(From a reader's letter published in The Star, 7 June, 2007):
I am a 68-year-old pensioner and, like other government workers, I too will enjoy an increment in my monthly pension. I am sure that all civil servants and pensioners are very grateful to the Government for a very favourable salary revision.
While there is so much happiness among government staff, there should also be much enthusiasm and determination to carry out their responsibilities to the satisfaction of all Malaysians.
They will have to work diligently and responsibly. They will have to perform professionally, they should respect the public, and be polite to them. No more excuses.
There should be more productivity and less meetings and tea and coffee breaks.
I remember the days when I used to head an office with a staff of 10 to 20 workers. It was hard to get them to really work for their wages and when I was overly strict, petitions were sent but the petitions did not work.
Now, as I look back at my years in government service and the pension that I receive for just sitting at home, I feel proud and happy that I was a dedicated and responsible government servant.
KT,
Seremban, Negri Sembilan.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Karen Armstrong di Malaysia untuk promosi kefahaman di antara Islam dan Barat
Pengkaji sejarah, penulis dan di antara ahli fikir paling provokatif dan berpengaruh mengenai peranan agama di dunia, Karen Armstrong, akan berada di Malaysia bagi mempromosikan kefahaman dan perdamaian di antara Islam dan dunia barat.
Pada pukul 10 pagi Sabtu, 16 Jun, 2007, beliau akan hadir di hotel Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur untuk menyampaikan syarahan berjodol “Peranan Agama di Abad ke 21.”
Ini dikira satu-satunya acara yang patut dihadiri.
Hari ini apabila dunia barat diperhatikan sebagai terlalu lantang dan seolah-olah bermusuh terhadap agama Islam dan di mana Islam sentiasa ditakuti, disalahfaham dan diperperburukkan, Armstrong muncul sebagai seorang kawan dan pejuang kedamaian.
Beliau telah menghasilkan pelbagai buku mengenai agama dan sejarah agama, termasuk Islam. Penulisannya yang berdasarkan penyelidikan mendalam, amat dihormati.
Pada 1991, selepas fatwa dikeluarkan ke atas penulis Salman Rushdi, Armstrong menerbitkan bukunya berjodol, “Mohammad: Percubaan Barat untuk Memahami Islam.” Karya tersebut adalah jawapan beliau terhadap pemikiran serta perspektif negatif berhubung agama Islam setelah fatwa tersebut dikeluarkan.
Arsmtrong, antara intelek agama paling terkemuka di barat ialah seorang bekas rahib Roman Katolik dan jurulatih di Leo Baeck College, London – sebuah pusat latihan paderi Yahudi terkemuka. Beliau juga seorang penyiar dan penulis ruangan akhbar. Beberapa buah bukunya telah diterjemahkan ke dalam lebih 40 bahasa.
Antara lain, beliau telah menghasilkan buku “The History of God” (Sejarah Tuhan) yang mendapat sambutan begitu menggalakkan di serata dunia. Beliau juga membantu dalam penerbitan siri TV PBS yang diacarakan oleh Bill Moyer di Amerika Syarikat. Buku-buku beliau yang lain termasuk “Jerusalem”, “The Gospel According to Women”, “Holy War, Muhammad”, “The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam: A Short History.”
Bukunya, “ The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness,” menjadi di antara karya paling popular dalam masa yang singkat setelah diterbitkan.
Sememangnya seperti mana-mana penulis, Arsmtrong mempunyai ramai pengkritik. Bagaimanapun, nama beliau diketengahkan kerana beliau berani dan dengan secara ikhlas menawarkan dunia “ pembetulan penting” terhadap perspektif sempit dunia agama Islam.
Arsmtrong, dalam penulisannya menengahkan Islam sebagai sebuah agama yang begitu maju dan berkembang pesat – berbeza daripada fenomena pandangan sempit dan kompleks yanag wujud masakini.
Penulisananya mula condong kepada isu-isu Islam dan dunia barat sejak tragedi 9/11 di Amerika Syarikat.
Jadual lawatan Armstrong ialah dari 17 hingga 20 Jun. Beliau juga akan berada di Residence Hotel, Kajang untuk berucap pada majlis dailog “Inter-Civilizational Youth Engagement Programme” (IYEP) yang bakal dihadiri oleh lebih 50 wakil belia dari seluruh dunia.
(dipetik dan diterjemah dari blog Nuraina Samad)
Proton Shares Surge on News of Partnership
Proton Holdings Bhd, which was up sharply this morning on news that it is close to forging a partnership with Volkswagen, remained high in the afternoon although Sime Darby denied it is buying Khazanah Nasional Bhd's 43 per cent stake in the national carmaker.
The surge in Proton shares is not a surprise as it is a reaction of investors who now would welcome any partner for the ailing national carmaker after a long and complicated search for a partner to help it to turn around, a dealer noted.
The shares of the national carmaker rose to a high of RM7.05 this morning after reports said Volkswagen is likely to take equity and management control of its key operations.
At 3.56pm, Proton was traded 60 sen higher at RM6.45 while Proton call warrants rose 25.5 sen to 89.5 sen.
The price is still below the RM7.00 - RM9.00 fair value for Proton shares put forward by research houses. For instance, RHB said the fair value for Proton is at RM8.60.
An analyst said investors are generally cautious and awaiting further details considering the difficulty Proton faced in clinching a partnership deal in the past.
According to news report, Volkswagen will acquire a 51 per cent stake in a new company which will hold Proton's assets such as manufacturing, research & development, engineering and also its UK unit, Lotus.
Proton will retain its distribution unit, it added.
(From BERNAMA)
The surge in Proton shares is not a surprise as it is a reaction of investors who now would welcome any partner for the ailing national carmaker after a long and complicated search for a partner to help it to turn around, a dealer noted.
The shares of the national carmaker rose to a high of RM7.05 this morning after reports said Volkswagen is likely to take equity and management control of its key operations.
At 3.56pm, Proton was traded 60 sen higher at RM6.45 while Proton call warrants rose 25.5 sen to 89.5 sen.
The price is still below the RM7.00 - RM9.00 fair value for Proton shares put forward by research houses. For instance, RHB said the fair value for Proton is at RM8.60.
An analyst said investors are generally cautious and awaiting further details considering the difficulty Proton faced in clinching a partnership deal in the past.
According to news report, Volkswagen will acquire a 51 per cent stake in a new company which will hold Proton's assets such as manufacturing, research & development, engineering and also its UK unit, Lotus.
Proton will retain its distribution unit, it added.
(From BERNAMA)
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Goodbye, Loga...
I feel a great loss after hearing that Alleycat's Loganathan Arumugam passed away peacefully in Penang yesterday morning following a brave fight with the big 'C'.
Save for a few months many years ago when I would hum his songs day in day out, I have, since, lost touch with his musical creations until two days before his death.
His passing is a loss as knowing him I really could appreciate that in this man, Loga, was a true Malaysian who had lived his life as a tolerant and amiable person, who put his ethnicity aside to pursue his love of music...and making it big in the Malay music scene in the 80s.
On many occassions I have chanced to delve deep into his soul during those years...on certain days we talked deep into the night after completing his shows. It was then that I discovered his passion as a Malaysian -- a passion not carved out of commercial greed but a true reflection of his anak Malaysia persona...he had no animosity for the other races. He understood the barriers that their religious convictions dictate and he respected that.
By paying a short tribute in my blog on the man, I really wish there are more of us like him.
Thank you, Loga...
Save for a few months many years ago when I would hum his songs day in day out, I have, since, lost touch with his musical creations until two days before his death.
His passing is a loss as knowing him I really could appreciate that in this man, Loga, was a true Malaysian who had lived his life as a tolerant and amiable person, who put his ethnicity aside to pursue his love of music...and making it big in the Malay music scene in the 80s.
On many occassions I have chanced to delve deep into his soul during those years...on certain days we talked deep into the night after completing his shows. It was then that I discovered his passion as a Malaysian -- a passion not carved out of commercial greed but a true reflection of his anak Malaysia persona...he had no animosity for the other races. He understood the barriers that their religious convictions dictate and he respected that.
By paying a short tribute in my blog on the man, I really wish there are more of us like him.
Thank you, Loga...
Friday, June 1, 2007
American news coverage lop-sided
PETALING JAYA (The Star, June 1, 2007): American news coverage on the Israel-Palestine conflict has always been said to be lop-sided, with a strong bias against the Palestinians.
Before a Malaysian audience here last night, former American freelance journalist Alison Weir, now executive director of non-profit organisation If Americans Knew, an organisation that provides Americans with information on Palestine and analyses media coverage of the conflict, related her personal experiences that made her come to the conclusion.
She said that previously, she had only skimmed through headlines on issues related to the Israel-Palestine conflict “with little interest or knowledge on the subject.”
However, when the conflict took a serious turn, she began to take heed and worked hard beyond her office hours to find out “that it was perhaps the most covered-up story”.
“When I was there (Gaza strip and West Bank in 2001), I discovered that while the American news agencies were reporting on the deaths of Israelis, they were covering up deaths of many Palestinians.
“For example, the cover up of Palestinian child deaths was 14 times greater and they got away with biased terminologies,” she said.
Weir, who was delivering a talk entitled Deadly Distortion: American News Coverage of Israel-Palestine and its Effect on the Alleged “Clash of Civilisations” here, said she felt Americans should be given an accurate picture of what was transpiring there as American taxpayers were spending over US$10mil a day on Israel.
In 2002, Weir was denied entrance and incarcerated by the Israeli government. Disturbed that American citizens were being misinformed and uninformed on the issue, Weir founded the organisation.
Episode has been hijacked
Anak Jawa Johor said...(excerpt from Rocky's Bru):
Saudara Rocky, as i see it this Lina Joy episode has been hijacked by a small but noisy group of Islamophobes who wants to impose their version of religious freedom on the majority. I am not a Law expert mysely but from what i can gather from the Federal Court decision. It is not the end of the road for Lina Joy, she still has one more road to go and that is the Syariah Court to renounce Islam.
I am a Muslim and I do empathise with her predicament, BUT if only she had gone to the Syariah Courts 17 years ago and go thru the due process of syariah law, I am inclined to believe that she would be a Christian in spirit and in proper documents already by now. I have faith in Syariah Law, remember the case of the Malay lady Nyonya Tahir in Melaka she died as a Buddhist I believed and the Syariah court after due process and representations by her siblings who are non Muslims, declared that she did died a non-muslim.
Let us Malaysians cherish and value what we have in Malaysia. Open up our eyes a little bit and if you travel the length of Malaysia you will find many examples of religion being practised harmoniously among each other, huge statue of the sitting Buddha in Kota Bahru and not far away a mosque, Cathedrals from Penang to JB to Sabah. The huge statue of Lord Murugan in Batu Caves. Hey, we even have holidays celebrating the major religions of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity. On certain days of the year like Thaipusam and Wesak we are even allowed to make public procession celebrating our respective religions. So my dear friends out there is that not religious freedom being practised in Malaysia?
Saudara Rocky, as i see it this Lina Joy episode has been hijacked by a small but noisy group of Islamophobes who wants to impose their version of religious freedom on the majority. I am not a Law expert mysely but from what i can gather from the Federal Court decision. It is not the end of the road for Lina Joy, she still has one more road to go and that is the Syariah Court to renounce Islam.
I am a Muslim and I do empathise with her predicament, BUT if only she had gone to the Syariah Courts 17 years ago and go thru the due process of syariah law, I am inclined to believe that she would be a Christian in spirit and in proper documents already by now. I have faith in Syariah Law, remember the case of the Malay lady Nyonya Tahir in Melaka she died as a Buddhist I believed and the Syariah court after due process and representations by her siblings who are non Muslims, declared that she did died a non-muslim.
Let us Malaysians cherish and value what we have in Malaysia. Open up our eyes a little bit and if you travel the length of Malaysia you will find many examples of religion being practised harmoniously among each other, huge statue of the sitting Buddha in Kota Bahru and not far away a mosque, Cathedrals from Penang to JB to Sabah. The huge statue of Lord Murugan in Batu Caves. Hey, we even have holidays celebrating the major religions of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity. On certain days of the year like Thaipusam and Wesak we are even allowed to make public procession celebrating our respective religions. So my dear friends out there is that not religious freedom being practised in Malaysia?
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