Malaysia denies cracking down on Islamic newspaper over Michelle Yeoh photo

Malaysia: Malaysian authorities have seized from newsstands copies of a tabloid newspaper run by an opposition Islamic party, but denied the move was sparked by the publication of a photograph that shows the prime minister at a public event with actress Michelle Yeoh.

The latest issue of Harakah features a front page photograph of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi placing a hand on Yeoh's bare shoulder during a dinner ceremony at an international sailing tournament in Malaysia's northeastern Terengganu state last month.

Officers from the Internal Security Ministry have confiscated copies from retail outlets over the past week because the newspaper is supposed to be sold only to members of the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, the ministry's enforcement spokesman, Zailani Hashim, said Thursday.

"The action has nothing to do with images published in the issue," Zailani said, rejecting speculation by Harakah's editor that the government wants to prevent the photo from being seen.

Harakah's Web site said the photograph displayed Abdullah's "naughty antics" with Yeoh, a Malaysian-born star whose international film credits include "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and the James Bond film, "Tomorrow Never Dies."

Harakah's editor, Ahmad Lutfi Othman, said the permit's conditions were unfair. He noted that copies had sometimes been confiscated from public outlets between 1999 and 2000, but that this was the first such incident since he became editor last February.

"We believe the government is now trying to create a culture of fear through these raids," Ahmad Lutfi said. "We're studying this matter with plans to challenge the regulations in court."

International and local rights groups have long criticized restrictions on press freedoms in Malaysia, where the government is closely linked with the mainstream media and wields tough laws that require publishers to obtain annual permits from authorities.

Harakah dirampas kerana gambar mesra Abdullah-Michelle

Selepas dimusnahkan fungsinya sebagai sebuah akhbar, apabila kekerapannya dipancung, pada Mac 200, Harakah terus diasak dan dihalang, dan terbaru, operasi rampasan dilancarkan semula, secara menyeluruh, dan difahamkan merangkumi hampir semua wilayah termasuk Sarawak.

Selepas diberitahu berita malang itu, saya terus menghubungi beberapa rakan pengedar untuk mendapat maklumat lanjut. Kebanyakan mereka syak ia berpunca daripada gambar muka depan Harakah terbaru, yang memaparkan "gelagat nakal" Perdana Menteri, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi semasa majlis makan malam sempena Monsoon Cup tidak lama dulu.

Sekurang-kurangnya operasi rampasan dikatakan tertumpu di Subang Jaya, Bangi, Ampang, sekitar Chow Kit dan Masjid India. Bagaimanapun saya masih menunggu laporan lanjut dari pengedar-pengedar lain di seluruh negara.

Pastinya fokus pembaca tertumpu kepada aksi Abdullah memegang bahu artis antarabangsa, Dato' Michelle Yeoh, sambil tangan pelakon terkenal itu membalas mesra sentuhan Abdullah. Dari gambar itu jelas baju Michelle tidak berlengan dan bahunya terdedah.

Dan sudah selayaknya Michelle berbuat demikian sebagai tanda menghormati Perdana Menteri apabila Abdullah dari belakang "menyapanya" mesra. Turut memerhatikan mereka ialah teman lelaki Michelle, yang juga pemilik FI Ferrari, Dato' Seri Jean Todd. Menantu Abdullah, Khairy dan isterinya Nori turut kelihatan, samar-samar di meja belakang.

Saya dimaklumkan ramai pembaca terkejut melihat gambar berkenaan. Tentunya golongan ini tidak terdedah dengan internet kerana "lakonan hebat" Abdullah itu sebenarnya sudah tersebar secara meluas dalam laman-laman web, blog dan emel.

Malah di beberapa negeri tertentu, khususnya Terengganu (tempat berlangsungnya Monsoon Cup) dan Kelantan, gambar yang asalnya disiarkan laman rasmi pertandingan tahunan itu, telah dicetak warna-warni dan diedarkan kepada khalayak yang lebih meluas.

Dari satu sudut, saya tidak faham mengapa pengendali monsooncup.com.my kemudiannya memadamkan gambar berkenaan selepas pengunjung internet "menyerbu" laman berkenaan. Apakah gambar itu telah mencacatkan imej "bersih dan islamik" Abdullah serta menyebabkan konsep Islam Hadhari yang dipeloporinya terus menjadi sendaan dan gurauan?

Menurut mereka yang rapat dengan Abdullah, Perdana Menteri cukup sensitif dengan sebarang usaha untuk menggugat apatah lagi memperlekehkan projek Islam Hadharinya. Apa pun, selagi gambar berkenaan hanya berlegar di sekitar komuniti siber, mungkin Abdullah tidak begitu ambil pusing, tetapi selepas menyedari Harakah mempromosikannya di muka depan, tidak mustahil beliau naik berang.

Namun jika direnung gambar Abdullah bersama Michelle itu, dan dirujuk piawaian Islam Hadhari serta kelakuan Abdullah dan pemimpin-pemimpin kanan Umno lainnya, termasuk ulama-ulama dalam Umno, bersentuhan antara lelaki dan perempuan bukan muhrim tidak pernah menjadi isu besar.

Malah, baru-baru ini Abdullah juga hadir di majlis gilang-gemilang (satu istilah yang begitu digemari Abdullah) anugerah filem Bollywood di Kuala Lumpur. Aksi-aksi menjolok mata penari dan artis-artis terkenal di pesta berkenaan terpampang di dada-dada akhbar, manakala gelagat "wanita pertama", isteri Timbalan Perdana Menteri juga tersebar luas melalui internet.

Saya teringat tulisan Tiara Jac di sebuah akhbar, ketika heboh pementasan teater muzikal Puteri Gunung Ledang. Tiara memberitahu, Abdullah semasa menonton PGL naik ke pentas mengucapkan tahniah kepadanya, "well done". Saya ragu sama ada Tiara ketika itu masih berkemban atau tidak! Namun yang pasti, seorang perwakilan wanita Umno baru-baru ini mengkritik keras pakaian Tiara, apatah lagi beliau merupakan seorang isteri menteri kabinet.

Saya sebenarnya tidak mahu melencongkan isu sebenar yang mahu saya tonjolkan di sini. Ia bukan soal fesyen berkemban atau tangan Abdullah yang dilihat nakal memegang bahu Michelle. Isu besar ialah operasi rampasan Harakah, yang tidak sepatutnya berlaku langsung, sama ada atas sebab gambar itu atau hal-hal lain. Harakah sepatutnya dibenarkan bebas bertemu pembaca dan peminatnya.

Harakah sudah dihukum pancung apabila kekerapannya dikurangkan daripada dua kali seminggu kepada 15 hari sekali, yang mana selalu saya tegaskan bahawa fungsi Harakah sebagai sebuah akhbar sudahpun berkubur.

Justeru, mengapa perlu Abdullah mengarahkan pegawai KKDN bertindak lebih zalim, hanya disebabkan gambar mesranya itu, walhal seperti saya tekankan di atas, fenomena bersentuhan lelaki perempuan sebagaimana ditunjukkan Abdullah dan Michelle Yeoh bukan satu kejutan pun kerana ia amalan lazim yang jarang dipersoalkan umum.

Saya kira, pemaparan gambar itu di muka depan Harakah tidak akan mencacatkan "imej islamik" Abdullah, malah beliau akan lebih tertonjol sebagai pemimpin negara Islam "yang sederhana dan tidak memandang rendah wanita"!
(Harakah)

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Iraq postpones execution of Saddam aides

Iraq has postponed hanging two of Saddam Hussein's henchmen amid international pressure following the ousted dictator's bungled and much criticised hanging.

Two justice ministry guards are meanwhile being held for questioning in connection with the secret filming of Saddam's final moments.

Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikrit, Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief and Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, the head of the revolutionary court, were to have been hanged on Thursday.

A senior official from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the execution was postponed "due to international pressure."

Baha al-Araji, an influential Shiite lawmaker from radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's parliamentary bloc, said: "I am sure it will be done on Sunday."

Another Shiite deputy, Sami al-Askari, said the executions will be carried out after state holidays for the Eid al-Adha festival end on Saturday. He did not give a date.

"The executions will be after the holidays," said Askari, who was present at Saddam's hanging on Saturday as Maliki's representative.


The Iraq Debate: Looking for a Few Good Principles

With debate raging about what the US should do in Iraq, one thing is clear: nobody has a full solution to the horror that the US has unleashed. Yet, this week's release of the Iraq Study Group's (ISG) report offers some hope—not because the ISG is calling to bring home the troops quickly (they're not) or because their recommendations will yield justice for Iraqis (they won't). On balance, the ISG's conclusions don't depart much from plans emerging from the White House these days.1 The value of the ISG report is that it makes it official: Bush's Iraq policy is a failure. That may not sound like much given the magnitude of the crisis, but sometimes a formal confirmation of the obvious is a turning point—especially when it comes from the heart of the Washington policy establishment. We can be hopeful that the ISG report will be the beginning of the end of the war.

Of course, hope is not the same as optimism: the end of the war could still be in the distant future, in part because the ISG will call for rearranging US troops rather than removing them. But there are other elements of the report that we can endorse and build on, like the call for diplomacy with Iran and Syria. As we sift through the many proposals and counter-proposals being put forward about what to do in Iraq, we should evaluate them not only for what they say, but also for what they leave out. The best policy options will likely dwell in those silences, not in the "findings" of the ISG's recycled cold warriors, or the generals, TV pundits, or presidential hopefuls.

Whatever steps the Bush Administration takes next, it's crucial that they embody principles that we wish to see driving our foreign policy. If we can reassert those principles—even in the absence of an ideal solution—we have a hope of eventually creating a more peaceful world.

Here are four principles that any new US policies should reflect, along with a few examples of what those principles might look like in practice.

1. Demonstrate accountability: Since 2003, the US has replaced a brutal, but stable and functional state with a brutal, unstable and totally dysfunctional puppet state. Whatever steps the United States takes next must recognize that after 16 years of bombings, sanctions, invasion, and occupation, the US is largely responsible for Iraq's crisis.

* The US should pay reparations to Iraqis whose family members have been killed and whose homes and livelihoods have been destroyed, and to those illegally imprisoned and tortured by US military forces.

* The US should pay to restore Iraq's infrastructure—but not through the Bush Administration's corrupt and ineffective "reconstruction" program. The US should supply the funds for United Nations Agencies to oversee and administer Iraq's reconstruction, in keeping with UN Resolution 1325, which prioritizes the role of women in reconstruction efforts. Taking financial responsibility in these ways will not cost more than the $194 billion Congress is likely to approve for the Iraq war in 2007.2 The financial burden should be shared among members of the "coalition of the willing," in proportion to the number of troops each country sent to Iraq.

* A formal apology to the Iraqi people is in order. The Iraq Study Group will never propose such a move,3 but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be calling for it. When governments apologize for past injustices, they signal a clear change of course. When people feel that their grievances are acknowledged and redressed, conflicts can begin to be resolved.

2. Revive international cooperation: The Bush Administration's belligerent unilateralism was a driving force of the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq. The US must signal a turn away from that destructive trend.

* We welcome the move towards negotiations with Iran and Syria—not despite US differences with those countries, but because of those differences. Whether Iran and Syria can help resolve the crisis in Iraq remains to be seen, but it will be better to see the Bush Administration engaged in diplomacy than in more threats of "regime change."

* Inviting Syria and Iran into negotiations is a start, but how about negotiating about Iraq with Iraqis? The US must talk with representatives of the "insurgency" (who will be vastly weakened by a US withdrawal).

* The US needs to reaffirm its commitment to international law. Bush's Iraq policy has entailed violations of the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Convention, the Nuremburg Charter, and the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, just to name a few.4 When the world's superpower scorns the rule of law, other countries follow suit in a dynamic that undermines the whole framework for peaceful international relations. One forceful way to reaffirm US commitment to international law is to impeach and prosecute those responsible for US crimes.

* The US must recognize the regional dimensions of the crisis and its underlying causes. That means supporting a just resolution to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land—a root cause of instability and hostility in the Middle East.

3. Respect Iraq's national sovereignty: At its broadest, this means that the Bush Administration should publicly renounce the arrogant fantasy of "democratizing" the Middle East. The US has no monopoly on democracy: people everywhere want a meaningful say in policies that affect them. In the Middle East, a main obstacle to democracy has been US support for repressive regimes and reactionary social movements, like the fanatical theocrats that the US boosted to power in Iraq.

* US planners should formally can the idea of "federalism," a euphemism for dismantling Iraq. Creating separate Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish enclaves would only reinforce ethnic and sectarian divisions. The plan would entail more ethnic cleansing because much of Iraq is still multi-religious and multi-ethnic. It would compound Sunni poverty and resentment by restricting Sunni political power to an area without much oil. And it would leave the Shiite majority at the mercy of warring and repressive Islamist militias.

* The Administration should stop building permanent US military bases in Iraq. The 14 "enduring" US bases (five of them the size of small cities) have been the only successful construction projects under US occupation. Plans to build these bases pre-date the invasion,5 a clear signal that the Bush Administration intended to disregard Iraqi sovereignty for many years to come.

* The US should agree to void all oil contracts signed under US occupation. These
"production-sharing agreements,"6 drafted by the State Department even before the invasion, effectively privatize Iraqi oil. They deprive future Iraqi governments of hundreds of billions of dollars in revenues and promise US oil companies a rate of return 10 times higher than the industry standard. Renouncing claims to Iraq's oil will help quell Iraqis' suspicions that the US invasion was motivated by a thirst for oil.

4 Promote human rights: This should be the guiding principle of any US foreign policy.

* As the de-facto occupying power in Iraq, the US is obligated by the Hague and Geneva Conventions to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights. But in practice, occupation and human rights are at odds: as the Israelis have learned, you cannot enforce a hated occupation without committing human rights violations.

* The nightmare scenarios that we are warned could unfold if the US leaves—civil war, ethnic cleansing, fundamentalist dictatorship, the establishment of a training-ground for terrorists—have already happened on Bush's watch. Some ask who will protect Iraqi civilians from the violence if the US pulls out. But the question is misplaced: the US isn't protecting them now. What the US is doing is fueling the civil war by giving one side—the Sunni-based insurgency—its raison d'etre, while giving the other side—the militia-infested Iraqi security forces—money, weapons, and training.7 Unfortunately, it's rarely true that things can't get worse, but it's also true that in Iraq, the US can't make any of it better. The best thing the US can do is leave quickly.

* The responsibility to uphold human rights resides, above all, in government. But the Iraqi government is a figment of Bush's imagination. It is fragmented by nine different factions; political process is at a complete standstill; and Prime Minister Maliki—whom Bush is propping up—is powerless, corrupt, and murderous. Those who now control Iraq are not able or interested in upholding human rights or finding a just resolution to the civil war born of US occupation. The sooner we stop pretending that Iraq has a functional government, the sooner we can start finding workable solutions to the human rights crisis that has gripped the country.
* One option is proposed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who is calling for an international conference to facilitate reconciliation among Iraqis. The US should support such a process without dominating it.

* A parallel international process should explore policies aimed at providing immediate protection to Iraqi civilians. One proposal, heard recently by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, involves an international peacekeeping force drawn from the region and funded by the US (at about two percent of the cost of maintaining the occupation over the same period).

As a new national consensus forms around the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, we should seize every opportunity to promote policies that reflect our principles. And regardless of what the Study Group or any other Washington insiders recommend, we should continue to call for a quick and full withdrawal of US forces from Iraq.
(Source:MADRE)


Vigils, Rallies Commemorate 3000 U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq


Peace groups across the United States marked the 3,000th U.S. military death in Iraq with protests and vigils this weekend and promised to continue to press to end the war.

"We're very saddened at the death, but we feel it's very important that not one more dollar be spent on this war in Iraq," Janis Shields of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) told OneWorld.

The Quaker group put out a call for anti-war activists to rally across the country on New Year's Day to mourn American and Iraqi casualties in the war. A study published in the British medical journal, The Lancet, puts the number of Iraqi casualties at more than 600,000.

The number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq passed 3,000 on New Year's Eve. By Monday the death toll had reached 3,004--31 more than died in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The Veterans Administration (VA) reports more than 150,000 veterans of the recent Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts are receiving disability benefits. Approximately 70,000 are using the VA's mental health services.

"We had no idea the war would go on this long or kill so many people," said Chuck Nixon, who helps co-ordinate a weekly memorial in Santa Monica, California known as Arlington West. "When we started doing our project of making a memorial there were just 400 crosses. That was back in February '04. By Mother's Day it had gone up to 800."

The memorial is sponsored by the Los Angeles chapter of Veterans for Peace, which sets up crosses every Sunday on Santa Monica's beach to remember American soldiers killed in Iraq. The group added candles to mark the 3,000th death.

In addition to this week's commemorations, peace groups have planned two major demonstrations for Washington this month, timed to coincide with Congress' transition to Democratic leadership.

Gold Star Families for Peace, an organization founded by prominent anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan after her son was killed in Iraq, is planning a rally in Washington on January 3-4 to press for immediate withdrawal from Iraq, as well as the impeachment of President George W. Bush.

United for Peace and Justice, a coalition of more than 1,300 U.S. peace groups, will stage a march in Washington on January 27 and urged supporters to arrange meetings with members of the new Congress on January 29 so they can lobby for an end to the war.

As for Nixon, he plans to press on with the Santa Monica memorial. "It's just a sad thing that there are 3,000 people who were sons, daughters, husbands, or fathers. That's 3,000 families that are not having a very happy New Year."

The response to the memorial has been overwhelmingly positive, Nixon added. "On New Year's Eve when we reached 3,000 deaths there were two active duty marines that came up to me--one had just come back from Iraq and the other was in training. They personally thanked us for setting up the memorial. They said they thought it was very nice that somebody cared enough to do that."

Nixon hopes when the war is over his group will be able to set up a permanent memorial to the war's dead on the west coast. Some 306 California soldiers have died in Iraq, the most of any state in the country.

"It wouldn't be as large as the Vietnam memorial," he said. "But it would be the same idea. It would have granite walls and names engraved. A permanent memorial would be nice for the families who live here. They'd have a place to visit and remember their loved ones."


Malaysia Abdullah Harakah Michelle Yeoh Iraq Saddam USA