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Wearing anti-ISA T-shirt makes you a threat at open house!

November 4th, 2008
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Well, this is a new low for the police. I’m sure terrorists and mentally unsound potential assassins go around proclaiming their believes on their t-shirts.

To top it off, the police detained a staff of media company! Surely they never saw that coming :-)Read it below and enjoy your laugh!

His curiosity piqued, KS Oliver and two friends attended a national-level open house in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.However, Oliver’s festive mood came to a rude halt when he ended up being detained by the police for three hours over his ‘dangerous’ t-shirt.

According to the 27-year-old Malaysiakini subscription executive, the police considered him a possible threat to the VVIPs present, which included Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

oliver arrest detain shirt anti isa 041008Relating his ordeal, Oliver said he and his friends had visited the event after seeing a banner in KL Sentral regarding the bash, which was taking place at a nearby car park.

The three were passing through exhibition booths when the police confronted them and escorted Oliver – who was clad in a t-shirt which bore the words ‘No to ISA’ – to a beat base in the vicinity.

“I asked why I was detained and they asked why I wore this t-shirt. I asked what is wrong with this t-shirt and they said I could be a threat to the VVIPs present.”

“They gave me two options: Remove the t-shirt or remain at the police booth until the VVIPs leave. I refused to remove my shirt and chose to stay,” he said.

Repeatedly quizzed

During his detention, Oliver said he was repeatedly questioned by several police personnel about his background and purpose of attending the event.

“I had to repeat myself like a tape recorder. At one point, one police officer asked if I was paid to wear the t-shirt,” he said, adding that he wished the authorities would respect the freedom of expression.

However, Oliver said the police were professional and cordial throughout his detention.

Contacted later, Brickfields district police chief ACP Wan Abdul Bari Wan Ibrahim said Oliver was detained for documentation purposes and for the police to determine his reasons for being at the event.

“We needed to establish if he had any bad intentions,” he said.

On the duration of the detention, Wan Abdul Bari said the law allows detention up to 24 hours before needing to get an order from a magistrate.

The national-level Deepavali open house is an annual event organised by the Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry.

So, be careful on your choice of t-shirt and the function you are attending, especially if you are an Indian! you could possibly be an armed, dangerous, rude, noisy, dumb, gullible, terrorist-linked, member/supporter of an illegal group. All the best.

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Matriculation programme to expand

November 2nd, 2008
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From NST:

…Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the matriculation centres were important as they gave a chance to Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) holders, particularly Bumiputera students, to secure a place in public universities….Before the matriculation programme was introduced in the 1980s, Bumiputera students who excelled in their studies found it difficult to enrol at public universities due to the limited places.

“Some of them were also stuck at the STPM (Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia) level and could not further their studies,…

…Najib said the matriculation programme had reduced the gap between the intake of Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera students. “It has helped to increase the number of Bumiputera students in public higher learning institutions, particularly in courses such as medicine, dentistry, architecture, accounting and management.”

Najib said the matriculation programme was also open to non-Bumiputera students, who had been allocated 10 per cent of the available places.

Well, that’s the funny thing. STPM is considered tough and a hurdle, thus matriculation was introduced. What does that imply?

Thus Malay (or is bumiputera?) SPM leavers took a separate route to public universities, to enrol in bachelor degree programs. Also, 10 percent of the places are allocated to other Malaysians (this was done recently – about 5 years ago, I think).

Every year, there will complaints and unhappiness over matriculation students intake versus STPM students intake, comparison of syllabus, and also performance of both sets of students in public universities.

Four more matriculation colleges will be completed by 2010, in addition to the existing nine, bringing the number of available places to more than 40,000. Not only this policy is to remain, but its to be developed further! When would the discrimination end?

This discrimination is also one of the things that segregates the public. After 10 years, is such discriminative policy still needed? We have ample public universities, and we have poor students from all walks of life.  Steps should be taken to remove such restrictions. For example, we can replace matriculation syllabus with STPM while maintaining the ratio. This will ensure a fair entrance for all universtity students. Or we can increase the ratio from 10 percent to 20 percent, until in future it becomes an open entrance.

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Yoga anyone?

October 31st, 2008
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Well, it must be sending shivers up the spine of all those Yoga center operators. Not only the “most unproductive council” (i got that from the SMS column in the Star today – had a good laugh!), National Fatwa Council are thinking about banning Yoga for Muslims who will be deemed as practicing deviant religion if they do yoga, but it looks like some of the Christian group also have their reservations. So, if all Muslims and Christians are advised/ordered to stay away from yoga, lots of businesses will close shop.

While some Christian groups say it was wrong to practise yoga as it belonged to a different religion, others say they saw nothing wrong as long as the participants do not deviate from their beliefs.

The Malaysian Council of Churches general secretary, Rev Dr Herman Shastri, said different churches hold different opinions on the practice of yoga.

“In modern society, many young people are interested in health and well-being of mind and body.

“Some churches said it belonged to a different religion so Christians should not do it,” he said, adding that many churches held spiritual retreats that were opened to non-believers, featuring meditation to alleviate stress and help people seek spiritual comfort.

Another source said the issue was problematic as the council did not have a uniform stance on it.

He said other church groups consider yoga to be a healthy exercise if done only for physical reasons.

“But generally, for Christians, if they do not offer prayers to other Gods while practising yoga, I think it should be fine,” he said.

But, what amuses me is that the thinking that yoga is not related to Hinduism. Some of the practitioners say its an exercise. Yes it is, but its also more than that. One can still benefit from yoga sans all the chanting and prayers, but obviously for a Hindu, the real purpose of Yoga is beyond just a healthy body and mind. Its a bridge to achieve higher spiritual level and to realise God. MHS says:

Malaysia Hindu Sangam president Datuk A. Vaithilingam said yoga had long been an accepted form of exercise in many countries regardless of religion and culture.

“Yoga practitioners can just leave out the religion and do the exercise. It‘s entirely up to the individual,” he said, adding that there were no restrictions that yoga practitioners had to be Hindus.

Some say Yoga is scientific. Well, that’s Hinduism for you. It was well explained in the scriptures – Vedas and Gita.

Due to commercialization of Yoga, it has been shed of its religious aspects. The focus is on breathing, postures and now – combination with other arts and exercises.

Yoga actually have many types – Rajayoga, Karmayoga, Bhaktiyoga, and Jnanayoga. Well, “YOGA” comes from the word “yug” which means to unite. Unite what, you ask? the soul with the supreme consciousness.

Patanjili Maharishi is perhaps the most well-known name associated with Yoga. He is called the Father of Yoga for his work, the Yoga Sutras.

Patanjali’s writing also became the basis for a system referred to as “Ashtanga Yoga” (“Eight-Limbed Yoga”). The Eight Limbs are:

(1) Yama (The five “abstentions”): non-violence, non-lying, non-covetousness, non-sensuality, and non-possessiveness.
(2) Niyama (The five “observances”): purity, contentment, austerity, study, and surrender to god.
(3) Asana: Literally means “seat”, and in Patanjali’s Sutras refers to the seated position used for meditation.
(4) Pranayama (“Lengthening Pr?na”): Pr?na, life force, or vital energy, particularly, the breath, “?y?ma”, to lengthen or extend. Also interpreted as control of prana.
(5) Pratyahara (“Abstraction”): Withdrawal of the sense organs from external objects.
(6) Dharana (“Concentration”): Fixing the attention on a single object.
(7) Dhyana (“Meditation”): Intense contemplation of the nature of the object of meditation.
(8) Samadhi (“Liberation”): merging consciousness with the object of meditation.

-from Wikipedia.

Anyway, the word Yoga now is applied to the “exercise” part of Yoga – the postures (asanas) and the breathing techniques.

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Posted in BornInMalaysia, Indian, Religion

PKNS for Malays or for all Selangorians?

October 29th, 2008
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I’m disgusted with the comments from PKNS staff-bodies and also the information revealed by MB Khalid Ibrahim. Selangor, being the most modern state, its coffers being filled by sweat and toil of all its rakyat (plus millons of foreign workers) and PKNS is for Malays? I think all those staff should be sacked. There are thousands of other Selangorians who are looking for work. Let them work for development of the state.

 

The worse is the racist attitude of their staff who oppose the appointment of current Finance and Corporate deputy general manager Low Siew Moi, 57, (trained accountant working for PKNS for 35 YEARS!) who will have her annual contract extended to replace the existing GM – Datuk Harun Salim, whose annual contract expires this Thursday. His contract is not extended, as he is 60. Harun retired in mid-2003 and will have to leave the government entity in compliance with the Public Services Department’s age requirement.

 

Low is to be given a one year contract.

 

According to the 6 staff bodies:

In their joint memorandum dated Oct 25 to Khalid, the staff associations said: “PKNS was established for Malays and to fulfill the Malay agenda. Because of this, the organisation needs to be led by a Malay.”

The document was signed by the respective heads of associations of senior officers, executive officers and workers; the sports and recreation club; Islamic association, and staff welfare body.

“The associations, unions and welfare bodies do not deny the capabilities of Low Siew Moi (left) in the management of finance,” they said.

“However, leading PKNS would need certain leadership criteria, among them, rapport with all staff and associations and ability to communicate with different levels of personnel.”

The memorandum stated that, as PKNS conducts activities that are spiritual in nature, its leader must understand and practice Islamic values.

“In other words, the one who will become the general manager will be the ‘imam’ for all the staff,” the signatories said.

Urging Khalid to retract Low’s appointment, they said they would only extend full support if current deputy general manager in charge of administration and development – Md Nasir Md Arshad – is promoted to general manager.

Since when is PKNS is for Malays? All Selangorians must make a police report against this seditious statements which threaten racial harmony. This is what happens when the organisation is being monopolised by certain race only. Other people don’t exist in their eyes.

 

This is another classic example of making use of religion for discrimination. If want to have an imam, hire one specifically la. Don’t bog down the leader with extra work. Or when it comes to religious events, ask a representative to attend. All this petty excuse of serve to increase the contempt and anger against government bodies like PKNS. Let us not go into government agencies.

 

The staff also issued a veiled threat to MB Khalid that they won’t support the Low if she is appointed. Isn’t that considered treason or something? The staff have a responsibilty to the rakyat, not to pick sides or decide who can lead them.

 

The reason given by Khalid is that they cannot afford to have both Low and Harun to retire at the same time. He said its for one year while they look for a ” bumiputra person with high calibre and ethics and someone who is committed to lead the state’s business arm.”. As Haris Ibrahim asked : Is it not enough that the individual is a person ‘with high calibre and
ethics and someone who is committed to lead the state’s business arm’? Why need to have a racist and discriminative policy? Isn’t this depriving other Selangorians of getting the job? If this is not discrimination, what is?

 

Khalid also revealed two other facts:

 

1. a group of senior officers have 30% shares in PKNS subsidiary – PKNS Infra Sdn Bhd, which will possibly lead to biased decision, cronyism, corruption, etc. Is this what PKNS’s version of Islam and spirituality all about?  Can the staff bodies answer this?

 

2. 75% of projects awarded by PKNS were given to non-bumiputra firms either directly or indirectly. Now, there’s two things here. Firstly, since the staff bodies boldly claim that PKNS is for Malays and Malay agenda, how can this happen? So, they are not doing their jobs (their version)? Secondly, what’s wrong with work being done by non-bumiputras? As long as the job is done correctly, people will be happy. The old way of allocating to bumiputra should be discarded. The Pakatan Rakyat government should encourage award of project based on competency, capability, track record. Don’t be like previous leadership.

 

 

If PKNS is only to serve bumiputra businessmen, then better Selangorians boycott PKNS. Why should we support racist organisations?

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Statistics on Temple demolition in Selangor

October 28th, 2008
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The statistics mentioned by Xavier Jayakumar at Selangor state assembly:

A total of 96 Hindu and 37 Buddhist temples were demolished in Selangor between 2004 and 2007.

State exco member Dr A. Xavier Jayakumar said the move was carried out by the local authorities.

However, so far this year, 54 new applications had been approved by the committee task with regulating non-Muslim places of worship.

Among the applications are for 25 Hindu temples, 19, Buddhist temples and 10 churches.

Dr Xavier, who was answering a question from Lee Ying Ha (PR-Teretai), said although the applications had been approved by the committee, they would still need to be approved by the state executive council before the new places of worship could be built.

96 temples/4 years = 20 temples per year demolished. That’s about one temple every two and half weeks. Is it consistent with HINDRAF’s claims?

There’s also a catch with the approvals given by PR government. The non-muslim religious affairs committee (3 people: Xavier, Ronnie, and Teresa – WHO STILL HAVE NOT replied to my email) gave the approval. Its like a first round. The second round is the state EXCO.

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