Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email Yup, you read that right. Pahang is the place to be for pensioners. The state government is offering jobs as bloggers to retirees. So, all datuk and nenek, please apply now! Benefits include Internet access at your homes.
Their jobs is to “thwart slanderous comments and allegations posted on the Internet.”
So, the number of professional bloggers (who blog for a living) will increase tremendously.
Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email The family of late Patto rejected the proposal to rename Jalan Silibin to Jalan Patto. They were quite distressed and unhappy that the contributions and sacrifices of Patto were belittled or even unknown to the residents. Some excerpts from Star below:
Patto’s widow Mary, 59, said the decision was out of respect for the Silibin residents, who had protested against the proposed name change, and not out of fear.
“I am very sad and hurt to say that as a family, I will reject the offer to rename Silibin Road because of the controversy and uproar,” she told a packed press conference at Wisma DAP here on Saturday.
Speaking softly and passionately, Mary said she and her daughters were greatly distressed by newspaper articles suggesting that Patto had not done anything for the people.
The widow described her husband as a simple and humble man who wanted unity for all races, who often gave up his time with his daughters and wife to travel around the country.
“It was for the people that he lived for. When he lost his parents in Bagan Serai at a young age, he went through a lot of hardship and found many people living that way too.
“Those feelings stayed with him until he decided that he should work for the voiceless and that he would sacrifice his life for the less fortunate,” said Mary.
Lashing out at critics saying her husband had done little for his constituents as the Bagan MP, Mary said Patto was a national leader who struggled for everyone.
“He spent 18 months under ISA detention because of that struggle. What has Patto done to you?
“I am asking the public: Please do not attack us anymore. We have suffered enough. He is not here to defend himself,” she said with emotion.
To a question, Mary said the family was open to any other suggestion by the Pakatan Rakyat government to honour her husband.
Patto’s daughters Shaalini Anne, 27, and Kasthuriraani, 29, were of the view that it was not right that the people should remember their father because of a tussle over a road.
“My father’s struggle was not superficial. The newspapers have been quoting the minority who protested. What about the thousands of people who agreed to renaming Jalan Silibin?” said Shaalini.
Possible that the current generation does not know about Patto, what more of his contributions. People move out, businesses take over premises, things happen. Unless its properly documented somewhere. We can trust the history text books (and really, how many students love to study history subject?). Some won’t even know the name of all 5 prime ministers, what more of a opposition MP.
I guess the Silibin people have moved on. They really don’t see the need to rename the road. Purely viewed from economic and practical points.
However, does this rejection mean there won’t be any referendum to reveal the wishes of the people? Since the road won’t be renamed, obviously no need to ask for opinions. I was looking forward for the referendum as it provided people a chance to directly have their say. Looks like have to wait for next controversy to come along.
It seems now that a new DAP research centre will be set up and name after Patto. The ‘P. Patto Research Centre’ will be its name.
Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email I was running late (isn’t that becoming a recurring theme of late?) for the Blogger Buff event today. Was in two minds on taking public transport. Since it was already 8.25am when I left home, decided to drive. Took me 40 mins via KL-Putrajaya highway to reach PWTC. Guess what – the place was full of people! They have Stamford’s convocation, GoMobile 2008 expo, Batik Fashion show, and a career guidance programme.
I was a bit lost in PWTC and asked the guards where’s the venue that Tun Mahathir will be attending. Guess what? those guards were blur! I got suspicious. Don’t tell me security is that lax until guards don’t know ex-Prime Minister is coming? Something’s not right here…..
Managed to find the venue and got myself registered. Said hi to Amutha, Novinthen and Mahendran. Met Puvanan and Kavilan as well. Then came the bad news. Mahathir not coming. He flew to Syria (???) yesterday. Hmm…how can this happen?
And guess who was the replacement? Syed Hamid Albar!!! I couldn’t stop smiling at this point 🙂
The crowd grew steadily till about 80% full. Syed Hamid came in at 10.20 or so I think. It was quite a late notice and he had to come all the way from Kota Tinggi this morning. With the formalities done by the emcee (Sarah), we got to hear Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar deliver his keynote address.
He spoke about many things – importance of bloggers, the need to be responsible, creating an ethics code, and so on. I had a feeling that he didn’t really understand or meant what he spoke. It sounded a bit unnatural for me. He read parts of his text and added some of his own points, but still didn’t really gel. You can read parts of it at The Star.
The Q & A session started off with a Putera MIC fella asking about ISA detention and the status of Hindraf 5. The minister gave an elaborate answer on how ISA works, and the possible ways for a detainee to be released. According to him, those detained under Section 8 will be facing a panel of 3 people after 3 months, and subsequently every 6 months. This panel will evaluate if a detainee is fit to be reintroduced into the community. He stressed that ISA is mainly for prevention. Then, there were questions on the MSC Bill of Guarantees and the arrest of the Sin Chew journalist. The Q & A time was limited thus not many questions were asked. For me, there were few points mentioned by the minister which is contentious or inaccurate. It was then time for tea break. Syed Hamid left after that, and so did about 15 % of the crowd. I met a participant from last year’s Blogger Buff –Dayah. She has completed her studies and is planning to further study. Wish she will succeed.
The next session was a dialogue kind of thing with Datuk Ahmad Talib (Pahit Manis) as moderator. Ahirudin Attan (Rocky Bru) and organising chairman P Kamalanathan were the panelists. Here the focus was on bloggers ethics, responsible blogging, role of bloggers, comparison between print media and Internet, citizen media, selective presecution etc. Again there were some inaccurate points mentioned.
I think the participants were not so interested in the sociopolitical angle so far. Some of the Indian participants perhaps were more interested, but I’m not sure about the rest.
So, it was a welcome relief for some when the third session started. Josh Lim of Advertlets provided some tips on blogging and the need to have the passion for blogging. Tim from Empower Lives also spruced up the environment a bit with his simple but meaningful game.
Lunch break was at 1.45pm (self-funded) and continued with another dialogue session at 2.30pm. It was moderated by Felicia Wong. The participants were Dr Sunny (Big Boys Oven), Jason (Jason Mumbles), Ka Ling (Ling) and Gina (Mini-Bites). Each were involved in different types of interest, nothing remotely sociopolitical. All four were asked questions on why they blogged, what they blogged about, how long they’ve been blogging and so on. Their shared their opinions on blogging about work/office (definite no no) and about politic (all of the seem to be averse to politics!). They tend to stick to “safe” things. Hmmm…takde oomph la. Where got fun 🙂 I guess for them, sociopolitics means saying something that may offend the authorities. Why want to go asking for trouble. Better keep the mouth shut. All four spoke about the need to have passion and interest. The money part is secondary.
The session ended at about 5.30pm, after which there were some photo session.
I was surprised that the crowd was less than last year. Probably the topics did not interest bloggers. Things like law, ethics, unity, accountability etc. doesn’t affect the non-sociopolitical bloggers much. The crowd was quite mixed – newbies, blogger hopefuls, experienced bloggers- all were there. Not sure how much each of them benefited. As for me, I think about 50 percent beneficial.
Some photos I took:
By the way, where’s the lucky draw prizes? 🙂
Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email One person told me it’s a good news – One less Hinduism knowledge to be exploited by others and its their loss, so why should Hindus cry over it.
The Fatwa council says the physical movements, chanting and worshipping aspects of yoga makes it haram. So, unless those yoga centers manage to strip Yoga of the above three things, its time to put a notice “for non-muslims only”.
Well, I’m not sure whose loss it is, but definitely there are many ways to overcome this ban. One can go to other countries and learn it there 🙂 It seems only Singapore and Egypt has similar bans.
Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email I have not heard the word referendum and Malaysia in the same breath so far. Is it the first time in the last 30 years? Hope someone can clarify.
Anyway, Perak will be holding a refererendum to decide if Jalan Silibin be renamed to Jalan Patto. I hope the referendum is conducted so that we can see what the Ipoh people think. Don’t cancel it due to some reason or another.
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin announced that a referendum would be held on whether the road should keep its name or be changed to honour P. Patto, the late DAP stalwart.
Nizar said the referendum would be organised by state executive councillor A. Sivanesan, and the state government would abide by the people’s decision.
“The state government will abide by the people’s stand.
“The referendum will gather everyone’s views rather than a small segment of city dwellers.”
Numerous groups have protested against the move, forcing the state government to hold the referendum.
Several state DAP leaders, including Sivanesan, had remained steadfast in their campaign to rename Jalan Silibin, despite increasing dissent from businesses and residents.
Ipoh Barat member of parliament M. Kulasegaran said a survey conducted by DAP members revealed that 70 of the 100 respondents had agreed to the proposal.
The DAP vice-chairman and local councillor added that many residents were agreeable to the renaming of the road when he met them personally.
Speaking to reporters at the Parliament lobby, in Kuala Lumpur, yesterday, Kulasegaran along with DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang, said the road had no historical significance.
They said it would be fitting to rename the road after Patto as he was a former MP of the area.
Kulasegaran said DAP had not made a final decision on the issue and was still gathering feedback.
He said DAP would organise a public consultation session through the Ipoh City Council next month.
What do you think? Are referendums good? Should the public be exposed to all possible data/information before referendums so that they can make a better decision?
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