UPDATE 30/7/2012: government says the official logo is the 1Malaysia logo and all others are promotional materials:
The move was announced by Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim earlier this morning over Twitter.
“To quell some misunderstanding we only hv 1Malaydia (sic) as logo for Merdeka n Hari Msia. There will be several promo hihglights till th big day,” he said on his Twitter account, @DrRaisYatim.
“Tahun ini seperti tahun lalu tiada logo rasmi melainkan logo 1Malaysia. Cuma temanya ialah 55 Tahun Merdeka Janji ditepati. (This year as in past years there is no official logo save the 1Malaysia logo. Only the theme is 55 Years of Indepence Promises fulfilled.)
“Bahan hiasan (artwork) kini hanya paparan selingan bukan logo rasmi. Ada bbp bahan promo menjelang Hari Merdeka 31 Ogos dan Hari Malaysia. (The current artwork is only a variation of the illustration and not the official logo. There are several promotional items in the run-up to Independence Day on August 31 and Malaysia Day),” he added.
The collection of pictures below is quite interesting. Never knew a logo can be quite, well… exhaustive.
I guess we can be (un)creative and come up with such logo that don’t actually look like one 🙂
Definition of logo (wikipedia): A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition. Logos are either purely graphic (symbols/icons) or are composed of the name of the organization (a logotype or wordmark).
If you read the article above, the logo is being mocked by some section of the design industry.
And we haven’t gone into the theme yet…
The logo’s explanation:
Merupakan simbol negara Malaysia yang dicintai yang mempamerkan pencapaian cemerlang negara sejak merdeka. Merupakan kebanggaan setiap rakyat Malaysia kerana namanya kini terserlah di persada dunia.
Melambangkan Kedaulatan Institusi Raja Berpelembagaan dan kedaulatan Negara yang telah dipertahankan sejak 55 Tahun.
Melambangkan perpaduan utuh masyarakat Malaysia yang berusaha mencapai kemajuan (Maju) dan kemakmuran (Makmur) negara sejak dari awal kemerdekaan dicapai.
Melambangkan keunikan, liku-liku serta cabaran yang dihadapi oleh para pejuang dan pemimpin negara dalam memperjuang dan mempertahankan kemerdekaan serta kedaulatan negara.
Melambangkan kesungguhan dan komitmen kerajaan dalam menunaikan janji kepada rakyat untuk membawa kemakmuran, kemajuan, kehidupan dan peluang ekonomi yang terbaik.
Mencerminkan rakyat Malaysia yang saling bersatu padu, bekerjasama, bermuafakat, berdikari, berfikir dan menghayati satu visi untuk membina satu Negara Bangsa.
I think can remove the flag (redundant) and the word “merdeka” (understood la, kan independence day celebration!). And some of the fonts are soooo…Microsoft Word! So, leaves you with the 1, “janji ditepati” and number 55.
From what I understand (will be improved time to time as understanding increases):
Selangor government says:
there’s enough raw water as the dams are full (and its raining nearly everyday for last 2 weeks or so)
SYABAS is not able to deliver water properly due to loss of water (non-revenue)
will take over SYABAS management to improve its services
treated water is enough but SYABAS incompetent to deliver the water
Langat2 WTP is waste of money and that better water management is the way to go
it has not gazetted the increased water tariff as per concession agreement with SYABAS (which means no price hike)
says SYABAS has no authority to ration water as that comes under state.
SYABAS says:
there’s enough raw water but not enough TREATED water. Treated water means already processed by Water Treatment Plants (WTP) to ensure the water is safe for consumption. The raw water from sources (dams) is channelled to WTP and then channelled to homes/industries.
its not in charge of water treatment as that falls under state government duties (providing sufficient infrastructure to process raw water fit for consumption). Its job is to channel the treated water to homes/industries. It just pays money to WTP for the treated water.
its has informed state government since 2010 about possible shortage of treated water but
that state government had not allowed the construction of Langat2 WTP
the state government had barred SYABAS from making capital expenditure which resulted in SYABAS unable to undertake work to reduce non-revenue water
has applied to SPAN (National Water Commission) to ration water
Notes:
state government has 30% stakehold in SYABAS.
daily water needs in Klang Valley (plus Putrajaya) is about 4,364 million litres per day (MLD) and the treatment plants’ capacity is 4,371 (MLD)
Langat2 expected to supply 1,8900 MLD if constructed and can supply until 2025 before shortage happens again
So, what’s the conclusion? Even if allow for new WTP (Langat2) to be built, it will take at least 4 years.
MP Kubang Kerian YB Salahuddin (PAS) during a debate on the Public Assembly bill with Deputy Higher Education Minister YB Saifuddin (shown live on Astro Awani. Caveat: I DID NOT watch it), mentioned about Thaipusam (along with Maulidur Rasul festival) as example of procession or demonstrasi jalanan. He mentioned perarakan Thaipusam and also said “secara separa sedar” (semi conscious” and “walaupun ada Kavadi” (even though got Kavadis), and also tanpa perlu gas pemedih mata (without need of tear gas). The clip below extracted the part about Thaipusam statements.
These statements were picked up by YB Kamalanathan and blogged at his website:
I think saying that the participants are semi conscious is not appropriate and lacks sensitivity. In fact its a bad example as in our social climate, we can easily misunderstand and get angry. Most of the devotees walking along the chariot or at Batu Caves are perfectly conscious! He should apologise for this wrong statement, possibly due to his ignorance. Next time invite him to join Thaipusam festival as observer to see how things are. Anyway, this coming from PAS is expected. They aren’t really into understanding all faiths.
The YB tried to justify and explain, but I think he should just apologise and move on:
“The point that I was making was not about religion.
“I was talking about Article 10 of the Federal Constitution. I highlighted Thaipusam to make a point about how Malaysians throughout the years, even before independence have gathered and organised themselves in large numbers.
“This was part of a list of other examples that I used to put my point across,” he said.
The Kubang Kerian MP stressed that he had no intention to insult the religious event which is a major Hindu celebration here.
Salahuddin, who met with Kamalanathan, to explain his comments on the matter said that to drive his point across, he used the examples of the gathering against the Malayan Union led by Onn Jaafar (1946), the Perarakan Kerandah 152 (2009) which demanded for the importance of the Malay language, Thaipusam and Maulidur Rasul celebrations to commemorate the prophet’s birthday.
“I did not mean to insult any religion. Why then did I bring up the example of Maulidur Rasul?” he asked.
Kamalanathan, who is the Hulu Selangor MP, took Salahuddin to task yesterday for his comments on Tuesday during a debate entitled “Street demonstrations: Does it build or destroy democracy?” organised by Malay daily, Sinar Harian.
Salahuddin reportedly said that thousands of Hindus gathered during Thaipusam peacefully without the intervention of the authorities.
The PAS leader was also alleged to have said that some Hindus carrying kavadi were semi-conscious and yet they do not need tear gas to keep the situation calm.
Calling Salahuddin “naive”, Kamanathan said his comments were both “insulting and hurting” to the Hindus.
“Belittling the practices of another religion and calling the devotees semi-conscious street demonstrators show lack of understanding and respect for the Hindu devotees,” he added.
‘Just stating facts’
Salahuddin, however, stressed that he was not insulting but merely stating facts about how the public could organise themselves.
“It was only to show that the public is capable of organising themselves. We have the devotees who are semi-conscious but still controllable,” he said.
“Then I also mentioned the large crowds that march during the Maulidur Rasul. You don’t need to use tear-gas to control the crowd.
“That is the point I was making that as long as excessive force is not used, the gatherings have always been peaceful,” he added.
Note: YB Kamalanathan forgot to mention about the Maulidur Rasul part on his blog. In spirit of 1Malaysia, he should also stand up for fellow Muslims and demand apology from the YB for insulting/desecrating/slighting/hurting their feelings.
Now, the part about Thaipusam being street protest or street demonstration (demonstrasi jalanan).
“assembly” means an intentional and temporary assembly of a number of persons in a public place, whether or not the assembly is at a particular place or moving;
“counter assembly” means an assembly organized to convey disagreement with the purpose for which another assembly is organized, and held at the same time, date and place or approximately at the same time, date and place as the other assembly;
“simultaneous assemblies” means two or more assemblies to be held at the same time, date and place, but which have no relationship to each other;
“participant” means a person intentionally or voluntarily present for the purpose of an assembly;
“street protest” means an open air assembly which begins with a meeting at a specified place and consists of walking in a mass march or rally for the purpose of objecting to or advancing a particular cause or causes;
“prohibited places” means— (a) the protected areas and protected places declared under the Protected Areas and Protected Places Act 1959 [Act 298]; and (b) the places as may be specified in the First Schedule;
These are the locations specified in First Schedule:
Dams, reservoirs and water catchment areas
Water treatment plants
Electricity generating stations
Petrol stations
Hospitals
Fire stations
Airports
Railways
Land public transport terminals
Ports, canals, docks, wharves, piers, bridges and marinas
Places of worship
Kindergartens and schools
And this is the Third Schedule:
ASSEMBLIES FOR WHICH NOTIFICATION IS NOT REQUIRED
Religious assemblies
Funeral processions
Wedding receptions
Open houses during festivities
Family gatherings
Family day held by an employer for the benefit of his employees and their
families
General meetings of societies or associations
Para 11: Consent of owner or occupier of place of assembly
11. The organizer of an assembly, other than a religious assembly or a funeral procession or an assembly held at a designated place of assembly, shall obtain the consent of the owner or occupier of the place of assembly for it to be used for the purpose of the assembly.
Reading the above extracts from the Act, some questions arise:
1. What is the difference between assembly and street protest? Street protests is defined to be an assembly that is “open air” and for purpose of a cause (for or against). Assembly can be stationary or moving, while street protest involves marching (moving la..). So, if its (i) indoor or (ii) assemble for no reason or (iii) assemble and don’t move, its assembly. Quite ridiculous. Even people want to assemble to lepak also got reason or cause – melepak.
2. Note the phrase “street protest”. If you take basically any event involving thousands of people, it will fall into the “street protest” category. The definition doesn’t mention that “not including religious activities”. Example, gathering of million youths at certain location, people marching during uniformed bodies activities, event parades, religious events, and yes, even funeral procession (you are support the cause of sending of the person on his last journey).
The only exemption given is that religious event or funeral need not provide notification to authorities. That’s all. It doesn’t say its not street protest. Yes, common sense will tell you obviously a religious parade or funeral procession is not a protest. But this law doesn’t specifically state so? So does that mean a religious procession can be a street protest per the definition above?
3. Why is place of worship is prohibited? Does it mean we can’t “assemble” at Batu Caves or the local shrine any more? Need to get approval? Sounds contradictory to the “no notification needed” clause.
Conclusion: If you don’t know what you are talking about, better don’t talk about it. Give other example that you really know of. If not, end up like this la.
Comments Off on Thaipusam, Street Demonstration and Peaceful Assembly Act »
Yup, in KL which under federal government. And this pisses off Deputy FT Minister Dato Saravanan. Because now they (MIC) can’t say no temple demolished under BN since PM Najib took over. Yup, its that serious.
Yup. (Just wanted to make it three “yup”s).
Interestingly, a directive was issued saying temple issues in FT was to be referred to Deputy Minister, but wonder why it was not adhered to this time. Looks like not only in PR-managed states have this problem.
And according to article below, the land has been gazetted to be used for non-Muslim religious purpose. So, what gives?
DEPUTY Federal Territories Ministry Datuk M. Saravanan was incensed by the demolition of the Maha Veppan Kaliamman temple in Kepong early yesterday morning.
Saravanan said he was made to “feel like a fool” negotiating with the group of government officers despite being in charge of non-Islamic religious land issues in the Federal Territory after a directive was sent out two years ago.
“The FT Land and Minerals Department went on with the demolition despite the directive that no temples should be demolished without prior discussion with me, Federal Territories Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin and FT Secretary-General Datuk Ahmad Phesal Talib,” he said.
Taking control: Saravanan discussing the temple demolition issue with some of the devotees.
When he was informed about the demolition process that morning, he contacted the FT Land deparment director Hashim Ismail.
Saravanan said he had asked for the demolition process to be postponed until he could discuss the issue with Nong Chik but Hashim said he could not do anything.
Temple priest Periasamy Batumalai said 40 devotees tried to stop some 50 officers from DBKL and the police force from demolishing the temple.
Roads leading to the temple wereclosed off and devotees were barred from entering despite pleading with the officers.
According to the temple’s laywer Datin Anit Kaur Randhawa, the temple was not issued any order to vacate.
The officials used the notice from the Land and Minerals Department dated June 19, 2012 and the bulldozers moved in the very next day at 9am, barely 20 minutes after pasting the unsigned notice on the two gates of the temple.
“The DBKL officers and the police came at 8.30am and pasted the notice on the temple before proceeding to demolish it within 20 minutes. They only managed to tear down the fence surrounding the temple as the devotees formed a human barricade to halt the proceedings,” she said.
The demolition was later stopped by Saravanan who arrived at 10am.
The temple was initially located at the Jalan Kuching roundabout before moving to its current site in 2011.
The land in Kepong had been gazetted as religious land and set aside for non-Muslims.
“When I called Nong Chik, he said he was unaware of the demolition. I am surprised at the arrogance of the officers. They seemed to be in a rush to demolish the temple,” he said.
He added that the small plot of land was useful for the temple.
Anit Kaur said letters of support were sent to the Prime Minister’s Department on May 31 last year to apply for the land.
MIC Taman Fadason branch chairman K. Jayaraman said the demolition move was disrespectful.
Non-governmental body, the New Indian Welfare and Charity Malaysia, will donate RM2,000 to put up a barricade and secure the temple.
According to MI President, about 3000 students applied for matriculation (contrary to popular belief that not many Indian students apply) and 750 places have been taken up. So, it won’t be difficult to pick 1500 students, right? I mean if you can pick students with 4As from the other race, there’s no excuse to do the same here, right? Have a quota la – 20% top students (300 seats), 60% average students (900 seats), and 20% weak students (300 seats) like you do for the other race. So easy maa, I’ve even calculated the number of seats for you. I can even volunteer to help pick students 🙂
BTW, those that didn’t get a place can make an appeal and don’t forget to send a copy to MIC (and also MIETA – Arivu Ananthan – 012-3993710 or Elangovan Annamalai – 017-7081946)
More than 3,000 Indian students have applied for matriculation courses in government colleges, said MIC president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel.
Palanivel, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, said the 1,500 seats allocated for Indians would be filled by the end of the month.
“Generally, only 500 seats are allocated for Indians, but Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has acceded to MIC’s request for an additional 1,000 seats,” he said yesterday.
Palanivel said Indian students with excellent results but failed to obtain places in colleges could appeal to the Education Ministry and forward a copy to MIC.
According to MIC President as well, the full list of students will be released by MOE by end of June. Refer video below:
I strongly suggest that the list contains name, school, location (to identify rural/urban) and the student’s qualifications. If not, MIC will get another round of bashing for not being transparent, practising nepotism, or unable to get MOE cooperation etc. Either way it looks bad on MIC if they not able to deliver what the PM pledged because community expectation is high now. We want to know details and not just be told off with some token answers. And MIC being self-appointed guardian of Indian community have a hard time living up to the new expectations.
Which brings me to another issue – should we have a Indian deputy Education Minister?
Footnote: MIC says will ask for more place next year. My question: why not ask to streamline STPM/Matriculation first. Saves lots of headache and cost, and provide a level/just/fair platform for all.
The MIC will request that the quota of Indian students in government matriculation colleges be increased next year, its president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel said today.
He said the number of Indian students in matriculation colleges nationwide has increased from 500 to 1,500 for the 2012/2013 session.
“This year we will ask for additional (quota) for next year,”
| 
Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email 
