Most of new voters in seven states

PUTRAJAYA: The 13th general election promises to be especially lively in seven politically “hot” states that have recorded the highest number of new voters.

The electorate in Selangor, Johor, Perak, Sabah, Sarawak, Kelantan and Kedah each grew by at least 150,000 voters, all of whom signed up after the 2008 polls.

Of the seven, Selangor recorded the biggest jump with the number of new voters rising 29.06% – from 1,565,494 in 2008 to 2,020,500 in the third quarter of last year.

When sweeteners are not an election offence

There is no legal provision to prosecute political parties or organisations for giving out money or gifts during an election campaign, according to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Deputy chief commissioner (III) Sutinah Sutan said, however, that candidates, agents and supporters can be charged with corruption for similar activities if this is done in the candidate's interests.

RCI: Lebih baik lambat daripada tiada

Oleh Newmond Tibin

Ketua Menteri, NGO dan individu di Sabah
menyambut baik penubuhan suruhanjaya ini.

KOTA KINABALU: Walaupun kerajaan Barisan Nasional (BN) pimpinan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak mempunyai kedudukan selesa kepentingan seluruh rakyat negeri ini berhubung masalah pendatang asing tanpa izin (Pati) yang berlarutan sejak sekian lama, dengan penuh ikhlas, ia menubuhkan sebuah Suruhanjaya Siasatan Diraja (RCI) untuk menangani perkara itu.

Kebanyakan pemimpin negeri, termasuk Ketua Menteri Datuk Seri Musa Aman, pertubuhan bukan kerajaan (NGO) dan individu di Sabah menyambut baik penubuhan suruhanjaya ini, walaupun ada yang berpendapat kerajaan persekutuan sepatutnya berbuat demikian sejak lama dulu.

Mengundi untuk masa hadapan

Oleh Tommy Thomas

“There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

On such a full sea are we now afloat,

And we must take the current when it serves,

Or lose our ventures.”            

 - William Shakespeare (“Julius Ceasar”, Act IV iii 215)

Bayangkan Britain ditadbir oleh parti politik yang sama, contohnya, Parti Buruh, selama 55 tahun berturut-turut dari tahun 1957. Ataupun Amerika Syarikat ditadbir oleh Parti Republikan untuk tempoh sama yang berterusan, tanpa henti.

Itulah takdir Malaysia semenjak Merdeka. Pilihan raya umum ke-13, yang mesti diadakan sebelum 28 Jun tahun ini, memberi rakyat Malaysia satu peluang untuk bebas dari monopoli kuasa politik yang dipelopori UMNO, pada asalnya, berlindung di sebalik Perikatan dan setelah itu, sebagai Barisan Nasional.

The same threat of Phillippines swallowing Sabah if...

Joe Fernandez' note

KOTA KINABALU : There's a comment in Malaysia Today that if Sabah opts for freedom, the Philippines is waiting (meaning to swallow Sabah).

This is the same bogeyman story that we were told in 1963 by the Malayan Government and the British: that the Philippines and Indonesia are the big crocodiles in the region, waiting to swallow Sabah and Sarawak after the British leave.

Bishops expose ploy to convert under-aged students to Islam (Part 1)

Written by  Bob Teoh

Islamisation at matriculation college
In Part 1, the Catholic Church in Sabah has exposed a covert ploy to convert under-aged students to Islam in Labuan and complained that non-Muslim students at the Labuan Matriculation College between 17 and 18 years old, “are constantly subjected to various forms of harassment, ridicule and pressure to change their religion.”

What the bishops found out shocked them. Some teachers there were proselytising Christian students resulting in some converting to Islam. The called for full probe after which a strongly worded letter jointly signed by the four Catholic bishops of Sabah together with a report prepared by the Sabah Catholic Diocesan Centre was despatched to the highest levels with copies to Education Minister Muyhiddin Yasin, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister as well as two Sabahan Christian ministers, Bernard Dompok and Dr Maximus Ongkili, as well as to Murphy Pakiam, President of the Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia.

I accuse once again Dr Mahathir for racism in Malayasia

This is the most damning article I have come across on the Mamak-Pseudo Malay’s granting of citizenship to Filipino and Indonesian Muslims in Sabah in 1994 so that they may vote his political party into power.

And what was worse than that criminal act was his utterance that Tunku Abdul Rahman did something even more outrageous in granting citizenship to Chinese, Indians and other non-Malays when Malaya achieved independence from the British in 1957.

I ACCUSE ONCE AGAIN, DR. MAHATHIR MOHAMAD, EX-PRIME MINISTER OF MALAYSIA (1981-2003)!!

by Donplaypuks®,

Once again, I regard it as my duty to pay homage to and keep alive what I regard as the greatest newspaper article of all time -

Bishops expose ploy to convert under-aged students to Islam (Part 1)

Written by  Bob Teoh
The Catholic Church in Sabah has exposed a covert ploy to convert under-aged students to Islam in Labuan.

In a strongly worded letter signed by the four Roman Catholic bishops of Sabah, they complained that non-Muslim students at the Labuan Matriculation College between 17 and 18 years old, "are constantly subjected to various forms of harassment, ridicule and pressure to change their religion."

The residential college is under the matriculation division of the Ministry of Education and has an enrolment of 2,771 students from Sarawak, Sabah and Labuan. About half of them are Catholics and Protestants and the rest made up of Muslims other than 77 of them who are Buddhists.

Joe Fernandez on how to topple BN

KOTA KINABALU : PBS won only 25 seats in 1994 because the other seats were packed with illegal immigrants.

There's no need to issue a directive to issue citizenships only within the law. It's understood.
The Opposition will not accept a BN victory at the 13th GE for four reasons:

(1) the BN has been in power too long, an unprecedented 56 years;

(2) The BN has been in power all these years through fair and foul means;
(3) the BN would have cheated to win the 13th General Election; and

(4) if the BN is not toppled by a Revolution as in Egypt, it will never be toppled.

Sabah and Sarawak must decide what to do if there's a Revolution in KL and Putrajaya.

Egypt -- the evil of Government

Joe Fernandez' observation
KOTA KINABALU : In Egypt, Mubarak used to win every presidential election, collecting 90 per cent of the votes cast.

Finally, the people of Egypt were convinced that there was no way that they could bring down the Mubarak Government through elections.

They took to the streets and created the Egyptian Revolution.

The moral of the story is that no political party can legitimately win more than two or three terms consecutively. Government by its very nature is evil but probably a necessary evil as long as it doesn't get too big for its boots.

Sabah, Sarawak at historical crossroads come the 13th GE

By Joe Fernandez
The unprecedented political divide in Malaya with the emergence of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) taking half the 165 Malayan seats in Parliament and five states (now four) and Kuala Lumpur on Sat 8 Mar, 2008 opened up a historical window of opportunity for Sabah and Sarawak to free themselves from the 50-year-long vice-like grip of the Malaya-dominated Federal Government in Putrajaya.

In 2008, voters in Malaya voted against the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) -- and not so much for PR -- and hence, it's said, the Opposition Alliance won by default. PR turned in a miserable performance in 2004 at the 12th General Election.

Indian capacity to ‘create trouble’ endless

By Joe Fernandez
Carpet dealer Deepak Jaikishan has now let on that Rosmah Mansor, the wife of Bugis-origin Prime Minister Mohd Najib Abdul Razak told him once that “90 per cent of all problems in Malaysia are created by ten per cent of the Indian community”. Call it either super efficient utilization of human resources or not enough trouble being created.

The last time we heard any such thing, it was Adolf Hitler blaming the Jews in Nazi Germany, “for creating trouble”, before sending the scapegoats to the gas chambers.
 

Full Report on Venezuela´s Situation

December 9th: Chavez announces that he needs to go through another surgery

As it is known, on December 9th 2012, Commander President Hugo Chavez publicly informed the country and the world that he had to go back to Cuba. He would have to go through surgery, as new cancer cells have appeared in his body.

For the President to leave, the National Assembly approved an unlimited permission. It is important to account that even the opposition voted in favor of this “unlimited” constitutional permission.

Pope says will resign on Feb 28

He says that his strengths, due to an advanced age,
are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of
the Petrine ministry.

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday he will resign on Feb 28 because his age prevented him from carrying out his duties, an unprecedented move in the modern history of the Catholic Church.

“After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry,” the 85-year-old pope told a meeting of cardinals.

“In order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me,” he said.

Indians in a spot in any Islamic Revolution after 13th GE

By Joe Fernandez
Given the looming 13th General Election, the minority Indian Nation in Malaysia must keep in mind the tragic fate of the Christian minorities in the Middle East in the wake of the Arab Spring -- valid as its other reasons are -- which chose to ignore the fact that the only majority that matters is that in the legislature, not in demography. And that dialogue, not necessarily to agree, is the best way forward politically in any civilised nation wedded to democracy, human rights and freedom.

Consider the fact that Obama, a Black American, became US President. The Blacks number only ten per cent of the US population.

Why is Musa protecting a ‘criminal’?

Alleged Filipino conman Manuel Amalilio was given a
legal and valid Phillipines passport in 2009. This
means he automatically lost his citizenship under
Article 24 of the federal constitution.

PETALING JAYA: Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman must explain the depth of his ‘family’ ties with alleged Filipino conman Manuel Amililio and why he obstructed the later’s arrest and deportation to the Philipinnes. He also must explain why the entire court proceedings involving Amililo was carried out in a hospital.

Musa had last week admitted that Amalilio was a ‘distant relative’ but said ‘whether or not’ they were related the authorities must carry out a thorough investigation.

Amililio, was arrested last November and immediately ‘handed over’ to the Philippines police. But 10minutes before boarding the flight the decision was rescinded and he was returned to Sabah police.

Mahathir's Tall Tales on Sabah!

By Joe Fernandez

We have heard it all now on Sabah from former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

In his latest take on the on-going Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) in the state, Mahathir claims that he instructed that only those eligible in Sabah should be granted citizenship.

This is rich!

He’s degenerating before our very eyes even as a poor liar.

There’s an old Malayalee saying with which Mahathir should be familiar: “Once you tell a lie, you must tell a thousand other lies to cover up the first lie.”

We need many more museums in Sabah

Kudos to the Sabah Muzeum for launching the Keningau for having launched the new museum building in Keningau to exhibit Keningau history and culture. In fact it has been long overdue, knowing that the Keningau district is replete with important history and cultural heritage. It would have been right for such a museum to have been established there since the beginning of independence but as I know it the museum has always been considered a low priority, and never given substantial allocation for the state budget to do all its necessary work, especially in the area of documentary and archaeological research. There had not been enough emphasis on documentation and research in Sabah and this should be addressed immediately, especially by the political leaders.

 

Anak kepada Ibu tunggal, 3 tahun menanti IC

8 Febuari- Hari ini Gabungan NGO Menuntut Hak Rakyat Sabah (GEGAR) tampil ke SUHAKAM bagi membela nasib seorang ibu tunggal kepada tiga orang anak, Puan Ollivia Julius@Mastura Anizan yang dinafikan hak anaknya untuk mendapat kad pengenalan MyKad. Anaknya, Nurul Hamizah Yasmin kini berusia 15 tahun menerima tekanan yang begitu hebat apabila tidak memperolehi kad pengenalan. Nurul Hamizah telah dilahirkan pada 27 November 1998. Lapan bulan selepas itu Nurul Hamizah memperolehi sijil kelahiran dengan cop “pendaftaran lewat”.

Nurul Hamizah terpaksa membawa sijil lahirnya kemana sahaja dan seringkali berasa malu untuk keluar rumah. Ketika Nurul Hamizah berusia 12 tahun, Puan Ollivia telah mengemukakan permohonan Mykad daripada Jabatan Pendaftaran Negeri (JPN) Kota Kinabalu untuk anaknya. Namun, permohonan tersebut ditolak oleh pihak JPN atas alasan Sijil Kelahiran tersebut perlu dibawa ke mahkamah terlebih dahulu untuk pengesahan.

Anti-Sabah and Sarawak page draws flak

The Facebook page, created by one Mohd Syahiran,
pours scorn on East Malaysians.

PETALING JAYA: An anti-Sabah and Sarawak Facebook page, created on Dec 19 last year, has raised the ire of social networking page users.

Named the Semenanjung Malaya Anti-Sabah dan Sarawak page, the site is created to criticise the East Malaysian states and even referred to residents there as “ungrateful”.

“Peninsula doesn’t need Sabah and Sarawak for 1Malaysia. The East Malaysians have no brains, stupid and love to encroach into other’s territory. What a shame for Malaysia,” read the description.

Jeffrey, Yong fail to settle seats issue

Both disagreed with each other's presumed strength in
many Kadazandusun areas, where both want to break into.

By Luke Rintod of FMT

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah-based opposition party leaders Yong Teck Lee and Jeffrey Kitingan were in discussions last night in a last- ditch effort to stitch together a pact to give Sabah voters a clear choice between a local opposition front and a peninsula-based one.

But the two pivotal figures in Sabah’s opposition power play, however, again failed to reconcile their overlapping claims for Sabah parliamentary and state seats.

According to sources, the secrecy surrounding the meeting caused some delay in the arrival of representatives – from both parties – at the rendezvous point in the city.

Is Taib-Jeffrey alliance in the making?

Will wily old Taib Mahmud, who has kept Sarawak
out of Umno’s greedy clutches all these decades,
outmanoeuvre Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak?

By Joseph Tawie and Pushparani Thilaganathan

KUALA LUMPUR: Speculations of covert conversations between “cornered” Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and Sabah State Reform Party (STAR) chief Jeffrey Kitingan gained ground in Kuching following Jeffrey’s call to Sarawakians to “support local parties”.

During a recent visit, Jeffrey advised Sarawakians not to support peninsula-based Pakatan Rakyat but instead to give their backing to local parties.

The call, while confusing to some, has lent credence to rumours that Taib was keen on Jeffrey’s Borneo Agenda and had met with him to discuss an “alliance”.

Opposition leaders ‘not from heaven’

By Luke Rintod and Pushparani Thilaganathan of FMT

A widespread whisper campaign may end Umno's reign in
Sabah, given the RCI revelations and Prime Minister
Najib Tun Razak's desperate need for his own
loyalists in the next GE.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Umno is bracing itself for back-to-back visits next week by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin.

Najib, who is to pay a two-day visit to Sabah on Feb 13-14, is expected to meet local Umno warlords and Barisan Nasional coalition partners in the state.

Though the visit has not been officially announced, sources said the prime minister is expected to call a BN meeting to formally notify the Sabah BN partners of the list of candidates for the on-coming 13th general election as well as the distribution of both state and parliamentary seats.

The prime minister’s visit comes after he reportedly met, last month, with Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud who handed him his list of those who will be contesting the impending election under the BN ticket.

Shahrizat blows it for Umno in S’wak?

By Joseph Tawie of FMT

Umno Wanita chief Sharizat Abdul Jalil's arrogance and
ignorance has made her a laughing stock in Sarawak.

KUCHING: If Umno Wanita chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil had been observant, she would have noticed the incredulous looks on the faces of the crowd when she recently warned Sarawakians to be “wary” of peninsula-based opposition leaders who stoke racial and religious issues.

Here was former Women, Family and Community Development Minister, who seemed oblivious to the fact that it was her bosses in Umno who had fine-tuned the art of stoking and perpetuating racial and religious disharmony in their bid to stay in power.

“If you talk about propagating racial politics and religious issues, Umno is the worst.

Sarawak snubs hero’s last wishes

Joseph Tawie, FMT

KUCHING: The state government’s refusal and dismissal of an Iban hero’s last wish to be buried at the Heroes Grave in Jalan Budaya here has angered his family, fellow police officers and the Dayak community in the state.

Retired Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Wilfred Gomez Malong, 63, died of colon cancer on Saturday and the family was forced to bury him at Kampung Entingan Cemetery after their bid to honour his last wishes was rejected by the state government without a reason.

Gomez, who was awarded the Panglima Gagah Berani (PGB) medal at a young age of 24, was buried this morning with full police honours.

Malaysia that was and is, by Joe Fernandez

By Joe Fernandez

KOTA KINABALU : Sabah and Sarawak did not become independent on 16 Sept, 1963 through Malaysia, as the history books keep telling our students.

Sabah obtained independence on 31 Aug, 1963 when it opted for self-determination.

Sarawak obtained independence on 22 July, 1963 when it opted for self-determination.

No referendum was held in Sabah, Sarawak and Malaya on independence.

The Malayan Government opted for independence. The individual states in Malaya did not join Malaysia. So, Sabah and Sarawak cannot be referred to as the 12th and 13th states.

Health mistakes you are making right now

Sadly none of us are perfect and we all make mistakes from time to time, but did you know you could be putting your health in jeopardy right this second? From sitting to slouching and even the simple act of breathing, check out the 5 worst health mistakes you are making right now.

Incorrect breathing
Breathing is something that most of us do without much thought. However, did you know that there is a ‘correct’ way to breathe, and – more importantly – that you are probably not doing it? The fact is, many of us go through life breathing incorrectly, yet experts believe that learning to breathe properly could help prevent many conditions including asthma, high blood pressure and anxiety.

Most of us take shallow breaths and breathe from our chests; however, breathing from the abdomen is considered to be a healthier way to breathe as it provides us with more oxygen with each breath. To help boost your physical and mental health, spend some time each day concentrating on your breathing technique, trying to focus on abdominal breathing. Incorporating regular breathing exercises into your routine is a good way to stay energised, healthy and stress-free.

KENYATAAN MEDIA PEMUDA PAS SABAH (AKTA LAUT WILAYAH 2012 CABUL KEDAULATAN SABAH DAN SARAWAK)

Persidangan Dewan Rakyat yang bersidang pada April tahun 2012 lalu telah meluluskan penggubalan Rang Undang-Undang Laut Wilayah 2012. Menurut Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz semasa sesi penggulungan rang undang-undang ini, telah mengatakan sebab penggubalan undang-undang tersebut adalah kerana memandangkan tiada undang-undang persekutuan lain yang menetapkan lebar laut wilayah Malaysia selain daripada Ordinan N0.7 1969 yang dibuat di bawah Proklamasi Darurat 1969 dan Akta Zon Ekonomi Ekslusif 1984 (Akta 311).

Brunei, Sulu sultans had no territory to cede to British North Borneo Chartered Company

By Joe Fernandez

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN : It's interesting that your reader Mr Chong Tet Loi should write in the DE Forum on Sunday 3 Feb, 2013 -- "Ancestors of Migrants came via front door" -- that the Brunei and Sulu Sultans ceded territory in Sabah to the British North Borneo Chartered Company and/or its predecessors.

I beg to differ.

The westerners found early on that their idea of territory and land ownership was not as practised by many other cultures especially the Islamic, the Maori and Indians (America).

RPK: For God, King and Racism

Malaysia Today editor blasts Umno for its distorted
version of the country's history and debunks its
claim of having fought for independence

CAMBRIDGE: Raja Petra Kamarudin debunked Umno’s version of Malaysian history and detailed Tunku Abdul Rahman’s sorrow at the destruction of his vision of a multiracial Malaysia, when he spoke at Cambridge University South East Asia Forum (CUSEAF), first Lent term event on Wednesday evening.

Within a stone’s throw of the Tunku’s alma mater, St Catherine’s College Cambridge, Raja Petra told the audience of 90 people, comprising mainly students in their 20s that, “the Tunku used to say he was the happiest PM in the world, but in a later interview, said, ‘I wish I had died earlier…living to this age and seeing my fellow Malayans killing one another. It saddens me. This is not what I planned for my country.’”

According to the Malaysia Today editor, the Tunku died a heartbroken man and neither spoke to, nor forgave the person whom he blamed as the architect of the mess – Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Amalillo, a ‘distant relative’, says Musa

Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman wants the authorities
to investigate alleged conman Manuel Armillo and
"take the necessary action" – relative or not.

KOTA KINABALU:  Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman whilst denying allegations that he prevented the deportation of a suspected Sabah conman involved in scamming 15,000 investors of RM895 million in the Philippines, confessed that Manuel Karingal Amalillo is a “distant relative”.

“The arrest of a man named Manuel Amalilio (seated third from left) reached me like it reached most people, through the news.

“I have a large family and I have just recently been informed that this individual is a distant relative.

‘It’s too late for Sabah Umno, BN’

BN leaders in Sabah can chastise the opposition
as much as they want in order to serve their
peninsular master, but their end is nearing,
says opposition STAR.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Barisan Nasional’s ‘incessant holler’ and attacks on opposition parties especially the State Reform Party (STAR) has not deflected grassroots perceptions of the BN’s unworthiness.

In fact the more BN leaders defend the alleged wrongdoings of their Umno-BN bosses and justify the coalition’s continued presence in Sabah, the more compelling the need to boot them out, claims STAR chief Jeffrey Kitingan.

In a statement lambasting state BN secretary Abdul Rahman Dahlan for hitting at the opposition’s insistence on the Borneo Agenda which includes Sabah becoming a nation ‘within’ Malaysia, Jeffrey said the current ‘domination’ by the peninsular was “morally wrong’

Dompok scares Christians with hudud

Support for Barisan Nasional is plunging and religion
seems to be the only weapon left to fight the war
against Pakatan Rakyat in Sabah and Sarawak.

PENAMPANG: Embattled Upko chief, Bernard Dompok, has raised the “Islamic state” bogeyman to scare Christians in Sabah and Sarawak into voting for the ruling Barisan Nasional in the coming general election.

Worried that support for Upko (United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation) and the ruling coalition is plunging, Dompok warned the Christian community in both states that voting in BN would prevent the shift towards a more Islamised country as desired by opposition PAS, a partner in the Pakatan Rakyat pact.

Malaysian MPs and the barber story

Blessed are those that can give without remembering, and take without forgetting.

One day a florist went to a barber for a haircut.  After the cut, he asked about his bill, and the barber replied, 'I cannot accept money from you, I'm doing community service this week.'

The florist was pleased and left the shop.

When the barber went to open his shop the next morning, there was a 'thank you' card and a dozen roses waiting for him at his door.

Do you trust Jesus?

Ironically, a person like Ibrahim Ali provides a platform for Christians to become better Christians. Let me explain.

Have you ever wondered why when Jesus wanted to liberate Israel from tyrannical Rome (the government during his time)?

Instead of asking Rome to change, he sought to persuade Israel to change? Jesus felt that without the change of hearts in Israel itself, liberation in any form is impossible.

Jesus, at great length, explained that the resentment and bitterness that his fellow brethren carried in their hearts was nothing short of suicidal.

In fact he suggested that they be smart and read the signs of the times (e.g. in Luke 12:54-56) and not to follow the Zealots.

Anwar should redeem himself in Sabah

By Joe Fernandez
It’s unlikely that Anwar had anything to do with the tainted electoral rolls in Sabah and with good reasons too. The modus operandi on the MyKad scam in Sabah, by all accounts, was in operation long before he became Umno Deputy President, Sabah Umno head and Deputy Prime Minister.

Indeed, it might even have begun shortly after Malaysia in 1963. The suspicion stems mainly from the number of people classified as Malays, not recognised as a Native Group, in Sabah.

Anwar before RCI will be High Noon

By Joe Fernandez

It can be safely assumed that the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) in Sabah will find it extremely difficult not to take up Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s publicly expressed willingness to appear before it. The RCI resumed this week after a short break.

The RCI must not give the impression to the public that they have been instructed by the Government to do everything possible not to allow anyone to embarrass former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad during its proceedings.

Malaysia Backsliding on Rights,says Human Rights Watch World Report

By Ezra Haganez
BANGKOK : Prime Minister Najib Razak’s promised reforms did not significantly improve legal protections for basic liberties in Malaysia, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2013. Press restrictions, the use of excessive force against peaceful demonstrators, and intimidation of rights groups exposed the limits of government adherence to internationally recognized human rights.

In its 665-page report, Human Rights Watch assessed progress on human rights during the past year in more than 90 countries, including an analysis of the aftermath of the Arab Spring.

BMF: Aussie conservationists accused of greenwashing Taib family's timber business

Australian groups under fire over misguided trade mission to Japan

(TOKYO, JAPAN / HOBART, AUSTRALIA) Australia’s Wilderness Society and the venerable Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) have come under fire over a clumsy move in support of Ta Ann, a Malaysian logging conglomerate with close ties to the family of Sarawak Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud („Taib“).

Last week, representatives of the two Australian groups travelled to Japan for a trade mission organized by Ta Ann. Apparently, the conservationists hoped to gain the Malaysian group’s support for a Tasmania forestry deal in exchange for promoting their timber sales in Japan. Having lost two Japanese customers over environmental concerns, Ta Ann are desparately trying to rescue their international reputation.
 

Message to Malaysians for "Clean & Fair Elections" from Stephan Durham (US Presidential Candidate of Socialist Party)

Event : Occupy Wall Street Global Solidarity Protest

Location : New York City (Times Square)

Date : 15th May 2012

Contents : Free Palestine Demo, Occupy Wall Street Protest & Bersih2.0 meets Stephan Durham

Duration : 8.54 minutes 

Type : Amateur Video

Hosting : Youtube / BersihKK

Cholera outbreak in Kota Belud kampung

The cases of cholera has
been linked to villagers
using untreated water.

By Luke Rintod of FMT

KOTA BELUD: A t least 3 cases of cholera have been confirmed in  Kg Pantai Mas in Tempasuk near here.

Suspicion of cases of cholera at the seaside kampung started a week ago when signs of it were detected by the district hospital.

FMT learned that the  villagers in Pantai Mas were furious because the outbreak partly stemmed from lack of supply of treated water. Most of them still used untreated water from traditional wells as well as deep-bored holes .

A man who only wanted to be known as Sabli told FMT that the kampung has been waiting for water supply for ages and that pipes actually had already been laid in the kampung areas for quite some time but that there is no water until now.

STAR eyes at least 20 parliamentary seats

Local opposition Sabah State Reform Party is set to field
teachers, civil servants, pensioners and pastors in
the coming 13th general elections.

By Luke Rintod of FMT

KOTA BELUD: Some 80% of the Sabah State Reform Party (Star) candidates in the 13th general elections will be “fresh faces”. And according to its secretary Guande Kohoi these candidates although first timers are “highly qualified.”

“Expect between 80 to 90 percent of our candidates to be fresh faces. They are educated, professionals and though many are first-timers, they are highly qualified and very passionate about our Borneo Agenda and visions for Sabah,” he told FMT yesterday. .

Kohoi said STAR is looking at contesting more than half of the 60 state assembly seats and about 15 to 20 of the 25 parliamentary seats where the party believes it has strength or advantage over other opposition parties.

In whose hands lies Sabah’s destiny?

It is time to end decades of grinding uncertainty
which has harmed the economic growth of Sabah.

For more than three and a half decades, the people of Sabah have always been aware of the huge number of foreigners arriving here and given fast-track citizenships to become voters.

We now hear directly from the horses’ mouth in the Royal Commission of Inquiry, confirming the clandestine modus operandi employed by Umno and carried out by the Election Commission and National Registration Department in rigging every Sabah election to sabotage the Sabahans’ choice of governments.

Unless the Barisan Nasional federal government now swiftly abolish the death penalty like it did the Internal Security Act, all the conspirators from both sides of the political divide might be sent to the gallows for high treason when their immunity from prosecution is revoked and removed once a change of government takes place.

Mahathir behind Project IC, says Anwar

The opposition leader points his fingers at former
prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed instead.

PETALING JAYA: Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim today reiterated his stance that he had nothing to do with the citizenship-for-votes granted to Sabah immigrants in the 1990s.

Instead, he accused former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad of being responsible for the task force allegedly responsible for the citizenships granted to the immigrants.

He also claimed that the exercise was ongoing and suggested that the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) haul up Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as well.

‘Listen, she raised her middle finger’

KUALA LUMPUR: Suara Wanita 1Malaysia (SW1M) chief Sharifah Zohra Jabeen Syed Shah Miskin, who shot to notoriety last month over her verbal brawl with student KS Bawani, claims the latter made a rude gesture and this was videotaped.

“Bawani showed me the middle finger and walked out of the hall alone,” she told FMT last night.

“The students applauded me. What does this say?”

She said SW1M videotaped the entire session of the Dec 8 forum at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) and was planning to release the recording soon.

Blood Donation and Medical Camp on 03 Feb 2013

STAR Sabah will be holding a blood donation drive at Megalong Shopping Complex on Sunday, 03 February 2013 from 10.00 am. to 5.00 pm. to help the blood bank of Likas Hospital” announced STAR Sabah DUN N.19 Kapayan Chief Coordinator, Phillip Among, in a press statement released today.

Medical staff of Likas Hospital will be in attendance to assist in the blood donation drive organized by STAR DUN N.19 Kapayan and Parliament P.174 Penampang with the theme 

"SETITIK DARAH SEIKHLAS HATI, SEDETIK HARAPAN KEPADA YANG MEMERLUKAN"
 

Housewife gunned down by cops, hubby seeks justice

A lorry driver has accused the police of firing mercilessly, and without cause, at a car in Klang, killing his wife and leaving his two children without a mother.

Foo Voon Kong, 26, said the Jan 18 incident took place about 7.45pm near Taman Sentosa, when his wife Pua Bee Chun, 22, was in the passenger seat of the car driven by a male friend.

Foo said shots were fired at the car, at the side where his wife had been sitting.

Health tips : Mayo Clinic and water

How many folks do you know who say they don't want to drink anything before going to bed because they'll have to get up during the night!!
               
 Heart Attack and Water -  I  never knew all of this  ! Interesting.......

Something else I didn't know ... I asked my Doctor why people need to urinate so much at night time.  Answer from my Cardiac Doctor -

Gravity holds water in the lower part of your body when you are upright (legs swell). When you lie down and the lower body (legs and etc) seeks level with the kidneys,  it is then that the kidneys remove the water because it is easier. This then ties in with the last statement!

IPCMC Now: Don’t Play Dumb And Deaf

SUARAM is dissatisfied with the way top political leaders respond when questioned about the formation of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC). 

It is a disgraceful how the Government of Malaysia and the Royal Malaysian Police continually refuse to set up the IPCMC. The rhetoric employed is weak and simplistic and framing their arguments in such a narrow context only serves to compound the Rakyat's ignorance on the importance of an oversight body such as the IPCMC.

Najib Razak - Malaysia's flip-flopping PM

No other prime minister of Malaysia has shown such consistency in back-pedalling on policies, as Najib Abdul Razak has done.

What does the future hold for Malaysia under such an indecisive leader?

1. Lynas

Background: Lynas is to process rare earths concentrate imported from its mine in Mount Weld in Western Australia, at its Advanced Materials Plant in Malaysia.