saya bahawa
saya akan membekalkan salinan sebenar yang mana mereka boleh menentukan
kesahihan klip video tersebut pada Khamis 25 Oktober.

Namun selepas habis mengambil kenyataan serta mendapat jaminan saya,
pegawai BPR menerima arahan untuk mengarah saya menyerahkan klip asal
rakaman video tersebut, termasuk segmen 6 minit yang belum dikeluarkan
kepada orang ramai, pada atau sebelum Khamis.

Arahan ini dikeluarkan meskipun saya sudah memaklumkan bahawa salinan asal
ada dengan sumber. Kegagalan memenuhi arahan ini mungkin akan berakhir
dengan pendakwaan.
Adalah langsung tidak munasabah bahawa BPR terus menumpukan perhatian
mereka terhadap kesahihan video tersebut sedangkan VK Lingam, Ahmad
Fairuz, Vincent Tan dan Tengku Adnan yang disebut di dalamnya masih belum
disiasat atau memberi kenyataan awam menafikan perbualan di dalam video
tersebut.


Justeru, saya menyeru BPR untuk memenuhi matlamat mereka untuk membanteras
rasuah dan menyiasat salahlaku pegawai awam dan bukan sekadar siasatan
terhadap pendedah rasuah.


Saya juga amat prihatin dengan kebajikan individu atau individu-individu
yang telah meminta saya membawa video ini ke perhatian umum. Permintaan
kami untuk jaminan terhadap keselamatan peribadi mereka dan perlindungan
dari tindakan undang-undang masih lagi belum dijawab. Ini merupakan
persoalan yang mesti dijawab sebelum kami mengeluarkan baki rakaman video
tersebut.


Penubuhan sebuah Suruhanjaya DiRaja yang bebas untuk menyiasat tuduhan
serius rasuah di dalam video ini terus mendapat sokongan Majlis Peguam
Malaysia, parti-parti politik dari pembangkang dan juga di dalam
kerajaan, serta badan-badan bukan kerajaan. Saya hanya ingin mengulangi
desakan saya agar langkah-langkah ini diambil agar siasatan ini dapat
disempurnakan segera.


Rombongan BPR tersebut diketuai Tuan Sazali bin Salbi, Ketua Cawangan
Tindakan Khas merangkap Timbalan Pesuruhjaya BPR Putrajaya.


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Ramadhan Yang Berlalu, Apa Yang Kita Mahu Dan Apa Yang Kita Perolehi?

Segala puji bagi Allah, Tuhan sekalian alam. Aku bersaksi bahawa tiada
Tuhan yang disembah selain Allah yang Esa, tiada sekutu bagiNya dan aku
bersaksi bahawa Nabi Muhammmad saw itu hamba dan pesuruhNya. Selawat
berserta salam buat Baginda saw yang memiliki akhlaq terpuji dan menjadi
ikutan selamanya berserta ahli keluarga Baginda. Juga sejahtera buat kita
semua dan orang-orang yang beramal soleh.

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem…

Ramadhan kian tiba ke penghujungnya. Petang ini (Khamis, 11 Oktober 2007)
segerombolan pakar akan ‘menghendap kelahiran’ anak bulan Syawal.
Bermakna,
tidak esok, lusa kita akan menyambut Aidilfitri. Sekali lagi, Ramadhan
meninggalkan kita dengan pelbagai perasaan dan memori. Ada perasaan
gembira
dan ada perasaan duka. Ada memori manis dan ada memori lara. Pemergian
Ramadhan memang ditangisi. Tetapi ketibaan Syawal tetap dirai.

Moleknya di penghujung bulan yang mulia ini, marilah kita muhasabahkan apa
yang telah kita perolehi dalam hampir tempoh 30 hari melalui. Namun
sebenarnya, apa yang kita cari dengan kehadiran Ramadhan ini? Apa yang
kita
mahu? Sesetengah ada yang mencari keredhaan Allah. Dengan amalan
bersesuaian, insyaAllah itulah yang akan diperolehi. Namun masih ada lagi
yang mencari lebih dari itu.

Ada yang menjadikan Ramadhan ini sebagai medan menurunkan berat badan. Ada
juga yang menjadikan Ramadhan ini sebagai lubuk mengumpulkan kebendaan.
Biar apa pun hasrat dan keinginan, marilah kita muhasabahkan. Berjayakah
kita? Berapa banyakkah berat yang diturunkan? Berapa banyakkah harta yang
ditumpukkan. Gagal atau berjaya? Namun sesungguhnya, segala ibadah itu
mesti hanya diniatkan untuk Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala.

Semua ini mengingatkan saya kepada teman saya yang menyertai jemaah
tabligh
untuk keluar selama 40 hari. Katanya, dia berharap pulang dari 40 hari
itu,
dia dapat membuang ketagihan merokoknya. 40 hari berlalu dan kepulangannya
saya nantikan dengan deretan cerita yang menarik, yang biasanya menjadi
ole-ole dari mereka yang berpergian sepertinya. Tetapi ternyata ianya
tidak
sebegitu.

Katanya, tidak banyak yang menarik untuk diceritakan. Dia juga tidak dapat
banyak beribadah sebaliknya lebih banyak tidur. Dan lebih menarik lagi,
ketagihan rokoknya masih belum mampu dihindarkan. Saya juga turut merasai
kehampaan yang dirasakan olehnya. Namun dia tersedar akan kesilapan yang
telah dilakukannya. Dia menentukan hasil yang dia mahukan dari amalannya.
Matlamatnya sudah becabang, bukan bulat hanya untuk Allah.

Mungkin dengan itu Allah menentukan tiada apa bahagian untuknya. Tiada
kenikmatan ibadah yang biasa diperolehi oleh orang lain. Dan tiada juga
kejayaan meninggalkan ketagihan tembakau. Saya hanya mendengar dengan
teliti. Banyak juga yang saya perolehi dengan cerita yang sedikit ini.
Rumusannya cuma satu. Segala amalan mesti diniatkan hanya untuk Allah.
Kemudian perolehannya, biarlah Dia yang tentukan segalanya.

Begitulah Ramadhan ini. Ramai sebenarnya yang terlepas apa yang diinginkan
tanpa disedari. Sedih juga apabila melalui bazaar Ramadhan dan mendapati
masih ramai yang sibuk berjual-beli sedangkan azan Maghrib sudah
berkumandang. Malah ada juga yang meninggalkan tarawikh demi menghabiskan
barangan jualan. Jika beginilah caranya Ramadhan dilalui… Apakah nikmat
Ramadhan mampu dirasai.

Tahun ini merupakan tahun kedua saya gagal menikmati Ramadhan seperti yang
saya harapkan. Tidak. Matlamat saya bukan untuk menurunkan berat badan.
Bukan juga untuk mengumpul duit raya. Matlamat saya mudah. Saya mahu
memanfaatkan bulan ini dengan ibadah. Saya mahu penuhi malam dengan
amalan-amalan soleh dan mengkhatamkan bacaan al-Quran dalam tempoh 30 hari
ini.

Tetapi apa yang saya dapati? Al-Quran yang saya baca tidak sampaipun juzuk
yang kesepuluh. Tarawikh? Kalaulah tarawikh itu ibarat pagar dan puasa
saya
ibarat sebidang kebun, nescaya kebun itu telah musnah dilanggar makhluk
perosak. Begitulah rompongnya solat tarawikh yang saya kerjakan di setiap
malam Ramadhan. Itu amalan yang paling asas. Amalan tambahan lain jangan
terlintas di fikiran.

Apa amalan yang kerap saya perbuat di bulan ini hanyalah pembaziran.
Membazir ketika membeli juadah berbuka puasa. Membazir ketika berbelanja
untuk persiapan keluarga. Membazir, membazir dan terus membazirkan. Dan
kebetulan, di bulan ini Allah kurniakan saya dengan rezeki yang lebih dari
biasa. Apa lagi, belanja sakanlah saya untuk baju-baju anak-anak dan
isteri
saya.

Sehingga pada suatu masa, ketika saya sedang minum di sebuah kedai bersama
teman-teman, seorang teman lama datang menemui saya. Tanpa banyak bunga
bahasa, teman saya itu bercerita tentang masalah yang sedang dilaluinya.
Rupanya salah seorang anaknya menghidap menyakit leukemia. Dia kemudiannya
menghulurkan surat daripada doktor yang mengesahkan apa yang
diceritakannya
adalah benar.

Saya terkedu. Lebih pilu, apabila membaca sepucuk surat dari Hospital
Universiti yang bertajuk ‘amaran terakhir’ atas kegagalan teman saya
untuk
menyelesaikan bil perubatan anaknya. Saya kenal teman saya ini. Kerjanya
hanya sekadar pemotong rumput. Bil sebanyak RM860 itu terlalu tinggi
baginya. Ah… Inilah negara yang cemerlang, gemilang dan terbilang.
Pemimpin
bersenang lenang, rakyat marhaen digilis hutang hingga kecundang…

InsyaAllah saya akan menulis sebuah artikel berasingan berkenaan anak itu.
Tetapi apa yang saya ceritakan di sini ialah naluri kebapaan yang wujud
dalam diri. Saya melihat wajah comel anaknya yang baru berusia 7 tahun
itu.
Doktor menjangkakan hanya ada tempoh tiga tahun sahaja untuk dia
meneruskan
hidup. Selepas teman saya itu beredar, saya termenung dengan menung yang
cukup panjang. Bagaimana jika anak saya ditimpa bencana yang sama?

Saya masih ingat ketika di bangku sekolah dahulu. Dalam bab puasa, antara
soalan kegemaran ustaz saya ialah faedah disyariatkan berpuasa. Dan antara
jawapan skema yang akan diberikan ialah supaya kita dapat merasakan
kepayahan orang yang kurang keberadaannya. Supaya kita boleh merasa
susahnya orang miskin melalui hari dengan lapar dan dahaga. Tetapi…
tercapaikah matlamat itu?

Benar, ketika berpuasa sememangnya kita merasakan keperihan menahan lapar
dan dahaga di siang hari. Tetapi di malam hari, sebaik terlaungnya azan
Maghrib, kita ‘qadha’ semula waktu makan yang telah kita tinggalkan di
siang hari. Malahan berbuka puasa menjadi satu pesta pula masa kini.
Dapatkah kita merasakan kesusahan mereka sedangkan mereka masih terus
menahan lapar dan dahaga sehingga keesokan harinya???

Begitu juga dengan persiapan hari raya. Berbelanja sakan, borong segala
yang ada di kedai semata-mata dengan alasan, hari raya setahun sekali.
Sedangkan si miskin ini hendak membeli pakaian setahun pun tidak sekali.
Tercapaikah matlamat pesyariatan puasa? Dari segi apakah kita dakwa diri
kita mampu berkongsi perasaan dengan mereka sedangkan yang kita rasakan
hanya keseronokan untuk menikmati hari raya?

Saya cuba mengimbas kembali Ramadhan yang saya lalui. Berapa banyakkah
sedekah yang telah saya hulurkan… Ya Allah! Malunya aku! Rasanya sehelai
baju anak saya jauh lebih tinggi nilainya dari sedekah yang telah saya
hulurkan. Dan baju anak saya bukan sehelai tetapi berhelai-helai. Jika
beginilah pendekatan saya, sahlah saya seorang yang gagal ketika berpuasa.
Nyata roh Ramadhan gagal menyerap ke dalam hati dan jiwa saya…

“Wahai Ramadhan… Kau akan berlalu lagi. Pergimu kali ini entah kita
akan
bertemu lagi. Namun biar datang pergimu berulangkali, aku masih di sini.
Masih menagih kasih duniawi. Aku alpa dan lupa dengan sifat Rahim
Penciptamu. Sehingga aku lupa mengasihi saudaraku yang kesusahan ketika
sedang aku bersamamu. Sedangkan itu antara tujuan kau diutuskan kepadaku.
Ramadhan… Semoga bertemu lagi. Semoga pertemuan yang mendatang nanti
tidak
aku bazirkan seperti pertemuan di kali ini. Semoga ketika itu aku bukan
lagi orang yang hanya mementingkan diriku sendiri…”

Akhirul qalam, saya, Abu Naqibah dan mewakili isteri saya, Ummu Naqibah
berserta anak-anak kami, Nurul Naqibah Izzati dan Nurul Nazhurah Izzati
ikhlas menyusun sepuluh jari memohon ampun dan maaf atas kesilapan dan
kekurangan kami selama ini. Semoga kedatangan Syawal ini mengundang sejuta
keceriaan dan kegembiraan buat kita semua. Dan semoga amalan kita di
sepanjang Ramadhan akan diterima olehNya, insyaAllah…

Sekian buat kali ini. Segala yang baik datang dari Allah dan yang tidak
baik adalah akibat kelalaian saya sendiri.

Wabillahitaufiq walhidayah.

Wassalamualaikum warahmatullah…

-Abu Naqibah-


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[Mkini] School's Malay attire directive frowned upon

School's Malay attire directive frowned upon
Yoges Palaniappan
Oct 19, 07 4:32pm


A secondary school in Rembau, Negeri Sembilan has directed all non-
Muslim students in the school to wear traditional Malay costume for
an award ceremony next month.

New Straits Times reported yesterday that Sekolah Menengah Dato Sedia
Raja has wanted the Form Five students to wear the attire for
uniformity.

However, parents of several Indian students saw red over the
requirement. They have submitted letters to the state education
director, protesting the requirement.

Copies of the letter, made available to Malaysiakini stated that the
parents are against the requirement because they have their own
beliefs and customs.

"We have our own traditional clothes that can be worn for that
particular day. We are afraid that the school's requirement will do
away with the cultures of other races. We hope the school will be
more sensitive in this matter," read the letter.

The parents also urged the school to respect the Rukun Negara,
especially the first and fifth principles where all Malaysians are
urged to believe in God and to uphold morality and courtesy.


S Tinagaran, who runs a tuition centre in Rembau, has taken the
initiative to convince the parents to submit their letters to the
state education department.

"I got to know about this when a student asked me where he could find
a pair of baju Melayu and songkok. Soon, I found out that some 14
Indian students who received excellent marks in their final term
examinations were told to wear Malay costumes for uniformity," said
Tinagaran when contacted.

'Parents fear retribution'

"I then tried persuading the parents to take action. They were
unhappy but many of them were afraid because their children will be
sitting for their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination this year," he
added.

Tinagaran said that this is not the first time the school has come up
with such a requirement.

"Last year, non-Muslim Red Crescent Society members were told to wear
tudung (headgear for female Muslims) for the school's sports day
march. And I was told by the students that this is an ongoing
practice in the school," said Tinagaran.

Tinagaran added that he was called for a meeting by the school
principal Azimah Alis yesterday. The meeting, which lasted for more
than two hours, was also attended by state education director and
school parent-teacher association (PIBG) chairperson.

"The principal washed her hands off the issue. She claimed she has no
idea of what was happening. They also wanted me to call the press, to
withdraw my statement," he said, adding that the PIBG also wants to
meet with the Indian students and their parents next week.

School principal Azimah Alis was not available to comment on the matter.

In a separate development, Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) has
submitted a letter to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi protesting
the school's directive yesterday.

A copy of the letter, made available to Malaysiakini, stated that the
school's requirement for non-Muslim students to wear Islamic attire
reflects extremism and violates the fundamental rights of students.

'Bold and arrogant lead'

"In March last year, we issued a statement strongly condemning your
directive to non-Muslim female personnel in the police force to
adhere to then IGP compelling them to wear headscarfs at official
functions," read the letter.

"We then voiced our fear that your irresponsible directive would be
followed by other government departments to impose Islamic values on
non-Muslims and it has now turned out that SMK Dato Sedia Raja has
taken the bold and arrogant lead to compel non-Muslim students to
wear Malay costumes in the name of uniformity."

Meanwhile Gerakan vice-president Dr S Vijayaratnam, in a press
statement, said that the party objected to the school's move.

"It should be a matter of personal choice. As long as they wear
standard school uniform, it has to be acceptable," said Vijayaratnam.

"Incidents like this are contrary to the government's policy to make
national schools the school of choice for all Malaysians."


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Perjalanan Seorang Sahabat

Assalamu 'Alaykum,

Mesej SMS terakhir yang dikeluarkan dari Pokok Sena berbunyi: "Dimaklumkan
bahawa jenazah Shahrol selamat disemadikan di Langgar, Kedah pada jam
11.10 malam. Jenazah sampai di kampung @ Pokok Sena pada jam 8.30 malam."

Mesej ini disampaikan kepada mereka yang menanti makluman terkini mengenai
perjalanan terakhir sdr Shahrol Nizam Yusoff dari Kuala Lumpur ke Pokok
Sena.

Beliau meninggal dunia akibat "coronary heart failure" sebagaimana yang
disahkan oleh HUKM pada pagi Isnin, 22 Oktober 2007 bersamaan 10 Syawal
1428 Hijrah.

Shahrol Nizam Yusoff meninggal dunia di kediaman beliau (Unit B1-08, Kondo
Chancellor, Taman Kosas, Ampang) selepas Salat Subuh. Jenazah beliau
kemudiannya dibawa polis ke HUKM untuk dibedah-siasat.

Beliau pergi meninggalkan seorang balu yang sedang sarat mengandung dan
tiga orang anak perempuan yang masih kecil. Beliau berusia 31 tahun.
Difahamkan bahawa isteri beliau dijangka melahirkan seorang anak lelaki
pada bulan November 2007. Malah menurut jiran di rumah ibu bapa beliau di
Pokok Sena, Shahrol Nizam telahpun menamakan anak lelaki beliau yang masih
belum lahir itu.

Bekas pelajar Maktab Melayu Kuala Kangsar (1989-1993), beliau kemudiannya
menyambung pengajian di Lancaster University, England di bawah biasiswa
PETRONAS. Selepas lulus pengajian, beliau terus berkhidmat di PETRONAS di
dalam pelbagai kapasiti. Jawatan beliau yang terakhir ialah sebagai
Pengurus di Bahagian Perancangan dan Pembangunan Korporat di mana beliau
diamanahkan sebagai wakil PETRONAS di Unit Perancang Ekonomi, Jabatan
Perdana Menteri, sejak November 2005.

Berita kematian beliau disebarkan di laman maya PETRONAS Intranet dan
beberapa blog yang diusahakan oleh sahabat-sahabat beliau ketika di MCKK.

Emel dari seorang sahabat karib beliau kepada khalayak bekas pelajar MCKK
pada pagi Isnin tersebut berbunyi seperti berikut (Blog KNizam Artwerk):

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Dear friends

Our beloved friend, Sdr Shahrol Nizam Yusoff (Class of 93) has passed away
this morning at 6 at him home in Ampang. I am still in Vietnam and have
been calling but his neighbour confirmed the news, the jenazah will be
taken to Pokok Sena this afternoon.

Maybe those who want the information can try to contact Dr Azlan Majid
(Class of 94) or Syahril Nizam Jumaili (Class of 93) - you would have
their no's, to find out the arrangement.

Allahyarham is the closest I have to a brother in koleq and the last time
I met him was one week before Raya, when we and a few close friends from
koleq had a potluck bukak puasa at my place. His family is still young
with 3 kids - most of us are still trying to make sense of this.

I should be back by this petang so I should get more details - please feel
free to call by then.

Al-fatihah.

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Beliau memang seorang yang bercita-cita tinggi. Selain pembabitan beliau
yang serius di dalam usaha pembinaan peribadi dan kepimpinan generasi
muda (leadership training), beliau mengambil perhatian serius terhadap
pergolakan politik tanahair dan negeri Kedah.

Malah di dalam kesempitan waktu yang ada, beliau masih meluangkan masa
membantu guru-guru di sekolah di mana isterinya mengajar. Di atas
sumbangan beliau itulah, maka sekumpulan tiga orang guru-guru dari
sekolah tersebut mengiringi jenazah beliau dalam perjalanan sejauh lebih
500 kilometer ke pusara beliau di Kampung Terong Asam, Mukim Langgar,
Kedah.

Sebagaimana beliau begitu rela membantu orang lain di dalam kesempitan,
begitulah sahabat-sahabat beliau mengembalikan bantuan dan kasih sayang
tersebut di dalam urusan penyempurnaan jenazah beliau di Surau
al-Mustaqimah, Taman Jaya, Bandar Tun Razak sebelum bertolak ke Pokok
Sena pada jam 2 petang.

Kita mungkin kehilangan seorang sahabat yang setia dan sedia menolong,
seorang pekerja yang berdedikasi dan komited, tetapi keluarganya
kehilangan seorang anak yang baik dan taat, seorang suami yang penyayang
dan seorang ayah yang sentiasa menginginkan yang terbaik buat
anak-anaknya ~ sama ada yang sedang membesar mahupun yang bakal lahir.

"Semoga ALlah SWT mengampunkan segala dosa-dosa dan menempatkan
ALlahyarham ke dalam golongan orang-orang yang saleh."
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Friday, October 19, 2007

Nazri: King must act on PM's advice

Nazri: King must act on PM's advice
By V. Anbalagananba@nst.com.my
New Straits Times, 17 Oct 2007

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong has to act on the advice of the prime
minister on extending the tenure of the chief justice, Tun Ahmad
Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, who is due to retire at the end of the
month, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said.

The minister in the Prime Minister's Department said the king, as a
constitutional monarch, was bound by the prime minister's advice in
the appointment and promotion of judicial officers.

"This includes whether to extend by six months the tenure of the
chief justice after he attains the compulsory retirement age of 66,"
he said

Nazri said he was merely clarifying the position of the king as
provided in the Federal Constitution on the question of whether Ahmad
Fairuz's term would be extended or a new chief justice would be
appointed next month.

"Only the prime minister is in the capacity to know about it because
he does not delegate the matter to me."

Ahmad Fairuz, who has been chief justice since 2003, will turn 66 on
Nov 1, the compulsory retirement age for judges.

He applied to the king in July for a six-month extension but with two
more weeks to go before his retirement, Ahmad Fairuz has not received
an official letter to allow him to remain in office.

Meanwhile, the Conference of Rulers, which endorses the appointments
and promotions of judges, will meet for two days from Oct 31.

It is not immediately known whether the chief justice's position is
among the topics for discussion at the meeting.

Under the Constitution, the prime minister need not consult the
incumbent chief justice on who should fill the post when he forwards
a name to the Conference of Rulers.

By convention, the Court of Appeal president, the judiciary's number
two, will be elevated to the post.

The Court of Appeal president is Datuk Abdul Hamid Mohamed, 65, who
assumed the position on Sept 5.

On Oct 8, Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan called on the
authorities to fill the top position in the judiciary in view of
Ahmad Fairuz's retirement at the end of the month.

She said the appointment must be made immediately to avoid the post
of chief justice being left vacant for any length of time.

Editor's Note: It is believed that the Agong has not consented to
Fairuz's extension and refuses to sign the extension letter. That is
why Nazri has come out with this statement. This statement by Nazri
is meant to pressure the Agong to consent to the extension and to
sign the extension letter.


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Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Turkey fears Kurds, not Armenians

Turkey fears Kurds, not Armenians
By Spengler

Turkey's integration into the global economy was sealed last week by
a billion-dollar offer by the American private-equity firm KKR for a
local shipping company. Days later, Turkish troops shelled Kurdish
villages in northern Iraq and prepared an incursion against Kurdish
rebels, a measure that would undermine Turkey's economic standing.
Whether Turkey will fling away its new-found prosperity in a fit of
national pique is hard to forecast, but that has been the way of all
flesh. Europe plunged into World War I in 1914 at the peak of its
prosperity for similar reasons.

News accounts link Turkey's threat to invade northern Iraq with
outrage over a resolution before the US Congress recognizing that
Turkey committed genocide against its Armenian population in 1915.
American diplomats are in Ankara seeking to persuade the Turks to
stay on their side of the border. Why the Turks should take out their
rancour at the US on the Kurds might seem anomalous until we consider
that the issue of Armenian genocide has become a proxy for Turkey's
future disposition towards the Kurds. "We did not exterminate the
Armenians," Ankara says in effect, "and, by the way, we're going to
not exterminate the Kurds, too."

Nations have tragic flaws, just as do individuals. The task of the
tragedian is to show how catastrophic occurrences arise from hidden
faults rather than from random error. Turkish history is tragic: a
fatal flaw in the national character set loose the 1915 genocide
against the Armenians, as much as Macbeth's ambition forced him to
murder Banquo. Because the same flaw still torments the Turkish
nation, and the tragedy has a sequel in the person of the Kurds,
Turkey cannot face up to its century-old crime against the Armenians.

Shakespeare included the drunken Porter in Macbeth for comic relief;
in the present version, the cognate role is played by US President
George W Bush, who has begged Congress not to offend an important
ally by stating the truth about what happened 100 years ago. The
sorry spectacle of an American president begging Congress not to
affirm what the whole civilized world knows to be true underlines the
overall stupidity of US policy towards the Middle East. It is
particularly despicable for a Western nation to avert its eyes from a
Muslim genocide against a Christian population.

It offends reason to claim that the Turkish government's 1915
campaign to exterminate the Armenians was not a genocide. Documentary
evidence of a central plan is exhaustive, and available to anyone
with access to Wikipedia. It was not quite the same as Hitler's
genocide against the Jews, that is, the Turks did not propose to kill
every ethnic Armenian everywhere in the world, but only those in
Anatolia. But it was genocide, or the word has no meaning. To teach
Turkish schoolchildren that more Turks than Armenians died in a
"conflict" is a symptom of national hysteria. Hysteria, however, does
not occur spontaneously in countries with Turkey's record of national
success. One must dig for the root cause.

Turkey's tragedy is that the 11th Seljuk conquerors of the Anatolian
peninsula became masters of a majority Christian population, a cradle
of Greek culture for two millennia, in which the oldest and hardiest
ethnicity, the Armenians, held fast to the Christian religion they
adopted in 301 AD. Even after the forced conversion of Anatolia to
Islam, the Ottoman Turks comprised a minority. Turkey, so to speak,
was ill-born to begin with, and the Armenian genocide touches upon a
profound and well-justified insecurity in the Turkish national
character.

After the loss of the European part of its empire in the Balkans, in
the midst of World War I, the Ottoman Empire feared for its hold upon
Anatolia itself, and decided to settle the long-unfinished business
of conquest with a conscious act of genocide. But the Turks lacked
the resources to do so in the midst of war, and Turkey's military
leaders enlisted Kurdish tribes to do most of the actual killing in
return for Armenian land. That is why Kurds dominate eastern Turkey,
which used to be called, "Western Armenia". The Armenian genocide, in
short, gave rise to what today is Turkey's Kurdish problem.

Commentators close to the Bush administration allege that Democrats
in Congress are exploiting the Armenian issue in order to sabotage
America's war effort in Iraq. Ralph Peters writes in the October 14
New York Post, for example, "The Dems calculate that, without those
[US] flights and convoys [through Turkey], we won't be able to keep
our troops adequately supplied. Key intelligence and strike missions
would disappear. It's a brilliant ploy - the Dems get to stab our
troops in the back, but lay the blame off on the Turks."

I am shocked, shocked to learn that the Democratic Party is engaged
in politics. Col Peters, though, misses the big picture. With or
without the Armenian resolution, conflict had to erupt with Turkey.
Far more threatening to Turkey than the resolution on Armenian
genocide was the 75-23 vote in the US Senate last month in favor of
dividing Iraq into Sunni, Shi'ite, and Kurdish zones. Republicans as
well as Democrats supported this resolution, and with good reason. I
have advocated the breakup of the Mesopotamian monster named "Iraq"
for years, and do not think this step can long be withheld.

Kurdish nationhood will be the likely outcome of Iraq's breakup.
Ethnic Kurds comprise a full fifth of Turkey's population, and the
existence of a Kurdish nation will exercise a gravitational pull upon
Kurds in Turkey. Turkey fears with good reason for its national
integrity. If the American Congress accuses the Turkey of genocide
against the Armenians (as 22 countries already have), the Kurds will
have a stronger argument for autonomy - despite the fact that the
Kurds dominate eastern Turkey precisely because they slaughtered the
Armenians. The Kurds may not deserve nationhood, but "'Deserves' got
nothing to do with it," as Clint Eastwood's character offered in the
movie Unforgiven.

When the issue of Armenian genocide erupted, I immediately looked for
news about the Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel
Prize for Literature, and the only Turk with a global voice. Pamuk
reportedly spent his prize money on a Manhattan apartment, suggesting
that he has no plans to return to a homeland that threatened to jail
him for mentioning the Armenian massacres to a Swiss interviewer.
That speaks volumes about the Turkish frame of mind.

Pamuk's novel Snow comes as close to a national tragedy as Turkey is
likely to produce. Set in the eastern border city of Kars, it shows
how Islam is filling the hollow spaces in the secular Turkish society
created by Kemal Ataturk, the great modernizer who fashioned the post-
Ottoman state. Young women hang themselves in protest against the
proscription of Islamic garb, and young men turn to Islamist
terrorism. The decaying mansions of the murdered Armenians of Kars
look down upon the tragedy like a spectral chorus. In past essays I
have recommended Pamuk's work to anyone who seeks to understand
Turkey (The fallen bridge over the Bosporus, Oct 31, 2006; In defense
of Turkish cigarettes, Aug 24, 2006). To his own chagrin, Pamuk has
become the conscience of his nation, and a nation that exiles its
conscience becomes a danger to itself and others.

Iraq never has been viable as a national entity, not when the British
Colonial Office cobbled it together out of former Ottoman provinces
in 1921, nor when Saddam Hussein ruled it by terror, and surely not
under the present American occupation. As the US Senate has had the
belated wisdom to recognize, it will break up. The Ottoman Empire
never was viable - at its peak half of its population was Christian -
and its Anatolian rump, namely modern Turkey, may break up as well.
Iran, the mini-empire of the Persians who comprise only half the
population, may not hold together, nor may Syria, a witches' cauldron
of ethnicities ruled by the brutal hand of the Alawite minority.

America is not responsible for chaos in the Middle East. The Middle
East has known nothing but chaos for most of its history. The
colonial policy of the European powers after World War I left
inherently unstable structures in place that must, one day, meet
their reckoning. But America's obsession with the surgical implant of
democracy in the region forces it into a murderous game of whack-a-
mole with a welter of armed ethnicities.

How should American strategy respond to violent expressions of
existential despair by failing ethnicities? One approach was
suggested by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius on October 14:
"A starting point is [former Carter Administration National Security
Advisor] Zbigniew Brzezinski's new book, Second Chance, which argues
that America's best hope is to align itself with what he calls a
'global political awakening'. The former national security adviser
explains: 'In today's restless world, America needs to identify with
the quest for universal human dignity, a dignity that embodies both
freedom and democracy but also implies respect for cultural diversity.'"

I suppose Brzezinski means that America should avoid offending
Turkish dignity when speaking about the Armenians, and do the same
with the Armenians when speaking of the Turks. What makes the appeal
to "cultural diversity" preposterous is that the self-expression of
Seljuk Turk culture is the suppression of the Kurds, the self-
expression of Sunni identity is to suppress the Shi'ites, and so on
and so forth. Ethnic tantrums in response to perceived indignities
are amplified by a sense of failure in the modern world that cannot
be assuaged by American "respect".

Live and let die, I propose instead. For the past seven years I have
argued that the West cannot avoid perpetual conflict in the Middle
East, and, rather than seeking stability, should steer the
instability towards its own ends. Washington should forget about
Turkish support in Iraq, allow the Mesopotamian entity to
disintegrate into its constituent parts, while helping the Kurds
maintain autonomy against Iraq. That would teach the Turks to bite
the hand that feeds them. A pro-Western Kurdish state would
strengthen Washington's hand throughout region, with adumbrations in
Syria and Iran as well as Turkey.

One should, of course, take Turkish interests into account. To
restore its national dignity, Turkey should be encouraged to
incorporate the Turkish-speaking ("Azeri") minority of Iran, and so
forth. Turkey ultimately may concede territory to an independent
Kurdistan, but more than replace it by annexing portions of Western
Iran. One cannot accord respect to failing nationalities; one can
only let them fight it out. Breaking up Iraq will not foster
stability. On the contrary, it will make the old instabilities a
permanent feature of the regional landscape.

In the case of Iraq, the danger associated with partition stems from
Iran's influence among Iraqi Shi'ites. But Iran, as noted, is just as
vulnerable to ethnic disintegration as Iraq, and Washington should do
its best to encourage this. If, as I expect, the West employs force
against Iran's nuclear weapons development capacity, the ensuing
humiliation of the Tehran regime would provide an opportunity to undo
some of the dirty work of World War I-era cartographers. All this is
hypothetical, of course; the little men behind the desks in
Washington do not have the stomach for it.

(Copyright 2007 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)


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Practical Policies, Not Party Politics

Practical Policies, Not Party Politics


[In a recent private e-mail to me, a reader chastised me for being "NATO"
(No Action, Talk Only). He intimated that if I really loved Malaysia, I
should come home and contest the elections. As many readers share his
sentiment of me, I post my reply to him. His original letter, in the
usual rojak style of Malay liberally interspersed with English, follows.]


Dear Johan:

Thank you for taking your valuable time in sharing your thoughts with me.
My retort to your "NATO" (No Action, Talk Only) accusation is simply this:
Been there, done that! However, such a tart response would not do
justice to a diligent reader like you who has, by your own admission,
bought all my books!
As for my returning home, I served Malaysia on my own accord (no
scholarship or other contractual bonds) for nearly three years way back
when. It was at a time when my presence (at least initially) doubled the
number of Malay surgeons in the country! Although I was proud of my
achievements during my brief tenure there, I soon discovered that I would
have fewer headaches if I were to stop banging my head against the
bureaucratic wall. So I left.
I have returned many times since. On each trip, instead of bringing
trinkets for my nieces and nephews, I brought boxes of books to donate to
my village school library. On one occasion, the principal proudly
displayed to me the mound of books that I had donated over the years.
She proudly drew my attention to the fact it was significantly bigger
than a similar gift from the World Bank!
On another occasion, I discussed with the biology teacher of a residential
school about donating a video microscope. He was ecstatic as his school
had been requesting that for over four years and had been denied by the
ministry. No funds! – the chronic lament, or more correctly, excuse from
our civil servants! Out of interest I inquired about the cost and was
flabbergasted to discover that it was ten times more expensive than what
I could have bought it! I suggested that the school use me as a
purchasing agent to buy directly in America and thus effect considerable
savings. Not possible, as the ministry's policy is that all procurements
must be through a particular company. Needless to say, this company was
owned by a member of the royal family active in UMNO. That confirmed
what I had long suspected: the massive Ministry of Education exists not
for the children's education but as a source of lucrative contracts for
UMNO cronies.
Since Abdullah Badawi came into power, I had been warned from the highest
level of the police force not to return. The warning came not as a
threat but simply a message conveyed by someone from within the force
concerned about my personal safety. Just to add substance to that
threat, my friends in Malaysia have told me that the Special Branch had
interviewed them! Fortunately thus far, it has just been an interview.
I have told them that I would not forgive myself if their friendship or
association with me were to bring grief to them. Consequently I advised
them to say whatever they want of me if that would get the authorities to
back off.
I have been called many names, but stupid is not one of them. Nor would I
take stupid risks.
As you may have found out from my earlier books and essays, I was equally
severe in my criticisms of Abdullah's predecessor. Yet at no time was I
concerned about my personal safety even during the height of the 1997
economic crisis when Mahathir faced his most daunting challenges. It is
indeed ironic (and reflects the insecurity and the hoax of piety of an
Imam of Islam Hadhari) that Abdullah feels threatened by my commentaries.
He and his sycophants have nothing to worry from me if, to paraphrase
you, I were only a village champion out for glory.
My writing is the only way I know for me to continue my effort or jihad,
if you would like to put it that way. As long as Malaysians and others
like you are reading what I write, I will continue doing so. If nothing
else I would have done my part in increasing the Malay contributions to
the published world. That would be a satisfying enough accomplishment
for me, and certainly more than what many could claim.
As an aside, I do have a day (and on many occasions, night time too!) job
here that is both personally and professionally very rewarding. As such
I can afford to contribute my royalties to a Malaysian charity.
As for my joining UMNO or any political party and contesting the elections
as you suggested, we Malays must disabuse ourselves of the silly notion
that the only way to contribute is through politics. I do not blame you
for suggesting that, for some of our brightest Malays feel the same way
as you do. And they end up wasting their precious talent.
One of my classmates in secondary school once headed a thriving and (at
the time) the biggest medical clinic in Malaysia. I was so excited at
his prospects that I thought of giving up my practice here in America to
join him. He had the potential of creating a Malaysian Mayo Clinic.
Alas, my friend, anticipating your advice, caught the political bug. He
ended up nowhere politically. He did however reach the state "Exco"
level and get his Datukship. To some, those are achievements enough. As
for his once promising clinic, it is now a shamble.
I now look askance at another young Malay, a brilliant entrepreneurial
lawyer who successfully created the largest law firm in Malaysia, all
before his 50th birthday! That is a solid accomplishment by any
standard! However, he too got caught up politically. The last time I
read about him, he was found guilty by UMNO on some trumped-up charges of
"money politics!" At least he could be comforted that it was not some
framed-up sordid sex scandal!
Nonetheless he fought hard to reclaim his good name, but to no avail.
Knowing the caliber, character and reputation of its senior operators, to
be ostracized by UMNO would be a singular badge of honor. When criminals
become judges, virtuous deeds get criminalized. Remember, even former
Prime Minister Tun Mahathir could not get voted in as a lowly UMNO
delegate. That was a blemish not on him but on UMNO.
Creating the largest medical clinic or legal firm would have been a
singular achievement. Imagine the reflected racial glory! Such an
endeavor would take smart work, extraordinary diligence, and more than
just good luck. I am therefore not surprised that many Malays opted for
the easy path out, like wildly brandishing their krises or endlessly
exhorting "Ketuanan Melayu!"
I am interested in policies that work, not in party politics for personal
glory. Under the present circumstances, my returning to Malaysia would
only risk my personal safety, and I have no desire to be a martyr.
Perhaps you could pay a visit to Koumintang Camp some day to see what I
mean. If you do, especially during this time of Ramadan, please bring
something for those poor souls incarcerated without trial.
Please note that as many of my readers share your sentiments of me, I
have taken the liberty of "Bcc'ing" my response to you as well as your
e-mail among my Internet chat groups, as well as posting it on my blog.

Sallam,

M. Bakri Musa


Johan's original e-mail (with my translation):

NO ACTION TALK ONLY. Syabas Encik Bakri, saya mendapati banyak tulisan
awak sangat bernas and menyegarkan [Congratulations, Mr. Bakri! I found
your writings spirited and refreshing]. I even bought all your books.
Tetapi lama kelamaan, saya mendapati awak menulis hanya semata-mata untuk
menunjukkan yang awak ni pandai atau mungkin semata-mata mencari glamour.
Kalau betul-betul awak ni sangat cintakan Malaysia mengapa awak tidak
balik saja dan bertanding dalam pilihanraya. Awak ni macam hero kampong,
berkokok seluruh kampong tapi tidak ada hasil. [On further reflection, I
believe that you write merely to show off how clever you are, or perhaps
you are seeking glory. If you really love Malaysia, why not return and
contest the elections? You are like a village hero, crowing loudly put
producing nothing.]
Ya, awak mesti fikir saya ni orang suruhan UMNO kan. [Yes, you may think
I am an UMNO hack.] But sorry to disappoint you, I'm not even a
Malaysian.
Sekurang-kurangnya Pak Lah dengan segala kekurangan dia cuma untok
melakukan sesuatu untok Malaysia. [At least Pak Lah with all his
deficiencies is doing something for Malaysia.] But you, berkokoklah
kuat-kuat [continue with your loud crowing]. But remember to clap your
wings even harder.


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PESAN UNTUK AKTIVIS ISLAM - JANGAN LEKA DENGAN JAMUAN EID FITRI YANG BERLEBIHAN

Rencana
2 Syawal 1428H / 14 hb Oktober 2007


Berlalu sudah Ramadhan 1428H. Ia tidak berulang
melainkan Ramadhan 1429H pula.Apakah kita sudah siap
mengguna kekuatan yang telah diterap ketika bersiyam
untuk melancarkan perjuangan lebih ampuh , lebih
bertenaga dan lebih bertenaga ?.Sesungguhnya inilah
tanda aras yang memberi ukuran apakah kita telah
sukses atau kecundang dalam Ramadhan kali ini.

Kita perlu segera menegaskan syahadah dan beriltizam
dengannya seperti yang dilafazkan pada malam Syawal
sehingga solat Eid Fitri. Menutup Ramadhan dengan
penegasan ketauhidan adalah mengingatkan akan besarnya
makna dan amanah yang terbeban ke atas bahu kita untuk
menghadapi bulan selanjutnya.Sesungguhnya yang Maha
Agung dan yang Maha Besar adalah Allah S.W.T
semata-mata. Kita ulangi memuji dan menyatakan
kesucianNya pada setiap waktu. Kita menegaskan tiada
pengabdian kepada yang lain melain semata-mata kepada
Allah S.W.T dengan keikhlasan yang setulusnya dalam
berpegang kepada Dinullah.Walaupun dimusuhi dan
dibenci atau ditentang golongan kafirin , munafiqin
maupun mushrikin. Lalu dengan kesatuan dan pertolongan
Allah kita menghadapi tentera musuh Allah dengan penuh
azam dan sikap tegas tanpa kompromi.

Berbekalkan semboyan ini kita memasukki ujian yang
bakal lebih getir kerana bulan berikutnya adalah ujian
dari gabungan seluruh musuh Allah bergabung dan
bermakar tanpa henti.

Sementara kehangatan sambutan Eid akan terus terasa
dengan acara-acara jamuan dan tidak kurang juga
hiburan yang berlanjutan , kami khuatir maksud sebenar
kita melafazkan takbir Syawal ini akhirnya turut
pudar. Maka akibatnya kita akan berlumuran kelekaan
dan kealpaan sepanjang 11 bulan seterusnya. Acara
jamuan demi jamuan hari raya jangan melupakan kita
bahawa masa berjalan dengan pantas. Walaupun tradisi
rumah terbuka ingin dikekalkan akan tetapi janganlah
hendaknya keghairahan untuk hal ini melebihi yang
perlu. Kami menjangkakan jadual jamuan hariraya akan
memenuhi takwin bulan ini seolah-olah gerakerja kita
yang lebih penting terpaksa ditangguh.

Demikian kita akan menyaksikan ahli politik ,
pemimpin-pemimpin kerajaan dipelbagai peringkat
(Kementerian , Jabatan , agensi), persatuan-persatuan
, ahli artis , institusi pendidikan , tokoh-tokoh
masyarakat akan kejar-mengejar waktu untuk menganjur
dan memenuhi undangan jamuan hari raya. Soalnya apakah
kita sudah tidak ada acara lain yang lebih penting
untuk melihat persoalan umat Islam yang sangat gawat
di seluruh dunia.

Bagi pejuang Islam kami mengingatkan segera mengatur
gerakerja yang berstrategik. Barisan jamaah yang sedia
ada perlu segera diperkemaskan untuk menghadapi
pelbagai makar golongan anti Islam. Seluruh sumber
yang ada harus digembleng untuk memastikan tidak ada
yang dibazirkan.Kita harus ingat betapa musuh Islam
menunggu saat-saat strategik ketika aktivis Islam leka
dengan acara-acara santai mereka.Berpada-padalah dalam
menganjur aktiviti yang kurang produktif dari segi
menyelesaikan masalah dan memberi impak sebenar kepada
umat.

Tidak wajar kita turut tenggelam dan hanyut
dalam rutin aktiviti menganjur jamuan padahal ada prioriti
lain yang lebih memerlukan fokus. Bukankah tiga hari
sebelum 1 Syawal ( tanpa diberi perhatian oleh
sesiapapun , termasuk pemimpin OIC ) berita 250 orang
Islam awam terbunuh oleh serangan tentara boneka
Amerika dibawah kepimpinan Presiden Pakistan , Jeneral
Parvez Musharraf. Mana mungkin kita terus leka
berjamuan ke sana-sini sedangkan umat Islam dibunuh ,
ditindas , diusir keluar dari kediaman mereka.

Kita boleh hanya mengikut rentak tradisi yang tidak
produktif untuk memajukan Islam. Kita tidak boleh leka
dengan acara-acara menyaingi orang lain hanya kerana
kita mahu dilihat turut setaraf dengan orang lain.

Semangat Syawal adalah semangat berhadapan dengan bala
tentera musuh Allah. Ruh Syawal sebenarnya adalah ruh
menyusun barisan perjuangan yang lebih siapsiaga.
Lantaran itu wajar sekali pejuang Islam bingkas segera
dari sikap bertangguh dan menunda kerja. Umat Islam
mendambakan kesungguhan dari setiap pejuang Islam.
Umat Islam memerlukan ransangan yang lebih bertenaga
dari pejuang Islam.

Kami menyeru supaya Eid ini bukan rutin berjamu selera
yang tidak henti-henti. Saatnya kita keluar dari
sindrom bertradisi yang tidak cukup memberi kesan
kepada menyelesaikan masalah umat.

Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid
Presiden TERAS

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[Mkini] Zam to media: No need to tell PM the truth

Zam to media: No need to tell PM the truth
Ng Ling Fong & Andrew Ong
Oct 12, 07 3:13pm


Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin has told editors not to play up
negative news because Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's pledge
to "hear the truth" does not apply to the media.

Zainuddin said this during a one-hour meeting on Wednesday at the RTM
headquarters in Kuala Lumpur with the country’s top editors.

The country's information czar is one of two top government officials
to hold meetings with the media top brass this week.

Yesterday, chief secretary to the government Mohd Sidek Hassan in
another meeting urged media organisations to avoid emphasising on
news deemed negative against the government, such as the 2006 Auditor-
General’s report.

According to sources, Zainuddin began the meeting by declaring that
he would frequently meet editors to advise them about national issues.

However, he stressed that he would only "advise and not give warnings".


The information minister claimed that he assumed the new role under
the instructions of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Zainuddin then explained that Abdullah's often repeated pledges of
"listening to the truth" were only restricted to government officials
and Barisan Nasional leaders so as to assist the cabinet in making
decisions.

Based on the account by a well-placed source, Zainuddin said
Abdullah's pledge did not mean that the media have the green light to
practice unrestrained reporting because certain topics were
considered highly sensitive.

Zainuddin added that the cabinet often scrutinises media reports and
have noticed that at times, Abdullah’s statements have been
misconstrued. However, the minister did not elaborate on this.

The information minister also ticked off two television stations,
warning them to stay away from reporting with a racial slant as this
could trigger another ‘May 13' riots.

No live Umno telecast

Zainuddin blamed negative media reports on the public’s loss of
confidence in the police and urged the media to be fair to the force
because they have successfully investigated many criminal cases.

He then trained his sights on opposition parties for raising many
controversial issues. The information minister said that if the
government had to answer to all the issues raised, it would be seen
as playing to the opposition's tune.

On bloggers, Zainuddin told the media professionals not resort to
information provided in blogs.



"They (bloggers) are citizen journalists. If you use (materials from)
their blogs, then you are no longer a real journalist," he said.

On the Umno general assembly last year, Zainuddin said live telecasts
of the event was a "big mistake" and that debate sessions of future
assemblies would not be telecast live.

In a related development, Umno information chief Muhammad Muhammad
Taib in announcing that there would be no live telecast of the party
debate sessions, was quoted as saying by Sin Chew Daily today that
Malaysians are not ready to hear such frank debates.


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2007 Vatican Message to Muslims at End of Ramadhan

http://zenit.org/article-20618?l=english

VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 28, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is a text published today
by the Vatican of a message sent to Muslims by the president of the
Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. The message was sent on
the occasion of the end of Ramadan.

* * *

MESSAGE OF PRESIDENT OF PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE TO
MUSLIMS FOR THE END OF RAMADAN

Christians and Muslims:
called to promote a culture of peace

Dear Muslim Friends,

1. It gives me special pleasure to send you for the first time friendly
and warmest greetings from the Pontifical Council for Interreligious
Dialogue on the occasion of your joyful feast of 'Id al-Fitr, with which
the month-long fasting and prayer of Ramadan ends. This month is always
an important time for the Muslim community and gives to each individual
member a new strength for their personal, family and social existence. It
matters that all of us witness to our religious beliefs with a life
increasingly integrated and in conformity with the Creator's plan, a life
concerned with serving our brothers and sisters in ever increasing
solidarity and fraternity with members of other religions and all men of
good will, in the desire to work together for the common good.

2. In the troubled times we are passing through, religious believers have,
as servants of the Almighty, a duty above all to work in favour of peace,
by showing respect for the convictions of individuals and communities
everywhere through freedom of religious practice. Religious freedom,
which must not be reduced to mere freedom of worship, is one of the
essential aspects of freedom of conscience, which is the right of every
individual and a cornerstone of human rights. It takes into account the
requirement that a culture of peace and solidarity between men can be
built in which everybody can be firmly engaged in the construction of an
increasingly fraternal society, doing everything one can to reject,
denounce and refuse every recourse to violence which can never be
motivated by religion, since it wounds the very image of God in man. We
know that violence, especially terrorism which strikes blindly and claims
countless innocent victims, is incapable of
resolving conflicts and leads only to a deadly chain of destructive
hatred, to the detriment of mankind and of societies.

3. As religious believers, it's up to us all to be educators of peace, of
human rights, of a freedom which respects each person, but also to ensure
increasingly strong social bonds, because man must take care of his human
brothers and sisters without discrimination. No individual in the
national community should be excluded on the grounds of his or her race,
religion, or any other personal characteristic. Together, as members of
different religious traditions, we are called to spread a teaching which
honours all human creatures, a message of love between individuals and
peoples. We are particularly responsible for ensuring that our young
people, who will be in charge of tomorrow's world, are formed in this
spirit. It is above all the responsibility of families and then of those
involved in the educational world, and of civic and religious
authorities, all of whom have a duty to pay attention to the spread of a
just teaching. They must provide
everyone an education appropriate to his or her particular circumstances,
especially a civic education which invites each young person to respect
those around him or her, and to consider them as brothers and sisters
with whom he or she is daily called to live, not in indifference, but in
fraternal care. It is thus more urgent than ever to teach to the younger
generations, those fundamental human, moral and civic values which are
necessary to both personal and community life. All instances of
incivility must be made use of to remind the young of what is waiting for
them in social life. It is the common good of every society and of the
entire world which is at stake.

4. In this spirit, the pursuit and intensification of dialogue between
Christians and Muslims must be considered important, in both educational
and cultural dimensions. Thus all forces can be mobilised in the service
of mankind and humanity so that the younger generations do not become
cultural or religious blocs opposed to one another, but genuine brothers
and sisters in humanity. Dialogue is the tool which can help us to escape
from the endless spiral of conflict and multiple tensions which mark our
societies, so that all peoples can live in serenity and peace and with
mutual respect and harmony among their component groups.

To achieve this, I appeal to you with all my heart to heed my words, so
that, by means of encounters and exchanges, Christians and Muslims will
work together in mutual respect for peace and for a better future for all
people; it will provide an example for the young people of today to follow
and imitate. They will then have a renewed confidence in society and will
see the advantage in belonging and taking part in its transformation.
Education and example will also be a source of hope in the future for
them.

5. This is the ardent hope I share with you: that Christians and Muslims
continue to develop increasingly friendly and constructive relationships
in order to share their specific riches, and that they will pay
particular attention to the quality of the witness of their believers.

Dear Muslim Friends, once again I give you my warmest greetings on the
occasion of your festival and I ask the God of Peace and Mercy to give
you all, good health, serenity and prosperity.

Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran
President

Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata
Secretary


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Thursday, October 11, 2007

Insiden Batu Buruk: Suhakam kutuk polis guna peluru hidup!

Insiden Batu Buruk: Suhakam kutuk polis guna peluru hidup!
Oct 10, 07

KUALA LUMPUR, 10 Okt (Hrkh) - Hasil siasatan awal Suruhanjaya Hak Asasi
Manusia Malaysia (Suhakam) mendapati berlakunya keganasan polis
terhadap orang awam semasa perhimpunan di Batu Buruk, Kuala Terengganu
8 September lalu menjadi tidak terkawal sehingga berlakunya rusuhan.

Demikian antara kenyataan media yang dibacakan Suruhanjaya Suhakam, Dato'
N Siva Subramaniam pada sidang media di pejabat Suhakam petang
semalam.


Kenyataan itu dibuat hasil daripada perbincangan mesyuarat Suruhanjaya
Suhakam yang diadakan Isnin 8 Oktober lepas berhubung insiden
'berdarah' selepas polis cuba menyuraikan orang ramai yang menghadiri
ceramah yang sudah pun dibatalkan anjuran badan pemantau pilihan raya,
Bersih, iaitu gabungan badan bukan kerajaan (NGO) dan parti pembangkang,
kata Siva.


"Bukti yang ada menunjukkan polis gagal mengawal orang ramai dalam tempoh
masa yang cepat, memandangkan rusuhan itu berterusan dari jam 10 malam
hingga 2 pagi.


"Ianya mungkin kerana pihak polis dan anggota Unit Simpanan Persekutuan
(FRU) lebih bertindak bertahan dan tidak mengambil tindakan ofensif
ketika mengendalikan orang ramai," katanya.

Sewajarnya polis menggunakan budi bicara dan mengelak daripada menggunakan
senjata api sewaktu menyuraikan atau berhadapan dengan perhimpunan aman.


"Kita kutuk penggunaan peluru hidup oleh polis dan sepatutnya polis
menggunakan 'standard' antarabangsa dalam menghadapi perhimpunan aman,"
katanya merujuk garis panduan dalam laporan Suhakam mengenai siasatan
awam kejadian 'Bloody Sunday' di KLCC pada 2006.


"Kita percaya seorang insan itu perlu dihormati dan mempunyai hak untuk
hadir dalam perhimpunan aman," katanya menjelaskan tentang prinsip hak
asasi manusia yang sewajarnya dipatuhi oleh semua pihak.


Sepatutnya polis mengelak berlakunya kekerasan,kecederaan dan penggunaan
asakan fizikal tetapi sebaiknya menggunakan budi bicara serta
perbincangan dalam menghadapi perhimpunan aman, katanya.


Suhakam tidak boleh membuat Siasatan Awam
Dalam pada itu siasatan awal Suhakam tidak menemui sebarang bukti bahawa
pihak penganjur mahupun pihak polis telah merancang untuk melakukan
rusuhan pada malam tersebut.


Ketika ditanya wartawan, Siva berkata, siasatan awal itu gagal menentukan
punca sebenar berlakunya rusuhan tersebut tetapi menjelaskan secara
umum bahawa sesuatu yang dibenarkan tetapi dilarang menyebabkan perkara
tersebut terjadi.


"Pada pandangan saya bahawa jika dibenarkan perhimpunan aman perkara
seperti ini tidak akan berlaku," katanya yang memandang serius kejadian
Batu Buruk itu.


Siva bagaimanapun menjelaskan lagi bahawa Suhakam memutuskan tidak akan
mengadakan siasatan awam atas alasan perundangan walaupun maklumat
awal yang dikumpulkan dalam siasatan awal Suhakam mendapati terdapat
bukti keganasan polis dan pelanggaran hak asasi manusia sewaktu kejadian
tersebut.


Katanya Suhakam "tidak mempunyai kuasa" untuk menyiasat rusuhan tersebut
kerana ada kes mengenainya di mahkamah yang melibatkan seorang individu
yang hadir di perhimpunan itu, Khair Muzakkir Ali, 22, atas tuduhan
merosakkan harta benda awam dan gagal menunjukkan kad pengenalan diri
kepada polis sewaktu kejadian rusuhan tersebut.


Seksyen 12 Akta Suruhanjaya Hak Asasi Manusia 1999 melarang suruhanjaya
itu daripada menyiasat aduan pelanggaran hak asasi manusia apabila kes
berkaitan sedang dibicarakan di mahkamah, katanya.


"Jika undang-undang membenarkan, kita pasti menimbang (untuk mengadakan
siasatan awam)," katanya ketika ditanya jika suruhanjaya tersebut akan
mengadakan siasatan awam jika tiada lagi kes mengenainya didengar di
mahkamah.


Tembakan ke udara?
Walaupun begitu, Suhakam tetap akan mengadakan perbincangan dengan Ketua
Polis Negara, Tan Sri Musa Hassan mengenai cadangan suruhanjaya itu
berhubung langkah-langkah kawalan orang ramai dan pindaan kepada Akta
Polis 1997 mengenai pengeluaran permit untuk mengadakan perhimpunan awam.


Suhakam akan mengesyorkan supaya Sesyen 27 Akta Polis 1997 dipinda untuk
memboleh perhimpunan secara aman diadakan tanpa perlu mendapatkan
permit dalam pertemuannya dengan Musa nanti.


Siasatan awal Suhakam yang diketuai oleh Siva sendiri telah menemubual
sejumlah 43 individu yang terdiri daripada 13 "mangsa", 22 anggota
polis dan lapan pemimpin parti pembangkang termasuk menyaksikan rakaman
video antara 19 dan 20 September lalu.


Ditanya wartawan berhubung video insiden itu, Siva menjawab rakaman
tersebut telah dibekal oleh pihak Polis dan FRU memandang penganjur
mendakwa semua kamera dan video di pihaknya telah dirampas oleh polis
sebelum ini.


"Kita juga telah menyoal Konstabel yang menembak. Katanya dia melepaskan
tembakan ke udara."


"Dan kita juga menemubual mangsa tembakan peluru hidup itu dan menyatakan
bahawa dia ditembak daripada belakang," kata Siva yang menjawab soalan
wartawan sambil menunjukkan gambar mangsa dan FRU yang tercedera kepada
media namun tidak dapat menjelaskan secara terperinci dan membuat
sebarang kesimpulan memandangkan Suhakam tidak dapat melakukan siasatan
awam seperti yang dinyatakan sebelum ini.


Siva juga menegaskan bahawa Suhakam tidak menyokong sebarang perhimpunan
awam yang tidak diadakan secara aman, dan suruhanjaya itu
mengklasifikasikan kejadian di Batu Buruk itu sebagai satu rusuhan,
berdasarkan kepada bukti-bukti yang diperolehi.


Dalam insiden tersebut, tujuh orang dilaporkan cedera termasuk empat
anggota polis dan dua orang awam yang terkena tembakan seorang anggota
polis.- mks.

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Peraturan gila Kem Tahanan Kamunting di pagi raya

Detikdaily

Peraturan gila Kem Tahanan Kamunting di pagi raya
October 10 2007

Anak-anak dan isteri dihalang daripada bersalam-salaman, juga ditegah
daripada membawa juadah istimewa raya. Mereka dihadang tabir pemisah, ada
lapisan kaca yang membungkus keangkuhan sang penguasa!
Masya-Allah, sudahlah keluarga zalim ini diazab sebegitu rupa, untuk
berkumpul di hari raya secara penuh kasih sayang pun tidak dibenarkan.
Hoiii, kerja gila apa ini?

Oleh Ahmad Lutfi Othman

MENJELANG Aidilfitri ini, apa sebenarnya yang bermain-main dalam fikiran
anda? Mungkin terkenangkan anggota keluarga terdekat yang telah
meninggalkan kita buat selamanya, atau khusyuk melayari perasaan tika
saat-saat indah menyambut raya di zaman kanak-kanak dahulu, atau masih
sibuk berteka-teki dengan tarikh pilihan raya umum ke-12?


Kesyahduan merangkul segala ingatan dan memori syahdu itu seringkali
membuatkan air mata mengalir deras di pagi 1 Syawal, bersama lafaz takbir
di awal subuh.


Terbayang wajah kudus mak ayah yang sudah pergi, keluarga terdekat yang
turut mengiringi mereka ke alam baqa, juga nasib saudara seakidah di
seluruh ceruk rantau dunia yang dijajah semula, tidak lupa mangsa
kezaliman dalam negara yang terus dipasung pemerintah.

Gali pelbagai khazanah
Aidilfitri yang merupakan hari kemenangan, merayakan perit jerih melawan
nafsu selepas menggali pelbagai khazanah tak ternilai pada madrasah
Ramadan, sepatutnya menyuntik keinsafan terhadap nasib duka keluarga
mangsa kezaliman itu.


Mereka mungkin tidak pernah merayu untuk dikasihani, namun naluri
kemanusiaan, apatah lagi ikatan ukhuwwah sesama Muslim, seharusnya
mengalirkan rasa keprihatinan yang tinggi untuk turut membantu apa yang
terdaya.


Ya, tidak ramai yang dapat mengingati nama-nama tahanan ISA yang disumbat
di Kem Tahanan Kamunting. Benar, tiada lagi "nama-nama besar" yang
dihumban ke penjuru gelap lagi menyiksakan itu. Biarpun mereka terus
membilang hari menanti saat dibebaskan, rupanya di dunia bebas ini,
mangsa kezaliman itu jarang diingati lagi, sedangkan tempoh penahanan
hampir melewati genap enam tahun.


Pada hari-hari biasa nasib mereka, terutama keluarga yang ditinggalkan,
kurang diendahkan masyarakat, malah ramai tidak menyedari kehadiran
golongan yang teraniaya ini. Memang ada sekelompok kecil, misalnya
melalui GMI, terus menjalankan aktiviti, menziarahi dan bertanya khabar,
namun kesedaran masih belum meluas, bukan sahaja untuk melobi dan
mendesak ISA dikuburkan, tetapi usaha menyantuni mangsa akta zalim ini
begitu terbatas.


Harakah sendiri kerap alpa. Sekadar melaporkan satu dua perkembangan,
bantahan dan demonstrasi, kemudiannya hilang tanpa susulan mantap. Kami
cuba membaiki kelemahan berkenaan sekali gus mempertingkatkan azam untuk
mengangkat laporan berita yang jarang didedahkan akhbar-akhbar utama.


Gagal menyentuh rasa

Malah ramai menganggap perjuangan memansuhkan ISA seperti lagu lama yang
dimainkan kembali dengan tempo usang, tidak seperti lagu-lagu raya yang
evergreen itu. Ia gagal menyentuh rasa, menghiris simpati, apatah lagi
untuk mendorong publik bangkit menyatakan sikap, mengetuk ego sang
penguasa yang mati hati dan perasaan itu.


Apa pun, pedulikan segala "kelemahan dan ketempangan" itu, kita bukan mahu
bicarakan "isu-isu politikal yang memeningkan". Dalam suasana Aidilfitri,
yang mahu dijentik ialah naluri kemanusiaan "yang biasa-biasa saja".


Tulisan pendek ini hanya mahu menarik perhatian anda terhadap keluarga
tahanan ISA, merenung nasib malang yang bertimpa-timpa itu, dan paling
penting, apa yang boleh kita lakukan untuk meringankan bebanan, selain
membuatkan mereka terasa masih ramai insan yang bukan saja bersimpati
malah turut resah dan terganggu tidurnya dengan kisah-kisah pilu mereka.


Bayangkan ... dan cuba hitungkan hari-hari yang mereka
dizalimi-ditinggalkan; kini hampir melangkaui 6 tahun, berapa hari ya?
Nah, sudah lebih 2,100 hari. Kasih yang diragut pergi secara tiba-tiba,
atas rasa prasangka yang tebal, tanpa bukti, hanya dengan daleh palsu,
untuk buktikan kita juga serius memerangi keganasan seperti Amerika.


Namun bagi pemerintah (lebih tepat lagi Menteri Keselamatan Dalam Negeri,
yang juga Perdana Menteri) yang kering hatinya, kelam jiwa perasaannya,
dangkal dan tumpul rasa simpatinya, sejumlah 2,100 hari yang disesiakan
dalam tahanan itu langsung tidak memberi sebarang erti. Penganiayaan dan
kezaliman adalah lumrah bagi golongan yang hanya mementingkan survival
kuasa.


Menatap wajah anak-anak yang ditinggalkan ini cukup menusuk jiwa walaupun
mereka nampak riang-ria seperti kanak-kanak lain. Masakan mereka mahu
bermuram-durja selamanya. Bersama ibu, kehidupan mesti diteruskan, tanpa
ayah di sisi. Segalanya harus diusahakan sendiri, dan bagi keluarga yang
tidak mempunyai saudara-mara, mungkin kerana mereka merupakan perantau di
sini, ia makin menyukarkan.


Lebih pedih dan memilukan apabila mengenangkan, meskipun anak-anak ini
dapat menziarahi ayah di Kamunting, pertemuan itu cukup menyedihkan. Di
pagi Syawal, selepas bersusah-payah menaiki bas dari Kuala Lumpur
misalnya, mereka langsung tidak boleh menyentuh orang yang dirindui sejak
lama.


Anak-anak dan isteri dihalang daripada bersalam-salaman, juga ditegah
daripada membawa juadah istimewa raya. Mereka dihadang tabir pemisah, ada
lapisan kaca yang membungkus keangkuhan sang penguasa!


Masya-Allah, sudahlah keluarga zalim ini diazab sebegitu rupa, untuk
berkumpul di hari raya secara penuh kasih sayang pun tidak dibenarkan.
Hoiii, kerja gila apa ini? Tak terfikir dek akal waras bagaimana
peraturan celaka yang dihasilkan oleh fikiran jahat-jijik itu
dikuat-kuasakan.


Apa ertinya hari raya jika keluarga daif meninggalkan kampung halaman
sehingga tak sempat solat Aid datang mendapatkan suami atau ayah,
sedangkan pertemuan itu mahu dikosongkan makna dan ertinya?


"Sepatutnya kami ke Kamunting raya pertama, tapi anak-anak bagitau saya,
tak payahlah ibu, kita pergi raya kedua saja," kata seorang isteri
tahanan ISA yang saya temui petang semalam, di Hulu Langat, ketika
membawa sedikit sumbangan. "Budak-budak mahu raya di sini dulu, dapat
juga solat Aidilfitri dan merasai nikmat pagi raya di rumah sendiri.
Kalau pergi Kamunting pada pagi 1 Syawal pun bukannya dapat bersalaman
dengan ayah mereka."


Mesej bodoh-hodoh Dollah

Hei Dollah (siapa lagi kalau bukan Perdana Menteri kita)! Mana perginya
sentuhan kemanusiaan kamu? Apa maknanya senyum ceriamu menyambut isteri
baru dan kelahiran cucu tersayang? Yah, apa yang mahu kamu tunjukkan
daripada peraturan gila-tak-masuk-akal ini? Belum cukupkah mesej
bodoh-hodoh yang kamu titipkan selama ini?


Sepatutnya segala peraturan dipermudahkan terutama di hari mulia ini.


Kalau boleh, bukan saja biarkan mereka beramah-mesra melepaskan
rindu-dendam, malah biarkan mereka bermalam bersama supaya dapat
bercerita sepuas-puasnya, makan-minum seenaknya dan pihak Kem menyediakan
juadah lazat untuk dinikmati bersama. Seeloknya keluarga disediakan
penginapan khas pada malam raya lagi, takbir tahmid beriringan dan
anak-anak serta isteri dapat mengucup tangan ketua keluarga di keheningan
subuh.


Tentu ada yang menyifatkan khayalan saya itu juga tak-masuk-akal.
Biarkanlah, sesekali kita pun mahu berfantasi, tapi ... bukankah semua
tahanan belum dibuktikan bersalah, dikurung hanya atas syak-wasangka?
Sememangnya Dollah Badawi tidak pernah memikirkan bagaimana peritnya
kehidupan keluarga yang dimangsakan.


Lalu, persetankan soal institusi kekeluargaan yang mahu diruntuhkan dan
konsep modal insan yang sering dilafaz tanpa makna itu apabila pendidikan
anak-anak terabai, dan masa isteri lebih tertumpu untuk membanting tulang
mencari sesuap nasi. Jangan salahkan anak-anak ini jika jiwa mereka
diasak amarah dan dendam berpanjangan.


Boleh saja saya terus mengusik emosi anda, tapi saya tak mahu membazirkan
masa. Terus terang saya mahu maklumkan bahawa tujuan saya menulis catatan
ini hanya satu, biarpun secara terburu-buru, yakni hanya mahu memujuk anda
untuk menyumbang buat mereka yang dizalimi pemerintah itu. Silakan hantar
sumbangan anda kepada HARAKAHDAILY DOT COM, nombor akaun Maybank
564070000336.


Terima kasih banyak. Salam Aidilfitri, mohon maaf atas segala kesalahan
dan kealpaan.

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Umno Lembah Pantai ugut tarik lembu jika undang Anwar Ibrahim

-----
Umno Lembah Pantai ugut tarik lembu jika undang Anwar Ibrahim
Oct 08, 07

KUALA LUMPUR, 8 Okt (Hrkh)-Biarpun Ramadan disifatkan sebagai bulan suci
terutama masa terbaik untuk umat Islam berlumba-lumba 'menanam saham
akhirat' serta melipat gandakan amal ibadat dan sedekah jariah namun Umno
terus dengan tradisi dangkal dan angkuhnya menggugut rakyat daripada
mendapat ilmu dan maklumat yang sebenar.

Terkini, Umno Lembah Pantai telah menggugut surau tertentu untuk 'menarik'
kembali lembu sempena Aidilfitri ke tempat lain jika mengundang Penasihat
Keadilan Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim menyampaikan tazkirah.


"Ahli Parlimen Lembah Pantai yang mempamerkan dirinya sebagai tokoh wanita
liberal dan demokratik mengugut jawatankuasa surau menarik balik undangan
kepada saya menyampaikan tazkirah," kata Anwar dalam blognya.


"Gerombolan Umno pun menyusul dan memberikan kata dua, lembu sempena
Aidilfitri akan diheret ke tempat lain seandainya tazkirah diteruskan.
Alhamdulillah jawatankuasa surau dan penduduk memilih tazkirah," katanya


Beliau mengucapkan terima kasih kepada jawatankuasa surau berkenaan dan
menganggap tindakan ugutan tersebut kerana Umno semakin gementar dengan
kepincangan negara dan pemimpin yang semakin terbongkar dan didedahkan
kepada pengetahuan umum.


Secara berseloroh sinis Anwar berkata:"Apa kata jika saya ke 10 surau
lainnya? Berkeliaranlah lembu di pekan Bangsar tanpa disembelih!"


"Gementar mereka, bersungguh-sungguh mempertahankan Lingam, tauke judi dan
sekutu. Biar saja masyarakat Melayu bingung dan jangan terdedah dengan
maklumat rasuah menteri dan hakim," katanya.
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WPI akan ulangi sejarah hitam zaman Tunku - Salahuddin

WPI akan ulangi sejarah hitam zaman Tunku - Salahuddin
October 8, 2007

PONTIAN: Ahli Parlimen Kubang Kerian, Salahuddin Ayub, berkata, tidak
mustahil sejarah hitam negara yang berlaku di zaman Tunku Abdul Rahman,
yang bertindak menyerahkan Singapura kepada Lee Kuan Yew, akan berulang
sekiranya kerajaan yang ada hari ini gagal mem¬bendung penguasaan
Singapura dalam Wilayah Pembangunan Iskandar (WPI).


"Kerajaan Abdullah mungkin akan mengambil langkah yang sarna dengan
menyerahkan WPI kepada Singapura apabila kuasa politik negara tersebut
begitu kuat di wilayah ini, lalu jalan mudah yang mungkin akan diambil
Kerajaan Malaysia ialah melepaskan wilayah ini kepada Singapura,"
katanya.


"Jika ini berlaku maka satu lagi sejarah hitam akan mewarnai negara kita
apabiJa satu lagi wilayah Malaysia terlepas ke tangan kuasa asing,"
katanya semasa berceramah di Parit Ismail, dekat sini.


Katanya, keghairahan pemimpin negara ini mengejar pembangunan tanpa
memikirkan terlebih dahulu kesan negatif yang bakal berlaku akan
memungkinkan satu lagi Wilayah negara ini terlepas kepada negara negara
asing.


"Jika ini ber1aku maka jelaslah ianya adalah natijah dari kelemahan
pemimpin-pemimpin negara ini mengurus tadbir negara," tegasnya.


Justeru, beliau yang juga Ketua Dewan Pemuda PAS menyeru rakyat negara
ini supaya memikirkan perkara ini sedalam-dalamnya "sebelum mimpi ngeri
ini berulang lagi maka rakyat perlu bertindak segera sebelum terlambat".


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MB Sedih Kelantan dinafi nikmati hasil gas

MB Sedih Kelantan dinafi nikmati hasil gas

KOTA BHARU, 3 OKT – Walaupun dianugerahkah dengan sumber galian gas yang
banyak dan Petronas berkemampuan untuk mendaratkannya di Kelantan,
Menteri Besar Kelantan, Tuan Guru DatoÂ' Hj Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat tetap
bersedih apabila hak itu dinafikan dengan mendaratkan gas tersebut di
Thailand.

"Saya sedih mengapa gas dari JDA di perairan Kelantan didaratkan di
Thailand. Tiada sebab langsung. Pendaratan di Thailand kalau dibuat juga
tidak berkat kerana harta kita dibawa ke tempat lain," katanya ketika
ditemui di pejabatnya.


Beliau berkata demikian ketika ditanya wartawan Mengenai Pembangunan
Ekonomi Wilayah Timur (ECER) yang dijangka dilancarkan Perdana Menteri
hujung bulan ini katanya.

Selain itu Tuan Guru juga bertegas yang beliau akan bertanding untuk kekal
di kerusi DUN selain bertindak mengetuai jentera pilihanraya PAS untuk PRU
ke-12 nanti.

"Saya sudah sebut akan bertanding. Dan suratkhabar pun sudah menyiarkan,"
katanya sambil tersenyum biar pun nampak keletihan akibat banyak program
yang dihadirinya.

Ditanya kemungkinan ditampilkan calon-calon baru mewakili parti itu
katanya, di semua kawasan yang PAS tidak menang lagi akan diletak calon
baru.


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"Kami buat untung pada bank tapi bank rompak kami" - Pekerja bank
Oct 09, 07

KUALA LUMPUR, 9 Okt (Hrkh) - Kira-kira 1000 pekerja bank di sekitar
bandaraya Kuala Lumpur yang terdiri dari ahli Kesatuan Kebangsaan Pekerja
Bank (NUBE) mengadakan piket di hadapan Menara Maybank bagi menuntut tiga
perkara daripada majikan mereka iaitu bonus, elaun sara hidup dan
kenaikan gaji 30 peratus.

Mereka mula memenuhi sepanjang jalan di depan Menara Maybank tepat jam
12.30 sebaik sahaja waktu rehat bermula menyebabkan berlaku kesesakan
tambahan pula dalam keadaan suasana ibu kota yang kelam kabut menjelang
Aidilfitri.


Piket selama sejam itu, turut mendapat sokongan penuh daripada Kongres
Kesatuan Sekerja Malaysia (MTUC).


Masing-masing pekerja bank dari seluruh bank di Kuala Lumpur memakai
lencana yang tertulis 'Bank Robs Our Bonus' serta mengikat kepala dengan
kain hitam.


Dengan memegang kain rentang dan poster sambil meniup wisel serta
membunyikan siren menyebabkan suasana di tengah hari itu menjadi gamat
dan bising di tambah pula hon dari kenderaan yang melalui depan mereka.


Tindakan mereka itu hanyalah satu untuk menyatakan ketidakpuasan hati
terhadap pihak majikan mereka yang mementingkan diri sendiri.


Sambil memegang poster 'kami buat untung pada bank tapi bank rompak
kami', 'bank hisap darah pekerja', dan 'Maybank CEO greedy robs our
bonus' mereka turut menyanyi lagu-lagu yang berunsurkan sindiran kepada
majikan mereka.


Setiausaha Agung NUBE J.Solomon yang ditemui di tempat piket berkata,
mereka mahu kenaikan gaji 30 peratus, kontrak bonus dua bulan kepada
kakitangan bank dikekalkan, dan kos sara hidup.


Beliau mempersoalkan, kakitangan bank yang bekerja di Sabah dan Sarawak
diberikan elaun sara hidup tetapi mereka di sini tidak diberikan elaun
tersebut.


"Kenaikan petrol dua tiga tahun lalu mengakibatkan kami berhutang banyak
kerana semua barang naik harga, dan pada masa yang sama kakitangan di
Sabah dan Sarawak mereka ada elaun sara hidup semenjak tahun 80-an,"
katanya.


Katanya, mereka ada kos sara hidup dari 12.5 peratus sehingga 22 peratus
sebaliknya kakitangan di Semenanjung langsung tidak dapat elaun tersebut.


"Kami minta dengan bank la, mengapa kami dianaktirikan!," tegas beliau.


Sehingga hari ini, Solomon berkata, majikan bersetuju untuk memberi
kenaikan gaji 30 peratus tetapi kontrak bonus yang ditetapkan sebanyak
dua bulan akan ditarik balik serta menegaskan elaun sara hidup tidak akan
diberi.


Katanya, syarat Persatuan Bank Komersial Malaysia (MCBA) yang mahu
menghapuskan bonus jika mahu kenaikan gaji disifatkan tidak
berperikemanusiaan kerana bank untung berbilion-bilion ringgit hasil
kerja keras kerani dan kakitangan bukan perkeranian yang sepatutnya
diberikan imbuhan bagi menghargai jasa mereka.


Seramai 30,000 kerani dan kakitangan bukan perkeranian di bank seluruh
negara yang hidup kesempitan berikutan gaji sekarang terlalu rendah dan
tidak sesuai dengan peningkatan kos sara hidup.


Solomon berkata, kerani dan kakitangan bukan perkeranian di sektor
perbankan adalah golongan yang menerima gaji terendah dengan gaji pokok
bermula RM662 hingga RM1.254 berbanding gaji Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif yang
dianggarkan antara RM1 juta hingga RM4 juta setahun.


Sementara itu, Presiden MTUC, Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud yang ditemui
bersama-sama para pekerja bank menyokong penuh apa yang dituntut oleh
NUBE memandangkan kos hidup yang melambung tinggi ekoran kenaikan harga
minyak.


"Apa yang dituntut oleh NUBE adalah sangat perlu kerana kos hidup
meningkat dari semasa ke semasa, pada tahun depan pula tol akan naik, ini
akan memberikan kesan sampingan kepada mereka yang bergaji rendah,"
katanya.


MTUC masih meneruskan tuntutannya iaitu gaji minima RM900 dan elaun sara
hidup sebanyak RM300 kepada seluruh pekerja swasta.


Katanya, bank mendapat keuntungan berbilion ringgit setiap tahun, tetapi
mereka yang bertungkus lumus mendapatkan keuntungan itu masih diberi gaji
yang rendah.


"Sepatutnya bank kena bagi gaji yang setimpal dengan keuntungan berlipat
ganda yang mereka memperolehi daripada pelaburan," katanya. - mns

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Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Oct 9, 2007
Strait Times Singapore

Iras gets tough on hawkers who cook the books
By Theresa Tan
THE taxman is getting tough on hawkers, many of whom have been caught
under-declaring their earnings.

More checks will be done on them, following an audit that uncovered a
variety of lapses ranging from poor record keeping to false claims for
'expenses' such as personal holidays.

The Assistant Commissioner of the Individual Income Tax Division, Mr
James Khor, told The Straits Times last night that the ongoing audit on
hawkers and others in the food and beverage (F&B) industry revealed
these 'common findings':


Under-declaring of incomes;

Claiming for personal expenses such as household bills, private
entertainment or even what family members spent on holidays;

Not keeping business records or having incomplete records; and

Reporting sales takings and claiming expenses based on estimates,
without proper documentation.
The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) did not give further
details, or reveal how many hawkers are involved in its audit. But a
Straits Times report in April had stated that over 50 players in the
food industry were being audited then.

At the time, a dozen hawkers and companies running food stalls had
already been hauled up for trying to evade income tax.

One of them was a hawker who made about $4 million over six years, but
declared only half that amount. The man was fined more than a million
dollars.

And last Friday, Looi San Cheng became the first hawker here to be put
behind bars for tax evasion.

Looi, who sold his famous Tip Top curry puffs from his Ang Mo Kio stall,
made $1.06 million over six years. But he declared profits of only
$2,800 between 2001 and last year.

The 63-year-old was jailed for two weeks and fined $196,000. Four other
charges against him were withdrawn after he paid another $291,000 to
compound them.

It is understood that more hawkers may be headed for the courts. Those
convicted of tax evasion have to pay a penalty equal to three times the
tax lost by Iras. They can also be jailed up to three years and fined up
to $10,000.

But it is not too late to come clean, said Iras.

Mr Khor urged taxpayers who have omitted certain incomes, or
over-claimed certain expenses in the past to own up. Taxpayers can call
6351-3481 or 6351-3090, or e-mail ksgoh@iras.gov.sg or
vivianseah@iras.gov.sg to make voluntary disclosures.

For hawkers who need help filing their returns, the Iras has come up
with a customised guide for taxpayers in the F&B industry.

In the next two months, it will be holding dialogues with various
hawkers and merchant associations.

Those who want to report malpractice can e-mail Iras at iid@iras.gov.sg

theresat@sph.com.sg

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Saturday, October 06, 2007

Nothing but a den of thieves

Nothing but a den of thieves
Raja Petra Kamarudin


On 2 September 1998, Anwar Ibrahim was sacked as Deputy Prime
Minister of Malaysia. On 20 September 1998, he was detained under the
Internal Security Act. And on 29 September 1998, he was charged with
four counts of abusing his power and five counts of sexual
misconduct; a total of nine charges.

In all, 52 witnesses were called to testify. The prosecution's
'deadliest' witness was an unknown chemist who went by the name of
Lim Kong Boon. Chemist Lim was to testify about the DNA testing he
did to 'prove' Anwar had committed acts of sexual misconduct. Chemist
Lim's testimony, however, was blown apart as was the very important
mattress that was carted in and out of court the entire duration of
the trial but was eventually never produced as evidence. Chemist Lim
could not confirm whether the 'evidence' was planted before or after
Anwar was arrested. The police further testified that the mattress
was not under lock and key and anyone could have access to the
mattress and plant the evidence later.

Realising that Anwar would now probably walk free, on 12 January 1999
the prosecution amended the charge whereby the phrase 'to deny sexual
misconduct and sodomy committed by you for the purpose of protecting
yourself from criminal action or proceedings' was deleted from the
charge. This now meant that the prosecution did not have to prove
Anwar had committed the alleged sexual offences. They only needed to
prove that allegations had been made against him even if the
allegations may be false or unproven. In other words, it no longer
mattered whether Anwar did or did not commit sodomy. They only needed
to prove that Anwar tried to hush up the allegation even if it may
have been false. And they also need not explain why Anwar would want
to hush up a false allegation. That part had now been deleted from
the charge.

To ensure that the now demolished 'evidence' of Anwar's sexual
misconduct would not jeopardise the prosecution's case, on 14 January
1999 the judge, Augustine Paul, ordered that all evidence that had
been adduced to prove or rebut the allegations of Anwar's sexual
misconduct and sodomy be expunged. In one swoop the evidence and
testimony were erased from the records. And with that Anwar was
assured of getting convicted but only by changing the rules many
times half-way through the game in favour of the prosecution.

On 14 April 1999, Anwar was found guilty on all charges and sentenced
to six years jail for each of the four charges of corruption. Then
they again put Anwar on trial to face the five sexual misconduct
charges where he again was found guilty and sentenced to another nine
years jail. We all know that they were never able to prove sexual
misconduct and the prosecution's star witness, Azizan Abu Bakar,
actually confessed while under oath that the sodomy act never took
place. That was the only 'evidence' they had, the sole testimony of
Azizan, and he swore that Anwar never sodomised him.

Another seldom-talked about case is that of Anwar's adopted brother,
Sukma, and his speechwriter, Dr Munawar, who were both sent to jail
for six months on charges that they allowed Anwar to sodomise them. A
Malay doctor who was called to testify said that he had examined
Sukma and found that he has never had anal intercourse. In fact,
because of the very peculiar medical ailment that Sukma suffers from,
it would have been impossible for anyone to have had anal intercourse
with him.

Nevertheless, Sukma spent six months in jail for 'allowing' Anwar to
sodomise him (as did Dr Munawar) while the expert witness, the Malay
doctor, 'disappeared' soon after that -- sent to a place where no one
will find him.

Now, all this happened almost ten years ago. What, you may ask, has
this got to do with today? Well, today, all these people who sent
Anwar to jail on trumped-up charges and rigged evidence are heading
the Royal Malaysian Police, Attorney-General's Chamber, Judiciary,
and so on. That's right, all these crooks, scoundrels, slime-balls
and scumbags are now in charge of dispensing justice. Today, the
Judiciary, the Attorney-General's Chambers, the Anti-Corruption
Agency, and the Royal Malaysian Police, are all partners-in-crime and
they serve the rapidly-expanding Chinese organised crime syndicate
that runs the nation-wide drugs, prostitution, illegal gambling and
loan-sharking rackets. The man 'on the other side' is of course BK
Tan, the man who helped the present IGP and AG obtain that most
damaging testimony against Anwar. Without BK Tan's help the IGP and
AG would not have been able to doctor the evidence against Anwar.

And today they are all partners in a most lucrative tax-free business
that reaps billions a month. I know what the government is now going
to say. These are all unfounded rumours and unproven allegations.
Anyone can say something without the evidence to prove what they are
saying. Sure, but when witnesses come forward to testify their lives
are put at risk. I know of at least four witnesses who testified
against the crime syndicates and helped prove the link between those
who walk in the corridors of power and the underworld who have been
exposed and now fear for their lives. I am holding onto their
Affidavits and have kept them in a safe place so that I can in time
reveal them. We will let those who walk in the corridors of power
sweat it out awhile longer before I expose these Affidavits. And if
anything happens to me they will be made public before you can finish
saying, "Gotcha!"

In the last report (see: Blow away the whistle-blower) we spoke about
how the family of a police officer named Nordin bin Ahmad was
kidnapped by the ACA. Nordin was then told to make his presence at
the ACA office if he wants his family released. What the ACA wanted
from Nordin was his case files so that they can find out the identity
of the whistle-blowers. The police wanted to know who the whistle-
blowers are and the ACA was helping them get it for them. Nordin and
his wife have since made police reports on the matter.

Yes, the ACA is very much a part of this organised crime syndicate
partnership together with those who walk in the corridors of power.
What's that I hear? Prove it? Sure, when we make allegations you
scream 'prove it'. But when we do prove it you use the Official
Secrets Act against us and send us to jail for a couple of years.
Remember Ezam Mohd Nor? He proved that Rafidah Aziz is corrupt. In
fact, Rafidah herself admitted that she was in the room when the
committee met to discuss her son-in-law's share application. She
never denied it. And the ACA report proved beyond any shadow of doubt
that she is guilty. But it was Ezam instead of Rafidah who was sent
to jail for two years.

And what about all those witnesses who have come forward to reveal
the links between the organised crime syndicate and those who walk in
the corridors of power? Two are being charged for slandering the IGP.
Another was locked up in the lockup. Another had his wife and
children kidnapped. And these are just the police officers mind you.
We are yet to even touch on the fate of those whistle-blowers who now
all have prices on their heads and will probably not be around to
celebrate Christmas.

This is what The Sun reported on 4 October 2007:

The panel investigating the authenticity of a video clip showing a
senior lawyer purportedly discussing the appointment of top judges
over the telephone today asked the person who recorded it to come
forward "for the sake of Malaysia".

"Somebody out there (has) the original video. Does he have the
responsibility (to come forward)? There may have been others who were
there (during the incident). Have they got the responsibility?"

"If you don't come, don't complain, because at the end of the day,
our report is based on the material made available to us," said panel
member Datuk Mahadev Shankar.

Dey! Mahadev! Malaysia Today has only one word in reply to your
suggestion. Porah! You want the whistle-blower to die or what? Bodoh
punya olang. Buat malu kaum awak sahaja.

Now, let's look at another news report from The Star of 3 October 2007:

Two police officers who allegedly tried to frame Inspector-General of
Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan by falsifying and tampering with witness
statements have been arrested. The two, a chief inspector and a lance
corporal, were arrested in Kuantan and Kluang yesterday. They are
both in their 40s.

ACA director-general Datuk Ahmad Said Hamdan said they allegedly
falsified the statements of seven witnesses as a basis to arrest
three people under the Emergency Ordinance 1969 by claiming that they
were members of a gaming syndicate. "As a result, the three were
arrested by police officers from the Kluang district police
headquarters on March 30," he said.

The three men were freed after investigations into their cases and
allegations arose of Musa ordering the three people to be freed after
receiving RM2mil. Ahmad Said said investigations showed that when the
three were detained, Musa had received information that they had been
framed.

He said Musa ordered CID officers from the intelligence and
operations division to conduct a thorough investigation into the
matter. ACA investigations later revealed that the IGP did not order
or issue any instruction to release the three, he added. "However,
the IGP said if there was any abuse of power or fabrication of
evidence, then they must be released," he said.

Ahmad Said added that CID investigations also revealed that the seven
who were detained denied ever giving statements to the Kluang police
about the involvement of the three people in a gaming syndicate. As a
result, the three were freed in April.

Yes, that is the fate of police officers who detain organised crime
bosses. They will end up in jail. And witnesses too will end up in
jail while whistle-blowers will get exposed and their lives would be
at risk. And members of the public who expose corrupt ministers or
government officers will also end up in jail on the charge of
releasing classified documents. And Malaysia Today's Editor, Raja
Petra Kamarudin, too faces the risk of being sent to jail for
releasing evidence that proves there is a link between the organised
crime syndicate and those who walk in the corridors of power. If that
is what I will be sent to jail for I will be most honoured to walk
into jail with my head held up high. Sure, send me to jail. But it
will not be for lying. It will be for revealing the truth backed with
letters and documents.

Yes, it is certainly alarming to know that the organised crime
syndicate, the Judiciary, the Attorney-General's Chambers, the Royal
Malaysian Police and the Anti-Corruption Agency have this unholy
alliance. But what is there to be surprised when there is such a
thing called honour amongst thieves? And is it not true that the
corridors of power is nothing but a den of thieves? And if Anwar
Ibrahim's trials as well as the Altantuya murder trial are still not
enough to satisfy you that there is something rotten in the corridors
of power, get a load of the following letters. And if the following
letters still do not convince you about who really walks in the
corridors of power, then you probably believe in the Tooth Fairy and
Santa Claus.

In the latest scam, those who walk in the corridors of power are
trying to secure the release of Goh Cheng Poh a.k.a. Tengku who is
now under restricted residence in Kelantan. Tengku, BK Tan's main
man, has filed an Affidavit citing mala fide and he wants his
detention to be declared illegal. And this is why the police officers
and witnesses have suffered kidnapping, detention, prosecution,
persecution, exposure to the public, etc. This is to intimidate them
and to get them to recant their stories implicating the crime bosses
and to say that the crime bosses are innocent, law-abiding citizens
and victims of a police fix-up just like what happened to Anwar, his
brother-in-law and speech-writer in 1998.

The police want to submit an Affidavit-in-Reply but the AG's Chambers
refuses to do so. Can you believe this? The AG's Chambers refuses to
challenge the Affidavit from Tengku. This means Tengku's Affidavit
will go uncontested and he will not only walk free but those who
arrested him together with those who testified against him will end
up in jail instead.

These three letters of 13 pages certainly makes interesting reading
indeed. I will not expand on what the letters say as they are self-
explanatory. If these letters still do not warrant the setting up of
a Royal Commission of Inquiry then I don't know what will. These
letters could support the setting up of ten Royal Commissions of
Inquiries. In fact, these letters prove that this government is no
longer qualified to stay in office and should resign immediately. If
I were Abdullah Ahmad Badawi I would do the noble thing: I would take
my gun and put it in my mouth and pull the trigger.


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