FMT News |  |
- Hasan Ali lancar IMR Network
- 8th Bersih leader held at airport
- ‘Who is she to question Karpal?’
- RM12m spent on PM and DPM homes
- Kajang prison passes the buck to cops
- Genneva gold scheme raked in RM10b
- Ex-MCA boss to get ‘liftetime achievement award’
- Kes curi air: Syabas rugi RM6 juta
- Rakyat perlu hargai pemimpin amanah, tepati janji
- Menara Warisan to be taller than first proposed
- Bestino investors’ ‘Occupy Putrajaya’ called off
- Wong: Am I sacked or not?
- Angry Baram villagers protest against their leaders
- Awang Adek: Pelabur Genneva 35,000 orang
- What is a dog thinking about?
- Hong Kong named top financial center for second year
- Messi: I don’t hog the ball
- Kg Railway belongs to developer, says court
- Unusual ways to increase your lifespan
- Bangladesh charity puts women in the driving seat
- Thorpe angered by constant questions over sexuality
- Panasonic says will lose $9.6 bn in year to March
- Gudang Garam profits goes up in smoke
- New Corp doubles stakes in pay-TV market
- Taman Connaught night market
- Chua membisu, Pemuda PAS mahu menghadap Agong
- Europe still favours Obama despite disappointments
- ‘Tidak semua kerusi boleh umum calon secara terbuka’
- Japan airport reopens with WWII bomb still there
- Spain’s empty highways lead to ruin
- DR Congo rape clinic longs for founder’s return
- PKR leaders demand post-mortem
- Soi Lek dismisses ‘losing support’ report
- MP Kota Belud diminta lawat kawasan
- KKIA fiasco raises more questions
- Rayu KDN benarkan semula agen bekal pekerja asing
- Millions struggle after massive storm, 45 dead
- Interest rates ‘not likely’ to be revised
- Truce frays as Obama, Romney navigate Sandy aftermath
- Will it get dirty between LDP and Gerakan?
- HR Ministry : Foreigners not taking our jobs
- Make animal tunnels mandatory
- Asia battles drug-resistant Malaria
- Star Wars set to be revived
- There’s no future for Pahang under BN
- Bridal bootcamp
- Storm knocks down some web sites, but most stay online
- Lukewarm jobs report awaits as election nears
- Why being grumpy is good sometimes
| Posted: 31 Oct 2012 07:25 AM PDT
Beliau yang ditemui ketika majlis pelancaran operasi Islam-Melayu-Raja (IMR Network) petang tadi berkata, saluran baru media ini juga tiada kaitan dengan mana-mana parti politik. Menurut beliau, IMR adalah saluran baru media yang lebih bebas dan tidak terikat dengan individu, kerajaan, ahli politik mahupun menteri. “IMR dengan JATI tiada kena mengena. IMR ada program politik namun politik ini berbeza dengan saluran konvensional. “Kita paparkan fakta, hujah kedua-dua pihak (kerajaan dan pembangkang), kerana kami ada satu misi untuk menjadikan masa depan Malaysia sebagai sebuah negara yang stabil, aman dan sentosa. “IMR tiada kaitan dengan parti politik. Tapi kita mahu ada kaitan hanya dari segi idea, intelektualiti,” katanya yang juga Pengarah Urusan IMR Network. Ketika ditanya jika ahli politik turut serta dalam sebarang program TV mahupun radio di IMR, beliau mengalu-alukan kehadiran mereka. “Anwar, Najib, Hadi Awang, Nik Aziz boleh datang,” katanya berseloroh. Sejak dipecat dari PAS pada 8 Jan lalu, Hasan Ali yang juga presiden JATI kini bergiat aktif dalam dunia penyiaran. IMR Network mula beroperasi sejak sebulan lalu dengan menyajikan pelbagai program dan segmen untuk tontonan umum menerusi online. Tidak terkecuali program politik dengan segmen seperti sembang politik, debat dan lain-lain. Pelbagai program dan segmen berkaitan dengan kehidupan manusia turut dipaparkan melalui IMRTV. Selain itu, IMR Network turut mempunyai rangkaian radio yang menemui pendengar sepanjang 24 jam bersiaran. |
| 8th Bersih leader held at airport Posted: 31 Oct 2012 04:07 AM PDT
In the latest incident which happened on Saturday, Arul Prakash (photo, left) was held briefly by immigration officers for about 30 minutes at the LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal) while traveling to Singapore. “I was told that my name was blacklisted,” he told FMT today. He said that an immigration officer witheld his boarding pass and passport, and made photocopies of them. He also made a few calls, said Arul. “After awhile they told me I can go. But when I asked why I was stopped, they simply said: You have to check with PDRM (Royal Malaysia Police),” said Arul, who is also Pusat Komas executive director. Arul said he regarded this as harassment from the authorities, and speculated that it was probably due to him being a defendant in the government’s civil suit against the electoral reform group. On Oct 12, Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar seemed puzzled when quizzed about a police order to the immigration to stop Bersih leaders from flying out of the country. Prior to that, Immigration Department director-general Alias Ahmad had confirmed with FMT that his officers were stopping certain travellers at airports based on a list furnished by the Bukit Aman police headquarters. Aside from Arul, other Bersih leaders stopped on separate occassions so far were S Ambiga (co-chairperson), steering committee members K Arumugam, Toh Kin Woon, Maria Chin Abdullah, Wong Chin Huat, Yeo Yang Poh and Andrew Khoo. They were all held for about 10 minutes before being allowed to depart. |
| ‘Who is she to question Karpal?’ Posted: 31 Oct 2012 03:51 AM PDT
Kota Alam Shah assemblyman M Manoharan demanded that the DAP national organising secretary apologise to the veteran politician, who is also the party’s national chairman. He said Kok’s "media outburst" with regard to Karpal’s statement on the "one man – one seat" issue was uncalled for. Being the party’s Selangor chief and national organising secretary, he said Kok should know that Karpal as the DAP supremo had the right to announce the party’s public policies. He said Kok had no right to question Karpal’s media statements on the "one man – one seat" issue, which had become a major political topic among party leaders and members at all levels. He said Kok should always remember that Karpal was among the senior leaders responsible for the party’s political strength and growth over the years. "She should retract her criticisms immediately and apologise to Karpal," Manoharan told FMT. Last Friday, Karpal called on the party’s nine double-hat wearers, who are both a parliamentarian and an assemblyman, to declare publicly that they would opt for only one seat in the next general election. In other words, Karpal wanted them to show support to the proposed "one man – one seat" electoral formula. Karpal, who first proposed the formula early last year, argued that the party now had enough capable and dynamic young grassroots leaders as candidates, unlike in previous elections. But Kok, a double-seat holder herself, chided Karpal for highlighting "an old story" in the media. The other DAP elected representatives who are both MPs and assemblymen are Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (Bagan MP and Air Putih assemblyman), Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy (Batu Kawan MP and Prai assemblyman) and the state senior exco and party chief Chow Kon Yeow (Tanjung MP and Padang Kota assemblyman), all in Penang; Beruas MP and Sitiawan assemblyman Ngeh Koo Ham, Taiping MP and Pantai Remis assemblyman Nga Kor Ming, both Perak; and Rasah MP and Lobak assemblyman Anthony Loke Siew Fook (Negeri Sembilan). In Sarawak, state DAP chairman Wong Ho Leng is the Sibu MP and Bukit Assek assemblyman while state party secretary Chong Chieng Jen is the Bandar Kuching MP and Kota Sentosa assemblyman. ‘She was neither here nor there’ He said double-hat wearers should not draw multiple perks while dishing out poor performance as elected representatives at the expense of other single seat representatives and taxpayers. At a glance, double-seat holders earn nearly RM40,000 per month. In Selangor, an assemblyman’s pay is about RM11,700, inclusive of allowances, while that of an executive councillor is about RM25,000 (inclusive of state assembly pay). A MP earns about RM15,000 a month. Manoharan recalled that during the recent July parliamentary sitting, which coincided with the Selangor state assembly session, Kok was unable to perform her duties efficiently as a senior exco, state representative and parliamentarian. "She was neither here nor there. She was missing most of the assembly sittings," he claimed. Manoharan said he was now fighting a court case against the demolishment of a Hindu temple – Seafield Maha Mariamman Kovil – which comes under Kok’s Kinrara constituency. "The temple management told me that it had been difficult to get even an appointment to meet Kok and resolve the demolishment issue amicably," he said. He said Kok was not able to divide and devote her time for her constituents partly because she was a MP and an assemblywoman in two different territories. Up to party to decide "The party has set up a candidature committee which will deal with this question, and the CEC has discussed this issue before," she said. She added that placement of candidates depends on the party’s strategy in each constituency and each state. She also said that Manoharan has not visited her constituencies to know the work she was doing there, along with her five staff to manage her state office. She added that her work at her constituencies were regularly highlighted in her blog and her Facebook. |
| RM12m spent on PM and DPM homes Posted: 31 Oct 2012 02:42 AM PDT
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz said RM6,977,401.80 was spent on Seri Perdana, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s residence, and RM5,117,305.26 on Sri Satria, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s residence. Nazri said this in a written parliamentary response to Mohd Nasir Zakaria (PAS-Padang Terap). The highest yearly maintenance cost for Seri Perdana was recorded in 2008, at RM1,896,616.80. For Sri Satria, it was in 2011, and the amount was RM1,455,804. The Seri Perdana complex sits on a 42.5-acre site along Persiaran Seri Perdana, in Putrajaya’s Precinct 10. It is open to the public for guided tours and walk-in visits from 9am to 3pm every day, except Friday. Sri Satria is located along Lebuh Perdana Selatan in Precinct 16. |
| Kajang prison passes the buck to cops Posted: 31 Oct 2012 02:22 AM PDT
Yesterday, the family of R Kumar Rajah, 27, alleged that he died in his cell on Oct 29, after the prison authorities failed to provide medical assistance for his stomach ache. A prison spokesman said they have left it to the police to investigate as a police report has been lodged by the family. "Comments on this case will be by the Prisons Department. We will leave it to them to comment and clarify the matter," he said when contacted by FMT today. The family with the assistance of Lawyers for Liberty want a post-mortem conducted on the inmate’s body, which is kept at the Kajang Hospital. They have alleged that the prison authorities, police, the hospital and the magistrate, in charge of issuing a post-mortem order, were working to cover-up the cause of death. Kajang district police headquarters meanwhile confirmed that a police report on the matter had been lodged by the family's lawyers yesterday. A police spokeswoman said the report contained their dissatisfaction against the hospital, police and the prison authorities. "The report states that Kumar Rajah's family and lawyer are unhappy with the hospital for refusing to do a post-mortem and the prison for alleged negligence and delay in informing the death of Kumar Rajah," she said declining to comment further. It is learnt that Kumar Rajah's remains was still at the mortuary and up to 3.30 pm today no post mortem had been conducted. Meanwhile, PKR’s S Jayathas notified FMT that the police have claimed that it has no power to override the magistrate’s order not to carry out a post-morterm. He said that the police would forward their investigation papers to the Attorney-General’s Chambers for further instructions. Also read: PKR leaders demand post-mortem |
| Genneva gold scheme raked in RM10b Posted: 31 Oct 2012 02:17 AM PDT
Authorities raided trading firm Genneva Malaysia on Oct 1 on suspicion of taking deposits illegally, money-laundering and tax evasion, and later expanded the crackdown to three other firms. The raids have sparked anger from thousands of clients of such firms, who have petitioned authorities to let operations continue and have threatened to hold anti-government demonstrations over the issue. But authorities have defended the crackdown, and Deputy Finance Minister Awang Adek Husin told lawmakers on Wednesday that Genneva Malaysia alone had taken in some RM10 billion from customers. “The information that I have is that there (are) 35,000 (Genneva) investors that can be detected, but the total investment can reach RM10 billion,” Awang Adek was quoted by local media as saying in parliament. An aide confirmed his remarks to AFP. The controversy has focused on Genneva due to the reported large size of its business, but authorities also raided Pageantry Gold, Caesar Gold and Worldwide Far East. Authorities in Singapore also seized Genneva assets there. Customers deposited money with the promise they would be given gold bars of equal value as well as interest earnings on their deposits. The businesses began operations within the past few years. However, in a joint statement Malaysia’s police, central bank and consumer affairs ministry have called the schemes risky. “The concern is that such companies are operating schemes believed to be not sustainable. Such companies promised high monthly returns to the investors and a guarantee to buy back the gold,” the statement said. The government has promised a speedy investigation. Angry investors The raids angered thousands of customers who insist the businesses were legitimate, and Genneva clients have launched a petition calling for it to be allowed to resume operations. The petitions warned that signatories would otherwise vote for the political opposition in elections due next year that are expected to be closely fought. Genneva customer Chandran Kutty, 56, told AFP he bought a gold bar for RM200,000 and was earning RM4,500 monthly from interest and commissions for introducing new clients, but “now all that is gone”. “It is a nightmare. I never expected this to happen. We were doing a genuine business,” he said, adding that clients were drawn to the scheme because low interest rates in Malaysia have made bank deposits unattrative. -AFP |
| Ex-MCA boss to get ‘liftetime achievement award’ Posted: 31 Oct 2012 02:13 AM PDT
Tan will be among seven others to be conferred the award at WCEF which will be held in Melbourne, Australia starting Nov 12. Congratulating Tan, Chua said:”It is time for what we call redemption. He has gone through a very difficult time and he deserves the award. The prosecutor in his case has admitted to being wrong and has exonerated him… time has proven that he (Tan) is innocent.” Chua added that it was high time that Tan, who he described as a “well-known corporate figure”, have his hard work and contributions recognised. The Singapore Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) in 1985 slapped Tan with 15 charges, including criminal breach of trust (CBT) and share manipulation following the collapse of Pan-El Industries, which temporarily halted the Malaysia and Singapore stock exchanges. Tan, who had a stake in Pan-El, was found guilty and jailed two years. Tan was MCA president between November 1985 and September 1986, before quitting after the scandal. Glenn Knight, then director of CAD, in his recently-launched book, "Glenn Knight: The Prosecutor", apologised to Tan for the “wrongful prosecution”. In his words, Tan was “technically an innocent man". Knight's book was disputed by Singapore's Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC), which said that Tan's conviction stood and he remains guilty of the crime that he had admitted to. Others receiving the lifetime awards are Dr Jonathan Choi– Chairman of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce (for Community Leadership); Jannie Chan – Vice Chairman of The Hour Glass Ltd & President, ASEAN BusinessForum(for Women Leadership);Councillor Ken Ong – Melbourne City Council (for Community Leadership); Jenny McGregor – Founding Chief Executive Officer, Asialink Centre, Australia (for Leadership in Asian Studies in Australia); Vincent Lee Fook Long – Executive Deputy Chairman, The Star Publications (Malaysia) Berhad(for Media and Communications); Vincent Lo – Chairman, Shui On Group (for Leadership in Property Sector); Liew Kee Sin – President/Chief Executive Officer, SP Setia Berhad Group (for Property Development Leadership). Meanwhile, Chua said the WCEF, being the first time held outside of Malaysia, was a very significant event for both Asians and Western countries. “The way to go, as Australia has identified, is to maximise and tap into the growing economy of Asia, China, India, Japan, and South Korea. It is often said that the centre of gravity of the economy has shifted from the West to the East. “The economic growth in the next few years is very positive about this part of the world, rather than America and European Union, who have not put their house in order. Whereas in Asia, growth has remained uninterrupted,” he said. |
| Kes curi air: Syabas rugi RM6 juta Posted: 31 Oct 2012 02:08 AM PDT
Penolong Pengurus Besar Jabatan Komunikasi Korporat dan Hal Ehwal Awam Syabas Priscilla Alfred berkata nilai kerugian itu mencatatkan peningkatan kira-kira RM1 juta, berbanding tahun lepas. “Mengikut rekod sejak Januari lalu, Syabas menerima 2,972 aduan berhubung kes curi air dan semua aduan itu telah disiasat sebelum tindakan susulan operasi pemotongan dilakukan,” katanya kepada pemberita selepas operasi serbuan dan operasi pemotongan sambungan paip haram di lot perniagaan milik sebuah koperasi di Pekan Meru di sini, hari ini. Mengulas lanjut, beliau berkata 154 kes telah dirujuk kepada Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Air Negara (SPAN) untuk tindakan pendakwaan. Mengenai operasi hari ini, Priscilla berkata Syabas mengesan sebuah lot perniagaan menempatkan tujuh premis perniagaan restoran, baju terpakai, kedai makanan ringan dan pusat cuci kereta yang didapati melakukan penyambungan haram menggunakan paip poly bersaiz 25 milimeter dari paip utama Syabas. “Kita dapati premis di lot perniagaan itu menggunakan 102.8 meter padu air sehari dan mereka akan tutup saliran utama dari penyambungan haram apabila air di tangki simpanan penuh,” kata Priscilla. Priscilla berkata berdasarkan rekod, koperasi berkenaan mempunyai akaun dengan Syabas sebelum ini dan ditamatkan pada Januari 2011 selepas gagal melangsaikan bil tertunggak berjumlah RM1,248. Beliau berkata ujian turut mendapati air dari paip berkenaan bertukar kepada warna merah jambu menandakan air yang dicuri adalah air terawat dari saluran Syabas. Tegas beliau, perbuatan tidak bertanggungjawab itu menyebabkan berlaku gangguan bekalan air serta kadar kehilangan Air Tak Berhasil (NRW) yang tinggi di kawasan itu. Menurutnya koperasi itu boleh dikenakan penalti mengikut Seksyen 123 (3) Akta Industri Perkhidmatan Air 2006 kerana membuat sambungan haram yang memperuntukkan hukuman maksimum denda RM100,000 atau dipenjara tidak lebih setahun atau kedua-duanya. - Bernama |
| Rakyat perlu hargai pemimpin amanah, tepati janji Posted: 31 Oct 2012 02:05 AM PDT
Beliau berkata pemimpin yang tidak pernah mengkhianati amanah yang dipertanggungjawabkan wajib disokong oleh rakyat demi kesejahteraan negara. “Kita (pemimpin yang) tidak pernah bercakap bohong, kita bercakap benar, jadi kita mesti faham bahawa apa yang kita lakukan itu memang menepati kehendak agama kita, menepati hadis Rasulullah SAW. “Ini amanah yang kita galas, tidak pernah khianati dan setiap janji kepada rakyat kita tepati,” katanya dalam ucapan pada majlis Perhimpunan Peladang, Penternak dan Nelayan negeri Kedah di Pantai Merdeka di sini hari ini. Kira-kira 15,000 orang menghadiri majlis anjuran Kementerian Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani itu. Yang turut hadir pada perhimpunan itu ialah ialah Menteri Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani Datuk Seri Noh Omar, Timbalan Menteri Perdagangan Antarabangsa dan Industri Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, Timbalan Menteri Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani Datuk Johari Baharom dan Pengerusi Badan Perhubungan Umno Negeri Kedah Datuk Ahmad Bashah. Selain itu, Najib menegaskan tugas mengendalikan urusan sesebuah kerajaan bukan sesuatu yang mudah, bukan semata-mata ikut suka hati sendiri atau sekadar menyedapkan halwa telinga pengundi. “Sebab itulah kita sebagai sebuah negara yang semakin hari semakin berjaya, ada perancangan yang jelas dan berjuang melakukan perubahan yang besar. Untuk mencapai sebuah negara maju, kita perlu kepada kemajuan yang seimbang dan tidak boleh meminggirkan mana-mana golongan. “Kalau kita dengar pembangkang hendak mansuhkan hutang, hapuskan tol, naikkan gaji minimum, kurangkan harga minyak…semuanya sekali boleh sebabkan ekonomi kita runtuh dan jika itu berlaku, hasil kerajaan juga akan merudum,” katanya. Najib memberi contoh mengikut Islam “kalau meninggal dunia wajib lunaskan hutang, kalau kita tak sempat, waris kita kena selesaikan. Kalau mati tanpa melunaskan hutang, berat pada roh kita nanti…seksa nanti, tapi pembangkang senang-senang kata hapuskan hutang, itu bukan ajaran Islam”. katanya. Lebuh raya sungai Menyentuh permintaan Pertubuhan Peladang Kedah supaya dilaksanakan projek lebuh raya sungai dari Empangan Pedu di bahagian utara Kedah hingga ke daerah Kuala Muda di bahagian selatan, perdana menteri berkata kerajaan tiada masalah melaksanakannya. “Kita (kerajaan) boleh bagi…tapi kena bagi (Barisan Nasional) menang jugalah (pilihan raya umum ke-13). InsyaAllah masalah-masalah yang dihadapi golongan petani, penternak dan nelayan yang disebutkan, akan diambil perhatian,” katanya. Projek lebuh raya sungai itu dicadangkan bertujuan mengalihkan aliran air sungai yang bengkak-bengkok di beberapa daerah di Kedah, seperti di Pendang, bagi mengelakkan berlaku kerosakan tanaman padi akibat air sungai masuk ke kawasan sawah padi. Sebelum ini, apabila tiba musim tengkujuh banyak padi yang rosak dan musnah, kerajaan terpaksa mengeluarkan belanja yang besar hingga jutaan ringgit untuk diberikan kepada petani sebagai ganti rugi. Pada majlis itu, Najib turut menyampaikan sumbangan kerajaan persekutuan di bawah beberapa insentif seperti insentif pengeluaran beras, insentif peningkatan hasil, elaun sara hidup nelayan dan insentif tangkapan ikan negeri kepada petani, penternak dan nelayan. Najib menyifatkan golongan petani, penternak dan nelayan sebagai wira yang tidak didendang kerana usaha dan perjuangan mereka adalah di belakang tabir serta tidak menonjol. “Golongan ini mempunyai jasa yang sangat besar kepada kita, kenapa saya kata bahawa golongan ini wira yang tidak didendang…yang sebenarnya golongan petani, penternak dan nelayan ini mempunyai jasa yang begitu besar kepada negara. “Mereka memberi sumbangan yang cukup besar kerana nasi yang kita makan saban hari adalah hasil daripada daripada titik peluh petani, ikan yang dijadikan lauk adalah kerana para nelayan sanggup meniti gelombang, panas matahari terik samudera untuk beri bekalan ikan kepada kita semua, begitu juga ayam dan daging yang kita makan buah dan sayur sebagainya kerana titik peluh serta jasa dan kesungguhan mereka,” katanya. Oleh itu, katanya, golongan petani, penternak dan nelayan sentiasa mendapat perhatian kerajaan dan kerana itu di bawah Belanjawan 2013, sebanyak RM5.8 bilion diperuntukan kepada Kementerian Pertanian dan Asas Tani bagi pembangunan ekonomi golongan ini. - Bernama |
| Menara Warisan to be taller than first proposed Posted: 31 Oct 2012 02:01 AM PDT
This was revealed in a written parliamentary response from the Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Ministry to a question posed by MP for Bukit Bintang, DAP's Fong Kui Lan. The reply, given yesterday, gives a list of six conditions that the developer must fulfil before KL City Hall would approve of the project. One of the conditions was that the design of the tower's spire must be improved so that it would harmonise better with the building's facade. According to the ministry's reply, City Hall gave the condition in these words: “The ‘antenna’ shape at the top of the proposed 118-storey has to be enhanced so that it would be more appealing and normalised with the proposed building’s facade design.” The ministry said five of the conditions had been met. The sixth, which involves land acquisition and related matters, is yet to be met. Fong said he was shocked by the new information about the height of the tower. He demanded that City Hall stop the project. “Malaysia should not be interested in building tall skyscrapers which have no benefit for its people,” he said. He said Kuala Lumpur already had enough office space and needed neither Menara Warisan Merdeka nor the upcoming Tun Razak Exchange Furthermore, he added, the new building would put the city’s heritage status at risk and worsen traffic congestion. He said Kuala Lumpur deserved more sustainable and comfortable surroundings, with world-class public services. Menara Warisan Merdeka is sometimes referred to as Menara Wawasan. It is slated to be more than 600m high—150m taller than the Petronas Twin Towers. The proposal to build it was announced by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak in his Budget 2010 speech. He said the government had allocated RM5 billion for it and expected the construction to be completed by 2015. It is estimated to cost RM2.5 billion to RM3 billion, according to a recent Business Times report. Two more phases of development would follow over a 10-year development period, and the eventual cost is expected to come to RM5 billion. |
| Bestino investors’ ‘Occupy Putrajaya’ called off Posted: 31 Oct 2012 01:57 AM PDT
Speaking to FMT, the investors’ spokesman K Kunasegaran said the campaign, which kicked off yesterday, was called off after the Bestino Action Committee met Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s special officer Ravin Ponniah at the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya this morning. Bestino was one of the nation’s largest gold investment scheme involving more than 6,700 investors nationwide who had invested more than RM400 million. The gold trading company was operated by Perak-based gold merchant Chong Yuk Ming before it was closed down by Bank Negara Malaysia in 2010 for alleged money laundering. The central bank also froze RM24 million following the raid. The investors have been trying to get back their investments since then. They have held discussions with the Finance Ministry as well as with Bank Negara but todate no solution had been found. Bestino claims that it has the money to pay back the investors but the fund was parked in Hong Kong. The company claimed that it needed Bank Negara’s approval to bring the money back into the country. The investors then turned to the prime minister to intervene and solve the matter. Their efforts to obtain an appointment with Najib had met with a dead wall. The investors irked with the way the authorities have been passing the buck resorted to camping outside the PMO until they get an appointment with the prime minister. Their campaign began yesterday. On their meeting with Ravin Ponniah, Kunasekaran said the prime minister’s special officer had asked the Bestino Action Committee to send an official letter through their lawyer for a discussion with PMO, Finance Ministry, BNM, Bestino directors and investors. “We will submit the letter very soon,” he said, adding that the government should speed-up the process of returning their money. “It is already three years and the investors are still struggling to get back the money. If the Najib’s government has the financial muscle to settle the outstanding RM589 million debt owed by Tajudin Ramli of Malaysian Airlines System (MAS), what is the big deal to settle Bestino investors?” he asked. In a related matter, A Gopalan, also an investor, urged MIC vice president M Saravanan to keep his hands out of the matter. Tamil daily Malaysian Nanban today quoted Saravanan as saying that the government and MIC had put in all necessary efforts to assist the investors. The MIC leader also slammed the investors for camping outside the PM’s office as it was becoming a trend to settle issues. “From the very beginning MIC had eluded the issue. And now Saravanan is raising the issue just to get public attention,” said Gopalan. Also read: |
| Posted: 31 Oct 2012 01:35 AM PDT
Seeing no reason for a delay in announcing the party’s Central Working Committee’s decision, he said: “It’s a simple yes or no on sacking me… why the delay?” Chin had earlier this week said that the CWC had met and decided on Wong’s status but would only issue an official statement on Thursday. A disgruntled Wong said the media had been harassing him for his comments following Chin’s reported statement. “It’s a simple matter..Why are they dragging their feet on the issue. First, they met on Sept 23 to discuss the state BN (coalition) and the issue of sacking me. “Then, the whole issue went into total silence. On Sept 30 newspapers reported Chin appealing to party branches to submit evidence to support sacking me. “Then on Monday the media reported that the CWC will meet on Tuesday to decide my fate. After the meeting the president said the party will issue a statement on Thursday! "They already have the answer, yet, they’ve sealed their lips," said Wong adding that all this drama was not good for the party’s image in view of the general election. Chin had reportedly said that the party would release its disciplinary committee report tomorrow (Nov 1) which comprised members facing disciplinary action. ‘I think they are warning me’ Wong was among those who had been issued warning letters. Wong is Sibu branch chairman and was in the running for the party presidency in December last year until Chin threw in his candidacy at the eleventh hour after receiving Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s blessing. Despite being prodded by media, Chin had refused to disclose if Wong was among those under scrutiny by the disciplinary committee. Said Chin: "The disciplinary committee which met on Oct 11 have submitted the report today (yesterday), together with recommendations for actions to be taken against the members concerned. "However, it will only be revealed this Thursday, through a statement (in written form) to be issued by the general-secretary, Professor Dr Sim Kui Hian, to the media.” Chin’s statement however seemed to rile Wong. "Such an explanation cannot be accepted. I have been flooded with queries. Some people feel there’s something fishy in the delayed decision. “They are wondering what games Chin's faction is up to. I think they are warning me,” he said. |
| Angry Baram villagers protest against their leaders Posted: 31 Oct 2012 01:32 AM PDT
Watching over the protesting natives in the sleepy town of Long Lama were about 100 police personnel who were assisted by squads from the riot police. A police helicopter flew overhead scanning the situation on the ground. No untoward incident happened and the demonstration proceeded smoothly with the crowd only dispersing about an hour later. The demonstration began at around 10am, outside the Long Lama Sub-District Office with the villagers then proceeding to march around the town shouting slogans "Stop Baram Dam" in the different ethnic Orang Ulu dialects. Banners and placards stating 'Stop Baram Dam and Stop Mega Dams' were unfurled during the demonstration followed by cries from the villagers to call on the government and the relevant authorities to listen to their pleas. The crowd would have been bigger if certain timber camp managers around Baram had not warned their employees from going into Long Lama town. Baram Protection Action Committee (BPAC) chairman Philip Jau addressed the crowd, saying that the majority of the people in Baram rejected the proposed Baram HEP and advised the community leaders against supporting certain politicians with vested interest. "Our community leaders should stand strong and listen to the peoples' concerns instead of being easily manipulated by politicians with vested interest in this project. "If you do not listen to the plight of the people, then the people will have no respect for their community leaders," he said. Jau further urged the politicians not to manipulating the community leaders. Misleading statement The demonstration was held in conjunction with the Native Court proceeding initiated against Temenggong Pahang after the group failed to In the article, Temenggong Pahang was quoted as saying that 'after initial misgivings, the people who will be affected by the Baram Hydro Electric Project (HEP) have collectively agreed to give their support to its implementation'. This statement, according to Dorus Katan of Long Tap, Akah, who initiated the suit, was wrong, false and misleading and had created a lot of confusion and anger among the majority of the Orang Ulu community in Baram. Temenggong Pahang Deng was charged for allegedly violating the adat or customs of the Kayan-Kenyah community. The Native Court presided over by a community leader Penghulu Lenjau struck out the case on a technicality. According to Dorus, he will review the court's decision by consulting legal experts and will decide soon on the next course of action. |
| Awang Adek: Pelabur Genneva 35,000 orang Posted: 31 Oct 2012 01:24 AM PDT
“Maklumat yang saya peroleh setakat ini 35,000 pelabur dikesan melibatkan pelaburan lebih dari RM 4 bilion dan mencecah RM10 bilion,” kata Timbalan Menteri Kewangan Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussin semasa menjawab soalan tambahan di Dewan Rakyat. Beliau menafikan kenyataan ahli Parlimen Pasir Mas Datuk Ibrahim Ali terdapat 80, 000 pelabur yang terlibat di dalam skim ini. Aset Syarikat Genneva Malaysia telah dibekukan oleh Bank Negara Malaysia sejak awal bulan ini kerana disyaki mengumpul wang deposit secara haram dan pelbagai kesalahan kewangan. Awang Adek turut menyatakan sebelum ini menyenaraikan langkah-langkah kesedaran yang diambil kerajaan agar rakyat tidak tertipu dengan skim sebegini yang beliau sifatkan sebagai mempunyai nilai sentimental. “Perniagaan ini berselindung di sebalik perniagaan emas dan mempunyai tarikan sentimental maka pengguna merasakan perniagaan emas betul,” kata beliau. Beliau turut menyatakan Bank Negara Malaysia perlu bertindak secara seimbang dalam mengambil tindakan terhadap syarikat pelaburan sebegini. “Bank Negara tidak boleh terus masuk. Kita kena imbangi tak terlalu cepat dan tak terlalu lewat. Kalau terlalu cepat, akan dimarahi pelabur,” kata Awang Adek. |
| Posted: 31 Oct 2012 01:07 AM PDT
But now research by canine cognition experts suggests a lot more is going on in a dog's brain than we realize. An article on Time.com looked at some recent studies on how dogs think and why they behave the way they do. The findings are startling. Dogs actually have a working vocabulary of hundreds of words. They may even be able to count. They can learn to solve spatial problems, such as finding the fastest route to the softest sofa. They can figure out how to operate simple mechanisms such as latches. According to Stanley Coren, an expert on canine behaviour and human-animal bonding at the University of British Columbia, the average dog can learn about 165 words. And if you happen to have a super smart pooch, he or she can have a vocabulary of upward of 250 words. (The brainiest breeds are thought to be border collies, poodles, German shepherds, golden retrievers, Dobermans, Shetland sheepdogs and Labrador retrievers.)
The reason dogs are able to read us so well may have to do with evolution. They are the longest domesticated species, which means they've had over thousands of years to become sensitized to human social cues. |
| Hong Kong named top financial center for second year Posted: 31 Oct 2012 01:00 AM PDT
The WEF’s annual Financial Development Report considered a wide range of factors and underscored the rise of Asian trading centers and the influence of China as the world’s second-largest economy. Rival surveys based purely on the total value of transactions typically put New York or London in top place. However, stalling capital markets, sputtering economic growth and waning trust in financial organizations served to ensure that the top six positions remained unchanged from 2011, the WEF said. “Macroeconomic uncertainty as well as concerns related to regulation, contributes to inhibiting the financial industry from funding much-needed growth,” said Giancarlo Bruno, senior director at the WEF, which hosts an annual meeting of political and business leaders in Davos, Switzerland. Though the report noted “pockets of improvement” across some banking-related indicators, it said that these signified “only a small step in what will be a long road to recovery”. The United States, Britain, Singapore, Australia and Canada followed Hong Kong in the 2012 rankings. The report looked at legal and regulatory factors, business environment, financial stability, banking and non-banking services, markets and access to them. “Despite these strengths, Hong Kong has a relatively underdeveloped bond market and its financial sector has yet to be fully liberalized,” the report said. Japan, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Sweden made up the remainder of the top 10 financial centers. The report said that policymakers face a “monumental” task to restore confidence in markets as waning trust in the overall system holds back investment. -Reuters |
| Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:40 AM PDT
"I have never considered myself a ball hog, even if others thought so," the 25-year Argentine football wonder said in an interview with Spain's top selling sports daily Marca. "But I have also taken those opinions into account to try to improve," said Messi, who also heads a 23-strong shortlist for a FIFA/France Football Ballon d'Or award for the world's best footballer of the year. The Argentine, who has already won the Ballon d'Or three times, is the second-best passer of the ball in the Liga so far this season, with four passes ending in goals, behind only team-mate Cesc Fabregas who made six. Messi also is the top scorer this season with 13 goals in the Liga, smashing through the 300 goals mark for his career in just 419 matches. "My playing style has always been the same. I have never looked for it, but it has been like that since I was small," Messi said. "One thing for sure is that I learned a lot in youth football. Here we work in a different way with the ball and the tactical system. I came from Argentina where we did not do anything like that, everything was about running and not much else." Messi hailed the recent success of Argentina, who now lead their group in the qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil with only one defeat, a 1-0 loss to Venezuela. "What has changed is the results. Winning gives you a lot of confidence and you work differently. Winning the World Cup is the greatest. And if it's in Brazil, even better," he added. Messi, who will soon be the father of a son, Thiago, had a few words for his offspring's future: He should be whatever he wants to be. "When he grows up, he will get to know what he wants and what he chooses will be fine for me, for his mother and for everyone." – AFP |
| Kg Railway belongs to developer, says court Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:25 AM PDT
The decision dismayed the current residents of the area, and their lawyer said he would file an appeal soon. "The developer is the owner of the land, and by that virtue, they emerge the absolute owners irrespective of how and why they came to be the owners," Justice Zabariah Yusof said in chambers. Sentul Raya, a subsidiary of YTL Corporation, initiated the case last year. It sought a court order to evict Kampung Railway's 153 residents, claiming they were trespassers. The residents say they have the right to remain there by virtue of their being descendants of former Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) employees who began settling there in 1885. They have also called on the government to turn the land into an Indian heritage site. Commenting on the court decision, Hindraf youth chief S Thiagarajan said the judge had failed to consider what he called the "rich history" of Kampung Railway and its residents. He also criticised the alleged haste in which the case was disposed of. "Despite the residents having over 100 witnesses and producing historical documents, the judge didn’t even grant a full trial," he said. "Justice hurried is justice buried, especially when it involves the Indian poor." He also questioned the Federal Territories Land Office’s refusal to give a detailed explanation of how the land was transferred from KTMB to Sentul Raya "without anyone’s knowledge". "We notice that private developers are acquiring railway land for pittance," he said. "The Land Office’s reluctance to show us the transaction records only creates more suspicion." The residents were represented by P Uthayakumar, who is also Hindraf secretary-general. Also read: Railway folk contest suit by developer |
| Unusual ways to increase your lifespan Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:12 AM PDT
Smiling in photographs Having 'positive' initials Getting married Being slightly overweight Having religious beliefs Being a social butterfly Laughter LINKS |
| Bangladesh charity puts women in the driving seat Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:11 AM PDT  DHAKA: Mosammat Shahanara, 22, is a rare breed in Bangladesh: A qualified professional female driver, and she is ready to hit the road in a new career that should bring her independence and an income.Shahanara, who comes from a poor village in the southwest of the country, is one of 21 women to be the first graduates from a training scheme designed to promote women drivers and challenge deep gender prejudices. About 600 young women from poor backgrounds are being taught to drive at an eight-week course in Dhaka, funded by the BRAC, a Bangladeshi charity in co-operation with the government. The first course started in July. For Shahanara, defying the taboo against women drivers has given her a shot at a better life, but it has come at a high price in a Muslim-majority country where conservative values remain strong. “Village elders declared my family an outcast. They said that a young woman like me should not live alone away from her family and that driving is not for women,” she said. “I told my parents everything will be fine if I become financially solvent. Village elders don’t give us food when we go hungry,” said Shahanara, who divorced her husband after he demanded gold and a motorbike as dowry. “I’ve seen that if you have money you can win over any social stigma,” she told AFP, holding her driving certificate in her hand at BRAC headquarters, surrounded by classmates who nodded in agreement. Unlike many Muslim-majority nations, millions of women do take up salaried jobs in Bangladesh, but the overwhelming majority are employed in the garment export sector making clothes on low pay. Each driving school graduate will each earn at least 10,000 taka (US$122) a month if they get a job as a government or private driver – three times the salary of a garment worker. Ahmed Najmul Hussain, head of the programme, believes the course could be one small step towards female drivers becoming a common sight in Bangladesh as women seek to become wage-earners. “All 21 have received job assurances from two private firms on the day of their passing-out,” he said. “I am sure the success of these women will have a huge impact in their villages.” At the BRAC School of Driving, classes include parking, lane discipline, basic vehicle maintenance and practising on a simulator. Training starts in small cars and moves up to sports utility vehicles and minibuses, with later lessons held on Dhaka’s busy and congested roads. In the capital city, home to 15 million people, most drivers are untrained and illiterate and few abide by traffic rules, while vehicles are dilapidated and roads often in bad condition. According to the national Accident Research Institute (ARI), the accident rate in Bangladesh is at least 50 times higher than Western Europe and North America, based on the number of fatalities per 10,000 registered vehicles. Hussain said the training programme has generated interest from many firms that now want to recruit future graduates, prompting plans for the scheme to be expanded. “Every Bangladeshi business realises how important it is to find a good driver. It saves a lot of money and time,” he said. Only a few women work as drivers – state figures show the country has only 265 professional women against an estimated 2.4 million males. “We thought the best way to cut accidents will be to have more women drivers,” said head of state-run Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) Ayubur Rahman Khan. “Female drivers are less aggressive. Their involvement in fatal accidents is 50 percent less than male drivers, and road rage is comparatively less.” But finding female volunteers for the course proved tricky as some fear it could be seen as breaking strict Islamic law. “My parents and neighbours warned me against the profession. They said it’s a taboo job, not for women,” said 25-year-old single mother Shirina Khatun said. Showing off her pass certificate, she said: “I can now earn on my own and ensure a decent education for my daughter. “I have got used to driving in Dhaka and ignoring comments from men. Most of them do not know how to drive, but I do, and I also see respect in the eyes of women on the street.” - AFP |
| Thorpe angered by constant questions over sexuality Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:10 AM PDT
“The thing I find hurtful about it is people are questioning my integrity and what I say… that this is something that I would be embarrassed about, or I would hide,” he said in an interview with ABC TV. “I don’t want to offend anyone, whether they’re friends that are gay or whatever else, by getting angry about it, frustrated about it. “The only part of it I find frustrating is that people think I’m lying.” The five-times Olympic champion said speculation that he was gay had perhaps arisen because he did not fit into the stereotypical idea of how a successful Australian athlete should behave. “I behave differently, I guess, I like different things,” he added. “I’m a nerd, I’m just someone who just happened to be good at a sport as well… I like beautiful things in the world, I like the aesthetics of those things.” Thorpe is promoting his autobiography, “This is Me”, in which he reveals that he has also struggled with severe depression and had on occasions considered suicide and turned to heavy consumption of red wine to manage the illness. “I was probably in my mid-teens when I realised something wasn’t quite right,” Thorpe, who won his first world title as a 14 year old, said. “And at the time, I didn’t know that it was depression and it wasn’t until a little bit later that I actually went to seek some help. “I didn’t actually have the words to put around what I was feeling, and I think a lot of young people struggle with that.” Despite failing to qualify for a spot on the Australia team for the London Olympics after his return from retirement, Thorpe said he was “in a good place” as he continued training in an attempt to compete at the 2013 world championships. “I’m happy with what I’m doing. I’m loving swimming, I’m enjoying my life, things are good,” he said. -Reuters |
| Panasonic says will lose $9.6 bn in year to March Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:05 AM PDT
The Japanese electronics giant, which had earlier said it expected to post a net profit of 50 billion yen in the fiscal year to March 2013, also revised down its annual sales forecast to 7.3 trillion yen from 8.1 trillion yen as it undergoes a massive restructuring to save its balance sheet. The Osaka-based firm also said it lost 685 billion yen alone in the first six months to September as sales slumped on the back of the global slowdown while it also takes on huge restructuring costs. Panasonic, like its rival Sony, has long suffered in its television business, while its debt was also fanned by the purchase of smaller rival Sanyo. For the previous fiscal year, Panasonic suffered a record 772.2 billion yen net loss, one of the worst-ever losses for a non-financial Japanese firm. Japan’s electronics sector has been badly hit by the appreciation of the yen, which makes exporters’ products less competitive overseas, while falling prices and slow demand at home have also eaten into profits. Competitors including South Korea’s Samsung and US-based Apple are offering stiff competition, with high resolution display technology a key battleground as demand intensifies for smartphones, tablet computers and other gadgets. -AFP |
| Gudang Garam profits goes up in smoke Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:04 AM PDT
The Kediri, East Java-based company, said its net income fell to Rp 3 trillion ($312 million) in the January to September period this year. Its revenue rose 16 percent to Rp 35.5 trillion in this year's first three quarters, it said in a filing to the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) on Tuesday. The company reported a foreign exchange loss of Rp 12 billion in the first nine months of this year from Rp 11 billion last year. Gudang Garam's major rivals are Djarum Group and HM Sampoerna. Competition in Indonesia's cigarette industry is set to increase with Wismilak Inti Makmur's plan for an initial public offering this year. The Jakarta Globe reports that the Surabaya-based cigarette maker Wismilak plans to sell a 30 percent stake in an effort to capitalize on the increasing appetite among investors in the local equities market. The company, whose brands include Wismilak and Galan, has hired Mandiri Sekuritas and OSK Nusadana Securities to help arrange the IPO. Wismilak will join Gudang Garam, Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna and Bentoel International as tobacco companies listed on the IDX. Gudang Garam clove cigarettes, which carry a distinctive smell, are popular in rural parts of Indonesia. Although the government has taken small steps toward curb smoking, many Indonesians, especially the poor, continue to spend large amounts of their disposable income on cigarettes. Indonesian exporters have faced difficulties in selling the product abroad, with the United States seeking to ban clove cigarettes on the basis that they are flavored in a way likely to appeal to children. -Agencies |
| New Corp doubles stakes in pay-TV market Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT
The deal will double the stake of News Corp's Australian arm in dominant pay-TV operator Foxtel to 50 per cent and give it 100 per cent of content provider Fox Sports, increasing its pay-TV exposure at the same time as it cuts costs at its print operations. Consolidated Media said shareholders at a meeting today voted 99.9 per cent in favour of the takeover. Its board had backed the offer. "Foxtel and Fox Sports are going to be two cornerstone assets in the News Corp publishing business after the demerger, and I assume the market will put fairly healthy multiples on those assets," said Citi analyst Justin Diddams. News Corp announced plans in June to split the US$60 billion media conglomerate into two publicly traded companies, publishing and entertainment. The split will take about a year to complete. The publishing arm will include Australian newspaper The Australian, UK newspapers The Times and The Sun, The Wall St Journal, book publisher Harper Collins, and pay-TV assets including Fox Sports, Foxtel and Sky TV New Zealand. After the takeover of Consolidated, pay-TV — including affiliates such as Foxtel — would contribute 39 per cent of News Corp's publishing company revenues in fiscal 2014, CLSA analyst Digby Gilmour said in a note to clients last week. Gilmour estimated that Fox Sports would contribute 11 per cent of publishing group earnings before interest, tax and depreciation in fiscal 2014, while the half-share of Foxtel would contribute 17 per cent. The Consolidated Media deal also clears the way for billionaire James Packer, who held a 50.1 per cent stake in the firm, to exit his last big media venture as he focuses on gambling. Packer, who has built stakes in casinos in Australia, London and Macau, owns casino group Crown Ltd which is hoping to build a casino in Sydney, the second casino for the city. News Corp's Australian listed shares rose 0.3 per cent, while the broader market rose 0.7 per cent. — Reuters |
| Posted: 30 Oct 2012 11:57 PM PDT
Despite the appalling aroma it has a mild taste. Coated with crispy skin, the insides tasted like briny soft tofu. It gets its heady odour from being fermented in a mixture of Chinese herbs and vegetables for a few months. Even though this is something I would rather not eat again, my friend wolfed it down like a chocolate covered cream puff. The smell… oh my god… the smell… stinky is actually an understatement. My nose felt like it was being assaulted. Yo, its naaasstyy. Imagine a sweaty geezer’s armpits mixed with eau de sewer. You catch the whiff now? I was appalled and intrigued.
A word of warning: Once you’ve gotten some of the juice on your skin, the smell will stick to you like super glue. Taman Connaught is the longest night market in Cheras. Hundreds of stalls sell their wares here along the 2 km stretch. It opens from 7 pm to 1 am every Wednesday. You can find almost everything here ranging from food to clothes.
Along the way, you will pass plenty of stalls selling Japanese food. Mr Wong has been selling sushi at the market for the past seven years. He added takoyaki in his repertoire just a couple of years ago. Takoyaki are wonderful balls of savoury pancake batter cooked in trays with hollowed out circles. You choose your filling and they’ll add it in.
There are plenty of noodles and rice stalls at the market but I was more interested in the variety of snacks available. Take a pick from cutesy chocolate covered bananas to an assortment of Hello Kitty and Doraemon shaped mini cakes. Whether you like it fried, steamed or sauteed, there is bound to be something that will catch your fancy.
Next to this stall you can find Miss Luo, a chinese native selling pies. These pies actually look like giant curry puffs. You can see her flattening her pie dough and filling them with leeks as her partner pan-fries them on the spot. You can get Leek Pies or ones that are filled with minced pork.
Trawling the market can leave you thirsty. Stop at the many drinks stall and quench your thirst with a longan drink or a bubble tea. With my appetite sated and my purse lighter I headed home. This is a market that is definitely worth checking out. Colourful and vibrant, your first visit here will probably not be your last. Address: Taman Connaught, Desa Tun Razak, 56000 Kuala Lumpur, WP Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia [This content is provided by FMT content partner www.friedchillies.com, "Solving your makan problems since 1997"] |
| Chua membisu, Pemuda PAS mahu menghadap Agong Posted: 30 Oct 2012 11:56 PM PDT
Setiausaha Dewan Pemuda PAS Pusat Khairul Faizi Ahmad Kamil berkata, pihaknya kini sedang mengatur satu gerakan himpunan besar-besaran ke Istana Negara dan menghantar memorandum meminta supaya Agong campur tangan dalam isu ini. Tindakan itu dilakukan selepas Pemuda PAS, Angkatan Muda Keadilan (AMK) dan NGO Jingga 13, serta 150 penyokong mengadakan perhimpunan aman di hadapan Wisma MCA 24 Oktober lalu menggesa Chua memohon maaf secara terbuka kepada umat Islam dan menarik balik kenyataannya sebelum ini. “Bagi kami, sudah sampai masanya untuk Yang Di Pertuan Agong mengetahui tindakan MCA yang berulang kali telah menghina Islam selaku agama rasmi di dalam perlembagaan Malaysia,” katanya dalam satu kenyataan hari ini. Katanya, Pemuda PAS merancang untuk menyampaikan aduan ini dalam masa terdekat sejurus selepas Agong berangkat pulang daripada menunaikan Haji. Chua sebelum ini dilaporkan berkata 1.2 juta rakyat Malaysia terdedah risiko pengangguran jika hudud dilaksanakan. Malah dalam ucapannya di Perhimpunan Agung ke-59 MCA, Chua mendakwa hudud adalah mustahil kerana lapan daripada 11 buah negara yang melaksanakan hukum itu antara negara paling korup, tidak stabil, dan tidak selamat. |
| Europe still favours Obama despite disappointments Posted: 30 Oct 2012 11:56 PM PDT  BRUSSELS: US President Barack Obama no longer inspires the enthusiasm he once did but Europe still favours him, doubtful of Republican challenger Mitt Romney even if his election would spell no fundamental change in ties with Washington.With the race for the White House neck-and-neck, polls in Europe give Obama a massive lead – 75 percent to just 8.0 percent for Romney according to the latest survey by the German Marshall Fund. The president’s personal approval rating in Europe stands at 71 percent, down 12 percentage points but still remarkable after four years marked by the worst economic downturn since the ‘Great Depression’ of the 1930s. Barring a major international crisis, US elections turn on the economy. But in Europe, Obama is credited with the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and the reform of healthcare, though the stalemate in the Israel-Palestine conflict and failure to close the Guantanamo detention centre are negatives. Some other successes he can claim, such as the tracking down and killing of Osama bin Laden, also play better to US audiences than in Europe. Failings aside, it remains a fact that Obama “is the closest thing (in the United States) to a Social-Democrat,” as known in Europe, said Jan Techau, head of the Carnegie Europe think-tank. In contrast, Romney is largely an unknown quantity and what Europeans saw of him during a tour in July failed to reassure that he would be a ‘safe pair of hands.’ His background in business as a financial wheeler dealer and his espousal of ultra-liberal economic policies would make him an uneasy bedfellow for many Europeans who blame the bankers and financiers for the 2008-09 global crash. Additionally, he shares too much common ground with the far-right conservatives of George W. Bush’s presidency, indelibly linked to the Iraq war and a blunt assertion of US power which rattled the allies. Ironically, for all the discussion and attention paid to the US election in Europe, there seems much less interest the other way, with foreign policy a very secondary issue in the November 6 vote. Europe, when taken up, is done so more to score political points – Romney dubbing Obama as the man to lead the United States down the same path as twice bailed-out Greece. For some, this low profile is welcome, keeping Europe out of the firing line despite the problems caused by the sovereign debt crisis. The downside is that Washington has made clear that in reordering its priorities to ‘pivot’ to the Asia-Pacific region, it “turns its back to Europe,” said Steven Blockmans, of the Centre for European Policy Studies. “The two sides of the Atlantic are losing strategic interest in each other and also increasingly the capacity to deal with each other, to care together for the same things,” said Ulrike Guerot of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Other analysts suggested that the United States cannot simply disregard events in Europe, if only for economic reasons – the debt crisis has hit the US economy and fixing the problem has to be one of its major concerns. “Regardless of the outcome of the presidential election, the eurozone crisis will be a source of major US concern,” Clara Marina O’Donnell of the Centre for European Reform at the Brookings Institution said in a recent article. Obama and his officials have identified the debt crisis as “their biggest frustation with Europe. For them, EU institutions have shown themselves incapable of addressing the crisis,” O’Donnell wrote. For the president, austerity policies are not enough and Europe has to find growth somewhere by helping strugglng states. But Romney takes a harder line, arguing that governments should simply get out of the way. On that basis, a Romney victory could indeed “lead to a shift in US foreign policy … although America’s views on the eurozone are not the principal driver of EU policy, such a shift could have an impact on internal EU negotiations,” O’ Donnell added. - AFP |
| ‘Tidak semua kerusi boleh umum calon secara terbuka’ Posted: 30 Oct 2012 11:53 PM PDT
Menurut seorang pemimpin Umno di Segamat, jika berbuat demikian akan menimbulkan masalah dalam parti. “Tidak semua…kalau buat juga akan timbul masalah dalaman. Masalah dalaman ini boleh membahayakan parti,” kata pemimpin Umno dari Segamat itu. Beliau menambah, cara paling baik ialah pucuk pimpinan parti menemui calon baru dan memberitahu bahawa mereka dipilih sebagai calon. Katanya, begitu juga terhadap mana-mana calon yang mahu digugurkan. “Mereka perlu diberitahu secara baik-baik bagi mengelak supaya tidak menimbulkan masalah kepada parti. “Saya ingin mengatakan meletakkan calon lama tidak selalunya menguntungkan terutama untuk menarik sokangan pengundi muda. “Saya bimbang apabila mereka melihat muka tua, pengundi muda terutama yang berada di luar kawasan tidak keluar mengundi,” katanya lagi. Bagaimanapun, pemimpin Umno Segamat itu tidak mahu menamakan wakil rakyat tua berkenaan. Beliau juga menjelaskan 90 peratus ahli Umno menyokong calon yang dipilih oleh parti. “Sepuluh peratus lagi mungkin ketida puasan hati dalam soal pemilihan calon tetapi sama ada mereka golongan agama atau profesional tidak menjadi masalah. “Rakyat Johor juga tidak terpengaruh dengan sentimen yang diimainkan oleh pembangkang,” tambah beliau. |
| Japan airport reopens with WWII bomb still there Posted: 30 Oct 2012 11:48 PM PDT  TOKYO: A huge World War II bomb uncovered near a busy runway was underneath a shield of concrete and sandbags today as flights resumed at an airport in northern Japan, a government official said.A worker rebuilding drainage systems at Sendai Airport – which was swamped by last year’s tsunami – on Monday uncovered the 225-kilogramme bomb, believed to have been dropped by US forces. Bomb disposal experts ordered the construction of three-metre-high concrete walls, supported by soil up to the same height, to protect the bomb. Crews piled some 300 sandbags, each weighing a tonne, on top of the mound to construct a casing that stands six metres high. The 110 centimetres long bomb is now sitting at the bottom of the structure, waiting for military experts to defuse and remove it once legal and logistical details are worked out, the transport ministry official said. “The work to defuse it will start after we discuss the matter with local municipalities and residents,” he said. Troops believe the bomb is unlikely to explode unless unusually strong force is applied, according to local media. The airport resumed operations, using one of its two runways, after having cancelled all 92 domestic and international flights yesterday. “We are using our main 3,000-metre runway. So far we are not experiencing any delay to our flight schedule,” the land ministry official said around midday. Nearly 70 years after the war ended, unexploded bombs and shells are still occasionally found in Japan, particularly on the southern island of Okinawa, the site of an extremely bloody battle towards the end of World War II. Less than two weeks ago, Japanese troops defused a similar 500-pound WWII bomb found in a busy business district of Tokyo. Sendai Airport was devastated in the quake-triggered tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011. Footage posted on YouTube of waves covering the runway has been seen by more than 20 million people. - AFP |
| Spain’s empty highways lead to ruin Posted: 30 Oct 2012 11:42 PM PDT  MADRID: At the Leganes toll booth outside Madrid, the workers scan the horizon for cars. In Spain’s recession, the stream of paying drivers has slowed to a trickle and the road project is all but bankrupt.Like the housing bubble, pumped up until it burst in 2008, and its speculation-funded phantom airports, the folly of Spain’s road-building boom is now too being laid bare in vast stretches of under-utilised tarmac. “Right now we can’t meet our debt repayments. We are in the hands of the judge,” said Jose Antonio Lopez Casas, director of Accesos de Madrid, the company that manages two major highways around the capital. The two highways, Radial 3 and Radial 5, opened in 2004 at the height of Spain’s construction boom. Now the company owes 660 million euros (US$850 million) to the bank, 340 million to the builders and 400 million to residents evicted to build it. Since the Madrid-Toledo highway entered restructuring proceedings in May, the trend has spread, with five other major routes following. “It’s no surprise,” said Paco Segura, a transport specialist at the environmental campaign group Ecologists in Action. “In Spain, just as there was a real estate bubble, there was also a bubble in infrastructure, and one of the areas that got most developed was the motorways,” he added. “We built thousands and thousands of kilometres of motorways on routes that did not have the traffic concentration to justify it.” The craze drove Spain to break records: it became the country in Europe with the most kilometres of motorways and the most commercial international airports, and was second only to China in the world for the length of its high-speed train lines. But while the state was approving all these projects by private companies, it was also developing a network of toll-free highways, naturally preferred by drivers. In the first quarter of this year, with Spain in recession, motorway traffic fell 8.2 percent compared to a year earlier, hitting its lowest level since 1998, the transport ministry said. “Traffic around Madrid has fallen by between 15 and 20 percent in the past five years,” Lopez said. “In our case it has fallen by much more,” he said of his toll roads. “The economic situation makes the cost of a toll road much more of a factor in deciding whether to take a route or not, when there is a free alternative of sufficient quality,” said Jacobo Diaz, director of the Spanish Road Association. “The demand has clearly been overestimated. The actual volume of traffic is about a quarter of what was forecast.” Ecologists in Action estimates the motorway between Madrid and the city of Toledo receives 11 percent of the traffic its developers expected. Around Madrid, meanwhile, “nearly all the motorways which are going bust are not getting 40 percent of the traffic they planned for when they were built,” said Segura. On the Accesos de Madrid roads, “where there were supposed to be 35,000 vehicles a day, there are 10,000,” said Lopez, who holds out little hope of state aid amid the wave of public spending cuts in the recession. “Too much infrastructure was built, no doubt about it. Much of it turned out to be no use,” he said. “It has happened with the motorways, it has happened with the airports,” said Lopez. “Sooner or later we will found it is happening with the high-speed trains.” - AFP |
| DR Congo rape clinic longs for founder’s return Posted: 30 Oct 2012 11:37 PM PDT  BUKAVU (DR Congo): Patients and staff at a pioneering rape victims clinic in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are urging the authorities to help ensure the return of its award-winning founder, Denis Mukwege, who fled after a murder bid.Mukwege founded the Panzi hospital and foundation in Bukavu to help the thousands of women who have been raped in the strife-torn east of DR Congo by local and foreign armed groups, as well as by soldiers in the army. Last Thursday night, several armed men burst into his home and killed a domestic servant before fleeing. The doctor fled the country on Saturday for Burundi. Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said Sunday that Mukwege might seek to rest in Belgium. Ephrem Bisimwa, in charge of communications at the hospital on the outskirts of town, said “there are no problems because the administration is good (and) we have many gynaecologists here who will ensure that work goes on.” However, “all the personnel seek the safety of (Mukwege’s) family so that he can return to his place of work,” he added. “We are very upset by his sudden departure and we hope that the authorities will get involved to ensure his rapid return by guaranteeing his security, that is our prayer,” a hospital executive said. In the clinic’s waiting room, a small straw hut, several women were gathered and talking about the violence due notably to a new rebellion in the constantly troubled North and South Kivu provinces, on the border with Rwanda. Bukavu is the capital of South Kivu. Njabuka Mathy, a patient, explained: “Mukwege became more than an acquaintance. Thanks to him, several human lives have been saved.” “It’s really very regrettable,” said another patient, Yvette Nsimire. “Mukwege has just suddenly gone when insecurity has again taken hold in the territories.” Each year, the Panzi hospital’s service for victims of sexual violence takes in 3,000 women. Mukwege himself has treated several thousand women since the first DR Congo war in 1998 and he recently spoke out against rape as a weapon of war by the armed gangs operating in the Kivu provinces, as well as the army. Civil society in South Kivu is planning a so-called “dead city” strike on Wednesday to protest against the attack and insecurity in the town, where at least four people have been murdered in recent days. In Paris, the French minister for the French-speaking world, Yamina Benguigui, called on Congolese authorities to act and arrest Mukwege’s assailants. “I call on Congolese authorities for an immediate reaction to this heinous assassination attempt, and to ensure that those responsible are actively hunted down and pursued,” the minister said in a statement. No figures are available for the number of rapes committed in the last few months, nor how many women have been hospitalised, but in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, another gynaecologist estimated that about 5,000 women have been raped since the start of 2012, with the increase in instability in the region. Mukwege is a founder member of an international campaign to put an end to rapes and sexual violence in conflict situations, which since its launch in May 2012 has brought together hundreds of organisations from around the world. Supporters of this campaign issued a statement expressing the fear that this “assassination bid may be linked with the activities of Dr Mukwege, who in September supported a plea to the United Nations by the campaign asking it to shed light on the increase of rapes and violence” in the east of DR Congo. Mukwege’s patient Chouchou Namegabe called his departure “a great loss”. “Wherever he is going, he won’t work, and it’s we here who need him,” Namegabe said. “We ask the government to make him safe and to make his family safe so that he comes home fast, because it is the Congolese community that he should serve. Above all, there are vulnerable people whom he treated for free and who need him.” - AFP |
| PKR leaders demand post-mortem Posted: 30 Oct 2012 10:31 PM PDT
The Kajang prison inmate was in excruciating pain for several days and died on Oct 29, but his mother M Sooriakandhi was only informed of his death yesterday. "We want the green light from the Home Ministry for a post-mortem to be conducted. It is a cover-up by the police, prisons department, magistrate and the hospital," Sivarasa alleged at a press conference at the Parliament lobby. "There is no excuse for the prisons department to delay informing the family of the death of Kumar Rajah by a day. That is very serious,” he added. Also present was human rights activist S Jayathas who had recently rejoined PKR. Surendran chipped in: "Home Minister (Hishammuddin Hussein) must answer for this.” He also accused the police of denying a post-mortem from being conducted and claimed that the Kajang Hospital and a magistrate were working in cahoots with the police. "There has been no post-mortem. The police deliberately refused to allow for a post-mortem. The Kajang Hospital's forensics department director has refused to do a post-mortem unless the police agree or a court order is issued," he said. Surendran said he would be lodging a report with the Malaysian Medical Council’s disciplinary committee against Kajang hospital for refusing the right to a post-mortem. “The mother cannot perform the last rites for her son until a post mortem is conducted. The home minister must immediately direct that one be done immediately,” said Surendran. Sooriakandhi said: “My son told me I could visit him during Deepavali. He was healthy when I visited him last Thursday. At least allow me to “I had hopes that he would help me once he is released in February next year. Now they have destroyed my hopes.” Sivarasa said the Kajang prison authorities claimed that Kumar Rajah died due to HIV, however both Sivarasa and Surendran are doubting it. “They is no evidence to back that up. The can only be confirmed from a post-mortem,” said Sivarasa. Surendran claimed that the magistrate did not do his job. “The magistrate saw the body for 15 minutes and said that there was no need for an investigation and no foul play was involved. In a related development, Surendran charged that Hishammuddin lied in parliament yesterday. In a written reply to Kota Melaka MP Sim Tong Him, Hishammuddin said that deaths in custody are investigated under the Criminal Procedure Code. “Hishammuddin is lying. Never do they conduct an investigation under the Criminal Procedure Code. I’m shocked and surprised that he could lie in Parliament,” said Surendran. After the press conference, the two PKR leaders attempted to meet Hishammuddin but having failed to do so, met Deputy Home Minister Abu Seman Yusop. While listening to Sooriakandhi, Abu Seman Yusop stressed several times: “Let me check with the police.” Surendran said he would organise street demonstrations in front of Bukit Aman soon if Sooriakandhi does not obtain her son’s post-mortem report in a day or two. Also read: Another death in prison: Family cries foul 209 mati dalam tahanan sejak 2000 |
| Soi Lek dismisses ‘losing support’ report Posted: 30 Oct 2012 10:18 PM PDT
He pointed out that there were thousands who willingly attended the Saturday event despite bad weather and many had stayed on. "Certain media was just playing it up. The event started late and the fact that so many came and paid for tickets means they are supporting us. "How do you explain the rest of the crowd that stayed on despite the rain?" he said during a press conference here. "The chairs, tables, and even plates were wet because of the rain," he added. China Press yesterday reported that some 20 percent of the 15,000 people at the MCA dinner called "Stability Above Chaos" in Johor left earlier. Organisers had reportedly reasoned that the early departure of the attendees on that day was to beat traffic jams. Halloween celebrations He said that the rakyat should judge DAP leaders who are now being accused of wanting many seats, and said that such problems do not arise in MCA. “I leave DAP to solve their own problems. But the rakyat should judge… some of them can draw up to as much as a minister’s pay especially if they are in Selangor and are an MP, exco, and sit on a government-linked company… easily about RM40,000 to RM50,000 a month,” he said. He said the rakyat should also question if these ‘multi-seat’ leaders could serve. “If you are in state assembly in Selangor and MP in Penang how are you going to work in both?” On PAS’s objection to Halloween, Chua said that the Islamic party was fond of giving out “Do’s and Don’ts” but warned that it should not infringe on non-Muslims rights. “They want to have no concerts, no Valentine’s Day, and now no Halloween, which is (to them) like worshiping Satan. If Muslims can’t enjoy it. Don’t impose your views on others.” On the Batu Caves condo project, Chua said that the Pakatan Rakyat government should stop playing the usual blame game. “Stop blaming the previous government. The state government of the day can cancel the project or impose additional conditions, what we call mitigating measures. It is not totally impotent to deal with this,” he said, adding that MCA has always rejected the place being developed. |
| MP Kota Belud diminta lawat kawasan Posted: 30 Oct 2012 10:04 PM PDT
“Sejak kebelakangan ini Rahman lebih gemar bercakap isu ekonomi negara, pentadbiran persekutuan dan kedaulatan bangsa lain sedangkan kawasannya terbiar,” kata Anggota Majlis Tertinggi Parti Maju Sabah (SAPP) yang juga pemimpin tempatan, Peter Marajin. “Kerajaan sering mendabik dada kononnya Kota Belud adalah jelapang padi negeri Sabah tetapi ratusan ekar sawah padi di Mukim Kelawat tidak ditanami padi. Mana pergi Rahman? “Pernahkah Rahman prihatin dan melawat para petani sawah di Kelawat?,” tanya Marajin ketika melawat kawasan itu hujung minggu lalu. Katanya, jika para pemimpin Umno hanya tahu mendabik dada tetapi tidak sedar, atau pura-pura tak tahu, kawasannya sendiri terbiar dan dilupakan, maka ini hanyalah sandiwara politik yang perlu dihentikan dengan segera. “Mereka ini umpama ayam jantan berkokok berderai-derai, ekornya bergelumang tahi, cuma orang tak tahu. Nah sekarang kamu tahu mana jelapang padi Kota Belud itu. “Adakah pemimpin kerajaan hanya melihat sawah di beberapa kawasan sahaja seperti di Tempasuk dan Tamu Darat? Di Kelawat beratus ekar sawah boleh diusahakan tapi tidak ada sistem pengairan air sampai sekarang. Petani bergantung kepada hujan sahaja. Sistem pengairan “Kawasan-kawasan ini sebenarnya tidak memerlukan empangan, hanya perlu kepada sistem pengairan dan perparitan yang moden,” terang beliau. Menurut Marajin yang juga seorang peguam yang popular, Rahman perlu lebih mendengar dan bukan memberi ceramah kepada penduduk kampung Kota Belud serta mencanangkan Kota Belud sebagai jelapang padi sedangkan produktiviti tak sampai ke mana pun. “Pergilah lihat sawah-sawah di Kota Belud, makin banyak yang tidak diusahakan termasuk di kawasan yang dikatakan sudah bertahun- tahun diusaha sebagai jelapang padi. “Janganlah pemimpin kerajaan ini tuduh orang kampung malas kerja sawah. Carilah masalahnya. Siapalah yang mahu membanting tulang di sawah tetapi harga padi hanya 70 sen sekilo umpamanya. Kalau pandai sangat ekonomi, carilah jalan supaya harga padi naik kepada RM3 sekilogram, barulah orang berebut menanam padi,” kata Marajin. Melepaskan batuk di tangga Beliau menambah, usaha kerajaan meningkatkan pengeluaran padi di Sabah umpama melepaskan batuk di tangga dengan daerah-daerah lain terus mengabaikan kerja menanam padi. “Sabah masih mengimport 70 peratus berasnya sampai sekarang. Idea yang lebih baik dan usaha lebih praktikal perlu dicari untuk meningkatkan pengeluaran padi kita bukan setakat hanya mencanangkan di sana sini,” katanya lagi. Menurut Marajin, kawasan parlimen Kota Belud sekarang mempunyai jumlah pengundi yang paling ramai di Sabah dengan tiga kawasan Dewan Undangan Negeri tetapi hanya mempunyai sebuah pekan. “Jalan masuk ke Kota Belud penuh sesak pada tiap-tiap pagi, tengah hari dan petang apa lagi ketika ada perayaan. Oleh kerana hanya ada sebuah pekan dan semuanya tertumpu di situ sedangkan jalan raya hanya satu lorong,” jelasnya. Beliau turut menyoal, “bilakah anggota parlimen kita mahu tolong selesaikan hal ini?” “Tolonglah jangan marah-marah dan meradang bila rakyat merungut, saya sendiri pun dihujani pelbagai pertanyaan kenapa kerajaan buat itu tetapi tidak buat ini dan macam-macam lagi isu kepentingan pengguna dan rakyat di Kota Belud,” ujarnya. |
| KKIA fiasco raises more questions Posted: 30 Oct 2012 10:03 PM PDT
A Sabah MP has called for an independent inquiry into the runway lights failure that disrupted more than 50 domestic and international flights and affected around 6,000 passengers. Chua Soon Bui, the Tawau MP, said the government should set-up an independent inquiry to allay growing fears of a cover-up being set in motion to prevent embarrassing those in high positions. She said the shameful incident at the country’s second busiest airport after the Kuala Lumpur International Airport warrants an independent inquiry as conspiracy theories of ‘sabotage’ are being put forward by Minister of Transport Kong Cho Ha as a possible cause. "The sabotage theory could be just a convenient ploy to cover up something that is far more serious and damaging to the reputation of the ministry concerned, and the entire Barisan Nasional government as a whole,” Chua said. She said questions had been raised over the possibility of negligent workmanship and inferior materials being used in the on-going work being undertaken to expand the airport. “This can only be revealed through an independent inquiry,” she said, adding that corruption or delayed of payments by the government or non-payments to sub-contractors were among complaints she had heard about the lengthy delay in completing the upgrading of the airport. Last week’s KKIA night flight shutdown caught many off guard despite airport authorities being aware that the runway lighting system was unstable. Chua said that as similar incidents had happened before, there should have been a fail-safe back-up system in place and if there was such a system, questions should be asked why it had failed. She added that as it took more than 48 hours for the Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) to get the runway lights back in operation and it showed that something was amiss in the management of the KKIA. Clueless airport officials The airports runway lights flickered out at 6.20pm on Thursday, the eve of Hari Raya Haji, leaving thousands of passengers stranded after scores of evening and night flights were either cancelled or diverted. MAHB has been in the firing line since the fiasco. The government has reportedly spent RM1 billion for the ongoing KKIA runway extension project which is almost two years behind schedule. Chua who is also a vice president of the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) further questioned the crisis management abilities of the Malaysia Airport Bhd whose officials were said to be clueless on how to handle the situation as the result of diversion or cancellation of flights. "I was made to understand that the stranded passengers who included many foreign tourists were not promptly informed of the actual problem causing their flight delay and there was not even an apology from the relevant authorities at that material time," she said. Passengers who had arrived for their flights hours before their flights were scheduled to depart complained that they were only informed that their flights were cancelled much later. Among the stranded passengers were a large number of Universiti Malaysia Sabah students who were heading home and many were forced to spend the night sleeping on the floor of the airport. |
| Rayu KDN benarkan semula agen bekal pekerja asing Posted: 30 Oct 2012 10:01 PM PDT
Kementerian Dalam Negeri (KDN) menamatkan khidmat agensi pembekal asing tempatan pada tahun 2010 sebaik memperkenalkan program 6 P. Khidmat mereka ditamatkan atas alasan penyalahgunaan kuasa serta lambakan pekerja warga Bangladesh di Malaysia. Bagaimanapun, Presiden Tekam, Dr Ammar Hassan menafikan dakwaan tersebut. “Jumlah semasa pekerja Bangladesh dianggarkan kira-kira 400, 000 orang tetapi yang masuk melalui agensi cuma 10 peratus. Yang lain diuruskan oleh kerajaan. “Jadi dakwaan syarikat pembekal yang menjadi punca lambakan adalah tidak benar,” katanya. Kini, kata Dr Ammar agen pekerja asing warga Bangladesh, Indonesia dan Nepal berurusan sendiri dengan Jabatan Imigresen untuk membekalkan pekerja kepada majikan tempatan. Diamalkan di luar negara Beliau mendakwa, perkara ini tidak sihat untuk diamalkan kerana penggunaan syarikat pembekal dan pengurus pekerja asing oleh rakyat tempatan dibuat di beberapa negara seperti Jepun, Amerika Syarikat dan Singapura. Sehingga ini Tekam dianggotai 279 buah syarikat membabitkan 12, 500 pekerja tetapi sejak dua tahun lalu mereka tidak lagi boleh membawa masuk pekerja asing ke Malaysia. Tekam telah membuat rayuan kepada KDN supaya membenarkan semula syarikat tempatan membawa masuk pekerja luar negara untuk keperluan majikan di Malaysia. “Khidmat syarikat pembekal pekerja tempatan ini penting kerana mereka bertanggungjawab dalam pengurusan pengambilan, penggajian, pengurusan permit , kebajikan dan penghantaran pulang pekerja,” katanya lagi. Menurut Dr Ammar, sebelum kewujudan syarikat pembekal tempatan ini pihak majikan berdepan masalah untuk mendapat pekerja asing. Antaranya, prosedur dengan KDN; komunikasi yang terhad serta majikan mengambil kesempatan atas alasan kurang pengetahuan dengan sistem KDN dan Jabatan Imigresen,” katanya lagi. Akibatnya berlaku pekerja melebihi tempoh serta agen yang tidak sah yang menipu majikan. |
| Millions struggle after massive storm, 45 dead Posted: 30 Oct 2012 10:01 PM PDT
Millions of people in New York City and other hard-hit areas will spend days or weeks recovering from a storm already seen as far more destructive that Hurricane Irene, which slammed into the same region a year ago. One disaster modeling company said Sandy may have caused up to US$15 billion in insured losses. The storm killed 18 people in New York City, among 23 total in New York state, while six died in New Jersey. Seven other states reported fatalities. Some 8.2 million homes and businesses in several states were without electricity as trees toppled by Sandy’s fierce winds took down power lines. Sandy hit the coast with a week to go to the November 6 presidential election and turned its fury inland with heavy snowfall, dampening an unprecedented drive to encourage early voting and raising questions whether some polling stations will be ready to open on Election Day. New York City will struggle without its subway system, which was inundated and will remain shut for days. Much of the Wall Street district was left underwater but officials hoped to have financial markets reopen on Wednesday. Sandy was the biggest storm to hit the country in generations when it crashed ashore with hurricane-force winds on Monday near the New Jersey gambling resort of Atlantic City, devastating the Jersey Shore tourist haven. Flood waters lifted parked cars and deposited them on an otherwise deserted highway. With the political campaign and partisanship on hold, Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie planned to tour New Jersey disaster areas on Wednesday. “It’s total devastation down there. There are boats in the street five blocks from the ocean,” said Peter Sandomeno, an owner of the Broadway Court Motel in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey. Christie, who has been a strong supporter of Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney, praised Obama and the federal response to the storm. Obama and Romney put campaigning on hold for a second day but Romney planned to hit the trail again in Florida on Wednesday and Obama seemed likely to resume campaigning on Thursday for a final five-day sprint to Election Day. Obama faces political danger if the government fails to respond well, as was the case with predecessor George W. Bush’s botched handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Obama has a chance to show that his administration has learned the lessons of Katrina and that he can lead during a crisis. Sandy brought a record storm surge of almost 14 feet to downtown Manhattan, well above the previous record of 10 feet during Hurricane Donna in 1960, the National Weather Service said. The storm forced New York City to postpone its traditional Halloween parade, which had been set for today night in Greenwich Village and threatened to disrupt Sunday’s New York City marathon. The lower half of Manhattan went dark when surging seawater flooded a substation and as power utility Consolidated Edison shut down others pre-emptively. Some 250,000 customers lost power. Fire ravaged the Breezy Point neighborhood in the borough of Queens, destroying 110 homes and damaging 20 while destroying still more in the nearby neighborhood of Belle Harbor. Remarkably, no fatalities were reported. “To describe it as looking like pictures we’ve seen of the end of World War Two is not overstating it,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said after touring the area. “The area was completely leveled. Chimneys and foundations were all that was left of many of these homes.” Hospitals closed throughout the region, forcing patients to relocate and doctors to carry premature babies down more than a dozen flights of stairs at one New York City facility. While some parts of the city went unscathed, neighborhoods along the East and Hudson rivers bordering Manhattan were underwater and expected to be without power for days, as were low-lying streets in Battery Park near Ground Zero, where the World Trade Center stood before the September 11, 2001, attacks. “I’m lucky to have gas; I can make hot water. But there is no heating and I’m all cold inside,” said Thea Lucas, 87, who lives alone in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Airlines canceled more than 18,000 flights, though two of the New York City area’s three major airports planned to reopen with limited service on Wednesday. Cellphone service went silent in many states and some emergency call centers were affected. Some cities like Washington, Philadelphia and Boston were mostly spared but he storm reached as far inland as Ohio and parts of West Virginia were buried under 3 feet (1 meter) of snow, a boon for ski resorts that was one of the storm’s few bright spots. The western extreme of Sandy’s wind field buffeted the Great Lakes region, according to Andrew Krein of the National Weather Service, generating wind gusts of up to 60 mph on the southern end of Lake Michigan and up to 35 mph Chicago. In Cleveland, buildings in the city’s downtown area were evacuated due to flooding, police said. Winds gusting to 50 mph brought down wires and knocked out power to homes and business. City officials asked residents to stay inside and for downtown businesses to remained closed for the day. -Reuters |
| Interest rates ‘not likely’ to be revised Posted: 30 Oct 2012 09:57 PM PDT
KUALA LUMPUR: Interest rates are likely to remain unchanged as the present rates are supportive and accommodative of economic growth, economists contacted by The Malaysian Reserve said. They were commenting on a statement by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz that an assessment on whether there was a need to change interest rates would be made at the next sitting of the central bank's monetary policy committee expected to be held on Nov 8. An economist said future trends in inflation would be studied to ascertain if it will moderate further and the future direction of the global economy will also be taken into consideration given that the external sector has moderated significantly in the second-half of this year. Economists said that while inflation has eased, robust domestic demand and improving global economic sentiments suggested that there was little need to tinker with monetary policy. RAM Holdings Bhd chief economist Dr Yeah Kim Leng said that although September's annual inflation rate was the lowest in more than two years, there was no need to cut rates on account of the robust domestic demand and firm property prices. Malaysia's annual inflation rate in September was the lowest in more than two years, with consumer price index (CPI) rising 1.3% over the previous year, easing from August's 1.4% year-on-year (YoY) increase. He added there was no need to cut rates to spur loans demand as there was already strong indication of loan growth. Maybank Investment Bank Bhd chief economist Suhaimi Ilias said inflation has eased on account of the suspension in the government's plan to rationalise subsidies. However, he added that there was likely to be upward pressure on inflation when the rationalisation takes place after the 13th general election. Suhaimi said the various incentives in Budget 2013 were designed to prop up fiscal support and there was little need to "over stimulate" the economy through rate cuts, stressing that BNM was not likely to revise the present rates. On the external economic environment, Yeah said that there were signs that the external environment is improving with the US beginning to show a turnaround and the Chinese economy already bottoming out. He said that with the improved external environment, there is little need to revise the present rates as it was supportive of economic growth. The annual growth rate for China in the third-quarter was at 7.4%, down from 7.6% in the previous three months. However there are signs that the second-biggest economy was now stablising and rebounding. The US economy grew more than expected in the three months to September at an annualised rate of 2%, largely due to increased government spending. Affin Investment Bank Bhd chief economist Alan Tan said that there are signs that the global economic scenario is "not decelerating" on account of the various co-coordinated efforts of the various central banks. This content is provided by FMT content partner The Malaysian Reserve |
| Truce frays as Obama, Romney navigate Sandy aftermath Posted: 30 Oct 2012 09:54 PM PDT  WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama planned to tour superstorm Sandy’s debris field and Mitt Romney plotted a return to campaigning yesterday, as high-stakes politics stirred back to life a week from election day.During an unprecedented 24-hour truce so close to a US presidential vote, the campaigns assessed the storm aftermath and how to squeeze the best use from fast dwindling days left in a race either man could still win. The storm – which killed at least 43 people in the United States and Canada, swamped homes on the East Coast and sent floodwaters gushing through lower Manhattan – muffled campaign trail rhetoric and jumbled political battle lines. Obama was in presidential mode yesterday, firing off orders to government emergency chiefs, telling victims that America found their plight “heartbreaking” and affecting not to notice the looming November 6 poll. But his trip to New Jersey today and meeting with Governor Chris Christie – a Republican Romney backer who has poured praise on the president’s handling of the disaster – will take place in a highly political context. Romney meanwhile concluded that in such a tight race, he could not afford another day watching Obama dominate the headlines, announcing plans for a three-event tour of tightening battleground Florida – which he must win. Still, Obama will still control the media narrative today as he picks through wreckage and consoles storm victims alongside a key Republican, as Romney plays the grubbier game of campaign politics in sunny Florida. The no-nonsense Christie is a frequent Obama critic and was playing the same talismanic role and raising his own profile while managing disaster as New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani played in the September 11 attacks in 2001. In one aside yesterday which likely pleased the Obama camp, Christie snapped at a Fox News interviewer when asked if Romney would get a disaster photo-op. “If you think right now I give a damn about presidential politics, then you don’t know me,” said Christie, often mentioned as a future White House hopeful. Though the principals were off stage and the political heat was turned down, the campaigns did trade punches, with each side accusing the other of desperation as they sought to lock in key states on the electoral map. Obama took full advantage of the tools of the presidency as he projected a sense of authority and organization, marshalling the federal government emergency effort and empathizing with millions in the storm’s path. “Do not figure out why we can’t do something. I want you to figure out how we do something,” Obama said he told federal workers, after a visit to the American Red Cross headquarters in Washington. “I want you to cut through red tape, I want you to cut through bureaucracy, there is no excuse for inaction at this point.” Obama’s response to the storm, which roared ashore as a hurricane on Monday, could help his approval ratings, but both sides believe there are few undecided voters left, so it was unclear whether it would actually shift votes. While the US media establishment is based on the East Coast and is fixated on the storm, swing states like Ohio, Iowa, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, and even Virginia where the election will be won and lost, escaped Sandy’s worst wrath. But Romney will still face a test of tone today in Florida. The Republican has already been accused of muscling in on tragedy for political gain – over the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi last month – and so cannot afford missteps seen as motivated by politics. Romney also faced new scrutiny yesterday after a comment in a 2011 Republican primary debate that he would funnel money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency back to the states and the private sector. He repeatedly ignored questions from reporters Tuesday over whether he would abolish FEMA. However, Romney’s campaign has made clear that he now has no plans to abolish the disaster agency if he is elected president. The agency was vilified following the botched handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 by then president George W. Bush, but has since been overhauled by Obama and has run smoothly in subsequent emergencies. With only five days of campaigning left before he asks voters for a second term, Obama will be expected to turn his focus back to politics on Thursday, though no announcements have yet been made by his campaign. Electioneering did take place at a lower level yesterday. Former president Bill Clinton was in Colorado and Minnesota stumping for Obama as part of a tour of key electoral territory, and early voting was continuing in states unaffected by the storm. Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams said Clinton’s presence in Minnesota, which is seen as a safe Democratic state, was a sign Obama was playing “defense.” “On Nov 6, voters across the country will choose his positive agenda over President Obama’s increasingly desperate attacks,” Williams said. The Obama campaign meanwhile mocked Romney’s decision to air new ads in states like Pennsylvania and Michigan as a sign of “weakness,” saying he had concluded he had no path to victory through swing states. “The president is leading or tied in every battleground state across the country, and he leads early voting in every state across the country,” said Obama campaign chief Jim Messina. “Governor Romney has not been able to put away a single battleground state.” Romney leads by a few points in some national polls of the popular vote, but Obama is clinging to a slim advantage in the state-by-state race to 270 electoral votes needed to secure the White House. - AFP |
| Will it get dirty between LDP and Gerakan? Posted: 30 Oct 2012 09:54 PM PDT
Party president VK Liew said this week that there could be no compromise over the Karamunting state seat that was taken away by its former elected representative Peter Pang En Yin, after the latter left LDP in 2010 and joined Gerakan last year. Liew, a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, said the party’s stand over the issue was not negotiable as the seat had always belonged to LDP since 1999. "Of course we are determined to take it back. How can a member of a political party who left the party as YB after having won it on the party ticket take the seat away. It is against the principle of Barisan Nasional. “If that can happen to any other party in Barisan Nasional it would break up the Barisan Nasional concept and that would not be good and we would not allow that to happen," he told the media when approached at the joint Annual General Meeting of its Kepayan and Moyog divisions at its headquarters here. The status of the peninsula-headquartered Gerakan in the state government and the prickly relations it has with the Sabah-based LDP has been compounded by the awkward issue of the Karamunting state seat that it has taken over by default. Having seen its power and influence in Chief Minister Musa Aman’s state government decline ever since a rift between the party’s former leader, Chong Kah Kiat and Musa, LDP has been struggling to recover its leverage in the state. The distribution of seats in the state among the BN coalition partners for the impending 13th general election will determine its future standing in the state. Since the spectacular falling out between Chong and Musa over a plan to construct a towering ‘Goddess of the Sea’ statue in Kudat, LDP has struggled to regain its footing within the state government. But while Chong is still spoken of admiringly for his skilful and polished administration of the state when he was chief minister under the BN’s rotation’ of leadership among the communities, Musa has been pilloried by the opposition as inept and corrupt. LDP may suffer Political pundits in the state believe the fallout between the two could still have an impact in the coming elections and observed that during Prime Minister Najib’s recent visit to Kudat, Chong’s home town, the latter was not seen. Meanwhile, asked to comment on his secretary-general Teo Chee Kang's call last Sunday for the creation of more Chinese constituencies in Sabah, Liew who is also the MP for Sandakan said this would not be necessary. He said demarcating constituencies according to race was no longer an issue in many constituencies especially mixed constituencies as all representative are expected to cater to the needs of all constituents. "I am a perfect example and YB from Merotai (Pang Yuk Ming) is another perfect example," he said, adding that Teo was only calling for more Chinese representation and not more Chinese constituencies. Speaking at the joint AGM of its Tanjung Aru and Petagas branches, Teo who is also the Tanjung Kapor state assemblyman had bemoaned the lack of Chinese representatives in constituencies such as Lahad Datu, Keningau and Tenom which have a large number of Chinese voters. He claimed that the lack of understanding by the non-Chinese representatives of issues affecting the Chinese community had inevitably contributed to dissatisfaction and dwindling support for the BN by them. Commenting on the recent runway fiasco at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) and Putatan MP Marcus Majigoh's call for Transport Minister Kong Cho Ha to resign, Liew said there was no need for such a harsh call unless the problem recurred. "Of course if it happens again, I think some heads have to roll even if that means the minister's," he said. Also present at the AGM were LDP supreme council members Lim Ming Hoo, the party’s deputy president, its secretary-general Teo Chee Kang, vice president Pang Yuk Ming, publicity chief Albert Kok, youth wing chief Chin Su Yin, and women’s wing chief Nancy Lim. |
| HR Ministry : Foreigners not taking our jobs Posted: 30 Oct 2012 09:50 PM PDT
Deputy HR minister, Senator Maznah Mazlan, said that 1.403 million foreigners here held the Temporary Employment Visit Pass, contributing to 11.2% of Malaysia’s total workforce. “Most of these foreign workers can be found in jobs that are not preferred by locals, which are designated as 3D: ‘dirty, dangerous and difficult’…such as manufacturing, construction, plantation [duties] and agriculture,” she told the Dewan Rakyat. She added that despite this number, Malaysia had an unemployment rate of 2.7%, a figure confirmed by the Department of Statistics as of August this year. Maznah was responding to a question raised by Umno-Pasir Salak MP Tajuddin Abdul Rahman who asked if foreign workers here caused Malaysians to be unemployed. To this, Umno-Kalabakan MP Abdul Ghapur Salleh told Maznah that he did not agree with her explanation. He asked why foreigners were in jobs that did not come under the 3D-job-designation where locals could fill the places. “There are places that don’t have problems for locals, like selling fruits in a supermarket. You see Bangladeshis here,” he said. Abdul also asked if the approval of foreign workers could be centralised under a single government department, and worried that this area was already being handled by too many ministries. Currently, the influx of foreign workers is reviewed by a Cabinet Committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. Applications to employ foreign workers also have to be sent to the Home Affairs Ministry. Agreeing with Abdul Ghapur that foreigners should not be working in 3D-jobs, Maznah told the former to make a report at the Human Resources Ministry. He replied: “I prefer to report to you here, right now.” To this, Maznah promised to follow up on the matter. On having only one agency, Maznah said that such a matter required a policy change. However, she said that a One-Stop-Centre was formed at the Home Ministry to deal with foreign workers, which included members of various relevant government departments, including the Human Resources Ministry. |
| Posted: 30 Oct 2012 09:32 PM PDT
It’s a pertinent question with which most animal activists would concur considering the number of random animals found dead along the highways in Malaysia. Earlier in January this year, a Seremban-based animal rights activist, Manoharan Balan contacted FMT and raised the issue of the countless monkeys found dead on the Seremban-Kuala Lumpur federal road. The road passed the Bukit Putus Forest Reserve. “It’s a tragedy to see these innocent monkeys lying dead or decaying carcasses” said Balan who drives to Kuala Pilah through the Bukit Putus every week. Since the matter came to FMT’s attention, this writer has made it point to do random checks along the stretch to Kuala Pilah, Bahau, Jempol and Gemas. Of the 12 trips made, this writer spotted dead monkeys on the road on at least four occasions. The latest being last month. This writer was driving along the stretch at dawn when he spotted a monkey with fresh blood stains on the road. The monkey looked like it had been hit just hours before. Be sensitive to animals, please Meanwhile Balan when contacted urged the authorities to take into account the surroundings when approving development plans. “All life forms are created by god and must be respected. Today the world is being destroyed by man because of their greed. How much is "Simple examples are our highways and roads. We cut into the jungles and run the highways and new roads with no thought to its inhabitants. "We have no right to kill other living things because we do not own this earth. "Every living thing, trees, bushes, plants and animals own this earth. "In the west the people have learnt from their mistakes. So we have examples of what we should and should not do. Cutting down a tree, for instance, is the same as chopping down a man. "Why can’t we think of making tunnels under the highways for the animals to cross?” he asked, urging the government to be sensitive on animal rights and set a true example of a caring society. Bridges and tunnels for wildlife are a norm in Europe where animal activism is rife. France was the first country to introduce a wildlife crossing in the 1950s. Holland is another country that gives much emphasis on wildlife welfare. There are over 600 animal tunnels built along the country’s roads and highways. Balan said the government should make it mandatory for projects alongside natural habitats to include the construction of such bridges and tunnels. |
| Asia battles drug-resistant Malaria Posted: 30 Oct 2012 09:22 PM PDT
Resistance to the drug used everywhere to cure the life-threatening disease has emerged in Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar, said Richard Feachem, director of global health at the University of California, San Francisco. "In the Mekong Basin there is a growing and spreading problem of resistance… to the drug artemisinin which is the front-line drug worldwide," he said ahead of "Malaria 2012: Saving Lives in the Asia-Pacific" in Sydney. "I think we've undoubtedly slowed it down, the international efforts have undoubtedly had a positive effect, but as far as we can tell it is still growing and it is still spreading. "The danger is that at some time this resistance may break out of Southeast Asia and crop up in Africa," added Feachem, the former founding head of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Some 22 countries in the Asia-Pacific still have malaria, but enormous progress has been made in combating the devastating disease with the number of infections falling by about 50 percent in the past decade, he said. Yet there were still an estimated 30 million cases in the Asia-Pacific in 2010, and more than 40,000 deaths in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Drug-resistant malaria was found on the Thailand-Cambodia border eight years ago, and has also been found along the Thailand-Myanmar frontier and in parts of Vietnam, prompting an urgent call for action from the WHO in September. The Sydney conference of politicians, scientists and health experts will seek consensus on the actions needed to strengthen the region's response to malaria. Fatoumata Nafo-Traore, who leads the Roll Back Malaria Partnership which aims to provide a coordinated global approach to fighting the disease, said the resistance was most troubling in border areas. "The current concern is that even though it is localized in those border areas, there is a potential to have it spreading to other parts of the world, because of the population inflow, because of the migrant workers and so on," she told AFP. "This is really why we are getting concerned, because this is the only class of anti-malarial drug available to cure all uncomplicated malaria cases." Resistance to artemisinin currently does not prevent patients being cured, thanks to other drugs it is used in concert with, but treatment typically takes longer than normal. It is not known why the resistance has emerged in Cambodia, one of the first countries to deploy the treatment some 30 years ago. But Ric Price, from the Centre of Tropical Medicine at Oxford in Britain, said high levels of counterfeit drugs and people not taking the full course of treatment could be factors. "Artemisinin still remains the treatment of choice but it's under threat and we have to monitor where those areas are, where it is declining," he said. The conference will discuss the need for vigilance against malaria, with Feachem saying there had been numerous cases in the past when the disease had almost been eradicated but complacency saw it come sweeping back. "It's the penalty of success," he said. "Some countries in the region now have very little malaria. When you're down to 100 cases a year, the politicians [lose interest] and malaria comes surging back." He said one of the conference goals was for half of the malaria-afflicted countries in the Asia-Pacific to eradicate the disease by 2025. "That would be a huge historic step forward," he said. Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted through the bites of infected mosquitoes. It killed an estimated 655,000 people in 2010, mostly African children. |
| Posted: 30 Oct 2012 09:15 PM PDT
Only James Bond and Harry Potter can claim bigger box office success: J K Rowling’s schoolboy wizard has conjured up nearly US$7.7 billion, although that was over eight movies, as opposed to the sci-fi classic’s six, so far. Bursting from the imagination of George Lucas, the original “Star Wars” movie in 1977 marked the birth of a new era of blockbuster cinema, helped along by an equally young Steven Spielberg. The two were part of the same new generation of filmmakers influenced more by televisual technique than traditional cinema, and went on to collaborate notably on another global hit series: the four “Indiana Jones” films. After directing the first “Star Wars” movie, which helped launch the career of Harrison Ford, Lucas brought in other filmmakers for the two sequels which completed the first triology.
It was only in the late 1990s that Lucas decided to add a new trilogy of “prequels,” directing himself this time to tell the story leading up to the action of the original movie. “The Phantom Menace” came out in 1999, followed by “Attack of the Clones” in 2002 and “Revenge of the Sith” in 2005. Actors Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen starred in all three. Last February Lucas succumbed to the temptation of 3D, releasing “The Phantom Menace” in the new format, having its latest attempt at becoming mainstream in the digital age. Under the $4 billion dollar deal announced Tuesday for Walt Disney Co to take over Lucasfilm, a new trilogy will be launched with “Star Wars 7″ in 2015, followed by two more to complete the trilogy. After that Disney plans to produce a new “Star Wars” movie every two to three years, hoping to cash in on the franchise for years, and maybe decades, to come.—AFP |
| There’s no future for Pahang under BN Posted: 30 Oct 2012 09:04 PM PDT
Pahang’s 13 successive years of budget deficits should convince the rakyat that the Barisan Nasional government is unreliable and a non-performer. Just like the BN federal government's misrule which has accumulated more than RM500 billion in debts, the majority of the people of Pahang, the rural poor and the Orang Asli, will continue to live in abject poverty under the BN. There's no future for you in Pahang and in Malaysia under the BN. This is why the people of Pahang should give the Anwar Ibrahim-led Pakatan Rakyat the chance to govern in the next general election. Greece is living proof of how the people will suffer if their country accumulates too much debt and goes bankrupt. The standard of living in Greece has plummeted and it will need to plunge 40% before the economy can be revived. This will happen if the BN is given the mandate to continue to plunder the country's wealth unabated to enrich their business cronies and the Umno elite. Why must Pahang be so far behind Selangor in terms of socio-economic development? BN and Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob are leading the rakyat nowhere other than economic hell. Pahang is bankrupt if not for the federal government's funds that are sourced from borrowings. Have you all benefited from Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak who is from your state? And he repays the Pahang peoples' support with Lynas or nuclear waste. Najib has also exposed himself as a coward and a Muslim prime minister who cannot even defend his religion against the attacks by Dr Chua Soi Lek and MCA. He did not have the conviction and courage to accept Anwar's challenge to debate Budget 2013 in Parliament. This debate would have been the best chance for Najib to convince the rakyat that if Pakatan ruled, it would bankrupt the country. And Najib also said it was not a Malaysian culture to debate. So, what have all the elected representatives been doing in state assembly and Parliament sittings for the past 55 years, if not debating? Najib and all his Cabinet members are cowards when not a single of them dared to be present in Parliament to face Anwar's opening debate on Budget 2013. When Pakatan offered free education for Malaysians in its alternative Budget 2013, Najib and BN just brushed it off, without offering any valid arguments, that the country would be bankrupted by such a move. Again, Anwar challenged Najib to debate the free education issue, and again he goes into hiding. Why is the prime minister so scared to debate on significant issues afflicting the people? Why can't Najib let the people judge his and Anwar's arguments over such important issues? Now, even Dr Mahathir Mohamad who ruled Malaysia for 22 years says Najib is a weak leader. Throughout his tenure as prime minister, Mahathir had misled the Malays and Orang Asli and enriched his family and cronies. Mahathir was the one who, in 1991, amended the Land Acquisition Act 1960, to enable the states to seize or grab land cheaply from the people, especially the Malays, in the name of development for the private sector. And subsequently, Mahathir passed the land to cronies like UEM to develop and reap huge profits. This is happening in Johor. Nusajaya and Pengerang are two glaring examples. I believe this is also happening in Pahang and in all other BN-ruled states. With such cruel abuses of power, can you really expect and hope for the BN to lead the rural and urban poor, and the Orang Asli, to prosperity? Chua Jui Meng is PKR vice-president and Johor state chief. He is also a former MCA vive-president and an ex-Cabinet member. |
| Posted: 30 Oct 2012 09:02 PM PDT
Whipping the body into shape in time for the big day is almost like a rites of passage all brides-to-be go through. The realisation to shape the body up can come early or, just a few months before the big day. We all want to look great, but staying healthy should also be as equally important. So whether you opt to workout in the gym, join a bootcamp or hook up with a personal trainer, here's what you should or shouldn't do in shaping up for your do. Total body workout: We all have our specific body parts we think are 'problematic' It could be we want a flatter stomach, more toned arms, or even a more defined tush. Remember however that giving yourself a total body workout is better than doing 'spot training', when you zero in only on a single body part. "A total body workout that incorporates your target areas will help you see faster results as you'll be burning fat more efficiently," says Coach Dann of MetCon X group fitness training. His programme, for instance, engages all of the body's energy systems that improve cardiovascular endurance and muscular strength so by the end of it, "you get a stronger core, toned arms, leaner claves and fat burning effects," he concluded. Include cardio: Choose a workout that involves a little bit of cardiovascular exercise. You'll find that it will build your stamina – something you'll need in the run up to the wedding! – and help you achieve lean muscle.
No crash diets: Whatever you do in trying to shape up for your wedding, avoid doing a crash diet. Your body needs fuel to get you through the build-up to your big do. Unhealthy eating habits, or just consuming salads all day long, will not help you much. You'll feel cranky and stressed out (since you're deprived of food), and it will only spoil what should be the happiest day of your life. So, get on a healthy eating programme, speak to a nutritionist, and get family and friends to support your decision to make good lifestyle changes. And do this six months or up to a year before you say "I do". |
| Storm knocks down some web sites, but most stay online Posted: 30 Oct 2012 08:56 PM PDT
Built for resiliency and buttressed by the adoption of cloud computing, the Internet functioned largely as it was supposed to, industry experts said, routing around major disruptions in one of its central network locations, New York City. “You don’t hear about big content providers going offline anymore,” said Jeffrey Young, a spokesman for major delivery network Akamai Technologies Inc, which has servers spread among some 1,100 communications set-ups. “We can route around issues that are occurring.” New York has two major exchange centers where US backbone telecommunication providers meet data from undersea cables, said Doug Madory, senior analyst at Renesys Corp, which monitors Internet response times. A number of network addresses were inaccessible yesterday afternoon, including many in the New York area, and connection times for others were slower than normal, he said, but the disruptions were limited. Still, a handful of popular web sites, including Google’s YouTube, AOL Inc’s Huffington Post, and the network of sites owned by Gawker Media, did experience outages. Social news site BuzzFeed and News Corp’s financial site MarketWatch were also reduced to bare-bones versions as they regrouped yesterday. At least some of the problems were the direct result of data centers losing power and being unable to fuel their own generators because of flooding. Most web sites use commercial data centers rather than running their own computer servers, in part to ensure security and stability in emergencies. Many of those data centers offer back-up services elsewhere. But New York data centers, including Internap and Datagram, went down due to the power and flooding problems. BuzzFeed, Huffington Post and Gawker all crashed because of Datagram. “How dumb to locate datacenter in a flood zone. And how dumb to host Gawker servers there,” Gawker founder Nick Denton wrote on Twitter. The company moved to blog platform Tumblr for a while, one of a number of creative workarounds made easier by more advanced web offerings. BuzzFeed moved everything onto Akamai and Amazon’s web services arm. An AOL spokeswoman said after Huffington Post’s main data center went under that it had shifted to a backup data system in Newark. That worked until all three telecom firms serving that location went down. “At approximately 3:30 a.m., network connectivity failed at the backup datacenter when all three of its providers each separately failed,” said AOL’s Erin Kurtz. Huffington Post switched to a skeletal blog platform until it recovered at eight hours later. Dow Jones and Datagram could not be reached immediately for comment. YouTube refused to say why it became unavailable, but Google’s New York headquarters was closed by the storm. The company said the video site was available, if slow, for most users by Tuesday evening. Many large and mid-sized companies adopted disaster planning for data after the September 11, 2001, attacks, making sure to have duplicates of core data in different locations. Smaller firms have taken the same route by moving to cloud computing, which generally spreads data across multiple facilities. “The whole point of the cloud is that companies are insulated from outages really of any sort, absent a giant nuclear disaster,” said Bernard Golden, vice president at enStratus Networks, a cloud software company. “You want your provider to have facilities in disparate-enough locations so that even if you have problems in a particular region, your service is still available.” -Reuters |
| Lukewarm jobs report awaits as election nears Posted: 30 Oct 2012 08:51 PM PDT
Coming four days ahead of the tight contest, the closely watched employment report on Friday is not expected to shift much from its recent pattern, limiting its impact on voters. Employers are expected to have added 125,000 jobs to their payrolls in October, up from 114,000 in September, according to a Reuters survey of economists. The unemployment rate is forecast to tick up a tenth of a percentage point to 7.9 percent after a dramatic 0.3 percentage point fall in September. “Most people have an impression of the economy and their minds won’t be changed at this late stage. Only a dramatic headline on either number in either direction might move the dial a bit more,” said Harry Holzer, a public policy professor at Georgetown University in Washington. The latest Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll showed the race between President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney as a virtual dead heat just a week before the November 6 vote. The Labor Department said it intended to release the October jobs data on Friday at 8:30 a.m., as scheduled, even though monster storm Sandy forced the government to shut down for two days. Jobs growth has fizzled since accelerating in the first two months of this year. Economists point to fears over Europe’s debt crisis, the prospect for a sharp tightening of the U.S. government’s budget and a lack of clarity over financial and health care regulation. “Consumers are spending, but businesses are cautious about hiring because there is a lot of uncertainty related to the election, the fiscal cliff and regulations,” said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University Channel Islands in Camarillo, California. The fiscal-cliff — automatic tax hikes and government spending cuts that will suck about $600 billion out of the economy next year if Congress fails to act — led businesses to cut spending in the third quarter for the first time in 1-1/2 years. Although the economy has created more than 4 million jobs since the 2007-2009 recession ended, employment remains about 4.5 million jobs short of where it stood when the downturn started. Persistently weak labor market conditions forced the Federal Reserve in September to launch a program to buy $40 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities every month until there is a sustained improvement in the labor market. It hopes the purchases will drive down borrowing costs. October’s projected job gains are within the range usually considered sufficient to keep the unemployment rate steady. However, the jobless rate, which in September fell below 8 percent for the first time since Obama took office, is expected to rise. The household survey from which it is derived can be volatile month-to-month. In September, it showed employment increased by 873,000 — the first rise in three months and the biggest since June 1983. That contrasted with the much more-subdued gains found by the larger survey of employers. Economists do not expect the household survey to show such out-sized gains for October and anticipate any increase will be more than offset by a rise in the number of Americans entering the labor force to look for work. While the composition of job growth from the employer survey is most likely to mirror September’s, manufacturing employment is expected to snap back after falling for two straight months. Government payrolls are seen falling after three straight months of gains. Temporary help jobs, often seen as a harbinger for permanent hiring, are expected to rebound as businesses gear up for the holiday season. While businesses are hunkering down, households appear little troubled by the impending fiscal cliff, with consumer confidence at five-year highs. Construction employment is expected to show a fifth straight month of jobs gains, thanks to a pick up in home building activity, which has been supported by the Fed’s ultra easy monetary policy stance. With the overall pace of job growth still subdued, average hourly earnings are expected to rise a tepid 0.2 percent after gaining 0.3 percent the prior month. The average workweek is seen holding steady at 34.5 hours. -Reuters |
| Why being grumpy is good sometimes Posted: 30 Oct 2012 08:49 PM PDT
In fact, a host of research shows that it is life’s “Victor Meldrews” who often fare better in the long term. Plus, forcing yourself to cheer up can cause debilitating stress, the Daily Mail reports . For a start, optimism is not always as healthy as it might sound. Rather, being a Pollyanna can have a dark side, as shown by a long-term study. Psychologists followed the lives of 1,216 children who were first assessed in 1922. They found that those who were rated as more happily optimistic died earlier in adult life than those who were more doleful. The researchers, from the University of California, warned that the cheery youths grew up more likely to drink, smoke and take more risks. This was most likely because their jolly optimism clouded their judgement and made the dangers appear insignificant. “Although optimism has been shown to have positive effects when people are faced with a short-term crisis, the long-term effects of cheerfulness are more complex,” the report said. Being glum also seems to be a far more natural response to difficult times, as it can enable us to cope better during tough situations. This is according to a 2007 Australian study. Through a series of tough intelligence tests, it was found that people who were in a bad mood outperformed the cheerful participants.
John Maule, a professor of decision-making at Leeds University, explains that a broad body of research supports this idea. “People in negative moods tend to think more deeply and in a more analytical style, and rely less on intuition,” he said, adding that being a grump can enable us to think more clearly in hard times. “Negative emotions flag up the fact there is a problem that the person needs to focus on. Positive moods signal the opposite — that you are in a position to freewheel.” “Both emotions, in their appropriate place, help us to live in a healthy manner,” he said. Furthermore, feeling obliged to keep smiling does not make us any happier — in fact, there are deadly dangers of feeling forced to cheer up, psychologist Professor Dieter Zapf said. His studies of more than 4,000 workers have found that public-facing workers, such as shop assistants, suffer increased risks of depression, high blood pressure and cardiovascular problems, through the stress of having to constantly grin while on duty. The study is published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.—Agencies |
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