Why some Government Officers become corrupt

The policeman working hard to protect the rakyat is paid a meagre RM1500 and the PM spends RM6 Million in rental alone for himself, another RM4 Million by the deputy and multi million dollars by the others in power, is this what we call fair management, a government with the rakyat in mind, no...no..., we have a very corrupt government running on deficit yet spending free.... therefore the cause for corruption is the government itself and none other...

Why some Government Officers become corrupt

Sun 28 Dec 2008 22:11

Posted by James Ooi

Letter by R. Ganesh as published in Lim Kit Siang’s blog:

I was utterly shocked when I read today’s NST dated 2008/12/27, article entitled “ACA officers feel ‘demoralised’ over new salary scale”. In the article, it was stated that Grade 29 officers would be offered a basic salary of RM1,482.85 and RM3,246.48 when they reached the top of the scale. “The maximum year between the basic salary and top of the scale is 22 years while the yearly increase is only RM80.17.”

Police officers in the same grade receive a basic salary of RM1,423.50 with a maximum of RM3,282.77. However, the maximum number of years getting to the top is only 18 years with a yearly increment of RM103.29, the article said.

My question here is this, how do you expect an individual in power to refrain from being corrupted when he merely earns RM1500? Nowadays, one can barely survive with RM1500 if one has 3 or 4 mouths to feed at home.

After paying your housing loan, car loan, study loan, EPF, income tax, medicine and supplements, Astro bill, water bill, electric bill, insurances (health, car, home etc), education cost for your children, how does the government expect one to survive with RM1500?

Can you blame an officer if he becomes corrupt?

Those days, corruption meant satisfying your wants and desires illegally. In other words, buying your luxuries with illegally obtained money. But I think these days, people become corrupt merely to survive ie to make ends meet.

It is high time the government revise the salaries of government servants in Malaysia.
Malaysia is a super rich country blessed with abundant natural resources.

We are thousand times richer than Singapore with oil, palm oil, rubber, tin, iron ore, timber, natural gas, copper, bauxite, coal and even Gold!, and yet, Singapore is far more progressed, richer and first world status. Both countries also Merdeka around the same time.

Singapore has zero natural resources, so how can they be richer than us with a higher GDP than us? Even low level government servants there earn Singapore $4000 a month and you can buy loads of food for the family of four in the supermarket for one whole week for S$100.

Here, the same items in the supermarket, cost around RM400 a week to feed a family of four.

And yet, the government expects their officers to earn RM1500?

Bank Negara says direct-selling and enforcement of Direct Sales Act not its duty

If it is not the duty of BNM to monitor the activities of banks, who else is responsible?

Of late the action of BNM to approve late payment charges to credit card loans up to 1% or RM100.00 whichever is higher every month is a major setback on its responsibilities to protect the rakyat from scrupulous bankers who put profit above anything.

The rakyat is already suffering due to the recession and this charge is an extra burden to those who have credit balance and couldn't meet the monthly dateline or due date for payment.

Bankers are charging customers without mercy. Some of the loans are made before the approval and with a short notice the banks a charging customers this new rate.

We, the rakyat appeal to BNM to immediately reverse the late payment penalty to that practiced earlier.

NST Online reports :

ACCORDING to Bank Negara, the business of direct-selling and the enforcement of the Direct Sales Act 1993 does not fall under its purview.

"Hence, we are unable to comment on the protection of customers of the direct-selling companies," it said.

It added that for a payment by credit card, the card holder would need to authorise the issuer to make payment to the parties concerned.

To a question on why banks provided credit card machines for companies whose licences have been revoked, and as to when a consumer could revoke a credit card transaction, the central bank said: "Generally, the payment authorised by a card holder would be for purchase of goods or services from a merchant.

"As such, subject to the consent of the merchant after agreeing on another mode of payment or return of the goods or services by the card holder, the merchant and/or the card holder may inform the credit card issuer to reverse the credit card transaction.
"The agreement between a merchant and a credit card issuer may include provisions on chargeback in addressing any disputes from card holders. The credit card issuer could exercise the chargeback as provided under the agreement after notifying the merchant."

Freedom To Choose

Dr Hsu Dar Ren is a medical doctor and blogs on socio-economic issues; he believes that a fair and equitable society with good governance is the key to the future of this country.

Dec 14 – Friday morning on my way to work I heard a discussion on the radio about whether parents should be friends to their children. There were of course different opinions expressed; everything from how parents should be stricter to children getting more freedom.

The world is no longer what it was during the time my generation was growing up. Children today are influenced by their peers, the TV, movies and most recently the Internet.

The children of the present era enjoy greater freedom than what was given to my generation. They want to exercise greater freedom in their choice of friends as well as material things.

Any unreasonable restriction of choice and pressure would be resisted.

If a child grows up in such an environment and becomes an adult, would this adult be willing to subject himself to too much restriction?

The answer is no. The people of today know their rights better than at any other time in the history of mankind. They want to have a choice. They want to be able to exercise their right to choose.

They want to have the right to choose their spouses; the right to choose their houses; the right to vote for their representatives; the right to use either the toll road or other alternatives; the right to choose the schools for their children.

Society is moving rapidly from a hierarchy-based one to one that is being flattened, thanks to the rapid expansion of the middle-class - as well as the Internet revolution that is changing the perspective of this middle-class - all over the world.

With this expansion comes a realization that they are the masters of their own destiny. They would not want too much restriction.

Any restriction or compulsion will naturally meet with resistance.

Recently, the issue of the existence of vernacular schools has become a hot topic of discussion again after Mukhriz Mahathir raised it.

Even Professor Khoo Kay Kim expressed support for a single school system as reported in The Sun.

I disagree with both of them and issued a statement on this.

Firstly, I do not think that racial unity can be achieved by having all parents sending their children to national schools.

At the present moment, about 90 per cent of the Chinese send their children to vernacular Chinese primary schools. The rest 10per cent sends their children to national schools.

Do this 10per cent of Chinese Malaysian children mix well with their classmates from another ethnic group?

The answer, sadly, is no. Helen Ang, a Malaysiakini columnist, wrote in a well-argued piece " Di mana bumi ku pijak" this :

"He (Mukhriz) should visit the national schools during recess and see how pupils sit in their own racial groups while eating in the canteen. He should drop by after school hours and see the kids play within their own racial groups when waiting for the bus or to be fetched home. He should meet with the PTAs or read in the news, or in blogs how teachers in national schools bully and victimise Indian children.

Racism and religious supremacy is becoming endemic in national schools. Therefore putting all the kids under one roof will not solve what's in essence a problem of communal politics."

What she wrote is a common phenomenon in national schools. Polarisation will exist even if the government converts all schools into a single system.

The same phenomenon exists in national secondary schools as well as tertiary institutions. The same phenomenon exists in national service camps, too.

Secondly, as I have mentioned above, people today want to have freedom of choice. They are not like my generation.

Many of the decision making leaders of the government are from my generation and these leaders must understand that people now want to have a choice - and education is a field where they want to have the freedom to choose for their children.

Looking at history, vernacular schools actually faced the problem of being phased out in the Sixties, not because of any forced closure, but because more and more parents at that time were sending their children to English medium schools, where job prospects and upward mobility were seen to be better.

Vernacular schools got its life back again thanks to the conversion of all English medium schools to Malay national schools in the late 60s.

Parents, after the conversion, began sending their children to vernacular schools as they shunned national schools, no thanks to the perception that the conversion of English schools was seen as a forced integration of the school system.

Anything forced upon people would naturally meet with resistance.

The rest is, of course, history. Vernacular Chinese schools, after being given a second life, lifted their quality and produced better quality students, so much so that about 60,000 of their students now are from other races, including Malays and Indians.

The lesson here is integration must be allowed to evolve naturally and slowly. People must be willing to mix, and cannot be forced to mix. People must be given the freedom to choose; any force or compulsion will meet with the opposite result.

So, let us not hurry the process of integration of schools. In fact, choice begets competition and competition begets excellence.

Excellence and upward mobility will ultimately be what attracts a parent to make the choice of which school or stream to send their children.

In fact, we should allow English schools to make a comeback and let there be more choices for parents.

The existence of different streams has nothing to do with polarisation of race, which arises from race politics practised by too many politicians in Malaysia.

Until and unless we do away with the race issue, polarisation will always exist no matter how much compulsion is used to force integration.

GREATNESS OF HINDUISM

You know the Latin Catholic will not enter to Syrian catholic church, these two will not enter to the Marthoma church, these three will not enter to penthacost church, these four will not enter to Salvation army church, these five will not enter to 7th day Adventist church, these six will not enter to orthodox church, these seven will not enter to Jacobite church, ?.....

Like this there are 1?

The American attacks the Muslim land of Iraq and is fully supported by all the Muslim countries surrounding Iraq ! One Allah, One Quran, One Nabi (Prophet)?...!

What a Great unity !!!!!!

For Hindus 1280 plus plus books, 10,000 plus plus commentaries, more than one zillion sub commentaries for these foundation books, 330 million demi gods, variety of aacharias, thousands of Rishies, hundreds of languages,?..still .... .....

Everyone goes to the SAME TEMPLE ?

Unity is for Hindus who never QUARRRELED each other for the last ten thousand years in the name of Religion.

Your choice: Hinduism_The UNIQUE in the world.

Footnote:This is the unique testimony of Hindu tolerance and acceptance of varied form of worship of God by individuals and acceptance of their divergent viewpoint of God and his form of worship.

WAYTHA MOORTHY AT THE HOUSE OF LORDS

WAYTHA MOORTHY AT THE HOUSE OF LORDS

The Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF), which have been banned by the Malaysian government recently had been extended an invitation by the House of Lords on 8 December 2008 to address and present their case on their plight of Malaysian Indians who claim have been marginalised by the present BN government in every field.

Waytha Moorthy, who is now in self-exile in Britain addressed and answered questions on the issues raised.

Another embarrassing situation for Malaysia from the International world.

pictures courtesy of Makkal Sakti

Outlawed Hindraf Displaced Penan Jointly Won Human Rights Award

Read more : Hindraf, Penan

An outlawed NGOs and the Penans in Ulu Barawa of Sarawak were jointly awardes Suaram’s Human Rights Award 2008 on Tuesday.

The Star said:

According to the judges, Hindraf had “captivated, mobilised and empowered vast numbers of Malaysians of Indian ethnic origin to struggle against very powerful interests and forces” in a short space of time”

The national daily added Suaram said Hindraf’s success could perhaps be seen “in the fear it has caused in the eyes of the Government, to the extent it detained five of its leaders under the ISA and outlawed the organisation.”

On the Penan - The judges said the Penans had been defending their traditional lands from encroachment since the early 1980s.

“They faced threats, killings, rapes, disappearances and hardship in their daily survival, and have struggled against very powerful forces.”

Suaram executive director Yap Swee Seng told reporters it was no surprise Malaysia fell from 124 place in 2007 to 132 place this year out of 195 countries in the ranking of press freedom.

The award will certainly irked the authorities.

Young docs walk a tightrope

By RASHVINJEET S. BEDI and HARIATI AZIZAN

After completing a gruelling course, young doctors have another challenge to face – a demanding two-year housemanship where they rely on lots of coffee, cope with very little sleep and put up with public chastisements.

SHE had always wanted to be a doctor but six months into her housemanship, she snapped and just couldn’t take the stress anymore.

*Kavitha found the workload and endless hours on call a real burden, sapping her energy and spirit. Today, says her concerned father *Gurdave, she is close to having a nervous breakdown and is seeing a psychiatrist for counselling.

“The work load was too heavy and the hours too long. When she was on call, she sometimes had to work for up to 36 hours straight. She wants to be transferred to another hospital but every hospital is just as bad.

“But I don’t want her to walk away from the profession. I have spent close to RM400,000 on her education. I don’t want anything back but just for her to get through this,” says Gurdave.

Unfortunately, housemanship is taking its toll on many young doctors like Kavitha. Statistically, she is one of at least five housemen a month who is found to be suffering from mental illness.

Health Ministry director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican revealed last week that many of the medical graduates are unable to cope with their housemanship.

“The mental cases range from psychotic to neurotic. Psychotic cases include delusions and hallucinations, and neurotic behaviour includes anxiety, fear and anger due to the competitive environment.’’

On-call system

The term houseman refers to an advanced student or graduate in medicine gaining supervised practical experience. In Malaysia, it is compulsory for doctors to undergo housemanship for two years after completing their medical degree. During housemanship, they are rotated among six departments – emergency department, medical, paediatric, general surgery, orthopaedic, and obstetrics and gynaecology – where they are attached to for four months each.

Over the years, those undergoing housemanship have been voicing their unhappiness but these complaints have generally fallen on deaf ears. The biggest grouse housemen have seems to be the on-call system, where they are sometimes subjected to work 36 hours at a stretch.

*Pedro, who is into his sixth month of housemanship, says he has on occasion worked 38 hours straight with only one hour rest in-between.

“In some hospitals, the patient load is non-stop as they have to accept referrals from other hospitals,” says Pedro, adding that this is more apparent at hospitals in Johor Baru and Klang which are the busiest in the country.

Housemen are provided facilities such as beds and they can sleep if they have no cases to attend to. However, this is rarely the case and the most sleep they get is about two to three hours. And that is only when the housemen take turns to sleep, says *Lalitha whose housemanship stint ended recently.

“We force ourselves to carry on. What keeps us going is coffee and tea. It is only after we are no longer on call that we can go back and crash until the next day,” she says. Depending on the department and the hospital they are serving in, housemen could be on-call for up to 15 days a month. Lalitha says that during her first posting, she would work from 6am to midnight every day.

“We go home, have a bath and sleep for five hours before the cycle is repeated. They are preparing us for the on-call,” she says.

Shortage of doctors

Dr Kuljit Singh, president of the Malaysian Society of Otorhinolaryngology and Head Neck Surgeons (MSO- HNS), believes that one factor that can cause high pressure for trainee doctors is the shortage of doctors at some hospitals.

“Some hospitals have a lower doctor to patient ratio, so the housemen, being the lowest category in the medical fraternity, have to take on a lot of the work and responsibility, especially the lousy tasks, in the name of training,” he says.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (PPUKM) dean and director Prof Datuk Dr Lokman Saim agrees, saying that pressure from their heavy workload can push some doctors to the brink of breaking down.

“It is normal for a doctor to be on duty for more than 36 hours with on-call duties. In Europe, this has been recognised as a problem and they have passed a law to state that doctors cannot work more than 12 hours straight. Maybe we need laws like that if we want to improve our doctors’ welfare,” he opines.

Under the European Working Time Directive in 2004, junior doctors can work no more than 56 hours a week. They can work up to 13 hours a day but then have to have an 11-hour break.

Acknowledging that the number of doctors in Malaysia may still be too low for such a ruling, Dr Lokman nevertheless thinks it is a possible solution for the future.

Dr Lokman thinks that the problem of housemen suffering from mental problems can be prevented at the entry point of the profession.

“Currently, for public universities, students are selected by the Higher Education Ministry based on their exam results and co-curriculum activities. No interviews are conducted, so there is no way for the individual medical schools to assess their attitude and character. If we get the right candidates for the programme, we can be sure of the doctors we produce,” he argues.

However, he admits that it is not a foolproof method but he believes that it will help weed out the obviously unsuitable candidates.

“Many students are forced by their parents to take up medicine and these students end up very stressed because the course is difficult and they are not motivated. It will help us ascertain if a candidate has the right attitude and disposition to be a doctor,” he adds.

He highlights that a majority of students who fail and drop out of medicine are those who are forced by their parents into the field.

Bullying

But for those who successfully completed their degree, the challenge is dealing with the hospital environment.

They may have to contend with a handful of senior medical officers with the “Napoleon” complex who make the lives of the housemen difficult, says Dr Kuljit Singh who had served in government hospitals before branching out into private service.

“There is sometimes an element of bullying and high-handedness in the way some senior medical officers and consultants treat their junior house officers. They become Little Napoleons and are dictatorial. They say they went through the same regiment and that made them good doctors, so the newbies need to go through the same process,” says Dr Kuljit.

A senior doctor in the Johor Baru hospital, *Zul is also not happy with the treatment dished out to housemen.

“I have seen the degrading treatment given to medical officers, even after they have finished their housemanship,” he says. Zul himself was a houseman in the same hospital a few years ago and he says nothing has changed.

“If they talk about your work then it’s all right, but then they go into character assassination,” he says.

The housemen are usually screamed at by their specialists in the wards and in the clinics, he adds.

“The words used in front of patients are sometimes so degrading that in my opinion, it is these specialists who are the ones suffering from ‘mental woes’,” says Zul.

Those who fought back would be referred to the head of department who would either try to rectify the situation or extend the posting of the houseman, adds Zul.

A few of the housemen say there have been times when they were threatened with extensions in the department by medical officers.

Zul says that three of his friends quit the medical profession during their housemanship, with one of them ending up as a housewife.

“One of them would get anxiety attacks whenever she came to the ward. The thing is she was an excellent student,” says Zul.

*Maniam was barely a week into his housemanship when a specialist yelled at him in front of a patient.

“He asked me if I paid to pass my exams and also said I was the worst doctor he had ever come across. How can he say such a thing when I was there for only a week? They tend to look down on us as if we don’t know anything,” says Maniam.

However, Dr Kuljit, who taught at Universiti Malaya, shares that many students today are more pampered and have led a sheltered life, and thus cannot stand the pressure. Many come from a protected family environment, so when they are reprimanded, they get stressed and depressed. He believes that medical schools need to instil more soft skills, particularly interpersonal skills, in their students.

“We have many top scorers taking up medicine but many of them lack people skills. These students can manage with their studies but when they start working, they don’t know how to deal with their superiors, especially when they get scolded by them,” he says.

Pedro, on the other hand, does not have problems with any of the senior doctors he has to work with and says they are gems.

“I have no complaints because they teach us a lot. They offer us the opportunity to learn complicated procedures. They are willing to teach you even if there are possible complications. Even the specialists take time to teach you,” he adds.

President of the Malaysian Medical Association Datuk Khoo Kar Lin is unsure about the cause of mental problems faced by the doctors although he says the finding by the Health Ministry is a concern. He says a survey should be done on housemen to find out the causes.

“We have not received any complaints (about housemanship). I went through the system myself and from my impression it is not different from say 30 years ago. They are not being more overworked than yesterday,” says Khoo, adding that he enjoyed his housemanship.

“Every profession will have its challenges. We have to be cautious because people will always think that they are victimised and work longer hours compared to others,” adds Khoo.

President of the Malaysian Mental Health Association Datin Dr Ang Kim Teng says that housemanship could be a contributing factor to mental problems.

“It is not the job that causes it but the underlying susceptibility. Some people are more prone to this and the job stress could be a triggering factor. Factory workers, policemen and teachers can also face the same problem.

“It all depends on the individual’s ability to cope with stress. A lot of housemen go through their stints without any problems,” says Dr Ang.

Lalitha enjoyed her housemanship despite the many challenges in the different departments.

“We know this awaits us in the field. When I first started, I asked myself what I was doing here. The doctors pick on your mistakes and are not bothered if you have enough rest,” says Lalitha who got used to housemanship by her third posting.

She believes adaptation is the hardest and those who studied in foreign universities may have it tougher as they may not understand some of the terms used.

For *Tan, her social life took the backstage and she had to cut down on spending time with her family and friends.

“Those were the times when I thought of quitting but the feeling passed very quickly,” she says.

Tan didn’t really encounter any problems with the staff but has friends who have had books thrown at them and senior staff nurses giving them a hard time.

“At the end of the day, I am satisfied that I have somehow made a difference in a patient’s life. I don’t have any regrets getting into this line,” she says.

For Pedro, the only time he feels discouraged is when he has to get up at 5.30am for work.

“Once you get there it’s over in a snap,” he shares, adding that he feels really good when patients come out of life-threatening situations.

Pedro also says with all the running around they have to do, housemanship is the best weight loss programme.

“I can now fit into pants which I wore in Form Five!” he quips.

Prevention at entry

Dr Lokman Saim thinks that the problem can be prevented at the entry point of the profession, which is the medical course.

“Currently, for the public university, students are selected by the Higher Education Ministry based on their exam results and co-curriculum activities.

“No interviews are conducted, so there is no way for the individual medical schools to asses their attitude and character. If we get the right candidates for the programme, we can be sure of the doctors we produce,” Dr Lokman argues.

He admits that it is not a foolproof method but he believes that it will help.

“Many students are forced by their parents to take up medicine and these students end up very stressed because the course is difficult and they are not motivated. It will help us ascertain if a candidate has the right attitude and disposition to be a doctor,” he adds.

He highlights that the majority of students who fail and drop out of medicine are those who are forced by their parents into the field.

• Names have been changed to protect identities

No such thing as a sure thing

Why the hurry when it comes to Raja Petra? Is the hurriedness more about Najib than about Raja Petra? Are they hoping that what will be revealed in Raja Petra’s cases will be the noose around Najib’s neck?

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

The Pink Panther

They say: justice delayed is justice denied. But who says the wheels of justice always move slowly. Justice can sometimes move extremely fast when they want it to, especially when it is court cases involving Raja Petra Kamarudin and when it relates to the Altantuya murder.

Raja Petra’s lawyer had not yet walked into his office after their court appearance at the Jalan Duta Court Complex this morning when a fax was waiting for him on his table. And even before he could digest the contents of the fax another fax came in. The Shah Alam High Court will hear the appeal by the Prosecution at 2.45pm tomorrow, Friday, 5 December 2008. So Raja Petra will, again, be in court -- tomorrow 2.45pm at the Shah Alam court.

This morning, Raja Petra and his lawyers were in court to confirm the date of the appeal on the criminal defamation case. Yesterday, by order of the court, these same lawyers spent eight hours at Bukit Aman for a forensic test on the computers the police confiscated from his house related to the sedition case. And tomorrow is the Prosecution’s appeal on the amendment of the charge on the sedition case.

Wow! Seldom have Malaysians seen the courts move so fast. There are so many court cases going on at the same time that it is beginning to become very difficult to keep track of who is the defender and who is the defendee, and who is the appealer and who is the appealee.

The issues before the various courts are as follows -- the Shah Alam court, the Petaling Jaya court and the Kuala Lumpur court. The prosecution tried to amend the charge in Raja Petra’s sedition case in the Petaling Jaya court but the judge turned it down. So the prosecution is appealing the judge’s decision in the Shah Alam court. And that is going to be heard tomorrow at 2.45pm.

Then, the prosecution is not happy that they did not find the evidence of any crime in the two computers the police confiscated -- meaning a copy of the article ‘Let’s send the Altantuya murderers to hell’. So they asked the Petaling Jaya court for permission to check both computers again in the hope that this time they might find something. They checked the first computer over eight hours in Bukit Aman yesterday and will do a forensic test on the second unit next Tuesday.

Then, Raja Petra’s lawyers are appealing against the decision to transfer the criminal defamation case from the Kuala Lumpur Magistrates Court to the Sessions Court and this appeal was slotted for mention this morning in the Kuala Lumpur High Court. The court ordered Raja Petra’s lawyers to file their submission on 12 December 2008 and for the Prosecution to reply to it on 19 December. The hearing will be on 20 January 2009 when the judge will probably deliver his judgment as to whether the case will be heard in the Sessions Court (as what the Prosecution wants) or whether it has to be sent back to the Magistrates Court (as what Raja Petra wants).

In the meantime, while the Shah Alam and Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur courts hear the various appeals and counter-appeals and applications to amend the charge and applications to oppose the amendment to the charge and application to do a second forensic on the two computers and so on and so forth, the hearings related to the crimes Raja Petra has been alleged to have committed are being delayed even further. And this has upset those who walk in the corridors of power.

The Prosecution has been told to wrap up all these many cases as soon as possible, preferably way before March 2009. March 2009 is when Najib Tun Razak is supposed to take over from Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as Prime Minister of Malaysia. Abdullah wants these cases settled fast but Najib would rather they drag on until way past March 2009.

Abdullah wants all the cases settled now in the hope that damaging evidence will surface during the trial, which will implicate Najib, or at least his wife, in the murder of Altantuya. If this happens, this will disqualify Najib from taking over as Prime Minister. Najib, however, wants things to remain as they are until he takes over so that, when he is already Prime Minister, he can sweep everything under the carpet and suffer no damage.

How he is going to sweep everything under the carpet will be a bridge he crosses when he comes to it. Dropping the charges would be one way or making sure the judge shouts ‘irrelevant’ every five minutes could probably work as well, as it did in Anwar Ibrahim’s trial in 1998-1999.

Raja Petra never dreamt how important his trials were going to be in deciding who would become the Prime Minister of Malaysia come March 2009. Everyone assumed that Najib would automatically be taking over from Abdullah at the ‘agreed’ time. But it appears like nothing has really been agreed yet. And this is troubling Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as well who is banking on Najib taking over in March 2009 as planned.

However, according to Murphy’s Law, what can go wrong will go wrong. And the plan for Najib taking over from Abdullah in March 2009 can certainly go wrong. So Abdullah wants to see to it that it will definitely go wrong. And Mahathir is fully aware of this and he is already lamenting about it even before the plan can be put in place. Call it a preemptive strike if you wish and Mahathir is the master of preemption, amongst other things. So he is preempting Abdullah’s move to block Najib from taking over as Prime Minister in March 2009.

Mahathir realises that you need not be the Umno President to become Prime Minister. Tun Abdul Razak Hussein became Prime Minister without becoming the Umno President, till much later. Mahathir himself stayed on as Prime Minister in 1988 even though be had no party (when Umno closed down) and was an independent Member of Parliament (calun bebas) while Ling Liong Sik was the Barisan Nasional Chairman at that time. In fact, Ghafar Baba became Deputy Prime Minister in 1986 without ever becoming an Umno (Lama) member until Umno Baru was formed in 1988.

Yes, who says you must first become the Umno President or the Barisan Nasional Chairman to become Prime Minister of Malaysia. All the Constitution says is that you must be a Member of Parliament whom, in the opinion of the Agong, commands the confidence of the majority of the Members of the House -- in other words, the 222 Members of Parliament.

Let’s say Anwar Ibrahim has the confidence of the 82 Pakatan Rakyat Members of Parliament. This leaves another 140 who are not with Anwar. Then, say, Abdullah has half the 140 with him, meaning 70. This leaves another 70. Let’s also say 20 abstain. This leaves 50. And, say, these 50 are with Najib.

In this case, Anwar Ibrahim has the confidence of the majority because he has 82, Abdullah has only 70, Najib 50, while 20 are ‘sitting on the fence’ and are not supporting any side.

It must be noted that Umno has only 66 Members of Parliament in Peninsular Malaysia. Even if the 13 Umno Sabah Members of Parliament stay united that would come to only 79. Pakatan Rakyat still has more at 82. Abdullah is said to control at least 20 Umno Members of Parliament. So Najib will be reduced to 59 against Pakatan Rakyat’s 82. The question would be: will Abdullah’s 20 remain neutral or will they swing to Pakatan Rakyat to give it 102? Either way, with only 59 Umno Members of Parliament, Najib would be far short and would need the other component members of Barisan Nasional to take the chair as Prime Minister.

MCA (15), MIC (3) and Gerakan (2) total another 20. These three parties plus PPP (which has no Parliamentarians) are totally pissed with Umno. They may not throw their lot behind Pakatan Rakyat but they would certainly stay neutral and become the ‘third force’ or ‘independents’. Though Pakatan Rakyat may not benefit from MCA’s, MIC’s and Gerakan’s 20 seats, neither would Umno, or rather Najib.

Najib would need the 30 non-Umno Members of Parliament from Sarawak and the balance 11 from Sabah (totaling 41) to make up his majority. If they too decide to follow MCA, MIC, Gerakan and PPP and stay ‘neutral’, then Najib is sunk. His 59 against Pakatan Rakyat’s 82, Abdullah’s ‘neutral’ 20, and the MCA’s, MIC’s, Gerakan’s, Sabah’s and Sarawak’s ‘neutral’ 61, would mean that he does not have the confidence of the majority and the Agong just can’t appoint him as the new Prime Minister.

Yes, many are looking forward to the 30 Barisan Nasional Members of Parliament crossing over to Pakatan Rakyat to give it 112 seats in Parliament (111 of 222 is exactly 50% so it will be 50% plus one seat). But what if they don’t cross over? What if they just remain neutral or leave Barisan Nasional to create an ‘independent third force’? This too would be enough to deny Najib the Prime Ministership. And there is more than one reason for them to want to remain neutral or to leave Barisan Nasional to become a third force.

This is the dilemma facing Najib. And Mahathir is also greatly concerned. They both know that March 2009 is a long way away. And many things can happen from now till March 2009. The non-Umno component members of Barisan Nasional are reevaluating their relationship with Umno. It is no longer a matter of whether to abandon Umno, and in the process abandon Najib as well. Leaving Umno is almost a foregone conclusion. What they are undecided about is whether they should leave Barisan Nasional to join Pakatan Rakyat or leave to become an independent third force. Both have its merits. In Pakatan Rakyat there is good and bad, as an independent third force there is also good and bad. That is what is preoccupying the minds of the non-Umno component members of Barisan Nasional. And the more mistakes Umno makes the more reason for them to proceed with the divorce. And Umno is making mistakes by the dozen these days.

So they want Raja Petra’s various cases in the Shah Alam, Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur courts to be settled super-fast. The legal brains are mind-boggled as to how fast the courts seem to move in dispensing with justice when it comes to Raja Petra’s cases, when other cases are sometimes known to stretch over ten or twenty years with no end in sight. Why the hurry when it comes to Raja Petra? Is the hurriedness more about Najib than about Raja Petra? Are they hoping that what will be revealed in Raja Petra’s cases will be the noose around Najib’s neck? I can only speculate on the reason but it does not take a rocket scientist to figure this one out.

Sure, Abdullah said that Najib will take over in March 2009. He even did not contest the Umno Presidency and allowed Najib a walkover as part of this plan. But it was not an unqualified assurance. It certainly is subject to certain conditions. And one of those conditions would be that he is free from any legal problems such as being implicated in a murder. The second would be he procures the confidence of the majority of the Members of the House. The failure to fulfill any one of these conditions is enough to disqualify him. And Abdullah has four months to work on the disqualification.

There is no such thing as a sure thing. Najib and Mahathir of all people should know this by now. And who said Abdullah is stupid? He may not be smart but this does not mean he is stupid. And Abdullah may yet prove he is sneakier than most people give him credit for. I think Malaysians should launch a ‘No to Najib’ campaign. Maybe they should collect 100,000 signatures for a petition to the Agong to appeal to His Majesty not to appoint Najib as Prime Minister in March 2009. Maybe it is not a bad idea after all that Abdullah stays on. At least Pakatan Rakyat can take him on come the next general election in 2012-2013 and finish the job they started on 8 March 2008.

by barred

Gunmen kill at least 82 in rampage across Mumbai

MUMBAI, India – Teams of gunmen stormed luxury hotels, a popular restaurant, hospitals and a crowded train station in coordinated attacks across India's financial capital Wednesday night, killing at least 82 people and taking Westerners hostage, police said. A group of suspected Muslim militants claimed responsibility.

Parts of the city remained under siege as dawn approached Thursday, with police and gunmen exchanging occasional gunfire at two hotels and an unknown number of people still held hostage, said A.N. Roy, a top police official. Soldiers also took up positions across the city.

A raging fire and explosions struck the landmark Taj Mahal hotel shortly after midnight. Screams could be heard and black smoke billowed from the century-old edifice on Mumbai's waterfront. Firefighters sprayed water at the blaze and plucked people from windows and balconies with extension ladders.

The attackers specifically targeted Britons and Americans, witnesses said. Officials said at least 200 people were wounded.

The motive for the onslaught was not immediately clear, but Mumbai has frequently been targeted in terrorist attacks blamed on Islamic extremists, including a series of bombings in July 2006 that killed 187 people.

State home secretary Bipin Shrimali said four suspects had been killed in two incidents when they tried to flee in cars, and Roy said two more gunmen were killed at the Taj Mahal. State Home Minister R.R. Patil said nine more were captured. They declined to provide any further details.

An Indian media report said a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen had claimed responsibility for the attacks in e-mails to several media outlets. There was no way to verify the claim.

Police reported hostages being held at the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, two of the best-known upscale destinations in this crowded but wealthy city.

Gunmen who burst into the Taj "were targeting foreigners. They kept shouting: `Who has U.S. or U.K. passports?'" said Ashok Patel, a British citizen who fled from the hotel.

Authorities believed seven to 15 foreigners were hostages at the Taj Mahal, but it was not immediately clear if hostages at the Oberoi were Indians or foreigners, said Anees Ahmed, a top state official. It was also unclear where the hostages were in the Taj Mahal, which is divided into an older wing, which was in flames, and a modern tower that was not on fire.

State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood said U.S. officials were not aware of any American casualties, but were still checking. He said he could not address reports that Westerners might be among the hostages.

"The United States condemns this terrorist attack and we will continue to stand with the people of India in this time of tragedy," White House press secretary Dana Perino said. "President Bush offers his condolences to the Indian people and the families of the innocent civilians killed and injured in the attacks."

Johnny Joseph, chief secretary for Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, said 82 people had been killed and 120 had been wounded.

Officials at Bombay Hospital, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a Japanese man had died there and nine Europeans were admitted, three of them in critical condition with gunshot wounds. All were brought in from the Taj Mahal, the officials said.

At least three top Indian police officers — including the chief of the anti-terror squad — were among those killed, said Roy, the senior police official.

Blood smeared the floor of the Chhatrapati Shivaji rail station, where attackers sprayed bullets into the crowded terminal. Press Trust of India quoted the chief of the Mumbai railway police, A.K. Sharma, as saying several men armed with rifles and grenades were holed up at the station.

Other gunmen attacked Leopold's restaurant, a landmark popular with foreigners, and the police headquarters in southern Mumbai, the area where most of the attacks took place. The restaurant was riddled with bullet holes and there were blood on the floor and shoes left by fleeing customers.

Officials also reported that terrorists attacked the city's Cama and Albless Hospital and G.T. Hospital, but it was not immediately clear if anyone was killed in those places.

A British citizen who was dining at the Oberoi hotel told Sky News television that the gunmen who struck there singled out Britons and Americans.

Alex Chamberlain said a gunman, a young man of 22 or 23, ushered 30 or 40 people from the restaurant into a stairway and ordered everyone to put up their hands. He said the gunman spoke in Hindi or Urdu.

"They were talking about British and Americans specifically. There was an Italian guy, who, you know, they said: 'Where are you from?" and he said he's from Italy and they said 'fine' and they left him alone. And I thought: 'Fine, they're going to shoot me if they ask me anything — and thank God they didn't," he said.

Chamberlain said he managed to slip away as the patrons were forced to walk up stairs, but he thought much of the group was being held hostage.

Early Thursday, several European lawmakers were among people who barricaded themselves inside the Taj, a century-old seaside hotel complex and one of the city's best-known destinations.

"I was in the main lobby and there was all of a sudden a lot of firing outside," said Sajjad Karim, part of a delegation of European lawmakers visiting Mumbai ahead of a European Union-India summit.

As he turned to get away, "all of a sudden another gunmen appeared in front of us, carrying machine gun-type weapons. And he just started firing at us ... I just turned and ran in the opposite direction," he told The Associated Press over his mobile phone.

Hours later, Karim remained holed up in a hotel restaurant, unsure if it was safe to come out.

The British Foreign Office said it was advising all British citizens in Mumbai to stay indoors.

Britain's foreign secretary, David Miliband, strongly condemned the attacks. "Today's attacks in Mumbai which have claimed many innocent victims remind us, yet again, of the threat we face from violent extremists," Miliband said in a statement.

India has been wracked by bomb attacks the past three years, which police blame on Muslim militants intent on destabilizing this largely Hindu country. Nearly 700 people have died.

Since May a militant group calling itself the Indian Mujahideen has taken credit for a string of blasts that killed more than 130 people. The most recent was in September, when a series of explosions struck a park and crowded shopping areas in the capital, New Delhi, killing 21 people and wounding about 100.

Mumbai has been hit repeatedly by terror attacks since March 1993, when Muslim underworld figures tied to Pakistani militants allegedly carried out a series of bombings on Mumbai's stock exchange, trains, hotels and gas stations. Authorities say those attacks, which killed 257 people and wounded more than 1,100, were carried out to avenge the deaths of hundreds of Muslims in religious riots that had swept India.

Ten years later, in 2003, 52 people were killed in Mumbai bombings blamed on Muslim militants and in 2006 a series of seven blasts on railway trains and at commuter rail stations killed at least 187.

Relations between Hindus, who make up more than 80 percent of India's 1 billion population, and Muslims, who make up about 14 percent, have sporadically erupted into bouts of sectarian violence since British-ruled India was split into independent India and Pakistan in 1947.

What is fatwa?

Muslims believe that since the beginning of mankind by Adam and Eve, and the story of getting out of Paradise; God promised us Mankind to get back to the paradise - where we belong - when we pass an exam which is life. So as time goes by mankind started to forget, why are we in earth and what are we supposed to do, how should we behave, what's the decision to take in that issue and that one .etc

So, God started sending prophets as Guides to the right path in life, some of them with Holy Books to a certain group of people in a certain geographical areas, these Holy Books' function was to remind people; why are they here, how are they supposed to act and how are they going to be judged by God.

In different places on earth, and in different periods of time, what you should and shouldn't do, or in other words what's prohibited and what's not, was logically different but still all prophets were sent with the same "Core Belief" of a one God, and promoting the same principles of kindness, love and worshiping God. And in my belief every human being is born with these principles planted deeply in his own soul, including yourself!

And Muslims believe that God had sent the final prophet; Mohamed (peace and blessings be up on him) to the whole world as God knew that his message will reach every living human being on earth.

So, Prophet Mohamed wasn't sent to a limited group of people in a limited geographical area or in a bounded age, his message was meant to reach everyone. The main tools in order for prophet Mohamed to clarify to mankind his message was mainly the final words of God; the Holy Quran, then what he agreed on and told people to do and don't do, as he was taught by God and was getting the message across as a living example. what prophet Mohamed directed us to is named "Sunnah".

So the Holy Quran, is the core of a Muslim's belief, and Sunnah or what prophet Mohamed taught us; is the illustration and practical example of the Holy Quran.

But of course as time goes by, and as the circumstances differ from place to place, from time to time, and from person to person. Islamic sciences had been started by extracting the rules from the Quran and Sunnah, and then comes different concepts that would be complex to get into now but I can sum it up by saying it implies using Human's creativity and understanding of Quran and Sunnah, to judge something if it goes well with the core belief and core behavior or it doesn't.

A certain people who's mostly religious in belief and behavior, balanced and intelligient was able to go through that science and "Measure" if a certain issue is acceptable or prohibited "Halal" or "Haram".

Those people, who used to be scientists not only in religious sciences but in a lot of cases developed also brilliant work in astronomy, physics, philosophy, social sciences and algebra, was being asked from people who don't know or not sure if they're supposed to do that or not for a Fatwa!

As societies grown in population and geographical area, a well-known scholars "researchers" with a good knowledge of Islamic Science should provide the Muslim community with Fatwas! clarifying the things that frequently face them on their daily lives, things like smoking is it okay or not, Yoga for example what should I take from it and what I shouldn't?

Also, those highly qualified researchers in Islamic Sciences should be available if someone want to ask a certain question that he faced, and in a lot of cases a Fatwa in the same subject that could be declared to person "A" might be totally different for another person "B", why? because they might have a different circumstances, living in a different environment or have different concerns, so a Mufti should be intelligient and take the context during which the Fatwa had been asked into perspective.

So, Fatwa! always involved a level of creativity and intelligence and ability to measure, and further more; measuring the reason WHY that person is asking that question, does he want to do a bad thing and get away with it, so that the intelligient Mofty - who should be highly qualified in communication skills - should tell them No, It's prohibited for you now, here at that context. Or he's a kind person had forced in a certain situation and he's so pure from inside and need TOLERANCE to ease his life so the Mofty should be tolerant and let him ease his life. Prophet Mohamed was always choosing the easier for people.

Furthermore, Prophet Mohamed hadn't let the issue be random, when he had been asked from a companion what if I had been gives different Fatwas! he told something that's logical to whom read the Quran and understood the Sunnah, he told consult your heart even if they give Fatwa to you ask Fatwa from your heart what do you think? you know why you want to do that more than anyone else, do you think that it's against your belief? does it affect your behavior and get you being disrespectful or whatever negative behavior you might do.

So, a Fatwa! what made - and will make - Islam as a religion applicable in any community at any time, with tolerance, flexibility and understanding. The core beliefs never change, but how people interpret different issues it's up to them.

Fatwa! isn't obligatory, It's the outcome of a research conducted by a scholar and involved a level of human creativity that might differ from someone to another, so what to do then if we got two different Fatwas from highly qualified scholars, we return to what Prophet Mohamed teach us, and measure it by our hearts and see if it goes with our souls! Why because that's the core of our being. Islam isn't meant to concentrate on trivial matters, those issues could be judged with someone who's just pure from inside and doing his best to be a good Muslim! a good Human Being after all!

Source: Academy.Com

A Somali's perception of Mahathir

I'm a Somali living in Malaysia who follows the local scene here very much. I would have to admit that Tun Dr M's greatest disadvantage is his pure, unadulterated hatred for anyone who disagrees with him. Never have I seen a human being whose sole motivation, drive and engine is pure hatred. Just visit his blog which is read by friends and foes, locals and foreigners and I must tell you it epitomizes him in every way.

Since he started it after complaining of UMNO media strangulation, did you see an article that he has written concerning the poor, the needy, the widows, the orphans, the handicapped, the downtrodden, the wayfarers, compassion, empathy, sharing, sacrifice, charity, morality, accountability, God's fear and Judgement, forgiveness, patience (etc)? No.

Always it is about some people, blaming others, calling them names, dishing out unvanished, pure hatred. Blaming others for this and that and exonerating himself from all blame? Surely, at this age? You can't build a society and a nation through hate, vengeance, intense anger and mean spirit. You would have to remind the people the higher purpose of life for them to get motivated and work harder for the less fortunate and for themselves. Finger pointing, blaming others, planting defeatist culture in the Malays, reducing them to mad people (we are sensitive, we will run amok society that makes even foreigners despise the Malays) will not help this society and nation.

My people (the Somalis) suffered from cruel leadership and when the hatred became too much, we turned to each other and till today, we the only nation with no Central govt. The Malays share with us almost every trait, very feudal, manipulated easily, territorial, misuse of Islam for expediency, rigid explanation of Islam and too much interest in outward Islam than inward Islam that strengthens the hearts, our only difference is that the Malays have the Chinese and the Indians around that make them watch out for the "enemies."

For us, we didn't have that and that's why we turned to each other. If God has loved the Malays and Malaysia, it is because He brought other people here. If some Malays regret the presence of the Chinese and Indians, ask us the Somalis and you will know what it means to be an incestous (homogenous) society and you will praise the Almighty day in day out. If it was possible, I would have shipped the Chinese and Indians to Somalia to create diversity in my nation but it is wishful thinking.

The other person who makes me cringe in shame is one Curry[Khairy] Jamaluddin. Never have I seen a more uncouth, uncultured, degenerate, pugancious, ill, nefarious and utterly infantile being than this young man. I have a big heart who tries to understand everyone and put myself in their place, but I don't think my heart can accommodate one Curry Jamaluddin. He is a primate and deserves the worst treatment (though I hate it because we are Muslims and human beings) but honestly he is too much.

Abubakar
October 25, 2008 at 5:43 pm

Ethnic Indians' get 7% quota in Malaysia

In a major sop to minority ethnic Indians demanding more rights, Malaysian government has doubled the quota for the community in the country's civil service from 3.5 per cent to seven per cent.

The decision was taken by Premier Abdullah Badawi on Friday, Human Resources Minister D S Subramaniam said. The announcement came against the backdrop of demands for equal treatment by ethnic Indians, spearheaded by the non-governmental Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) which has been banned by the government.

Subramaniam said that Abdullah had also given an assurance that applications for the civil service would be approved based on job descriptions and merit.

Earlier in a statement, he urged the Public Services Commission (PSC) to ensure a minimum intake of at least seven per cent of ethnic Indians in all job categories in the public service.

Currently the country's civil services are dominated by Malays, who form the majority of Malaysia's 27 million population.

Meanwhile, ethnic Indian elected representatives of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat alliance held talks with India-based NGOs and local councillors yesterday to ascertain if the minority community's circumstances had improved after the

March 8 general election in Malaysia and the November 25 rally by the Hindraf complaining of racial inequality. Ethnic Indians, a majority of them Tamils, form eight percent of Malaysia's population.

Among topics discussed were the intake of Indians into the civil service and promotions possibilities, Tamil school issues, single mothers, stateless Indians and business opportunities for Indians. While it was felt the community had seen changes, the group sought larger and more transparent changes.

by SEO

The Best 50 of Murphy's Law

You can never tell which way the train went by looking at the track.

Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence.

Whenever a system becomes completely defined, some damn fool discovers something which either abolishes the system or expands it beyond recognition.


Technology is dominated by those who manage what they do not understand.

If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.

The opulence of the front office decor varies inversely with the fundamental solvency of the firm.

The attention span of a computer is only as long as it electrical cord.

An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less until he knows absolutely everything about nothing.

Tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the universe and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it and he'll have to touch to be sure.

All great discoveries are made by mistake.

Always draw your curves, then plot your reading.

Nothing ever gets built on schedule or within budget.

All's well that ends.

A meeting is an event at which the minutes are kept and the hours are lost.

The first myth of management is that it exists.

A failure will not appear till a unit has passed final inspection.

New systems generate new problems.

To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer.

We don't know one millionth of one percent about anything.

Any given program, when running, is obsolete.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

A computer makes as many mistakes in two seconds as 20 men working 20 years make.

The faster a computer is, the faster it will reach a crashed state.

Nothing motivates a man more than to see his boss putting in an honest day's work.

Some people manage by the book, even though they don't know who wrote the book or even what book.

The primary function of the design engineer is to make things difficult for the fabricator and impossible for the serviceman.

To spot the expert, pick the one who predicts the job will take the longest and cost the most.

After all is said and done, a hell of a lot more is said than done.

Any circuit design must contain at least one part which is obsolete, two parts which are unobtainable and three parts which are still under development.

A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that works.

If mathematically you end up with the incorrect answer, try multiplying by the page number.

Computers are unreliable, but humans are even more unreliable. Any system which depends on human reliability is unreliable.

Give all orders verbally. Never write anything down that might go into a "Pearl Harbor File."

Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of pressure, temperature, volume, humidity, and other variables the organism will do as it damn well pleases.

If you can't understand it, it is intuitively obvious.

The more cordial the buyer's secretary, the greater the odds that the competition already has the order.

In designing any type of construction, no overall dimension can be totalled correctly after 4:30 p.m. On Friday. The correct total will become self-evident at 8:15 a.m. On Monday.

Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. And scratch where it itches.

All things are possible except skiing through a revolving door.

The only perfect science is hind-sight

Work smarder and not harder and be careful of yor speling

If it's not in the computer, it doesn't exist.

If an experiment works, something has gone wrong.

When all else fails, read the instructions.

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.

Everything that goes up must come down.

Any instrument when dropped will roll into the least accessible corner.

Any simple theory will be worded in the most complicated way.

Build a system that even a fool can use and only a fool will want to use it.

The degree of technical competence is inversely proportional to the level of management.

Any attempt to print Murphy's laws will jam the printer.

e=mc2: 103 years later, Einstein's proven right

PARIS (AFP) – It's taken more than a century, but Einstein's celebrated formula e=mc2 has finally been corroborated, thanks to a heroic computational effort by French, German and Hungarian physicists.

A brainpower consortium led by Laurent Lellouch of France's Centre for Theoretical Physics, using some of the world's mightiest supercomputers, have set down the calculations for estimating the mass of protons and neutrons, the particles at the nucleus of atoms.

According to the conventional model of particle physics, protons and neutrons comprise smaller particles known as quarks, which in turn are bound by gluons.

The odd thing is this: the mass of gluons is zero and the mass of quarks is only five percent. Where, therefore, is the missing 95 percent?

The answer, according to the study published in the US journal Science on Thursday, comes from the energy from the movements and interactions of quarks and gluons.

In other words, energy and mass are equivalent, as Einstein proposed in his Special Theory of Relativity in 1905.

The e=mc2 formula shows that mass can be converted into energy, and energy can be converted into mass.

By showing how much energy would be released if a certain amount of mass were to be converted into energy, the equation has been used many times, most famously as the inspirational basis for building atomic weapons.

But resolving e=mc2 at the scale of sub-atomic particles -- in equations called quantum chromodynamics -- has been fiendishly difficult.

"Until now, this has been a hypothesis," France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) said proudly in a press release.

"It has now been corroborated for the first time."

For those keen to know more: the computations involve "envisioning space and time as part of a four-dimensional crystal lattice, with discrete points spaced along columns and rows."

RPK lodges police report against the people/entity that prosecute him in the 1st plac

by: nobi5

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Today news portal editor Raja Petra Kamarudin has lodged a police report against the Department of Islamic Development (Jakim) for insulting other religions.

He also lodged a report against Kamunting detention centre officers, alleging that they did not allow him to perform Friday prayers.

Raja Petra lodged the report after declining to give another statement to Sentul police regarding a Jakim allegation that he had insulted Malays, Muslims and Islam in his blog on Malaysia Today.

“They are trying to punish me twice for the same crime,” he said, adding that he was detained under the ISA following Jakim’s allegation on Sept 12. The star 19 Nov 2008

Malaysia Waves: RPK Should Stop Lying About Islam.

Malaysia Waves: RPK Should Stop Lying About Islam.

Like a coin, both side are legal, only views are different but still, false coin look legal too. Where is the fine line?

Theology Versus Secularism

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

It appears like the Turkish Prime Minister is in trouble with Turkey’s court. They have accused him of being anti-secular, which is a crime in Turkey. They say the Prime Minister want to abolish or remove the anti-tudung law, which means Turkey’s citizens will no longer be forced NOT to wear the tudung. If you remember, recently, a Turkish lady Member of Parliament was evicted from parliament for insisting that she wear her tudung in the building. University student too must remove their tudung before they enter the university gate.

Turkey is on the other extreme of Afghanistan where the “religious police” would throw acid on faces of women who do not wear the tudung.

Malaysia of 2008 is a far cry from Malaysia of 1958, the first Anniversary of Merdeka. Then, skirts and bare-backs were the order of the day and the tudung was a rare thing at best, the more “decent” Malay women would wear a selendang wit the front hair revealed. Today, women who wear bare-back clothes are arrested.

What happened over those 50 years? Have Malays become more religious and more conscious of their Islamic duties? Over the last month, three women have been charged for corruption and fraud. All are pretty senior Malay government officers. And all wear the tudung. So, the wearing of the tudung can’t be equated with being more religious or being a better Muslim. If not, they would not accept bribes or cheat. Wearing the tudung is merely a symbol. It is a symbol that you are very Islamic. But this does not mean you really are.

Malays, today, talk about restoring the Caliphate and implementing Islamic laws. In short, rejecting a Secular State in favour of a Theology State – meaning an Islamic State of course. But do these some people know what an Islamic State is? And do these people also know how the many experiments of Islamic States have gone horribly wrong and the new “Islamic” government was worse than the old government it replaced?

In a nutshell a Secular State or Theology State is just a name. Names are not crucial. What is would be the function rather than form. Form must follow functions, and not the other way round.

Let us examine some of the failed experiments. Some predominantly Muslim countries have flirted with the idea of changing their government and have discovered that the newly installed Muslim leaders were no better, or worse, that the “kafir” leaders. Millions have died because of this, Muslims killed at the hand of Muslims.

Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, Pakistan, Serbia, Gratis, Syria, Bosnia – just think of any country where either Muslims, Christians or Jews make up the majority population and I will show you a tragedy. No, theology is not the answer. We can’t solve problems by replacing a Secular State with a Theology State. History has shown us that, in fact, more damage is caused. The system is not the solution. It is those behind the system that matter.

A year after the end of the Second World War the Algerians wanted the French Colonialists out of their country. The eight-year war led to the loss of more than a million lives. Both sides wee equally guilty of the barbaric killings where old folks, babies and women were not spared. Finally, in 1962, the French decided to go home. But until today the killings continue; except now it is not Muslims killing Christians but Islamists killing Secularists – and vice versa.

The Turks too wanted the kafir out, so millions of Armenians were massacred. The Kurds were the willing servants to rape and murder the Armenians. This was ethic cleansing of the kind perpetuated by the Germans during World War 2; though maybe only a quarter in number died compared to the Jews.

Later the Kurds were themselves exterminated by the Iraqis and Turks. And the same went for the Afghans where they first killed each other to establish an Islamic State and then the Islamic State killed off as many as the previous “kafir” state did. In Iran, too, more died in the new Islamic State than in the Shah’s “kafir” state.

An Islamic State is no guarantee that you would get a good government. Neither would a Secular State. So it is best that the rhetoric and setting up an Islamic State be discarded and instead we focus on the issue of the setting up of a just state of whatever kind.

We have seen too many deaths over the last 60 years, people killed in the name of Islam. Tens of millions have been killed. Two million in Afghanistan. One million in Iran. One million in Iraq. One million in Turkey. More than one million in Algeria. Many more millions in other Muslim countries. The list goes on.

The Iranians say: those Iranians who died fighting Iraqis are going to heaven as the Iraqis are “kafir”. The Iraqis say: those Iraqis who died fighting Iranians are going to heaven as the Iranians are “kafir”. So, both Iranians and Iraqis are “kafir”. Or is it both Iranians and Iraqis who kill each other are going to heaven since both kill and die in the name of Islam?

With all this killing and the tens of millions of deaths over the last 60 years, all the so-called “Islamic States” are nothing short of failed states whereas “God-less” states like Sweden are heaven on earth.

Maybe you need to choose an Islamic State to go to heaven. But thus far all the Islamic States have proven to be hell. Maybe this is because they talk more about life after death rather than about life itself.

By Selcuk Gokoluk and Ibon Villelabeitia

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was involved in anti-secular activities, a top court said on Friday, explaining a decision to fine his AK Party that could reignite political tensions in the EU applicant country.

The constitutional court's legal reasoning marks the first time a sitting prime minister in predominantly Muslim Turkey has been blamed by the court for undermining the country's secular principles.

The ruling could put pressure on Erdogan to sack some members of his cabinet in an expected reshuffle.

The court, the highest judicial body in Turkey, decided in a close vote in July to fine the Islamist-rooted AK Party for Islamist activities, but dismissed a prosecutor's case to have it closed down and Erdogan and other leading members barred from politics for five years.

"It was found that the head of the party Recep Tayyip Erdogan, member of the party and former parliament speaker Bulent Arinc, Education Minister Huseyin Celik...were involved in determined and intense activities which were against article 68 of the constitution," it said.

In a 370-page legal explanation, the court singled out Erdogan and other senior members of the AK Party for attempts to lift a ban on the Muslim headscarf at university and efforts to lower the age at which students can attend Koran classes.

It also mentioned statements made by Erdogan in the past, including one in which he said "religion is the cement of Turkish society" and an interview to a Malaysian newspaper in which he described Turkey as a "modern Islamic state."

"Erdogan made it clear that his opinions on freedom of belief were aimed at creating an unlimited freedom for political Islam. This point of view was reflected in Erdogan's and other prominent party members' words and activities. There was an attempt to transform and restructure the state within the framework of the rules of a certain religion," it said.

The court, however, said it voted against banning the AK Party because it had not incited violence and because of its EU reforms, including giving more rights to minorities and to women.

Turkish markets are largely focussed on the global economic crisis and shrugged off the court's legal reasoning.

WARNING

Analysts said the court's ruling was a further warning to Erdogan, whose party is locked in a power struggle with the powerful secularist establishment, including judges and the military.

Secularists say the party is seeking to bring back religion to public life. The AK Party, which has its roots in political Islam, denies the charges and points to its liberal record since it first came to power in 2002.

"This shows the AK Party escaped closure very narrowly. The court is telling the party it must regulate itself and stay away from provocative policies such as the headscarf," said Yusuf Kanli, a veteran Turkish columnist.

"It is also telling the party that the court might be compelled to ban it if it continues with its present trend," he said.

Erdogan said on Thursday he might seek to trim the powers of the court after a ruling in June overturned an amendment to lift the restriction on wearing headscarves at university.

The AK Party, which includes former Islamists, conservatives and pro-business liberals, won a sweeping re-election last year. (Editing by Diana Abdallah)

Changing road names doesn’t make sense

NOWADAYS, our politicians seem to have nothing better to do than to wage wars on renaming roads and streets and also making a big fuss on additional languages on signboards.

The latest fiasco is focussed on renaming Jalan Silibin in Ipoh to Jalan P. Patto.

While I fully appreciate the Pakatan Rakyat in recognising the vast contributions of the late Patto, I don’t see why they should choose Jalan Silibin which has been in existence for more than five decades.

The people around that area are so used to the road and people from outside Ipoh can easily identify themselves with Silibin Road.

I do not see any rationale on the part of the Perak government in causing inconvienience to the residents of Jalan Silibin, especially to those in the business fraternity.

And how about the ordinary folk? They have to change their addresses on their MyKad, driving licences and other important documents although it can be argued these things are quite minor and can be overcome with time.

To create a win-win situation and to recognise the sacrifices and contributions of the late Patto, I suggest the Perak government name a new housing scheme after the DAP stalwart and they can have so many Jalan Pattos in the whole ‘taman’.

If this is not feasible, when a new recreational park or centre is created, name it after him. By doing this, nobody will be inconvenienced and I am sure everybody will accept it gracefully.

If we keep changing existing names, there will be no end to it. A policy must be formulated to protect names of roads and other places so that it would not encourage further name changes when a new government takes over.

JAYARAJ KGS,
Sitiawan, Perak.

Umno / Muslim NGO lodges police report

Posted by: super_structure

I think these people don’t have anything better to do but to waste their time and seek popularity by lodging reports continuously and in return they are more or less like clowns.

Tennis event – It’s a matter between the organizers and the state government and why Umnoputras has to jump??? There has been so many failed project done by the BN government but no actions taken so far. I wish the state government will get rid of all these people out of the island for the betterment of the people in Penang

Deputy CM Ramsamy – He merely provided the numbers and his statement is pure facts on why non-Malays are not being employed in government jobs. Everyone knows that these are the brainchild of UMNO to limit the access of the non-Malays into these jobs via their discriminative policies. Often the Malays claim that its their people who is willing to sacrifice and die for the nation as majority of them are employed in the forces. My question is, when was the last time a non-Malay was appointed to high rank in these forces??? Rear Admiral (Rtd) Datuk K. Thanabalasingam is the first Malaysian chief of the Royal Malaysian Navy and any other non-malay after him??

Everyone wants to seek excellence in their career but what’s the point if the promotions are given based on race and religion and these are some of the reasons on why the non-Malays doesn’t want to join the forces. This is just the tip, but as we go in detail and also the experience of others we might even have astonishing stories on what has happened to non-Malay candidates applying for government jobs. The Muslim NGOs and UMNOputras should not get too excited when the truth is revealed as I believe ISLAM teaches fair and equality, not NEP and race supremacy!

Malaysia considers dumping petrol subsidy scheme

Malaysia is not currently subsiding petrol and may dump its subsidy scheme altogether, despite major protests earlier this year over spiralling pump prices, a minister said Tuesday.

The government on Tuesday cut pump prices by seven percent to 2.00 ringgit (0.56 dollars) per litre as global crude prices continued to ease. The price of diesel was also reduced by 15 sen to 1.90 ringgit per litre.

"We have stopped subsidising petrol from the time when the pump prices were cut to 2.00 ringgit per litre," Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Shahrir Samad told AFP.

He said that at current prices, the government is making about 30 sen per litre.

"At about 60 dollars per barrel we are already making money," he said.

Shahrir said the government was still handing out direct subsidies in the form of cash rebates for motorists of 625 ringgit per year and that diesel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) were still being subsidised.

"The rebate system is still being enforced... but it will runs its course until March next year before we either stop it or implement a new system," he said.

Tuesday's cut was the fifth the government has announced since a 41 percent hike in June as the price of crude soared, sparking angry street protests and calls for Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to resign.

Shahrir said the government will decide by the end of the month if subsidies will be reinstated if crude oil prices go up again. It will consider setting a floor price of 1.92 ringgit per litre.

"I would be happy to have a floor price of 1.92 ringgit. This would allow the government to earn some revenue and it is also easier to manage the price," he said.

"It is also a better option because we can use the savings for development or to reduce the deficit."

The government earlier this month announced a 7.0 billion ringgit (2.0 billion dollar) stimulus programme -- reaped from savings on reduced oil subsidies -- to boost the economy amid the global slowdown.

But the additional spending saw the government widen its budget deficit forecast for 2009 to 4.8 percent, from 3.6 percent predicted in August.