Israel's new war on Islamic sites

FOCUS: OPINION Israel's new war on Islamic sites  By Daud Abdullah Palestinian protesters clashed with Israel forces over Tel Aviv's decision to declare the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron a national heritage site for Jews [EPA] In a move that appears to be a celebration of the 16th anniversary of the massacre of 29 worshippers by the terrorist Baruch Goldstein, the Israeli government has proclaimed that the Ibrahimi Mosque in Khalil (Hebron) and Masjid Bilal ibn Rabah (mosque) in Bethlehem are "Jewish Heritage sites".

The Fuss About MDA's New Logo

The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency has just launched its new logo (above) and those to the right of the political divide already 'smell blood'.  They want the head of Obama for what they regard as part of the latter's grand agenda of 'appeasing the Islamic world'.  

As the newly-hatched conspiracy theory goes, the effort on the part of Obama to reduce missile defense capabilities is not just a leftist tendency, but part of a concerted effort to soothe the Muslims.

The episode clearly pitches the Right against the Left.  The Right, nose-bloodied by Obama two years ago, are originally inflamed by what they detected as an annoying resemblance between the logo and the Obama campaign logo.  

Now they see a greater cause to inflict serious blow to Obama.  

Meanwhile, the Leftists stick to the official stand that the logo is actually not new, that it has been endorsed as an insignia for MDA well before the 2008 elections, and that it is not intended to replace the old logo.

Bizarre still, some on the right, accuse Obama of imagining being, behaving as, or is indeed the 'Imam Mahdi', whoever the latter is supposed to be.

Obama's Campaign Logo

Harvard fellow calls for genocidal measure to curb Palestinian births

By THE ELECTRONIC INTIFADAPublished: Feb 24, 2010 11:03 PM Updated: Feb 24, 2010 11:03 PM

WASHINGTON: A fellow at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Martin Kramer, has called for “the West” to take measures to curb the births of Palestinians, a proposal that appears to meet the international legal definition of a call for genocide.

Suara KU Li: 'BN bound for defeat'

By Neville Spykerman [Malaysian Insider]

Umno will lose if it fails to reform, charges the Kelantan prince. — file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 — Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has predicted that Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) will be voted out of power if concrete reforms are not introduced.

“Mark my words. If they don’t change in the next three years they are going to lose the next general elections,” the Kelantan prince and Umno veteran told The Malaysian Insider in an interview earlier this week.

The Gua Musang MP, whose views seem increasingly at odds with his own party, pointed out that following Election 2008, BN remained in power only because of support from politicians in Sabah and Sarawak.

Of Pak Lah and His 'Arrested Reforms' (dlm BM)

Selepas PRU12, BN di bawah pimpinan Pak Lah cuba berhadapan dengan realiti.  Sebagai pemimpin yang waras, Pak Lah memutuskan untuk menerima realiti.  Dia menyambut keputusan PRU12 secara spontan 'That's the way democracy works.'  Sejak 8 Mac 2008 Pak Lah menepati semangat demokrasi dengan menggerakkan reformasinya.  Malang sekali golongan yang dominan dalam UMNO sangat tebal dengan sindrom penafian ('denial syndrome'):  Mereka tidak dapat menerima realiti sebab realiti bagaikan pil pahit yang sukar ditelan.  Akhirnya usaha Pak Lah ke arah reformasi terbantut.

Sarawak & PRU13

Penjelajahan PM ke Sarawak merupakan satu penunjuk yang signifikans terhadap PRU13.  Sarawak dan Sabah amat penting bagi BN setelah kemerosotan sokongan rakyat di Semenanjung terhadap parti itu dalam PRU12 dan PRK selepas itu.  Dalam PRU12 BN memenangi 30 daripada 31 kerusi Parlimen di Sarawak dan 24 daripada 25 kerusi di Sabah.  Ini bermakna 54 daripada 140 (atau 39%) kerusi BN di Parlimen datang dari Sarawak dan Sabah.  Daripada 9 PRK sejak PRU12, BN menang hanya 2. satu daripadanya di Batang Ai. Sarawak.

Aliran: 'Only Divine Intervention Can Assure Justice for Anwar'

[From  Aliran]

Anwar can forget about getting justice from the Malaysian judicial system. Rules can be bent, rules can be ignored, rules can be overlooked when it involves Anwar. This is what the man in the street is saying.

We witnessed this nauseating so-called judicial process in both the trials concerning Anwar’s sodomy and corruption trials in 1999. In the first sodomy trial the charges were amended three times because the authorities did not know the definite date to conclusively state when the so-called sodomy was believed to have taken place then.

In the corruption trial, the presiding judge made it so difficult for the defence to mount a serious challenge to the charge. The judge even decided that he should be convinced of the relevance of the point before the defence was allowed to question the prosecution witnesses. It was so outrageously unjust that it led Malaysians to believe that Anwar had to be convicted no matter what.

Are we witnessing a similar scenario in this instance where Anwar is on trial for the second time charged with, of all things, another sodomy?

The way things are moving, it seems, only divine intervention can save him from the injustice he is being subjected to.

Today’s ruling (25 February 2010) by the Federal Court refusing to review an earlier Federal Court decision has an unsettling effect on our system of justice.

Solicitor general II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden had argued that the court is not empowered to review its decision. A review can only (be) granted if the applicant manages to prove that “there was an error in law” and only in extremely rare cases is a review granted (Malaysian Insider).

There may not be “an error in law” but what course of remedy is open to the litigant when there was an error in justice? When such error involving justice is so apparent, should the court turn a blind eye to the injustice?

We are made to understand that Rule 137 of the rules of the Federal Court stipulates that the court had limited power to decide on a review of its own decision “to prevent injustice or to prevent an abuse of the process of the court” (Malaysian Insider).

Is this the reason why the law is sometimes referred to as an ass? Does this mean that an injustice and an abuse of the process of court can be tolerated and condoned by the court? Is this what rule of law is all about?

Why is Anwar being denied the list of witnesses? Why is he denied additional information and evidence which is so crucial to his defence? Is it meant to crucify him by all means as many believe it to be?

Shouldn’t the court, in all fairness, order this vital information be given to him so that the three foreign experts who are here can advise Anwar’s team of lawyers as to how to counter the so-called evidence with the prosecution?

Strangely, the court has also ruled that in spite of the fact that there was no penetration according to medical evidence, it will not dismiss the case as there is other corroborating evidence to support the charge.

Normally, penetration is most crucial in the case of rape and sodomy. In such an eventuality, other corroborating evidence may lend credence to the charge but without any positive evidence of penetration what credibility would this charge hold in any fair trial?

In the words of Lord Devlin, the court process “is to provide a civilized method of settling disputes. It is …to remove a sense of injustice.”

Unfortunately, we have not witnessed this truth so far. The injustice has not been removed by any stretch of the imagination.

P Ramakrishnan
President
25 February 2010

Mengapa Semua Perlu Prihatin Kes Terhadap Anwar?

Ahli Parlimen Australia telah bersuara: 'Gugurkan Pertuduhan!'.

Senat AS juga bersuara 'Pastikan perbicaraan dijalankan dengan adil!'

Mengapa mereka di luar sana sudah bersuara manakala  ramai yang berada di dalam negara masih membisu seribu hahasa?

'Indeed the silence from within is so deafening.'

Adakah ia semata-mata Anwar?

Rashad Hussain: New US Ambassador to OIC

On Feb 13, Obama appointed Rashad Hussain as the new ambassador to the OIC.

With the appointment, Rashad Hussain will have some influence on the US administration's view on and approach to the Islamic world, which had in the past, especially  during the Bush era,  been so distorted and unbalanced.  [Needless to say, Bush surrounded himself with the so-called Neo-conservatives whose ideology seems galvanised by a common enmity towards anything Islamic.]

The following are seven points put forward by Mr Hussain in an effort to build a more balanced approach.  A brief biography of Mr Hussain can be read here:  

                                           http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashad_Hussain

Muhyiddin: Suara Janggal 1Malaysia

Dalam masa tak sampai 1 minggu Muhyiddin Yassin membuat 4 pernyataan yang masing-masing sangat ketara kejanggalannya.

1.  Menyifatkan laporan PERC sebagai 'tidak siuman' tanpa menawarkan hujah yang munasabah untuk menolaknya.

2.  Menekan MB Perak yang dilantik Mahkamah supaya tidak menerima tawaran PR untuk bekerjasma di negeri itu dengan memberikan alasan yang tidak munasabah.

3.  Memberi amaran berlapik kepada Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah yang menyuarakan satu-satunya pandangan siuman daripada pemimpin BN/UMNO.

4.  Memperjuangkan Bahasa Inggeris supaya lebih baku penggunaannya, pada hal usaha Malaysia membakukan BI itu bagaikan mencurah garam ke laut (tiada kesannya kepada kesejahteraan bahasa itu manakala anak-anak kita sekali-kali tidak akan bertukar menjadi Mat Salleh walaupun berjaya bertutur dengan BI yang baku).  Usaha itu itu juga ibarat menyusukan kera di hutan bandar sedangkan anak sendiri di rumah kehausan.  Ia sekaligus menyanjung BI lebih superior dari bahasa lain.  Hakikatnya yang lebih memerlukan pembelaan ialah Bahasa Melayu itu sendiri.

Empat pernyataan itu mengarahkan kepada 4 kesimpulan:  (1)  Pemimpin BN/UMNO sudah tidak mampu berhujah dengan rasional, (2)  1Malaysia merupakan slogan kosong semata-mata [apabila tawaran PR ditolak mentah-mentah], (3) Pemimpin BN/UMNO telah jauh tersisih dari matlamat perjuangan bangsa dan negara, (4) Muhyiddin orang suruhan PM untuk meluahkan sesuatu yang PM sendiri tidak sanggup melakukannya, sekaligus menikam dirinya sendiri.  

Putan bekaitan: 
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/opinion/breaking-views/52920-muhyiddins-myths-and-make-believe-martin-jalleh

Untung Rugi Bangsa Melayu

Bangsa Cina dan India memiliki tanah ibunda masing-masing di mana mereka dapat menagih inspirasi.  Tidak seperti bangsa Cina dan India, orang Melayu di Malaysia tidak ada tanah ibunda lain.  Inilah tanah air ibunda mereka - Malaysia dan Indonesia.  Apa yang berlaku di dua negara - rantau Nusantara -kelak memberi kesan yang merambat untuk generasi masa depan.

Scandals at the Mindef

The Malaysian Defence Force has become an object of ridicule.  It is not as if someone is trying to find faults with it, but it is due to the so many unfortunate incidences that have fast become its trademarks.

'Kenapa Gaji Polis Dinaikkan?' Teka-Teki Terjawab

Kenaikan gaji anggota PDRM merupakan satu pengecualian yang ketara dalam strategi 'jimat cermat' kerajaan Najib.  Pada masa sektor lain, termasuk yang penting kepada rakyat seperti pendidikan, menghadapi pemotongan dalam peruntukan dana, apakah yang mendorong kerajaan menaikkan gaji Polis?  Jawapan kepada soalan ini yang bermain di kepala rakyat, bagaikan satu teka-teki, kini terjawab.

Bilakah PRU13?

Tarikh Pilihanraya Umum ke-13 menjadi suatu teka-teki.  Pada kelazimannya, seorang perdana menteri yang baru akan mengada PRU dalam tahun pertama dia mengambil alih.  Tujuannya ialah pertama, untuk mendapatkan mandat terus daripada rakyat.  Kedua, PM baru biasanya akan diberikan mandat yang teguh oleh rakyat yang masih dalam suasana perayaan menerima perubahan. Sejurus setelah Pak Lah mengambil alih jawatan PM pada 2004, dia mengumumkan PRU11 dan berjaya membolot 90% kerusi Parlimen dan semua kerajaan negeri, kecuali Kelantan.

Kini PM Najib sedang menghampiri bulan terakhir tahun pertamanya, dan PRU13 belum nampak bayangnya.

The Tengku Razaleigh Factor

Just before the sacking of Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim in 1998, the then PM, Dato Seri Dr Mahathir managed to rope in Tengku Razaleigh into UMNO, thereby dissolving the party of Semangat 46. Dr Mahathir realised that he could not afford to fight on two fronts at one time. Even without S46 to oppose him, he found that victory was not imminent; he had to finally throw in the towel, so to speak.

Another Reflection: Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Just A Reflection: YB Saifuddin on the latest allegation

Media dan 1Malaysia

Media memainkan peranan yang amat kritikal untuk merealisasikan cita-cita 1Malaysia.  Cita-cita merapatkan lagi hubungan antara masyarakat dan kaum.  Media boleh membina atau meruntuhkan jambatan.  Apakah peranan yang dimainkan media di negara kita?  Adakah peranannya dapat memenuhi slogan '1Malaysia'?

On 'Najibnomics'

Late last year the government announced that it would be unveiling a 'new economic model' for Malaysia in February 2010.  The first week of February has just passed and the model, if indeed it is imminent, is yet to be made public. We can only guess as to what are in the minds of the PM and his advisers, but one thing is sure, that it is certainly going to be 'creative' and 'innovative'.  For these two words have always characterised the initiatives of the new PM.

Tahniah Anggota Polis!

Awal minggu ini, Menteri Dalam Negeri telah mengumumkan kenaikan gaji dan elaun kepada seramai 98,747 anggota dan pegawai Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) berkuatkuasa 1 Januari 2009 yang bermakna mereka akan menikmati pendapatan bulan minimum RM1500.  Ini dimumukan walaupun kerajaan baru saja menafikan pemberian bonus tahunan kepada seluruh kakitangan kerajaan pada tahun 2009.

Isu Kalimah 'Allah'

Isu penggunaan kalimah 'Allah' oleh penganut agama Kristian mengancam 1Malaysia.

Penting sekali sesuatu tindakan dilbuat dengan pengetahuan yang jitu.  Emosi dan sentimen mudah sekali mengambil alih tempat yang dikosongkan pemikiran yang rasional.  Natijahnya kecelaruan yang boleh menggugat keharmonian yang begitu sukar dibina.

Klinik 1Malaysia: Antara Propaganda & Realiti

Klinik 1Malaysia menjadi tajuk beberapa rencana dalam Buletin MMA (Malaysian Medical Association)  isu November dan Disember.  Nampaknya pandangan perdana dalam profesion Perubatan tidak bersetuju dengan tindakan mewujudkan Klinik 1Malaysia.  Hairan juga saya dibuatnya, tetapi saya tetap berfikiran terbuka, langsung membaca rencana yang ditulis beberapa tokoh Perubatan negara.  Pada zahirnya, Klinik 1Malaysia satu langkah memberi khidmat perubatan yang lebih meluas kepada rakyat.  Realitinya ia memberi kesan negatif terhadap kesejahteraan rakyat Malaysia, terutama yang berpendapatan rendah

(Gambar hiasan)