Adakah anda faham dan tahu sepenuhnya mengenai ISA?
Ya, saya tahu dan faham. (93%)
Saya tidak tahu dan tidak faham
Saya keliru
Bagaimana anda mengetahui tentang ISA?
Melalui bacaan (92%)
Mendengar cakap-cakap
Tangkap muat
Apa yang anda mahu dari ISA?
Dimansuhkan (95%)
Diteruskan dengan semakan
Saya keliru
Tahukah anda, Amerika Syarikat dan Britain turut mempunyai undang-undang pencegahan mereka yang dikenali sebagai Anti Terrorism Act dan Patriot Act. ISA (Malaysia) adalah salah satu undang-undang yang dirujuk oleh mereka.
Imagine 5,500 deaths by 2010. That’s the scenario laid out by Dr Tee Ah Sian, director of communicable diseases of WHO:
At a recent briefing to the National Influenza Pandemic Task Force meeting (July 29, 2009), Dr Tee Ah Sian, director of communicable diseases of WHO, painted a possible scenario for the Malaysian A (H1N1) pandemic. While I do not wish to be alarmist, it is good to at least recognise the least impact scenario which has been projected.
For our 27.7 million population, if simply 20% are at risk and exposed, then some 5.5 million people will contract the A (H1N1) flu. Based on other serious influenza statistics, if 2% to 9% require hospitalisation then, some 110,000 to 500,000, respectively, would need hospital care.
From these numbers, if we estimate the case fatality rate to be from 0.1% to 0.5%, then some 5,500 to 28,000 of infected patients would die, respectively. In the latest updates of the most seriously ill patients identified and confirmed infections, the global case fatality rate has risen from the 0.4% to 0.66%. So, the hardnosed reality is that it is more than likely that the worse is yet to come. We can only hope that this is the worst case scenario.
Even if we reduce the risk percentage from 20% to 5%, and maintain the other ratios, there will still be between 27 and 623 deaths. As of today, there’s 14 deaths. But rumours are abound that the number of deaths is higher and not being disclosed (probably can’t be 100% attributed to AH1N1).
The problem is that many people are going to hospitals when having sore throats, flu,fever, cough, stomach ache, vomitting, body pain, breathing difficulties – symptoms that can be caused by a variety of ailments. The hospitals say that one must have been exposed to AH1N1 conditions (travelled overseas or in contact with a victim), and have fever about 38 degrees celcius, besides having the above symptoms. I’ve read the papers for last 3 days whereby readers write in and complain on being refused throat swabs for AH1N1.
Its a winless situation because the medicine is limited, and taking it as a preemptive step will render the medication useless when you actually get infected. There’s too many cases to test.
Should people who have such symptoms stay at home? I’m sure they won’t mind, but who’s going to pay their salary? Companies won’t simply accept the reason that you “may” have AH1N1 and thus are going to stay at home. Do you want to use your annual leave? Can doctors at clinic give a 5 day MC? Will it be unpaid leave? Knowing Malaysians, they rather go to work shivering in fever as long as can get salary.Such is the hardworking mentality (what to do..cost of living too high!).
So, what does the DG of Health Ministry mean when he says you should stay at home?
OMS Thiagarajan dropped a bombshell when he claimed that an UMNO leader helped to sabotage Samy Vellu’s election campaign in Sungai Siput in the 2008 general elections. Does it mean that the loss was not due to HINDRAF, Makkal Sakthi or anti-MIC sentiments? This is really shocking because all this while the general perception attributed Samy’s loss to HINDRAF and anti-BN sentiments.
Anyway, as I like to say – follow the money trail. It seems the reason the UMNO leader did that was to grab the lucrative Works Ministry from MIC.
Tamil newspapers are abuzz over the news that a Barisan Nasional component party leader was involved in undermining MIC president and former works minister S Samy Vellu’s chances during the March 8 general election.
It is learnt that the leader in question is from Umno and the alleged conspiracy was centred around the party’s desire to seize control of the Works Ministry from MIC.
During last year’s general election, Samy Vellu was defeated in his traditional parliamentary stronghold of Sungai Siput and subsequently dropped from the cabinet line up.
The Works Ministry fell into the hands of Umno while MIC was given, what most regard as the ‘more junior’ Human Resources Ministry.
The ‘sabotage’ allegation was raised by prominent Indian businessman OMS Thiagarajan earlier this week.
He was quoted in the Tamil newspapers as saying he had the assistance of a BN component party leader to oust Samy Vellu from Sungai Siput to ensure that the MIC president did not retain the position of works minister.
Thiagarajan is a close associate of the MIC president’s former estranged deputy S Subramaniam.
Saravanan: Probe the allegation
Meanwhile, MIC information chief and Deputy Federal Territories Minister M Saravanan said the allegation should be fully investigated as it was very serious.
“I will be talking to BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor about the matter soon,” he told Bernama.
Saravanan said that if the allegation was true, stern action must be taken against the component party leader.
“I am not accusing Thiagarajan of making a false statement, but I just want BN component party leaders cleared of any such allegation.
“This allegation can create a lot of discomfort and result in disunity among BN component parties.
“It is a serious allegation and should be clarified as soon as possible,” he added.
ASTRO struck a chord at the wrong time. Economy is not improving, and they see it fit to increase the price of the sports channels (channels 811-814) by RM12, meaning RM144 increase per year. Since my subscription is not bound by contract anymore, I’m seriously thinking about removing the sports channel. Just need to pay RM1.50 for teh tarik at nearby restaurant per trip, to watch EPL games.
Anyway, is the cost justified? For one the cost of licensing may be increasing for the football games. But the number of subscribers also increasing. Doesn’t it even out?
However, I think Astro screens too many advertisements. There are sponsors for the in-house programs like Toyota, Nokia, Maxis, etc. Why not have a channel without all these studio-based programs, and just show live telecasts of the games. I wonder if I’m also paying to all these sponsors as well.
Secondly, maybe they should split the sports channel into a few popular segments – soccer, F1, tennis, golf, general, etc. Just make it into mini packages which the customers can choose according to their needs. For people like me who just watch EPL and Champions League games, it will be a better option.
So how? Get rid of Astro? Its a strong possibility at the moment.
So far 15,000 over people had signed a petition protesting the price hike (or better still just disconnect Astro if you feel strongly about it since I don’t think Astro really cares what you or I feel). You can do the same at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/astropce/petition.html
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We checked out of our hotel, Arunachala Ramana Home around 7.30am. Went straight to the Arunachaleswarar (or Annamalaiyan) Temple. This Sivan temple is yet another Pancha Bootha stalam, where Lord Siva is represented as the fire element (earlier in Kanchipuram, he is represented as Earth element). We spent nearly 2 hours at the temple since its quite a big one (24 ha). The hill behind the temple is the Tiruvannamalai hill where Lord Siva appeared as a stripe of fire. Every full moon, the wick at the top of the hill is lighted and devotees walk around the hill (14km) – this is known as Girivalam. The most famous occasion is during the Tamil month of Karthigai (Nov-Dec) where the Karthigai Deepam function is held. It seems many famous actors and actresses also take part, including Superstar Rajinikanth. Read more about this stupendous place over here, and here. The city is also known for two famous gurus – Ramana Maharishi and Seshadri Swamigal. Ramana Ashramam is also located near the hill. The outstanding feature of the temple is the large gopurams.
We then took leave from Tiruvannamalai and headed towards next destination – Melmaruvathur which is about 100km away. We took the route that passes through a placed known as Gingee. Gingee is known for its fort which was building along the hills. We stopped for a while to take some pictures but did not climb up the hils as time was running short. We took early lunch at Vasantham Restaurant at Gingee town.
Even though we rushed, we arrived late at Melmaruvathur, partly due to our driver who is not so familiar with the road (and this will be a repeating theme throughout the trip). A bit about the temple here – its run by the Sakthi Peedam. The head of the Peedam is Sri Bangaru Adigalar whom Amman transmigrates into, and provides Arulvakku (God’s word). The Athiparasakthi temple was closed for poojas when we arrived, but visitors can still enter and pray.We entered the queue, saw photos along the walls and did our prayers. It was terribly hot, and walking barefoot outside the temple was not easy. We left around 2pm to our next destination – the picturesque and lovely Pondicherry.
A bit about Pondicherry (or Puducherry as it is known now) – The small strip of land on the eastern coast of Tamil Nadu was a French occupied territory until (there are four such regions in total), thus there’s an unique blend of French and Tamil culture here. The strip of land is vertical (north-south orientation), but the French influence is more towards the coastal side, while inner Pondicherry is Indianised. Pondicherry is not a state in India, but an union territory. To enter Pondicherry, non-Pondicherry registered vehicles have to pay a fee of Rs400 (and its the same for all interstate travels). Pondi has a laidback feeling, a good sea view, and an urban look comparable with other cities in Tamil Nadu. And its a lot more cleaner too! No sights of men urinating anywhere.
We reached Pondicherry around 3.45pm. We parked near the main temple in Pondicherry – Manakula Vinayagar Temple. We waited until the temple opened at 4pm. Did our prayers and then went to Sri Aurobindo’s ashramam which is located just about 40 metres from the temple. Its a quiet place. The samadhi of Sri Aurobindo (Aravind) and Holy Mother is situated here. We prayed for a while, but did not take any photos . We then returned to the Vinayagar temple. Took some blessing from the elephant.
Took a break and had coffee at Adyar Anantha Bhavan restaurant which is nearby the temple. The tea and coffee was superb. We took some time to search for hotel and in the end decided on Hotel Ajantha, which was close to the beach. It was a bit expensive but since we could literally hear the waves beating down on the rocks, couldn’t resist it.
Disaster struck at this point. While unpacking I realised that I forgot to bring the USB cable that connects the camera to the laptop! So, had to change plans a bit. We hit the streets to find a computer/electronic shops and boy, it wasn’t easy! We walked all around the main shopping area (Nehru Street) and finally managed to buy a 3 feet long cable for Rs25 (about Rm1.90 only!). In a way it was a good exercise as we got to see the evening life around the shopping area. The crowd was big and traffic was slow moving around the main roads. Came back to room tired and retired for the day.
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