The World That I See - My View

Former MCA president Ong Tee Keat today confirmed telling US diplomats that ethnic Chinese in the country were marginalised but reiterated that he was merely conveying the sentiments of the minority community. "It is worth reiterating that the comments purportedly made by me was largely my observation and assessment of the Chinese community's sentiment and perception pursuant to the statement of marginalisation by (Minister Mentor) Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore," he said. Lee had in September 2006 told journalists at the sidelines of a World Bank-International Monetary Fund meeting in Singapore that ethnic Chinese in both Malaysia and Indonesia were marginalised - a provocative statement that resonated with a significant segment of the Chinese populace across the Causeway. "Our neighbours both have problems with their Chinese. They are successful. They are hardworking and, therefore, they are systematically marginalised," Lee was quoted as saying. ...

'When a newspaper Ramadan supplement featured non-halal outlets, certain people bay for blood, but it's perfectly okay to...' Christian groups permit prostitution, says report Dood: Amazing what one can get away with if one is promoting Umno-BN's agenda. When a newspaper publishes a dining supplement during Ramadan that featured non-halal outlets, certain people bay for blood. But apparently it's perfectly okay to portray as "facts" things like Christianity permitting prostitution. I challenge those who think Umno-BN is being "fair" in their treatment to try publishing the same report as in Sinar Harian or Utusan Malaysia by substituting "Kristian" with "Islam". David Dass: Islam or Muslim bashing is unnecessary. The irresponsible and malicious writing and publishing of vicious and ridiculous nonsense is the work of a few. These few should be brought to book. Most Malays would not subscribe to such nonsense. It is...

A 'devotee' wrote a letter to the editor of an indian newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to the Temple . 'I've gone for 30 years now, he wrote, and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 mantras. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the Gurus are wasting theirs by giving services at all. This started a real controversy in the 'Letters to the Editor' column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the those meals. But I do know this... They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to the Temple for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead toda...

Seals: Another UMNO Agency that needs to be looked at?

Mapping the brains activity after Kriya Yoga by Erik Hoffmann, Ph.D. In the living brain, millions of nerve cells communicate with each other by emitting tiny electrical impulses. In this way, the brain is electrically active night and day throughout ones life. This activity can be registered as oscillations (popularly called brain waves) by placing electrodes on the scalp, amplifying the signals and displaying them on a computer monitor. This method of measuring is called electroencephalo-graphy (EEG). The brain oscillates at different rates (frequency) depending on the state of consciousness, just as the height of the waves (amplitude) can vary. There is a direct correlation between a persons activity or level of attention and his brain wave frequency (see fig. 1). During unconscious states (e.g. deep sleep) the slow delta waves with high amplitudes appear in the EEG. In the half conscious state, between wakefulness and sleep, theta waves are often dominant, and durin...

Postal vote manipulation has been a common practice in the military for many years - so it seems - now that more retired military personnel are speaking up. Now, four ex-military personnel have confessed to committing election fraud - the same way an ex-army man said he did so earlier this month. The four, who had served at army and air force bases across the country, say they marked thousands of postal votes in three separate general elections between 1978 and 1999. The four - Major (Rtd) Risman Mastor (right) , Kamarulzaman Ibrahim, Mohamed Nasir Ahmad and Mohd Kamil Omar - said they were ordered by their commanding officers to mark postal votes for the hundreds and thousands of personnel who were out in the field. Their expose today is the second after an ex-army man came forward earlier this month, making a similar claim that he was ordered to mark postal votes for other personnel. Kamarulzaman, who was a clerk working at the Terendak army camp in Malacca, said he was...

Even as the BN and Pakatan Rakyat trade barbs over the proposed parliamentary select committee on electoral reform, more flaws are being exposed in the electoral rolls by political parties and members of public. The latest discovery by a PAS supporter shows several registered voters in Kedah having MyKad numbers that do not exist. This information is posted on a Facebook page registered to a Pengundi PAS Kedah (Kedah PAS voter) and is accompanied by screen-capture images ( left ) of the search result from the Election Commission's (EC) website. It shows the seventh and eighth digits of the MyKad numbers of three voters are listed as '00'. These two digits are used to indicate the place of birth of the MyKad holder. According to the National Registration Department (NRD) website, which lists the codes for states in Malaysia and foreign nations , the code '00' does not exist. When contacted, an NRD customer service officer confirmed that there is ...

PAS says it has more evidence of the government covertly issuing MyKad to foreigners and relocating locals, who are then inserted as BN Trojan horses in the Pakatan-held constituencies. "A resort in Cherating, Kuantan, is being used as a processing centre as well as to distribute the MyKad. "The centre is used for two purposes, one to hold and then coach foreigners who are then given Malaysian identity cards," PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali ( right ) told a press conference at the party headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today. "The other purpose is to process locals, who are then transferred to other voting districts." The opposition has long been accusing the BN of such covert activities, allegedly using phantom voters who are inserted to swell the votes for the ruling coalition in areas it lacks popular support. It has claimed that foreigners who are issued MyKad and the relocated locals will then vote for BN as coached and instructed during their i...

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim has accused Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of deflecting the heat from the Election Commission (EC) by announcing the formation of a parliamentary select committee on electoral reforms last night. Anwar said Pakatan Rakyat agrees in principle with the formation of the committee, but claimed that the government has more insidious reasons for the move. “What is important is that we want action now. Why is the EC given a reprieve? Why is fraud being condoned?” he said in a scathing attack on Najib. Last night, Najib announced the government's plan to form the committee to discuss all electoral reforms needed to find a “ bipartisan agreement without any suspicion that there is manipulation by the government”. Anwar stressed that the announcement amounts to an admission that Pakatan and Bersih 2.0 were right on the money in claiming there are serious flaws in the electoral system. “... (Najib) has admitted (Bersih 2.0 was right), and the p...

Selangor state assembly was told that the state government's revenue increased by RM200 million during the first six months of this year. To a question by Sekinchan state assemblyman Ng Swee Lim, Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim (left) said that the state's cash reserve stood at RM918 million at the end of 2010, RM1,100 million at June 30, 2001. “The investment has increased by RM557 million as at June 30, 2011 compared to RM668 million at December 31, 2010. With the two sources combined it will be RM1,760 million compared to RM1,580 million for the same period in 2010. "In six months, the state government has managed to increase the state revenue by RM200 million and this is the best financial record over the last 28 years,” he said. Khalid stressed that the state not only achieved revenue increase but also good financial management which has been Pakatan Rakyat's battlecry before it wrested the state from Barisan Nasional in March 2008. He said t...

Mismah, who had her permanent resident status allegedly upgraded to citizenship in just four hours, was finally found by the media. She denied any irregularity in the granting of her Malaysian citizenship. "I follow the rules, not like what others have alleged," she was quoted by Malay daily Sinar Harian as saying. Mismah, who hailed from Bawaen, Indonesia, was upset over the accusation that her citizenship was obtained through the “back door”. Last week, Mismah was found to have been categorised as a permanent resident on the National Registration Department (NRD) website, and yet she was listed in the Election Commission's electoral roll. Hours after a report on the matter was published, Mismah was subseqeuntly 'upgraded' by the NRD to Malaysian citizen. The NRD later clarified that Mismah was granted citizenship in January this year after having been a permanent resident for 29 years, but the agency did not explain the discrepancy on its website. ...

One day after the existence of ' cloned voters ' - voters who have more than one entry in the electoral roll - was discovered, the Election Commission (EC) has removed the 'clones' from the roll. However, at least one 'clone' (left) remains in the electoral roll, and there are still questions yet to be answered by both the EC and National Registration Department (NRD). Yesterday Malaysiakini reported that at least seven voters have been found to have a 'clone' each in the electoral roll, having been registered under the same name and old identity card (IC) number, but with different MyKad numbers for the clones. At that time, the EC online verification system showed that those names appear twice in the electoral roll, raising the question of whether they could vote twice in an election. However, a check on the EC site this morning revealed that their 'clones' have disappeared from the same online system. When contacted today, ...

Lagi kepincangan dalam daftar pemilih Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (SPR) didedahkan. Kali ini, menurut ketua Pemuda PAS Johor Suhaizan Kaiat, SPR berjaya mencipta sejarah apabila mendaftarkan sebuah kampung bernama Kg Baru sebagai pengundi. Menurut Suhaizan (kanan) yang juga pengerusi Pemulihan Demokrasi dan Mobilisasi Pemuda PAS, - Kg Baru mempunyai kad pengenalan bernombor 830527115422 dan dia dilahirkan pada 27 Mei 1983. Menurut daftar pemilih SPR yang telah disahkan - Kg Baru layak mengundi di DUN Hulu Besut dan kerusi parlimen Besut. Apabila semakan dibuat di laman web Jabatan Pendaftaran Negera (JPN) nombor kad pengenalan bagi pemilih yang bernama Kg Baru sebenarnya adalah milik Noraini Binti Abdullah. “Persoalannya bagaimana SPR boleh melakukan kesilapan yang begitu memalukan? Bagaimana kecuaian ini boleh berlaku? “Apakah (Timbalan Pengerusi SPR) Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar masih menganggap isu ini hanyak layak dijawab oleh kerani SPR sahaja?” soal Suhaizan dalam satu k...

Catholic Bishop Dr Paul Tan Chee Ing today called on Jais to “quickly furnish proof of their claim that there has been proselytisation of Muslims by Christians as they have claimed.” “I implore them not to procrastinate on this matter like the authorities are doing with respect to an alleged Christian plot in Penang recently to dethrone Islam,” said the titular head of the diocese of Melaka-Johor, who is concurrently president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Malaysia. “Please quickly furnish proof of this claim so that Christians can take the appropriate corrective action and tender the requisite apologies, or do the obverse which is demand that an apology be issued for false accusation,” said Bishop Paul Tan ( left ) said in remarks made to Malaysiakini . “This campaign of innuendo and insinuation against Christians' subscription to a cardinal tenet of our constitutional structure, which is the respect for Islam as the federation's official religion has g...

Officers from the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) last night trespassed into a church compound in Petaling Jaya and disrupted a multiracial thanksgiving dinner. According to Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) senior pastor Daniel Ho, a group of between 20 to 30 Jais and police officers, uniformed and plainclothes, entered the premises without a warrant. "They entered the hall where the dinner was taking place, and started taking videos and photographs," said Ho in a statement today. "When asked by the organisers why they were there, a Jais (official) replied that they received a complaint, but was unable to produce a copy (of the complaint) when asked," he added. Ho claimed that Jais officers took down details of the Muslim guests before leaving the premises with the police. According to him, the dinner was held by non-profit organisation Harapan Komuniti at the Dream Centre, an activity complex within the DUMC compound. The occasion w...