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Malaysia : Back to the Dark Ages of sexual taboo
UMNO hendak berbaik-baik dengan semua orang? - baguslah begitu kalau dah sedar
MACC must go after the big fish
Paper Castles In The Air
Can a series of short films halt an impending environmental disaster called Lynas?

Malaysia : Back to the Dark Ages of sexual taboo

Posted: 22 Nov 2011 05:56 PM PST

It made "straight" heterosexual society realise and appreciate that other forms of sexual love existed and that these could be as genuine as a woman-man love. It had been and still is a struggle for gay men and women to survive even in apparently liberal-minded societies.

Those from various sexual orientations and gender identities enjoyed this annual celebration of "love and understanding" for three blissful years without interference from any government quarter.

Yet, this year, when Malaysians are acutely aware that the ruling National Front (Barisan Nasional) administration is itching to call snap general elections before the contrasts between opposition administration, and government by rhetoric becomes too clear to most of the electorate, Seksualiti Merdeka and the LGBTiQ community suddenly become the demons of immorality that must be exorcised with a blanket ban.

After three years of peaceful festivity and celebration of different sexual orientations by people who have come to accept themselves as they are, through a hard dehumanising struggle with conservative, ridgid rejection of same sex relations and other gender identities, backed by goliath religious establishments expecting conformity to perceived morality in every way, they are seen as a threat to public order.

All media (including the mainstream, government controlled media) admit that Seksualiti Merdeka is an annual sexuality rights festival celebrating human rights of people of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity. A coalition of NGOs, artistes, activists and individuals have organised the event since 2008.

The celebration for this year, themed "Queer without Fear", began on November 1 and was to continue until November 13 with "forums, talks, workshops, book launches, an art exhibition and stage performances", the November 3 The Star Online, 3/11/11 said. How more civilised can any event get?

However, the police moved in to stop these festivities after loud protests by right-wing, ultra conservative organisations and Islamic NGOs (allegedly joined by non- Islamic NGOs). They alleged that these programs would incite disharmony, enmity and public disorder. How that would happen, nobody can say except those who have made these claims.

It seems that the acceptance of the knowledge and recognition that human beings of different gender identity and sexual orientation exist threatens traditional ideas of morality and religious belief. If faith is an unchanging entity, it is a wonder how the world's greatest spiritual traditions continue to be practiced and propagated for centuries to this day.

The 'seksualiti' scapegoat

Having cut short the sexuality festival, and instituted investigations against the organisers -- Seksualiti Merdeka's founder, Phang Kee Teik, 10 campaign organisations including women's rights advocacy organizations, human rights organizations and the Bar Council -- deputy inspector general of the police, Khalid Abu Bakar, excused the ban on grounds of preserving public peace and that the organizers lacked a permit to hold the event.

This is a familiar ruse used by the police on so many occassions that any thinking Malaysian recognises it. It is also an unconstitutional denial of our right to freedom of expression and assembly under Article 10(1) (a) and(b) under the Malaysian Federal Constitution, and Article 19 and 20(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The country's law, according to him , "did not recognise any deviationist activity that could destroy the practice of religious freedom". However, in the same breath, he assured the public that the police respected human rights and the right to freedom of speech.

Since when and by what authority did the police become judges of deviationist activity?

Further, in the previous three years, holding the festival had not prevented anybody from practicing their conventional faith. People always have a choice in spiritual expression.

Minister of Home Affairs Hishamuddin Hussein took an even more extreme view of Seksualiti Merdeka by calling this peaceful intellectual celebration of sexuality a threat to national security -- keeping a narrow focus on homosexual relations and ignoring other issues of gender identity.

Hishamuddin also homed in on the alleged involvement of S. Ambiga, chairperson of the Bersih 2.0 movement and former President of the Bar Council, The Star Online said on November 5.

S. Ambiga was accused of being "an organiser" of the sexuality festival. She vehemently denied this to the press on November 4, saying she was invited to officiate the Seksualiti Merdeka festival on November 9, in her personal capacity and not as chairperson of the Bersih 2 movement.

In clear contrast to the exaggerated condemnation of this year's Seksualiti Merdeka festival, no eyebrows were raised when Marina Mahathir, daughter of former prime minister Mahathir Mohammad, officiated at the same event when it opened four years ago.

Yet, this year, the retired PM was loud in his condemnation of gay relations, expressing unfounded fears of public love-making and people walking naked on Malaysian streets.

It is no surprise that the orchestrated protests against Seksualiti Merdeka came from far right groups in bed with the ruling Barisan Nasional, which also targeted S. Ambiga and Bersih 2. The opposition Islamic party -- PAS and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Peoples Justice Party), did not support the event or LGBT rights, but expressed support for their constitutional right to free expression and assembly.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who has been dogged by two sodomy trials since 1998, also voiced strong support for S. Ambiga and questioned why she had been targeted by right-wing religious extremists.

Across the water in Sarawak, assistant minister in the chief minister's department, Daud Abdul Rahman, gave stern warning that the government would " go all out to stop any elements in Program Seksualiti Merdeka 2011 from entering the state". The Sarawak State government would be working with Kuala Lumpur to terminate any gay rally or event held there.

He advised Muslim Sarawakians to withdraw or stay away from it, " even though the programme is well received", The Borneo Post Online said on November 8.

Posted: 22 Nov 2011 05:25 PM PST

Semua yang memberikan komen ini menyatakan perkara yang satu, iaitu untuk mendapat undi. UMNO itu wujud seolah-olah hanya untuk mendapat undi maka itu sebabnya pemimpin-pemimpinnya harus berbaik-baik dengan semua orang tanpa mengira kaum, agama, adat resam dan budaya.

Betullah pandangan mereka ini. Tetapi UMNO tidak gemar pula apabila PAS berbaik-baik dengan DAP atau PKR. Nampaknya yang boleh berbaik-baik dengan semua orang hanyalah UMNO kerana UMNO sahaja yang patut mendapat undi. Kalau PAS berbaik-baik dengan DAP itu salah. Kalau UMNO berbaik dengan MCA itu salah dan meninggalkan perjuangan untuk Melayu dan Islam.

Dalam negara kita demokrasi ini agak pelik kerana masing-masing parti bercakap berbeza dengan siapa pemimpin mereka bercakap. MCA dan pemimpin utamanya Chua Soi Lek bercakap seolah-olah kita semua ini adalah rakyat yang bodoh dan belum lagi mengenali apa itu sekolah.

CSL memberi amaran yang rakyat jangan menyokong DAP kerana DAP tidak menyokong hukum hudud. Tetapi setakat yang semua tahu MCA lah yang menempelak PAS dengan kuat kerana PAS pernah membuat penekanan terhadap pelaksanaan hukum hudud. Tetapi CSL semalam berkata dengan jelas di genting highlands yang semua kemudahan perjudian akan di hapuskan jika PR mendapat tempat dan mandat dari rakyat dalam pilihanraya yang lalu.

Inilah caranya MCA selama ini berkempen tetapi sekarang taktik dan cara itu sudah tidak dipakai lagi kerana rakyat sedar yang masing-masing parti atau individu rakyat mesti menghormati di antara kaum dalam negara ini.

Rakyat tidak lagi termakan hasutan pemimpin-pemimpin yang terdesak seperti MCA itu. Lagi kita nampakan 'desperation' kita lagi jauh rakyat meninggalkan kita. MCA memang sedang dalam keadaan terdesak. Parti atau pihak yang terdesak selalunya akan melakukan perkara-perkara yang pelik-pelik.

Itulah sebabnya ramai pemimpin-pemimpin dunia bertukar menjadi diktator apabila merasakan yang mereka tidak mampu untuk bertahan di dalam sistem demokrasi negara mereka. Seseorang yang mengambil demokrasi sebagai wadah perjuangan dan pentadbirannya mereka selalunya mengambil penampilan populis. Tetapi penampilan populis ini ada had kepada sokongan rakyat terhadap mereka.

Ramai di antara pemimpin yang mempunyai semangat demokrasi yang tinggi selalunya akan meninggalkan jawatan mereka sebelum mereka menghadapi tekanan ini. Tetapi bagi mereka yang masih bernafsu untuk berkuasa mereka terpaksa melakukan legislation yang ketat terhadap rakyat dan secara beransur-ansur mereka menjadi diktator.

Dalam proses penerusan pentadbiran diktator atau demokrasi yang ala diktator itu berbagai-bagai cara dilakukan untuk menekan dan memaksa rakyat memberikan sokongan kepada mereka.

Di negara kita kerajaan dipilih melalui proses pilihanraya walaupun perlaksanaan demokrasi itu tidak berada di atas 'level playing field' dan hanya memberi 'advantage' kepada pihak yang memerintah.

Saluran TV perdana digunakan oleh pihak yang memerintah untuk mengutuk dan menekan pembangkang dan pihak pembangkang tidak diberikan masa yang secukupnya untuk menyampaikan message kepada rakyat. Pembangkang terpaksa berhempas pulas untuk mendekati rakyat dan ini merupakan satu pelacuran terhadap semangat demokrasi yang sebenar.

READ MORE HERE

MACC must go after the big fish

Posted: 22 Nov 2011 04:19 PM PST

The unfailing flow of public corruption scandals involving government politicians has reached a crisis. The government cannot afford to brush them aside in the face of compelling evidence of improper even culpable conduct and risk eroding its credibility further.

They say the devil is in the details and the Auditor-General has provided the smoking gun of financial mis-firings that should provide the leads to successful prosecutions. It is this failure to bring those culpable to court that makes the Auditor-General's reports appear like a serial horror show as similar irregularities recur year after year.

Malaysians no longer are fooled by the dangling carrots of jaw-dropping projects and pie-in-the-sky promises that are pure spin and as unreal as an Arabian-desert mirage. They believe in concrete results.

Even the devil can tempt and make false promises.

Malaysians have to stop short-changing themselves because the corrupt politicians won't desist from cheating them. I qualify 'the corrupt politicians' because not all politicians can be tarnished with the same broad brush. Not all politicians or law-enforcers are corrupt.

They should know bad company corrupts good character unless they purge the corrupt whoever they are from their midst. Those who are exposed for their wrongdoings but tell fibs to intelligent Malaysians or those who cover up for them are not very clever or honest.

I am reminded of the noble Malay man who dobbed in his son's illegal activities to the police. He was a simple villager but believed in the age old adage that 'honesty is the best policy.' We need more honest politicians and more honest law enforcers.

The police and MACC can start enforcing this 'ethos' among their troops and go after the big fish and we will believe they are sincere in seeking public feedback. The public will stand behind them. Otherwise they will be accused of false pretences and passing the buck to the public or desperately running out of ideas when they have refused the Royal Commission's sound recommendations.

Not long ago Idris Jala warned of the country's impending bankruptcy only to tell Malaysians today that the country will now not go broke. Maybe we should export this 'miracle cure' to Europe. Jesus can change water into wine but can a country change imminent bankruptcy into a high-income country overnight? Perhaps the government can for the select few.

Politicians say too many contradictory things and confuse the people. They should just stick to the truth even if it is a bitter pill because truth never hurt a good cause. Malaysians love the truth but the politicians keep telling them lies.

You can't say 'we will abolish the ISA' and then jail some people without trial and damn them as 'terrorists.' The late Colonel Gaddafi said 'everybody loves me' and called his people 'rats' but instead of leading at the front he died like a rat. Doing the opposite of what you say is too much like Gadaffi – the lying and delusional dictator.

The Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011 is yet another anomaly for a country on its way to being the 'world's best democracy.' If it sounds like the usual hyperbole the facts back it. Delusion, deception, hallucination, they all belong to the category of lies because they are far from the reality.

The moral and political awakening taking shape in the country may not be enough to see structural and regime change unless those that prop up the leaning tower of a dishonest demagogy seen in practice, within a democracy promulgated in theory, realize that what awaits is not the promised land for every citizen but a plundered nation misappropriated by the thieves that you put into power.

READ MORE HERE

Paper Castles In The Air

Posted: 22 Nov 2011 07:17 AM PST

According to Oxford Business Group's (OBG) regional editor, Paulius Kucinas (at this link), Sarawak remained an attractive destination for capital investments as it rode on the structural rise for commodities worldwide. At the launch of The Report: Sarawak 2011, he said that it provides in-depth detail on Sarawak' current economic outlook and what the future holds for the state.

The official Oxford Business Group site states that the report for Malaysia can be purchased at the cost of 130 pounds for the printed edition or 104 pounds for the digital edition which are available as soon as payment clears while print copies are shipped within 24 hours on business days. To receive the Economic Updates for the report, go to 'My Subscriptions'.

One puzzling fact though - Cost of the report for Sarawak is 104 pounds but it is not stated as to whether it is the printed edition or the digital one.

For the report on Malaysia, one can opt to purchase individual chapters on Country Profile, Politics, Economy and Banking. For more information about the launching of the report in West Malaysia, check out THIS LINK.

I am not going to raise issues which have been comprehensively covered by Sarawak Report HERE (a must read for everyone!).

1. Why is the publication and writing of such reports given to overseas publishing houses? Surely our economy does not need more outflow of money for work that can be done by local publishing houses and writers!

2. Presumably, it must be quite expensive to have commissioned such reports. If indeed the intention is to give prospective investors more opportunities to discover more about Malaysia, surely a local publication would have ensured cheaper publications with better and more up-to-date data.

3. Working on the assumption that they wanted better quality writing for the reports to elevate their status, consider the following sentence taken from HERE and draw your own conclusions about the quality of writing. Do take note of the parts I highlighted in bold font and underscored:

Endowed with prodigious natural resources, including rubber, palm oil and oil and gas, Malaysia has expanded into manufacturing, services and tourism, and is seeking to move further up the value chain in industrial production.

So are they paying for quality writing? You be the judge!

The introduction to the report on Sarawak was written more stylishly. Check HERE. Excerpt:

Sarawak shares the island of Borneo with the Malaysian state of Sabah, the sultanate of Brunei Darussalam, and the Indonesian provinces of Kalimantan. Its 2.4m people are considered the most diverse of all Malaysian states, with a mix of indigenous Christian Ibans, Chinese, Muslim Malays, and many other ethnic and religious groups. The state's chief minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, of the National Front party retained his hold on power by winning re-election in 2011, despite a strong showing by the opposition Democratic Action Party. Sarawak's economic growth has long depended on the three key pillars of oil and gas, crude palm oil, and timber exports. A host of new sectors are set to receive a boost, however, under the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE), which aims to develop the state's central region. SCORE will exploit Sarawak's 20,000 MW of hydroelectric potential, using this power to develop industries in metallurgy, aquaculture, food processing, information technology, and downstream palm oil and timber products.

4. Perhaps the authorities concerned can respond to the following excerpts taken from Sarawak Report:

The London HQ advertised on the company's website is in fact an office rental centre, where rooms can be let on demand. We were informed that the Oxford Business Group no longer has office space in the building, although "they sometimes still come in and out" .

However, the Editorial Director of these reports is none other than a former Editor of the UK's most ridiculed porn rag, the Daily Sport, which closed earlier this year.

Did they check out the background of the company to see if they are legit set-ups or dodgy shady outfits?

Posted: 22 Nov 2011 12:01 AM PST

Madam Lai Kwan was pregnant in 1982 when she worked at the Mitsubishi rare earth refinery in Bukit Merah, Malaysia. This film is a peek into the life she has led since her child was born in 1983...

I applaud Tan Chui Mui's cinematic initiative, dubbed Survival Guide untuk Kampung Radioaktif , wherein she recruited a group of young filmmakers to raise public awareness on an extremely serious issue through satire, humor and empathy. What prompted Tan to take action is the simple fact that she was born 33 years ago in a fishing village named Sungai Ular, a stone's throw from the site in Gebeng, Pahang, where Lynas Corporation is in the process of completing what is touted to be the world's largest rare earth processing plant.

According to Fuziah Salleh, PKR member of parliament for Kuantan, Lynas submitted its Environmental Impact Assessment to the Pahang state government on 21 January 2008 - and it was approved in less than 3 weeks.

Something like that can indicate one thing only - a few powerful and privileged palms were heavily greased. Even more astounding, Malaysia's Ministry of International Trade and Industry granted Lynas the very next day a 12-year tax holiday. Undoubtedly, dishonest bureaucrats, bribeable panjandrums, and extremely lax environmental enforcement were the main reasons why Lynas picked Malaysia for its highly polluting rare earth processing plant - and the fact that Gebeng is situated in Pahang, Najib Razak's home state, may also be a factor.

Twenty years ago, Lynas would have met with little, if any, public resistance. However, times have changed. The people of Kuantan are up in arms about the imminent destruction of their peaceful, low-stress lifestyle. Indeed, the 700,000 residents of Kuantan district have good reason to be stressed out by Lynas's giant rare earth processing plant - because they live within a 35km radius of it.

READ MORE HERE.

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

Rabu, 23 November 2011

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

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